One evening filled with a silent auction, a live auction, raffle and dinner brought in around $85,000, a record amount for the club that exceeded the roughly $66,000 it earned with the event in 2025.

“It’s about the kids,” President Chris Carr said. “We make as much money for these student athletes as we can. That way, when they go on road trips, they’ve got food, water and whatever else they need. That way, it just helps them be better athletes if they don’t have to worry.”

He also gave the credit to the other board members and volunteers who poured themselves into preparing the event.

One of the highest grossing items for the night came in the form of a surprise from Athletic Director Chad Worrell: a brand-new orange Bearcat helmet.

“I talked to a lot of Bearcat historians,” Worrell said as the helmet was unveiled. “I’m not sure that this is the first one ever in school history, but it’s been a long, long time, so there’s only one of these anywhere. … It’s our alternate helmet for this year. … This will be our varsity football helmet this year.”

On the back, there’s a nod to the district’s three state championship wins “to honor those teams,” he said.

The item went for $6,600, purchased by Daniel and Taylor Chandler of C4 Enterprises.

“I’m just glad to be able to support Pilot Point,” Daniel said.

Auctioneer Chad Chance then went on to sell the Anpabo kids UTV, which brought in $4,000 in a friendly bidding war between Realtor Kelsey Whitesell and Zach Grigsby of Chandler Cabinets that Grigsby own.

“Thank you, bidders, very, very much,” he said. “This raised $10,000 in the last two items, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, guys, very much. This organization gave almost $90,000 to the kids of Pilot Point last year. They’re very generous with their money, and it’s all because you guys come here tonight and spend your hard-earned money.”

Earlier in the evening, Chance had commented on his goal of getting double the value of every item he could.

“I always love helping the kids out,” he said. “We’re going to raise a lot of money for the Bearcats. It’s pretty special for me to be able to do this.”

Some familiar faces helped him with that goal— spotters Mark Harpool and James Pickrel.

Harpool, whose son Jack was one of the athletes displaying the items, said his new role as a board member helps him have an even greater appreciation for the support the community gave through the dinner and auction.

“There’s so many new faces here, people that I don’t know, and that’s what we need,” he said. “I think Coach Worrell and his staff have done a great job of … getting the community back involved with what they’re trying to do with all sports, not just football.”

He said the mixture of new and established families strengthens the community.

“It’s the same businesses— Nick’s, Ernesto’s, those type of people that are supporting everything that just get bombarded,” Harpool said. “I’m glad to see some new faces and hope everybody’s feeling generous tonight.”

Kiptin Goodin and Hastings Fischer also helped display the items throughout the evening. “It’s just great that they all want to support us and our football team and all the athletics that Pilot Point has,” Goodin said.

As one of the juniors who is taking the field for Pilot Point, Goodin is excited for the year ahead.

“It’s going to be a very exciting but also challenging year, but I’m ready for the challenge,” he said.

Not only did families and business representatives turn out, but also staff members from other departments at Pilot Point High School.

Bailey Greiner, lead ag teacher and FFA sponsor, sat at a table with her fellow ag department teammates and Principal Marzia Infante.

“ A lot of our FFA students are athletes, so it feels really great to get to see them be very diverse in their activities,” she said.

Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller, who donated the opportunity for someone to be superintendent for a day as the final item of the night, said she loved seeing the community turn out to support the district’s programs.

“I love that it’s in the beginning of the year and that it’s a fun time after a hectic time getting everybody started, that everybody gets to come together and have fun and celebrate,” she said. “… It’s for such a great cause, and … it’s a fun time to celebrate our students and do great things for them.”

Worrell, who is also the head football coach, said the impact for the students extends far beyond the dollar amount raised.

“The Booster Club allows our kids to be able to eat better and a lot of perks that people don’t see behind the scenes that the Booster Club pays for,” he said. “It makes it a lot easier on our kids and allows them to have things they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

He estimated that about 200 students are involved in boys and girls athletics combined.

Coach Jessica Ledbetter, who works with the girls in volleyball and soccer, also expressed her gratitude to the community for their support of the programs.

“It really just shows the camaraderie and how close this community is and how much they care about their ISD and their students and the athletic program, and it’s just great to see the support for the coaches and the students and the school altogether,” she said.

Tioga ISD's tax rate will be $1.2206 per $100 valuation for 2027, which is comprised of the state's compressed rate of $0.7206 for the maintenance and operation side of the budget and the district's 50-cent debt service rate, as was described at the Monday board meeting.

'Our obligations [on the debt service] side is about a million,' Superintendent Josh Ballinger said. 'That'll generate about $1,150,000, and that extra $150,000 is going to go towards eventually building up that fund balance and paying off debt. We're still in the negative on the debt service account, but that's on paper. Real money, cash on hand, we're in good shape.'

That good shape was reflected in the district's preliminary passing FIRST rating, announced by the state on Aug. 7.

Texas Education Agency Conservator Dr. Karen Wiesman shared that good news with the trustees and the crowd: Tioga ISD passed the FIRST rating for the 2024-25 school year with a 70.

During the discussion about the tax rate, Ballinger noted that taxable value in the district was 'down by about $21 million.'

'Where we need to see improvement is the total taxable value of new property that was slightly down as well, primarily because of the new homestead exemptions that were from last year and obviously carried over— $11.5 million on new property down to just $10 million on taxable value,' Ballinger said.

He also explained that the district still owes $18 million on the lease for the high school, in addition to a general obligation debt of about $8 million for the high school that was moved over because of the May 2024 bond election and about $4.5 million for the Tioga School campus.

He added that '$12.7 [million] is what is still on the correct side of the equation, compared to what other districts are asking and going out for.'

'Even if you combine the two, at about a little over $30 million, you still have a lot of building, a lot of space, a lot of room for growth, especially in property,' Ballinger said. 'Good shape for the future.'

During her report, Wiesman also gave the trustees further counsel on how to keep correcting the district's financial position to keep it out of future danger with the state.

Ballinger also spoke about the A that the district received in the state accountability rating system.

The district did not get the distinction for college, career and military readiness.

'We're considered a single-campus district in TEA's eyes,' Ballinger said. '... When you are a single campus district, you are not eligible for certain distinctions, and that's one of them as a district.'

He commented on the district's progress in the school progress measure.

'Where we jumped ahead of what we normally score this year was pulling up pretty well Cs in that area to two Bs in the school progress area,' Ballinger said.

The district also did well in comparison to the region.

'We're in some pretty elite company when it comes to an overall score in the Top 10 districts in the area,' Ballinger said. 'That's anywhere from south DFW on around to east and this top quarter of the state where we're Top 10, and there are a lot of fantastic schools we're in there with, regardless of classification.'

TEA Commissioner Mike Morath sent 'a positive letter' to the district in light of its improved ratings.

Also at the meeting, the trustees accepted Holly Mizer’s resignation from her seat on the board.

'Shout out, Holly, for doing great things,' President Dallas Slay said. 'We appreciate your ... efforts.'

The trustees also appointed Judith Owens to fill the seat James Hurt vacated in July.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to renew the good cause exemption for the District Defender/ Guardian Program and to approve team sport officiating as a CTE course.

Tioga ISD came away with the area's highest overall accountability rating—a 92—and its first passing grade on the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas—a 70—in half a decade.

In the spring, Commissioner Mike Morath had told the district it needed to show overall improvement to be accredited.

'He suspected then that we would handle the academics part,' Superintendent Josh Ballinger said. 'We knew that it was going to be close on the FIRST rating. ... Thankfully, that reprieve was given to us to finish up this past school year, and the rest is kind of history.'' Tioga ISD's accountability score improved from an 85, which it earned in both the 2023-24 ratings and the 202425 ratings.

'That's 100% our students and staff working hard and knowing that we needed to prove ourselves not only to the Tioga community and our providing students with an excellent education, but also some friends from TEA and the extra microscope ... that's been put on us,' Ballinger said.

The district showed improvement in student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps.

'We should have a little extra spring in our step for the accomplishment, not be satisfied and know that there are still areas we can improve, and we're going to work on those,' Ball- inger said. 'And now the job is ... maintain the passing on the FIRST rating and always improve the academic side. That's why we're all here.'

Tioga ISD is considered one campus by the Texas Education Agency, so the district average accounts for the Early Childhood Development Center, Tioga Elementary School, Tioga Middle School and Tioga High School.

The Tioga School earned a distinction for academic achievement in science.

Based on the TEA data, Tioga ISD had an average ratio of 14 students per teacher with all of the teachers having more than one year of experience for the 2025-26 school year.

On Aug. 7, the district got the good news about its passing FIRST rating.

A passing grade for the 2025-26 FIRST rating, announced on Aug. 7, was a 70.

Tioga did not meet the ceiling in regard to the total net position in the governmental activities column greater than zero, which meant it could score no higher than a 78.

The district did not get full marks in the category related to days of cash on hand or the ratio of current assets to current liabilities.

It also fell short in the categories of future debt and the district's assessed property value as well as whether the average daily attendance was within the projection submitted to TEA.

Tioga ISD did not meet the ceiling related to the district receiving an adjusted repayment schedule for more than one fiscal year for an over-allocation of Foundation School Program funding.

'Until we can get some of those areas reshuffled from the [Maintenance and Operations] side to the [debt service] side, which is what we've been preaching for years, some of those areas are going to be really tough to make ... better on the financial rating side of things,' Ballinger said. 'Doesn't mean we're going to lose hope. We haven't done that in four years.'

Pilot Point ISD earned a 77 overall, holding steady from the 2024-25 school year, and staying in the middle of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 scores.

The district stayed consistent, too, in student achievement and school progress, with a one-point increase in the closing the gaps measure.

On the campus level, Pilot Point High School notched the best grade for the district with an 83.

Pilot Point Selz Middle School earned a 75, with Pilot Point Elementary School getting a 70.

The Early Childhood Center's score is tied to the district's 77.

On the financial side, the district earned a 98 on the FIRST rating, only missing points in the indicator comparing current assets—$20,786,219— to current liabilities—$ 7,369,336—to handle short-term debt. PPISD has consistently had superior FIRST ratings for over a decade.

