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POSTED 4-6-2010

MARBLE FALLS — The CEO of Ronn Motor Co. produced records showing a federal tax levy against his company had been lifted when he met Tuesday with city officials about the publicly owned showroom and manufacturing plant he will run.

The plant will later become a vocational and technological center offering job training to adults and juveniles.
IN PHOTO: The Scorpion HX supercar has made appearances at auto shows around the world. Owner Ronn Motor Co. plans to operate a manufacturing plant in Marbel Falls. File photo

Ronn Maxwell presented the Internal Revenue Service document to the Economic Development Corp., which plans to lease the 76,000-square-foot building to Ronn Motors for up to three years for use as a manufacturing plant for automotive hydrogen-cell technology.

The EDC board also met in executive session to discuss Ronn Motors’ contract, and the board also heard an update on a proposed vo-tech center that will open at the Ronn Motors plant after the automaker vacates the facility.

The document shown at the meeting Tuesday backs up Maxwell’s earlier claim that an IRS lien filed against Ronn Motors for more than $98,000 in unpaid taxes last December was “an error.”

According to the federal lien, the company owed $98,026.37 in payroll taxes when the document was filed Dec. 21, 2009.

However, the document presented by Maxwell Tuesday — dated Dec. 23, 2009 — shows that all federal claims to Ronn Motors finances and property had been lifted two days after the initial filing.

“We’ve already taken care of it. It was an error,” he told The Daily Tribune March 16.

At the time, he indicated he didn’t wish to discuss the matter further. Also, a check at the time with the Burnet County District Clerk’s Office indicated there were no records from the IRS of the lien being released.

The lien was first reported by The Daily Tribune in March after public documents revealed IRS claims that Ronn Motors failed to pay payroll taxes during a nine-month period in 2008 and 2009.

Maxwell Tuesday declined to say how the matter was resolved, and IRS officials said they were unable to comment specifically on the case due to privacy laws.

Cottonwood Shores-based Ronn Motors produces and markets green-energy technologies, including a system that uses hydrogen to increase fuel efficiency in cars and trucks.

The company also produces the eco-friendly Scorpion HX supercar, which uses the hydrogen-cell technology.

A prototype of the $250,000 sports car recently was featured on a Discovery Channel TV series, “World’s Most Expensive Rides,” according to a company press release.

Ronn Motors last fall signaled its intent to move to Marble Falls after the EDC purchased a former candle factory at 1707 Colt Circle for about $1.7 million with plans to turn the building into a vocational learning center.

According to an agreement between the EDC and Ronn Motors, the company will occupy the building for up to three years, locating its executive offices, showroom and manufacturing facility there.

In return, Ronn Motors has promised to create at least 20 full-time jobs with an average pay of $27,000 by the end of its first year in Marble Falls, with an additional 75 full-time jobs added by the end of its third year.

If those jobs aren’t created on time, Ronn Motors would have to pay the EDC $27,000 for each position not created, according to the company’s agreement with the EDC.

Following the three-year lease term, the company has pledged to build a $3 million facility within the Marble Falls city limits, according to documents.

Once Ronn Motors vacates the building, the new vocational center — dubbed the Highland Lakes Career and Technology Center — will move in, officials said.

EDC Higher Education Liaison Bobbie Walker said a planning group for the new facility met last week.

The meeting included representatives from the city, the EDC, the Marble Falls Independent School District and Central Texas College, Walker said.

“It’s hoped that all parties would work together and support each other,” Walker said. “We also hope to identify quickly the most-needed training area. Our target is to have classes in the building in three years, but we want to have other areas involved.”

The next EDC meeting is noon May 5 in council chambers, 800 Third St.

chris@thepicayune.com

POSTED 4-5-2010

Marble Falls Area EMS Inc. crews check out the driver and passengers of a Nissan Altima involved in a collision in the 1100 block of U.S. 281 in Marble Falls Monday about 11:40 a.m. Along with the paramedics, Marble Falls police officers and firefighters responded to the three-vehicle collision, which also involved a dump truck. The accident occurred between RR 1431 and Mormon Mill Road. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton

BUCHANAN DAM — Faulty wiring in a kitchen lighting fixture led to a brief fire that consumed part of the ceiling in a Willows subdivision home off CR 141, officials  have determined.

Cassie Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Bill Pennington gave an update Friday and said the March 14 blaze started in the attic of a one-story house being remodeled by its owners.

