course he teaches at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Charles teaches two classes — the basic class for beginners and an experienced class for those who, like Charles, are self-taught riders. “The basic program is designed for the beginning rider, the person who’s never sat on a bike before,” Charles said. “Since the motorcycle course became mandatory, we’ve seen lots of individuals in the

basic class who have being riding for a long time, but they now must have the schooling to get their motorcycle license.” The classes are taught on the weekends — biweekly in the fall and winter, weekly during the spring and summer months. “We have been lucky to have the support of the Navarro College,” Charles said. “We start off in the classroom. Then we move out onto the campus property for the hands-on portion of the course, which is four-and-a-half to five hours both Saturday and Sunday.

As the couple settled into their new home, the iris garden came to life. The talk of the neighborhood soon became the talk of the town. “Since 2005, we have opened our yard up to family and friends during the month of April so we can share the wonder of the iris,” Pat explained. “The plants know what to do. They show off for us every spring.” Their yard has been visited by a bus group from the Dallas Iris Society and the Four Seasons Garden Club of Waco.

Several key individuals in the community started to take notice of the beauty and notoriety the irises were having well beyond the community. The idea to designate the iris as the city flower was discussed at length in 2006 by David, Susie Braden, the Master Gardeners, John Smith from the city’s parks department and Debra Wakeland from the Chamber of Commerce. Thirty of David and Pat’s friends petitioned the city with the request, showing up at the council meeting with a huge bouquet of freshly cut irises. In May of 2008, David and Pat were honored with a proclamation from the Waxahachie City Council. “They declared the iris the official flower of the city,” David beamed. David and Pat are not selfish when it comes to the flowers they love. They find great pleasure in passing the beauty on whenever and wherever they can. David provides vases of cut irises at each city council meeting held in April, when the flowers are at their most beautiful. He also provided iris vases for the Lenten luncheons held at the First United Methodist Church. Pat assembled a “contribution box” in the garden throughout the month of April. At the end of the month, she donates the money contributed to the Dinah Weable Breast Cancer luncheon, which in turn provides free mammograms at Hope Clinic. In the two years the box has been available, Pat has donated $800 to the cause.

Over the past two years, Sarah has created many cakes. They’ve gone from simplistic to outlandish, but always delicious. They may feature fresh flowers, a personal timeline in icing or detailed hand painting and airbrushing. Other one-of-a-kind creations include an Xbox 360, a golf bag with clubs, a hockey puck, a camera and a guitar, to name only a few. One of the most detailed ones to date was a Toyota FJ Cruiser, completely tricked out with working headlights. A five-tiered wedding cake has been her largest so far.

 

Sarah prides herself in being different. She gets her thinking-outside-the-box personality from her dad. “He’s technical,” she explained. “He has an engineer’s mind, and he’s super creative.” While the natural talent she possesses came from her dad, experience in the kitchen at an early age was a gift from her mom. Over the years, she admitted she has learned a lot from tuning into KERA. “Sometimes I feel like Bob Ross, Julia Childs and Jacques Pèpin all rolled into one. I need some happy little trees on here,” she said, laughing as she continued to hand paint a peacock feather atop a two-layered cake.

She believes in the barter system. She will bake a cake in exchange for a housecleaning or a night of babysitting. Sometimes she’s able to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. “I realized a special friend was having a birthday the following day,” Sarah said. “My peacock cake became the birthday cake for a friend who loves peacocks. How cool is that?”

Recently, Sarah decided to venture out into the world of gluten-free recipes of her own making and vegan baking. “Some children are on special diets due to allergies,” she explained, “but they still want to enjoy a cake or some cupcakes on their birthday, too.”

When her daughter, Elise, turned 1, Sarah knew she had to come up with something very special. She knew she wanted to create a castle, but had no clear vision in mind. As things began to progress, her husband and biggest fan, Justin, began to voice his doubts. “He kept saying he didn’t think it was going to work,” she stated. “I made him look at it the morning after I’d worked all night long to finish it. He said, ‘Okay, okay, you were right. It worked out. That’s why you’re the cake person and I’m not!”

Black history holds a great deal of meaning for those, like Chuck, who were growing up in the Freedman community as the changes were implemented. Chuck was born in Midlothian, but reared in Waxahachie. He fondly recalls his trip to North Texas State University, now the University of North Texas. “George Brown, the first black mayor of Waxahachie,” Chuck said, “drove me to college.”

