While finishing touches are made inside, Austin Baptist Church staff members stand outside ABC’s new education building scheduled to open on Aug. 28. L-R in front is Cathy Smith, minister to children and their families; Dodie Morris, music and worship associate; and Kati Dobbs, children’s ministry assistant. In back is John Parker, associate pastor of music and worship; Gary Dyer, senior pastor; David Procter, executive pastor; and Matt Gillum, minister to students and their families.

By KIM ESTES, Four Points News

Austin Baptist Church will open its 33,686-square-foot, two-story education building on Aug. 28. The expansion is a result of growth and future growth projections.

The building provides 17,847-square-feet on the first floor for 13 children’s rooms and children’s worship space. The second floor will house a dozen adult classrooms in 15,839-square-feet.

Opening of the education building, marks completion of the first phase of ABC’s expansion. The next phase, a building to be named Heritage Hall, is currently underway and scheduled to open in February.

Last October, the church broke ground on its 35-acre property with plans to add more than 52,000-square-feet of structural space, complementing its original 81,660-square-foot building.

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By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

A Steiner Ranch realtor and former HOA board member asks why residents have to continue to pay a $600 flat fee known as the working capital assessment upon purchasing a home in Steiner Ranch.

Brian Conroy

Brian Conroy has lived in Steiner since 2002, and has been helping buyers and sellers there since 2004. He was the first developer-appointed resident to the SRMA board several years ago. Conroy said the working capital assessment was added in the last 10 years as a closing cost fee upon transfer of ownership to a buyer.

“Initially, it was equal to three months of HOA regular assessments – a common formula followed by many HOA’s,” Conroy said. “It was designed to help with big picture development expenses, and not necessarily as part of the operating expenses budget.”

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Vandegrift Vipers head coach Drew Sanders and the coaching staff celebrates after a touchdown during the Class 5A, Division I regional semifinal playoff game at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio on Friday, November 27, 2015.

VHS Football Preview

Odessa Permian at Vandegrift
Monroe Stadium
Friday, Aug. 26 – 7 p.m.

By SCOTT W. COLEMAN, Four Points News

It isn’t often one gets to face off against a true legend, but that’s exactly what lies ahead for Vandegrift coach Drew Sanders and the Vipers this Friday.

The Permian Panthers helped the nation and world learn the significance here in Texas of high school football. Through his 1990 book “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream,” Buzz Bissinger introduced millions to the Permian Panthers, telling the story of the Panther’s 1988 season that ended in a 5A state semifinals loss to Dallas Carter. Permian won the 5A title the following year and followed it up with another in 1991; those would be the last titles for the six-time state champions and twice national champion Panthers.

For most of the last two decades, the Panthers have been a revolving door of coaches, including the short-lived return of Gary Gaines — the national champion coach made famous in Bissinger’s book. Still, the success of the 80s and 90s teams haven’t been repeated.

Current head coach Blake Feldt, who arrived to the sidelines in 2013, is a former head coach at Hays High School in Buda. Though Feldt never faced Vandegrift in his time at Hays, he is no doubt familiar with the Vipers and their rather more recent rise to statewide recognition.

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Vandegrift Vipers junior outside hitter Simone Priebe (11) in action during a high school volleyball game between the Vandegrift Vipers and the Cedar Park Timberwolves at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas on August 13, 2016.

By SCOTT W. COLEMAN, Four Points News

Coming off the most successful season in program history, expectations couldn’t be higher for the Viper volleyball team. Finishing 40-10 overall (more wins than the program’s first four years combined) with a regional tournament loss to eventual state champion Dripping Springs last year capped off a meteoric rise of the Vandegrift program in recent years that has garnered statewide attention.

Losing several seniors — including all-state setter Lexi Lopez, who is now at Texas A&M — is just one of the challenges coach Kelly McCarter Skidmore’s team faces this season. With the growth of Vandegrift’s enrollment, the Vipers will move away from competing with perennial state power Dripping Springs and instead will face 6A competition with longtime powers Lake Travis and Westlake.

“We return several starters off a team that posted 40 wins and advanced to the regional finals, but moving up to this Class 6A district will be challenging,” Skidmore told the Four Points News last week.

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