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POSTED 4-03-2010

MARBLE FALLS — April 15 — also known as Tax Day — may remain one of the most unpopular days on the calendar, but a local grassroots citizens-rights group is hoping to turn that sentiment into political ammunition.

The Highland Lakes Tea Party Coalition will hold its second Tax Day Tea Party 5 p.m. April 15 at Marble Falls’ Lakeside Park, 305 Buena Vista.

POSTED 4-03-2010

MARBLE FALLS — If the ghosts of murdered men haunt the deep cave south of town known as Dead Man’s Hole, they aren’t telling any grisly tales.

“It sounds like a good story, but I don’t know of any groups that have caught any undeniable evidence of the paranormal there,” says Amanda Foster, founder of the Austin Paranormal Group.

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POSTED 4-1-2010

MARBLE FALLS — Connie Pell says she’ll do just about anything to stop the bulldozers from inching closer to a scenic creek behind her home as part of a project to prevent future flooding.

She’s afraid the work will destroy habitats and valuable trees.

"I told him if they come down this way, I’ll stand in front of the bulldozer if I have to," she said about a Wednesday conversation she had with a project worker. "You can hear them (the work) in the background. Our neighborhood had to stop them because they were coming over into our area."

Pell, a retiree, lives in the 1100 block of Avenue G.

The creek-clearing work is part of a city project to prevent a repeat of the massive flooding that inundated the area in June 2007, when a "rain bomb" dumped 19 inches on Marble Falls, causing evacuations and closing down businesses.

Vegetation and debris built up in area creeks, which caused the water flow to back up, flooding several streets, homes, bridges and businesses, emergency officials reported at the time.

Since that time, the city has started several projects to prevent future flooding.

During the past few days, the project in Pell’s neighborhood has progressed along a portion of a runoff creek from RR 1431 north toward Twelfth Street, just east of the U.S. 281 and 1431 intersection.

City Manager Ralph Hendricks said a project representative met with area residents as soon as city officials learned of neighbors’ concerns.

"It is one of the major drainage areas in our community," Hendricks said. "We do not need trees in the middle of our creeks. It becomes a dam in a flood. Debris backs up, the water gets backed up. Properties upstream will flood because water is unable to flow because of the backup."

The city received permission to clear brush on areas of the creek that run through private property, but worked along public right of way.

Pell said though she didn’t live in Marble Falls during the 2007 flood, she understands the concerns about flood prevention. However, she’s also concerned about the destruction of habitat near her home.

She started a personal video library of the work on the creek to document her concerns, Pell added.

"They have no catch float in it to catch any debris or water to keep the water clean. We do have fish that are down here," she said. "You’re talking about animals, deer … no deer have come over here lately, and this is the reason."

She’ll also monitor the work closely with the help of her neighbors, Pell said.

"You bulldoze houses. You don’t bulldoze creek beds," she said. "If it hadn’t been for everyone in our neighborhood and the kind people, we wouldn’t keep the beauty that we’ve got."

City officials said clearing debris has many benefits.

"It’s something nobody likes to see, but when we’re done, it will look clean and neat and help with the flow of water," said Public Works Assistant Director Duane Anderson, who is overseeing the project. "That area that’s closer to RR 1431, that was probably the worst area. The rest (of the work) is just getting some trees, most already dead, half dead or broke, out of the way."

"We are done bulldozing — other than what’s on the ground to get out of the way," he added.

Meanwhile, Pell said she has closely watched the clearing project’s progress.

"I’m concerned because they’ve taken out so many trees. Some of them were even old apple trees that were on the creek bed," she said. "They have completely destroyed this area."

Crews have cleared away trees, overgrown brush, boulders and debris that has collected along the creek just off 281 at 1431.

For those concerned about potential habitat loss, Hendricks said, "We encourage people to plant trees on their property."

David Short of Short Electronics, a business adjacent to the creek near the 281 and 1431 intersection, remembered how water from the creek rose onto his property and flooded his store in 2007.

"Three years ago, when we had that ‘water bomb’ as they called it, we had about 3 feet of water in our parking lot here. I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve never seen that much water," Short said. "I have mixed emotions about what’s going on back here."

"I enjoyed the creek how it was, but at the same time, it’s maybe going to help the water to flow quicker, maybe stop my building from flooding the next time we get 21 inches of rain," he added.

Hendricks, who was in charge of emergency management at the time, recalled the flooding near the 1431/281 intersection and the electronics shop.

