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.