A simple step at the courthouse can lock in your school tax bill for life — and East Texas seniors don’t want to miss it.
For homeowners across Angelina, Nacogdoches, Sabine, Tyler, Polk, Jasper and the rest of the Texas Forest Country, turning 65 comes with a quiet but powerful gift: the ability to freeze the school portion of your property tax bill for the rest of your life. It’s one of the most valuable benefits Texas offers seniors — and one of the most overlooked.
Here’s how it works. You qualify for the exemption in the year you turn 65. Once your application is approved, the school district portion of your tax bill is locked in at the amount you paid that first qualifying year. This is officially called a “tax ceiling” under Texas law. Even if your appraised value rises or the school district raises its rate, your school taxes cannot go above that ceiling. They can drop in a year when rates fall — they just can’t climb back up.
A few important limits. The ceiling applies only to your homestead — the home you actually live in as your principal residence — not rental property or second homes. And the freeze covers only school district taxes. It does not freeze county, city, or special district taxes unless those entities have adopted their own ceilings (some have; ask your appraisal district). The benefit is available statewide, but it is not automatic. You must make sure your over-65 homestead exemption is on file with your county appraisal district.
The exemption itself also takes a substantial chunk off your taxable value. After Texas voters approved Proposition 13 and Proposition 11 in November 2025, the standard homestead exemption rose to $140,000 and the additional over-65 exemption rose to $60,000. Stacked together, that’s up to $200,000 shielded from school district taxes — enough to wipe out the school portion of the bill entirely for many East Texas seniors.
Applying is free, and you only have to do it once. Ask your county appraisal district for Form 50-114, the Application for Residence Homestead Exemption. Check the box for “Age 65 or Older,” attach a copy of your driver’s license showing your date of birth and the property address, and turn it in. In Angelina County, that’s the Angelina County Appraisal District at 105 Miles Way, Suite 300, in Lufkin, or call (936) 634-8456. Each surrounding county has its own appraisal district office that handles the same form.
A few more notes worth remembering. Some appraisal districts will add the over-65 exemption automatically if your date of birth is on file from your original homestead application — but don’t assume it. Confirm with a phone call. If you missed it, you can apply retroactively for up to two years and may receive a refund. If you sell and move within Texas, you can transfer the percentage of your tax ceiling to your new homestead by requesting a transfer certificate. And if a spouse 55 or older outlives a qualifying homeowner, the freeze continues on that home. Major improvements like adding a room or garage can nudge the ceiling upward, but ordinary repairs won’t.
If you’re approaching 65 — or already there and haven’t filed — make the call this week. A short visit to your appraisal district could be the most valuable hour you spend all year.
This information is provided as general information. Be sure and verify with your local taxing authority what their rules may be.
Three days. That’s how long it takes Kaycee Dillon to make a single croissant at Texas Bakehouse in Nacogdoches.
Day one begins with a poolish – a preferment mixed eight to twelve hours ahead to start building depth of flavor. Day two is when the dough is mixed and left to rest overnight, developing slowly and naturally. Day three is where the magic happens. High-quality European butter is laminated into the dough, creating about twenty-seven delicate layers. The dough is rolled, shaped, chilled, then proofed overnight again. By early morning, the croissants go into a very hot oven and come out golden and layered.
All of that, for something that might be eaten in a matter of minutes.
“But that time – it matters,” Kaycee says. “You can taste it.”
From Austin Kitchens to a 10-Foot U-Haul
Photo Credit: Fleeting & Co
Kaycee didn’t come up through culinary school. Her training happened in Austin, where she moved through high-end restaurants and kitchens, learning wherever she could – often without pay, just to gain experience and absorb knowledge. She didn’t have a college education, and for a while that made the future feel uncertain. The food industry became her classroom.
“The people I worked with – chefs, bakers, coworkers – left a lasting imprint on how I approach food today,” she says. “Their influence shows up in everything I make, not just for the bakery, but for the people I love.”
By 2020, the world felt like it was shifting beneath everyone. The pandemic changed not just routines, but the way people lived and saw their futures. Kaycee felt it deeply – and the fast-paced, high-pressure restaurant industry in Austin was burning her out. So she did something equal parts terrifying and necessary. She quit her job, broke her lease, packed everything she owned into a 10-foot U-Haul, and left the city with her best friend Aida – her dog – riding shotgun.
