Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Harvey Comes to Pittsburg


The Pittsburg High School Dramatists will be doing their home presentation of Harvey Thursday, April 20, at 6 p.m. kn the high school auditorium. Admission is free (as far as I know). Bring the whole family for an entertaining evening.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Pittsburg HS at UIL One Act Play

The Pittsburg High School dramatists competed at the District UIL One Act Play event yesterday. Their performance of Harvey, a classic comedy by Mary Chase, was directed by drama teacher Daniel Taylor and featured Micah Ruland as Myrtle Mae, Melissa Harwell as Veta Louise, Michael Beck as Elwood P. Dowd, Felicia Hicks as Mrs. Chauvenet, Tanisha Leroy ar Nurse Kelly, Robert Meadows as Dr. Sanderson, Paul Heyduck as Dr. Chumley, Jaz Grant as Wilson, Courtney Shirley as Betty Chumley and Briana Smith as Judge Gaffney. Hillary Green was an alternate and Sarah Pessink, Jennifer Clark, Barry Saylor and Mark Farmer served on the crew. They all did a great job!

Several students deserve special mention. Tanisha Leroy joined the cast two weeks before the performance, replacing an actress who had to drop out. Tanisha gave a very polished performance in spite of only have a short time to prepare. Jaz Grant also joined the cast late, replacing another actor. He received an Honorable Mention medal for his performance! Micah Ruland was the only student from any school to receive a medal for set direction! Sarah Pessink received a medal for lighting, and Paul Heyduck and Michael Beck received All-Star Cast medals. Robert Meadows was acting on a sore foot, after having surgery less than a week before contest.

Mr. Taylor says they hope to do a performance for the home audience sometime in the next few weeks.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Need for Mentors in Pittsburg and Mount Pleasant

Today's Rotary Club speaker, Tim Wilson, is director of the Children of Promise mentoring initiative, a component of Communities in Schools. Based at Northeast Texas Community College, Wilson is working to raise up mentors for children whose parents are in jail. He estimates that about 2 million children in America have a parent in prison. The present effects on the kids - not to mention the increased likelihood they will themselves be incarcerated later in life - are devastating. He's looking for mentors who will commit to spending an hour a week with a child for a year. He says the hour a week is flexible - but the year commitment is not: these kids have seen too many adults make promises and then drop out of their lives.

The requirements for being a mentor include:
  • At least 21
  • Agree to a one year commitment
  • Commit to spending a minimum of an hour a week with the mentee
  • Have access to an automobile
  • Have a current driver's license, auto insurance, and a good driving record
  • Have a clean criminal history
  • Have never been arrested, charged, or convicted of child abuse, neglect, or molestation
  • Not be a convicted felon
  • Not be a user of illicit drugs
  • Be willing to adhere to all CIS policies and procedures
Wilson says the need in Pittsburg and Mount Pleasant is dire. They have at least 40 children that need placement. For more information you can contact Tim Wilson at TWilson@ntcc.edu or 903-434-8212.

Friday, September 30, 2005

Fellowship group for evacuees

A Bible and Prayer Fellowship is offered especially for those affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina on Monday's at 10:00am at the offfice of the Ministerial Alliance at 120 W. Third at Madison in Mt. Pleasant. "Our aim will be to listen together to God's Word and to share our understanding of God's Presence and His will in this moment of our lives," says Kathleen Koecher, organizer of the fellowship. "This is not intended to be a teaching, but rather a listening to what God has to say to us now. Our fellowship will be a fellowship of caring and support," says Mrs. Koecher. The readings will be from the Old Testament, including Psalms, and the Epistles and Gospel from the New Testament. All are welcome
The Ministerial Alliance office is on the corner of Third and Madison, one block north of the square in Mt. Pleasant. For further information please call Kathleen Koecher, 903 572-6740.

Continued needs in Winnsboro

Some folks from First United Methodist Church in Pittsburg took food to the evacuee shelter in Winnsboro wednesday evening. Casie Yantis reports that they have a continuing need for help with food over there. If you or your group can help with any meal - breakfast, lunch or dinner - contact Dayne Redding at 903-342-3862.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Wednesday Update

KLTV ran a story last night on a family they identified as living in Camp County and was reporting that this family could get no help. They had applied for food stamps but had not asked for any food assistance from the community council or anyone else that I can find. Had they asked, they would have been helped. Not only have we been providing shelter to those coming in but we have been providing food from both the community council as well as Emmanuel’s food pantries. The food has been provided to folks both inside and outside of Camp County. The money raised and in the account at Pilgrim bank has been used to pay for medications as well as buying fuel for an ambulance that was transferring patients to ETMC.

I contacted KLTV and asked for the contact information for this family; they would not give it to me but said they would give them our contact information. I told the reporter that I believed this story painted our community in an unfair light and that they needed to do a follow up on all that everyone has done during this event.

