The Colony Courier (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 10, 1999 Page: 4 of 12
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The Colony Courier
This Paper is Recyclable
Wednesday, March 10,1999
OPINION
SCHOOLS & YOUTH
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To my fallen brothers
My heart is saddened by your
deaths; you left us much too early.
Mere words cannot describe the loss
we feel. As firefighters, you dedicated
your lives to comfort and help oth-
ers. You quietly and professionally
went about your lives, where honor,
integrity, honesty, and loyalty were
not just spin words. You gave of your-
selves and asked for nothing in re-
turn, except to be able to continue
your giving ways.
I pray our elected officials, both
Republican and Democrat, Liberal
and Conservative, from City Hall to
The White House, will take notice
and attempt to follow your examples.
Although you've left us, we will
continue on in this very honorable pro-
fession. You will forever live in our
hearts and minds. As before, we will
always step up and answer the call.
Rest easy my fallen brothers.
Michael Barrett
Dallas Fireman
The Colony, TX
Watts serves city
Mary Watts serves the city of The
Colony as full-time mayor, and that
is one of the reasons I will vote for
her re-election. Mary's commitment
to our city resulted in her resigning
her full-time paying job to come to
the non-paid position of mayor. Mon-
day through Friday, Mayor Watts may
be reached by calling City Hall. If she
is not available at the moment you
call, you may leave a message on her
voice mail, and she will return your
call very soon. But, in my opinion,
the greatest benefit of Mayor Watts
serving the city full time is her avail-
ability to travel on behalf of the city.
In 1998, she made several trips on
behalf of the city that have produced
great results:
■ In January, she led a delegation
of city officials to New York City
seeking an improved bond rating.
Mission accomplished. The next time
The Colony has a bond issue (I think
we have one coming for street repair),
our cost will be less because of that
trip.
■ In March, Mayor Watts traveled
to Washington, D.C., for the National
League of Cities meeting. There she
was able to meet with key represen-
tatives of the Army Corps of Engi-
neers about a marina on Lewisvi lie
Lake. This could soon be a reality.
■ In June, Mayor Watts traveled to
the Lowe's Corporation headquarters
in North Carolina. She met with
Lowe's corporate leaders and pro-
vided them with updated demograph-
ics of The Colony and the latest traf-
fic, count on Highway 121. This is an
ongoing discussion.
■ In December, she traveled to Kan-
sas City, Missouri, to a National
League of Cities meeting where the
emphasis was on youth. Immediately
upon her return, she formed a Youth
Advisory Council, which has already
met twice. She is listening to the
youth of our city because she believes
they have something valuable to say.
■ Mayor Watts made several trips
to Austin. One of the results is that
Rep. Burt Solomons has introduced
legislation that would allow a city
such as The Colony to control the
number and location of liquor stores.
We need this legislation.
Mayor Watts: a full-time represen-
tative of our city, both locally and na-
tionally. I like it. She gets my vote again.
Bruce Scofield
The Colony, TX
Mayoral accomplishments
"Who does our mayor think she
is?' The article in The Courier on
February 17 was a slap on the face to
all city employees.
In her "news" conference, Mayor
Watts stated she had to go to another
phone to discuss liquor issues. Why?
Is she implying her office phone is
not secure? Were city employees lis-
tening to her conversations? Isn't
there a door to her office? If her cause
is so noble, what does she have to
hide?
I question our mayor's description
of our city in '97. Yes, we were with-
out a permanent city manager. As I
recall she had a part in running him
off. The council appointed a long-
time city employee to serve in the
interim so the city was hardly with-
out leadership. The previous city
manager had built a strong team of
directors; all of whom were capable
of keeping things together while the
council conducted a search.
I recall that Mr. Chavez left at the
end of June 1997, almost two months
after Watts took office. I watched
many council meetings where he at-
tempted to guide the council toward
sound development. Rarely did they
listen to him. I wonder why he left?
There was no city engineer or eco-
nomic development director because
they were not planned for in the bud-
get.
