In Touch - February 2012                           City of Victoria, Texas

 

Market Days
Victoria Market Days returns to downtown Victoria on Saturday, March 17 and vendor booth registrations are now being accepted. To reserve a booth space, contact the Victoria Parks and Recreation Department at 361-485-3200. Victoria Market Days features over 100 vendors from around the state selling items such as clothing, jewelry, purses, home decor, woodwork, leatherwork, handmade soap, plants, kid's items and much more. There are also a variety of food vendors on site and live music to enjoy. Market Days is held from 9 am to 4 pm on the third Saturday of the month from March through December, with the exception of the month of October. The October Market Days will be held during Bootfest on Friday, Oct. 5 and Saturday, Oct. 6.

 

 

 

Avoid Jail Time During Warrant Roundup

 

Do you have unpaid parking tickets or traffic fines in Victoria or Port Lavaca? If you do, there's probably a warrant out for your arrest and you might be going to jail in March when the Victoria Municipal Court and Victoria Police Department participate in this year's Great Texas Warrant Roundup. Port Lavaca's Police Department and Municipal Court are also participating in the Warrant Roundup in Calhoun County.

 

From February 25 - March 4, 2012, the Victoria and Port Lavaca Police Departments and more than 260 Texas law enforcement agencies will round up and arrest people with outstanding arrest warrants at their homes, places of employment or anywhere else they are found.

 

How can someone avoid the embarrassment and additional expense of being publicly arrested and taken to jail? Anyone with a warrant for their arrest should go to the Victoria Municipal Court between the hours of 9 am and 4 pm Monday through Friday to take care of their fines and tickets before March 4. Municipal Court clerks will also be available from 8 am to 5 pm on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, March 3 to take payments for fines.

 

If you don't know if there is a warrant out for your arrest, there are three ways to find out. The easiest way is to read the warrant list online at the City web site: http://www.victoriatx.org/court/index.asp. Easy to find, the list is titled "Are you going to jail?"

 

Other ways to find out if there is a warrant for your arrest are to stop by the Municipal Court at 107 W Juan Linn (Juan Linn and Main) or call them at (361) 485-3050. They can tell you if you are on the warrant list. Check out the Great Texas Warrant Roundup Public Service Announcement on YouTube, http://youtu.be/W6AxwAQFJRw  

 

For more information, contact Victoria Municipal Court Clerk Tracy Musch at 485-3050 or the Police Department at 485-3700. In Port Lavaca contact Inez Sanchez, Municipal Court Clerk at 552-9793, extension 226 or Port Lavaca Police Chief Cleve Calagna at 552-3788 ext. 264.

New Emergency Management

Center Opens

 

A new 14,000 square-foot state-of-the-art emergency operation center (EOC) was unveiled during an open house held in January. The new EOC replaces the previous 1,000 square-foot emergency operation center that operated at 700 Main Center. Public tours of the EOC were also conducted during the Open House.

EOC TourThe joint City-County facility is located in the basement of the Victoria Courthouse Annex at 205 N. Bridge Street in downtown Victoria. The basement was completely renovated and equipped using a $1 million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security and a $455,000 grant from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program. The new EOC is designed to handle all types of disasters and catastrophic events, and can endure a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 170 mph. The center will serve as a regional facility for the seven surrounding counties and for state and federal personnel and emergency responders.

The new EOC features an operation room, situation room, command and policy room, and a main communications support room to accomodate teams of police officers, firefighters, sheriff's deupties, elected officials, nonprofit organizations and private companies mitigating the effects of emergencies.

February Library Programs  
Click for VPL website
 

CHILDREN
  

Toddler Story Time - Wednesdays at 9:30 and 10:30 am 

Stories, repetitive songs, simple crafts, and finger plays to encourage early language development for ages two to three.

 

Story Time - Every Thursday at 10:30 am

Stories, music, games and simple crafts for ages 4-5.

   

Baby Time - Every Tuesday at 10 am

Baby time is for the enjoyment of babies up to the age of 2. Lap play, songs, flannel boards and interactive reading to engage caregivers and babies and inspire development.

