Wylie Today

Dear Friends, Supporters and Citizens of Wylie,

I hope you and your family are having a great Summer! We have been busy at our house with planning our vacation, attending summer camps, visiting with family and friends and supporting our community. I wanted to write to you again this month and share with you some of the activities that are happening in and around our city.

I hope you all have taken advantage of the Summer Concert’s at Olde City Park , as well as movie night last Friday evening. The concerts have been great and it has been so much fun to get out and visit with our citizens at these events. These activities really help Wylie keep that “hometown” feeling. I hope you and your family are planning to attend the Wylie Independence Day program (Fireworks) at Founder’s Park this evening at 9:30pm.

I had the opportunity to attend the June Chamber of Commerce luncheon and listen to Chamber President, Mike Agnew, talk about the State of the Chamber, and all the things they are doing to support our community.

Many of our new businesses are also attending the Business Card Exchange on Wednesday mornings at Woodbridge Golf Club, and this has been a good way to connect with our small business owners and support them as they grow their business here in Wylie.

Also, as you may have noticed, dirt is beginning to be moved at the location of our new shopping center, Woodbridge Crossing. Soon you will have more shopping options available to you right here in Wylie , Texas !

This year’s high school graduation once again highlighted our outstanding Wylie students and their parents, It was an honor for Tammie and I to be able to attend that great event and represent our city.

This past month I also had the opportunity to speak at the Wylie Rotary Club luncheon and share with them our plans for the future of our city.

I have also had the opportunity to visit with Congressman Ralph Hall and Congressman Sam Johnson about our city. They are anxious to support us as we grow forward.

A lot of great things are happening in our community. In the coming weeks, you will start to see activity on the expansion of FM 1378. We will soon be holding a ground breaking ceremony for our new City Hall, Public Library and Recreation Center . Additionally in the coming month’s we will be continuing with our neighborhood revitalization program in some of our older parts of town. It is truly an exciting time to be in Wylie , Texas .

Please mark you calendars for our first Wylie Town Hall on August 11, 2008 at the Bart Peddicord Community Center at 7:00 pm. More details will be forthcoming about this event. We had hoped to schedule this sooner but with all the Summer vacations, we had to hold off until August.

Also in the planning stages is a meeting with our Home Owners Associations to get feedback from them on issues, concerns and ideas within their neighborhoods; and the Mayor’s Quarterly Breakfast. This breakfast will serve as an informal meeting with 15 to 20 citizens to come in and visit with the Mayor and staff on a quarterly basis. Citizens will be randomly selected to attend from our list of people who receive the eWylie Newsletter.

And, check out my updated web site with information about the office of the Mayor and upcoming events at www.erichogue.net

I believe in Wylie and my goal is to promote and grow our city in a positive way. When our citizens think of Wylie, I want them to think, “It’s good to be home.”

Until next time, may God bless the great city of Wylie , Texas as we continue to grow forward!

Your Mayor,

Eric Hogue

Rick and Alicia White are special citizens of Wylie, Texas. They are a unique couple that spend vast amounts of personal time and money helping and contributing to the world class Wylie Fire Department. They are always found on a fire scene early, documenting the events not just for themselves and Wylie citizens, but for the Wylie Fire Department itself.

Alicia said, “We are privileged to be allowed to get up close and personal on the scene of an incident. We capture scenes no one sees but a few. We see the intimate expressions on faces and the compassion these guys and gals give. But more importantly, we feel that we are part of a unique and loving family. The fire and police departments have let us become an integral part of them.”

Rick and Alicia post many of the photos they take on their website, http://www.wyliephotos.com. Here, one can see just what kind of quality photographs are taken and provided to the Fire Department. One can also get a feel for exactly how early and often they arrive on a scene.

So how does the Fire Department feel about Rick and Alicia? I was able to speak to Fire Chief Randy Corbin about them and not surprisingly, he had only good things to say. “I’ve been here for 18 months now and our arrangement is that Rick and Alicia are reserve members of our Fire Department. They arrive early on a scene, even in the middle of the night and their photographs are timely and professional. They help us with training, investigation and documentation photographs which really help us. ”

Cheif Corbin continued, “Rick is very technical in the communication business and we’ve really been able to tap into his knowledge bank. We’ve turned to him quite often as a technical consultant before and during our planning of an overhaul of our communications systems. Whether he is sharing his knowledge or pointing us to the right contacts to talk further, he has just been so extremely helpful and knowledgeable.”

Rick and Alicia White are special members of this great community and city in which we all live. They put a tremendous amount of time and effort to be of service to the community and the departments that make Wylie special. Wylie is lucky to have such fantastic and involved people living within it’s limits.

I hope Wylie Today can continue to bring readers some of the fantastic photographs or as some might say, “works of art”, that Rick and Alicia White produce.

Photos © 2008 Rick and Alicia White - click images for larger photos

The McMillan Junior High band has advanced to the state level contest in the State Honor Band competition.  Every other year, bands from across the state submit recordings from live performances that are judged at the Region, Area, and State levels.  The ultimate winner is crowned Texas State Honor Band and is invited to perform a concert at the Texas Music Educators Association annual conference in San Antonio.

