We all know Keith and Margaret Helms from Helm’s Garage in Italy, Texas. Well they didn’t just stop there! They now have a new store called Helm’s Grocery and Snow Cones. And, it is located in Milford, Texas. There are no bounds to their entrepreneurship!

The Italy City Council will have a public hearing and called meeting on Thursday, September 19, 2013. Meeting time is 6:00pm at the Italy City Council Chambers at 105 West Main Street, Italy, Texas. Budget approval is the primary focus of this called meeting.

Carole Cooper has joined the teaching staff at Milford ISD. She is their new Physical Education teacher. She always wanted to do something that would help people, it was between being an EMT or a teacher and lucky for Milford ISD she chose teaching.

Stafford Elementary Library will host its annual Scholastic Book Fair the week of September 16-20. The fair will be open Monday-Thursday from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. and on Friday from 8:30-10 a.m. in the library.

Mr. and Mrs. Shane Long are pleased to announce the upcoming marriage of their daughter Alexis Denise to Detrick Devon Green, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Green.

The Italy City Council will have a Budget Work Session on Monday, September 16, 2013. Meeting time is slated for 6:00pm in the Italy City Council Chambers at 105 West Main Street, Italy.

A Regular Monthly Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Italy Independent School District will be held September 16, 2013, beginning at 7:00 PM in the Italy High School Band Hall at 300 College Street, Italy.

Waxahachie — Italy’s AD/HFC Charles Tindol, his staff, the players, the band and flag corp, the cheerleaders, the water boys, the film crew, the Stat Squad girls and the rest of Gladiator Nation settled in this past Friday night inside Waxahachie’s Stuart B. Lumpkins Stadium to enjoy the sights and sounds of the 2nd Annual Dale Hansen Football Classic.

Holly Spraberry has taught at Stafford Elementary for 13 years. She taught kindergarten for ten years and for the last two years she taught pre-K. She is so excited about teaching 5th and 6th grade Social Studies this year. There was a need for a teacher and she filled the bill.

Italy Junior High volleyball teams fill the Italy Coliseum dome with team spirit and a competitive spirit.

The Italy JV Gladiators enjoyed playing at home but the visiting Malakoff JV Tigers shredded the Wills Field welcome matt.

After working at the Italy high school for twenty some years in various positions, Kim Varner now works at Stafford Elementary as the secretary to the principal. She misses her “kids” at the high school but is excited about taking on this new challenge at the elementary.

Grandparents, grandparents, everywhere! Grandparents in Italy really take Grandparents Day to heart. Stafford Elementary was overflowing with smiling grandparents and excited students sharing lunch on this special day.

This Sunday, September 15, is National Back to Church Sunday. It is a time for rethinking priorities and schedules and making the trek back to your local house of worship.

Members of the Italy High School varsity band enjoyed a night out on the town in Fort Worth as part of a summer band attendance incentive. Students that didn’t miss any summer band rehearsals were treated to see the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra perform.

Dr. Del Bosque is always excited about Avalon ISD, the students and the community of Avalon. So, when you want to talk to him about new things happening at the school he can’t wait to brag about it!

Lt. Gregory Pickard, 54, who died in the line-of-duty Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013, during a lodge hall fire in Bryan, Texas, will posthumously receive the Star of Texas Award from the office of the Governor.

The Italy City Council will have their regular monthly meeting on Monday, September 9, 2013. Meeting time is slated for 6:00pm and will be held in the Italy City Hall Council Chambers at 105 West Main Street, Italy. The three page agenda is attached.

The Gladiator Athletic Booster club is raffling off 4 tickets to the Ranger game on Wednesday, September 25 against the Houston Astros. These great seats are located between home plate and third base. The package also includes parking.

Grandparents Day was celebrated at Avalon Elementary on Friday, the 6th of September. Apparently, Avalon Elementary student’s grandparents take this day very seriously! There were so many grandparents they had to have two rooms to hold them all.

Jennifer Aguado has been teaching at Stafford Elementary for eleven years. She taught pre-K for nine years, kindergarten for one year and last year she taught fourth grade. She loved the experience of teaching fourth graders but her heart is with the little ones.

Seven birthdays were celebrated in the month of August at Trinity Mission. As always there was cake and ice cream for all and smiles all around.

As publisher of the Italy Neotribune I have watched, generally from afar, the operation of the City Government of Italy. It has been a wonder to behold. We have a new mayor that would like to make some changes. Changes are always tough and he is getting a lot of push back. Obviously being Mayor is new to him and he is making many people in the administration upset. There is often two sides to most questions and here are some of my observations.