She took a job as a ranch hand in Brenham, working on a regenerative pasture poultry and beef ranch. It was completely unfamiliar territory, and that was the point. “A part of me needed to know,” she says. “How strong am I, really?”
The work was demanding in ways she hadn’t experienced – long days shaped by weather, animals, machinery, and the limits of her own body. The answer came quietly and steadily: she was much stronger than she thought.
Baking, Rediscovered
In the small ranch hand cottage where she lived, in the fleeting pockets of free time she could find, Kaycee started baking again. At first it was for small reasons – dewberry season, birthdays, holidays, the simple excitement of a new ingredient. But the more she baked, the more she realized how much she had missed it.
Out there, away from the noise of the city, things came into focus. She wasn’t just baking to pass the time. She was reconnecting with something that felt essential – a deep joy not only in the process, but in what it gave to others. There’s something special, she says, about offering someone a pastry made with intention. Watching it warm them, comfort them, slow them down even just for a moment.
That’s where Texas Bakehouse truly began – in a small ranch hand cottage in rural Texas, where she had the space to listen to herself and understand what mattered.
Coming Home to the Pines
When her time on the ranch ended, East Texas felt like the natural next step. Her mother, Suzan, lived in Lufkin, and Kaycee had spent many summers growing up in Nacogdoches with her aunt and cousins. She had always loved this part of the state – the pine trees, the way they scent the air, the wildflowers and open pastures. There’s a rhythm here, she says, that feels grounded and real.
She moved to Nacogdoches in February 2021 and got to work. By April, she was selling a small menu of pastries at the Nacogdoches Farmers Market. It started simply – just four items – but people showed up. They tasted, they came back, they told their friends. “That kind of support is something I wasn’t expecting,” she says, “but am deeply grateful for.”
Being part of the Nacogdoches community has reinforced that belief in ways she didn’t expect. There’s a genuine sense of care here, she says – people who take the time to connect, to support one another, to show up. “That kind of environment allows something like Texas Bakehouse to exist, and more importantly, grow. I truly don’t think I could have come this far without the support of our community.”
Real Butter, Real Time, Nothing Wasted
Photo Credit: Fleeting & CoPhoto Credit: Fleeting & Co
Kaycee’s almond croissant is her personal favorite. It’s made from butter croissants that didn’t sell the day before – soaked in a house-made vanilla brandy syrup, filled with frangipane, and baked again. “Nothing is ever wasted,” she says. “Everything transformed. There’s a kind of honesty in that process that feels important to me.”
Making food this way isn’t the easiest or cheapest path – especially right now. Ingredient costs continue to rise. Speed and convenience often take priority over quality. Many foods, she says, have quietly drifted further away from what they once were. Corners get cut. Shortcuts become standard. And over time, people forget what something is supposed to taste like.
At Texas Bakehouse, Kaycee has chosen to go the other direction, even when it’s harder. Real butter. Quality flour. The time things require. Those choices affect pricing, they affect production, and they sometimes mean making difficult decisions. But she believes people can taste the difference. More than that, she believes they can feel it.
Wholesale, A Husband, and What’s Next
These days, Texas Bakehouse has shifted to wholesale. Kaycee no longer sells at the farmers market, but it’s exciting, she says, to see the bakery reach people in new ways. You can currently find Texas Bakehouse pastries at Dilly Dally Coffee Shop and the Granary Health Food Grocery Store in Nacogdoches, with high hopes of expanding into surrounding towns like Tyler, Lufkin, and Livingston in the very near future.
Looking ahead, Kaycee and her husband Austin – owner of Counter Coulter Farms – are building not just businesses, but a life together, one they hope will soon include a child. Occasionally she bakes with Austin’s grass-fed beef, and his beef can also be found at the Granary. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, she says, and building something meaningful inside that uncertainty isn’t always easy. But it feels worth it.
A Kind of Vote
If there’s one thing Kaycee has learned through all of it, she says, it’s that where you spend your money matters more than people often realize.
