By KIM ESTES
Four Points News

Members of the Islamic Center of Lake Travis remain optimistic notwithstanding an early morning fire on Jan. 7 that destroyed their future community center, said Shakeel Rashed, ICLT board member.

“Our community has always been very open and optimistic, and we remain the same through this moment of difficulty, especially with all the love and support we have received during this time,” said Rashed, a Steiner Ranch resident.

On Sunday, Solidarity with the Community was held by ICLT and Lake Travis United Methodist Church to show unanimity among the community regardless of individual affiliations. Representatives from all religious groups were invited, including Jews, Christians, Muslims and all other faiths. The Travis County Fire Marshal Tony Callaway and others also spoke at the event.

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The three story Islamic Center of Lake Travis was under construction when it was destroyed by fire on Jan. 7.

By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

Fire crews responded to a reported structure fire reported at 3:33 a.m. in the Hudson Bend community at 4700 block of Doss Road on Jan. 7. Crews arrived on the scene to find a three story building fully engulfed with flames.

The building was the Islamic Center of Lake Travis and was nearly complete, said Shakeel Rashed of Steiner Ranch and a board member of the Islamic Center.

The fire was extinguished from the exterior to keep the fire from spreading to neighboring homes and vegetation. The faith-based building was still under construction. No injuries were reported. The Travis County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.

The agencies involved were Lake Travis Fire Rescue (primary), Austin Fire Department and the Travis County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Lake Travis Fire Rescue commends the facility owners for maintaining a well established defensible space around the construction site greatly reducing the opportunity for the fire to spread to nearby vegetation and providing improved access for fire crews.

“Oliver!” director Nikki Guckian (left) and choreographer Brenda Hull (second from left) teach newly-recruited elementary and middle school students the opening number of the show.

VHS Performing Arts Center
Jan. 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 at 7 p.m.
Jan. 14, 21 at 2 p.m.

By SARAH DOOLITTLE
Four Points News

The Vandegrift High School Theatre Harvey Players open their annual musical “Oliver!” on Thursday and there are eight performances from Jan. 12 – 21.

This is the first time that the VHS theatre department will perform a show for two consecutive weekends, inspired by audiences’ response to last year’s musical, “Cinderella,” which sold out three out of four performances.

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Dr. Sally Grogono

By KIM ESTES
Four Points News

Local obstetrician, Dr. Sally Grogono, announces the launch of Luxe OB, a concierge obstetrics practice providing in-home care from the beginning of pregnancy through delivery and into postpartum recovery.

In addition to home-based clinical care, including ultrasound testing, Luxe OB patients will receive 24-hour access to Grogono, personalized childbirth classes and lactation consultation services.

A fifth generation physician who has been in private practice for 16 years, Grogono said she wants to return to the kind of patient care that originally inspired her to become a doctor.

“The relationship between an expectant mom and her OB is a special one. I want my patients to have the kind of one-on-one care that has become almost extinct in modern medicine. Patient care is why I got into medicine and I want to focus on that,” she said.

However, Grogono stops short of full obstetric care via house calls, declining to offer home births. “Delivery will occur in the hospital,” she said.

“Hospitals have the technology and proximity to potential life-saving equipment that can’t be offered at home deliveries, but I will deliver the baby rather than the hospital’s on-call doctor, whom the patient often has never met,” she said.

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