DECEMBER 26, 2018 SUPPORT
ME TOO
College student stresses importance of support network.
Data shows sexual assault reports on the rise.
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Hays Free Press © Barton Publications, Inc.
75¢
Vol. 123 • No. 39
HaysFreePress.com
Serving Buda, Kyle and Northeast Hays County, TX
New residents delight Buda with 45-foot Christmas tree BY CARLIE PORTERFIELD
Don and Judy St. John are celebrating their first holiday season in their new Buda home, complete with a 45-foot-tall homemade Christmas tree that towers over their neighborhood. Both Don and Judy hope to share it with the surrounding community. At more than six times
KPD needs
Kyle invests $34K on police needs assessment after weeks of debate
the height of the average Christmas tree and featuring about 10,000 lights, the tree has made the St. John’s yard in the White Oak Preserves subdivision a local holiday destination. Their home along Patriot Drive has already had plenty of visitors since Don and some helpful neighbors hoisted the tree up after Thanksgiving. Known for having
Christmas decorations worth seeing is a role they have taken up happily. “We put the tree up the first time for us. Now, it goes up for all to see,” Judy said. The tree has been a staple of the family’s Christmas traditions for a decade now. Don made it himself for the first time when the two lived in Manchaca by arrang-
ing metal poles together and wrapping them with Christmas lights. The first conceptualization of the tree was a mere 15 feet tall. Through a friendly rivalry with their next door neighbors, the St. John’s tree grew more and more, higher and higher, every year.
PHOTO BY MOSES LEOS III
45-FT CHRISTMAS TREE, 12
Don St. John, in an effort to outdo his neighbor Earl, erected a 45-foot Christmas tree in his front yard.
HCISD passes DOI status
Orange crush
Innovation status could help in hiring CTE staff
BY KATIE BURRELL
KPD NEEDS, 8
BY KATIE BURRELL PHOTO COURTESY OF HAYS COUNTY FOOD BANK
Ten thousand pounds of carrots and 1,800 pounds of limes were donated to the Hays County Food Bank on Dec. 12 following a rollover wreck involving an 18-wheeler in San Marcos that was carrying the produce.
Food bank receives 50,000 carrots after rollover wreck BY CARLIE PORTERFIELD pounds of carrots and
Call it a Christmas miracle. What began as a non-injury San Marcos wreck involving an overturned 18-wheeler hauling produce Dec. 12 turned into a donation of about 10,000
1,800 pounds of limes to the Hays County Food Bank. HCFB Communications Coordinator Mallory Best said that, just before the food bank closed Dec. 12, staff received a visit from a trucker with a local
company with a flatbed of 50,000 carrots. Earlier that afternoon, a 18-wheeler traveling on Interstate 35 in San Marcos flipped over on its side, spilling the produce it was carrying. Witnesses on the scene reported seeing limes and carrots
on the highway. When a local wrecker company was called out for clean up, the tow truck company thought to ask if HCFB was interested in the cargo. Because the carrots had fallen out of the
ROLLOVER CARROTS, 2
Kyle’s Blue Santa serves families in need BY KATIE BURRELL More than 200 children anxiously shook gift boxes and cheered about learning to ride new bikes at the annual Blue Santa distribution event Dec. 15. This year, 82 families signed up to receive gifts and food for the holidays. In previous years, roughly 60 families participated. Even with the increase, Kyle Police Department was able to
BLUE SANTA, 11
TREASURES
Kyle man turns trash into holiday treasures.
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PHOTO BY KATIE BURRELL
INDEX
A purchase order not to exceed $34,900 is how much Kyle plans to invest in a proposed space-needs assessment for a possible new police headquarters. The move comes after weeks of debate on the topic, culminating in a 6-0 Dec. 18 vote by the Kyle City Council to approve the purchase order. Discussion on a new police headquarters began in 2009 when a space needs assessment was ordered by the previous council and completed by Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects. The assessment went unused however, and the growing department was left in the same building for another decade. Mayor Travis Mitchell says the Kyle City Coun-
News………………… 2, 4 Opinion………………… 3 Sports…………………… 4 Education…………… 5, 6 Community………… 7, 8
Santa Letters…… 9, 11, 12 Classifieds…………… 10 Service Directory…… 11 Public Notices…… 10-12
Changes in the school calendar and teacher certifications are on the horizon in Hays CISD after leaders approved becoming a District of Innovation (DOI). On Dec. 17, the HCISD School Board of Trustees unanimously approved the DOI plan, which will be in effect over the next five years. Under the DOI plan, which goes into effect fall 2019, the district has the ability to begin and end the school year sooner to match the schedules of surrounding colleges. The plan also allows the district to hire career and technology education (CTE) teachers who are not certified as teachers. The district is joining more than 790 school districts across Texas designated as DOI. Each of these districts is able to design and approve its own plans independently, which allows district leaders to determine “innovative” ideas to implement that may not be allowed under Texas Education Agency (TEA). Dripping Springs ISD is the only other Hays County school district that is a DOI. The vote comes after weeks of discussion among parents, teachers, staff members and district leaders. However, some Hays CISD employees worried the
DISTRICT OF INNOVATION, 5