Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 52
Democrats Have Tough Choice to Make • Slates are Set for Municipal Elections • Coppell to Help Homeowners With Grants • Tragedy’s Anniversary Marked With Love
Quick question: What do Ryan L. Binkley, Gabriel A. Cornejo, Star Locke, Frankie Lozada, Armando “Mando” Perez-Serrato, David Stuckenberg, and Cenk Uygur have in common?
Quicker answer: They are all running for President.
To be clear, all of those folks are running for President of the United States of America. And they are all seeking your vote this year. Although none of them has a snowball’s chance in hell of ever occupying the Oval Office, you can still check a box next to one of their names as early as Tuesday morning. That’s when voting begins for the March 5 primaries.
If you reside in Dallas County, click here to preview your ballot. Denton County residents can click here to do the same.
Democrats Have Tough Choice to Make
When The Dallas Morning News offered an endorsement in Texas House District 115, the editorial began with this: “Our state’s democracy would be much stronger if every race had candidates with the solid credentials and political commitment that both Cassandra Hernandez and Kate Rumsey are bringing to the Democratic Primary in District 115.”
The newspaper’s editorial board gave the nod to Rumsey due to her history of government service. Rumsey has also been endorsed by one current and one former member of the Texas House, three Dallas City Council members (and one former member), one Fort Worth City Council member, and a variety of organizations, including VoteVets, New Politics, and Mothers Against Greg Abbott.
Hernandez has an even lengthier list of endorsements. She’s backed by at least four Texas House representatives, three Dallas County commissioners, a former Dallas ISD superintendent, a former Carrollton mayor, and several organizations, including the Texas Association of Realtors, the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, and multiple labor unions.
There’s a third candidate in this primary. Unlike her rivals, Scarlett Cornwallis does not tout any endorsements on her website or on her social media. When I examined the candidates’ campaign finances last month, I learned that Cornwallis reported barely any contributions other than a $20,000 loan from herself.
(See “Aspiring State Legislators Detail Their Finances” in Vol. 3, No. 48)
Cornwallis declined to be interviewed by the Morning News, and she also missed the deadline for the Coppell Chronicle’s short questionnaire. Those missteps ought to tell you how serious she is about this campaign. Download this PDF to review the answers provided by Hernandez and Rumsey:
All three Democratic candidates showed up at the Coppell Arts Center on Tuesday for an education-focused forum hosted by Raise Your Hand Texas. The audience included five Coppell ISD trustees and at least three Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD trustees. You can watch a video of that event here.
The winner of this primary will face Coppell Mayor Pro Tem John Jun in November. He will win the Republican primary by default due to a lack of opponents. The District 115 seat is open because state Rep. Julie Johnson is vying to succeed U.S. Rep. Colin Allred in Congressional District 32, where Johnson’s nine rival Democrats include Cornwallis’ husband, Alex Cornwallis, and Jan McDowell, a three-time nominee in Congressional District 24.
This year’s Democratic candidates in District 24 are Sam Eppler and Francine Ly. Video footage of their Jan. 23 forum in Grapevine is available here. One of them will face incumbent Rep. Beth Van Duyne in November.
Slates are Set for Municipal Elections
When Nichole Bentley ran for an open seat on the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees in 2018, I was one of the two rivals she steamrolled on her path to victory. I’d give that experience one out of five stars. Would not recommend.
Although Bentley went unchallenged in 2021, she’ll have to deal with a lone competitor this year. Eneida Padró declared her candidacy for the Place 6 seat on Friday, the last day of the filing period. Padró’s name was unfamiliar to me, but her paperwork say she has lived in the district for more than 15 years. She told me via email that she’s the proud mom of a pre-kindergarten student in Wilson Elementary’s Dual Language Immersion program.
“My commitment to Coppell ISD goes beyond my family,” Padró said. “It is grounded in a deep passion for education and the families in our community.”
(For the record, Bentley’s family includes two Coppell High School graduates and two New Tech High graduates.)
Coppell ISD Trustee Jobby Mathew did not draw any challengers, so he’ll win his first three-year term without having to activate his lightsaber. He was appointed by the other trustees in the fall of 2022, then went unchallenged in a 2023 special election to fulfill the remainder of Tracy Fisher’s term.
Coppell Mayor Wes Mays did not draw any challengers this year, nor did the other three incumbents on the City Council: Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, Biju Mathew, and Kevin Nevels. Coppell voters will choose whether Freddie Guerra or Ramesh Premkumar gets to fulfill the remainder of John Jun’s term, which ends in 2026.
Here’s what will be on the May 4 municipal ballots in the other cities and school districts that overlap with Coppell and Coppell ISD.
CITY OF IRVING
A big chunk of Coppell ISD is in Irving, and City Council Member Al Zapanta represents most of that chunk. Zapanta was unchallenged three years ago, but fellow Army veteran Khalid Khan threw his hat in the ring on Friday. Dennis Webb, who occupies one of the council’s two at-large seats, did not draw any challengers. (CORRECTION added on March 5: Webb has a challenger named Khaleel Ahmed.) Irving voters will also mull a $20 million bond proposal that would finance a new City Hall.
