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Serving Steiner Ranch, River Place, Volente, Grandview Hills, Westminster Glen and Lake TravisVolume 8, Issue 21 • 8 pages Thursday, May 24, 2012 • 50 cents

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By LESLEE BASSMANFour Points News

With over 20 local sponsors and 33 booths, Saturday’s Viper-palooza brought record crowds for activities, rides, food and the spring football scrimmage. “Viperpalooza is here to bring the Four Points community to-gether to support the kids, lo-cal businesses and to have a re-ally good time,” said Tanya Stahl, Vandegrift High School PTSA, Fundraising Vice President. Vandegrift Principal Charlie Little enjoyed seeing his campus greens filled with area residents and guests. “There’s always a lot going on (at Viperpalooza) and this is a great turnout,” Little said. “I’m very pleased.” The Four Points area high school opened its grounds and stadium to the community while individual booster clubs set up booths to raise funds for next year’s activities. Vandegrift’s

PTSA earned money to support their programs for the upcoming school year as well. “This is a great place for Four Points businesses to promote themselves to the people they are serving and, of course, to sup-port our children”, Stahl said. Platinum sponsors of Vi-perpalooza 2012 included the Gene Arant Team, Mathnasium of Steiner Ranch, Categorically Austin Cindy Thompson Real Estate, Orange Leaf, Race for the Taste 4 Points Chamber of Com-merce, River Place Dental, Adja-cent Technologies, and Fortune Cookie. Viperpalooza’s Gold sponsor category was comprised of HEB Four Points, Randalls Quinlan Crossing, Camp Gladi-ator, Wild Basin, Dr. Mike Bhatt, JDRF Team Morgame, Maggie Swag, Flowers by Nancy Too!, Four Points Family Chiropractic and Home Depot Four Points. Central Texas Water Sports was a Silver sponsor of the event.


The development of Steiner Ranch Tract MU-1B has been under discussion lately. Located between Vista Ridge Shopping Center and Quinlan Crossing and outside of City of Austin’s jurisdiction, MU-1B is not subject to City Council review as is neighboring Tract MU-14 which lies just across the street.

However, representatives from both the Steiner Ranch neigh-borhood and developer Taylor Morrison have met recently and agreed to explore various options to resolve anticipated issues in the Canyon Glen neighborhood it encompasses once MU-1B is developed. There is a contract on MU-1B now to build apartment units. One option includes the possi-bility of restricting the exit into the area to “emergency use only

Community steps up support


For Steiner Ranch Steakhouse employee Steve Smith, life was chock full as he juggled days as the single father of two boys and evenings training waitstaff at the Four Points’ restaurant. However, just over a month ago, a brain in-jury accident changed Smith’s life forever. “He’s very outgoing, gregari-ous and steals the spotlight,” said General Manager Ben Bronson of Smith who, in mid-April, suf-fered a brain trauma injury as a result of a fall. Now this server is getting much needed help from those customers and community mem-bers he so jubilantly waited on. On May 14, Bronson and the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse hosted a silent auction and raffle pro-gram to benefit Smith. He is still


The year’s first reported drowning on Lake Travis oc-curred at Bob Wentz Park on Sunday, according to Travis County Sheriff ’s Office. At 3:04 p.m., police received a call that there was a possible drowning in the park area lo-cated in the 7100 block of Co-manche Trail.

When officers arrived, they encountered a couple of people performing CPR on a man the witnesses had just pulled from the water. The witnesses told the officers that the man was swimming across the cove with a friend when he “became distressed”. The friend called for help and two bystanders from shore swam out to the man. However, by the time they reached him,

the man was already submerged underwater. They pulled him to shore and attempted to resusci-tate him but he never regained consciousness. Miguel Angel Martinez Agui-lar, age 27, was pronounced de-ceased about 40 minutes later. The water depth in the cove where Aguilar was found ranged from three to 12 feet and the surface temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit at the time

of the incident. Roger Wade, TCSO Public Information Officer, stated that officers do not believe alcohol was involved in Aguilar’s death and their investigation sup-ports a preliminary finding of accidental death by drowning. An official cause of death has not yet been reported by the Medical Examiner’s Office and witnesses names have not been released.

