Liberty Hill Living

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LIBERTY HILL

P R O U D LY C E L E B R AT I N G T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F L I B E R T Y H I L L , T E X A S

PASSION FOR PIONEERING p.32 DESTINATION RECREATION p.43 EVERYBODY GOES p.60

For local families, there’s no place quite like Liberty Hill p.13

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*AWARDED 2017 COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR BY THE AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL & HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF GREATER AUSTINTIN

LIBERTY HILL www.LibertyHillLiving.com

f you’re reading this, you are either seeking to learn more about your home, you’re relocating your family because of our great public schools, or you are bringing a business to the Shin Oak Ridge. It doesn’t matter if you’re retiring here or looking to escape the traffic and undesirable parts of big city living. You will find a community ready for you to learn to love.

Before Willie Nelson chose Liberty Hill as the site of his 1975 famous picnic, our community had already passed more than 100 years and a couple of different name changes. Just as musical artists had converged for the birth of a new sound in Texas music, the following year sculptors from all over the world came to live here and create the legendary art that has eminently stood for more than 40 years.

If you take the time to read your history you’ll see we no longer gear up for raids by the Comanche or rush out to meet the stage coach. However, we still get ready to fend off the Burnet Bulldogs in football, and drive a few minutes to meet the commuter train to the big city.

When you visit downtown, you can still see a tiny glimpse into the past and what this community has seen and where it has been. While visiting the new home communities, don’t forget to take the long way back and drive down the many country roads and see our hills that pop up all across the Shin Oak Ridge. Drive alongside the fields, cattle and our two forks of the San Gabriel River where the dinosaur tracks and sometimes discovered arrowhead flints are the real thing. Then, you’ll get the sense of who we are and why humans and creatures of all kinds have been coming here for thousands of years.

So, things have changed a little bit with new schools, new businesses and new neighbors. However, Liberty Hill has held on to the good part of our small town charm. You will know your neighbors, make new friends and pick up on some of our traditions like the good natured rivalry and temporary enmity between us and the people

PHOTO BY KENDRA COFER

I

Welcome to Living in Liberty Hill

from Burnet who try to play football.

In this edition, you will read helpful articles that share the local flavor of the people and the place. You will also find the businesses who care. We’re proud to support the business owners and service providers who take the time to invest in local advertising to speak directly to you and your family.

As you noticed from our cover, Liberty Hill has always been about growing. Whether you are growing beautiful plants on the porch, involved in agribusiness through one of the many farms and ranches here, raising a garden or raising kids, you are in the right place. Your next task must be to teach your family how to make the LH hand sign to wave during the Panther Anthem. And of course, find the news you can trust by subscribing to The Liberty Hill Independent, your hometown source for information.

Welcome to Liberty Hill Living!

LIBERTY HILL LIVING | A Publication of The Liberty Hill Independent Newspaper PUBLISHER/MANAGING EDITOR | Shelly Wilkison PUBLICATION DESIGN | Stacy Coale, Bluehaus Design Co. for The Liberty Hill Independent ADVERTISING/GRAPHIC DESIGN | Rachel Viator, Stacy Coale ADVERTISING SALES | Katie Amsler WRITERS | Mike Eddleman, Keith Sparks, Lance Catchings, Rachel Madison, Dana Delgado, James Wear PHOTO CONTRIBUTIONS | Alex Rubio, Mike Eddleman, Dana Delgado, James Wear, Kendra Cofer, The Liberty Hill Independent For advertising rates and information, or to obtain additional copies, call (512) 778-5577 or write The Liberty Hill Independent, PO Box 1235, Liberty Hill, TX 78642; or send email to news@LHIndependent.com. Find Liberty Hill Living online at www.LibertyHillLiving.com.

The Publisher appreciates the active support of Liberty Hill area businesses and local governments for their generous contributions to Liberty Hill Living. This publication is truly a collaborative effort of a professional design team, experienced journalists, advertising specialists, community activists and historians, and many others passionate about sharing the story of Liberty Hill.

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COME SEE US AT OUR NEW OFFICE! 14362 W. Hwy 29, Suite 101 Liberty Hill

LIBERTY HILL www.LibertyHillLiving.com

CONTENTS

WELCOME

4 | Welcome to Liberty Hill

SOCIAL

10 | #LibertyHillTX

FEATURES

13 | No Place Like Home 23 | LIBERTY HILL HISTORY:

Movers & Shakers

32 | Passion for Pioneering

COMMUNITY

40 | Liberty Hill Events 43 | Destination Recreation 52 | LIBERTY HILL ISD:

A Community of Support

60 | LIBERTY HILL SPORTS: Everybody Goes

67 | LIBERTY HILL SPORTS: The Rivalry

70 | Volunteer Guide 73 | Liberty Hill Day of Giving

BUSINESS

76 | CITY DEVELOPMENT: Town Center Synergy

85 | CITY INFRASTRUCTURE: Ingredients for Growth

52 76

95 | Health + Wellness Guide 103 | CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Catalyst for Change

32 LIBERTY HILL LIVING is a publication of The Liberty Hill Independent.

(512) 778-5577 www.LHIndependent.com The information in this publication was compiled with great care to assure the accuracy of editorial content, Chamber of Commerce membership data and advertising copy.

The Liberty Hill Independent assumes no liability for the accuracy of the information reported to us herein, and the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

RESOURCES

108 | Helpful Numbers 109 | Business Directory 1 1 7 | Advertiser Index

I S S U E F O U R 2 0 1 8 | www.LibertyHillLiving.com

LIBERTY HILL

TEXAS OMMUNIT Y OF LIBERT Y HILL, P R O U D LY C E L E B R AT I N G T H E C

Cliff and Laura Farmer traded city life for open spaces and quality schools when they chose life on a farm in Liberty Hill.

Attracted by country living, the family found 11 acres and created a home for their children, Jackson and Madison,

Copyright ©2018 The Liberty Hill Independent All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher — The Liberty Hill Independent, PO Box 1235, Liberty Hill, TX 78642.

ABOUT OUR COVER

and plenty of farm animals. The Farmers are like many For local families, there’s no place quite like Liberty Hill

families new to the area who are choosing small town life, and have found Liberty Hill to be a welcome change.

Photo by Kelly Bauch, Bluebird Photography Studio

L I B E RT Y H I L L L I V I N G 2 018

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M O R N I N G S TA R

I N

L I B E R T Y

H I L L

I S D

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the living is easy. We’ve got everything you want in a new community – a relaxed, welcoming vibe, resort-style amenities, great builders, and exceptional schools – and

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access in and out of the community via both Hwy. 29 and Ronald Reagan. Come out and see us today and breathe easy,

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| SOCIAL: #LIBERTYHILLTX |

Liberty Hill is a great place to live and play – as confirmed by the photos we found on social media.

Tag your social media photos with #LibertyHillTX and look for them here next issue.

#LibertyHillTX philostrophy

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Liberty Hill, Texas

Liberty Hill, Texas

Liberty Hill, Texas

More of that interesting storm system that developed near us. This system developed into a storm cell that produced 60MPH winds and gold ball sized hail. A tornado was reported but not confirmed.

Hey, I think you need to mow your lawn now.

She’s a wild one, with an angel’s face.

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Liberty Hill, Texas

Liberty Hill, Texas

Liberty Hill, Texas

Spring break!!!

Step right up folks!! For just 25 cents you can witness the meanest mug in all the land!! And by meanest, I really mean cutest

Sunrise Playtime

IMAGES © PHOTOGRAPHERS AS NOTED. PERMISSION GRANTED FOR ONE-TIME USAGE.

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LIBERTY HILL

PHOTO BY KELLY BAUCH, BLUEBIRD PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO

Attracted by country living, Cliff and Laura Farmer brought their children, Madison and Jackson, to Liberty Hill where they found exceptional schools and a welcoming community.

Home

NO PLACE LIKE With open spaces and room to grow, Liberty Hill is becoming the new home

for hundreds of families each year seeking respite from the stress of the big city.

STORY BY LANCE CATCHINGS

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THE FARMERS, WHAT’S IN A NAME Cliff and Laura Farmer gave their children, Jackson and Madison, the greatest surprise of their lives for Christmas 2015. The family got a new house in Liberty Hill, but the beginning of that story starts in Austin.

Farmer said.

“When I met him in 2002 you had to drive through four cattle guards to get down to his house. Steiner Ranch was an actual ranch back then. The longer time went on and it grew he was not happy there. One morning we were having breakfast with the kids and we just decided to start looking.”

The family knew they wanted land and space for animals, but after their first option went out the window they came up with a new plan. Cliff and Laura kept searching and after finding a house in Durham Park devised an interesting plan to reveal it to their kids.

“We moved into our fifth wheel trailer in October and we told the kids we were looking for land,” she said.

“We said we were just going to build and unbeknownst to them we actually bought a house and were moving in. We told them ahead of time that our Christmas was going to be small and we didn’t have any room to put any stuff in the trailer. We had Christmas in the trailer and they each got three gifts. We said we were going to a movie and on the way there we needed to stop by this house. When they walked in they started seeing their stuff.

My son recognized the deer on the wall and my daughter saw her picture on the mantel. We ended up having family over and then having Christmas there.”

The rush of emotion made for a lifelong memory for the family as it became a special day. Laura Farmer was born and raised in Austin and never imagined she would be living in a town the size of Liberty Hill.

“My husband missed small town

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PHOTO BY KELLY BAUCH, BLUEBIRD PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO

“M

y husband bought our old house in Steiner Ranch in 1995,” Laura

living,” she said.

“We said we were moving to the small town and my daughter said she would only move if she got a horse. She actually has two horses now. We knew if we did it we wanted to have land and animals. I joke that I have officially moved into the Farmer name. We have a big garden and I have cows, goats, chickens and horses. It is something that I never thought my life would be, but my only regret is that we did not do it sooner.”

From the oldest to the youngest the entire family has been rejuvenated by the small town family feel of Liberty Hill.

“We were driving home one day and my son said you know I just love Liberty Hill,” she said. “That was coming from a seventh grader at the time. He said that everybody is really nice and the pace is just slower.”

Laura is adamant about keeping the small town feel of Liberty Hill in Liberty Hill.

“I don’t want an H-E-B in Liberty Hill,” she said.

“I love Parker’s (Corner Market) and I love the small town feel of what we have here in Liberty Hill. I don’t need a bunch of restaurants and since we don’t have them we cook at home more. We are more of a family living in Liberty Hill. Our kids are learning more responsibilities by growing up in a small town. Their responsibilities every day when they get home from school are to go feed all the animals. We would have never had that in Austin.”

The Farmers looked in a couple areas surrounding Liberty Hill, but always knew they wanted their kids in Liberty Hill ISD. “We looked in Burnet, but the goal was always to have the kids in the Liberty Hill school district,” she said.

Coming from the city the transition to country living was easier than most might think for the family.

“It was an easy transition,” she said.

“We have three goats, four cows, two horses, 11 chickens, four cats and three dogs now. My husband asked if I ever pictured this and I said no, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I never thought my life would be on 11 acres with all these animals, but I love it.”

When describing her new home Laura said it just feels like family.

“The feel of the town just feels like family,” she said.

“To me everyone has been very welcoming to an outsider moving into a small town. There is something for everybody in Liberty Hill. I like the fact that people still wave when you are driving by. Liberty Hill has taught me that I like this life. I could see us moving down the road after the kids are done with school to a place with more land and less house.”

•

SMALL TOWN IS RIGHT FIT FOR RHODEN FAMILY Mark and Sherry Rhoden were a happy family living in Cedar Park.

They had talked about the idea of moving, but nothing had come from it until their son, Ryan, started to really push the idea.

change of the small town.

“We were ready for the quiet and the change that Liberty Hill brought,” Sherry said. “Everyone here is friendly. We went to Margarita’s Restaurant and the owner came and sat with us; you just don’t get that other places.”

As for their son, Ryan, one night while playing Yahtzee he made the biggest proclamation his parents had ever heard about their move to Liberty Hill.

“Our son said after his first week at LHHS, ‘they have rules at the school,’” Sherry said.

“The kids follow the rules and the teachers are able to teach. He said for the first time in three years I am learning again.

When he said that, it was a stab in my heart.

He never complained about school in Cedar Park. He made good grades and he was the quarterback of the football team, but when he said that we were a little shocked. We didn’t move for the school, we moved for the smaller community and the land but the school has been an added bonus.”

They believe they have found the best of both worlds in their new community.

“In some ways Liberty Hill is very similar in community feel to Cedar Park,” Mark said.

“Going into Winkley’s I think is pretty cool. In a way it’s almost like going back in time. We love our land, it’s quiet and you can actually see the stars out there.

All the kids we have met through our son have been extremely nice and respectful.

Our son loves the school. It’s hard to move into a new high school where you left all your friends, but he went right in and has not had any issues. It makes you feel good that he is happy and settled. We are happy where we are now and there’s no new house CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 file now.”

PHOTO BY ALEX RUBIO

“W

e lived in Cedar Park for 17 years and we felt like the city was just growing around us,” Sherry said.

“Ryan, who is currently a freshman at Liberty Hill High School, in sixth grade started saying he wanted to go to a smaller school. I think it was because he had cousins going to smaller schools and he would hear some of that good small town stuff. We told him to pray about it, because at the time we didn’t know. We were settled so our son started contacting realtors and they would call us.”

Mark said he was a little surprised when his son started talking about attending a smaller school.

“When he came home talking about going to a smaller school we just asked him what do you know about a smaller school?

He had been in Cedar Park his whole life,” Mark said.

“He just got it in his head that a smaller school, whatever that meant to him, was a better fit. Our daughter was in high school so she even came and did a day at Liberty Hill High School to see if she wanted to spend her senior year here. She is into rodeo and horses so that is another reason we were looking.”

The family made the move in November 2017 after almost two years of looking and have been thrilled with their decision ever since. Having lived in Cedar Park for almost 20 years they were familiar with the community of Liberty Hill before they took the leap of faith.

“We had friends that lived in Liberty Hill and they all spoke very highly of the town,” Mark said.

“We are a big sports family and Liberty Hill had a good reputation in sports.

They have amazing facilities as well so

that was another cool thing about it.

When it came down to it, it was between Liberty Hill and Salado and everything fell into place in Liberty Hill. We found a nice lot with a good builder and it seemed like it was meant to happen.”

The Rhodens started their next house file many years ago never expecting it would land them in Liberty Hill.

“Through the whole process we prayed about it and God led us to Mindy Wright who stuck with us for two and a half years as our realtor,” Sherry said.

“We looked in Salado and God just shut every door there. Every time we thought we had found something it would end up sold. We started our next house file 15 years ago. We would watch TV shows, or find a newspaper clipping of something we like and would throw it in that file.

When we found this house our builder said why aren’t y’all looking at the house next door? Our realtor thought it was sold.

The builder said that would explain why the property hadn’t sold. Once he started telling us about it, it had all the things in our next house file.

The family was ready for the quiet

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NO PLACE LIKE

Home

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

FAITH LEADS FAMILY TO LIBERTY HILL Kirk and Linda had no idea they would be living in Liberty Hill two years ago. Both had recently retired from the Air Force and were enjoying life in the Pensacola, FL area.

A

family with a devout faith, wife and mother of two, Linda brought the idea to her husband one evening after a special encounter.

My husband retired in 2013 and I retired in 2014 from the United States Air Force,” Linda said.

“In 2015 I was horseback riding in Florida one day. I could hear God tell me to move to Texas and I saw a vision of a camp for military children. The camp would be for military children that live with service connected veterans. Many service members come back wounded from war, but there is no place for the children to learn how to renew, rebuild and restore themselves. Their parent, who was a normal high functioning parent, comes back with injuries and they have different circumstances than when they first left.”

Linda immediately went home to discuss her vision with her husband.

“I went home and told my husband that God talked to me today,” she said.

“I told him I felt we needed to move to Texas. Obedience is really important to my husband so he said if that’s what you heard from God we need to start looking.

We prayed about where and the next day I woke up and said the Austin area.”

With a son in his junior year of high school, Linda was apprehensive to let him know their plans.

“Our son was in his junior year and really big into football. I did not know if he would accept the idea of us moving,” she said.

“Our oldest had lived in nine different states because of all the military moves.

We had really promised him one place and we would not move again. At the same time

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COURTESY PHOTO

I had to be obedient to what God told me as well. We made the decision to come to Texas and our son was very supportive.”

Neither Kirk or Linda had been to the Austin area prior to searching for an acceptable area to live.

“Prior to our research we knew nothing about the area,” she said.

“Neither of us had even visited Austin before. The first time we came out to see the area and the schools was our first time all together. We liked living near a city, but we preferred to live on the outskirts of the city. We looked at other areas of similar size, but the big thing for us was the school district. School rating, classes sizes and a quality football program was important to us. After we did the research on those things, Liberty Hill ISD rose to the top for us. We came out and went to the master

plan built community and fell in love with Rancho Sienna. We isolated our search for homes in the Liberty Hill district so we could make sure we were in that district.

Once we visited we knew right away this

was the right place for us. We moved here in February 2017.”

Linda said the community, location and Texas Hill Country made Liberty Hill the perfect place for her family.

“The community and people here are great,” she said.

“The outdoor activities, and the parks and recreation is fantastic. The city of Austin is close and there is a lot for families to do there as well. Geographically speaking, you get the smaller city, but you are very close to Dallas and Houston. You can do bigger family things theme parks etc. without having to fly somewhere to do them. The hill country is an absolutely beautiful area. Bluebonnets, longhorns, sunset you just can’t compare it to when you drive to other places.”

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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NO PLACE LIKE

Home

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

FROM ALASKA TO TEXAS: ADAMS FAMILY MAKES NEW HOME IN LIBERTY HILL While many families have come from all over the map to make Liberty Hill their home, one would be hard pressed to find one that traveled further than the Adams.

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“I love they are bringing more restaurants and the different stores that have opened. It doesn’t feel like it is bombarded though. You still get your boutique stores and your mom and pop shops. The community is growing, but not at an overwhelming rate. I have mixed feelings on the growth. Growth is inevitable and is good for everyone on the financial side with the money and jobs it will bring to the community. I think there has to be a happy medium.

You have to allow the people here to grow with it. I don’t want to see it grow too much. We need to keep it spread out and open as opposed to being congested.”

Rebecca works part-time locally, which added to this being the perfect spot for her family. Liberty Hill is also a short commute to Austin Bergstrom International Airport, which her husband uses frequently.

“I work part-time locally for RockPointe Church,” she said.

“My husband works a rotational schedule and travels back and forth to Alaska for work. The airport is only about an hour drive for us so it is not too bad from where we live.”

In their downtime, you can find the family supporting the local Panther teams or out on the water.

“We own a boat and love that we can drive only an hour and be on the lake,” she said. “That is how we usually spend our family time in the summer. All of our kids play sports so we are supporters of the youth sports programs. We like to go to the local restaurants and shops in town. Besides the weather and size there is really not a huge difference between Wasilla and Liberty Hill. We still had all the same activities, minus all the snow.”

COURTESY PHOTO

W

ife and mother of three, Rebecca Adams, is a Texan by birth, but she soon found herself in what many call “The Last Frontier”.

“My husband and I are from Wasilla, Alaska, and all three of our kids were born there,” Rebecca Adams said.

“My husband was born and raised there and I lived there for about 20 years. I am originally from northeast Texas, but my family moved to Alaska when I was 12 years old. My dad went there for work so that’s where I lived and met my husband.”

Although she enjoyed Alaska, the call of the Lonestar State always had her heart.

Her family enjoyed their visits here before deciding to make it permanent.

“While I was in Wasilla, I always missed Texas and wanted to come back,” she said.

“We had family in Texas so we visited for family functions. We finally got tired of all the cold and decided to move. I knew I did not want to go to northeast Texas so we settled on central Texas. In 2013, we moved to the Leander area.”

After finding a home in nearby Leander and getting settled, the family knew they needed more space. More space and less people is what led them to start another house hunt, this time in Liberty Hill.

“We bought a house in Leander in a tight small community,” she said.

“We realized pretty quickly that we needed a little bit of space and some land.

Our oldest was starting high school and Leander High School is very large. We started researching smaller towns around Leander with smaller schools for the kids. We wanted something more quaint and community driven. We came out to Liberty Hill to drive around and just loved it.”

After researching several communities of similar size, the family had a gut feeling Liberty Hill was the place for them.

“We looked at areas near Georgetown and Lago Vista. The whole time something kept pulling us back to Liberty Hill. We looked in all of the north Austin area and Liberty Hill seemed to be the best fit for our family. It’s hard to explain, but it just felt like home to us.”

The family packed up and relocated to the Iron Oaks area of Liberty Hill. One thing that really impressed both parents was Liberty Hill’s award-winning school district.

“We built our house on a couple acres and started our new life in Liberty Hill,” she said.

“We were really impressed by the school district for our kids. We liked the smaller class sizes and the land was also a big draw for us. We love how everything is so spaced out here. It’s not overcrowded and anytime we go to restaurants everyone is so friendly. We love the small town feel of Liberty Hill.”

Rebecca Adams has already noticed the growth in the community and has mostly good feelings about it.

“Liberty Hill has done a good job preserving the small community feel, while also still leaving room for growth,” she said.

•

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

LIBERTY HILL

NO PLACE LIKE

Home

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

NEWLYWEDS FIND BEST OF BOTH WORLDS IN LIBERTY HILL John and Nicole Dalby grew up in Belton, just a quick 50-mile drive up Interstate 35.

They recently got married and moved into their new home in Santa Rita Ranch, but as with most things in life, to get to this point was far from a straight shot.

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PHOTO BY ALEX RUBIO

“W

e grew up together and are both from Belton,” Nicole said. “We got older and did the college thing separately. He has worked overseas and I worked all over the United States.”

“She was living in Austin off of (US Highway) 183 and I had a house in Temple,” John said.

“I sold my house and stayed with my parents for a while when she and I started dating. Right before we got engaged in March 2017 we started going to look at homes. We loved where she lived in Austin because it was five minutes away from everything. As we started looking we saw that if we wanted to stay near that area we would have to get an older home. We looked in Leander and Cedar Park and saw a few neighborhoods that we liked. We wanted the community atmosphere and as we went through the different places we didn’t see very many people outside; everyone was kind of to themselves.”

When it came to searching for the right community the couple had to compromise a bit. Nicole loved life in the city, while John wanted land and space. After roughly a year of searching they found a happy medium in Liberty Hill.

“He was looking for land and space because in Belton that’s what you get,” Nicole said. “I was looking for community and things like that so we had to compromise a little bit. The neighborhood and the feel of the area checked off everything we wanted when looking for a house. The growth that has happened out this way in the past few years has been amazing.”

“We’ve never had neighbors or an H.O.A.,” John said.

“We have a friend who works on

houses. We were first looking at Rancho Sienna and we were really trying to find a house in there, but couldn’t really find one that we liked. I went to look at the one in Santa Rita Ranch called my fiancé and told her we found our house.”

John admits he originally knew very little about the Liberty Hill area when the couple settled on it, but thought it was the perfect distance from his work and family in Belton.

“Liberty Hill is right in the middle for me working in Belton and her working at Concordia University,” John said.

“It splits our commute time so we have more time to hang out with each other. Belton has a small town feel and Liberty Hill gives me the small town feel. She is a city girl and loves Austin so it gives her the ability to get to the city. We go outside our back door and hear the cows and it’s a nice thing. We don’t see ourselves leaving and if so it wouldn’t be for a long while.”

Nicole was familiar with the area

having coached several players from Liberty Hill.

“I coached some players from this area so I had heard how great of a small town it is,” Nicole said.

“What we really like about our neighborhood is its range of family types.

Some of our neighbors are older, some are newlyweds and some have children. It had great amenities and that was important to us. When we start having kids I want them to be able to play outside in the front yard and be safe,” she said.

Beyond finding the perfect house and the great commute time for each of the Dalbys, having a sense of community was high on their list of must haves. The couple is extremely pleased with the community they have found at Santa Rita Ranch and in Liberty Hill.

“I lived in a condo in north Austin and I barely knew my neighbors,” Nicole said.

“There were only 65 condos in there so you would think you would know some of your neighbors, but that was not the case.

Fast forward to Liberty Hill and on our Facebook community someone could say they are craving Girl Scout Cookies and in no time the kids are out delivering them. I have never experienced anything like that and it has been really great so far.”

John said the only way to describe their experience is with one word.

“The best way I can describe it is that it just feels like home,” he said.

“The community is wonderful and everyone has been nice. We are open people and everyone has been open and welcomed us into the community. A lot of people have the same aspirations we do. We all come from different places, but want to make this a great and safe community.”

