By Trina Bolfing
Special to the Picayune

The Westbank libraries are excited to present the 2012 Summer Reading Program for the whole family. Starting June 2, parents can register children and teens for the program by visiting westbanklibrary.com or by coming in to either branch. Aside from reading, we’ll also have tons of events for every age group.
On June 5, come to Laura’s Library and witness Venus Transit, a once-in-a-lifetime eclipse event. Visitors can see Venus pass directly between the sun and the earth. The Austin Astronomical Society and the library will host this event, so look forward to trying out telescopes and solar glasses. Venus Transit will not happen again until 2117.
The normal storytime schedule will continue for the younger set, but also look for special performers every Thursday morning, crafts for kids at least twice a week, a weekly bookclub and series of events for middle-school students, weekly programs and a lock-in for teens, guest speakers for adults, and more. The very popular riddle contest for children, and the prize drawing contest for adults is also back; stop by the library in person to participate. We cannot wait to see you and your family this summer.

The seeds have sprouted. Now what?
How do you establish newly planted seeds once they have sprouted? Come to Laura’s Library on June 9 at 1:30 p.m. and hear guest-speaker George Cates from Native American Seed Company talk about how to be successful in maintaining native prairies. This program is sponsored by the library and by Commons Ford Prairies Restoration Organization.

Raising financially responsible children
Come to Laura’s Library on June 11 or Westbank on June 13, both at 6 p.m., to attend a free, educational seminar that aims to teach parents how to communicate the value of money to their children. Learn age-appropriate methods to discuss allowance, savings habits, disciplined shopping, and identifying the difference between a need and a want. Light snacks will be provided.

Libraries closed for Memorial Day
Please be aware that both branches will be closed May 28 for Memorial Day. We will open with our normal hours on May 29.

Regularly Scheduled Programs
Check our Web site for up-to-date information on programs such as book selections and special programs. Over the summer, some groups may take a break, so check out your favorite group on our website.

Adult book groups
Regularly scheduled meetings of adult book groups are: Booktalk Book Group on the last Tuesday of the month, 1 p.m. at Westbank; Mysteries & More Book Club on the third Wednesday of the month, 1 p.m. at Westbank; and Third Tuesday Book Club on the third Tuesday of the month, 6:30 p.m. at Laura’s.

Craft Groups
Regularly scheduled meetings of adult craft groups are:
The Bag Ladies (sew up some super cute bags) on the second and third Fridays of the month, 11 a.m. at Laura’s; Knit Wits on Fridays, noon at Westbank; First Monday Knitters on the first Monday of the month (note that this group no longer meets weekly), 6 p.m. at Laura’s; and Quilters on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, 1 p.m. at Westbank.

Groups that defy definitions
Other adult groups that meet regularly are: Meditation on Tuesdays, noon at Westbank; Technology Tutorials with iTeens on the first Wednesday of the month at Westbank and third Tuesday of the month at Laura’s, both at 6 p.m.; French Film Club (watch the film selection at home, then come discuss in French at the library) on the third Wednesday of the month, 7 p.m. at Westbank; and First Friday Genealogy Group on the first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. at Laura’s.

Kids, tweens and teens
Please remember that all children under age 8 need to be within sight distance of a parent at all times. It is both a library policy and a state law. Events for teens and younger children include: First Wednesday, Krafty Kids (all ages) 6:30 p.m. at Westbank; Second Tuesday, Krafty Kids (all ages) 6:30 p.m. at Laura’s; Third Wednesday, Pajama Storytime (all ages) 6:30 p.m. at Westbank; Fourth Tuesday, Pajama Storytime (all ages) 6:30 p.m. at Laura’s; Mondays, Dragon Eggs Storytime (ages 0-1) 10:30 a.m. at Westbank; Little Dragons Storytime (ages 3-5) 12:30 p.m. at Laura’s; Open Chess Play (all ages) 5 p.m. at Laura’s; Tuesdays, Little Dragons Storytime (ages 3-5) 10:30 a.m. at Westbank; Family Storytime (all ages) 3:30 p.m. at Westbank; Wednesdays, Tot Time Storytime (ages 1-3) 10:30 a.m. at both branches; Family Storytime (all ages) 4 p.m. at Laura’s; Thursdays, Dragon Eggs Storytime (ages 0-1) 10:30 a.m. at Laura’s; and Fridays, Friday Film Series (all ages) third Fridays of the month, 4 p.m. at Laura’s.

The Westbank Community Library District, 1309 Westbank Drive, is the first-ever library district created in Texas. Revenue is derived from a one-half cent sales tax. For more information, call 327.3045. Please visit the District’s Web site at westbanklibrary.com to find out more about current library happenings.

