By LYNETTE HAALAND [email protected]Austin Energy outlined its proposal for an average 12.5 percent rate increase in mid De- cember and the first Austin City Council public hearing on it starts at 4 pm on Jan. 12 at City Hall. e utility is hearing from customers already but not in large numbers, said Ed Clark Communications Director Aus- tin Energy. “e key to the process will naturally be how the City Coun- cil views our response to con- cerns that are raised. Concerns will naturally be voiced during the public hearing ursday at the City Council meeting,” Clark said. “e process goes from there. Our goal is to consistently dem- onstrate that the proposed rate structure is fair and reasonable,” he added. Austin Energy developed its proposal with a recognition that it will be reviewed by the Pub- lic Utility Commission of Texas which has standards in every re- gard. City Council will set at least one additional public hearing for January and could set more. ey could vote on the rate pro- CMYK Steiner Ranch Orthodontics Treatment for Children, Teens & Adults Call for your Complimentary Exam Central Austin Steiner Ranch Bastrop All Insurances 512-266-8585 www.BracesAustin.com Inside School.....................................3 Opinion ..................................4 Classifieds ..............................5 Sports .....................................7 Find us on Facebook Happy 2012! We wish you a warm holiday season with family and friends. Serving Steiner Ranch, River Place, Volente, Grandview Hills, Westminster Glen and Lake Travis Volume 8, Issue 2 • 8 pages Thursday January 12, 2012 • 50 cents Urgent Care ~ Now Open! 6618 Sitio Del Rio #A101 I Austin, TX 78730 512-241-1370 I www.hillcountrypediatrics.com We are now open Sunday aſternoons for sick visits by appointment only. You can call our office directly at 512-241-1370 between the hours of 1PM and 5PM to schedule an appointment with our nurse practitioner, Pat Budd, RN, CPNP. e phones turn on at 1PM. NOW OPEN! River Place Blvd & 2222 Enter to Win through January 14 Drawings for a 16GB Apple iPad2 with WiFi and Gift Card Package Valued at $500 512.435.4545 800.531.2328 WWW.UHCU.ORG Federally insured by NCUA ENERGY, 4 478-3376 (4PT-DERM) I FOUR POINTS DERMATOLOGY Medical • Surgical • Cosmetic • Adult • P e d i a t r i c www.FourPointsDermatology.com Visit our website for our January Specials. New Year’s Resolution: Schedule your Skin Exam. Look Good, Feel Good, Save Money. Roopal Bhatt, MD Board Certified Dermatologist By LESLEE BASSMAN [email protected]For the past 20 years, River Place’s Dixon Glea- son has enjoyed the forested view from his home on Eagle Trace Cove. However, while clearing heavy underbrush adjacent to his home last weekend, he acknowledged that the natural beauty of his sur- roundings comes at a high price. “ey [fire department] told us in the past that our house would be sacrificed to save the majority of houses in the neighborhood (if wildfire broke out),” Gleason said. Gleason and other homeowners of River Place teamed up over the weekend with City of Austin Wildland Management officials, Lake Travis Fire Rescue officers and a neighborhood Cub Scout troop to clean up the Balcones Canyonlands Pre- serve. eir goal, reduce potential wildfire fuels in the area. Normally restricted, residents and volunteers were permitted to enter the preserve lands for work along Eagle Trace, Merrywing and Pelican Point. City officials provided tools, gloves, trash bags and drinks to participants. e workday, coordinated by River Place’s Fire- wise Committee, was designed to maintain an exist- ing shaded fuel break and remove dead and downed material, potential wildfire fuels, along the fence line which delineates habitat preserve from home- A local 8th grader recruited 15 friends who swam collectively more than 44 miles outdoors on Sun- day to raise money for MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital. Zach Bezella , Canyon Ridge Middle Schooler, coordinated a Polar Bear Swim-a-on at the Jew- ish Community Association of Austin on Sunday. “e kids swam a total of 3,105 laps (44.1 miles) in 3 hours. e temperature was 52 degrees which didn’t seem to bother the kids at all,” said Cindy Bezella, parent volunteer. Zach Bezella has been a swimmer since he was 6 years old. He swims for both Steiner Stars as well as Cedar Park Swim Team. Zach chose to raise money for MD Anderson as part of his mitzvah project for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah in March. “Sometimes I take for granted having my health and being able to do what I like to do. I’d like to use my ability to swim, to help kids that are sick from cancer, and are unable to do the things I can,” Zach said. As of Monday, the kids raised $2,048 for MD Anderson in Houston. e money raised will help the wish list of the pediatric patients; to help reduce fear, anxiety and By LYNETTE HAALAND [email protected]e new Four Points Whataburger plans to open at the end of this month at the Trails at 620. “Sometimes weather can delay an open- ing but we are planning on a soſt opening on Tuesday, January 31,” said Chris Powell, Regional Marketing Manager, Whataburg- er Restaurants LP. Whataburger will have its Grand Open- ing on Feb. 8 where not only will it give away free hamburgers during 5- 8 pm but it will also give away free hamburgers for a year for the first 15 customers, Powell said. ere will also be a radio station remote and games. e Four Points Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting will be on Feb. 17 at 10 am. e Four Points store will employ be- tween 40 and 50 part- and full-time staffers and, like the other stores, will be open 24 hours a day, only closing on Christmas. “We are a family owned and operated, Texas company and most of our stores are corporate stores which makes a huge dif- By LYNETTE HAALAND [email protected]Lakeway Regional Medical Center is hiring hundreds of employees, getting ready for opening day in April. e $200-plus million hospital un- der construction at the southern edge of Lakeway plans to open in mid to late April, said Lakeway Regional CEO Da- vid Kreye. “Currently we are in the process of hiring. We have hired 15 people at this Lakeway Regional starts staffing Expects to hire 200 by time it opens in April River Place homeowners work together to protect community from fire danger Leslee Bassman Leslee Bassman Above: Eagle Trace neighbors Dixon Gleason (left) and Don Adams (right) cleared grasses and brush last week to make their River Place neighborhood a little safer from the threat of wildfire. Below: Cub Scout Pack 2030 was out in force to sup- port River Place’s Balcones Canyonlands Preserve cleanup last Saturday. Pictured are (from left): Brenner Bussy, J. R. Crawford, Pierce Broe and Luke Crawford. RIVER PLACE, 5 Austin Energy rate hike public hearing to be held this week MEDICAL, 4 Polar Bear Swim-a-on raises money for MD Anderson POLAR BEAR, 7 Whataburger to open in weeks WHATABURGER, 5 Property Development Centers, the owner of Quinlan Crossing where Ran- dalls is being built, is seeking approval to resubdivid the site into smaller parcels. PDC is seeking to resubdivide some of the 60.9 acre tract from one lot into 14 lots, said Don Perryman, Senior