What’s Happening in Copper Canyon – May 2013
By Sue Tejml
Mayor of Copper Canyon
Orchid Hill is 30 mph Speed Limit from Copper Canyon Road to FM 2499
Annual Appreciation Event for Town Volunteers is Sunday May 5th 3-5 p.m.
Graduating Town Seniors and their Parents also Honored and four College Scholarships Totaling $2500 to be Awarded!
2013 Friends of Scouting Dinner – Longhorn Council
Congressman and Eagle Scout Pete Sessions is the Featured Speaker
CoServ’s Free Energy Audits – a Win Win for Customer and Utility!
Energy Audit Bonuses for CoServ Members! $50 in energy efficient light bulbs AND up to $150 reimbursement for Qualified Technician’s inspection of your Heating/Air Conditioning unit! (Replacement cost of any Freon, Filters, and parts is not included in the reimbursement.)
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Orchid Hill is 30 mph Speed Limit from Copper Canyon Road to FM 2499
Public input at the April 8th Council Meeting was overwhelmingly in favor of a 30 mph speed limit through the Orchid Hill Lane “S” curve. After two months of observing this speed limit, and with no accidents, nearby residents believed this to be a safe speed. (The “S” curve was designed by engineers to be safe at 30 mph.)
Residents also requested that the Council maintain the 30 mph speed limit for the length of Orchid Hill Lane. Their reasoning was twofold. First, drivers coming down Orchid Hill from the west invariably accelerate with the drop in elevation. Going into the “S” curve at a speed greater than 30 mph can force a vehicle into the oncoming lane due to centrifugal force. Two, drivers on Orchid Hill Lane need to decelerate their vehicle’s speed as they approach and go around the round-about at the Chinn Chapel intersection. Residents who live adjacent to Orchid Hill Lane also appreciated the safety of slower vehicle speeds as they mow the right-of-ways on either side of the road or just walk their pets.
Annual Appreciation Event for Town Volunteers is Sunday May 5th 3-5 p.m.
Copper Canyon quite literally “runs on” Volunteers! Last year over 120 Town volunteers attended the Appreciation Event – and a similar number is expected this year! Our Hostess Committee is famous for the assortment of home-baked desserts and hors d’oeuvres they individually prepare! Chairman Pris Johnson’s Sugarless Banana Pudding is always a favorite, as is Mary Alexander’s Buttermilk Pie and Mary Maddoux’s Coconut “Rave” Cake! I’m hoping Donna Yetter will bring my personal all-time favorite, her Italian Cream Cake! And always an assortment of home baked cookies for any children!
Rita Lokie will bring her neighbor Sandi Pruett’s great Hot Bleu Cheese Bites. Town Administrator Donna Welsh is preparing her hot Stuffed Mushrooms! Town resident Art Morales will be serving his State Fair First Prize award winning Beef Briskets and Sauce! And there will be Cristina’s Mexican Restaurant’s chips, dips, salsa, and guacamole! And Aw Shucks wonderful shrimp cocktail!
Volunteers Andre and Patti Nicholas are again preparing to serve a variety of their home made sausages! Once a year the Nicholas family and their friends gather around huge tables in their game room and form assembly lines. Some grind the assortments of meat, some mix the spices and seasonings and hand blend the powdered mixture into the ground meat, some stuff the meat into casings and twist the casing off to form links, some package the finished products of links and sausage patties for the freezer. It’s a fun event with a lot of laughter and kidding and huge aprons to protect clothes from the inevitable “mess” of such a project! Good food and drink are provided by Andre and Patti and also contributed by their family and friends!
Volunteers – Please RSVP to your email Invitation at (940) 241-2677 or . The Hostess Committee needs a reasonably accurate number of guests attending the Event on Sunday May 5th, 3-5 p.m., at Mayor Tejml’s home at 835 Orchid Hill Lane.
Graduating Town Seniors and their Parents also Honored and four College Scholarships Totaling $2500 to be Awarded!
Four Town graduating seniors have applied for a total of $2500 in college scholarships, funded by sales of the 2012 Copper Canyon Cookbook ($25 each) and the 2013 Update ($20 each). The four seniors are Nicholas Chaseof Mahogany Lane, Ross Moralesof Oakridge Trail, Ben Powellof Estates Drive, and Chris Svatikof Estates Drive. The Scholarship Applications have been “blindly” judged by a panel of four. The First Prize Award is $1,000. Scholarship awards will be paid directly to the University to be applied to the award recipient’s tuition.
