Published: May 02, 2008 11:44 pm            

Familiar Faces 5/4/08

Coker takes part in seminar

Navarro County treasurer Ruby Coker joined over 250 county treasurers for the 36th annual County Treasurers’ Continuing Education Seminar at the Hilton College Station Hotel and Conference Center April 15-17.

“The continuing education seminars allow us to learn and will illustrate how to implement the changes our State Legislature enforces the counties to follow,” Coker said. “In order to serve the citizens and the employees of Navarro County properly, I must know the legislature changes that affect our office, such as changes to the state reports or fees; IRS updates that effect payroll, and employment law changes that effect our county government. During the continued education programs, we as elected officials discover how other counties handle different situations and procedures they have established for their counties. We have the Texas Association of Counties who will assist us with any issue at hand.”

Included in the program were presentations on the Texas Public Funds Investment Act, economic outlook for Texas and human resource management. There were workshops provided on controls and security, retention laws, unclaimed property, computer security awareness, and several others.

Hosted by the County Treasurers’ Association of Texas, the seminar takes place every year for county treasurers. The program is sponsored by the V.G. Young Institute of County Government, a part of Texas AgriLife Extension Service. To learn more about the institute, visit http://vgyi.tamu.edu.



Military news

Staff Sgt. Zeb Hervey of Corsicana returned to Okinawa, Japan, April 10 following a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan where he served as a mentor and trainer to the Afghan National Army.

Hervey was one of more than 135 marines and sailors from the 3rd Marine Division to return to Japan over the past month following tours with ETTs in Afghanistan.

The training teams were attached to the U.S. Army’s Regional Corps Advisory Command while in Afghanistan and carried out their mission of training and mentoring the Afghanistan National Army’s 201st Corps based in Kabul.

One ETT consists of approximately 20 personnel that is typically broken into four-man teams once the ETT is embedded with a unit.

Hervey used his 10 years of experience while serving as a combat advisor to help train members of the ANA in a variety of areas including weapon systems, war fighting tactics and leadership fundamentals.

The Afghanistan National Army was established in March 2003 when it retrained 1,700 soldiers. That number has grown to more than 46,000 soldiers in the last five years.

With the significant increase of personnel, ETTs serve an important role in helping the Afghan National Army grow as an effective independent fighting force.

        

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