By Jerrie Whiteley
Herald Democrat
The county will be changing the provider for the free county sponsored COVID-19 tests that have been going on at Midway Mall in Sherman. The state s vendor contract with WellHealth, also known as GoGetTested, was not renewed and will end on Saturday.
The county was advised that the new vendor, DOCs, will set up similarly at the mall, GC Office of Emergency Management Director Sarah Somers said Tuesday. The start date will be Feb. 3 at 9 a.m. and then continue operations 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The bottom line, and I ll just say this, is we had some complaints, Grayson County Judge Bill Magers said during commissioner s court Tuesday about the change in testing providers. And, I wasn t happy with what they over promised and under delivered, and so after a number of times of trying to move forward with that, it didn t work out, so we re going to switch horses.
Herald Democrat
Grayson County commissioners will make the results of the Senate District 30 runoff election official Tuesday by canvassing the results.
The court s last meeting of 2020 will start at 10 a.m. in the East Courtroom of the Grayson County Courthouse in Sherman and will be available to stream online at https://www.co.grayson.tx.us/page/co.ccvideo.
In addition to looking over the election results, commissioners will consider a request by the Grayson County Sheriff s Office to allow that office to take ownership of a tactical robot from the Texoma Council of Governments. The material in the court s agenda didn t say what the robot does exactly, but it did say it cost $31,000 and was paid for with federal funds. The agenda material said the robot will be used by special teams at the GCSO.
Grayson County commissioners started the process of saying goodbye to one county leader by assuring her replacement.
County Clerk Wilma Bush announced her retirement plans this week and the county commissioners voted Tuesday to replace her with Grayson County Elections Administrator Deana Patterson.
Patterson worked for Bush for a number of years in Clerk s Office handling elections before Bush convinced commissioners that the county had grown to the point that it needed a separate office to handle elections. Once the commissioners agreed, Bush put Patterson forward as the person to lead that new office. She has done so since that 2013 eventually over seeing the move of that office across the street from the county courthouse to its present location on Houston street.
Herald Democrat
In a year when a virus curtailed many court proceedings throughout Texas and the nation, two that actually took place in Grayson County grabbed headlines.
One of the two involved a public official who had too much to drink and the other involved a drug deal that claimed the life of a child.
Grayson County Judge Bill Magers pleaded guilty in June to a driving while intoxicated 2nd offense charge that arose from a situation in February. He was sentenced to 365 days in the county jail probated for 12 months. Judge Carol Siebman set as conditions of that probation that Magers must pay a $4,000 fine, do 200 hours of community service work at an organization like Mothers Against Drunk Driving or Four Rivers Outreach, maintain an interlock device on his vehicle and continue with outpatient DWI treatment including taking a monthly shot that helps curb alcohol cravings and inhibits intoxication. She also said that he must serve some time in the county jail but did not spec