Pleasant Run Road Intersection Closures
February 28, 2007
The City of Cedar Hill is nearing completion of the eastbound lanes of the Pleasant Run Road reconstruction from west of Old Clark Road to Balfour Drive.Beginning the week of March 5, 2007, the intersections of Pleasant Run Road at Old Clark Road and Pleasant Run Road at Nottingham will be closed to accommodate the reconstruction of the intersections to new pavement. The intersections are expected to remain closed for approximately 45 days.Bent Creek residents may use Balfour Drive to enter and exit the subdivision. Residents of Crescent Place, Crescent Point, Cresthaven Village and Crestview Nursing may exit from their respective campuses. Old Clark Road will be restricted to local traffic only. Residents on Old Clark Road may exit north to High Pointe Lane or Wintergreen Road.For updated information and a map of the road closure visit the City’s website at www.cedarhilltx.com or contact the Public Works Department at (972) 291-5126.
Firefighters Get Grant to Help Clear the Air Around Them
February 22, 2007
By LOYD BRUMFIELD / Today Newspapers
Firefighters are exposed on a daily basis to some of the most dangerous substances on earth, not just during calls, but in their own stations.
But an $87,092 grant will alleviate some of those problems for the Cedar Hill Fire Department, which was given the money to install comprehensive exhaust removal systems in each of its fire stations.
“Now when you get a call and you crank everything up, that exhaust immediately fills the whole room up,” Cedar Hill Fire Chief Steve Pollock said. “It gets in your clothes, it gets on your body and fouls up computer equipment. It’s just a real mess.”
The Assistance To Firefighters grant is dispensed through the Department of Homeland Security and was given to the department earlier in the month, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) announced.
“This funding will help ensure that Texas firefighters remain well trained and equipped for their important work of protecting our homes, families and communities,” a statement from Cornyn read. “The men and women on the front lines of emergency response need more support than ever, and I applaud the local first responders and area leaders for their work to obtain this important assistance.”
Grant money can be used on fire services, health and safety and wellness issues.
“Based on that, we knew we stood a good chance of getting a grant,” Pollock said.
The money will allow the department to install the MagneGrip exhaust removal system at its three existing stations and a fourth one in the planning stages.
A hose attached by a heavy magnet to a running track removes 100 percent of pollutants and other impurities generated by fire engines and other equipment, Pollock said.
The hose automatically disconnects and captures the exhaust once an engine leaves the station.
“This kind of equipment has been around since about the mid-1980s, and all of our stations are that old or older,” Pollock said.
Total cost to retrofit the existing stations is about $96,000, which includes a 10 percent match from the city.
The MagneGrip system is developed by Clean Air Concepts of Cincinnati and is also used by the DeSoto Fire Department.
“Once we get this going, we can use their equipment and they can hook up to ours,” Pollock said.
According to Clean Air Concepts, the MagneGrip system uses a friction-free, universal nozzle that connects with fire equipment.
With the nozzle attached, each time the vehicle’s engine is started, an exhaust fan starts automatically and vents the exhaust emissions outdoors, according to the company website.
As the vehicle leaves, the nozzle remains connected, traveling to the doorway along with the truck and then releases automatically as the vehicle exits.
Pollock is looking forward to a cleaner environment at each station.
“This type of health issue isn’t something that’s going to impact you in one day or one week, but when you’re looking at chronic exposure over something like 10 years, we’re talking about a severe impact on someone’s career and life,” he said. “That’s why this is such a high priority for us.”
Williams Goes to Work
February 22, 2007
By BRIAN ALLEN / Today Newspapers
New Cedar Hill Superintendent Horace Williams brings a variety of experiences to the job, including a stint at the helm at a juvenile facility in the Houston ISD.
Williams said his time as principal at Harris County Youth Village taught him a great deal about how to reach all children.
“In understanding children, you learn children have problems at home,” he said. “You have troubled kids and kids that come to us with differing degrees of home experiences, but their minds are ready to be molded. It’s still good to see some of those kids. One of them walks up and hugs you and you find out they’ve been successful. They’ve been successful and they have kids of their own even though they had problems as a teenager.”
