Once he did, the Lake Travis bats did the rest in a commanding 8-2 win over Smithson Valley at Concordia’s Tornado Field to win Game 2 and the area round series Saturday, giving Lake Travis coach Roy Kinnan his 580^th career win.

“We played well, we did all the little things you have to do,” Kinnan said. “Daniel didn’t have his best stuff but he did a great job hanging in and taking care of business, and we played great defense.”

Lake Travis will now play Schertz Clemens in the regional quarterfinals after it beat Vista Ridge in three games, one of the Cavs’ District 25-4A foes.

The Cavs (27-10) were sharp in the field and limited any aggression on the base paths Smithson Valley wanted to have, with Dane Balazs in particular coming up with a few laser throws from center field.

Castano had trouble locating early on and the Rangers grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the second inning.

The Cavs got some help with three walks in the top of the fourth, and Adam Yacek’s two RBI single with two outs put the Cavaliers ahead for good at 3-2. Konner Frazier added an RBI double to score Yacek and make it 4-2 with back-to-back two-out hits.

“I was trying to get kind of excited, get some adrenaline going because I’m not used to pitching early, I’m used to pitching at night,” Castano said. “I was kind of nervous at the beginning – I wasn’t pitching my best and we weren’t hitting yet, but I knew we’d come around, we’re a great hitting team. I knew we’d put runs on the board no matter what, I just had to do my job and we would win. And we did.”

The Cavs got a little help from the Rangers in the win, as Smithson Valley pitchers hit five batters and walked another four. Lake Travis took advantage, though, staying aggressive on the bases and at the plate.

“We knew we’d have a good outing from Daniel,” Yacek said. “And on the turf field (at Concordia), we knew our defense could perform well on it, and we went out and took care of business. We’ve been hitting good the past three weeks now, we know we can hit one-through-nine, everybody. We can start a rally with our 7-8-9 or our  1-2-3, all the way through the lineup we’re confident.”

With the lead, Castano sent down the Rangers in order in the bottom of the fourth. The Cavs added a run in the fifth and Castano worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half, with some help from the arm of Balazs in center field, who held a runner at third on a single. Balazs also nailed a runner trying to go first to third on a single in the third inning – and the runner was stealing second on the pitch and Balazs’ strong throw was still in plenty of time.

“Dane made a great throw,” said Kinnan, noting the team’s defense, pitching and two-out hitting. “We’re going to be aggressive. They know we’re going to run on them, we’re going to do some extra things, that’s going to happen. That’s good ballclub over there, that’s a solid ballclub – we beat a good team today.”

Lake Travis had its bench step up throughout the season and that was no different in the area round series, with TJ Keel, Travis Schoonmaker and others contributing.

The regional quarterfinal series will be split between Converse Judson and Burger Stadium.

The series will start Thursday, with Game 1 scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the DW Rutledge/Converse Judson Baseball Complex. The Judson school district lists the field address as 9150 FM 1516 N.
Converse, TX 78109.

Game 2 will be 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Burger Center field back in Austin, and Game 3, if necessary, would be 2 p.m. Saturday back at the Converse Judson field.

Harris and Taylor secured somewhat comfortable leads in early voting and during today’s election, but Cokins made a serious push to bump Burns-Farrell from the third open seat.

Harris won 1,134 votes (25 percent) and Taylor drew 1,117 ballots (24 percent) while Burns-Farrell edged Cokins by 910 (19.75 percent) to 886 (19.23 percent), respectively. Sconci, a first-time candidate in Lakeway, collected 561 votes (12 percent).

The top three vote-getters are elected to Lakeway City Council.

The effort by the city of Lakeway to sell coves at Rebel and Sailfish parks to neighboring property owners failed to launch with 58 percent of voters casting ballots against both measures.

Mel Neese knocked Allan Hitchcock from his place on Lakeway Municipal Utility District’s board of directors Saturday as incumbents Kay Andrews and Tom Brewer maintained their tenures over challenger Don Paczkowski.

