performance at the Youth American Grand Prix. / Photo by ......the Lunar Chronicles universe. She...

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See MILLENNIALS, Page 4

With joy evident on her face, Hannah Mencheu executes a grand jeté during her performance at the Youth American Grand Prix. / Photo by John Starkey

International ballet contest reveals talent

Millennials: It’s their world and welcome to it

DFW Rambler App coming soon!

Marissa Meyer greets fans at Irving LibraryBy Adam Stephens

Hundreds of fans gathered at the South Irving Library to meet Ma-rissa Meyer, author of the popular series The Lunar Chronicles, on Feb. 6. During the event, Meyer pro-moted her new book, Stars Above, a collection of short stories set in the Lunar Chronicles universe. She signed and personalized copies of her books for fans.

This was Meyer’s third visit to Ir-ving, and she was “very excited to be back.” Irving was the first town Meyer visited where her appearance attracted over two hundred people. This time, the number of fans wish-ing to attend the event violated the library’s fire codes. A large crowd of people were required to stand out-side the conference room in order to

By Lorri KennedyStudents of classical and contem-

porary ballet, ages 9 to 19, converged on the Irving Arts Center Jan. 28-31, to compete for ballet company scholarships, education and audi-tion opportunities, at the regional contest of the 17th annual Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP).

Winners from each age catego-ry at the state level advance to the YAGP international competition in New York City. Dancers in the Irving competition competed at the follow-ing age levels:

Pre-competitive – Ages nine to 11Junior category – Ages 12 to 14Senior category – Ages 15 to 19Competitions were also held in

large and small ensembles catego-ries, and in the pas de deux, a dance in which two dancers perform a

Irving athletes participate in National Signing Day By Courtney Ouellette

After four years of dedication and hard work, 21 student athletes from Irving ISD officially accepted schol-arships and offers from colleges and universities. Students from MacAr-thur, Irving and Nimitz celebrated the official beginning of their colle-giate careers in front of their class-mates, family and friends at their respective schools on Feb. 2.

There was no shortage of tears and gratitude as coaches and players said a few words about each player’s high school journey and announced which school each player will attend next.

“This is one of those days when I especially love being a football coach,” said Aaron De La Torre, head football coach and campus athletic coordinator of Irving High School. “It presents an opportunity for young men and women to con-tinue their education and to contin-ue playing collegiate level sports. I’m

proud and excited to be doing this.” Among the four athletes from

Irving High School putting pen to paper was Noah Salinas, a talent-ed linebacker with numerous high school football accolades, including being a two time First Team All-Dis-trict player, the only junior at Irving High to win defensive player of the year, defensive MVP this year as well as graduating in the top 10 per-cent of his class.

“I’m blessed to have such a big family, full of love and support. I want to thank all of my teachers who made all of this possible,” Sali-nas said. “It’s not easy teaching ath-letes, because we have to miss a lot of class some days, and we’re tired all the time.”

Recording 189 tackles in two years, Salinas gave special thanks to his parents and older brother, Jax-son Salinas, who plays football for Oklahoma State University.

“I was playing defensive end and

second string linebacker,” Salinas said. “Coach came up to me and said ‘You’re going to play middle line-backer. You’re going to need to get faster, do you understand?’ I said

duet. “This competition is designed to

find talent and connect those talents and the students to scholarships to major ballet establishments, ballet schools in the world,” said Mischa Tchoupakov, a judge, master teach-er, choreographer and rehearsal di-rector with YAGP. A former ballet dancer with Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet, Tchoupakov is an assistant profes-sor of ballet in the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

According to Tchoupakov, danc-ers from past Grand Prix’s were in-vited to join or received scholarships to internationally prestigious bal-let schools and companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Stuggart Ballet, Paris Opera and Royal Ballet.

An international competition,

the YAGP is considered the largest dance championship in the world. The competition, which starts in September and ends in March, fea-tures regional battles in 17 locations throughout the United States and in 17 other countries, including Chi-na, Japan, Argentina and Europe. In addition to dance students from dance academies and schools partic-ipating, the YAGP also accepts video auditions from dancer hopefuls.

“Everybody can enter without au-ditioning beforehand,” Tchoupakov said. “Anybody can compete and has a chance to perform and be seen. We’re trying to get the best from all the cities.”

Since its formation, YAGP has presented more than $3 million

By Lorri KennedyMillennials good. Millennials

bad. Either way, buckle up: the new change-agents are coming and they will be a force to reckon with, partic-ularly when it comes to the consum-er and worker-bee sides of the real estate industry, said Jeff Messer, a real estate, marketing strategist, broker and auctioneer, for ReMax, in the North and South Carolinas.

Messer was a featured speak-

er at the International Brokers of America Conference, held Feb. 6, at Crowne Plaza Addison, in Addison, Texas. He said millennials’ impact on the real estate industry will be simultaneously phenomenal and mind-boggling as their collective non-conformity to convention rocks the status quo.

“I’ve never see more changes than I have right now. And I’ve been in real estate for 33 years. It’s changing so rapidly,” said Messer, about the dramatic consumer profile upheav-al underway in his industry. “Mil-lennials are the largest part of our population. They’re different than

hear the presentation. When Meyer arrived, the crowd greeted her with the song “Deep in the Heart of Tex-as” (specifically, the line about “the stars at night.”)

Of course, the main focus of Meyer’s presentation was the Stars Above collection, which features nine stories in total, four of which were originally written to promote other books in the Lunar Chronicles series. Apparently, Meyer originally planned to write only one additional story for the collection, but she re-portedly found that she simply had too many ideas she wanted to use.

“As a writer—and I think with a lot of writers with a novel or series of novels—when you’re doing that world-building and you’re creating

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BalletContinued from Page 1

COMMUNITY CALENDARRomance is in the Air! – Irving SymphonyFebruary 13, 3:30 p.m.This Valentine’s Eve concert features Motoi Takeda on violin. Program to include Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and more. Carpenter Halll $38-$49

Mayhem PoetsFebruary 18, 7:30 p.m.The Mayhem Poets are on a mission to make poetry appealing to the masses. De-scribed as “The Simpsons meets Malcolm X at a Notorious B.I.G. concert,” when these lyrical virtuosos come together on the stage, audiences are in for a “slammin’ good time.a”Merging elements of hip-hop, theatre, spoken word, improvisation, and stand-up comedy, the Mayhem Poetsare dynamic performers who aim to entertain, but also to enlighten, expressing real insight on the real issues of our times. Carpenter Hall l $8-16

Irving’s Got TalentFebruary 19, 7 p.m.Irving’s Got Talent (formerly Friday Nite Live) is a teen talent show organized by Irving Parks and Recreation. Held each February, the event showcases all types of talent from students in middle and high school, as well as homeschoolers age 12 and older. Carpenter Halll FREE

Teen Chocolate OlympicsSaturday, February 13, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.Join us for an afternoon of chocolate fun! Relay races, pie-eating contests, M&M sorting and more! Bring your appetites and your friends. Open to grades 6-12; no regis-tration required. West Library Meeting Room -- 4444 W. Rochelle Road Irving, TX 75062 Contact: 972-721-2692

Main Location: 118 E. Irving Blvd.Open Thurs - SatCall Flo 214-543-1708

Visit one of our pop-up shops inside:Curiosity Shop 1216 Rock Island Rd.

FLC Boutique 114 E. Irving Blvd.

Furniture & CollectiblesVintage jewelery/clothing & china/silver/linens

in scholarships to students to at-tend national and internationally known ballet companies. More than 50,000 dancers have participated in the organization’s numerous master classes, workshops and auditions across the world.

Tchoupakov said the YAGP also offers dancers tremendous network-ing and connection opportunities with ballet company directors at the regional, national and international levels. Moreover, YAGP maintains a database of students and their scores, as well as notes, so judges can analyze whether improvements were made from the prior year’s YAGP competition.

Nineteen-year-old Aldrin Vendt is a student in the dance department at TCU. He is a classical ballet danc-er who represented his ballet school, Ballet Ensemble of Texas. This is his final year of eligibility to compete at YAGP. It also represents his fifth year of YAGP state competition. He said the one-on-one training he re-ceives in the competition is valuable.

“In regular classes you learn gen-eral technique, but when you work on a variation every week, you learn the ins and outs, and how to per-form that piece,” Vendt said.

