Bastrop, Tx–The public is invited to a session Saturday set by opponents of a plan to pipe large volumes of groundwater from Bastrop, Lee and neighboring counties to supply anticipated developments in the San Marcos and San Antonio areas.
The Jan 15 meeting at the Bastrop Public Library will feature speakers from Bastrop-based Environmental Stewardship, The Sierra Club and others beginning at 2 p,m. The library is at 1100 Church St.
Elgin, Tx–The annual Bastrop County march to commemorate the life and birth of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr will not take place in Bastrop as scheduled this year.
Instead the county’s 22nd annual march is set for Jan. 17 in Elgin, beginning at 10 a.m. from Veterans Memorial Park downtown. The event will conclude with speeches and music at Booker T. Washington Elementary School.
Normally the event rotates each year among Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville, but is headed back to Elgin this year because a suitable gathering place for indoor ceremonies could not be arranged in Bastrop, said organizer Dock Jackson. The school district’s performing arts center auditorium could not be used without paying a $1,400 fee, which the organizing group does not have, said Jackson.
The gathering has grown too large to be held in other potential Bastrop sites including the Opera House or Kerr Community Center, according to Jackson.
The 2012 march will take place in Smithville, ending at the city’s recreation center. Jackson said he expects the event to be back in Bastrop by 2013 with ceremonies taking place at the city’s new convention center, expected to be completed this spring.
The event which will remain in Bastrop this year is the annual fund-raiser for the local MLK Scholarship Committee. That event will take place at 7 p.m. at Paul Quinn AME Church, 1108 Walnut St.
Bastrop, Tx–The city should have a new police chief by Jan. 11 when the city council is scheduled to meet again, according to City Manager Mike Talbot, who has cut the list of applicants still in the running to three.
Last week Talbot said he hopes to interview the final trio a final time this week before announcing who will succeed David Board who resigned as police chief in August after being charged with drunk driving in Austin.
The finalist short list includes Kyle police chief Gregory Blake along with Kenneth Evans, a lieutenant in the Round R0ck police department, and Jeff Wendling, currently a captain in the Kerville police department.
Talbot and an invited panel of advisers initially interviewed seven candidates selected from more than 100 applicants last month.
Bastrop, Tx–Jack Griesenbeck, a dynamic leader in Bastrop and Bastrop County public affairs during three decades, died Dec. 21 following a brief illness. He was 93.
Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
A Bastrop native, Griesenbeck and his wife Ruby opened an appliance sales and repair shop on Main Street following his service during World War II. He rose to political prominence following his election to the city council in 1963. That was followed (1964-66) by a term in the mayor’s chair before he won election as county judge, a post he held from 1967 to 1982 and again in 1984-86.
The Griesenbeck years were marked by conservative fiscal policies and innovative programs aimed to promote growth and development, often aided by federal programs and initiatives. As mayor and county judge Griesenbeck was active in creation of the Bastrop Housing Authority, Bastrop Hospital Authority, Smithville Airport, Aqua Water Supply Corp. and Combined Community Action, a local agency that administers a variety of federal programs in the area.
He was also active in the formation of the Capital Area Council of Governments, serving as its first executive board chairman, as well as a related spin-off organization, the Capital Area Housing Finance Corp. As county judge Griesenbeck also expended significant political capital, in the face of some popular opposition, to bring a federal prison to Bastrop on a site formerly part of the World War II Army training camp at Camp Swift.
Veteran political observers say his achievements include building a formidable coalition of supporters and allies extending from Washington, DC to Austin, to local bankers, other business owners and power brokers while including a web of support which extended to every part of Bastrop County and across racial and ethnic lines.
In his later years the retired judge was especially proud of his role in launching Aqua Water which extended retail water service to rural areas of Bastrop County and paved the way for significant population and business growth in the decades since. “Aqua opened up the county to development,” said former Bastrop mayor David Lock, who noted that water supply was a significant growth restraint especially in western and southern parts of Bastrop County for many years.
