november 17, 2011 issue

By LYNETTE HAALAND

Th e Travis County Sheriff ’s Offi ce will continue to in-vestigate the death of Vandegrift freshman Amanda De La Torre but they will not make any more public state-ments about it. “Th is remains an open investigation and because all parties involved in this case are juveniles we are not go-ing to be able to release anything else concerning this case per state law,” said Roger Wade, Public Information

Offi cer Travis County Sheriff ’s Offi ce. Th e district attorney’s offi ce agrees and there will be no further public statements from the Travis County of-fi ce concerning this case, Wade said. No one has been charged criminally in Amanda’s death. Th e recently released autopsy from the Travis County Medical Examiner’s offi ce concludes that the 15-year-old died as a result of blunt force head injury. Th e autopsy revealed traces of cannabinoids in Aman-da’s blood, including small quantities of two substances

tested to detect marijuana usage. In June, 17-year-old Joe Richards was charged fur-nishing alcohol to Amanda and others during a party at his home in Steiner Ranch. Amanda was fatally injured on April 30 during the un-supervised party and she died 10 days later. Th e Medical Examiner offi cially ruled the manner of her death as “un-determined” on Oct. 24.

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Opinion ..................................4

Community ........................ 5-7

Classifieds ..............................5

Sports ...............................8-10

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Serving Steiner Ranch, River Place, Volente, Grandview Hills, Westminster Glen and Lake TravisVolume 7, Issue 46 • 10 pages Thursday, November 17, 2011 • 50 cents

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Community steps up fi re prevention campaign

LESLEE [email protected]

Local residents packed the River Place Country Club to approve signifi cant changes during the River Place Homeowners’ Annual Meeting on Nov. 2. In addition to the election of new board members, the HOA is showing stronger support for its wildfi re prevention campaign. It also amended HOA documents to include a controversial property owned by the River Place Golf Group which was recently rezoned SF-5. Homeowners vote to apply HOA provisions to 4207 River Place Blvd. homesites: River Place residents agreed to amend HOA docu-ments to include any and all homes to be constructed at 4207 River Place Blvd. Originally, investors intended to construct ten high-end townhomes on the site but, according to River Place HOA Board Member Randy Lawson, the owners are revising their plan due to an in-crease in the original cost of the project. Lawson stated that the group is considering building four high-end single family homes on the 1.8 acre tract. With the Nov. 2 vote, any future homes on the prop-erty will have to comply with HOA regulations. Community steps up local wildfi re prevention eff orts: Lake Travis Fire and Rescue Chief Jim Linardos spoke to the quorum about this year’s eff orts to combat the raging wildfi res which have plagued the area. According to Linardos, whereas his district fi refi ghters usually en-

By RICH KEITH

Lakeway Regional Medical Center - the $200 million hos-pital under construction at the southern edge of Lakeway - is expected to increase demand for residential real estate in Four Points. Th e Lakeway Regional Medi-cal Center is scheduled to open in April 2012, on-time and on-budget, said CEO David Kreye on Nov. 9 at the Lake Tra-vis Commercial Association of Dealmakers meeting in Lake-way. Th e 270,000-square-foot, seven-story hospital will em-ploy 350 to 400 people when it opens and ultimately over 1,000. Ken Renner of Ken Renner Realty and Ross Frie of Keller Williams Commercial led a discussion at last week’s meeting on how Four Points will be aff ected. First they talked about how the Lakeway housing market will struggle to accommodate the infl ux of new Lakeway Re-

gional employees. Lakeway’s demographics show the city to have one of the highest average annual house-hold incomes in the Austin area at $120,000. Most who live in Lakeway are homeowners and there is a limited supply of lease properties. Residential rental occupancy rates have risen sharply to 97 percent and multi-family hous-ing is expected to be in great demand, the sources told the group. Th e forecast is for 1,000 new apartments to be required per year for several years into the future. Th e Lakeway/Bee Cave area has not built 1,000 new apartments during the last ten years, so the Four Points area may absorb some of this de-mand, according to the real es-tate professionals. Two projects planned to be built include 300 apartments in Rough Hollow, and 300 apart-ments across from Falconhead. A Holiday Inn Express is being built now next to Lake Travis United Methodist Church, and

Steiner Ranch swimmer Rebekah Harvey celebrates her formal commit-ment to join the Razorbacks’ swim program at the University of Arkansas next fall. Harvey, who is home-schooled, was a member of Steiner Stars’ fi rst program in 2001. “The school [Arkansas] is incredible, the academ-ics are amazing and the campus is beautiful,” said Harvey. “My heart just screamed, ‘Arkansas’”. Harvey currently swims with Nitro Swimming. Photo contributed by Rebekah Harvey.

See more Letters of Intent on Page 2.

No more public comments on De La Torre investigation

Local housing to be

aff ected by Lakeway

Medical Center

River Place votes to include

homesites into HOA rules

Lake Travis Fire and Rescue Chief Jim Linardos addresses River Place residents about Ready, Set, Go!, a new program developed by the International Fire Chiefs Association to assist homeowners in creating a personal wildfi re action plan.

