Willie DeLaRosa, who served on the city council from 1987 to 2009, received 471 votes (63 percent) to 279 votes for Kristi L. Koch for the Place 4 seat that was contested after Julie Hart decided not run again.

Mayor Terry Orr and council member Joe Beal (Place 2) were unopposed for reelection.

DeLaRosa, a postman, said one of the first priorities for the council should be “to make sure we establish new water resources, both in the short and long term.” Last week, the city announced it was having pumping problems in three of its five active wells. The city has temporarily shut down one of those wells in Fisherman’s Park, while the other two were pumping well below norms.

DeLaRosa cited the budget process as another council priority, adding that “setting spending limits” would be one of his key budgetary goals. “We have to prioritize our projects and spending,” he said.

The city is the early stages of developing its fiscal year 2013 budget.

“I’m sure they’ve started the budgetary process, but I’ve yet to see anything, so I’ll wait till I get more information” to give input to the council, DeLaRosa said.

Insurance agent James Allen was reelected to a third term on the BISD school board for Place 1, overcoming challenger Jim Clark by a margin of 168 votes – 1,117 for Allen and 949 for Clark, who is a school counselor in Manor.

Allen cited two key goals as he rejoins the school board.

“We have to focus on academic achievement, that’s priority No. 1 – continuing to raise the bar academically for all kids, all grades,” said Allen, who is currently the board secretary and has also served as president.

He added that two BISD schools that are rate academically unacceptable.
“We have to lift the bar. It starts with accountability and goes from there,” Allen said of academic achievement.

Allen said he will also push “fiscal responsibility” for the school district.

In the Place 2 race for the school board, David Long, a land acquisition manager won over Laurie Bauer, a professor at Concordia University, by a vote of 1,205 to 870. Former board president Ty McDonald did not seek re-election in Place 2.

Voting results remain unofficial until canvassed in late May.

Long said he wants BISD to “get back to more of an academic focus,” and believes the district is moving in that direction.

“We’ve got facilities in place and great things, but we need to make sure to support the teachers in the classrooms,” Long said.

He said from the input he’s had from teachers, he believes the majority are favorable to the C-Scope curriculum program.

Long said he would also like to hear from citizens during board meetings about the positive aspects of the district.

“I wish there was more community input from time to time, not just when folks are upset, but when they think (the district) is doing well,” Long said.

On Saturday, elections administrator Nora Cano said voting was going smoothly overall, but some people were confused when they showed up to vote, thinking they were also voting for county and state primary races. That voting occurs on May 29.

“I felt like I got a good start, I leaned into the finish, he just leaned a little bit harder,” Davis said.

Davis came in seeded No. 1 based on his time in the regional meet, where he ran a 10.48.

In the shadow of Darryl K. Royal Memorial Stadium, where Davis committed to play his college ball last week, a relieved Davis looked forward to donning the pads next week with his teammates.

“I had to watch them out there while I was running my track workouts, my dad was like, ‘don’t even look over there,” he said. “I just want to get better and stay healthy.”

For more on this story, see Thursday’s edition of The Bastrop Advertiser.

The term is “strac,” as in, “He/she is one strac trooper.” The word, which is thought to have originated during World War II, is an acronym for military members being “Strategic, Tough, Ready – Around the Clock.”

Members of Bastrop High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps aren’t professional soldiers – yet – but from their bearing and accomplishments in the spotlight of center stage at the Jerry Fay Wilhelm Wednesday night, it’s obvious many of them will do well if they pursue a military career. And even if they don’t choose the military as a career, the focus and stamina they’ve learned as ROTC cadets will serve them well in other pursuits.

In fact, a few of the cadets have already chosen to make the military their career; some who will enlist shortly after graduation and others who will be members of  ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) while pursuing a college degree.

One cadet was accepted for training as a Navy corpsman and in two years plans to enter the challenging selection process for Navy SEALS, the special operatives who took down Osama Bin Laden. A second student is planning on becoming a Marine officer and a third student, a helicopter pilot.

On April 5, the cadets showed how well prepared they are during their annual inspection, with Senior Instructor Chief David Canales at the helm.

“During the inspection, each drill that the cadets carried out, including the final review, was performed with dignity and pride,” Canales said. “Cadets displayed diligence and an excellent spirit in achieving an outstanding performance.”

Canales said the cadets’ knowledge of the Navy was “tested individually while on parade and their verbal responses to questions asked of them. Their responses were strongly audible, accurate and to the point.”