In the 2013 state level YAGP competition, Vendt won first place in men’s classical ballet. Last year, he placed in the Top 12 in contem-porary dance. His exposure in the competition enabled him to receive a full scholarship to Ballet West.

Irving resident Masumi Yoshimo-to, is a classical ballet dancer with Ballet Ensemble of Texas. This is her fourth year to compete in the YAGP. In her first year, she reached the Top 24 list of hopefuls. Masumi said the competition is a vital vehicle that helps her build confidence and strengthen her stage performance.

“I perform at YAGP because as a student, I don’t get a lot of oppor-tunities to perform. So it’s like an-other opportunity to perform on the stage,” Yoshimoto said.

Dancers are judged on their artis-tic and technical merits.

“Each day is a competition and the final day is the award ceremony where they get invitations to New York,” Tchoupakov said. “[The com-

Light on her toes, Kristen Wright performs for the judges during the American Grand Prix. / Photo by John Starkey

petition is] a good opportunity for the students and the school to show their best product. It’s a stepping stone between the training and a

professional career.”For a full list of winners and

awards please visit http://yagp.org.

By Fredy GonzalezIn honor of Black History Month,

The Irving Black Arts Council pre-sented “Urban View: Contemporary Art & Design” in the Irving Arts Center’s main gallery. The body of the show features the work of five talented artists, Shalana Mitchell, Jonathon Foster, Kirk Garnett, Kev-in Owens, and Christopher “C-Ray” Rayson, that reflects concepts from the spirit of our times to sacred im-agery spun for contemporary eyes. With a turnout of over a hundred visitors in less than two hours, the Jan. 6 artist reception was a success.

During the reception, each of the artists discussed their inspirations, how they view art, and answered questions from the audience. But the more intimate part of the expe-rience was the opportunity to meet the artists and have small group dis-cussions about their pieces.

Kirk Garnett, a graffiti artist orig-inally from Belize who now lives in Chicago, captures culture and the life it brings to all cities.

“[Those who immigrate] don’t lose their culture when they move to America. Their culture actual-ly evolves,” Garnett said. “While you were holding on to who you were yesterday because that makes you who you are today, you also,

Artists explore inspiration behind their art pieces

throughout time learn from oth-er people being in a country like America. That brings about its own culture. We are growing from each other and growing each other’s cul-ture. That is what I am trying to pro-mote,” he said.

Dallas artist, Jonathon Foster, paints lucid imagery on the topics and controversy taking place today.

“I would like to spread awareness about the issues in our society,” Fos-ter said. “Most people know about the issues we have, but they choose to ignore it. Art is a way to reinforce the issues that some people are aware of, and if they are not they at least ask questions as to why some-body would paint this and ask, what does that painting mean?,” Foster said.

“In raising questions there is a contribution to society and its is-sues,” he said. “We are a society built on advertising. We see McDon-ald’s commercials, who knows how many times a day. You can see how prominent McDonald’s is in the so-ciety. It’s not by chance that McDon-alds’ food is so good. It’s that they’re well-advertised, and anything that is successful in this day and age is well advertised. This is my form of ad-vertisement about what is going on, and what I deal with on a day-to-day

basis, and what is actually instilled in society.

“I am very excited to be a part of this, and I’m very appreciative of the people at The Irving Arts Center for giving us this chance,” he said.

Also impressed with the Irving Art Center and its programs, Chris-topher “C-Ray” Rayson, a Dallas artist, entertained guests during the reception by painting.

“I want people to know that the Ir-ving Arts Center is an excellent mu-seum and gallery as a whole and mi-norities are welcome here,” Rayson said. “I want the youth to come to the museum and experience, min-gle, talk to artists and see what it took for them to get a piece done. I want a whole culture coming from sixteen and up thinking on the levels of having their pieces put up here at the Irving Arts Center.”

Gazes filled with awe and wonder surrounded the paintings, remind-ing people of the artistry and rich culture within the DFW community.

“I think everybody should express themselves artistically, whatever your gift is. I think you should delve into it and base your life around it. That’s my message to the world,” Foster said.

February 13, 2016972-870-1992

AthletesContinued from Page 1

yes sir.” When Salinas was unsure about

filling the middle linebacker role, his father gave him the strength he needed to get the job done.

“My dad told me, ‘Never forget you’re a Salinas, it’s in your blood.’ After he said that, he didn’t need to say more. I knew what to do,” he said.

“There have been a few bumps and bruises and a few minor set-backs, but I’m proud of being at the best school in Irving, Irving High School,” Salinas said. “I want to thank my teammates, and Coach De LA Torre for all that he’s done. He has chewed me out on a level that I can’t explain, but he’s made me a better man, football player and stu-dent.”

Salinas will play football at South-eastern Oklahoma State University.

Though a majority of the sign-ees were young men, several young women, like Nimitz basketball play-er Sharae Chalmers, also participat-ed in the National Signing Day cer-emonies.

“I just want you to know how proud we are of you today - her teammates, all of the coaches. Boy, we’ve come a long way,” said Chalm-ers’ coach, Pam Owens. “I remem-ber the first day that I met Sahrae, and right then and there I knew that she could be somebody special.”

From the beginning, Owens set out to help Chalmers grow into a skilled enough player to play college ball.

“I remember her freshman year,” Owens said. “We had a little run in, so I brought her into the office and I showed her all the things in the office about the Final Four and col-leges and things like that. Right then we talked about what we needed to do to get you in a place where you could be successful, and we could get you a scholarship. Here we are four years later, and she’s receiving a full scholarship to Fresno State University.

“It took some time and heartaches and frustration, but we all came to-gether. The bottom line is, if you stick to something and stick to your goals, it’s going to pay off for you. I always say it really doesn’t matter how you start, it matters how you finish,” she said.

Averaging 18 points and 10 boards per game, Chalmers has 16 double doubles out of 27 games so far this season. Her best game was against Irving High School, when she had 28 points and 15 boards.

“We are so proud of Sharae and the tremendous improvement through the years,” Owens said. “She is a great vocal leader for us. She’s a huge reason why right now were 18-9, we’re 8-2 in district and we’re currently in second place.”

Not only do high school sports provide a platform for students to receive a higher education at little or no financial cost, they also provide a system for coaches to instill behav-iors and traits that will guide young athletes toward success.

“What I love about sports is how a coach can use it to teach life lessons and how through playing sports we can learn how to fight through things,” Owens said. “I can definite-ly say that Sharae had some tough times throughout her life. She just takes it one step at a time, and she never really got rattled and that says a lot about her.”

Like Owens, Coach De La Tore values high school sports for the op-portunity of guidance and hopefully a continuing education.

“Our kids always come back to say thank you coach, thank you for everything that you’ve done, but that’s really not why we coach,” De La Torre said.

Although he enjoys reconnecting with former players, the best way for a player to show his or her gratitude, according to De La Torre, lies out-side of athletics.

“We tell our players, the one way we want you to thank us is to grad-uate from college,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest and most re-sounding statement you can make is by finishing your degrees. Every-body might go off, but not every-body finishes. I think it’s a testament to you and your character when you can go out and do that. My challenge to you four: graduate.”

The following students participat-ed in National Signing Dayat each high school:

Irving High School Mar’Kel Cooks, football - Univer-

sity of the Incarnate WordKyandus Hall, football - South-

eastern Oklahoma State UniversityBrandon Robinson, football -

Southeastern Oklahoma State Uni-versity

Noah Salinas, football - South-eastern Oklahoma State University

* Irving High School senior Javier Leija, who plays on a select soccer team, committed to Lipscomb Uni-versity at an individual signing.*

MacArthur High School Jake Lyons, baseball - Weather-

ford CollegeAndrew Jones, boys’ basketball -

University of TexasAbraham Lazo, boys’ soccer -

Ouachita Baptist UniversityRashad Fisher, football - Texas

A&M University - CommerceMarquis Haygood, football -

Langston UniversityArtiss Henderson, football - Illi-

nois State UniversityDarius Kirksey, football -

Langston UniversityTony McDonald, football -

Langston UniversityMatt Price, football - Texas A&M

University - CommerceGabrielle Gregory, girls’ basket-

ball - University of WisconsinEssence Wells, girls’ basketball -

Xavier UniversityTaylor Lampkin, volleyball - Le-

Tourneau University

Nimitz High School Noah Spears, football - Southern

Methodist UniversityTrevion Sample, football - Tar-

leton State UniversityMichael Perez, football - Tyler Ju-

nior CollegeSharae Chalmers, girls’ basketball

- Fresno State University.