I find the "lock-down" comment
most amusing. I know one of the re-
ceptionists. The glass was added for
security. This is a government build-
ing. They have no where to go if there
is trouble. She told me their desk had
been rifled several times and often
equipment or personal items would
be missing. I think the glass partition
adds a professional touch. I don't
believe it is locked during office
hours and I have never had a sense of
being in a "locked down" area.
I think the panic button was put
in council chambers just after the
building opened. Seems with the vio-
lent happenings at government build-
ings, our mayor would welcome some
precautions at city hall. What's wrong
with security?
According to Watts, she single
handedly resolved every major prob-
lem facing our city. Eastvale lawsuit—
failed bond issue; liquor lawsuits—we
lost; roads in and out—Standridge has
been on the plan for a long time and
Morningstar is part of a development
approved by the entire council.
Will our city manager be an issue
in the May election? Should he be?
Is there something the citizens should
know? The city manager's poor lead-
ership skills and his fear of the mayor
are obvious. We have a mayor free
to violate our charter. When will the
citizens Call her on this? I remember
Mary Watts' campaign in 1997. She
said something about doing things the
right way.. .guess she forgot.
Maybe after May 1 we can get
back on track. Go to the polls and
vote.
Diane Wilson
The Colony, TX
March Madness
The Colony has its own style of
March Madness, and I don't mean
local politics. I mean The Colony
Youth Basketball, organized through
The Colony's Parks and Recreation.
This past weekend, March 6-7,
TCYB sent several teams (boys and
girls) to T. A.A.F. Region IV Tourna-
ment play. In our case, boys 8 and
under TC Grizzlies, we watched in
amazement and with a lot of pride.
TCYB has a draft system, where
more times than not there are 10 boys
who don't know each other, come
together with a coach that is the dad
of one of the boys.
Ernest Martinez, Rich Leichinger
and Robert Boyd helped these boys
come together as a team. They com-
pleted their regular season undefeated
and then played three games of the
tournament before they were de-
feated.
Our basketball season ended on
Sunday, March 7. However, on
March 19 and 20, Jeff Perkins with
the 8 and under Sonics, who won their
division at a regional competition,
will go on to represent The Colony
at the State Tournament.
All of the team's coaches volun-
teer their time and energy; the kids
want to play and have fun. Parents
want their kids to have fun, learn the
skills and sportsmanship. If they win
it's a bonus in most cases.
Thanks to the coaches, the play-
ers, the parents and to David Swain
at Parks and Recreation for an unfor-
gettable season. We played tough
teams in TC too. They are all win-
ners!
On behalf of The Grizzlies, we all
wish The Sonics the best and wish
you well at State on March 19-20. Go
Sonics!!
Charlene Koesters
The Colony, TX
Podunk, Texas
A few years ago, our then Mayor
Bill Manning made a reference to The
Colony as being a podunk town to
which I took great offense. I consid-
ered The Colony a terrific little pro-
gressive city with a great future, as I
still do today. However, in reference
to your lead story in today's issue re-
garding the present city council's de-
cision to reject reimbursement to cur-
rent Mayor Watts for three-ring bind-
ers and office equipment for the
Youth Advisory Council, I guess Mr.
Manning was correct after all. At least
the majority of our city council mem-
bers apparently have a podunk men-
tality.
How ludicrous that this same
council would approve a million+
dollars to buy a city hall (we already
have one) and a library (we also al-
ready have one of these, too) and an-
other half mil or so for improving this
newly purchased property but they
won't approve $87.13 for supplies for
our children's advisory committee.
Of course, Mr. Manning tried to save
us all from podunkism back then by
giving away an additional $250,000
of our money to a developer by ap-
proving an aesthetically appeasing
water tank rather than an ordinary
water tank.. .but that was O.K. with
our then-council as they approved
THAT expenditure.
