The Benny J. Simpson Ecopark and "Water Education Building" will welcome visitors for tours and instruction on sustainable urban development beginning in late 2019. The installations are at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Gabe Saldana)

Chi Lambda's 2nd Annual Designer Handbag Bingo winners! All proceeds go to support children's programs in Fannin County and our scholarship program. Chi Lambda has also opened up its scholarship opportunities to undergrad and vocational students to further their education/training.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee will be the book for discussion at the Bonham Public Library, Friday, March 29 at 1:00. Pachinko was a finalist for the National Book Award for 2017. It is the second novel by Lee. In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

The Creative Arts Center has issued a call for art for its "Trees Speak" Exhibit which goes up in the gallery on Friday, April 5. The tree theme fits in with National Arbor Day each April and requires that a tree or trees be the focal point of the art. All media will be accepted. Artist members of the Creative Arts Center may enter 3 works of art for no charge and non-members may enter 3 works of art for $25 per person (not per piece of art). Artwork may be listed for sale.

1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces. The fighting on the beachhead at Iwo Jima was very fierce. The advance of the Marines was stalled by numerous defensive positions augmented by artillery pieces. There, the Marines were ambushed by Japanese troops who occasionally sprang out of tunnels. At night, the Japanese left their defenses under cover of darkness to attack American foxholes, but U.S. Navy ships fired star shells to deny them the cover of darkness. Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the American victory was assured from the start. Overwhelming American superiority in numbers and arms as well as complete air supremacy—coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement, along with sparse food and supplies—permitted no plausible circumstance in which the Americans could have lost the battle. Joe Rosenthal's Associated Press photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 554-foot Mount Suribachi by six U.S. Marines became an iconic image of the battle and the American war effort in the Pacific. The image was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial, which was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who died for their country and is located in Arlington Ridge Park, near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon.

Mark your calendar now! The 13th Annual Heritage Day Celebration in historic downtown Bonham, one of the oldest towns in the Lone Star State, is set for Saturday May 4. Free entertainment for all the family, 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. The festival committee is also adding a parade that will begin from Powder Creek Park and continue to the square and back to Powder Creek. The parade will start at 4:00 p.m.