Canales said BHS cadets are “united together by leadership that places the cadets first.”

Senior cadets also gave presentations to Inspecting Officer Col. Doherty, former principal at Bastrop Intermediate School and a veteran of both the British and American military.

Their topic was “why they joined the NROTC.”

Their presentations were excellent and very interesting. One topic that seemed to overlap each cadet’s presentation was the importance of learning to follow directions (orders). The senior cadets emphasized how NJROTC helped them considerably with regards to leadership and their future plans regarding decisions after graduation. Some were going on to a university to study topics such as criminal justice, business and biogenetics.

Staff Writer

Preliminary budget figures previously presented to the Bastrop ISD Board of Trustees were spelled out more specifically at a workshop meeting held Tuesday.

The district heard more details on the $65.5 million budget, which includes $28.3 million in revenue from property taxes, $34 million from state revenue sources and more than $2 million from federal revenue sources.

In terms of property values, BISD chief financial officer Sandra Callahan said the figures presented to the board April 17 have not changed.

“To reiterate from April 17, all homes involved in the Bastrop County Complex Fire have been removed from the tax roll and land values for these properties have also been adjusted,” Callahan wrote in a memo to the board. “Commercial property has been added, except for heavy industrial and mineral values which the appraisal district will receive in a few weeks. Once the appraisal statements are mailed there is a protest timeline so values could again be adjusted which is always the case.”
She noted the values by themselves have remained steady, but the losses from the fires have had a negative impact on the district’s revenues for the 2012-13 school year.

“Without the fires, the district would have seen an increase in values of approximately 4.4 percent,” Callahan said. “This equates to approximately $1.1 million in lost tax revenue.”

But the losses aren’t hitting the district as hard as expected, with new and commercial property expected to make up much of the difference.  Callahan said the budget is expected to finish more than $800,000 in the black, despite property tax revenue losses from the Bastrop County Complex Fires, mainly due to increased revenue coming from the state — a portion of the losses will be offset by $2 million in increased property tax revenue from the state, increasing the district’s state property tax revenue from $29 million to about $31.5 million – and from savings generated from withdrawing from the special education co-op agreement with the Smithville and La Grange ISDs

Those savings amount to an additional $1.9 million in its budget, Callahan said, noting much of that will go toward paying for the district’s special education professionals, but that some of the money will be used elsewhere.

The additional sources of revenue mean the district will be able to put money toward pay increases —proposed in the budget are a $1,000 increase in teacher pay and an increase of 3 percent of the pay grade midpoint for support and auxiliary staff and 1.5 percent of the pay grade midpoint for administration. These are the first raises since 2010-11 for teachers and since 2009-10 for administrators and support staff.

The raises also come at a time when the district expects to be adding staff to reduce class sizes at some campuses and to add 11 new positions at Cedar Creek High School, which will now have a full student body. The budget also calls for a reduction in central administrative personnel and changes in the district’s athletic programs to save money.

I am pleased to announce that the Bastrop County Aggie Moms Club will be offering scholarships for the 2012-2013 school year. The student’s permanent address must be within one of the Bastrop County school district boundaries. Students must be enrolled for the fall 2012 semester as a full time student at Texas A&M University, and passed a minimum of A&M hours (24 for undergraduate and 8 for graduate) excluding transfer credits and credit by exam. Applications must be postmarked no later than June 1. More information and the application is posted on our website at http://bastropcomoms.aggienetwork.com/drupal/scholarships.

Liz Wysocki

President, Bastrop County Aggie Moms Club

Recently I wrote a letter to the editor in order to commend four young people who saved the life of our 14-year-old Golden Retriever who had fallen into the river and would have drowned without their quick and courageous acts.

I have since found out their names, and I hope people will remember their good work.  If you know Matt McAdams, Jimmy Wise, Heidi Grube and Kristin Tran, I hope you will commend them for their quick response and good deed.

Also, I want to publicly recognize their parents for raising their children to be such kind and generous adults. Kindness and good citizenship are among the many things that I love about Bastrop.

Marian Tuck McWhorter

Houston

I didn’t find my family and friends, God gave them to me.

I feel that I am recovering because of God’s goodness and the kindness of family and friends.

I thank you from my heart for your prayers, telephone calls, greeting cards, money and other expressions of thoughtfulness.

I am still in the hospital, but I am much better.

God bless you.

