Author Archives: Mary Jane Farmer

About Mary Jane Farmer

In the music production business, including event production, booking, photography, reporting, volunteering, and other such essentials, since 1974.

Police Make Multiple Arrests since June 29

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By Mary Jane Farmer, for the Van Alstyne News

Van Alstyne Police made the following arrests within the past two weeks, and Police Lt. Steven Hayslip provided these reports.

On June 29, at 9:40 a.m., officers initiated a traffic stop on US Highway 75 and FM 121 after seeing a vehicle being driven on a public roadway with no front license plate. Upon making contact with the driver, a Sherman resident, and following protocol, the officer discovered an outstanding warrant on the suspect, charging him with reckless driving. Van Alstyne PD jailed the suspect for warrant service. The suspect posted bail set at $1,500 in a surety bond for his release the next day.

On June 30, at 10:00 p.m., officers saw a man passed out in the driver’s seat of a car in the parking lot of a business at 1001 W Van Alstyne Parkway. at 1001 W. Van Alstyne Pkwy. Officers conducted a welfare check and identified as a San Antonio man, and uncovered an outstanding warrant issued in Bexar County and charging the suspect with indecent exposure. Police also found a firearm in his possession, illegal because the suspect is a convicted felon. They placed him under arrest on the warrant. Hayslip said they also charged him with Unlawful Carrying of a Weapon (Felon). That charge, however, does not show In. the Grayson County Jail records. The suspect laid out his time in jail and was released on July 10.

On July 2, about 3 a.m., officers initiated a traffic stop on Van Alstyne Pkwy and Henry Hynds Expressway after observing a passenger in a vehicle throw a lighted cigarette out the window. Upon making contact with the driver, a Kaufman man, the officer discovered that an outstanding warrant issued in Dallas County. The warrant charged the suspect with theft between $750-$2,500. The officer jailed the suspect on the warrant. He posted bail of $5,000 later the same day for his release.

On July 4, at about 8 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 700 block of Billups regarding a domestic disturbance. Upon arrival, officers determined that a verbal altercation (an argument) had turned physical, Hayslip said. The suspect reportedly had impeded a family member’s breathing. Police jailed him a charge of Assault. Hayslip said the victim declined medical services. A magistrate at the jail set bail at $10,000 and added conditions to the surety bond, which the suspect posted for his release July 5.

On July 5, about 11:45 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 300 block of Henry Hynds in regard to a reckless driver. Upon arrival in the area, officers located the vehicle and made a traffic stop. They smelled the odor of alcohol and saw that the driver had red and glassy eyes. They placed the driver, a Mesquite woman, through Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, and then incarcerated her in the Grayson County Jail on a charge of Driving While Intoxicated. She met bail of $1,500 later that same day for her release.

On July 7, about 1 a.m., an officer initiated a traffic stop after seeing a vehicle operating on a public roadway with defective equipment (license plate light). Upon making contact with the driver, a Lane, Oklahoma, woman, officers observed her to be very nervous. Hayslip reported that, as officers continued to talk with her, she repeatedly kept looking at a backpack that was located beside her. Based on reasonable suspicion, officers asked Cochran for verbal consent to search the vehicle, which she denied. The officer requested a K-9. Once the K-9 arrived on scene, an open-air sniff was conducted. Th K-9 indicated a positive alert, which led the officers to conduct a probable cause search of the vehicle. During the search, officers located methamphetamine. Cochran was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance in Penalty Group 1 (Methamphetamine) over 4 grams and under 200 grams. She posted bail of $15,000 with a surety bond and was released later the same day.

On July 8, about 1 a.m., officers initiated a traffic stop on Van Alstyne Pkwy and Henry Hynds after observing a vehicle make an illegal turn. The officers made a traffic stop and, smelled alcohol and had red and glassy eyes. They conducted a Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, which led to his arrest and incarceration on a charge of Driving While Intoxicated At the jail, officials placed an Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) charge on the suspect.

There were no Van Alstyne residents indicted in the Grayson County Grand Jury’s recent session. However, the number of drug indictments remained high with 9 counts for possession of Methamphetamine, 1 count for Cocaine, 1 count for Marijuana, and 5 counts for Fentanyl. Also, they indicted a Collinsville man on 7 counts of Child Pornography.

Joe Bonsall, of the Oak Ridge Boys, dead at 76

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Joe Bonsall, Courtesy photo

This from Jeremy Westby, 2911 Media.