With no shortage of emotion and pride, Irving High School Campus Athletic Coordinator and head football coach, Aaron De La Torre, introduces four athletes who participated in National Signing Day. / Photo by Courtney Ouellette

Award-winning country music artist Jack Ingram will headline at the Irving Healthcare Foundation’s 2016 TexasFest gala. The April 23 party at the Byron Nelson Pavilion adjacent to the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas has a “Stars at Night” theme.

This annual event is a major source of funding for Irving Health-care Foundation, which in turn sup-ports several Irving healthcare orga-nizations. These includeBaylor Scott & White Medical Center -Irving, Irving Community Clinic, Canine Companions for Independence® at Baylor Scott & White Health – Kinkeade Campus, and the Child-

DALLAS – Robert D. Martinez has been named to the Parkland Health & Hospital System Board of Managers. Appointed by Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia, DDS, Martinez replaces Patricia Gorman who resigned last month. Gorman had served on the Parkland Board since February 2011.

Martinez is a litigator with ex-perience in a diverse range of civil, criminal, arbitration and regulato-ry arenas. He is also a community leader with extensive board service including public speaking and gen-eral counsel roles.

“We welcome Mr. Martinez to the Parkland Board and hope, like myself, he finds that serving on the Parkland Board of Managers is both an honor and a privilege,” said Debbie D. Branson, chair, Parkland Board of Managers. “We also want to thank Patricia Gorman for her service to Parkland and the citizens of Dallas. She never wavered in commitment and dedication to the

Martinez appointed to Parkland Board of Managersstaff and patients.”

Martinez is a partner with the law firm of Cotten Schmidt & Abbott, LLP in Fort Worth. He has been with the firm since 1996. In addition to his litigation work, he assists cli-ents in avoiding litigation through early claim/case assessment and al-ternative dispute resolution.

Martinez began his litigation ca-reer as a Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, serving in the Department’s Dallas Field Office and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michi-gan. Martinez was honored with a departmental award as Outstand-ing Trial Attorney – 1981. Following six years of government service, he served as senior trial attorney for law firms in Dallas, and Southfield and Farmington, Michigan. Mar-tinez has chaired the board and continues to serve on the board ex officio as General Counsel of the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Cham-ber of Commerce. He previously

chaired and served on the boards of the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Irving Schools Founda-tion and Irving Symphony Orches-

tra Association.Martinez received his juris doc-

tor from Wayne State University School of Law in Detroit, Michigan.

He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Wayne State University in Detroit.

SOURCE Parkland Health & Hospital System

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Ingram performing at 2016 TexasFesthood Obesity Task Force.

“TexasFest is one of the most im-portant and successful fundraising events for the Irving Healthcare Foundation and the greater Irving community,” TexasFest Co-Chair-woman Beth Bowman said. “The event supports critically needed healthcare programs like the Irving Community Clinic that provides medical and dental services for more than 6,000 of our area’s need-iest residents who have little or no health insurance. The organizations that Irving Healthcare Foundation supports are making a difference in people’s lives and our community”

“Last year we raised $370,000 for

the Foundation, and we’re confident that we’ll exceed that amount this year,” TexasFest Co-Chairwoman Sharon Pfaff said. “It’s a fun, excit-ing event with games, silent and live auctions, music, entertainment with great food and drinks. So, put on your best western boots and don’t miss the excitement at this import-ant, worthwhile event.”

TexasFest tickets are tax deduct-ible and available online at www.healthyirving.org. Individual tick-ets are $300 and include a $200 tax-deductible gift. Sponsorship opportunities are also available and range from $700 to $10,000.

SOURCE Irving Healthcare Foundation


Marybernadette “bernie” Parenti

Howell

Marybernadette “Bernie” Paren-ti Howell took flight to heaven on February 8th, 2016 at the age of

68 from her home in Irving, TX following a 15-month bat-tle with cancer. Bernie was born the youngest daughter of An-

nibale and Anna Parenti on July 11, 1947 in Pittsburgh, PA. She shared her childhood in Carnegie, PA with seven brothers and sisters, includ-ing her twin sister Betty, sisters Bar-bara, Rita, Roseann, and Kay, and brothers Tony and Albert. As a child she acquired a love for great Sicilian cooking, Cream of Wheat break-fasts with dad, Christmas pizzelles, and swinging on screen doors. She attended St. Luke’s Primary School in Carnegie before graduating from Canevin High School in Pittsburgh – and thoroughly enjoyed the re-unions. After some youthful adven-tures in San Bernadino, CA, Bernie found her way back to Pittsburgh where she met and fell in love with Gene Howell, who swept her off her feet and off to Texas in 1969. Gene and Bernie made their home in Ir-ving in 1970 where they enjoyed live music, created lifelong friend-ships, and became adoring parents

to three children: Michelle Renee, William Eugene, and Joseph Antho-ny Howell. Although she tragically lost Joseph after childbirth and di-vorced in 1978, she devoted herself to creating a household full of love, acceptance, and ‘giving everything your best’, as evidenced by the countless hours spent baking, cook-ing, crafting, laughing, and at soccer fields with Michelle and Billy. Ber-nie embraced strays of every kind, listened without judgment, gave her time unselfishly, and always advised in a spirit of love. Her thoughtful-ness and consideration touched and changed others in ways she surely never realized. Her feistiness, hon-esty, and convictions inspired oth-ers to action. And her faith in Christ grew as steadily as her love for her children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, family, and friends – de-spite the challenges life threw her direction. Simple faith, loving ac-ceptance, quick, infectious laughter, and a twinkle in her warm brown eyes defined Bernie to the world around her. She added so much to the lives of those who survive her including: daughter Michelle New-som, son-in-law Kevin Newsom and their sons Alexander and Nathaniel; son Bill Howell, daughter-in-law Carrie Howell, and their sons Noah and Cameron; sisters Mary “Betty” Sabol, Barbara Darnley, Sr. Beatrice Ann Parenti, Sr. Catherine Mein-ert, Roseann Schultz, and Cather-

ine Czambel; sisters-in-law Sandi Parente and Mary Lou Parente and brother-in-law Jim Sabol; former husband Gene Howell and his wife Marie; Godson Bob Darnley; nieces, nephews, great-nieces and neph-ews and in-laws from the Darnley, Sinciline, Parente, Schultz, Czam-bel, Wilson, Tofte, Cross, and How-ell families; close friends like the Reamys and Princes; and Sunshine. She is preceded in her new life by her son, Joseph Anthony; parents, Annibale and Anna Marie Paren-ti; brothers John Anthony and Al-bert Parente; brothers-in-law John Darnley Sr., Roy Czambel, and Ed Schultz; nephew Tim Darnley; and many friends and pets whom she loved dearly. Special thanks to the amazing, caring staff at Texas On-cology, Irving, and the staff at Bay-lor, Scott and White, Irving. A visita-tion and rosary service were held in Bernie’s memory at 6pm Thursday, February 11th at Donnelly’s Colonial Funeral Home, 606 West Airport Freeway, Irving. A Mass of Christian Burial was hosted at 11am Friday, February 12th at Holy Family of Nazareth Catholic Church in Irving. Interment was at Oak Grove Me-morial Gardens in Irving. For more information, please contact Don-nelly’s Colonial Funeral Home at: 972.579.1313. In lieu of flowers, the family requests monetary donations to: Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, DePaul Center, 144 DePaul Center

OBITUARIESDEATH NOTICES

arrangements bydonnelly’s Colonial Funeral Home

972-579-1313

Mary SchleifOct. 10, 1925 - Feb. 3, 2016

Sammy Ray HarperMay 31, 1959 - Feb. 9, 2016

Arrangements byBrown’s Memorial Funeral Home

972-254-4242

Sheila McElroy Kendro Aug. 19, 1926 - Feb. 07, 2016

Joyce DavisFeb. 25, 1933 – Feb. 06, 2016

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MillennialsContinued from Page 1

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CassieOh, I’m sort of nervous about this, because I really don’t like to

talk about myself, but I was told I would be alright. My name is Cas-sie, and I am a total lovebug. Seriously. I could lay in your lap all day without a care in the world. I’m still pretty young being only 1-year-old, but I like to lay around and wait for you to offer up some good petting time. This awesome coloring on my nose sort of makes me look like I got into something I shouldn’t, but I’m not that kind of girl! Come meet me, and I’ll be your friend for life.

