News

The storm started with a boom at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning with lots of wind, thunder and lightning. And then it started, hail, huge hail raining down and creating havoc. For those that didn’t have a garage, contacting insurance companies will be high on the list. 

Houses had damage too, shattering windows and wrecking roofs.

The hail wasn’t the usual size, but much larger, and some in weird shapes, like rectangles, tubes and other strange shaped ice, and it came down for about a half hour. Winds knocked down trees all over town. Cell phone service was down for a while.

The city of Wimberley is working on a zoning change that would allow a more intense commercial district on FM 2325 from the Wimberley Village Library to the Wimberley High School. Even with the proposed zoning change, it may not make a large difference to the area initially. 

“The reasoning behind the change is to reflect more of the existing uses in that area,” Wimberley City Administrator Don Ferguson said. “We have a number of uses that are preexisting non-conforming that wouldn’t be allowed in (the current planning area) but would be allowed in (the new planning area). We are trying to make it more reflective of our existing developments.” 

Wimberley is one step closer to an International Dark Sky designation after approving changes to the lighting ordinance during last week’s council meeting.

The city sent its current lighting ordinance to the International Dark Sky Association to see what changes would be necessary in order to qualify for the designation, which has only been given to two cities in the state of Texas. Their answer was not much.

The only change suggested that was deemed “significant” involved streetlights.

Any new streetlight would need to be able to be cut off midway between dawn and dusk. 

“Realistically, there were not many tighter requirements,” Wimberley City Administrator Don Ferguson said. “They were impressed with the strength of our ordinances.”

Wimberley Independent School District is in final negotiations with Skyway Tower to place a new cell phone tower on Wimberley Independent School District. The contract calls for a 25-year lease; with WISD receiving $1500 a year while the construction of the tower begins. Once it is in operation, the district would receive $1250 a month, which can increase as telecommunication companies vie for more tower space.

Skyway’s contract is not finalized yet, due to minor clauses that need to be approved by the school district and its attorney. The little details include Skyway maintaining the road to the tower and providing a fence around the tower. 

After receiving a grant from the Wimberley Education Foundation last fall, teachers across WISD implemented new technology and teaching tools in their classroom.

High school engineering teacher Sarah Schmidt used her WEF grant to inspire students to take an interest in electronics, programing and robotics using the Lego Mindstorms system.

During her engineering classes, students built robots and cared for them using software, motors and sensors. The robots were active, with students gaining an understanding of how changes to the robots affected their movement.

On September 11, 2001, John Viola was headed home from his job at the New York Fire Department to take care of his sick wife.

That day, Viola “said goodbye” to 14 members of his fire department that was 10 blocks from the Twin Towers.

On April 15, 2016, he was standing in front of a reassembled cabin at Rio Bonito Resort along with 30 other volunteers who had been through the same experience.

Believe it or not, 9/11 and Wimberley’s Memorial Weekend flood are now ever so slightly intertwined because of a group called Heart 9/11.

Cindy Anderson is running for reelection of Wimberley City Council Place 2 against challenger Craig Fore. She originally bought property in Wimberley in 2009 and moved here full time in 2012. Anderson is the owner of a marketing company focused on publishing. 

“I decided to serve because we had an environmental health issue with the creek downtown. I was approached to help serve and I’ve served other communities before I came to Wimberley. Our town was in need, and I just decided to help. I am not a politician I am a public servant. I have zero aspirations of doing anything beyond this.”

The following is an interview with Anderson. The questions and comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Craig Fore is running for Wimberley City Council Place 2 against incumbent Cindy Anderson. He has lived in Wimberley since 1992 after retiring from the Navy. Since then Fore has worked in facility engineering and management of businesses. 

“I decide to run because I want to make a different in the way the city government is being operated,” Fore said. 

 The following is an interview with Fore. The questions and comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Do you support the current direction of the wastewater treatment facility or would you like to see any changes?

Pam Showalter is running for reelection for Place 4 on the Wimberley City Council against challenger Gary Barchfeld. She moved to Wimberley in 1997 and was a professor in Texas State University’s Department of Geography until she recently retired. She is now a photographer. She is serving her first term on the Wimberley City Council. 

Showalter has been involved with the city since it’s inception, and she was on the first Planning and Zoning Commission in Wimberley’s history. Thus, she helped draft the initial zoning ordinances of the city.

Gary Barchfeld is running for Wimberley City Council Place 4 against incumbent Pam Showalter. He initially bought property in Wimberley in 1999 before moving to town full time three years ago. 

Barchfeld has worked in marketing and advertising research and is now a commercial photographer.

He has been on the city’s Transportation Advisory Board, most recently as chairman. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Blanco River Cypress Creek Water Association, which mediated with the city of Wimberley on the proposed wastewater system.