Neese secured 460 votes (24 percent) as Brewer earned three fewer ballots at 457. Andrews won 419 votes (21 percent), and Paczkowski collected 312 votes (16 percent) and Hitchcock tallied 311 (16 percent).

In Briarcliff’s aldermen election, Steven Autrey outpaced the pack with 208 votes (27 percent) to Kathy Crawford’s 163 votes and Kelly Patterson’s 162 (both 21 percent). Jean Dowdy drew 131 votes (17 percent) while Paul Eagan collected 116 votes (15 percent).

The top three vote-getters are elected to office in Briarcliff.

Jerri Lynn Ward and Jeff Roberts each earned 310 votes (37 percent) and 306 (36 percent), respectively, to defeat Rob Berry at 228 votes (27 percent) for two seats on West Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 17’s board.

Zelda Auslander and Steve Braasch will take their places on Bee Cave City Council at its May 22 meeting as Mike Murphy and Chad Bockius’ terms expire. Auslander and Braasch, who have both served on Bee Cave City Council, were unopposed in their bids for office.

Lake Travis ISD trustees Guy Clayton and Lisa Johnson retained their places on the school board in an uncontested election that the district canceled.

Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said the county’s Elections Division, which will compile and release voting results, estimated a 10 percent turnout of registered voters with participation evenly split between early voting and Election Day voting for all the races throughout the county.

About 23,400 Travis County voters cast ballots during early voting.

All results are unofficial until canvassed.

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Staff writer

After a lengthy public discussion Tuesday, the Bee Cave City Council approved the development plat, 3-1, for the West Travis County Public Utility Agency proposed effluent storage pond and wastewater treatment facility slated for construction adjacent to Hill Country Galleria.

The Bee Cave Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval May 1 on the condition that the utility agency requests and receives an exception to a city ordinance that requires structures to have a 75-foot setback from the property line.

After the planning and zoning meeting, George Murfee, engineering consultant to the PUA, revised the design to include a 40-foot setback and plans for landscaping.

“The visual difference between a 75-foot setback and a 40-foot setback is minimal,” Murfee said.

Landscaping will comply with the city’s beautification rules for Bee Cave Parkway even though the project site is outside of the city limits, said Dennis Lozano of Murfee Engineering.

The development will include a minimum of 12 trees per 100 linear feet of roadway.

“The landscaping may be enhanced if cost sharing of such enhanced landscaping could be arranged with the city and/or neighboring property owners,” Murfee wrote in an email to City Administrator Frank Salvato.

The City Council approved the request for an exception from the city ordinance.

In addition, the council approved the site and non-point source, or water runoff, plan for the wastewater plant project, granting two variance requests which allow the development’s impervious cover of 50 percent and allow compliance with NPS requirements through the use of low effective impervious cover.

Those in opposition to the project say they worry it will adversely affect business at the Hill Country Galleria and the Alexan Galleria Apartments.

Councilman Mike Murphy abstained from voting on both items and councilman Bob Dorsett voted against both items.

Dorsett expressed concern that the plant had not yet been designed and renderings of the plant were not available to the council at the time of the vote.

“Is the reason you’re asking for an exception because you’re going to build a bigger plant later?” Dorsett asked Murfee.

The plant is slated to have a capacity of 325,000 gallons per day, bringing the wastewater system’s capacity up to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s permitted capacity of 1 million gallons per day.

Considering future growth, Murfee projected that the system will need a capacity of 1.6 million in the years to come.

The plant to be constructed on the 12-acre tract at 12900½ Bee Cave Parkway could accommodate 2 million gallons per day, but at least five more ponds would have to be built around the city to support that load, according to Murphy, who also serves on the PUA board.

Murfee told Dorsett that plans to increase the capacity of the plant could arise in the future, but the reason an exception was requested is because pushing the setback further would require a redesign of the pond, making it smaller.