(See “Irving Voters to Consider New City Hall” in Vol. 3, No. 51.)
CARROLLTON-FARMERS BRANCH ISD
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD conducts its elections via cumulative voting. Because two seats will be on the ballot, each voter will get two votes, and you can vote for the same candidate twice if you really want that person to win. Trustee Sally Derrick is stepping down after two terms, so Board President Cassandra Hatfield will compete with three newcomers: Marjorie Barnes, Paul Gilmore, and Luis Palomo.
CITY OF DALLAS
Voters who reside in Cypress Waters will consider 10 bond propositions that would allow Dallas to borrow up to $1.25 billion (yes, billion with a b) to fund various projects, including roads, parks, libraries, and public-safety facilities.
CITY OF LEWISVILLE
Mayor TJ Gilmore will have to vanquish three rivals to secure a second term; he’ll face Alexander Davis, Winston Edmondson, and Tiffany Karim. And Council Member William Meridith also drew multiple challengers; he’ll contend with Penny Mallet and Ainsley Stelling. Lewisville voters will also consider four bond propositions with a total value of $263.4 million.
(See “Lewisville Expected to Call Bond Election” in Vol. 3, No. 44)
LEWISVILLE ISD
This district’s ballot presents a couple of head-scratchers, from this reporter’s perspective. Last November, Lewisville ISD voters rejected three bond propositions that would have financed stadiums, natatoriums, and other athletics facilities. On Monday, the Board of Trustees unanimously decided to ask voters to reconsider those propositions. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, I guess.
Meanwhile, Lewisville ISD is transitioning from a system in which elected officials can reside anywhere in the district — as they can in the City of Coppell and Coppell ISD — to a system that features a mix of at-large and geographically specific seats, as the City of Irving does.
(See “Lewisville ISD Alters Election Procedures” in Vol. 3, No. 28)
Four of the current trustees reside in District 1, including Buddy Bonner and Allison Lassahn, the only trustees whose terms end this year. Lassahn declared her candidacy for the District 1 seat on the first day of the filing period, while Bonner filed for the at-large Place 6 seat on the second day. Hunky-dory, easy-peasy, right?
Not so fast. On the final day of the filing period, Trustee Michelle Alkhatib said she’s running for the District 1 seat. This threw me for a loop, because Alkhatib was elected for the first time last year. Her term doesn’t end until May of 2026. When I emailed her to ask what’s up, she explained that, as a resident of District 1, she would not be eligible to seek reelection until 2027. So she’s trying to switch seats now to avoid a one-year gap in her eligibility. She described this as a “strategic decision” in a statement on her website.
I asked Alkhatib whether she would be able to continue serving until 2026 if she loses to Lassahn this year. She believes she would.
Lassahn told me she didn’t find out until Friday afternoon that she’d be competing with a fellow incumbent. Lassahn said Alkhatib later informed her and the other trustees that she’d been contemplating the matter for weeks.
“I suspect that Ms. Alkhatib made the decision so quickly that she hasn’t considered some of the broader implications of this unorthodox candidacy,” Lassahn said. “I will be encouraging her to look at some of the complications created if she vacates her seat for purely political reasons, and reconsider before the withdrawal deadline of February 23.”
Early voting for the May 4 elections will begin on April 22. The voter registration deadline is April 4.
Coppell to Help Homeowners With Grants
Before I say anything else about my next topic, let me say this: DIBS!
The City of Coppell is about to dole out “residential rehabilitation grants” of up to $10,000 to help homeowners refurbish their properties. Only homes that are at least 30 years old are eligible. As the owner of a 41-year-old house that could use some work, I am very interested in this initiative.
“The city wants to encourage reinvestment into the existing homes in Coppell in order to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods,” Director of Community Development Mindi Hurley told the City Council on Tuesday. “Coppell is a community of choice, and we want it to stay that way, so in order to do so, we want to help protect the greatest investment that most of our residents will ever have, which is their home.”
The grants program was proposed by the city’s Future Oriented Approach to Residential Development Task Force. When she briefed the council on the details, Hurley said the grants could cover the following projects:
Fence repair or replacement
Window replacement
Front door replacement
Landscape cleanup and/or upgrade
Tree trimming, planting, removal, and backfill
Irrigation repair or replacement
Façade updates, including siding, fascia, trim repair or replacement, and painting
Chimney repairs
Concrete repair for walkways and driveways
The council has allocated $100,000 to this pilot program, using less than 1 percent of the $10.2 million the city received from the federal government under the American Rescue Plan Act. Because the grants could be as much as $10,000, Mayor Wes Mays pointed out that as few as 10 homeowners could benefit from the initial allocation. “I think this is going to go quickly,” he said.