Williams didn’t even plan to be a teacher at first, let alone an administrator. He was working in cartography with the intention of being involved in the oil industry.
But the oil bust of the 1980s led to other ideas.
Williams’ mother was a school board member for more than 20 years and she strongly encouraged him to pursue a career in education.
“I was in the classroom 3-4 years, teaching science and social studies,” he said. “I had a principal decide I needed to be an administrator and she more than strongly encouraged me to do so. She said she was going to die on the job and I was going to be the next principal. Ironically, she had an aneurysm and I became the principal.”
Williams went from Harris County Youth Village to become principal at Phyllis Wheatley High School. The institution has a strong history with alumni including NFL legend Lester Hayes, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and jazz musician Joe Sample.
“They were in transition,” Williams said. “There was a population change going on in the community with a growing Hispanic population and we had a lot of problems. We were able to solve a lot of those problems because some of the kids had been in Harris County Youth Village. We had a lot of discipline problems, low-test scores and a high dropout rate. We had a lot of help from the community, the staff, parents and kids making it happen.”
From there Williams journeyed to a high school in Yonkers, N.Y.
“Once again it was a school in transition,” Williams said. “They had some problems that a lot of schools were having post-Columbine. It was a matter of changing the mindset and the expectations. After leaving there I was a superintendent for the Roosevelt Union School District.”
Though initially unsure whether he wanted to pursue a career in administration, Williams did get his superintendent’s certification.
He decided it would be better for him to have it and not need it than one day need it and not have it.
When an opportunity to return to Texas as superintendent for Diboll arose, Williams took it in January 2006.
He liked it a lot and had to seriously weigh whether he would leave the area for Cedar Hill.
“It’s got to be the best small town school district in Texas,” Williams said. “It was a really supportive community and I had a super board. I haven’t seen kids as great as the kids in Diboll. I applied for Cedar Hill because it was a larger district and a suburban area. It offered some of the same challenges I was used to dealing with on a regular basis. It just provided me an opportunity to do what I do for a larger number of kids.”
The new superintendent’s first step was meeting with every central office employee, member of the custodial staff, main staff and individual sitdowns with every board member. He’s also met with Mayor Rob Franke and City Manager Alan Sims, as well as executive board members of the chamber of commerce.
“I visited all the schools my first two days here,” Williams said. “We have some very dedicated and caring people as well as great facilities. You have a board that’s very focused on the students.
“If it weren’t for that board commitment, there’s no way I would have left Diboll because I had it there. All the community leaders I’ve met have a true sense of community. Everyone I’ve spoken to wants to see the school district be successful and it’s not just talk. They’re willing to help.”
For CHISD Volunteer, Life Changes in an Instant
February 22, 2007
By LOYD BRUMFIELD / Today Newspapers
Angela Trevino isn’t used to being the focus of everyone’s attention. She’s much more accustomed to being the one who reaches out to others, the one there when others need her.
“She’s so used to helping others that she doesn’t quite know what to do when it’s herself who needs help,” says fellow Cedar Hill volunteer Sheri Borth.
Now, Angela Trevino needs help - and Cedar Hill has responded.
The single mother of five went to the Baylor Medical Center in Dallas three weeks ago with a bad, hacking cough. She thought pneumonia, because she had recently had a bout with the walking version.
She took her friend, fellow volunteer Jimmie Ruth White, with her. They arrived at 9 a.m.
“I said, ‘I’ve got pneumonia. Come on Miss Jimmie, let’s go to lunch,’” Trevino says.
But a doctor took one look at the results of her CT scan and said, “This is breast cancer.”
And then he walked out the door.
The news quickly got worse: The cancer had spread to both of her lungs.
Now Trevino, who has no family history of cancer and knew few people who had it, faces the fight of her life.
“I’ve been strong for people all my life, and when they tell you you have cancer, I felt like the witch in ‘The Wizard of O”: ‘I’m melting, I’m melting.’”
She worked a couple of part-time jobs and has no health insurance. Cancer bills are extremely prohibitive, even for people with full coverage.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, the community will give back to Trevino for her years of service in Cedar Hill schools and for various civic organizations such as Country Day on the Hill and Keep Cedar Hill Beautiful.