Leslee Bassman

HOA, 2

MEDICAL, 7

By LYNETTE [email protected]

Expect hundreds more apart-ment and condo units to be built in Steiner Ranch, in addition to the near 300 already planned to start construction as early as Jan-uary. Th ese plans, which are not new, were laid out at the Nov. 9 Community Meeting on Steiner Ranch Commercial Develop-ment. Some 60 Steiner residents attended the meeting at St. Luke’s on the Lake Episcopal Church. Taylor Woodrow Communi-ties/Steiner Ranch Ltd., Steiner’s developer, presented current plans and conceptual plans. One of the conceptual plans includes a hotel across from Quinlan Crossing, another includes a restaurant at the Steiner Ranch Boulevard and RR 620. Th e con-ceptual plans that got the most attention at Wednesday’s meet-ing were those adding hundreds more apartment units in Steiner. Taylor Woodrow Communi-ties has approved development agreements involving density with the City of Austin allowing up to 1,395 total multi-family units, in addition to the existing Monterone Steiner Ranch apart-ments. Th is total includes apart-ments, condos, duplexes and ca-

sitas, said Tim Towell, Division President of Taylor Woodrow Communities. At this time Taylor Wood-row Communities has alloca-tions for 541 units including the 298 apartments at 4800 Steiner Ranch Blvd., 88 detached con-dos being built at the Fairways on the University of Texas Golf Club course, 20 detached con-dos called the Views to be built across from Monterone, 20 ca-sitas to be built at the UT Golf Club, and 29 multi family alloca-tions to the Longhorn Canyon duplex project. Already built are the 62 Longhorn Village de-tached condos. Residents at Wednesday’s meeting brought up concerns with all of this new housing in-cluding increased traffi c, over-crowding in Steiner schools, hav-ing only two exits out of Steiner, fi re evacuation, the impact on the trail system and the safety in the community. “If it helps to know, fi nancing makes it hard to do these types of (projects) these days,” said Walter Eeds, CEO with Greystone De-velopment. He gave an overview of their Steiner Ranch apartment project at the meeting. Greystone plans to close in December on 52 acres at 4800 Steiner Ranch Blvd. Pending approvals, they plan to

Steiner could add more than 1,000 multi-family unitsDeveloper meeting stirs traffic concerns, school overcrowding

Top: Walter Eeds, CEO of Greystone Development, gave a presenta-tion about their upcoming project to build 298 apartments in Steiner Ranch. They expect to close next month. Bottom: Tim Towell, Division President of Taylor Woodrow Communi-ties Steiner Ranch Ltd., addressed questions at the Nov. 9 Commu-nity Meeting with some 60 residents in attendance.

DEVELOPMENT, 7

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HOA, FROM 1

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Madison Tierney signed the fi rst Letter of Intent by a Vandegrift High School student on Nov. 9 at VHS. Tierney will play softball as an outfi elder for the University of North Texas in Denton next year. She is joined at the signing by mom Cynthia and sister Sarah

Addie Oun signed a Letter of Intent to play softball at Abilene Christian University next year. She is joined by parents Leakhe-na Oun and John Gageby, brother Derick and grandma Sandra at the Nov. 9 signing at Vandegrift High School.

counter fi ve to ten acres of wildfi res annually, this year’s challenge has been to combat over 1,000 aff ected acres. “So, it’s been a real struggle for us,” said Li-nardos. “Steiner Ranch has been our biggest challenge for obvious reasons”. Linardos stated that the recent wildfi res accounted for a loss of $10 million in prop-erty. However, according to Linardos, 300 houses were saved by fi refi ghting actions and the fi re expert advocated that each ho-meowner implement the International Fire Chiefs Associations’ “Ready, Set, Go!” per-sonal wildfi re action plan. Th e program provides a checklist approach to safeguard a home against the potential for wildfi re dam-age as well as guidance to create a family emergency evacuation strategy. Linardos reminded residents to register their cellular telephones with Capital Area of Governments (CAPCOG) to receive reverse 9-1-1 calls warning them of danger in the case of an area emergency. Additional life-saving information contained on fi re safety websites point to specifi c changes homeown-ers can make to ensure the perimeter of their

home is the safest it can be when it comes to wildfi res. See www.fi rewise.org and www.readysetgo.org. River Place Firewise Committee chair-men, Millard “MAC” McBurney and Gary Chapel, urged residents to undergo a Fire-wise inspection of their home which would provide concrete steps an owner can take to reduce the risk of wildfi re damage to their home and neighborhood. McBurney instructed listeners on the defi nition of a Home Ignition Zone and the remedy avail-able to River Place owners to be able to “go into 15 feet of HOA land to clear” and reduce the wildfi re risk once an assessment has oc-curred. Th e Firewise Committee conducted 14 as-sessments between the beginning of the year and September 5, 2011. However, eight ad-ditional assessments were scheduled since the Steiner Ranch wildfi res broke out. With its growing need and reputation, Chapel and McBurney have put out a call requesting up to ten additional volunteers willing to re-ceive training in Firewise assessment. Currently, River Place’s Firewise Com-

mittee members are exploring options with city offi cials to provide aid for clearing land or constructing shaded fuel breaks to areas of the community which are most prone to wildfi res. River Place’s Overlook section of 16 homes created its own Firewise Com-mittee and has been pursuing activities to safeguard their area. Th e River Place Gar-den Club is working with the HOA to select drought tolerant and fi re retardant plants for neighborhood landscaping plans. Smoking on the River Place Country Club golf course has been recently banned although meeting attendees questioned the measure’s enforce-men. “Th e beauty of River Place is that you have a less dense population and there are other ways out of here,” Linardos said. “Th e bot-tom line is ‘when it’s time to go, it’s time to go’.” River Place HOA adds three new board members: River Place residents voted to add Randy Lawson, Ivar Rachkind and Bruce Stuckman to their Homeowners Association Board of Directors.