“Every purchase is a kind of vote – for quality or convenience, for care or shortcuts, for something made with intention or something made to simply get by. When you choose to buy from local makers, farmers, and small businesses, you’re doing more than supporting a product. You’re supporting a person, a family, a set of values, and a way of doing things that prioritizes integrity over efficiency.”
Texas Bakehouse exists, she says, because people chose to support it. “Every time someone buys a pastry, they’re not just buying something to eat. They’re helping keep something honest alive. They’re choosing quality, connection, and community in a small but meaningful way. I will be forever humbled by their belief in my dream.”
Find Texas Bakehouse
Texas Bakehouse pastries are available at Dilly Dally Coffee Shop and the Granary Health Food Grocery Store in Nacogdoches.
The City of Lufkin and Angelina County invite the community to take part in the Liberty Walk, happening this Sunday, May 3, as the official kickoff to the America 250 Celebration.
Beginning at 7:30 PM in Downtown Lufkin, participants will gather at the courthouse near the Doughboy statue and walk together to Cotton Square in a lighted procession that symbolizes unity, reflection, and community pride. The evening will conclude with a live concert by Hance & Hughes at Cotton Square.
The Liberty Walk is designed to bring residents and visitors together for a meaningful shared experience, honoring the nation’s history while celebrating the spirit of Lufkin today. Families, friends, and community members of all ages are encouraged to attend.
The first 250 attendees will receive complimentary American flags and luminary kits, adding to the visual experience as the community lights up downtown together.
“This is an opportunity for our community to come together, reflect on where we’ve been, celebrate who we are, and look ahead to what’s next,” said Tara Hendrix, Director of Tourism at Visit Lufkin. “We’re excited to see Lufkin show up for something that truly represents our community.”
The Liberty Walk marks the beginning of a series of events taking place throughout Lufkin as part of the America 250 Celebration, leading up to the City of Lufkin’s Fourth of July Celebration.
Residents are encouraged to arrive early and be part of this special evening in Downtown Lufkin.
Media Availability:
Tara Hendrix, Director of Tourism at Visit Lufkin, is available for interviews regarding the Liberty Walk and the America 250 Celebration.
For more information and to stay updated on upcoming events, visit www.VisitLufkin.com.
The Liberty Walk is a rain or shine event, and attendees are encouraged to plan accordingly.
LESSON FOCUS: In a world filled with worry and confusion, kids need to know there is a God who cares for them. At Emerald Crossing VBS, they’ll journey through Ireland’s lush landscapes, exploring the powerful words of Psalm 23. They’ll discover the life of the shepherd-king David and will learn how to cross from worry to peace, from fear to faith, and from uncertainty to a firm foundation in God’s Word through a relationship with the Good Shepherd.
Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning Christian music artist Mark Bishop will be in concert at the Center Missionary Baptist Church of Center, Texas, on Monday, May 18 at 6:00 PM.
Why Fog at the Top Is the Most Expensive Thing in Any Organization
There is a kind of fog that settles over the piney woods in the early hours, before the sun has done its work. If you have lived in this part of Texas for any length of time, you know it. It is thick enough to slow a truck to a crawl and soft enough that you forget, for a minute, that it is dangerous. The fog is not the problem. The problem is what you cannot see while the fog is there.
I have come to believe that most organizations are operating in exactly that kind of fog, and the people inside them have stopped noticing. They have adjusted. They drive slower, speak more carefully, double-check what used to be obvious. The fog becomes the weather, and the weather becomes normal, and nobody stops to ask what it is costing.
It is costing everything.
“A team cannot out-execute a lack of clarity from the top. It can only absorb it, and absorbing it is exhausting work.”
The costume of strategy
When leaders describe what is wrong in their organizations, they almost always reach for the language of strategy. The strategy is not working. The strategy needs a refresh. The strategy has not been communicated well. I have sat across the table from seasoned executives who were convinced their problem was strategic, and in most cases, it was not. It was a clarity problem wearing a strategy costume.
Strategy is downstream of clarity. Execution is downstream of strategy. Culture is downstream of execution. When the river dries up at the source, every village below it suffers, and the villagers blame each other for the drought. This is the quiet tragedy of a great many leadership teams — they are arguing about the color of the boat while the current carries them sideways.
