Chief Robbie Barrett of the DeKalb Volunteer Fire Department started a fundraiser after seeing a need for Breast Cancer awareness in his community. Through his efforts, the VFD was able to make a difference in the life of two local women, Lea Anna McKinnie and Melisha Lamb, amidst their fight with Breast Cancer. “I retired as a system chief from Red River Army Depot Fire Department, and in the past years, our union sold breast cancer awareness shirts to keep the awareness of what’s going on,” said Barrett. “In 2021 at the Oktoberfest I noticed that there was nothing said. Breast cancer was not even mentioned because of the COVID stuff.” “Breast cancer is still an issue and a problem nationwide and in our area also,” said Barrett. “So I told the guys here at the DeKalb fire department next year we’re going to sell breast cancer awareness shirts and we’re going to get it back to where it’s a topic that people think about.” “Wendy LaVergne at Ms. Kay’s Designs here in DeKalb made our shirts.,” said Barrett. “We came up with a pattern and she printed 300 shirts.”

Taylor Parker is literally fighting for her life. The punishment phase began this week for the Simms woman convicted of capital murder in the slaying of Reagan Hancock and the forcible removal and kidnapping of her unborn child, Braxlynn Sage Hancock in October 2020. Parker was noticeably more animated, writing notes and whispering to her defense team throughout the two days of testimony.

Halloween Carnivals Kick off spooky season

Austin Chapel Missionary Baptist Church broke ground in late September at the site of their newest investment, a youth and recreational center. Youth Leader and Church Deacon, Mitch Stone said, “Currently we have all of our youth activities and youth ministries on Wednesday night, and we use the outer portion of our current facility for all of our classes and refreshments. We have some games outside and then they have the adult classes in the auditorium. The addition of this building allows us to have a self-supporting youth center. Stone went on to say, “All of those activities can be done under the roof. The building has classrooms, it has a full size kitchen, it has a multi-use gym area that we can use for recreational activities for fellowships or just as an auditorium.” Stone went on to note that the all of their activities could take place in that one building, and that the two-story structure will include classrooms on the first and second level. He stated, “We’ll have more classrooms than we have available, and they’ll be larger than what we have available in our current facility.”

Run the Rails Annual Race

Rockin’ that Extra Chromosome