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KETR's Kanelis Assigned To Fannin County Reservoirs Beat

John Kanelis, a KETR news correspondent, has been assigned to cover the ongoing stories of Bois d’Arc Lake, Lake Ralph Hall, and related water-development stories in Fannin County.

Kanelis will provide KETR with one feature story per month on the topic, beginning in September and continuing into 2022.

“The construction of these new reservoirs, and what will happen after they’re built, are central to the story of Fannin County,” KETR news director Mark Haslett said. “We’re glad to have John helping our newsgathering efforts in that part of our listening area.”

Since 2019, Kanelis had been serving as a general-assignment correspondent for KETR. Kanelis contributed one news report per month on a variety of topics, often describing events in Farmersville or Princeton, where Kanelis lives.

Kanelis also authored an opinion column for KETR on a volunteer basis. That series, called “Piece of Mind,” has been discontinued, although the content will remain available at KETR.org.

“KETR doesn’t have the budget to pay anyone for an opinion column, and so Kanelis was only compensated for his news reports,” Haslett said. “John’s commentary pieces were donated to the station in exchange for us providing the platform.”

Kanelis, a longtime editorial page editor for Texas newspapers, is semi-retired. He works part-time as a reporter for The Farmersville Times as well as KETR, and continues to maintain his own page of commentary.

“We were happy to run his opinion pieces for a while, but it was never intended to be a permanent offering,” Haslett said. “John’s pretty busy between the Farmersville paper and the occasional road trip, and so with the time he has available for us, he’s going to focus on these lakes in Fannin County. There are still lots of questions regarding how it will all play out, and we’re looking forward to John sharing what he learns with our audience in the coming months.”

Bois d’Arc Lake is the first new major reservoir in Texas in nearly 30 years. The 16,641-acre lake is under construction northeast of Bonham. Lake Ralph Hall, an approximately 7,600-acre reservoir, is being built in southeastern Fannin County, north of Ladonia.