Boston by Jeff Wick

FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013

THE FAYETTE COUNTY La Grange, Texas 78945

Volume 91, Number 48

One Dollar per Copy

County Native Safe After Boston Marathon Run

INSIDE

She Completed Race Just Minutes Before Bombs Exploded By JEFF WICK

The Fayette County Record

Another No-hitter? See if the Leps pitchers could do it again. Sports, A6

FOR THE RECORD

In the span of just minutes, the joy of finishing her first Boston Marathon turned to very different emotions for Schulenburg native Shae (Porter) Pauler. Pauler, a 1994 Schulenburg High School grad now living in Brenham, had finished Monday’s marathon just 15 minutes before the pair of bombs exploded near the finish line. Those explosions killed

West End Water Supply Corp. is at Stage 1 Drought Contingency Plan. Customers will limit outdoor watering to two (2) days a week. Customers with a 911 address ending with an odd number may water on odd number days and customers with a 911 address ending with an even number may water on even number days.

Food Pantry

A mobile food pantry truck will be at Waldeck Lutheran Church on Saturday, April 20, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The church is located at the corner of FM 1291 and FM 2145. There’s no complicated paperwork to fill in, just a simple sign in. Please bring a box, bag or other container to carry your food. This is a free service brought to you by AMEN and Capital Area Food Bank.

Help Plan Event

three people and hospitalized more than 170 others. At the time of the explosions, Pauler said she was around a corner from the blasts in an area reserved for the finishers. “I heard the first bomb and I thought it might have been a transformer blowing or some other electrical issue. Then I heard the second one, and looked around the corner and saw smoke and people rushing away,” Pauler said. Still not knowing what had happened, she met friends (two other members of her Brenham running club who also participated in the marathon) at a near-

There’s more For the Record on Page A2

WEATHER WATCH

By LOUANN ADCOX

Since 2000, Fayetteville’s Critz Cullen has been riding in the MS 150. A work colleague initially suggested the two-day ride from Houston to Austin. Cullen had never cycled more than 10 miles. After signing up for the ride, he began training and successfully completed the ride. “I will never forget seeing people along the road cheering the riders on and holding signs thanking us for riding,” Cullen said. See Cullen, back page

Local La Grange resident Steve Cameron always enjoyed riding bicycles as a kid. Cameron began training for the MS 150 about five years ago, but the first year he was hoping to ride, he was sidelined due to a knee injury. Cameron began riding bicycles for exercise and health issues. He is now going into his third consecutive year participating in the BP MS 150. An avid rider, he works out cycling around the winding hills of Fayette County. Cameron and his wife Joy, who has her own interesting hobby (rodeo), drops Steve off at the start of the bikeathon in Houston. Cameron rides with Team Taco Deli, with hopes of the team raising $100,000 this year. The team will have a tent at

The Fayette County Record

Fayetteville’s Critz Cullen not only rides in the MS 150 but started a local cycling club.

Growth of Ridership in the MS 150 14000 12000 10500

10000

4000 2100

2000 237

1985

1989

1999

2003 2005-13*

* From 2005 to today, ridership was capped at about 13,000 for safety Graphic by Tara Keilers

64 61

The safety of all BP MS 150 participants – cyclists, volunteers, staff, supporters and spectators – is our ultimate concern. The BP MS 150 will take place as planned April 20-21. We will continue to work closely with the appropriate security agencies and local officials regarding the BP MS 150 to ensure the necessary safety precautions are being taken. – Statement by the National MS Society in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.

When Lorenz William “Sonny” Stolz, Jr. died on Monday at his home in La Grange, Fayette County lost a distinguished, publicspirited citizen. Stolz was 88 and had been ailing for several months. Prior to his recent infirmity, however, he was still a fixture around La Grange. He could be seen on weekdays driving between his home on Washington Street and his business, L.W. Stolz Memori-

als, on Travis Street in his late-model convertible. A profile in the Record in 2008 described him as a “tall, trim man with an alert air and Sonny Stolz, during neatly groomed his time as mayor white hair.” Stolz was proud of his service as mayor of La Grange for four terms 1969-77. In

announcing his candidacy in 1969, he promised “an aggressive street paving program” and “to diligently work to solve our drainage, sewer and water problems.” He was proud of the first city zoning ordinance passed during his tenure. Other major projects were new sidewalks for the town and a new library. Stolz was one of the 30 original members of the Fayette Heritage Museum Board of Trustees. See Stolz, back page

Burn Ban Is Lifted

INSIDE TODAY

Timber!