Regarding Mayor Watts (who in-
cidentally won't even talk to me, so
I'm not considered one of her cro-
nies) yes, I know the reason for the
rejection supposedly was that no prior
approval for this expenditure was
approved...but, if anyone wants to
talk about a mayor spending our
money without approval—has any-
one ever located a copy of any min-
utes of any meeting in which our
present contract with the cable com-
pany was approved? I would like to
see a copy of that one myself—I've
surely requested a copy more than
just a time or two and I would appre-
ciate someone sending me a copy if
it exists (and it may)...but so far no
one has ever been able to produce a
copy. Interesting, huh? Maybe we just
have a podunk filing system, too.
Bert Eubank
The Colony, TX
This is not a silly season
Lord, grant me the ability to ex-
press my soul without rancor or hurt
to any other soul.
Soon the season of our local poli-
tics begins once again.
It is my hope and desire to see it
come without the rancor, anger, and
divisiveness we seem to have as gen-
eral accompaniment to all elections.
I, first, want to commend all who
have risen to file for offices within
the city and to all the newly appointed
board members we received in De-
cember '98. These people are all vol-
unteers without pay. If all were fed-
eral, state, and county employees,
taxes would be paying them—each
and every one. So let us remember
that they are our neighbors who are
willing to sacrifice their time and ef-
forts for the benefit of the rest of us.
We haven't had miracles in the
past and we may not get any in the
future, but progress is a condition of
planning, coordinating, supplying,
scheduling, and applying funds,
equipment, personnel and time to pri-
oritized projects and possibilities.
Authorities for all must be clear.
Roles and tasks must be clear. That
no person is above the law, ordinance,
rule or regulation must be clear.
What is about to be said is what I
Jim
Barnes
From The
Back Porch
have seen in my journeys about the
city, its people, its officials, and its
working staff. They are my opinions
and my observations.
As a citizen of The Colony I want
many things. 1 hate to fly in the face
of those who may oppose, but it must
be expected that my personal desires
and visions are not those of all.
I want a prosperous city beyond
what we presently possess. It is es-
sential that we allow the accumula-
tion of funds from 4A/4B to begin to
work for us. I am not advocating an
unnecessarily huge 'contingency
fund.' I am really quite confident in
the knowledge and skill of our incum-
bent finance director. I have become
impressed with the work done by Mr.
Ramsey. He knows—so let him and
his boards do it without
micromanaging from various mem-
bers of the council.. The council is
there to oversee, not to direct. Liason
means just what it says: Listen, state
the facts and trends necessary to ap-
propriately inform both sides and
then get out of the way. It is the
board's job, not one or two members
of the council. Surely, A1 Garcia, who
is on the board and is a councilman
is liason in actuality—and enough.
We have some excellent, long-
term, dedicated department directors
in this city. We also have a city man-
ager. In my opinion, the city manager
and his directors, under the oversight
of the council, operate this city. It,
again my opinion, is that no one
should know better what the require-
ments of a city are than the experi-
enced and capable city manager. Al-
though his job is held at the pleasure
of the council, he and his staff must
be free of fear of that job, or jobs,
because of council politics.
These politics are derived specifi-
cally from personalities of our own
citizens who step beyond their writ-
ten authorities and assume false sta-
tus. These aggressive, individually
focused personalities have agendas
by which all in the realm are called
to obedience in the assumed name of
'for the people.'
Over time, as has been apparent
to a number of our citizens, an elit-
(See BARNES, Page 8A)
Veal named Coordinator of the Year
Gregory M. Veal, Executive Di-
rector of Technology for the
Lewisville Independent School Dis-
trict, has been selected the 1998-99
Texas Computer Education
Association's Coordinator of the
Year. The award was presented on
February 17,1999, at the Texas Com-
puter Education Association (TCEA)
Annual Conference held in Austin.
Greg was selected because of his
exemplary vision and management of
technology at the school district level.
Greg has been in education for the
past 27 years serving as a classroom
teacher, assistant principal, math/sci-
ence coordinator, technology coordi-
nator and presently as executive di-
rector of technology.
