June 2025

The Annual Juneteenth Community Celebration in Wills Point is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The TACAS (Tailwind Airpark Community Aviation Scholarship) Award Ceremony took place under sunny skies at Thompson Field June 7, an airport located just four miles north of Canton (690 VZCR 3119) known for its welcoming atmosphere and community spirit.

According to Van Zandt County Criminal District Attorney Tonda Curry, the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the developers of a lithium battery storage facility being built south of Canton has been extended through Wednesday, June 18 by VZC District Judge Chris Martin of the 294th Judicial District.

susan@vanzandtnews.com Residents of Ben Wheeler participated in the Grand Opening of the Three Finger Apothecary Shoppe, a new holistic health store located at 3460 VZCR 4907. The event took place on May 31, and featured a comeand- go ‘Meet and Greet’ where visitors can sample snacks and explore the shop’s extensive offerings.

Hope Center Touch-A-Truck Fundraiser.

The schedule of activities for the 2025 Summer Reading Program were recently released by the Van Zandt County/Sarah Norman Library in Canton. The Summer Reading Program opened with a Kickoff Party June 3 with program activities continuing through Friday, July 25.

This past week was a good one for your old outdoor scribe. I’ve enjoyed some red hot catfish catching, spent time setting up a corn feeder on my little place in hopes of keeping a sounder of hog from ripping my heavily laden pear tree apart and wrapped things up with a trip to Nacogdoches for a deer hunting show presented by the East Texas Chapter of the Dallas Safari Club. So come along, let me recap the week, I think you might enjoy backtracking my trail with me. FIRST THE HOGS Let’s begin with the hogs. I live about a quarter mile from some remote bottomland that connects to a 15,000 ranch on one side and a 2,000 acre wetland on the other. It seems most of my good friends own tracts of land they often refer to as ‘My little place”, most of which I have the pleasure of spending time on hunting and fishing on. These ‘little places’ are tracts of land ranging from 45 acres up to over a thousand. Not exactly little in my estimation. Now I live on a bit less than 4 acres and thanks to a thick strip of woods along the property line and the ability of wild hogs to smell pears from a great distance, I too now have “My little place” on which to hunt, well sort of! Let me explain.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is planning to conduct the following construction and maintenance work in Van Zandt County during the week of June 9. Please remember, work schedules are subject to change due to weather conditions, equipment failure, or other unforeseen issues.

This season, I was truly blessed to coach in the United Football League (UFL) with the San Antonio Brahmas, serving alongside Payton Pardee in his first head coaching role. Coaching at the professional level, with such a passionate and resilient group of athletes and staff was a privilege I will always treasure.

The Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office released the following arrest report from May 27 through Jun 4, 2025. Kristen Danette Archer-Stearns, 30 Canton, Public Order Crimes Class C.