What’s Happening in Copper Canyon – December 2012
By Sue Tejml
Mayor of Copper Canyon
Santa Party for Copper Canyon Kids is Saturday Dec. 8th 4-6 pm Town Hall
Cookbook Sales fund College Scholarships for our Graduating Seniors
Apply for Homestead Exemptions at the Denton County Tax Office now
Former Copper Canyon Mayor Hugh Meilinger passes
Watershed Partners host Breakfast Meeting at Upper Trinity
Camp Sweeney for Diabetic Children and the United Way of Denton County
The Realities of Homecoming for our Veterans
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Santa Party for Copper Canyon Kids is Saturday Dec. 8th 4-6 pm Town Hall
The Santa Party is limited to children and grandchildren of Copper Canyon residents. Our Argyle Volunteer Fire District Fire Chief Mac Hohenberger has assured us that the AVFD fire engine will be present to carry kids and parents “on top” around the Woodlands Subdivision. It usually takes 4 to 6 trips to accommodate all the children who want to ride on the fire engine – and sometimes enthusiastically “re-ride” for a second time. So, a very heartfelt advance “thanks” to residents in the Woodlands who gracefully accommodate this intrusion on their quiet neighborhood and privacy.
Cookbook Sales fund College Scholarships for our Graduating Seniors
Copper Canyon has five high school seniors scheduled to graduate next May:
Brady Hohenberger, Ross Morales, Katie Schattle, Ali Shearer, and Chris Svatik. In April the Town will host an Appreciation Reception for all our Volunteers and also honor all our graduating seniors! And, at the reception the Scholarship Committee will announce its winning students. Eligible seniors can be graduating from public or private high schools or be home schooled. They must be residents of Copper Canyon and have been accepted to a college. If you know of graduating seniors besides those listed above, please notify Town Hall (940) 241-2677. The Scholarship Applications will be available at Town Hall the first week of February 2013.
Apply for Homestead Exemptions at the Denton County Tax Office now
If you Google “Denton County Tax Office”, you can download the forms you will need for various property tax exemptions for different taxing entities.
Former Copper Canyon Mayor Hugh Meilinger passes
Former Copper Canyon Mayor Hugh Meilinger passed away peacefully October 21st. His death was due to a brain injury caused when he fell and hit his head while packing the family car. In recent years Hugh and his wife Gretchen spent many months of each year in Wisconsin and Florida.
Hugh and his family lived in Copper Canyon for 21 years from 1977 to 1998. He was Mayor of our town for several terms. Butch Mallam was Mayor Pro Tem at the same time and commented that Hugh had “total recall” on most subjects. It was during this time that Copper Canyon released its ETJ (Extra Territorial Jurisdiction) east of Chinn Chapel Road to Highland Village – in exchange for proposed FM 2499 NOT being routed along Chinn Chapel Road. It was felt that this possible routing of FM 2499 directly through Copper Canyon would destroy the integrity and rural feel of the Town
Hugh is survived by his wife of many years Gretchen Meilinger of Lewisville, and their three children: Holly Jones of Highland Village, Lisa Alford of Lewisville, Dirk Meilinger of Highland Village, and eight grandchildren.
Note: Current Council Member Dave Svatik and his wife Dale and son Chrishave lived in the Meilingers’ former home on Estates Drive since 1998.
Watershed Partners host Breakfast Meeting at Upper Trinity
Sanger Mayor Thomas Muir welcomed Denton County residents and elected officials interested in preserving our watersheds. Upper Trinity’s Executive Director Tom Taylor observed that these are “stewardship obligations to our watershed” done voluntarily and not compelled by government. Though leaders like Denton County Judge Mary Horn have led by example and commitment to watershed conservation and the clean water it produces.
Jason Pierce, former Mayor of Aubrey, described three conservation tools that are practical but do not cost a lot of money.
(1) Free Watershed Signs. Over 200 signs have been installed around Lake Lewisville and Lake Ray Roberts. (Copper Canyon residents may notice the signs Janet Aune, a director of the Watershed Conservation Trust, installed by our Chinn Chapel Bridge where Poindexter Creek passes and on Copper Canyon Road where the same creek also passes under the road.) In essence, the signs remind both residents and casual passers-by to “Keep it Clean!”
(2) Conservation Easements. These easements are a legal instrument between the landowner and the Conservation Trust and protect the relevant watershed “in perpetuity”.