Scripture puts it with characteristic bluntness. “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8, KJV). Paul is talking about tongues and prophecy, but the principle rings true in any organization where leadership has become muddled. People do not oppose a clear direction nearly as often as they fail to find one.
Where the fog comes from
In my years working with leaders — pastors, small-town business owners, executives of companies most people will never hear of, a few they have — I have come to recognize three common sources of leadership fog. They are not dramatic. They are the ordinary erosion of a busy life.
The unexamined priority
A leader begins a season with three priorities. By the end of the first quarter, there are seven. By mid-year, there are fourteen, and the original three have quietly disappeared, replaced by whatever seemed urgent in the weeks between. Nobody made a decision to change direction. The direction simply drifted, the way a boat drifts when no one is at the rudder.
The team, watching all of this, stops trying to discern priority from the leader’s words and starts inferring it from the leader’s calendar. And the leader’s calendar, in most cases, is a very poor representation of what the leader actually believes is important.
The decision that was almost made
A great many leadership meetings end with a decision that was almost made. Everyone in the room has a slightly different understanding of what was actually settled. Some believe it was a yes. Some believe it was a yes with conditions. Some believe it was a deferral. Within a week, the ambiguity begins producing conflicting action. Within a month, two teams are working toward different versions of the same initiative, and the leader, when asked, will say with some frustration that this should not be happening.
It should be happening. It was always going to happen. The decision was never made clearly, and the organization filled the vacuum the way organizations always do — with interpretation, assumption, and quiet compensation.
The leader who is not settled in themselves
This is the hardest one, and the one I am most reluctant to write about, because it implicates all of us. A leader cannot produce clarity they do not possess. If the inner life is cluttered — with unresolved fear, with unprocessed disappointment, with an identity that is too tightly bound to outcomes — then clarity at the leadership level becomes nearly impossible. You cannot give away what you do not have. The organization drinks from the well of the leader’s own interior life, and if that well is cloudy, so is everything downstream.
“You cannot lead others into clarity you have not yet found in yourself.”
Three disciplines that restore clarity
There is no shortcut to clarity, but there are disciplines that make it more likely. None of them are complicated. All of them are hard.
Name the decision before you debate it
Before the next leadership meeting that matters, write a single sentence: “By the end of this conversation, we will have decided ____.” If you cannot complete that sentence, the meeting is not ready to happen. Postpone it. Gather what is missing. Come back when you can write the sentence.
I know leaders who have cut their meeting load in half using only this discipline. The meetings they kept were the ones that produced actual decisions. The meetings they cut were the ones that produced only the feeling of decisions, which is a different thing entirely.
Separate ambiguity from disagreement
When a team appears to disagree, the disagreement is often a mask for something quieter — an ambiguity that nobody has named. Two people are not arguing about the answer. They are operating on different assumptions about the question. Until somebody slows the conversation down long enough to ask what each person believes to be true, the argument will continue, and it will feel like friction, and it will not resolve.
James wrote that wisdom from above is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated” (James 3:17, KJV). Pure means unmixed. Unmuddled. Before a team can be peaceable, the leader has to be willing to sort the pure from the mixed — to distinguish what is actually being asked from all the things that feel like they are being asked.
Write the decision in your own words
When a decision is made, do not rely on meeting notes or decks to carry it. Write one paragraph, in your own voice, stating what was decided, why, and what happens next. Circulate it. Keep it. Refer back to it. If you cannot write it clearly, the decision is not as made as you believed it was, and the writing itself will expose that.
There is something about the discipline of writing in one’s own words that forces clarity. You cannot hide behind a bullet point. You cannot paper over a gap with jargon. The sentence either works or it does not, and if it does not, the decision has to be revisited before it can be communicated.
Leadership Reflection
• Where is there fog in your leadership right now that you have stopped noticing? What would it mean to name it plainly?
• Which recent decision in your organization is still producing confusion? What clarity was actually missing when it was made?
• What is the state of your own interior life — the well from which your team is drinking? Is it clear, or is it cloudy?
