Year in Review 2024

The Journal-Sun has done its best to be the informational resource and historical record for Cass County in 2024. Every year we take a few minutes to look back at the biggest stories of 2024 broken into two weeks. This year’s top story continues to be Lithium. The potential regional impact it could have on Cass County and the Ark-La-Tex might positively impact this area for at least the next 20 years once the process begins. It could help grow and strengthen the area’s businesses and increase the amount of good-paying jobs in the area.

There is so much more to unpack in the year to come including any ecological impact. The next big story was the HD1 race that ended in a runoff with local businessman Chris Spencer and eventually elected Gary VanDeaver for another term. Lastly, the need for rural broadband continues to be vital to the growth of this community as the world moves into a digital age.

- Librarian Kendra Harrell with Atlanta Public Library continued to devise innovative ways to teach and connect with the community. The Spice Society program was a new free “Spice of the Month Club” program introduced

- A worker at a local grocery store tragically lost his life while placing groceries in a customer’s vehicle. According to reports, Larry Lawrence, 39, of Queen City was shot when a loaded rifle discharged in the backseat and killed the employee. The owner of Crumps, Chris Spencer, reported the sad news on Facebook saying that the customer’s dog accidentally stepped on the loaded gun.

- A Cass County grand jury decided not to prosecute the owner of the rifle that caused the death of a Queen City man – Crumps Grocery worker. District Attorney said “a case for criminally negligent homicide was (originally) brought against the rifle owner and the grand jury chose not to bring an indictment. Shelton added that based on the grand jury’s vote and the wishes of Lawrence’s family, her office will not be pursuing charges in this case.” KETK - A Cass County resident was one of 10 to receive part of 1.6 million dollars in grants from the USDA for green energy projects. Jennifer Hamilton, a sole proprietor, used her $67,000 grant to purchase and install a combined 79.2 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic solar system at two poultry farms. The arrays are placed outside of Douglasville and Atlanta, Texas, and in rural Cass County, Texas.

- According to the website Niche, Cass County was a quality place to live. Receiving a B ranking, Niche identified the cost of living as the best part of Cass County, with jobs, nightlife and commute as its biggest challenges. The rankings were based on a scholastic report card methodology with an A to D rating with no F’s.

A chill began to blow in on Saturday, January 13, 2024, with a recorded low of a freezing 23 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest recorded temperature for the week came on January 14, with the high just barely bumping 59 degrees for a short time. On January 15, precipitation was .19 degrees, with a half inch of snowfall accumulated over the night into the 16th.By Friday,January 19, the low was a frigid 10 degrees.The freezing temperatures, along with the precipitation, caused streets to freeze up, making it nearly impossible to drive, which in turn caused closures around the community.

- Every two years, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) realignment process can be an exciting time for fans, players, and coaches, or it can be a total nightmare travel-wise. On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the UIL released the new district realignments for football, basketball, and volleyball for the years 2024- 2026.

- In 2023, the City of Linden partnered with Kopke & Associates Incorporated to generate a utility rate study for the Linden water and sewer systems.

- As the race heated up, so did the similarities and differences between the three candidates vying for the House District 1 seat (HD1). All three contenders agreed that securing the border was a big deal but had different opinions about school choice/public funding options for private education. The issue came to a head when some Republicans opposed Governor Abbot’s initiatives on school choice. Leaving some candidates at odds with his educational goals. Gary VanDeaver opposed the governor’s initiative, with the other two candidates supporting it.

- Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), Chapter 416, presented the Greenville, TX, L3Harris SERVE (Serving Emergency Responders & Veterans Engagement) employee resource group the award for Texas AFA ‘Organization of the Year.’ SERVE was part of the Linden, TX, February 4, 2023, Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War, and SSgt John Rucker event.

- SERVE provided posters and people who attended and worked the event, along with the Texoma AFA Team. “SERVE has been a key partner and has helped in numerous events, along with other employees at L3Harris,” said Vance Clarke, CMSgt, USAF (ret), President of AFA Chapter 416. “Being the emcee at the Linden event was a highlight of my life,” continued Clarke.

- The entire Texoma team did a great job of hosting a touching commemoration, and it was such a joy to recognize the Vietnam Veteran’s and remember the service of Linden, TX, native, John O’Neal Rucker. AFA416 visited Cass County in August of 2023 and presented Community Partner plaques to Bob’s Printing, Atlanta, TX, to Cass County Judge, Travis Ransom, and to Olde 1852 Market, Linden, TX, owner JoAnn Duncan, who all played a part in the February 4th commemoration as well.