Planner with the City of Austin. e summary of request is for “com- mercial, open space and private joint ac- cess uses.” ere is a public hearing scheduled for Jan. 17 at 9 am at the Travis County Com- missioners Courtroom at 314 West 11th St. On the site, 23 acres are set aside for de- velopment while the remaining 37 acres are open greenspace, Perryman said. Usually in these types of requests, the owners are selling pad sites for other de- velopers to build on, he said. Generically the site plans show retail and restaurants on the pad sites. is is the second public hearing for these plans. e City of Austin Zoning and Platting approved the request at their Nov. 15 meeting. “is is cut and dry and nothing that I know of that is controversial,” Perryman said. Quinlan Crossing owner seeking resubdivision By STAFF REPORTS A child enticement report in Steiner Ranch was filed with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office last week and a detective is looking into the case. “ere have been no other reports,” said Roger Wade, Public Information Officer Travis County Sheriff’s Office. “A detective is assigned the case. No one is in custody and there is nothing new to report.” e possible case of child enticement happened on New Year’s Eve when Traci Moening, who lives in Steiner Ranch, and her son were getting ex- ercise. He rode a bike, while she ran. Moening’s seven year old son was about 100 yards ahead of her and stopped to wait for her at the corner of Quinlan Park Road and Capella Trail when a man in a blue pickup truck pulled up, rolled down the window and began talking to him. e man drove off by the time Moening reached her son, reports say. e boy told his mom that the man in the truck asked the boy if he was waiting for him and then asked if he wanted some cookies. When the boy didn’t answer again, the man in the truck rolled up his window and pulled away, Moening said. is allegedly happened around the same time frame as two other incidents in Cedar Park. Last ENTICEMENT, 4 Steiner Child Enticement case filed last week
Austin Energy outlined its proposal for an average 12.5 percent rate increase in mid De-cember and the first Austin City Council public hearing on it starts at 4 pm on Jan. 12 at City Hall. The utility is hearing from customers already but not in large numbers, said Ed Clark
Communications Director Aus-tin Energy. “The key to the process will naturally be how the City Coun-cil views our response to con-cerns that are raised. Concerns will naturally be voiced during the public hearing Thursday at the City Council meeting,” Clark said. “The process goes from there. Our goal is to consistently dem-onstrate that the proposed rate
structure is fair and reasonable,” he added. Austin Energy developed its proposal with a recognition that it will be reviewed by the Pub-lic Utility Commission of Texas which has standards in every re-gard. City Council will set at least one additional public hearing for January and could set more. They could vote on the rate pro-
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For the past 20 years, River Place’s Dixon Glea-son has enjoyed the forested view from his home on Eagle Trace Cove. However, while clearing heavy underbrush adjacent to his home last weekend, he acknowledged that the natural beauty of his sur-roundings comes at a high price. “They [fire department] told us in the past that our house would be sacrificed to save the majority of houses in the neighborhood (if wildfire broke out),” Gleason said. Gleason and other homeowners of River Place teamed up over the weekend with City of Austin Wildland Management officials, Lake Travis Fire Rescue officers and a neighborhood Cub Scout troop to clean up the Balcones Canyonlands Pre-serve. Their goal, reduce potential wildfire fuels in the area. Normally restricted, residents and volunteers were permitted to enter the preserve lands for work along Eagle Trace, Merrywing and Pelican Point. City officials provided tools, gloves, trash bags and drinks to participants. The workday, coordinated by River Place’s Fire-wise Committee, was designed to maintain an exist-ing shaded fuel break and remove dead and downed material, potential wildfire fuels, along the fence line which delineates habitat preserve from home-
A local 8th grader recruited 15 friends who swam collectively more than 44 miles outdoors on Sun-day to raise money for MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital. Zach Bezella , Canyon Ridge Middle Schooler, coordinated a Polar Bear Swim-a-Thon at the Jew-ish Community Association of Austin on Sunday. “The kids swam a total of 3,105 laps (44.1 miles) in 3 hours. The temperature was 52 degrees which didn’t seem to bother the kids at all,” said Cindy Bezella, parent volunteer. Zach Bezella has been a swimmer since he was 6 years old. He swims for both Steiner Stars as
well as Cedar Park Swim Team. Zach chose to raise money for MD Anderson as part of his mitzvah project for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah in March. “Sometimes I take for granted having my health and being able to do what I like to do. I’d like to use my ability to swim, to help kids that are sick from cancer, and are unable to do the things I can,” Zach said. As of Monday, the kids raised $2,048 for MD Anderson in Houston. The money raised will help the wish list of the pediatric patients; to help reduce fear, anxiety and
The new Four Points Whataburger plans to open at the end of this month at the Trails at 620. “Sometimes weather can delay an open-ing but we are planning on a soft opening on Tuesday, January 31,” said Chris Powell, Regional Marketing Manager, Whataburg-er Restaurants LP. Whataburger will have its Grand Open-ing on Feb. 8 where not only will it give away free hamburgers during 5- 8 pm but it will also give away free hamburgers for a year for the first 15 customers, Powell said. There will also be a radio station remote and games. The Four Points Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting will be on Feb. 17 at 10 am. The Four Points store will employ be-tween 40 and 50 part- and full-time staffers and, like the other stores, will be open 24 hours a day, only closing on Christmas. “We are a family owned and operated, Texas company and most of our stores are corporate stores which makes a huge dif-
Lakeway Regional Medical Center is hiring hundreds of employees, getting ready for opening day in April. The $200-plus million hospital un-der construction at the southern edge of Lakeway plans to open in mid to late April, said Lakeway Regional CEO Da-vid Kreye. “Currently we are in the process of hiring. We have hired 15 people at this
Lakeway Regional starts staffingExpects to hire 200 by time it opens in April
River Place homeowners work together to protect community from fire danger
Leslee Bassman
Leslee Bassman
Above: Eagle Trace neighbors Dixon Gleason (left) and Don Adams (right) cleared grasses and brush last week to make their River Place neighborhood a little safer from the threat of wildfire. Below: Cub Scout Pack 2030 was out in force to sup-port River Place’s Balcones Canyonlands Preserve cleanup last Saturday. Pictured are (from left): Brenner Bussy, J. R. Crawford, Pierce Broe and Luke Crawford.