Opinion ....................... Page A4 Crossword .................. Page A5 Society ........................ Page A8 Sports ......................... Page A6 Obituaries ................. Page A10 Weekend ..................... Page B1 Classifieds ...............Page B2-5

Official Visits to Reassure School Board About CSCOPE By LARRY JACKSON

The Fayette County Record

ride the bike to his home in La Grange, and cycle back to the fairgrounds Sunday morning, See Cameron, back page

BP MS 150

When: April 20-21 What: Charity bike ride with as many as 13,000 bike riders spending the night in La Grange (most at the fairgrounds) on their way from Houston to Austin. BIkers will arrive in town starting Saturday morning and depart Sunday at 6:45 a.m.

Monumental LG Citizen Sonny Stolz Dies LG Coach to The Fayette County Record

the Fayette County Fairgrounds where most of the members will stay. Cameron however, will stay for a while and then

“

6000

La Grange’s Steve Cameron is riding in the bikeathon for the third consecutive year.

Quote of the Day

8000

By H.H. HOWZE Low 39

Shae (Porter) Pauler, a 1994 Schulenburg High School grad, is shown here at the finish line of the Boston marathon the day before she completed the race.

Locals Who Ride The MS 150

13000

The Fayette County Commissioners’ Court will conduct a special meeting Wednesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in the District Courtroom, 2nd Floor of the courthouse. The purpose of the meeting is to begin planning activities/special events for the dodransbicentennial celebration (175’th birthday of the county’s founding). The public is encouraged to attend.

by restaurant. It was only then, seeing the coverage on the restuarant’s television, that she learned what had happened. One of her first thoughts was to contact family and friends to let them know she was okay. But her cell phone battery was dead. A man at the restaurant loaned her his phone charger. As soon as she got her phone back on, there were already numerous messages asking how she was. A friend back in Brenham was able to get word to Pauler’s two daughters in school that she See Marathon, back page

Among the 13,000 Cyclists Coming to La Grange Saturday there are a few...

Contingency Plan

This Week’s Forecast High Friday: 66 Partly Cloudy Saturday: 75 Clear Sunday: 73 Partly cloudy Monday: 81 20% chance of rain

RECORD

Sunday morning an 18-wheeler hauling large cedar logs turned over while traveling west on Interstate-10 near Schulenburg. A Fayette County Sheriff’s deputy assisted the driver in getting out of the vehicle and the Schulenburg volunteer fire department provided scene lighting and helped the Schulenburg police department with traffic control until the truck could be righted and the logs picked up. Colorado County EMS transported the driver, who suffered minor injuries.

Dr. Terry Smith, head of the regional Education Service Center for Central Texas, came to La Grange Monday night to reassure school board members about the curriculum management system that their district and many others across the state have implemented. Called CSCOPE, the system is designed to help teachers and curriculum coordinators make sure students get instruction in all the “TEKS” – the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills that are spelled out by the elected State Board of Education as “the state standards for what stu-

dents should know and be able to do.” These are the things the standardized tests cover and that schools are supposed to teach – 5,464 different items, according to Dr. Smith. For a district to monitor so many requirements pretty much requires a computer-based management system. Bigger school districts began implementing their own systems several years ago. The Region 13 Education Service Center began developing CSCOPE in 2005-06 as a system smaller districts could use rather than having to invent their own. See CSCOPE, back page

Trade Dugout For an Office

La Grange head baseball coach Brad Harbers is going to try to translate the success he built on the high school ballfield to the classrooms of the Intermediate School. Monday Harbers, whose Leps baseball teams have been among the best in the state each of the last several years, was approved as the new Intermediate School Assistant Principal. Starting next school year he will replace Barbara Clemons, See LGISD, back page

La Grange baseball coach Brad Harbers gets doused with ice water after winning his 100th career game last season in the playoffs with the Leps. File photo by Tom Wood

A12

The Fayette County Record, Friday, April 19, 2013

Marathon Runner is Schulenburg Native Continued from front was okay. Pauler didn’t fly home until Wednesday, so spending the day after the race in Boston was unusual to say the least, she said. “There was military everywhere, helicopters flying overhead,” Pauler said. “Everybody looks suspicious. I found myself staring at anyone who was holding a bag.” Pauler said before the race she had decided this would be her last marathon for a while, and the bombing didn’t change that.

