County Commissioners Court Briefs
Commissioners vs. 4-H County Council in trivia contest The 4-H County Council which encompasses representatives from all 4-H clubs within Graham, Newcastle and Olney schooled Young County Commissioners Court at their Sept. 25 meeting with a quiz on 4H basic knowledge and general parliamentary procedures.
4-H members brought bells for each of the Commissioners to ring - game show style – when they had answers to the trivia questions.
“What are the four Hs?” True Creel of Salt Fork 4H asked the Court.
“Heart,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Scott Shook said.
“Head,” said Precinct 4 Commissioner Jimmy Wiley.
“Health” Precinct 3 Commissioner Stacey Rogers said.
“Horses!” County Judge Win Graham said. The correct answer was “hands” though an individual in the courtroom and one of the 4-H’ers gestured in fun that horses would indeed make a great addition if a fifth cloverleaf was ever added to the group’s insignia.
While a bit rusty on the 4H precepts, the Commissioners were also strangely silent on some of the parliamentary questions.
“How do you begin a motion?” a 4-H member asked the Court.
“Oh, this is bad,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Stacy Creswell said after a few moments of silence.
“It’s two words,” said County Extension Agent Penny Berends, who accompanied the children. “I move …” “Could you be any more disappointed in us? I don’t think you could,” Judge Win Graham said.
This delighted the 4-H’ers as they thought they had tricked the Commissioners with their question.
“This commissioner’s court interpretation provided a great opportunity for both adults and youth,” Ms. Berends said. “Everyone had a great time bantering back and forth on questions they knew as well as ones they did not. Although 4-H does meet with the Court several times a year, today’s presentation was a bit different than normal. It was fun, exciting and allowed our youth to see another side of our commissioners. They were able to interact with our court on a more personal level and allowed our youth to continue to share about 4-H and the important role the organization plays in developing our youth. It was a definite success, and we look forward to doing it again.”
The Commissioners proclaimed the week of Oct. 1-7 as National 4H Week in Texas to commemorate the 115th year of the state’s largest youth development program for kids ages 8-18 with more than 350,000 youth statewide with 175 youth 4-H members and an additional 1500 youth reached through 4-H and Youth Development Curriculum Enrichment programs in Young County.
The group also presented Commissioner Creswell a Friend of 4-H certificate. The Friend of 4-H Award recognizes a citizen or organization from the community for their contribution to the 4-H Program. “When our youth looked back on the year’s activities and thought of influential adults who encouraged them or played a role in the growth of our 4-H program, Mr. Creswell was named. He has played a significant role in the updates made to our current county van as well as continues to help, along with his Precinct 1 crew, with updates pertaining to our 4-H meeting room there at the Extension Office” Ms. Berend said.
“I can honestly say the meeting is going to go downhill from here,” Judge Graham said as the children filed out of the courtroom. “We have peaked.”
Voter registration deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 10 Early voting will be held Oct. 23 through Nov. 3 at the Olney Community Library and Arts Center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The last day to apply for a ballot by mail will be Oct. 27. Election day is Nov. 7. On the ballot will be 14 constitutional amendments and a $33 million bond measure for the Olney Hamilton Hospital. The Hospital will hold three more public hearings about the proposed bond measure, which will fund a new hospital. The next meetings will take place from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Olney Community Center, and noon on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at the OHH Education Center, and at 9 a.m. at the OHH Education Center.
Forensic audit comes up clean The County received a clean bill of health in a forensic audit performed after the resignation of former Young County Treasurer Kathy Mishler, who pleaded guilty to misusing County credit cards during her tenure at the County Probation Department.
Ms. Mishler pleaded guilty to charges stemming from her alleged personal use of County credit cards last week, the District Attorney’s Office said.
“We asked to do an audit when we had a change in treasurer. The good news is we got a clean audit back,” Judge Win Graham told Commissioners.
“He pulled information … from January to July with no findings,” County Auditor Cheryl Roberts said.
Ms. Mischler, 71, of Graham pled guilty to theft of property of $750 or more but less than $2,500, and was sentenced to two years of community supervision, District Attorney Dee Peavy said in a statement. Ms. Mischler also was ordered to pay $500 in fines and court costs, the district attorney said.
The former county treasurer was indicted by a grand jury for abuse of her official capacity in office between January 2016 to April 2023, for allegedly misusing government property in the form of credit cards when she worked as the administrative assistant for Stephens and Young Counties Juvenile Probation Department and as Treasurer, the indictment said.
According to the indictment, Ms. Mishler spent between $2,500 and $30,000 on personal items.
Ms. Mischler ran unopposed for County Treasurer last year and was serving her first term when she was arrested on Aug. 22. She was released the same day on a $2,500 bond.
The Commissioners appointed former Young County Republican Party Chairman Kyle Milam to replace her on July 31.
Sipes named to YCAD board The County Commissioners nominated former Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Sipes to the board of the Young County Appraisal District. Mr. Sipes has served on the YCAD board previously and said he would be willing to serve again, Judge Win Graham told the Commissioners. “He is very happy with the direction the board is going. He has enjoyed serving on that board and he would be willing to serve again if we asked him to serve. I think that is a good idea. He is definitely one of the leaders of that board,” Judge Graham said. Mr. Sipes’ nomination must be approved by the other entities that participate in YCAD, including the City of Olney.
Historic Black cemetery closed to new burials County Commissioners voted to close the William P. Johnston cemetery to new burials so that a survey can be made of the property, which was deeded to the County in 1923 as a burial ground for African Americans by Addie M. Graham, the wife of City of Graham founder Edwin S. Graham.
The Commissioners did not know the County owned the cemetery until a few weeks ago when an inquiry about ownership of the land turned up the original deed, which stated: “that this property shall be used solely as a burying ground for colored people, and should it not be used for that purpose, or if used for any other purpose, this tract shall revert to the grantor, her heirs or assigns.”
The Commissioners approved an order at their Sept. 11 meeting acknowledging County ownership of the cemetery and forming a preservation society. Judge Win Graham, who is Addie’s greatgreat- grandson, met with historians Dornan Holub and Ernie Jackson to set goals of learning who is buried in the cemetery, surveying the existing cemetery to see if it conforms with the original deed, and contacting colleges across the state to offer the cemetery as an archeological research project, and finding unmarked graves.
The last burial in the cemetery was in the 1960s, Mr. Holub told the Commissioners.
“Graves used to be dug by hand and there are a lot of unmarked graves there,” Mr. Holub said. “Now we dig graves with a backhoe and there is no way we can get a backhoe in there. It’s our fear that if you were to go into that cemetery and start digging you might get into more issues than we want to deal with.”
Judge Graham estimated it would cost about $2,500 to survey the cemetery. Although the current County budget does not provide for the cemetery, he said the Preservation Society could hold a fundraiser to obtain the money.
“It is one of those cemeteries that really needs to be recognized in some ways,” Holub said. “I would say most of the people who are buried in that cemetery are black. There is not really a history on that cemetery that we’ve written. I mean, I’ve done a ton of research on it, but there is just a lot more research that myself and Ernie (Jackson) and those individuals that lived in the Lincoln community will have to do because that is part of our history that needs to be recognized, needs to be honored and needs to memorialized in some way.”