Aubrey ISD also recorded a 77 overall, down from an 80 for the 2024-25 school year, an 81 for 2023-24 and an 83 in 2022-23.

Its student achievement rating held steady at 79, but school progress declined to 67 from 74, and closing the gaps dropped from 82 to 72.

McNabb Middle School was the top-scoring campus with an 84, Aubrey High School earning an 83 and Brockett Elementary scoring an 80.

Fuller Elementary earned a 74, and Owens Middle School scored a 70 in its inaugural year.

Both West Elementary and Monaco Elementary notched Ds, with scores of 69 and 68, respectively.

The district earned a 92 on its FIRST rating, losing points only in the measure comparing the correlation of future debt requirements—$ 429,169,272— and the district's assessed property value—$3,088,370,171.

AISD, like PPISD, has maintained a superior FIRST rating for over a decade.

Graphic Courtesy of TEA

At the Aug. 12 school board meeting, staff reflected on growth, changes and enrollment numbers.

“At the end of last year, we finished with 1,754 as our enrollment total,” Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller said.

“As of today, we are at 1,823.”

Summer enrollment has steadily increased over the last two years.

In 2024-25, summer enrollment grew by 16 students. In 2025-26, that number nearly tripled to 53 students. Over the summer, 69 students were enrolled, which was “the largest summer increase in at least five years,” according to the Bearcat Board Bulletin.

Fuller added that the district’s enrollment is likely to surpass both the moderate and high-growth projections the demographer had set by the time the snapshot date happens in October.

“The elementary school is our hot spot,” Fuller said, adding that if growth continues to pick up and portable buildings are needed next year, that would be the first place they would go.

Valerie Wall, director of human resources and communications, said they are also looking to add another pre-K bilingual teacher to keep up with the influx of students.

Also at the meeting, the board heard the report that Pilot Point ISD has a College, Career and Military Readiness rating of 89% and a graduation rate of 96%.

“This is very, very difficult to do, and very few high schools in the region and the state even have numbers that are this high,” said Alicia Bonnett, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. “So, I do commend our high school staff as a whole because this is something that's very difficult to sustain.”

The district’s accountability rating came out to be a C, earning 77 points.

Bonnett also noted that three out of five grade levels with the new math curriculum saw an increase in students “approaching grade level or above” in their test scores, and science also had positive improvements district- wide.

She highlighted some of the district’s focus areas for this school year, the “4 Big Rocks.”

It included more targeted interventions for the highneeds subgroups, like special education and economically disadvantaged students, who were underperforming compared to their peers in areas such as reading and math.

The district will also hone in on professional learning community practices to encourage more collaboration between teachers, data collection and analysis.

Another goal is to be more consistent in Tier 1 instruction mastery of the essential TEKS across grade levels.

“We are now seeing growth, so that next step is mastery,” Bonnett said.

The last one is curriculum implementation and training with a large focus on math as well as on English, language arts and reading.

The high school gym floor repairs are expected to be completed by the end of August, shared Casey Adam, the assistant superintendent of administrative services and operations.

She added that the water damage and warping were caused by a broken part under an AC unit.

The Student Handbook also had a couple of updates, including “new protocols for staff misconduct investigations and parent notification, updated guidance on managing private spaces and restrooms, and clarified visitor management rules— including a new provision allowing referees, judges, and other officials to eject spectators from athletic events without a prior verbal warning,” the Bearcat Board Bulletin reported.

At the meeting, Chief Eric Dortch swore in two new officers, Milan Kauer, who will be at the middle school, and Kelly Wilson, who will be at the high school.

One Pilot Point student, George Woolison, was recognized “for earning a perfect score on last spring’s STAAR Math test,” the Bearcat Board Bulletin reported.

The board also approved the purchase of several different insurance plans and a technology purchase.

A friend of mine sent a clipping from the second issue of the Pilot Point Post from Sept. 7, 1878.

In it, the founders of the paper you're reading today shared their concerns about starting a new publication in a community 'knowing as we do, the unsuccessful career of so many newspapers in our town.'

That exact topic came up on Saturday, when UNT's Ana Krahmer came to town to help people understand how to navigate the Portal to Texas History to explore the Post-Signal's available archives.

When J.T. Jones and D.J. Moffitt started their endeavor, it was 'devoted to the spread of useful knowledge among the people.'

The times may have changed, but the reason for publishing this newspaper hasn't.

If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out the post that the Pilot Point Historic Photos page published on Aug. 7 about our founding.

For nearly 148 years, this publication has documented the lives of the people in and around Pilot Point as well as the life cycles of the businesses throughout the community.

I can't help but look back on what Jones and Moffitt said in that second publication as they expressed their mingled confidence and fears about how their endeavor would turn out. 'In conclusion, we ask the hearty co-operation of all our citizens who are interested in the prosperity of our town and community; for without that cooperation our enterprise will not meet that degree of success which we sincerely hope it may attain,' they wrote.

I wonder what they would think to see their creation now and the way that modern life has given it the potential for worldwide reach.

It's amazing, too, how despite so many changes from 1878 to now, we ultimately still rely on that same concept— the cooperation of our communities so we can do our part to help those communities we cover succeed.

I'm grateful Jones and Moffitt didn't let fear stop them.

Abigail Bardwell is the Editor & Publisher of the Post-Signal, and she serves on both the North and East Texas Press Association and the Texas Press Association boards. She can be reached at abardwell@postsignal. com.

If you did not attend any of the three performances of Always… Patsy Cline, you missed, as Ed Sullivan would have said, 'a really big show.'

In fact, it was such a big show, that the band and the two actresses portraying Patsy Cline and her friend, Louise, had a standing ovation at the end of all three performances.

I have been involved with the Garage Door Theater for about five years now and I've never seen audiences give a standing ovation for three performances.

“Always… Patsy Cline” was the latest production at the GDT with 27 songs and 24 with Rae Sires belting them out.

She was backed up by the Bodacious Bobcats Band of six players: piano, bass guitar, acoustical guitar, slide guitar, rhythm guitar and drums.

Rae and the band performed their hearts out.

And in between all those songs, Louise told the story of her fanship and friendship with Patsy Cline.

Maegan Jasbring was perfectly cast for this character, a sassy little Texan gal who knew what Honky Tonkin was all about. As a honky tonk kind of gal, she was quite the character and we, the audience, loved her, laughed at her and with her, and at the end shed tears with her.

If you were fortunate enough, you might have been pulled up to the front of the auditorium to dance a song with Louise.

Patsy arrived on stage for her first number wearing a red cowgirl shirt and skirt, fringed in white and a pair of white cowgirl boots.

Yeehaw!

That outfit was a pure knockout!

She also wore a long sleeved, fringed black dress, reminiscent, to me, of the flapper era.

Gorgeous would need another syllable to fully express how lovely it was.

Her last dress of the evening was a white evening dress.

Rae looked like an angel (intentional) standing on that stage.

That was the effect they were after and, by golly, they got it!

Believe me when I tell you that no one in that audience wanted the performance for the evening to end.

We loved the show, we loved the performance, we loved the music and we loved those that brought it all together for us. I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Pilot Point Community Arts was responsible for choosing, purchasing the rights and producing the production. As much as we've tried to publicize our little Garage Door Theater with its 93 seats, people are still unaware that they can come to Pilot Point for live theater.

I hope you'll join us for the next program, also a musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

To purchase tickets, go to Starbright MPA.com, look for the performance name, choose your date and time, available seats, pay, and show up in September.

Same instructions apply for any performance at the GDT.

I don't want you to miss another performance.

See y'all there! When I lived in Annandale, Virginia, many, many moons ago, I was in the habit of washing my coffee grounds down the sink drain.

The inevitable happened and I had to call in a plumber.

I learned an important lesson at the expense of my pocketbook.

Never put grounds down the sink.

Another important lesson was to wipe all grease and oils out of my cookware and storage receptacles.

It was a lesson taught to the audience at the recent Lunch and Learn at the Pilot Point Community Center by Eric Francois of Capital Plumbing.

He gave the audience a lot of good pointers of how to troubleshoot, what to do and not to do with your pipes, etc.

I am looking forward to this month's presentation by Daniel Cunningham of Rooted In.

Please call and reserve a seat and a lunch for Wednesday, August 26 at 940-6865004 x 1.

Yep, they're feeding us. Can't wait to get my hands dirty with you.

As always, Mama C.

Cindy “Mama C” Faris is a Pilot Point resident, and she is offering life advice for any who want it. She can be reached at cynthiafaris47@gmail.com.

The chief financial officer and elected officials discussed the proposed budget and the proposed fiscal year 2027 property tax rate of $0.604974 per $100 valuation at the Aug. 13 Pilot Point City Council meeting.

“If we keep the tax rate flat, this is actually an annual decrease of $23.17 on the average homeowner,” said Michele Sanchez, the assistant city manager and CFO.

The city is likely to stay at the flat rate for the next three or four years, she added.

In fiscal year 2026, the average home value in the city was $299,447; in fiscal year 2027, it dropped to $295,614.

“You have to think of the city limits as a whole,” Sanchez said. “If we have more homes come into the tax rolls that are at a lower value, that's going to artificially decrease … everyone's values, so that's an average. Our median home values probably went up, but our average home value went down.”

Sanchez then broke down the impact on a typical taxpayer.

“When you look at our total services year over year, you're looking at a financial impact of $21.93,” Sanchez said. “If you account for the loss in value, assuming your home value went down, and you're paying the same tax rate.”

The financial impact would be less than a 1% increase for residents.

“The total revenue projected in the general fund for next fiscal year is $4.5 million,” Sanchez said. “The largest portion of that is coming from transfers and interest.”

Some proposed general fund revenues include an increase in sales tax, projected to rise because of the number of people moving into Pilot Point and online shopping.

The city’s new waste contract with Republic Services will bring more revenue in franchise fees, Sanchez added.

Development services fees are expected to increase largely because of infrastructure inspections for the new developments.

“The next highest form of revenue the city has is ad valorem taxes; that is your property taxes, ' Sanchez said. “The proposed property tax revenue in the general fund for next year is just over $3 million.”