The current design is for a 325,000 gallon per day plant, Murfee said.

After Lower Colorado River Authority sold water and wastewater systems to the PUA, it was discovered that the Lake Pointe wastewater plant is at 83 percent capacity and a new plant should have been built at the Bee Cave Parkway site by 2008, Murfee said.

Plans to construct a plant at the site began in 2001, predating plans for the Hill Country Galleria and the apartments that followed its construction, Murphy said.

“This is no surprise,” he said. “Nobody can claim who built this place that they did not know it was there.”

Adrian Overstreet, asset manager of Hill Country Galleria, said in previous meetings that he did not know about the plans when his investment group purchased the shopping center two years ago via auction, which Murphy attributed to a lack of a due diligence by the company when purchasing the property.

According to TCEQ regulations, when a plant reaches 75 percent of the daily average or annual flow for three consecutive months, an engineering and financial plan for expansion must be drafted. If a 90 percent threshold is reached, the plant operator must seek TCEQ authorization to begin construction on the designed plant.

Because the Lake Pointe plant is at 83 percent capacity, the system is already out of compliance with TCEQ, which could result in legal ramifications, according to Austin attorney Lauren Kalisek, who represents the PUA.

“State law allows the TCEQ to impose civil and administrative fines of up to $25,000 per day per violation – so every day that we’re out of compliance we could be racking up some significant penalties,” Kalisek said. “There’s also criminal liability involved.”

The next step for the PUA is to advertise for bids for construction, Lozano said.

Construction of the pond, which is the first phase of the project, is expected to last about eight months, and construction of the plant will take approximately one year, Murfee said.

In other business, the council approved a request by Police Chief Russell Pancoast to allow for additional police officer compensation.

During the last 11 months, more than half of the department’s patrol officers resigned to accept positions with higher wages or more promotional opportunities, Pancoast said.

As a result of the high turnover rate, Pancoast conducted a salary survey of local police departments and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

Pancoast recommended a compensation plan which includes creating pay ranges for different titles, an expansion of the number of titles to create a career path for officers, retention bonuses and stipends for various certification levels.

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Staff writer

West Travis County Public Utility Agency approved a temporary water permit for The Backyard at Bee Cave outdoor amphitheater May 4 on the condition that venue representatives acquire easements for permanent water services.

The WTCPUA Board of Directors granted a temporary fire hydrant water meter to The Backyard to use for water supply.

The Backyard, also known as Planet Earth Music, has operated with temporary fire hydrant water meters from the Lower Colorado River Authority for about two years, said Don Rauschuber, PUA general manager.

Now that the PUA operates the West Travis County Water Systems, it is pushing The Backyard to provide technical and engineering information needed to obtain permanent water and sewer service from the PUA.

The Backyard has constructed water and wastewater lines and other appurtenances, but Planet Earth officials need to provide the PUA with on-site and off-site easements and other information before permanent service can be provided, Rauschuber said.

Easements will allow the PUA to gain access to the land in order to provide needed service maintenance, he said.

“I think I put close to $400,000 into that line to put it in there,” said John Paul DeJoria, the billionaire Paul Mitchell co-founder who invested in the land on which The Backyard sits.

The lines will become property of the PUA, Rauschuber said.

Before the systems were sold to the PUA, The Backyard representatives began taking the steps toward permanent water services with the LCRA, said Austin attorney Terry Irion, who represents The Backyard.

“It’s true that the customer service account was never finalized with the LCRA,” Irion told the PUA board. “It was negotiated. It didn’t get signed.”

The Backyard has been working to resolve outstanding issues, he said, including an easement it obtained from Reese Construction, which owns the land through which one of the lines was constructed.

The easement has since been terminated after The Backyard missed deadlines on infrastructure improvements.