(3) Integrated Stormwater Protection. This program was developed by the North Texas Council of Governments (NTCOG) in cooperation with municipalities. Site development protects watersheds from stormwater runoff that both erodes and contaminates areas that drain into the lakes that provide our drinking water.
Many thanks to our Town resident Janet Aune for devoting her time and dedication to this very worthwhile project that benefits all of us.
Camp Sweeney for Diabetic Children and the United Way of Denton County
When a child has a life-threatening condition, if affects the entire family. The condition can vary widely - cancer, heart defects, juvenile diabetes, asthma, crippled limbs, blindness, muscular dystrophy, severe autism, Down Syndrome – but the impact on the family unit is similar. The parents focus their time, energy, and finances on the health and emotional needs of this special child. And other children in the family may feel neglected – and may actually be neglected by comparison.
For me, it was a beloved small grandson diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was only a year and a half old. We almost lost him, because no one in our family was familiar with the warning signs of juvenile diabetes. Our usually grinning toddler, who would leap happily into any of our arms, suddenly would not leave his mother’s lap and was so eerily quiet. He was constantly hungry and thirsty, and we were double diapering him to contain the incredible quantity of urine he was passing. (What we didn’t realize was that he was literally starving before our eyes. His body could not utilize the food he was consuming, because it had no insulin to convert the glucose in his blood to fuel for his cells.) We were all puzzled by little Trey’s sad distress, but we didn’t recognize it for the medical emergency that it was.
The next call came from our son Emil, Jr, in an ambulance with Trey on an IV. They were headed to Temple, Texas, because all the pediatric ICU units in Austin were full. Thus began our family’s crash course in juvenile diabetes – and how to cope with it in a very small child. Slowly we learned – from experience, from other parents who had been down this road before us. And we will be forever grateful to the medical personnel at Scott WhiteHospital in Temple for their patient, caring instructions. And often, repeated instructions. For some times in the trauma of the moment, what the doctor or nurse is saying simply doesn’t “register”. We learned to “team up in twos” for medical conferences. What one of us forgot, the other family member might remember.
Our son Emil Jr. and his wife Chris taught our precious Trey not only to survive, but to thrive! Thrive to the fullest of what life offered him – and never to use diabetes as an “excuse” to give less than his best effort at any challenge, be it sports, school, or just the fun of living! Though apprehensive at first, I loved seeing our Trey at 7 and 8 years of age in his Tae Kwan Do class in full white uniform – but with a diabetic insulin pump at his waist with leads into his blood stream. And he went on to play football in junior high - again, loving the rough and tumble of the sport. He’s on track to be an Eagle Scout now and eagerly looking forward to a week of backpacking this summer at the Boy Scout’s Camp Philmont in New Mexico!
But dealing with an ongoing, serious, chronic medical condition in your child is incredibly wearying for the parent. You never get away from the daily, 24 hour responsibility. Diabetes doesn’t observe holidays or “time outs”. It is with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day and night of every month for a lifetime. You must prick your child’s body repeatedly every few hours to check the level of his blood sugar – and get up in the middle of every single night to check it. You must give your child insulin shots 3 to 4 times a day, even if your child finally rebels against the unremitting regimen. As our son Emil, Jr. patiently and repeatedly told his little son Trey, your insulin shots are NOT NEGOTIABLE. This is something we MUST DO to keep you safe.
One of the saddest moments for Trey’s mother Chris was when she asked him which part of his body he wanted his fourthinsulin-shot-for-the-day in – and her five year old son responded very seriously, “how about in you.”
Camp Sweeney for Juvenile Diabetic Children
This long personal family narrative was simply a prelude to our family’s discovery of Camp Sweeney, east of Gainesville in North Texas. Camp Sweeney has one, two and three week long camps for children with juvenile diabetes. The camp is fully staffed with doctors and nurses experienced with juvenile diabetes, who can keep their diabetic campers safe. Many of the nurses are sponsored by their clinic or public school to attend the camp and learn how to supervise diabetic children attending their facility.
Even more interesting are the junior counselors. They are all juvenile diabetics and understand fully the required daily regimen of glucose tests and insulin shots – and they cut the younger campers “no slack” in that regimen. But more importantly, they are a role model for the elementary school and pre-teen campers. They are examples of how a teenager can participate fully in high school, both sports and academics and other extra-curricular activities, in spite of the diabetes. This is probably one of the most valuable lessons in life that Camp Sweeney offers its young campers.