Now to update

  • The evacuees staying at the First United Methodist Church were able to go home yesterday, we closed this shelter
  • We received 13 more people from the Vidor area into the shelter at Emmanuel last night, they had seven dogs and the Vet clinic provided cages and other supplies to support these folks
  • There are special needs folks staying in the Pittsburg Nursing Center, South Wind Assisted Living Center, and ETMC has received patients from the impacted area
  • The Food pantries have been providing food for people living in the County as well as some staying at Bob Sandlin State Park
  • Bob Sandlin said they only have 30 evacuees at the park, the local Brownie Troop took some gift cards to these folks
  • The hurricane relief fund that the Chamber of Commerce has set up at Pilgrim bank has been used to buy medicines for evacuees and to refuel an ambulance making transfers to ETMC Pittsburg, we need to get this fund up some as there will be more call for financial aid before this is over.
Martin A. Pessink
Chief of Police
Pittsburg Police Department

Additional comments from Richard Heyduck:
The needs will be with us for a while. First United Methodist is helping with the feeding of evacuees in Winnsboro tonight. They've had folks since Katrina, so they've been longer term than others. Since Emmanuel's shelter is till open, it may be worthwhile to check with them and see what support that need from the community.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Monday Update

  • The Sate and Federal operations are working to provide aid to the impacted areas. They are airlifting in food, water and other supplies.
  • Interstate 45 is open back into Houston and there should be fuel available along this route. Hwy. 59 was closed below lake Livingston but is now open, the reliability of fuel along this route is questionable. The State highways closer to the Texas/LA border (69-96-87) are for the most part impassable and there is probably no fuel available as they are having to either airlift or truck supplies in for the rescue operations and generators to get water systems back on line.
  • Areas north and west of IH 45 and IH 10 were opened for re-entry yesterday. Areas south and west of IH45 and IH10 were open today. Areas east of IH 45 and north of IH 10 will be open tomorrow but limited to Liberty and Montgomery counties. Other impact zone areas will not be open for re-entry for at least 5-7 days. There is a re-entry map at http://www.dot.state.tx.us/hcr/goinghome/
  • Locally- About 20 folks left Emmanuel and went home to Houston, there are 32 people left from the Port Arthur area and they may be with us a while longer. There are 25 people at the First United Methodist Church from the Baytown area and they should be able to go home Tuesday or Wednesday. The people who were at the First Baptist Church were from Conroe and were able to go home yesterday; we will not re-open here unless some emergency situation dictates doing so.
  • FEMA is set up now to provide financial assistance to evacuees but the must be registered to do so. This may be done by going on-line at www.fema.gov or by calling 1-800-621-3362
  • Unless there is significant information to pass along I will not be sending further posts on a routine basis. I want to again thank everyone who has been working during this event to help.

Martin A. Pessink
Chief of Police
Pittsburg Police Department

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Noon Saturday Update

  • State is in full gear with response to impact areas.
  • No news yet on re-entry to coastal yet. The priority is search and rescue as well as supplies to affected areas. They have worked with fuel producers so they can get folks back in.
  • I updated the Tyler emergency ops center with our shelter status and they have not asked for further assistance.
  • The rain and winds that we are receiving now is what the National Weather Service has told us to expect through tomorrow. There have already been tree/limbs down in the County and a few in the City. Crews are working to clear that now.
  • If some are reading the forecasts from the national weather service and concerned because Camp is listed in the header don’t be, these are all of the counties in the Shreveport reporting area. The most severe weather will be sustained about 100 miles south of here and then east into LA. There will be stronger winds around the Longview and Marshall areas. I know there are still concerns about Tornados locally. This IS NOT predicted for our area.

Martin A. Pessink
Chief of Police
Pittsburg Police Department

Rita's Path


Rita's projected path (and time-table) have changed considerably in the past 24 hours.

Friday night update

  • Weather predictions for our area have not changed
  • The State already has search and rescue teams pre deployed to the Astrodome to respond to the impact area. Food, water, ice etc will be en route to the impact zone Saturday
  • Task force of TXDOT-DPS-Ntl Guard, and DOD will be deployed Saturday morning to clear roadways
  • The State has coordinated with the gasoline producers to ensure supplies are available for reentry

LOCAL
  • Evacuees are in shelters at Emmanuel, First Baptist and the Methodist Church. Other churches are supporting these as well as other volunteers. If there are evacuees that need shelter please tell people to coordinate that with me. We have had some instances of people working outside the system and not associated with the shelters here trying to send evacuees in when we already had folks on the way and this causes problems.
  • At 9pm I called Mt. Pleasant PD and was told there was still space available there as well. MPPD is point of contact 903-575-4004
  • Again, although the weather is supposed to be moderate for our area we will continue to monitor the situation.

Martin A. Pessink
Chief of Police
Pittsburg Police Department