FIVE YEARS AGO: Families gathered at Heritage Park Assisted Living to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones. FILE PHOTO.

Greg and Amy Efurd of Pittsburg are proud to announce the engagement of their daughter, Courtlyn Efurd, to John Bell, son of Martin and Kendra Bell of Mount Pleasant. Courtlyn is the granddaughter of the late John Hart and Sandra Efurd and of the late Norman and Patricia Townsend.

Mount Pleasant Junior High School choir students have earned places in the Junior High All-Region Choir. To earn a place in the choir, each singer had to learn three selections and sing parts of each in a blind audition.

There’s no place like Mount Pleasant for the holidays. The highly anticipated Christmas parade will be held next Saturday Dec.

The Titus Regional Medical Foundation’s All Is Bright fundraiser has been scheduled for Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m.

The Mount Pleasant High School FFA Public Relations and Agricultural Issues teams competed at the Area 6 FFA Leadership Development Event (LDE) competition at Texas State Technical College in Marshall on Wednesday, November 17. Fifty-five schools across the Northeast Texas region competed in fifteen LDE events showcasing speaking and leadership skills. The Public Relations and Agricultural Issues teams previously advanced from the district contest held at Northeast Texas Community College on November 5.

Carbon is extremely important if quality soil is your goal. It is carbon in the form of leaves and other plant material that is so necessary for good compost. It binds with the nitrogen in the “green” compost matter (such as manure) and keeps the nutrients from being leached either into the air through sunshine, or into the soil through rain.

Looking for a dense foliage tree suitable for a small yard? Well, The Oakland (Oak Leaf) Holly Tree may be just the ticket. This new holly species has unique foliage combined with a pyramid shape. The evergreen foliage is a semi-glossy (as opposed to shiny) green and leaves resemble oak leaves rather than the normal “holly” leaves. The tree never needs pruning and only grows to 15 -20’, with a width of 8-15’.