This week’s headlines:
• Governor presents Phase Two of Open Texas
• City prepares to “Welcome back, Mansfield”
• Mayoral and council election date has been confirmed
• Mansfield teacher honored at Dallas awards ceremony
• Council scrubs annual Rockin’ Fourth event
• Historical Museum looking to write Mansfield’s current history
• Have you had your dream vacation dashed by the coronavirus? Today we present another segment of “Broken Vacations.”
Alexa has the weather forecast and we have an in-studio interview with school board candidate Yolanda McPherson. And, as always, we will conclude the episode with the trivia question of the week for a $25 gift card to El Primo’s Mexican Grill and Cantina. We are Mansfield’s only source for news, talk and information. This is About Mansfield.
NEWS
Welcome back to About Mansfield.
[GOV. ABBOTT 1]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaking at a press conference on Monday as he outlined Phase Two of reopening the state during the coronavirus crisis.
[ABBOTT 2]
If you missed the web address for Open Texas: https://gov.texas.gov/organization/opentexas
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The City of Mansfield has prepared its own list of “phased reopenings” starting Wednesday May 20 under the guidelines established by Governor Abbott:
• The Mansfield Public Library will now open Monday through Friday, 10-5 and on Saturdays 10-3.
• The Mansfield Activities Center will be open Monday through Friday, 9AM to 9PM. Gym time and programs will be limited to 25 percent occupancy and participants must bring their own equipment. Kids Zone and senior citizen programs are still postponed.
• The Mansfield Historical Museum will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 10AM to 4PM with no more than 15 people allowed in the museum at any given time. There will not be any programs offered at this time.
• And, finally, the Farr Best Theater will be open only for private rentals and city-sponsored events with an occupancy ceiling of 37 people.
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After careful evaluation by city leaders, event organizers and emergency management, the City Council decided to cancel this year’s Rockin’ Fourth event. Council’s decision was made in the best interest of the health and safety of everyone involved in that there is simply no way to proceed with the social distancing and cleaning protocols necessary to comply with the state restrictions and public health best practices. Mayor David Cook said that canceling the annual event is the most responsible thing to do.
[MAYOR COOK]
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The mayoral and city council election date has been firmed up and it looks like Mansfield residents will be casting their ballot in November. City Manager Allen Taylor spoke at Monday’s council meeting.
[ALLEN TAYLOR]
The November 3rd date coincides with the local school board elections as well as, on a national level, the presidential race.
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INTRO: A Mansfield High School teacher was honored at an awards ceremony in Dallas Thursday. About Mansfield’s Robby Terry has the story.
Mansfield High School Theatre Arts teacher Altreniecia Starr was named an Outstanding Educator at the 9th Annual Dallas Summer Musicals High School Musical Theatre Awards on Thursday. Ms. Starr has been a teacher for 17 years; 11 within the MISD and the last seven at Mansfield High School. Nominated by one of her students, Starr said in a video that she couldn’t be where she is today without the support of students and staff.
[STARR]
Mansfield High had a total of three nominations including Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design and Best Orchestra for their presentation of The Little Mermaid. Guyer High School was the big winner of the night taking home five awards out of twelve nominations. In an unprecedented move, the annual awards ceremony that honors students, teachers, and theater departments was presented online May 14 due to COVID-19. For the complete list of winners: http://dallassummermusicals.org/education-outreach/education-and-community-engagement-support/2020-nominees. Reporting for About Mansfield, I’m Robby Terry.
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COLEEN: The Mansfield Historical Museum is looking for a few good stories and their management is looking to write our city’s current history in the “This Is Us” program. Museum manager Jessica Baber explains.
[JESSICA BABER]
We have a link to the “This Is Us” program on our website: https://www.mansfieldtexas.gov/FormCenter/Library-9/This-is-Us-106
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The coronavirus has shattered many dream vacations for Mansfield residents, including my own. With that, we start a new segment today on About Mansfield call Broken Vacations — stories of holidays that were dashed by COVID-19.
Listener KIRSTEN, tell us about your birthday plans.
[BROKEN VACATION]
If you had a dream vacation dashed by the virus, send us an email to news@aboutmansfield.com. We’ll get you on the telephone and talk about your story.
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WEATHER
Wednesday May 20 is National Pick Strawberries Day. Let’s find out if Mother Nature is going to cooperate. Alexa?
[ALEXA 1]
And how’s the weather outlook for the upcoming week?
[ALEXA 2]
That’s a look at news and weather. If you have a news tip that you would like us to follow up on, send us an email to news@aboutmansfield.com. Again, that’s news@aboutmansfield.com.
Just a reminder to follow this podcast so you will be automatically notified when a new episode is released. The easiest way is to log on to our website at About Mansfield dot com and enter your email address under the “Follow Podcast by Email” heading on the home page. About Mansfield can also be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, iHeart Podcasts and many more platforms.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak the City was prepared for a May 2nd election for three city council seats, the mayor’s place and two school board seats. May 2nd has come and gone and the school board elections have been postponed until Tuesday November 3rd. After the break, we will air our final candidate interview, an in-studio interview with school board candidate Yolanda McPherson, with whom we spoke in early March. You will notice that the interview refers to the May election date. Each of the eight candidates that we talked with prior to the coronavirus pandemic will all be offered “do over” interviews, which will be aired in October.
And don’t forget, we have the Trivia Question of the Week a little bit later in the episode. Stay with us. I’m Steve Cosio with Coleen Daniell and Robby Terry and this is About Mansfield.
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INTERVIEW
[YOLANDA McPHERSON]
–0–
We welcome all feedback about the program, whether it’s about a specific news story or feature that you heard. Feel free to chime-in by email at comments@aboutmansfield.com or by voicemail at 817-435-2938. That’s 817-435-2938. We’ll read or play back some of the comments in a future episode.
Congratulations to CAT BAILES who was the first person to email the correct answer to last week’s trivia question — Who owned the first hotel in Mansfield? According to Mansfield Historical Museum manager Jessica Baber, Julian Feild and his wife Henrietta operated an inn on Broad St in the 1860s and 1870s. Cat has won a $25 gift card to El Primo’s Grill and Cantina.
After the break, this week’s trivia question of the week. I’m Coleen Daniell and this is About Mansfield.
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TRIVIA QUESTION
It’s time for the highly-coveted, wildly popular, Trivia Question of the Week! The first person to email the correct answer to trivia@aboutmansfield.com will receive a $25 gift card to El Primo’s Mexican Grill and Cantina, located on the corner of Matlock and Country Club Drive, it’s where the locals go! You can find them on the Internet at ElPrimos.net. Let’s get to this week’s question. Coleen?
Benjamin Franklin appointed the first Postmaster General by the Continental Congress in 1775 and thus, the US Postal Service was born. This week’s trivia question is:
[YOU MUST LISTEN TO THE SHOW FOR THE QUESTION]
Email your answer to trivia@aboutmansfield.com.
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Good luck and thanks to Todd and Robert at El Primo’s for the gift card.
CLOSING
Coming up next week on About Mansfield: continuing coverage of the coronavirus and how it affects the lives of Mansfield residents and we will talk in-studio with Mansfield StarCenter Director of Operations Adam Larson. The show will be released on Wednesday May 27th. Until then, don’t forget to follow to this podcast, if you haven’t already, so you never miss an episode. It’s free and easy. Just enter your email address on our website, About Mansfield dot com. We will never send you any spam, we promise. Thanks for listening. For Coleen Daniell and Robby Terry, I’m Steve Cosio and this is About Mansfield.
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