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Throughout the history of Liberty Hill, the community has been blessed in having a rather large number of individuals from all walks of life who have stepped forward to serve their fellow citizens. Many became widely known, while others might be regarded as unsung heroes.

In last year’s edition of Liberty Hill Living, we offered profiles of

several men and women who, by their untiring dedication and service, made Liberty Hill a better place in which to live. We continue this year, once again reminding readers there is no attempt to place those who we mention in any particular order of importance.

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Hill’s early days, when the community began attracting settlers from different areas of the country. Even in its infancy, the community recognized the importance of education, and a schoolhouse was built near the Liberty Hill Cemetery and across the way from the current Liberty Hill High School campus.

According to the late J. Gordon Bryson, whose book Culture of the Shin Oak Ridge Folk is widely regarded as perhaps the best retelling of early Liberty Hill days, the schoolhouse was built by Bryson’s grandfather, John T. Bryson, and Anthony Smith. The two then contacted the Rev. John Haynie, who headed up the nearest Methodist Church, for assistance in locating a teacher.

Rev. Haynie told them of Julius Cicero Landrum, of Atlanta, Georgia, “who was qualified to teach school and act as lay pastor.” While J. Gordon Bryson admits in his book of finding no records of how long it took before convincing Landrum to come to Texas, he did speculate the eventual journey Landrum took was likely on the back of a horse or mule, and through Indian-infested country. Landrum taught in Liberty Hill for several years before returning to Atlanta to marry. He and his wife returned to the Liberty Hill area where they lived until he died in 1884. Many of the couple’s descendants became teachers Julius Cicero Landrum is believed or were otherwise involved in by many historians to have the education field. been the first teacher to serve the

Another teacher who Liberty Hill community.

PHOTO BY JAMES WEAR

We begin by traveling back in time to Liberty

Former Liberty Hill ISD administrative assistant Don Cunningham is generally credited with coming up with the idea that led to the creation of the International Sculpture Park. Here he is pictured during the 1987 dedication of the park.

would leave his lasting mark on Liberty Hill is Don Cunningham, who is retired now and living in Salado. Cunningham, who first came to Liberty Hill in the early 1980s as a junior high coach and teacher, gained the respect of his students in those roles.

But it would be a few years later, when he had been promoted to serve as the school district’s administrative assistant under former Superintendent J.D. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 L I B E RT Y H I L L L I V I N G 2 01 8

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Driven by an unwavering commitment to making our hometown a better place, owner Shane T. White takes great pride in helping families find their dream homes in Liberty Hill.

physical education departments, Project Graduation, and Liberty Hill Youth League. They also donate a portion of every closing to Children’s Miracle Network, where all the donated money stays locally at Dell Children’s Hospital.

The story of RE/MAX Town & Country starts in 1981 when Clyde Davis was a sole practitioner living in Liberty Hill, but also sold real estate in Austin. He built a local presence and brand here, and was one of the only agents in town. His business was built on family values, and his children spent time with him in the office.

As the area began to grow, Clyde saw an opportunity to be recognized by even more people by opening a RE/MAX franchise in 1999. His daughter, Paige, and son-in-law, Shane White, moved back to Liberty Hill in 2000, and Shane immediately joined the company. From 2001-2004, Paige also worked as an agent and helped Clyde and Shane create The Clyde Davis Team. The team concept was new to the real estate industry and allowed them to provide even greater service to their clients.

They lead other community events throughout the year, including sponsorship of a community-wide Christmas decoration contest. They also help sponsor a local community Easter Egg hunt.

Additionally, RE/MAX hosts a spring shredding event where the community is invited to come shred old confidential files for free as they allow Project Graduation to collect donations in return for helping with the event.

In August 2003, Shane and Paige bought the family company from Clyde, and slowly transitioned the team name and branding to The Shane T. White Team. They serve more than 125 families per year, proving they are truly a full-time real estate team dedicated to serving their clients in the Central Texas real estate market.

For those looking to relocate, no one knows more about how to sell homes than White’s team. With extensive, professional marketing experience and expert knowledge of Liberty Hill’s real estate market, local agents work closely with property owners to develop a sales plan designed to promote and sell property quickly, always getting the highest price possible. Local families trust the experience of The Shane T. White Team and know their presence in the community makes them the trusted leader in real estate.

Annually, the local family-owned business invests heavily in charitable organizations, including those that support Liberty Hill youth. Some beneficiaries throughout the years have included the Liberty Hill Parent-Teacher Organization, Liberty Hill ISD

The generational family business is built on biblical principles where family comes first! “Treat every client as if you were dealing with your Grandmother.”

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Wesley Foust served Liberty Hill for more than a quarter of a century on the Williamson County Commissioners Court.

Here he is pictured at an Andice “Stump Speak” in the mid-1980s with local tradition requiring politicians seeking election to office keep one foot on a stump during their presentation.

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ited with taking the lead on upgrades to the county jail and bringing it up to meet standards set by the Jail Commission, as well as finding funds for a battered women’s shelter, and helping bring emergency medical care to Williamson County.

A member of Union Hall Baptist Church, Foust also is credited with supporting the creation of an animal control program for the county and building county annexes in Round Rock and Anderson Mill.

He negotiated the land purchase for the Cedar Park annex, although during his terms in office he maintained an office in Liberty Hill where he was readily available to meet with local citizens.

Foust found himself in the headlines in 1975, when he was a vocal opponent to Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic in Liberty Hill.

While he was unable to halt the event, supporters point out that many of the concerns he had regarding the picnic proved to be correct.

While Foust often found himself in the headlines — perhaps due to the high-profile nature of his elected position — other Liberty Hill citizens served quietly. Among those was George Sybert, a longtime member of the Liberty Hill Volunteer Fire Department. Over the years, Sybert often served as assistant fire chief and was considered by many as longtime chief James Pogue’s right hand man.

When Pogue needed some time away from the responsibilities and stepped down in 1997, Sybert took command of the department, and over the next two years guided it during a time of rapid growth in call volume — all the while working full time at a Georgetown printing company during the week and spending his weekend with other volunteers as the department built its new station on Loop 332.

PHOTO BY JAMES WEAR

among those in attendance.

Foust, who passed away in 2015, was a widely-respected member of the community and considered a fierce spokesperson for Precinct 2. He served on the Williamson County Commissioners Court for 28 years after having been elected in 1962. Many recall he operated a tight budget and other commissioners would turn to him for help when their own funds for road repair ran short.

During his final year on the court, Precinct 2 was the only precinct in the county to have all paved roads. Road maintenance was not his only strong suit. He is also cred-

Often considered one of Liberty Hill’s unsung heroes, George Sybert was a member of the Liberty Hill Volunteer Fire Department many years and was serving as chief when the department built its new station on Loop 332.

PHOTO BY JAMES WEAR

Cox, that he undertook what started out as a small project that would eventually blossom into one of the greatest undertakings in the community’s history.

It was Cunnningham who first approached the late Mel Fowler a few years after Fowler and others put together the Liberty Hill International Sculpture Symposium in 1976, which had attracted artists from all over the world to downtown Liberty Hill where they would create stone sculptures that were placed in Veterans Park, about the possibility of moving one of those sculptures to the site of the newly constructed high school on Loop 332.

Cunningham, looking back today, admits he may have offended Fowler initially when he asked of Fowler’s plans “for that pile of rocks.” The rift soon passed and Fowler and Cunningham would become close friends over the next few years.

“I was wanting a granite piece that I thought we could carve ‘Liberty Hill High School’ into and place near the front of the building. Fowler responded if we took one, we’d have to take them all,” Cunningham recalls.

From there, the idea gained traction — why not create a garden of sculptures surrounding the new school. Cunningham said the school board greeted the idea with enthusiasm after learning it would provide Liberty Hill with the bragging rights as the only campus in the world with a sculpture park on its grounds.

Local support grew, especially perhaps due to the fact the sculptures, in their downtown location, were falling into disrepair and subject to vandalism. Cunningham recalls former County Commissioner Wesley Foust provided men and heavy equipment for site preparation and others volunteered their time and expertise, including the late Oddis Buck, a concrete finisher who formed up and finished many of the concrete bases the sculptures would be placed upon.

On May 5, 1987, following an intense effort to relocate the sculptures, a dedication of the new grounds was held with the First Lady of Texas, Rita Clements,

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Sybert was well-respected within the department. Many considered his strongest asset to be his ability to arrive on the scene of an emergency and to quickly assess the situation at hand, and then calmly direct his staff. He was regarded as a top instructor and fully understood the equipment he worked with and shared that knowledge with others.

Another firefighter who attracted little attention was Glenn Hays, an employee of the Liberty Hill school district for many years where he was a member of the district’s maintenance crew and also drove a school bus.

Hays often grabbed the keys to the department’s large tanker truck and would navigate it safely to the scene. He never appeared rattled...indeed, when a call would drop and he’d appear at the station he often calmed younger firefighters down, telling them not to get too excited in the event of a reported structure fire. “If it’s bad, we’ll be getting more calls,” he would say as he calmly awaited additional instructions from those responders first arriving at a scene.

Hays’ family has long ties of service to the Liberty Hill community. His father, the late Lee Hays, served for a time as town constable while his sister, Geneva Simpson, served Williamson County for many years as a 28

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Connie Fuller has played an active role in the community. She is pictured here taking part in a parade in 1987. The parade was among the activities held during an all-day fundraiser to help a beloved school district employee.

community activities, and can be credited with donating the two huge pieces of rock at either end of the city limits that are inscribed with “Welcome to Liberty Hill”.

Liberty Hill has also had many from the clergy who, through their comforting words in times of sorrow and positive messages in times of joy, earned the love and respect of the community.

Among those is Milton Pogue, a native of the Liberty Hill area.

Born in 1921 in a farmhouse north of Liberty Hill, Pogue lived the life of a typical country boy, playing sports while in school and hunting with his father. He served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later earned a degree in Bible Studies from Abilene Christian College.

A longtime member of the Liberty Hill Church of Christ, Pogue preached in other communities over the years, including a 10-year stint in Taylor.

“I never knew a more genuine Christian,” says Suzy Lyon, whose daughter is married to Milton’s grandson. “He is a rock. He always speaks from the heart and carries a true message.”

Among others who called Liberty Hill home for much of their life and gained the community’s love through their simple acts of kindness were Doyce and Beth Rankin, both of whom have passed on. Doyce, in addition to CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

PHOTO BY JAMES WEAR

COURTESY PHOTO

A longtime employee of the Liberty Hill school district, Glenn Hays (left) was also a valued member of the Liberty Hill Volunteer Fire Department. Here he looks on as fellow firefighter Danny Goodson attempts to start a pump.

supervisor with Williamson County dispatch.

His brother, the late D.W. Hays, served as Williamson County Pct. 2 Justice of Peace for 12 years following his retirement from a 32-year stint with the Texas Department of Transportation. He also served one term as mayor of Liberty Hill.

Another prominent individual to serve on the Liberty Hill city council is former Mayor Connie Fuller. Fuller is a native of the Houston area. She first came to Liberty Hill in the mid-1970s.

“The reason I moved to Liberty Hill was to have a more simple life,” says Fuller.

“Everyone waved at you as you were driving by. When you went to Wanda’s (cafe) nobody knew who had the most money, we were all just people.”

Fuller had taught school in Westlake and Leander before coming to Liberty Hill where she taught at Liberty Hill Elementary for a few years. She also took an active role in the Liberty Hill PTA, serving as president of the organization at one point.

She was first appointed as mayor following the resignation of Steve Shaw. She would later be elected to the post, serving from 2005 through 2009, resigning before her term expired. In 2014, she once again was elected and held the position until May 2018.

Fuller says she’s proud of the role she played in helping establish the city’s “basic footprint,” and the work she and others have done in developing master plans for the city’s parks, drainage and transportation.

Another individual who served on the city council is Angelo Montemayor, who was elected when the city first incorporated in 1999.

Montemayor, a longtime employee of Featherlite, has been long considered a generous supporter of

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literally bringing warmth and comfort into Liberty Hill homes as the one-time co-owner of the local propane distributor (he was the “R” of P&R Propane) also enjoyed roping and was among those who could often be found at Foust Arena on RR 1869.

“They were great people,” recalls John ‘Bud’ Lane, son of the late Wanda Lane. “When I was young I would ride my horse to Elroy’s on Saturday morning and he would give me and my horse a ride home that night on his trailer. He loved to rope and had a heckuva horse, even let me rope off of him.”

The Rankins were members of the Liberty Hill United Methodist Church with Beth at one time writing a book about the history of the church. In her later years, as the couple became active members of the Over the Hill Gang, she wrote a column for a local newspaper keeping readers abreast of the organization’s activities.

Among Liberty Hill’s most respected citizens are those who have served on the Liberty Hill Cemetery Association’s board of directors. Pictured here, in a photo from the mid-1980s when the group held dedication ceremonies for its office on Brown Bridge Road, are front row, from left, James Vaughan, Milton Pogue and Myretta Matthews. In back, are W.K. Seward, Doyce Rankin, Tom Foust, Weldon Lamb, D.W. Hays and James Hanley. All but Hanley and Pogue have passed on.

The Over the Hill Gang, now in its 20th year, continues to be one of Liberty Hill’s most popular organizations. Suzy Bates is credited with creating the group, but it is only one of many accomplishments in her life. A retired teacher and real estate agent, Suzy has also served on the Liberty Hill school board, been a member of the Liberty Hill Lions Club, took an active role in the Liberty Hill Cemetery Association and organized many events at the Lions Foundation Park. She also headed up advertising sales for The Liberty Hill Independent in previous years and was a frequent contributor to the Letters to the Editor section where she promoted various civic activities.

Another retired teacher who continues to play an active role in the community is Larry Nicholson, who at one time served as principal of Liberty Hill Elementary.

Both he and his wife, Angie, have been key leaders in the Liberty Hill Lions Club with Larry also among those instrumental

in the development of Lions Foundation Park. As a board member of the Liberty Hill Development Foundation, Larry early on championed the idea of the walking trail that outlines the perimeter of the park, and has devoted countless hours to helping maintain the park over the years. Angie also served on the initial board of directors of the Williamson County ESD #4 when creation of the entity was approved by voters nearly 20 years ago.

Two other Liberty Hill teachers who have influenced the community over the years are Charlie and Claudeane Braun.

The couple came to Liberty Hill in 1978 when Braun took over as athletic director and head football coach. Claudeane joined the Liberty Hill Elementary staff as a fourth grade teacher.

While Charlie began the process of rebuilding the school district’s athletic program and returned the Panthers to respectability on the gridiron (he led the

Panthers to the state playoffs in 1984 and the school’s first district football title in 1987), Claudeane busied herself in the classroom and watched as improvements took place in facilities at the hands of volunteers.

Following a five-year period when the Brauns moved to Gonzales where Charlie continued coaching, the couple returned to Liberty Hill after Charlie decided to retire. For Claudeane, it was the beginning of another phase in her career. She would eventually wind up as the district’s curriculum director and over the years has been credited as being an invaluable consultant to administrators and school boards. She retired in 2016 after 44 years in education.

As Liberty Hill continues to grow and others take the roles of community leaders, they may at times look back and be grateful for the many who came before them and, through vision and determination, laid the foundation for the community’s current and future success stories.

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STORY BY KEITH SPARKS / PHOTOS BY ALEX RUBIO

The agricultural community has long been the heart and soul of Liberty Hill, and today’s environment is no different.

Liberty Hill is full of homesteaders, some of whom have been perfecting their operation for decades, while others just started. Some dream of expanding to create nationwide businesses, and others simply plan to keep their focus at home. All of them provide the community with locally-sourced products, offering residents the chance to live a healthier, homegrown lifestyle.

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F

rom the outside looking in, Liberty Hill’s Bountiful Acres may seem like any other poultry farm, but it’s part of a much larger vision. That vision, called Food is Freedom, was founded by KC Kalman, whose idea is, in short, to help younger generations get into farming.

“In the state of Texas, the average age of a farmer is 59 years old, and in the United States, it’s about 68 years old, on average, and that should really just terrify the hell out of people, because it’s like the younger people aren’t coming into this,” Kalman said.

The fact that the average age of farmers in the United States is so high sparked an idea for Kalman to act as a resource for people who want to enter the industry, providing a service that he believes nobody else is.

“Why aren’t younger people coming into this? Well, one (reason) may be because of the impossibility of getting a loan for that amount of money, or nobody’s going to take you under their wing or help you out,” Kalman said. “There’s lots of investment in the tech sector, but there’s no investments that I really

see going into agriculture or helping people start a business, that kind of thing, so that’s kind of the reason why I created Food is Freedom Investments.”

Bountiful Acres, a local rabbit and poultry farm, is Kalman’s self-proclaimed “experiment,” which he hopes will serve as ground zero for a much larger operation in the future. Kalman’s goal for Food is Freedom spans across an area much larger than Liberty Hill. Ultimately, his vision spans across the entire United States.

“The idea is that we go and buy the land, we set up infrastructure, we teach them how to deal with taxing agencies, to deal with the county, to deal with the state, to help them get off their feet, show them how to run a spreadsheet, and show them how to be profitable,” Kalman said. “They save money up, they become profitable, they pay their taxes, they can show a Schedule F, which shows farm income, and at the end of three to five years, whatever the lease is, they get first right of refusal to buy the land. Now they own the land that has their business on it, then we walk away and go to another piece of land and do the same thing — rinse and repeat.”

If he doesn’t make an effort to promote local farmers and introduce new ones to the industry, Kalman is afraid no one will, leaving it up to massive corporations, instead.

“I guess I just don’t see anybody doing it, and it’s kind of maddening when you’re going to have this bell curve of population that’s just going to kind of go away, pretty soon here, that’s making our food,” Kalman said. “Then who picks that up? You’re going to have your big, corporate, mega monster companies that just aren’t going to care about the quality of the food, the nutritional benefits of the food, or the care of the land or care of people, any of that stuff.”

Before Food is Freedom goes nationwide, however, Kalman and his business partner, Roger Rodriguez, have some things to take care of in Liberty Hill. With the help of Rodriguez, Kalman started Bountiful Acres to prove to investors that CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

KC Kalman (right), founder of Food is Freedom and owner of Bountiful Acres, a rabbit and poultry farm in Liberty Hill, shows off some of his animals with his business partner, Richard Rodriguez (left).

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his idea was a profitable one.

“Before I could go to market with this company and take other people’s money, I needed to make sure that I knew what I was talking about, and that I had a profitable example of what we wanted to do,” Kalman said, “so that’s what created Bountiful Acres. Bountiful Acres is the experiment in process.”

Rodriguez and Kalman share a similar passion for providing high-quality products “to people who are interested in knowing where their food comes from,” as Rodriguez put it, but they specialize in different areas, which makes their partnership work.

“He’s strong where I’m weak, and where he’s weak, I’m strong,” Kalman said. “I’m really good with the bookkeeping and all that good stuff, making deals, marketing…

Whenever he’s gone, I do his duties. I’ll sub in and take care of stuff there, but for the most part, it’s the bookkeeping aspect of it and the marketing and that good stuff.”

By day, Kalman is Covert Cadillac GMC Buick’s Parts Manager, which has given him valuable business experience that has allowed him to manage finances, marketing, and other behind-the-scenes responsibilities that Food is Freedom and Bountiful Acres require.

Rodriguez, on the other hand, lives and

Part of what sets Bountiful Acres apart from its competition is their ability to process their own poultry and rabbits on-site, eliminating the middle man and allowing consumers to know who is processing their food and where it's being processed.

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works on the farm full-time, managing the Bountiful Acres property from top to bottom seven days a week. Rodriguez’ responsibilities include waking up with the animals at sun-up to provide them with the day’s food and water and to let them out of their sheds, processing the animals, mending fences, and other projects dependent upon the day.

What sets Bountiful Acres apart from many other small farms is their ability to process their own products on-site by way of a government exemption for poultry and rabbit processing, eliminating the middle man and allowing consumers to know exactly where their food comes from.

“We provide meat and eggs to people who are interested in knowing where their food comes from,” Rodriguez said. “We have rabbits, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and we process everything there on-farm.

That’s what separates us from a lot of people that produce their meat is that they take it to a producer and somebody else packages it and processes it.”

According to Kalman, getting the exemption that allowed them to process their own products required him to jump through quite a few hoops. One of the most difficult aspects of that process was proving to Williamson County that Bountiful Acres had an adequate wastewater processing system, which Kalman, the state, and Williamson County had trouble agreeing on. While the county argued that a $50,000 septic system was required, the state’s requirements said otherwise.

Eventually, Kalman was able to convince the county that a much cheaper irrigation field satisfied the state’s wastewater requirements, putting an end to a four-month process and allowing Bountiful Acres an exemption.

Once that four-month process was over and their processing facility was built, the rest was easy, Kalman said.

At that point, their competitive differentiator had been established in their ability

to process their own products, which has served them well, so far.

“We started working farmers markets, and from there, we started hitting up folks that had restaurants and food trucks that specifically want to carry straight-fromfarm products,” Kalman said. “What’s great is, you can select one of our customers like Barley Swine, and they’re a high-end restaurant on Burnet Road, and they’ve built their business around creating superior quality food straight from local producers, and that’s kind of been our shoe-in, which has really helped out.”

Creating partnerships with local restaurants and food trucks is one of many avenues that Rodriguez said can be profitable for those with an entrepreneurial spirit looking to get into the industry, the knowledge and capabilities of which Food is Freedom will eventually provide to its clients, if all goes as planned.

“There’s a way for everybody to earn a fair living without having to be an hourly employee, so they can be passionate and have an entrepreneurial spirit and be able to raise their own flock, use our infrastructure, and leverage their own skills with the products they provide to sell to people who are interested,” Rodriguez said. “There’s so many avenues. You have consumers buying clubs, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) but for chicken, you can wholesale to your friends, you can find a few good restaurants that you make connections with and, as long as people like your product, you’ll be good at it.”

Bountiful Acres’ products can be purchased through local farmers markets, including Indian Mound Ranch in Liberty Hill and the Farmer George Farmers Market in Round Rock. They also provide products to local restaurants, including Austin’s Barley Swine, Odd Duck, Luke’s Inside Out food truck, and Crossroads Farm to Truck food truck, all of which pride themselves in providing fresh products from local farms.

Those interested in learning more about Food is Freedom and Bountiful Acres can call (512) 766-8241.

•

R

ick Hager, founder and owner of RDH Longhorns in Liberty Hill, is a bit different than most cattle ranchers for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the unique relationships he has with each of his animals.

“We call them by name. We know all of them, calves and all,” Hager said of the estimated 50 longhorns he owns. “Most ranchers can’t tell their cows apart, especially with Angus or Hereford. They all look alike. Some of them may have some peculiar identifying marks or some quirky thing about them that the rancher can identify them by, but longhorns are so, so different.”

Founded in 1988, RDH Longhorns provides Central Texans with grass-fed longhorn beef, most notably hamburger meat, as well as jerky, sausage, and beef sticks. According to Hager, today’s health-conscious market lends itself well to his high-quality, lean longhorn beef.

While most cattle ranchers prefer to separate their meat by cut, leaving the scraps to make hamburger, Hager includes even the highest-quality steaks in his hamburger meat. He used to separate his meat by cut, as well, but decided close to 10 years ago to focus on creating the best hamburger possible.

“I figure everybody uses hamburger,” Hager said, “so I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to start making the best hamburger I can and just sell hamburger,’ so that’s what I’ve done for the last 10 or so years, and it’s worked out really well for me.”

Although the lean nature of longhorn meat can often lead to a sacrifice in flavor, Hager says the inclusion of high-quality cuts in his hamburger meat leads to a tastier product.

“It’s really a lean meat, so there’s not a lot of fat, and a lot of people depend on the fat for the flavor,” Hager said, “so I think my compensation is that I’m using the steaks and roasts and all the good

stuff. People are out there selling steak and roasts, but their hamburgers are made out of scraps. Mine’s made out of steaks, so I guarantee you mine will have better flavor than theirs, just for that one reason.”

Hager doesn’t raise longhorns to make a living, though. He’s a commissioned window salesman by trade, but admits that his heart is on the ranch. What began as a hobby for he and his wife, Denelle, quickly turned into a life-long passion. Thankfully, his work schedule allows him to “do cow stuff rather than window stuff on any given day.”