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. – Joseph S. Bonsall (76) of Hendersonville, TN, passed on to Glory on July 9, 2024, from complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. He leaves behind his precious wife Mary Ann, daughters Jennifer and Sabrina, granddaughter Breanne, grandson Luke, two great grandsons, Chance and Grey, and a sister, Nancy. He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph S. Bonsall Sr. and Lillie Bonsall.

As a 50-year member of the American music group The Oak Ridge Boys, Joe was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and inducted into the Philadelphia Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and the prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame.

Joe was also the author of 11 books including his latest, a memoir titled I See Myself, which releases in November. Joe loved to sing. He loved to read. He loved to write. He loved to play banjo. He loved working on the farm. And he loved the Philadelphia Phillies. But Jesus and his family always came first—and we will see him again on the Promised Day.

At Joe’s request, there will be no funeral. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The ALS Association or to the Vanderbilt Medical Center ALS and Neuroscience Research Center.

The family is requesting privacy.

NOTE: The Mayo Clinic and other Websites note that  Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka ALS, is a progressive nervous system disease more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

NOTE:  Members of the Oak Ridge Boys and others in the national music community have made the

Photo by Mary Jane Farmer
The Oak Ridge Boys, Joe Bonsall on the left, also (l-r) Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, Richard Sterban

following comments about losing one of their own.

When I look at Joe Bonsall’s life, I see a life fulfilled. The son of two military veterans, raised to become street-smart in the hood-influenced neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents taught him that he could be anything he wished to be if he worked hard, told the truth, and trusted in God. Joe could do anything he set his mind to do, but what impressed me the most was the energy, love, and compassion he put into everything he did and his unique gift to communicate those emotions and feelings into every performance, song, and book. Joe was “that” best friend that every person hopes to have in his life.” – Duane Allen / The Oak Ridge Boys

“This has been a week of sadness with the loss of my son, Rusty Golden, and now the loss of our brother and our partner of over 50 years, Joe Bonsall. Thankfully we have the memories made and the songs that we’ve sang together to get us through. It gives me comfort to know that Joe and Rusty are together again. Our prayers are with his family.” – William Lee Golden / The Oak Ridge Boys

“For many years, Joe was my best friend. We knew each other long before we both became members of The Oak Ridge Boys. He was a special person, who was loved by everyone and was a true inspiration to us all. He was also the best singing partner a person could have. For several years he bravely fought a terrible disease and was a trooper right up until the very end. There is no doubt that today, he is in a much better place – at HOME with Jesus. I will see you soon my dear friend.” – Richard Sterban / The Oak Ridge Boys

“Joe was a true hero to me. His singing is something that I have admired since I was a kid. Nobody could do it like Joe could do it. He was such an encouragement to me. I feel honored that he chose me to sing the tenor line when he decided to come off the road. I try my best for Joe and the Boys every night but only Joe can fill that spot. The legacy he leaves with us is something that is irreplaceable. I am forever thankful I got to know and love one of my all-time heroes that was nothing but good to me. I will miss Joe Bonsall. Thank you for loving everyone you met and making them feel like the most important person in your life when you spoke to them. A true gentleman.” – Ben James / The Oak Ridge Boys

“God love you, Joe Bonsall. You have been an inspiration to fans, friends, and family, especially to me for 52 years. This is a very rough day.” – Jim Halsey, Manager of The Oak Ridge Boys

Fentanyl Use and Arrests on the Rise

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By Mary Jane Farmer, for the Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town

Fentanyl has rapidly become the leading cause of death for those under the age of 45, statistics have shown.

The Grayson County Grand Jury meets every other week to hear reasons/proof to indict people for crimes allegedly committed. The most recent Grand Jury sitting, June 26, resulted in the indictment of 23 people on various drug charges. Of these, 4 people were indicted for possession of Fentanyl. The Grand Jury also indicted one person, Rameon Jordan of Sherman, on a charge of murder, and numerous others on serious felony charges. Indictments are not proof of guilt, but only reason to believe the person(s) should go on in the legal system.

Grayson County District Attorney Brett Smith said, “A few years ago Fentanyl cases were non-existent.  In the past few years, we have seen a nearly 400% increase in Fentanyl cases, and those are just the ones we know about, i.e. drugs seized and tested.  Couple that with our already existing methamphetamine crisis and we are seeing alarming numbers of felony drug cases.”

