50
Current Weekly News for Leakey, Camp Wood, Sabinal, Utopia and Surrounding Areas Vol. 7 No. 21
INSIDE MEMORIAL DAY REMEMBERANCE
www.hillcountryherald.net
Tri-Canyon’s Only Weekly Newspaper!
May 24, 2017
editor@hillcountryherald.net
ROAD CONSTRUCTION TO CONTINUE THROUGH SEPTEMBER by Julie Becker
TXDOT officials released holiday work dates for the ongoing construction through downtown Leakey. Starting Friday May 26th through Friday June 9th, 2017 work crews will not be present. Work will resume Monday June 12th through Friday June 23rd. TXDOT officials anticipate construction to be completed from downtown to the 3rd Street area at that time. Work crews will not be present June 26th through July 7th, 2017 to observe the July 4th holiday. Work will begin again on Monday July 10, 2017 and construction is anticipated to continue until late September 2017. Work began in October, 2016 on RR 337 West and continued to south US Hwy
............................ Page 13
Poetry Camp ............................ Page 5
Leakey Eagles Claim Another State Tennis Title
Somewhere in the West
............................. Page 7
Texas Lawmakers Pass Statewide Ban on Texting While Driving ............................. Page 9
CORNERED AND CAUGHT ........................... Page 3
............................ Page 8
On May 19th Senior Sofia Rodriguez and Sophomore Hudson Springer won the 1A State Championship in Mixed Doubles on the stadium courts at Texas A&M University. This marks the third tennis state championship for Leakey since 2000. Crystal Blazek claimed one in singles in 2000 followed by Sofia’s first State Championship in mixed doubles with brother Lorenzo Rodriguez in 2015. Rodriguez and Springer won their district and regional titles with six straight set, convincing victories. However, the Eagles found themselves in a battle in their opening round match up with Hernandez and Ponce from Fort Davis. The Eagles started slow but held on to win the first set 7-5. Rodriguez and Springer finished strong in the second set (6-2) by winning the last five games in a row to claim a spot in the semifinals with Paige Gerber and
83 working North to the Leakey city limits. Safety is a priority during peak tourist season so the state, as well as contractors, look at all aspects of the job for safety of the traveling public and the safety of the construction workers. Holidays and construction do not mix! Earlier in the year the estimated time of completion was late May. We missed it. But keep the faith, it will eventually come to an end and when it does, it will be wonderful to see. As always, if you can find an alternate route around the downtown area please do so. RR 337 East is open now so that helps the traffic at the main intersection of town. Be safe! Watch for workers!
by Mike Springer
Trayton McLain from Nazareth. This was a good match up but the Eagles won several key points and prevailed 6-4, 6-3. In the finals, Rodriguez and Springer faced Kathleen Sheehan and Ethen Evans from Imperial Buena Vista. Evans, like Rodriguez, is a Senior playing in his third state final. In the first few games, it was clear that both teams were evenly matched but several Buena Vista’s shots were landing right on the lines and many Leakey shots just missed by an inch or two. Buena Vista’s confidence soared while the Eagles struggled mightily. During that slump, Leakey lost 5 games in a row and found themselves down 2-6, 0-1 right before Evan’s was slated to serve. Evans served and was winning 40-15 when Leakey pulled it together and started turning things around. Rodriguez and Springer broke Evans’ serve continued page 4
Sabinal High School Recognized as a “2017 Best High School” By Richard W. Grill, Superintendent of Schools, Sabinal ISD
For the second time in four years, Sabinal High School has been named a “Best High School in America” by U. S. News and World Report. Each year, U.S. News & World Report releases its list of best high schools in America. Their goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture of how well public schools serve all of their students in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work. “We are obviously pleased being independently recognized by a National publication honoring the dedication of our teachers and the hard work of our students at Sabinal High School” said Richard Grill, Superintendent of Schools. Sabinal High School is ranked #214 of a possible 1925 high schools in Texas. To be considered among the best, high schools had to pass a rigorous four-step process that sought to determine whether a school was serving all of its students and not just those who are college bound.
The first step determined whether students at a particular school were performing better than statistically expected for their students demographic, analyzing the percentages of economically disadvantaged students. Schools that passed this step then moved on to step two, which assessed whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than the State averages for the least-advantaged students. For the next two steps, U.S. News considered graduation rates and college readiness performance levels. To pass step three, high schools had to have a graduation rate of 75 percent or greater. For the 2017 rankings, the graduation rate reflects students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year. Finally, U.S. News calculated a college readiness index, which was the number of 12th grade students who took and passed at least one AP test, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school
Highway 83 Obsessed Author Coming to Hill Country ............................ Page 13
INDEX Legals/Jail Register ... . Page 3Community News ......... Page 4-7 Feature Story ............... Page 8-9 Obituaries ...................... Page 10 Classifieds ..................... Page 14
Today’s Weather
High: 82° Low: 61°
U.S. Route 83 is like no other highway in Texas. It extends from its northernmost border at Oklahoma, passes through the ranchlands and oil patches of the Panhandle, hits a big speed bump in Hill Country, then follows the Rio Grande Valley all the way to Brownsville. Award-winning author Stew Magnuson set out in 2009 to chronicle the past and present along this historically rich highway, traveling its length in May 2010 with the idea to publish a book about what he discovered. Like Highway 83 itself, it was a long road that took nearly eight years, but it ended on March 27 with the publication of The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas. Magnuson will give a multimedia presentation about Highway 83 on Wednesday, June 7, 5:30 p.m. at The Twig bookstore in San Antonio; El Progresso Memorial Library in Uvalde, Thursday, June 8 at 5:30 p.m.; the Real County Public Library in Leakey, Friday, June 8 at noon. He will sign books only (no presentation) at the Frio Canyon Motorcycle Stop in Leakey on Saturday, June 10, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Copies of the book will be available for sale.
Magnuson calls The Last American Highway in Texas a hybrid history-travel book. As far as Highway 83, “Every town has a story to tell,” Magnuson discovered. A massacre in Menard marked the beginning of the end for the Spanish Empire in America. Wellington is where the notorious criminals Bonnie and Clyde sent their car careening into the Red River. On a ranch just east of Brownsville, Ranger “Rip” Ford led the charge at the final battle of the Civil War. Magnuson uncovers the stories of the famous, the infamous and the forgotten as he explores a road like no other in America. The Last American Highway in Texas is available on Amazon.com and bookstores and gift shops along the highway. Over the past eight years, Magnuson has carved out a place as the foremost expert on the fifth longest federal highway, which runs 1,885 miles from the Canadian border to Mexico. He founded and administers the Fans of U.S. Route 83 page on Facebook, which now has more than 3,300 members. continued page 13
.