A benefit will be held from 2-8 p.m. at the Cedar Hill High School Performing Arts Center to help Trevino pay for her medical bills.
But that’s not all it will be about, she says.
“I don’t want this to just be about me,” she says. “Over the past 5-10 years I’ve always done a lot of little things, and I always wondered, ‘There’s got to be something else I can do.’ Now I need to be an advocate for this, for people who have cancer - any kind of cancer.”
The benefit will feature live music and entertainment, food, a bake sale and booths dedicated to information about cancer and how to cope with it.
Sherry Fox of the Baylor Sammons Breast Imaging Center will be there to educate and counsel others, and, separate from the benefit, Carolyn Sparks of Cedar Hill is organizing a local cancer walk.
On March 9, a mobile mammography unit will be in the Target parking lot offering mammograms, which will cost $103 for those without health insurance, but financial help is available for those who can’t afford the fee, Trevino says.
People can sign up for the March 9 mammograms at the benefit this weekend.
The benefit is being organized by several community volunteers, many of whom are members of the Cedar Hill Education Foundation.
Official sponsors are the Friends of Country Day, Keep Cedar Hill Beautiful and Friends of the Cedar Hill Education Foundation.
After the diagnosis
When the doctor left the room at Baylor, Trevino fell apart.
“Miss Jimmie looked like a deer in the headlights,” she says, laughing two weeks after the diagnosis.
In 1999, Trevino found a lump in her breast. She saw a doctor and was told it was a cyst. Nothing serious about that.
“Hey, everybody has those,” she recalls thinking.
Trevino had two mammograms done. The results came back the same - a harmless cyst.
But several years later, she noticed it started to change. She admits she should have gotten another mammogram but didn’t.
“The nurses - the way they looked at my results, you could see it in their faces,” Trevino says.
She and White arrived at Baylor at 9 a.m. They didn’t leave until after 6 p.m. She was taken across the street to an oncology center.
“I was a wreck, I was crying, I knew I was going to die,” she says. “Then this little old lady comes up to me and told me, ‘Look around the room at all of these people. They are all cancer survivors. I am a cancer survivor. I’m cancer-free.’”
Trevino’s cancer is in Stage 4. She’s been told she probably won’t be cancer-free, but it is treatable.
“The doctors said you treat it as if you have a chronic illness,” she says.
A week after the diagnosis, Trevino went back for more tests, and it was determined that she had hormonally sensitive cancer that responded well to the tests.
Doctors put her on Tamoxifen, a drug that interferes with the activity of estrogen and is used widely to treat people with advanced breast cancer.
Trevino anticipated having to start chemotherapy right away, but she’s been told that might not be necessary if the Tamoxifen does its job, which is to inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
She still thinks chemo will be necessary at some point.
“I haven’t lost weight, and I don’t feel sick,” she says. “It doesn’t run in my family, so that helps.”
“I’m still here.”
But early after the diagnosis, Trevino was despondent. She didn’t tell her five children until a couple of days later.
“I couldn’t even look at them,” she says.
Oldest daughter Tara, the only one who is an adult and has moved out of the house, took the other four - Lacey, Alanna, Cassidy and Marissa - out to dinner one day.
“She explained everything,” Trevino says. “She said, ‘Mom’s going through a tough time, and she’s going to need our help.’”
Trevino also admits to morbid thoughts in the early days after the diagnosis.
“One day I caught myself picking out pictures for my obit,” she says. “I’d wake up in the middle of the night and look at the clock and say, ‘Yep, I’m still here.’”
When she was struggling to absorb the news about her condition, she called Permenter Middle School - where she is PTA president - trying to reach someone, anyone, on the phone.
Usually someone else answers when she calls, but this time it was Assistant Principal Russell Livingston.
“I just broke down,” she says. “I said, ‘I don’t know what to do. I haven’t been to church in a while, and I haven’t prayed in a while,’ and he told me, ‘Angela, faith is all in the heart, whether you go to church or not. We’re all here, and we are all going to pray for you.’”
