Hutto Scream House lives up to its name

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Editor for the Hutto News

Driving to the haunted house was eerie enough.

It stands on County Road 134 in the middle of a a secluded field almost half an hour away from the safety of downtown and its surrounding suburbs.

So I already felt like I was in a horror movie, waiting for my cell phone and car to die at the same time.

What came after I found Grandpa Bo's Bargains, the store that transformed into Hutto Scream House — well I suppose that depends on the kind of person you are.

For the adrenaline junkies, it's a pure high. For the the homebody like me who watches too much TV, you are zombie bait and spend the entire time wanting it to be over.

So Hutto Scream House is no joke. You get what you're looking for when it comes to Halloween entertainment.

It starts with a maze that takes you through a land of nightmares, and the path leads you outside to an open field where you find yourself stuck in a crowd people who want to eat you.

Very creepy, very unsettling and not a good way to unwind for the night.

But I survived and am here to tell you all about it.

Car show to benefit Hutto JROTC students

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Editor for the Hutto News

Enrolling in the JROTC class at Hutto High School is not a one-step process.

Just like art class, supplies will need to be purchased. Unfortunately drill rifles cost more than paint.

"What the school budget doesn't pay for, we do," said Elaine Prout, JRTOC parent.

So to help JROTC families offset the additional financial burden, the group has planned a fund-raising car show, which is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 26, at Hutto High School.

Titled "Full Throttle," the event will feature more than 200 vehicles from sports cars to motorcycles. Live military displays are planned as well as a classic rock performance by the Clutch Kings band from Austin.

"You don't have to worry about bringing snacks," Prout said. "There'll be plenty of food trucks to chose from, so lunch is covered.

Anna Collins, the chief master sergeant of the Hutto JROTC, is looking forward to this inaugural event.

"It's going to be a fun day, and everything that comes in will be for the kids," Collins said. "What doesn't pay for the ceremonial uniforms and color guard equipment will go toward the end-of-the-year military ball and and scholarship fund."

To the students, preparing for the car show has become a tangible display of teamwork and leadership.

"That's why it's so important," said sophomore Michael Prout. "It's a product of what the JROTC is all about."

Visit offers glimpse of what's to come

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Special to the Taylor Press

Summer's a great time to visit family — if it's legal.

For Maria Newman of Taylor, it's not. Her family lives in Cuba, and the December 2014 decision to lift the travel embargo between there and the United States isn't fully operational.

But it will be, says Newman's cousin Pablo Arguelles Acosta of Cuba, once both sides catch up to the agreement that was made.

"And when it is, the family will be able to come together much easier," Acosta said.

That idea is what made Acosta's June 2015 trip to Taylor so special.

"We came (to America) for academic reasons, but what it did was show us how travel will become," Acosta said. "It will be welcoming, easy and doable."

It was an academic conference for the Latin Association of Scholars that enabled Acosta and his family to travel to Florida. His wife Grisel, a historian of city libraries, gave a presentation on bibliographic heritage.

The couple and their two daughters, Ana Paula and Gabriela, spent two weeks in Florida and the third week at Newman's house in Taylor.

"We spent the week touring Austin," Newman said. "We went to Barton Springs, saw the Capitol, the Blanton Museum of Art and went to the Bob Bullock Imax Theater."

The family also had the chance to catch a game of baseball at the Dell Diamond Round Rock Express.

"At the baseball game, we had our first meal of hot dogs and pretzels," said Gabriela. "Very American."

Hutto copes with loss of popular police officer

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Feature writer for the Hutto News

To us, Hutto is home. It's simple and quiet, most definitely not a place that's known for being featured on the nightly news.

That is — it wasn't until last Wednesday when Hutto Police Sgt. Chris Kelley was killed during an attempt to apprehend a traffic violator.

In about two seconds, Hutto's reputation as a quaint roadside Hippo-loving town exploded into what the TV is calling a "small but dignified town filled strength, bravery, love and solidarity."

