Signing Santa to visit with deaf children
Santa will check the Christmas wish lists of deaf and hard of hearing children from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at Barton Creek Mall.
The Austin Optimist Club sponsors the Signing Santa event annually to give local children who use American Sign Language a chance to tell Santa their holiday wishes. Volunteers will also provide children with free photos with Santa and a treat from his workshop, a Texas School for the Deaf news release said.
Students from the school will also perform carols using American Sign Language at the event.
The city of West Lake Hills will hold the first of two public hearings on the proposed annexation of ten tracts of land on Beaver Trail and Doe Trail at 7 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 911 Westlake Drive.
Maps of the land proposed for annexation are available to view from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Hall, and municipal services plans will be presented during the hearing.
The city will conduct a second public hearing on Dec. 12, and the West Lake Hills City Council is scheduled to consider annexing the land at the Jan. 9, 2013 council meeting.
Applications are currently being accepted for the Drop by Drop landscape rebate program offered through Pflugerville Parks and Recreation.
The city of Pflugerville offers up to a $500 rebate to each resident who plants native, low-water use plants in their yard.
Interested participants may visit the Pflugerville Parks and Recreation office at 400 Immanuel Road to get an application or visit pflugervilletx. gov/dropbydrop and review the application and guidelines.
After residents submit applications, representatives from the city meet with them to review yards and landscape plans.
Upon approval of the plans, residents must purchase native plants and shrubs. After planting and when gardens are complete, city staffers will inspect them and collect receipts used for the rebate.
The program is available to Pflugerville water customers and residents in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. For more information, call Pflugerville Parks and Recreation at 990-6355.
The Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge is accepting public input on a revision to its Refuge Hunting Plan until 4:30 p.m. Jan. 1, 2013.
The revision will allow for the hunting of white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, feral hogs, and doves on several tracts acquired by the refuge since the current hunting plan was approved in 1997, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release said.
The refuge has prepared a draft environmental assessment that provides three alternate revisions that vary on the number of tracts of land on which additional hunting of each animal species will be allowed.
The assessment, the hunting plan and other relevant documents are available at www. fws.gov/refuge/balcones_canyonlands.
The public can submit input in writing to: Deputy Refuge Manager, Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, 24518 FM 1431, Box 1, Marble Falls TX 78654. Input can also be submitted by email to David_Maple@fws.gov with “EA – Public Comment” in the subject line.