January

A successful showing

Area students were overjoyed last week with their strong showing at the Collin County Ag Show. Over 150 students throughout the district participated in the show last week, sharing their passion and knowledge in all areas of agriculture. The show ran from Jan. 7 through Jan. 11 at Meyers Park and Event Center in McKinney.

Several students received Grand Champion awards and placed in numerous categories.

Wylie High School Agricultural Science teacher, Luke Parr, said the week was highlighted by Zach Vandervort exhibiting the Grand Champion Swine.

“This was the top pig of the show out of almost 400 head of pigs from schools across the county,” Parr said. “Other top honors were Cori Camp and Zach Vandervort taking Breed Champions in the Heifer Division and Kendra Nicholson taking a Reserve Breed Champion in the Heifer Division.”

Fire Dept. to get new ambulance

Murphy Fire Rescue will soon get a new custom-built ambulance to add to the two it currently has, after the city council approved the purchase at a cost of $213,346 at its Jan. 6 meeting. The purchase was part of the FY 2015 budget approved last fall said Fire Chief Mark Lee. He said $20,000 of that amount is for an ambulance cot and the remainder is for the vehicle.

“This purchase is also in line with the vehicle replacement schedule of ambulances serving four years in front line service before moving to reserve,” he said. “The current model is a 2011. Our backup model is a 2007.”

The schedule states that an ambulance is in service four years as the front line unit, then four years as the reserve unit, and finally four years as the backup unit to the reserve and front line units. After 12 years of service, the unit is auctioned off.

“After 12 years, the technology and safety of the vehicle begins to wear away,” Chief Lee said.

Currently the 2011 unit has 46,000 miles and 3,900 hours of use on it and the 2007 unit has 47,000 miles and 3,700 hours of use on it.

Subway robbed, ties to Dallas possible

Jan. 22, Murphy Police indicated officers were dispatched to the Subway restaurant, located at 280 E. FM 544. Ste. 110, at 7:37 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 for a reported armed robbery.

“Witnesses from Yanni’s Greek Café, located next door, reported the suspect paced back and forth waiting for a customer to leave before entering the Subway,” Chief GM Cox said. “He didn’t seem suspicious, so

they didn’t think anything of it.”

Chief Cox said when the suspect entered the restaurant, he brandished a gun and demanded money. The two women working there fled from the restaurant immediately.

Students’ loose change becomes Wounded Warriors’ treasure 

How does the old adage go, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure?” That was the idea behind Brennan Barker’s idea to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. Barker was trying to think of a service project to do around the holidays, when he thought of the Wounded Warrior Project, he said.

“My great-grandfather served in World War II and I have a cousin who just joined the Air Force,” he said. “So, the Wounded Warrior Project is close to my heart. When I began thinking of a way to raise money for the organization, I thought of that jar of loose change we have under our sink.”

After counting the money in the jar, Brennan discovered it added up to $133.

“I thought everyone has one of these jars around their house,” Brennan said. “What if we all donated it to the Wounded Warrior Project?”

Brennan’s goal was to fill a five-gallon jug with coins donated by students and staff at Murphy Middle School, where he is an eighth grader. Immediately, his choir teacher, Mrs. Amber Evans agreed to sponsor him and help him organize the project at school. The choir classes had a competition among themselves, with each class challenged to fill a gallon jug by the end of the service project.

To read additional highlight stories from the 2015 Year in Review see the Murphy Monitor at http://www.etypeservices.com/Murphy%20MonitorID247/default.aspx

January 15, 2015 Plano East Senior High senior Hailey Daugherty with her prize as Reserve Breed Champion.