J’ville Council commends two students

Two Jacksonville ISD students were honored at the Jacksonville city council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Fire Department Chief Keith Fortner presented awards to both Ta’Kyeria Montgomery, a freshman high school student, and Olivia Boggs, a seventh-grade student. Both were commended for their acts of heroism.

Montgomery had learned about the signs of stroke on an Instagram page months prior to finding her teacher, Jan Gowin, in medical crisis. Montgomery observed Gowin stumbling and slurring her speech.

“When she was stumbling is when I realized what was going on,” Montgomery stated. “I helped her to the floor, then I asked her if she could speak a full sentence, could she smile and could she raise her hand straight in the air.”

After assessing the situation, Montgomery summoned the nearest teacher, then the principal and finally the nurse.

Montgomery didn’t tell her mother, Lashonda Montgomery, about the actions she had taken on behalf of her teacher, but her mother was notified by an email from the school nurse.

Lashonda is very proud of her daughter who says she read the email and wondered what had happened since her daughter had returned from school in a calm manner. She questioned her daughter about the events that took place.

“That is good; right place, right time,” Lashonda says she told her daughter who, according to mom was rather nonchalant about the whole affair. “You don’t understand how big that is?” she asked Ta’Kyeria, “saving somebody’s life?”

The younger Montgomery has apparently always wanted to go into the medical field. Although she originally desired to be a nurse, it is now her desire to become a doctor.

The second young lady to be recognized was Oliva Boggs, who was on a school bus when it ran off the road and into a guard rail. The seventh grader first realized the bus driver was experiencing a problem when he “began coughing and swerving.”

Although Boggs admits to being scared and sitting in shock at first, she got up as the bus driver exited the bus. She checked on the younger children, telling them to calm down and that everything would be fine.

Two teacher’s aides were behind the bus and they stopped on the road and assisted, but she didn’t call attention to herself or what she had done. She did tell the adults that one of the other students was anxious and could be injured due to hitting his leg on a seat.

Boggs never said anything about her role, but school officials found about her deeds when they saw it on the video camera that was on the bus. She was invited by the school to receive a hero award.

“I got a letter sent to me and we came to the school board meeting and that was the first time that I realized maybe I did do something,” Boggs said.

“You know, we hear a lot of negative stuff about the youth of our country and our country as a whole, but I think this is two great examples of two fine young people that are homegrown here in Jacksonville,” Mayor Randy Gorham stated following the recognition of the two students.

Tigerlillies was named Jacksonville’s December Employer of the Month.

“They’ve brought so much good attention and positive energy to Jacksonville through some partnerships they’ve developed with The Silos in Waco and a lot of different recognition that they’ve been able to gain for their business,” commented James Hubbard, president of Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation.

Owner Lindsey Terry was on hand to receive the award.

The council received a report by Keep Jacksonville Beautiful (KJB) board member Emily Morrow who presented information regarding KJB’s accomplishments throughout the year and future plans of the organization.

Items approved by the council included:

- Two resolutions allowing the city manager to approve utility easements on city property with Oncor and Cherokee County Electric Co-op;

- A resolution suspending a proposed rate increase by Centerpoint Energy for 90 days in order to give councilmembers time to review the proposal;

- An ordinance regarding sanitation rate changes as presented by Republic Services, resulting in a cost-of-living adjustment of $0.37 per month per residential customer;

- A bid by Austin Bank for the financing of 13 city fleet vehicles over a 12-16 month financing agreement at a 3.0 percent interest rate for the $409,045 cost of the vehicles, a rate lower than the budgeted 4.5 percent interest rate.

Also approved was the consent agenda which included:

- Minutes of previous meetings;

- Re-appointment of Donna Brumbelow, Helen Keller and Emily Morrow to the KJB board;

- Re-appointment of Jerry McDonald and John Taylor to the museum board and the appointment of Barbara Huggins to the museum board to fill a vacancy; and

- The holiday schedule for city employees for 2020.

Following the closed executive session, councilmembers voted to allow the city manager and city attorney to take any steps up to and including litigation to receive funds owed to the city by Gardendale Nursing Home.

All approved items carried unanimously. Councilmember Jeff Smith, District 2, was not present for the meeting.