Bobby J. McDonald

Bastrop

Bluebonnet members have recently received mailings, door-to-door solicitations and automated calls urging them to vote for two candidates in our upcoming board election. Some of these solicitations have asked our members to hand their voting authority over to interest groups supporting those candidates. The three organizations making these solicitations are not violating any rules of our current election process. But their actions illustrate a potential issue that our directors have been studying for the past two years and addressed during last month’s board meeting.

Our current at-large voting system and our current proxy system makes it possible for members in four counties – Bastrop, Caldwell, Travis and Hays – on the western side our service area (that account for 60 percent of our meters) to dominate elections. That means if the folks in those counties were to organize, they could elect virtually all of the members on the Bluebonnet board.

This is a fundamental flaw in our election process that our board felt should be addressed to ensure every part of our service area has fair and equal representation based on our demographics.

So, this summer, our board will develop a plan to evenly divide our service area into districts. The board expects to present its plan for final approval at its September meeting. We anticipate the first election cycle in which our members will be able to vote for directors in their districts will be in 2013.

Under the current voting structure, co-op members are able to cast votes in person at our annual meeting or “by proxy,” designating another to cast their vote or allowing the co-op’s proxy committee to vote in their stead. Under that system, the member has the option to either direct the committee to vote for specific candidates or they can allow the committee to cast their vote at its discretion.

The move from at-large voting will effectively end our proxy committee. In most cases where elections are held by district, proxies are not assigned. Or if they are, they’re assigned to individuals, not a proxy committee.

Transparency is critically important during this process. We’ll communicate our board’s progress and we’ll solicit input from our members from start to finish. Long before any election is held in 2013 we’ll inform our members of everything they need to know in order to participate in the election.

Mark Rose

General Manager, Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative

This letter is an endorsement for Derek Van Gilder for district judge of the 21^st District Court for Bastrop, Lee, Burleson and Washington counties. I have known Derek for some time now through his civic involvement. He has been very involved in the community through Rotary, Children’s Advocacy Center, his church and other organizations. He has held leadership roles in each of the organizations – so he is not only committed to the organization, but helps lead them. Civic involvement, however, is not the criteria by which I am endorsing him.

Derek Van Gilder is by far the most qualified of the candidates for District Judge. He has been in the legal profession for 32 years, and has handled cases from the JP courts to the appellant courts and everything in between in both state and federal courts. It is this extensive and varied experience with his having litigated family, civil and criminal cases that make Derek the best candidate. He has tried divorces, child custody and support cases, adoptions, and restraining orders, to name a few of the types of cases in the family law area. In civil cases, he has tried matters involving business disputes, personal injury, construction claims, debt collection, contracts, and property issues. Derek has handled criminal cases from a simple traffic ticket to a Federal gun-running, conspiracy felony case.

Derek Van Gilder has also mediated hundreds of cases and has extensive experience as an arbitrator with a position on the American Arbitrator Association Panel of Arbitrators.

The district courts handle family, civil and criminal cases with about a third of each type case just in Bastrop County. Derek Van Gilder will not have to learn family and civil law as he sits on the bench. I want a judge that does not have to learn the law to be able to hear my case, if I happen to be in his court.

For all of the above, I would encourage every voter, no matter their party affiliation, to vote for a judge that will not only follow the law, but knows the law – that can only be Derek Van Gilder for district judge of the 21st District Court.

Loretta Knepp

Bastrop

On Sept. 4, 2011, the lives of the students and staff of Emile Elementary were forever changed by the Bastrop wildfires. As we returned to school after the wildfires and began to settle back into routine, our students and staff were then dealt another blow by having their principal resign and take another position.

In the midst of all of these changes and uncertainties, up stepped a stable face for our children to see, assistant principal Ms. Moore.

Ms. Moore took on the challenge of stepping into the roll of interim principal mid-year. She has had many critics waiting for her to fail, but she has not. Ms. Moore stepped up, listening to what her staff needed and filling those needs. She took time with parents and students to assist them in adjusting to the changes going on. Ms. Moore has done all of this with grace and integrity.

As a mother I am thankful that my children have such a wonderful principal. While I feel Ms. Moore is a strong leader, she is also a kind and caring.

I was saddened to learn that the BISD did not offer Ms. Moore the job of principal, but instead posted the job and are now making her go through the interview process. I hope that during the interview process, the BISD will realize what I have realized: the students and staff at Emile have had enough change and they need Ms. Moore to continue to lead.

Stacey Gibson

Emile Parent