A new world opens up
Suddenly, Trevino was on everyone’s prayer list. Kids at the Cedar Hill Ninth Grade Center plan to shave their heads for her, and students at other schools have raised modest amounts of money for her expenses.
“Kids I’ve known since they were really small have called me crying and asking, ‘What can we do?’” she says. “I hear a lot of people complain and say, ‘Man, those kids are nothing but drinkers and dopers,’ but you know what, we’ve got some very good kids in our school district.”
She was also inspired by 16-year-old Jaime Glover, a sophomore at Cedar Hill High School who plays soccer. Diagnosed with neuroblastoma - a rare cancer of the nerve cells - when he was an infant, “he was basically given a death sentence,” Trevino says.
Glover has been cancer free for about 14 years now.
“Now, suddenly all these people I know are coming up to me and telling me their miracle stories,” she says.
Trevino’s children are very supportive but are “more scared than they let on,” Trevino adds.
Her immediate support system, in addition to her children, also includes her 78-year-old mother - who is recovering from a stroke but is fine other than some balance issues - and a boyfriend she has been dating for about six months.
They have all taught her to fight.
“Doctors haven’t said the word ‘terminal.’ No one’s told me I have six months to live, but I’m just scared. I am scared,” she says. “My kids are young and I’ve got to be here to see them through their teen years.”
Trevino is cheered by the huge show of support, something that has convinced her that she can beat breast cancer.
“When my boyfriend found out, he started crying and said, ‘It took me 25 years to find you, and I’m not going to lose you now,’” she says. “‘You aren’t going anywhere without me.’”
Home Values
February 20, 2007
I thought this was interesting so I decided to pass it along.
Single-family home values (new construction) is up. In 2005, there were 423 single family permits, with a total value of $95,848,000. Thats an average of $226,591 per home.
In 2006, there were 459 single family permits, with a value of $120,794,000. That’s an average of $263,167.
That’s good news on two fronts: More homes were built in 2006 and those homes had higher valuations.
Cedar Hill School Chief Targets Exemplary Ranking
February 19, 2007
By KATHY A. GOOLSBY / The Dallas Morning News
On his first day as Cedar Hill’s new superintendent, Horace Williams made one thing clear: He does not have an open-door policy.
“I try to give respect to whatever I’m working on and the people I’m with,” said Mr. Williams, 46, who started his new job on Feb. 1. “If someone just walks in, I don’t want to not give them my full attention. I do have a schedule, and I do work.”
School board members are not bothered by his appointments-only requirement.
“People hear that he doesn’t have an open-door policy and they think it means, ‘I don’t want to listen to you,’ ” said school trustee Amy Allen. “But what it means is he’s not sitting in his office waiting for people to come in and tell him things. He’s out there getting things done.”
Mr. Williams replaced Jim Gibson, who left in June after five years to become superintendent of the Montgomery school district near Houston.
The new chief of the Cedar Hill school district has already met with district employees at every level, from the janitorial staff to the principals. Some were group meetings, and others were one-on-one sessions.
“He’s already met with every principal individually to discuss concerns and visions,” said DelSenna Frazier, Ninth-Grade Center principal. “He really absorbed what was said, took notes and really listened. I think that’s a great way to get started.”
Mr. Williams, who grew up in Kilgore, previously was superintendent of Diboll ISD in East Texas. Ms. Allen said she and another board member made a trip to Diboll during the board’s superintendent search, opting to spend their time at the local feed store rather than the administration building.
They were looking for real people to talk about the Diboll district’s leader.
“I’m from East Texas, so I know how this works,” Ms. Allen said. “We just talked to people coming in about Horace, and they loved him. I was just shocked because this was pretty much an all-white town, and he’s African-American.”
Ms. Allen said the only negative comment they heard in Diboll was from a parent who didn’t like having to make an appointment to talk to the superintendent.
Prior to his yearlong stint in Diboll, Mr. Williams was superintendent of the low-performing Roosevelt Union Free School District in Roosevelt, N.Y.
