Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 30, 2000 Page: 1 of 20
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NOV. 30, eooo
VOL. 36 NO. 36
52 PAGES IN FIVE SECTIONS
AND SUPPLEMENTS
Cedar Hill's oldest newspaper,
yet new each week
DIGEST
TODAY
‘Roadshow’ to be
held Dec. 5
The Cedar Hill Historical
Society will have the second
‘Antiques Road Show On The Hill”
Tuesday, Dec. 5 at the Heritage
House, 1320 High Pointe Lane,
from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Residents may bring special
antiques for an evaluation by sever-
al local antique dealers. It will be a
come and go function with refresh-
ments and a “Christmas flair.”
Visitors are welcome. For more
information or to ask questions call
Shirley Hendricks at 972-291-2047
or Wanda Pitt at 972-298-0443.
Permenter choir
boosters to meet
The Permenter Junior High
Choir Boosters will hold their
monthly meeting at 6 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 4 in the school’s
choir room.
All interested residents and par-
ents of choir students have been
asked to attend. Upcoming events
will be discusssed.
Contact booster historian
Beverly Tutt at 972-291-4592 for
more information.
Breakfast with
Santa planned
The CHISD Council PTA will
have their annual Breakfast with
Santa, Saturday, Dec. 2 from 8:30-
10 a.m. Adults $3, children (under
10) $ 1.50, and pictures with Santa
$2 each.
Don’t forget the Holiday Arts
and Crafts Fair from 8:30 a.m.-
noon. Come and join the fun at th*.
Old Sixth Grade Center cafeteria,
Hwy. 67 at C ooper. Tickets avail-
able at the door. For information on
renting a craft table contact Jang
Fields at 972-293-7668.
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.
No guarantee
of publication
Items submitted for publication
in the digest are placed on a first
come, first served basis.
Space in the digest can be
requested but cannot be guaran-
teed. Items not published in the
digest may appear inside Cedar
Hill Today.
INSIDE
CEDAR HILL
TODAY
Sports...................................10
Opinion........................ 4
Religion...,.............................6
Lifestyle.........................People
SUPPLEMENTS
PeopleTodav (including SW
Address), Market Place Today
(including Autoworld)
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NEWSPAPER
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THE LATEST ELECTION UPDATES, SEE PAGE 4
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JL CEDAR HILL -JL
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edar Hill Today
Santa Paws
Ruet~. retires
from district
Jeter to fill as interim superintendent
By KIRK DICKEY
News Editor
alum * **** Todayphoto**CH|BLf5
A ferret poses atop Santa Claus’ head for a photograph during the Best Southwest Humane
Society’s Santa Paws event Nov. 19. Residents could bring their pets to Cedar Ridge Animal
Clinic in Duncanville to pose for a photograph with Santa.
Smiling Dads speak at forum Crash on Hwy-67
Dr. James Rueter will retire Jan.
31 after eight years with the Cedar
Hill Independent School district.
Rueter, who had 30 years in edu-
cation, said that this just seems like
the right time to retire.
“I think that most people retire at
sometime,” he chuckled.
Rueter made the announcement to
ISD staff and board members, Nov.
17.
Rueter was employed in October
1993, after leaving Fort Bend ISD,
located just south of Houston.
Fourteen of his 30 years were
spent in Fort Bend after starting out
in Missouri. He taught in that state
for eight years.
Rueter said that the greatest
accomplishment the district has made
during his tenure has been dealing
with the growth of the district.
“I think that has been the biggest
accomplishment of the district, cou-
pled with being able to deal with that
growth and at the same time expand
our instructional program,” Rueter
said.
He said the district has expanded
its offerings considerably from what
it offered seven years ago. The depth
and quality of the programs has
changed too, according to Rueter.
In a press release, School Board
President Fran Rueben said Rueter’s
longevity is a testament to his leader-
ship, vision and humanity. She and
Judy Shaw, the only other school
board member who was on the board
when Rueter was hired, said he “far
Dr. James Rueter
exceeded” the boards expectations.
“He successfully moved this dis-
trict from a small 4A school to a 5A
district while effectively dealing with
growing teacher shortages, building
needs (repairs, classroom space, etc.),
bond issues limited budget and a
Board’s mandate for higher student
achievement,” the release read.
He said he does not have any
plans for after retirement other than
spending time with his wife and fam-
ily.
“This is our home, so 1 would
expect to still be involved in commu-
nity events and so on,” Rueter said.
“I’m not like some people who have
a job lined up when they retire. I’m
just retiring.”
He said that his most adventurous
plans in the near future are to spend
time reading and writing a little
See RUETER, Page 2
By KIRK DICKEY
News Editor
The Smiling Dads, a group of
fathers dedicated to giving students a
smiling face to start off the day, will
be spreading their message across the
state, Dec. 2.
Smiling Dads founder John
Stallings and Dr. Ken Ervin will trav-
el to Austin to share their techniques
with the National Institute on
Successful Fathering’s conference.