Lake Travis is about half full

By RICH KEITHFour Points News

Recent rain showers have helped but Lake Tra-vis is still hovering at the half full mark because of the drought, and those levels have a direct im-pact on the local economy. “Last summer’s blistering heat may be a mem-ory, but, unfortunately, the drought is still with us,” said Lower Colorado River Authority Gen-eral Manager Becky Motal at a briefing recently. Lake levels have a clear impact on direct spend-ing by visitors on Lake Travis, according to the Lake Travis Economic Impact Report published by the Lake Travis Coalition last September. The report stated that in 2010 there was $168.8 million in spending by all Lake Travis visitors, supporting a total of 1,607 jobs in Travis County. These jobs offered total wages of $53.9 million, and total economic value added of $90.5 million. Major fluctuations in lake levels like from a drought, can drop visitation and spending by 14 percent to 20 percent, reducing total spending by $23.6 million to $33.8 million, sources say. The economic impact of this decreased spend-ing results in losses of up to 241 jobs and a total impact of $12.6 million on an annual basis. Further, the report states that home values in Four Points and Lake Travis are directly related to the phenomenon known as the “lake premi-um” in our area. When the lake drops, real or perceived loss of attractiveness leads to lower property values. Currently Lakes Buchanan and Travis are about 50 percent full. Rains so far this year have helped. For the first three months of 2012, lake inflows approached historical averages. This is an

First drowning in Lake Travis this year happened Sunday

Continued drought will impact local economy

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New Steiner development expected to affect Canyon Glen neighborhood

Third annual Viperpalooza brought record numbers

A Round Rock Express ticket package for dad is the winning prize! Draw a picture of your dad and tell us why he is so special in a few sentences. The winner will be picked randomly and featured in the paper as well as runner-ups. Please scan and email yourdrawing by Sun. June 10 to [email protected] Let's Play Ball!

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Local waiter, father still hospitalized, recovering from a brain injury

Aerial photos provided by Lower Colorado River Authority show Lake Travis at half-full capacity. Oasis Texas is on top and Mansfield Dam is on bottom.

SMITH, 4QUALTECH, 4

Laura Welch Bush Elementary first-grader Halle Cooley (feeding) makes friends with a llama as Sophia Grieg (right) and Carli Cooley (left) look on at Vandegrift’s Viperpalooza petting zoo. See more photos on pages 6 and 10.

By LYNETTE HAALANDFour Points News

QualTech Automotive goes the extra mile to be a green auto re-pair shop. “Our building uses 100 percent reclaimed water. Thanks to the tank, we always have water when we need it. No matter how low Lake Travis is, its not our fault,” said Billy Leavings, Steiner Ranch resident and owner of QualTech located at 10815 FM 620 N. Keeping a small footprint is one of the ways Leavings likes to run his shop. “We send waste oil and cool-ant to be recycled. Both are toxic chemicals that can enter the en-vironment if not disposed of properly,” he said. His shop offers anyone to bring in any old oil or coolant and they will dispose of it

Locally owned QualTech goes green

Keeping a small footprint is one of the ways Billy Leavings likes to run his auto repair shop Qual-Tech Automotive.

Lynette Haaland

Mia Bennatt

Leslee Bassman

Right: Steve Smith is embraced by his two young sons in his hospital room during a recent visit. Below: Amy and Ryan Bertul always requested Smith at the Steakhouse and they supported him at the benefit.

Leslee Bassman

• Four Points News, Thursday, May 24, 2012

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Above Left: Steiner Ranch Elementary students Tehreen Siddiqui, 5th, and sister Ayesha, 3rd, enjoyed the recent Leander ISD Art Show which took place at Vandegrift Hight School. They credited art teacher Susan Joe with learning how to make a Pablo Picasso-like drawing. Above Right: Grandview Hills Elementary's MacKenzie Mur-ray describes her artistic tree and how she created it using a combi-nation of pastels and oil paint.