Public safety accounts for over half of the general fund expenditures, which Sanchez said is common, with sewer being the highest water fund expenditure.

She also shared budget highlights, including a 2% cost of living adjustment for all employees, along with market-rate adjustments for all tech 1, tech 2 and crew leader employees.

“We've had significant issues staffing those positions because they are well under market,” Sanchez said.

Other highlights include implementing the step plan for the police and fire departments on April 1, creating an engineering department intended to save the city money, and adding an employee in the streets and water department in the middle of the year.

The proposed budget also included increasing the number of classes offered at the community center.

The council had no major feedback on the budget and tax rate except to add a sign maker, which will save the city money in the long run.

Another budget discussion is scheduled for Thursday, and then the public hearing and adoption will happen on Sept. 10.

Resident William Harrison thanked council, staff and others for their contributions and work.

Library Director Jenna Glass revealed the top three candidates from the eight applicants who submitted applications for the City Hall Mural Project.

The candidates were evaluated on “artistic quality, their connection to Pilot Point, the level of interaction and engagement that's present in the mural idea, their ability to collaborate, their experience, and then the durability and feasibility of the project,” Glass said.

The highest score went to local artist Justine Scott, with an average score of 88 out of 100 points.

City Manager Britt Lusk shared that the project will align with the city’s downtown master plan.

He added that the council does not currently have the funds to move or build another city hall for the foreseeable future, which Harrison raised as a concern about putting the mural there if that were the case.

The design will need approval from the Library and Cultural Arts Board, the Main Street Board, and a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Review Board.

Then, the final design will be sent to council for approval.

“It will really enhance the Square, and I think that your selection of Justine is an excellent suggestion,” council member Mike Wilson said.

The council agreed, and unanimously selected Scott as the muralist.

During public comment, resident Cindy Farris spoke about the influx of stray cats in her neighborhood; the number has grown to about 150.

She said that a couple of her neighbors now have a flea infestation in their yards, and she worries about the health risks.

“It's a serious problem when fleas infest our yards,” Farris said.

The proposed tax rate increased by 7.66%, going from $0.474743 per $100 valuation in 2025 to $0.511093 in 2026, which, Roberson explained, is connected to the average homestead taxable value decreasing by 7.30%, going from $320,548 in 2025 to $297,142 in 2026.

“This is different than previous years because the tax rate actually goes up because property tax or property values have gone down tremendously,” Roberson said.

Since the proposed tax rate is less than the no-newrevenue tax rate, the town does not intend to increase the 2026 property tax rate for residents.

“For the average person, their tax burden shouldn't go up,” Roberson said.

Looking at the numbers, Roberson said, the biggest factors include the disabled veteran homesteads, which increased by 28.9%, and the absolute exemptions, which include public property, HOAs, nonprofits, schools and government-owned property, which increased by 36.16%.

“I believe it's tied mostly to what's going on in Foree Ranch with all the trails and amenities that they have in that development,” Roberson said. “All those properties would have come off our tax roll. This past year, for example, the baseball field became town property, and it's eight acres of that entire development there.”

Roberson then gave a budget overview.

In the general fund, the town added a deputy town secretary, ancillary insurance benefits, increased police funding to add an officer and a sergeant, and property insurance rose primarily because of the Brown Family Field in Foree Ranch.

In the capital fund, unspent money from projects the town hoped to start in the current fiscal year will be carried over to next year, such as the bridge sidewalk improvements.

In the utility fund, water and sewer rates will be up about 5%, and trash and recycling will go up about 4%.

“It's relatively flat otherwise,” Roberson said. “It's just if their costs go up, our cost has to go up.”

Roberson also explained the utility capital improvements project fund.

“We're expecting the ground storage tank to be completed in the new budget year,” Roberson said. “If they start before the new budget year starts, that'll come down naturally, but we're planning on those expenditures for next year, as well as our contribution to the regional lift station, and we have funds allocated for the waterline relocation on Main Street.”

He added that if TxDOT allows the work to begin next year, the town is prepared.

“I've been watching you do this for several years, and you always say it's going to be a tight year,” council member Klayton Rutherford said to Roberson. “I feel like this one's probably the tightest.”

Roberson shared that he feels confident about the sales tax revenue because the town has new development and buildings nearing completion.

“That is something that we will continue to see after the residential has stopped, is seeing more commercial growth, and those have a higher value, and they do, hopefully, produce some sales tax,” Roberson said.

He added that the more residents that order from online sites like Amazon, the more revenue the town gets.

The public hearing is set for Sept. 1 for the budget and tax rate, and the final action will be taken at the Sept. 15 meeting.

The agenda item continues to explain that residents can still voice their opinion about the rate.

Also at the meeting, Roberson shared that Republic Services continues to miss trash pick-up in some homes and streets with little to no communication.

“We've had several meetings with them over the past six months to a year almost now, and it'll get better for a week or two, and then we fall back into this,” Roberson said.

He added that the company has been unresponsive to his emails, and Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Nelson and Mayor Linda Inman shared that, as residents, they were experiencing it, too.

He added that at this point it will take more than proactive communication to correct the ongoing issues.

The Ray Roberts Lake State Park Johnson Branch Unit, 100 PW 4153 in Valley View will offer Full Moon Hike, 8:30 p.m. Aug. 29, Nature Center parking lot.

The Johnson Branch Legacy Run will be Sept. 19 with a 15K, 10K and 5K race. To register, go to runsignup.com/Race/ TX/ValleyView/JohnsonBranch-StatePark.

All events are free with a paid entrance fee into the park. For more information, call 940-6372294.

Lego robotics at PP library

The Pilot Point Community Library at 324 S. Washington St. will have Boys & Girls Club Lego Robotics, 4 p.m. Wednesday.

For more information or to register for classes, call 940686-5004.

Senior Bingo at Aubrey library

The Aubrey Area Library at 226 Countryside Drive will have Senior Bingo (ages 50 and up), 10:30 a.m. Saturday; Computer Basics Course, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday; Book Nook Club, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday; Who Dunnit Book Club (ages 16 and up), 6 p.m. Thursday; and Tween Club (ages 9-13), 4:30 p.m. Aug. 28.

For more information or to register for classes, call 940365-9162.

Bearcat football season tickets

The 2026 Bearcat football season tickets are on sale at the PPISD Administration Office, 829 S. Harrison St. For more information, call 940-686-8700.

City of PP seeks choir performers

The city of Pilot Point is looking for performing choirs to be a part of Christmas on the Square on Dec. 5. If interested, email Jennifer Neal at jneal@pilotpointtx. gov.

Adopt a Bearcat at PPISD

Pilot Point ISD is needing community member support to assist in adopting new teachers this year by providing notes of encouragement or small gifts throughout the year.

To sign up, go to tinyurl.com/ adoptabearcat26.

End of Summer Band Showcase

The Pilot Point Mighty Bearcat Band End of Summer Showcase will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Massey Stadium, 801 S. Harrison St. They will be joined by the new Kick Cats drill team and cheerleaders.

Meet the Chaps at AHS

Meet the Chaps will begin at 7 p.m. Friday at the Aubrey High School football field. All proceeds will to the Aubrey Athletic Booster Club to support football, volleyball, cross country, track and field, golf and powerlifting.

Community Garage Sale at Mountain Springs

A Community Garage Sale will be held from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at the Mountain Springs Community Center, 173 Mountain Springs Lane in Valley View.

For more information, go to mountainspringscommunitycenter. com.

‘School of Rock’ at Starbright Center

Starbright Center for the Arts will present the movie “School of Rock” at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday at 110 S. Washington St. To purchase tickets or for more information, go to starbrightmpa. com. Intro to Watercolor will be from 2-3:30 p.m. Sunday with Paint Night from 7-9 p.m. Aug. 28.

Auditions for the Bonnie and Clyde Days reenactment will be held from 6-8 p.m. Aug. 30-31 for ages 7 and up.

Rancho Roundup Charity Car Show

A Rancho Roundup Charity Car Show will be held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday at 2459 W. Blackjack Road in Aubrey. There will be food trucks, fishing, paddle boats, canoes, bounce house, playgrounds and more.

All proceeds will go to the Peace of the Rock Ministries.

Coffee with Mayor Major

The Pilot Point community is invited to Coffee with Mayor Chad Major at 5 p.m. Monday at the Pilot Point Coffee House, 110 W. Main St.

Necklace workshop planned in Aubrey

A charm necklace workshop will be held from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Aubrey Community Center, 226 Countryside Drive. The cost will be $25.

To RSVP, email Dusty Fife at dfife@aubreytx.gov or call 469678-6008.

Business Breakfast in Pilot Point

The next Pilot Point Point-Bank Business Breakfast will be at 8 a.m. Wednesday at 739 E. Liberty St. with guest speaker David Burdick of BizBliss discussing cybersecurity.

To RSVP, email pointbank. com/business-breakfast.

Lunch, Learn at Rooted In

The next Lunch and Learn will be held at noon Wednesday with guest speaker Daniel Cunningham from Rooted In at the Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St.

To register, call 940-6862639.

PPPD to have swearing in

The Pilot Point Police Department invites the community to attend a swearing in ceremony for officers Kaylee Rusnak and Ernesto Balderas at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at 102 E. Main St.

19th Century Club member interest event

The 19th Century Club will host a free member interest event at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at Starbright Center for the Arts, 110 S. Washington St. The movie “Steel Magnolias” will be shown.

ChromeFest set for PP

The annual ChromeFest car show and community event will be from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 5 on the Historic Pilot Point Square. For more information, go to gracepointnaz. net.

Fruit Jar Junction planned for Aubrey

The next Fruit Jar Junction Market will be from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 5 at Veterans Memorial Park, 301 N. Main St. in Aubrey.

PPCA opens fall registration

The Pilot Point Community Arts is taking registration for fall classes for music, art and sewing for ages 2 and up. Classes will start the week of Sept. 21.

To register or for more information, go to pilotpointcommunityarts. org or Pilot Point Community Arts on Facebook.