“With regards to the sewer [line] easement, what happened was there was a roadway access and utility easement that had been negotiated and given by the Reeses to the owners of The Backyard, but it required completion of everything within a specified period of time,” Irion said. “We’re looking at various options for resolving that, including negotiating with the Reeses.”

He said he expects all issues will be resolved within a couple of months.

“The PUA has the attention of The Backyard,” he said.

PUA President Larry Fox expressed indignation with The Backyard’s lack of preparation before opening the venue for events this season.

“I guess what I find disturbing in all of this is that you had a considerable amount of time to accomplish a number of your requirements and those have not been met,” Fox told Irion.

The temporary water service, which went into effect Friday, will expire May 24.

“It’d be disastrous for the business if they can’t have at least temporary water,” Irion said.

In other business, the PUA board approved the construction contract for a $250,000 Southwest Parkway Pump Station upgrade and will soon open bids for the Uplands Water Treatment Plant trident unit Nos. 1, 2 and 3 refurbishment project, which is expected to cost $180,000.

The PUA board will meet next at 10 a.m. May 17 at Bee Cave City Hall, 4000 Galleria Parkway.

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By MEAGAN O’TOOLE-PITTS

Staff writer

In an effort to protect and serve, Bee Cave police officers and the new Bee Cave Police Benevolent Foundation is hosting an awards banquet from 6-11 p.m. May 17 at Star Hill Ranch.

The event is the first of its kind since the foundation was founded in November, said Chief Rusty Pancoast of the Bee Cave Police Department.

The department will award Officer of the Year and safe driving and good attendance commendations going back to 2009, which is the last year it presented such honors.

Live music and a silent auction will round out the evening’s entertainment.

With only one table left, tickets are going fast, Pancoast said. More than 150 people are expected to be in attendance.

Proceeds benefit the foundation, which provides “assistance to public safety employees, such as firemen and policemen, in this area in their time of need,” Pancoast said.

“A similar foundation had one of their officers whose wife got cancer and she couldn’t work, so the family was in financial distress, so they made a mortgage payment for them,” Pancoast said.

The Bee Cave Police Department has been in need of a foundation to support its officers, he said.

“A year and a half ago, one of our officers had a stepson who had leukemia, and so this would have been an ideal forum to help that officer but we didn’t have it at the time,” Pancoast said.

Proceeds will also be used to award scholarships to Lake Travis High School students and train officers.

“If we have a special training we have to send an officer to and we have money in our budget for it, we can apply to the foundation and the board of directors could decide whether or not they want to assist in funding that training,” Pancoast said.

Foundation president Teresa Breuggeman said she also would like to use banquet proceeds to host public safety awareness classes.

“I think it’s important to help the officers, the people who are out there putting their lives on the line every day,” Breuggeman said. “They became officers to serve the people and the community, and I think it’s great to give back to them.”

The Bee Cave Police Benevolent Foundation board is comprised of the president and board members Daniel Myrick, vice president of Christopher Commercial, Inc. which owns the Shops at the Galleria, Dr. Andrew Cassidy, owner of Lone Star Podiatry, and Dr. Delaine Mueller, a physician at Bee Cave Urgent Care. The board members are committed to two-year terms.

After the gala, Pancoast said the foundation will begin searching for additional board members.

“We would like to have someone who resides in or has a business in the Bee Cave area,” he said.

Breuggeman, who served as secretary on the board of directors for the Lakeway Police Memorial and Benevolent Foundation, said she is passionate about her mission to support law enforcement employees.

“I want to do so much for this community,” she said. “If other cities need our help and would like to mirror what we have done, then I would be glad to help them as well.”

To purchase tickets or for information, contact Breuggeman at 925-9139 or info@bcpbf.com.

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“When I knew I was breaking the law, I should have quit and trusted God and turned it over to him. … My actions have caused great damage to my family,” said Gladle in the U.S. District courtroom, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Gladle, who faced two to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of bankruptcy fraud and aggravated identity theft, was ordered to pay $214,258 in restitution and a court fee.