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Graduation is a time to cel-ebrate our seniors. They have worked hard for 13 years to earn their high school diplomas, and we are proud of them. But while we give our graduates our hearti-est congratulations, we should also applaud those who have been there beside them, challenging them to reach for the highest lev-els of excellence. Foremost, the parents and im-mediate families of our graduat-ing seniors are to be commended for the support and encourage-ment they’ve given to our seniors. No doubt this is a bittersweet time for many parents. While excited

and happy for their children, they also recognize that life at home will likely change after gradua-tion. For 18 years, parents and families have provided loving homes and opportunities for their children to learn and grow, and these experiences have helped mold our seniors into the men and women they are today. Thank you, parents, for doing an excel-lent job raising students who are eager to set out into the world. Teachers have also played a huge role in our seniors’ success, and this week, we’ll have an op-portunity to acknowledge a few of them. On Thursday, May 24, the

Leander ISD Educational Excel-lence Founda-tion (LEEF) will hold its second annual Student and Teacher Ac-ademic Recog-nition (STAR) Banquet, and will recognize five exemplary seniors from each LISD high school, along with one teacher who has positively impacted each student’s academic career. It is an inspiring evening. Not only does it allow us an opportunity to highlight this remarkable and

diverse group of students who are poised to leave the LISD system and embark on fantastic oppor-tunities, but it also gives a well-deserved nod to the teach-ers who have worked tire-

lessly to help get them there. LEEF is also offering another opportunity for parents to show their appreciation for the excel-lent work of their child’s LISD teachers through the Teacher Recognition Campaign. For a do-

nation of $25 or more, LEEF will award your child’s teacher(s) with a goodie bag and personalized certificate of appreciation signed by their principal, the school board president and LEEF board president. This is a great way to thank teachers and support a gen-erous organization that benefits students and teachers throughout the district. The deadline to be a part of this program is Thursday, May 24. For more information, visit www.leanderedfound.org. We believe that all staff mem-bers are important members of LISD. In addition, teachers, bus drivers, principals, nurses, coach-es, counselors, librarians, custodi-ans, child nutrition staff, school resource officers and maintenance personnel have contributed to the success of our seniors. Regardless of title, as an LISD staff member, we are all educators and here for one purpose—to focus on student learning. Together we ensure our system allows students to learn. So thank you, staff, for everything you do for the students of our dis-trict. The same is true for our fantas-

tic parent volunteers who contin-ue to be instrumental in our dis-trict. Having donated more than 244,500 hours this year, time spent helping in the front office, stuffing Wednesday folders, chaperon-ing field trips and school dances, or serving as Watch D.O.G.S. or room moms, our volunteers have donated a staggering $5.3 million worth of their time (valued at al-most $22 per hour, according to the non-profit leadership network independentsector.org). Our vol-unteers have taken on countless duties throughout our district, helping us direct our time, energy and resources to what’s most im-portant, our students. As a volun-teer, you are an important mem-ber of the LISD family and are making a tremendous difference for our students. Our district would not be the excellent place that it is without your dedication and passion. Congratulations to our seniors, their families and all of those who made a difference for them. We will continue to expect great things from you all!

Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.comschool thursday

May 24, 2012 • Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.com

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River Place Elementary launched a new recycling pro-gram, Terracycle, and it is off to a great start. “We already have nearly 6,000 points we can trade in to help the environment,” said Jill Brasuell, environmental chair. River Place Elementary students could choose to pro-vide clean water for one week to 1,000 people; provide 120 meals for people who are hun-gry; eliminate 3,000 pounds of carbon from the air or protect 108,000 square feet of wildlife land. The students are enthusi-astic about putting their juice pouches and water bottles in the recycle bins in the cafeteria. The

bins for the cell phones, ink car-tridges and digital cameras are located near the front entrance. The recycled items are boxed up and sent to Terracycle each month and RPE receives points on these items. With the help of the Boy Scouts, RPE recycles pa-per too. “We are on the waiting list for yogurt containers and chip wrappers so stay tuned,” Bra-suell said. She said they plan to expand the program since Ter-racycle now will let old glue bot-tles, used pens, tape dispenser and other items be recycled. “I love the program because it is so easy to do,” Brasuell added. For more information, www.terracycle.net

