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COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID WORKSHOP FOR SAHS SENIORS AND PARENTS
Santa Anna High School will host a college financial aid orientation on December 4, 2008, at 6:30 pm in the school Library. The program should last about an hour and will cover the steps in completing the general application form (FAFSA), stress the importance of grants and scholarships, explain the nature of student and parent loans, and instruct on avoiding scholarship scams. Refreshments will be served.
The program will be presented by Jim Glossbrenner, financial aid expert with Panhandle-Plains Student Loan Corporation. Jim’s career in education includes sixteen years of work connected to financial aid at Angelo State University. A drawing will be held for a Panhandle-Plains $100 scholarship for attending seniors or those represented by a parent.
For more information, call Montie Guthrie at 325.348.3136.
Santa Anna Retail Merchants Assoc.
Proudly Presents its 5th Annual
“2 Nights of Christmas in a Small Town”
Fri. and Sat. Dec. 5th and 6th
Featuring
Fri. & Sat. 4 to 7 pm Texas Wine Tasting at Sunny’s
Extended Shopping in our historically unique town
Fine dining
Performances at the courtyard next to The Feedstore
Friday - 6:00 p.m. worship dance team from Nashville
“Nu Ways O Praze”
6:30 p.m. Gospel Singer/Songwriter, Danny Chambers
Saturday - 6:00 p.m. “Nu Ways O Praze”
6:30 p.m. Christian singer, Rachael Lampa
Saturday Night Dance at The Armory
Featuring
Ponty Bone & The Squeezetones
From Austin, Texas
9 to 12 p.m.
Research Your Holiday Shopping Options
By Greg Abbott - Attorney General of Texas
With the holiday season approaching, manufacturers and retailers are offering a variety of payment, rebate, and discount options as they strive to attract shoppers during difficult economic times. Though these offers can be especially attractive to families facing tight budgets, it is critical that buyers understand the details - and consequences of any financial arrangement.
Many retailers are advertising items for sale on layaway. Under this arrangement, customers agree to purchase an item, but do not immediately leave the store with their purchase. Instead, the store retains an item while the purchaser pays for it over an established period of time. Because the store retains possession of the purchase, no credit is required. As a result, layaway purchases may be increasingly prevalent in a credit-strapped economy.
Layaway can be particularly appealing to purchasers who do not have checking accounts or credit cards. Unlike credit cards, layaway programs usually charge no interest on purchases.
Most layaway programs charge a fee for holding the purchase and require customers to pay the full purchase price within a certain time - which may last from 30 days to a year or more. If a customer is ultimately unable to afford the item, retailers will usually give a full refund, minus the layaway fee.
Since the purchases will be held at the store, layaway can also be useful to parents who want to keep their children from discovering Christmas gifts early.
Texans should carefully collect and save all records of their layaway or payment plan.
Manufacturers and retailers also are using mail-in rebates to entice shoppers. Under Texas law, a company offering a rebate must mail the rebate to the purchaser within a stated time period. If no time period is specified, the company must pay the rebate 30 days after receiving the rebate request. If a purchaser submits an improperly completed rebate request within the appropriate time period, the company must either process the rebate as if it was properly completed or notify the purchaser that the rebate request was improperly submitted.
Texans seeking mail-in rebates should keep complete purchase records. Purchasers must follow the instructions on the rebate form carefully and submit all required documentation on time. In the event problems arise, purchasers seeking a rebate should keep a copy of all documents sent to the manufacturer or retailer.
Customers who do not receive their rebates or are otherwise concerned that a retailer has failed to fulfill a promise can file a complaint with the OAG. Complaints should include all relevant information about the vendor and should specifically state any concerns about misleading terms or conditions on rebate forms. Texans also can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Points To Remember
HOLIDAY PURCHASING OPTIONS
When considering layaway:
Be aware of any fees and payment deadlines.
Read and keep records of any contracts.
To successfully claim a mail-in rebate:
Keep close track of the date of purchase, the expiration date of the rebate offer, and the expiration date on the rebate check.