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Firewise Committee member Gary Chapel set out maps detailing the numerous owners of the Balcones Canyonland Preserve which accounts for the complicated nature of working with numerous government and private agencies. Chapel keyed the map areas with the following representations for ownership: Green-BCP, Red-MUD, Blue-HOA, Blue-green-Country Club, Purple-Private. Photo contrib-uted by Chapel

By LESLEE [email protected]

With a $10,000 corporate dona-tion towards the construction of River Place Elementary’s Titans Gar-den and outdoor classroom, Four Points Home Depot Manager Mike Reichert could have stopped there and would have still been considered a “hero” in the community. However, Reichert recently picked up a wheelbarrow to join so many other members of the Four Points community to fi nish the job by hand,

including the school’s staff , students, Girl Scout troops, Boy Scout packs, Vandegrift High School’s National Honor Society, Four Points Middle School families and members of the River Place Garden Club. Th e two-year-old project, with its native garden, herb wheel, and “T” shaped vegetable beds, is the brain-child of River Place Elementary School parent and Certifi ed Mas-ter Gardener Bonnie Martin who sought to use the space to teach stu-dents how food is grown and show-case culinary herbs and native plants.

Four Points Community sows seeds of River Place Elementary School’s “Titans Garden”

Left: Sisters Hope Gibbs (front) and Faith Durbin (back) share ground prep work at a recent Titan Gardens workday. Gibbs attends kindergarten at River Place Elementary School and Durbin is in the sixth grade at Four Points Middle School.

Leslee Bassman

Leslee Bassman

Right:River Place Elementary fi fth-grader Cole-man Gamble is “excited about seeing seeds be-come herbs” as he develops the school’s garden during a recent community workday.

GARDEN, 7

It’s been a good week to be a member of the Leander ISD fam-ily. We’ve had a lot to celebrate re-cently. Th e last few days we have seen LISD students enhance the repu-tation of both the district and our schools by excelling in extracur-ricular activities. Most notably, last Tuesday, the Cedar Park High School Band proved itself to be the best division 4A band in Texas when it was crowned State Cham-pion at the UIL marching com-petition. Th e Vandegrift High School band advanced to the state competition and took ninth place, as well. Our athletic programs have also fared well this season. Th e girls and boys cross country teams from CPHS won fi rst place at the regional level, while the VHS girls team took second place. Th ese

teams and several individual run-ners from LISD then went on to compete with other elite runners at the state cross country meet last Saturday. We congratulate the CPHS boys cross country team for fi nishing in second, the girls team for bringing home third and Vista Ridge High School’s Adam Waldum, running as an individ-ual, for taking fourth place at the state meet. In other sports news, the volleyball team from CPHS advanced to the regional semi-fi nals. Meanwhile, the Leander High School football team earned the district title and joined the football teams from CPHS and VHS in the championship play-off s. With all of these well-earned achievements in mind, you can imagine that our entire commu-nity is extremely proud of our students.

Extracurricular activities are an integral part of the total school experience. Th ey require students to maintain high academic standards while teaching stu-dents to com-pete with class and how to be good winners and losers. Ex-tracurricular activities also help students develop self-con-fi dence and discipline, impor-tant skills that benefi t students throughout their lifetimes. But, we must also remember that ex-tracurricular programs can be a student’s ticket to a bright future through a full or partial college scholarship. Every year, talented LISD athletes and musicians are

given the opportunity to join the ranks of college and univer-sity programs and occasionally

have a portion of their tuition fees waived. In fact, just last week several of our high school athletes signed letters of intent to play a sport at the collegiate level. We are ex-

tremely proud of these students and wish them well. In other college-readiness news, VRHS, CPHS and LHS were recently notifi ed that they received the 2011 College Readi-ness Award from the Texas ACT Council for increasing the num-ber of students taking the ACT Assessment over the past fi ve

years and signifi cantly increas-ing their level of achievement and college readiness. We are proud of this recognition and the strides it represents in the district’s college-preparation eff orts. And speaking of college-read-iness, before I close this week, I want to highlight a new web-based service we are launch-ing that is designed especially for students and parents called Naviance Family Connection. Family Connection is a compre-hensive website parents and stu-dents can use to make informed decisions about colleges and ca-reers. Family Connection will allow students to build résumés, manage timelines and application deadlines, research colleges and sign up for college visits. Parents will be receiving login informa-tion in the coming days, and each

high school has scheduled train-ing days to help parents familiar-ize themselves with this new pro-gram. Speaking from a parent’s perspective, Family Connection is very user-friendly and will be a useful tool parents can use to help our students prepare for college. We thank the Hill Country Edu-cation Foundation for generously contributing to the procurement of the Naviance system and pro-viding this service to all students in LISD. I invite you to check out more information about Na-viance Family Connection on our district website www.leanderisd.org. Again, we congratulate our students for their recent achieve-ments! Have a great day!

FOUR POINTS NEWSwww.FourPointsNews.comSCHOOL THURSDAY

November 17, 2011 •

FOUR POINTS NEWSwww.FourPointsNews.com

BRET CHAMPION

LISD celebrates student achievements

Additional names on the LISD All “A” Elementary Honor Roll for the 1st 9 weeks. This school year LISD changed its systems to com-pile these lists as well as the media release forms. Here are students who were not included in the Nov. 10 “A” Honor Roll

Laura Welch Bush Elementary

Second Grade: Austin Bush, Eric Chan, Sarah Con-ner, Britney Dang, Akash Dhruva, Athena Galatis,Luke Gutierrez, Colin Guzenda, Nicholas Kort, Lara Labardini, Tiffany Lor, Caden Postiglione, Callye Self

Third Grade:Ryan Anderson, Madison Barnes, Ethan Fiske, Sydney Grossfeld, Isabella James, Joshua Maysonave, Zoe Odulinski, Addison Orris, So-phie Polidoro, Shreya Ramanathan, Abigail Sanders, Tatum Sommer