The eight other graduating seniors will also be honored with a $100 gift check from the Town and a full sized Texas Flag with a certificate to each senior that that flag has actually flown over the Capitol of the State of Texas. Our Texas legislative representative Tan Parker has kindly provided the flags to each individual graduating senior. Our additional graduating seniors are:
Garrett Bass –Mobile Drive
Elise Collins – Pilot Lane
Cody Heer – Chinn Chapel Road
Brady Hohenberger – Landseer Drive
Shelby Kilpatrick – Mayberry Court
Jett Miller – Oakridge Trail
Katie Schattle – Summit Drive
Ali Shearer – Orchid Hill Lane
Madison Castaneda – Mahogany Lane
Special thanks go to Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Steve Hill, Council Member Charlie Nicholas, Mayor Sue and Emil Tejml, and Town EngineersHalff Associates who have each contributed a $1,000 to fund the ongoing Copper Canyon Senior and College Scholarship awards!
2013 Friends of Scouting Dinner – Longhorn Council
As a Mayor, I am fortunate to be invited to some very worthwhile events. The Friends of Scouting Dinner was certainly one of them. It was held at the Hilton Garden Inn on April 20th and co-sponsored by Jerry Elmer and Flower Mound Council Member Mark Wise - with fellow sponsors Parkway Construction, Flower Mound Rotary, Sam Packs Five Star Ford of Lewisville, and Waste Management. Vaughan Hancock was in charge of the silent auction. Steve Woodland, Tonkawa District Chairman, gave the Invocation. Presentation of the colors was by Topsanah District Scouts. Copper Canyon Town resident Darrin Peterson was one of the Table Hosts.
Our area Longhorn Council has 1,000 adult volunteers and provides three full service camping facilities for the free use of Boy Scouts.(Our former Denton County Commissioner Jim Carter headed the Longhorn Council for two years and his son Rusty Carter became an Eagle Scout during that time.) Funds raised by the Friends of Scouting dinner enable “campships” for boys who could not otherwise afford to be a Boy Scout or attend the camps.
In 1910 there were 104,000 scouts and only 2% achieved the rank of Eagle. In 2012 there were 2.7 million young people in scouting, with a million adult volunteers, and 57,976 Scouts earned their Eagle rank. In Copper Canyon, three of our five Council Members have been Eagle Scouts – a testimony to the long standing and very effective leadership program of the Scouts and their dedication to community service. And, we always welcome Eagle projects in our Town.
Camp Philmont – a 127,000 acre pristine wilderness and mountain area!
Camp Philmont is a ranch in New Mexico that was donated by Wade Phillips to the Boy Scouts. Phillips gave this place of incredible natural beauty so that attending Scouts might learn “faith, integrity, self-reliance, and freedom.” Vast mountain peaks adjoin lower fields of colorful mountain wildflowers! This summer, 40,000 Scouts and adult volunteers will each spend a week at Camp Philmont. It is a week of serious hiking, trekking up mountain trails, and tent camping under the stars. Small wonder that a week at Philmont is recognized as one of the premier experiences of Scouting!
Emil’s and my son Emil, Jr. and our grandson son Trey are blessed to be going to Camp Philmont for a week in July – and husband Emil’s and my twin granddaughters, Sydney and Emily Tejml, will also be at Camp Philmont the week before. (The twin girls are Venture Scouts, but disappointed that their sex prevents them from being eligible to earn an Eagle rank.)
The twins and Trey have been getting in shape for Philmont by going on week long canoe trips in Arkansas and mountain climbing treks in Big Bend with their Dad. The twins run hurdles in track at high school, and Emily studies ballet, so they are in excellent physical condition. Every day at Camp Philmont they will encounter the weather elements of rain, sleet, and/or snow. Hopefully, as grandparents, we have provided them with quality camping gear to brave those elements.
Congressman and Eagle Scout Pete Sessions is the Featured Speaker
Texas Congressman Pete Sessions shared some very personal memories of Scouting. He remembered, at the impressionable age of six years old, exploring his Dad’s special “memory box”. Inside were his Dad’s Captain’s bars from the Air Force, and wings as a pilot, his Eagle Scout badge, and a lock of Pete’s older brother’s hair. (Sessions humorously commented that as the middle son of three boys, no parent kept a lock of a middle son’s hair.)
Pete said his Dad’s lifetime of service had always inspired him! Pete’s dad had served 14 years as a Federal Judge in Waco and as FBI Director under both President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush. Sessions is now in his 17th year representing our State in Congress. He is Chairman of the very influential House Rules Committee. And, he is an Eagle Scout himself and recipient of Scouting’s highest award - the Silver Beaver. (NOTE: 189 congressmen have been Boy Scouts and 27 have earned their Eagle badge.)
Congressman Sessions also shared a more personal connection to Scouting as a parent. He has two sons, but son Alex has Down’s syndrome. He said that Alex has an “intellectual disability to take care of himself, but he does not lack in heart.” Alex’s Special Olympics nickname is “Splash” when he competes in water events!
Pete was himself an Eagle Scout and had attended Camp Philmont fourteen times! It was his personal photos of the rugged mountains of Camp Philmont that he kindly emailed to me to share with my grandchildren who would be there in July.