TonyYo, I’m Tony! I’m about 3

years old, and I’m a tough little guy. Just kidding. I’m a sweet snuggler that just wants to be loved, petted, and held. I’m a total neck nuzzler. Pick me up,

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any other group that we’ve been in-volved with.”

He said not only do millennials think differently, they live and work differently, and those differences will necessitate changes in the way the real estate industry sells and markets homes to them and em-ploys them as real estate agents.

“This is where your home sales are going to be.”

And what millennials will want is housing. But not just any kind of housing. The types of abodes on their wish lists skews communal style. And though they might be residing at home out of necessity – failure to launch, saving money or paying off college debt – when they do get ready to purchase a home, they’ve got standards. Big, tall ex-pensive ones.

“When we talk about multi-use real estate – that’s exactly what they’re looking for. And they’ll pay top dollar. They’re able to buy a home. But one thing about millenni-als – they’re waiting longer to do it.”

In addition to living at home lon-ger than average, millennials are waiting longer to marry and start families. He attributes that consum-er change to their front-row seat during the last recession.

“They’ve seen their moms and dads lose their houses. And what they’re doing is enjoying their 20s

and early 30s. And it’s not uncom-mon now for millennials to start [wanting] to have babies in their 40s and 50s,” he said.

Messer said millennials prefer multi-use real estate – downtown pod-styles of habitats, like condos. “They like having a place where they can live. Where they can walk to work. That they can ride a bike – have no car. They want to shop, have everything in a local area. They want all of the conveniences.”

Because of this communal ap-proach to living, Mr. Messer said millennials are magnets for a new ‘sharing economy,’ in which it is common for two or three friends to go in on a purchase of a single prop-erty.

On the flip-side of millennials’ place in this new consumer real es-tate paradigm will be their place in the industry as real estate industry professionals.

Messer cited millennials’ pre-ferred workplace styles and habits – their propensity to work draped in lounges and chairs with interstitial interruptions – rather than seated at desks, toiling and grinding out eight-hour workdays, as examples of this new work-style dynamic.

“It’s a very different environment from the get go. They might want to get up and play a ping-pong game

Rd, Greensburg, PA 15601, www.scsh.org; or donations of time or money to: Irving Healthcare Foun-dation, www.healthyirving.org. “Do the best that you can with what you have.”

arrangements bydonnelly’s Colonial Funeral Home

972-579-1313

wanda leeMcbride

Wanda Lee McBride, longtime Irving resident, died in Keller, Texas on February 11, 2016, at age 81. She entered the world in Calvin, Oklaho-ma in the loving arms of her parents Ordie and Margie (Cooper) Taylor on February 22, 1934. Wanda was a majorette at Adamson High School. She retired from Fidelity Union Life after 25 years as an Executive Vice President in 1975. Her most import-ant accomplishment was caring for and nurturing her family. Wanda was extremely proud that she had the opportunity to raise and love

two sets of twins. Left to cherish the memory of a devoted wife, moth-er, grandmother and great grand-mother are her beloved husband Aubrey C. McBride; daughter Marie Locke and husband Carl; son Aubrey McBride and wife Judy; son Dennis McBride and wife Robin; daugh-ter Denise Gros and husband Bob; grandchildren Shannon Robinson, Shawn Locke, Mallory Daleiden, Kaylyn McBride, Rachel Dockwei-ler, Chelsea Gros and Ryan Gros along with great grandchildren Lo-gan, Ben and Charlie Locke, Court-ney and Britteny Robinson, Bradley Dockweiler, Jackson Daleiden and Riley Gros. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Feb-ruary 15, 2016 in Brown’s Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Irving with visitation from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., thirty minutes prior to the service. Burial will immediately follow at Oak Grove Memorial Gardens.

Arrangements byBrown’s Memorial Funeral Home

972-254-4242

in the middle of a workday,” he said. “They come casually. Some-times they [companies] don’t re-quire them to be there at 8 a.m. It’s a whole different management style. What we’ve learned is there are a couple of brokerages that have been able to capitalize on this model and say ‘how can we recruit millennials’ and ‘what do we have to do?’”

Also affecting the new paradigm shift is the independent contractor versus employee dilemma. A prime example, Messer said, is a Califor-nia case involving Coldwell Banker and its real estate agents, who won their case. According to Messer, the company’s agents sued on the basis they were employees and not inde-pendent contractors. The court said its agents should be paid as employ-ees and receive company benefits, he said.

“This independent contractor sta-tus is getting ready to be challenged on every side. And very well, we could lose that independent status in years to come. So you need to think through your brokerage mod-el,” said Mr. Messer.

He cited Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of real estate broker-age houses beginning in the early 2000s, and its new real estate mod-el that churns out real estate agents as company employees. He said the

firm is hiring kids straight out of col-lege.

“But what Berkshire Hathaway understands is, if you as a broker get to keep all the income – you can pay $25,000, $30,000 to an agent,” said Messer.

Several of the brokers and real es-tate professionals at the convention said they were open to the idea of hiring recent college grads as staff employees rather than hiring them as independent contractors. Still, other industry professionals cited concerns about the loss of the un-limited profit motive of splits, en-joyed by independent contractors.

“If I were able to bring in younger people without them knowing about the 80/90 split – give them a salary and bonus – that’s something I need to look at,” said Jimmy Parker, own-er of SandDollar Realty in South Pa-dre Island.

James Thomas, a broker, who along with his realtor wife, Jane, are owners of San Angelo Real Estate, in San Angelo, Texas, said he is open to the idea of hiring younger agents as salaried employees. He likes the Berkshire-Hathaway model.

“Across the board, it’s an aging profession. If we can work on them…it’s a great career where they’ll work and be paid.”

The downside to hiring new col-

lege graduates as company employ-ees is finding new talent to recruit and groom. Seasoned real estate agents said some industry profes-sionals are less likely to eschew un-limited profit potential they make as independent contractors. Moreover, they’re less likely to find the con-ventional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday appealing.

“No way would they want to lim-it that,” said Suzanne Cook, of Su-zanne Cook & Company LLC, a real estate brokerage firm in Longview, Texas, of the profit potential agents make as independent contractors.

Thomas said one way he could cultivate new talent is by recruiting students from the nearby university. Parker echoed his sentiment.

“There are 2,700 people on the is-land and I would guess there are no millennials. The average age is 60. I think the idea of getting a relation-ship with a university is great idea,” said Parker.

Thomas said hiring a new gradu-ate is an idea he is willing to enter-tain, as there could be a “diamond in the rough” out there, ready to slay in the real estate market.

“Broker-owners may have to have a trainer or spend a lot of time with them or they will fail. Maybe a quota – put them on a salary. If they don’t make it, they’re out.”

February 13, 2016972-870-1992

LibrariesContinued from Page 1

CLASSIFIEDS (972) 870-1992 [email protected]

LEGALS

Estate SaleSelling all contents of house2/19-2/20-2/21, 9am-5pm 2605 Fairbrook Irving 75062

The CITY OF IRVING, Texas will receive sealed responses in the Purchasing Division, 1st floor, 835 W. Irving Blvd, until the date and time below and will open responses at the same location for the following items:1. ITB 095D-16F Used Roll-Off Vehicle for City of IrvingDue Date: 2/23/16 @ 3:30 p.m. 2. ITB 096D-16F Equipment Maintenance for Street Sweepers, Sewer Flushing Machines, Vac Trucks Due Date: 2/23/16 @ 3:00 p.m. Responses must be received in a sealed envelope with solicitation number and due date on the envelope. Late responses cannot be accepted. Information may be found at www.cityofirving.org click Departments/ Purchasing Phone: 972.721.2631

ORDINANCE NO. 2016-9773ZONING CASE NO. ZC15-0088

ZONING CLASSIFICATION - S-P-2

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1144, THE 1964 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF IRVING, TEXAS, GRANTING A ZONING CHANGE ON A TRACT OF LAND DESCRIBED AS: A TRACT OF LAND OUT OF THE VALLEY VIEW BUSINESS CENTER, 4TH ADDITION, 1ST REVISION, AND LOCATED AT 1275 VALLEY VIEW LANE, MORE FULLY AND COMPLETELY DESCRIBED IN THE BODY OF THIS ORDINANCE; ORDERING A CHANGE IN THE USE OF SAID PROPERTY FROM S-P2 SITE PLAN DISTRICT USE FOR ML-20 USES UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AS AMENDED TO SP2 SITE PLAN DISTRICT USE FOR ML-20 USES UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AND ACCORDING TO THE SITE PLAN ATTACHED HERETO AND MADE A PART HEREOF; PROVIDING FOR SPECIAL CONDITIONS AND REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO LAND USE; CORRECTING THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP ATTACHED TO ORDINANCE NO. 1144; PRESERVING ALL OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE; DETERMINING THAT THE CHANGE IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST, MORALS AND GENERAL WELFARE; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE DOES NOT REPEAL OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE EXCEPT IN CASES OF DIRECT CONFLICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY.



AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1144, THE 1964 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF IRVING, TEXAS, GRANTING A ZONING CHANGE ON A TRACT OF LAND DESCRIBED AS: A TRACT OF LAND OUT OF THE JUNIORS GILBERT ROAD ADDITION AND LOCATED AT 3933 GILBERT ROAD, MORE FULLY AND COMPLETELY DESCRIBED IN THE BODY OF THIS ORDINANCE; ORDERING A CHANGE IN THE USE OF SAID PROPERTY FROM R-6 SINGLE FAMILY DISTRICT USE UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AS AMENDED TO S-P-2 SITE PLAN DISTRICT USE FOR R-6 USES UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AND ACCORDING TO THE SITE PLAN ATTACHED HERETO AND MADE A PART HEREOF; PROVIDING FOR SPECIAL CONDITIONS AND REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO LAND USE; CORRECTING THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP ATTACHED TO ORDINANCE NO. 1144; PRESERVING ALL OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE; DETERMINING THAT THE CHANGE IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST, MORALS AND GENERAL WELFARE; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE DOES NOT REPEAL OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE EXCEPT IN CASES OF DIRECT CONFLICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY.



AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1144, THE 1964 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF IRVING, TEXAS, GRANTING A ZONING CHANGE ON A TRACT OF LAND DESCRIBED AS: A TRACT OF LAND OUT OF THE C. E. MCLEMORES 2 ADDITION AND LOCATED AT 128 WEST GRAUWYLER ROAD, MORE FULLY AND COMPLETELY DESCRIBED IN THE BODY OF THIS ORDINANCE; ORDERING A CHANGE IN THE USE OF SAID PROPERTY FROM R-6 SINGLE FAMILY DISTRICT USE UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AS AMENDED TO S-P-2 SITE PLAN DISTRICT USE FOR R-6 USES UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AND ACCORDING TO THE SITE PLAN ATTACHED HERETO AND MADE A PART HEREOF; PROVIDING FOR SPECIAL CONDITIONS AND REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO LAND USE; CORRECTING THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP ATTACHED TO ORDINANCE NO. 1144; PRESERVING ALL OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE; DETERMINING THAT THE CHANGE IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST, MORALS AND GENERAL WELFARE; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE DOES NOT REPEAL OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE EXCEPT IN CASES OF DIRECT CONFLICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY.



AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1144, THE 1964 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF IRVING, TEXAS, GRANTING A ZONING CHANGE ON A TRACT OF LAND DESCRIBED AS: A TRACT OF LAND OUT OF THE ALBERTSONS REVISED ADDITION AND LOCATED AT 555 WEST AIRPORT FREEWAY, MORE FULLY AND COMPLETELY DESCRIBED IN THE BODY OF THIS ORDINANCE; ORDERING A CHANGE IN THE USE OF SAID PROPERTY FROM S-P-2 SITE PLAN DISTRICT USE FOR C-C USES UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AS AMENDED TO S-P-2 SITE PLAN DISTRICT USE FOR C-C AND MINI-WAREHOUSE WITH ON-SITE MANAGER RESIDENCE USES UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1144, AND ACCORDING TO THE SITE PLAN ATTACHED HERETO AND MADE A PART HEREOF; PROVIDING FOR SPECIAL CONDITIONS AND REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO LAND USE; CORRECTING THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP ATTACHED TO ORDINANCE NO. 1144; PRESERVING ALL OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE; DETERMINING THAT THE CHANGE IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST, MORALS AND GENERAL WELFARE; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE DOES NOT REPEAL OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE EXCEPT IN CASES OF DIRECT CONFLICT; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY.

ORDINANCE NO. 2016-9771

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. ORD-2015-9700 BY APPROVING A SCHEDULE OF CLASSIFIED PERSONNEL FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF IRVING, TEXAS, on February 4, 2016.

BETH VAN DUYNE, MAYORATTEST: Shanae Jennings, City SecretaryAPPROVED AS TO FORM: Charles R. Anderson, City Attorney

The CITY OF IRVING, Texas will receive sealed responses in the Purchasing Division, 1st floor, 835 W. Irving Blvd, until the date and time below and will open responses at the same location for the following items:1. ITB 092D-16F Anderson, Stafford, McCarthy, Posey, Metker & Chisholm Water andWastewater ImprovementsPre-Bid Mtg: 2/19/16 @ 10:00 a.m. or 2/22/16 @ 3:00 p.m. Due Date: 2/26/16 @ 3:00 p.m.Responses must be received in a sealed envelope with solicitation number and due date on the envelope. Late responses cannot be accepted. Information may be found at www.cityofirving.org click Departments/ Purchasing Phone: 972.721.2631

SUMMARY OF ORDERSBUILDING AND STANDARDS COMMISSION

Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 3:30 p.m.CITY HALL 825 WEST IRVING BOULEVARD

CONSENT ITEMS:Approval of the Work Session and Public Hearing MinutesFor October 29, 2015 INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION:BSCP1410-0008 – 301 Thompson St. – Mayhall Betty Jo Est of Commission made findings; no later than February 15, 2016 obtain any required permits for the demolition of the Collapsed Accessory Structure. No later than March 5, 2016 the owner(s) shall complete the demolition and removal of the Collapsed Accessory Structure. If the owner(s) have not completely demolished the Collapsed Accessory Structure and removed the debris by the deadline date set forth in the February 4, 2016 Commission order, then the Commission authorizes the City of Irving, its agents or contractors to demolish the Collapsed Accessory Structure and remove all debris from the property on or after March 6, 2016. The Commission authorizes the City of Irving to enter the property, perform asbestos testing (if required) and/or remediation if needed, demolish the Collapsed Accessory Structure, remove all personalty, and dispose of all personalty and demolition debris, assess the associated expenses including asbestos abatement and demolition costs on and file a lien against the property to recover all said expenses unless payment is received in full within ten (10) days from the date of the invoice. In addition to the above order on the Collapsed Accessory Structure, the Commission makes this additional order for the Remaining Two Structures on the property at 301 Thompson St.; Authorize city staff to enter the structures and make interior as well as exterior inspections of the structures immediately and continuously until the structures are brought into compliance with city ordinances. No later than February 15, 2016, the owner(s) shall provide city staff with a scope and schedule for repair or demolition of the Remaining Two Structures, to be approved by city staff. No later than February 25, 2016, obtain any required permits for the repair or the demolition of the Remaining Two Structures and begin the repair or demolition on the Remaining Two Structures. No later than March 5, 2016 complete the repairs or demolition of the Remaining Two Structures such that they are in compliance with the city ordinances and so that the violations listed in this Order have been fully remedied/abated on the Remaining Two Structures. If the owner(s) have not completely repaired or demolished the Remaining Two Structures and removed the debris from the Remaining Two Structures by the deadline dates set forth in the February 4, 2016 Commission order, then the Commission authorizes the City of Irving, its agents or contractors to demolish the Remaining Two Structures and remove all debris from the property clean on or after March 6, 2016. The Commission authorizes the City of Irving to enter the property, perform asbestos testing (if required) and/or remediation if needed, demolish the Remaining Two Structures, remove all personalty, and dispose of all personalty and demolition debris, assess the associated expenses including asbestos abatement and demolition costs on and file a lien against the property to recover all said expenses unless payment is received in full within ten (10) days from the date of the invoice. The lien is extinguished if the property owner or another person having an interest in the legal title to the property reimburses the City of Irving for the expenses. Also notified the owner(s) of possible civil penalties being assessed of up to $1000.00 per day for non-compliance. This is an abbreviated summary of the Commission Orders as established at the February 4, 2016 Building and Standards Commission Hearing. A complete copy of the Commissions’ Orders may be obtained from Rachel Sedillo, Clerk for the Building and Standards Commission, City of Irving, Inspections Dept., 825 W. Irving Blvd., Irving, Texas 75060 (972-721-2388)

Outside Sales Representative WantedRambler Newspapers is currently seeking outgoing individuals who enjoy working closely with community business leaders.