He also was ordered to not work in mortgage or the financial industries during his three-year supervised release, the Statesman reported, as well as forfeit personal and business belongings, including prepaid debit cards and cash, seized during an investigation.

Department of Justice officials said that Gladle falsely told the owners of more than a thousand distressed properties that they could postpone foreclosure sales.

During a four-year scheme in Los Angeles and other locations, he reportedly used five aliases to avoid detection, including stealing the identity of at least one person and setting up a cell phone account in that victim’s name.

According to the charges, Gladle was involved in a scheme that recruited homeowners whose properties were in danger of foreclosure and falsely promised to delay the foreclosures for homeowners for up to six months.

Once a homeowner paid a monthly fee, Gladle, either directly or through salespersons, reportedly had the homeowner sign a deed granting a 1/100th interest in the house to a debtor in a bankruptcy whose name Gladle had found by searching bankruptcy records.

The debtors had no idea that their names and bankruptcy cases were being used by Gladle in his scheme, according to the Department of Justice.

He reportedly would print out the debtor’s bankruptcy petition, attach it to the deed in the debtor’s name and fax the two documents to a homeowner’s lender to stop foreclosure proceedings.

Because a bankruptcy filing elicits an automatic stay on a debtor’s property, the petitions and deeds forced lenders to cancel foreclosure sales.

The lenders – which included banks that received government funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program – could not attempt to collect these debts without permission from bankruptcy court, which resulted in delays to recover their money.

TARP is a federal program that purchases assets and equity from financial institutions.

When homeowners wanted to void the deeds to the debtors, Gladle reportedly would forge the debtors’ signatures on papers voiding the deeds.

The FBI and Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a white-collar law enforcement agency, conducted the investigation and received assistance from the U.S. Trustee’s Office.

Gladle defrauded TARP recipient banks including Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, said Christy Romero, SIGTARP deputy special inspector general.

“This is the latest example of heartless criminal activity by an individual who sought to capitalize on the misfortune of those affected by hard economic times,” said Steven Martinez, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, in a press release. “Mr. Gladle defrauded victims trying to save their homes, further exploited those in debt by stealing their identities, and wreaked havoc on both banks and the bankruptcy courts by manipulating the system.”

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The Cavaliers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second before the rain forced a delay, and Lake Travis scored two more following the break thanks to nine hits – and six errors by Smithson Valley.

“I’ve actually never been through that experience coming back, but it actually helped me, I don’t know how, but it did,” Orr said. “I felt like it was a new game coming off the rain delay, I felt fresh.”

Orr struck out 13 and was very efficient in the victory. Baker Mayfield walked twice and had two hits, as did Grant Akroyd. Akroyd, Ryan Lee and Dane Balazs all had RBIs (while JD Wilhelm scored on a triple and an error) in the win, Evan Yacek doubled and scored, and Wilhelm scored twice.

“We hit the ball well, had nine hits, but we left the bases loaded three times, had 10 runners left in scoring position,” coach Roy Kinnan said. “But our goal is to win by one … but if we have a runner at second or third we still want to get that hit.”

Game 2 is set for 11 a.m. Saturday back at Concordia, with Daniel Castano to start for the Cavs. Game 3, if necessary, would start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the second game.

“Our goal is to be 15-18 pitches an inning and check in the sixth, and we always ask Konner (Frazier) our catcher, ‘how’s he doing’ – he thinks they still got something, we’re good to go,” Kinnan said. “(Orr) said, ‘coach, I feel great.’”

By MEAGAN O’TOOLE-PITTS

Staff writer

The Hills resident Bill Dowd, an engineer whose career spanned nearly 40 years, was recently awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers for his work on the Hoover Dam Bypass project, which bridges Arizona and Nevada over the Colorado River.