Fourth Grade:Carson Beck, Brooke Conner, Summer Ely, Beza Galatis, Han-nah Jackson, Sofi a Kaso, Skyler Kawalek, Luca Labardini, Ashley Levy, Priscilla Li, Jonathan Lor, Anthony Monte, Ishan Neidig, Beckett Postiglione, Ishika Puri, Nithyasree Senthil, Amanda Stahl, Nolan Stahl, Sherry Wang

Fifth Grade:Madeline Beck, Ezana Belete, Nicholas Chan, Casey Charland, Ella Drablos, Sarah Farrell, Camille Gutierrez, , Amanda Hartman

Grandview Hills Elementary

Third Grade: Robert Clukey, Tessa Collinson, Evan Deeny, Roarke Estrin, Brian-na Fleurimond, Emily Frost, Spen-cer Haug, Madison Horne, Dani Kennedy

Fourth Grade: Duncan Alvarez,

Declan Duggan, Connor Hatha-way, Matthew Kind, Sophie McMa-hon, Madison O’Neil, Nina Porter, Caleb Powell, Ayden Rails, Ruess Rolloff, Jorja Smitherman

Fifth Grade:Brandon Becker, Paul Clukey, Zoe Evans, Reese Wilhite

River Place Elementary

Third Grade: Christian Cole, Abigail Hendrie, Maya Lain, Bowen Lewis, Kaleb Lewis, Jack McCall, Samuel Tian, Sarah Tung, Mukta Valluru, Jaden Villanueva, Sophie Wills

Fourth Grade: Riley Francis, Arianna Grandi, Hai-ley Hoffman, Isabel Mendoza, Rea-gan Scott

Fifth Grade: Robert Almand, Cameron Brigh-ton, Jackson Hendrie, Estelle Ho-

ang, Areeba Huda, Caitlin McCann, Megan Messer, Joshua Nelson, Kathryn Stephens, Megan Tung, Madison Williams

Steiner Ranch Elementary

Third Grade: Victoria Guerrero, Maya Kothari, Kaelan Lucas-Marinelli, Simran Randhawa, Ellie Seitzler, Mary Wein

Fourth Grade: Amanda Cook, Lauren Cook, Raquel Guerrero, Cooper Harris, Isabelle King, Chandraditya Kodra, Jeremy Li, Jordan Mathis, Hailee Maxfi eld, Matthew Mills, Matthew Rider, Gatienne Rodriguez, Han-nah Schinzing, Jocelyn Schneider, Lillian Thompson

Fifth Grade:Brittney Nava, Orianna Santucci, Robert Wein

LISD 1st - 9 weeks honor roll additions

Visit Chamber website for details!www.FourPointsChamber.com

Thursday, November 17, 2011 @ 11:00 am

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Four Points Chamber of Commerce hosts Liz Elam,

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in September of 2010. Liz has quickly become a recog-

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2ND ANNUAL FOUR POINTS CHAMBER HOLIDAY PARTY

Thurs. Dec. 1, 5:30 - 8pmSteiner Ranch Steakhouse$25 for Chamber Members

$30 for Future Chamber Members

Come CELEBRATE with your Four Points friends and neighbors at the 2nd Annual Four Points Chamber HOLIDAY PARTY. We are proud to have Steiner Ranch Steak House host the 2011 Four Points Chamber Holiday Party this year on the 2nd fl oor in the Angus Brangus Room. Come out and network with your friends, neighbors, business associates and/ or spouse and enjoy an evening of relaxation and fun at Steiner Ranch Steak House. Besides an incredible menu, including appetizers and one drink ticket per person included in your admis-sion, we'll be entertaining you with games, smiles and good cheer! Join us by registering now as we do have limited space.

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Four Points traffi c is becoming a bigger and bigger topic of discussion these days. Not only do we have our traditional com-muters but Vandegrift High School student drivers and construction traffi c from the fi ve diff erent local projects have been added to the mix. More than the usual number of backups have occurred over the past several weeks as roadwork is in its fi nal stages at the Steiner Ranch entrance near Quinlan Crossing. Th ere Texas Department of Transportation is installing a dual left turn from westbound RR 620 to southbound Quinlan Park Road. Northbound Quinlan Park will be re-confi g-ured to have two right turn lanes and one left turn lane. Additionally at Marshal Ford Road, TxDOT will construct a new signalized 4-way intersection. Traffi c was a top concern at the Steiner Ranch Developer’s Community Meeting last Wednesday. Last month it was a big part of the discussion at the Coff ee Jolt community meeting put on by Sarah Eckhardt, Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner. For months now Pam Waggoner, a Four Points community member and Leander ISD Board of Trustees Vice-President, has been hitting the traffi c issues hard. She has been involved in several traffi c meetings with Tx-DOT, community members and offi cials.

By VHS at RM 2222, Waggoner states it plainly: We need more roads to get out if an emergency happens. McNeil Drive is the only way in and out of the VHS and Four Points Middle School campuses.

A road cannot be cut through the nature preserve surrounding the schools. Th e City of Austin controls the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan land which is protected by the United States Fish and Wild-life Service.

Possibilities to overcoming the traffi c hurdle may include lobbying the USFW for access, using utility land for a roadway, and trading acreage for a route of egress, Wag-goner said. Neighboring 3M Corporation has denied LISD access through its campus. It sounds practically impossible to fi nd a simple solution to lessen the traffi c burdens. But Tuesday morning my walking group came up with a good idea for at least the VHS issues. VHS students and/or parents can apply for a pass to go through the 3M campus during the two peak times of day. 3M can do background checks and any other security measures they would need to let these approved drivers through their campus on Scotch Trail to get to River Place Boulevard. It certainly would be an easier solution than trading land and building new roads.

