News

Wimberley Independent School District announced its policy today for providing free and reduced-price meals for children served under the attached current income eligibility guidelines. Each school/site or the central office has a copy of the policy, which may be reviewed by anyone on request.

Starting on August 24, 2015, Wimberley I.S.D. will begin distributing letters to the households of the children in the district about eligibility benefits and any actions households need to take to apply for these benefits. Applications also are available at all school offices, school cafeterias and at 951 FM 2325, Wimberley, Texas 78676. 

Criteria for Free and Reduced-Price Meal Benefits

The following criteria will be used to determine a child’s eligibility for free or reduced-price meal benefits: 

Before retreating into executive session to hammer out the details, members of the Hays County Commissioner Court on Tuesday ordered more assurances to the public that they are working as hard as they can to get a temporary bridge in place over the Blanco River near Fischer Store Road. 

The 1990s bridge that spanned the river there was taken out by the Memorial Day Weekend Flood, and even as gears are turning to get a temporary bridge in place, the plan is still to have a new, permanent one completed by May of next year. Negotiations for a temporary bridge have been going on for some time, with some nearby landowners apparently the sticking point. 

“We continue to work with many different approaches on a short term bridge for Fischer Store Road with multiple different landowners,” Pct. 3 Commissioner Will Conley said. “ 

A Hotel Occupancy Tax decision appears to be on the table after the Wimberley City Council hosted two groups for presentations last week.

The Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce gave a presentation in favor of a HOT, and while the Wimberley Valley Tourism and Lodging Association didn’t agree that the tax would be a good idea, the WVTLA also proposed a general plan for a tax.

The chamber proposed a seven percent HOT saying that it would have generated a fair amount of money for marketing.

“Could Wimberley have generated more tourism to stay over night had they spent $273,000 last year to market their city,” John Ball, who was hired by the chamber to study a HOT. “It’s obvious by looking at other area cities with a HOT that promoting your city generates more tourism and more over night stays.”

Search and recovery teams will begin a new phase this weekend in the search for two children missing since the Memorial Weekend floods now that lower water levels have exposed areas near the Blanco River that were previously inaccessible.

Several private organizations are sending teams to assist with the new phase, including Texas Search and Rescue, Alamo Area Search and Rescue, and Travis County Search and Rescue. The teams will be in Caldwell County on Friday, Aug.14 and Saturday Aug. 15. They will move their search efforts to Hays County on Aug. 21 and 22.

How will new state law affect your well and your drinking water?

Get answers and ask questions at a town hall meeting Monday, Aug. 17, at the Wimberley Community Center, 6-8 p.m.

In May, after public protests against a large wholesale groundwater exportation project, the state legislature passed HB 3405, a bill that placed unregulated groundwater areas in Hays County under the jurisdiction of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District. The District is now working to implement regulations called for in the law, including the registration and permitting of Trinity aquifer wells in the formerly unregulated area.

Wimberley Ace Hardware hosted the annual Friday Night Lights for the Wimberley Texans. 

Normally, the event acts as a fundraiser for the Wimberley Texan Booster Club, but all involved this year decided the money would be better spent with My Neighbor’s Keeper as a fundraiser for flood victims. 

Apart from the normal festivities like a speech by Head Coach Doug Warren, Ace also took a moment to say “Thank you” to Wimberley’s first responders with a video tribute from the flood. 

The former owner of a Wimberley karate studio charged with sexual assault of a child last year was back in Hays County Jail this week, albeit just for a short time.

Richard Dale Griffin, 61, turned himself in at approximately 7:30 a.m. and was released at 6:20 p.m. Thursday after the Hays County Grand Jury indicted him on one count of continuous trafficking of persons, a first degree felony, and 49 counts of possession of child pornography, third degree felonies.

The trafficking charge came with a $100,000 bond and the other charges brought bonds of $50,000 for a total bond of $2.5 million. Of that, Griffin was required to post $250,000 in cash to avoid staying in jail.

Wimberley ISD has proposed to keep the district’s tax rate at the same level as last year, which will allow for a slight raise in the overall budget while other factors should lower taxes for the average home owner.

The total rate of $1.2977 per $100 valuation of taxable property value may be the same, but voters in the state of Texas will have an opportunity in the upcoming election to approve an increase to the Homestead exemption. The exemption currently deduces $15,000 from the taxable value of a home that is lived in as a primary residence. Voters can approve an increase to $25,000, which would lower the amount of taxable value for the home. The numbers WISD has used to create this year’s budget are based around that proposal passing. 

An elderly flood victim was assaulted in his home on the morning of Aug. 5 and taken to the hospital in an unknown condition.

Neighbors on River Road went to check on the 84-year-old man and found him unconscious inside his home, which the bottom story had been essentially washed away by the flood.  The Hays County Sheriff’s office deemed his injuries “substantial” and the man was transported to the hospital via helicopter. 

The sheriff’s office has obtained an arrest warrant for a family member of the victim on the suspected offense of injury to the elderly with bodily injury, a third degree felony. 

The suspect has not yet been arrested.

The day, Saturday August 1, finally arrived, draped in red, white and blue. Jeremy Breece and family, Roxanne, Zach and Seth would cut the ribbon in front of their new home. The U.S. Army’s SSG. Breece was on his third deployment in Afghanistan when he stepped on an explosive device and lost both his legs above the knee. 

Because of his service and bravery, Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) donated a custom built home for him and his family. A Home for Our Troops “is a privately funded nonprofit organization building specially adapted, mortgage-free homes nationwide for the most severely injured Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

On this day of the “key ceremony,” the family would receive the keys to the house and move in, but also, there was a little fanfare and patriotism to go along with it.