Highway spans all of Texas from Arkansas to New Mexico

US 82 Corridor map

Press Release from Texas Department of Transportation, Sept. 13, 2023

PARIS, Texas – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is working to shape the future for one of the most important highways in the Paris area (Grayson County is in this Paris, Texas area), and public input is crucial as the agency looks to meet the transportation needs of tomorrow.
TxDOT is conducting an online survey between Sept. 11 – Oct. 18, asking the public for its input and perspective on US Highway 82, which stretches across Texas for more than 570 miles from Arkansas to New Mexico.
The survey, part of TxDOT’s US 82 Texas Corridor Study, will give the public an important voice in shaping the future of US 82 and the many communities it serves. The corridor study is looking for ways to keep up with the state’s growing population, increasing traffic and booming economy.
The study examines currently planned transportation projects and analyzes additional safety, connectivity, bottlenecks, and other mobility needs along US 82 in Texas. The results of the survey will help TxDOT identify potential improvement needs and prioritize plans, policies, programs, and projects.
The study will consider the following key elements to identify and prioritize proposed projects along the corridor:
• Safety
• Mobility & Congestion
• System Connectivity
• Multimodal Passenger & Freight

Click here to find out more about the US 82 Texas Corridor Study and to take the survey.

The survey is also available in Spanish.

Story by Mary Jane Farmer

NOTE: An indictment is a formal charge and not an indication of guilt.

The Grayson County Grand Jury , during it’s most recent seating, indicted Van Alstyne resident David Prikryl on three charges of Harrassment of Public Servant.

Van Alstyne Police Lt. Steven Hayslip said that on June 4 of this year, officers were called to a house on Nash Street because of a disturbance in progress. Upon arrival, they learned that someone in the household had sprayed Prikryl with an over-the-counter pepper spray for his/her own safety. Officers placed the suspect under arrest and placed handcuffs on him. The suspect resisted arrest, and then reportedly spit on both a paramedic and a police officer. Once at the Grayson County Jail, he also spit on a jailer, Hayslip added.

Bail was set at a total of $30,000, ($10,000 on each of the three charges), payable in surety bonds. As of Aug. 21, Prikryl remained incarcerated.

Shown here is a mixture of Fentanyl and Ecstasy, seized during a recent drug bust made by Van Alstyne Police.

Article by Mary Jane Farmer, Van Alstyne News. Photo courtesy of Van Alstyne PD.

Van Alstyne Police took more than 400 grams of illegal and dangerous narcotics out of circulation Saturday (Aug. 12) with the arrest of a Tulsa, Okla., man.

Police Lt. Steven Hayslip reported that officers who were on routine patrol that evening stopped a vehicle going north on U.S. Highway 75 because they saw defective equipment on it.

The driver pulled over and the officers approached the stopped vehicle. Once at the window, they smelled the distinctive odor of marijuana, which the suspect tried to explain by saying that a friend of his had smoked marijuana in the vehicle earlier.

With this odor, the officers had cause to and did conduct a probable cause search of the vehicle.

They found a large, clear (zipper) plastic baggie in the front-seat passenger compartment. Inside it were numerous multi-colored and multi-shaped pills, weighing more than one pound, Hayslip said.

“Based on the officers’ training and experience,” Hayslip explained, “they believed the pills to be Ecstasy.” They next conducted a field test of the bagged ingredients, which tested positive for MDMA/Ecstasy, and that field test also tested positive for Fentanyl.

They placed the suspect under arrest on a charge of Possession of Controlled Substance PG 1B greater than 400 grams.

Hayslip added that the street value of the seized narcotics is approximately $40,000.

Hayslip explained earlier that “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Because of this potency, overdoses are increasing in an alarming fashion. As a matter of fact, Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for adults under the age of 45.

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

This is not the first time that Van Alstyne PD has arrested people/suspects in possession of Fentanyl.

The Tulsa suspect paid his $30,000 bail in a surety bond with conditions applied to it, and was released from Grayson County Jail Sunday.

(More on Fentanyl in another article)

Scene In Town, The Van Alstyne News do not print suspects’ names until or unless they are indicted or convicted.

Two law enforcement agencies have been busy with felony arrests and convictions. Many details have not been made available, as the local agency’s Public Information Officer (PIO) is swamped with other duties as well.

