WISD debaters advance
D.S. plans to calm traffic
Mules end run for Tiger volleyball
page 4
page 3
page 2
News-Dispatch Volume XXXX No. 8
Serving Western Hays County, Texas since 1982
75¢
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Pct. 4 Constable challenging Cutler for Sheriff seat in primary BY ANITA MILLER
operations and support, internal affairs, helicopHays County Sheriff ter command pilot and Gary Cutler has drawn a personnel and developprimary opponent. ment. He holds a Master Dave GraPeace Officer ham, who has certification been a partfrom the Texas time Pct. 4 Commission on Deputy ConstaLaw Enforceble since 2017, ment (TCOLE). has thrown his Cutler was hat into the ring first elected for the March in 2010 and is 2020 Republican seeking his third primary. term. GRAHAM According In August, to his web Cutler told page (daveforhays. the News-Dispatch com), Graham has 35 he would continue to years experience in law address challenges enforcement including presented by the coun20 years for the Dallas ty’s “unprecedented Police Department, 11 growth,” and noted his of them as a lieutenant. influence in the passage He touts his experience of the 2016 public safety as including tactical bond.
New Wimberley school named for Blue Hole BY ANITA MILLER The Wimberley Independent School District will now have two primary schools named for natural treasures. Blue Hole Primary School was selected as the name for the new campus at Ranch Road 12 and Winters Mill Parkway on Monday. The district already has a primary school named for Jacob’s Well. The vote, which was unanimous, came after an inclusive, twomonths-long effort to gather potential names from students, parents and members of the larger community. Ground was officially broken for the school, which will be the first One Water Campus in the state, in July. Plans are the 90,600-square-
foot campus will open in the summer of next year, ahead of the 2020 fall semester. The $13.3 million bond project voters approved in May 2018 will have a capacity of 800 students in pre-K through second grade and will feature 40 classrooms, a gymnasium, library, cafeteria and also several smaller reading and math intervention classrooms. The most unique feature of the campus, though, is its water usage. As a One Water Campus, it was constructed to utilize rainwater and HVAC condensate as well as treated wastewater, promoting a focus on conservation of natural resources, “green” stormwater infrastruc-
NEW SCHOOL, 2
Heartbreaking ending
PHOTO BY WAYLAND D. CLARK, WFOTOS.COM
Dripping Springs High School senior Andres Flores-Perry reacts to the Tigers’ season-ending 28-27 loss to Manor in their bi-district playoff game. He was one of 36 seniors devastated by the defeat, which also affected fans, coaches and others.
Music, movement helping pre-K students to learn SUBMITTED REPORT
Movement and music make for a fun day for 118 pre-K students at Scudder Primary School at Wimberley ISD, and it is a proven way to teach this 3- to 4-year-old age group. While these fast-moving and always-thinking students run, jump and slide all around the gym floor, it’s not only in P.E. that they are constantly moving. “This is not just sit and get. Everything we are teaching students involves music and movement to keep them engaged, having fun and of course learning, sometimes without realizing how much they have
COURTESY PHOTO
MUSIC, MOVEMENT, 5 Landen Wright, Scudder Primary School principal Dara Richardson and Jude Hernandez.
LAGNIAPPE WAG Rescue Adoption Day
Come to Firehouse Animal Health Center-Belterra, Nov. 23, between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and meet some of our fantastic dogs and puppies. All available adult dogs have been fully vetted, are heartworm negative, are micro chipped and have been spayed or neutered. Puppies have been vetted, parvo-tested, de-wormed and have had their shots current for their age and are micro chipped. WAG Rescue provides a spay/neuter voucher through Emancipet. The event is at 116 Hargraves Drive, Ste. C100, Austin. If you can’t come to an Adoption Day, WAG is always willing to arrange a meet and greet with you.
They can be contacted at info@wimberleywagrescue.org.
and other activities.
This year’s Giving Tuesday will take place on Dec. 3. In a call for the community to make generosity a core component of Central Texas lifestyle, ‘I Live Here I Give Here,’ an Austin-based nonprofit, has set a regional goal of 5 million actions-for-good during its campaign from Nov. 1 through Dec. 3. Actions-for-good range from donations to local nonprofit organizations, volunteering and pledging volunteer hours, sharing personal stories of giving on social media to inspire others, helping a stranger,
Hays County offices will be closed Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 27-29 for Thanksgiving. The San Marcos Municipal Court, located at the Hays County Government Center, will also be closed Nov. 27-29. Offices will reopen at their regular times on Monday, Dec. 2. On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, all Hays County parks will be closed. Commissioners Court will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 26, but will not be held on Dec. 3.
County offices Giving Tuesday, closed for Dec. 3 Thanksgiving
El Rancho Cima buy gets the county’s OK SUBMITTED With a majority vote by the Hays County Commissioners Court, the Nature Conservancy, in partnership with Hays County, is now free to move forward with a planned acquisition of more than 530 acres of the historic El Rancho Cima. The acquisition is slated to officially close on Nov. 22 and represents a $13 million effort to safeguard an iconic piece of the Texas Hill Country. The area supports a number of wildlife, aquatic and rare plant species that are threatened by accelerating development. The acreage has been specifically identified as habitat for
the federally endangered golden-cheeked warbler. On top of the property’s ecological importance, it’s also one that the public has long wanted to see protected. The property was previously owned by the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which operated it as part of its historic El Rancho Cima camp for more than 60 years. Scouts from across Texas came to this property, hiked in its hills and swam along the shores of the Blanco River that runs through it. The tract is situated 18 miles west of San Marcos along the Devil’s
El Rancho Cima, 2