The eight-day Jewish festival of lights begins Thursday evening, December 10 and continues through Friday, December 18. The holiday is observed with nightly menorah lighting, special prayers, gifts, games and fried foods. Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate!

There's still time to donate! The Collin County Democratic Party is hosting a Food Drive for Community Lifeline Center in McKinney through Wednesday, December 16. Please consider donating to this great organization!

Two of our members, Amanda Massengale and Karen Hearne have graciously volunteered to collect the food items at their home.

Amanda's address: 5008 Sundown Dr., Plano, TX 75023

Karen's address: 5928 Cranbrook Ln., McKinney, TX 75070

(Note corrected address for Karen Hearne; we included the incorrect address in the December 3 issue of The Rally.)

Welcome to a column in The Rally that will periodically summarize and reflect on what’s going on in local county government.* If you want to know what is really happening in YOUR neck of the woods, read on!

Collin County Commissioners Court: As COVID-19 cases continue to rise and healthcare workers struggle, the Commissioners chose not to have a meeting on November 30, probably due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Given that they’re our county leaders in an incredibly dangerous and stressful time, they needed to be at work. They certainly get paid well for it. Each of them earns more than $125,000/year.

Celina City Council: The controversy surrounding the dismissal of Assistant Chief of Police Shea Scott in October and the retirement of Chief of Police Tony Griggs in December have rocked city council. Scott claims he was fired in retaliation for a whistleblower complaint he made against the city's former director of Human Resources, regarding her allegedly using drugs, pulling a gun on her ex-husband, and having an affair with a current officer. Angry residents are calling for an independent external investigation.

Frisco City Council: Dan Stricklin has been elected to the Frisco City Council Place 5 with 3,448 votes, or 52.62%, over challenger Laura Rummel, according to unofficial runoff election results from Collin and Denton counties on Dec. 8. The seat was open because Council Member Tim Nelson reached his term limit for the position.

Rummel was recruited to run by a sitting city council member and has been endorsed by most of them, so her loss may prove awkward.

The council seems to be doing a good job of balancing future development with the building of parks and green spaces. They’re working on the Monarch View Park and on a new park in the middle of the Hall Office Park at Warren and Tollway. The proposed park will be the size of Klyde Warren Park in Dallas. The council moved most of the city’s holiday celebrations to virtual formats, except for Breakfast with Santa and the Mayor’s Christmas Social at Verona Villa. Both are still being held in person with the Santa event sold out (but with reduced capacity). The Mayor’s event is encouraging masks and social distancing. I hope no one gets COVID for Christmas from these events!

Thornton is a Black pastor with a criminal record (which council members knew about). They chose Thornton largely because Councilman Rainey Rogers thinks he’s swell. We hope Thornton will be a good representative, but I find it maddening that Council chose a man over a supremely qualified woman.

Plans are being made to revitalize the east side of McKinney. Several residents of District 1 expressed concern over gentrification and having no voice in the process of revitalization. Mayor Fuller and Frederick Frazier scolded residents for not being more involved, such as attending town halls. Unmentioned was how poorly these town halls were advertised (especially during COVID!) nor that town halls in McKinney are extremely rare.

Local School Boards: Most of the local ISDs are implementing a policy of insisting that remote learners who are failing two or more classes return to in-person school. As you might imagine, this isn’t popular given that rising COVID cases may make in-person classes more dangerous.

*Misty compiles these reports thanks to the hard work of patriotic volunteers from the Liberal Women’s Action Network who follow – virtually and otherwise – politics and decision-making at the local level that effect all our lives. If you’d like to join her team (men welcome!), please join the LWAN Facebook group or contact Misty directly at drmistyhook@gmail.com.

HD89 Democrats are now the Allen Area Democrats. Please join us for a holiday virtual meet and greet. We’ll talk a bit about our new focus, dream big about our future, and get to know each other a bit better. RSVP for the zoom link. Don’t miss it!

When: Sunday, December 13, 5-6 p.m.

The CCDP physical office is closed until further notice for safety. Our office staff are, however, working for you from home and available by telephone at 972-578-1483 or contact us on the web at collindemocrats.org