Requirements: Personal Transportation & Valid Driver’s License and InsurancePreferred Skills Include: prior Sales Experience (not retail) & Basic Computer Skills and willingness to establish and maintain profitable relationships with customers.

For more information call 972-870-1992

these characters, there’s a lot of in-formation that you think of or dis-cover about your characters,” Meyer said. “I had a lot of ideas of things that happened in the pasts of my characters, but these things don’t al-ways make it into the actual novel. I have lived with this world and these characters for more than seven years, and I love these characters so much. I started debating, ‘Which of these characters am I going to write about this time?’ I couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving anybody out, so I wrote stories about all of them.”

After talking about her book for a while, Meyer read the original ver-sion of The Little Mermaid for the audience. While she admitted to not really caring for the story, she credited the story for starting her fascination with fairy tales, which are a key inspiration for The Lunar Chronicles, which provides a new take on several old fairy tales in a fu-turistic setting.

“The first movie I saw in theatres was The Little Mermaid, and I loved it so passionately,” Meyer said. “My grandmother gave me a book of fairy tales, and the first story was ‘The Lit-tle Mermaid,’ which turned out to be a mistake on my grandmother’s part, because it was a very different story from the one Disney gave us. I read it, and I was a little devastated, but then it also made me curious to know, ‘What else is Disney not tell-ing me?’”

Afterwards, Meyer held a ques-tion and answer session. Many of the fans’ questions revolved around Meyer’s writing process and where she gets most of her ideas. After that, there was a raffle where an advance copy of Heartless, Meyer’s first stand-alone novel, which will officially be released in November of this year, was given away to one lucky fan.

Meyer advised that aspiring young writers should “slow down, and take your time. Enjoy the pro-cess and the point in your life where you are an aspiring writer. It is so easy to think that all you want is to be published, all you want is your name on that cover. It can be hard to step back from that and just focus on this writing, this story, and en-joying the craft and the art of story-telling. That’s why we’re doing it in the first place.”

IRVINE, Calif., – CoreLogic®, a leading global property informa-tion, analytics and data-enabled ser-vices provider, recently released its December 2015 National Foreclo-sure Report which shows the fore-closure inventory declined by 23.8 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 22.6 percent compared with December 2014. The number of completed foreclosures nation-wide decreased year over year from 41,000 in December 2014 to 32,000 in December 2015. The number of completed foreclosures in Decem-ber 2015 was down 72.8 percent from the peak of 117,722 in Septem-ber 2010.

The foreclosure inventory rep-resents the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure pro-cess and completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. Since the finan-cial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6.1 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since home-ownership rates peaked in the sec-ond quarter of 2004, there have been about 8 million homes lost to foreclosure.

As of December 2015, the nation-al foreclosure inventory included approximately 433,000, or 1.1 per-cent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 568,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, in December 2014.

The December 2015 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since November 2007.

CoreLogic also reports that the number of mortgages in serious

National foreclosure inventory down 23.8 percent from December 2014

delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 23.3 percent from December 2014 to December 2015, with 1.2 million mortgages, or 3.2 percent, in this category.

The December 2015 serious de-linquency rate is the lowest in eight years, since November 2007.

“Reflecting on the full-year fore-closure results for 2015, we can see that completed foreclosures are down more than 20 percent for the year, which is the lowest level since 2006, before the crisis,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Maryland, which can be described as a suburb of the sol-id D.C. market, led the way with a 59-percent decline in foreclosures

in 2015.”“The supply of distressed invento-

ry continues to shrink rapidly. While this is positive for the housing mar-ket overall, it also drives a decline in the inventory of affordable for-sale homes,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The lack of housing stock, particu-larly affordable inventory, is a grow-ing issue and will limit a full hous-ing recovery in the short to medium term.”

Additional December 2015 high-lights:

On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures declined by 5.6 percent to 32,000 in December 2015 from the 34,000 reported in November 2015.* As a basis of com-parison, before the decline in the

housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

The five states with the high-est number of completed foreclo-sures for the 12 months ending in December 2015 were Florida (79,000), Michigan (50,000), Tex-as (30,000), Ohio (24,000) and Georgia (24,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all com-pleted foreclosures nationally.

Four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2015: the District of Columbia (81), North Dakota (220), Wyoming (541), West Virginia (560) and Alaska (700).

Four states and the District of Co-

lumbia had the highest foreclosure inventory rate in December 2015: New Jersey (4.2 percent), New York (3.5 percent), Hawaii (2.4 percent), the District of Columbia (2.3 per-cent) and Florida (2.3 percent).

The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in De-cember 2015 were Alaska (0.3 per-cent), Minnesota (0.3 percent), Col-orado (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.4 percent) and Utah (0.4 percent).

*November 2015 data was re-vised. Revisions are standard, and to ensure accuracy CoreLogic incor-porates newly released data to pro-vide updated results.

SOURCE CoreLogic


FUN & GAMES

Organizations are required to re-submit their information on a monthly basis to insure that the Irving Rambler will have accurate information. Listings are limited to the Organization’s name, meeting location and time. If an organization wishes to have more information than the free listing offers, we will continue to offer other advertising opportunities.

(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.

(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.

All Nations Gideons International Club of DFW

10 A.M. Saturday mornings 2011 W. Irving Blvd. Irving, TX

Call 972-704-6572American Legion Post #218

Heritage Park Building215 Main St. Downtown Irving3rd Thursday of each month.

Recruiting/Questions call 469-621-7878Buttons & Bows Square

& Round Dance Club 1st & 3rd Saturdays at 8:00 pm

Senter Park East 228 ChamberlainCircle I - Square

& Round Dance Club2nd & 4th Fridays at 8pm

Senter Park East 228 ChamberlainEvening Lions Club

1st & 3rd Tuesdays at 7:00pmCommunity Bible Church

2301 Texas DriveGreater Irving RepublicansMeets the first Tues. each month@ Spring Creek BBQ at 7 p.m.

Hebrew Torah Scrolls Frame Sheets Club

2011 W. Irving Blvd. Irving TX 75061972-704-6572

Saturdays at 10 AM Irving Amateur Radio Club

Fourth Thursday of the month 7:30 to 9 PM

Senter Park East 228 Chamberlainwww.irvingarc.org

Irving AMBUCSThursdays @ 11:30 a.m.

at Spring Creek BBQ Irving Garden & Arts

2nd Thursday, 10amIrving Garden & Arts Building906 S. Senter 214.435.9876

Irving Masonic Lodge #1218Second Tuesday each month @ 7:30 P.M.

132 E. Second St. Irving, TX [email protected] / 972-253-5600

Irving Noonday LionsPH 972-409-9940

Every Wed. @ NoonGolden Corral, 1701 N. Belt Line Rd.

Irving Retired SchoolPersonnel Association

First Christian Church 104 W. Grauwyler Rd.

Second Thursday every monthIrving Rotary Club

Thursdays at 12 pmLas Colinas Country Club

[email protected] Sunrise Rotary

Thursday at 7 amLas Colinas Country Club

4400 N. O”Connor RdIrving Texas Democratic

WomenMeet the first Tues. each month

7 p.m. To 8:30 p.m.East Buffet Rest.

Irving Women’s NetworkLas Colinas Country Club

Fourth Tuesday of every month11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m.

Matthew 18:18-21Two of You Agree Club Sundays from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

2011 W. Irving Blvd. 972-704-6572 or 214-677-2851

Metroplex Glass ClubEvery 2nd TuesdayAt Oak Haven UMC

1600 N. Irving HeightsSaturday Singles

Lunch Bunch 1st & 3rd Saturdays

469-348-5023Sticks and Strings

Community Knitting GroupFirst and third Tuesdays

2:00-4:00 pmS. Irving Library, 2nd floor boardroom Beginners and Crocheters welcome

www.sticksandstrings.org TOPS TX #58, Irving

Thursday at 9:30 a.m.Berean Memorial Church

1000 E. 6th StreetVFW Post 2494 IRVING

Post Meeting – 1st Thursday at 7pmLadies’ Auxiliary -1st & 3rd Wed at 7pm

Men’s Auxiliary – 4th Wed at 7pmJunior Girls – 2nd Sun at 12:30pm

3375 Belt Line RdWidowed Persons Service

Every Saturday @ 8:30 a.m.at Wonderful World of Cooking

Karen – 972-986-4056

CLUBS* It was American mythologist Joseph

Campbell who made the following sage ob-servation: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

* If you’re an aficionado of barbed wire, be sure to head to LaCrosse, Kansas, during the first weekend of May. Collectors gather there every year for the Antique Barbed Wire Swap and Sell Festival.

