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Around Town

Water, boating safety takes precedence ahead of Labor Day weekend

AUSTIN— With Labor Day weekend approaching, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is reminding everyone to be safe this holiday by following basic boating and water safety precautions. In 2020, Texans took advantage of the outdoors and hit the waters in droves, driving recreational boating accidents to a 30 year high. Outreach efforts by Texas Game Wardens and community partners have resulted in a 24 percent decrease in boating related accidents but numbers remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Partying at the Cerf house:

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Interest in the Cerf mansion, profiled on this page at various times, knows no end. The passing of Bill Snodgrass who helmed the Heritage Foundation to rescue the old place from demolition has put it back in the local spotlight.

What a center of cultural life the Cerf home once was in Ennis. The following stories are excerpted from the society pages of the Corsicana Daily Sun in 1925, 1927 and 1929:

Afternoon tea

Mamie Cerf gave a December 1925 tea at which she presided as hostess, accompanied by her friend, Mrs. Baldridge. The Daily Sun wrote:

Snodgrass recalled for love of history

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A man who tried to save a valuable part of Ennis history is being mourned by locals.

When Bill Snodgrass, 80, died in Dallas last month, he left behind a family and many friends who loved him, but also a legacy of caring and concern for the city’s storied past.

In 1962, the young North Texas University graduate helped organize the Heritage Foundation to save the Cerf house from destruction, after the Ennis City Commission voted to disregard the bequest of the home’s owner, the late Mamie Cerf.

Citizens Accused

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*The individuals listed above are persons booked in Ellis County by local authorities. An arrest is not an indication of guilt.  Wesley Deon Greer, 47, Ennis. Driving while intoxicated/open alcohol container. Booked on 08/25/2021 by Ennis PD.

 

 

It's a great time to buy in Ennis

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Life-long Ennis resident Shellie Smiley-York has been in real estate since 2009. Judging her success and people-skills, she has fit the vocation as natural as the sun rises in the morning.

“The job sort of fell into my lap, and I love it,” she said this week. “Meeting people and helping them make the largest investment in their life is a responsibility that I take seriously. Fortunately, establishing trust in me has worked very well.”

Memories of Ennis - Easter Bluebonnets

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The Ennis Garden Club announced that the opening of the Bluebonnet Trail would coincide with Easter Week in the spring of 1955. A freeze, however, damaged some crops and the opening was delayed.

Memories of Ennis - Too Hot to Swim

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The heat was so intense in the late summer of 1956 that few sunbathers and swimmers were turning up at the Ennis Community Center. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported that the manager of the pool was seeing such a drop off in patronage during mid-day hours that he was considering closing after mid-morning for the rest of the week.

Cooking up comical cake wars

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Ennis Public Theatre opened a hit comedy this weekend in The Red Velvet Cake War. Performances will continue through September 5 at the EPT downtown, 113 N. Dallas Street. To purchase tickets or for more information, call (972) 878-7529.

Locals enjoyed seeing 1940 locomotive last Sunday

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The Union Pacific Railroad’s famed “Big Boy” steam locomotive, built in 1940, chugged triumphantly into Ennis last weekend on its whistle stop tour of 10 states and a new Ennisarea resident was there with her grandchildren to see the excitement.

“I’m from Dallas and just moved near Alma to live with my daughter,” Ellen Gordon said. “She has been out of town, but when I heard about this old-fashioned train coming to Ennis, I knew I had to bring my grandsons. They love trains.”

Citizens Accused 08/22/2021

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Jeremy Christian McAfee, 26, Ennis. Burglary of motor vehicle. Booked on 08/18/2021 by Ennis PD. *The individuals listed above are persons booked in Ellis County by local authorities. An arrest is not an indication of guilt.