AHS Theatre

tickets on sale

Aubrey High School Theatre Troupe 5435 has season tickets on sale through Oct. 5 at our. show/ahsseasonticket26.

HOPE Food Ministry asks for food, clothing

The HOPE Food and Clothing Ministry is asking for nonperishable food items, clothing and personal care items at 819 Sherman Drive in Aubrey. Donations can also be dropped off at Keller Williams Realty, 806 S. U.S. 377 in Aubrey.

For more information or to donate online, go to hopefood. org.

Local Lovepacs requests donations

Lovepacs Aubrey/Pilot Point is requesting the following donations: ramen, applesauce cups or pouches, oatmeal, Pop-Tarts, microwave popcorn, granola bars, and mac and cheese or pasta cups.

Area drop-off sites include Brookshire Brothers, Martin General Store and Pilot Point Senior Center in Pilot Point; The Peanut Gallery in Aubrey; and One Mane Place in Krugerville.

Financial donations can be made at lovepacs.org. If interested in delivering weekly bags on Wednesday mornings, email aubrey@lovepacs.org, call 214287-3758 or go to lovepacs.org.

Meals on Wheels needs drivers

Volunteer drivers are needed to deliver Meals on Wheels one day a week Monday-Friday for 2 to 2 1/2 hours from 10:15 a.m.12:45 p.m. in Aubrey, Krugerville and Pilot Point.

For more information, call Cindy Faris at 972-838-3259.

Around Town is published weekly. Submit information to abardwell@postsignal.com.

That's part of the message Ana Krahmer, the director of the Digital Newspaper Unit at the University of North Texas, shared on Saturday morning in Pilot Point.

'[We're] working with 13 million newspaper pages,' she said. '... If you've ever done any kind of library research, you know that going through that number of materials is difficult, and you have to know how to search through it.'

Krahmer worked in cooperation with the Post-Signal and Pilot Point Community Library Director Jenna Glass to preserve and digitize the records of the Post-Signal's archives from 1967 to the mid-2010s.

Several tools and filters on the Portal to Texas History help narrow the search to increase the likelihood that a search will be successful, whether that's on the newspaper side or the side that documents other forms of the historical record, such as pictures, books, letters and diaries.

A basic search is a good place to start, Krahmer said, which can be for a name or event.

' A proximity search is where ... [the] search reads the lines in a newspaper,' Krahmer said.

An example of that being used was to search for the names of two streets that intersect to find instances where a house may have been mentioned in the paper.

'This is especially helpful when you are looking for life events—births, weddings, anything like that, historical events,' Krahmer said.

She also explained what a guidance search can do.

'You can use guidance search to add a date range and then to remove words in other places,' Krahmer said. '... The idea is mixing and matching your terms so that you're saying 'I need this, but I don't need this.'' Krahmer also told the attendees about the Chronicling America project, which UNT contributes to as well.

Sorting by location is helpful for finding the papers from Pilot Point, Krahmer added.

'By the way, Pilot Point's newspaper title changed a lot, very often,' she said. 'And when you're a librarian—if you all know about catalogers— they're very specific and very detail-oriented.'

They won't group papers with 'a completely different title' together, even when it's a continuous publication, she added.

'They put an equal sign in their name from 1930 to 1950,' Krahmer said. 'Therefore, it's a totally different title.'

New batches of the archives will continue to become accessible on the portal, so Krahmer encouraged people to check back again if at first they can't find the issues they're looking for.

Although it took a grant for the libraries to work together to preserve a large chunk of Post-Signal archives, it is possible for individuals to contribute copies they have to the UNT library system to be scanned and returned.

Anyone interested in sharing issues of the Post-Signal can bring their copies to the paper office at 111 E. Main St. in Pilot Point for the paper staff to facilitate that process or they can be taken directly to Willis Library at UNT.

The bash gave away free back-to-school supplies and gave families the opportunity to reconnect with faculty and staff a week and a half before school starts on Monday.

“It's great to see the vendors out here and the local shops that are open up to just kind of celebrate the end of summer and get back in the groove of school,” said Keith Kirkland, Tioga High School principal.

Destini Clark, owner of Game Day Apparel and Screen Printing, co-organized the event with Mattie Martin, owner of Matilda Rose Boutique.

“We just both have stores here, and there's not a lot of events that come downtown, so we were trying to bring things down here,” Clark said.

The pair have hosted the annual event for about six years; this is the second year to offer free school supplies, and in recent years they opened it up to vendors. “We love when people come out and support,” Clark said. “We love to see all the happy faces and just be involved.”

She also thanked those who donated and the event sponsors— Texas-New Mexico Power, Chandler Cabinets and Bunger Electric Inc.—for providing school supplies.

“We're just really thankful to the people that donated,” she said.

The event had live music from local group KW Band as well as a waterslide and a dunk tank with the Tioga ISD PTO.

The money raised from the dunk tank is used throughout the year to support the teachers.

“We are very lucky to have a lot of people that do care for the community, and they help us and fundraise,” PTO Vice President Bethany Johnson said.

The PTO’s biggest fundraiser will be the Tioga Fall Festival in October.

Tioga’s high school principal was one of several staff and facility members who voluntarily got dunked.

Angelica Munoz and her husband watched their son take aim at Kirkland on the dunk tank.

The light-hearted nature of the moment is one reason her family came out to the event.

“[It’s] the community, and then also just everybody sticking together through the hard times that we've had,” Munoz said. “… We're going to all come out through it, all together and still having the Bulldog pride.”

The students didn’t hold back as Kirkland encouraged them to take their best aim at the target that, when hit, sent him plummeting into the water.

In the 30 minutes he sat on the collapsible seat, he estimated that he was dunked about 25-30 times.

“Most of those at the hands of some future high schoolers and my son,” Kirkland said.

But he shared it was all in good spirit.

“Fantastic job by our PTO organizing the dunk tank,” Kirkland said. “It's always great to come out and support them, even if it means getting dunked a few times.”

Pastor Tim Moore of Friendship Baptist Church in Tioga was joined by his wife and their children to give away popcorn and school supplies, in their second year participating in the bash.

“[I’m] just trying to love people where they're at and trying to be a blessing to them out here today,” Moore said.

The Bridge Church in Tioga was also there and, with help from the church's team members, passed out treats like cotton candy.

“We just want to love people, tell them about Jesus and let them know they belong here,” Pastor Trent Hodgkinson said.

The church has been open for about a year and a half and holds services every Sunday inside Tioga Elementary School.

“It's awesome,” Hodgkinson said. “It's just building relationships with teachers, with students, with kids in the area.”

Every Weekday

•11 a.m. Congregate meals, conversation and games. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St. 972-838-3259.

Friday, Aug. 21

•8:30 a.m. Shepherd’s Storehouse, 1189 U.S. 377, Pilot Point. 940-686-2620.

•10 a.m. Exercise Class. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St.

•11 a.m. Early Childhood Storytimes (Ages 0-6). Aubrey Area Library, 226 Countryside Drive. 940-365-9162.

•7 p.m. Live music by Creekside Cats. Pilot Point Coffee House, 110 W. Main St.

•7:30 p.m. Karaoke with Pam and Dave. Vaughn-Walling American Legion Post 550, 905 N. Foundation St., Pilot Point.

Saturday, Aug. 22

•9 a.m. Blue Sky Therapeutic Riding and Respite Purpose Mercantile, 5098 U.S. 377, Krugerville.

•9 a.m. Clifton and Nadene Irick Museum, 201 S. Jefferson St., Pilot Point.

•10:30 a.m. The Aubrey Area Museum opens for walk-in tours. Tours can also be scheduled by appointment. 209 S. Main St. 940-343-1313.

•7 p.m. Karaoke Night. Pilot Point Coffee House, 110 W. Main St.

Sunday, Aug. 23

•9 a.m. Krugerville Farmers Market. Woodland Park, 5200 U.S. 377, krugerville.org.

Monday, Aug. 24

•8:30 a.m. Shepherd’s Storehouse. 1189 U.S. 377, Pilot Point. 940-686-2620.

•10 a.m. Exercise Class. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St.

•7 p.m. Recovery Care Group. Midway Church, 9540 U.S. 377, Pilot Point.

•7:30 p.m. Pool tournament. Vaughn-Walling American Legion Post 550, 905 N. Foundation St., Pilot Point.

Tuesday, Aug. 25

•9:30 a.m. Games. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St. 972-838-3259.

•Noon. Lake Ray Roberts Rotary Club. PointBank Community Center, 739 E. Liberty St.

•1:30 p.m. Local Vocals Community Singers. Contact Charlotte Petermeier, 214-514-4892.

•6 p.m. Pilot Point Lodge No. 1025 Order of the Eastern Star. Ford Masonic Lodge No. 270 AFAM, 824 U.S. 377.

•6 p.m. Jam Sessions. Pilot Point Coffee House, 110 W. Main St.

•6:30 p.m. Providence Homeowners Association board. Providence HOA Clubhouse, 809 Oakcrest Drive, Providence Village. 940-440-2200.

•7 p.m. Poker tournament. Vaughn-Walling American Legion Post 550, 905 N. Foundation St., Pilot Point.

Wednesday, Aug. 26

•8 a.m. Pilot Point PointBank Business Breakfast. PointBank Community Center, 739 E. Liberty St.

•8:30 a.m. Shepherd’s Storehouse. 1189 U.S. 377, Pilot Point. 940-686-2620.

•9 a.m. Mountain Springs Quilters. Mountain Springs Community Center, 173 Mountain Springs Lane. 940-736-8013.

•10 a.m. Exercise Class. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St.

•10:30 a.m. Little Readers Book Club (ages 2-5). Aubrey Area Library, 226 Countryside Drive. 940-365-9162.

•1 p.m. Clifton and Nadene Irick Museum, 201 S. Jefferson St., Pilot Point.

•4:30 p.m. Music & Movement (ages 0-6). Aubrey Area Library, 226 Countryside Drive. 940365-9162.

•5 p.m. Aubrey Book Club. Aubrey Area Library, Community Center, 226 Countryside Drive. 940-365-9162.

