From frontier times to last fall’s rollback election, Denison citizens have made education a top priority. Local leaders always have seen a top-notch educational system as a key to economic development while teachers have done their best to foster students’ growth, and students have focused on having fun, figuring out their futures, and finding mates. Tying all these threads together is an interesting new book, Two Schools on Main Street: The Pride of Denison, Texas, 1873–2007.

It looks like a castle keep with its crenellated top, just the place from which to pour boiling oil down on the heads of any knaves and varlets trying to capture Loy Park. But there has not been an attack of knaves and varlets in quite a while, so what is up with Grayson County’s medieval monument? The stone tower in the park stands on a small hill just off the road to the fairgrounds. It is separated from the lake by a cluster of oak and pecan trees.

It is in a modest white house just off Texoma Parkway with a big wooden sign in the front; it reads PSYCHIC in bold red letters. Georgia wanted to go there one day, so I took her. Curious, I followed Georgia into the house. There were no voodoo dolls or neon lights, no crystal balls, no eerie music or half-burnt candles, just an unassuming waiting room with a big screen TV and a leather couch. The only hints of being in the residence of a medium were the pictures of tarot cards lined up on one of the plywood walls.

William (Bill) McCutchen III has been this close to New Kids On the Block (NKOTB). The West Hollywood, California Emmy-nominated film and television producer produced the 1998 indie film Southie, that starred former teen idol, Donnie Wahlberg. Wahlberg was part of the original boy band NKOTB. Why are we telling you this? Glad you asked. McCutchen is the owner of Texoma’s newest radio station.

Had it not been for the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, our own Austin College might still be in Huntsville.