Santa Anna Elementary
The Front Page
Santa Anna Elementary Construction Continues
Several have asked about the construction project at the Elementary School.
It looks like the brick layers have been filling in around the new windows and some of the windows installed. The white natural look bricks make a nice architectural touch to it. Inside it appears there is a lot of wiring and duct work going on. The new front porch and expanded entry way no longer has all the grass to mow and maintain most of which was done by high traffic before anyway.
San Saba County Tragedies
There have been a couple of tragedies strike San Saba County the last few weeks. The company I work for services San Saba County and I know several people from the area.
On Tuesday of this week, a six year old boy drowned in the city swimming pool at Mill Pond Park in San Saba. See these stories from KWTX: Central Texas Youngster Drowns In Community Pool and this one from KXAN TV: Child Drowns At San Saba Pool.
A couple of weeks ago four high school students were killed in a head-on collision between Cherokee and San Saba on State Highway 16. At least two of the teenagers were Seniors at Cherokee High School. See this KXAN TV story:Four Teens Killed In San Saba County Wreck
Please remember these families that have lost loved ones.
Walk Across Texas a Success
Debbie Hailey , CEA-FCS
The Walk Across Texas (WAT) Program in Coleman County really accelerated this Spring, with 16 teams of eight, as compared to 8 teams last year. Participants walked over 17,000 miles this year, which is almost 3 times the miles recorded last year. Congratulations, Coleman County!! You have really benefitted yourself by increasing your activity level.
We had some very competitive teams and individuals who worked very hard to "outdo one another". The high-point individual, Lynn Corbett, walked 528 miles, and her team the South Coleman County Trailblazers, walked 2414 miles. That's a lot of steps!
Physical activity for Walk Across Texas include not only walking, but also many other equivalent activities, such as running, riding, bicycle riding, gardening, push-mowing, dancing, and other aerobic activities. WAT participants have found that there are numerous health benefits to increased activity, including heart health, better control of blood sugar, and decreased cholesterol. Some have even included weight loss in that list of benefits. On the walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu website, your captain can enter how many pounds you have lost. If you have lost weight and not reported it to your captain, please do so now so it can be recorded in the state WAT mileage website.
I would also like to have some photographs of participants engaging in WAT activities, to include in promotional presentations, with your permission, of course. If you have photographs, please submit them to your team captain or to me, Debbie Hailey, at drhailey@ag.tamu.edu, or 200 Liveoak, Ste. 202, Coleman, TX 76834 The Coleman Jr. High and Elementary school classes also participated in the contest, walking a total of 495 miles in 8 weeks. Coaches Zach Edington and Brenda Simmons have planned their PE curriculums to include walking and/or running for at least 1 day a week.
Kudo's to you, Coleman County, for your participation in this beneficial program. I'd like to hear success stories that you may have concerning the ways the program has helped you. Please call Debbie Hailey at 325-625-4519, or email me at drhailey@ag.tamu.edu, with success stories that I can share with Texas Cooperative Extension, and participants across the state.
I hope each of you have developed a habit of exercising that you will continue, even though the 8-week program has ended. If you would like to continue to record your miles on an individual basis, go to walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu, and go to the "By Yourself Walkers" link.
We will plan a Walk Across Texas Celebration at the park, soon. Team Captains will be notified and will notify you. I hope you can join us for the fun and prizes.
ATTORNEY GENERAL ABBOTT GETS $64 MILLION VERDICT IN TRIAL AGAINST FRAUDULENT TRAVEL AGENCY
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| DALLAS - A civil jury returned a landmark $64 million verdict Monday as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s litigators won a major case against a travel agency that falsely claimed the Attorney General endorsed its sales and marketing practices. The jury also found Sun Country Travel and its principals liable for a number of deceptive sales and advertising practices that misled the traveling public, while allowing it to pocket huge profits. “This verdict sends the loudest and strongest possible warning to anyone operating a travel business that is scamming consumers,” Attorney General Abbott emphasized. “We will not tolerate this kind of conduct in Dallas or anywhere else in Texas.” The jury’s decision also marks the first court verdict rendered against a Do-Not Call violator. The company’s telemarketers repeatedly called consumers who chose to be listed on the state and federal Do-Not Call lists, which prohibit telemarketers from calling these numbers. Overall, the defendants must pay civil penalties of $15.2 million and restitution of $49 million, according to the jury’s verdict. Sun Country, also known as Vavro, McDonald, Kennedy and Associates, L.L.C., and Travel Partners, L.L.C., had offices in Arlington, Carrollton and Houston. It was sued by the Attorney General in February 2003 after investigators became aware of the company’s claims to consumers that the Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau endorsed its business practices as a travel agency. Sun Country’s principals David G. Vavro, Jerry L. McDonald Sr. and Jerry L. McDonald Jr., were also named in the suit and found liable. The company’s telemarketing pitches falsely offered “completely free” vacation packages to lure consumers to a 90-minute presentation describing the company’s “discount” travel services. The telemarketers, however, omitted information about a variety of fees, deposits, airline and hotel taxes and other costs linked to these “free” vacations, plus the company placed tight restrictions on when these trips could be taken. The “free” vacation offers were only valid for one year, and reservation requests had to be submitted by consumers at least 90 days in advance of the departure dates. The company disclosed neither of these restrictions until after the presentations and consumers had signed up. Consumers who encounter what they believe to be false or misleading solicitations from other travel companies may file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at (800) 252-8011 or file a complaint online at www.oag.state.tx.us |
City Water Line Project
The new treated water line for the City of Santa Anna is starting to become a reality as some of the water pipe has been delivered and some is being distributed along the pipeline's path. The aproximatley 9 mile pipeline will be layed on the North side of US Hwy 67/84 East of Santa Anna towards Bangs and connect to the Brookesmith Water Supply's line just this side of State Hwy 585, also known as the road to Grosvenor.
