Based on their site analysis, the consultants have concluded that the Agreed Order to remove visible accumulations of sediment from Hamilton Creek and its tributaries is insufficent. Effects of the site pollution have been documented on a 4 ½ mile stretch between the project site and the confluence of Hamilton Creek with the Pedernales River. There is no mention in the Agreed Order of any remediation of Hamilton Pool. In addition, the Agreed Order does not address site access to affected parties downstream, controls to address the biological and ecological effects of the sedimentation pollution and/or any assesments of remediation alternatives and associated effects downstream.

"Our erosion controls and silt fences were approved by Hays County and were inspected prior to construction and after this disaster," said Cosmo Palmieri, the project manager for Coldwater Development. "We were in full compliance."

Apparently, they were under the impression that under Republican regimes, polluters were handed flowers. Hey, this is election season and the 'we make our own reality' party is trying to look like they care a tiny bit about our environment. Hence, the small fine instead of flowers. Take heart: It wasn't a real fine.

Our Political Action Committee has a campaign strategy that works, but we need funded viable opponents to contact me at sal at austintollparty.com ASAP. Most deadlines to run for office are at the first of the year. Most viable opponents announce from September to November. A viable opponent is someone who already has a base of supporters and can raise large sums of money to support a full campaign office, an experienced campaign manager and equally important - the money to put forward a political advertising campaign to communicate with voters.

Have you noticed the excitement in the air around Dripping Springs lately? As you drive into town and approach the intersection of Ranch Road 12 and Highway 290, bulldozers are zipping around the new Home Depot site on the southeast corner. The Sonic is packed; it’s hard to find a spot at noon. There are folks rushing in and out of City Hall and the County Commissioner’s office as new development is springing up in all four directions. Some days it feels like we are a sleepy little town, stretching, yawning, and waking up to a brand new day, full of new sights and sounds and lots of activity. Everyone wants to know what’s going on and when things are coming. With the bustling growth in Dripping Springs, word is spreading quickly around Austin, the entire state and the nation. Buyers are coming from other parts of Texas as well as from California and all the way to the East Coast. Everyone wants a piece of the Hill Country and the area around Dripping Springs is at the top of the list.

As one solution, Mesure and Hanlon are looking at an opaque window film designed by 3M that allows people to look out of but not into a window. Currently, it's not available to the public and only being used to place advertisements over bus and taxi windows. Mesure became convinced it could save birds' lives after he experimented with it on his own problem window at home. Not a single bird has hit it in the five years since. "The problem may be that people won't be able to get around how different it looks," says Mesure.

Much so-called security lighting is designed with little thought for how eyes -- or criminals -- operate. Marcus Felson, a professor at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, has concluded that lighting is effective in preventing crime mainly if it enables people to notice criminal activity as it's taking place, and if it doesn't help criminals to see what they're doing. Bright, unshielded floodlights -- one of the most common types of outdoor security lighting in the country -- often fail on both counts, as do all-night lights installed on isolated structures or on parts of buildings that can't be observed by passersby (such as back doors). A burglar who is forced to use a flashlight, or whose movement triggers a security light controlled by an infrared motion sensor, is much more likely to be spotted than one whose presence is masked by the blinding glare of a poorly placed metal halide "wall pack." In the early seventies, the public-school system in San Antonio, Texas, began leaving many of its school buildings, parking lots, and other property dark at night and found that the no-lights policy not only reduced energy costs but also dramatically cut vandalism.