Images of us — the people who live in Hutto — filled the TV screen. We were having fundraisers, leaving tokens of love at the City Hall shrine, praying at the community vigil, consoling the bereft family of Sgt. Kelley or simply taking the time to say a word of thanks to the servicemen who are still out there working on our behalf.

And that is amazing. It's something in which I'm sure we can all take pride.

The following is an account of how and when all of these wonderful shows of support unfolded.

Town mourns at prayer vigil

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Special to the Taylor Press

They passed out posters and made a lot of posts on Facebook.

"It was an invitation, plain and simple, for people to come out and pray," said Casey Preusse of Hutto, regarding Thursday night's prayer vigil for Sgt. Chris Kelley at Fritz Park in Hutto.

She organized the event as a nod of respect to the widow of Sgt. Kelley, for she also lives the life of a law enforcement officer's wife. She's married to Texas State Trooper David Preusse of Hutto and is all to familiar with the sacrifice and hardships that work entails.

"I know it's hard, so I just started asking people to come," Preusse said.

She wasn't sure what the results would be, and she wasn't entirely sure what the vigil would entail when plans were set in motion.

"Yeah, we didn't know if 10 people would come or 10 hundred," said the Rev. Alan McGrath of Hutto Discovery United Methodist Church, the vigil's host pastor who opened and closed the program.

The pair's invitations started to circulated late Wednesday night. By Thursday morning the high number of RSVPs caused them to change venues from the parking lot at Hutto City Hall to Hutto Fritz Park.

"We enlisted the help of the Taylor and Round Rock Police Departments as well as the Williamson County Sheriff's Officers to direct traffic," said Christina Kane-Gipson, the public information officer for the City of Hutto, on Thursday at lunchtime. "It looks like a lot of people are going to be there, and we want to be prepared." (These law enforcement agencies have been covering for the Hutto Police Department in all other areas, as well, Kane-Gipson said. The local officers have been relieve of duty in effort to give them the freedom to mourn.)

By the time 7 p.m. came along, all of the parking lots near Fritz Park were full as well as the curbs of all the streets in sight. Several hundred residents had come in response to the invitation, alongside a host of community leaders, which included representatives of the Hutto School District, Hutto City Council, the Hutto Fire Department, Williamson County Regional Response and the ROTC members from the school.

Frozen sisters sighted in Hutto

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Editor for the Hutto News

Princess Anna and Queen Elsa of Arendelle were behind bars at the Hutto Police Department on Friday, Feb. 27. Officer Stephen Schlather even had the pair in handcuffs.

“We had to lock them up,” said Officer Suzanne Glass. “The cold weather has gone on long enough, and we wanted to put a stop to it.

But the restraints at city hall were no match for Elsa's powers. The pair escaped and hasn't been seen since dinnertime Friday.

If any citizens see the “frozen culprits” within Hutto city limits, they are urged to call the police department.

“We want to shut them down,” said Lt. Dwain Jones.

At least that's the story the Hutto Police Department is telling on Facebook.

“It's been a fun way to deal with all of the cold weather,” said Christina Kane-Gibson, the city's public information officers.

Their posts about the Frozen sister sightings and “criminal freezing” have generated almost 200 followers, including KVUE News. An article about the pair and their mischief was posted to the station's website on Thursday, Feb. 26, when they were captured on camera in Pflugerville.

In reality, the Disney princesses are some local personal injury lawyers having a little fun.

“Everything just kind of happened by accident,” said Brittany Deane of Hutto, the woman who was dressed as Elsa, explaining that she and her twin sister, Briana Deane of Round Rock, perform at children's birthday parties as a side job.

“We were on our way to a party, and our marketing director took our picture in front of a cop car,” said Briana Deane. “He thought it would be funny to poke fun and make it look like Elsa was responsible for this recent batch of cold weather.”