Recycling at River Place Elementary is a big success

Madison Poljan, a sixth grad-er at Four Points Middle School, has been accepted to attend In-terlochen Arts Camp, a premier summer arts program for as-piring artists in third through twelfth grades. Poljan, the daughter of Pat-rick and Andrea Poljan, will study creative writing at the camp. In 2012, the camp will mark its 85th season at the fore-front of arts education. Poljan, who lives in River Place, has been an avid reader and writer since her preschool years. She has written hundreds of poems and stories with his-torical fiction being her favor-ite style of writing. Some of her work has been published and she has also read her poetry at various public and private events. She hopes to one day be a renowned novelist. Interlochen Arts Camp at-tracts students, faculty and staff from all 50 states and more than 40 countries. These 3,000 artists fill Interlochen’s north-woods campus with an explo-sion of creativity. Student-artists learn from world-class instruc-tors and produce hundreds of presentations each summer in

dance, theatre, creative writing, visual arts, music and film. Among the distinguished camp alumni are Norah Jones, singer Josh Groban, members of the band OK Go, Rufus Wainwright, opera and concert soprano Jessye Norman, con-ductor Loren Maazel, jazz pia-nist Eldar, actor Anthony Rapp, cartoonist Cathy Guisewite and many more. Approximately10 percent of the nation’s profes-sional orchestra musicians have roots at Interlochen and the alumni community has collec-tively been awarded 89 Gram-my Awards. Interlochen brings leading artists and performers to the northern Michigan campus. In recent years, guest artists have included B.B. King and Lyle Lovett.

FPMS student accepted into Interlochen Arts Camp

Jill Brasuell

CMYK

Memorial Weekend kicks off summertime which is filled with fun adventures and eating! Just last week several Canyon Ridge Middle Schoolers were telling me of their planned summer getaways to faraway places including Italy, Canada, Hawaii and Colorado. Some are visiting grandparents and others are just sight-seeing with their families. Four Points News would love for you to share some of your cool vacation spots with us. Just email a photo and caption and tell us some of the highlights of your trip. Recreational day trips are super exciting too, especially in the Austin area. If you take a Segway or Duck tour downtown, we’d love to hear about it. If you kayak on Lake Aus-tin or float down the Guadalupe, Comal or Frio rivers, or go paddle-boarding on Lake Travis, share with us! If you rent a beach cabin at Port A, stay at a B&B in Fredericksburg or take in a concert at Gruene Hall, let us know. If your kitchen is your favorite destination, we have space for you too. We are looking for great food stories, recipes and tips for our Four Points Foodies page. Please submit photos of your dish, dinner party or even you in full-on kitchen mode. Maybe some of you will be the traveling food writer types like this blogger The Ev-erywhereist. The way she describes the Theo Chocolate Factory Tour in Seattle makes me

want to get on an airplane and visit myself. Here is a sampling: Our tour guide was a cheerful woman. She explained that most chocolatiers in the U.S. aren’t chocolate makers – they are merely chocolate melters... adding in flavorings and ingredients. Theo however, is a chocolate maker – mean-

ing they handle every step of the cre-ation of their chocolate from bean to bar. We gained all sorts of knowledge that’s useful to have dur-ing chocolate-themed trivia nights (of which there are none). Like how white chocolate isn’t really chocolate (which, not to brag, but I already knew). And that chocolate is actu-ally a fermented food. That’s right: the beans used to make chocolate are

left to ferment for about a week (don’t dwell on the thought). We even found out why some choco-late “blooms” (you know, those weird white smudges on the surface of the chocolate) – if it is heated improperly, or stored in conditions that are too warm or too humid, the cocoa but-ter separates out, and leaves white traces on the surface of the chocolate. Fear not: if this happens, it is still safe to eat. You can still eat your bloomin’ chocolate. So join the fun yourself or give the kids an assignment this summer and help us fill Four Points News pages with your stories.

Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.comoPinionthursday

• May 24, 2012Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.com

Publisher’s Point of View

LYNETTE HAALAND

Seeking summertime foodie, fun & trip tips

PERSONNEL

Four Points newsYour Community Newspaper

Published weekly in Four Points, Texas by Four Points News LLC.TELEPHONE: 512-380-1405 FAX: 512-355-1774

WWW.FOURPOINTSNEWS.COM

Publisher & Editor ..................................................LYNETTE HAALAND - [email protected] Editor .....................................................LESLEE BASSMAN - [email protected] Sales Representative ...........................HOLLIE KENNEY - [email protected].............................................................................................. RICH KEITH - [email protected] Services ............................................................................................................................... JENNIFER ROBERTSCirculation .....................................................................................................................................................FRED FRANCOContributor ..............................................................................................................................................BRET CHAMPION

For subscription information, email inquiries to [email protected]

Brett Roberge Steiner Ranch

I really like the Games2U hamster ball things because it’s fun to watch everybody bounce around in there.

What did you enjoy most about Viperpalooza?Four Points oF View

Cameron Childs River Place

The volleyball game – we bounced the ball back and forth and we played with friends. I’ll come again next year.

Blake Brannan Grandview Hills

Getting to spend time with the community, have fun with friends and get ready for the scrimmage.

Brittany Crowdus Steiner Ranch

The swim dunk tank be-cause it’s fun to see all the teachers getting dunked after they give you all of the horrible projects for the whole year all at once.

Darn it, The English language includes over 750,000 words. So how can so many people overuse (and dare I say misuse) one word? It makes me so darn mad when I hear people use the word, AWESOME. I have come to hate this word. How can this one word be used to describe a sunset, a hole in one, fish tacos, and a stupid action movie? I need your help. We need to unite speakers of the English language to stop overusing this adjective.

Signed,Linda Logophile

Dear Ms. Logophile: First let me take this opportunity to sug-gest that you drink less coffee or perhaps

consider getting a life. Next, here is my sug-gestion as to how to reduce if not eliminate

the use of the word, AWESOME. Every time you hear a person

use this word, try restat-ing what they said fol-

lowing this example:Limited Vocabulary Larry: “Wow, did you enjoy that awesome

sermon that the pastor gave last Sunday?”

Linda Logophile: “Yes, Larry, I did. And it was a

_______ good sermon.” (Insert word of choice.)Perhaps Larry will rethink his word choice in the future. You may run the risk of alienating some of your friends. In your case, I think the risk is low since you probably only have one or two friends.

Darn it! That makes me mad!“Awesome” is overused

That makes me mad

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Constituents from Travis Coun-ty Precincts 2 and 3 are invited to apply to fill an unexpired term on the Board of Directors of the Tra-vis Central Appraisal District which runs through December 31, 2013. TCAD's mission is to provide market value appraisals of all tax-able property in Travis County in a fair, equitable, cost-effective man-ner and develop an annual appraisal roll for use by taxing units in im-posing ad valorem taxes on proper-ty in the district. TCAD is governed by its Board of Directors, which is

primarily responsible for the hiring of the Chief Appraiser as well as ap-proving the annual budget. The TCAD Board meets monthly on the second Tuesday at 7 pm at the TCAD office located at 8314 Cross Park Drive, Austin, TX 78754. To be considered for this appoint-ment, applicants must reside within either Travis County Precinct 2 or 3 and submit the following items : A letter stating goals for service on the Board and a commitment to serve the remainder of the unex-pired term and attend 80% or more

of the monthly meetings of the Board;

• A resume;• An Application for Appointment; and• A Non-Conflict of Interest Affidavit.

If interested, please forward these documents no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 1, 2012, to: by email, [email protected]; or by fax, (512) 854-6446; or by mail, P.O. Box 1748 Austin, TX 78767

Appraisal District director position open

improvement from late last year, when the combined storage of the lakes fell to 37 per-cent. But there may be hope in the future fore-casts. LCRA’s Chief Meteorologist Bob Rose stat-ed at the recent briefing that most long-range forecasts call for weak El Nino conditions developing by fall. This should cause a wel-comed pattern of above-normal rainfall and signals the end of the drier La Nina pattern. Lakes Buchanan and Travis are the region’s reservoirs and supply water to more than a

million Central Texans. Businesses, indus-tries, power plants and farmers also rely on the lakes. However, because of the ongoing drought, LCRA will not provide Highland Lakes water to most downstream farmers this year. “We should never become complacent when it comes to water conservation,” Mo-tal said. “All of us depend on the water of the Highland Lakes and the Colorado River, and we all have a role to play to conserve that pre-cious resource.”

