Twenty Peaceful Minutes

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!

Despite fears that they might, the National Weather Service has not issued a Winter Storm Warning. However, they have issued a Freezing Rain Advisory which indicates they expect freezing rain between 9PM tonight and noon on Friday. According to the weather service, average ice accumulations are expected to be one tenth of an inch or less, but this may be enough to cause moderate icing on some area roads Thursday night and Friday morning, but by noon on Friday, the weather system is expected to have passed and temperatures will warm above freezing, thawing the ice. So, plan on slow going Friday morning, but it sounds like it won’t be the full on winter storm some have been fearing. Chances are, schools and businesses will remain open - no snow day after all.

The National Weather Service alert includes a series of tips for driving during the Freezing Rain Advisory, click “Read On” to read them…
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• Cold Stone Creamery Grand Opening Tomorrow!

  I just wanted to remind everyone that the Cold Stone Creamery grand opening is Saturday the 27th...

The primaries are just around the corner, and while there’s been a lot of attention on the presidential race, several state and local races are heating up around Kaufman County! Our current representative in the US House, Republican Jeb Hensarling appears to be running unopposed in the Republican primary, and apparently no challengers filed to run for the Democratic nomination for that position. However, Republican Betty Brown is facing stiff competition in her bid to be re-elected for a sixth term as our representative in the Texas House of Representatives - not only has Wade Gent, who nearly unseated Representative Brown in a previous primary, filed to run against her in the Republican Primary, Victor Morales has filed for the Democratic nomination for the position.
Click read on for more information about local races in the March 4, 2008 primaries…
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• Kaufman County Primary Results - 42 of 42 Precincts Reporting

  I'll update this post as additional votes are tallied, and provide some commentary tomorrow, as well. UPDATE...

• Wade Gent Announces His Candidacy for State Representative, District 4

  The Athens Review published a piece yesterday in which Wade Gent, Forney resident, announced his intention to...

• Final Henderson County Results Are In - Incumbent Betty Brown Defeats Challenger Wade Gent in House District 4 Primary

  Final results have been in from Kaufman County for a while, and now final results are in...

Robert Lamascus, who most recently worked at Frisco High School from August 2005 until February 2007, was sentenced earlier this month to 10 years in federal prison, a $3,000 fine and 7 years of supervised release after the completion of his prison term. Federal agents executed search warrants at his residence in Aubrey, Texas on January 30th, 2007, after which Lamascus admitted to possessing between 300 and 600 images of child pornography.

According to the Department of Justice news release, Lamascus worked as a high school teacher and girls soccer coach with Forney ISD from August 3, 2004 through May 25, 2005.

Lamascus was prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, created in February 2006.

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• Forney ISD Names Lone Finalist for Superintendent

  In a press release posted on their website this morning, Forney ISD has announced that Dr. Darrell...

• Forney North High School Groundbreaking Ceremony This Monday

  Monday, November 5th from 5:30 to 6PM, Forney ISD is holding a groundbreaking ceremony at Forney North...

This past Friday, Cirrus Health announced that the land on which Forney Regional Medical Center will be located has been officially purchased. Forney Regional Medical Center will be located along FM 548, at the intersection of FM 548 and the yet-to-be-built Rogers Parkway, south of Highway 80. The 102,000 square foot hospital will include an emergency room, an obstetric unit with four birthing rooms, two procedure rooms, four operating rooms, a heart cath lab and an initial capacity of 40 beds. The hospital could create up to 150 jobs in Forney.

The FRMC has aligned itself with the Medical City of Dallas and will have a heliport to quickly transport patients needing more advanced care to Medical City. Groundbreaking on the new hospital has yet to be scheduled, but is expected to occur in late February. Cirrus Health has created a website with more information about the hospital.

Click read on for an update about Forney Medical Plaza, the other hospital being built in Forney…
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• Forney Regional Medical Center Groundbreaking - Playground Dedicated to Local Doctor, Christine Walker

  Forney residents currently driving to Mesquite, Dallas and Rockwall for their medical needs will soon have a...

• 2.2 Million Square Foot Regional Shopping Center Announced in Forney

  Today, Endeavor Real Estate Group, along with the City of Forney, have announced that Endeavor is now...

• Terrell Market Center Updates

  Oakridge Investments, the owner/developer of what will become Terrell Market Center, the development that is the current...

Jim has a very cool site over at TerrellDailyPhoto.com - he takes photos all over Terrell and has featured some amazing shots of buildings most people may never notice. On Saturday, he showcased a photo he took at the Forney-Terrell basketball game, where Terrell won 67-41. You can view all of the photos on his site, which I highly recommend - not only is Jim a much better photographer than I am, he also has an eye for amazing photos - even if you’ve lived or worked in Terrell all your life, chances are, Jim’s posted a photo of a historic building or beautiful vista you’ve never noticed.
Click here to discuss this post in the Forney discussion forums!

• Photos From Around Forney

  Forney has been growing and changing so fast lately, I thought it would be interesting to document...

• Terrell Market Center Updates

  Oakridge Investments, the owner/developer of what will become Terrell Market Center, the development that is the current...

Oakridge Investments, the owner/developer of what will become Terrell Market Center, the development that is the current focus of Terrell’s Tax Increment Financing District (TIF District) deal with Kaufman County, has announced their plans for the site. Terrell Market Center is located where I-20, FM 148 and Spur 557 (which leads to Hwy 80) meet.

According to GlobeSt.com, Oakridge is keeping 36 acres of the 89 acre site for a 200,000 square foot retail/restaurant center (some media reports place the center at 200,000 sq. feet, others at 300,000 st. feet) and has sold the remaining land to Baylor. Baylor says they are evaluating the site and the surrounding area and have not made a conclusive decision about what they will use the site for beyond a ‘medical campus’ - it could potentially become a day surgery facility, a medical center/doctor’s office building or a hospital. Click read on for more…
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• Forney Regional Shopping Center Updates

  We originally broke the news of the 2.2 million square foot regional shopping center planned for Forney...

• Forney at Terrell Basketball Photos from Terrell Daily Photo

  Jim has a very cool site over at TerrellDailyPhoto.com - he takes photos all over Terrell and...

• Forney Regional Medical Center & Forney Medical Plaza Update

  This past Friday, Cirrus Health announced that the land on which Forney Regional Medical Center will be...

The City of Forney has announced that they will be reviewing and updating the Comprehensive Plan to better prepare the city for future growth. The City is seeking public input on the Comprehensive Plan through a series of public workshops, the first of which will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at the Forney High School cafeteria from 6 to 8:30 P.M. Make sure to attend and let your voice be heard in the future of Forney!
Click to discuss this post in the Forney discussion forums.

• Forney - Tree City USA?

  While doing some research recently on the National Arbor Day Foundation, I ran across information about the...

• City of Forney Hosting Retirement Reception for City Secretary, Odessa Moore

  The City of Forney will be hosting a retirement reception this coming Sunday, March 30th for Odessa...

• Forney ISD Holding Public Forum on Bond Election this Monday

  This coming Monday, March 5th at 7PM the Forney ISD School Board is holding a public forum...