By Phillip Williams
Upshur County Commissioners Court last week approved seeking two grants from the state’s Criminal Justice Division to continue funding certain programs in District Attorney Billy Byrd’s office.
In separate votes March 31, the court authorized requesting funds for the county’s Family Violence Intervention Program Project and the Victim Services Project.
The proposed family violence-related grant is 70% of the project cost–$77,017–with the county adding $33,007 as its 30% matching share of the $110,025 cost, County Auditor Connie Williams said after the meeting.
The proposed victim services grant of $56,742 would fund 80% of that $70,928 program, with the county providing $14,186 in matching funds, she added.
The family violence matter involves funding for Assistant District Attorney Mike Northcutt, the designated prosecutor for such cases. Yecenia Vargas is the victim services coordinator.
In other business at its meeting in Gilmer, the court heard Precinct 1 Commissioner Gene Dolle report that the county’s recent first tire disposal day was “very successful” with 799 tires weighing a collective 3,280 pounds being abandoned.
They included 704 auto and 95 pickup tires, said Dolle. Several of them came from the county’s Road and Bridge Department, which had collected them from locales on county right-of-way and cars from the sheriff’s office, not private property, he said after the meeting.
Dolle has said the disposal day, held at the county’s pugmill site in Pritchett community, resulted from tires creating a hazard by being dumped on roadsides and in ditches. They can accumulate water, possibly breeding mosquitoes, rats and snakes, he added.
He said Monday the March 22 disposal day was funded by a grant from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality funneled through the East Texas Council of Governments.
In other business, the court, in separate votes, approved County Extension Agent Julie York’s request to attend two out-of-state conferences.
She and Upshur 4-H Club volunteer worker Lisa East have been asked to be presenters at the Outdoor Adventure Camp at the Oklahoma 4-H Volunteer Conference June 27-28.
They will also be presenters on the Upshur County and Texas Sportfishing project at the Southern Region 4-H Volunteer Conference scheduled Oct. 2-5 in Eatonton, Georgia.
The court also approved proclaiming April as Child Abuse and Awareness Prevention Month, and allowing signs promoting that to be posted in county-owned buildings.
Northcutt read the proclamation to the court, and representatives of several child-related agencies, such as Court Appointed Special Advocates, were in attendance.
Among several other actions last week, the court also:
l Approved trading 20 used handguns for 20 new ones for sheriff’s deputies through GT Distributors.
l Accepted for recording the racial profiling report for Precinct 2 Constable Jason Weeks, which Tefteller said showed no problems.
l Accepted for recording the plat for Clear Creek Subdivision.