The marketing director was Neil Angeles. He and the twins work for the Pflugerville-based law firm Justinian PLLC. The first photos from Thursday, Feb. 26, were taken near the law firm on Heatherwilde Blvd.

California horse lover films music video on local ranch

By TOMIE V. PARKS

Editor for the Hutto News

A horse named Maverick had a message to share.

"And I heard it," said Tiffany MacNeil of California. "My job has been to figure out how to tell it.

That's how the song "You've Got Time Now" was born.

MacNeil and her crew were at Tri-Star Farm in Hutto last Friday, March 6, filming the accompanying music video. Both the film and video will debut this October in Germany at the European Conference on Horse-Assisted Education.

The song

"You've Got Time Now" started to evolve last September when MacNeil was in Round Rock helping her sister-in-law pack.

"She had gone to the University of Texas in Austin and was getting ready to move back to California," MacNeil said. "We had been real busy the whole time I was there, and I had started to miss my horses, so I looked for a nearby stable to visit and maybe go on ride."

The top hit on her Google search was Maverick Horseback Riding of Hutto, the outfit that operates out of the barn and stables at Tri-Star Farm, which is located at the intersection of Palm Valley Boulevard and County Road 110.

"I looked at their website and immediately wanted to go. Their horses looked beautiful," MacNeil said. "I told myself I'd get up early and go on my last day in town."

But she and her sister-in-law got busy and distracted with last-minute chores.

"So I ended up rushing," MacNeil said. "And by the time I got to the stable's gates I had to keep on driving so I wouldn't miss my flight. There was just not time."

Happy for Cuba

By TOMIE V. PARKS
Special to the Taylor Press

Losing a loved one is never easy. It's even harder when you can't say goodbye.
In her case, it was the law that prevented Maria Newman of Taylor from giving her dying grandmother in Cuba a proper farewell.
“The only thing worse was watching how that affected my mother,” Newman said. “She was distraught.”
With the trade embargo, travel restrictions and uneasy relations between Cuba and the United States, Newman's Ohio-based mother couldn't offer emotional support to her immediate family members in Cuba or attend her mother's funeral.
“It was out of the question,” Newman said. “It wasn't legal to travel there at the time, and she was told by the U.S. State Department that if she were to travel to through a third-party country, she wouldn't be allowed to re-enter America.”
She had to stay to protect her U.S. Citizenship and her livelihood, no matter the guilt and sadness she felt.
“That blockade (between Cuba and the United States) tore our family apart,” Newman said, clearly remembering when the tension began in 1959. “Our annual visits to the family stopped abruptly. Gifts stopped. It all stopped.”
At that time, Newman lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her parents and three siblings.
“My parents were proud, naturalized citizens of the United States,” she said. “And I was the first of four children born in America.”
All of her extended family lived in Cuba, so the ability to stay connected was of the utmost importance.
It still is. That's why she cried tears of joy when President Obama announced his intent to normalize relations with Cuba last December.

Disney magic alive on high school stage

By TOMIE PARKS
Special to the Hutto News

Full of color and sparkle, the set of “Beauty and the Beast” transported the audience to a world of adventure and mystique.
People of all ages seemed entranced by Hutto High School's production of the familiar tale.
Several young girls wore princess dresses and sang along with the cast and some of the grandparents who were there in support of family members wept during the grand finale.
“It's a great turnout of family and friends,” said Linda Rosenbusch, director and theatre teacher at Hutto High School.
She welcomed audience members with a wave or hand shake before the 2 p.m. matinee performance started on Jan. 31.
The show went without incident or noticeable flaw.
“It's going smoothly,” said Shanon Markham of Hutto at intermission.
She was there with seven relatives to watch her daughter on stage ― chorus member Rebecca Lockhart.
“We are impressed,” Markham said. “From the costumes to the set, it's obvious a lot of work went into it.”
Jeffrey Smith, the play's technical director, laughed when asked about the show's quality of light and sound.
“Oh, it's been perfect,” Smith said, joking. His remarks prompted a fit of giggles in the sound booth.
“But the good thing,” Smith said regaining his composure, “is that if the audience doesn't notice anything wrong, then it's all great.”
The matinee performances of the play's run at Hutto High School were special.
“Some select students from our elementary schools were able to help out on stage,” Rosenbusch said. Students from Cottonwood Creek and Veterans Hill Elementary Schools participated in the Jan. 31 matinee performance. They portrayed the plates in the musical number “Be Our Guest,” and their artwork was on display in the lobby at intermission.
Students were selected by music teachers based on grades and participation.