•6 p.m. Krugerville City Council. Krugerville City Hall, 5097 U.S. 377. 940-365-5833.

•6 p.m. Music Bingo. Pilot Point Coffee House, 110 W. Main St.

•6 p.m. Queen of Hearts. Vaughn-Walling American Legion Post 550, 905 N. Foundation St., Pilot Point.

•7 p.m. Karaoke Wednesdays with Pam and Dave. Lowbrows Saloon, 200 S. Washington St.

•7:30 p.m. Pool tournament. Vaughn-Walling American Legion Post 550, 905 N. Foundation St., Pilot Point.

Thursday, Aug. 27

•9 a.m. Clifton and Nadene Irick Museum, 201 S. Jefferson St., Pilot Point.

•9:30 a.m. Bingo. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St. 972-838-3259.

•10:30 a.m. Little Readers Book Club (ages 2-5). Aubrey Area Library, 226 Countryside Drive. 940-365-9162.

•10:30 a.m. Stitch & Sketch (ages 10-adult). Pilot Point Community Library, 324 S. Washington St. 940-686-5004.

•11 a.m. Tioga Senior Center open for refreshments, games and bingo. 305 N. Porch St.

•6 p.m. Bingo Night. Pilot Point Coffee House, 110 W. Main St.

•6 p.m. Aubrey City Council. Aubrey Council Chambers, 226 Countryside Drive. 940-4409343.

•6:30 p.m. Pilot Point City Council. Pilot Point City Hall, 102 E. Main St. 940-686-2165.

•6:30 p.m. Ford Masonic Lodge No. 270 AFAM, 824 U.S. 377, Pilot Point.

Friday, Aug. 28

•8:30 a.m. Shepherd’s Storehouse, 1189 U.S. 377, Pilot Point. 940-686-2620.

•10 a.m. Exercise Class. Pilot Point Senior Center, 310 S. Washington St.

•11 a.m. Early Childhood Storytimes (Ages 0-6). Aubrey Area Library, 226 Countryside Drive. 940-365-9162.

•7:30 p.m. Karaoke with Pam and Dave. Vaughn-Walling American Legion Post 550, 905 N. Foundation St., Pilot Point.

Community Calendar is published weekly. To add or change a listing, email abardwell@postsignal.com.

Photos by Abigail Bardwell/The Post-Signal

DWI – A man, 48, was arrested Saturday during a Cross Roads PD traffic stop investigation on a charge of driving while intoxicated with an open container in the 11200 block of U.S. 380.

POSSESSION – A man, 21, was given a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop investigation Saturday by CRPD in the 6500 block of U.S. 380.

PUBLIC INTOXICATION – On Saturday, Aubrey PD arrested a 36-year-old on a charge of public intoxication near the intersection of Providence Boulevard and Post Oak Drive.

DWI – Cross Roads PD made a traffic stop Saturday near the intersection of U.S. 380 and Walmart Drive resulting in the arrest of a man, 33, on a charge of driving while intoxicated second and unlawful carrying of a weapon.

ASSAULT – A teenager was arrested by Aubrey police Aug. 14 on a charge of assault causes bodily injury/family violence in the 10100 block of High Banker Drive.

CRASH – A two-vehicle crash with no report of injury was investigated by CRPD on Aug. 14 near the intersection of U.S. 380 and FM 720.

FRAUD – A man, 50, reported to Cross Roads police Aug. 13 that someone used his debit card information at a restaurant in the 11400 block of U.S. 380.

CHILD CUSTODY – On Aug. 13, PPPD responded to a call regarding custody of children in the 800 block of South Jefferson Street.

ASSAULT – A man, 32, was arrested Aug. 13 by Pilot Point police on a charge of assault causes bodily injury family member in the 400 block of Alpha Road.

SHOPLIFTING – A shoplifting investigation Aug. 13 by Cross Roads PD resulted in a man, 53, being issued a citation for theft under $100 in the 11700 block of U.S. 380.

WARRANTS – A 37-year-old was arrested Aug. 13 by APD on warrants in the 1300 block of Shire Drive.

GUNSHOTS – Krugerville police were dispatched to a report of shots fired around 8:30 p.m. Aug. 12 in the 100 block of Spanish Oak Drive.

INJURY – Pilot Point PD took a report of injury to a child/elderly/ disabled with intent of bodily injury Aug. 11 in the 800 block of South Jefferson Street.

THEFT – Cross Roads police officers were dispatched to a theft call Aug. 11 in the 11700 block of U.S. 380. A man, 22, was arrested on a charge of theft and a woman, 23, received a citation for theft. Both were also given criminal trespass warnings.

FRAUD – Around 9:30 a.m. Aug. 11, KVPD received a forgery fraud report that someone had attempted to file for social security using another individual’s social security number.

ACCIDENT – A resident reported Aug. 10 to Cross Roads PD that a delivery truck hit a mailbox in the 2300 block of Forest Hills Drive.

ASSAULT – A woman, 36, was arrested by Pilot Point police Aug. 10 on a charge of assault causes bodily injury family member in the 14000 block of Jemison Street.

CRASH – A two-vehicle accident was investigated by Cross Roads police Aug. 10 in the 11100 block of U.S. 380. One injury was reported.

FRAUD – A resident reported Aug. 10 to CRPD that someone attempted to use their identity to establish a financial account in the 11000 block of Cedar Creek Drive.

CRASH – A two-vehicle crash was reported 9:47 a.m. Aug. 10 to Krugerville PD near the intersection of U.S. 377 and Stewart Road. One driver was taken to Medical City Denton.

HIT AND RUN – A driver reported a hit and run accident to Cross Roads police Aug. 10 in the parking lot of a business in the 11100 block of U.S. 380.

-Kim Fleming

The two clubs traded wins in the first four sets before the Lady Cats clawed their way from behind in the fifth and final set to take the win.

“It was a very competitive match,” Pilot Point head volleyball coach Jessica Ledbetter said. “That’s a strong program, and they had some very talented athletes, [but] when we started adjusting, we were able to play competitively with them, so I’m very proud of my front row because their number 19, [Jovi Morrison], was good and our blockers absolutely combated her.”

The Lady Cats pounced on their opponent, taking the first set 25-14 before the Lady Falcons evened the series by winning the second set 25-17.

Sets 3 and 4 were much closer affairs, with Pilot Point winning the third set 25-22 and Grayson Christian taking the fourth set 25-23, tying the match.

The Lady Cats fell behind 8-0 in the fifth set before they found their footing, battling their way back to take the lead 15-14.

Instead of running a set for the team’s leading scorer, senior middle blocker Alliyah Smith, the Lady Cats ran a play for one of their newest faces, freshman outside hitter Lola Dixon.

“We usually slide out with Alliyah, but I was thinking, ‘I cannot let my team down, so if the ball comes to me, I just need to put it down,’” she said.

And “put the ball down” she did, with Dixon finding a gap in the Lady Falcons’ defense to give the Lady Cats the win 1614.

“I’m proud of myself,” she said. “If you’re a freshman, you can come out nervous, but that’s one thing I didn’t do. If I had been too nervous, I probably would’ve hit it out of bounds, but I kept my confidence and helped get the win.”

Setter duo, junior Darbi Smalskas and freshman Reese Chandler, combined for 41 assists, while Smith led the Lady Cats with 16 kills, followed by senior middle blocker McKayla Rushing, who had 12 kills.

Dixon and senior outside hitter Shannon Taylor also added 9 kills apiece.

Smith, who was locked in a battle with the Lady Falcons’ top player Morrison for most of the night, shared her thoughts on the win.

“It seemed like she was getting a touch on every hit I got, and it was really getting me down, but after I got out of my head, I found a way to make it work, and I feel like that’s what you have to do sometimes; find something that works and stick with it,” she said.

Smith added that she hopes that the win helps the Lady Cats’ confidence going forward this season.

“As of right now, we’re undefeated, so we’re hoping that stays, but we’re just hoping we can keep up the energy and stick together as a team,” she said.

The Lady Cats took their first loss of the season, losing to the S&S Consolidated Lady Rams three sets to one Tuesday night, but will look to rebound on the road against Trenton at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Trenton High School.

The Lady Bulldogs hit the floor running, taking control of the match from the opening serve and never letting the Lady Eagles get off the ground.

“It’s a big win for us,” Trevin Robinson, Tioga head volleyball coach, said. “Right now, we’re trying to continue building momentum, and we had a really good tournament this past weekend, so the plan for us is to just try and keep getting better every day.'

The Lady Bulldogs exploded out of the gate in the match’s opening set, racking up the points to take the win 25-- Tioga continued its scoring barrage in the second and third sets, outscoring Valley View 50-25 in the game’s final two periods.

Senior middle blocker Kennedy Slay led the team with 11 kills, followed by senior outside hitter Kyndall Whitley, who had 8 kills.

Senior libero Bella Dennis led the defense with 15 digs, followed by Whitley, who had 11 digs, while junior setter Sadie Bates collected 15 assists.

“We’ve learned to work together, which is great because some people on the team are new, like me, but we’ve learned how to read each other’s movements and trust each other to make a good pass,” freshman outside hitter Lindsay David said. “And even if someone makes a mistake, we know they have it next time, and Coach Robinson trusts us to make it up.”

The win was made even more special, with two of the Lady Bulldogs, Dennis and Whitley, reaching career milestones.

Both Dennis and Whitley passed 500 career digs during their time with the team, and Whitley also passed 500 career kills.

'It's truly [fulfilling] to reach this goal,” Dennis said. “Starting sophomore year on varsity and being able to reach 500 career digs by my senior year is amazing, and it gives me hope that I can reach for an even higher milestone like 750 or 1,000 by the end of the year.”

Whitley also shared her thoughts on the special occasion.

“This definitely means a lot because my first two years started out pretty rough, but the amount of improvement my junior year and the start of this year have been crazy to me,” she said. “Coach Robinson and the encouragement from my teammates have been a big help.”

Robinson spoke highly of the duo. “I couldn’t be more proud of them,” he said. “They’re both captains, and they didn’t get those titles for no reason; they earned them. They come in every day, they go to work, and they are big pieces for what we’re trying to do this year. … They are leaders on and off the court, but on the court, they’re expected to dominate and win games, and they’re doing just that.”

