News

On June 20, San Antonio Firefighter Matt Mitchell was doing what he does best – helping people. Only this time it wasn’t a burning building or a car accident, Mitchell was helping rebuild Wimberley by working on a home on Flite Acres. Then, in an instance, his life changed. 

“We were cleaning flood debris, cutting trees and pulling all the debris apart,” Mitchell said. “A tree hit me from behind. We aren’t exactly sure how, we are working on that. It pinned me in between two trees.”

There were 20 people on scene, yet collectively, they could not lift the tree off of Mitchell. He estimated the tree at over 2,000 pounds. 

It may have been one of the most anticipated home openers in recent memory.

A small sense of normalcy seemed to hover around Texan Stadium - at least for a night - in an area that had been ravaged by severe flooding only three months before.

One of Hays County's strongest fan bases finally had a night of Friday night football to look forward to.

The pre-game festivities brought out a slew of emotions as a group of first responders who were instrumental in helping the community during the devastation on Memorial Day were introduced to an enthusiastic throng of 3,100 onlookers prior to Friday’s night kickoff between No. 10 Giddings and Wimberley.

But perhaps the most poignant moment of the ceremony came a few minutes after when Jonathan McComb - a Corpus Christi resident - addressed the crowd.

7A Resort’s request to allow RVs on the property was denied by the Wimberley City Council on Thursday night.  After the meeting, Carroll Czichos, whose family owns the property, said he did not yet know what was next for the resort.

Council members Pam Showalter, Cindy Anderson and Bob Dussler voted against the proposal after about an hour of public comment. Mac McCullough was the lone vote in favor of the amendment while John White recused himself from the vote as he is also an owner of the property.

For the full story, pick up a copy of the Thursday, Sept. 10 issue of the Wimberley View.

Businesses around Wimberley may be feeling the impact of the flood economically, but not all are suffering. In fact, some businesses may be thriving after the flood. 

The June sales tax allocations from the state of Texas show that Wimberley had a record month with $93,557 coming into the city coffers. This was up 14 percent over June of last year.

“The June numbers were a surprise,” City Administrator Don Ferguson said. “There were certainly businesses that had a down times, but it was a mixed bag. We had a lot of people in town, a lot of meals being purchased and a lot of businesses taking place from volunteers.”

FEMA hosted a community meeting last week to show the new floodplain maps being developed for the area. In Wimberley, rises of up to eight feet in the floodplain are not uncommon. This will bring many homes into the floodplain, though the total number is currently unknown.

In the Wimberley Valley, the floodplain as expanded virtually the entire south side of the Blanco River. In the Central Wimberley area, the floodplain now reaches parts of Ranch Road 12 near FM3237 and the 500 year floodplain even covers portions of the Wimberley Square.

Paul Polhemus owns a home on River Road, and he attended the meeting.

A home caught fire in Deer Lake Estates last Wednesday but the blaze in the garage of the home was put out by the Wimberley Fire Department before it did substantial damage to the living quarters of the building. 

According to Fire Chief Carroll Czichos, the elderly man who owns the home was sitting on the back porch when he heard popping coming from the garage. By the time he made to the area to inspect, the fire was hot enough that the front of the truck parked in the facility was already beginning to melt. 

The fire department was able to put the fire out before it reached the home, but Czichos estimated about 50 percent of the structure received smoke damage while the garage was significantly burned. 

Jack Glover, one of the last ‘”old cowboys,” if not THE last, went quickly after not feeling well on August 25, according to his wife Cherie. There’s a big difference between cowboys in the 21st century and Jack, whose life started in 1924. He had the experiences of twenty-five men during his lifetime. “Jack wasn’t a person, but an event,” said his wife, Cherie.

The Jack Glover Cowboy Museum at 7A’s Pioneer Town was the place where he would drink coffee and tell stories too fanciful to be believed, but most were true, and the others, well you wanted to believe it anyways. As the line goes, “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Without the quick action of local first responders, there is no telling how many more lives would have been lost in the Memorial Weekend Flood. We now know that there were at least 627 first responders from all parts of Hays County and Texas lending a hand.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who represents parts of Hays County but not Wimberley, honored each one of them with congressional recognition last Friday in San Marcos. 

 “You put your lives on the line… and we want to thank you for it.” Doggett said. 

Not all 627 could attend the ceremony (if they had there would have been no first responders in Hays County). About 60 were able to make it to receive the certificate first hand.

Around 100 people showed up to the Wimberley Planning and Zoning meeting last week to get a point across. We support 7A Resort.

The resort is asking for an amendment to the development agreement with the city of Wimberley and after the first hearing from the commission, they weren’t optimistic. Last week, however, the commission approved the amendment unanimously and it will now be up for vote by the Wimberley City Council. 

After the flood, 7A has found out that rebuilding the cabins in their old location is not feasible. The floodplain will rise and it would mean the cabins would have to be built up to 11 feet off the ground. As a commercial business, 7A would have to provide handicapped accessibility, which could require an elevator to each cabin or a ramp up to 120 feet long. 

On Friday August 28, at the Nutty Brown Café on US 90, Brookshire Brothers Chief Executive Officer John Alston presented a check to Vicki McCuistion of the Barnabas Connection  for $120,000, the proceeds for the Flood of Love Concert held on August 9. 

The concert featured Ray Wylie Hubbard, Bob Schneider, John Fullbright, Hayes Carll, William Clark Green, Jason Boland, Wade Bowen and Robyn Ludwick. Brookshire Brothers and its vendors, Ludwick and Hubbard were instrumental in pulling the musician volunteers. Over 1800 music fans attended the concert.