In addition to the relationships Hager has with his animals, what makes him unique is his approach to the breeding process. Most breeders, he said, breed for one thing, whether it be horn length, muscle mass, color, or another specific trait. Hager’s goal, on the other hand, is to Rick Hager, founder find a perfect balance. and owner of RDH “I try to breed for the complete packLonghorns in Liberty age,” Hager said. “There are breeders out Hill, makes a point there now that breed strictly for either colof personally visiting or or horn length, tip-to-tip measurements, his longhorns as often as possible, because that’s where the money is. You each of which he can’t do that. You’ve got to have a balanced knows by name. animal. You may have the longest horns out there, but if he doesn’t have any muscle, or he has a weak backbone, or the cow doesn’t have any milking ability, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.”

Breeding for horn length has been a popular practice for decades, but Hager’s focus is elsewhere. Instead of sheer length, he looks for a uniquely twisted horn, which he thinks will become more desirable within the industry over time as horn length eventually reaches its limit.

“People have just about bred the twist out of longhorns, and that was a pretty big trait in the old, original longhorns,” Hager said. “They had some good twist, pretty twist. We can breed for that tip-to-tip measurement, selecting for long, flat, no-twist horns, because that’s how you get that big length in the tip-to-tip, but I still love the different-twist horns and the higher horns, even though they don’t give you the best tip-to-tip.”

Hager’s current goal is to create a more consistent “grulla” color in his herd, which is a light gray color that he says is hard to come by in a longhorn. To do that, he needs to find another grulla bull that he can breed with the daughters of his current grulla bull.

Consistently establishing and reaching goals is part of what Hager says keeps him in the business, along with his love for the animals.

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“When I first got into it, I read an article that said the average lifespan of a longhorn breeder, or how long they stayed in the business, was seven years,” Hager said. “That may be true with a lot of things. People get all excited about it, then lose interest. I just really love these animals. I’m just determined to come up with the best animal I possibly can, and I’m on this new mission now to produce that grulla bull that will consistently produce grulla calves, because there’s not one out there.”

Central Texans may have noticed RDH Longhorns at a number of area locations.

Hager leases five different properties for his cattle, including one at the intersection of US Highway 183 and State Highway 29, one on SH 29 west of Cimarron Hills, one down the road from his own property on CR 207, one on RR 1869, and one on Hero Way in Leander.

“My dream my whole life was to have my own ranch, and my own cattle, and my own horses,” Hager said, “so I’m living the dream. I’m just doing it on somebody else’s land.”

In addition to his leases, Hager personally owns 14 acres in Liberty Hill, which he lives on and uses primarily to wean calves and to house his riding steer. Hager’s riding steer has slightly different responsibilities than the rest of his cattle, which include participating in Christmas parades and making appearances at local elementary schools.

“I’m actually taking him to Bill Burden Elementary this coming Friday for their Texas birthday celebration to let the kids meet a longhorn up close and personal,” Hager said of his riding steer. “I’ve done that for quite a few years. My son, who is now 22, started doing that when he was in the fourth grade at Bill Burden, so we’ve done all but the last couple years at Bill Burden since then. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s educational. It lets the kids understand a little more about longhorns. People think they’re mean, but you can walk right up and pet them. It’s just a good experience for those young kids to be able to do that.”

Hager said his unique relationships with the animals can make the business-aspect of raising longhorns difficult, more so for his wife than for him, relating their interactions to those between people and dogs or horses.

“I can compartmentalize it, but sometimes it’s hard to eliminate a cow that you raised on a bottle or whatever and have become really attached to, but that’s the way life is,” Hager said.

Hager owns an estimated 50 longhorns, the biggest of which is an 1,800-pound bull and the oldest of which is a cow he’s owned since 1998, and he doesn’t plan on giving them up any time soon. Eventually, when he does give it up, he hopes his wife and one of his two sons will take over for him.

“I don’t want to hang it up,” Hager said. “I keep asking my son, ‘If something ever happens to me, are you going to take this thing over?’ He says yeah, but for some reason, I don’t believe him. I guarantee you my wife would do it, and I have another son that would probably do it. I don’t plan to hang it up until I have to, so I just try to stay young and keep on doing my stuff. I’m going to do it as long as I can.”

RDH Longhorns’ products are available for purchase at Indian Mound Ranch Market and Winkley’s in Liberty Hill, as well as by custom order, www.rdhlonghorns.com

•

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F

or years, Liberty Hill’s Joe Schram, former owner of JOLI Farms, was the community’s authority on aquaponic farming. In November 2017, however, he passed the torch to Ben and Kara Regier, who purchased the farm along with everything that came with it, thus creating JMark Farms.

In short, aquaponics is a farming system that uses live fish to add nutrients to the plants’ water source, and the plants return the favor by filtering the water before it goes back to the fish tank. After purchasing Schram’s farm, the Regiers were able to learn about the process from him for the first few months, which Kara described as a “privilege.”

According to Ben, the process hasn’t gotten any easier over time, but they’re enjoying the ride thus far, despite freezing cold temperatures throwing a wrench in things on multiple occasions.

“Every day seems like something new, but you take it day by day and just take it one step at a time,” Ben said. “Especially this year, having multiple days below freezing really didn’t help us out. I’m sure it didn’t help out most people, but with a greenhouse, it didn’t help to have that many days, especially out here when it got down to nine degrees one night. Like I said, I don’t think it’s gotten easier, but we’re definitely looking forward to learning and growing with it.”

Ben, who was born in Austin and grew up in Andice, and Kara, who grew up in

Round Rock, had limited experience with aquaponics beforehand. Ben learned the basics of the operation from a friend of his, starting with hydroponics, which he used to grow a small number of plants in their backyard as a hobby.

“My husband has been a big fan of aquaponics for a long time,” Kara said. “He had done small-scale stuff in our backyard at our house, and we just got this opportunity to do it on a full scale, and that was really exciting for us.”

That hobby quickly turned into a passion for Ben that ultimately led them to the purchase of JOLI Farms, now JMark Farms, where they live with their two daughters, Dylan and Quinn, ages four and two. Ben admitted his introduction into larger-scale aquaponics has been a bit of a roller coaster, and he’s still learning exactly what it takes to perfect the process.

“There’s the ups and downs,” Ben said.

“With aquaponics, you basically can’t use real pesticides on any of the plants, because then that would get into the water and kill the fish, so you can’t use any commercial-grade pesticides. Everything has to be natural, organic-approved, and that’s one of the biggest things is keeping your balanced ecosystem between your plants and your fish maintained. Once a week, we have to go out and test the water to make sure the nitrates are high enough for the plants and that the ammonia is low enough for the fish to survive. Once you get the system set up and running smooth, there’s not a lot you have to do, just some minor tweaks here and there, but if there is a sudden increase of one or the other, then it’s a scramble to try to fix any problems that might come up, because either your fish are going to die or your plants are going to die, so you’ve got to maintain that.”

Tragedy played a big role in sparking the Regiers’ interest in a healthier lifestyle, as Kara’s father passed away from a heart attack just a few years ago, leading Ben and Kara to commit to healthy living and wanting the same for their daughters.

“Just wanting to have a healthier

In November 2017, Ben and Kara Regier, and their daughters Quinn and Dylan, purchased what was formerly JOLI Farms’ aquaponic farming operation. RIGHT: Dylan and Quinn Regier take care of their responsibilities with the livestock of JMark Farms.

BELOW: Ben Regier tends to his aquaponic farm that includes lettuce, broccoli, kale and Swiss chard.

lifestyle, wanting to feed ourselves and feed others,” Kara said of what initially piqued their interest. “A couple years ago, my dad passed away from a heart attack, and it was sudden and we didn’t have any warning. He was here one day and gone the next, and that was a huge wake-up call for our family that we needed to try to live as healthy as we can, and like I said, we’re excited about raising our kids on the farm and passing this on to the next generation.”

The Regiers are currently growing lettuce, broccoli, kale, and Swiss chard with their aquaponics system, and have some traditional root crops, as well, including beets, onions, carrots, and spinach, much of which they sell to local restaurants, including Blue Corn Harvest in Cedar Park and Georgetown, Monument Café and Monument Market in Georgetown, Sweet Lemon Kitchen in Georgetown, and Georgetown Farm Supply.

The purchase of the farm also included sheep, donkeys, and chickens, which has been a wild ride for the Regiers, who had zero previous experience raising farm animals.

“We had some experience with aquaponics, but we didn’t have any experience with animals, so to go from having no animals to having donkeys, sheep, chickens, cats, dogs, and everything in between has been really, really fun,” Kara said.

Kara said raising the animals has been an especially fun experience for Dylan and Quinn, who have suddenly become enamored with ripping out “anything that’s green so they can give it to the sheep and the donkeys.”

“I don’t know if we have a specific role for them, but we’d definitely like them to learn about growing their own food and taking care of animals, stuff like that,” Ben said of his vision for his daughters. “We’ve already found that one of our daughters loves to water stuff and the other one likes to dig, so right now we’re getting very good help out of them weeding beds. As long as you make it a game, they seem to be very happy with it.”

The Regiers’ primary focus at this point is simply knowing where their own food comes from and being able to provide that same courtesy to others who share similar interests. In the near future, they hope to expand upon their current offerings with more greenhouses and more crops, giving the community an even wider variety of locally sourced products to choose from.

Learn more at www.jmarkfarms.com L I B E RT Y H I L L L I V I N G 2 01 8

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| COMMUNITY: EVENTS |

Liberty Hill

EVENTS

SCULPTURE CELEBRATION Saturday, Oct. 13 / 9am-2pm Lions Foundation Park

Celebrating the arts in Liberty Hill, the Sculpture Celebration features an art auction, stone carvers, artisan and food vendors, live music and a car show.

The celebrations starts Friday, Oct. 12, when invited sculptors will demonstrate their work to Liberty Hill art students.

The Sculpture Celebration is scheduled in conjunction with the annual Rip Roarin’ Ride bicycle race Oct. 13, which is sponsored by the Lions Club as a fundraiser for Lions Club charities. For more information as the event nears, visit www.lhsculptures.com.

THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECTACULAR Saturday, July 3 / 6-11pm City Park, CR 200

LIBERTY HILL RODEO April 2019 Harvest Ranch Arena

In April 2019, don’t miss the Liberty Hill Rodeo.

The annual PRCA-sanctioned rodeo attracts participants from across the country to the Harvest Ranch Arena at Williamson County Cowboy Church.

For more information, visit Facebook. com/LibertyHillFairandRodeo.

Organized and hosted by the City of Liberty Hill and The Liberty Hill Independent newspaper, the event features free activities and water attractions for all ages, food trucks, a hot dog eating contest, contests for best apple pie and homemade ice cream, watermelon spitting and live music by Country Music artist Kyle Park. All set the stage for the most memorable 30-minute fireworks show in central Texas.

If you plan to go, park at Liberty Hill High School or Liberty Hill Elementary School and take a free shuttle ride to the park. Bring a blanket, lawn chairs and some shade, but leave the alcohol and coolers at home.

Watch for event updates in The Independent and online at www.LibertyHillFireworks. com. Also, follow us at Facebook.com/ libertyhillfireworks.

LIBERTY HILL CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL AND PARADE Saturday, Dec. 8 / 3-8pm Lions Foundation Park

Organized by volunteers with support from the Liberty Hill Ministerial Alliance, the City of Liberty Hill, and local businesses, the Liberty Hill holiday celebration includes Jingle Bell 5k Fun Run/Walk, holiday vendors, live music, food trucks, and Santa Claus. The day ends with a lighted Christmas parade through downtown, followed by a community worship service.

Watch for event updates on Facebook.com/LibertyHillChristmas and sign up for vendor space, fun run and parade entry at www.LibertyHillChristmas.com.

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LIBERTY HILL

LIBERTY HILL

Area park dreams come into focus.

DESTINATION STORY BY MIKE EDDLEMAN

Both the City of Liberty Hill and Williamson County have huge plans in the works to develop new parks, upgrade existing ones and link them all with a new system of trails.

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MAP BY McKINNEY YORK ARCHITECTS

hether it was the future of the county’s

“We’re very close to put the phase one development on the River Ranch Park or plans for expanded street with construction drawings,” he said. “It could be about city amenities and green spaces, it all a year from now (that it’s open), depending on the weather if seemed like a distant vision, but today projects are coming into we’re optimistic.” focus in every direction.

The County hopes that phase one development for River

The land for River Ranch Park – 1,000 acres off Bagdad Ranch Park can begin this summer, but even as the project begins Road between Liberty Hill and Leander – was acthere will be a number of unknowns based on final costs quired by the County in 2008. In 2010, a masand available funds. ter plan for the park was completed. Since

Developing a park such as this is a that time, it has been a waiting game for lengthy process, and funds to make it a reality many, but Williamson County Pct. 2 were only approved through a 2013 bond River Ranch Park Commissioner Cynthia Long is more package. $9 million was set aside for the should begin phase one than excited to talk about what it park, out of the $40 million package for development later this summer. finally means for park lovers all park projects across the county.

Many of the original plans have over the county.

“(First) you have this massive de “We are so excited about this velopment plan for the whole property, been altered due to budget park,” she said. “It is going to be a which you need to do, to look at soils, constraints but the park gem in Williamson County and will geology, hydrology, your flora and fauna, promises plenty of be a huge asset for the whole county. and see what development might fit,” Bell outdoor fun.

From a proximity perspective it will be said of the process. closer for precinct two folks to get to, but Once a source of funding was apI think we’re going to see people from all proved, it was time to revisit the master plan, over the county enjoying it.” which resembles more of a Christmas wish list as

Williamson County Parks Director Randy Bell planners set out to design the ideal park for its purpose. said the County is not far from beginning construction.

“From that point, then we put out a request for proposal

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for a consultant and went through that process trying to get a company to help us come in and further refine the master plan because the plan that was proposed in 2010 was estimated at around $23 million,” Bell said. “There was no way that was going to happen, so you phase parks.

We’ve refined this plan down to hopefully make it more affordable.”

The first phase of River Ranch may not look like a lot on the surface at times, but being focused on roads and utilities, it will pave the way for everything the park will one day become.

“Unfortunately, it is like a house,” Long said. “There is a lot of work that goes into it that gets buried underground that you never see. People ask, why does it cost so much? Well, you’ve got to put in infrastructure, you’ve got to put in water lines, roads.”

The infrastructure price tag for phase one is expected to be hefty.

“When you develop a park like this, you have to have roads and utilities first, and that’s what’s going to be our greatest cost here,” Bell said. “The roads may even be just road base in some cases. We need electricity, water, whether we have propane, our IT.”

One key feature is the new planned entrance from Bagdad Road. The original entrance was off CR 282 on the western edge of the park.

“It was not a good entrance for the park because if development allows, you’re going to have horse trailers, fifth wheels, RVs, coming in and out of the park, so we’ve worked with our land owner (on the east side of the park)

The interpretive center planned for River Ranch Park will include exhibits on local flora and fauna as well as some history on the property itself.

and have a new entrance off Bagdad Road,” Bell said.

The new entrance is a big issue because most of the amenities are in the southern third of the park, much more easily accessed from Bagdad Road. Because the new entrance is separate right of way for the road and a shared-use path, that development will be handled through the road and bridge department. Bell hopes the projects can be bid together, possibly under one contractor, to make coordination easier.

At the park’s main entrance, visitors will get the sense they have entered a state park.

“This will emulate a state park in the way it’s operated, in the facilities you will experience – which means no ball fields – and it will be a native, natural setting,” Bell said.

Amenities and features planned include the park headquarters, trailhead parking, possible RV sites and primitive camping and many miles of trails.

“As soon as you come into the park you will see a headquarters, similar to what you see at a state park,” Bell said. “You will see a dump station and an RV park.

We’re looking at about 12 miles of trails within the park alone. Some of those will be equestrian trails, some are hike only.”

The opportunity to take advantage of the trails on horseback is an important feature for the park, though some of the equestrian plans have been scaled back already due to cost estimates.

“We thought we’d have an equestrian center, but already our budget has made us value engineer that out. Just the roof on an arena was $1 million,” Bell said.

“Some of the things, like walk-in and group camping may be bid as a separate option item. Hopefully, if prices aren’t to high we can include things like this.”

The County received a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife for an interpretive center in the park as well.

“There will be an outdoor amphitheater, where you might have things like ranger talks,” Bell said of the center. “The building might have restrooms on the outside, with exhibit space, a classroom, an office and a small conference room inside. It is going to be a great thing, and I anticipate a lot of volunteer help with this because there are a lot of groups very interested in what we do.”

Exhibits on display in the center are not set, but could include area ranching history, information on the river, or geology of the area as possibilities.

“In the parks business, the interpretation is a whole separate element of the experience,” Bell said. “The easiest way is to describe it is, if I had a school bus load of kids for 30 minutes, what would I want them to leave knowing about this park?”

Much of the park will remain undeveloped to maintain the natural beauty and condition for visitors to explore.

“It leaves the two-thirds in the northern piece native and natural, just trails, with primitive campsites. That would be the extent of development for now,” Bell said.

Even though construction has yet to begin, some behind the scenes work has been going on for some time.

“The native plant society did plant surveys for us at this park, they did a CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

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DESTINATION about. With that, they will take pride in what we have.”

More than 60 percent of respondents wanted to see a splash pad or water feature, and just under 60 percent said they wanted a city swim center – by far the two most popular wishes from the community in the survey.

If a place to swim and play in the water was what the community wanted, the Parks Board and Council were determined to give them both.

This spring, the Council approved a swim center with pool and splash pad for City Park and an additional splash pad for Wetzel Park downtown.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45

three-year study, and they’ve done it at Berry Springs and at Regional Park,” Bell said of the effort to study what is in the park. Because it was a working ranch when the county acquired it, there is also a lot that must be removed.

“Right now staff is working to remove all the old structures and implements that were left,” Bell said. “There’s no way today we could allow the public in there because there’s too much liability.”

Exactly what will be completed in Phase 1 remains to be seen, depending on how far the funds will stretch, and subsequent phases will not be determined immediately.

“Every park is always in some phase of development,” Bell said. “You’re always looking at what the public demand is, what will the resources stand. With River Ranch, whatever we don’t get built in this phase, there’s always opportunity to look at other things later without compromising the resource.”

The other reason plans aren’t etched in stone is that what visitors want to see and enjoy in the parks will evolve over time.

“The other thing you don’t want to do when you have a piece of property that big is you don’t want to develop it all at once,” Long said. “The needs and 48

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the demands on the park system are going to change over time so our goal was to do some things out there, but to leave enough undisturbed that 50 years from now, when the needs are different, there was the flexibility to be able to respond to the future needs.”

MASTERING THE PLAN

Armed with a new parks master plan, park land to develop and some funds available, the City of Liberty Hill has been busy the last year breathing new life into its parks.

“It’s one of the highest priorities we have in the city is to develop our parks,” City Administrator Greg Boatright said.

“It’s very important to the Council and our Council has a lot of confidence in our parks and rec board. We want to convey to our board that council is behind what they’re planning and what their vision for the parks are.”

A community survey drove development of the master plan and helped the Parks and Recreation Board and City Council zero in on what to do first.

“I think everybody needs ownership,” said Parks Board Chair Mary Lyn Jones. “If people have ownership and they have input, that to me is what it’s

“This has been in the plans for three years,” Jones said. “I’m finally beginning to see where something is going to happen. I know people are wondering, ‘When is that going to happen?’ but I think they understand we have to wait on the improvements and drainage study, and we’re going to do it right. We’ve had to be patient.”

In March, the City Council approved plans for designers with Halff Associates to move forward with detailed plans and bid documents to seek construction bids for the project.

Cost estimates so far have put the pool, pool house and parking lot at the $1.2 million original budget, with the addition of the splash pad likely adding about $150,000.

Once bids are received, the City will know how well the project fits the original budget. While unlikely at this point, if, due to higher bids or tight funding, the splash pad is not included, it would be planned as an addition later on.

The swim center will be built just north of the basketball courts at City Park on County Road 200. The splash pad is roughly 2,000 square feet at the estimated budget of about $150,000, breaking down to $63 per square foot for full recirculation system, according to Brian

Binkowski of Halff Associates. The hope is that it will be incorporated with the pool system to create cost savings once final design and bids are approved.

The splash pad would not initially include shade, but it could be added at a later date.

The swim center includes a roughly 1,300-square-foot open-air pool house facility with restrooms, pavilion area, vending and changing rooms. There would be no heating or air conditioning.

As plans were drawn up, the option was included to have restrooms and a potential vending area accessible year round for park users, even when the pool is closed.

The pool itself would be about 4,800 square feet, with a zero entry grade on one end and reaching a depth of five feet on the other. This allows children to play in the shallower end more easily, and creates greater ease of entrance for everyone.

Plans also include fencing, shade structures, landscaping and grass areas surrounding the pool deck. A parking lot with approximately 60 spaces, along with an improved entrance on County Road 200 and the decomposed granite half-mile trail around the southern half of the park are also included.

The City hosted a reception in April for the opening of Veterans Memorial Park downtown and held a groundbreaking to signal the beginning of work on Wetzel Park as well.

The finishing touch in Veterans Park will be a stone statue of a kneeling soldier to be carved by area sculptor Bob Ragan.

Ragan plans on delivering the statue and putting the finishing touches on the piece in the park in about five months.

Overall plans for Wetzel Park, named after the first mayor of Liberty Hill - Nathan Wetzel, include a splash pad, parking,

bicycle racks and water station, and restrooms.

Boatright sees the park as a place for families to enjoy the water as well as a stopping point for cyclists biking the county roads as they make their way through downtown.

“The bicycle community adds a lot to an area as far as the quality of life type things,” he said.

“It gets people out, gets them active. There are a lot of bicyclists that come through.”

There will also be shade structures bordering portions of the splash pad and anti-slip concrete decking around the splash pad to keep it cooler.

The splash pad includes various symmetrical sets of fountains on four lobes and sits on a site approximately 50feet square. The fountains are controlled by push buttons for child activation. The parking area is positioned on the north end of the site with a two-way entrance on Loop 332 and entrance-only access on County Road 279.

Future downtown park plans include a dog park near the future intersection of FM 1869 and the Stubblefield extension, as well as plans for Central Park, a pocket park with trees and benches on the west side of downtown.

HAPPY TRAILS

What makes park lovers even happier is the ability to walk, run or bike between parks throughout the area. That’s something that is important to parks planners at the county and city levels.

“In both the 2008 and most recent survey, trails were always number one in what people want to see,” Bell said.

The trick for the County and Liberty Hill is developing those trail systems in tandem so they coordinate and connect

Liberty Hill will have splash pads at both Wetzel Park downtown and at the swim center at City Park. Renovations at Veterans Park have made it a centerpiece of downtown revitalization.

in the most efficient manner.

The County did an analysis in 2012 showing all the trails – both city and county – that exist, and the future trails planned. Then the County developed a plan to fill the gaps to help connect all the trail systems.

“You have to look at those corridors that are really significant and will be even more so in the years to come,” Bell said about future planning. “To try and put a trail into a developed area after the fact is an extreme challenge.”

Throughout the county, there is roughly 258 miles of existing trails, with another 700 miles on paper as proposed.

The County focus is on larger regional trails, such as Brushy Creek Trail begins at Twin Lakes Park and ends at Hairy Man Road in Round Rock. He said the vision for that trail is much longer than the current seven miles.

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DESTINATION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 49

LIBERTY HILL

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“It can be defined as regional-type larger trails, which we’re more concerned with in the county,” Bell said. “We have to look at those larger connections and how we might make those north-south and east- west.

We’d eventually like to have a trail from Cedar Park – maybe even further west to Lake Travis – all the way to Hutto. That’s one corridor, and the other potential corridor is the San Gabriel River.”

Planning regional trails come with the same challenges as building roads, from the engineering and planning to acquisition of right of way.

“When you look at all the parts and pieces of what we have to do, initially it is going to take time to even advertise and select and assess a consultant,” Bell said.

“Then you have to have a consultant help you with what’s the best route, based on the terrain, especially if it is in a natural area. Then they may have one or two routes that would be feasible.”

The general timetable for a trail project’s development is two years.

“It is somewhat unpredictable. Assuming you have a route, where you think you can get right of way, you have to survey the area, then you look at the terrain, the geology, environmental reports, historic reports and any endangered species issues that might come up,” Bell said.

A trail connecting Liberty Hill with River Ranch Park, or a more extensive project connecting the city to other areas in the county through a trail along the San Gabriel River is one of the long-term goals, but the City has plans for local trails to connect parks and neighborhoods in town as well.

A portion of the trail planned around City Park is part of the swim center project.

“Getting the trail in was one of our first objectives,” Jones said. “When we first started looking at it, ideally we wanted the trail to go all the way around, but there were some logistical issues – drainage and property lines – so we decided we’d start with this. We are going to look at continuing the trail around the football field, but that will be later.”