The Lady Bulldogs were one win away from the state tournament last year, and Robinson said he has even higher hopes for the team in Year 2.

“We lost to a really good team last year, and the next day our seniors said we want to go to State,” he said. “You don’t see that as much at the smaller schools because the kids have other sports to play, but that’s been our focus from Day 1. … We may or may not reach that target, but we are going to be as prepared as we possibly can be so that whatever happens, we know we did everything we could, and every practice we’re building for that.”

The Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to hit the road to participate in the Fort Worth ISD Volleyball Tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday before traveling to Sadler to face the S&S Consolidated High School Lady Rams at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

For the first time in decades Pilot Point’s athletic program will include a drill team, with the Kick Cats making their return for the 2026-27 season.

Pilot Point’s drill team, which has a long history with the Bearcats athletic program, has been defunct since the late 1900s, but Pilot Point High School English teacher and dance coach Jenna Lawson saw a golden opportunity to restore the storied program.

“That was one of the things I noticed when I started working here in Pilot Point; they didn’t have a drill team, so I looked into starting one,” she said. “This is the second one I’ve started at a school, and I received overwhelming support from the administration in making it happen.”

The Kick Cats hosted tryouts in the spring and now feature a 15-member dance team, along with two equipment managers, who spent the summer training and preparing for the team's revival.

Kick Cats team captain Dulcy Alonso said Coach Lawson’s passion for the project inspired her to give it a try.

“[Mrs. Lawson] was my English teacher sophomore year, and she told me about it, but I wasn’t really convinced because all I’ve ever done was cheer, but she kept mentioning it until I finally went to tryouts, and it was so much fun,” she said. “When I went to try out and saw who was there, I felt like this was something I wanted to do.”

The excitement for the Kick Cats continued to spread and inspired even more athletes to try out, with some finding creative ways to audition for the team.

“ A few of us that are a part of the team also run track, and we had a track meet during tryouts, so we were under the bleachers in our track uniforms recording ourselves doing the routine so we could send it to Mrs. Lawson,” Kick Cats social president Joydin Course said.

In addition to teaching English, Lawson is also a certified dance and physical education instructor, which allows the Kick Cats members to earn a PE or Fine Arts credit for participating in the program and allows the team to practice at least five days a week.

“Our gym is currently not usable, so we’ve had to be creative with practices and find other places, like the library, and we have some practices in the afternoon at [Massey],” senior team member Kylee Owen said. “But we’ve learned a lot of routines for when we’re in the stands, on the field, and when we enter and exit the field.”

The enthusiasm for the Kick Cats' return has already extended beyond the high school, and team historian Khloe Segura said her family's reaction to the news helped give her the push to join the program.

“My mom was on the drill team when she was in high school, so when she found out that we were starting a drill team here, she wanted me to join,” she said. “She was so happy when I made the team, and she did whatever she could to help make it possible, so I’m looking forward to making her proud.”

The team’s 1st Lt. Peyton Lites said she hopes she and her teammates can build a new legacy at Pilot Point.

“A lot of kids have grown up seeing cheer and football, but we want them to be able to see that there are other options for them, so if one of those, cheer, football, or whatever, isn’t for them, this is another thing they can try,” she said.

Lawson also mentioned that she already has big plans for the Kick Cats.

“We won’t stop after football season,” she said. “We will be competing in February, and we’ll start the process for that, learning the choreography, around October, and in March we’ll have our tryouts for next year’s team.”

Kick Cats Sr. Lt. Amber Morris expressed the team’s appreciation for their coach and the Pilot Point administration and staff for helping make it all possible.

“We’re all involved in multiple things, and they help make those things as easy as possible for us and still make sure we're learning and passing in class; they just want the best for their students,” she said.

Renee Marler/The Post-Signal

Bill Norwood/ The Post-Signal

Bearcats were buzzing in the hallways of each Pilot Point ISD campus on Monday.

New faces mixed with familiar ones as the new academic year began.

'There's been such a great energy this year,' Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller said. 'It started, really, at convocation, and it just feels like it's kept going through professional development and then I went to all the Meet the Teacher nights, and everybody's excited. The buildings all look decorative and welcoming.'

At the Early Childhood Center, Brandon and Shanda Guffee helped their daughter, Berkley Guffee, settle into Dominique Gauthier's kindergarten classroom.

'All of her best friends are in this class over here,' Shanda said, pointing across the hall. 'So, there's nobody that she really knows in this class, so she was a little less confident. The teacher seems really nice.'

Inside the classroom, Gauthier took time to reassure her young students that it was OK to be nervous on the first day.

'I was scared today, too,' she said to her kids. 'I was. I really was. I didn't get to meet anyone because I had to go on a very big plane.'

Gauthier, who is in her second year at the ECC, said she's excited to work with the new group in her class.

'I'm just excited for a new class, excited for the new faces and the new relationships,' she said.

Her campus principal, Andrea Kennedy, spoke about how she and her staff try to create a great foundation for their ECC families.

'We are their first entryway into Pilot Point ISD, and so I feel like it's my job to make sure they walk away with the best experience they could from our district,' she said. '... I don't get them very long, so I try to make it meaningful while they're here.'

For Amber Hagood, bringing her granddaughter, third-grader Isabell Weaver, to school in Pilot Point had them both excited.

'We've just heard wonderful things about Pilot Point,' Hagood said. '... She's been so excited. It took everything in her to go to bed last night. We're so excited. She's never been excited about school before.'

That enthusiasm is a feeling Pilot Point Elementary Principal Shana Pike said she and her staff share with the kids this year.

'I'm more excited about this year than I have been about any year ever in my 22 years,' she said. 'I just feel like the teachers, all the staff, just everybody is in it to win it. ... High expectations and love and caring and fun and positivity, and all those things [are] going to bleed off onto the kids, and then the kids are going to feel that, the families are going to feel that. It's going to be a wonderful year.'

Pike mentioned that her campus is feeling the squeeze that comes with growth.

'I've had to be creative with some spaces, but we made it work,' she said.

Pilot Point Middle School Principal Taylor Penn, too, said he can see the impact of the growth throughout the campus.

'The growth is here,' Penn said. 'I think when I started here, ... the middle school had like maybe 330, 340 students somewhere in there, and now we're over 420.'

He said that seeing the kids back on campus reinforces why the educators got into the school business.

'That's why we do this job,' he said. 'It's for the kids.'

Theater teacher Whitney McCracken took her theater class down the hallway from their classroom and into the cafetorium so they could see some of the supplies they will use to practice makeup design and other aspects of the class.

Before they made the visit to the stage, though, McCracken shared an experience with her students to show them that secondguessing a decision isn't restricted to middle school students.

'Last year was our first year to do [theatrical design], and I was kind of nervous at first,' she said. 'I was like, 'Oh, why did I sign up for this?' ... Then we did, and it was awesome. It was so fun.'

At the high school, students made their way through their first day, learning their schedule and establishing expectations for the year.

Each campus has a theme, and the high school's is that 'Friday nights start on Monday.'

'Everybody enjoys Friday nights,' PPHS Principal Marzia Infante said. 'Everybody's all about the Friday nights, but it's the hard work and dedication that starts on Monday that really gets you to those Fridays.'

She shared that the connections she and her staff have made and retained with the students mean a great deal to them.

PPISD Police Department Officer Kelley Wilson, who is new to the district, echoed that having good relationships with the kids is important.

Infante, too, spoke of the way growth has shifted the administration's approach to classroom assignments for staff, leading to some floating teachers.

The district administration is keeping an eye on the enrollment numbers and comparing them to those the demographers projected for the upcoming snapshot day in October.

As of Wednesday, PPISD's current enrollment was 1,823, up from the ending enrollment of 1,754 in May.

The amount also exceeded the low projection rate for the district's population by snapshot day of 1,806 and is approaching the moderate growth projection of 1,831 with two months left for the student population to change.

'Typically we see growth through Labor Day, and then they trickle in,' Fuller said.

Fuller also expressed her appreciation for the school supplies the district's community partners have provided for the year.

'Nobody should feel any stress about coming to school without supplies or without something,' she said.

Like Fuller, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Alicia Bonnett visited each campus.

'Watching the students walk back in is the joy,' she said. 'That's why we do what we do.'

It had about 16,000 attendees, with school districts traveling from all over the state, including Aubrey, Pilot Point and Tioga.

“State convention ... for ag teachers that means summer's over, and it's time to get to work,” Aubrey ag teacher Chelsea Fewell said. “… It ignites everything; everybody comes back a little empowered and inspired to begin the school year.”

Aubrey ISD had 13 students: Angel Baer, Kensie Bonnell, Tess Gore, Samantha Morgado, Michael Murry, Ashlynn Navarro, Brandi Tovar, Alyssa Waddell, Brandan Waddell, Jenna Welborn, Naomi Welch, Elliott Wilkinson and Evan Wilkinson and four advisors to represent at the Texas FFA State Convention.

Addi Appleby, Baer, Peyton Fortner, Navarro, Kiera Schmidt, Ariana Wensel and Elliott received the Lone Star FFA Degree, the highest degree in Texas FFA.

Fewell shared that the application process can be complicated, “even beyond just meeting the requirements to get the Lone Star Degree,” Fewell said. “It is a true testament of their hard work and dedication, and to have that many in a chapter our size is just something to be really proud of. It is a labor of love, for sure.”

She was proud that all seven students who submitted the application received the award, making them among about 3,000 recipients.

Aubrey High School Assistant Principal Vinny Thomas was awarded the Honorary Lone Star FFA Degree.

“She has been very supportive of the ag program, volunteering as a judge and just being available for our students,” Fewell said. “So we wanted to make sure she got the recognition she deserves.”

A few of the students— Baer, Tovar, Brandan and Evan—competed in the Teach Ag Contest and placed 26th.

Another four students competed in the Texas FFA Quiz Bowl: Navarro, Alyssa, Brandan and Elliott.