• If you wrote one paragraph this week describing what you believe God is calling you to lead toward, what would it say?
The long work of clear leadership
The leaders I most admire are rarely the loudest. They are the ones who, over years, have developed the discipline of removing fog before it thickens. They do it in themselves first — in prayer, in reading, in honest conversation with a few trusted people. They do it in their teams, by refusing to leave meetings with unclear decisions. They do it in their organizations, by writing plainly and saying hard things early.
This is not glamorous work. It is more like the work of a man who walks his fence line every week, not because anything is wrong, but because he knows what goes wrong when a fence is not walked. The sag in the wire. The loose post. The place where something got in.
Clarity is the fence line of leadership. You can walk it or you can wait for the trouble. The leaders who thrive over decades are almost always the ones who walk it, weekly, in the quiet of the early morning, before the sun has finished burning off the fog.
A note from Lee: If any of this lands where you are right now, and you would value an unhurried conversation with someone whose job is to help you see clearly, the door is open. connect.msgresources.com/leadership-advisory
Join us for an exciting evening of community connection at Alive After Five, hosted by Motorhomes of Texas, RV Outfitters of Texas, and Fiberglass of Texas – a family-owned and operated business proudly serving our area for over 20 years!
This event, presented by the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce, is open to all Chamber members and the community – a perfect opportunity to network, make new connections, and celebrate local business success.
What to Expect: Ice-cold beverages by Coors Light & Miller Lite/G&G Distributing Sweet treats from Stone House Kitchen Delicious bites from Chili’s Door prizes and give aways Chamber Member Cash Giveaway – now up to $500! (Must be present to win)
Don’t miss this chance to unwind, enjoy great food and drinks, and connect with fellow Nacogdoches locals. Let’s come together for a fun-filled evening and show our appreciation to our fantastic hosts Motorhomes of Texas!
See you there! #AliveAfterFive #NacogdochesChamber #CommunityStrong #MotorhomesOfTexas #NetworkingNac
For half a century, Lakeway Tire & Service has been serving the Jasper community with trusted service, hard work, and hometown pride — and now it’s time to celebrate!
Join us for a 50th Anniversary Celebration you don’t want to miss:
Giveaways Food & Refreshments Fun for the whole Community
This isn’t just a milestone — it’s a testament to the people, families, and customers who have supported Lakeway Tire for 50 years.
Late spring is one of the most important stretches of the year for East Texas lawns. By late April, grass is fully awake, soil temperatures are climbing, and the decisions homeowners make over the next few weeks quietly shape how well their yard holds up through summer. Unlike winter, when lawns are largely dormant and forgiving of neglect, late spring is active — and what happens now has real consequences later.
One of the most important shifts this time of year involves watering. Deep, infrequent watering trains roots to grow downward in search of moisture, building the depth and resilience that grass needs to survive East Texas heat and the occasional dry spell. Shallow, daily watering has the opposite effect, keeping roots near the surface where they’re most vulnerable to stress.
Mowing habits also matter. Raising mowing height slightly as temperatures rise protects grass crowns, shades the soil, and slows evaporation — all of which help lawns stay thicker and greener into summer. Cutting too short during this transition is one of the fastest ways to invite weed pressure and heat damage.
Weed management deserves special attention right now. Warm-season weeds like crabgrass, dallisgrass, and nutsedge are establishing themselves throughout the Lufkin and Nacogdoches area, and they spread quickly once they begin producing seed. Addressing young weeds in late April and early May is dramatically easier than trying to control mature weeds in July.
Flowerbeds also benefit from attention this time of year. Refreshing mulch, replacing struggling plants, cleaning up lingering winter debris, and checking bed drainage all help landscapes look their best while reducing moisture loss, weed pressure, and plant stress as summer approaches.
Soil health plays a quieter but equally important role. Compacted soil, poor drainage, and thin turf are issues that become much harder to correct once heat arrives. Identifying problem areas now, while conditions are still mild, makes late-season recovery far easier.
A little consistency in late spring typically means a lot less effort, expense, and frustration once summer arrives. Lawns that are cared for thoughtfully in April and May almost always outperform lawns that are only tended to reactively in the hotter months ahead.