DROUGHT, FROM 1

SMITH, FROM 1

Date Combined storage

May 21, 2012 51 percentMay 21, 2011 66 percentDec. 1, 2011 (lowest point of drought) 37 percent

Combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis on key dates

hospitalized in intensive care. Another similar event is being planned in Lakeway. The money raised from the fundraisers, in-cluding a matching contribution from the steakhouse owners, will help defray Smith’s medical bills and care for his young sons. According to Bronson, the el-ementary school age boys are cur-rently living with a friend as Smith has no family in the Austin area. “He (Smith) is a tiny guy but eight foot tall with that person-ality,” said Steiner Ranch Steak-house trainer Kendra White. “He’s just a great guy - an assistant to my training program and my right-hand man. He’s very much missed.” In only a year-and-a-half, Smith managed to touch the hearts of so many Four Points area residents including Jannine and Robert Farnum who nicknamed Smith “Portland” after his hometown

and a favorite spot of the Steiner Ranch couple. “We always ask for him to be our server,” said Amy Bertul of Cedar Park. “He’s just a good friend and hilarious. He has a real enthusiasm for life that’s conta-gious.” According to Smith’s friend, Mia Bennatt, the lead waiter is “progressing very well” from his treatment although additional surgery may be needed in the fu-ture. Smith’s prognosis is for a full recovery but physicians are un-sure as to how long he will remain hospitalized. “He’s not one to stay down,” Bennatt said. “He’s a firecracker and even wanted to work the fundraiser event!” For more information about helping Smith, please contact [email protected].

free of charge. Used tires are processed and re-cycled to various mesh sizes of crumb rubber. This rubber becomes the raw material for a wide variety of applica-tions, including molded rubber goods, playground mulch and sports fields. In the colder months, old transmis-sion fluid is used in the shop heater. QualTech has a special heater designed to run off of old transmission fluid. The technicians stay warm while working on cars without using propane or natu-ral gas. Most shops have a big dumpster that they throw everything away in. At QualTech they separate the metal from the cars and have scrap metal collectors come by to take it to be recycled. “We receive a small amount of com-pensation for this, but it does not offset the effort to segregate the trash,” Leav-ings said. “We care about your safety and the environment.”

CANYON GLEN, FROM 1

Follow us on

PHOTOSwanted!

We are seeking your Travel, Recreation and Foodie photos to post in

Four Points News this summer!

Email to [email protected].

Four Points News, Thursday, May 3, 2012 • Page 7

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Rexanna’s Foundation for Fighting Lung Cancer, a local organization devoted to raising awareness and funds for lung cancer research, is hosting Run for a Purpose, a chip timed 5K on Sunday, June 3, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of Highland Blvd. and Trophy Drive, near the Lakeway Swim Center. An earlier kids race be-gins at 8:00 a.m. in the same lo-cation. Next month’s Run for a Pur-pose is the only running event in the metroplex whose pro-ceeds stay in Texas, either go-ing to scholarships or research. The sponsoring program and its namesake has its beginnings rooted in West Austin. Former Lake Travis Middle School Ath-letic Director Rexanna Hawkins, died from the disease in 2006 – just shy of her 50th birthday and only two months following her diagnosis. Over the past two years, Rexanna’s Foundation has raised more than $140,000 for lung cancer research and mon-ies from the June 3 race will go towards research efforts at M.D.