Representing HDR, an international firm that provides architecture, engineering, consulting and construction services, Dowd accepted the 2012 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award.

Since retiring from HDR in 2009, Dowd has served as a consultant to the company.

HDR began designing the Hoover Dam Bypass project in 2001 after contracting with the Federal Highway Administration, Dowd said.

As manager of the design team, Dowd oversaw the construction of the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which soars approximately 900 feet over the Colorado River, ensuring the security of the Hoover Dam by removing through traffic from U.S. Highway 93.

According to the ASCE, the bridge is the highest and longest arched concrete bridge in the Western Hemisphere and has the world’s tallest precast-concrete columns.

“The river bridge was actually a joint venture between T.Y. Lin International and HDR Engineering,” Dowd said. “Our two firms put personnel on to design the bridge.”

Several companies and agencies were involved in the delivery of the design, he said.

“My role was working directly with the Federal Highway Administration to make sure that we were delivering all of our contract requirements on time, within the budget and in accordance with quality standards,” Dowd said.

The design team carefully navigated environmental concerns that included protecting wildlife, he said.

“We had endangered species, especially the desert bighorn sheep,” Dowd said. “They had to be dealt with, and they had to be respected. We had to provide safe crossing through the alignment, under or over the top, for the bighorn sheep that migrated up and down the river.”

The design team aligned the fencing so desert bighorn sheep couldn’t cross the road.

“A lot of them get hit by cars right now, and [those accidents] kill seven to eight of them a year,” Dowd said. “So, we provided crossings underneath our alignment.”

The design team worked diligently to ensure desert bighorn sheep used the crossings as it also worked to preserve the species, he said.

“It was important for us to track them,” Dowd said. “We put monitors on sheep and made sure that they were migrating across, up and down the river.”

The project came in slightly under its $238 million budget despite laying 3.5 miles of road, bridging a canyon by way of a 2,000-foot span structure and foregoing cranes.

“A lot of people were amazed that it didn’t cost more than that because it’s a big project …,” Dowd said. “They had to use very unique techniques to construct the bridge.”

The project has received several awards from varying agencies, including the American Public Works Association, since its completion in 2009, he said.

Dowd, who served as the national director of transportation for HDR, said the Hoover Dam Bypass project was the most unique project of his career.

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COURTESY PHOTO

St. Gabriel’s Catholic School fourth- and fifth-graders learn about Cincinnati Art Museum and Omaha’s Durham Museum exhibits via recent tele-presence sessions.

St. Gabriel’s Catholic School students recently took virtual field trips via live tele-presence sessions to the Cincinnati Art Museum and Omaha’s Durham Museum.

Fourth- and fifth-graders were among the first to learn about the Underground and Transcontinental Railroads using the school’s new interactive program. These sessions are part of a technology initiative to measure the effectiveness of cutting-edge educational tools in the classroom.

The school, as have others in Austin, has taken notice of the need for students to be well-versed in not only traditional areas of study but also those involving the ever-advancing world they will grow up and live in.

“Our mission is to raise our children to be world-ready leaders,” said Steve Balak, St. Gabriel’s head of school. “This means we must equip them with the right tools and 21st century skills necessary for their success. We also recognize that any new classroom tool must have a positive impact on learning and performance which requires a rigorously appropriate evaluation.”

St. Gabriel’s will disclose its findings as this and other programs are implemented and metrics are gathered throughout the year.

“We are committed to excellence and believe it is our responsibility to share the data and what we learn with fellow educators and the community both locally and globally in an effort to strengthen students’ ability to learn and achieve,” Balak said.

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COURTESY PHOTOS

Majors Michael and Shelly Mendieta will lead Lakeway’s 37th annual Fourth of July Parade and Celebration as co-grand marshals.

By SHELLY ANSBACH

Contributing writer

It’s been said many times that people who enter the priesthood respond to a special calling. Yet, seldom does one hear about a military calling.

