At the outset of the 2011 drought, one of the worst in years, Kyle rancher Rudy Cisneros said he would take the weather in stride. “Some say drought, others say flood,” he said. “You can’t predict it. We’ll still do what we always do.” Climatologists say the drought might continue for up to a decade. (Photo by Wes Ferguson )
by JONATHAN YORK
In this drought, even the cactus is dying
Since early summer Hays County has been in a kind of perpetual autumn. Brown and gray were the prevalent colors, and leaves fell off by the dozens before their time. Unlike autumn, though, it was hot—the heat broke a nationwide record that was set in the 1930s—and when the autumn winds started to blow, what they blew was not rain but dust. The state climatologist said that the drought could hold for 10 years. There was a burn ban, a fireworks ban, and a group of restrictions on outdoor watering. When a little rain finally did fall, people dropped what they were doing and went outside to have a look.
County grows, with Kyle, Buda closing in on San Marcos
The 2010 Census gave some surprising results. The population of San Marcos within city limits was still greater than Kyle and Buda’s combined population. But the two smaller cities had begun to outpace San Marcos in total population when nearby unincorporated areas were included in the figures. Hays County’s population jumped almost 61 percent, from less than 100,000 to more than 157,000. The county population also looked younger and more Hispanic than it had in 2000.
Schools say the grade’s not fair
Hays CISD fell short of the federal goals for test scores under the much-maligned No Child Left Behind Act. In addition, five schools missed federal standards on their own. In this regard Hays is not much different from thousands of school districts across the country that are all having trouble with the law’s gradually more difficult standards. The district also chose to join a lawsuit against the state, saying that the legislature (much like Congress) continues to demand better grades while continuing to cut education money.
Legislators divided Hays County. Will the courts make it whole?
Everyone in Texas is waiting to see what the U.S. Supreme Court will do when it looks at the state’s congressional districts this month. Meanwhile there’s still bitterness in Hays County over district maps that would have split the county into three. That was in the first round of redistricting, which was done by the Texas Legislature. Lloyd Doggett, the longtime Democratic congressman, picked a fight with his primary challenger, State Rep. Joaquin Castro, over Castro’s role in helping Texas House Republicans split up Hays. It got nasty there for a minute. But then a panel of federal judges drew a new map that placed Doggett and Castro in separate districts and left Hays a little more intact. And because one twist in the story is not enough, the Supreme Court decided to weigh in. So we wait.
ID of skull brings closure to family
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office announced that a human skullcap found in the spring matched DNA samples from a woman who disappeared in a flood more than seven years ago. Laurie Pineda, 24, was riding with her boyfriend when the swollen Blanco River carried them off of Post Road between Kyle and San Marcos. He was rescued; she was not. Until these results came out, no one had been certain of her fate. “We don’t have to hold on to any hopes that she is still alive,” said Pineda’s father, Ignacio Pineda. “I wish she was, but she’s going to be in a graveyard where we can visit her now.”
School board gains its first black trustee
A new board member has made history in the Hays Consolidated Independent School District. When Sandra Bryant raised her right hand and took the oath of office in June, she became the first black person to serve on the district’s Board of Trustees. She said her perspective as a racial minority would benefit the school district.
“It’s going to be another viewpoint,” Bryant said. “We all work as a team, but the different viewpoint I bring to the table maybe has not been seen or heard before.” Not only is Bryant the district’s first black school board member, but she’s also the first black person to so much as run for the position. Despite her election, though, the student population of Hays CISD remains far more racially diverse than the board of trustees. One board member, Vice President Willie Tenorio, is Hispanic, and the remaining five members are white.
After conviction, guru goes missing
An influential Hindu guru received 280 years in prison after being found guilty by a Hays County jury on 20 counts of sexual indecency with a child. Prakashanand Saraswati, 82, received 14 years in prison per count and fines of $10,000 per count for a total of $200,000. Harsh as that sounds, the sentence was a little bit toothless because the guru went missing. Hays County Sheriff’s Office deputies pursued Prakashanand and his personal assistant, Vishwambhari Devi, who had previously driven the guru to court, but the guru was not to be found. One of Prakashanand’s followers had posted an $11 million bond. and there was speculation, naturally, about what the county would do with all that money. And as it turned out, the county took hardly any of it—just $1.2 million—and allowed the faithful follower, a TV entrepreneur, to keep the rest.
Hays County government moves into its new home
The Egyptians had their pyramids. The Inca had Machu Picchu. And now Hays County has its Government Center, an edifice of justice and bureaucracy off Wonder World Drive in San Marcos. The new domed building opened to the public this month. At 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, the center encompasses 232,000 square feet and was built under budget for about $64 million. All offices, courts and departments currently in the county’s justice center, at 110 E. Martin Luther King Drive, as well as the records building at 137 N. Guadalupe St., are moving to the new government center. The county judge’s office and commissioner’s Precinct 1 office will remain at the courthouse downtown. The commissioners court will also continue to meet at the courthouse and all phone and fax numbers will remain the same.