RIVER PLACE, 5
Austin Energy rate hike public hearing to be held this week
MEDICAL, 4
Polar Bear Swim-a-Thon raises money for MD Anderson
POLAR BEAR, 7
Whataburger to open in weeks
WHATABURGER, 5
Property Development Centers, the owner of Quinlan Crossing where Ran-dalls is being built, is seeking approval to resubdivid the site into smaller parcels. PDC is seeking to resubdivide some of the 60.9 acre tract from one lot into 14 lots, said Don Perryman, Senior Planner with the City of Austin.
The summary of request is for “com-mercial, open space and private joint ac-cess uses.” There is a public hearing scheduled for Jan. 17 at 9 am at the Travis County Com-missioners Courtroom at 314 West 11th St. On the site, 23 acres are set aside for de-
velopment while the remaining 37 acres are open greenspace, Perryman said. Usually in these types of requests, the owners are selling pad sites for other de-velopers to build on, he said. Generically the site plans show retail and restaurants on the pad sites. This is the second public hearing for
these plans. The City of Austin Zoning and Platting approved the request at their Nov. 15 meeting. “This is cut and dry and nothing that I know of that is controversial,” Perryman said.
Quinlan Crossing owner seeking resubdivision
By STAFF REPORTS
A child enticement report in Steiner Ranch was filed with the Travis County Sheriff ’s Office last week and a detective is looking into the case. “There have been no other reports,” said Roger Wade, Public Information Officer Travis County Sheriff ’s Office. “A detective is assigned the case. No one is in custody and there is nothing new to report.” The possible case of child enticement happened on New Year’s Eve when Traci Moening, who lives in Steiner Ranch, and her son were getting ex-ercise. He rode a bike, while she ran. Moening’s seven year old son was about 100 yards ahead of
her and stopped to wait for her at the corner of Quinlan Park Road and Capella Trail when a man in a blue pickup truck pulled up, rolled down the window and began talking to him. The man drove off by the time Moening reached her son, reports say. The boy told his mom that the man in the truck asked the boy if he was waiting for him and then asked if he wanted some cookies. When the boy didn’t answer again, the man in the truck rolled up his window and pulled away, Moening said. This allegedly happened around the same time frame as two other incidents in Cedar Park. Last
ENTICEMENT, 4
Steiner Child Enticement case filed last week
John and Stephanie Landers, of Steiner Ranch, were recently recognized as one of the lead-ing retail stores in the flooring industry by Mohawk Industries. Their company Landers Pre-mier Flooring was awarded the Floorscapes Retailer of the Year for the South Central Region. This is the second year in a row that the Landers have received this honor over the nearly 3,000 flooring retailers in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico and Ar-kansas that comprise the South Central Region. “We pride ourselves on be-
ing a reputable local business that always puts the customer’s needs first, and we are delighted that Mohawk recognizes our ef-forts,” said John Landers. “We are invested in Austin... and we want all of our customers to feel like they are part of the Landers family. We thank them for their support.” The couple was recognized in December at the Mohawk retail-er gala in Nashville, Tennessee. Mohawk is a leading supplier of flooring. The Landers moved to Texas from California in January of 2005 to open Landers Premier
Flooring. They offer hardwood, carpet, tile, natural stone and laminate sales and installation from their 6,000 square foot showroom. “We moved here specifically to open our flooring business,” said Stephanie Landers. John is from Dalton, Georgia, the flooring capital of the US and most of his family is in the flooring business. He worked as a flooring district manager for Mohawk in California. He called on the mom and pop stores and dreamed of opening his own store. “We knew it was time to pur-sue our dream of opening our own store,” she said. They looked at several areas including Bir-mingham, Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham but Austin had so many things going for it.“We looked at several different things including the competi-tive environment, the cost of liv-ing and the projected business growth. We also loved the fact that it was a highly educated population which we thought would fit well with our business model,” Stephanie said. In ad-dition, every time they visited Austin everyone was “so darned nice!” Stephanie’s background is in marketing brand management in the food packaged-goods
industry. She worked on such brands as Honey Nut Cheerios, Pop Secret, Yoplait yogurt, Cop-pertone, and Clairol for compa-nies such as General Mills, Bris-tol Myers Squibb and Shering Plough. They opened their store in October 2005. Stephanie han-dles the marketing and finances for the company while John handles the installation crews, procurement and personnel. The Landers, who have two boys in grade school, moved to Steiner Ranch in January 2006. They picked the community be-cause they love being by both Lake Travis and Lake Austin, the neighborhood amenities, great school district and the neighbor-hood feel while still being some-what rural. “We feel very fortunate to have selected to be in Aus-tin during the recession. We did well from the start but like most small businesses, 2008 and 2009 were tough years,” Stephanie said. But they stuck to their business model of provid-ing excellent customer service, superb installation and a great value while giving the customers professional advice and a great shopping environment and “our business has been going strong every since,” she said.