     

Lego Club - February 21, 4-5 pm

Bring your wild imagination, build with Legos, meet other Lego enthusiasts and win a prize for fabulous Lego designs. Families of all ages welcome.

 

Family Craft - February 28, 4-5 pm

My World of Color: Create a tie-dyed art project! Learn about colors and create a masterpiece. Program is open to the first 50 participants.

  

TEENS 
 

Teen Gaming Guild - February 27, 4:30-6 pm

Hang out with teens to play games on the Wii and Xbox 360. Program open to 6th - 8th grade.

 

ADULTS
 
     

Self-Guided Computer Training - Wednesdays from 9 - 11 am
Enhance your skills with tutorials from Learning Express Library and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing! The Computer Lab is reserved each Wednesday for this self-guided training.
  

Brick Wall Fridays - February 17, 9 - 11 am

Need help with your family history research? Have you run into a brick wall that you can't get through? The computer lab is reserved one Friday per month from 9-11 am for genealogy research. Enjoy individual assistance and access to our genealogy databases (such as Ancestry.com, Fold3.com and HeritageQuest) and software (Rootsmagic). Registration required.

 

Family History Basics - February 18, 10 am-noon.

Join fellow ancestor hunters at VPL on the third Saturday of the month to learn about family history resources and research techniques. VPL has a great collection of genealogy and local history materials to assist you in your research. You have books, magazines, microfilm and wonderful databases such as Ancestry.com at your fingertips. Registration required.

 

COMPUTER CLASSES

 
The Victoria Public Library offers free computer classes thoughout the year. Registration is required.  Click here for more information.
  
LIBRARY HOURS
 

9 am - 9 pm Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 

9 am - 5:30 pm Wednesday

9 am - 5 pm Friday, Saturday

Closed Sunday
 
 

Library programs are at 302 N. Main, Victoria, Tx 77901, unless another location is indicated. Call 361.485.3302 or visit the library website, www.victoriapubliclibrary.org for more details and to register for programs as indicated.

 
VPL has three book drop locations:
  • In the Victoria Mall parking lot at 7800 N. Navarro near Red Lobster
  • In the Victoria City-County Health Clinic parking lot at 2805 N. Navarro
  • Next to the Victoria Public Library on Main Street

Recruiting Efforts Begin Early for Summer Lifeguards

  Victoria is starting early this year to recruit lifeguards to work this summer at the City Municipal Swimming Pool.  Hours are from 1-6 pm Wednesdays through Sundays during the summer. The Parks and Recreation Department is hiring the following positions for the pool:

- New lifeguards will be hired at a salary of $7.75/hr

- Returning lifeguards will be hired at a rate of $8/hr

- Head lifeguard will be hired for $8.25/hr

- Pool Cashiers are being hired for $7.25/hr

To qualify for the positions, all applicants must be certified lifeguards. If you are not a certified lifeguard and become certified before the pool opens, the City of Victoria will reimburse you the certification fee of $130 at the end of the pool season. You must work the entire pool season for the City of Victoria to receive the reimbursement.

To view detailed descriptions on all of the jobs listed above and to apply, visit www.victoriatx.org and click on "Job Openings." For questions or more information, please call the Parks and Recreation Department at 485-3200.  

 

Save the Date

 for Bootfest 2012

 

 

Be sure to mark your calendar now and plan to join us for the second annual Bootfest in downtown Victoria on Friday, Oct. 5 and Saturday, Oct.6.

Bootfest is FREE and promises to be even better this year, with three music and entertainment stages, an expanded Kids Corral area, arts and crafts, food, fun for the entire family and lots of boots!

 

Last year's event was a success thanks in part to a wonderful group of volunteers. Many volunteers are needed to ensure this year's festival is an even bigger success. Volunteers interested in helping at the event are asked to email LaRue Roth at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, [email protected].

 

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InTouch Victoria is published by the City of Victoria Communications Office. If you have comments or suggestions please contact us at 361-485-3110 or [email protected]

City of Victoria 
Communications Department
700 Main Center, Suite 105 
Victoria, TX 77901 

 

 
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