FOUR POINTS NEWSwww.FourPointsNews.comOPINIONTHURSDAY

• November 17, 2011


Publisher’s Point of View

LYNETTE HAALAND

Letters to the Editor:Four Points News welcomes all Letters to the Editor. All letters must be signed and include phone number for verifi -cation. Deadline is Friday before publication. Four Points News reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, length and for libelous or objectionable statements. Letters containing more than 400 words will be edited for length.

Four Points News • 3129 Rippling Creek Ct. Austin, Texas 78732Email: [email protected]

Traffic issues on the rise in Four Points

Peyton Perret Westminster Glen

Camping with friends. We pick a diff erent place every year.

What is your favorite Th anksgiving tradition?

FOUR POINTS OF VIEW

PERSONNEL

FOUR POINTS NEWSYour Community Newspaper

3129 RIPPLING CREEK CT. AUSTIN, TEXAS 78732

TELEPHONE: 512-483-1708 FAX: 512-355-1774

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Editor & Publisher ..........................................................................LYNETTE HAALAND

Advertising Sales Representative ...................................................HOLLIE KENNEY

Advertising Sales Representative - Sports ................................... JOHN DOPSON

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Reporter.................................................................................................LESLEE BASSMAN

Creative Services ............................................................................. JENNIFER ROBERTS

Published weekly in Four Points, Texas by Four Points News LLC. For subscription information, email inquiries [email protected]

Keith Waggoner Steiner Ranch

My favorite tradition is having Th anksgiving din-ner in Houston every year.

James Gonzales II Steiner Ranch

I like to eat pumpkin pie, hang out with family and friends and have fun. I like to eat a lot of food and still be in the playoff s.

Trevor Aldridge Four Points

We always go to my grandma’s house in Velma, OK.

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Dear Editor,

Th ank you very much for tak-ing the time to cover our com-munity meeting on October 25 in Steiner Ranch to discuss looming massive increases in electricity rates for Four Points residents, and what can be done. I wanted to take a moment to re-spond to some of the statements made by Austin Energy’s spokes-man, Ed Clark, in your article. I would like to point out that Austin Energy’s public state-ments about the proposed rate structures have been mostly confusing and oft en misleading. When I fi rst started looking at this issue, Austin Energy (AE) was touting it as “only” a 12% in-crease for the average residential customer. I am happy that now they are acknowledging, as they did in your article, that the aver-age customer’s rates will increase 22% or more. However, they have replaced the 12% slogan with one that says the “average residential customer will only pay $10 to $20 more per month.” I dare say that the average Four Points customer is looking at a lot more than a $20/month in-crease. On our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/aerateprot-est, we have posted the tables that show what happens to an-nual electric bills for customers at various usage levels. We have also posted the links to where we got these documents on AE’s site. My estimate based on these tables is that for a 3000 sq foot house, the increase would

around $400 a year or more. And that would be subject to a promised 2% additional rate hike every year aft er that, for years to come. In the meantime, most of our fellow Texans in deregulated markets are seeing their rates go down, as abundant sources of new domestic natural gas come online. AE also states in the article that they do not have suffi cient revenue to support their day to day operations. However, de-spite the claim that AE is losing money, the Austin City Coun-cil dips into AE’s revenues to the tune of $150M per year to fi nance the city’s service (this money is not reinvested in AE, nor is it spent in suburban com-munities like Four Points). To make matters worse, AE’s esti-mates of what revenues are re-quired are highly suspect. Dur-ing the public comment process, and the review of the proposed rates by the city Electric Utility Commission (EUC), it has been pointed out that AE’s budget has some glaring issues, e.g.: 1) AE included the costs of generating electricity, but included no rev-enue for the power they sell to the Texas electric grid (in 2009, such revenues were $35M), 2) Th ey consistently overestimate the fi nancial reserves needed, eff ectively overcharging today’s customers for expenses that will be incurred in later years, and, 3) AE proposes to under-utilize debt fi nancing (relative to indus-try norms). Analysis by EUC Commissioner Barbara Day

concluded that AE’s revenue re-quirements were overstated by a total of approximately $100M! Elsewhere in the article, Mr. Clark claims that AE rates are among the lowest in the state. I would like to understand the basis of this claim - the only competitive analysis I have seen put forward by AE is based on 2009 rates. Since then, many Texas utilities have seen their rates go down as fuels costs have declined. And of course, a 22% rate increase all at once is certainly going to make such a claim even more unrealistic. AE’s own residential rate consul-tant stated in his report that un-der the proposed rate structure that AE would “be challenged” to remain in the 50% most com-petitive utilities in Texas. Mr. Clark also indicated that communities outside of Austin would receive 3% of AE reve-nues [collected from those areas by AE?]. Perhaps he is not aware that Four Points is not an incor-porated city, and therefore the 3% doesn’t apply to us. In fact it applies to only about 15% of the 50,000 “taxed but not represent-ed” customers, who live outside Austin and therefore do not vote for the Austin city council. Th e proposed rate structure raises AE residential electricity rates based on a number of du-bious rationalizations, and does so in a way that disproportion-ately impacts customers in sub-urban areas like Four Points. A cynic would conclude that that has something to do with the

fact that we can’t vote against the city council members who vote to adopt this plan. AE’s residen-tial rate advisor (RRA) and EUC Commissioner Day both point out that the proposed rates over-charge all residential custom-ers, as a group, by 20% relative to other classes of customers. Furthermore, AE has proposed a graduated rate structure which charges customers a higher rate the higher their monthly con-sumption. Th e RRA has pointed out that the proposed rate struc-ture would likely be the most complex in the nation! Th is rate structure has nothing to do with what it costs AE to generate or buy the energy, it is apparently meant to punish suburbanites for living in larger homes than city dwellers. Th ey call it “send-ing pricing signals.” What are owners of properly built, prop-erly insulated suburban homes with modern effi cient air con-ditioning units supposed to do with these “pricing signals,” bull-doze our houses and move into underground berms? AE needs to stick to providing electric-ity. If Austinites want to subject themselves to an explicit carbon tax or other environmental levy, that is their right, but they can-not impose it upon suburbanites who have no say in the matter. Austin Energy needs to go back to the drawing board and produce a straightforward rate proposal that is predicated on a realistic budget, treats residen-tial customers fairly, and doesn’t impose the cost of city political

initiatives onto non-voting sub-urban AE customers. Perhaps as Mr. Clark suggests, there is some sort of dividend owed to the city by AE, but it should be determined by some formula consistent with industry prac-tices, not arbitrarily by the city council. If AE does not rethink its approach, then the “taxed but not represented” will force a re-view of this rate proposal by the

