AUGUST 23, 2017 ECLIPSE 2017
NEW FIELDS?
See photos from this week’s solar eclipse event.
$3.6M sports fields not ready for new school year.
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Hays Free Press
© Barton Publications, Inc.
Vol. 121 • No. 22
HaysFreePress.com
Serving Buda, Kyle and Northeast Hays County, TX • 75¢
What’s in a question?
Buda leaders discuss ballot wording for flouride referendum BY SAMANTHA SMITH
PHOTO BY MOSES LEOS III
Multiple units come out for Kyle fire
San Marcos Fire Department firefighters Pablo Nieto and Greg Sherrill turn away from a plume of smoke billowing from the roof of a two-story home that caught on fire Friday. No one was hurt after a shed fire rapidly transferred to a home in the 100 block of Indigo Cove in Kyle and caused extensive damage. Officials estimate the damage to the home to be around $400,000. A cause has not yet been determined. Multiple fire departments, including San Marcos, North Hays County and Buda Fire, assisted. Wayfinders Church in Kyle is accepting donations to help the affected family. Visit the church site at wayfinders.church for more information and see a full story online at HaysFreePress.com.
Kyle unveils plans for new recreation complex BY MOSES LEOS III
COURTESY RENDERING
The 46-acre park near Chapa Middle School will feature a tennis complex, volleyball facility, a recreation center and possibly a skate park.
with “private recreational entities” in negotiating agreements on funding the park. Exactly how much the park could cost is unknown at this time. Sellers said Aug. 15 he
couldn’t disclose the entities until the agreements are finalized. Negotiations are ongoing. However, what could come out of the negotiations is an “innovative
COMING UP Gunner Thames Memorial Rodeo On Saturday, Sept. 2 and Sunday, Sept. 3, head out to the Chester Franklin Arena at Veterans Park in Wimberley for this annual event benefi tting the mission and vision of the Gunner Thames Memorial Foundation. Rodeo begins at 7:30 p.m. both nights. The event is BYOB. Saturday night’s festivities will include a dance featuring the Sam Bentley Band. Visit www. GunnerThames.com for more information.
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KYLE VISTA PARK, 2A
LBJ’s Boot Scootin’ Birthday Fiesta
The Hays County Democratic Party will host its annual celebration of LBJ’s birthday 3 to 6 p.m. Aug. 27 in Stone Hall at Texas Old Town in Kyle. “LBJ’s Boot Scootin’ Birthday Fiesta,” both a celebration and a fundraiser, is a free event that will feature office holders and candidates, a catered enchilada casserole dinner, music, art, and a live auction. For more information contact LBJ2017@ hayscountydemocrats. org.
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Ten years worth of scuttlebutt could soon come to an end as Kyle city officials Aug. 15 unveiled plans for a privately-funded eastside sports and recreation park. That complex, known as Kyle Vista Park, would encompass 46-acres along Dacy Lane near Chapa Middle School and could harbor a tennis complex, volleyball facility, a recreation center and, potentially, a skate park. Kyle city manager Scott Sellers said the project, which went under the code name “Just Peachy,” has been on the city’s agenda “in some form or fashion” for the past year. During the course of the year, Kyle has worked
solution to a problem the city has been wrestling with for ten years,” which was trying to fund a recreation center, Sellers said. Kyle is proposing to offer a 25-year ground lease to entities at “very little cost to the city,” Sellers said. The city would pay $200,000 total from its parks fund over the course of a decade. In return, participating entities would “bring these recreation opportunities” to Kyle, which the city would have paid for out of its general fund. Sellers said during negotiations, it became apparent the city had a “good opportunity” to leverage a ground lease situation. The city could also offer property owners utility
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Tensions mounted between Buda city leaders Aug. 15 as they were unable to unanimously agree on the ballot language for a Nov. 7 referenda item on water fluoridation. Buda City Council members were asked to choose between three different legally accepted options regarding the ballot language for a fluoride vote. Option 1 asked residents if the city
should pass an ordinance resuming the use of fluoride additives in the municipal potable water supply. Option 2, which was ultimately approved by a narrow 4-3 vote, asked the same question, but added “within the allowable level as recommended and regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).” Council members George Haehn, Lee
FLUORIDE, 2A
San Marcos man charged with drunk driving death BY SAMANTHA SMITH Authorities arrested a San Marcos man Saturday who had been charged with intoxication manslaughter after he allegedly was twice the legal alchohol limit in a fatal June collision in Kyle. Cory Wayne New, 22, was booked into the Hays County Jail on one count of intoxication manslaughter, which is a first degree felony. Jeff Barnett, Kyle police chief, said the accident occurred June 12 around 6 p.m. near
the 211 mile marker on I-35 in Kyle. Barnett said New, who was 21 at the time of the incident, was driving along northbound Interstate 35 in a 2016 Freightliner moving truck when he rear ended an 18-wheeler that was slowing down onto the shoulder. Austin Wayne Prince, 28, of Plano, was taken to an Austin area hospital, where he died June 13. New was transported to an area hospital with non
MANSLAUGHTER, 2A
Four file in race for Kyle mayor
One Buda seat contested BY MOSES LEOS III A flurry of late election filings brought the total number of candidates vying for four Kyle City Council seats to 10, according to Kyle’s city website. Bill Sinor, Nicole Romero-Piche and Jaime Sanchez all join District 1 Kyle City Council member Travis Mitchell in throwing their hats into the Kyle mayoral race, which will be decided Nov. 7 Sinor, who was one of the first people to file for candidacy in July, originally filed for the open District 2
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seat before making the change to mayor on Aug. 18. Sinor, a mediator who has lived in Kyle for seven years, ran unsuccessful campaigns for elected office in Kyle in 2013 and 2014. He was defeated by outgoing District 4 council member David Wilson in the May 2014 election. Former Kyle city council member Jaime Sanchez, an engineer who has lived in Kyle for 50 years, threw his hat into the ring Monday, which was the filing deadline.
ELECTIONS, 2A