- Project Lifesaver, a program which provides an emergency location service for at-risk patients with cognitive disorders, was offered by the Alzheimer’s Alliance Tri State to Cass County residents after a motion to approve this service was made in Commissioner’s Court on Tuesday, February 27.

- A search warrant led to the arrest of an Atlanta resident who was allegedly found with more than $1 million in stolen items. William Joshua Thompson, 43, was arrested and booked into the Cass County Jail for theft of property over $300,000, a first-degree felony. Thompson was also charged with the following: Possession of a controlled substance 1<4G Possession of a controlled substance PG 3 <28G according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the warrant was executed Monday, following a multi-agency investigation in Cass County.

- On March 6, 2024, the Wake Village Police Department announced the arrest of Atlanta resident Russell Soule, 33, in connection with the 2017 homicide of 31-year-old Lindsey Torres. The incident occurred on September 15, 2017, in Wake Village, Texas, near Texarkana at the Westwood Apartments in the 100 block of Redwater Road.

- Officers responded to reports of an unresponsive woman. Police stated that Torres and Soule were residing together in an apartment within the complex. The autopsy revealed Torres’s cause of death as drowning and other injuries. The exact manner of death could not be determined. On March 5, 2024, investigators obtained information that implicated Soule in Torres’ death.

- An arrest warrant was granted and Soule was arrested in Atlanta, then transported to the Cass County jail. The following day, Soule was transported to Bowie County and booked into the Bi-State Jail.

- Atlanta ISD hosted an open house at the high school campus on Mar. 15, for members of the community to come see its state-of-the-art Career and Technical Education (CTE) building and both state-of-the-art ball fields. Plans for this project began long ago and were finalized last year by the school board and put into action. The CTE building features Audio/Video Production (audio/ video studio), Culinary Arts (with an industrial kitchen) and Health Science Technology (with health science lab) programs. There are also extra classrooms, offices and a classroom for video editing. Students and educators were available to give guests a tour of the building and ball fields, and the Culinary Department provided cookies and lemonade. Rep Gary VanDeaver was there to take the tour.

- Sheriff Larry Rowe was one of 100 sheriffs to sign a letter in support of a letter to Governor Abbott from the Sheriff ’s Association of Texas to secure the border. The emphasis of the letter was a plea to prevent the flow of potential human traffickers, drug dealers, and gang members.

After the election was concluded on March 5th, 2024, there was no winner for House District 1; the district was then headed for a run-off.Three candidates were vying for the seat that Gary VanDeaver has held since 2015. For a winner to be named, a candidate must have reached 50% plus one.When the votes were tallied, 45.5% of the vote went to VanDeaver,43.1% went to Chris Spencer and 11.4% voted for Dale Hul, moving the race to a run-off.

- Former Atlanta Citizens Journal/Cass County Sun owner Randy Grissom announced that he would be making a pilgrimage across parts of Europe.

APRIL

- Community Services of Northeast Texas, which many people in the area use for need-based services like help paying electric bills, Head Start and Veterans assistance recently came together for a Bridge Builders event.

- CNST, in collaboration with the Texas Association of Community Action Agencies (TACAA) along with Jason Sabo, Frontera Strategy met together to amplify the voices of the Cass and Marion County communities, empowering them to shape their future directly.

- People from the community were invited to have their voices heard. On the morning of March 27, 2024, almost 30 citizens of Cass and Marion County came together to discuss community challenges and offer concrete and practical solutions. Convened by Community Services of Northeast Texas, Inc., the meeting gave community members a chance to put forward specific and actionable suggestions to improve the region and do business.

- The cultural, economic and governmental heart of Linden was our downtown. In 2017, the City of Linden joined the Texas Main Street Program which assisted with the development of a downtown master plan. Several components were implemented, special decorative Main Street signage, murals, events, providing flowers/ plants on the sidewalks in planters and a TDA downtown grant (which Main Street cities receive preferential treatment for grant award) to improve sidewalks and Rush Street.