The Region level contest was held on June 12 at Wylie East High School where a five-judge panel named McMillan and Haggard Middle School of Plano as the top two class CC bands.  The Region level contest involved schools from Wylie, Plano, McKinney and Allen.  There are a total of 28 Regions in the State.  The area level contest occurred on June 21 in Richardson where, once again the McMillan and Haggard bands were selected as the top two bands to advance to the state contest.  The Area level contest included bands from the DFW area as well as East Texas.  There are seven areas in the State.

The state contest will take place on July 27^th in San Antonio.  The fourteen advancing bands will be judged by the five-member panel and the winner will be named State Honor Band.  This is the first time a Wylie ISD Junior High band has advanced to this level.  We are very proud of these outstanding musicians and their teachers.  Band Director at McMillan Junior High is Lisa Fitts.  She is assisted by John Denis.

Written by Mike Lipe

The City of Wylie continues making the Summer events one to remember for ages to come. There is no concert tonight as tomorrow night is movie night at Olde City Park! The flick starts at 9:30, kind of late, I know, but you can’t watch a movie in the sun. You just can’t do it.

The first movie of the series is Bee Movie! We rented this movie a while back and the kids absolutely loved it. It’s good for the parents, as well. I’m not going to tell you about how it brought a tear to my eye. Because it didn’t. I’m cold and a man and I just don’t tear up during animated kid flicks. I don’t care if dreams are realized after long and traumatic journeys, I don’t tear up. So I won’t tell you about that part.

Wait…

Yeah, anyway. Tomorrow night, June 27th, 9:30 pm at Olde City Park. Bring your blankets or chairs, snacks and drinks and enjoy a movie with your neighbors in the park. Shrek 3 will be the feature presentation on July 25th.

Cheers!

The WISD School Board of Trustees will hold two public forums to seek input regarding the proposed high school attendance zones. The first of these meetings is tonight, June 23rd at 7 pm and will be held at Wylie High School. Next Monday, June 30th, the forum will be at Wylie East High School at 7 pm.

Residents of WISD are encouraged to attended and voice their opinion on proposed future attendance zones for high school students. Below is the map that was approved during the second reading. Click the image for a super-duper large ultra-readable version.

WYLIE, TX (June 17, 2008) – On a cool spring day in April at Olde City Park in historic downtown Wylie, giddy guests gathered for a beautiful wedding. Ocean and ChrisW would exchange vows in front of their loved ones and friends: judybug, Lady Di, marknjul, mom of 3, momof4, Bodance, lrsimms, jett1boo and many others excited to share in this one-of-a-kind event.

If the happy couple’s name and guest list sounds unique, well, they are. What makes it even more unique is that many of the guests had never even met the bride and groom until this very day. You see, the couple and guests are part of an on-line community message board, The Wylie View. Wylie View members create an alias to post messages instead of using their real name. And it is on The Wylie View, the only one of its kind in and around Wylie, Texas, that the idea of a Wylie View wedding was conceived.

It started when Ocean (Renea Dobbs) asked for encouragement and prayers from her new found virtual friends. She joined in January 2008 and saw how supportive The Wylie View members where in a forum marked Prayer Requests. She asked her fellow Wylie Viewers to pray for her oldest son to understand why she and the love of her life couldn’t get married this year. Though Ocean and ChrisW (Chris Walker) had been together for 13 years, circumstances prevented them from tying the knot. A marriage by a judge would not do… they wanted to be married in the eyes of God.

Many Wylie View members responded to her request by offering their understanding and prayer. But one Wylie View member saw an opportunity, an opportunity to have the first ever Wylie View wedding! Newly licensed to preside over weddings, a man of God, Earl Newsom (his member alias and real name), announced that Ocean and ChrisW would indeed have their wedding this year and he personally would officiate.

Now all that was needed was a venue, time, and guests. That’s where The Wylie View members came in. Lady Di (aka Diane Culver) was appointed the wedding coordinator and asked the giving community of Wylie Viewers to pitch in. Bodance provided perfectly timed music and DJ services. Over Yonder’s wife, Jayne, supplied an elegant three tired cake. MrsHobbyLobby made the beautiful flower arrangements. Jessamos organized the delicious food, making much of it herself. Mortimer, jnewsom, and darndest photographed the event. Mom of 3 donated the chairs and helped momof4 and Hopemarie decorate the gazebo and pavilion. Alicia created a handmade guest book containing photos she took of the couple before the wedding. So many people, many whom had never met in person, offered support with their time, talents, and monetarily to make this wedding happen.

It was an exciting event; the bride was glowingly beautiful, the groom handsome and the happy couple’s family proud. After the wedding, ChrisW made a post on the message board saying, “I would like to let everyone involved in giving us this beautiful wedding know that we will cherish this for rest of our lives. Thanks for a meaningful future!”

The wedding was a success because a few caring people acted on a simple yet profound prayer request to help a mother’s son’s dream come true. The Wylie View has proven over and over again to be a generous community that allows compassion and kindness to go beyond the keyboard and computer screen. The Wylie View is a living, breathing community of good-hearted people living in and around Wylie, Texas.

