Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000 Page: 1 of 22
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DEC. 7, 8000
VOL. 3B NO. 37
68 PAGES IN SIX SECTIONS
AND SUPPLEMENTS
Cedar Hill's oldest newspaper,
yet new each week
DIGEST
TODAY
Park closed for
one week
Virginia Weave)- Park, located at
631 Somerset, will be closed to the
public from Monday-Friday, Dec.
11-15 due to maintenance.
Call the Cedar Hill Parks and
Recreation Department at 972-291-
5130 with questions and concerns.
Choir to perform
‘Drummer Boy’
The Children’s Choir of Cedar
Heights Baptist Church will present
the musical, “The Little Drummer
Boy behind the music,” Sunday
Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
The musical was written by
Celeste Clydesdale. The church is
located at 201 E. Belt Line Road.
Library hosts
Christmas open
house
The Friends of the Zula B.
Wylie Library will host a Christmas
open house, Saturday, Dec. 16.
The open house will be held
from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the library,
225 Cedar St. There will be pictures
with Santa Claus, craft items for
sale and holiday refreshments.
Santa will be available from
noon-1:30 p.m. for pictures. This
year, he will sit for a photo with
children or pets for just three food
items to be given to the Cedar Hill
Food Pantry.
Refreshments and craft items
will be available throughout the
day.
For more information call Nancy
Boylan at 972-291-6546 or the
library at 972-291-7323 (291-
READ)
Eagles’ Wings
Parents Night
Out
The Eagles’ Wings Parents
group will meet from 7-9 p.m., Dec.
19 in the High Pointe Elementary
Library to discuss “How to beat
Christmas stress.”
Refreshments will be served and
door prizes will be given out during
the meeting. Contact Darlene
Hardy, High Pointe counselor, for
more information at 972-291 -7874
or e-mail her at hardd@chisd.com.
Police test for
five new officer
positions
The city of Cedar Hill is current-
ly accepting applications for an
entrance exam to establish an eligi-
bility pool for new police officers.
The city will hold a physical fit-
ness test Saturday, Dec. 9 and a
written exam Saturday, Dec. 16.
Applications muSt be received by
Friday, Dec. 8 for processing.
To receive an application packet
call 972-291-5181, e-mail a request
to clark.stephenson@cedarhilltx.
com or fill out an application online
at the city of Cedar Hill website -
www.ci.cedar-hill.tx.us.
Minorities and women are
encouraged to apply.
INSIDE
C^DAR HILL
TODAY
Sports...................... 10
Opinion.................................4
Religion.................................6
Lifestyle........................People
SUPPLEMENTS
PftopleTodav (including SW
Address), Market Place Today
(including Autoworld)
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Today photo by CHRIS HUDSON
One of the programs which could benefit from public support is the Hispanic Storytime, per-
formed above by Ana Olvares (left) and Connie Medina. This program began about a month ago
and is designed to get Spanish-speaking children involved with the library.
Library asks for public support
By KIRK DICKEY
News Editor
A grass-roots campaign is trying
to raise awareness and funding for
Texas’ public libraries.
A new bill in the Texas Legisla-
ture could provide some of that fund-
ing if passed. The bill would provide
$20 million for libraries across the
state and could mean $35,000 for
Cedar Hill’s Zula B. Wylie Library.
“That would be very nice,” Pat
Bonds, the library’s director said.
She said that many other states
provide direct aid to libraries to help
with programming needs and hopes
this bill will do the same for Texas,
which is ranked 46th in the United
States in per capita support for public
libraries.
A press release sent out by library
advocates stated that “many Texas
areas - especially those in rurally iso-
lated and impoverished areas - are
too weak to support the level of
library service that can contribute
meaningfully to local economic
development.”
That is why the Texas Library As-
sociation is asking for the direct aid
package.
They believe the package “will
help libraries improve collections,
stay open longer and provide access
to information resources for a greater
number of people. For many commu-
nities through out the state, the pro-
posed direct aid program will mean a
significant increase in resources and
programs.”
Bonds said that the way she
understands the bill, the aid would
benefit programming and some pur-
chases.
“You can’t use it to build a new
building,” Bonds said, but if you
were in the process of building a new
building,’you could use it for pur-
chasing things in that new building.
“It can be used for staff. It can be
used for materials if you need new
books or anything that you think
would benefit your library and com-
munity.”
She said the aid is based largely
upon the financial support the library
gets from its city.
“We’ve had a lot of support from
the city and the Community Devel-
opment corporation, but it is always
nice to have a little bit extra so you
can do a little bit more,” Bonds said.
Library advocates ask that people
contact their state representative and
senator before Jan. 1,2001 to support
this proposal.
A sample letter tailored for Cedar
Hill and information on Cedar Hill’s
state representative and senator was
included with the letter sent to Cedar
Hill Today. It is reproduced below.
Y our Address
City, State Zip
E-mail Address (optional)
Date
The Honorable Representative
Yvonne Davis or Senator Royce
West Texas House of Represent-
atives or Texas Senate Box 2910 [for
House] or Box 12068 [for Senate]
Austin, Texas 78768-2910 [for
House] or 78711-2068 [for Senate]
MR
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1975-2000
(tlrhrmilng 25 jvan
2000
-lill Today
500
ChurcL
tim
of check forgery
Bank alerted by sloppy wire transfer
By KIRK DICKEY
News Editor
A local church recently learned a
valuable lesson. Sometimes good
people get hit without warning.