Submit required paperwork in a timely fashion.
Keep copies of the transaction for your own records.
To file a complaint:
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
(800) 252-8011
www.texasattorneygeneral.gov
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU
www.bbb.org
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
(877) 382-4357
www.ftc.gov
For more information about this and other consumer topics, visit the Office of the Attorney General online at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
Santa Anna Grocery
No more bakery or donuts but now they have made to order pizza and sub sandwiches and they are good!
Be sure and tell James at SantaAnnaNews.com sent you...
County Stockshow Meeting
Coleman County Livestock Show committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 9th at 5:30 at the Bill Franklin Center to discuss the upcoming livestock show in January.
All interested persons are encouraged to attend.
For more information contact Sarah Beal at 325-785-4291 or ssbeal@web-access.net
Something I have wanted to do for a long time... this is the first of a series set to become part of the Historical Page of SantaAnnaNews.com
Historic Santa Anna
This first in the series is regarding the historical marker placed by the Texas Historical Survey Committee in 1965. The marker is located downtown next to Santa Anna City Hall on Wallis Ave (US 67/84).
The marker reads:
Santa Anna, C.S.A.
Mountain and town named in honor of man in power here in 1840's, a Comanche chief friendly to Texans. Santa Anna in 1846 visited President Polk in Washington during U.S. negotiations to annex Texas. Also signed and kept until his death of cholera in 1849 peace treaties that allowed the German Emigration Company to settle lands north of the Llano River. Comanches used Santa Anna peaks as signal points. Early surveyors, travelers, explorers and settlers took them as guide points. In 1857, nearby United States Cavalry at Camp Colorado kept lookouts here. In the Civil War, 1861-65, frontier kept lookouts here. At foot of mountain, with sentries on heights watching at the pass the military road from San Antonio northeastward to Fort Belknap, a strategic outpost guarding Texas from invasion by Indians and Federal troops. During the 1870's thousands of longhorns went through the gap, over the western cattle trail. In 1879, "The Gap" had a store and post office to supply the cattle drives. When Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe built here in 1886, settlers moved from The Gap to the railroad, starting the present town. Quarries in the mountain yield fine sands for the manufacturing of glass. (1965)
I actually took these pictures of the marker which is between City Hall and what was Noreta's back in November of 2005
2008 Christmas in the Heart in the Park
The Brady/McCulloch County Chamber of Commerce will host Christmas in the Heart December 6th and 7th. The celebration kicks-off the Christmas season with family entertainment, holiday cheer, Santa Claus and a live nativity.
With the courthouse under restoration and renovation, the Chamber is working with the City of Brady and McCulloch County to provide residents and visitors a unique holiday event unlike anything we’ve had before.
Kick-off of the event begins Saturday morning with the Live Oak Trade Days Arts and Crafts Fair and Christmas Bazaar at the Ed Davenport Civic Center. The show will feature vendors from around the region offering their merchandise in a nice, warm indoor setting. Along with shopping opportunities, there will be live entertainment from local groups throughout the day and an opportunity for children to visit with Santa! Come have a picture with jolly old St. Nick from 10am- 12pm and again from 1-3pm. Saturday’s shopping hours are 10am until 5pm. If you can’t make it Saturday, the show will reopen on Sunday at 12 noon and will feature a luncheon served until 2pm. Once you’ve had your fill, stroll about the vendors to get some shopping done. The show will close at 5pm on Sunday.
Saturday evening, head to Richards Park for Brady’s first-ever lighted trail. We will "flip the switch" at 6pm and bring the park to life with sparkling lights, dancing displays and holiday spirit. Santa will once again be on hand for photo opportunities for children. We will also have a new attraction for picture enthusiasts, a live nativity scene. Stop by and don angel wings or a shepherd’s staff to pose with Mary and Joseph.
Festivities in the park will also include hot chocolate, carolers, and carriage rides. Rides will be available from 6pm until 8pm and will run from the VFW Hall through the lighted trail and back.