Making his mark: Engraver uses art to find purpose in life

By TOMIE V. PARKS
Special to the Hutto News

His engraving is more than a hobby. It's a therapy that has helped him heal.
“I had two heart attacks and two strokes in 2010,” said Jerrell Crider of Hutto. “That forced me to retire, so it's been my art that has kept me sharp, kept me active.”
His speech is clear, with perfect enunciation, but it's deliberate, so he sounds like an English language teacher, pausing for several seconds between each word.
“Rest and taking it slow helped me recover too,” Crider said. “And I had to work with a speech therapist, but she quit seeing me because she said I spoke better than she did.”
The 67-year-old man laughed at the memory.
“Let me explain my work,” Crider said as he got up from the couch and led the way to his workshop. “I draw, yes, and I do graphic design on the computer but that's not my art. My art is the print.”
He takes a drawn image and transfers it to an etching plate made of copper, stone, wood or aluminum with the use of a lithography pen and some acid. Once the image is engraved, he takes the plate to his printing press in the garage.
“Ink is applied and then the magic happens,” Crider said. “More or less ink here or there can create drastically different moods to the scene.
He referred to his print series titled “The Alamo Heroes & The Victor.” Some pieces incorporated the use of color, making the heroes seem triumphant and proud. Others used only shades of black, making the image appear somber but significant.
Paul Holden of Buda owns one of those prints.
“I bought it a while back when it was on display at one of the art centers in town,” Holden said. “He's got such a unique, cool style. It's all historic and accurate, and I've never seen anything like it before. In one image you get the scene and the key players in a piece of history.”

Hunting dog retires after winning spree

By TOMIE V. PARKS
Special to the Taylor Press

Reed is the dog's name, but everyone calls him Hard Nock.

"Poor guy's earned it," said Ryan Grace of Taylor, the dog's owner. "He's had his rear ACL's go out and he suffered through a territorial attack by another dog, but he still managed to win at nationals despite being one of the oldest dogs there."
Grace smiled proudly as he talked about his black Lab's recent accomplishments.
Reed competed in the American Kennel Club's Master Nationals this October in Corning, California. And he won, having successfully completed six series of tests over two weeks.
"It's his third consecutive year to qualify at nationals, which earned him a spot in the Master Nationals Hall of Fame," Grace said. "What a way to go out."
Reed, at the age of 8, is officially retired.
"Nothing for him now except living the good life," Grace said. "Hunting with the family, relaxing on the couch and, of course, serving as a stud."
The Lab has already sired his first litter. He partnered with Daisy, a female Lab owned by Toby Locke of Taylor, in July and Flash was a result of that union. He's the pup Grace hopes will follow in Reed's footsteps err, paw prints.
"He'll be off to basic training in January once he reaches the age of 6 months," Grace said.
For now Flash and Reed are spending the holidays at home with Grace, his wife and children.
They eat, and they play, Grace said. Because when it comes down to it, they're our family dogs, they just have some pretty impressive skills.