Texas Public Utility Commis-sion, and let TPUC decide what is fair. Meanwhile, Four Points residents can get up to speed on these issues through our Face-book page (www.facebook.com/aerateprotest), and through our website, www.aerateprotest.com.

Sincerely,Mark L. Farrar

Austin Energy rate hikes unfair for Four Points

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By RICH KEITH

Th e Vandegrift HS Marching Band and Vision Dance Company fi nished 9th overall out of over 250 4A band programs in Texas at the UIL State Finals on Nov. 12. Th eir achievement puts the Viper band in the top 2 percent of all Texas 4A schools. Cedar Park HS took fi rst place in the contest, followed by Drip-ping Springs HS and Centennial HS (Frisco) took third. Dripping Springs HS was the reigning State champion going into the fi nals. Th e Viper band qualifi ed for UIL State Finals as one of only 24 bands selected statewide. Th e Vipers are part of the highly competitive UIL Region D. Not only are the top two bands in the State in Region D, it

also includes Lake Travis HS which ultimately took fi ft h place. Th e Viper band has existed for three years. It has just 16 seniors and is made up of more than half freshmen. Th is is its fi rst year to have all four grades represented. "Very few high school students ever get to experience what ours did (Nov. 12). I am extremely proud of what we have been able to do in a very short amount of time,” said Jeremy Spicer, Director of Bands for VHS. Th eir program, "Vision-ary" features the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and was created by Spicer and Holly Lyons, Director of the VHS Dance Department. Now marching season is over and the students will move into concert season. For more information visit www.vhsband.com .

Canyon Ridge Middle School honored Veterans at their assembly on Friday November 11. Students invited family and friends that were Veterans to attend the ceremony. Jacob Chase played Taps for the Veterans on his trumpet. Leander High School’s ROTC posted the colors and performed the amazing POW/MIA Table Ceremony. Many of the Veterans joined in by singing to the Armed Forces Medley during the ceremony.

Viper Band wins 9th in State in 4A

In celebration of Veterans Day

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THURSDAY • November 10, 2011

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By CATHLEEN McGRATHLake Travis Toastmasters President

Th e Lake Travis Toastmasters celebrated its 10th year on Nov. 1 when it held an open house with Dripping Springs Toastmasters. Th ere was a large turnout with 31 people and the Dripping Springs club came in full force to participate and support all the eve-ning’s presenters. Th e theme was "Dare to Communicate, Dare to Lead." Our Toastmaster for the evening invited our guests to join Toast-masters using the three date test -- come to three meetings so you can see why LTTM is the club for you. One speaker shared challenges he faced in his life, and the other his passion for sail-ing. Table Topics is always an entertaining quick round of opinions to enhance our theme for the evening with challenging thoughts on communication and leader-ship. No Toastmasters meeting is complete without the evaluators which gave an in-sightful feedback on the speakers’ speech-es. A special gratitude is extended to all the other participants who counted the votes, counted the "Ahs," the word of the day and timed the speeches - we could not do it without you. Visit the Lake Travis: http://laketravis.freetoasthost.org/index.html for more info.

By KAREN PEARCETroop 201 Committee Chair

Boy Scout Troop 201 is proud to announce the troop’s latest recipients of the Boy Scouts of America Rank of Eagle. Each of these scouts completed the fulfi llment of the many requirements of the BSA’s highest rank in the last few months. Th is feat was culminated by their plan-ning and implementing of a project of their choice. Th ey have each demonstrated that they indeed live Boy Scout Law and Oath. Nate Mullen (Vandegrift HS) planned and led volunteers in improvements to the Aus-tin Christian Fellowship Walking Trail. Jordan Ng (Vandegrift HS) designed and guided volunteers in completing a storage area for Troop 201’s Charter Organization, St. Luke’s on the Lake Episcopal Church. Dexter Shaw (Vandegrift HS) coordinated volunteer eff orts in rebuilding and refurbish-ing the Butterfl y Gardens at Steiner Ranch Elementary School. John Stenson (Lake Travis HS) designed, fabricated and led volunteers in the con-struction of a reading loft /classroom library at St. Paul Lutheran School in Austin. Four Troop 201 scouts recently shown at the Court of Honor earned the rank of Eagle Scout: Nate Mullen,

Jordan Ng, Dexter Shaw and John Stenson.

