Methodist Church packs calendar

Richards United Methodist Church has been quietly rebuilding, planning, and packing their 2022 calendar with events to reach everyone in the Richards Community. The group has focused a lot of their services and events on reaching families in the area-recognizing that growth must start with the youth of the community, while strong family ties are important.

This year Richards UMC will begin with the Diane Keisler Memorial on Feb. 5, their annual Steak Dinner for Sweethearts is Feb. 13, Ash Wednesday services starting at 6:30 p.m. on March 2, their popular Easter plans for April with programs on April 3- Annual Spring Concert, the weekend of April 10- will feature their annual egg hunt and pizza lunch. With Pastor Ben Tibbs directing the congregation and Nikki Haynie assisting as the Director, Richards UMC is showing some hard work in planning events for our community.

Ballot by Mail deadlineswith the 2022 Primary Election inching closer by the week, remember if you plan on voting by mail in 2022 you must renew your Application for Ballot by Mail. If you would like to receive a ballot for the Primary Election you must submit a new application by Feb. 18. This year the Primary will begin with early voting Feb. 14 - 25 and Election Day on Tuesday, March 1. Grimes County will have both local and statewide races as well as propositions from the Republican Party on the ballot.

Richards Volunteer Fire Department spent last week attending the annual Grimes County Emergency planning meeting. The EMC depends on input from local VFDs as well as response groups from the area to ensure that emergency services meet the needs for our county. RVFD participates, provides input, and spends their weekly in-house trainings putting services to practice. Our local VFD takes information from these meetings to ensure the fire department team is trained and up to date.

Be on the lookout for notices coming from the National Forest Service - the notices are real and will contain both a letter and yellow pamphlet notifying you of their stop. The forest service performs prescribed burns yearly and will begin notifying residents of potential burn cycles starting this year. While a burn cycle for our area could be anytime between January and May 2022, the National Forest Service may change dates depending on wind, and weather patterns.

Starting in the 1940s prescribed burns were documented and planned by foresters, however planned burns like this were thought to have originated by Native Americans and early European settlers. Usually used to improve agriculture utilized lands, the burns are now utilized to ensure a safe and healthy forest area for residents, visitors, and animals in the area. While the notices aren’t new-the NFS will be working to ensure more residents are notified. For more information you can locate their burn map at www.fs.usda.gov search prescribed burn or Find a Forest.

Congratulations to Noah Bay for scoring 1,000 points as a varsity basketball player for the Richards ISD Panthers. The boys currently have a 3-4 district record and are ranked sixth in their district, while varsity girls are 2-4, also ranked sixth in the district.

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