Pilot Point ISD took 13 students to the convention with several winning awards, including the Lone Star FFA Degree: Isabella Trevizo, Wyatt Arnold, Hunter Tidwell, Lillie Kirby, Kate Pool, Jailyn Ziyadeh, Roman Funck, Peytyn Goodin, Mary Tannahill, Caden David and Mackenzie Johnson.

Pilot Point staff also received a few honors at the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas and the 98th Annual Texas FFA State Convention.

Pilot Point High School Principal Marzia Infante was one of 12 finalists for the Star Administrator Award at the 98th State Convention after winning the area award.

“It was a huge honor just to be nominated, and then to have won the awards—oh my gosh, that was nerve-wracking,” Infante said. “First off, to go up in front of thousands of kids at the FFA convention, and then thousands of ag teachers, … it was super exciting. It was also a very humbling experience, because I was able to see the dedication that not only goes from our teachers, but also the students at the FFA competition.”

Infante was also awarded the Outstanding Administrator Award for Area V at the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas.

“It was just a great experience to get to see a niche CTE pathway and to see how much dedication goes into those programs,” Infante said. “... Going to the Ag Teachers Association convention, that was huge, because you really get to know and see the inside of this entire big, huge program that is phenomenal for our kids.”

One of the newest ag teachers, Kassie Crow, was recognized by the Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas in Corpus Christi with a 20-year tenure award.

“All of the years of experience that she has is phenomenal, and her bringing that to Pilot Point FFA is going to be enormous,” Infante said, adding that she is excited for the year ahead, having seen all the Pilot Point ag teachers working together and planning for the upcoming year at the convention.

Tioga ISD took six officers to the convention: Kelci Pittman, Brooklyn Lewter, Anthony Rocconi, Caleb Wilson, Hudson Vining and Hudson Howard.

Out of those, Pittman and Rocconi received the Lone Star Degree.

“As a teacher, it just tells me that we're doing the right things in our program,” Tioga FFA adviser Tanner Hash said. “Our kids are participating in the right activities. They're participating in those contests and those events that really not only help build them as individuals but [also] help build our program and help build FFA as a whole.”

Hash shared that the group attended a handful of sessions and workshops focused on ways to advocate for agriculture and strengthening communication and leadership skills.

“It was a little intimidating at first seeing all the people, but then just going around and talking to some new people, getting to know them, it wasn't that bad,” Wilson said. “Just because everyone's there for a reason. Everyone wants to be a part of FFA. Everyone wants to grow as a leader.”

While in Fort Worth, the team experienced some bonding time with an evening at Topgolf, fine dining at Texas de Brazil, a trip to the Stockyards and other adventures.

“We've built a pretty good program in the last two years that I've been here,” Hash said. “And each year we keep adding more kids and adding more projects and keep growing and improving, so I'm excited to keep heading in that direction, and hopefully we'll have some success this year.”

At Monaco Elementary School, Everett McDonald was one of the ones ready to go.

It was his first day of kindergarten, and he was beaming with glee as he walked toward the elementary school with his parents and little brother.

When he was asked if he was ready for his first day of school, he said, “Yes,” with a big smile.

His mom, however, not so much. “Tough,” Mary McDonald said, describing the first day of school. “Keeping the tears at bay until I can't anymore.”

The first day of school is filled with many firsts and lasts, and that’s why Superintendent Dr. Shannon Saylor enjoys it.

“It's my favorite day of the year because everything is new,” Saylor said. “You can start over; kids start over, and it's just a whole new school. … To celebrate those kids entering fifth with their last [year in] elementary, entering eighth [grade], going to high school next year, and then the seniors—it’s everybody's first something or last something, so it's really special. I mean, we get the honor of taking on people's most prized possession, their children.”

Friendly staff welcomed faces into Monaco Elementary, ready to guide students to where they needed to go.

Monaco Elementary Principal Brett Dobbs greeted the kids with fist bumps, high fives and photo ops.

“More parents actually came in the building than actually dropped off, so we've had a building full,” Dobbs said. “They've all dropped off now; the kids are in class. It's going along with their schedules, learning routines and procedures, and everyone's excited. Our building has been refreshed. It looks amazing, and everybody's just been talking about the building and how good it really looks.”

At Owens Middle School, some students reunited and caught up with friends.

“The very first day, it's been just a little bit hectic, but very exciting,” Principal Pamela Foster said. “I think the most excited group is our sixth graders. They got their schedules; they got seated. They were ready to go to class. So just our numbers exploded this year. We were expecting around 600. We're currently trying to schedule about 660 students.”

It was all hands on deck for staff to help the first day go smoothly for students, including the coaches such as Debra Renner who were directing students in the hall like they direct them on the court.

Principal Dr. Vanessa Zavar and her staff worked together to find creative ways to get the students on track for their first day throughout the Aubrey High School campus.

Students were able to find their first period class on a list in multiple places throughout the main hallway in case they were unsure where to start the school day.

'I just like to have a whole bunch of options for them,' she said.

At that point, Zavar said, the students received a paper copy of their schedule in their first class.

'We have specialized lessons for the first three days of school for every student, so that they're getting information about, 'How do I get a schedule? Who is my counselor? Who is my AP? How do I whatever?'' Zavar said.

She also described her excitement for the seniors getting to go to the elementary campuses for their last firstday and the kindergarteners' first first-day photos.

Students streamed into the building from two different areas: the parent drop-off line and the bus drop-off.

' Any kids who have any concerns about schedules, new families registering, anything like that is going to go into the library,' Zavar said.

Because student IDs are being required throughout the year, teacher Jimilee Rempe worked with a photography studio to take student photos and print the IDs in one setting.

Art teacher Jamie Alexander was on hand to help with the ID process.

She shared that she's excited for the start of the new year, including getting to work with students who know her because their friends have been in her art classes before.

'I'm also excited to be in my new classroom,' Alexander said.

She also expressed appreciation for the addition of another full-time art teacher, Jeannette Genuardi.

'There's just more options for advanced classes, more time slots, which is also really nice,' Alexander said.

On Wednesday, the district reported having around 4,800 students, with the estimate that that number would grow to more than 5,000 by Monday.

“We want everybody really to be the Chaparrals and we kind of take pride in being a destination school district that people want to go to because I believe that we do great things for kids and families,” Saylor said.

Saylor shared that growth could exceed 5,200 students across the district this year.

“Our buildings and our campus have life when kids come back,” said Dr. Kendra L. Pittman, assistant superintendent of leadership. “So, we prepare, and we work all summer long for this day, and when the kids show up, it reminds us of why we do what we do, and we just love it so much.”

Editor & Publisher Abigail Bardwell contributed to this report.

Families from across the district turned out to Owens Middle School for the event, which featured sessions by area community partners as well as Aubrey ISD programs, community partner vendor tables and representatives from each campus.

'Last year was my first year in the role of director of student services, so I'm really trying to put a focus on how can we serve students and families in addition to connecting them with the community and making partnerships overall,' Jefferson said.

The Chap Link was a melding of the former Chaparral Showcase event and other area back to school events.

'This year, we added school supplies, dental health screenings, different things that can help you get ready for back to school,' Jefferson said.

Around 27 vendors came to the event. 'We even have some vendors who, though they may not be here, they definitely supported us,' Jefferson said, using Sports Clips as an example. '... They did a big financial donation for us to get us started and going.'

Mari Harrison, the director of guidance and counseling for the district, also said she was grateful for the impact of the event.

'This can be a very overwhelming time for families, especially financially,' she said. 'And so we're hoping that this even can help families with some of the supplies they need, but also with some community resources that might also help their family.'

As families filtered into the building, they received a form that gave them the chance to get free services, which included free haircuts and backpacks filled with school supplies.

In the first session room were Natasha Malone and Mark Harbec with Children's Health.

Malone informed families about the telehealth program the hospital system partners with the school district to provide.

'We offer an opportunity for you to be able to have your child sitting right at each campus,' Malone said. 'What it allows is the nurse to assess your child with your permission and if the child needs more of an assessment with our pediatric provider, we'll be able to make a doctors visit right there on campus, if they are qualified.'

Harbec shared information about the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine program, which allows students to have access to mental health services on their school campuses.

'It's incredible to break the stigma, provide more access and keep kids in school longer without having to leave campus for an off-site mental health provider appointment,' he said.

Across the hall from the competition gym, Dr. Brooke Modkins of The Smile Sanctuary Dental Group, which is for the whole family, set up shop in the theater classroom, offering free dental screenings.

'It means a lot to be in the community and help out the community,' Modkins said. 'That's literally what I wanted to be a dentist for in the first place.'

She was also happy to see how much the families appeared to benefit from her work on Saturday.

'I never knew in the amount of three minutes that people can be so informed,' Modkins said.

In addition to the campus tables, area organizations such as the Aubrey Police Department, Lovepacs, HOPE Food and Clothing Ministries, Autism Adventures, the Aubrey Education Foundation and DENCO 9-1-1 came out to connect with the families so they know about those resources as well.

School board President Jim Milacek shared that he was proud of the way the event turned out.

'This is not something that we've done for a long time, and it helps all of our families,' he said. '... This is one of the best things we can do.'

Superintendent Dr. Shannon Saylor complimented Jefferson and the team of people behind her who made the event possible.

'Since we have so many new Chaparrals that join us every year—we have at least 400 brand new families—so at least having them come in and be able to get to know each campus, all the resources that we have in Aubrey ISD to support them, I think it's a fantastic way to kick off school,' she said.

She loved, too, that families could connect with school staff and administrators like McNabb Middle School Principal Jacob Garcia and other new faces in a relaxed setting.

'Even if they've been at Meet the Teacher and have met the principal, it's a good time to have maybe one-onone conversations with the counseling group or health services,' Saylor said. 'Those tend to be packed for that one hour, but we've got this longer time that they can at least hopefully get their needs met on a Saturday.'

He had a retail store on the Square, then went into banking, was a volunteer firefighter at one time and eventually entered real estate, establishing the Irick Real Estate Group, a career he would inevitably retire from well into his late 80s.

The office for that real estate company sat on family land the southern edge of Pilot Point for decades.