“It just takes so much preparation to run a marathon,” she said. “I think I’ll stick with half-marathons for a while.” But running has always been a big part of life for the daughter of Sandra Porter and the late Gary Porter. Shae was a state-qualifier in high school cross country and a part of Schulenburg’s 1993 Class 2A state championship track team. She ran on all three relays at state that year. After finishing those races, it was always easy to celebrate. Monday’s mix of emotions was something altogether different.

Finishers of the Boston Marathon earn a medal (Pauler finished in a time of three hours and 54 minutes) but she said she was so conflicted about what had happened, that she was even hesitant to post a photo of herself and her medal on her facebook page – though she eventually did. “Before the bombs went off, it had been such a good experience,” said Pauler, who ran the race wearing a Schulenburg Lady Horns T-shirt. “The streets were lined with people cheering us on. “I still can’t believe what happened.”

Run For Boston Held Here

Continued from front Heir to a three-generation family of monumentalists, Stolz, Jr. took over the family firm, L.W. Stolz Memorials, from his father in 1957. In 1935 Stolz Sr. had likewise inherited the O.E. Stolz Marble Works founded by his father in 1895. All three created monuments which still grace county and state public spaces. O.E. Stolz donated the marble for the Grotto at the Hostyn Catholic Church and in 1933 rebuilt the tomb of the Mier and Dawson men on Monument Hill. Stolz, Sr. designed and built the tall art deco shellcrete memorial next to the tomb in 1936. Sonny Stolz designed and built the memorial to Travis County World War II dead on the State Capitol grounds in Austin in 1948. It was re-dedicated in 2009.

Female Walker Hound Lost April 2, 2013 White w/ Beige Ears & Face Approximately 60 lbs. Last seen wearing brown leather collar with tags. Lost between West Point & Kirtley area, between Smithville & La Grange.

LGISD Makes Staff Moves

After hearing about the “Run for Boston” project online, La Grange’s Samantha Stackhouse arranged a local event Wednesday evening starting on the courthouse square. Dozens of locals ran one-mile and two-mile routes. Photos of the event were sent to organizations in Boston as a show of support to the people there. Local businesses donated water and snacks for the runners. Photos by Jeff Wick

Cullen Started the Fayetteville Cycling Club After Move Here Continued from front Many of those well-wishers were people with Multiple Sclerosis who benefited directly from the money raised. Cullen was hooked and this year will be his 14th MS Ride. “This is what I do every April,” Cullen said. In 2001 when BP became the title sponsor, Cullen was team captain until his retirement in 2009. A love of cycling also prompted Cullen and his wife Karen to move to Fayetteville to take advantage of the great road conditions here. Together the Cullens started

Stolz Passes

the Fayetteville Cycling Club to promote safe and courteous cycling and to help support the community. The club works with cycling groups and organizes rides to educate riders on the “rules of the road” including obeying traffic laws, giving motorists space, riding to the right, sharing the road and remembering riders are guests in the communities where they cycle. The club also donates back funds to the community. In 2012 the club donated $6,000 to the Fayetteville School athletic department and booster club.

Cameron In Third MS 150 Continued from front and begin the ride to the finish line in Austin. Cameron enjoys cycling and views it as a way to give back. “Being able to do what you enjoy and give back at the same time is great” said Cameron. Cameron will be turning 60 this May and his personal goal is to raise at least $5,000 for the MS Society. Cameron’s page to donate directly to the MS Society is http://main.nationalmssociety. org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEve nts?px=5491111&pg=personal &fr_id=20226

Continued from front who is retiring after 36 years in education, including the last four at LGISD. Harbers is a LHS grad who returned to his alma mater in 2008. He is currently pursuing a Masters Degree at Lamar University – and his baseball team has a 18-5 record. Among other personnel matters at Monday’s meeting, the school board accepted the resignations of Hermes teacher Lauren Welch, high school German teacher Karen Roesch, and fourth grade teacher Alexandria Pylant. The board also hired Occupational Therapist Robin Zapalac to work in the Colorado River Shared Services Agreement, which is a partnership that includes other area schools.