Nevertheless, military personnel respond to something greater than themselves when they pledge to serve their country and preserve the freedoms Americans enjoy. Many even make the ultimate sacrifice.

Majors Shelly and Michael Mendieta will lead Lakeway’s 37th annual Fourth of July Parade and Celebration as co-grand marshals.

Shelly Mendieta serves in the U.S. Air Force and is attending Air Command and Staff College for Professional Military Education. The native Texan will return to an operational F-15E squadron when she finishes her re-qualification class in September. She was also the narrator for the F-15E flight demonstration team based out of Seymour Johnson AFB.

While in high school she was selected for a USAF ROTC scholarship and enrolled in UT-Austin. She was 22 years old when she graduated college with a bachelor’s in biology and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

When asked why she chose a career in the military, she replied, “It was something I needed to do to give back. Also, during my first year in college, the military opened up combat aircraft to women, and that’s when I decided to try to fly. I love what I do, I love the mission.”

As an F-15E Weapons Systems Officer instructor with two combat deployments to Operation Iraqi Freedom, she also completed instructor tours at the F-15E Flight Training Unit and Joint Undergraduate Navigator Training, Senior Air Force Officer and F-15E Demonstration Team.

“A Weapon Systems Officer manages all sensors, guides the weapons to the target, working with people on the ground and the Joint Terminal Air Controller, in support of the ground forces,” she explained.

She completed 92 combat missions in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Her husband, Major Michael Mendieta, was born in Fort Belvoir, Va., where his father, a lieutenant colonel, was stationed. The family moved back to Texas when his father retired in 1973. Mendieta graduated from Crockett High School and enlisted in the U.S. Marines, shortly after his 18th birthday in 1988.

In 1989, Mendieta was assigned to 6th Marines Regiment at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and made three deployments in support of contingency operations in the Republic of Panama from 1989 to 1990.

He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines in November 1990 and participated in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

In fall 1995, then-Staff Sgt. Mendieta was selected for the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Program, and graduated from University of Texas-Austin with a bachelor’s in history.

There, he met Shelly.

“We’ve been together for 15 years, and coincidentally, we will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary on July 6 in Austin with friends and family,” he said.

He presently serves as Air Officer for the Special Operations Task Force-82 which will deploy to Afghanistan later this year.

His unit is part of the 2D Marine Special Operations Battalion, which falls under the Marine Special Operations Command – the Marine component of Special Operations Command.

“We have roughly the same mission as U.S. Army Special Forces or the Navy SEALs; we are training the Afghanistan military,” he explained.

Mendieta also serves as the Senior Forward Air Controller and air planner for the battalion.

He is on his second FAC/Air Officer tour. The first was with 3D Battalion, 8th Marines in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

At the completion of his deployment he was assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola as a flight instructor with Training Squadron Eight-Six (VT-86).

He has a total of 1409 flight hours with 596 hours in the EA-6B Prowler.

“Prowler squadrons are expeditionary, so we are strictly land-based,” he said.

Before Operation Desert Storm, he served seven months in Panama participating in contingency operations for Joint Task Force -Bravo, where he also attended the Jungle Operations Counter-Insurgency course at Fort Sherman in l989.

Mendieta served in Somalia in 1993 with the Reconnaissance Platoon for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit/Special Operations Capable.

He completed USMC Command and Staff Course last May and was promoted to major in October 2009.

Conducting ground reconnaissance and jumping out of airplanes appealed to him, so he chose the Marines.

“The Marines impressed me, First to Fight,” he recalled.

By the time Mendieta’s tour of duty comes to an end with Marines Special Operations Command, he will have served 27 years.

When asked about what effect their military careers have had on their marriage, the couple responded positively.

“We’ve been relatively lucky with co-locations,” they wrote. “Time apart makes us appreciate each other more. We have done very well over the years by spending a lot of money on plane tickets and gasoline. We rarely miss holidays.”

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