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While out in the woods near my home recently, I heard a distant rifle shot which triggered the gobble of a wild turkey only a few yards back in the brush. I was packing in some corn to a feeder I have set up for hogs but when I heard the gobble I forgot all about wild porkers and quietly slipped out of the woods in hopes of calling the bird in for photos.

With severe storms in the forecast, members of the Community Organizations Active in Disaster (Lamar County/Red River County COAD) assessed the group’s response to recent tornadoes and made plans for future weather event coordination at a Wednesday afternoon meeting at United Way of Lamar County headquarters, 2340 Lamar Ave.

The third of four productions in Paris Junior College Drama’s 2022-2023 Weird Science Season is “Silent Sky” by Lauren Gunderson. The play opens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Ray E. Karrer Theater, and repeats at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 24-25 and at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 26.

The area is under a National Weather Service Winter storm warning through 6 a. m, on Thrusday. Travel is hazardous despite road treatments. Dangerous travel conditions will continue into early Thursday morning. Roads may become nearly impassible and bridges and overpasses will remain icy.

The 2023 spring severe weather season is not too far away, and the National Weather Service and local public safety officials want everyone to be ready. The National Weather Service Office out of Fort Worth will conduct a free severe weather training class for Lamar County from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday at the Paris Police Department. Officially called the Skywarn Storm Spotter Class, the program will be held in partnership with the City of Paris. There is no cost to attend this class, and no registration is required.

The Red River Valley Homeless Coalition will conduct a Point-In-Time homeless count in Lamar County on Jan. 27, according to coalition president Shelly Braziel.

As a young boy, I read about fishing up in remote lakes up in northern Saskatchewan for big northern pike, walleye and arctic grayling. I’d read all about the shore lunches, the cry of the loon and battles with big northern pike. Several years ago, I experienced Canadian wilderness fishing for the first time and since then have made several return trips.

The column I write is named “The Candle” after a book by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan titled “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.” Sagan was a fantastic author and science educator. I was recently reminded of another book he wrote, “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,” as I stared at images recently sent back from the Orion capsule.

In last week’s column, I used a good bit of space in this awesome publication elaborating on just how important the opener of deer season is here in Texas. The opener has come and gone for the almost two million deer hunters in Texas and we all have our stories. Many will be reliving the experience of once again spending a couple days living the hunter’s lifestyle in the wilds for months to come. Others will be busy after work this week putting venison steaks and roast in their freezer. Some were fortunate to harvest that wall hanger buck of their dreams and many connected with their trophy in the form of a spike buck or doe for the freezer.

More than 200 people gathered at Love Civic Center on Sunday afternoon to pay respect to those who have served to protect freedom during an annual celebration on the weekend leading to Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

AUSTIN, Texas  — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decisively won a third term Tuesday night, defeating Democrat Beto O’Rourke in a midterm race that tested the direction of America’s supersized red state following the Uvalde school massacre and a strict new abortion ban.