Page 2 • Four Points News, Thursday, January 12, 2012
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Local entrepreneurs hope to open their family sports grill at the new Trails at 620 development in Novem-ber. Steiner Ranch residents David Pikoff and Wade and Sharlyn Thread-gill along with Austin restauranteur David Quintanilla are partnering on the venture. “We are opening a family sports grill with a great selection of chef prepared food at very modest prices
with lots of healthy options and a su-per cool atmosphere to hang out in,” Pikoff said. The sports grill, which has yet to be named, will be located between the future Galaxy Theatre and Flores Mexican Restaurant. It will be 5,500 square feet inside with a 3,000 square foot outdoor patio. The restaurant will be located next to a playscape area that Trails at 620 is going to build. Pikoff, who created Games2U with his brother a few years ago, is work-ing on some creative, family friendly
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David Pikoff, of Steiner Ranch, shows the location of the future sports grill he is building with Wade and Sharlyn Threadgill, also of Steiner.
The fact is simple, straight forward and alarming: every 26 seconds, a student in the U.S. drops of out school. Knowing this, Leander ISD has aggressively used a variety of strategies to keep our stu-dents in school. And the results have proven effective. During recent years, LISD has steadily increased our completion rates by reducing the number of stu-dents who drop out of high school before graduation. But, recognizing that one dropout is one too many, we know we must continue to improve. One way we can help our students graduate is by sim-ply encouraging them to come to school. Research has shown that school attendance is the top factor in determining the likeli-hood a student will graduate. It’s that important. Just last week in my column, I mentioned that students who
miss 10 or more unexcused days are 15.5 times more likely to drop out of high school before graduation. Added to that con-cern is the fact that if a student misses too many days, he or she may have to repeat a grade, and students who are held back are six times more likely to drop out. Absenteeism is a slippery slope that can potentially derail a student’s future. We believe that our students should wake up each morning motivated to come to school be-cause they know it is important. And so to support our efforts to keep students on course for graduation, LISD is revving up our efforts with a simple mes-sage that every day matters. Students have a lot to lose when they miss school because there is a strong link between attendance and student achieve-ment. School attendance boosts student success, improves the
quality of students’ educational experience and is an important component for college- and career-readiness. It allows stu-dents to maximize instructional time, a key fac-tor to student learning, and helps students feel connected to their class-mates, teach-ers and other school person-nel. When students miss school without a valid reason, they probably don’t appreciate how their choices impact others. They may not realize that ab-senteeism impacts not only the absent student, but also their teachers, classmates and the district. Consider that when a student misses school, he or she must work twice as hard to get caught up because for every day
of school missed, it takes at least two days for a student to catch up, according to the Depart-ment of Education. Every time a student is absent, in addition to
the student hav-ing to make up work and catch up on learn-ing, the teacher must also pro-vide the previ-ous day’s lesson while concur-
rently continuing the educa-tional process for students who weren’t absent. As if these reasons weren’t enough, in these budget-con-scious times, we must consider that student attendance also im-pacts the school district’s budget. LISD loses roughly $38 a day for every student who is absent. Multiply this by hundreds of students every day, and it could mean the difference between
hiring staff, buying new equip-ment or funding a new program. A mere one percent increase in attendance could result in an ad-ditional $1.95 million in revenue this year. If you’re a parent, you might be wondering what you can do to help your student have regular and punctual attendance. I offer you three rules-of-thumb. First, if your child is ill, he or she should stay home to get well. Coming to school sick is not the answer and potentially puts other students and staff at risk of getting ill as well. That being said, except in the case of illness, many school absences can be avoided with a little more awareness. Parents should make every attempt to schedule all appointments, even doctor and dentist visits, before or after school hours and only take vacations and trips during school holidays. Second, to en-sure that students feel ready for
school, parents should also see that their children get plenty of sleep. In some cases, aim for a stress-free morning by packing lunches and picking out clothes the night before to reduce tardi-ness. And third, consider that attendance is something every parent should be conscious of, whether your student is in ele-mentary, middle or high school. Studies have proven that there is a clear correlation between dropout rates and poor atten-dance, even among students as young as kindergarten. Remember – every day mat-ters! I encourage the LISD community to join us and help students be accountable by re-minding them how important it is that they come to school. We are committed to every child having a passion for learning, and we foster that passion every day.
Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.comschool thursday
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Canyon Ridge Middle School students are participating in the Future Cities program. The program challenges students to design a city using Sim-City software and grow it 150 years into the future. During the program students have to tackle some engineering, environmental and political chal-lenges. Competing teams attend a regional competition in San Marcos with the opportunity of winning a trip to the national competition in Washington D.C. This competition is sponsored by National Engineers Week Foundation.Foreground: L-R ; Luke Salazar, Nicholas Lesniack, Michael Carvalho, Peter Horvath. Background: L-R ; Zach Burky, Noah Balarbar, Tyler Driskill
By RICH KEITH
"The goal of parenting is to work ourselves out of a job," said the facilitator at a recent Leander ISD class. The topic was "Love and Logic: Parent-ing Teens." Three common teen parenting styles are as follows: The Helicopter. The Heli-copter hovers. It rescues. It Protects. It won't allow chil-dren to fail. Helicopters steal learning opportunities from their child. The Drill Sergeant. The micromanager. Authoritar-ian. Controlling. Uses tight controls. Drill Sergeants use punishment instead of conse-quences. Both of these tactics will result in resentment, and ultimately rebellion. The Consultant. This style avoids dictating. Provides ad-vice. Offers choices. Suggests possible solutions to prob-lems. Shares control with the child. The Consultant asks questions rather than barks orders. Two of the guiding principles of Consultants are "Responsibility is caught, not taught," and, "Don't manage the process; rather manage the results." To learn more, attend Janu-ary classes of: "Becoming a Love and Logic Parent". Visit Leander ISD's home page atw-ww.leanderisd.org for details and registration.
