FORT WORTH — Former Marble Falls High School teacher and coach Ken Kershaw died April 19 in North Texas from injuries suffered in a vehicl e accident, school officials said.
Kershaw was the Mustangs’ defensive line coach 1991-1994.
Since 2002, Kershaw was an academic coordinator and Advanced Placement social studies teacher at North Crowley High School, said substitute teacher John Malachi.
COTTONWOOD SHORES — The city is looking at purchasing two lots to help expand the Police Department.
"Our Police Department does need some refurbishing, so we’re exploring all options," Councilman Stephen Sherry said April 19.
The Crime Control & Prevention District sent a proposal to the Development Committee to negotiate the purchase of two lots on the east side of the police station, 3915 Cottonwood Drive, Sherry said.
The City Council will have to wait for the committee to come back with a recommendation before any action is taken, officials said.
MARBLE FALLS — The question of whether to allow invisible fences to contain pets as part of a revised animal ordinance continues to dog the City Council.
Although the overall ordinance was approved in January, the council at the time asked officials to do more research on the safety of so-called electronic, invisible or wireless pet fences to restrain animals in lieu of physical barricades.
An invisible fence emits a shock from a buried electric line that keeps dogs from going astray.
Critics and proponents again weighed in on the issue April 17 at City Hall, with the council ultimately asking the Animal Control Advisory Commission to consider the suggestions and return with a recommendation at the next council meeting.
MARBLE FALLS — Two Marble Falls Middle School faculty asked to step down as coaches have the option to stay on as teachers only, officials said April 18.
Teaching-only contracts have been extended to Kevin McLean and Craig Orton, said Rob O’Connor, superintendent of the Marble Falls Independent School District. Meanwhile, the fate of coach Jeremy Gamez remains unclear. While he has a dual teachers-coaches contract, O’Connor said Gamez still is subject to assignment from athletic director Todd Dodge.
Dodge, however, has said there is no spot on the coaching staff for Gamez.
Dodge, who was hired Jan. 23, is building a new coaching staff, a process that has included telling some existing coaches they didn’t make the cut.
McLean’s and Orton’s qualifications match some teaching positions that have come open, O’Connor said.
There is no opening for a high school biology teacher, which is what Gamez is certified to teach.
“What he’ll do in the future is still pending,” the superintendent said.
Meanwhile, the positions of boys head basketball coach and the girls head basketball coach/girls athletic coordinator were posted April 16 on the websites of the school district, the Texas High School Coaches Association and the Texas Girls Coaches Association, Dodge said.
He wants to start interviewing candidates in a week and make recommendations to the School Board in May, he said.
By April 17, 50 coaches had applied for the Lady Mustangs job, while 25 applied for the Mustangs position.
“There is quality in there,” Dodge said. “There’s definitely people interested. Not only are we taking resumes, I’m going out and recruiting.”
Ideal candidates will have head coaching experience or have been top assistants at Class 5A programs, he said.
Basketball coaches Stephanie Gamble and Bruce Etheridge — who both resigned — Travis Crain and David President won’t be on the staff next season.
But Lady Mustangs basketball assistant coaches Carrie Grona and Renee Grumbles and volleyball coaches Julie Downs, Tino Salazar (who also is the head softball coach) and Lerin Polley all will be retained, officials said.
Each new head coach will be allowed to bring their top assistant, Dodge said.
Dodge won’t post the position of head baseball coach until after the season ends.
“I don’t want to miss out on any candidates,” he said. “I want to focus on the men’s and women’s jobs now.”
The School Board approved hiring J.P. Gray, a freshman football and varsity assistant coach, and offensive line coach Ben Norton during a meeting April 16.
HORSESHOE BAY — The City Council has rebuffed a request by a neighborhood leader to halt any plans on the airport until after an election that could give residents more say-so on large-scale acquisitions.
At the same time, after being presented two validated petitions April 17, the council agreed to put a pair of propositions on the November ballot including one that would give residents a larger role in decisions on big acquisitions, such as a proposal to buy the airport owned by the Horseshoe Bay Resort.
