*Payment was made in January but not withdrawn until February. This will be taken off of the January statement.
Important Announcement forSupporters of Security Patrols
The security program continues to operate at a deficit. So far this year, only a small fraction of the funds required to continue the service has been collected. If you personally believe that the patrols increase your security, your financial commitment will be necessary for these patrols (a private patrol vehicle driving the neighborhood focused on crime prevention) to continue beyond April.
The more people who participate, the easier it can be on everyone! Based on previous years, approximately 100 people donate each year. Consequently, the average annual contribution per donor needs to be $250 or $20.83 per month, though any amount is welcome.
You can pay either by check or online, via the following three options:
OPtION 2: Credit card, by going to the PHNA website at http://
pembertonheights.org/ (About halfway down the page on the right, you will see the word “Donate.” Click it and it will take you to a site where you can make your payment.)
OPtION 3: Donors may set up recurrent monthly payments of $20.83
through their bank or by whatever means they find most convenient.
We need a minimum of 100 supporters contributing $20.83 per month to continue this program. If sufficient support is not demonstrated by April 30, the security patrols will be discontinued and we will refund all donations made after April 30th.
NEw EdItOr Brings Fresh touch to the Pemberton Journal
By Tina Weinberger
Assuming the editorship this month, Erin Shanley brings her considerable talents to the The Pemberton Journal. Erin is an Austin attorney whose accomplishments include publications on topics such as insurance regulation and defense. We look forward to articles reflecting Erin’s love of history and Pemberton’s restored old homes, as well as her interest in the variety of people and personalities that enrich the community. “I want to focus on the tremendous variety of interesting people, activities, and subjects specific to Pemberton Heights,” Erin told the Board at the PHNA board meeting on March 10th.
She and her husband, Jim, have lived in Pemberton Heights for 8 years, and share their home on Wooldridge with Emmylou, their Boston Terrier rescue. We are lucky to have her!
Erin is gratefully accepting articles for publication in The Journal. If you have an idea for an article that would be of interest to the neighborhood, please contact Erin at [email protected]
SAVE THE DATEGARDEN and ART POP-UPS in the ‘HOOD
[A “POP-UP” is a small temporary event or exhibit outside]
Sunday, May 3rdNoon until 4 p.m. in Pemberton Heights
Free, and open only to residents of Pemberton Heights and their guests
Enjoy a spring afternoon outdoors visiting with our neighbors!2515 Harris Boulevard 1405 Wathen Avenue2822 Wooldridge Drive 1600 Preston Avenue1503 Preston Avenue 1512 Gaston Avenue
The mission of this event is to know our neighbors and to celebrate imagination and creativity while enjoying our outdoor spaces in Pemberton Heights.
Volunteer to open your garden space or to help organize a POP-UP! Contact Loretta Fischer: Email: [email protected]; Phone: 512-771-4319
“Bark” on StarkPlease bring your pup to a meet-and-greet with the other
neighborhood doggies on the corner of Stark Place and Wooldridge Drive on Sunday, May 3rd at 3:00 p.m. Extra treats for the best-dressed pup! The event is part of the “Garden and Art Pop-Ups in the ‘Hood” series, which will take place at various locations throughout the neighborhood from noon to 4:00 p.m.
To volunteer or to help organize a “Pop-Up,” contact Loretta Fischer: [email protected], Phone: (512) 771-4319.
Pemberton HeigHtsCiting ease of use and avoidance of duplicity, PHNA
Board members voted at the March 10, 2015 board meeting to phase out the PHNA Listserv in favor of private social network “Nextdoor” as Pemberton Heights’ sole means of online communication for the neighborhood. The Listserv will be gradually phased out during the month of April.
Nextdoor is a social networking service for neighborhoods, and allows users to connect with people who live in their neighborhood. Pemberton Heights has been utilizing Nextdoor since early 2012.
If you have not already done so, be sure to sign up for Nextdoor to stay informed of activities, notices, and postings for the neighborhood. It’s fun, it’s free, and you can sign up by going to: https://phna.nextdoor.com/
One year after the death of James Pemberton in 1809, John Harris was born in Nelson County, Virginia. After studying law at the University of Virginia, the 27-year-old moved to Texas, settled near the mouth of the Brazos River, and practiced law in partnership with future governor Elisha Pease (of Pease Park fame). Together, Harris and Pease would participate in all the significant cases brought before the Supreme Court of Texas.
After Texas broke from Mexico to establish itself as a Republic, Harris introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that replaced Mexican/civil law with common law; the bill was criticized by those concerned that common law did not provide adequately for the rights of married women. By 1846, Texas had joined the Union, and Harris was appointed Texas’ state attorney general. He later represented Texas’ interests as special counsel to the U.S. Supreme Court in matters concerning tax laws and land certificates issued when Texas was a Republic.