What type of parent are you?
Steiner Ranch Elementary Spelling Bee winner advances. Zachary Weiss, 5th grader, is the winner of the 2012 Steiner Ranch Elementary Spelling BeeSpandana Kamepalli, 4th grader, is the runner-up. Sixteen students competed in the event and the winner was determined on the 38th round, said Rebecca Pueringer,Assistant Principal Steiner Ranch Elementary. Zachary Weiss even competed against his brother, Sam Weiss, who is in 3rd grade. Zachary's winning word was "motley". He will compete at the regional/district level in February. Judges included Kris Lee-Nordin (owner of Cups & Cones), Lt. Gary Frederick (Lake Travis Fire Department), and David Rainey (Canyon Ridge Middle School Counselor).
Pictured left to right: Spandana Kamepalli and Zachary Weiss
week, Cedar Park police received two reports of men try-ing to get children to come to their vehi-cles. Both men were reportedly driving blue pickups. Both men reportedly tar-geted 9-year-old children.
On Friday, the Steiner Ranch HOA sent out a Safety Alert stating: “If you see a bright blue metallic older model full size pick up truck in SR please call 911 or if you can safely see the plate # take it down. Police are looking for a man driving such a vehicle, the suspect has approached at least one child in SR. The incident did not take place today but he may come back into the area. A simi-lar incident took place in Cedar park also. Please make sure your kids are aware.” Local schools last week also reminded children of Stranger Danger and how to be safe. Here is what Susan Fambrough, Princi-pal at Steiner Ranch Elementary, emailed to parents:It is that time of year to re-educate our stu-
dents about “Stranger Danger.” 1. It is that time of year that we want to re-mind you about being safe.2. Do not talk to strangers or anyone you do not know - stay at least a whole arms-length away from anyone you do not know.3. Do not walk alone, always have a buddy.4. If anyone approaches you, tell an adult.5. If you or your child sees any suspicious activity, please notify the police immedi-ately. We ask that you, as parents, also reassure your children to be aware, and to inform an adult about anything unusual, Fambrough said. Officers want to take this opportunity to encourage parents to talk candidly with their children and reinforce basic child safe-ty lessons like those that can be found at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. Here are details about the Cedar Park re-ports. The first incident in Cedar Park occurred on Tuesday, December 27, 2011, at about 11 a.m. in the 700 block of Nelson Ranch Road, on the west side of the city, where a 9-year-old boy reported that a man in a pick-up stopped and said to him, “Do you want some
candy?” The man made no attempt to physi-cally abduct the child, but followed him for a short way and then left the area. The suspect is described as a white male, mid to late 30s, with light brown hair, and a mustache and thin beard. The suspect was reportedly driv-ing a blue pick-up, with paint scratches on the tailgate and a silver bumper. The second incident in Cedar Park oc-curred on Friday, Dec.30, 2011, at about noon in the 600 block of King Eider Lane, on the east side of the city, where a 9-year-old girl reported that a man in a pick-up stopped and said to her, “Hey kid, get in the car.” The man made no attempt to physically abduct the child, and immediately left the area when the girl ran away. The suspect in this incident is described as a white male, mid 20s to mid 30s, with “shaggy” hair and wearing sun-glasses. The vehicle description in this incident is a dark blue, newer model pick-up, with tinted windows, and 4-doors. Police have increased patrols and are aggressively investigating, but officers say the similarities in each incident warranted alerting the public and seeking further as-sistance.
Monday we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr’s Day and it gives us time to think about his lasting impact. In 1964, King became the youngest recipi-ent of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in the United States. Four years later he was assassinated at age 39. The Baptist minister became a civil rights activist early in his ca-reer. The Montgomery Bus Boycott put him in the nation’s spotlight in his 20s. He led the case when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on Dec. 1, 1955. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 385 days and ended racial segrega-tion on all Montgomery public buses, accord-ing to reports. In 1963 King led the March on Washing-ton, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. The 17 minute speech called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. He called for a “color blind” society. King’s motivations to change what he saw started early in his life. Here are some ex-cerpts from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King; edited by Dr. Clayborne Carson. “I was born in the late twenties on the verge of the Great Depression. which was to spread its disastrous arms into every corner of this country for over a decade. My mother confronted the age-old prob-lem of the Negro parent in America: how to explain discrimination and segregation to a small child. She taught me that I should feel a
sense of “somebodiness” but that on the other hand I had to go out and face a system that stared me in the face every day saying that you are “less than,” you are not “equal to.”
She told me about slavery and how it ended with the Civil War. She tried to explain the divided sys-tem of the South — the segregated schools, restaurants, theaters, hous-ing, the white and colored signs on drinking fountains, waiting rooms, lavatories, as a social condition rather than a natural order. She made it clear that she opposed this system and that I must never allow it to make me feel in-ferior. Then she said the words that
almost every Negro hears before he can yet understand the injustice that makes them necessary: “You are as good as anyone.” At this time, Mother had no idea that the little boy in her arms would years later be involved in a struggle against the system she was speaking of.” King’s lasting impact inspired the recent book and then movie The Help, which gives us a glimpse of the beginning of the Civil Rights era. To help celebrate the lasting legacy of King, the Austin Area Heritage Council is hosting the 19th Annual MLK Community March. You can be one of the estimated 15,000 who will meet Monday at 9 a.m. at the MLK Statue on the University of Texas campus. The march will proceed to the Capitol for Gospel music and then onto the historic Huston-Tillotson University for more activities.
Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.comoPinionthursday
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Publisher’s Point of View
LYNETTE HAALAND
MEDICAL FROM, 1
Martin Luther King leaves legacy to celebrate
Darlene SingletonSteiner Ranch
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entertainment inside the res-taurant. Games2U, based in Four Points, is a mobile entertain-ment company which offers its mobile 4-D movie theaters, Giant Hamster Ball games, and more. The company has over 150 franchisees now and is international after recently getting into Canada and Saudi Arabia. The Threadgills are enthusi-astic supporters of Vandegrift athletics. “We plan on embracing the community and being very in-volved in the local community,” Pikoff said. Quintanilla, owns local Ser-ranos restaurants and sites in Houston and Galveston. Quin-tanillaand brother Adam Gonzales opened their first Serranos in 1987. Today there are six family owned and operated Tex-Mex restaurants in the Austin area. The grill is expected to have a variety of fare including burg-ers, steaks, seafood and pasta dishes. “This is something I’ve been passionate about for many years. The timing is right and the area is desperate for it,” Pikoff said.
SPORTS GRILL FROM, 2
ENTICEMENT FROM, 1
posal by the end of January or later. The rate proposal and all background information is available at www.rates.aus-tinenergy.com. Customers can also submit comments or questions through that web site. Residential customers can go to www.rates.austinenergy.com/rrcalculator to see a comparison between an electric bill they have paid in recent time and how it will look under the proposed new rates. They will simply type in the kWh from a previous bill, click the correct month of the bill and they will see the comparison. Commercial customers can visit www.rates.austinenergy.com/crateanalysis to submit a request for an Austin Energy staff member to analyze how the recommended new rates will impact their electric bills.
This is Austin Energy’s first increase in base electric rates in 17 years. The target date for implementation is April 2012. The local utility, which provides power to most Four Points neighborhoods, says it needs to collect more revenue to cover costs to serve. It also wants to achieve greater rate equity between customer classes, among other reasons for the rate increase. While the overall system average increase is 12.5 percent, the actual increase per cus-tomer depends on their usage level, Clark said. For example, a customer who uses an av-erage of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month with an electric bill of $94 would see an increase of $9.60 a month or 10.3 percent increase But for the larger homes typically found in Four Points, a customer who uses an av-
erage of 2,500 kilowatt-hours a month with an electric bill of $250 would see an increase of $34 a month or 13 percent. A customer who uses an average of 4,000 kilowatt-hours a month with an electric bill of $406 would see an increase of $80 a month or 20 percent. Austin Energy proposes to raise rates for a variety of reasons including it has experi-enced large deficits in recent years. It proj-ects a $75 million deficit for the current fis-cal year. Key to the deficits has been the rising costs of materials i.e. power cable, poles and transformers have increased in cost by as much as 300% over 17 years. And growth in sales has slowed from 6% on average in the late 1990s to a 2% average since 2000.
ENERGY FROM, 1
and we’ll have 200 or so when we open. We’ll grow quickly from there,” Kreye said. Investor Surgical Development Partners is guiding the detailed hir-ing plan, he said. Ultimately plans are to have be-tween 115 to 125 board-certified emergency physicians, hospital-ists, primary care doctors, general surgeons to cardiologists, interven-tional radiologists and neurologists who are mostly live in the Lake Travis area. When fully staffed, the hospital will employ 250 or so additional workers. The 274,000-square-foot hospi-tal will open with more than 125 beds. Later expansions are expected to take the hospital to an ultimate size of around 285 beds. The hos-pital anchors a 54-acre medically-oriented development that will in-clude a medical office building. In addition to the emergency department, the hospital will have specialized care in: neonatal, car-diology/cardiothoracic, radiation oncology, surgery, gastrointestinal services, women’s health services including obstetrics, infusion ther-apy, radiology, and nuclear medi-cine. It also will offer respiratory ser-vices, physical therapy/sports med-icine, occupational therapy and pain management.
eowner property. Ignitable fuels such as limbs, brush, and litter, were carried to the curb on each of three streets and hauled away. According to Austin Water Utility’s Conservation Program Coordinator Amanda Ross,in 2008, city officials agreed to main-tain the then newly-created shaded fuel break as well as establish a neigh-borhood watch program within the River Place community. Ross’ office is currently working with land management experts to make future developments safer from wildfires in the projected neighbor-hoods’ overall design and planning. Austin’s Wildland Conservation Divi-sion has also teamed with the Austin Fire Department to coordinate a con-trolled wildfire which would enable officers to be trained in this type of emergency.
“Our focus is on mitigation efforts,” said John Durham, Assistant Fire Chief, Lake Travis Fire and Rescue. “The available fuels are looked at and a ‘prescription’ is written to reduce those fuels so that if a wildfire moves through, the chance of it having a cat-astrophic effect is less”. City of Austin Wildland Conser-vation Division Biologist Bill Reiner informed residents that “a fire is more likely to start on the urban side of the fence” and cites embers sparked by barbecue grills and construction equipment as causes for the blazes. Lightening remains the only danger for wildfire ignition on the wildland side. The heightened level of awareness stemming from the Steiner Ranch, Spicewood and Bastrop fires changed everything for homeowners who once sought the peacefulness of a wildland
setting. “It was so scary to stand here and watch the fires in Steiner Ranch. The concept [shaded fuel break] is wonderful but it’s a daunting task to clear this and keep it cleared,” Glea-son said. Unfortunately, fol-lowing last year’s record setting temperatures and severe lack of rainfall, no
end is in sight. “Our ‘new normal’ is that we’re not seeing the grass fires right now,” said Durham, “we’re having forest fires. That’s unusual for Central Texas. With the drought, even large timbers are affected and fires can move horizon-tally from tree to tree. The continuing drought will worsen that.” On site, Durham applauded the Four Points community’s efforts to decrease the area’s risk of wildfire. The Steiner Ranch neighborhood recently sponsored a similar program. “I’m sure you’ll see more areas targeted,” said Durham. “There are greenbelt areas owned by the HOA where there’s work to be done. HOA workdays are a wonderful way to ap-proach this [wildfire safety] and open the lines of communication.” The River Place Firewise Commit-tee plans to meet early this year to plan strategies for 2012. “The committee will try to priori-tize need based on terrain and proba-ble behavior of wildfires,” said Millard “Mac” McBurney, River Place Firewise Committee Chairman. “The distance from a wildfire where blowing embers settle and collect in nooks and cran-nies is very difficult to predict; there-fore, we try to make homeowners aware of the possibilities in reducing risk before the wildfire season begins.”