Equally dedicated are the senior counselors. They are often college students who are preparing for a career in medicine. And they come from all over the United States, though Notre Dame students seem to have a special fondness for Camp Sweeney. (The attraction can’t be the blistering heat of our Texas summers!)
A Parent’s Well Deserved Vacation
The second most valuable thing Camp Sweeney offers is a vacation for the parents from supervising and enforcing the rigorous daily routine of a diabetic child. For one week or more, they can sleep through the night. They don’t have to ensure that the backpack with glucometer, insulin shots, juice boxes, and emergency supplies is with them whenever they leave their home with their diabetic child. They don’t have to count every carbohydrate in their child’s every meal and then calculate the required insulin shot. They don’t have to attempt to balance fast-acting and slow-acting insulin components based on their child’s activity level at that moment in time.
Believe me – calculating the required amount of insulin in a shot is an “art form”, not a science. I have listened to my son and daughter-in-law sincerely debate back and forth what insulin amount they should give their son - depending on his blood glucose level that morning, what he just ate, his general health (sniffles or low grade fever), and how strenuous his recent physical activity has been.
Camp Sweeney is just one of the worthy non-profit organizations that the United Way of Denton County sponsors. We all have our favorite charities. I hope you will consider giving to this one this Christmas.
Former Copper Canyon Mayor Hugh Meilinger passes
I’m sorry but no details were available at press time.
The Realities of Homecoming for our Veterans
For many years we only recognized “physical” wounds in our veterans returning from combat. Missing limbs, blindness, the devastation to the human skin caused by severe burns. Slowly, we have realized that many of the wounds of war are internal – not readily recognizable by the casual observer. The brain concussions from the impact of repeated nearby explosions. The vivid memories of horrors and atrocities seen. The screams of agony you heard that still are alive in your head. The frightening fear of not living another moment – or living, but in a barely recognizable mutilated body. I hesitate to write about this, because I have never experienced combat firsthand. (Only one old friend, a veteran of World War II, shared his troubled memories with me. That dates me, but I believe the experience of surviving combat is universal.) Our returning veterans deserve better understanding from all of us.
Denton County Veterans Advisory Board. County Judge Mary Horn has formed the Denton County Veterans Advisory Board. (Mary and her husband Jim Horn have been married 45 years. Their son Jim is a graduate of the War College and a Major on his 4th deployment to the Middle East.) The Board is an attempt to improve the delivery of veterans’ services and avoid “redundancy” of services. One solution is the publication of a “Veterans Resource Guide”.
Returning veterans face more than physical disabilities. There may be mental health issues, sexual assault traumas, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTS), marital discord from long absences, unemployment or underemployment disappointments, and overwhelming financial problems. Some Texas veterans can wait up to two yearsto get checks they are entitled to. In North Texas, one in 150 veterans are homeless and six percent of veterans live in poverty. Then there are the issues of self-medication with excessive drugs and alcohol to minimize awareness of serious problems.
Veterans Diversion Court sponsored the Denton County District Attorney’s Office
Assistant District Attorney Forrest Beadle is in charge of the Veterans Diversion Court. It is an attempt to give a “second chance” to returning veterans,who run afoul of our criminal statutes, to clear their name. (I.e. hot check citations) Veterans who are charged with sexual assault, child or spousal abuse, or narcotics sales are ineligible for this court.
“Honor Courage Commitment” – Marine core values encourage Veterans to become Entrepreneurs
“Honor Courage Commitment” is an 18 month oldDallas non-profit incorporated by former Marine Andrew Nguyen to encourage veterans to become business entrepreneurs. A core program of “HCC” is for veterans to attend Southern Methodist University’s “Starting a Business” 8 week certificate program. Approximately 250,000 service members leave active duty each year and become civilians again. They have a higher unemployment rate than the general work force, as they attempt to adjust from their prior military life. But business owners, who themselves are veterans, often hire qualified fellow veterans as employees.
Jordan Jeffcott, 25, had four years of active duty in Korea and Iraq. He is studying finance and economics at SMU and completing his “Start a Business” certificate. He said “There are things that you go through in the military that push you to the limits and then some….I think an entrepreneur has to have a no-quit attitude.” (Dallas Morning News, November 27, 2012, page 6D)
Slowly veterans and their loved ones are realizing that there is strength, not weakness, in acknowledging post combat issues and pursuing a better solution.
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