Twenty Peaceful Minutes

Life in Forney, TX - ‘Twenty Peaceful Minutes East of Downtown Dallas’

Copper theft thwarted by KCSO

Filed under: Regional News — Will Batt at 10:00 pm on Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Welcome to Twenty Peaceful Minutes (20PM) - a community website for Forney, Texas. In addition to this blog, 20PM is home to the Forney discussion forums, which you may reach by clicking the Forney discussion forum link or going to http://20pm.net/forums; also, considering signing up for email or newsreader (RSS feed) notifications of new posts to the 20PM blog!

Shortly after midnight this morning, two suspects caused approximately $10,000 in damage while attempting to steal copper from a power substation on FM 741 between Forney and Crandall. While both suspects fled on foot following the arrival of Kaufman County deputies, both were captured and are currently awaiting bail in the Kaufman County Jail.

The suspects have been identified as Daniel Lairsey of Quinlan, 27, and John Kubat of Mesquite, 34. All stolen copper was recovered by KCSO deputies.

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Adeona: Free, Privacy-Sensitive Laptop Tracking and Recovery Software

Filed under: Technology — Josh at 11:14 pm on Monday, August 11, 2008

This post is a little out of the norm - it’s not related to Forney or any Forney businesses, per se, but I thought it was information worth sharing with the community, since many of us are becoming increasinly dependent on our laptops not only for business, but also to keep in touch with friends and to store family photos.

A new program, Adeona, was announced last month that is similar to the Laptop LoJack system (software that tracks your laptop in the event it is stolen, much like the LoJack system for automobiles) that stores are pushing so aggressively on customers who purchase new laptops these days, but with a few critical differences.

First of all, LoJack costs $40-$60/year; Adeona is free. LoJack sends the data about your laptop’s location to a commercial enterprise that maintains a three page long “privacy” policy that outlines what they can choose to do with your personal information. Adeona obscures the data about your laptop’s location in such a way that only you (or a person you share your key with) can access it.

(Read on …)

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County Commissioner Holding Town Hall Meeting This Saturday in Forney

Filed under: Government & Politics — Josh at 11:41 pm on Monday, August 4, 2008

This Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 9AM Commissioner Ray Clark will be holding a Town Hall meeting at the Forney Sub-Court House located at 200 E. Main in Forney.

The meeting does not have a set topic and is instead an open forum to allow citizens to address any questions they may have to Commissioner Clark as well as Paul Allen, the Road & Bridge Supervisor. The meeting will continue until all questions have been addressed.

As County Commissioner for Precinct 2, Commissioner Clark is the elected official at the county level that represents Forney and much of the surrounding areas, including Travis Ranch and Windmill Farms. Among other duties, the county commissioners, in cooperation with the county judge, set the county’s budget each year. If you cannot attend the meeting, Commissioner Clark’s phone number is 972 564-4054 or you may reach him via email at rayclark@kaufmancounty.net

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Target, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble Among Prospective Tenants for Forney Marketplace

Filed under: Business & Finance, Commercial Real Estate — Josh at 10:03 pm on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

One of Endeavor's Exisiting Shopping Centers Includes a Macy's and California Pizza KitchenI have some exciting updates concerning Forney Marketplace, the 2 million square foot regional shopping center coming to Forney in September of 2010! This project, which is being developed by the Endeavor Real Estate Group, will help shape the future of Forney for the years to come as it brings countless high-end national retailers to Forney while also attracting restaurants, another movie theater and additional entertainment to our town, making Forney “the shopping, dining and entertainment center between Dallas and Tyler”, the goal Endeavor has set for this new shopping center.

Before diving into the updates, I do want to acknowledge the Forney Economic Development Corporation, the Forney City Council and our mayor. They are working tirelessly to attract top-tier development to Forney and ensure that we experience positive, constructive growth. The Forney EDC has done an amazing job getting the word out about Forney to the retail community; at the same time, the city council and the mayor have been very proactive in addressing the updates required to Forney’s infrastructure to support projects of this scale by implementing cutting-edge concepts such as the Transportation Reinvestment Zone (TRZ) that will help provide the roadwork around this development.

When asked to comment about these prospective tenants and the Forney Marketplace project as a whole, Darrell Grooms, mayor of Forney, stated that “[Forney Marketplace] is great for our community, offering excellent shopping and entertainment opportunities for our town”. He also indicated that the city and the developer of the project are hopeful that the announcement of a movie theater in the 3rd phase of the project will help attract numerous well-known, upscale restaurants to the Forney Marketplace, greatly expanding our local options not just for shopping but for entertainment and dining as well.

I’ve obtained more details about each phase of this project and I am very excited to announce the following prospective tenants for phase 1 of the center: Target (130,000 sq. feet), JC Penny (103,500 sq. feet), Belk (96,000 sq. feet), Kohl’s (88,000 sq. feet), Dick’s Sporting Goods (50,000 sq. feet), Best Buy (30,000 sq. feet), Barnes & Noble (28,000 sq. feet) and Ulta (12,000 sq. feet).  These tenants are merely prospective tenants at this time, so this is not an official announcement that these stores will be opening in Forney, however, from what I can tell, Endeavor has worked with each of these tenants in their previous projects, so I believe we will see most, if not all, of these retailers in Forney as part of this project.

Read on for more information about prospective tenants in Phase 2 & 3 of this project, including a movie theater, a grocery store and other anchor stores.

