Former Canadian Wildcat quarterback and West Texas A&M University freshman Joshua Culwell delivers a pass during fall workouts in Canyon PHOTO BY BEN JENKINS.

The back-to-school mood for kids in my town is joyous! The elementary students have new shoes, new clothes, new backpacks, and new school supplies. They are brimming with excitement. Middle school and high school students have new haircuts in addition to new duds.

Canadian/Hemphill County EDC President Remelle Farrar prefaced a funding request to the county commissioners Monday morning with what she later admitted sounded a lot like a sermon, though that wasn’t what she intended. But Farrar held the floor, and had an attentive audience, as she explained the EDC’s new recruitment, relocation, and retention plan.

The Hemphill County Hospital Board conducted a budget workshop during a called session on Aug. 3, and heard from a concerned citizen during the public comment agenda item. Bill Lehman spoke, asking for a show of hands from the board members of those who had seen the new Mesa View Senior Living facility recently. “More of you need to go,” he said, adding that he felt they had “totally failed” on the landscaping at the facility. “It’s atrocious.”