The advice George gave Chuck on that ride is the same advice that brought Chuck home, and it’s the same advice he tries to live by on a daily basis. “George told me to always remember to make contributions to society,” Chuck explained. “Use the talents God gave you, and never let anyone tell you differently.”

Educating those who were interested was half the battle. Jim accomplished this by enlisting others to pay it forward, so to speak. “I’m the secretary for the Interdenominational Ministerial Action Team,” said Brenda Sexton, a lifelong resident of the east side. “He came to one of our meetings.”

This meeting ignited a fire in Brenda that no longer stopped with just the area bordering her home. “I had already been taking care of a large portion of Dunlap, because I didn’t want to sit on my porch and see trash,” Brenda said. “I thought Adopt-a-Block was a great idea, so I began asking others on my street for some help.”

The west side of town was also in the early stages of making a difference. “Jim approached me and wanted me to help speak out to other groups about the program,” Susie Sambell said. “I asked, ‘Why me? What makes me special to promote this?’”

Susie soon found out that being a caring citizen was the only real role anyone needed in order to implement the Adopt-a- Block mentality into their own immediate neighborhoods. “We all have choices. The city can’t possibly pick up all the trash, so it’s up to us to help,” she stated. “The beauty of the program is that it doesn’t take a lot of training to pick up trash, it just takes a little time and a lot of caring.”

Brenda and Susie didn’t waste any time educating those in their realm of influence. After Brenda successfully got other homeowners on her street involved, she decided it was time to branch out. She moved on to Wyatt, Ross, Griffin and Graham streets. “Once the initial cleanup was complete, it’s been easy to keep these areas litter-free,” Brenda said, explaining that she continues to use her own street, Dunlap, as the example to follow. “In the beginning, people were getting upset. They’d get the area cleaned up, but the mess seemed to quickly return. I told them that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we couldn’t get discouraged.”

Susie emphasized keeping Waxahachie clean would be much easier if people would be responsible for their trash. “If we really want to get at the root of the problem,” she explained, “we need to reduce, reuse and recycle.” After doing some research on the Don’t Mess With Texas Web site, Susie learned that trash coming from a moving vehicle is a large source of littering. Concerned citizens can write down the date, time and place of the offense, as well as the license plate number and model of the vehicle and send it to the Don’t Mess With Texas Web site.

“Violators will receive a letter and a Don’t Mess With Texas litter bag. Littering is against the law. The first offense can be a fine up to $500,” Susie added. “Repeat offenders can pay up to $2,000 and spend up to 180 days in jail.” When hauling trash in a pickup truck, the bed must have proper covering. And it’s considered illegal dumping if the trash thrown out weighs more than five pounds, which means an even stiffer fine.

Getting a jump on the season for John and his employees means having everything in place by Thanksgiving, so that the backdrop for old Saint Nick is ready for the choirs, carolers, Dickensian costumed figures, carriage rides and lighted strolls that turn downtown Waxahachie into an annual oasis of holiday merriment. “When it’s all said and done, the crew enjoys getting it all prepared and seeing the fruits of their labor,” John said. “The men all have kids, and they like to show off their handiwork. It’s like: ‘Look what Daddy did.’ So setting up for Christmas is a big source of pride for us.”

While to new residents or tourists it may appear that Waxahachie’s Christmas festivities have been around for as long as the antique-looking decorations that festoon sidewalks and telephone poles, the city is only in its 10th year of coordinating downtown Yuletide events. Previously, the department handled lights and decorating for a community-wide Christmas carnival in Getzandaner Park, sponsored by local service organizations. “That’s in the past now,” John explained. “It became too expensive to maintain. One year, a storm came through and tore up our props and the next year, vandals destroyed everything beyond repair.”

The department abandoned the idea of Christmas in the Park, but in league with the city’s Downtown Merchants Association, it formulated the alternative of Christmas in the Square. “We just switched gears,” John said. “And it’s been a big hit. We think it’s better in many ways because it’s more centrally located, and it catches the eye of out-of-towners who might want to stop and join in the fun.”

