Category Archives: WHAT is That?

This section of the Coupland Times is about interesting places and things in the Coupland area.

The Latest Adventure in Coupland Texas

Editor’s Note: For such a small town, Coupland seems to be a witness to many unusual things. Mostly good things. Two weeks ago, scenes from an upcoming movie, with which Willie was involved, were filmed over a two-day period in downtown Coupland. Last week it was this bizarre story. I passed by on the way home and there were many, many more police and emergency vehicles than can be seen in the two photos taken from a cell phone video. I was having to dodge incoming police cars so I didn’t get any pictures but I saw multiple vehicles at the a home and many more around the stock tank down the hill. At that time, the vehicle was completely submerged and not visible but I could tell something was attracting attention. At my request, Jennifer Dollins submitted the following story and the video from which the images were captured. Thanks Jennifer!

On, Thursday, March 12, 2015, we smelled smoke outside at around 6:30 pm and then heard the sirens, we were going to soccer practice, but instead headed west on CR 458 to follow the fire truck – we thought it was a fire, but when we got to the first ‘S’ curve at Charles and Wynne Keating’s house, we found out that there was no fire, but a 17 year old boy had stolen his mother, or sisters car, after having a fight with his girlfriend, and somehow lost control, most likely due to speed. The car ran through the Keating’s fence and into their pond. When I got there it was already totally submerged, people were telling me that the boy ran off toward Brushy Creek. Law enforcement were everywhere and going through the Rohlack’s property to try to find the guy. A DPS officer put on his scuba gear and swam down to hook the car to the tow truck, but nobody seemed to be in any hurry. I heard that the Keating’s talked to the guy, and when they told him they had called the law, he ran off, but not before telling them that he was alone in the car when it wrecked. Then the helicopter came and searched for an hour or so, and found him at Brushy Creek, from what I am told. Granted, this is all hearsay, but I’m thinking the kid was lucky to have gotten out of the car and not drowned. – Jennifer Dollins

Wanna See a Comet?

Coupland Fire Department Gets New Foam Equipment

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Submitted by Karl Hines, Wildland Urban Interface Specialist, Texas A&M Forest Service:

From Texas A & M Forest Service Communications — July 23, 2014

Coupland VFD adds new foam unit to equipment with grant from Texas A&M Forest Service

COUPLAND, Texas – With the most recent addition to Coupland Volunteer Fire Department’s emergency equipment, a new slip-on unit purchased with help from a grant administered by the Texas A&M Forest Service, the department will have several new capabilities.

CVFD received a grant in the amount of $26,775 from TFS to help pay for the new slip-on unit. “We were in need of a better skid unit than what we had, and we did not have access to a CAF unit within our department,” CVFD Fire Chief Tracy Gardner said. “Just having the compressed air foam already this year has been amazing.”

TFS passes approximately $12.8 million along to volunteer fire departments across the state every year, helping them purchase equipment to better protect lives and property.

Regional Fire Coordinator Mark Wobus said CVFD is a department that takes great pride in themselves and their work, and that the new equipment will go to good use. “This unit will be replacing an older unit on a cab chassis that they are keeping,” Wobus said. “It will increase their capabilities by going from just a water unit to having a unit that produces foam. It will increase their firefighting abilities tremendously by helping them knock out fires faster and keep them out.”

To learn more about this program visit texasfd.com.

Moongazers Meet Planetgazers on Saturday and Monday

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Publisher’s Note: My moniker on the Internet is planetgazer for reasons that should be obvious to my readers by now but I could have just as easily chosen moongazer. Well, moongazer, if you’re out there, I’ll be with you in spirit this week.

From “This Week’s Sky-at-a-Glance” at skyandtelescope.com:

Saturday, July 5

First-quarter Moon. The half-lit Moon is quite close to Mars as seen from North America. The Moon occults (hides) Mars during daylight for Hawaii and at dusk or night in parts of Latin America.

Monday, July 7

Now the waxing gibbous Moon shines closely under Saturn in the evening (for North America), as shown at right. For southern South America, the Moon occults Saturn.

Broken Not Beaten

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Submitted by Jim Huntington:

On Friday Feb 15,2014 a sculpture that had stood in the sculpture garden for 7 years, was attacked by testosterone poisoned, alcohol fueled feral punks, doing their white trash version of the knockout game. They left behind little evidence save empty beer can and bottle and the destroyed sculpture. The sculpture was titled “Hiromi, Mon Amour” a takeoff on a 60s film title and dedicated to Hiromi Uehara, a brilliant young Japanese pianist. One of the stones was anchored on a stainless anchor pin, like most of my vertical pieces and the other one was nested against it, with no anchor pin (my mistake). However, it took purposeful malevolent intent and work to knock it over and it broke when it hit the ground.

Of course it was heartbreaking to see one of my favorite pieces destroyed by miscreants, living a pathetic mutated existence at the expense of others but I strive to learn from mistakes and vicissitudes of life.

Refusing to be bowed by these maggots, I set about to reclaim and transform it into a horizontal piece and worked on it for several weeks. The new incarnation is titled “Broken Not Beaten”. I have always felt that my work has a life of its own and that I am merely the messenger, so I deal with what is given.

Of course, I hope for posterity’s sake that all the work I have at Huntington Sculpture Foundation survives me but the level of cultural insouciance, intellectual dissolution and moral degeneracy permeating society in general, leaves me to wonder about the fate of my life’s work. There is little I can do but make my sculpture and, as I always have, leave it in God’s hands.

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