Griesenbeck is survived by his wife, Ruby; two children, William Griesenbeck and Jo Ann Cantrell; and a number of grandchildren.
Bastrop, Tx–When the Bastrop City Council met Nov. 9 it heard a presentation from developers of the proposed Central Texas Airport, planned for some 1,500 acres west of the city between the Colorado River and the intersection of FM 969 and FM 1704 south of Elgin. City officials have heard nothing from the developers since, however.
Developers, led by Austin-based Carpenter and Associates, asked for Bastrop’s consent to annex the tract to an existing water control district and for support to change state law to give the water district additional powers when Texas lawmakers meet in Austin next year. Proponents said the airport will create thousands of jobs and boost tax revenues of the Bastrop and Elgin school districts.
After hearing from the Carpenter group and a number of opponents who live in the proposed airport area, the council decided it would consider the project only on certain conditions, including a requirement that proponents pay the city’s cost to engage expert consultants to evaluate the proposals.
In an interview today Bastrop City Manager Michael Talbot said the city has heard nothing from the Carpenter airport group since the November meeting. He declined to speculate on what that silence might mean.
Under current state law, the city’s consent is required for the creation of new taxing districts in Bastrop’s extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ), which includes the proposed airport site. The Legislature, of course, could decide to revise or revoke the city’s ETJ powers in some future session.
Talbot said the city would “respond appropriately” to any such effort in the upcoming legislative session beginning in January.
Bastrop, Tx–Next week Bastrop City Manager Mike Talbot hopes to interview all seven finalists for the open Bastrop Police Department’s top spot with a small panel of invited advisers, he said today.
The city’s home rule charter makes the city manager, not the city council, responsible for naming the police chief, but Talbot said he reviewed the selection process Nov. 30 with the council during a closed door session. He vowed to keep the council informed about the progress of the process, he said in a telephone interview Dec. 2.
The initial short list forwarded to city officials by personnel consultant Ray and Associates included eight names, but one of them–a Houston area police chief–withdrew from consideration Dec. 2, apparently after being told the finalist list was being released to Bastrop-News.com The list of applicants was sought under the Texas Public Information Act.
The short list includes Bastrop Interim Police Chief Matt Wagner who took over the department after former chief David Board resigned earlier this year when he was charged with drunk driving in Austin. Wagner has spent his entire law enforcement career in Bastrop, joining the force as a patrol officer in 1994. He was assistant chief when Board stepped aside.
Others on the list include current police chiefs in Kennedale, Kyle, Trophy Clubs and Willis as well as veteran police leaders in Kerville and Round Rock.
Michael Blake has been chief of police in Kyle since 2008. Before that he served as chief in Tomball beginning in 2002 and Harlingen beginning in 2000. During a tenure with police in Garland beginning in 1973, he rose to the position of assistant chief.
Thomas W. Williams is another applicant. He has been chief of the Kennedale police force since 2006. Before that he spent more than 25 years with the Keller police department beginning in 1980. He was assistant chief in Keller when he was tapped for the Kennedale post.
Scott Kniffer was named police chief in Trophy Clubs in 2006 after service as police chief in Sunset Valley beginning in 1993. Before than he was an internal affairs investigator for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville.
James Nowak Jr. has been chief of police in Willis since 2005. In 2004 he retired as a lieutenant from the Lufkin police department after 20 years of service. Before taking up police work Nowak was part owner of an ambulance service.
Jeffrey Lee Wendling has been a captain with the Kerville Police Department since 2005. Before that he spent more than 30 years with the (former) U.S. Customs Service and after 1973 with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
Kenneth Edward Evans is a lieutenant with the Round Rock police department, an agency he joined in 1999 after serving in the El Paso police department beginning in 1993. Previously he was a military police officer for the U.S. Army.