The City received $1 million for a shared-use path from downtown to State Highway 29 along Loop 332.

“It will be a neat connection from downtown up to (Lions) Foundation Park,” said Pix Howell of Diversified Planning. “We will have to go through a procurement process with this because there are some federal funds involved.”

The City is also hoping this summer to receive a grant for a trail from downtown to City Park along Loop 332 the other direction.

A COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT

LHISD continues to thrive through extreme growth

I

STORY BY RACHEL MADISON

n a school district with a rapidly growing population, it could be easy for things to slip through the cracks. But time and time again, the Liberty Hill Independent School District has shown it’s up for the challenge. Across the board, from the elementary schools to the high school, successes keep occurring left and right. Some are academic, others are athletic, but all are a testament of the district’s students,

teachers, leaders and community.

In fact, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Toni Hicks said one of the biggest strengths of the district is its people.

“The eagerness of students for learning, the engaging of our staff to enhance learning opportunities, and the devotion of parents to our district and community together make this the best place to be,” she said. “We show so many successes across our district because of the people who give 110 percent.”

Assistant Superintendent Chad Pirtle added that even though the district is growing rapidly, it still has a small-town feel.

“We’re all the Panthers,” he said. “There’s definitely something special about that in a community. We have PHOTO BY RACHEL MADISON

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a population of a little over 16,000 in our school district, but we’re all purple and gold and that’s special.”

Bobby Mabry, director of human resources at LHISD, added that that Panther spirit goes beyond Friday nights.

“We have that winning attitude across everything,” he said. “Students want to continue that. And our community support is phenomenal.”

FACING PAGE: Sixth grade students at Liberty Hill Intermediate School work on computers during their science class. RIGHT: Members of the PTO at Liberty Hill Elementary pose for a photo at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year.

BELOW: The Panther football team at Liberty Hill High School lines up the sidelines for the national anthem before a game during the 2017 season.

Population Growth

Panther Curriculum The district is also continuing to refine the Panther Curriculum that teachers have spent countless hours on, Hicks said.

COURTESY PHOTO

“The courses we offer are a reflection of what our kids needs and want,” Hicks said. “As we move forward in the future, we are taking into account what the needs of our community and students are so they have a competitive edge when they graduate.”

Three years ago, a soccer program was added at the high school for both boys and girls. Just in the last year, a choir program has been added at the high school, as well as additional band classes. At the junior high, both a choir and dance class have been added, and at the intermediate school, theater arts, leadership and choir classes all came online this last year as well.

Mabry said the district leadership hears the community’s wants and needs, and as the district grows, they are able to implement new programs.

“When we add new programs, it doesn’t take away from the other programs, it gives students another opportunity to be involved,” he said.

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Hicks said it’s no secret that the school district’s population is going to continue growing.

“Families want to be a part of the great things in our district so they are moving here and more kids are coming,” she said.

Pirtle said that growth is a big opportunity for the district in the future, and the fact that the district has kept up with the growth in recent years is also a success.

“We’ve been able to pass two bond elections [in the last several years] to build the high school and Rancho Sienna Elementary as well as work on improving our other campuses,” he said. “The projections are that we’ll grow by 10 percent each year over the next five years, so our ability to be able to keep up with the growth is something to be celebrated.”

Pirtle added that he’s proud of the fact that even with all the growth, district administration has been able to keep up when it comes to streamlining operations, maintaining the district’s finances and maximizing current staff.

Mabry said the growth, while an opportunity, is also somewhat of a challenge, but something he knows the district is up for.

“We’re in a growing community that’s holding on strong to that small-town feel,” Mabry said. “Our challenge will be to stay ahead of the growth with our facilities and maintain that culture of a welcoming feeling and continue to have that same success.”

“We’re working on writing our own curriculum here in our district,” Hicks said. That’s a goal moving forward. The dedication of our teachers with the hours they are putting in to make sure we have a quality curriculum for our students is a celebration.”

Mabry said larger school districts usually have the capabilities to write their own curriculum, while smaller districts usually don’t. That’s why it’s a big deal that LHISD is writing its own curriculum.

“For a district of our size it says a lot about our staff to take it on,” he said. “It’s a pretty daunting task. It’s something they have to have buy in for and a lot of input, but it’ll be more applicable and useful when they have a stake in it, and it’s not just purchased. It’s homegrown.”

Variety of Offerings Just in the last few years, LHISD has added a variety of new courses and programs for students, a success Mabry said is a testament to the superintendents knowing when it’s time to add certain programs and provide more opportunities for students.

Staff and Leadership Growth In January, Pirtle created an in-house leadership academy that gives current district employees the opportunity to develop their talents for potential leadership roles CONTINUED ON PAGE 54

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Second grade students at Liberty Hill Elementary work on a class assignment.

Future Goals One of the main goals the district will be working on in the future is becoming a Professional Learning Community district, Hicks said.

“We’ve celebrated the Intermediate School as a PLC campus, but our goal is to be a PLC district in that we’re modeling the collaboration that our teachers have across grade levels, and not just across the grade level for that campus, but across all the schools in the district as we add new schools,” Hicks said. “That collaborating is evident with our teachers talking and the academic discourse kids have in the classroom. We know learning happens when kids are able to talk through what they know and understand and share that 54

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through monthly gatherings, job shadowing and goal setting.

“As we grow, more schools will [be built] and there will be more opportunities in our district,” he said. “We have some super talented people with ambitions of leadership, so we’re going to start developing and growing those people so when opportunities present themselves they’ll be ready to step into those positions. They may be in a classroom right now, but in the future they can step into an instructional coach position or assistant principal position—whatever their goals are.”

In the first round of the academy, 18 staff members were chosen. Pirtle plans on adding more staff to the program as people move into different positions.

“Our district does a good job emphasizing the learning and growth of our employees so it helps build the leadership capacity at the district level,” Hicks said.

“For example, Mr. Pirtle was the junior high principal and Mr. Mabry was the high school principal. That’s what is special about our district. We are all purple and gold and we’re continuing to keep that very close to us.”

with others. We know that’s important as they go into college and their careers, and that’s what we want to focus on.”

Elementary Level Successes Across all three elementary schools, unique programs have been put into place to help students thrive. For example, at Liberty Hill Elementary, there’s a conversational Spanish class available to all students, from kindergarten on up.

And next school year, it’ll be offered at all three elementary schools. And Bill Burden Elementary was selected by the Texas Education Agency to highlight its instructional practices.

“The TEA is creating a bank of lessons and some of those lessons from our elementary are housed at TEA for celebration of what they are doing,” Hicks said.

At the district’s newest school, Rancho Sienna Elementary, there has been an ongoing celebration when it comes to the school’s growth, especially because new staff was added mid-year, which led to a lot of collaborating and co-planning.

“We have a strong, flexible staff that continue to support growing numbers.

About 85 percent of the growth is happening within my walls,” said Melanie Bowman, principal at Rancho Sienna. “We’re serving the populations that are east most in our district and we continue to see high growth. One of the challenges we’ve had in that is we’ve already had to add six new teachers since [we opened]. But that’s an ongoing challenge and celebration. We’re the newest of the schools and having our building open within 18 months of construction was a big deal.”

Other successes at Rancho Sienna include a parent resource room, which allows parents to be active in building supportive learning. Parents are able to come in and volunteer by doing things like stocking the science lab or working in the library.

“Very early on we had parents that wanted to be very involved with their kids’ education, and I’ve been pleased with that support,” Bowman said.

Rancho Sienna has also established a student and community involvement committee that is a staffed committee with a focus to get parents and families involved in students’ learning.

“We have been brainstorming CONTINUED ON PAGE 56

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Fifth and sixth graders at Liberty Hill Intermediate School listen to a presentation from a fellow student during leadership class.

makerspace, but I’m excited to see that expand.”

Another success Collison has seen at her school is a collaborative community.

“We do weekly PLCs and we are currently working on becoming more familiar with vertical alignment,” she said. “Our teachers are learning from one another on how to become better with their content. Overall it’ll be a huge benefit for our kids.”

The Hill also has a program called Watch D.O.G.S., which stands for Dads of

PHOTO BY RACHEL MADISION

throughout the year and discussing what things we are going to do on an ongoing basis,” Bowman said. “This year we’ve had a writing focus across our campus, so at each of our evening events we’ve highlighted one grade level’s writing. That’s been one way we’ve been able to showcase our students’ learning and bring families in and celebrate some of the learning.”

Heather Collison, principal at Liberty Hill Elementary, said this past school year Liberty Hill Elementary became a secure building with secure entrances, a beautiful facelift and a makerspace area.

“That area in itself is a celebration because we’re really trying to help our kids with that enrichment piece,” she said.

“The makerspace is an area where they can problem solve and do a lot of cooperative learning. We are still growing in that area as our teachers learn how to use that

Great Students, and is a way for dads to get involved in volunteering at the school.

Rancho Sienna also plans on implementing that program this upcoming school year. The Hill also has a couple of programs for students with disabilities, including a preschool program for children with disabilities and an autism program

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for students in first through fourth grade.

“We’ve seen a lot of successes in students through those programs,” Collison said. “We have a very good special education team.”

Terrie Chambers, principal at Bill Burden Elementary, said Bill Burden has had a lot to celebrate this year with adding pre-k, kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Previously, those classes were not offered at Bill Burden.

Other accomplishments at Bill Burden include students and their families getting involved in donating large tubs of children’s books to support teachers on the coast that lost everything in Hurricane Harvey, as well as donating food to local food banks. With the help of the PTO and volunteers, Bill Burden was also able to build a literacy library this past school year with thousands of new titles,

Chambers said.

All three elementary principals said their accomplishments wouldn’t be possible without the help of parents through the PTO. Everything from movie nights and carnivals to bringing treats to teachers to reading with students are activities done by the PTO.

“We have an amazing PTO,” Collison said. “The parents that have come together to support us are great. We really appreciate their involvement.”

Intermediate Level Successes Josh Curtis, principal at Liberty Hill Intermediate School, said the biggest success at LHIS has been becoming a globally recognized Professional Learning Community campus, which occurred in late 2017. The

school is one of 17 in the state, 135 in the United States and 150 in the world.

“We’re very excited and proud of that accomplishment,” Curtis said. “It took a lot of hard work by the teachers to get to that point. Since then, our failure rate has gone down drastically. Right now it’s at about a .08 percent failure rate out of over 600 students.”

An initiative called ZAP, or Zeroes Aren’t Permitted, has also helped the failure rate to go down because teachers do not allow students to not turn in their work, Curtis added.

In addition, the Intermediate campus is working to be a Google certified campus with all staff members being Google trained.

Curtis added that the new choir and theater programs were successful this CONTINUED ON PAGE 58

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last school year. Students put on their first-ever production, “High School Musical Jr.,” in the spring, and the choir did a few concerts throughout the school year.

Across the board, Curtis said they’ve taken the word “teaching” out of the vocabulary and replaced it with “learning.”

“I want the classroom to be student driven,” he said. “We have a lot of collaborative groups with students and a lot of discussion going on that promotes a deeper, higher order of thinking. I’ve always been a big believer that peers learn from peers. The teachers give the framework to students with the end goal, and then let the students talk and discuss how to get to the end goal on their own. If they do that, then they’ll remember what they’ve learned.”

Ultimately, Curtis said his goal is to be No. 1 in his school’s comparison group, which is a group of schools across the state with similar demographics and population.

“Our motto is to be the best intermediate in the state,” he said. “We have high expectations and that’s our goal. Currently we’re at around 25, right in the middle. Attendance is a big thing with that. That counts into every designation from the state. Students can’t learn if they aren’t at school, but if we can get them on campus, I firmly believe our teachers can get them to learn.”

Junior High Level Successes Annette Coe, principal at Liberty Hill Junior High School, said academically, she’s very proud of her students because most of them are striving toward going to college.

“We’re working on having our students understand we want them to go to college,” she said. “Last year our students scored well above the state average on the PSAT 8/9 test. We’ve got kids now who realize college is something that’s within their reach, and we even have a couple of kids who have a chance of getting National Merit Scholarships.”

Another thing Coe has focused her energy on at the junior high is a kindness initiative that helps students to be more accepting to each other as well as new students coming in.

“When I first started here 10 years ago it was a big deal when we got a new kid, but now we get them all the time,” she said. “I want students to reach out to people when they come in and make it easier to join groups and clubs.”

The junior high has a “Kindness Matters” challenge each week, which includes just doing simple things for other students, like opening the door for them or giving them a compliment, but it has gone a long way, Coe said.

“When teachers notice they submit their students’ names and students get a wristband,” she said. “We’re coming up with even more ideas to instill acceptance in the kids, like mixing it up at lunch and having them sit somewhere else with people they don’t normally sit with.”

Coe said she firmly believes that her school, as well as the rest of the district, is ahead of the game when it comes to the area’s growth, especially when it comes to curriculum.

“In the next few years we are going to have two middle schools or two junior highs, but we’ll have a common curriculum both schools will follow,” she said. “And all three of the elementary schools will have the common curriculum, learning the same material. Students are going to get the best education no matter what campus they’re at.

We’re ahead of the game on that one.”

High School Level Successes At the high school level, students have numerous opportunities to earn college credit before they graduate, and more options are being added annually. During the 2017-2018 school year, students were able to earn college credit through Advanced Placement courses, OnRamps through the University of Texas at Austin, and career and technology education (CTE) courses through Austin Community College.

Through OnRamps, students are able to earn college 58

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The Panther mascot interacts with the crowd during a 2017 football game at Liberty Hill High School.

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choir, band and dance, which was a great collaboration, Bye said.

“We really stepped it up in the fine arts world,” he said.

Other accomplishments in the 2017-18 school year included several art students competing in 3D sculpture at a Texas Art Education Association competition, members of DECA competing in the state competition, and Spanish teacher Jennifer Gonzalez being recognized with the Rosemary Patterson Grant Award by the Texas Foreign Language Association.

To learn more about Liberty Hill ISD, visit the district’s website at www.

LibertyHill.txed.net. credit from the University of Texas while they are in high school. These courses are offered during the school day on campus by an LHHS teacher and are at no cost to parents.

During the 2017-18 school year, pre-calculus was offered, and in the upcoming school year, history and English will be offered as well. Through ACC, students can get dual credit in a variety of different areas, such as Microsoft, welding and as a certified nursing assistant (CNA).

“There are a number of ways to get college credit before you leave here and get a good head start,” said Mario Bye, principal at Liberty Hill High School.

Theoretically, if a student took all of the courses offered through OnRamps and the ACC, they could graduate with 27 college credits. Bye’s goal is to continue to increase offerings of college credit at LHHS.

“I want kids to be successful in those so they can get their credit before they graduate and later be accepted into college and complete a college degree,” he said. “At same time, some students decide college is not right for them, and in that case we have CTE courses they can go through instead to gain important skills.”

Bye added that athletics at the high school continue to excel every year.

“All of our team sports make it to the playoffs,” he said.

“Athletically, this place has been on fire. We haven’t gotten any state championships lately, but we’ve had playoff runs in all kinds of stuff. We don’t specialize in any one thing— we try to be good at everything.”

In addition, the new choir program has been a big success, as has the theater program. The school production of “Sweet Charity” involved students from theater arts,

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RYBODY GOES A simple eye test at any Panther Friday night football game, home or away, proves that the Panthers have some of the best fans in the state, and the numbers back it up

STORY BY KEITH SPARKS / PHOTOS BY ALEX RUBIO

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PANTHER VARSITY FOOTBALL HOME GAMES AVERAGED 2,275 PURCHASED TICKETS PER GAME DURING THE 2017 SEASON, ACCORDING TO GINA KETCHEM, LIBERTY HILL’S ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT SECRETARY. CONSIDERING LIBERTY HILL HIGH SCHOOL’S STUDENT ENROLLMENT CAME IN AT 1,122 IN FEBRUARY, THOSE NUMBERS SEEM ASTRONOMICAL.

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ccording to LHISD Superintendent Rob Hart, the explanation simply comes down to the kind of people involved in the Liberty Hill community and the efforts of Liberty Hill coaches and athletes, as a whole.

“It’s the kind of people we have that are involved in our school and the kind of school system we have that makes people want to be a part of it,” Hart said. “When you have a great program, a winning program, and the kids work hard and play hard, then that’s something that’s exciting for a community, and people want to be there to see it.”

Liberty Hill’s Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Jeff Walker said it gives his team an intangible advantage on the field.

“100 percent, it’s so much better coming out of the locker room and seeing the stands full than coming out and seeing them bare,” Walker said. “I’ve been fortunate to have been at my last two places that have been that way, and it’s just funner to coach, it’s funner to play in, and it just makes the night so much better when the stands are rockin’ and rollin’ and it’s loud.

There’s no doubt it’s a big advantage. We think it’s a big advantage when we go places, because we have that support.”

Lisa Owens, whose son is an athletic 62

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trainer at Liberty Hill, attends nearly every varsity football game, home and away.

Owens said she supports the Panthers so regularly because she knows her fellow community members would show the same support for her children.

“It just takes a village,” Owens said. “You support other people and their families, and you want your kids to grow up in a great environment and help out other people. You want your kids to be around people that are going to help them in life and be in a place where you want them to be. I just think that it takes a village.”

That unconditional support, Owens said, carries over into other aspects of their lives that go beyond high school football.

“That saying that they have, ‘One family,’ I just think that’s what it is,” she said. “You need people throughout your

life, just the support. This community just seems like they’re good people, good kids, and you see it in your life with all the people you’ve grown up with. It just helps you. It helps you grow. Then you just hope that you can take the youth that’s under you and help them accomplish what all they need to accomplish, as well.”

While the numbers for each of the Panthers’ away games weren’t available, it’s

clear the turnout is stellar on the road, as well, whether it’s a game that’s just down the road or one that’s two and a half hours away. As evidenced by the nearly-empty visitors’ section at quite a few Panther home games, that level of support isn’t common across the board. “Even at away games, there are people that don’t have kids playing or don’t have kids in school,” Hart said. “It’s just a loyal following that we have, and not all schools have that.”

It isn’t just the players who benefit from the support, either. Hart said a number of coaches that have left Liberty Hill in the past have expressed to him that the Panthers’ overwhelming support is

unrivaled compared to towns that have multiple high schools.

“There are a lot of people that have gone on and coached in bigger districts, and a lot of them have come back and said they don’t want to coach in anything that has more than one high school anymore,because a one-high-school town is special,” Hart said. “That’s where it all comes from.

You start dividing that fan support, and then you end up having Thursday night games like Austin ISD does, which they’ll broadcast, and on a punt or a kickoff you can see the stands, and the stands are empty. That doesn’t happen with us.”

Walker credited the accomplishments

Panther Stadium is the only place to be in Liberty Hill on Friday nights during football season. Liberty Hill bleeds purple and gold all year long, but football brings out thousands of fans who are forever loyal and true to the Fightin’ Panthers, the cheerleaders, Liberty Belles and Panther Marching Band. This year’s varsity team motto, “One Family”, perfectly describes the community’s support of its schools.

of the players and coaches before him, explaining that the Panthers’ successful track record likely has a lot to do with the level of support they’re shown every week, which he wouldn’t expect if they were putting a poor product onto the field.

“I think a lot of it has to do with most of our teams playing at a high level,” Walker said. “When you have a high level of play, it’s not just the coaches, it’s not just the kids. It’s the community’s support, it’s the parents, it’s the administration. If we CONTINUED ON PAGE 64

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weren’t winning in everything, I’m sure our attendance would drop, but we’ve had a lot of success. We’ve won some state championships, we’ve played for some state championships. Every year, we go deep into the playoffs, so it’s just kind of exciting for the community.”

The hard work the players have put in to achieve that success is why Owens said they deserve the community’s support, and why her son, Blaine Richardson, chose to remain on the field as a trainer despite injuries cutting his playing career short.

“It’s uplifting, just that everybody’s brought together for one purpose,” Owens said. “The kids work hard, and they deserve your support and praise. It’s kind of why Football fans get loud and rowdy in the student section at Panther Stadium on Friday nights. It’s the place to be during football season - everybody goes.

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Blaine wanted to stay in it. He hurt his knee and couldn’t play, and the trainer at the time, Doc (Harrington), talked him into being a trainer when he was going through all his rehab. Now he’s just giving back and still being a part of it. I just think it’s a great community. There’s a purpose why we moved out here, and it’s just been a great fit.”

On Friday nights in the fall, there’s only one explanation for why Liberty Hill’s businesses are dark and empty: everybody goes.

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THE

RIVALRY STORY BY KEITH SPARKS / PHOTOS BY JAMES WEAR & ALEX RUBIO

LEFT: A 1987 Panther cheerleader and mascot cheer the football team on during a game in Burnet. ABOVE: The Liberty Hill Panther and Burnet Bulldog varsity football teams battle during the 1987 season.

The New York Yankees have the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Lakers have the Boston Celtics, the Texas Longhorns have the Oklahoma Sooners, and the Liberty Hill Panthers have the Burnet Bulldogs.

R

ivalries exist in every sport, but few stand the test of time. At the high school level, especially, schools are reclassified into different districts and different conferences, thus eliminating the majority of rivalries.

Despite different growth rates and a roller coaster of talent levels, the Liberty Hill-Burnet rivalry has remained.

According to Charlie Braun, Head Football Coach at Liberty Hill High School from 1978 to 1990 and the coach who scheduled the first football game between the two schools in 1982, the rivalry initially started because Liberty Hill was considered the “little school,” but was able to beat the Bulldogs, regardless.

“We were the little school and they were the big one, yet we were able to beat them quite often,” Braun said. “They wanted to beat us so bad, they didn’t know what to do. That’s how the rivalry really started.”

Initially, Braun scheduled the game between the two teams because Liberty Hill was set to be reclassified from Conference 2A to 3A over the next few years.

To prepare for the jump, he wanted to schedule CONTINUED ON PAGE 68

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and we were beating them.”

Braun said the Panthers may not have fielded the same talent or size that the Bulldogs did with their larger enrollment, but they simply worked hard and trusted the system.

“The years that we played them, our enrollment wasn’t up near as high as theirs, but we had begun to be big enough to be a 3A, and we were lucky that we had some good kids then,” Braun said.

“Our kids always fought awful hard. They believed in what we did, and we were able to win.”

The Panther faithful celebrate Liberty Hill’s home victory over Burnet in 2016.

The Bulldog and Panther football teams have been competing since 1982.

The historic rivalry will continue for at CONTINUED FROM PAGE 67

games with teams like Burnet, a 3A school. Despite the enrollment margin between them, the first few games were always close.

“We were 2A at the time, they were 3A, and I knew we were going to go up, if not the next reclassification then the next one, so I started playing all the 3A schools in my non-district schedule, and that’s how we got started,” Braun said.

“We scheduled them because it was a real nice, close ballgame, and the two districts go right together. It just became a big rivalry, because the ballgames were always real close.”

The first game between them literally could not have been closer, ending in a 19-19 tie. In addition to the final score, Braun specifically recalled the size, or lack thereof, of the locker room at the field they played on in downtown Liberty Hill.

“I know that we ended up tying them that first year, 19-19, and we played on the old field downtown,” Braun said. “We’d go over there and we had a teeny tiny dressing room, so we had to dress in shifts, and we didn’t suit up but about 20 kids.”

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nline records of the matchup between the Bulldogs and the Panthers only go back to

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least the next two years, as both teams remained in Conference 4A’s District 14 through the UIL’s most recent reclassification.

Beyond the 2019 season, however, nothing is certain.

2004, but if Braun’s memory serves him correctly, the Panthers got the best of the Bulldogs for the vast majority of his tenure.

The Panthers’ success against the Bulldogs, even as the “little school,” is what Braun thinks established the rivalry then and continues to fuel it today.

“Liberty Hill, from Burnet’s end, has always been looked at as the little school, even now,” Braun said. “They look at Liberty Hill as the little school, and ‘You shouldn’t be beating us.’ They want to win so bad. We played them through ’90, and I’m not sure that they beat us more than once or twice over an eight-year span. We tied once, and I don’t really remember them beating us.

That became a real big rivalry game back then when we were the little bitty school

I

n the early 2000s, however, the Bulldogs flipped the script. From 2000 to 2004, the Bulldogs fielded former Texas A&M and NFL quarterback Stephen McGee and former University of Texas and NFL wide receiver Jordan Shipley, whose high school careers overlapped to bring the Bulldogs two State Championship appearances and a high-octane offense the likes of which the Panthers haven’t seen since.

Jerry Vance, Liberty Hill’s Head Coach from 2001 to 2017, has a vivid memory of that particular time period, and it’s safe to say it isn’t a fond one.