Anderson Cancer Center as well as the group’s scholarship pro-gram benefiting high school stu-dents who have been personally affected by cancer. According to race organizer Lindsey Vaughn, only 15 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer live for five years. “After learning about the dev-astating facts about lung cancer, there was not a doubt in my mind that something needed to be done to raise awareness and money for this deadly disease,” said Vaughn, who is also an honorary board member of the foundation. “I am going to ‘Run for a Purpose’ to run for those who cannot, to stay healthy, to raise awareness about lung can-cer and to contribute financially to lung cancer research.” “We believe having a 5K event will be a great way to get the community involved, raise awareness and give back to lung cancer research as well as to stu-dent scholarships,” Vaughn said. For more information and to register, visit www.runforapur-pose.com.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes is currently registering its 2nd an-nual summer camp - Get Tough on Poverty. "The kids who come to this camp have a great time! They get to participate in all the tradi-tional summer camp activities, and come out with a new per-spective on life. It is awesome to watch them learn to serve oth-ers in need,” said Shayne Baker, MLF Camp Director. The camp provides a fun and safe atmosphere for children to learn about poverty and get in-volved and serve others. The children will make lunches and baked goods to load onto the truck, stock and organize the pantry, create sur-

vival bags for the homeless, as well as arts and crafts, learning activities and games. All camps are located at St. Thomas More Catholic Church. Currently registration is un-derway for four camp sessions:

Camp 1-Jun 11-Jun 15Camp 2- Jun 25-Jun 29Camp 3-Jul 9- Jul 13Camp 4 Jul 30-Aug 3

The camp cost is $100 per child and all proceeds from the program directly benefit the Four Points MLF Truck that operates from the St. Thomas More campus. For more information or to register your child, please visit our website: www.mlfcamp.org

Mobile Loaves & Fishes summer camp registration is underway. The camps are held at St. Thomas More Catholic Church where childrenmake lunches and goodies to stock the truck and pantry. They also have other learning activities and games.

Run for a Purpose breaks new ground in charity runs

Mobile Loaves & Fishes summer camp registration

for apartment residents.” Taylor Morrison, through its Vice Presi-dent Adib Khoury, “offered that a gate could be electronically controlled to allow for only residents of Canyon Glen to have access - providing an additional exit point and ben-efit” to the neighborhood. According to Steiner Ranch Neighbor-hood Association Chairman Brian Thomp-

to, both sides agreed that a vehicular con-trolled gate access to the Canyon Glen section is “something workable.” Other issues discussed during a recent meeting include setting limitations on resi-dential development such that Leander ISD students currently living in Steiner Ranch will not be bussed out of the area, agreeing to compromise on development options of

the remaining tracts and adding additional improvements at the intersection of RM 620 and Steiner Ranch Boulevard to ease traffic flow. In related news, Austin City Council’s approval of Tract MU-14’s zoning change which will also provide a limit on the num-ber of units that can be built is slated for Thursday, May 24, 2:00 p.m. at City Hall.

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Debbie Roach, Randalls Quinlan Crossing Cus-tomer Service Supervisor, hands out samples to hungry Viperpalooza participants last weekend.

The sky’s the limit for Cox Elementary School second-grader Colin Olsen as he laughs through a bungee jump activity at Vandegrift’s third annual Viperpalooza celebration on Saturday.

Vandegrift senior Kolton Joines is not sure of the flavor of pie he just received at last week’s Viper-palooza festival. “It’s cool to hang out with your friends here,” said Joines who is bound for Baylor University’s football program in the fall.

Grandview Hills’ Zia Rashed gets ready to “roll” inside of a ball featured at Viper Basketball’s fund-raiser booth during Viperpalooza.

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Leslee BassmanLeslee BassmanLeslee BassmanLeslee Bassman

Leslee Bassman

Leslee Bassman

Above: Vandegrift mom Kelli Brown (left) speaks to freshman parent Linda Smith about the school’s Project Grad, a program aimed at providing this year’s “graduating seniors with a fun, safe place to celebrate their last night together as high school students” and consisting of a volunteer-funded chaperoned evening at Dave & Buster’s fol-lowing the June 3 ceremonies. For more information, go to [email protected]: Four-year-old Lukas Vega of Grandview Hills proudly shows off the pirate tattoo he received at last week’s Viperpalooza.