Partyin' with the Stars

By TOMIE V. PARKS
Special to the Hutto News

She got to party with the stars in Hollywood.
“I got to see Selena Gomez and Bella Thorne, and then I got to meet her,” said Jade Nash, an eighth-grader at Hutto Middle School, excitedly referring to Ally Hernandez, one of the singers in the all-girl group Fifth Harmony.
“She's my favorite,” Nash said. “I love her voice and her smile.”
The girl's grandmother, Leslie Alexander of Oxford, Conn., laughed while her granddaughter was talking.
“She knows everything about Ally and Fifth Harmony,” Alexander said. “She's been following them since X-Factor.”
Nash had just returned home to Hutto on Saturday, Nov. 15, after a five-day roadtrip to California, and she and her grandmother were telling Nash's mom, Soo-Jin, about their adventure.
It had just been two days since they walked the red carpet at the Mondrian hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
She and her grandmother were guests at Latina Magazine's “30 Under 30” awards ceremony.
“And Jade had a backstage pass to visit with Fifth Harmony in their hotel room before everything started,” Alexander said.
In the midst of all the handshaking and picture shaking, Nash said she had the opportunity to sing in front of everyone.
“It was Camila (one of the Fifth Harmony girls) who said, 'Why don't you sing me something?' So I did 'Miss Movin' On,' which is one of their songs,” Nash said. “She said I was actually good, not what she was expecting.”
The singer described Nash's impromptu performance in a note she wrote to Nash in an autograph book.
“Never lose that voice,” writes Camila Cabello. “I'm looking forward to hearing you sing for the world.”
It was high praise for Nash because that's her dream.
“I want to be a performer like Camila and Ally,” Nash said.

Twin nightmare: Pregnancy and disease

By Tomie Parks 
TTTS mom

I can’t hug my children.
I never could. They died the day they were born.
Life since then – Jan. 8 – has been a mission to try and understand the disease that robbed me of my boys, Tanner and Hunter.
That disease is called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, and this is a story of how terrible it is.

The beginning
Last spring I lived the life of a new bride.

March of Dimes necklace.

I had a house to furnish, a husband to cook for and new family members to meet. There wasn’t a moment to spare until summer came.
That’s when Rusty and I found what it meant to be newlyweds. We had no need for plans. All we craved was each other’s company, and that made the most dreaded of chores, like cleaning the toilet or washing the dishes, seem more like a vacation. Life was full of Hallmark card bliss.
We discovered at the end of September that I was pregnant.
Lots of adjectives can describe our reaction: Thrilled, scared, tired, worried, surprised, nervous, and overwhelmed.
In short, we were the typical first-time parents, trying to make sense of everything we heard from doctors and saw on ultrasounds.
October brought on a surge of hormones that made me cranky, but it also afforded me the opportunity to see my baby’s heart beat – and on Oct. 25, I learned there were two babies inside my belly.
“How did you make two?” my bewildered husband asked me, as he sat staring at the ultrasound.
I didn’t have an answer then, and I don’t have one now.
Neither of us had any family history of twins, nor do I know of any special diet or vitamin that makes embryos split. It just happened, and for a while, I was the mother of twins.

Couple celebrates first anniversary

By TOMIE PARKS
Deemable Staff Writer

WIMBERLEY, Texas – I ain’t never run across a man, woman or dog who’s seen all of Texas. The state is that big, even if you call it home.
So it wasn’t that much of a surprise when I stumbled across a never-before-seen Lone Star city. It was Wimberley, a holiday haven for everyone from nostalgic lovers and amateur artists to athletes and motorcycle gangs.With rocks for climbing and gourmet wines for tasting, Wimberley was not what I’d call a two-light town. It deserved some proper attention, so I suggested to my husband that we spend our first anniversary weekend there.
It didn’t take much convincing for him to agree, as his buddy from work happened to own a cabin there – a cabin we could stay at for free. Enough said, the trip was on.

