Thorndale

The Thorndale Area Chamber of Commerce will have Meet the Candidates Tuesday, March 26, at 7 p.m. in the Chamber Building.   

Early voting begins April 26. This will be your opportunity to ask questions of the candidates.  

Those on the City Ballot are George Galbreath for Mayor unopposed; for City Council positions - Ashleigh Moehling, Gerald Niemtschk, and Jared Melde along with Stephanie Churchman who is seeking re-election.

By Jeni Anders, Thorndale ISD

On the evening of Jan. 23, 2019, the Thorndale High School Shattered Dreams participating students gathered at Thorndale City Park to have a mock pasture party, then went to McLane’s Children’s Hospital in Texas for a presentation and watch a mock trauma scene with their fellow school mates.  The parents of the students meet at the Fireman’s hall to take part in alcohol and drug related activities brought to Thorndale by Baylor Scott & White Hill Crest Medical RED program, Dan Worley and Tasha Whitaker.  Participating Students and parents concluded the evening with letters, they wrote to each other. The letters explain how they would feel if they were gone tomorrow if they were killed in a drinking and driving accident. 

Thorndale High School crowned its 2018 Homecoming royalty last Friday night. King and Queen were Elise Biar and Sam Reaves.

Thorndale Police Chief Martin Jackson submitted a letter of resignation to the Thorndale City Council on Sept. 24 and the council accepted during a meeting the same day.

Jackson will retire effective Oct. 3.

The following is a letter from Jackson to the citizens of Thorndale:

Greetings,

Just over five years ago, I took over as your Chief of Police. My goal for our department was to bring a more modern, professional police department of integrity, honesty and community service to Thorndale. 

Many of the duties we perform are not police related at all. In fact, many of the calls are for a variety of services to our community. Our goal is to provide service above and beyond the basic police duties. Hopefully, you have noticed many positive changes in your police department. 

Thorndale students returned to school this week with a new program for protection on the campus.

Thorndale ISD’s board of trustees voted in June to create a School Guardian program. 

Superintendent Adam Ivy said they did not make this decision lightly or without much consideration. “After research and community feedback, they decided on a course of action including training requirements, personnel, signage, etc.,” he said. “With nearly 400 community responses to our survey, 94 percent of respondents were in favor of this program.”

Ivy said the staff members selected went through an extensive training program and will continue ongoing training and practice throughout the year. Their identity, along with details of the program will be kept confidential to protect the integrity of the program. 

The Thorndale ISD Board of Trustees recognized a group of business and community partners for their service to Thorndale ISD during its meeting July 16. 

Superintendent Adam Ivy explained that the district had submitted these names to the business recognition program through the Texas Association of School Boards and that each business or community organization would receive a thank you packet in the mail. He said without the community and business partners many of the things the district does for students would not be possible.  

The 28th Annual Thorndale Volunteer Fire Department BBQ Cook-off and Thorndale Revue was held on June 22-24.

Ashton Kiesling was crowned Miss Thorndale. Lauren Newton was named runner up. Other winners were: Junior Miss Thorndale was Natalie Newton; Junior Miss was Ella Hillman; Little Miss was Kacie Newton; Tiny Miss was Madelynn Beecham and runner up was Ari Kornokovich; Miss Toddler was Lillie Beardsley and runner up was Teagan Morton.

Results of the BBQ Cook-off were:

A weekend of fun in Thorndale kicks off tonight when a new Miss Thorndale is crowned at the Thorndale Revue.

Four young ladies will compete for the title at 7 p.m. in the Thorndale ISD cafeteria. Madilynn Scruggs, Ashton Kiesling, Lauren Newton and Madilyn Paulette Morton will compete for Miss Thorndale.

Friday night will see the start of the annual Thorndale VFD BBQ Cook-Off with a performance by Kevin Fowler with TUB opening from 8 p.m. to midnight. The Fireman’s Softball Tournament will also take place along with fireworks at 9:30 p.m.

Saturday will bring arts and crafts, horseshoe tournaments, 42 tournament, washer pitching and opening ceremonies presenting Miss Thorndale and her court at 11:30 a.m. 

The Thorndale Chamber of Commerce held its annual Awards Open House on May 10 honoring outstanding community members. Those honored were, from left, Farmer of the Year Darren Biar, Business Person of the Year Ann Glenn, Agribusiness Person of the Year Sandy Nordhausen, Elementary Student of the Year Kenlyn Talley, Citizen of the Year Moses Hinostrosa (represented by his parents), scholarship winner Logan O’Campo, and scholarship winner and High School Student of the Year Ashleigh Paulson. Not pictured is Kinley Meadors who was honored as Intermediate Student of the Year.

There will be a slate of new faces on Thorndale City Council following Saturday’s election, and voters once again turned down Thorndale ISD’s efforts for new facilities.

Voters elected newcomers Wayne Green and Steven Zuehlke to City Council, along with former mayor Allen Hejl. Zuelke led all votes with 30.22 percent of the vote, Green followed with 23.26 percent of the vote and Hejl won 17.32 percent of the vote. Remaining candidates Sam Pickett and Ashleigh Moehling received 15.45 percent and 13.75 percent of the vote respectively.

George Galbreath Jr. was elected mayor, garnering 58.33 percent of the vote to Mara McDowell’s 41.67 percent.

Thorndale ISD

TISD voters elected Ann Glenn and Adam Fisher to the school board. Glenn won 41.82 percent of the vote, Fisher won 29.87 percent of the vote, and challenger Trey Gilchrist won 28.32 percent of the vote.