"It was completely underwater in that area, and there were several cars that were trapped in that intersection, people who had to be rescued," Hendricks said.

Short believes growth and new construction may play a role in how much runoff washes into the creek. Businesses upstream of the creek behind his store include The Home Depot as well as a hair salon and a restaurant in a strip mall.

"The water used to soak into the ground, and now we have a lot of parking lots and a lot of buildings where our natural water would go into the ground," Short said. "Now it’s running off and filling up our little creek back here. I feel like as we grow, this creek’s even going to get more influx from the runoff …  so maybe this (the clearing work) will help."

Swinney is the anchor and producer for Highland Lakes Headlines at www.thepicayunetv.com.

connie@thepicayune.com

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POSTED 4-1-2010

PHOTO 1: Anna Craig races for Easter eggs during a ‘hunt’ Thursday at St. Peter’s Lutheran School. The students and even a few siblings took part in the annual event at the Marble Falls private Christian kindergarten and preschool. Staff photos by Daniel Clifton

PHOTO 2: St. Peter’s Lutheran School student Katie Dulin checks out an Easter egg Thursday. Children of the Marble Falls kindergarten and preschool program looked for eggs with their names on them during the annual event.

PHOTO 3: Kyle Moran of St. Peter’s Lutheran School in Marble Falls counts his eggs during an Easter egg ‘hunt’ this week at the school.

POSTED 3-31-2010

SPICEWOOD — Three women are homeless and three pets dead after an early-morning fire destroyed their rented home in the 4100 block of CR 410 Wednesday.

Jesse Hunt, son of one of the occupants, said neither his mother nor her two roommates were home at the time of the fire, which was reported about 6 a.m.

"I first heard about it this morning around 8:30 a.m. after one of the neighbors called my boss at work," he said. "It was one of the neighbors that first saw the fire, and he came over and sprayed it with a garden hose until the Fire Department got here."

Occupants Pamela Takahashi, Melanie Sanders and Michelle McCommas have moved to temporary lodgings at a hotel, Hunt said.

Hunt and his brother Robert, sons of Takahashi, spent Wednesday helping locate the remains of their mothers’ dogs, Tweenie and Gracie-Gray.

Another dog, a pit-bull terrier named Kratos, was pulled from the burning building by volunteer firefighters, but later succumbed to smoke inhalation after rescuers attempted to revive it with oxygen, Hunt said.

"My mom was really broken up about it," he said. "We’re just trying to find the other two dogs so we can give them a good burial."

Jamie Ludwig of Spicewood Fire-EMS said the fire consumed the home.

"When we got there, the building was fully engulfed," she said. "We had 14 members from the volunteer fire department there, along with members of the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department and some family members from our department."

While the exact cause of the fire isn’t known, Hunt said faulty wiring near a household appliance may have started the blaze.

Relatives and friends of the displaced renters Wednesday helped remove belongings from the house, which had heavy roof damage.

"Some of the stuff inside just had some smoke damage, so we’re trying to remove all of that," Hunt said. "But the house is a total loss."

No other buildings were damaged.

chris@thepicayune.com

POSTED 3-31-2010

MARBLE FALLS — After more than seven months of planning and construction, the Holiday Inn Express in Marble Falls will open its doors this month.

"It will be a very high demand hotel," said owner Brendan Gilyan. "It will do very well here."

The hotel at 714 Corazon Drive in the La Ventana subdivision will register its first guests on April 9 — just in time for the Burnet Bluebonnet Festival, Gilyan said.

"We are hoping the hotel will be full that weekend," he added.

The hotel is just off U.S. 281 south of Lake Marble Falls and across from the Burnet County courthouse south annex.

About 100 reservations have been already been accepted through the next 50 weeks at the inn, Gilyan said.

Work on the hotel with 69 suites styled in the modern Italian spa theme began last August. By the middle of last month, Gilyan accepted an offer to change the franchise from Comfort Suites to Holiday Inn Express.

"This (Holiday Inn) brand is a little bit more of a guest-friendly name in the hotel-service industry," Gilyan said.

The name change involved many hours of re-training hotel administrative officers and staff, as well as re-doing the trademark on signs, linens, pillows, stationery, towels and other items, he added.

"It was not an easy task," Gilyan said. "In the long run, it will be cost-effective because this is a higher standard hotel."

raymond@thepicayune.com