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Texas Tree Tamers was awarded the 2011 An-gie’s List Super Service Award, an honor annu-ally given on approximately 5 percent of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service and health providers. “We are honored to add this prestigious award to our list of accomplishments,” said Texas Tree Tamers officials. The company provides profes-sional tree care services. “Thanks to all our cus-tomers for making it possible.” “Only a fraction of the businesses rated on An-gie’s List can claim the sterling service record of being a Super Service Award winner because we set a high bar,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “The fact that Texas Tree Tamers can claim Super Service Award status speaks volumes about its dedication to consumers.” Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earn-ing a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their clients and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines. Angie’s List collects consumer reviews on local contractors and doctors in more than 500 service categories. Currently, more than 2 million con-sumers across the U.S. rely on Angie’s List to help them make hiring decisions.
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Starting this week, Vandegrift High School is joining 25,000 schools nationwide in the Pennies for Pasta fund-raiser for cancer research and funding. For the next few weeks, we will help children who are sick with blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma and my-eloma. The classes of the top 5 teachers who collect the most money will win a catered lunch from Olive Garden.
VHS has a goal to raise $1200. The drive will run through Feb. 3. Viper Key Club representatives will help collect the weekly totals. All students have to do is collect coins and other dona-tions (checks-made out to Leukemia and Lymphoma So-ciety and dollar bills) and put them in the collection boxes that will be delivered to classrooms this week.
VandegriftViper’s Pennies for Pasta kicks off with $1,200 goal
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For the first time in the history of Van-degrift High School, a Viper Band member has achieved the distinction of reaching All-State with Texas Music Educators Associa-tion. Matt Szostak, who plays tuba and sousa-phone, advanced after the auditions in De-cember 2011. “This honor recognizes Matt as one of the top 21 tuba players in the entire state of Texas. This is the highest award a high school band student can receive. Great job Matt – we are very proud of you,” said Jer-emy Spicer, VHS Band Director.“Making the All State Band has been a goal of Matthew’s since he started high school,” said his mom, Teresa Szostak. “Through hard work and focus, outstand-ing direction and instruction from the Van-degrift HS band staff, and the support of his fellow band members, it’s no surprise that he’s made it a reality. We’re very proud of him for this and all of his accomplishments,” she said. All-State, as students call it, is the final step of a five-month journey that begins in September, when 55,000 students audition at regional tryouts; the 1,500 of them who descend on the River Walk for the four-day event represent the mere 2 percent “who survived,” as TMEA folks like to say. At the convention, they audition once more, for chairs in the thirteen All-State en-sembles, and then plunge into rehearsals for the weekend’s final concerts. The All-State audition process for high school winds and percussion students leads ultimately to qualification in one of seven
All-State Bands that perform at the annual TMEA Clinic/Convention: ATSSB Jazz En-semble, ATSSB Concert Band, ATSSB Sym-phonic Band, TMEA Jazz Ensemble, 4A Symphonic Band, 5A Concert Band, and 5A Symphonic Band.
With this honored distinction, Szostak will participate with other “All-State” musicians from across the state at the TMEA All-State Clinic and Convention to be held in San An-tonio, Feb. 8 - 11.
comomunitythursdayPage 6 • January 12, 2012
Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.com
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The Vandegrift High School band has launched its annual mulch fundraiser and is taking orders until Feb. 9. Love how your yard looks af-ter it’s mulched but hate picking up dozens of bags? Now resi-dents of Four Points can buy all the landscaping mulch they need at the same price as local home-improvement stores, and Viper band members will deliver it to your home free of charge. The mulch comes in 2 cubic foot bags. The price is $3.50 a bag with discounts beginning with orders of 20 bags or more. Kirk Gravely, the coordinator of the annual fundraiser, indicat-ed that most homeowners need between 20 and 80 bags of mulch for all their beds. Larger lots re-quire more mulch. Delivery of mulch will be Feb. 18. Hom-eowners do not have to be home to take delivery. The band is taking orders now through Feb 9. Gravely suggests that residents get their orders in early, before the LISD winter break. Residents can choose between
two types of premium quality mulch from Landscapers Pride, a company in New Waverly, Tex-as. The Black Velvet Hardwood Mulch is composted on site in New Waverly using a natural col-orant, producing a rich black col-ored mulch. Use it as you would any other top dressing. The Hardwood Bark Mulch is ideal for areas subject to wind or wa-ter erosion. Use on flower beds, walkways, play areas, or running tracts as a general ground cover. Not recommended, however, for tilling into the soil. To order mulch with free home delivery, call your friendly neigh-borhood VHS band student or visit www.vhsband.com/mulch . The VHS Band Booster Club is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization and helps support the band program by providing funds to offset expenses and keep student fees as low as possible. They also offer “effortless giv-ing” through shopping at Ama-zon and Randalls, and by getting haircuts and ordering pizza lo-cally. Visit www.vhsband.com/fundraising/effortless-giving/ for details.
Viper Band member is First All-State at VHS
Matt Szostak makes Vandegrift High School history by being one of the top tuba players in the state and making All-State with the Texas Music Educators Association. In this photo Matt is showing his mom Teresa Szostak how to play tuba at an event where band mem-bers taught their moms and dads to play their instrument, while marching.
Rich Keith
Viper Band taking orders for mulch until Feb. 9 to raise funds
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Tyler Eyre - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Basketball: I love Coach Dietzmann’s enthusiasm on and off the court.
BASKETBALL
StarS of the Week thurSdayJanuary 12, 2012 • Page 7
four PointS neWSwww.FourPointsNews.com
Wendy Wan - SophomoreFavorite part about being involved in Viper Basketball: Having a good time and playing with my teammates.