“Six generations have lived on the tract that that piece was cut out of and still live here today,” his son Steve Irick said.

Irick worked with his dad in the real estate business briefly.

He remembers the changes after his dad bought the building, moved it into town, moved it again, and before it even had running water and a bathroom.

“He just moved it across the road onto the corner of our land there on the highway, and that would have been right around 1978,” Steve said. “… He didn't add on to it or any- thing. He just moved it there. That would be still just two small little offices and nothing else, and then it was remodeled in 1984.”

Eventually, Steve decided to return to his passion for firefighting.

Later on, Steve’s nephew, Chance Kirby, decided to go into real estate and work with his grandpa, Clifton.

“I spent every day with him,” Kirby said. “… How many people get to do that with their grandfather?”

Kirby has worked in real estate for about 34 years, is the broker for Irick Real Estate Group and has continued the business to this day.

“We have been open since 1952, and what I'm hoping is I can make it long enough to where we are still open in 2052,” Kirby said.

In the earlier days, he recalled how the building “was almost like the welcome center for Pilot Point,” Kirby said.

“People coming into town on northbound traffic at that time, that was really … the first place you could pull in and get answers, because remember, this is pre-internet and pre-Google Maps,” Kirby said.

He remembered how Clifton would help lost visitors find their way.

As technology became more commonplace and the real estate industry evolved, there was less need for a physical office.

Over the last five years, the number of interested buyers for the land had also increased.

“I would throw letters away—two and three a week—from people just sending them,” Steve said.

He shared that it was important to him and his family to sell that piece of land to the right buyer who wouldn’t just put in “an apartment complex or even a housing addition.”

“That just … wasn't in our plans,” Steve said.

It was Texas Tammy Francois, another local realtor, who recommended the Tarzan and Jane Travel Center.

“I felt like it was probably a good thing for the city [to] put some tax dollars or some taxable revenue into the city, into schools, and it just seemed like something that would work that we could live with because, like I said, we're not going anywhere, and we're neighbors with it,” Steve said.

The Iricks decided to sell four acres of the highwayfrontage land to T&J.

“The highway is commercial,” Steve said. “And we really can't keep that from happening, and so we tried to pick something that we felt like would work for everybody.”

As for the real estate building, aside from sentimental value, it no longer served a purpose for Steve or Kirby, and moving it would have been costly, so they accepted the likelihood that it would be demolished after the sale.

A while later, Jeff Christie, owner of Christie's Golf Ranch in Pilot Point, heard the news about the property and reached out to Steve to inquire about the building.

He helped put Christie in contact with Anthony Taylor.

He offered Christie a deal: If he could find a way to move the building off the property by June 1, he could have it free of charge.

Christie knew just the guy—his friend Mark Hitchcock, with Hitchcock House Movers—to move it to Christie’s Golf Ranch.

“It was just really a God thing that [the] building came available,” Christie said. “And I thought it would be a great-looking golf shop, and the timing and all that was just kind of unbelievable if you look at it.”

He also thanked Taylor and the Irick family, who were equally grateful to him.

“It was definitely a great feeling for our family,” Steve said. “We were glad that it lives on, but I'm just glad that the owner of T&J, and … Jeff Christie wanted to salvage it.”

The building is now being transformed into two parts: one half as living quarters, and the other half as a golf shop and lounge area for members and guests of the ranch.

Christie has also added a wrap-around deck.

“It was well built, and so it's been pretty easy to remodel,” Christie said.

It has been under remodel since the middle of June, and by Tuesday the project was expected to wrap up within the week.

The building will be open to the public later this month, but Christie said he hopes to host a party in September to celebrate the new building and the changes.

“It was just really neat to save something that's been in Pilot Point for years,” Christie said. “The Irick family has just been terrific people, and it's nice to be able to save something for them.”

News publishers across the country are struggling with a uniquely modern problem— their webpages are being overrun with bots.

Content that is written for human readers is being consumed by millions of these automated crawlers that comb the Internet and often go out of their way to disguise their identity and steal content.

These uninvited “bad bots,” many of whom come from China or other countries, are slowing down publishers' pages for users and undermining a healthy content licensing market that would support continued community coverage, ultimately impacting countless newsrooms’ ability to serve their readers.

Publishers have tried to stop these bots on their own, but they need help.

Thankfully, Representatives Laurel Lee (FL15), Valerie Foushee (NC4), and Gus Bilirakis (FL12) recently introduced the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, a new piece of bipartisan transparency legislation that would require bad bots to disclose their identity and purpose, giving content providers the information they need to protect their work.

This is a simple, common- sense solution that is already receiving wide support from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, and it couldn’t come at a more urgent time.

Content providers all across the internet, including web archives, libraries, health and financial institutions, and even responsible AI companies themselves, have reported a dramatic increase in the number of bad bots weighing down their websites.

It’s a problem so widespread that experts now say there are more bots than people on the internet.

This new flood of traffic is changing the makeup of the internet itself, and in the process, creating a significant financial burden for newsrooms both large and small.

With normal human activity, the costs of hosting a website—servers, electricity, bandwidth, etc.—are offset by users paying for subscriptions or viewing or clicking on ads.

But bad bots don’t click on ads, and they don’t pay for subscriptions.

They don’t even browse a website like a human, with a few page views a day.

They hit pages over and over again, sometimes millions of times in a single day.

All that traffic can slow a website down for human readers, and if it happens enough, can trigger bandwidth overage charges, slower pages or even total outages.

Many publishers, especially local news providers, are already operating at razor-thin margins and can’t afford the higher technical costs that come with this deluge of bad bots.

To make matters worse, many of these bad bots take news content just to put it on a multibillion- dollar reseller market, one where AI developers buy news content from the owners of the bots, not the creators of the content.

They then use that content to create substitutive products that directly compete with the publisher websites themselves.

Users have started getting their news and questions answered by AI chatbots, rather than clicking on links to the original sources of this information.

As a result, web traffic for news websites continues to fall.

Reversing this trend is the first step in establishing a healthy licensing marketplace where content is rewarded as a valuable input for AI, just like investments in energy and chips.

The news industry— from the largest corporations to the smallest local newsrooms—has tried to block these bots using technical fixes, but bad bots are so advanced that they’re able to disguise themselves to look like good bots or even humans.

Malicious foreign actors are now hijacking devices and servers in ordinary people’s homes to act as “residential proxies,” masking not only the identity of their bots, but their source as well.

These bots are so effective at disguising themselves that publishers simply can’t keep up and are losing precious resources trying to play bot Whac-a-Mole.

Instead, we need lawmakers to step up to protect quality content that requires tremendous investment to create.

The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act offers a simple solution.

It doesn’t ban bots outright, but forces them to identify themselves, a common-sense transparency measure that gives news publishers the information they need to block bad bots themselves, with Federal Trade Commission and other enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance.

Representatives Lee, Foushee and Bilirakis are offering a reasonable, modest standard, and it's one that their colleagues should get behind to keep the internet clean and protect the quality content that the American people and the world rely on.

Danielle Coffey is the president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance. To find out more about the organization, visit https:// www.newsmediaalliance. org.

We celebrate community, the arts

My deepest appreciation goes to everyone involved in the production of “Always… Patsy Cline.”

This toe-tapping, heartwarming play lit up the Garage Door Theater this past weekend and played to a soldout crowd.

Patsy Cline, her friend Louise and the Bodacious Bobcats transported us back to the late 1950s and early 1960s—a time many remember fondly, as simpler.

The cast made us laugh, cry and clap along to songs we still love today.

The audience and cast came together for another important reason: raising money for the Pilot Point Community Arts Association.

PPCA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and nurturing our young people through music, performing arts and visual arts.

One audience member shared, each visit to Pilot Point seems to reveal people joining together to build an even stronger community— and best of all, having fun while doing it.

The audience cheered and sang enthusiastically throughout the production.

They were amazed by what they had witnessed on stage, with many looking forward to the next Starbright Garage Door Theater production, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat.” A heartfelt thank-you to the talented volunteer performers and musicians whose passion for music and the arts was evident throughout the production:

•Raeanna Sires as Patsy

•Maegan Jasbring as Louise

•Matt Boulia on slide guitar

•George Macias on lead guitar

•Don Hankinson on bass

•Mike Carroll on piano

•Dave Brannon on rhythm guitar

•Travis Hundley on drums

A big round of applause also goes to director Cindy Kennedy, whose vision helped bring this dream to life.

Cindy said we could not have accomplished this without the support of Kailey and Joe Hjelmgren, Kelsy and Jeff Neyman, Amanda Hundley, Randy Killham, Vince Lujan and Rodney Dobbs.

Their hard work and generosity made this production possible.

To everyone who filled the theater with your presence and support, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Because of you, the arts continue to grow, inspire and bring our Pilot Point community together.

Bonnie Ambrose PPCA Board Member

Our area has been coming back to life over the last few weeks.

Throughout the summer, it felt like a bit of a ghost town at times.

Part of it was the heat, but another big part was that so many people were on summer schedules.

The school year affects so much more than just the families who have kids in school.

The ripple effects keep going in the way community events increase, giving additional opportunities to connect with our neighbors.

This week, Rep. Jared Patterson said on social media that Texas should require districts to wait until September to start school in an effort to cut down on cooling costs and to mitigate some of the issues with outdoor practices in the summer.

That sounds great in theory, but how much would that really save?

Between the technology built into the schools and the summertime activities that happen within their walls, wouldn't we still be needing to cool the buildings throughout the hottest summer months?

Wouldn't we still have summer camp programs, summer school and conditioning camps that would again require the districts to keep the temperature down, even if the majority of students and staff weren't there? How much chaos would the change cause? Say school got a later start.

Would the sports seasons shift to a later time, as well?

What about on the academic side. Would students have to take semester exams after winter break?

What would happen to dual credit programs, which try to align with college schedules?

If this becomes a serious debate, I hope we get answers to these questions.

At first glance, I just don't think this is such a hot idea.

Abigail Bardwell is the Editor & Publisher of the Post-Signal, and she serves on both the North and East Texas Press Association and the Texas Press Association boards. She can be reached at abardwell@postsignal. com.