Lake Travis Toastmasters celebrates 10 years

Four Troop 201 scouts earn Eagle

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plants. Th e outdoor classroom, complete with solar hookup and tree stumps serving as seating, was constructed in July of this year. A recent October workday was devoted to completing the remainder of the garden space. According to Martin, the new outdoor area fi ts into LISD’s el-ementary school curriculum in a variety of ways, ranging from science experiments to math les-sons, as well as future plans for landscape art instruction. “We fi nd key points [in the lesson] and match them with activities suited to the outside,” Martin said. “We’re fi nding a lot of ways to have these teaching moments.” Every Friday, Titan fi rst grad-ers spend a 45 minute session in the outdoor classroom, with Martin leading the lesson plans assisted by volunteers. Besides Reichert, Martin en-listed the aid of the River Place Garden Club for fi nancial and

planning support. “Our goal is to be involved in the community in some way,” said Becky Wolf, President of the River Place Garden Club. “When you talk to kids and they don’t know where cabbage comes from, well, here, they can actu-ally see it grow”. Other sponsors came from both inside and outside the Four Points area, with Malt O’Meal awarding the program $2500 for its “Greenest Classroom” contest win as well as a $500 grant from IBM. Roofi ng materials and la-bor were donated by Wilson Roofi ng and Straight and Level contractors added their expertise and additional supplies. Th e community aspect of the recent workday surprised every-one, including River Place El-ementary School PTA President Jennifer Wilby. “It really goes to show what you can achieve when everyone pulls together”, said Wilby.

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a condominium project has started at Vistas of Lakeway. Th e commercial growth corridor is becoming Hwy 71 West, rather than RR 620. As an example, HEB has pur-chased a large tract at Serene Hills Drive but is expected to delay building for up to 5 years. Th e Lakeway bond's re-cent passage will improve the access in this area, the sources say. Some may consider 71 West a remote area and fi nd Four Points desirable for the access and services it provides. With the infl ux of future Lakeway Regional employees and their demand for hous-ing and services may acceler-ate development of housing and services in the Four Points area, they say.

MEDICAL, FROM 1 DEVELOPMENT, FROM 1

GARDEN 1

Brandon Maas, a member of Vandegrift’s National Honor Society, puts in a tough Saturday morning fi nishing out River Place Elemen-tary School’s new garden site. Leslee Bassman

Ernie Reyes World Martial Arts held a Kick-A-Th on fundraiser on Nov. 11 to benefi t the Bastrop Fire Department whose resources have been tapped from fi ghting fi res. Bags were lined up along Quinlan Park Road at Towne Square in Stein-er Ranch. Students from age 5 to 50 kicked through the night. “Th e students kicked until dark, with several of them passing the 3,000 kick mark. We’re so proud of the entire school,” said Bu Kwan Jang Nim Cindy Villanueva-Allen, who runs to Steiner Ranch martial arts studio. On Dec. 3rd not only will Ernie Reyes World Martial Arts graduate four new black belts, it will also give its Kick-A-Th on donations to the Bastrop volunteer fi refi ghters.

Th ousands of kicks raised money at Black Belts for Bastrop Kick-A-Th on

break ground as early as Janu-ary for 26 apartment buildings with 298 units on a portion of the tract. “We are betting a lot of money and a lot of risk on this (in Steiner). We are not in the game to lose money,” said Eeds, whose company has developed over 75 apartment communi-ties across the country in Hous-ton, California, Colorado and Florida. Greystone plans to relocate one of the Steiner trails that goes through their land. Th e commercial conceptual plans for the rest of Steiner and when they might be built de-pends on market demand. Out of the 19 commercial parcels in the master plan, 13 have been developed. Conceptual plans have been in the works for more than a decade on these pieces of land, Towell said. Taylor Woodrow Communi-ties is seeking to subdivide the 81 acre tract at 4807 N. Quinlan

Park Rd. into four lots to make it more marketable, he said. Th ere is a contract pending for a 100,000 square foot storage facility on one of those lots. Th ere are conceptual plans for that land that include 220 apartments and a hotel. On the hilltop behind the Welcome Center, conceptual plans include apartments and/or a church. Directly behind Steiner Ranch Elementary school there is are conceptual plans for 54 condos. On one corner of Steiner Ranch Boulevard and RR 620 there are conceptual plans for a sit down restaurant with a large patio, a bank and retail. On the other corner, a 13,000 square foot offi ce building. “I can’t stress enough these are conceptual plans. Th is is our best guess today,” Towell said. “We do want to sell the land at the highest price we can.” One resident at last week’s

meeting stated adding all of these proposed apartments would “ruin the schools, ruin the property values and ruin the commercial.” Another community mem-ber wants to see safer roadways including the intersections of RR620 and Quinlan Park Road and Steiner Ranch Boulevard where there have been hun-dreds of accidents and injuries. Other members of the com-munity want more access into and out of Steiner. Th e preserve land prevents that, developers say. Residents also stated they want improved HOA com-munications and more resi-dent input. A working group is forming including a handful of residents and the developers who will meet and discuss con-cerns and future planning. “We want residents to be involved as we move forward,” Towell said.

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Nick Florence - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Basketball: The part I love about basketball is the time I get to spend with my teammates. It is a special feeling to be a part of something bigger than myself, especially when we work as hard as we can, every day, for each other.

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Andi Martinez - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Basketball: My favorite part is putting in hard work and eff ort and seeing it pay of in games when we win.

Collin Stobart - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Soccer: For all the great people involved and the chances we have to go far this year.

SOCCER

Taylor Allen - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Soccer: My favorite part of Viper Soccer is the pre-season tournaments because the entire team gets to spend more time together and get to know each other better. It’s just fun over all.

Marina Bendele - SophomoreFavorite part about being involved in Viper Swimming: My favorite part about being involved in swimming is making friends and getting faster. It is just a lot of fun!

SWI

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Keegan Pitts - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Wrestling: I’m looking forward to building a strong team and being a regional qualifi er this season.

WRESTLING

Viper Football Head Coach Drew Sanders weekly comments

Vs. Travis (Bi-District Championship) on Nov. 10

It was a great game and perhaps one of our fi nest moments in our short history. To see our kids taking pictures with the trophy aft er the game was a moment I’ll never forget. To start with a JV schedule in 2009 and to build to a playoff win in two years is nothing short of remarkable. It’s a credit to the parents in the community and the kids. I’m honored to be their coach and can’t wait to see what else these kids will accomplish.