The other proposition deals with changes to the city charter.
Bill Wines, who helped lead the petition effort, asked the council to agree to a delay on votes involving the airport until after the election Nov. 6.
But his request did not generate much support.
"The council’s actions to certify that we will hold an election speaks for itself," Councilman Tom Schmersahl said.
Indeed, any decision would be months away, said Mayor Bob Lambert.
"If the city does receive a proposal, the process would take at least six months," he said.
More than a year ago, a city committee began researching the feasibility of acquiring the airport after being approached by resort officials.
"The Horseshoe Bay Resort has indicated they would still like to sell the airport to the city. . . It’s been dormant for almost a year and a half," Lambert said.
There are many steps to the process, the mayor said.
It involves a formal written request from the resort, a review by a committee and at least two publicized workshops prior to a potential vote by the council.
If the airport is acquired, a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration will be used, city officials said.
"Several council members have not been briefed by the FAA," Lambert said.
The two referendums do not mean there is a problem brewing between residents and city leaders, Wines said.
"This is not a case of the people versus the council," said Wines, who also conducted a public forum on the referendums. "Obviously, there cannot be a vote on every issue. Why not encourage the people to vote on the issue of the airport project?"
Five percent of registered voters were required to sign each petition — or about 140 each — for a ballot initiative; the city has 2,735 registered voters.
BURNET — Though coaches at Burnet school district campuses will see reduced stipends this year in an effort to control the budget, the cuts aren’t as deep as first feared.
“It’s one of those deals where I wish we could have done more,” said Andy Feild, the president of the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District board.
Stipends are the extra money beyond the teaching pay coaches receive for extracurricular duties.
MARBLE FALLS — School officials are looking at entering a contract with Texas Fleet Fuel in an effort to get a better grip on gas and diesel costs.
Under a proposed plan that emerged April 16 at a School Board meeting, the Marble Falls Independent School District will only pay TFF for the fuel it uses, not in bulk.
The plan also includes working with the city of Marble Falls, which would fuel its vehicles at the MFISD transportation facility.
The school district faces a constant fluctuation in gas and diesel prices, said Allen Roberts, assistant superintendent.
In today’s market, the district’s fuel costs can range from 4 cents to 14 cents or even more above the oil index, Roberts said. The index is what the dealer pays for the fuel.
“With this we get a rate of 10 cents above the (index),” he said.
The district would also include an out clause in any contract.
The city could also get fuel from tanks at the MFISD transportation facility. Roberts said the city and school would have two separate codes so each would get billed separately.
City Manager Ralph Hendricks said Marble Falls has used TFF for several years.
“The accountability has great advantages for us,” he said.
Under the plan, TFF would provide the district a weekly fuel report detailing how much fuel it used and which vehicles were using what amounts.
Roberts said he expects to bring a contract for approval during the May meeting.
Trustee Karl Westerman said he liked what he saw after reviewing TFF and the concept .
“I did a little poking around and there are a number of schools doing that and they’re raving about it,” he said.
In other business, the board approved a request from the Marble Falls High School band to take a trip in 2013 to Hawaii. The costs would be paid through fundraising and no district money would be used, officials said.
GEORGETOWN — The Marble Falls High School symphonic band has earned the Grand Sweepstakes Trophy after a series of victories including the recent UIL Region 26 competition at Georgetown High School.
The band received superior ratings in both the concert and sight-reading contests at the University Interscholastic League’s regional contest April 12.
Those rankings, along with a superior rating in last fall’s UIL Region 26 marching contest, allowed the Mustang musicians to win the sweepstakes trophy in a kind of musical trifecta.
BURNET — Almost three years to the day of a brutal home invasion that forever changed their lives, Bobby and Cassandra Doyal watched as the last of three men convicted in the attack learned his fate April 12 in state District Judge Guilford “Gil” Jones’ court.
But that doesn’t mean the Doyals — who were robbed, beaten and left for dead — will ever truly know closure, only that the men behind the crime are now in prison for decades.