* You might be surprised to learn that both men and women have an Adam’s ap-ple; it’s more visible on men because men have larger larynxes and because women tend to have more fatty tissue in their necks.

* You doubtless know of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s Founding Fathers, as the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, and you’ve probably heard that he was fatally wounded in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. Most of his accomplishments are not common knowledge, though -- and they deserve to be. Born into poverty on the Caribbean island of Nevis, the illegitimate son of a Scots merchant, Hamilton began work as a clerk at the age of 11. His employers were so impressed with his intelligence that they paid for him to attend school in America, where he became involved in revolutionary politics. He was a lieutenant colonel by the age of 20 and managed to marry into one of the most distin-guished families in New York. In addition to writing most of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton founded the New York Post, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Mint.

* Marie de Medici, queen of France in the early 17th century, once had a gown made that was embellished with more than 3,000 diamonds and 30,000 pearls.

***Thought for the Day: “He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth

could live were all judged justly?” -- Lord Byron

1. MUSIC: Who was known as “The Godfather of Soul”?2. TELEVISION: What was the name of the yellow character on the

children’s show “Teletubbies”?3. SPORTS: What competition features activities such as clean,

jerk and snatch?4. FOOD & DRINK: What kind of dried fruit are prunes?5. FAMOUS QUOTATIONS: What famous playwright once ob-

served, “The course of true love never did run smooth”?6. MATHEMATICS: What number does the prefix giga- represent?7. U.S. STATES: Which U.S. state shares only one border with

another state?8. GEOGRAPHY: Where is the Suez Canal?9. PRESIDENTS: Which U.S. president was born with the name

Leslie King?

Answers1. James Brown2. Laa-Laa3. Weightlifting4. Plums

5. William Shakespeare6. 1 billion7. Maine8. Egypt9. Gerald Ford

February 13, 2016972-870-1992

UNITY CHURCHUnity of Irving

Sunday Morning Services:9:30 AM Adult Class

11:00 AM Service& Children’s Church

Reverend Frank Poundersand Reverend Margaret Pounders

210 Virginia St., Irving, Texas 75061972-253-5083

unitychurchofirving.com

Heart of Worship Baptist2201 W. Shady Grove Rd.

www.howbc.orgWorship: 9 am

Sunday School:10:30 amPastor Mike Blalock

214-864-0635

BAPTIST

First United Methodist Church 211 W. Third, 75060

972-253-3531 www.fumcirving.orgSunday School 9:15 a.m.

Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.in the Sanctuary

6:30 p.m. in the ChapelSecond and fourth Sundays

Oak HavenUnited Methodist Church

1600 N. Irving Heights 75061972.438.1431

www.oakhavenumc.orgSunday School 9:45 a.m.

Sunday Worship 10:45 a.mMinisterio Hispano NISSIEstudio Biblico 1:00 p.m.

Servicio Adoracion 2:00 p.m.

UNITED METHODIST

CHRISTIAN SCIENCEFirst Church of Christ, Scientist

2250 W Pioneer Dr., Irving, 75061972-253-7202

www.ChristianScienceIrving.comSunday & Sunday School 10 am

Wednesday 7:30 pmReading Room Mon-Sat 10am-1pmDial in to services: 1-857-232-0476

access code 884879For inspiring programs 24/7 call:214-His-Work (214-447-9675)

CHURCH OF CHRISTBelt Line Road

Church of Christ1202 N. Belt Line Rd., Irving, TX 75061

1st Century Christianity in the 21st CenturySunday Bible Classes 9 a.m.

Sunday Worship 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.Wednesday Worship 7:00 p.m.

972-790-8606 www.BeltLineChurch.com

rev. Sara Hardaway,

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To list your house of worship in the Ram-bler, please contact Laurie at 972-870-

1992 or [email protected]

MOVIE REVIEWS

By Matt Mungle Synopsis: A former Special

Forces operative turned merce-nary is subjected to a rogue ex-periment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter ego Deadpool. Review: Deadpool is one of the purist and most beautiful love sto-ries to ever grace a cinema screen. In a sea of flotsam, self-absorbed, and egocentric super heroes, Wade Wilson is a beacon of light guiding us home. Thank you, Mr. Deadpool for saving our holiday and possi-bly even our lackadaisical lives. Wade (Ryan Reynolds) has served selflessly as a military mercenary always putting others ahead of his own comfort and fortune. The one thing that has forever eluded him is that special someone to gently hold at the end of a long day. Then he meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and with her he finds a reason to do many things; to her and for her. Their love is unbridled and unmatched. But as if scripted by the demi-gods of Nicholas Sparks a tragedy be-falls them which threatens their blissful existence. Wade puts his trust in the wrong people, main-ly one liar named Ajax (Ed Skrein) who promises healing. Even that goes terribly wrong and Wade must now hide behind a mask in order to walk among the beau-tiful people. Deadpool is born and this sets in motion a chain of events that will break your heart and leave you chanting, “Let love win”, from the theater aisle.

Deadpool offers a superhero romance story for the massesDeadpool is hands down one of the best super hero films to ever crawl from the pages of Marvel Comics. Never before has one been so relat-able and of the people. Instead of sitting in a lofty penthouse making billions of dollars, this is a guy you can sit at the bar and have a drink with. You can tell him all your trou-bles and he will not only listen but offer you words of honest encour-agement-sprinkled with a tad a sar-casm-that will lift your spirits and tickle your funny bone. You will leave feeling so good about yourself that you forget all the troubles you thought were so unmanageable. Wade is not just a man of words though but of extreme action when it is called for, especially when it comes to taking care of his lady. Think King Leonidas from 300 meets Mi-chael Bolton singing that one cover song. It is that powerful. So when Vanessa’s life is in danger, he pulls out all the stops, and a few other things, and takes on some mutated a-holes in a bloodbath of vengeance. If you thought you were over and done with the super hero comic movie genre Deadpool will cause you to rethink that decision. It makes fun of everything that the industry holds dear. In doing so, it strips away all the armor and allows you to laugh at the most inappropri-ate dialogue. Seriously, there is very little in this movie that is appro-priate. We should all be ashamed to say we applaud it. But isn’t that what true love is? I think so. Deadpool is rated R for strong vio-

lence and language throughout, sex-ual content and graphic nudity. Do not see this with anyone you would not be willing to burp or pass gas in front of; while completely naked.

It is very adult, but you have to put aside your adult mentality to love it soooo much. Will Ryan Reynolds fi-nally win an Oscar? No, but neither has Iron Man Jr., Captain Evans, or

that web swinger. And I can tell you now who you will like better.

I give it 4 out of 5 taxi cab rides. The smaller your hands are the big-ger this film will feel.

Dallas -- When students are wait-ing for financial aid disbursements, they need funds quickly. Fees to check on refunds or withdraw the money add to their costs.

Students who attend the Dallas County Community College Dis-trict will be able to use their own bank ATMs for withdrawals or to check balances – which will re-duce their transaction fees signifi-cantly – thanks to an agreement approved by the DCCCD board of trustees during its regular monthly meeting on Feb. 2. They also will have more choices where they want their funds sent and how they are paid.

“Our goal is to help students cut costs while they attend college,” said DCCCD’s chancellor, Dr. Joe May. “By removing financial barriers and saving students money, we are sup-porting student success.”

The new contract with TouchNet Information Systems Inc. also will reduce the time that students must wait for their financial aid disburse-ments.

“The system that TouchNet brings to the district will decrease the time it takes to give students access to their funds and also will

DCCCD agreement to save students money, time

decrease the cost of handling fees,” said Stephen McDonald, DCCCD’s director of general and financial aid accounting. McDonald added that full implementation will be ready for the fall 2016 semester. “That’s when most of our students will notice the change,” he said.

The three-year agreement, to-taling $394,703, will be used by both credit and continuing educa-tion students. District officials stat-ed that DCCCD students collectively would save more than $760,000 on withdrawal or inquiry transaction fees, based on estimates of what they spent last year.