The Chamber is excited about this new event and hopes everyone in the community will come out to see the park transformed into a lighted wonderland. The display will be up throughout the entire month of December, so visit early and often.
For more information regarding the scheduled events, please call the chamber office at 597-3491 or email chamber@bradytx.us.
Coleman County’s Historical Commission Seeking Members
Coleman County’s Historical Commission (CCHC) needs active commission members to serve for the 2009-2010 term beginning in January 2009. The commission must meet a minimum of four times per year and works with community members to "protect and preserve the state’s historic and prehistoric resources for the use, education, economic benefit, and enjoyment of present and future generations". Don’t quit reading yet. You need to know why you should be interested.
This is not a demanding duty, but it is serious business. Commission members should serve as leaders and coordinators. Texas Historical Commission staff in Austin is always there to help and sponsors an annual conference with great workshops. The 2009 conference will be held April 15-17 at the Lakeway Hotel and Conference Center on Lake Travis. Texas ranks second in the U.S. in the number of cultural and heritage travelers visiting the state and local economies benefit from these tourists who spend almost $30 more per day and stay longer than the average traveler.
Why do we need a local commission? What does it mean to the people of Coleman County? We have historic/prehistoric resources in the county that could draw in more tourism dollars. Tourists buy gas, groceries and restaurant meals. They buy gifts and medicine and auto parts. They stay in local motels and Bed & Breakfasts.
All these businesses employ people and advertise. The businesses and their employees buy gas, groceries, meals, gifts, medicine, auto parts, hardware, automobiles and houses. They buy clothes and get their clothes cleaned and their oil changed, their hurts fixed, their taxes done, and they insure their houses, buy natural gas, electricity, phone service and television reception. In short, when we get more tourism, we all benefit. When you help make your commission effective, you help your business.
We have a rich and exciting history with Indian attacks, floods, train robberies, cattle drives, hangings, shootings, and more. We have many interesting and diverse historic/prehistoric resources that, if developed, could draw visitors to the county. But, without your help, these resources are at best wasted and at worst, will disappear.
If you want to make a difference, contact one of the CCHC nominating committee members: Maxine Cope, Roger Nelson or James Winstead.
Ring in the New Year!
Circle C Cattlewomen’s New Year’s Eve Gala
As a finale to Coleman County’s Sesquicentennial year, the Circle C Cattlewomen are hosting their New Year’s Eve Gala at the Bill Franklin Center on December 31, 2008. The event will include an outstanding steak dinner provided by Home Creek Cookin’ and will be followed by dancing to the music of the Metheny Brothers. The Metheny Brothers are icons in the south Texas area, bringing the best in western swing dance music in the style of Ray Price and Johnny Bush. They are elite pickers with plenty of fiddle and steel guitar. There will also be silent and live auctions, with an emphasis on very special western items. The auctions will benefit Circle C Cattlewomen’s "Excellence in Agriculture" scholarships, as well as premiums for beef exhibitors at the Coleman County Junior Livestock Show and beef entries in the 4-H Food Show.
Tickets are $30.00 per person and are available at the Coleman County Chamber of Commerce or from any Circle C Cattlewomen member. Tickets are limited, so do not delay! This is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the New Year in a great atmosphere with family and friends and stay right here in Coleman. Any questions may be directed to the Chamber of Commerce at (325) 625-2163.
Sunkissed Tanning Salon
Time to start working on that tan!
Sunkissed Tanning Salon @ 302 S. 5th and Avenue C, right south of the Presbyterian Church. Contact Amber at 325-636-3973 or 325-357-4515 to get started.
*All new bulbs
*$27 per month
*Refer a friend as a new customer and get $5 off your next month!
*Couples discount--$50 per month
*Off-season special rate--September 1 thru January 31--tan for only $20 per month!
Ag News From the Texas A"&"M University System
News From the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
News From The White House
News From Texas Governor Rick Perry
News From Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
Consumer Alerts From Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
Weekly News from the Office of Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
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Weekly News from the Office of Texas Senator John Cornyn
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