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WWW.UNIVERSITYSTAR.COM
SEPTEMBER 13, 2006
WEDNESDAY
VOLUME 96, ISSUE 9
City adopts stricter water restrictions Faculty member
remembered for work ethic, familial devotion Despite cancer, Nipps still thought of others By A.N. Hernández The University Star
David Racino/Star photo illustration BOTTLED BATH: Because of low Edwards Aquifer levels and spring flow rates, year-round water restrictions, which will go into effect Friday, make penalties for wasting water more severe than in the past. The new rules will affect everything from service at restaurants, to how residents wash their cars.
Recent rainfall not enough to aid drought By Jacqueline Davis The University Star Hand-washing your car on the wrong day of the week in San Marcos could land you a $100 fine. According to new year-round water restrictions, effective Sept. 15, wasting water is more strictly prohibited than in the past. The minimum fine for violating water conservation measures will rise from $25 to $100 for a first offense. Repeat offenders could be fined as much as $3,000. The San Marcos City Council adopted the new water conservation and drought response rules that will affect residents and businesses owners at its Sept. 5 meeting. The city council decided to make water conservation a yearround effort, said San Marcos
Water Conservation Coordinator Jan Klein “Water is a valuable resource and we want to make sure no one is wasting it any time of year,” Klein said. The new water restriction checklist limits sprinkler irrigation to one day a week, prohibits the filling of new decorative fountains and ponds and mandates that residents partially cover outdoor swimming pools when not in use. Additional requirements for commercial car washes were also added and restaurant are prohibited from serving water except after a customer request. The Edwards Aquifer Authority, which oversees all municipal and industrial aquifer permits holders, declared Stage 2 drought restrictions Monday because of low spring flow levels at the San Marcos Springs. The city of San Marcos adopted Stage 1 drought restrictions June 20, and officials are currently pondering the idea of enforcing Stage 2 water restrictions. The final decision has not been made yet, Klein said. The rising threat to the water supply is apparent, Klein said.
“As more and more people move in, we’re still using the same supply of water for everyone,” Klein said. “It’s getting so hard to find new water supplies. At some point it won’t be enough any more.” Tom Taggart, director of water/ wastewater utilities, said he agrees with Klein. “The I-35 corridor area is predicted to double (in population) over the next 50 years,” Taggart said. While recent rainfall has been a welcomed sight to many drought-weary residents of Hays County, it is not an indication that the water restrictions will decrease, Taggart said. The factors used to determine the drought stages are based on the Edwards Aquifer J-17 index well level and spring flow rates. “Rainfall has not been enough to have an affect on those levels,” Taggart said. Some business managers who will be affected by these rules seem to agree with the city’s rationale. Mark Ford, general manager of IHOP restaurant, said he has not yet received notification of the water conservation mea-
Cheaper fountain drinks available to students with green mugs By Eloise Martin The University Star Free mugs were available in The Quad Thursday and Friday for students who wanted a chance to save money and help keep the campus a little less littered. The green mugs were paid for by the $1 environmental fee included in every student’s tuition. That fee is then used by the Environmental Service Fee Committee to purchase items aimed at helping improve the campus environment. The 14-ounce mugs can be refilled at The Lair in the LBJ Student Center, The Den, Jones Diner Food Court or Paws-NGo for 69 cents, a reduced cost from the regular $1.19 for a 16-
ounce cup. The goal of the mugs, Taylor Powell, Environmental Service Fee Committee member, said is to cross-promote savings. “Students can save money and help save the environment,” he said. Powell, international studies senior, said the group decided to use the money to purchase the cups as a way to help reduce waste around campus. The reduced fees for the refills were a bonus to the project, Powell said. “Luckily, we got a deal with Chartwells. They are saving money too; they don’t have to buy as many of those wax-coated cups that you can’t recycle,” Powell said. “I hate seeing those cups lying around.”