DCCCD’s recommendation and the board’s approval of the new con-tract were based on a refund process that would: be easier for students to navigate; reduce total processing costs; shorten actual delivery time for refunds and disbursements to students; and more easily facilitate federal compliance.

“This cost-saving measure com-plements efforts last year that were implemented to cut the cost of new and used textbooks for all students,” McDonald said.SOURCE Dallas County Community College

District

A sea of red was seen throughout Irving ISD on Feb. 5. The district partnered with the American Heart Association to “Go Red” for Nation-al Heart Month and to encourage healthy living, because heart disease is the No. 1 killer of Americans – more than all forms of cancer com-bined.

“The ‘Go Red’ initiative in Irving ISD is important, because it sup-ports the research of the American Heart Association and their efforts to treat and prevent heart disease,” Irving ISD Health and Physical Education Coordinator Dr. Sandi Cravens said. “It also brings aware-ness to the importance of leading healthy lives and avoiding the risk factors for heart disease not only for women, but everyone. Healthier teachers/staff translates to a more positive and consistent learning en-

Irving ISD “Goes Red” vironment which leads to increased success of our students.”

More than $5,500 was donated, from November through January, by Irving ISD faculty and staff to the American Heart Association through shirt sales that will be worn during the month of February. In addition, campuses have set up in-dividual fundraising challenges and programs to recognize the impor-tance of heart health.

The district has extended the ini-tiative throughout the school year to provide information and educa-tional resources about heart health. The initiative will also include mis-sion challenges and fundraising to further the mission of the American Heart Association – building health-ier lives free of cardiovascular dis-eases and stroke.

SOURCE Irving ISD


WE CAN REBUILD IT.

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Accidents happen. At BW Collision Repair, we’ll have your car back on the road quickly with our fast turnarounds and economical rates.

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“Serving the Irving community for over 20 years.”

7-Eleven

Rambler Newspapers are now available at:

Walgreens Valero Dollar General

WASHINGTON – U.S. Trans-portation Secretary Anthony Foxx recently announced that President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget includes $49 million for construc-tion of Dallas’s Red and Blue Line Platform Extensions Project. The project is one of 31 transportation projects in 18 states recommended to receive a share of $3.5 billion in federal funding through the Feder-al Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grant (CIG) Program.

“Since 2009, the Obama Admin-istration has funded nearly 100 new and expanded mass transit projects in Texas and across the country,” Foxx said. “These projects transform communities, improving mobility

DART to receive federal funds for Red and Blue Line platform extensions project

and access to jobs, education and other important opportunities for millions of residents. Public transit is an important ally in the effort to ensure that hard-working Ameri-cans are offered a chance to succeed in the 21st century economy.”

In Dallas, ridership has been in-creasing on the Dallas Area Rap-id Transit (DART) rail network, resulting in crowding downtown during peak periods. The Red and Blue lines currently are limited to two-car train lengths because plat-forms at 28 of the existing stations on these lines are only long enough to accommodate two-car trains. The Red and Blue Line Platform Exten-sions Project will expand the plat-forms at these stations to accom-

modate three-car trains, resulting in increased capacity and reduced crowding for passengers.

“FTA is proud to partner with communities in Dallas and across the country to bring more transpor-tation options to residents and help accommodate our nation’s growing population,” FTA Acting Adminis-trator Therese McMillan said. “This investment in Dallas’s public trans-portation network will improve the mobility and quality of life for thou-sands of residents, provide an alter-native to traffic congestion, and spur more economically vibrant commu-nities.”

In addition to the Fiscal Year 2017 funding recommendation, the DART Red and Blue Line Platform

Extensions Project is receiving near-ly $9.6 million in prior year Core Ca-pacity funds.

FTA’s highly competitive CIG Program is the federal government’s primary grant program for funding major transit capital investments that are locally planned, implement-ed and operated. It provides fund-ing for investments such as new and expanded heavy rail, commuter rail, light rail, bus rapid transit and streetcar projects. The program in-cludes funding for three categories of eligible projects, as defined by the Fixing America’s Surface Trans-portation (FAST) Act: New Starts, Small Starts and Core Capacity.

Funding recommendations for Fiscal Year 2017 include:

$1.4 billion for 10 New Starts projects already under construction in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Orlando, Honolulu, Boston, Charlotte and Portland, with additional funds recommend-ed to accelerate completion of these projects;

$950 million for seven New Starts projects not yet under construction in Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Ana, National Capital Area in Mary-land, Minneapolis, Fort Worth and Seattle;

$458 million for 10 Small Starts projects not yet under construction in Tempe, Sacramento, Fort Lau-derdale, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Kansas City (Missou-ri), Albuquerque, Everett and Seat-tle, Washington;

$599 million for four Core Capac-ity projects to improve capacity on existing, heavily used transit lines in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chica-go, New York City and Dallas; and

$75 million for the Expedited Project Delivery for Capital Invest-ment Grants Pilot Program — a new pilot program outlined in FAST that allows FTA to select up to eight projects seeking 25 percent or less in Federal funding and using a pub-lic-private partnership approach.

SOURCE Federal Transit Administration

“Robot Wranglers” of Coppell takes 2nd place in robotics tournament

DALLAS – After months of in-tense preparation for this season’s FLL robotics competition challenge “TRASH TREK,” nearly 600 North Texas youth came ready to compete at the eighth-annual North Tex-as FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) Regional Championship Robotics Tournament held Feb. 6 at Parish Episcopal School and Community Center. Winning the 1st place Cham-pion’s Award was “The Boys” (with students from Fort Worth, Azle and Weatherford) who will advance to the World Festival in St. Louis, Mo., on April 27-30. The 2nd place team – “Robot Wranglers” from Coppell – will head to the FIRST® LEGO® League North American Open at LEGOLAND® California.

Both Champion’s Award teams were recognized for fully embracing the FLL Core Values while achieving excellence and innovation in the ro-bot game and project.

Produced by the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and present-ed by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, the FLL compe-tition featured 61 teams of nearly 600 young “engineers in training” who presented research projects, teamwork skills and robot-design strategies. Teams also built and pro-grammed an autonomous robot us-ing LEGO® MINDSTORMS tech-nology to score points in 2.5-minute “mission” matches on a trash- and recycling-themed playing field.

“Championing our youth so they can excel in the sciences is very im-portant to Lockheed Martin, which is why we come back year after year as presenting sponsor of the North Texas FIRST LEGO® League tour-nament,” said Hannah Stone, man-ager of community relations for

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Grand Prairie. “The pro-gram is an excellent hands-on way to see the fundamentals of engineer-ing in action and is a critical step in ensuring our region flourishes with up-and-coming engineers to propel our success.”

In 2008, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science became the af-filiate and operational partner for the North Texas FLL region. The Museum coordinates and oversees all North Texas FLL events, the larg-est of which is the Regional Champi-onship Tournament typically held in February. FLL continues to grow in North Texas, from 25 teams in 2008 to 340 teams registered for the 2015 season.

“We were thrilled to have such a large contingency of smart, engaged students participate in our ‘TRASH TREK’ challenge,” said Colleen Walker, the Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer of the Per-ot Museum of Nature and Science. “The excitement for this program demonstrates that STEM learning is continuing to see an upward trend, furthering our mission of inspiring today’s youth to pursue careers in the many exciting fields of science.”

The journey began in August 2015, when 2,400 North Texas stu-dents (and approximately 233,000 students worldwide) ages 9-14 re-ceived the “TRASH TREK” theme. They spent the next few months studying, dissecting and analyzing real-world challenges associated with the complex world of trash and coming up with innovative solutions using science and technology. After qualifying rounds took place in De-cember and January, nearly 600 North Texas youth qualified for the

regional tournament. The North Texas FLL Champi-

onship Robotics Tournament was produced by the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, presented by Lockheed Martin and hosted by Par-ish Episcopal School and Communi-ty Center. Supporting sponsors were ExxonMobil and Rockwell Collins.

For more information on the North Texas FIRST LEGO® League (FLL), go to perotmuseum.org/FLL.

Source Perot Museum of Nature and Sci-ence

Giving a thumbs up confirmation, Ramin Ansary (6th grade, Coppell Middle School West) and Jacob Chappell (8th grade, Coppell Middle School West) confirm that their robot is ready to go. / Photo by Jason Janik

performance at the Youth American Grand Prix. / Photo by ......the Lunar Chronicles universe. She...

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Transcript of performance at the Youth American Grand Prix. / Photo by ......the Lunar Chronicles universe. She...