Volume 63, Number 1
Azle News
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
THE
www.azlenews.net
Area youth shine at Parker County Livestock Show Page 1B
HSU’s Walter named top scholar-athlete Page 9A
Azle man gets 18 years
Rock Truck Wreck
Burglar given max sentence by carla noah stutsman A 52-year-old Azle man was convicted Wednesday, June 11 in a Parker County courtroom for burglarizing an Azle home last year. Jerry Shad Robbins was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the crime. According to Parker County Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Jeff Swain, who tried the case along with ADA Abigail Placke, jurors listened to the 911 call made by a young woman inside the home on March 1, 2013. The terrified caller told a dispatcher Robbins was smashing her front door in with a fence post driver. “It’s not very often that we catch burglars in the act or right after they break into a house,” said Swain. “Azle PD had a very quick response time and, due to the detailed description of the suspect and his vehicle provided A tractor trailer carrying a load of rocks ended up in the median at the intersection of Highway 199 and Jay Bird Lane June 17. According to the driver, Brian Maynard of Fort Worth, the truck came to rest there after he took evasive action when a car in front of him slammed PLEASE SEE ROBBINS, PAGE 2A. on its brakes while eastbound on Highway 199. No one was injured. Photo by Natalie Gentry
Azle school district: There’s no fun in fundraising by carla noah stutsman From elementary school Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) to sports teams, bands, and clubs, cash is needed to fund school district activities, equipment, supplies and more. We’ve all been asked to purchase anything and everything from cookie dough to candles, and from meats to seats, and it’s always for a worthy cause. The item – 9. Discuss, consider and deliberate revisions to police FJ (local) Gifts and Solicitations – looked innocuous enough on the agenda for the Monday, June 16 meeting of the Azle Independent School District’s Board of Trustees. But it generated one of the liveliest discussions in recent history.
Fundraising is a must in schools – it provides items that cannot be provided from schools’ budgets, including everything from playground equipment, office equipment, supplies, and even travel expenses for trips and competitions. But there are concerns: What’s the best way to accomplish fundraising? How can the school district keep kids safe when raising funds? How much fundraising is too much? And if fundraising is limited, where will money for unbudgeted items come from? Trustee Erik Loeffelholz said that while the entities in and around Azle do a good job of fundraising, he wonders how it all impacts the large number of families whose children receive
Bridge out ahead! Carla Noah stutsman Regardless of whether you’ve lived “in these here parts” your whole life or if you’re one who just got here as quickly as you could, you’ve probably traveled some back roads to avoid the
free or reduced meals through the ISD and/or are participants in the Community Caring Center’s backpack program, which provides free weekend meals to kids who qualify. In fact, Trustee Sam Merck remembered the limitation of fundraisers initially started years ago when a man with 11 grandchildren stepped forward to ask for some relief. “’I can’t afford to buy from every one of them,’” Merck recalled the man saying. “But how can I tell one ‘yes’ and tell another one ‘no’?” Merck said that, as a longtime business owner, he knows what the solicitations for money can be like. “They (people raising funds) come in my door all the time,” Merck said. “But if we’re going to limit fundrais-
meeting were for the safety of children going door-to-door – something the AISD does not encourage in this day and time – as well as prizes and incentives. “I can tell you, the days of third graders riding in a limo to a pizza party are over,” said Trustee President Bill Lane. “Then came the party buses,” replied Todd Smith, in his first board meeting since being named director of operations for the district. Lane appointed a committee to be headed by Loeffelholz and including Hart, Merck, and Smith to study the fundraising situation. He instructed them to consult with principals at the elementary campuses and consider their ideas and input before reporting back at the next board meeting scheduled for July 29.
Silver Creek Road to close, 2nd bridge lacks funding for repair
treacherous Fort Worth traffic. Or maybe you just prefer to drive off the beaten path for the prettier scenery. One of the most scenic routes to get to the southern end of Lake Worth – the White Settlement area, where
major employers such as Lockheed Martin and NAS Fort Worth JRB are located – is via Silver Creek Road. But that route will become unavailable late this fall so the bridge that actually crosses Silver Creek can be
Bridge Replacement
Cattlebaron Dr Silver Creek Rd
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This Week in Azle History
ing, we need to come up with some alternatives because this provides a tremendous amount of funding.” In fact, thousands of dollars per year are raised per campus as a result of a battery of fundraisers. Trustee Shannon Hart expressed his frustration at the excitement that gets built up in young students by the professionals with various fundraising companies about the prizes kids can earn if they sell enough items. But the number of items that must be sold to earn that prize is often not realistic for a child to meet, Hart feels. Hart further said he’s been asking people what they think of fundraisers and the large majority says they think it would be great to get rid of them entirely. Other concerns expressed during the
45 Years Ago
replaced, according to Val Lopez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). While the bridge is still considered safe for motorists, Lopez said it has been declared structurally deficient by his agency and as such, will be replaced at an estimated cost of $1 million. Bridges that are deemed structurally deficient simply require more monitoring, inspections, and maintenance but remain safe for travel, Lopez stressed. “We have found that the quickest, easiest way to accomplish bridge replacements such as this one is to close it down, demolish, and rebuild it,” Lopez said “This causes the least impact to the motorists who use that route.” Lopez said his agency has already reached out to fire, emergency medical, and law enforcement agencies including Azle, Lake Worth, and Fort Worth to advise them of the upcoming road closure. Although homeowners may have to alter their usual routes depending upon which side of the bridge they are located, they will continue to have access to their homes. Through traffic, however, will be detoured to one of two alternate routes, depending upon their destinations. One alternate route will be from Confederate Park Road (aka FM 1886) north to SH 199, then east to Loop 820.
The second alternate route will be west on Confederate Park Road to Cattlebaron Drive, then south on Cattlebaron to White Settlement Road, and finally east on White Settlement Road to Loop 820, Lopez said. TxDOT plans to let for bidding this fall. Once those bids come in, a contractor will be selected. Six to eight weeks later, after the contractor has gathered personnel and materials, construction will begin, according to Lopez. That makes for a “late fall” time frame for shutting the bridge down. A second bridge along the same route that crosses Live Oak Creek, south of Silver Creek, has also been determined to be structurally deficient. However, that bridge is currently going through a federally-mandated environmental evaluation. Plus, TxDOT says there is currently no funding to replace the Live Oak Creek bridge. The environmental process is timeconsuming, Lopez said, and letting for bids to replace the Live Oak Creek Bridge will not occur until sometime next year at the earliest. That means Silver Creek Road will most likely be shut down a second time in the foreseeable future for another bridge replacement. So, for now, enjoy that drive on Silver Creek Road while you can.
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In June 1969, six people drowned – including fouryear-old twin girls – when a boat that had run out of gas capsized at 10 p.m. on windy Eagle Mountain Lake.
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