Pastor Joel Berthelson from Hope
Lutheran Church in Cedar Hill said
his church was almost bilked out of
$20,000 by a group in Pakistan after
they got hold of a church check.
Berthelson said the group defrauded
banks into cashing it and almost did
the same with a money order for
about $10,500.
That money order was the first
inkling the church had that there
might be .a problem. The church’s
bank received a letter in the mail
postmarked from Uganda requesting
$10,500. The beneficiary bank was
the National Bank of Kuwait in
Lebanon.
The group trying to get the money
had forged the church’s letterhead.
but made a few typos. They had also
forged the name of the church’s trea-
surer. Berthelson said the signature
was close, but under examination, he
could see the signature was a fake.
When the bank received the trans-
fer request, red flags went up. They
called Berthelson and asked him if he
knew anything about it. Berthelson,
in turn, called the church’s treasurer
and both went down to the bank.
When neither said they knew
about the order, bank employees sus-
pected the would-be forgers had got-
ten hold of a check to get informa-
tion, so they, got out the church's
statement from the previous month to
look for discrepancies.
The treasurer saw a check for
$9,870 which didn't match up with
his records.
“He said, 1 never wrote that,”’
Berthelson said.
The check was made out to the
See FORGERY Page 2
All wrapped up
Dear Representative Davis or
Senator West:
I am writing to urge you to sup-
port a proposed library program
included in the Texas State and
Archive Commission Legislative
Appropriations Request. AL6art Star
1 ibraries” is a direct aid program for
public libraries. Through this initia-
tive, all public libraries will receive
financial support enabling them to
provide a higher standard of service
to Texans.
Texas allocates only 25 cents per
capita for libraries. Nearly 95 percent
of library funding comes from local
sources. Given the small investment
of state funds for library services,
Texas libraries receive only $12.75
per capita for libraries - a figure far
below the national average of
$23.17. Texas public libraries are in
a crisis, and I am asking for your
help.
“Lone Star Libraries” will make
available $20 million dollars each
year of the biennium. Twenty-five
percent of this money will be allocat-
ed equally among all libraries. The
remaining 75 percent will be allocat-
ed based on local support of library
services.
Direct aid will have an immediate
impact on the quality and quantity of
services and resources available to
citizens throughout the state. In my
community, Cedar Hill, direct aid
will result in increased programming
to the underserved, including the
senior citizen and Mexican American
populations. In addition, we will
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Today photo by KIRK DICKEY
Susan Ellis spent her Monday night at Barnes & Noble wrap-
ping presents to raise money for the Midlothian High School
Student Council. That group is one of many that will be wrap-
ping presents at the store throughout the holiday shopping
See LIBRARY Page 2 season.
Plaza at Cedar Hill holds ribbon cutting, businesses open
By KIRK DICKEY
News Editor
The Plaza at Cedar Hill was offi-
cially christened Dec. 5 with about
50 in attendance.
“It’s definitely a milestone,” City
Council Member Fred Randolph said
on the eve of the event.
“We are finally seeing the results
of the direction we have been going
in for a long time,” Randolph said.
Randolph was a member of the
Economic Development Corpor-
ation when talks began about the
320,000 square foot Plaza, located at
the southeast comer of Hwy 67 and
FM 1382
“The residents of Cedar Hill can
now enjoy the convenience and
accessibility of the major national
retail chains and restaurants at The
Plaza at Cedar Hill,” developer Frank
Mihalopoulos of the Christon
Company said in a press release
marking the grand opening of the
shopping center.
“The plaza community center pro-
vides a shopping alternative to south
Dallas County communities without
the hassle of driving to North Dallas,
Arlington, Garland or Mesquite.”
Tenants for the center include
Barnes & Noble, Linens ‘n Things,
Old Navy, Hobby Lobby, Marshall’s,
Ross, Chili’s, Romano’s Macaroni
Grill, Bath & Body Works, Rack
Room Shoes, Lane Bryant and
OfficeMax. The community center
can accommodate up to five restau-
rants, and negotiations are currently
underway with several restaurant
chains.
Other tenants of The Plaza at
Cedar Hill include AT&T Wireless,
Claire’s, Dress Bam, Payless Shoes
and Wendy’s. Coming soon will be
Hallmark, Marble Slab, Maria’s
Nails and Cadillac Cleaners.
“We have seen an increase in
Today photo by CHRIS HUDSON
A group of about 50 people gathered at the Plaza at Cedar Hill to witness its grand opening.
apartment and residential growth in
the area due to the new retail com-
munity center,” Clancy Nolan, direc-
tor of Cedar Hill’s Economic
Development Council said. “The
Plaza provides local retail access, as
well as increased employment oppor-
tunities.”
Randy Stebbins of Barnes &
Noble noted, “The opening of our
store at The Plaza at Cedar Hill offers
residents in south Dallas County and
southeast Tarrant County a conve-
nient resource for shopping. We are
extremely excited to be a part of the
shopping community at The Plaza at
Cedar Hill."
Cedar Hill Chamber of Com-
merce President Matt McCormick
said he has heard good things from
many of the tenants in the center.
“I’ve heard many of them say
they are doing well,” McCormick
See PLAZA Page 2
Remember local charities during the holidays
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Balentine, Kevin. Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000, newspaper, December 7, 2000; Duncanville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623511/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.