As the Civil War approached, Harris opposed succession, but ultimately supported the Confederate cause. A few years before war broke out, Harris decided to purchase a tract of farmland in Austin. Cultivating it required water, so he constructed a limestone tower to store water for irrigation. It is that tower that would eventually be incorporated into the distinctive landmark known as “the castle.”
After the war, Harris moved to Galveston to practice law, marry, and raise a family of five before his death at the age of 77. Harris’ wife, Annie, was the daughter of Samuel Rhoads Fisher, who had been Secretary of the Navy in the days of the Republic. Annie was also a descendant of James Pemberton.
Texas Declaration of Independence. Yet another descendant would start development on a section of farm land in small-town Austin. When searching for a name to give the area,, the family reached back to an ancestor from the 18th century who played a crucial role alongside America's founding fathers. Philanthropist, pacifist, and campaigner for human dignity-- James Pemberton gave us the best reason of all to be proud of living in Pemberton Heights.
Harris BoulevardJudge John Woods Harris
What's in a Name?Something there iS that loveS a wall
By Richard Craig
The poet Robert Frost wrote a poem with famous line: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…” The opposite might be said in Pemberton Heights today. There is an incredible, often overlooked stone wall along the Shoal Creek Hike & Bike Trail in our neighborhood north of the Gaston Trailhead. It is a little worse for the wear, having been pretty well battered by almost sixty years of floods and neglect. But, it remains a symbol of the remarkable legacy of our great neighbor and my personal hero, Janet Fish.
Everyone knows the story of the creation of our much loved Hike & Bike Trail by the singular efforts of Pemberton residents Janet and Russell Fish in the early 1960s. Mrs. Fish hounded the City for years to build a trail along an old bridle path along Shoal Creek to no avail. Finally, Mrs. Fish took a check her husband had given her for a new station wagon and signed it over to the Parks Department with the demand that their bulldozer meet her on the creek the next day to get started. The rest is history, as they say.
But what is less well known is that much of the infrastructure and plant material along the Shoal Creek Trail is the product of Mrs. Fish’s labors. The stone wall north of Gaston is part of this handiwork, quite literally. Mrs. Fish’s son, Andy, remembers his mother helping a stone mason named DeLeon build it one hot summer. Mrs. Fish would personally carry heavy cement bags down the trail and hand-select limestone boulders from the creek to be incorporated into the wall. Andy says she and Mr. DeLeon would often have spirited discussions over which stones should “make the cut.”
Unfortunately, the masonry heirloom of this remarkable lady is close to disappearing forever today. The wall’s stacked stones were held in place by cement alone. It never had steel rebar incorporated into it. Yet, it managed to survive the 1981 Memorial Day Flood, and many more since. But the cumulative result of all these decades of high water events is evident. The wall is undercut in many places with the base swept away, leaving only the footings. Last September’s severe flood was almost the last straw. Quick action is needed to save it.
The Pease Park Conservancy is taking on the challenge in honor of Mrs. Fish. They have received a $21,000 bid for the wall’s repair. (The reconstructed wall will incorporate rebar to better assure its longevity this time). The Charlton Family Foundation has stepped forward with a generous $5,000 grant to get the work started. The Conservancy will be seeking funds from other neighbors and trail patrons for the rest of the funding needed.
If you would like to contribute to this worthy effort, please make your check payable to the “Pease Park Conservancy” and add the notation “Janet Fish wall.” Then mail it to the Conservancy at P.O. Box 50065, Austin, Texas 78763. Let’s all prove that Robert Frost was wrong. “Something there is that loves a wall in Pemberton Heights!”
I may not be a human being per se, but I've never met a human I didn't love. Of the 885,400 people who live in Austin, I love--gosh, it's hard to count with only a couple of toes on each paw--O.K., I got it: of the 885,400 people in Austin, I love 885,400 of them. I think it goes back to the day of my adoption 11 years ago on the day devoted to love.
It seems like yesterday. I was itty-bitty, just 8 weeks old, stuck with the name “Dallas.” I was living in an animal shelter right next to a river called lake, or lake town, or lady lake bird, or something. Every day, different humans would walk by and look at us. The kids squealed and jumped just like puppies. Their mothers smiled and spoke to us in really high voices: “Oh, look at that little sweetheart! You are soooooo pretty; isn't he pretty? Yes, darling, you're a cutie-pie, yes you are, yes you are!” The fathers mostly kept their hands in their pockets and asked about vaccinations. All at once I realized one couple was staring at me. I stared back. They knew. I knew.
