Randall County is accepting applications in consideration of filling the Randall County Precinct 1 Commissioner office vacancy. The seat was vacated after the Commissioners Court appointed Precinct 1 Commissioner Christy Dyer to the Randall County Judge post on Jan. 26.
Per Randall County, the Precinct 1 Commissioner vacancy appointment will be made by Dyer and last until the office is filled in a November 2022 special election. According to the appointment notice, to be able to hold the office, an applicant must:
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Be 18 years of age or older on the date of appointment
• Have not been determined by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be: (a) totally mentally incapacitated or (b) partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote
Drug Court Program eyeing year 12
While operating amid year 11, efforts are underway to secure another year of funding for the 181st District Court Drug Court Program for 2022. The Potter County Commissioners Court recently granted support of a resolution continuing operation of the initiative. We just began year 11 of our Drug Court Program, said Richard Bernal, deputy director of the Potter County Community Supervision and Correction Department. With COVID, everything is kind of a different game for us now. Overall, the success rates remain pretty steady over the entire time of the program. When you look at the offenders that we re taking into the program you re taking in offenders with one foot inside a prison cell. One individual that we never thought she would make it and now she is on her second year of her nursing degree.
Program seeks to reduce evictions
Potter County residents facing eviction have a resource at their disposal that could help aid the process of staying housed. Per the txcourts.gov website, the Supreme Court of Texas established the Texas Eviction Diversion Program through the Twenty-Seventh Emergency Order regarding the COVID-19 State of Disaster.
The voluntary program seeks to reduce the number of evictions by enabling landlords and tenants to agree upon a resolution of non-payment of rent issues via funding allocated by Gov. Greg Abbott through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, per authorities.
The initiative permits eligible landlords and tenants to agree upon a resolution to issues raised in an eviction case, with guidelines detailing if eligibility requirements are met, past due rent obligations may be eligible to be covered in full and the eviction case dismissed.
High school and college students have less than two weeks remaining to apply for Amarillo Area Foundation scholarships. Officials have noted the deadline for submitting applications is Feb. 12 at noon. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for the Texas Panhandle residents, Lara Escobar, the Amarillo Area Foundation s vice president of Community Investment, said via a video introduction to the Foundation s Scholarship Video Series addressing scholarship eligibility, registration, the application process and next steps.
Officials indicated eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship or legal permanent residency and at least a 2.5 GPA. Each of the Foundation s scholarships are connected to the top 26 counties in the Texas Panhandle, per the Foundation, which means high school students graduating from a high school in one of those counties would more than likely be a match for one or more scholarships. High school and college students can learn more about s