Photos by Devin Monk

Bee Cave Bob elicits surprise and awe from the younger crowd members at Armadillo Day on Feb. 2 at The West Pole in Bee Cave, where he forecast an early spring and left-leaning political climate. Country music singer-songwriter BELOW: Gary P. Nunn belts out a fitting ditty for Armadillo Day of London Homesick Blues with the chorus of “I wanna go home with the Armadillo” on Feb. 2 at the West Pole in Bee Cave.

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Work by Austin multimedia artist Taylor Hickman and many other artists from surrounding communities will be featured during the Art, Love & Pasta event from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday at Craig O’s Lakeway, 2501 Ranch Road 620 S. In addition to outstanding art, there will be face painting for children, great pizza, pasta and wine. Admission is free, and plenty of parking is available. Other artists featured include Heather Harris, Norman Bean, Diane Macgregor, Sarah Slam, Frank Botello, James R. Granberry, Tamera Davis, Leslie Lloyd, Rebecca Shaw, Patches Hayter, Misty Horton, Tasha Glascock and Julia D’Angelo.

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Johnnie Fields’ watercolors, such as this one of spinnaker sailboats, will be on view Feb. 14-March 3 at Lakeway City Hall.

Watercolor paintings by Johnnie Fields will be on display at the Lakeway City Hall Art Gallery from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on weedays Feb. 14-March 3 during regular City Hall office hours.

The art gallery is off the main lobby of City Hall, 1102 Lohmans Crossing, in Lakeway.

Fields grew up in Austin. He attended the University of Texas and received a bachelor of architecture degree in 1951. He worked in Austin until 1955, and then moved to Odessa, Texas, and was one of the founders of Peters and Fields Architects.

While studying architecture at the University of Texas, art was a yearly requirement. Fields fell in love with watercolor after only two semesters.

For the last 25 years, he has devoted time to painting, participating in workshops, teaching and showing his work. Because of his love for architecture and his fascination with order and arrangement, most of his paintings feature old buildings in a landscape setting. Many of the subjects are of places where he has traveled.

Several years ago, Fields began teaching watercolor at Lakeway Activity Center, and he quickly discovered how much he enjoys seeing others learn and develop as artists, he said.

Fields recalled that one of the nicest honors he received in his painting career was when The Permian Basin Art Museum asked him to do a one-man show.
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The main gym at the Lake Travis High School was the place to be Jan. 31 as the Lady Cavs played in front of a full house of excited fans.

The final home game of a highly successful season and senior recognition combined with an evening dedicated to philanthropy proved to be just the right ingredients needed to raise nearly $3,000 for LTlov, the Lake Travis Labor of Love.

The Lady Cavs’ second annual Pass the Love event was extraordinary evidence that the spirit of love, compassion and dedication to community is as much a priority to these young women as winning basketball games.

I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude on behalf of LTlov’s membership to this outstanding LTHS program. My interaction with coaches Ted Dydalewicz and Brittany Ishmael, Lady Cavs’ parents and especially the players gave me a sense of connection – we are community here in Lake Travis and we take care of one another.

Thank you to every fan who purchased a Pass the Love T-shirt, munched on a delicious bake sale item or donated the money from your pockets. From the sheer quantity of loose change, I can tell you that many, many students also “passed the love” and played a significant part in the success of this effort and its subsequent impact on our community.

I wish the varsity ladies unprecedented success in their upcoming playoff run. You are an inspiration both on the court and off, and you are all winners to me. Go Lady Cavs!

Michelle Zogas,

LTlov president

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Special to the View

On Feb. 1, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals signaled that the Texas House, Senate and U.S. congressional district maps drawn by the state Legislature last spring could take weeks of scrutiny in testing for compliance under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Act provides the basis to cure racial discrimination in elections and election-related processes. Section 5 of the Act requires Texas, among other states and smaller jurisdictions, to obtain preclearance of redistricting maps by the D.C. Circuit Court.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio on Feb. 2, the three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, indicated it would proceed with the task of revising the three sets of maps, as directed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In January, the high court threw out the San Antonio district court panel’s attempt to revise the Texas Legislature’s enacted maps and ordered the three judges to follow more closely the Legislature’s intent in its next remedial effort.

Furthermore, on Feb. 2, the San Antonio district court instructed plaintiffs (Shannon Perez et al. v. defendants State of Texas et al.) in each of the three redistricting cases to present their arguments in court on Feb. 15. Parties have until Feb. 10 to file their legal briefs.

Although a court order issued in mid-December set April 3 as the date for the Texas primaries, court actions put on the calendar last week could bump them later in April or even May or June.

TSTA wants special session

Pressure on the governor to call a special session of the Texas Legislature to address shortages in school funding is increasing.

Public education absorbed a multi-billion dollar hit when the Legislature, in its January through May 2011 regular session, made across the board spending cuts to address the state’s estimated $20 billion budget deficit for the 2012-13 biennium. Then, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst who presides over the Senate, and House Speaker Joe Straus steered fiscally conservative majorities in the Senate and House to approve the use of about $3 billion of the state’s $9 billion Economic Stabilization (also known as “Rainy Day”) Fund. The tapped amount was applied to the public education and health and human services budgets.

Texas State Teachers Association last week urged Gov. Rick Perry to call lawmakers to Austin to appropriate $2.5 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund “to head off another round of harmful cuts in local public school budgets for the 2012-13 school year.”

TSTA President Rita Haecker, at a Feb. 1 Capitol news conference, pointed out the effects of the governor and the legislative majority’s cutting of $5.4 billion from public education for the current, two-year budget period, including $4 billion in formula funding obligations to school districts and another $1.4 billion in Texas Education Agency grants to districts.