“What's his name?” the lady asked the keeper. “Dallas,” I squeaked, waiting for the keeper to translate. I hated that name, but there was no point in lying. “Dog is loyal, trustworthy, and true.” The lady picked me up.
“You don't seem like a Dallas at all, darling,” she whispered in my ear. She smelled nice and had soft hands. “You're coming home with us.” And just like that, I became Jackson Berra. It was Valentine›s Day.
Mom and Dad were engaged to be married that year. Mom had a friend studying divorce law who warned her not to get married unless she had it in writing that she would get custody of me should the marriage go south. I pictured myself in front of a judge, being asked to decide who I wanted to live with. I imagined myself running back and forth between them. It was a bad dream. I blame the lawyer for all of it.
After a while, I got so good at English that I went ahead and fired the Doberman who'd been my translator. He was super smart but also got super mad when I made mistakes. Mom said he had anger-
management issues and should go see the Dog Whisperer.
Anyway, one day I heard someone say we would be driving to New York. Road Trip! Cars go faster than Greyhounds, especially when Mom drives. The wind flapped my ears around: wheeee!--and we saw lots of deer, but they don't like dogs much. All sorts of fun things happen on road trips. We weren't even out of Texas when a police officer with pretty flashing lights on his car stopped us to say hi. I was so excited and honored to meet an honest-to-goodness alpha-man that I stuck my head out the window and licked the hand he was writing the ticket with. He tore up the ticket and gave us a dog treat.
Then we came back to Austin where I have the Berras wrapped around my paw. The pool is mine, the couch is mine, and, well, let's just say we have a family bed. One of the rules of the house is “No Begging.”
No problem. I sit by the table quietly and show them how I can hold up my paw to shake hands. They crumble and the meat is mine.
I have a new brother and sister--human ones! Taking care of miniature humans is a delicate art that comes naturally to me, but in my experience, visitors should be coached before they are permitted to enter. No scratching. Licking is O.K., but stay away from the eyes. Tackling is forbidden until they get taller than a table. Remember: they're only human.
Even though it takes forever to raise them, humans are still my favorite breed. Squirrels are annoying. Cows are beasts. Horses kick. Cats are surprisingly soft and squishy and make good snugglers, but there's nothing like a human. Every February 14, Mom, Dad, and I take some alone time. I curl up against them and they rub my tummy, remind me that I was their first baby, and call me their “weeeeeedle snuggle bunny.” Not everybody believes in love at first sight, but I do. Especially when you meet each other on Valentine›s Day.
Jackson's voice was recorded at the Berra home and translated into English using “DogChat,” a Google app available on Amazon.com for $3.99. “HomoBark,” an app translating English to Bark, will be coming out on April 1, 2015 for $2.99.
The Pemberton JournalAt no time will any source be allowed to use The Pemberton Journal's contents, or loan said contents, to others in anyway, shape or form, nor in any media, website, print, film, e-mail, electrostatic copy, fax, or etc. for the purpose of solicitation, commercial use, or any use for profit, political campaigns, or other self amplification, under penalty of law without written or expressed permission from Peel, Inc. The information in the Pemberton Journal is exclusively for the private use of the Pemberton Heights HOA and Peel, Inc.
DISCLAIMER: Articles and ads in this newsletter express the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Peel, Inc. or its employees. Peel, Inc. is not responsible for the accuracy of any facts stated in articles submitted by others. The publisher also assumes no responsibility for the advertising content with this publication. All warranties and representations made in the advertising content are solely that of the advertiser and any such claims regarding its content should be taken up with the advertiser.* The publisher assumes no liability with regard to its advertisers for misprints or failure to place advertising in this publication except for the actual cost of such advertising.* Although every effort is taken to avoid mistakes and/or misprints, the publisher assumes no responsibility for any errors of information or typographical mistakes, except as limited to the cost of advertising as stated above or in the case of misinformation, a printed retraction/correction.* Under no circumstances shall the publisher be held liable for incidental or consequential damages, inconvenience, loss of business or services, or any other liabilities from failure to publish, or from failure to publish in a timely manner, except as limited to liabilities stated above.
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PhnA Membership_____Yes, I want to join. My check for $30 is enclosed._____Yes, I want to join. I’m paying $30 via PAYPAL (see link on Pembertonheights.org website).NAME _________________________________________________________________________ EMAIL _________________________________________________________________________ SPOUSE NAME __________________________________________________________________DATE _________________________________________________________________________CHILDREN living at home, names & ages (use commas to separate) ______________________________________Pemberton Heights Street Address (not PO Box) _______________________________________________PHONE ________________________________
Please make check payable to PHNA and mail, with this form, to P.O. Box 50388, Austin, TX 78763-0388. If paying by PAYPAL, send your address and other info requested in this form to