Greg's professional objective is to
make decisions and designs that fo-
cus on the effective integration of
technology into the curriculum. He
has taken the Lewisville ISD from a
district of nine stand-alone computer
labs to a technology configuration
where every child can access the
world from their classroom. He is
currently directing the implementa-
tion of telecommunication setups that
will allow campuses to work together
collaboratively.
He has a sign over his desk that
reads, "from the edge of chaos to the
edge of possibility." It is all of those
possibilities that we must strive to-
ward. It is all of those possibilities
that will keep us active, excited and
engaged learners. It is all of those pos-
sibilities that will keep us fully alive.
Gregory M. Veal
It is all of those possibilities that will
ultimately give the opportunity of real
life to our students.
Submitted photos
Peters Colony announces February "Pawsitive" Panthers! Outstanding students for the month
of February are: Photo at left: Kindergarten—Lizzie Mistishen, Nick Hebert, Reanne Roecker,
and Monica Avila. First grade—Taylor Dougherty, Andrew Nohe, Tori Terry, Wally Jasso, Emely
Bernal, Kristian Anders, and Crystal Wright. Second grade—Nowell Herzig, Paul Yarwood,
Tony Terry, Uriel Rodriguez, and Joshua Hill. Photo at right: Third grade—Jenny Taylor, Zachary
Koesters, Eric Martinez, Laura DiBari, and Ian Barton. Fourth grade—Ashlee Hunsicker, Kaylie
Carrico, Nick Mitchell, and Chris Boyd. Fifth grade—Matthew Hardin, Miguel Gonzalez, Amanda
Ruiz, Pedro Calles, and Jennifer Garza.
Peters Colony all'A' honor roll
Fourth six weeks
First grade: Dominique Allen,
Andrew Beckman, Cayla Brockway,
Victoria Caffey, Shayna Duffy, Jes-
sica Galant, Susana Galvan, Clint
Hall, Julia Hancock, Sarah Heintze,
Jesus Hernandez, India Jackson,
Ethan Jenkins, Ashley Johnson,
Ronald Krencik, David Leal, Aleesa
McGuire, Rachel Miller, Andrew
Nohe, Judy Panachakunnel, Juan
Ramirez, Jessica Rowe, Brian Shaw,
Ashley Sorge, Joshua Spader, Amber
Thornhill.
Second grade: William Blanco,
Danny Brock, Linda Calles, Lauren
Carrico, Rebecca Garza, Katherine
Gill, Whitney Haddock, Jake Hebert,
Alyssa Lauro, April Lenaghen,
Courtney Ludwig, Clayton Maxey,
Kristin Mayhew, Elizabeth Miller,
Liu via Montanez, Rachel Mosely,
Kenneth Nienhuser, Juby
Panachakunnel, Sereena Quila, Jef-
frey Redfearn, Adrienne Samaniego,
Lyle Stovall, Zack Tauber, Chelsea
Thornhill, Brittany Upchurch, Lauren
Witzke, Crystal Wright, Elizabeth
Yanez.
Third grade: Travis Briggs,
Marisa Broyles, Eric Cooklin, Jared
Cottingim, Caitlin DiBari, Laura
DiBari, Nishi Donaldson, Samantha
Figueroa, Daniel Gatta, Kelsey
Grimm, Chris Guest, Chase Harthun,
Zachary Koesters, Hunter Lovelace,
Perla Martinez, Afarin Moosavi,
Kyle Newgent, Norman Pietila,
Desiree Preston, Amanda Rachel,
Benji Romo, Samantha Thomas,
Katie Walton, Sara Williams.
Fourth grade: Pat Ascherl,
Nancy Bernal, David Bravo, Matt
Brown, Ashlea Bruce, Joel Brueland,
Kaylie Carrico, Kinzi Dunlap, Aus-
tin Hixson, Anthony Krencik,
Danielle Kuhn, Lauren Kuhn, Jim
Bob Lehman, Richard Lewis, Alyssa •
Mexey, Trent Nextman, Rosa
Ramirez, Cristal Ramos, Juan
Salazar, Chrissy Simpson, Nathan
Sitzman, Sarah Stovall, Ethan Stroud,
Eric Swanson, Robert Walls.
