Staff Reports

Donald Christian was named chief executive officer last month of Concordia University Texas, following the retirement of Tom Cedel on August 1, and last week, Lynette Gillis of River Place, was named interim dean of the College of Business.

Christian’s new role as CEO was announced on May 13 after a nationwide search process.

During Cedel’s tenure, the University moved in 2008 after 82 years on a 23-acre campus in Central Austin to its current home, a 389-acre property in Four Points.

Additionally, Concordia has experienced tremendous gains in undergraduate and graduate-level admissions, growing from 1,073 students in 2002 to nearly 2,600 students in 2013; increased fundraising; saw programmatic growth, including the additions of a Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing program in 2008 and Master of Business Administration program in 2010, among others; enjoyed ever-increasing prominence of faculty members; and saw unprecedented athletic success.

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By SCOTT W. COLEMAN

The University Interscholastic League approved the staff’s recommendation to move the boys and girls state basketball tournaments out of Austin among other rule and administrative changes, at its summer legislative meeting last week in Round Rock.

Officials said overcrowded conditions, due to the annual SXSW festival, and the high cost of hotels in Austin during the SXSW period which coincides with the state basketball tournaments, have resulted in a substantial decrease in attendance and complaints from schools around the state.

UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt said that crowds at the University of Texas’ Frank Erwin Center — home to both the boys and girls state tournaments since 1978 — have been decreasing steadily over the past several years, coinciding with the growth of SXSW.

Breithaupt said the boys state basketball tournament drew as many as 100,000 people over the three-day period just a few years ago, but fewer than 80,000 attended this year’s tournament.

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By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Longhorn Canyon Condos is a new condo development in Steiner Ranch located at 2601 N Quinlan Park Rd, between the University of Texas Golf Club entrance and Country Trails.

“Our target market are those looking to downsize and stay in Steiner Ranch and those looking for a 2nd home in Austin that they can ‘Lock and Leave”.  The condos all have golf course views of the 5th Fairway of UT Golf Course,” said Rhonda Durrill, Realtor with Avalar Austin Realty.

There are 36 new condos being built as part of phase II of Longhorn Canyon. The projected finish date for the first building, which will include 12 units, is mid-August.

Eight condos were completed in Phase I in 2007 by the same builder, Kemp Properties.

“Phase I was completed in 2007 when the market went soft.  Since that time, Kemp properties held on to the property waiting for the right time to begin construction again,” said Durrill, who is representing Avalar and Kemp Properties.

Phase II of the condos will be very different from the Phase I units, Durrill said.

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By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

When Antoinette Griffin and her family went out of town over the Christmas holiday, some of their family and friends mailed packages to their River Place address while they were gone. When the family returned home, the packages were gone.

Antoinette Griffin, of River Place, says that too many times her mail has been stolen, and she wants to raise awareness.

“We thought it was something with the post office, that they didn’t deliver them,” Griffin said. “But when we called them, they said they didn’t have them.”

The same thing happened in April when the family went out of town for a few days and then again over Memorial weekend. When the family returned, they had catalogs in their mailbox but no regular mail. Upon further inspection, they realized that the catalogs weren’t even for them… they were for neighbors down the street.

“We were like, ‘Ok this is really strange,’” she said.

Griffin started asking her neighbors if any of them had experienced anything similar. She discovered that one of her neighbors had the same thing happen when he went out of town for a week. He had put a hold on his mail through the post office while he was gone, but the first day the mail was delivered, it was all taken.

“He got back and he had no mail, a week’s worth of mail,” Griffin said. “That’s how we knew it was being stolen.”

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