(Read on …)

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Jaycees Hosting Kid’s Fun Day July 4th to Benefit Hannah Kessner

Filed under: Forney News — Josh at 11:30 am on Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Richardson Jaycees will be hosting a Kid’s Fun Day this Friday, July 4th, from 11AM to 4PM at the Forney Brookshire’s located at 427 Pinson Road. The event will include kid friendly games, face painting and more. Raffle tickets will be sold with prizes including an iPod Shuffle, a Nintendo DS, a DVD player and much more!

Proceeds from the event will go towards the Hannah Kessner fund, the fund that has been setup at a bank here in Forney to help with the medical costs involved with the operation that 4 year old Hannah needs to correct a congential defect in the area where her spinal cord and brain connects. Read more about Hannah’s condition in this story about the fundraiser that was held at Chick-Fil-A for the Kessner family.

A flyer with details about the Kid’s Fun Day is available to download as a PDF; feel free to print it out and distribute it in your office, to your neighbors, etc!

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Forney Girl Scouts Changing the World One Project at a Time

Filed under: Forney News — Josh at 12:17 am on Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Girl Scouts of the United States has long been an organization devoted to empowering girls to become the best they can be - one of the ways girls in Scouts can grow and achieve their goals and dreams is through service to the community.

Forney’s local Girl Scout Service Unit is in the process of planning for their upcoming year. The theme for the year is “Change the World” and the Scouts plan to begin by changing the world right here in Forney. With over 150 girls and dozens of adults eager to get started, they are are looking forward to helping as many organizations and people in Forney as possible, however, they need our help!

They have asked me to put out a request to the Forney community to help them find ways to serve - if you know of any service projects they can get involved with in our community this year, please contact Melanie Davis (mdavis@feccommunications.net) or Jill Culmo (jculmo@flash.net).

Feel free to brainstorm potential projects to recommend to them in this thread in the Forney discussion forum, as well!

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Annual Independence Day Fireworks Display in Forney

Filed under: Forney News — Josh at 2:28 pm on Monday, June 23, 2008

FireworksAccording to a recent update to the City of Forney website, the annual Independence Day Firework display will be on Thursday, July 3, at approximately 9:15 PM from the undeveloped property in the Villages of Fox Hollow. Parking is allowed at Forney High School and in the rear parking lot of the First Baptist Church.

We’ve attended this display in the past - it’s a lot of fun, but I do encourage you to get there early - we parked in the parking lot at Forney High School and by the time the show started, it was packed! It was a great atmosphere, though, with some people watching the show from their vehicle while others brought lawn chairs and a few enterprising teens were even selling glow sticks and other items. The annual Independence Day Fireworks are a great way to get out, meet some of your fellow Forney residents and enjoy a great fireworks display without the risk that comes with shooting off fireworks yourself. (Read on …)

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Kaufman County Left Out in the Cold by Regional Transportation Council?

Filed under: Government & Politics, Real Estate & Neighborhoods — Josh at 3:21 pm on Monday, June 16, 2008

Congested TrafficOLDnFEEBLE, an area blogger, posted something recently that caught my attention, especially given recent heated discussion on the Forney discussion forum here on 20PM entitled ‘Plan to Build Toll road on Helms Trail from I20 to 80‘. From the article on ONF’s blog ‘A Seat At The Table?‘:

An article in today’s Dallas Morning News informs us of what would appear to be one of those really, really important meetings of regional representatives on vital transportation issues.

Drilling down into that article’s link to the North Central [Texas] Council of Government’s Regional Transportation Council membership appears to reveal that there is NO representative from Kaufman County or any city in Kaufman County on this council.

Research shows that while there are forty members on the Regional Transportation Council (RTC), including a county judge from Johnson County and a county commissioner from Ellis County, two counties that are of a similar size as Kaufman County, Kaufman County is completely unrepresented on the RTC.

Why should we care about a committee of 40 elected and appointed officials that meets monthly in Arlington to talk about roads that may not be built for 20 years? It’s simple - the RTC is the major planning group that guides the alignment of new roads in the Metroplex; they can align a toll-road along a small street like Helms Trail and knock out hundreds of homes, and on the other extreme, they can decide to completely bypass a city when routing major thoroughfares that have the potential to bring growth, development and increased tax revenue.

(Read on …)

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Joint Investigation Ends in 7 Arrests and Recovery of 670 Tablets of Ecstasy

Filed under: Regional News — Josh at 8:02 pm on Thursday, June 12, 2008

The City of Seagoville, in partnership with the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office announced the conclusion of a joint two-week investigation that led to the arrest of 6 adults and 1 juvenile as well as the recovery of 670 individual tablets of Ecstasy, a popular street drug. The arrests ranged over 4 counties, with the capture of suspects from Kaufman, Dallas, Tarrant and Henderson counties. Narcotics investigators involved in the case have said they are seeing a rise in ecstasy use by local youth and would like to remind parents and their children that ecstasy is a dangerous stimulant that often proves to be fatal.

From what I can discern, none of the arrests were tied to any activity in Forney, however, I know that many Forney parents are concerned about what drugs might be available in our area and how to keep their children safe, so read on for more information about this case, drug use in Kaufman County and photos of the suspects as well as of ecstasy itself.

(Read on …)

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Car Show at Lucky’s to Benefit 12 Year Old Courageously Battling Bone Cancer

Filed under: Forney News — Josh at 9:05 am on Thursday, June 12, 2008

Laurren Smith, 12 Year Old Courageously Fighting CancerChristy recently posted some information in the Forney discussion forums here on 20PM that I want to share with everyone - there will be a car show on Sunday, June 29th to benefit Laurren Smith, a 12 year old from Forney who was diagnosed with bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in August of 2007 and has undergone chemotherapy, several operations and continues to fight hard against this difficult cancer.

Read on for more about Laurren as well as the car show!

(Read on …)

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