Van Alstyne Police Lt. Steven Hayslip described this dangerous drug, saying, “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately fifty (50) times more potent than heroin and one hundred (100) times more potent than morphine. Because of this potency, overdoses are increasing in an alarming fashion. Law enforcement agencies have seen a huge increase in the use of Fentanyl over the last several years.”

Hayslip continued, saying, “What makes Fentanyl even more deadly is that drug traffickers are cutting different substances with Fentanyl; for example: methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroine. This means users are buying certain narcotics only to be exposed to a drug much more potent than is anticipated.”

EMS and other first responders are now carrying a medicine known as Narcan, which can save someone from a heroin, fentanyl, or prescription medicine overdoses. ‘Narcan’ is the brand name for naloxone, which is available at drug stores without a prescription. The Online source Kidshealth.com said that anyone who might be struggling himself with drug addiction or is taking a prescribed opioid should carry Narcan. Ditto anyone who has someone around him/her consistently using illicit drugs.

That Website says that “someone who is overdosing might: Have small ‘pinpoint’ pupils, pass out, have slowed or no breathing, be limp, have blue lips and nails, and/or make choking or gurgling sounds.”

In priority, that caregiver should first call 911 for EMS assistance, then give Narcan if available. It is important, too, the site says to lay the person on his/her side, try to keep the person awake and breathing even by using CPR if needed, and stay with the person until emergency help arrives.

If anyone has those symptoms, but is not using narcotics, it will not harm them if Narcan has been applied.

“Narcan reverses the effects of fentanyl, heroin,, and prescription opioids on the brain and breathing,” the Website also explains.

Hayslip said, earlier, “The use of illicitly manufactured Fentanyl pills in on the rise and can come in many forms; for example: powder, liquid, pills, etc. A great deal of the illicitly manufactured Fentanyl is currently being manufactured in Mexico. The Fentanyl is then smuggled into the United States and distributed all across the country. There have been multiple arrests recently by law enforcement agencies in Grayson County including the Van Alstyne Police Department involving multiple forms of Fentanyl. “

In all, this Grand Jury indicted 23 people on various drug charges.  These included not only the 2 suspects indicted on the charge of Possession of Controlled Substances including Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),  but also 14 people on PCS Methamphetamine, and 4 on PCS Cocaine.

Smith said the use of Fentanyl creates “ A large volume of crime, from not just the drug trade, but also the destructive effects associated with serious substance abuse.”

 

TxDOT Asking for Public Opinion

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Press Release From the Texas Department of Transportation

AUSTIN – To help keep a thriving Texas economy moving, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is drafting a record-breaking 10-year transportation plan, and the public is invited to weigh in on potential projects in communities across the state.

The draft 2025 Unified Transportation Program (UTP) proposes $104.2 billion in transportation spending, making it the second year in a row that the UTP plan exceeds $100 billion.

The UTP provides a road map to help develop projects around Texas to improve safety, address congestion and connectivity, and preserve roadways for Texas drivers. The UTP also addresses public transportation, maritime, aviation, rail, freight and international trade, and bicycle and pedestrian connectivity. TxDOT works with its transportation partners to identify projects to be included in the UTP and updates it every year.

“The UTP serves as TxDOT’s strategic 10-year blueprint for advancing projects statewide,” said Executive Director Marc Williams. “Collaborating with our transportation partners and communities ensures that we continue connecting you with Texas while prioritizing safety, delivery, innovation and stewardship.”

TxDOT invites the public to learn about the draft 2025 UTP in a virtual public meeting on Tuesday, July 2, at 2 p.m. (CDT), and offer comments during a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, July 31, at 2 p.m. (CDT). The public may join the meetings virtually by phone or online at TxDOT.gov.

The draft 2025 UTP public comment period begins Friday, July 5, and ends Monday, Aug. 5, at 4 p.m. (CDT). To learn more about different ways to comment, visit the UTP Public Involvement webpage. Both the public meeting and hearing presentations will be recorded and available for viewing at a later time.  An online comment form link is also available for submission in English, Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Public comments and feedback are important in developing the plan. Available in English and Spanish, the UTP Fact Sheet provides an overview of the program.

The Texas Transportation Commission approves the UTP annually in accordance with Texas state law at its August commission meeting and publishes the approved UTP on TxDOT.gov.