Andrew Locascio - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Soccer: I like how we can joke around and have fun, but be productive at the same time.
SOCCER
Clarissa Branca - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Soccer: I love viper soccer because I really enjoy all my teammates.
Connor Cox - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Swimming and Dive:I like the Vandegrift Swim Team, because I get to make friends. It is a good way to have fun. It is just something I enjoy doing. Getting better and progressing throughout the years is really nice also.
S W I
M MiNG
Corey Hart - JuniorGoal for this Viper Wrestling Season: Goal for this Viper Wrestling season: I chose my goal for this year’s wres-tling season to make it to at least regionals on varsity. I also like wres-tling because it gives me something to do and it keeps me in shape.
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Cameron Corinaldi - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Swimming and Dive:I like theatre because it is a lot of fun to act and spend time with the cast and crew of productions. Vandegrift Theatre is great because the director is really nice and we are always putting on fun shows. In our in-class production, Little Women, I acted as Mr. Brooke, a tutor. Earlier this year, I worked on the sound crew for our Fall Show, The Odd Couple. I liked doing the sound because it gave me a chance to experience the “behind the scenes” to putting on a show. This spring, I’ll be acting as Goren, a man with only one leg, in our One Act Play, Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.
T H E A T ER
Lauren Daniels - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Wrestling: Viper Theater is filled with so many amazing people with so many wonderful talents. There is room for everyone to share their abilities and for everyone willing to learn something new. I love the chance to create something different and entertaining for the audience and watch them enjoy something not only I, but the rest of the cast and crew, have worked hard on.
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Four Points Middle School 8th grader Taylor Abbott is in the top 10 in the recent USA Swimming, Inc. rankings.He achieved:• 3rd in 1650 freestyle (mile)• 5th in 1000 freestyle• 5th in 500 freestyle Abbott swims for Cedar Park Swim team and looks forward to high school swim-ming next year.
Friday night Boys Viper hoopsLake Travis over Vandegrift, 64 - 36
The season has had its ups and downs and we currently have a record of 12-11. We have played some extremely tough teams (3 ranked 5A teams, 1 ranked 4A team, and 1 ranked 3A team) so far this year and hope that the tough non-district schedule has properly prepared us for district play. We opened up district with a win over Vista Ridge to start 1-0 then fell last Friday night to state-ranked Lake Travis. We host a very important game Tues. night vs Dripping Springs and then travel to Marble Falls this Friday. With 4 games left in the 1st round of district we really need to play well over the next 2 weeks to have a shot at the playoffs. Every district game is important and each team in our district is capable of beating one another on any given night. I expect the playoff picture to be unclear all the way up until the final game in Feb. Right now we are happy to be getting some key players back from injuries we sustained over the holiday break. Hopefully these players returning can add some firepower back into the scoring/win column.
“Vandegrift Boys Basketball Head Coach Cliff Ellis:
Four Points Middle School swimmer nationally ranked in top 10
POLAR BEAR, FROM 1
Above: The girls celebrate after swimming their laps. (left to right): Molly Stringer, Savannah Broughton, Rachel Bezella, Rachel TovarBelow: Noah Wolk relaxes after having pizza. Noah is 10 years old and completed 154 laps
Below: Keeping warm before they start (left to right) Zach Wolk, Reid Pitman and Zach Bezella.
uncertainty as they undergo can-cer treatment. The list of Polar Bear swim-mers includes: Zach Wok also a Canyon Ridge 8th grader, and Cameron Katzman a CODA swimmer swam 402 laps each; Jacob Stubbs a Cedar Park swim-mer swam 350 laps; Jake Schuel-ler an 8th grader at Canyon Ridge swam 250 and Kiani Bell also an 8th grader swam 250 laps; Jonathon Broughton, fresh-man at Vandegrift High School swam 250 laps; Molly Stringer and Savannah Broughton, 7th graders at CRMS swam 150 laps
each; Rachel Bezella, freshman at VHS swam 115 along with Rachel Tovar, 8th graders at CRMS; Austin Tovar, 8th grader at CRMS swam 100 laps; Kia-lyn Bell and Robby Tovar (3rd grader) from Laura Welch Bush Elementary each swam 30 laps; and Noah Wolk, a 4th grader at Steiner Ranch Elementary swam 156 laps. “Fantastic Job to all of the swimmers,” said CIndy Bezella. The Polar Bear Swim-a-Thon is still accepting donations. Please contact [email protected] for further details.
CMYK
CMYKPage 8 • Four Points News, Thursday, January 12, 2012
Showcase St. Stephen’s and Open House for Admission to grades 6-12 Sunday, January 15 in the Helm Fine Arts Center Registration begins at 1:00 p.m. Program starts at 1:30 p.m.
Enjoy fine arts performances and an athletics presentation. Hear from current community members and learn about the admission process.
To Reply visiT us aT www.sstx.org/admission512-327-1213 ext. 210 • 6500 St. Stephen’s Drive • Austin, Texas 78746
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We want to hear your Sweetheart Story and possibly publish it in our Valentines is-sue. Tell us why the love of your life is so amazing and you may win a prize! You may have a fun engagement story to share or recall a time when you knew you were made for each other. Entries should be emailed to [email protected] by Wed. Feb. 1st and be about 300 words in length. Please include a photo of you and your sweetheart.
Sweetheart contest to be held by Four Points News
ference in quality, friendliness, cleanliness and service,” Powell said. In 1950 Harmon Dobson opened up the world’s first Whataburger on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi. He had a simple goal: to serve a burger so big that it took two hands to hold and so good that with one bite custom-ers would say, “What a burger!” More than half a century later,
with Harmon’s son, Tom, at the company helm, Whataburger still remains family-owned and operated. Now there are 700 Whata-burger restaurants across ten states and the family owned cor-poration owns some 500 sites. The Four Points Whataburger will be the 20th Whataburger in Greater Austin.
WHATABURGER, FROM 1
Helping Four Points, Cedar Park, & NW Austinlearn to play since 2004.
