West Plano People (Newspaper) - December 30, 2005, Dallas, Texas WEEKEND Bring in the new year style 2A HAPPY NEW YEAR West Piano People takes a holiday Jan 6 m EDITORIAL 2006 Year of FRIDAY DECEMBER PAPERS COM EL PASO TX 79903 VOL 2 ISSUE 52 ONE QUARTER I Media Spotlight on West Piano in 2005 Show of colors candy canes sparks religious debate on televised news By Sarah P Henry Staff Writer Its been an eventful year in West Piano and looking back over the years news stories cer tainly proves that From Hurri cane Katrina to Piano Wests National Merit Scholars residents have taken the good with the bad Heres a summary of West Piano Peo ples Top 10 of 2005 In December 2004 a student at a Piano ISD school was told by a teacher that they were not allowed pass out candy canes with a Christian mes sage attached during a holi day party Early in 2005 the family filed a lawsuit against the district saying Piano ISD was hostile toward their Christian beliefs In April Superintendent Dr district policy that would allow distribution of religious materi class times which include before class after class during recess and during three yearly school par ties The district did not edge that it did anything wrong but settled the suit for an undis closed monetary sum Red and Green Report In a similar story FOX talk show host OReilly reported in December that a Piano school banned red and green clothing from school because they were Christmas colors Otto denied this claim saying the district has never told stu dents or staff what colors to wear to school and asked OReilly to retract the report Just before Christmas OReilly admitted on his show that he had made a mistake Sushi Piano vs Piano Piano residents reflected on the citys identity after City Councilman Ken Lam bert unearthed the phrase Sushi Piano vs Tex Mex Piano from a brand ing report to attract business travelers to Piano The report said Piano was more sushi bar than Tex Mex and should embrace its urban side Lambert tended to disagree with most of the findings of the report I dont mean to throw cold water on you but I wear cow boys boots and the only thing suburban about me is the vehicle that I drive upstairs he said Another city councilman Harry LaRosiliere said the city is neither sushi nor Its all Piano LaRosiliere said There is a broad diver sity here and thats part of what makes it a wonderful place to live The fact that you can drive 10 minutes and eat sushi or drive 10 minutes and eat doesnt highlight our differences but our diver sity and I see that as a strength Piano ISD Hires Steroid specialist Piano ISD hired Bart Rose bure in February to head steroid awareness efforts in the district where he trains staff students and parents interested in finding out more about steroid abuse His main focus was on educating ath directors and coaches All this good came about because Don Hooton lost his son Taylor a Piano West Senior High School student who committed suicide after suffering from depres sion that was possibly See Page PHOTO LONNIE ERICKSON BUSTIN A MOVE Jana Nolte teaches from left Jacob Zetley Justin Gluckman Eylon Kidron and Gavin Sherell the latest hiphop trends in the boys hiphop class at the Central Performing Arts Conservatory at The Shops at Legacy in Piano CPAC Offers Wide Range of Performing Arts Glasses From voice lessons to musical theater new conservatory has it all By Sarah P Henry Staff Writer When Danna Reubin moved to Dallas seven years ago she noticed there were two kinds of dance schools Either they were strictly for ballet or focused on competition jazz There was nothing here that had allaround perform ing arts Reubin said Dance music and theater And noth ing that raised all of those art forms to the level of high art So Reubin had the idea to start her own school a per forming arts conservatory And after she finished her masters degree in graphic Theory and Practice from SMU in Dallas she opened die school Central Performing Arts Conservatory or CPAC opened Aug 15 It seemed that around here there are schools for jazz only ballet is only for people who can only do ballet and there was never any theater infused Reubin said If you wanted a conservatory feel you had to wait until you went to college or go to the magnet school in Dallas So I thought we needed it CPAC offers classes in bal let ballet pointe modern dance jazz lyrical jazz theatre jazz tap hiphop voice piano acting and performance edge musical There also is hiphop aerobics and salsa dancing Classes are offered for students from age 3 to adult The studio space has three dance studios one of which converts into a theater during performances There also are practice rooms for private voices lessons guitar lessons and piano lessons Reubin said the first three months have started out slow but the school is steadily gain ing students Its a hard sell because peo ple want that trophy she said But we feel Piano needed a place like this and more and more people have been hear ing about us and taking classes Reubin and other staff members have been traveling to local elementary schools in Piano and Frisco to give presentations about the arts and the various ways students can express themselves artis We think you have to go in and educate students before theyre going to come here Reubin said We ask the kids a lot of questions and bring them up on the stage We have them do hiphop along with us Also as a way of getting the word out about CPAC the conservatory has formed a partnership with two local teenagers Bailey and Macey Cruthird Bailey is 17 and is an aspir ing singer Her second album Dont Look Down is com ing out in the next few weeks and she travels with Reubin and her staff to elementary schools and sings for the stu dents See CPAC Page Receivers of Worst Gifts Speak Up Can their White Elephant stories top yours By Liz Landry Staff Writer The season of gift giving and receiving is upon us There seems to always be at least one gift that you detest You put on a smile and tell the giver thank you while praying that there is a gift receipt in the box For many of these gifts their homes become a closet or a garage sale table worse a recycled gift People Newspapers did an informal survey at a local shop ping center to find out some of the shoppers worst gifts they had ever received Some may surprise you and others will make you laugh They just might make that scratchy wool scarf from your aunt seem great Some people give bad gifts unintentionally like the one that Ashley Lee received I once got wrapped pop tarts Lee 17 of Frisco said They wrapped the box and everything They were going to put a purse in it but forgot Others however it would seem take some delight in stumping the recipient with a gift of grub Lees companion Joe Degise of Piano recalled I received a box of Hopefully next time the givers will opt for a gift card Some gifts are not always age READER POLL Last weeks question Can any good come from the 2003 Congressional districts appropriate like a book series for teenagers that Dale Cox received when he was an adult My Uncle Steven gave me a number of books on the Dark Towers series when I was in my 40s said Cox of West Piano They quickly went into our next garage sale Sometimes the are unaware that their gift was not enjoyed like Madison Lemons mother I received a really ugly Easter dress from my mom Madison Lemons 9 of Piano said while glancing at her mother No offense Mike Phillips a Dallas See GIFTS Page COURTESY PHOTO Piano Leaders Ready for New Year Technology and ground breakings top list for 2006 By Sarah P Henry Staff Writer Piano leaders ready to move on 2006 have plenty of New Years resolutions for the city as well as for themselves Piano Police Chief Greg Rushin has numerous projects on the depart ments One thing were going to work very hard on is hir ing Rushin said Were an organization that has a lot of people who are at or near retirement We are going to do all we can to fill those spots with the best qualified candidates available The Piano PD will hold a test for new officers in February Also starting in 2006 applicants for police cer positions will be required to have a four year degree Rushin also talked about several new technology projects that will be hap In the police department plans to have new technology in place that will allow officers to send reports from the field electronically that way they are filed almost as soon as they are written Currently the reports are taped someone has to transcribe them double check them and then file them The technology will reports available to review by other officers faster than in the past There also will be new cameras in Janu ary and wireless citation writers sometime in 2006 The citation writers will eliminate problems with bad handwriting by allow ing officers to enter the ticket information elec Also the citizen receiv ing the citation will have a printed electronic copy and the information will be wirelessly transmitted to the court saving time in filing the citations Rushin has a lot of expectations of himself as well as the police depart ment I like many people par after the holi days will want to diet a lit tle better during the year See PLANO Page This weeks question Will you break your New Years resolutions Vote online WEATHER Showers