Kinky Friedman — Rest in Peace

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Just a word here from me, Mary Jane, on Kinky Friedman… Here it mentions his bid for Justice of the Peace. That was in the early 1980s and Kinky lived just outside Kerrville, Texas. Once, while he was being interviewed by a TV crew in front of the Kerrville Post Office, I stepped out of the post office and stood on the top of the steps to hear the interview. Even knowing I was in view of the TV cameras, I didn’t care. I just wanted to hear him talk. OK, all said and done, cameras down, and Kinky strolling away, I stepped down and walked to my car. There, I saw that my jeans’ zipper was and had been completely open through it all. That would have been good fodder for Kinky’s brand of humor. I could tell lots more Kinky Friedman stories, but won’t.. just that his music and humor were magic to me and countless others.

There is so much more about Kinky on Wikipedia. Click here

From Jenni Finley Promotions w/ courtesy photo

Kinky Friedman, the singular songwriter, sharp satirist, prolific novelist, gubernatorial candidate, and cigar-chewing dog rescuer, has died. He was seventy-nine. “Kinky has left the building,” longtime friend Cleve Hattersley posted on social media. “We knew it was imminent when we stopped at the ranch to play for him ten days ago. We could see he was miserable, but we could also see the guy we’ve known as a best pal for half a century was still there appreciating our schtick and shedding a tear over our rendition of his song ‘Marilyn and Joe.’”

“Adios, Kinky Friedman,” Texas-based author Joe Nick Patoski posted. “You lit up the world while managing to drop insults and make us laugh.”

Friedman’s humor was notorious. “(Being) funny will always cost you,” he said in a characteristically animated interview for the book The Messenger: The Songwriting Legacy of Ray Wylie Hubbard (TAMU Press, 2016). “As Billy Joe Shaver would say, Ray Wylie Hubbard and I are both serious souls who nobody takes seriously. (Expletive) ’em and feed ’em Froot Loops. There are some who do take us seriously, but they’re probably living at the Shalom Retirement Village right now or the Bandera Home for the Bewildered. Are you getting all this? It’s pure genius. What I’m saying is incredible. I didn’t realize I was this spiritual.”

The singer-songwriter and author released a dozen and a half albums over the past fifty years – from his debut Sold American (1973) and the provocatively titled They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore (2005) through The Loneliest Man I Ever Met (2015) and a forthcoming collection (2024) – and wrote more than two dozen books from his early mysteries Greenwich Killing Time (1986) and A Case of Lone Star (1987) through his last non-fiction books You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can’t Make Him Think: Ten Commandments for Texas Politics (2007) and What Would Kinky Do? How to Unscrew a Screwed Up World (2008).

Several artists saluted Friedman on the tribute album Pearls in the Snow: The Songs of Kinky Friedman twenty-five years ago including Tom Waits (“Highway Cafe”), Willie Nelson (“Ride ’Em Jewboy”), Guy Clark (“Wild Man from Borneo,” also covered by James McMurtry), Lyle Lovett (“Sold American”), Dwight Yoakam (“Rapid City, South Dakota”), Delbert McClinton (“Autograph”), Marty Stuart (“Lady Yesterday”) and Tompall Glaser (“Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed”).

Friedman, a former candidate for governor of Texas and justice of the peace in Kerrville, Texas, mapped out his wishes for the afterlife in an interview with the Toronto Star: “I got my last will and testament worked,” he said. “When I die I’m going to be cremated and the ashes are to be thrown in (former Texas governor) Rick Perry’s hair.” The longtime animal lover shared a more heartfelt wish in the epilogue to his book Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola (1993) about his cat Cuddles being put down: “Dogs have a depth of loyalty that we seem unworthy of, but the love of a cat is a blessing, a privilege in this world. They say when you die and go to heaven all the dogs and cats you’ve ever had in your life come running to meet you. Until that day, rest in peace, Cuddles.”

“Kinky always obliged me by playing the South by Southwest parties Conqueroo co-sponsored: Guitartown/Conqueroo and Rebels & Renegades with Jenni Finlay Promotions,” Friedman’s former publicist Cary Baker said. “God broke the mold once he made Kinky: singer, songwriter, author, ill-fated politician, dog rescuer, underprivileged children’s camp sponsor, craft vodka magnate, homo erectus, Chicagoan, Philadelphian, Texas Jewboy…Kinky wore many hats and lived on his own terms every step of the way.”