The district was under partial state control when Mr. Williams started that job in September 2000, according to a story in The New York Times . School board members tried to oust him the following year, saying he was too closely aligned with state officials.
In 2002, the New York state legislature removed the elected school board and appointed new trustees. Mr. Williams, however, remained. According to the story, the district was making progress in its recovery when Mr. Williams, who was earning $156,000 plus $32,000 in benefits, announced he would leave when his contract expired in 2004.
He said this week that he left that job because “I was burned out. After having passed a $208 million bond, which took a year and a half of my life, I was tired.”
He said he then spent 18 months “doing absolutely nothing but being a dad.” Mr. Williams declined to discuss his family other than to say he has a child who is a sophomore at Texas A&M University and no children in the Cedar Hill school district. He prefers to keep his personal and professional life separate, he said.
“Whenever someone asks about my family, I tell them, ‘It’s a moot point. You have a superintendent, and that’s what matters,’ ” Mr. Williams said.
Mr. Williams, who is making $180,000 plus insurance and mileage benefits as the Cedar Hill superintendent, said he was attracted to the district because of its size. Cedar Hill has 7,800 students, compared with 1,800 in Diboll.
He also is encouraged by the support he sees not only in the district, but also the community.
“People always want their school district to succeed, but in Cedar Hill the question is being asked, ‘What can I do to help?’ ” Mr. Williams said. “And there are good things already taking place here, like the Education Foundation, the many volunteers and the work the Chamber of Commerce does in adopting schools.”
Ms. Allen said the board was impressed with Mr. Williams’ work in previous districts, his quiet manner and the professional way he presents himself.
Mr. Williams also shares the board’s vision of improving the district’s acceptable rating, Ms. Allen said. When board members mentioned their desire to reach a recommended rating, she said Mr. Williams immediately interjected, “No, exemplary.”
“We need someone who believes it can happen, someone coming in from the outside with new ideas and thinking,” Ms. Allen said. “He doesn’t believe in doing anything halfway. He’s totally going for the best.”
CHISD Rallies for Volunteer
February 15, 2007
By BRIAN ALLEN / Today Newspapers
Oftentimes trouble visits the people who have had more than enough of it. Such is the case with longtime Cedar Hill volunteer Angela Trevino.
Trevino has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the community that she’s spent years helping is now doing something to help her.
A fundraiser for a “Community Angel” and her family will be held Feb. 24 at the Cedar Hill High School Performing Arts Center from 3-8 p.m.
The event will feature entertainment, a live auction and a bake sale. Entertainment tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for students and free for pre-K aged children.
A family of four can attend for $50.
Trevino is a single mother with four daughters still in school and a fifth one out of school, and recently she has cared for her own mother, who had a stroke.
At the Cedar Hill School Board meeting Feb. 12, Trustee Valerie Banks urged everyone to come out to the fundraiser, to offer the family their support and remember them in prayers.
“None of us ever knows when we’ll need someone’s help,” she said.
Sheri Borth, one of the event’s organizers, said this family deserves all the help Cedar Hill can give them.
“She’s a single parent raising (five) daughters,” Borth said. “She has Stage 4 breast cancer, it’s in her lungs and other places. As a single parent it’s always tough anyway. But she’s given so much to this community. You might not always see what she’s done but she’s someone that’s always working behind the scenes. The outpouring of support has been tremendous. We have a TV and two trips to Mexico for our live auction.”
Borth said when news of Angela Trevino’s illness spread, everyone wanted to help.
“We knew we had to do something,” Borth said. “For entertainment we’ll have several different bands, vocalists and varieties of music. Several restaurants have donated to our concession stand. We have Panera Bread, Chick-Fil-A, Macaroni Grill and so many others.”
Donations for the Trevino family can be taken to Regions Bank or Merit Realtors in Cedar Hill, with checks made payable to the Angela Trevino Special Fund Account.
The fundraiser event is co-sponsored by Friends of Country Day, Keep Cedar Hill Beautiful and Friends of the Cedar Hill Education Foundation.
For more information contact Borth at 214-616-4811, Mary White at 214-850-7297, or Linda Patton at 972-824-3793.
