District lines must be redrawn
Lady Tigers take third in season
Celebrating Texas night skies
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News-Dispatch Volume XXXVII No. 24
Serving Western Hays County, Texas since 1982
75¢
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Hays County mom indicted in daughter’s murder STAFF REPORT
VILLANUEVA
A Hays County grand jury earlier this month issued a capital murder indictment against a Kyle woman accused of killing her five-yearold daughter in January. The indictment was one of two issued by the grand jury against Krystle Conception
Villanueva, 25, of Kyle. According to a Hays County press release, the first indictment against Villanueva is capital murder of a person under ten years of age. The second was for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which was issued after Villanueva was suspected of stabbing
Eustorgio Arellano-Uresti, 58, her father-in-law. An indictment is a formal accusation against an individual suspected of a serious crime but does not determine guilt or innocence. On Jan. 5, Hays County authorities responded to a home in the 200 block of Willow Terrace in the Green
Pastures subdivision. The Hays Free Press reported authorities discovered Uresti outside of the home with stab wounds across his forehead, his back and left shoulder, according to a probable cause affidavit provided by Hays County Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Beth Smith.
When authorities entered the home, they discovered the body of Villanueva’s daughter, whose body had been “mutilated,” according to Hays County Sheriff Gary Cutler in a January press conference. Cutler added the crime
MURDER, 8
Motorcyclist killed in U.S. 290 wreck
Meet Barb
BY SAMANTHA SMITH An Austin man was killed March 14 after he lost control of his motorcycle while traveling eastbound on U.S. Highway 290 outside of Dripping Springs. Robert Dunn, 55, of Austin, was identified as the victim in the single-vehicle accident, according to DPS officials. Dunn was operating a 2017
Harley Davidson motorcycle on U.S. 290 when he lost control of the vehicle and started sliding, coming to a rest at the intersection of Sawyer Ranch Road about seven miles east of Dripping Springs, DPS officials said. Dunn was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:15 p.m. that evening. It is unknown at this time what factors led to the accident.
Dripping Springs grad arrested for improper relations with student enrolled at the school. In a letter sent to LISD parents, Susan K. Bohn, LISD superintendent of A Dripping Springs native schools, said the Lockhart High who is a science teacher at Lock- principal notified district adhart High was arrested Monday ministration and Child Protecafter police allege she engaged tive Services. in an improper relationship with An investigation into the a 17-year-old student. incident led detectives to a male Sarah Madden Fowlkes, 27, 17-year-old student, according was booked into the to police. Interviews Caldwell County Jail on determined the student a charge of improper had been in contact in relationship between person and by message educator and student, with Fowlkes. During which is a second degree their encounters, it was felony, according to a alleged Fowlkes engaged Lockhart Police press in “sexual content with release. the intent to arouse or In a seperate press gratify the sexual desire release, Lockhart ISD of the student,” accordFOWLKES Monday announced ing to the release. the district suspended On Monday, Lockhart Fowlkes, who has worked for the police obtained a warrant for district since October 2014. The Fowlkes, who, according to the district also has sent notice of release, turned herself in. the conduct to the State Board According to her Facebook for Educator Certification. page, Fowlkes is from Dripping According to Lockhart PoSprings and graduated from St. lice officials, the department Edward’s University in Austin. received a report from a school In her letter, Bohn said Fowladministrator March 10 that kes will not return to the school indicated an educator may have district. had an inappropriate relationFELONY, 7 ship with a student currently BY MOSES LEOS III
Barbara, a three-month-old Egyptian Arabian foal who lives at Red Horse Ranch in Dripping Springs, needs lifesaving surgery to correct her “wry nose,” which makes it difficult for her to eat and breathe – her upper jaw is offset from the lower jaw and her left nostril is almost closed. Local residents Allen Pogue and Martha Talley have about three months to crowdfund enough money for the operation, as it must be done when she’s around six months of age. As of press time, $5,500 of the $23,000 needed had been raised. Read their story on page 3.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLEN POGUE
Proposed bill prohibits larger cities from protesting discharge permits BY SAMANTHA SMITH
Should larger cities be allowed to protest the discharge permit requests by smaller towns? State Rep. Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs) doesn’t think so, and he filed a state House bill to bar larger cities from protesting discharge applications from smaller municipalities. House Bill 3004, if approved, would keep larger cities from protesting Texas Commission on Environmental Quality applications for the purposes of environmental discharge by small cities.
“When these small cities attempt to prepare for future growth by seeking responsible wastewater management precautions, their large, urban neighbors ... try to interfere to force their antidevelopment, anti-growth agenda on the communities around them.” –State Rep. Jason Isaac
Isaac said he introduced a similar bill during the 2015 legislative session, but it died on the Senate floor. In an emailed statement, Isaac said small municipalities across Texas are experiencing “phenomenal growth.”
“When these small cities attempt to prepare for future growth by seeking responsible wastewater management precautions, their large, urban neighbors with nearly unlimited tax dollars at their disposal try to interfere to
force their anti-development, anti-growth agenda on the communities around them,” Isaac said. Although the bill would bar formal opposition to a discharge permit, it would have no effect on a municipality’s authority to pass resolutions in support of or opposition to another municipality’s application for environmental discharge, Isaac said. Isaac said “it’s simple hypocrisy” that municipalities like Austin, which might have lower standards for water treatment than neighborhoods such as the
DISCHARGE, 7