Written by Randy Bigham.

and moved to its current location on Waxahachie’s Jefferson Street. “I served on the board for about seven years,” Dr. Haney said. “In a meeting one evening, we were discussing the availability of the lot next door, and I suggested that we buy it. It seemed to me that we might want to get bigger one day.” Although Mackie was not quite as convinced, they took the leap and purchased the property. “Sure enough, we expanded,” Dr. Haney smiled. “I’m not so much a creative guy as I am an idea person.”

Dr. Haney with Mackie Owens.

After purchasing the lot and acquiring FQHC designation and provisions to grow, Hope Clinic was poised for another giant step. By April 1, 2010, a new building had been constructed and was attached to the original through a series of wooden ramps, decking and stairs. The “new” larger Hope Clinic was painted a bright yellow. The original “A” building became the medical services, laboratory and administrative home, while the new “B” building housed dental, pediatric and behavioral medicines. “Dental services moved from one room to three with new equipment, including three fully-equipped dental chairs and, at last, a full-time dentist,” Dr. Haney explained. “We had literally gone from recognizing a need, wanting to serve, employing used or donated equipment, volunteering a half day a week, to becoming a full-blown, full-time clinic. We also now have a hygienist and two dental assistants.”

These days, the two bright yellow buildings are bustling with activity. In 2009, the clinic served slightly less than 2,000 individual patients. In 2010, the number of individual patients seen doubled, while more than 11,000 people contacted them seeking information about their services. In addition to dental care, the clinic offers comprehensive on- site pediatric and adult primary medical care, prenatal, women’s and behavioral health services.

Tyler kept a daily journal while he was at the FBI Academy. The journal entries began on Saturday, July 2, and continued through Saturday, July 9, when Tyler boarded a plane for home. He shared so many things about the academy. He spent his first evening touring Washington, D.C. One memory that brings a smile to everyone’s face happened on his second day. “We went shopping at the Pentagon City Mall,” Tyler explained. “I found a store that sold police patches from all around the country. I would have bought some, but I guess the lady selling them thought they were made from diamond thread or something. An NYPD patch was $13.”

has helped families recover from the July fire that devastated 300 acres of north Ellis County. But the office has also responded nationally, supplying emergency personnel to tornado-ravaged Alabama and Missouri. “It’s been overwhelming this year,” admitted Shelly Campbell, manager of the Red Cross’ Ellis County branch. “From the [spring] storms to the flooding in Mississippi, we’ve been meeting the physical needs of those who lost their homes and loved ones, while looking after the emotional needs of our workers who have witnessed the devastation.”

Jeannie McCarty, emergency services specialist for the Red Cross in Waxahachie and Corsicana said the group could not have performed its role without the over 70 area volunteers, who devote themselves to comforting those affected by tragedy, whether at home or out-of-state. “Our volunteers are the best, both here and throughout the organization,” she said, “from the highest leadership levels to boots in the field.”

Shelly agreed. “About 93 percent of the Red Cross is made up of volunteers. The crux of the whole organization is volunteerism.”

This year marks another milestone for the Red Cross — the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. “Waxahachie volunteers will be part of the nationwide event to recognize and honor our first responders,” Shelly said. “We have plans to present a new collectors’ pin to honor those affected and those who served on 9/11.” A dedication to recognize the responders who played a role on 9/11 will be held at the Red Cross’ 4800 Harry Hines command center.

A Radio Flyer wagon is home to an assortment of flowers and trailing potato vines and an herb garden is flourishing in a nonfunctioning barbecue grill.

When thinking of a garden, it’s best to think outside the box. A new gardening craze that Marilyn and Donelle debuted at the downtown Farmers Market this year was “truck farm” gardening. “It started with one man in Brooklyn, New York,” Donelle explained, “It has exploded to include 25 farms throughout the United States.” Truck farm gardening is an educational program that teaches individuals how to garden from the bed of a pickup truck. “Everyone can learn how to garden successfully,” Donelle added.

Donnie has been the one to mow and edge around the gardens, but just recently he added another duty to his list. “He started taking photographs of the flowers, the birds and the butterflies,” Marilyn said, pride for her husband apparent in each word. They never knew how many colors could be found on a bird until he began using a telescopic lens. Donnie’s photographs tell the story better than Marilyn ever could. Marilyn is surely providing just the right natural environment where inner peace and tranquility can be found. Yes, her gardens are quite inspirational.

Written by Sandra Strong.