KSTV News

To address the financial impact caused by the coronavirus, Tarleton State University is cutting summer housing and meal plan costs in half. Students enrolled for the summer semester will pay less than $1,000 for residential housing, and a plan that provides three meals daily Monday-Friday will cost less than $700. Students can apply for reduced summer housing and meal plans by logging in to Duck Trax through My Gateway and clicking on the housing link. Rates for students already assigned to residential housing will be adjusted. For more information, call 254-968-9083.

Today is recognized as Peace Officers Memorial Day and a local ceremony will take place this morning. A flag at the Erath County Annex Building will be lowed to half staff, which will be followed by a moment of silence and a prayer. Taps will be played in honor of law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Five law enforcement officers in Erath County have given the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. The last was Tarleton State University Patrolman WA Hall, who suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 56 after chasing down suspects on foot. He died in December of 1978. Before that, it’s been since 1897 since an Erath County law enforcement officer has died in the line of duty.

Tarleton State University’s W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas will begin accepting visitors by appointment Tuesday, May 19. One-hour sessions are available at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 1 and 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday with a half-hour for cleaning and disinfecting in-between. For the protection and safety of guests, staff will wear masks and gloves. Guests are encouraged but not required to wear masks. Hand sanitizer will be available at the door and in the gift shop. Admission is half price during the reopening — $2.50 for adults, $1.25 students 5-12, and $2 seniors. For the fifth straight summer, the Gordon Center is participating in the Blue Star Museum Program, which offers free admission to members of the armed forces and their families.

Also, Tarleton is making football reserved season tickets available for purchase beginning today. Reserved season tickets are $150 per seat in both levels. Children (2+) will be required to purchase a seat in the reserved sections. There are three options to purchase. First, online at tarletonsports.com/tickets. You can also call 254-968-1832. Or you go buy tickets in person at the Tarleton Ticket Office, which is now on the west side of Memorial Stadium. All 2019 season ticket holders have first rights to renew their seats until Friday, July 24 and will receive an e-mail with instructions on how to renew their season tickets.

Graduate students looking for a master of science program in computer engineering have a new option at Tarleton State University. Tarleton will welcome students in the fall for the first semester of a program offered by the Department of Engineering and Computer Science in the School of Engineering designed to prepare students for career advancement or for studies at the doctoral level. The computer engineering program is the first graduate degree for the Department of Engineering and Computer Science. It includes concentrations in state-of-the-art technology areas including distributed computing, advanced networking and cybersecurity, VLSI (very large scale integration) circuit design, machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer vision. The curriculum involves advanced coursework as well as independent research and projects. The degree is offered in online and face-to-face formats.

The Brownwood Independent School District and Tarleton State University agreed Monday to a partnership to help BISD seniors get their college education. The Brownwood ISD Board of Trustees and Tarleton leaders finalized an arrangement offering guaranteed admission and annual scholarships for the top 25 percent of Brownwood High School graduates beginning with the 2020-21 academic year.
As part of the agreement, called the Distinguished High School Partnership, Tarleton also will waive ACT (American College Test) or SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) requirements for students in the top quarter of their class and application fees for students who qualify.

The Stephenville High School Class of 2020 will be honored with a vehicle parade on Friday. SHS says the 2020 Senior Car Parade will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday, with seniors gathering in the parking lot of Lem Brock Field on West Fry Street. The parade route will run from Henderson on Fry over to North Wolfe Nursery Road, then head east on West Overhill Drive past the high school, then south on North Dale Avenue, then take a right on West Fry. The parade will also end at Lem Brock Field. STudents can decorate their cars, but no trailers awill be allowed. As a reminder, you should practice good social distancing at all times. The last day of school is May 28th, but with coronavirus, students continue to learn from home.

Erath County Judge Alfonso Campos and Local Public Health Authority, Dr. Jeffery Moore have confirmed positive test results for the fifteenth case of COVID19 in Erath County. The patient resides in rural Erath County. The patient has not been hospitalized and has been in isolation at home since onset of symptoms. Whether the case is travel related or community spread is under investigation at this time.

Erath County Emergency Management Coordinator Susan Driskill, along with her counterparts from Stephenville, Dublin and Tarleton State University continue to assess the situation in Erath County minute-by-minute. The main concern of the Emergency Managers, Local Officials and the Local Health Authorities is for the public health and safety of our residents. To this end they constantly monitor conference calls with State Health Officials, the TX Division of Emergency Management, and Governor Abbott’s Office.

As a reminder, anyone can call the Stephenville Medical and Surgical Clinic for COVID-19 Tele-Screening at 254-968-6051.

The ISD in Early will be interviewing superintendent candidates this week. The school bpoard of trustees narrowed down 40 applicants to a finalist list of seven people. After this week, Board President Shawn Russell says they will narrow the list down to just two candidates. The board hopes to have a choice made for itsa next schools leader by the end of this month or early in June. The new superintendent will begin work in July.

Tarleton State University will celebrate spring and summer 2020 graduates with in-person commencement ceremonies Aug. 7-9 at Memorial Stadium on the Stephenville campus, provided current public health guidelines remain unchanged. This marks the first time since 2013 that Tarleton has had an outdoor graduation. Original spring
2020 celebrations, scheduled May 8-9, were postponed to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and ensure the safety of the Tarleton family and community. Tarleton President James Hurley will confer more than 2,100 undergraduate and graduate
degrees over the three days.

In a letter to students, the president invited May 2020 class members and their families to join him and August graduates, pledging to “do it right” this summer. “I am so proud of our graduating Class of 2020. They overcame unprecedented obstacles and challenges like no other class in the history of Tarleton. This commencement celebration will be incredible in so many ways!”

Ceremonies are set for 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and students and their guests are encouraged to wear cool, casual clothing. Purple caps, rather than traditional black, will distinguish May graduates — another first for the university.