An estimated 32,000 school employees including 12,000 teachers already have lost their jobs, and more than 8,200 elementary classes are larger than the cap set by state law. “Ultimately, these cuts and crowded classrooms harm our students’ learning environment,” Haecker said. TSTA is circulating a petition calling on the governor to call a special session, she added.

A year ago, the office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts reported that $7.2 billion of the Rainy Day Fund came from oil and gas production taxes.

Oil, gas figures take shape

These days, oil and gas industry trucks are seen moving up and down roads and highways in many parts of Texas and setting up shop here and there on sites visible from public rights of way.

Many Texas newspapers routinely report this information, but in light of the current call for a special session and the Rainy Day Fund’s tie to oil and gas production taxes, here are figures reported by the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry.

On Jan. 30, the Texas Railroad Commission reported it issued 1,630 original drilling permits in December 2011. “The December total included 1,480 permits to drill new oil and gas wells, 35 to re-enter existing well bores, and 115 for re-completions.

Permits issued in December 2011 included 479 oil, 186 gas, 902 oil and gas, 48 injection, two service and 13 other permits,” according to the report.
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Andrew is an 8-year-old from Falconhead West who has recently started undergoing treatment for leukemia and who will need blood for several years.

The Lakeway drive had more than 20 new donors who came to donate for Andrew, and the drive donated all 90 of the blood assurance coupons to the Kline family, according to organizers. The coupons may be used to offset blood-related expenses.

These contributions are in addition to the 35 coupons that a blood drive in Andrew’s honor earned Jan. 15 in Falconhead West.

The next Lakeway Community Blood Drive will be March 17 at Lakeway Activity Center. To sign up, call Searcy Willis at 261-9055.
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The Lake Travis High School Latin Club recently competed in the Texas State Junior Classical League Area F Convention, earning numerous individual awards and the second-place team sweepstakes trophy. Latin scholars are: (front row, from left) Grace Reckart, Sagar Dhana, Courtney Trammell, Katie Berry, Christine Taylor; (second row) Gage Krause, Sydney Yorke, Victoria Trappe, Morgan McMaster, Delaney Maberry, Caleb Oligney; (third row) Carly Calcote, Chrissie Chapman, Carlianne Hagye, Paul Braddock, Kyle Stanfield; and (back row) Marlon Haygood, Stephanie Cree, Paria Rahmani and Eric Wauer. Not pictured are Nick Shaffer, Erin Quigley and Allie Helms. The area competition is a warm-up for the state competition to be held in March. Students compete in levels Latin I through Latin V and in categories of reading comprehension, mythology, pentathlon, grammar, vocabulary, Roman history and costume.

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The exchange is a health-care service program established by Himalayan Spirit Expeditions Inc. to provide medical and dental care to the underserved people living in remote regions of the Indian Himalayas and to uplift two orphanages in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

The team will be based at the lower altitude winter camp and will serve Himachal Pradesh villages.

Team members will provide care to approximately 2,400 patients in out-patient clinical settings. A three-day stay is scheduled at Dharamsala-home to exiled Tibetans and their religious leader Gyatso Tenzing, the 14th Dalai Lama.

The international medical team will meet in New Delhi and travel together to the Shivalik range, or the outer Himalayas. They will drive through the Shivalik Range serving villages along the way until they reach the Dhauladhar, or “White Mountain Range,” at its lower elevations.

Atkins-Manceau is set to graduate in May from NOVA Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

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Beatles tribute band The Eggmen, from left, Nigel, John, Davy, Basil and Tommo will play at 7 p.m. Feb. 11, for the Spicewood Arts Society’s second annual event to help fund fine arts scholarships for area high school students.

The Eggmen, an Austin Beatles’ tribute band, will be in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Spicewood Arts Society’s second annual event to fund scholarships for area high school students.

The concert will be at the Spicewood Vineyards Events Center, 1419 Burnet County Road 409, three miles off Texas Highway 71.

Tickets for the performance and hors d’oeuvres may be purchased for $75 each online at spicewoodarts.org or by calling 264-2820.

“Seating is limited this time, so that we can accommodate more dancing,” said Janey Richardson, president of the 12-year-old arts organization. “After all, it is close to Valentine’s Day.”

This May, the society funded $3,000 in fine arts scholarships to qualified Lake Travis and Marble Falls seniors pursuing higher education in the performing, visual or literary arts.

“We anticipate expanding the value of scholarships to $1,000 each this year,” Richardson said.

Chef Taylor Hall, will host the “Meet the Artists” reception.

John Burgess on acoustics and harmonica, “Tommo” Burgess on keyboards, Ron “Nigel” Roberts on bass guitar, John “Basil” Kovacs on guitar and Davy Fore on drums, collectively known as The Eggmen, originally formed in1992.

Their first set, the “Suit Set,” will be early Beatles, consisting of songs like “A Hard Day’s Night” and “She Loves You.” The second, or “Psychedelic Set,” tackles the hard stuff like “Day in the Life” and “I Am the Walrus.” The final set features songs of the “British Invasion,” such as The Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown” and The Who’s “My Generation.”

The season’s remaining SAS concerts are sold out. However, a waiting list is available at the SAS website or by calling 264-2820.

Should tickets become available, a two-week notice will be given.

The schedule is:

*Wheatfield, March 23 Four talented, clever, funny musicians from the Hotcakes and Trout Fishing in America bands reunite; and,

*The Motheral Family 2nd Annual Tony Campise Jazz Concert, May 4 – This show will feature Campise protégé Kris Kumara and The Kris Kimura Quartet, a highly respected, unique, in demand jazz foursome.
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