LIfestyles

District Attorney extracts pleas for Olney crimes

District Attorney Dee Peavy resolved four criminal cases involving Olney residents or crimes committed in and around Olney with guilty pleas by four individuals in October, her office said in a statement. Darius Noellopan Keilani Paia, 34, of Olney pleaded guilty to assaulting a family or house member by impeding breath or circulation, the statement said. He was sentenced to five years of community supervision and ordered to pay a $500 fine and court costs, the statement said.

Belknap cemetery gets state historic designation

The Texas Historical Commission recently designated Belknap Cemetery as a Historic Texas Cemetery due to efforts by Young County Judge John Bullock to secure the designation, the Texas Historical Commission said in an Oct. 1 press release. Judge Bullock made the application, did the research, and wrote the narrative that led to the designation. “I am quoting my grandmother, Mrs. J.W. (Mattie Wray) Bullock, and Mrs. J.B. (Mammie) Mars as recorded in the Texas Cemetery Records,” he said in the application. “Young County from the first Belknap Cemetery Survey in 1858 identif[ied] 68 graves: Belknap Cemetery was grown up in weeds and it was impossible to find all the graves.” A dedication ceremony will be held at a date to be announced to commemorate the historic designation will be held at a later date. The historic designation is reserved for cemeteries that are at least 50 years old and documented through the Historical Texas Cemetery designation process to record their historic association and significance, the agency said. Belknap Cemetery was established before the 1856 creation of Young County by an act of the Texas Legislature, it said.

OPD re-arrest suspected drug house tenant

Olney Police re-arrested the 57-year-old tenant of a suspected drug house on new warrants less than two weeks after she was jailed on charges of possession and manufacturing of drugs in connection with alleged drug activity, Police Chief Dan Birbeck said. Adriene Yvonne Atkinson, alias “Black Mama,” was re-arrested at her rented home at 305 S. Ave. F in Olney on Nov. 3 on outstanding warrants for possession of a controlled substance, a Young County jail officer said. She was jailed in lieu of $20,000, and was released the following day, the officer said.

Retired Teachers’ Meeting

A group of retired teachers is pressing Texas lawmakers to implement a “substantial” cost-of-living increase in their benefits when the Texas Legislature meets in January. The District 9 Texas Retired Teachers Association Fall Conference met on Oct. 18 to discuss priorities for the 88th Legislative Session, which begins Jan. 10, although lawmakers can start filing bills on Nov. 14.

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