“They are taking it and putting it
on their website. They want to see the
program expanded starting out across
Texas and then across the nation,”
Stallings said.
The invitation to the conference
started at a Region X training semi-
nar. Stallings said the group was very
impressed by the program and asked
to learn more.
“It just set everybody on fire,”
Ervin said.
As assistant superintendent of
school and community services, he
oversees the Smiling Dads program,
and said he has received several calls
on the subject since the conference.
Ervin is a believer in the program.
“The thing that I have noticed, and
John will tell you the same thing, is
the parents have enjoyed this pro-
gram probably almost as rpuch as the
kids,” Ervin said.
That could be true of Don Camp,
a smiling Dad for two years now.
Camp said he has really enjoyed
it. In that time, the dads have grown
and taken on crossing guard responsi-
bilities as well as^welcoming stu-
dents.
“We let the teachers and teachers
aides do a more important role inside
the building, rather than having to
direct traffic outside.”
Camp has a daughter in seventh
grade and had a son in eighth last
year.
He first learned about the program
at an end of the year awards banquet
held by the school. The Smiling Dads
gave out an award and talked about
the program.
“I was like ‘Sure, I can do this,”’
Camp said. “This is just a small way
for me to give back to the community
and the school that is doing so much
good with the children.”
Ervin said another benefit of the
program is that it has impacted disci-
pline referrals and has had an overall
positive effect on the demeanor of the
children.
Camp said he remembers one girl
who didn’t like the program and kept
calling the dads “stupid” and “idiots.”
Camp said the girl wasn’t smiling
when she came to school, but by the
end of the year, she was smiling and
waving back to them.
“I don’t know what her funk was
earlier in the year, but by the end of
the year, we were able to get her out
of that shell,” he said. “Those minor
victories are what it is all about.”
After starting at Permenter, three
years ago, the have spread across the
district. There are about 50 fathers
involved across the district.
“(Stallings) has gottenraround to
all the campuses, as I have, but that is
primarily the campus that he still
tends to work with,” Ervin said
“We’re the only ones that we
know of that are doing this,” Camp
said. “Other school districts have
heard of us but I don’t think that any
have implemented the plan.”
The Smiling Dads are approach-
ing 500 days in a row that they have
been out to greet the students.
“It’s exciting to think that what we
See DADS, Page 2
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One southbound lane of Hwy. 67 was closed for almost two
hours Nov. 28 after a van flipped onto its side near the Tidwell
overpass. The 85-year-old driver and an elderly female passen-
ger were both transported to Baylor for treatment. Police were
trying to determine the cause of the accident at press time.
Both patients were in stable condition and responding to ques-
tions at time of transport. Another woman was transported to
Charlton Methodist via ambulance for minor injuries.
Appliance burglaries
may be same offender
By KIRK DltfKEY
News Editor
Someone must have baskets full
of dirty clothes and dishes, because
washers have been disappearing left
and right in the city.
A string of appliance burglaries
in homes under construction seem
to be linked by method of entry and
date of offense.
The burglars are gaining entry
through garage doors, breaking the
latches and forcing the door up.
“They hit pretty much the same
area,” Vasquez said. “It’s like they
knew the appliances were there and
(the method of entry) is the same
way all the way through.”
The crimes are spread out, with
a Nov. 12 burglary being the earli-
est and it spreading out to Nov. 17,
when five homes were hit in one
day.
That group of burglaries
occurred at the 600 Blk. of
See BURQLARIES, Page 2
" ...........................'■!.....
Crooks named Managing Editor
Kristi Crooks was named manag-
ing editor of Today Newspapers
Nov. 30.
She replaces Kevin Balentine who
has taken a position with the Dallas
Morning News.
Crooks joined Today Newspapers
in 1995 as a staff writer.
“Kristi has been a loyal and inte-
gral employee of Today Newspapers
for more than five years,” said Dick
Collins, chairman of Today News-
papers. “With her experience in the
Best Southwest, Duncanville and the
newsroom she will be a perfect fit in
our top job.”
Crooks graduated from Dun-
canvj|le High School in 1994 and
from The University of Texas at
Arlington in 1997 with a bachelor of
arts in communication.
She was named Duncanville edi-
tor in June 1997 and assistant manag-
ing editor in August 2000.
Crooks has been honored for her
skills as a journalist by the Texas
Press Association and the North and
East Texas Press Association.
Duncanville Today was named
sweepstakes winner by the NETPA
and runner-up in TPA in 1999. She
was a finalist for NETPA journalist
of the year in 1999 as well.
“Kristi will do a great job as man-
aging editor,” Balentine said. “She
has the skills to run the newsroom
and to reach out to our communi-
ties.”
Krisu urooKS
emember local charities during the holidays
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Balentine, Kevin. Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 30, 2000, newspaper, November 30, 2000; Duncanville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623936/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.