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On Monday, September 9th at 6:30 pm in the Stafford Cafeteria the Stafford PTO will be holding their first meeting for the 2013-2014 school year. We hope to get a lot of things accomplished this year, the main goal is to get more parents involved with the PTO. We have so many activities planned this year for the kids, with more parents involved all these things will surely be a success.

Gladiators win their 2013 opening season debut 13-7 over the Mayearl Panthers with the game not decided until the final 2 minutes.

David Graves was hired this year as Italy’s Assisstant Band Director when Erica Miller moved to the counselor’s office. In school, he gravitated to the band hall and the trombone. He was not a jock due to his size, so being in the band was a good fit for him and started his life long journey in music. He served in the Air Force for four years and played in the Air Force Band.

4-H is a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship and life skills. 4-H is about having fun, learning, exploring and discovering. In 4-H, young people make new friends, develop new skills, become leaders and help shape their communities.

The Marshmallow Challenge is an activity meant to increase teamwork and brainstorming skills, said IHS Science teach Ms. Schweitzer. “I heard of the challenge from a TED Talk online. The students were told their goal: create the tallest free-standing tower out of the materials given to them, with a marshmallow placed on top.”

Erica Miller joined the staff at Italy ISD in 2011 and for two years she was the Assistant Band Director. She now has the job title of Jr. High and High School Counselor.

Jennifer Eaglen is the new Consumer and Family Science teacher at Italy High School. The class includes Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness and Child Development. In the child development part of the class, the students use “real babies” that they must be responsible for and take care of from feeding and changing diapers. The “babies” let them know when something is wrong by crying, long and loud.

Lauren “Edge” and Michael Casebier of Hallsville are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Emily Paige Casebier. Emily was born July 22, 2013 at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview. She weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

The Italy City Council has a Budget Work Session scheduled for Thursday, September 5, 2013. Meeting time is slated for 6:00pm. The meeting will be held in the Italy Council Chambers at 105 West Main Street, Italy.

Grandparents Day will be celebrated at Stafford Elementary on Friday, September 6. A menu of BBQ rib patty or ground beef and macaroni, garden salad, broccoli, pineapple tidbits and a wheat roll will be served. Adult lunches are $3.25 and reservations must be made by Thursday, September 5.

The Italy High School science lab has seen several changes in the last few years, but none can compare to the new lab tables that they received over the summer.

Reid Jacinto was a “big man on campus” at Italy High School, graduating as valedictorian for the class of 2013. He played sports, was in the National Honor Society, Student Council and was an important part of the Gladiator Regiment Band.

Stephanie Gresham brings thirteen years of teaching experience to Italy High School this year. She will be teaching social studies to juniors and seniors. Prior to coming to Italy, she taught in Burleson and Red Oak. She has also taught at Navarro College. She is the first full time social studies teacher at Italy High School. In the past all the social studies teachers were also coaches.

Nichole Vajdak is very excited to be one of the Agriculture teachers at Italy High School. She was raised on a farm in Snook, Texas so she has been around animals and ag all her life.

Gate prices for tonight’s football game at Willis Field between the Italy Gladiators and the Maypearl Panthers and ticket and gate information for the upcoming Dale Hansen Football Classic.

Maypearl’s JV dominates the first half to lead 20-0 by intermission, and eventually win the game, but Italy’s JV outscored the Panthers 6-0 in the second half and will build from there.

Lady Gladiator Volleyball (varsity, JV as well as a freshman squad) will travel to Blooming Grove to participate in tournaments over the next two weekends. The varsity will play on Thursday, August 29th and Saturday, August 31st and the JV and 9th grade squads will play on Thursday, September 5 and Saturday, September 7th. Attached are complete brackets for both weekends.

Note: Bracket has been updated with Saturday game match-ups.

This past Saturday was the grand opening to Milford’s new western boutique, ‘The Rancher’s Daughter. Elizabeth and Lance Finch were the first two customers for the grand opening. They were amazed at all the wonderful merchandise inside and said, “This place is so cute. I hope this will bring in new businesses for Milford. We hope it does well and new businesses will follow.”

The Italy Food Pantry thanks the community for their continued support. There is a need for canned vegetables. Can you help?

The Lady Gladiators win in 5 sets against Mildred after the Italy’s freshman and JV squads won both their matches against Mildred as well.