“When I first got here, they had Jordan Shipley and Stephen McGee, and a couple other big guys going D1, and we were just trying to get a program,” Vance said. “I mean, they mashed us. For two years in a row, they just wound up and killed us. I think, as coaches and as kids, you get that little bow in your neck and say, ‘okay, well now we’re going to go at them.’”

According to Braun, it was Vance’s introduction of the Panthers’ unique Slot-T offense, which they still run today, that allowed the rivalry’s pendulum to once again swing Liberty Hill’s direction.

“After Shipley left over there, they still ran the spread, but Liberty Hill began to do a little bit better,” Braun said.

“Vance didn’t change what he was doing for anybody. They were going to run the Slot-T, regardless of what everybody else was running. About that time was when

everybody started running the shotgun with the Spread formation, spread you out and try to beat you throwing the ball, but Vance stuck with his game plan of running that Slot-T and just running it down your throat. Boy, people had a lot of trouble stopping it.”

In 2014 and 2015, the UIL’s reclassification caused Burnet and Liberty Hill to go their separate ways. As if the rivalry needed any more fuel, fate would have it that the Panthers and Bulldogs would meet in the playoffs both years.

In 2014, they met four rounds deep in the playoffs at Round Rock’s Kelly Reeves Stadium. The stadium seats 11,000, and according to Vance, they filled it.

“I guess the ones that stick out in the back of my mind are the last three or four years when we played them in the playoffs,” Vance said. “I think we played them in the Regional round one time and Bi-District one time. We’ve had some really good games. We filled up that stadium in Round Rock one time, and boy, it was an intense, fun game. We ran a fake extra point or a fake field goal in for a touchdown, and it was just a fun rivalry, a fun game.”

both programs that are or have been at the top, which makes it a little exciting for the fans and everybody else.”

Rumors of Liberty Hill jumping to Conference 5A, based on increased enrollment, have circled for years, but Vance said that shouldn’t affect the rivalry, if only because the matchup remains such an economic success for both communities.

“When you look at the economics of the thing, that’s a good economic game,” Vance said. “Those games are sold out every time, whether here or over there.

They were a class above us a couple times during my tenure at Liberty Hill, and there were times they didn’t want to play, but we talked them into it and kind of tried to keep that rivalry as much as we could.”

Walker, on the other hand, isn’t so

sure. While he’d be willing to play them based almost entirely on their proximity, Walker isn’t as confident that the Bulldogs would be willing to play the Panthers as a 5A team, seeing as how they have enough trouble finding teams within their own conference willing to play them as it is.

“Probably not, I’ll be honest,” Walker said of whether the rivalry will continue upon their impending reclassification.

“We’d probably play them, just because of proximity, but when we do take that step… I mean, I couldn’t get any 4As to play us this year, and I don’t think, when

Charlie Braun, Head Football Coach from 1978 to 1990, looks on from the sidelines.

F

or whatever reason, this rivalry has stood strong for almost 40 years, while others have dissipated. Vance said it’s because, regardless of each team’s conference or talent level, both will be up for the challenge.

“The thing about them and the thing about our kids is they never asked for us to let up, and we never asked them to let up, because we knew it was going to be tooth and toenails all the time when we played them,” Vance said.

Jeff Walker, Liberty Hill’s current Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator from 2001 to 2007, attributed the continuation of the rivalry to the fact that both teams have consistently had success over the years.

“We’ve both had success at times, which makes it interesting,” Walker said.

“If we were both really bad, it would probably not be much of a rivalry, but you’ve got

“We had begun to be big enough to be a 3A, and we were lucky that we had some good kids then ... our kids always fought awful hard.

They believed in what we did, and we were able to win.”

– Coach Charlie Braun

we move up, we’ll get any 4As to play us. I would imagine it will die down a little bit if we grow out of 4A here in a few years.”

The historic rivalry will continue for at least the next two years, as both teams remained in Conference 4A’s District 14 through the UIL’s most recent reclassification. Beyond the 2019 season, however, nothing is certain. If the rivalry does dissipate, it will likely do so with the pendulum in the Panthers’ direction, having won the last five straight against the Burnet Bulldogs.

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| COMMUNITY: VOLUNTEER GUIDE |

LEND A HAND LIBERTY HILL VOLUNTEER GUIDE STORY BY DANA DELGADO

Are you ready to become involved and more engaged in building a better community?

Consider volunteering with one of the area’s organizations.

Organizations rely heavily on volunteers and readily welcome your experience, energy, and motivation to support various needs of the community. Things don’t happen unless people get involved. Take a look at these opportunities.

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THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

has an ongoing need for a variety of volunteer and mentor positions across each and every campus including: office help, curriculum enrichment, tutoring, monitoring, campus beautification, and materials’ assistant or serve as parent representatives on district and campus committees and attend school board meetings.

Individuals interested in volunteering with the school district should visit the LHISD online site www.libertyhill.txed. net/community/volunteering__mentoring to register and to have a background check completed in accordance with state law.

OPERATION LIBERTY HILL (OLH), a qualified non-profit organization, seeks volunteers to support their mission of serving one’s neighbor in need. Some specific needs include help with the food pantry, food drives, thrift store volunteers, handyman/yard maintenance, and gardeners for the community gardens.

The non-profit organization is located at 1401 Hwy 183 in Leander. Additional information is available on their website, www.operationlh.org or you can email them at operationlh@att.net

THE UNITED WAY OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, which assists

with education, financial stability, health and basic needs, seeks volunteers to help strengthen communities and improve lives. An array of volunteer opportunities are available including assisting with the Day of Caring or Day of Service projects, helping out at one of their special events, serving as a board or committee member or supporting the office with administrative tasks. Individuals can also donate their professional services such as graphic design, photography, or social media. If you are interested and ready to serve, contact the United Way of Williamson County at (512) 255-6799 or info@unitedway-wc.org for information about volunteer opportunities.

LIBERTY HILL SPECIAL OLYMPICS has a critical need for more

adult volunteers and high school volunteers.

Experience with students with disabilities is helpful but not necessary as guidance and some training will be provided. An eight-week commitment is required to build relationships and for the success of the student-athlete. Generally, there are eight practices per sport and a couple of weekend competitions for each sport. To learn more about volunteering with the Texas Special Olympics visit www.sotx.org/get-involved/ volunteer/ or call the area office at (512) 835-9873. Christopher Klepper, Special Olympics Coordinator for the Liberty Hill Independent School District, can be reached at cklepper@libertyhill.txed.net.

COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES (CASA) OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY are needed to advocate for the

best interests of abused and neglected children in courtrooms and communities in the county. After completing a 30-hour training course, volunteer advocates provide essential information in court to ensure each child’s rights and needs are

being attended to while in foster care.

Potential volunteers must demonstrate the interest and ability to help a child, be at least 21 years of age, and pass a background check among other requirements. Additional information and an application are available at www.williamson countycasa.org/ volunteer.

THE GAULT SCHOOL ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH (GSAR)

at the world renowned archaeological site near Florence can always use volunteers.

Volunteers help in the lab, in the field, with site maintenance, survey work and many other opportunities. Volunteers working in the field must be members of the GSAR. To find out more about current volunteer opportunities contact Lab Director Nancy Williams at nvelchoff@gaultschool.org or field director, Dr. Steve Howard at sph1@ email.com. Additional information is available at www.gaultschool.orgº/support/ volunteer-opportunities.

THE AUSTIN STEAM TRAIN ASSOCIATION welcomes you to a dream

opportunity to meeting people from around the world while working for a professional railroad organization. There are many opportunities to choose from on-board services like car attendants and concessions sales attendance to train crew volunteers like brakeman, conductor and engineer.

Training is provided. Volunteer as often as you want but at least once a month. If interested, the Volunteer Coordinator can be contacted at volunteers@austinsteam train.org.

MEALS ON WHEELS OF WILLIAMSON AND BURNET COUNTIES

provides consistent and healthy meals to seniors in need each day. To carry out their mission, caring volunteers are needed to offer a human connection for seniors who are often living alone and isolated.

For many, volunteers are the only people some seniors see on a consistent basis.

Volunteers are also able to conduct a daily wellness check and alert appropriate individuals about their concerns. For more information or to complete an application, visit www.meals onwheels-williamsonburnet.org/about.html. To reach them call (512) 589-8872 or email www.wbco. net Offices are located at 604 High Tech Drive in Georgetown.

THE LIBERTY HILL PUBLIC LIBRARY is looking for dedicated vol-

unteers to work side-by-side with the library’s professional staff in a variety of activities. Groups and families are encouraged to apply for a volunteer position at library events such as Summer Reading Programs and special events or work in our garden. Volunteers are assigned based on their qualifications and their ability to commit to a consistent schedule, typically two hours per week. Specific volunteer opportunities include story time program, gardening, maintenance, homework helper, and instructor to teach a specific craft or activity. Individuals are expected to adhere to a dress code and act professionally. For more information and an application, interested volunteers should visit www.lhpl.org/volunteer-program/.

The library is located at 355 Loop 332 in Liberty Hill.

EDUCATION CONNECTION

seeks volunteers at least 18 years of age who are able to make a 30-minute commitment to read with two elementary school children from October-May. The non-profit was founded on the research-based notion that reading reigns supreme as the single most important skill for not only academic success but for life in general. For questions, email the organization at info@ education-connection. com or visit their website which includes volunteer registration at www.education- connection.org.

Background checks are conducted.

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| COMMUNITY: DAY OF GIVING |

DAY OF GIVING

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Donations help community nonprofits make a difference.

The 24-hour online giving project begins 11am June 28.

iberty Hill Day of Giving is a special day of philanthropic giving that brings people together around the values of service and giving back to our hometown non-profit organizations. By connecting organizations that serve the Liberty Hill area with individuals seeking to make a difference, we work together to make our community a better place to live. Local organizations were selected to be part of the Day of Giving following an application process.

Organizations were selected for participation by sponsors of the Liberty Hill Independence Day Spectacular.

On June 28, the giving begins at 11 a.m. at www.Liberty HillFireworks.com/Liberty-Hill-Day-of-Giving.

Cross Tracks Church is seeking funds to update lighting in its Fellowship Hall.

Completed in 1993 from a former tabernacle erected in 1913 with granite gravel floor and posts supporting a skeleton roof, the Hall has drawn the attention of the church membership for its dim, outdated lighting system.

“We are seeking the community’s help in funding the project to upgrade the lighting,” said Anthony Buck, who is coordinating the church’s application for Liberty Hill’s Day of Giving. The total estimated cost of the project is $1,181.

The building is part of a church complex located at 101 Church Street in Liberty Hill that was designated as a United Methodist Historic Site in 1985. Started in 1854 in a one-room log cabin near the present Liberty Hill Cemetery, Cross Tracks Church has undergone a range of

Learn more about each of the beneficiaries and donate any amount through each organization’s link to their PayPal accounts. The charities will be recognized at the Independence Day Spectacular July 3rd. Participating organizations will have booths at the event where they can add to their fundraising efforts.

Be part of this exciting project to help local nonprofits make a difference in our community. In addition to your donation, contact your friends and family and invite them to participate. Then, reach out to local businesses, your church family, and others to encourage involvement. Even a small contribution can help.

changes as the pioneer settlement known as Old Liberty Hill evolved into a bustling community. A pivotal change occurred in 1870 when the church was relocated to its present location where a two-and-ahalf-story building was constructed. That structure was renovated in 1905 as needs and priorities changed over time. A growing Sunday school prompted the addition of two wings in 1916. The small, original chapel still stands in the shadow of the present Fellowship Hall. The Multi-Purpose Worship Center was constructed in 2014.

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The Liberty Hill Development Foundation is seeking community support to help restore and preserve the Liberty Hill International Sculpture Park.

Since assuming stewardship of the

monuments four years ago, the Liberty Hill Development Foundation has been tireless in its efforts to not only restore sculptures in the Liberty Hill International Sculpture Park, but engage specialized help and develop a comprehensive plan to display them properly. Time, weather, the environment and acts of vandalism have taken their toll on the sculptures appraised at $1.7 million.

The original 26 sculptures were created by 20 internationally recognized sculptors of a much storied 1976 International Sculpture Symposium. The collection includes works in marble, granite, limestone, cast bronze, painted steel and reclaimed chromed steel, weathering steel, hand-formed concrete, and limestone.

The group is seeking $100,000 short term for the preservation of the sculptures.

“Restoration is our main concern, but curators taught us how to do some of the repairs,” said Larry Nicholson, past Foundation president. In recent months, volunteers have been professionally guided on how to clean the black coating from a few of the sculptures and the cleaning solution used made a difference.

“Since we’ve started cleaning them, people have come out of the woodwork to help,” he said. “It’s good to know we are not alone.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 74

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JUNE 28, 2018 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 73

Hope House needs a storage building at its Liberty Hill location.

Hope House of Austin in Liberty Hill provides forever care to the most severe cases of mental and physical disabilities for children and adults. Hope House provides outreach to families with special needs as well as long-term placement for severely disabled family members.

Money raised through the Liberty Hill Day of Giving will go toward the purchase of a storage building at the residence in downtown Liberty Hill. Certain items must not be stored inside the residential facility, and a storage building is needed to keep the items nearby.The fundraising goal for this project is $10,000.

the Lost and the Lonely” among us. It is through a core of well-defined outreach programs that the organization “inspires positive change one story at a time” in Liberty Hill and surrounding areas.

Through its programs Operation Enduring Deployment, the charity helps veterans’ families; and through Operation Not Forgotten, it focuses on senior citizens residing in nursing homes. Operation inCrisis supports families in the midst of critical situations.

Funds donated through the Day of Giving will be directed to Operation Superhero, which weekly sends super heroes to Dell Children’s Hospital to uplift the sprits of seriously ill children there. The fundraising goal is $10,000.

“We seek to find value in the unvalued, find hope in the hopeless, and find love in the unloved,” said Kendra Cofer, founder of the charitable organization. “People need a smile, a simple act of kindness or need help in a big way.”

Liberty Hill Public Library is seeking community help to renovate, expand its facility to serve a growing community.

Operation Liberty Hill needs a walk-in freezer/cooler combo.

L4 Cares is a charity that seeks to provide acts of kindness to “the Least, the Last, 74

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L4 Cares is seeking funds to support its Operation Superhero program.

pantry for distribution to its clients.

The platform for the freezer is already built and once installed, the freezer/cooler combo will be covered with a roof, with total costs estimated at $30,000.

Operation Liberty Hill serves about 9,600 people a year through its food pantry.

In the past year, the number of families served as grown from 137 to 200, Baker said.

Operation Liberty Hill is a Christ-centered organization that assists the Liberty Hill community with basic needs like food, clothing, financial assistance, referrals for other services and rides to appointments.

What started in 2011 as a food pantry, has expanded to provide other services to those in need in the community.

Executive Director Susan Baker says the organization needs a walk-in freezer/ cooler to store items it picks up from various grocery stores. The donated food is expiring and stores donate it to the food

The Liberty Hill Public Library is seeking funds for needed repairs of its building located at Lions Foundation Park, as well as a 4,800-square-foot expansion.

“We are rapidly running out of room for the collections and we have no good space to host programs, teach classes and the millions of other things we would love to provide to our community,” said Library Director Angela Palmer. “The existing part also needs renovations. We need a new roof, new lighting and new flooring.

Our plan is to also add more seating, more computers, a new HVAC system and new shelving. This building just needs a lot of work. And with the expansion, we’ll need more bathrooms, a water fountain, a larger office area and storage, and we want to add a meeting room.”

Palmer estimates the total costs to be up to $300,000, but it hoping that Day of Giving contributions will provide the seed

money to take care of urgent needs and get the community interested.

“We are hampered by lack of space, lack of funds [and] lack of staff to keep up with the growing demands of our rapidly expanding community,” Palmer said. “We want to provide recreation, education and information. The library is important to our community for tons and tons of reasons. A good library is many things to a community, but to be those things, we need more room so we can provide that, especially as Liberty Hill grows.”

horse,” said Brenda McCall, executive director and co-owner of the center. “The students feel nurtured and loved. They don’t feel like it’s something mechanical. It’s neat to see and hear from their parents how it’s affecting them.”

•

growing church, but gets the opportunity to be on a campus like the ones that helped shape him during his formative years.

“They impacted my faith,” he said.

“Every day, I got to hear God’s word. That was big and I learned to apply what I learned to life. My teachers became my role models. It’s a humbling thing to participate in God’s ministry.”

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Divine Savior Academy is seeking funds to pay the first year’s salary for a teacher at the new school at Santa Rita Ranch.

Providing scholarships for Liberty Hill residents is the goal of Dream a Dream Therapeutic Horsemanship.

Since 2007, Dream a Dream Therapeutic Horsemanship has been providing therapeutic horseback riding for individuals with special needs. The center has 38 students registered, who range in age from 3 to adult, and about 75 regular volunteers.

The center hosts three summer camps, and is seeking support through the Day of Giving to fund scholarships for Liberty Hill residents for the summer.

Scholarship funds for summer camp are $2,750 for 10 individuals to participate and $4,500 for the therapy horses.

“Yes, it’s the riding, but it’s also the teamwork they have to develop with the

In January 2019, a groundbreaking is planned for the new Divine Savior Academy in Santa Rita Ranch. The 28,000-square-foot facility will provide early childhood education for students age three through first grade, and will open for the 2020-2021 academic year. A new grade level is scheduled to be added every year thereafter until fifth grade to complete the elementary campus. Phase II includes the addition of grades six through eight and provides for additional construction of classrooms, a gym and athletic fields.

The concept for the school came from Peace Lutheran Church Pastor Stephen Apt, who approached Santa Rita Ranch developer Ed Horne two years ago about the possibility expanding his church there.

Horne was also interested in adding a school, which prompted Apt to explore a partnership with Divine Savior Ministries.

The school will offer Christ-centered education with a college prep emphasis and a challenging curriculum for a competitive tuition. Apt said there’s nothing like it nearby.

Apt not only gets a new site for his

Liberty Hill Lions Club is seeking funds for college scholarship for Liberty Hill graduating seniors.

The Liberty Hill Lions Club is the local chapter of Lions Clubs International, a worldwide service organization whose primary mission is geared toward eyesight and all aspects of eye health. Over time, the mission has expanded to include numerous civic projects at the local level.

The local Lions Club serves the community through scholarships for Liberty Hill High School graduates entering college, while also contributing to Operation Liberty Hill, Meals on Wheels, school essay and poster contests, eye glasses and exams for students, the Liberty Hill Public Library and the Angel Tree program at Christmas.

Funds raised through the Day of Giving will go specifically toward the Lions’ scholarship program and the goal is to raise $4,000 for college scholarships.

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| BUSINESS: DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT |

TOWN CENTER SYNERGY

WITH MORE THAN A HALF-DOZEN PROJECTS IN THE WORKS DOWNTOWN, THE ONCE-NEGLECTED TOWN CENTER FOR LIBERTY HILL IS KNOCKING OFF SOME OF THE RUST, AND TAKING ON THE SHINE OF SOMETHING SPECIAL IN THE MAKING. STORY BY MIKE EDDLEMAN

PHOTO BY

THIS PAGE and RIGHT: The Fowler Building is set to be restored, updating it while maintaining its historic features, to create a new events center in Downtown Liberty Hill.

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“I think we will create spaces where we can. It will kind of be a work in progress,” Boatright said. “There will be these different areas where we will through a natural process create parking for the different venues we are creating.

“You get 10 to 15 spaces here, 25 over here, and pretty soon you know, hopefully we create parking that is located in different areas that addresses what our needs are,” he continued. “We can’t drop it on the ground all at once. But we can plan it as we address the different needs downtown, whether it is the parks or the drainage. In a couple of years we will look up and see it is there.”

THIS YEAR, THE COUNCIL HAS MADE A NUMBER OF MOVES AIMED AT ADDRESSING TRAFFIC ISSUES DOWNTOWN AS WELL , reconfiguring traffic

flow with some one-way streets southwest of downtown, and preliminary planning for a traffic circle at Loop 332 and CR 279 and the Stubblefield extension. These changes are designed to reroute traffic around the downtown or at least slow it down.

The City Council voted in February to change six streets downtown to one way. The plan will make Aynsworth, Munro and Myrtle streets one-way south, while Fallwell and Grange streets will be oneway north. Barton will be one-way north, toward RR 1869, where a divider will allow traffic to go either direction on RR 1869. The cost of the project, to include signage and necessary street improvements at intersections, is $36,522.

Engineering work on the Stubblefield Lane realignment and extension, meant to carry traffic south around downtown to avoid the four-way stop at Main Street and RR 1869, is set to begin this summer.

“Preliminary engineering will hone in on the alignment better, down to parcels that need to be acquired to build that road,” said Pix Howell of Diversified Planning. “That will be a major relief for the four- way in town. I think it will also open up some other opportunities along its right of way once you get south of town, in terms of commercial and residential.”

With many changes occurring downtown, Boatright said moving forward on the right of way issues for projects like Stubblefield is critical.

“This is a very important step in our overall transportation plan. It is phase 1 and 2,” he said. “It is important for us to be able to protect the RENDERINGS BY DON ECKOLS ARCHITECTURE

The vision for downtown is one where people can live, gather, relax and shop with ease. “That’s what we are wanting to create with the attainable housing in the downtown area,” City Administrator Greg Boatright said. “We want young families to be able to come into downtown and afford to live and really just create an atmosphere for them to raise their families in. With the parks, with sidewalks, we are creating the ability for them to be entertained, and to have an atmosphere for their kids that they want their family to be a part of.”

New housing developments including Rosemont and Central Park in the area will play a big role in creating a livable downtown, Boatright said, but he added that all the amenities were being planned and created with everyone in mind.

“This is not just for the people who live right here in downtown, but for other people to come enjoy as well,” he said. “What I think you’ll see is just a transition of our downtown to what we envision it to be. We can create an environment where it can happen, but the private sector is going to have to buy into it, invest in it and help create it. I want to see local businesses be created and thrive. That to me creates the type of atmosphere we’re seeking.”

City leaders imagine a walkable downtown, with good traffic management and ample parking so that the destination itself – the parks, shops and restaurants – can be the focus. For that to be the case, the less exciting questions such as where to park must be addressed.

“The parking is the biggest obstacle we have to overcome because it’s just so negative,” Boatright said. “We have the buildings, and if someone wanted to bring a restaurant in that would create 200 trips per day, where are those people going to park?”

The city is always looking for ways to create more parking downtown, and current projects like additional parking on Myrtle Street, plans for spots on Van Aly Street, and new parking with the development of Wetzel Park are a start.

“It needs to be convenient to the businesses or the area they are wanting to access,” Boatright said. “That’s one of the things we’re working on pretty diligently. The Van Aly parking is one of the things that we want to do to start that dialogue or cooperation with the private business owners to help us create parking, at least to help address the employees, where we can get the employees back off the street and the main parking for visitors.”

With the sidewalks along Main Street being redone, the city will also be able to more clearly designate and mark parking there.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 80

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FREEDOM TO GROW Nestled between the North and South forks of the San Gabriel River, remnants of small ranching and farming villages have evolved over the past 175 years into one of the fastest growing communities in the Austin metro area.

Families and businesses are locating to Liberty Hill for the beauty of the rolling hills along the Shin Oak Ridge, good schools and plenty of opportunity.

The Liberty Hill City Council is managing growth for the community.

Back row from left, are Troy Whitehead, Mayor Rick Hall, Ron Rhea and Wendell McLeod. In front, are Liz Rundzieher and Elizabeth Branigan.

(Mike Eddleman Photo)

www.libertyhilltx.gov 926 Loop 333 • Liberty Hill, TX 78642 512-778-5449

| BUSINESS: DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT |

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 77

Architectural drawings of the Fowler Building outline plans for restoring the historic property.

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should see quite a transition over time with this shift. “We’re going to see a transition of the residential along the loop become more business oriented.”

Spelling out the pros and cons of the request for council, Howell cited the ability to control parking along the road, modify intersections and other benefits to making the move.

“It mostly really has to do with the capability of the city to have control over everything from utilities, to speed limits to intersection improvements, etc.,” he said. “One of the real pros in all of this is being able to negotiate with a developer or landowner that is wanting to do something along the roadway. Now you’d have the capability to do so because you control the access. It gives you a lot of freedom to do that.”

There was only one negative mentioned.

“The con is the obvious, now you are responsible for the operation and maintenance of that road long term,” Howell said.