Readers are Leaders!

CSCOPE Merits Discussed at Meeting Continued from front Several aspects of CSCOPE have come under fire during the current session of the Texas Legislature and Smith told the La Grange trustees that changes are already being implemented in some areas. “I think it’s important for us to understand what is going on with it,” board president Gale Lincke told Smith. “Any questions you’ve got, I’ll be glad to address them,” he said. The La Grange board had unanimously approved participating in CSCOPE in April 2008. At that time, the cost was to be $22,000 for the 2008-09 school year. Administrators apparently like what they’ve been seeing from it since then. Principals of all four campuses were at Monday’s meeting to speak up on its behalf. Kim Miori, intermediate school principal, for example, told the board that CSCOPE has brought about much more collaboration among teachers. “They aren’t necessarily teaching the same way, but they are teaching the same content,” she said. That’s the whole point of “curriculum alignment,” administrators say. Perhaps most controversial about CSCOPE has been the part called “exemplar lessons.” The whole system is designed to be a resource to teachers, from K-12. According to Smith, its core is a “Year at a Glance” component that shows a fifth grade math teacher, for example, a lesson schedule that will cover all the require elements during the year; a “Vertical Alignment Document,” showing what was supposed to have been taught in the prior

grade and what will be coming up in the next grade; a “TEKS Verification” component that checks off the required elements; and an “Instructional Focus Document,” which includes “performance indicators.” In addition, it provides sample tests and the “exemplar lessons.” Smith said the term “exemplar” might have been confusing. “It really means ‘sample,’ not ‘exemplary’ or the very best possible way of teaching a lesson. These just give a teacher a sample of how the lesson might be taught, and there’s always room for improvement.” Some of these sample lessons have come under fire as the Texas Senate’s education committee has looked into the CSCOPE material this spring. Also under fire has been secrecy about the system’s content. User agreements, much like with other “intellectual property” software, prohibited sharing the content with others. But that raised red flags with parents and others who thought it should be as public as textbooks, for example. CSCOPE was always intended to be a “resource” for educators, giving them access to lesson plans and on-line resources to supplement textbooks, its backers say. “Our focus was on teachers and educators,” Smith said, as opposed to material for parents and students to use. “I think that was naïve on our part. It wasn’t designed as a study aid (for students) or as an on-line course.” The criticism has led to a wholesale revision of access policy, however. “This was changed last week,” he said. Now parents not only will

have viewing rights, but the Service Center this month began posting content on-line so it will be available to anyone. Smith also provided financial data about CSCOPE cost and expenses, governance of its oversight board, and recent actions in response to criticism. “We are trying to be as transparent as we possibly can,” he said. “The only reason we exist is to support the school districts.” At the beginning of this school year, 875 school districts were using CSCOPE statewide, or about 70 percent of all districts. These represent less than a third of all students, however, because the largest districts have implemented their own systems. In this region, Smith said, it’s used by 39 independent school districts, nine open-enrollment charter schools, two state agencies (Texas School for the Deaf and Texas Youth Commission) and two private school systems, including the Diocese of Austin Catholic school system. “We’ve not had a lot of comment on this here in La Grange,” Supt. Randy Albers said, “but we wanted you (the board) to be informed about it.” CSCOPE does not tell teachers how a lesson must be taught, but rather how a lesson might be taught, district curriculum director Melanie Castellow said. “We have never in La Grange told them they must use the lessons,” she said. “Every year, they use it more,” Hermes principal Stacy Eilers told the board. “They use it as a great resource” to compare their own lessons with, she said. “If it were gone, we would have a lot of very upset teachers.”

Celebrate Earth Day April 22! Visit Grandmother’s Flower Garden at the Texas Quilt Museum . . . we’re all a-bloom this spring! You’ll also enjoy our new floral exhibit “Flower Power” along with “The Stitch Makes the Quilt”

140 West Colorado La Grange, Texas 78945 Phone 979-968-3104 | Fax 979-968-6010 projects@TexasQuiltMuseum.org www.TexasQuiltMuseum.org