Fifth grade: Kayla Couch, Bran-
don Dierks, Brandon Ellett, Eunice
Escobar, Mike Foley, Ruth Garcia,
Jennifer Garza, Kristina Hensley,
Bonnie Herzig, Robert Jones, Kristi
Lane, Thomas Miller, Halcon
Montanez, Daniel Nelson, Julie
Panachakunnel, Kelvin Ruiz, David
Sanders, Jessica Spader.
LISD sends teams to state finals
After the February 27 Trinity Val-
ley North Central Odyssey of the
Mind Regional Tournament held at
Lake Dallas High School, Lewisville
Independent School District had 10
teams advancing to the state finals to
be held in El Paso, April 16-18. State-
bound teams are: Hebron Valley El-
ementary, (Coach: Jane Yettis); The
Colony High School (Coach: Janet
Adams); McAuliffe Elementary
(Coach: Jane Ladik); Polser Elemen-
tary (Coach: Susan Bourenane);
McKamy Middle School (Coach:
Kathy Nemunaitis); Arbor Creek
Middle School (Coach: Tristan
Battaile); Huffines Middle School
(Coach: Mark Sachs); Lewisville
High School (Coach: Karen Cooke);
Arbor Creek Middle School (Coach:
Joanne Bara); and Arbor Creek
Middle School (Coach: Susan
Kokjohn).
At the competition, a gold medal
was won in the "EnvirOMental Chal-
lenge" event by The Colony High
School, coached by Janet Adams,
Division III.
The Colony High School, Divi-
sion III, coached by Darwin Belt, also
won a bronze medal in "Over the
Mountain".
Martha Beckel of The Colony
High School received a college schol-
arship of $500 awarded by the Trin-
ity Valley North Central Odyssey of
the Mind regional board.
The Lewisville School District
offers the Odyssey of the Mind ex-
tracurricular program on all cam-
puses for students in kindergarten
through high school. Teams of seven
students work for 5 months on annual
projects that develop members' cre-
ativity, divergent thinking and prob-
lem-solving skills.
Griffin teacher honored
Griffin Middle School history
teacher, Patrick Davis, has been
named the "Outstanding American
History Teacher for the State of
Texas" by the Texas Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution.
Davis will receive an all-expense paid
trip to Valley Forge this summer.
The Colony Courier
gladly accepts letters from
all readers expressing any
viewpoint. Letters must be
limited to 500 words and
be free of libelous or
slanderous statements.
Deadline for submission is
5 p.m. Friday for inclusion
in the following
Wednesday's paper. Only
one letter per person in
any 30-day period. Mul-
tiple letters will be held
and will run thirty days
from last entry. Please
include your name, ad-
dress and telephone
number. Only names will
be printed.
JThe
Colony Courier
5201 South Colony Blvd., Suite 480 • the Colony, TX 75056
972/625-9698 972/370-1195 Fax
www.thecolonycourier.com
e-mail rEditorial: news @ thecolonycourier. com
Advertising:advertising@thecolonycourier.com
Vol. 2, No. 18
Publisher Shawn Moore
Advertising Manager Brandy Moore
Editor Susan Chiniewicz
Circulation Shelli Garver
Editorial Staff:
Jim Barnes, Staff writer, Dave Sorter, staff writer, Teresa Sidwell, columnist. Carol West, copy editor.
Advertising Staff:
Jeanne Smith, sales associate.
Photography Staff:
Greg Ream
Office Staff:
Jenny Zimmerman
The Colony Courier is published every Wednesday by Moore Publications, Inc.. 5201 South Colony Blvd., Suite 480, The
Colony. TX 75056. Subscription* are available for $ 12/yt in The Colony, North Carroll ton portion of LISD, and $30/yr.
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Chiniewicz, Susan. The Colony Courier (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 10, 1999, newspaper, March 10, 1999; The Colony, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth393007/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Colony Public Library.