Howell said TxDOT will do some repairs and maintenance to the loop prior to transfer. Work planned includes addressing the road failure along the edge of the pavement in various sections, particularly near the school. At the east end, TxDOT has agreed to do a complete overlay from the railroad up to SH 29, adding a guardrail at Carl Shipp and the loop.

PARK PROJECTS SUCH AS VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK, WHICH CELEBRATED ITS REDEDICATION IN APRIL,

RENDERINGS BY DON ECKOLS ARCHITECTURE

corridor for Stubblefield going forward and attain right of way when we have opportunities, because right of way is essential to this project.”

The plan is to go from Loop 332, across from the elementary school, southward to intersect with CR 279.

While reducing traffic flow at the main intersection where RR 1869 crosses Main Street is one goal, reducing speeds and the risk of accidents is the goal on the other end of downtown where Loop 332 and CR 279 meet.

The roundabout, currently being designed by Steger Bizzell, is expected to not only slow and control traffic flow, but also provide an attractive entrance to downtown on the northern edge of Wetzel Park. Many of the transportation concerns have been magnified by the city’s lack of control of Loop 332 which is a Texas Department of Public Transportation (TxDOT) road. But with both parties, TxDOT and the city, willing to see the road change hands, the opportunity to make more changes more easily is in sight.

“Throughout the process of looking at the different capital improvement projects, different ways we can improve the four-way downtown and all the other options, what keeps coming up is the need to do work on Loop 332,” Howell said. “In conversations with TxDOT, it became apparent that we need to take that off the state system for the city to have the capability to make improvements it wants to make.”

Completion of the roundabout and other large projects are dependent on the change over, but even small changes will be much easier when it happens.

“Now we’re trying to take over the loop to really take on different aspects of public improvements, whether it is speed limits, crosswalks, parking, intersections, all of these things,” Boatright said, adding that the length of the loop

along with Wetzel Park, expected to begin development this summer, make downtown more appealing, as will the soon-tobegin renovations of the Fowler Building at the corner of Main and Myrtle streets.

Architect Don Eckols designed the plans for the historic building’s renovations. “We will be returning that building to its original state, in terms of where it was when Mel Fowler had his studio at that location,” Eckols said. “We have had CONTINUED ON PAGE 82

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| BUSINESS: DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT |

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meetings and worked up design and construction documents, and these are what you will bid and build the project with.”

The building was constructed in 1871

by S.P. Stubblefield, then purchased and restored by Mel Fowler in 1973. Through Fowler’s efforts, it was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1976.

The planned renovation would upgrade the building, making it ADA compliant, adding an elevator, new stairs and lighting, along with plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning work, but would preserve the rest.

“It is a modern building in that regard, but the essence of the building is just like it was when Mr. Fowler had it,” Eckols said.

“We’ve already had meetings with the Texas Historical Commission, and they were very pleased with where we were going with the building.”

There are many options for what the building could be used for with a kitchen, restrooms and ample space, but Boatright said he hoped it would be focused on the arts and its heritage.

“We want to promote the arts in our community with that building,” Boatright said in February. “That would encompass exhibitions of various artists. The kitchen and restroom access opens it up for a lot of different activities, but mainly we would want to incorporate Mel (Fowler’s) creations and the history that is behind the 1976 Sculpture Symposium in the building and make sure that is prominent.”

Promoting art is something Boatright believes is a great opportunity for Liberty Hill downtown.

“That’s a huge part of what we want our downtown to be about is the arts community,” he said. “I feel like the arts

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community adds a lot to the overall atmosphere of our downtown and our community. The art industry is something people have a lot of interest in.”

The challenge through it all, whether purchasing land for park, developing new amenities or transportation solutions, is funding.

“The hard part is finding the revenue to underwrite the projects. It just takes time,” Boatright said. “A lot of times your critics will look and say there’s nothing happening, but when you look at the downtown from where it was just two years ago, the improvements we’ve made on our streets, the improvements we’ve made with drainage, we’ve acquired the Fowler House, and we have revamped Veterans Park. There’s just a lot of things that have happened that you don’t really realize until you stop and take stock.”

| BUSINESS: CITY INFRASTRUCTURE |

Growth

INGREDIENTS FOR

PHOTO BY MIKE EDDLEMAN

Contractors monitor the operation of the treatment tanks of the new constant flow wastewater plant.

The plant can treat 800,000 gallons per day, twice the capacity of the old plant.

City creating infrastructure recipe for success.

A

STORY BY MIKE EDDLEMAN ny good recipe requires a few ingredients before the chef begins to add a personal touch.

A city grows its infrastructure – roads, water and waste water utilities - are the key ingredients that make homes and businesses possible. Liberty Hill wants to make sure those looking to come to town, and add their own stamp to the community find those basic ingredients in place in the recipe that makes the city work for everyone.

City Administrator Greg Boatright makes no bones about it — without the ability to provide these essential services there would be little to no growth in the area. Laying this groundwork for growth is a delicate balance.

“There are growing pains,” he said. “Trying to come up with remedies for the funding aspect for the improvements that are needed is a challenge for a city our size.”

What he hopes, is that the city can plan ahead for the coming growth in a way to steer it in the right direction and not leave the city – and its taxpayers – with excess burden without some gain in the process.

“When a developer comes and talks to the city about requesting service, we have to look at what it would cost for us to deliver that service,” Boatright said.

“What that negotiation usually leads to is some type of credit back to the developer for extending those utilities if they aren’t currently there.”

Developers get help through infrastructure, and in return, the city hopes

to add value to the community, both in terms of homes and business, as well as an expanded tax base.

“Also along with (development agreements) we negotiate with them to bring them into our city and have a voluntary annexation,” he said. “What limits us is not having both utilities, because if we don’t control the water and wastewater, then we’re limited in the requests we can make in the development agreement and the annexation of that property.”

Liberty Hill locked up the sewer portion of this infrastructure trio in 2012 with the purchase of the wastewater plant from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).

The older technology and limited capacity soon had the city looking ahead to the next step, which was the new $10 million plant brought online early this year.

It was a huge financial investment, but being the provider for an area well beyond the city limits helped mitigate the burden on city taxpayers.

“Since we are a regional provider for wastewater, we’re able to spread that out over a 3,500 account system, which certainly makes it much better to have that customer base,” Boatright said.

The new plant is economically and environmentally different than anything Central Texas has ever seen.

“The capabilities of the new plant are so far beyond the capabilities of the existing plant that you can’t really compare them,” said Superintendent Vince Perkins. “Other than the fact that they both treat wastewater, there’s no comparison between them. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it’s just that the new plant is so far ahead of what we had, that the quality of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 86

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effluence leaving the plant is light years from what we had.”

The differences begin with capacity and treatment method. The old plant, a sequential batch reactor, brings in wastewater, treats it, then sends out the effluence before bringing in a new batch of water, similar to how a traditional water heater operates.

“The new plant is a constant flow plant, so it will constantly be bringing new flow in while flow goes out,” Perkins said.

In addition, the new plant can process 800,000 gallons per day, compared to the old plant’s 400,000 gallon capacity.

With both plants online, the city’s capacity is triple, but the old plant has recently been taken offline for long-needed maintenance. Until a full assessment is done, said Public Works Director Wayne Bonnet, the city won’t know how long the work will take. The hope is that the old plant can be mothballed and only brought back online if the city found itself in dire need.

Less maintenance and operating costs are the driving factor in the desire to shut down the old plant.

“The new plant has so much less maintenance requirement that the treatment cost per gallon is going to be a lot less, therefore we would rather try to stay with the new technology, use the old one if we have to in

the interim, but try to help the city to move with the newer technology and more efficient cost,” Perkins said. “This plant has far less valves and gizmos and gadgets that you have to do maintenance on than the old plant does.”

The pace of growth will dictate the future use of the old plant, and how quickly the city moves into planning for another addition.

“The current improvement is probably only going to be good for the next two years and we will be looking at another expansion of the plant,” Boatright said, adding that the city would have to determine when to act without being too early or too late.

“The challenge is to stay one step ahead of the growth for our area takes a lot of planning from staff and from our consultants,” he said. “We don’t want to get too far ahead to where if the economy slows we have all of this capacity out there that’s not being utilized. But at the same time we can’t get too far behind the curve because if we do then we’re at capacity and we have all this additional flow coming into our plant.”

As houses go up, excess capacity dwindles.

“We feel like we probably have the capacity for somewhere around 5,000 homes,” Boatright said. “We’re probably serving between 3,800 and 4,000 now, so we need to move into the planning phase for our next expansion.”

The next expansion, when it comes, will be a mirror image of the new plant, designed to be built at less cost thanks to shared infrastructure on the site.

“Our engineers added a lot of things with this stage that we will be able to adapt to the next stage a little more easily,” Bonnet said.

“Trying to predict the future as to how the growth is coming, and accommodate that, is very important. We’re all the time looking for ideas for new lift stations, increasing capacity of water lines, things of that nature in town, that we as operators can look at and know we need to get ahead of.”

The city is permitted to handle 4 million gallons per day on the site, but the current expansion was a 14-month process itself, so future expansions will take time and funds.

While efficiency and capacity are important facets of the new plant, for the handful of city employees who are working to get the new plant online and understand how it operates, the science is the thrill.

City employees – part chemist, part biologist, part computer tech and part mechanic – know they are dealing with the top of the line in water treatment, helping Liberty Hill, but also the local environment for all Central Texans.

“As we look at it, we’re trying to do the best we can for the next community,” Bonnet said. “It’s not only for Liberty Hill, it’s for the next community downstream.”

What makes this plant special, is it sends out effluence that meets drinking

Liberty Hill’s new wastewater plant can treat up to 800,000 gallons per day, while the old plant, seen in the upper right, can only treat 400,000 gallons per day.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF LIBERTY HILL

water standards. The plant tracks the turbidity of the water that has been treated, a key measure used to test water quality.

“It is normally a term only associated with drinking water plants,” Perkins said.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 88

Liberty Hill Lions Club meets on 1st and 3rd Fridays at noon at the Fellowship Hall, 102 Myrtle Street Liberty Hill

Liberty Hill Lions Club

We are a part of the largest service organization in the world, doing work to serve those in need in our community, our state and our world.

We support Operation Liberty Hill, give scholarships to our graduating seniors, support Texas Lions Camp for disabled children, and many other worthwhile projects.We raise money for our projects with our quarterly fish fry, our Rip Roarin’ Ride, and our flag project. Check us out on our website: www.lhlions.org

Liberty Hill Development Foundation Is a 501(c)3 organization that was started before Liberty Hill incorporated, to provide the community facilities that make it a better place to live and raise a family.

The opportunity came when land was given to the foundation. Some land was donated for the new fire department building, ball fields were built, and a hike and bike trail marked off. A library was built and Lions Foundation Park was created. Since then, the Foundation acquired the 1976 Symposium sculptures and is working on their preservation. Check out our webpage at: www.lhsculptures.com

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“Turbidity is not something you normally measure in wastewater effluence because it’s not that clean. This plant, the effluent coming out is so clean it has turbidimeters to measure the turbidity.”

Drinking water must measure below one to The effluence coming out of

Vince Perkins, JR Pierce and Wayne Bonnet check the effluent from the new water treatment plant. The environmentally friendly new plant – which meets many drinking water standards – monitors the turbidity of the effluence, a key measurement of drinking water quality.

the new plant is measuring half that or less.

“The effect that will have on the receiving stream, down here in the river, is incredible,” Perkins said. “We’re going to be putting water in that receiving stream that is well above drinking water standards as far as cleanliness.”

The treatment process is biological, using the same bacteria found in the human digestive system. Keeping them healthy, efficient and the right balance of bacterias is key.

“There are a lot of impacts such as biological factors, weather,” Perkins said.

“These bugs are like us, they’d much rather work when it is nice and warm. If you get a big shock load of cold rainwater that comes in from somewhere, they don’t like that. When someone dumps old paint in the system, that creates a chemical shock load, the bugs can’t deal with it. We do a lot of testing on a daily basis to know exactly what’s going on biologically.”

The department takes great pride in using this new technology and hopes to be a great example for other communities.

“We’re licensed by the State of Texas to do what we do,” Perkins said. “They consider us stewards of the environment, so in addition to everything else we do, we’re expected to do our part to protect the environment. This is the only membrane plant, in this part of the United States, with this type of membrane. I fully expect to have people come visit from all over.”

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POTENT POTABLES

Being the regional wastewater service provider puts the city in good position for growth, but in some ways that, without control of the water service as well, can be a problem.

The city currently has 888 water accounts, surrounded by what was once Chisholm Trail Special Utility District, which now has been transferred to the City of Georgetown.

“Right now, our water service area doesn’t go outside the city limits basically,” Boatright said. “To have a city that is one-dimensional outside its borders, and that being only the sewer, and not the water, takes away a lot of our ability to negotiate with developers.”

Area neighborhoods such as Stonewall, Summerlyn and Larkspur are all serviced by Georgetown water, but change may be on the horizon.

In April, the City Council gave Boatright the authority to negotiate with Georgetown to take over much of that service area where the city currently provides wastewater service. In the agreement when Georgetown took over, there was a five-year hold on selling off any of the service area, which ends in September 2019. Georgetown has indicated it is interested in coming to an agreement with Liberty Hill.

“They want to start negotiating on the

service area,” Boatright said. “Once we agree upon the amount of area we’d be interested in, it will be up to Georgetown to assign a number to that area regarding what it would cost our city to take over.”

Taking over the service area would not only impact future growth for the city, but would also give the city more leverage in the extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ).

In hindsight, Boatright being more involved in the negotiations with Chisholm might have been helpful, but the city was not in the strong financial position it is today.

“We probably should have taken a more active role ourselves in seeing if we could obtain that, but we probably didn’t have the pockets to do that,” he said.

It is expected if an agreement is reached, it would add about 3,200 water customers for the city, not including the potential annexation of Stonewall, which means 450 more.

Water supply is always something cities watch as they see some struggle across the state, and the irony of seeking new water sources while sending water away is not lost on Boatright.

“We kill ourselves as municipalities looking for new sources of water,” he said.

“We’re sending 600,000 gallons per day down the river.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 90

PHOTO BY MIKE EDDLEMAN

meet turbidity standards.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 88

While there is no current worry about reliable sources of water, Boatright sees the new technology in the wastewater plant as a jumping off point for real innovation when it comes to water and wastewater services.

“What my goal is for our city, is for us not to send any effluent into the river,” he said. “By that what I want to try to accomplish is that we are reusing every bit of that water we are putting into that plant. Whether it is through irrigation or whether it’s through a mix of raw water or potable water.”

It will take time and effort to make residents comfortable with the idea, but as technology improves and water sources dwindle, it could prove to be a critical component in providing these services.

“I think the perception issue, and the feasibility is something that over the next five years we will see a huge turnaround in,” Boatright said. “There is nothing on the horizon that would indicate to us there is going to be a huge push to create more reservoirs, so what are the alternatives?”

Even at a 50 percent mix of water from the treatment plant and water from a surface source or well, the burden on the fresh water source would be reduced dramatically, and be less of a worry for end users.

“We probably do not want to use treated effluent water 100 percent as our potable water source, but in having the ability to mix that with raw water, then send that through your potable water treatment plant, I think that’s more palatable for citizens,” Boatright said.

GETTING AROUND

Today, all roads essentially lead to State Highway 29 in Liberty Hill — a problem highlighted by the need for relief at the intersection of SH 29 and County Road 200.

This microcosm of the city’s transportation challenges is being addressed, but much more is needed beyond a wider road and revamped intersection.

“As we look at what the possibilities are out of (CR) 200, we have to remember it is maybe 10 percent developed,” Boatright said.

“It can get so much worse. As we grow and expand our borders, this is the tool that the 90

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planning department will need to protect these areas because right now, it is still expensive right of way, but if we delay 10 years, it will almost be cost-prohibitive.”

As the city develops its transportation masterplan, a long-term look at relieving congestion today and traffic issues to come, have planners plotting roads well into future.

“We want to control our own destiny, we don’t want outside influences determining what our transportation system is going to look like, where growth is going to take place,” he said. “We want to have a major influence on what five years, 10 years, even 20 years out, what our city is going to look like.”

John Dean, of Bowman Consulting shared initial ideas for new corridors with the City Council in April, beginning the dialogue that will result in the long-range plan.

“We want to provide mobility options,” Dean said. “I know congestion is getting to be an issue at a lot of different intersections and on different roadways in town, so we want to anticipate that and do our best to plan for it and provide alternatives.”

Through the process, information was gathered to tie in existing plans from the county and other entities to maximize efforts.

“We took that information and laid out some roadway corridors, going back and forth with staff refining that, massaging it and get it where it achieves what we want to do in the most palatable, least offensive way, which can be difficult,” Dean said.

Key elements of the plan, which is only in its infancy, include the current Stubblefield extension around the south side of town, eventually connecting to SH 29 and perhaps even north of the highway to a potential extension of Long Run from US Highway 183 to CR 214.

The Stubblefield extension is already in

the engineering bid phase.

“Preliminary engineering will hone in on the alignment better, down to parcels that need to be acquired to build that road,” said Pix Howell with Diversified Planning.

“That will be a major relief for the four- way in town. I think it will also open up some other opportunities along its right of way once you get south of town, in terms of commercial and residential.”

This extension is seen as one of the first steps in the long-term plan.

“This is a very important step in our overall transportation plan. It is phase 1 and 2,” Boatright said. “It is important for us to be able to protect the corridor for Stubblefield going forward and attain right of way when we have opportunities, because right of way is essential to this project.”

Another point of focus, in dealing with the challenges of CR 200 is a bypass, running from SH 29 east of CR 200 around the north side and connecting to CR 200 north of the railroad tracks.

“One of the things we’re considering in our transportation plan is an alternative from CR 200 out to Hwy 29 without having to cross the rail,” Boatright said. “We’re in a triangle there with the rail and it’s impossible to deal with.”

A potential extension of Sundance Trail from RR 1869 on the east side all the way across CR 200 toward SH 29 on the west side of town is another potential option.

With the exception of Stubblefield and the current work planned for CR 200, none of these plans are set and no specific routes are detailed.

“This is a plan we are doing for our city 20 years from now,” Boatright said. “The Council is setting the vision for our city for years to come. These are lines on a map for the Council’s consideration.”

The entire purpose for doing this type of planning is to establish those corridors and as the development community comes in and starts planning with the city, we’re able to identify (the ROW plans) and not pay the huge amounts we would if we did nothing and let development happen without identifying the need for transportation lanes in the future.”

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HEALTH WELLNESS GUIDE

Liberty Hill may be a small town, but that doesn’t mean its health and wellness offerings are small. From dentists and orthodontists to doctors and physical therapists, Liberty Hill has a wide array of options for locals.

STORY BY RACHEL MADISON

LIVE-YOUR-DREAM COUNSELING

Licensed Professional Counselor Vicki Bates practices out of an old rock house in Bertram that her clients say is “comforting and calming.” She started in private practice in November 2016 on a part-time basis, Vickie Bates but has grown her practice to be open full time. About 65 percent of her clients are adolescents, and the rest are adults. She also counsels couples, as she is trained in Level 1 Gottman Couples Therapy.

“I use a person-centered approach and utilize art and sand tray therapy in my practice,” she said. “Many of my clients are dealing with trauma, anxiety, depression, and grief or loss. One of my specialties is grief and loss.”

Bates has 29 years of experience as a teacher and coach from fifth grade through 12th grade, which has helped her to connect with many different types of people from many walks of life.

“I believe that everyone can benefit from counseling because it can help someone figure out what he or she wants and needs in his or her life,” she said.

Bates is currently accepting new patients and takes a wide variety of insurance plans.

“If you feel overwhelmed, lost, sad or just need someone to talk things out with, give counseling a try,” she added.

Live-Your-Dream Counseling is open in Bertram on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 150 N. West Street. Their Marble Falls location at 809 12th Street is open Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., For more information, call (512) 569-1152 or visit liveyourdreamcounseling.com.

LIBERTY HILL DENTAL

At Liberty Hill Dental, Dr. Thad Gillespie and Dr. Tiffany Georgiefski are dedicated to providing excellent dental care to the entire family, from children to seniors. Their office offers the latest technology and Dr. Thad Gillespie advanced treatment options, such as E4D technology, teeth whitening, sedation dentistry, porcelain veneers and dental implants. Comprehensive exams and Dr. Tiffany Georgiefski checkups, dentures and partials, oral cancer screenings and ClearCorrect orthodontics round out CONTINUED ON PAGE 96

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this office’s offerings.

The goal at Gillespie and Georgiefski’s office is to greet patients by name, all while providing knowledge, experience and trust with a hometown touch. Liberty Hill Dental is always accepting new patients.

Liberty Hill Dental is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located at 14933 W. State Hwy. 29 in Liberty Hill. For more information, visit libertyhilldental.com or call (512) 515-0171.

accepting new patients and is located at 101 Jonathan Drive, Ste. 1 in Liberty Hill. The office is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit westfamilydentistry.com or call (512) 778-9977.

CEDAR PARK REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

WEST FAMILY DENTAL

Doctors Michelle West and Angela Davidson have been practicing dentistry for 15 years, and together they provide general, cosmetic and implant services for patients of all ages at West Family Dentistry.

Dr. Michelle West

Both dentists are graduates of Texas A&M University and The University of Texas’ Houston Dental Branch. At their practice they use the latest technology, Dr. Angela Davidson such as the Solea Laser, to make patients’ dental experiences as comfortable as possible. In addition, West is attending a continuum at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies to help treat TMJ pain and restore patients’ bite back to optimum health.

“The Solea Laser definitely sets our practice apart and allows us to do many of the fillings without anesthesia and without pain,” West said.

“We have such a wonderful team of caring ladies, many of whom are local to Liberty Hill,” West said. “We love being a part of this great community and taking care of the people of Liberty Hill.”

West Family Dentistry is currently

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Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, which is a partner of the Seton family of hospitals, is a 108-bed facility with complete inpatient, outpatient, surgical and emergency care. More than 600 physicians are on staff at this Joint Commission accredited facility that includes all services, from preventive care to women’s services to critical care. The hospital also has a NICU, heart and vascular center, joint and spine center, and offers bariatric services.

“We work hard every day to be a place of healing, caring and connection for patients and families in the community we call home,” said Mary Clare Spear, marketing and volunteer coordinator at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center. “We believe in the power of people to create great care.”

The hospital is a Certified Primary Stroke Center as well as a Comprehensive Bariatric Center of Excellence. It also has a free-standing emergency center in Leander on the corner of Lakeline Boulevard and Crystal Falls Parkway.

Cedar Park Regional Medical Center is located at 1401 Medical Parkway in Cedar Park. The hospital offers the ability to schedule emergency room, primary care and 3D mammography appointments online

at cedarparkregional.com. For more information, call (512) 528-7000.

CARE FIRST WALK-IN CLINIC

At Care First Walk-in Clinic, patients will receive honest and accessible healthcare with a hometown feel, said Kaela Thurman, certified family nurse practitioner (FNP-C) and owner of the clinic.

Kaela Thurman (r.)

Thurman, along with fellow FNP-C Stephanie Weatherby, provide services for a wide variety of medical needs at the walk-in clinic. Procedures Stephanie Weatherby include, but are not limited to, stitches, staples, skin glue, IV hydration, some primary care services, sports physicals, adult physicals and well-woman exams. Appointments are not required.

Thurman owns the practice along with her husband, Leander firefighter Jason Thurman. The clinic currently accepts Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and is in the process of accepting all major commercial insurance plans.

Care First Walk-in Clinic is always accepting new patients and is located at 12701 W. State Hwy. 29, Ste. 5 in Liberty Hill. Hours are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call (512) 548-5373 or visit carefirstclinic.com.

LIBERTY HILL PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATES

Liberty Hill Physician Associates has been serving the residents of Liberty Hill and surrounding CONTINUED ON PAGE 98

Same Day Appointments | Sports Physicals Schedule an Appointment Monday-Friday 8am-5pm

512-778-5111

www.libertyhillpediatrics.com Liberty Hill Pediatrics | 101 Jonathan Drive, Suite 4 | Liberty Hill

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areas since 2012. Dr. Walter Chesshir offers child, adolescent and adult care, sports medicine, DOT physicals, and a variety of in-office procedures.

“Chesshir is a compassionate and experienced family pracDr. Walter Chesshir tice physician who cares for patients of all ages,” said Mary Clare Spear, marketing and volunteer coordinator at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, the hospital directly affiliated with Liberty Hill Physician Associates. “He has a special interest in sports medicine and can perform joint injections.”

Chesshir is fluent in English and Spanish and is currently accepting new patients.