Ken’s 50 but still looking sharp

By TOMIE PARKS
Deemable Staff Writer

Barbie and Ken are no longer two young lovers sitting in a tree. Both of them are now over the hill, even though their looks don’t show it.
Ken turned 50 on March 11, and the ever-stunning Barbie is a ripe 52.
Birthday festivities for Ken started in January with an eight-episode reality TV show called “Genuine Ken: The Search for the Great American Boyfriend.”
In the manner of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” the Ken show featured eight “real-life” men competing for the title of “Barbie’s Ideal Boyfriend.” Participating under the stage name of Dreamer Ken, the winner was Kurtis Taylor, a 25-year-old former college football player from Fort Dodge, Iowa.
The contest and all competitors are featured at genuineken.com. Checking the show out won’t be a waste of time, as the New York Times describes it as one of the media company Hulu’s most popular reality shows.
But that’s not all the birthday fun for the still-handsome Ken.

Elvis never left the building

Please see this link, http://deemable.com/travel/2011/03/the-king-still-rocks-in-small-mississippi-town/, for my first online-only byline.

New year brings new support group

By TOMIE PARKS
Staff writer

Anyone suffering from addiction, anger, depression or any other type of hurt will have a new place of refuge this month.
Taylor’s First Baptist Church, located at 701 Davis, is now the area’s new site for Celebrate Recovery, a faith-based recovery program.
“It’s similar to AA and NA, but we use God’s word to back up each of the 12 steps,” said Devvie Gibbs, of Taylor, the program coordinator.
Meetings will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. every Thursday. Childcare will be provided for free, but those in need of the service will need to make reservations by noon every Wednesday at the church office by calling (512) 352-3144.
FBC Pastor Matt Hudson is eager to see what kind of good Celebrate Recovery can accomplish for the community.

You can be a busy body, in life and death

By TOMIE PARKS
Staff writer

From playing basketball to getting married, there are a lot of things to do in life.
But what about after you die?
Granted, not much happens to your body after that last breath, but there are some choices you can make now that will put your body to good use.
Liza Anne DeNeice, of Orchard, is one person who’s opted to forgo the traditional burial.
“I want my bones to be a skeleton at a Texas A&M lab,” DeNeice said. “After my back and knee surgeries, there are bound to be some neat things to look at.”
The 52-year-old woman was smiling as she talked, but she wasn’t joking.
“There’s just no sense in rotting,” she said.
She’s already shared her plans with her family and is in the process of completing the necessary paperwork.
Her family has accepted her decision.
“I thought it was a little weird at first,” said DeNeice’s daughter, Jamie Belknap, of Houston. “But the idea makes her happy. And she’s always been into re-using and recycling, so in a way, it’s fitting to who she is. I’ll be happy to see that her wish is carried through.”
This topic is not meant to take away from the joy of Christmas. It’s just something to think about so wills are updated for the New Year.
So here are some ways you can put your body to use after you die.

Teen chefs cook for Habitat volunteers

By TOMIE PARKS
Staff writer

Building a house – that’s hard work, work that can make a man hungry.
Dec. 15 at noon, nobody knew that better than Chuck Dawson, of Georgetown. He’d been up since 7 a.m., working on the Habitat for Humanity house at 504 S. Doak St. in Taylor. And he was hungry.
“Oh, just let me look at a picture of food,” Dawson said, rubbing his belly. “I’ll salivate at that.”
His lunch was a little late.
Taylor High School’s Culinary II class was preparing a spaghetti lunch for the Habitat for Humanity volunteer crew, but their work was about half an hour behind schedule.

Relay for Life has plans for new year

By TOMIE PARKS
Staff writer

Taylor’s Relay for Life committee is set and ready to go for the New Year.
Taking the helm as event chair in 2011 is Tammy Patin, a woman who was raised in Taylor but now lives in Leander. Strong emotions and the need to contribute to the fight against cancer inspired her to get involved.
“I took on this responsibility after losing my grandfather to cancer in August,” Patin said. “I also lost my father-in-law, grandmother and uncle to cancer. So the annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life event is very dear to my heart and so is raising money to find a cure for that horrible disease.”