Van Alstyne PD

March 4 — Police arrested a Van Alstyne man on a single charge of Assault Causes Bodily Injury-Family Violence. Details on this and all arrests made since March 1 have not yet been made available. Grayson County Jail records show that this suspect posted bail of $10,000 in a surety bond with conditions for his release the next day. Jail records also show that this suspect was out on a surety bond w/ conditions for bail at $4,000 on another ACBI-FV charge. That earlier event is reportedly happened four months prior to this one.

March 4  — Police jailed a second Van Alstyne resident on a charge of Assault Causing Bodily Injury, plus unlawfully carrying a weapon and possession of marijuana. His bail was set at a total of $8,000, which he posted for his release the following day.  Unlike the first suspect, this was the first time this suspect has been inside Grayson County Jail.

March 4 — Van Alstyne Police served an arrest warrant, issued by Dallas County, on a Mesquite female. The warrant charges her with Possession of Controlled Substance and carries a $5,000 bail. At the date of this writing (March 9) she has not paid bail nor been transferred to Dallas County, according to jail records.

March 4 — A Van Alstyne officer jailed a Sherman woman on two drug charges, or more specifically, possession of controlled substances. Her bail total $12,000, and she, too remains incarcerated in lieu of bail. 

March 8  — Van Allstyne Police arrested a Van Alstyne female on a charge of Possession or Delivery of Drug Paraphernalia, She received her release later the same day after paying $431 cash fine.

March 8 — A Van Alstyne woman went to jail because of having not paid a previous court-ordered fine. The original charge was for Theft of Property between $500-$1,500, in 2009.  Jail records show that she owed $940 in the previous fine, and that she laid that out and was released the same day.

March 8 — Police jailed a Blue Ridge woman on a charge of Possession of Controlled Substance. She paid her bail set at $5,000 by surety bond for her release.

March 8 — Van Alstyne police jailed a Howe woman on a charge of Driving while Intoxicated 3rd or More Offense. To be released for this offense, the suspect had to pay $20,000 in bail and qualified that with a surety bond with conditions.

Howe PD

Howe PD Chief Carl Hudman reported that on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, a Howe Police Department detective began an investigation into an allegation against 39-year-old Robert Brent Steedman Jr. for sexual abuse of a child. Steedman Jr. was acquainted with  the victim’s mother at the time of the offense, which the victim said happened in Howe between 2017 and 2018. On February 7, Sergeant Keith Milks and Hudman interviewed Steedman Jr. and he confessed to the crime. The officers arrested Steedman Jr. for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and booked him into the Grayson County Jail.

On Feb. 27, 2023, Steedman Jr. pled guilty in the 397^th District Court to Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child (Rape) and he was sentenced to 5 years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. Steedman Jr., now of Honey Grove. shows in the Grayson County Jail records to have three count of rape filed against him.

African Children’s Choir members
Courtesy photo

Press Release

The African Children’s Choir melts the hearts of audiences with their charming smiles, beautiful voices, and lively African songs and dances. It is composed of African children, ages 9 to 11 years old. The Choir is a program of a larger international organization called Music for Life, which provides thousands of impoverished children throughout Africa with the education, discipleship, and leadership skills needed to rise above their conditions so they can bring positive, lasting change to their families, communities and countries.

The African Children’s Choir is bringing its talent and joy to the First Christian Church of Van Alstyne at 7 p.m. on March 10. The church is located at 274 S. Waco and its phone number is 903-482-5515. Concerts are free and open to all. A free-will offering is taken at the performance to support African Children’s Choir programs, such as education, care and relief, and development programs.

The “Just As I Am” tour combines traditional hymns with African cultural sounds and a stunning visual story of God’s faithfulness.

Music for Life works in the seven African countries of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. MFL has educated over 52,000 children and impacted the lives of over 100,000 people through its relief and development programs during its history.

The African Children’s Choir has had the privilege to perform before presidents, heads of state and, before her death, Queen Elizabeth II, for her diamond jubilee. The Choir has also had the honor of singing alongside artist such as Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, Michael W. Smith, and other inspirational performers.

Promotional support of this community concert is greatly appreciated. By focusing on providing education, the African Children’s Choir is a non-profit, humanitarian, and relief organization dedicated to helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today so they can help Africa tomorrow.