Hopkins County Commissioners Court during a special court session Thursday morning offered appreciation to the many individuals involved in helping make the 4-H program in Hopkins County so successful. Judge Robert Newsom read a proclamation, adopted by the court, in which Oct. 4-10 has been designated as National 4-H Week.
“This is a very significant event for Hopkins County,” said Hopkins County AgriLife Extension Agent Mario Villarino, who videoed the official reading of the proclamation for those 4-H members who were unable to be present at the meeting.
“We realize here in Hopkins County how blessed we are. We consider ourselves to have the best 4-H program in the state. A lot is due to our leadership of our 4-H as well as our volunteers. We want to thank our Extension Agents especially for all the work that they do,” said County Judge Robert Newsom.
The 4-H Youth Development program, Newsom read from the National 4-H Week Proclamation, is a 113-yar program that provides experience-based education to youngsters throughout the state. It allows students to acquire knowledge, develop life skills, form attitudes to enable them to become self-directed, productive and contributing members of society. More than 55,000 youth ages 8-19 from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds participate in the program annually.
“We do have the finest program that I know of in the State of Texas, and we thank you so much to our Extension Agents, and we especially thank our volunteers,” Newsom concluded.
Newsom presented the proclamation, signed by all 5 members of the Commissioner Court, to Dr. Villarino.
“It will be an honor to receive this on behalf of the 4-H Council,” Dr. Villarino said.
Other Court Business
Hopkins County Commissioner Court also during the morning session wrapped up the 2019-2020 budget and approved payment of bills, including bond and loan payments, due on Oct. 1, 2020.
The court also passed a resolution of clarification which specifies that the Chapter 381 economic development program agreement approved Sept. 21 will take the replace of the agreement approved by the court Dec. 23, 2019. The September resolution for a tax incentive for Hopkins Energy LLC, a solar farm planned in Dike, “was slightly different” from the agreement approved in December.