Much like the power lines between Bangs and Santa Anna completed last year by WTU to insure the supply of electricity, the water line will insure that Santa Anna will have a reliable source of water for many years to come.
New water pipe
Water for the population of Santa Anna
Food Manager Certification Training Course in June
Statistics indicate that foodborne illness continues to be a health issue in the United States. Each year, 1 in 4 Americans will become sick, 1 in 1,000 will become hospitalized, and 5,000 will die due to a foodborne illness.
During the past legislative session, a statute was amended that allowed the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to require each food establishment to have one certified food manager.
Recently, the Texas Board of Health adopted rules to implement this statute. Many of you have already received a letter from the Texas Department of State Health Services regarding this. Under these new rules, each food establishment permitted by the Texas Department of State Health Services must have one certified food manager. New food manager certificates will be valid for 5 years.
Texas Cooperative Extension, Coleman County, is offering a food manager certification training course. This program will be offered for $79 on June 19-20, 2006 at the Coleman Housing Authority High Rise Community Room. Cost includes training, materials, and the State Food Manager Certification Examination.
This program is designed to not only prepare foodservice managers to pass the certification examination; it will provide valuable education regarding the safe handling of food. Almost 50 cents of every dollar Americans spend on food is spent on meals prepared away from home. Therefore, careful attention to food safety will help keep customers safe and satisfied.
Foodborne illnesses are estimated to cost thousands of dollars in lost wages, insurance, and medical bills. With these statistics, knowledge of how to prevent foodborne illness is essential. The benefits of improved food safety include:
· Increased customer satisfaction
· Improved relationships with health officials
· Prevention of bad publicity and law suits due to foodborne illness
By attending the course, foodservice managers will learn about:
· identifying potentially hazardous foods and common errors in food handling
· preventing contamination and cross-contamination of food
· teaching and encouraging personal hygiene for employees
· complying with government regulations
· maintaining clean utensils, equipment and surroundings
· controlling pests
Foodborne illnesses can be prevented by following simple food safety practices. For more information about the Food Manager Certification Training course of Texas Cooperative Extension, called “Food Safety: It’s Our Business,” call Debbie Hailey at Coleman County Extension Office, 325-625-4519.
Texas Attorney General Abbot - Law Enforcement Update
Warning Families About Online Predators
The proliferation of child predators using the Internet to target young victims has become a national crisis. One in five children will be solicited for sex online in the next year. As law enforcement, we must do everything we can to prevent Texas children from being victimized by this new breed of child predator.
As you know, my Cyber Crimes Unit investigators have been working undercover since 2003, patrolling chat rooms frequented by children. These investigators have become very adept at presenting themselves as underage girls and boys. Within minutes, they are approached by adults who are sexual predators on the prowl, using the Internet to set up what they think will be a sexual rendezvous with a young teen.
Although we have arrested nearly 80 of these offenders, many more remain at large. That is why my office continues the effort to educate parents and children of the kind of criminal activity that goes on in connection with wildly popular social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga.
For the past few months, my top Cyber Crimes investigators and I have been developing and holding a unique series of town hall meetings for parents and students to teach them about Internet safety. We have been met with overflow crowds and urgent questions from parents and students alike.
In Plano, a standing-room only crowd of over 700 parents and children filled the high school auditorium to participate in this interactive presentation about the risks of online child predators and the steps they can take to protect their children.
In Odessa and Texarkana, we talked to hundreds of concerned Texans about the danger of posting personal information in chat rooms, on networking sites, and on blogs. Parents were warned that within 20 minutes, an online predator can find out a teen’s first name, last name, phone number, family member names, e-mail and home address, age, interests, school name, location, and directions to the teen’s house, all from a screen name that contained the teen’s first name.
In Tyler, our Cyber Safety Officer Paul Aleman warned parents and students that children should not trust people they meet online. Investigators reminded teens that what happens online CAN hurt them and urged them to talk to a parent or guardian if they are approached by a stranger online. We also reminded students that they should never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they meet online. Parents were cautioned to keep the computer in a common room in the house and limit their child’s use of Web cameras.
These town hall meetings are our latest effort to help arm parents with the tools they need to keep their children safe online. We also stand ready to assist law enforcement with training and investigative support in the area of child exploitation. Police or sheriff’s departments can contact us for information about resources, Texas statutes, technical assistance, or training opportunities. Call (800) 252-8011 or e-mail me at greg.abbott@oag.state.tx.us.
Computers and the Internet have revolutionized the way we live. But along with this great progress, comes new dangers and responsibilities. I thank you for your commitment to children and the future of Texas.
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