- Several people had watch parties around the area in anticipation of the Solar Eclipse. In 2024 Cass County was on the edge of a total Solar Eclipse that wouldn’t happen for another 20 years. According to NASA, the April 8, 2024, eclipse was a total solar eclipse that wouldn’t be seen again in the contiguous United States until 2044. Unfortunately, the cloud cover prevented many In Cass County from missing the total eclipse, though the partial was seen intermittently. In Atlanta, there was an expected 99.93% of totality. Just outside of Cass County, less than an hour away, area towns were expected 100%.

- On Monday afternoon, April 8, the Linden Kildare ISD Board of Trustees announced in a press release that the Linden Kildare ISD Board of Trustees was “pleased to announce that Mr. Rex Burks has been named Interim Superintendent of Schools.”

Atlanta resident Pam Kirby Thompson appeared on Wheel of Fortune on Monday, April 8. Thompson announced her appearance on Facebook before the event. “Spin this!!! So ... I’ve been sitting on this since February. I started the live audition process for WOF back in August and September. They picked me, and in February, I went out to Sony Studios in LA to film! (Angie and Roni went with me ... so they can keep a secret, too) DON’T ASK IF I WON ANYTHING, CAN’T TELL.Y’all can watch me on Monday, April 8 (same day as eclipse) if ya wanna!” Unfortunately,Thompson did not win and the episode itself received fierce backlash from fans because of the ambiguous puzzles. Hometown fans were impressed with Brittanie Lowery giving congratulations on Facebook.“Great job Pam! So fun to watch!!”Linda Manley said,“Congratulations, Pam...you represented Atlanta, Texas well!” Cindy Calloway noted that “She played a great game and still came home with plenty of $$.”

MAY

- (May 16, 2024) — Spectrum today announced construction was underway on several fiber-optic network expansion projects that would ultimately deliver multi-gigabit speed internet and other Spectrum services to more than 5,000 homes and small businesses in Cass County. Spectrum, the #1 rural internet provider in the nation, joined Cass County Judge Travis Ransom that day, marking the company’s investment to bring broadband to rural communities throughout the state of Texas – with the vast majority of expansion happening in East Texas, one of the most underserved regions in the nation.

- Atlanta Texas Police Chief Greg Restelle confirmed that Atlanta police, and other authorities, are investigating a fatal shooting on Grigsby Street. The family of the victim identified him as DeVatae Robinson, 25, of Atlanta, Texas. Two people are now in custody in connection with the shooting death of Robinson.

- On July 11th, 2023 the Linden City Council unanimously approved issuing $6 million for the street certificate of obligation bond debt. Since then, Linden has been working on the process of repairing the streets. City Manager Lee Elliott said Phase 2 was now in motion. “After many months of generating engineering drawings and accepting and awarding bids, phase two of the street bonds is rapidly in motion! The majority of the current work is transpiring in the residential areas concentrated in the central and northwest portions of our community.” Asphalt was being put down after extensive drainage and base improvements.

JUNE

- Incumbent Gary Van Deaver won the run-off election for House District 1 on Tuesday, May 28, defeating local businessman Chris Spencer. In what will go down as one of the most contentious, most expensive races in our area, VanDeaver won the highly contested race with a total vote of 11,690 to Spencer’s 10,163, with VanDeaver receiving 53.5 percent of the total vote. State Representative VanDeaver was first elected in 2014 and has been re-elected by his district five times, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and now in 2024.

- Cass County Judge Travis Ransom issued a disaster declaration for Cass County, Texas after it “suffered and continues to suffer widespread severe damage and loss of property resulting from severe weather beginning on the 8th day of May 2024 and continuing to the present which produced heavy rain, damaging winds, hail, and straightline winds/tornadic activity damaging numerous public and private structures and placing thousands of residents without electricity for multiple days.”

- At approximately 9 p.m. on Friday June 14, shots rang out in Cass County over the weekend leaving multiple injured and one dead. Initial reports were that there were two gunshot victims, one being shot in the head and the other sustaining gunshot wounds to the chest area. It was later revealed that there was a third gunshot victim and four individuals in total were present at the time of the shooting.

- Saturday at 9:21 a.m. the corporate office of Brookshire’s informed Atlanta P.D. of a bomb threat that had been sent in through their main office. Out of safety, Brookshire’s reached out to the Atlanta Police Department to make them aware of the threat, said Atlanta Police Chief Greg Restelle. They then closed the store, and surrounding establishments were made aware. Restelle said they thoroughly searched the area and had the bomb squad on standby to “make sure everyone was safe”. After the store was thoroughly searched Brookshire’s was reopened.

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