Running for Re-Election
February 12, 2007
Hello Friends,
I am running for re-election to City Council, Place 3.
It is hard to believe that the campaign season is upon us. It seems like only yesterday that I was running for my first term. I’ve learned a lot since then and think I have provided a unique perspective on the City Council. I would like to continue my work.
When I was first elected, I made several commitments to myself and you.First, I was determined to remain independent. I did not want to be beholden to any special interest groups. I prepare diligently and carefully consider the issues. Citizens deserve a balanced City Council where views are considered and debated. Those of you following my service over the last three years know I have kept that promise.
Second, I wanted to help improve communication with citizens. I was driven by the desire to keep you informed. This website grew out of that commitment. At the time I was elected, I was the only elected official in the Metroplex to maintain an active website where issues were discussed. Today, this website has grown to be a wonderful resource for me as thousands of people come to my website each month.
Third, I wanted to focus on our neighborhoods. There is so much that goes into making our neighborhoods our own — public safety, beautification, and code enforcement to name a few.After three years, I am proud of my efforts. We have added more police officers than at any time in our history, our fire departments are fully staffed, and our crime rate is the lowest in the Best Southwest.
On the code enforcement front, I chaired a Citizens Code Enforcement Committee to revise and strengthen our ordinances. We looked at ways to clean up our neighborhoods. Many of the recommendations that came out of that committee are now being implemented by the City Council.
In May, you will have an opportunity to cast your vote for the candidates running for City Council and Mayor. I would be honored to have your support once again for City Council, Place 3.Here are just a few of the citizens who support me for re-election:
| Ray & Sharon Ashley Hon. Valerie & Calvin Banks Susan Cox Trey & Lori Berry Ken Beyer Sheri Borth Dennis & Emily Brock Theresa Brooks Charles & Velinda Buchanan Glenn & Alicia Clark Rick & Elaine Cook Mr. & Mrs. Adam Dearing Detrick DeBurr Patricia & Michael Deeds Kathy Draxler Kevin & Liz Fegan Hon. Rob & Jenaie Franke Greg & Claudia Gorman Hon. Sonya & Rodney Grass Jerry & Linda Gregory Thomas & Barbara Haggerty Amanda Hall Archie Hall Anita & Bill Hall Hon. Daniel & Darla Hayden Don Heitzman Jerry & Shirley Hendricks Jim & Becky Hennesy Hon. Dan Hernandez J.R. & Traphene Hickman Amanda Hinton Jim & Shelia Hood Heather & David Hurd Bill & Robin Ingle Alicia Isang & Gabriel Isang Sr. C.W. Jackson Scott & Shelly James Tom & Marlene Knedler Janice Kilgore |
Denise King Michael Lemmon Steve & Diana Lewis Hon. Mike Marshall Pete & Lisa McCormick Altha Moore Mikel Nelson Gene Neitzel Hon. Greg & Linda Patton Jay & Amy Patton Steve & Robin Phillips Judy & Michael Pluto Wes Pool Joel & Sabrina Porter George & Terry Preston Tibor & Pamela Prince Chris & Diane Rose Jason Russell David Rush & Anne Rush Brenda Russell Gehrig M Saldaña Hon. Clifford Shaw Mike Simmons Steve & Seanne Smith Hon. Cory & Whitney Spillman Robbie Slotter Bill & Shelley Strock Bill Strother Cheryl Sundstrom George & Dollie Switzer Shawn & Jennie Trueblood Mistie Underhill Chip & Deanna Underhill Bill & Vicki Watkins Peggy M. Wilson Danise & Henry Witherspoon Jim & Jimmie Ruth White Mary & Jerry White Mike White |
Please let me know if you would like your name listed too.
Thank you for your support during these past three years. I look forward to serving you in another term on City Council.
Wade Emmert
Council Member, Place 3
Welcome!
My name is Wade Emmert and I am a Council Member for the City of Cedar Hill. This web site is a way for me to share with you some of my thoughts about issues important to the City.
It is my sincerest goal to be a good steward of the citizens’ trust. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve you.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at Wade.Emmert@cedarhilltx.com or (214) 740-3164.