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Finally, after nearly three years of negotiations, the Lower Colorado River Authority has accepted our offer to purchase our wastewater system.

It all started in June of 2009 with our first purchase offer, which was rejected. We went back and forth with LCRA staff for the next 18 months trying to convince them that many of the price components they were insisting upon were inflated or not appropriate. We reached an impasse in December of 2010 when they rejected an updated offer from the city and announced that they were selling all 32 of their water and wastewater systems to the highest bidder.

Fearing that our system would be sold to a for-profit, Enron-like utility company, we reached out to the other systems’ stakeholders and helped form the Coalition for Central Texas Utilities Development Corporation. The coalition concentrated the public and political support against the LCRA’s decision to sell off these utilities, and ultimately succeeded in getting the LCRA to agree to sell the largest piece of the systems to a new public entity – thanks in no small part to State Sen. Kirk Watson who advocated strongly on behalf of the Coalition.

Meanwhile, West Lake Hills pursued a secondary strategy to prevent our system from being sold to a private firm. We engaged an appraiser to calculate the market value of our system and put the word out on the street that we would condemn our system at that value if anyone bought it. That successfully prevented a sale to a third party, but it left our system in the hands of the LCRA when they announced that they were pulling it off the market.

Building on the precedents set by the sale to the coalition, the City Council authorized another offer in March, which was accepted by the LCRA in April. The City’s legal team of Ed McCarthy and Alan Bojorquez are negotiating the final details of the purchase agreement with the LCRA and our financial advisors, Chris Lane and Jerry Kyle, are working diligently to nail down the financing details. If all goes as planned, we should be able to close on the purchase in early July.

We have already demonstrated many times that owning our system makes sense. In addition to the security of owning and controlling our own system, there are financial benefits as well. We’ll save several million dollars over the next 20 years by maintaining the system ourselves, and with interest rates at near-record lows, we’ll save many millions more on the financing. We’ll also avoid all of the LCRA markups on the important “Phase 3” expansion of our system to serve the Hull Circle area, which we hope to begin constructing soon after we close on the purchase.

Late last month, the City Council voted to finance the purchase using revenue bonds which are secured by the wastewater system rates only. They also voted to use $2 million of the city’s nearly $6 million-plus reserve fund to help offset some of the purchase price and related costs. These additional funds will help fund the reserve requirements for the bonds and provide construction capital for the Phase 3 expansion.

Purchasing our wastewater system is one of the most complex endeavors I have ever been involved with. And it simply could not have happened without the hard work and tireless devotion of many people, including: our wastewater coordinator, Robbie Davis; Chairman Steve Hudson other volunteer West Lake Hills Wastewater Commission members Clayton Bullock, David Frank, John Chamblee, Paul Gaddis and Stephanie Shea; our legal and finance teams; our City Council members, Andrew Schwartz, Spencer Stevens, Stan Graham, Jean Goehring and Earl Broussard; and last but certainly not least, our most excellent City Administrator Robert Wood. Kudos to all of you – and thanks for sticking with it. It finally paid off.
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Three movements occurred last week in a legal battle over whether the state of Texas will allow health services to be rendered by Planned Parenthood affiliate clinics under the federal and state funded Women’s Health Program.
* On April 30, Austin U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel granted an injunction requested by the clinics to prevent the state from stopping them from serving enrollees — low-income women who do not have health insurance.
* Later on April 30, U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Smith granted the state’s request for a stay of the district court’s injunction.
* And on May 4, a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit lifted Judge Smith’s stay of the injunction until a trial on merits can be heard.
So, now, the stay of the injunction is in effect, meaning the state Department of Health and Human Services may not enforce its rule banning affiliates of abortion providers from the Women’s Health Program.
The Fifth Circuit panel’s order requires a lower court trial to be on the next available regular oral argument docket.
Plaintiffs assert that the state, in preventing them from rendering services to enrollees, violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment (freedom of speech and association) and Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection under the laws).
What triggered this recent series of legal maneuvers was a March 14 state Department of Health and Human Services administrative rule that set an April 30 deadline for clinics offering Women’s Health Program services to “certify compliance” – meaning, have no connection with any facility that performs legal abortions.
New licensing requirements
New proof of residency requirements to obtain Texas driver licenses or identification cards took effect on May 7.
In announcement last week, the Texas Department of Public Safety said first-time applicants, in addition to standard application requirements, will be required to present two acceptable documents containing the applicant’s name and address to establish proof of residency in the state of Texas.
To meet the residency requirement for an original identification card or driver license, an applicant must:
- Reside in Texas for at least 30 days prior to application; and
- Present two acceptable documents establishing proof of residency, one of which must demonstrate the applicant has lived in Texas at least 30 days.
Test to screen for SCID
The Texas Department of State Health Services on May 3 announced it is adding severe combined immunodeficiency, SCID, to the list of diseases that all newborns in Texas are screened for at birth.
The DSHS laboratory plans to begin screening for SCID in September using the same newborn screening specimens already collected to test for 28 other rare disorders.
Blood to be tested is drawn by a heel stick within 48 hours of birth and again at one to two weeks of age, the agency said.
Combs to lead task force
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs will lead a new “Child Identity Protection Task Force” managed by The Center for Identity at The University of Texas at Austin.
“Child identity theft and fraud result in a wide range of crimes against children,” the center’s director, Suzanne Barber, said April 30.
“The social harm of online impostors bullying or preying on our children is devastating, and the UT Child Identity Protection Task Force will work tirelessly to help children and parents guard against these crimes,” Combs said.
Among task force members are individuals with the FBI, Secret Service, TransUnion, LexisNexis and Internet safety group WiredSafety.org.
Permian proposes $10K degree
A “Texas Science Scholar” undergraduate degree to be offered by the Odessa-based University of Texas of the Permian Basin beginning in the fall is the first answer to a call by Gov. Rick Perry for institutions of higher learning to adopt a $10,000 four-year undergraduate degree.
Announced at a May 2 UT System board of regents meeting by UT-Permian Basin President David Watts, the bachelor of science degree program will offer majors in chemistry, computer science, geology, information systems and mathematics on the UTPB campus.
Education chief resigns
Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott on May 3 announced his intent to resign from office effective July 2, five years after his appointment to the state’s highest public education post.
Scott, 43, a former education aide to Gov. Perry, served as interim commissioner and deputy commissioner before being named to the highest post in the agency.
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When I ran for mayor four years ago, I pledged to do my best to end the rancorous bickering that had plagued West Lake Hills for the previous two years – and, for the most part, I believe the City Council and I have achieved that goal.