Today’s Weather
Sunny 92˚/63˚
Precipitation: 20% Humidity: 49% UV: 10 Very High Wind: NNE 10 mph
Charles Blackwell, Chartwells Dining Services district manager, said Chartwells was happy to agree to fill the mugs for a reduced cost. “The less paper and waste that is in the landfill, the better,” Blackwell said. Blackwell said although the on-campus dining facilities will be saving a small amount of money by purchasing fewer cups, the reality is that cutting costs to the environment was the main attraction to the project. “It is a great program,” he said. “We are really excited about supporting it.” The mugs also include the group’s Web site address, where See GREEN, page 3
Two-day Forecast Thursday Mostly Sunny Temp: 92°/ 71° Precip: 10%
Friday Scattered T-storms Temp: 91°/ 73° Precip: 30%
sures but will implement them when he does. However, Ford said his early morning coffeedrinkers might not be pleased when they do not immediately receive their customary glass of water. “If it’s something that needs to be done, then we’ll do it. We are in a drought,” Ford said. “On the customer service side, it’s not good though.” Mark Ray, general manager of Conley Carwash and Detail, did not seem concerned with the new car wash requirements. By comparing water usage in past and present utility bills, Ray estimates his car wash system operates with 85 percent reclaimed water. “As much water as we use here, we needed a way to reclaim it, so we did our own research to find a way to reuse the water,” Ray said. For more information on drought measures and water conservation rules, visit www.ci.sanmarcos.tx.us
Martha Nipps was the pulse of her family and of the Texas State purchasing office, which she was part of for 26 years. She loved her family, her dog Dolly and Texas State University. Nipps, 51, who lost her sixmonth battle with cancer Sept. 4, was remembered Thursday by hundreds of friends and family members who gathered at the Grace Lutheran Church on Belvin Street. The church, overflowing with flowers, is the same one in which she married her husband, Tom Nipps, Sr., 35 years ago. “She was just so humble; it was always about everybody else, never about her,” said her uncle, Darrell Kidd. “Once you understood unconditional love, you understood Marty.” In the last two years of her life, she worked in the purchasing office as a historically underutilized business specialist. The HUB specialist position is one she created to bring business opportunities to minority-owned businesses. Before this position, she was a purchasing clerk and was employee of the month in 1999. Before quitting her job in May, coworkers said Nipps eagerly helped students and clients. She often peered out the large glass window in her workspace, looking at the pond in front of J.C. Kellam. Her desk space, now cleaned, was once brimming with plastic pigs, ceramic pigs and pictures of pigs. The dryerase board in the coffee room still reads “Martha’s Birthday” on Sept. 21. “She loved pigs — real ones, stuffed ones, pictures of pigs. Her desk and the house was ‘here a pig, there a pig, everywhere a pig.’ We had a hog farm in the 1980s and I think that sparked her love of pigs,” said her husband. Although she lost about 35 pounds and grew weaker, her spirit remained resilient. “She would call us at work and say, ‘I just can’t wait to get back to work,’” said Texas State purchasing clerk Velia Espinoza,
Martha Nipps who worked alongside Nipps for more than 15 years. Espinoza said Nipps was more than her coworker — she was her dear friend. “What I miss most about my friend is her smile, her kindness and her voice. She had this squeaky, cute voice, like a young girl,” Espinoza said. “Martha always got to work on time and she would make us coffee every single morning. And since she’s been gone, I never drink coffee.” Even when she was diagnosed in May with hormonal breast cancer, she baked for her husband and knitted throws for cancer patients. “I think women just really need to be aware that this type of cancer is out there. I think if, through losing Martha, we could make people aware, Martha would like that,” Kidd said. “I just can’t say enough. I watched her grow. I remember her wedding and the dance afterward. I could just go on and on about that girl.” Saturday at Mochas and Javas, Nipps’ family found it hard to speak about her. Alice Meierant said her daughter was “just precious.” With tears in his eyes, her husband scrolled two lonely words on a piece of lined notebook paper: “perfect wife.” He said he met the woman he nicknamed “Angel” at a dance hall in Ehland and remembered thinking the long-haired blonde was beautiful. Later, in a six-page letter he prepared, he thanked Martha for their children, Tommy, Jr. and Amy. “I was always high-tempered, but she had this way to tell me to calm down without raising her voice,” he wrote. “She was my backbone. There will never be another Martha.”
Public ‘advocate’ seeks open records review of Commissioners Court By Kathy Martinez The University Star Commissioners Court met Tuesday morning and opened with public comments from the audience. The president of Hays Community Action Network, Charles O’Dell, addressed the commissioners with his concerns in regard to the decisionmaking process of the court. O’Dell said he wishes the court would be more willing to share information with the public about decisions that are being made in the county. O’Dell’s concern was initiated by an agenda item posted for discussion in Tuesday’s meeting. The issue addressed to the court was to approve selection of Engineering and Right-of-
Way firms for the Pass-Through Financing Program as recommended by the committee members and the Program Manager, Prime Strategies. “The problem with issues like this is that citizens cannot participate and don’t know about these decisions until the meetings every week. I just ask that the court slow down the process and take time to have information available in a timely manner,” O’Dell said. O’Dell also told the court that he will be conducting an open records review to asses what procedures the court has taken in their selection of particular firms such as Prime Strategies. Commissioner Russ Molenaar, Precinct 4, asked O’Dell why he had problems with
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Prime Strategies, to which O’Dell responded he had none at all. “I am here to represent the thousands of other citizens that have problems with their local government who cannot make it to these meetings every week. I am merely an advocate of the court. All we ask is that you give us information when we ask for it,” O’Dell said. Commissioner Will Conley, Precinct 3, told the court that the commissioners are reviewed annually and take the appropriate procedures when making decisions for the county and provide any information requested by the public. See COURT, page 4
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