• Destined for a Green Grave If you’re really serious about your composting, then consider doing it from beyond the grave: Compost yourself. Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home announced Monday that it had become “the first funeral facility in Texas to be approved by the Green Burial Council to perform eco-friendly end-of-life rituals.” Weed-Corley-Fish’s press release said that the funeral home provides various “shades of green,” depending on just how eco-friendly the family wants to be, ranging from “darkest” green (no embalming, buried in a shroud or all-natural fiber clothing in a biodegradable casket/urn in a green cemetery) to “lightest” (includes embalming and placement in a biodegradable casket/urn, but burial would be in a traditional cemetery, which usually requires an outer burial container). Now that’s truly dust to dust. – Lee Nichols
• Victory Over Victoria Gardens When East Austinites warned representatives of a nursing home company that they objected to its plans for a mixed-use convalescent center in the struggling East 12th Street corridor, a company vice president said, “You’re not going to have to fight me tooth and nail.” (See “What Part of ‘No’ Don’t You Understand?,” Aug. 28.) He kept good on that claim: On Monday, Austin Revitalization Authority interim Director Greg Smith sent a letter to neighborhood representatives letting them know that “we have received notice from Victoria Gardens representatives that they will no longer pursu[e] the acquisition and development of that site on East 12th.” Well, that was easy. Still up in the air: What will actually be built along those blocks near I-35? The next meeting of the ARA board is Thursday, Sept. 24, at 4pm in the President’s Dining Room at Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon. – L.N.
• On Your Marks … Primary fever has struck Williamson County. After state Senate Finance Committee Chair Steve Ogden announced that he will not be running for his seat again in 2010 – without ruling out any other positions – Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, launched his “Gattis for Senate” website. Meanwhile, Republicans are lining up to challenge House District 52 incumbent Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock. Larry Gonzales, a former Texas State University System legislative liaison and former chief of staff to Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, announced his candidacy on Sept. 14; he will be facing off against political consultant James Bernsen, previously employed as a spokesman for former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and former House Speaker Tom Craddick. Also eyeing the Round Rock GOP nomination are Ralph Piña (owner of cigar firm Fumée and onetime congressional staffer to Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen), former Texas Supreme Court clerk Stephen Casey (who holds a master’s degree in divinity from televangelist Pat Robertson’s Regent University), and former Williamson County GOP Chair John Gordon. – Richard Whittaker
• Three Drops in Austin’s Filmmaking Bucket Three Austinites are finalists in the Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition, an annual contest for films that bring awareness to water conservation issues. The short films, “Small Changes” by Jennifer and Christopher Gandin Le and “Poor Mark” by David Tuck, are among six films that will be shown at the Getty Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 23. All films in the finals may be viewed at www.iuowfilm.com. – L.N.
This article appears in September 18 • 2009.