The Congressman said that he had taken Alex to Boy Scout camps and he appreciated a safe, out of doors atmosphere, that he could share with his son. He would get up at 6 a.m., clean and bathe Alex, brush his teeth. But he could always count on the fact that both the Scouts and their leaders would treat Alex with respect as an individual. In a time of rampant bullying at school, what a wonderful example of boys and men making every individual feel welcome and appreciated!
CoServ’s Free Energy Audits: A Win-Win for Customer and Utility!
For three years CoServ has been offering members a free Energy Audit. It is a win-win for members and the utility! A cost effective way to lower your electric utility bill and lessen our community’s drain on the environment. Call 940-270-6860 or email to arrange a home inspection. Qualified inspectors take approximately an hour to audit your home or business. And they email you a detailed report of evaluations and recommendations within a day.
The energy auditors begin with basic questions about your home and your energy usage:
What is the square footage of your home? What year was it built?
How many occupants live in your home?
What temperature do you set your thermostat in the summer? In winter?
Have you already implemented any energy efficiency steps?
Roof: Do you have adequate ventilation? 12 in. x 12 in. intake vents under roof eaves may only service a much smaller actual opening. Electric powered turbines may not be cost effective, but those activated by hot air rising may be.
Attic: An R38 insulation factor is recommended. But radiant heat barriers installed under the roof may take 8-10 years to pay out. Simply blowing 4-6 inches of insulation onto the existing insulation in the attic may be more cost effective. Are the air conditioning ducts in the attic adequately insulated? Are the ducts leaking already cooled air into the attic? Insulated “attic tents” for approximately $150 may effectively seal cool air in the home from leaking into the attic. The tents can be unzipped when you need to access your attic. (The tents are available at Home Depot or Lowe’s or online.)
Air Conditioning/Heating Units: Are you filters clean? Do they need replacing? Are your AC intake vents clean? Are you ducts adequately insulated? Is air leaking into the attic? Do you have a contract to have a certified AC technician inspect your units twice a year? Is it time to upgrade to a new higher Seer AC unit for savings on your energy bills?
Thermostats: Do you have programmable digital thermostats? Do you set them at the recommended 78 degrees to activate cooling in the summer or 68 degrees or below to activate heating in the winter? Do you set them to a lower or higher temperature when your family is away from your home or office or at night?
Fireplace: Is the chimney vent closed when not in use?
Windows: Are they adequately calked? Double paned? Tinted?
Doors: Is the weather stripping effective at blocking out air leakage or intake?
Electrical Outlets on Exterior Walls: Are they adequately insulated?
Appliances: Are they Energy Star certified? Are the temperature controls in the refrigerator and freezer set at reasonable levels? Can spare refrigerators and freezers in the garage be moved into air conditioned space or their contents moved to appliances already inside the air conditioned home?
Hot Water Heaters: Are they set at 120 degrees? Can you put an insulated blanket around electric fueled ones? (The blanket is not recommended for gas or propane fueled water heaters, as the blanket may inadvertently cover critical vents.)
Energy Saving Power Strip: Televisions, cell phone chargers, DVD players, video game consoles, Blu-ray players - all draw a “phantom load of energy” even when they are turned off. These “smart strip” devices, withan estimated8-10 electrical outlets, cost about $40 and eliminate the “phantom load” drain of energy.
Energy Audit Bonuses for CoServ Members! $50 in energy efficient light bulbs AND up to $150 reimbursement for Qualified Technician’s inspection of each of your Heating/Air Conditioning units!
At the completion of the audit, CoServ Energy Auditors will provide the home or business owner with $50 of energy efficient light bulbs. I chose 12 CFLs (A19 compact fluorescent lights) that look like regular light bulbs. (Also available were 24 of the typical “corkscrew” shaped CFL light bulbs or R30 or R40 CFL bulbs for recessed ceiling fixtures.)
And – if you schedule an HVAC tune up by a qualified Heating/Air Conditioning technician, CoServ will reimburse you up to $150 per HVAC unit for the technician’s tune up. (This reimbursement does not include filter, Freon, or parts replacement costs.) NATE certified technicians are automatically qualified for the reimbursement. (National American Technician Excellence. NATE is the largest certification organization for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technicians.) In other words, you cannot ask your neighbor or brother-in-law to inspect your HVAC system and expect to be reimbursed.
Copper Canyon’s 40 year old Town Hall passes Energy Audit with an “Outstanding” rating!
Town Administrator Donna Welsh worked hard to get a state grant to upgrade our 40 year old Town Hall. Last year the grant paid for new energy efficient heating and air conditioning units with programmable digital thermostats, new windows installed and calked, new weather stripping on the doors, and new insulation blown into the attic. The recent energy auditor suggested we hang drapes or blinds on our large picture window in the Council Chamber – but we will not incur that expense though it would increase energy efficiency. An “attic door tent” for a $150 is a more realistic possibility. Thank you, Donna, for making our decades old frame building function more efficiently in its energy use!
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