At the end of the interview process next week, up to three candidates could be invited for a second round of interviews, said Talbot. At the same time, all of them could be rejected and a fresh round of applications sought, he said.
Bastrop, Tx–Following a 911 telephone call Nov. 24 Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department officers found the bodies of a 2-year-old boy and his 40-year-old stepfather at a residence on Pine Tree Loop near Bastrop.
The 5:05 p.m. emergency call reported a suicide and a “missing” 2-year-old, according to an announcement today from the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators found the bodies of Jason Ackley and his stepson, Hunter James Stephens, at the house, the announcement said. Both had suffered gunshot wounds. The Travis County Medical Examiner’s office ruled the child’s death a homicide and Ackley’s death a suicide.
Ackley, who lived in the Houston area, was reported to be visiting relatives near Bastrop over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Investigation into the deaths is continuing, said the sheriff’s department.
Elgin, Tx–A Bastrop County Deputy Sheriff who stopped Nov. 27 to investigate some bedding beside Old McDade Road about 9:20 a.m. found the body of a murdered white woman, later identified as Donna Marie Self, 40.
Following an autopsy the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office ruled that Self was a homicide victim, according to an announcement today by the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department.
The announcement did not suggest how Self died, where she lived or other details.
Deputy Molly Davis was on routine patrol duty when she stopped to investigate the “suspicious bedding” in the 900 block of Old McDade Road, the announcement said.
Bastrop, Tx–Apparently without prior notice, Bastrop’s privately owned Lakeside Hospital on Texas 71 shut its doors Friday and dismissed its local employees. Future plans were not immediately announced.
It was the city’s only hospital facility.
Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher said his office was notified before 8 a.m. that Guardian EMS, the county’s ambulance operator, would no longer take emergency cases to Lakeside, beginning immediately. Patients were redirected to Smithville Regional Hospital or other suitable facilities in the area.
Gayle Wilhelm, the top assistant to Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald, said her office had no additional information late Friday.
Matt Wagner, Bastrop’s acting police chief, said his office was asked to keep a close eye on Lakeside about 11 a.m. because employees were beimg terminated and sent home. Apparently workers had no advance notice of the hospital closing, said Wagner. The hospital employed some 80 workers.
By mid afternoon, the front door at Lakeside had a sheet of paper taped to it saying the hospital is closed and giving a telephone number to contact if anyone needs medical records from the facility.
In a Friday afternoon telephone interview Bastrop Mayor Terry Orr said he was notified of the impending closure Friday morning. He had no additional details about what may have led to the move by Austin-based owner Blackhawk Healthcare LLC which bought the facility in July 2009 for a reported $20 million.
The mayor did say, however, that in recent weeks he has been in contact with officials from the Austin-based St. David’s Hospital System. Orr said he has encouraged St. David’s officials to maintain a hospital facility in or near Bastrop. St. David’s and Lakeside officials have been in contact as recently as last week, said Orr.
Earlier this year St. David’s was in talks with Smithville Regional Hospital officials about assuming responsibility for their operations.
The 15-bed Lakeside Hospital opened in 2006
Bastrop, Tx–After four attempts in as many years, the Bastrop Main Street Program finally won a grant for $150,000 to finish an improvement project on Chestnut Street.
The grant of Federal money through the Texas Department of Agriculture only targets Texas Main Street Program cities.
The project will extend the recently completed sidewalk installation and related features east from the new city hall and convention center across Gills Branch and link up with Texas 95 on both sides of Chestnut Street. The main feature will be a foot bridge across Gills Branch to link the convention center, due for completion early next year, to the Chestnut Square entertainment center.
Chestnut Street sidewalk and related improvements between Water Street and the Union Pacific Railroad were financed by the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. Similar work between Water and Main Street was paid for with separate grant money from the Texas Department of Transportation.
Bastrop City Manager Mike Talbot credited Bastrop Main Street Program manager Nancy Wood with pushing the latest grant award to success. Work should begin next year.