The Wylie View, LLC is an Internet community message board bringing the people of Wylie and surrounding areas together online with over 2,500 registered users and growing each day. Log onto www.wylieview.com for more information.

The Wylie ISD Board of Trustees may be asking you to increase ISD taxes this year. Trustees listened earnestly to the WISD finance director during the second budget workshop Monday night, May 18th. The tax relief program implemented by the State of Texas last year is causing serious fiscal concerns with school budgets.

ISD taxes have two parts to them; Maintenance & Operations (M&O) and Debt Service. The Debt Service portion of ISD taxes can not exceed 50 cents per $100 of appraised property value. This portion is used to cover debt incurred by the district through issued bonds. Wylie ISD’s rate is currently 35 cents.

The M&O portion is used for exactly that, Maintenance and Operations of the district. The maximum rate the ISD can use without an election is $1.04. Wylie ISD’s M&O tax rate is currently set at $1.04. The M&O portion of ISD taxes has a ceiling of $1.17. But in order to use the maximum allowed, the voters within the district must agree and demonstrate their agreement at the polls.

Based on the conversation that took place Monday night, I will be really surprised if the WISD Board of Trustees didn’t ask citizens to raise the tax rate with a vote in November. And honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds because it provides an automatic return on investment from the state.

The first 6 pennies over one dollar mark are referred to as “Golden Pennies” because they are matched by the state at a ratio of approximately 1.25. That means every dollar the ISD generates in taxes using those 6 “Golden Pennies”, the State of Texas gives the ISD $1.25 in return on top of that. Pennies 7 through 17 are also matched, but at a significantly reduced rate.

WISD Superintendent Dr. John Fuller recommended to the Trustees to ask citizens to raise taxes to the maximum amount allowed. Without those additional 13 pennies, teacher and staff raises might be out of the question, resulting in a loss of talented educators to other districts. Dr. Fuller made it clear that he would forfeit his recent raise as well.

Currently, 12% of districts have successfully voted on tax rates higher than $1.04. Dr. Fuller said he expects this number to increase as he thinks many districts will have this item on the ballot in November. His ideal scenario though is for the State legislation to fix the problem they have created.

A summer breeze blows through Olde City Park Thursday evening as folks set up their lawn chairs and kids run around the playground. Friends and neighbors meet up, settle down with a snowcone, and chat while they wait for the show to start.

Newly elected mayor Eric Hogue takes the stage to address the good people of Wylie and introduce the night’s act to cheers and shouts. And then a ripple of excitement runs through the crowd as a pink convertible carries Kraig Parker to the stage. We know it’s not really Elvis, but for one night, we like to pretend that it is.

Mr. Parker, www.thekinglives.com, is by far the best Elvis impersonator (tribute performer?) I’ve ever seen. The crowd seemed to agree, and I think I might have even seen a few ladies swoon.

Each year, the good people of Wylie are invited to a series of free summer concerts in the park. They have been fun in years past when they were held at Founders Park, but there’s something about being in historic downtown Wylie that makes it more special, more fun, more Main Street USA. These are a fantastic way to have fun with your friends and family, meet more of your neighbors, and enjoy what Wylie has to offer. I forgot how much I enjoy these concerts, as much for the entertainment as for the opportunity to visit with my friends.

Visit http://www.wylietexas.gov/Events/concert.htm for a summer concert schedule.

Wylie might not be such a small town anymore, but it definitely hasn’t lost its small town charm. It’s nights like last night that make me love living in Wylie.

Written by Monica Tillery

Photos © 2008 wylietoday.com

Brian from Mad Science visited the Smith Public Library today to entertain the lucky audience of kids home for summer break.

He amazed (and startled) kids with entertaining experiments involving mysterious potions, physics, strange goop, and even fire! It looks like Mad Science is available for group presentations and birthday parties.

I know a soon-to-be 7 year old who would love to have a mad scientist at his next party!
Visit www.madscience.org for more information.

The Smith Public Library has a full schedule this summer of exciting entertainment for youngsters–and it’s all free!  Please visit the City of Wylie website (www.wylietexas.gov) to put these presentations on your calendar. You and your kids can be entertained in the air-conditioned sanctuary of the library, and pick up some books and DVDs for home on your way out.

Written By Monica Tillery

Thursday night, June 12th, is the start of the annual Wylie Summer Concert Series. This year’s event kicks off with a bang featuring Kraig Parker Ultimate Elvis Tribute. Since I never got to see Elvis before he passed on, I’m positive that this experience will fill that void in my life.

Positive.

I’ll be there with my family and most certainly sweating like a roofer in July in Texas. And by there I mean Olde City Park in Downtown Wylie. Don’t go to Community Park unless you want to play basketball or run the track. The show this year is in Historic Downtown Wylie and I’ve heard that quite a few shops will stay open until 7pm or later this year.

So head out early and do some shopping or taste the fudge at Twisted Pepper before the show. I hope to see you there. I’ll post pictures on Friday.