Liberty Hill Physician Associates is located at 14365 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 10 in Liberty Hill. Business hours vary. For more information, call (512) 778-5160.

Visit cedarparkphysicians.com to schedule an appointment online.

LIBERTY HILL ORTHODONTICS

Liberty Hill Orthodontics is headed by Dr. Scot O’Donnell. The office opened in 2011 and was the first orthodontic office in Liberty Hill. The practice recently expanded into its new facility in March.

Services offered Dr. Scot O’Donnell include traditional metal and clear braces, Invisalign and Invisalign teen.

“We have an experienced team of professionals that strive to make your experience informative and fun,” said Kelly Schweda, treatment coordinator at Liberty Hill Orthodontics. “We have built a reputation of excellence by creating beautiful smiles within a fun, relaxed environment.

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We will take the time to get to know you, listen to your concerns and provide customized treatment recommendations in a gentle, caring environment.”

Liberty Hill Orthodontics is an in-network provider with most major insurance companies, including the Liberty Hill Independent School District’s Ameritas insurance.

Liberty Hill Orthodontics is currently accepting new patients and is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The practice will be expanding its hours as the business continues to grow. The office is located at 14362 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 101 in Liberty Hill. For more information, call (512) 548-5040 or visit lhortho.com.

ORTHO

360 Dr. Amber Burgess and Dr. Stanton Henry believe a beautiful smile and healthy bite can change a person’s life. That’s why their Ortho 360 orthodontist offices are laid back and fun.

Burgess and Henry have over 17 years of Dr. Amber Burgess experience and want everyone to feel like a part of their family.

The Liberty Hill location, which opened in April, is the newest of their now five orthodontic Dr. Stanton Henry practices. The other Ortho 360 practices can be found in Austin, Bastrop and Moulton.

“Ortho 360 [was] excited [to open] our new location in April in Liberty Hill,” said Teri Shipper, marketing manager for Ortho 360. “We look forward to being a part of the community and getting to know everyone here.”

Main services offered at Ortho 360 includes braces and Invisalign for children and adults, including early

interceptive treatment, Invisalign teen, cosmetic straightening only, surgical cases and clear braces. The office offers free consultations and no interest financing.

Ortho 360 is currently accepting new patients and is located at 14365 Hwy. 29, Ste. 12 in Liberty Hill. Business hours vary. Call (512) 716-0307 or visit ortho360.com for more information.

LIBERTY HILL PHARMACY COMPOUNDING

CENTER Liberty Hill Pharmacy & Compounding Center opened in August 2015. Owner Whitney Brace earned her doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Texas’ College of Pharmacy and worked in indepenWhitney Brace dent pharmacies in the Austin area prior to opening the Liberty Hill Pharmacy & Compounding Center.

The pharmacy is full service, including being able to provide compounded medications for humans and pets.

“We offer traditional prescriptions, custom compounded medications, over the counter medications and supplies, as well as nutritional supplements,” Brace said. “We strive to be the kind of old fashioned, small town pharmacy where we get to know you as an individual, not just a number. We also have a baby on staff for extra cuteness.”

Brace added that prescription transfers are easy—just call the pharmacy and they will take care of the rest. The pharmacy accepts most insurance plans.

Liberty Hill Pharmacy & Compounding Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The pharmacy is located at 13740 W. State Hwy. 29, Ste. 4 in Liberty Hill. For more information, visit libertyhillpharmacy.com or call (512) 548-6838. CONTINUED ON PAGE 100

Nordhus Dentistry Now Offering

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And multiple procedures done in one appointment

We provide comprehensive oral healthcare from routine cleanings and periodontal care to tooth-colored fillings and cosmetic smile makeovers. No matter what stage of life you’re in, we’re here to help you achieve a healthy, attractive and functional smile.

• Preventative Care (Including Laser Cavity Detection) • Restorative Care (Tooth-Colored Fillings & Crowns) • Prosthodontics (Dentures & Denture Stabilization) • Cosmetic Dentistry (Whitening, Veneers & More) • Kid-Friendly Dentistry (Easy, Stress-Free Dental Visits) We offer affordable fees and flexible payment options to help our patients fit quality dentistry into their budgets. We accept all PPO insurance policies and can help you make the most of your benefits. No insurance? No problem! CareCreditSM patient financing lets you break up the cost of treatment into low monthly payments, and you can use it for the entire family.

Call us today to schedule a consultation!

MICHELLE WEST, DDS ANGELA DAVIDSON, DDS 101 Jonathan Drive, Suite 1 Liberty Hill, Texas 78642

512-778-9977

www.WestFamilyDentistry.com

HEALTH

WELLNESS GUIDE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 98

TEXAS PHYSICAL THERAPY SPECIALISTS

At Texas Physical Therapy Specialists, Dr. Ben Menke and Dr. David Barna, both doctors of physical therapy, pride themselves on being the Best First Choice® in musculoskeletal care. Texas Physical Therapy Specialists is a local, privately owned evidenced based practice that provides a wide range of specialties. Services include musculoskeletal, orthopedic, sports medicine, vestibular therapy, balance training and chronic pain care.

“We understand that everybody is unique,” said Robert Mil, clinic liaison for Texas Physical Therapy Specialists.

“That’s why our team will perform a detailed analysis of your condition before

HEALTH

Ben Menke has already started his road toward fellowship and will soon join the elite group of physical therapists in the United States.”

Menke is also fluent in Spanish.

Texas Physical Therapy Specialists has 30 locations throughout Texas and accepts most major insurance, including Tricare and Workers Compensation. The local office has been a member of the Liberty Hill Chamber of Commerce for more than 10 years and is a big supporter of Liberty Hill schools, Mil added.

Texas Physical Therapy Specialists is accepting new patients. The office is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and is located at 13740 W. State Hwy. 29, Ste. 3 in Liberty Hill.

For more information, call (512) 778-6700 or visit www.TexPTS.com.

WELLNESS DIRECTORY

ACUPUNCTURE THERAPY Liberty Hill Wellness Center 1353 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 515-0551 www.libertyhillwellness.com

CHIROPRACTOR Calhoun Chiropractic of Liberty Hill 14370 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 4 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 689-9864 www.calhounchirocare.com Liberty Hill Chiropractic 929 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 515-6702 COUNSELING SERVICES Live-Your-Dream Counseling 150 N. West Street Bertram, TX 78605 809 12th Street

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providing treatment tailored to your individual needs, using the newest research to get you the best results in fewer visits.”

Dr. Ben Menke Mil added that less than 6 percent of all physical therapists are board certified specialists.

“At TexPTS we are all specialists or Dr. David Barna working towards our specialty,” he said. “Less than 1 percent of all physical therapists are fellowship trained — the highest level of education a physical therapist can achieve. At Liberty Hill,

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Marble Falls, TX 78654 (512) 569-1152 www.liveyourdreamcounseling.com DENTISTS Liberty Hill Dental 14933 W. State Hwy. 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 515-0171 www.libertyhilldental.com West Family Dentistry 101 Jonathan Drive, Ste. 1 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 778-9977 www.westfamilydentistry.com HOSPITAL Cedar Park Regional Medical Center 1401 Medical Parkway Cedar Park, TX 78613 (512) 528-7000 www.cedarparkregional.com

MEDICAL CLINICS Care First Walk-in Clinic 12701 W. State Hwy. 29, Ste. 5 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 548-5373 www.carefirstclinic.com Liberty Hill Physician Associates 14365 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 10 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 778-5160 cedarparkphysicianassociates.com ORTHODONTISTS Liberty Hill Orthodontics 14362 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 101 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 548-5040 www.lhortho.com Ortho 360 14365 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 12 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 716-0307 www.ortho360.com

PHARMACY Liberty Hill Pharmacy & Compounding Center 13740 W. State Hwy. 29, Ste. 4 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 548-6838 www.libertyhillpharmacy.com PHYSICAL THERAPY Texas Physical Therapy Specialists 13740 W. State Hwy. 29, Ste. 3 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 (512) 778-6700 www.TexPTS.com

WE FOCUS ON

THE HEALTH OF FAMILIES LIKE YOURS.

Getting quality healthcare for your whole family is easy when you know where to look. The dedicated providers at Liberty Hill Physician Associates treat patients of all ages. Their services range from preventive care to treatment of everyday illnesses, and the careful management of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. For your convenience, same-day appointments are available, and walk-ins are welcome.

To schedule an appointment, visit CedarParkPhysicians.com or call 512-778-5160. Se habla español.

14365 Hwy. 29 W., Suite 10 Liberty Hill, Texas 78642 512-778-5160

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4/25/18 10:53 AM

In a medical emergency, the last thing you need is a long drive. So it’s good to know that there are two convenient ERs in your community: the ER at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center and Cedar Park Regional Emergency Center in Leander.

For all of your emergent needs, you’ll find care for your whole family at both of these locations. To reserve your spot at one of our two convenient ERs, visit CedarParkRegional.com.

WITH TWO LOCAL ERs,

QUALITY EMERGENCY CARE IS MORE CONVENIENT FOR YOUR FAMILY.

Cedar Park Regional Medical Center 1401 Medical Parkway Cedar Park, TX 78613 512-528-7000 • CedarParkRegional.com Cedar Park Regional Emergency Center 1751 Crystal Falls Parkway Leander, TX 78641 512-379-3500 CedarParkRegional.com/LeanderER . kwy alls P tal F Crys

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4/25/18 8:16 AM

| BUSINESS: CHAMBER OF COMMERCE |

FROM LEFT are Chamber Board members Jared King, Debi Johnston, Kim Sanders, Rick Hall, Daniel Duckworth, Sabrina Jordan, Mary Clare Spear and Dax Oglesby.

One doesn’t need a long memory to recall the days when Liberty Hill was a tiny, rural, and primarily farming community. Back then, a cluster of small independent businesses, churches, and a community school kept the town unified and healthy.

STORY BY DANA DELGADO

Catalyst FOR Change

W

hile some believed growth was a matter of time, others likely questioned the town’s future.

Today, those once narrow roads that merge in Liberty Hill have become heavily traveled thoroughfares serving the ever-growing number of subdivisions and connecting them with the state’s capital, the county seat, and the beautiful Hill Country. On the heels of this housing growth, long-awaited businesses have sprouted. With a broad smile, the community has uttered a collective, “Yes, finally!”

At the heart of the economic growth and in partnership with local government leaders, the Liberty Hill Chamber of Commerce is playing an important role and is respected for its collaborative and influential member-driven business association.

Kim Sanders, newly-elected President and Chamber member for the last three years, says the Liberty Hill Chamber has a very straightforward mission with a variety of benefits for its members.

“The Chamber provides an array of opportunities to cultivate business relationships,” Sanders said. “It also serves to strengthen and improve the local business environment in order to promote the economic well-being of its citizens and enhance the quality of life for the entire community.”

With core values of learning, leading, collaborating and innovating, the Chamber has had to adapt to the rapidly changing and constantly growing environment. It also has embraced diversity and inclusivity and with

its focus and courage, is determined to drive progress throughout the region.

Over the course of its existence, the Chamber has proven that membership in the organization is one of the best investments any business can make. The Chamber provides its members with opportunities to network, to market themselves, to advertise, to be a joint sponsor of community events, and to garner referrals. Its select programs, services, and events are uniquely designed to keep members abreast of the vibrant and growing Liberty Hill business community.

“One hundred percent of the time I attend an event, I glean something from it,” Sanders said. “The opportunities to develop relationships are limitless.”

Programs including monthly “Lunch and Learn” sessions and annual “Dessert with the Mayor” events have contributed to professional growth and enhanced ties with local government. For the Chamber, it is a way of contributing to progress through partnership. Through its activities, it has functioned as a catalyst for community growth with the intention that all parties experience positive benefits from collaboration.

Besides making calls for action, the Chamber has cultivated community builders as well as convened and connected leaders to drive and influence change.

Throughout the year, the group is involved in a variety of community events. It participates in the rodeo, the Sculpture Celebration, the Christmas Festival and the Liberty Hill Independence Day Spectacular. In addition, the group

maintains a multitude of committees including ambassadors, events, media, membership, programs, and women in business.

The Chamber’s board of directors includes representatives of diverse industry sectors from many of the area’s most influential organizations and businesses. The board provides leadership for the business community, steers the Chamber’s mission, and promotes a business-friendly environment to help grow the Liberty Hill region. In only a few years, the group has experienced significant growth, currently boasting 238 members.

This summer, Sanders (Keller Williams Realty) is expected to replace Rick Hall (US Health Advisors) as president after his election as Mayor of Liberty Hill in May. Other board members include Daniel Duckworth (Duckworth Insurance), Debi Johnston (Dahlia Café), Sabrina Jordan (Mary Kay Cosmetics), Dax Oglesby (San Gabriel Realty), Mary Clare Spear (Cedar Park Regional Medical Center), and Jared King (Cook-Walden Davis Funeral Home).

While the face of the town is changing, its frontier character and enterprising spirit remain and will spark continued growth with ever-evolving leadership from the Liberty Hill Chamber of Commerce and its community partners.

“I look forward to the future when the Chamber of Commerce in Liberty Hill and the Economic Development Corporation work hand-in-hand to strengthen relationships of the business community in Liberty Hill,” said Sanders.

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Full Gym Facility for Men and Women No Lines. No contracts. no bank drafts...ever!

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CLASSIC FREE CHECKING FREE INTERNET BANKING • FREE MOBILE BANKING NO PER CHECK CHARGES • FREE DEBIT CARD NO MONTHLY SERVICE CHARGES 12251 West State Highway 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

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HELPFUL CONTACT INFORMATION LOCAL UTILITIES

CITY OF LIBERTY HILL

CABLE Spectrum Cable (512) 485-5555

City Hall (512) 778-5449 Police Department (512) 515-5409 Municipal Court (512) 515-5410 Water & Public Works (512) 778-5449

ELECTRICITY Pedernales Electric Cooperative 888-554-4732 GAS P&R Propane (512) 259-4710 TRASH SERVICE Al Clawson Disposal (512) 746-2000 WATER City of Liberty Hill (512) 778-5449 City of Georgetown (Chisholm Trail SUD) (512) 930-3640

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FIRE Williamson County Emergency Services District #4 (512) 515-5165

LIBERTY HILL ISD Administration Building (512) 260-5580 Liberty Hill Elementary (512) 515-6514 Bill Burden Elementary (512) 260-4400 Rancho Sienna Elementary (512) 260-4450 Liberty Hill Intermediate (512) 379-3200

Liberty Hill Junior High (512) 379-3300 Liberty Hill High School (512) 260-5500

Vehicle Registration (512) 943-1602 Voter Registration (512) 943-1630

WILLIAMSON COUNTY

OTHER

Animal Control (512) 864-8282 Animal Shelter (512) 943-3322 Appraisal District (512) 930-3787 Constable Rick Coffman, Pct. 2 (512) 260-4270 County Commissioner Cynthia Long, Pct. 2 (512) 260-4280 Health District (512) 943-3600 Information Line (512) 943-1100 Justice of the Peace Edna Staudt, Pct. 2 (512) 260-4210 Tax Office - Cedar Park (512) 943-1603 Sheriff’s Office (512) 943-1300

Liberty Hill Chamber of Commerce (512) 548-6343 Liberty Hill Public Library (512) 778-6400 Over the Hill Gang (512) 778-5344 Social Security Administration (877) 531-4699 Texas Dept. of Public Safety www.dps.texas.gov The Liberty Hill Independent Newspaper (512) 778-5577 US Post Office (512) 515-6293

LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY ACCOUNTANTS Gary Brown - CPA (512) 930-3003 5353 Williams Drive, Suite 200 Georgetown, TX 78633 www.gbrowncpa.com Liberty Hill Bookkeeping & Tax Services (512) 548-6535 925 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lhbts.com

ADVERTISING/PROMOTIONS Liberty Hill Independent (512) 778-5577 14251 W. SH 29, Ste. B Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.LHIndependent.com ■ See our ad on Page 116 New Impressions Direct/Valpak of Austin (512) 793-9150 4009 Banister Ln 280 Austin, TX 78704 www.valpakofaustin.com PostNet (512) 637-6080 651 N. US Hwy 183, Ste. 335 Leander, TX 78641 tx202.postnet.com

San Gabriel Crossing Apartments (512) 548-6280 155 Hillcrest Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.txhf.org Stubblefield Park Apartments (512) 839-7407 304 Stubblefield Lane, #100 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.stubblefieldpark.com

APPLIANCE REPAIR ACA Appliance & A/C (512) 219-0900 325 W State Hwy 29 Bertam, TX 78605 www.acaappliance.com

ARTIST Studio Francoise (512) 913-7481 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

ASSISTED LIVING Country Oaks at Hamilton Creek (512) 756-4724 407 West Jackson Burnet, TX 78611 www.countryoaksliving.com ■ See our ad on Page 105

ReillyCo Advertising LLC (512) 739-1468 13359 N US Hwy 183, #409-226 Austin, TX 78750 www.reillycorporation.com

Riva Ridge Assisted Living & Memory Care (512) 259-1330 807 Riva Ridge Drive Leander, TX 78641 www.RivaRidgeMemoryCare.com

AIR FILTRATION

ATTORNEYS

Superior Air Quality (512) 217-7136 PO Box 1807 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.superiorairquality.com

Arnold & Placek, P.C. (512) 341-7044 203 E. Main Street, Ste 201 Round Rock, TX 78664 www.arnoldplacek.com

APARTMENTS

Law Office of Jamie Etzkorn, PLLC (512) 800-6353 925 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 58

Liberty Manor Apartments (512) 548-6751 122 Bailey Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642

AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR Davis Tires & Automotive (512) 778-6810 14855 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 J&Z Auto Works (512) 778-4111 15390 W. SH 29, Ste. 201 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 87 Liberty Hill Collision Center (512) 771-2392 999 N. Hwy 183 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 lhcollisioncenter.com Quick Service Garage (512) 548-6316 1100 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 59

BANKS & CREDIT UNIONS Classic Bank (512) 778-6305 12251 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.classicbank.com ■ See our ad on Page 107 First Texas Bank (512) 778-5757 721 Hwy 183 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.firsttexas-gtwn.com Prosperity Bank (512) 778-5355 101 Bronco Blvd.

Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.prosperitybanktx.com R Bank (512) 355-2121 360 Hwy 29 E Bertram, TX 78605 www.rbanktexas.com ■ See our ad on Page 47 SouthStar Bank (512) 456-0035 10737 E. Crystal Falls Pkwy Leander, TX 78641 www.southstarbank.com

Union State Bank (512) 515-6300 13601 West State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.USB-TX.com ■ See our ad on Pages 3, 37

BREWERY/ DISTILLERY/WINERY Fire Oak Distillery (512) 515-6611 4600 CR 207 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.FireOakDistillery.com San Gabriel River Brewery, Inc (512) 627-9384 500 Chaparral Drive Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.sangabrielriverbrewery.com Thirsty Mule Winery (512) 778-5990 101 CR 257 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.thirstymule.com

CATERING CJ’s Catering (512) 930-2200 1010 N. Austin Ave. Georgetown, TX 78628 www.cjseventcatering.com Haute Box, LLC (214) 563-2641 LibertyHill, TX 78642

CHEER/GYMNASTICS Courage Cheer and Dance United (512) 289-4616 134 Jonathan Drive Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.CourageCheer.com ■ See our ad on Page 106 Zero Gravity Gymnastics (512) 986-5815 2041 S Hwy 183 Leander, TX 78641 zerogravitygymnasticsandcheer.com

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LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHILD CARE Happy Trails Learning Center (512) 515-0555 14865 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.happytrailslearningcenter.com ■ See our ads on Pages 37, 118 Hilltop Children’s Center (512) 966-1106 9415 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.hilltopchildrenscenter.com ■ See our ad on Page 57 Liberty Hill Montessori Pre-School (512) 778-5555 14370 W. State Hwy 29, #12 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lhmontessori.com

CHURCHES Cross Tracks Church (512) 515-0070 101 Church Street Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.crosstrackschurchumc.org ■ See our ad on Page 105 FBG Church (512) 869-2586 134 Jonathan Drive Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.fbg.church Fellowship Church (512) 515-5579 3600 RR 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.fellowshiplh.org Grace Alive (512) 778-6000 16030 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.gracealivelibertyhill.org Hope City Church (731) 618-2652 PO Box 1438 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.hopecityatx.com Life Springs Christian Church (512) 913-8618 15611 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lifespringschristianchurch.org Mission Liberty Hill Lutheran Church 15725 SH 29, West, Ste. 7 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 missionlibertyhill.org ■ See our ad on Page 104 110

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Peace Lutheran Church (512) 213-5283 719 US Hwy 183, Ste 102 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 peacelutheranchurch.org RockPointe Church (512) 259-8872 177 CR 214 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 rockpointechurch.com

CHIROPRACTORS Anderson Chiropractic Leander (512) 259-9922 808 Crystal Falls Pkwy Leander, TX 78641 www.myleanderchiropractor.com

CLEANING SERVICE Denise’s Cleaning Services (972) 824-8410 ■ See our ad on Page 107

COFFEE Agape Java, Inc.

(630) 234-3767 3610 FM 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.agapejava.com

COLLISION REPAIR Liberty Hill Collision Center (512) 771-2392 999 N. Hwy 183 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.Lhcollisioncenter.com

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Community Resource Center (512) 548-5091 155 Hillcrest Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Hope House of Austin (512) 515-6889 PO Box 457 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.hopehouseaustin.org L4 Cares (737) 444-7002 www.L4Cares.org Liberty Hill Chamber of Commerce (512) 548-6343 PO Box 586 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhillchamber.org

Liberty Hill Public Library (512) 778-6400 355 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lhpl.org ■ See our ad on Page 106 Liberty Hill Lions Club Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lhlions.org ■ See our ad on Page 87 Operation Liberty Hill (512) 778-4175 1401 Hwy 183 Leander, TX 78641 www.operationlh.org Opportunities for Williamson/Burnet Counties (512) 763-1400 604 High Tech Drive Georgetown, TX 78626 www.wbco.net Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (512) 244-2207 575 Round Rock West Drive Bldg H, Ste 240 Round Rock, TX www.workforcesolutionsrca.com

COMPUTER SERVICE/SALES HK Computers, Inc. (512) 257-8008 1201 Loop 332, Ste. 400 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.hkcomputers.com Scott Solutions (508) 451-8227 PO Box 203 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.scottsolutions.us ■ See our ad on Page 106 TBSI, IT Service Professionals for your Business (512) 755-5724 3103 RR 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.tbsipro.com

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES Baker Drywall Austin, Ltd. (512) 260-7600 3600 E. Whitestone Blvd.

Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.bakertriangle.com Maynard Construction Services (512) 887-DEMO ■ See our ad on Page 107

RS Paving (512) 769-9991 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.rsasphaltpavingcompany.com

CONSTRUCTION SUPPLIER Oldcastle Materials (512) 861-7100 11729 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.oldcastlematerialstx.com

CONSULTANTS Adams Engineering & Development Consultants (512) 218-4263 100 Buffalo Trail Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.adams-engineering.com Timothy Landrum (512) 966-8633 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

CONTRACTORS American Constructors Inc. (512) 328-2026 11900 W. Parmer Lane, Ste 200 Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.acitexas.com Liberty Hill Stonewall Partners, LP (512) 818-2244 806 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

COUNSELING Live Your Dream Counseling (512) 569-1152 150 N. West Street Bertram, TX 78605 www.liveyourdreamcounseling.com ■ See our ad on Page 106

DENTAL Cedar Park Pediatric Dentistry (512) 258-8888 2051 Cypress Creek Rd Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.birthtobraces.com Liberty Hill Dental (512) 515-0171 14933 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhilldental.com ■ See our ad on Page 93

LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY West Family Dentistry (512) 778-9977 101 Jonathan Dr, Ste 1 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.westfamilydentistry.com ■ See our ad on Page 99

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT Document Logistix LLC (512) 345-4600 12701 W. State Hwy 29, Ste. 3 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.document-logistix.com iCaught Inc. (512) 453-2653 18851 W. SH 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 icaught.com

DRY CLEANING Liberty Hill Cleaners (512) 496-3840 13740 W. Hwy 29, Ste. 2 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lhcleaners.com

EDUCATION Dental Genius Assisting School (512) 484-4081 14875 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.DentalGeniusTx.com Fortis Academy (512) 432-5152 15611 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.fortisacademyums.com Liberty Hill ISD (512) 260-5580 301 Forrest Street Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.LibertyHill.txed.net

ELECTED OFFICIALS Judge Edna Staudt (512) 260-4210 350 Discovery Blvd.

Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.ednastaudt.com Terry Wilson, State Representative (830) 637-9216 PO Box 489 Marble Falls, TX 78654 www.terrywilsonfortexas.com

Williamson County Republican Party (512) 863-8481 716 Rock Street Georgetown, TX 78626 www.williamsoncountygop.org

ENGINEERING Adams Engineering & Development Consultants (512) 218-4263 100 Buffalo Trail Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.adams-engineering.com Simplified Engineering (512) 947-4141 1775 CR 279, D101 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.sectexas.com

EQUIPMENT RENTALS Cat Trax Rentals (512) 515-5959 12630 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.cattraxrentals.com

EVENT PLANNING Liberty Hill Learning & Events Center (512) 548-6533 14875 W. SH 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 lheventcenter.com ■ See our ad on Page 92 Reunion Ranch (512) 515-6200 850 CR 255 Georgetown, TX 78633 www.reunionranch1.com

FARMERS MARKET Indian Mound Ranch (956) 312-9263 12805 State Hwy 29 W Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.indianmoundranchtx.com ■ See our ad on Page 5

FINANCIAL & INVESTMENT Edward Jones - Lindsey Sharpe (512) 778-5217 12701 SH 29 w. , Ste. 4 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.edwardjones.com ■ See our ad on Page 107

Hearthstone Wealth Management (512) 231-0725 11675 Jollyville Road, Ste. 200 Austin, TX 78759 ameripriseadvisors.com/laura.parker Hill Country Advisors (512) 548-6512 1008 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.hcatx.net ■ See our ad on Page 31 Legacy Freedom Builders (512) 300-4897 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 106 Upstream Investment Partners (512) 705-8375 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.upstreamip.com

FITNESS Flock Fitness (512) 964-5482 12780 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.flockfitness.net Flying H Fitness (512) 515-5557 209 Bell Street Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.flyinghfitness.com ■ See our ad on Page 107 Holly Johnson, Private Trainer (808) 640-6477 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 65

FLOORING Floor Depot (512) 515-5599 14370 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.floordepottx.com

FUNERAL & CREMATION SERVICES Beck Funeral Homes (512) 259-1610 1700 E. Whitestone Blvd.

Cedar Park, TX www.beckchapels.com Cook-Walden/Davis Funeral Home (512) 86302564 2900 Williams Dr. Georgetown, TX 78628 cookwaldendavisfuneralhome.com ■ See our ad on Page 30

Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home (512) 260-8800 1200 South Bagdad Road Leander, TX 78641 www.wcfish.com

FURNITURE Elegant Elements, LLC (512) 567-5101 PO Box 1112 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

GOVERNMENT City of Liberty Hill (512) 778-5449 926 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhilltx.gov ■ See our ads on Pages 42, 78-79 Liberty Hill Economic Development Corp.

(512) 778-5449 926 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhilltx.gov ■ See our ad on Page 83 Williamson County and Cities Health District (512) 943-3600 355 Texas Avenue Round Rock, TX 78664 www.wcchd.org Williamson County ESD No. 4 (512) 515-5165 301 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhillfire.org

GROCERY STORES Parker’s Market (512) 515-0770 1017 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 76642 ■ See our ad on Page 12

GUNITE TEXAN GUNITE: Texan Concrete Construction Solutions, LLC (512) 383-5341 7290 US Hwy 183 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.texanccs.com

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LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY HARDWARE/GENERAL STORE Winkley’s Inc. (512) 515-7733 15128 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.winkleyslh.com ■ See our ad on Page 105

HEALTH & WELLNESS Ideal ProHealth Weight Loss Clinic (512) 260-3444 1401 Medical Pkwy B, Ste. 101 Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.idealprohealth.com

HEAT & AIR CONDITIONING SERVICES Liberty Air (512) 277-4231 PO Box 481 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyairllc.com

HOME BUILDERS Clear Rock Homes (512) 778-5696 200 Creek Crossing Drive Georgetown, TX 78628 www.clearrockhomes.com Corker Custom Homes (512) 709-1852 113 Palo Duro Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.corkercustomhomes.com ■ See our ad on Page 64 DR Horton (512) 345-4663 10700 Pecan park Blvd, Ste. 400 Austin, TX 78750 www.drhorton.com/austin Drees Custom Homes (512) 548-6845 212 Bold Sundown Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.dreeshomes.com/customhomes/austin ■ See our ad on Page 46 Gaskill Homes (512) 914-0083 1009 Overlook Bend Leander, TX 78641 www.skillhomes.com Giddens Homes www.giddenshomes.com ■ See our ad on Page 22

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K Bar T Custom Homes (512) 948-1739 101 Jonathan Drive, Suite 7 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.kbarthomes.com

Ruby’s Mercantile on 29 (512) 355-8070 4030-A E. Hwy 29 Bertram, TX 78605

Monroe Insurance (512) 515-5533 100 Carl Shipp Drive Liberty Hill, TX 78642

KLM Design Build (512) 548-5167 www.KLMDesignbuild.com ■ See our ad on Page 89

HOSPITALS & CLINICS

State Farm InsuranceStephanie Featherstone (512) 868-8000 950 W. University, Ste 209 Georgetown, TX 78626 www.stephaniefeatherstone.com

Meritage Homes @ MorningStar (512) 909-3411 8920 Business Park Dr., Ste. 350 Austin, TX 78759 www.meritagehomes.com ■ See our ad on Pages 8-9 Milestone Community Builders (512) 215-5220 1633 US Hwy 183 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 55, 119 Pacesetter Homes, LLC (512) 323-5252 7940 Shoal Creek Blvd #200 Austin, TX 78751 www.pacesetterhomes.com Prince Development LLC (512) 228-1931 1206 Hart Street Georgetown, TX 78626 RSI Communities (512) 688-9504 810 Hesters Crossing Road, Ste 235 Round Rock, TX 78681 www.RSIcommunities.com Scott Felder Homes (512) 418-5400 125 Las Casas Way Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.scottfelderhomes.com Widmer Construction & Development (512) 971-8219 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.widmerconstruction.com William Lyon Homes (512) 688-9504 79 Prospector Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lyonhomes.com ■ See our ad on Page 81

HOME DECOR Twisted R Design (512) 879-7362 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.twistedrdesign.com

Cedar Park Regional Medical Center (512) 528-7000 1401 Medical Parkway Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.CedarParkRegional.com ■ See our ad on Page 101 St. David’s Emergency Center (737) 757-1700 601 St. David’s Loop Leander, TX 78641 www.stdavids.com

INSURANCE Aflac Independent Agent Sady Bartlett (512) 923-5790 PO Box 1443 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.aflac.com/business Bluebonnet Pride Insurance Agency (512) 515-0333 101 Jonathan Drive, Ste. 3 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.bluebonnetpride.com Duckworth Insurance Agency (512) 792-4220 13002 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.duckworthinsure.com Goosehead Insurance (512) 548-6900 719 US Hwy 183, B112 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 gooseheadinsurance.com/bret-smith GT Insurance Services LLC (512) 713-9462 402 Forrest Street Liberty Hill, TX 78642 John Clark-SUNUP Insurance (512) 900-4422 14875 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.john.clark@sunupinsurance.com McCoy Farmers Insurance Agency (512) 900-4422 7600 W. SH 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

US Health Advisors (512) 876-5072 715 Discovery Blvd, Ste 304 Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.ushagent.com/rickhall Vannoy Farmers Insurance/ Real Estate (512) 784-6187 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.farmersagent.com/vham

INTERNET MARKETING Don’t Have Time to Write (254) 793-2485 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.donthavetimetowrite.com

IRRIGATION On Demand Sprinklers (Kevin and Misty Donaldson) (512) 800-3581 Liberty Hill, TX

LANDSCAPING ATX Landscaping (512) 778-4088 1351 US Hwy 183 Leander, TX 78641 facebook.com/atxlandscape supplies ■ See our ad on Page 106

LIQUOR JJ’s Liquor (512) 778-5599 13985 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 87

LODGING Liberty House B & B (512) 635-9901 102 Independence Dr. Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhousebandb.com

LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY Rio Bonito RV Park (512) 922-1383 1095 County Road 256 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.rbcabinresort.com

MARTIAL ARTS Victory Martial Arts (512) 548-6165 13740 W. SH 29, Ste. 7 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.victoryma.com

MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITIES Buena Vida Ranch (512) 635-7701 facebook.com/BuenaVidaRanch ■ See our ad on Page 19 Larkspur (512) 215-5220 106 Groesbeck Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 55, 119 MorningStar (512) 909-3411 101 Ridgeview Court Georgetown, TX 78628 www.livingmorningstar.com ■ See our ad on Pages 8-9 Orchard Ridge (512) 580-6308 100 Orchard Park Drive Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.liveorchardridge.com Santa Rita Ranch (512) 655-9549 175 Elizabeth Park Blvd Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.santaritaranchaustin.com ■ See our ads on Pages 2, 36

MONUMENT SERVICES C&C Services (512) 775-7654 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 104

MORTGAGE BANKING Guild Mortgage (512) 548-6185 13563 Hwy 29 West, Ste 1 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 branches.guildmortgage.com/tx/liberty-hill ■ See our ad on Page 29

Janet Widmer at Supreme Lending (512) 619-9050 2001 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.janetwidmer.com ■ See our ad on Page 82

Liberty Hill Orthodontics (512) 548-5040 14365 State Hwy 29, Ste. 12 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.lhortho.com ■ See our ad on Page 6

Liberty Hill Pediatrics (512) 778-5111 101 Jonathan Drive, Suite 4 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhillpediatrics.com ■ See our ad on Page 97

NAIL SALONS

Ortho 360 (512) 716-0307 14365 SH 29, Ste. 12 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.ortho360.com ■ See our ad on Page 102

Liberty Hill Physician Associates (512) 778-5160 14365 Hwy 29 West, Ste 10 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.cedarparkphysicians.com ■ See our ad on Page 101

Absolute Nails by Ket (512) 367-3067 14745 W. SH 29, Ste. B Liberty Hill, TX 78642 absolutenailsbyket.wordpress.com

NEWSPAPER The Liberty Hill Independent (512) 778-5577 PO Box 1235 / 14251 W SH 29 Ste B Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.LHIndependent.com ■ See our ad on Page 116

NON-PROFIT Spirit Reins (512) 515-0845 2055 CR 284 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.spiritreins.org

PEST CONTROL Research Pest Control (512) 258-5228 801 N. Park Circle Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.researchpest.com

PET GROOMING Loving Touch Pet Spa (512) 554-1434 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 facebook.com/Loving-Touch-Pet-Spa

PHARMACY

PLUMBING Brandenburg Plumbing (512) 260-0010 4023 E Hwy 29 Burnet, TX 78611 www.brandenburgplumbing.com Lantz’s Lakeline Plumbing (512) 260-7889 1306 Leander Drive Leander, TX 78641 www.laketravisplumber.com Liberty Hill Plumbing (512) 699-0963 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhillplumbing.com Ski’s Plumbing (512) 778-9119 PO Box 390 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.skisplumbing.com ■ See our ad on Page 91

United Way of Williamson County (512) 255-6799 1111 IH 35 Frontage Rd Round Rock, TX 78664 www.unitedway-wc.org

Liberty Hill Pharmacy (512) 766-5479 13740 W. SH 29, Ste. 4 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 libertyhillpharmacy.com ■ See our ad on Page 97

NURSING HOMES

PHOTOGRAPHY

Bertram Nursing & Rehab Center (512) 355-2116 540 E Hwy 29 Bertram, TX 78605 www.shadyshorescommunities.com ■ See our ad on Page 107

ATXfotos (512) 751-0600 12401 Sceptre Cv Austin, TX 78727 www.ATXfotos.com

Moore Liberty Buildings (512) 548-6474 10280 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.moorelibertybuildings.com ■ See our ad on Page 66

PHYSICAL THERAPY

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Texas Physical Therapy Specialists (512) 778-6700 13740 W. State Hwy 29, Suite 3 Liberty Hill, TX 78723 www.texpts.com ■ See our ad on Page 94

Capital Metro (512) 474-1200 2910 E 5th Street Austin, TX 78701 www.capmetro.org ■ See our ad on Page 84

NUTRITION Austin Nutrition/The Daily Shake (512) 548-6562 1201 Loop 332, Ste. 300 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

ORTHODONTISTS Goldenberg Orthodontics (512) 863-8580 3622 Williams Drive, Building 4 Georgetown, TX 78628 www.georgetownbraces.com

PHYSICIANS Care First Walk-In Clinic (512) 548-5373 12701 SH 29, Ste. 5 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 97

PORTABLE BUILDINGS

REAL ESTATE SERVICES Amy Gandy/Realty Austin (512) 589-9005 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.realtyaustin.com/agents/ Amy-Gandy.php ■ See our ad on Page 16 L I B E RT Y H I L L L I V I N G 2 01 8

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LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY Branigan Team, Straight Realty (512) 517-0956 1905 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.braniganteam.com Brinegar Properties (512) 940-0188 401 W. Anderson Ave. Round Rock, TX 78664 www.512texas.com Coldwell Banker United Cheryl Arnold (512) 635-3574 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 TheATeamRealtyGroupTexas.com Coldwell Banker United Team Reinhardt (254) 289-4595 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.reinhardtsellshomes.com Coldwell Banker United Monica Schraeder (512) 626-5092 1701 Williams Drive Georgetown, TX 78628 www.MonicaSchraeder.com Crystal Parker, Straight Realty (512) 584-6000 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.straightrealty.net Debby Norman (512) 983-7143 13561 Hwy 29 W Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.debbynorman.com Dephanie Cates, Realtor (512) 970-2627 9606 N. MoPac, Ste 150 Austin, TX 78759 www.austintxhomesale.com Dream Home Kelly (512) 630-7069 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.dreamhomekelly.com Hughes & Company Real Estate (512) 810-0185 PO Box 243 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.hughes-and-company.com ■ See our ad on Page 21 Keller Williams Debbie Boatright Stewart (512) 864-4734 Georgetown, TX 78628 debbieboatrightstewart.kwrealty.com 114

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Keller Williams - Inger Ryan (512) 619-5321 ■ See our ad on Page 56 Keller Williams - Jennifer Haines (512) 627-8046 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.jenniferhaines.properties Keller Williams - Jerri Hall (512) 876-5071 1003 S. Austin Ave. Georgetown, TX 78626 www.kw.com Keller Williams - Kim Sanders (512) 869-9699 LIberty Hill, TX 78642 www.kimsanders.kw.com ■ See our ad on Page 29 Keller Williams - Kristen Childers (512) 947-0373 900 Quest Parkway Cedar Park, TX 78613 austinandhillcountryrealestate.com Keller Williams - Lisa Messana (512) 636-6882 Round Rock, TX 78664 www.BestOfTexasRealEstate.com Keller Williams - Tammy Wise (254) 631-6861 PO Box 805 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.wiseaustinagent.com Mallach & Co Realty Shelley Clawson (512) 632-9393 304 W Willis St Leander, TX 78641 www.mallachandcompany.com ■ See our ad on Page 11 RE/MAX Town & Country, Connie Fuller (512) 381-6863 13561 TX 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.remax.com RE/MAX Town & Country, Shane T. White (512) 515-5263 13561 TX 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.shanetwhiteteam.com ■ See our ads on Pages 24-25, 120 San Gabriel Realty, a Team Realty of Texas Group (512) 635-7529 3103 RR 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.san-gabriel-realty.com

Shin Oak Realty (512) 515-6565 2015 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.shinoakrealty.com

Jardin Corona (512) 778-6770 15395 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.jardincoronarestaurant.com

Star of Texas Realty Group (512) 525-0269 1002 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.StarOfTexasRealtyGroup.com

Malted Grains (512) 548-6086 1004 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhillcafe.com

Star of Texas Realty Group Devone Britain (940) 902-5216 1002 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.staroftexasrealtygroup.com

Liberty Hill Beer Market (512) 260-8787 13851 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 facebook.com/Liberty-Hill-Beer-Market

RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITY Meridell Achievement Center (512) 528-2100 12550 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.meridell.com

RESTAURANTS Chicken Express (512) 548-6390 13282 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 chickene.com Dahlia Café (512) 515-7772 2450 RR 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.dahliacafe.com ■ See our ad on Page 16 Dairy Queen (512) 548-6500 13266 SH 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Dominos (512) 778-9010 10990 W Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.dominos.com Happy Wok (512) 548-0095 13750 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 happywoklibertyhill.com Hobo Junction (512) 778-9020 3000 Ranch Road 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 106

Majors Burger Company (512) 548-6781 14011 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.majorsburgercompany.com Margarita’s Restaurant / Time Out Bar 10280 W State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.margaritaslibertyhill.net Schlotzsky’s (512) 778-4207 13613 W. SH 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Smokey Mo’s BBQ (512) 515-0668 717 S. US Hwy 183 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.smokeymosbbq.com Subway (512) 778-6321 13750 W. SH 29, Ste. 101 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 ■ See our ad on Page 106

RETAIL Clutch Across Texas (512) 785-8589 325 W State Hwy 29 Bertram, TX 78605 www.clutchacrosstx.com LuLaRoe Alyssa Burkham PO Box 386 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 facebook.com/groups/lularoealyssa burkham The Blue Door Gift Store (512) 548-6711 13651 W. SH 29, Unit #C Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.thebluedoorgiftstore.com ■ See our ad on Page 65

LIBERTY HILL BUSINESS DIRECTORY The Junction Market (512) 879-7362 200 Hillcrest Lane Liberty Hill, TX 78642 Simply Home Decor & More (512) 778-5001 15280 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.simplyhomedecor.net ■ See our ad on Page 50 Two Brand It (512) 548-5056 921 Loop 332 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.twobrandit.com

ROOFING Riata Roofing & Services (512) 778-4075 101 Jonathan Dr., Ste 7 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.facebook.com/riataroofing

SALON Salon 29 (512) 778-5155 14745 W SH 29, Suite B Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.salon-29.com ■ See our ad on Page 50

SPORTING GOODS

TOWING

WATER CONDITIONING

A Texas Girl’s Guns (512) 778-6677 13987 W. State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.atexasgirlsguns.com

Liberty Hill Towing (512) 515-6780 7260 FM 3405 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhilltowing.com

J&P Waterworks (512) 259-3550 505 Eaglecreek Drive leander, TX 78641 www.jandpwaterworks.com ■ See our ad on Page 65

SPORTS TEAMS

TRACTOR & TRAILER SALES

Austin Spurs (512) 236-8333 13581 Pond Springs Rd, Ste 108 Austin, TX 78729 www.austin.gleague.nba.com

Reid’s Triple T (512) 379-4100 3150 Hwy. 183 Leander, TX 78641 www.reidtx.com

STORAGE Liberty Hill Storage (512) 548-6425 14774 West State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.libertyhillstorage.com Move It Self Storage (512) 515-5430 15725 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.moveitstorage.com Totally Hitchin’ (512) 988-8635 6985 CR 200 Liberty Hill, TX 78642

SECURITY

SWIMMING POOLS

Tx2 Security Group (512) 417-3405 PO Box 902 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.Tx2security.com

GK Pools (512) 845-7449 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.premiergk.com ■ See our ad on Page 56

SKIN CARE & COSMETICS

Paradise Pools & Spas (512) 515-7665 3200 Ranch Road 1869 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.paradisepools.com ■ See our ad on Page 37

Lux Skin Spa (512) 937-7280 1890 Ranch Cedar Park, TX ■ See our ad on Page 65 Sabrina Jordan, Mary Kay Consultant (512) 515-5114 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.marykay.com/sjordan Young Living Essential Oils Heather Craft (512) 568-4707 100 Quarry Bluff Cv Liberty Hill, TX 78642

TITLE SERVICES Independence Title (512) 515-0110 101 Jonathan Drive, Ste 2 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.independencetitle.com ■ See our ad on Page 106

■ See our ad on Page 27

WATER WELLS Bee Cave Drilling (512) 515-3004 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.beecavedrilling.com ■ See our ad on Page 104

TREE SERVICE

WEB DESIGN

Certified Arbor Care (512) 671-8733 2405 Gardenia Drive Austin, TX 78727 www.certifiedarborcare.net

The Liberty Hill Independent (512) 778-5577 PO Box 1235 / 14251 W SH 29 Ste B Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.LHIndependent.com ■ See our ad on Page 116

UTILITIES P & R Propane (512) 259-4710 14251 W. SH 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 prpropane.com ■ See our ad on Page 91 Pedernales Electric Cooperative (512) 778-5470 10625 State Hwy 29 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.pec.coop ■ See our ad on Page 108

VETERINARIANS Comanche Trail Veterinary Center (512) 548-5065 14370 W HWY 29, Ste 9 Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.comanchetrailvet.com Dr. Jonathan Magid (512) 567-9845 3811 CR 211 Bertam, TX 78605

WASTE/TRASH Al Clawson Disposal (512) 746-2000 8600 N IH 35 Frontage Rd Georgetown, TX 78626 www.clawsondisposal.com

WHOLESALE WAREHOUSE Costco Wholesale #1152 (512) 690-9507 4601 183A Toll Rd Cedar Park, TX 78613 www.costco.com

WINDOW TREATMENTS Classic Window Coverings (512) 820-9422 105 Angela Drive Liberty Hill, TX 78642 www.cwcblinds.com ■ See our ad on Page 51

LIBERTY HILL

ADD YOUR BUSINESS TO THE 2019 DIRECTORY

news@lhindependent.com

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ADVERTISER INDEX Liberty Hill Public Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Lions Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Live Your Dream Counseling . . . . . . . . . . 106 Lux Skin Spa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Mallach & Co. - Shelley Clawson . . . . . . . . 11 Maynard Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 MorningStar/Meritage Homes . . . . . . . . . 8-9 Mission Liberty Hill Lutheran Church . . . 104 Moore Liberty Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Ortho 360 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 P&R Propane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Paradise Pools & Spas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Parker’s Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Pedernales Electric Cooperative . . . . . . . 108 Quick Service Garage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 R Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Reid’s Triple T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 RE/MAX -Shane T. White Team . . 24-25, 120 Salon 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Santa Rita Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 36 Scott Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Simply Home Decor & More . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Ski’s Plumbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Subway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Supreme Lending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Texas Physical Therapy Specialists . . . . . . . 94 The Blue Door Gift Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The Liberty Hill Independent . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Union State Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 37 West Family Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 William Lyon Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Winkley’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

ADVERTISE WITH US Liberty Hill Living magazine is direct mailed to more than 9,000 postal customers once annually in the Liberty Hill ISD and can be picked up from select Liberty Hill businesses. If you’d like to partner with us, please contact us at 512.778.5577 or news@LHIndependent.com for 2019 advertising rates and deadlines.

www.LibertyHillLiving.com

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ATX Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Austin Realty - Amy Gandy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Bee Cave Drilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Bertram Nursing Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Buena Vida Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 C&C Monuments/Rockdale Memorial . . 104 Capital Metro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Care First Walk-In Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Cedar Park Regional Medical Center . . . . 101 City of Liberty Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 78-79 Classic Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Classic Window Coverings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Cook-Walden/Davis Funeral Home . . . . . 30 Corker Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Country Oaks Assisted Living . . . . . . . . . 105 Courage Cheer & Dance United . . . . . . . 106 Cross Tracks Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Dahlia Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Denise’s Cleaning Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Drees Custom Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Edward Jones - Lindsey Sharpe . . . . . . . . . 107 Flying H Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Giddens Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 GK Pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Guild Mortgage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Happy Trails Learning Center . . . . . . . . 37, 118 Hill Country Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Hilltop Children’s Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Hobo Junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Holly Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Hughes & Company Real Estate. . . . . . . . . 21 Independence Day Spectacular . . . . . . . . . . 41 Independence Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Indian Mound Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 J&P Waterworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 J&Z Auto Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 JJ’s Liquor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Keller Williams - Inger Ryan . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Keller Williams - Kim Sanders . . . . . . . . . . . 29 KLM Design Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Larkspur/Milestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55, 119 Law Office of Jamie Etzkorn . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Legacy Freedom Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Liberty Hill Physician Associates . . . . . . . . 101 Liberty Hill Dental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Liberty Hill Economic Development Corp. . 83 Liberty Hill Learning & Events Center . . . 92 Liberty Hill Orthodontics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Liberty Hill Pediatrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Liberty Hill Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

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LIBERTY HILL Whether you are looking for your first home, acreage for horses and gardening, a high-tech home in one of the community’s newest subdivisions, or even commercial property, the Shane T. White Team of agents can help you find exactly what you’re looking for in your new hometown.

With over 150 combined years of selling real estate, no one knows Liberty Hill better than the Shane T. White Team.

SO

512.515.5263 RE/MAX Town & Country 13561 Hwy 29 W, Liberty Hill shanetwhite@remax.net

ShaneTWhiteTeam.com

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