So I was rather startled to read a recent campaign email from Lyn Weingarten, candidate for City Council Place 5, which I feel grossly misrepresents her opponent’s positions on wildfire safety and forest management.

In her email, Ms. Weingarten states her support for several actions that the city has already taken to reduce wildfire risk, but she offers no new ideas for reducing that risk.

Instead, she attacks some of the many ideas that her opponent, David Moore, has promoted in his campaign literature and on his website at www.moore4place5.com. She derides his suggestion that the city should promote proper forest management techniques as prescribed by the Texas Forest Service and the U.S. Forest Service, declaring that doing so would “require a massive cutting of trees” and would result in West Lake Hills being reduced to “just another concrete suburb.”

To underscore her point, she includes an aerial photo of a treeless, dense suburban neighborhood immediately adjacent to a heavily forested hillside. The photo in no way resembles West Lake Hills – but she implies that it could, if her opponent is elected.

Using fear mongering and hyperbole to mischaracterize your opponent’s viewpoint is not helpful or instructive to the voters. The issues of wildfire protection and urban forest management are complex and nuanced. Our community can and should have a respectful dialog about how best to prevent wildfires while preserving our unique forested ecosystem.

I urge both candidates and their supporters to maintain a civil and respectful dialog for the remainder of this campaign season. Let’s advance the conversation, not cheapen it.

Dave Claunch

McConnell Drive
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In 1991, I became the only native-born city council member ever elected in West Lake Hills. My family built our home in 1955 on property purchased from our neighbor, the first mayor of West Lake Hills. Having departed at age 18, I returned in 1990 to raise my family. Thus, I feel qualified to comment on the jewel that is West Lake Hills.

The only contested race for WLH City Council is for Place 5. I am enthusiastically supporting Lyn Weingarten. Lyn has lived in the city nearly 20 years, and she has served West Lake Hills on both the fire and master planning committees. What I like most about her is that she really, truly “gets” what makes our city so special. Consequently, she is dedicated to preserving the privacy and rural beauty we cherish while respecting each homeowner’s unique needs.

The area surrounding West Lake Hills has changed dramatically over the years, but our master plan and thoughtfully crafted ordinances have done much to preserve the city itself. Lyn Weingarten has the common sense, the intelligence and the character it takes to continue that legacy and to serve West Lake Hills with integrity and distinction. I urge you to help elect her by voting at Randalls today through May 8, or on Election Day, May 12.

Michelle Segall Bassett

Canyon Creek Drive
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