CMYK

sPorts & music thursdayMay 24, 2012 •

Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.com

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Head Coach Drew Sanders comments

The Vandegrift spring football session for 2012 was great for us as we attempt to build our team for next year. I have had some young men step up and they will do a great job leading the new look Vipers for 2012. We’ve set some very high

expectations and the kids un-derstand that we must deliver another playoff trip and more playoff success. They have no doubt they’ll do it. As far as specifically for our team in 2012, we have some question marks on the offensive side. Almost 80 percent of our offensive production are gradu-ating, so we have some holes to fill. But we have great talent

coming up so I actually feel very confident that we will step up and continue to score points like we did last year. I think our defense will be stronger than last year’s with seven starters returning. We only gave up 15.9 points per game, but I believe we’ll eclipse that mark this year. I can’t wait until football sea-son!

Student-run event hosts 367 at country club

By RICH KEITHFour Points News

A formal banquet was held on Friday for the students and parents of the Vandegrift High School band and Vision Dance Company. Held at the Austin Country Club overlooking Lake Austin, the banquet was organized en-tirely by the student leadership team under the direction of stu-dent Madeline Stich. A dinner followed by an awards ceremony and danc-ing highlighted their successful year. “Our award-winning VHS marching band, in existence for only three years, took ninth place in the state of Texas out of over 250 class-4A band pro-grams during 2011,” said Jeremy Spicer, director of bands. VHS principal Charlie Little also attended the banquet and was thanked for his enthusiastic support of the band program, which is now and will continue to be the largest program on campus. The top award of the evening

was the John Philip Sousa Band Award, given to senior Matt Szostak, who plays tuba. Szostak is the first All-State musician in the history of the program. The John Philip Sousa Band Award is the pinnacle of achievement for high school band students. Created in 1955, the award hon-ors the top student in a high-school band and recognizes superior musicianship and out-standing dedication. It was de-veloped with the cooperation of Helen Sousa Albert and Priscilla Sousa, daughters of the famous composer and bandmaster. The Vandegrift High School band and Vision Dance Com-pany 2011-2012 awards are:

Outstanding Marching Musi-cian – Brian Wolf, Calvin GengMost Improved Marching Mu-sician – Sophie Grossman, Da-vid MeeksOutstanding Vision Dancer – Romina MontellanoMost Improved Vision Dancer – Abby KnowlesOutstanding Marching Band Member – Kristen AbbarnoOutstanding Marching Per-cussionist – Jordan Ng, Kyle RichardsonMost Improved Marching Per-cussionist – John Sutfin, An-

drew EngenOutstanding Concert Percus-sionist – Sam Holmes, Rachael Klein, Mitchel StipekMost Improved Concert Per-cussionist – Aric Hasting, Jake Nanez, Sam YarbroughOutstanding Concert Band 2 Musician – Max BernhardtMost Improved Concert Band 2 Musician – Haley Rolfe, Josh-ua HarrisOutstanding Concert Band 1 Musician –Ashley Saathoff, Kate WongMost Improved Concert Band 1 Musician – Cassie Ellswood, Kristen WolfOutstanding Symphonic Winds Musician – Sarah Has-sall, Luke HillMost Improved Symphon-ic Winds Musician – Nikki Jaynes, Forrest KeithOutstanding Wind Ensemble Musician – Caitlin Hall, Mo-riah GonzalezMost Improved Wind Ensem-ble Musician – Katelin Maatz, Sabrina CheshireSecond to None Award – Craig WolfTexas All-State Band Recogni-tion – Matthew SzostakJohn Phillip Sousa Award – Matthew Szostak

Viper football rebuilds offenseVHS band program honors students at banquet

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Vandegrift senior J T Graham showcases his deejay talents during the school’s recent Viperpalooza festival. Graham intends to pursue his passion for music following graduation.

HEB Four Points Community Coordinator Monica Banks’ booth cooled off many area residents during the warm weather of last week’s Viperpalooza. Banks distributed iced bandanas and Quench drinks to participants of the event.

Massage Therapist Sandra Archibald (right) sets up a chair for Debbie Zernow at Viperpalooza’s Four Points Family Chiropractic’ booth. “I’m a teacher and I enjoy massages so this is the perfect time of year for this,” said Zernow, wife of Vandegrift High School coach Gary Zernow.

Leslee Bassman

Leslee Bassman

Leslee Bassman

May 24, 2012

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