Vs. Tivy (Area Championship) on Nov. 18

Kerrville Tivy comes into San Antonio on Friday night as one of the winningest programs in the San Antonio area. Th ey are extremely explosive on off ense and run around like a bunch of crazed dogs on defense. Th ey will be a formidable op-ponent, but we will be ready.

Dylan Hosek #6, Viper Wide Receiver, was featured recently with this move on KVUE News as their High School Varsity Football "highlight of the game". This shot was captured during the Vandegrift vs. Rouse game on Oct. 28.

By TAYLOR WATSONVandegrift Voice Editor-In-Chief

With a 44-13 win over the Austin Travis Rebels in the bi-district match on Th ursday night, the Vipers advance to the Area Round and take on the Kerrville Tivy Antlers. Th e playoff game is Fri., Nov. 18 at Rutledge Stadium in Con-verse, Texas at 7:30 p.m. Pre-sale tickets are on sale this week for $7 for adult and $3 for students. All tickets are $8 at gate. For more Viper coverage go to Vandegrift Voice.com.

Vandegrift Football wins district headed to play-offs

Tyler Handrick, Vandegrift Voice Danielle Docherty, Vandegrift Voice

1. What has to happen for the Viper Swim Team to be success-ful this season? Our team this year is extremely motivated and focused. We are fortunate, because we have a lot of strong returning upperclass-man, and also a very strong fresh-man class. Everyone is working together very well with clear goals in mind only adding to our team morale and spirit which ultimately is helping us succeed at meets.

2. What is your biggest concern heading so far this season?

My biggest concern is injuries. We have a couple of strong swim-mers who are facing shoulder problems, and my goal is to get them as healthy as possible before district.

3. Who is Vandegrift 's biggest Swim rival? Lake Travis is our biggest rival especially at District. Our goal is to go in fi ghting and swim our best to try to beat them for dis-trict champs, but no matter the outcome I will be proud of them, because they are working so hard.

4. Is there a hidden treasure on your team who might be unknown right now, but could have a major impact on your season? Connor Cox in is 100 breast has become our hidden treasure. He has be trying for years now to improve his time, and this year it has all come together with great results. I defi nitely think that he can go far this season and help his team. Also, Kelse Redwine our new diver. Th is is huge as a team to have a diver, because they help the team work together to win meets and get us those extra points. He is working very hard with UT aquatics to support our team and everyone is excited to have her.

5. Do you have an interesting story to share about the team?

Every year we swim what is called the VIPER 10,000 as a fundraiser and tradition. Th is is when each swimmer swims a to-tal of 10,000 yards in one morn-ing practice by swimming 100 x 100 yards. It is very diffi cult and challenging. It is a huge accom-plishment for each person to be able to do this and the team comes together to support one another. 6. What motivates you as a coach and why did you choose the sport you did?

Th e team motivates me as a coach. Watching these young adults work so hard to accomplish their goals and succeeding brings me joy. I am so proud of how far our little swim team has come from 3 years ago into a team of 37 swimmers and one diver. We aren’t just a swim team anymore, but a swimming and diving team! I started swimming, because my dad inspired me and now the kids inspire me to be the best coach I can be for them.

Returning Leaders: Chris Flynn, Brandon Maas, Isabella Voelkl, Kayleigh Rago

Top Newcomers: Hanna Brown, Lindsey Th ompson, Jonathon Broughton

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Top left: Hanna Brown, Freshman Top right: Viper Swim girls Bottom Left: Connor Cox, Junior Bottom right: Kayleigh Rago, Sophomore

Photos by Jody Maas

2011-2012Vandegrift Swimming and Diving Team Meet Line-Up

September 17 Black vs. Silver Bella Mar

September 24 Leander High School Apache Blockhouse

October 1 Lake Travis Lakeway

October 13 Round Rock Invitational Round Rock

October 28 AISD Invitational* UT-Austin

November 12 Aggieland Invitational* Texas A&M-College Station

December 2-3 TISCA 4A Invitational* San Antonio

December 10 Killeen Invitational Killeen

January 6 Tex Robertson Burnet

January 27-28 Districts 25 4A* (Burnet)

February 10 -11 Region 7 4A* Josh Davis - San Antonio, TX

February 24-25 State 4A* UT-Austin

All dates are tentative and are subject to change. *Represents diving included in meetHead Coach: Holly Raff aeli • Assistant Coach: Eric Cunningham

VIPER SWIMMING SPOTLIGHT THURSDAYNovember 17, 2011 •


&QA

with Viper Swim

Coach Holly Raffaeli

2011-2012Vandegrift Swimming and Diving Team Roster

Photo Texas Photography

Adams, Cole

Adams, Elle

Asher, Brooke

Bendele, Marina

Bergeron, Christine

Bezella, Rachel

Broughton, Jonathon

Brown, Hanna

Burton, Amanda

Claver, Eric

Connell, Ellie

Cox, Connor

Dehne, Matthew

Driskill, Haley

Fitzpatrick, Everett

Flynn, Christopher

Gerken, Stephen

Gerstenhaber, Devon

Holleran, Mariah

Ibrahim, Madison

Koster, Alex

Leitao, Jordan

Maas, Brandon

Newton, Liam

Osborn, Kayla

Patterson, Elise

Rago, Kayleigh

Redwine, Kelse (D)

Reyes, Jordan

Ribeiro, Julia

Sanders, Sydney

Sarmen, Patrick

Schaal, Katie

Th ompson, Lindsey

Velasco, Eduardo

Voelkl Isabella

Volk, AJ

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512-483-1708

november 17, 2011 issue

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