There are more than 7,500 houses in Coppell that are at least 30 years old, as shown on the map below. That means nearly two thirds of the city’s houses are eligible for a rehabilitation grant.
Kevin Nevels said owner-occupied homes should be prioritized over rental properties, and none of the other council members in the room had a problem with that. (Mark Hill and John Jun were absent.) The only naysayer in general was Jim Walker, who said he’s fine with using some of the “free money” that Coppell received from the feds on this concept. But Hurley said the city staff plans to budget $200,000 annually for such grants for the next five years, pending the council’s approval, and Walker has a problem with that.
“These are all things that are incidental to homeownership, to me,” Walker said. “I’m just not in favor of using tax dollars from one set of taxpayers to buy front doors and window replacements for other taxpayers.”
Because he was the only council member who expressed such sentiments, Hurley said her staff will start marketing the pilot program by early April.
Tragedy’s Anniversary Marked With Love
A Coppell family’s extensive network of friends and relatives came together last week to support them in their time of need.
Friday was the second anniversary of Caitlin Rogers’ death at the age of 21. Nicholas Twining, a childhood friend who became her roommate at the University of Oklahoma, shot her in Old Town before turning the gun on himself. She died on the scene, and he died later that day at a hospital.
(See “Gun Deaths Rock Coppell” in Vol. 1, No. 52)
Last spring, a bench donated by the Rogers family was placed at the intersection of Main and Houston streets, not far from where Caitlin was killed. On Friday afternoon, dozens of supporters gathered around her parents, brother, and grandmother for a group photo there.
“This is an amazing turnout,” said Anne Rogers, Caitlin’s mother. “It’s so lovely.”
The event was billed as “A Day of Love for Caitlin Rogers.” Just about everybody in the group photo was wearing a T-shirt bearing the URL of the One Love Foundation, which was founded by the family of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia student who was killed by an ex-boyfriend in 2010. The backs of the shirts feature the foundation’s 10 signs of a healthy relationship and 10 signs of an unhealthy relationship.
“We want to bring attention to what is a healthy relationship and what is an unhealthy relationship, particularly for young people,” said Caitlin’s father, Richard Rogers. “We didn’t want her story to happen in vain, and hopefully, we can prevent it from happening again.”
Click here to download PDFs of those lists of signs, and then share them with the teenagers in your family. The latest annual fatality report from the Texas Council on Family Violence says 216 Texans were killed by intimate partners in 2022, and more than 80 percent of those victims were women.
Update From the Sports Desk
The other day, I got a phone call from a chiropractor who I didn’t know and whose name I’ve already forgotten. After quickly demonstrating that he’d never read the Chronicle, he got to the point: Would I consider writing an article about him and his business? I said, “Man, I hate to burst your bubble, but that’s never going to happen.”
I then advised him that a great way to promote your business is to sponsor a Coppell High School sports team. I sponsor a few of them, which means they mention the Chronicle on their social media and over the loudspeakers during games. Additionally, I’ve had the unique experience of seeing my smiling face appear on the Coppell High School Arena scoreboards.
It recently occurred to me that I’d never dealt directly with 1 Vision Media, the company that paid for those digital scoreboards as well as the big one at Buddy Echols Field. Under the terms of a five-year deal that Coppell ISD signed in 2021, the company was supposed to pay the district $96,000 per year and keep any advertising proceeds beyond that amount.
(See “New Scoreboards Touted as Win-Win” in Vol. 1, No. 14)
Well, Coppell ISD Chief Communications Officer Angela Brown told me 1 Vision Media went out of business last year. However, per the terms of the deal, the district got to keep all the scoreboards. Ads are now sold by district administrators and by booster clubs. Meanwhile, the 1 Vision staffer who worked with KCBY students on content, Ryan Putman, was hired by the Coppell ISD Athletics Department as their scoreboard video producer.
In other sports news …
• The Coppell High School girls wrestling team sent six athletes to the state meet in Cypress this weekend — senior Cassie Bonaci, junior Juliet Carrell, junior Anna Lopez, sophomore Ishitha Mallidi, senior Ava Payne, plus sophomore Trinitee Hobbs as an alternate. On the boys’ side, senior Momeen Abbasher and junior Richard Gonzales qualified for state.
• The Coppell High School swimming team will send eight athletes to their sport’s state meet in Austin next weekend, including sophomore Gabe Campos (200 individual medley), junior Annie Chang (50 freestyle), senior Katy Jost (200 freestyle and 500 freestyle), and senior Sean Li (100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle). Additionally, freshman Alice Lu, freshman Emma Wei, Chang, and Jost will compete in the 200 freestyle relay, with senior Nalini Agnihotri and sophomore Gabriella Pardo on tap as alternates.
• One year after making a run to the state semifinals, the Coppell High School girls basketball team got bounced out of this year’s playoffs in the first round. The Cowgirls lost to Allen last Monday, 57-49. The Lady Eagles then defeated Highland Park on Thursday, 52-33, to advance to the regional quarterfinals. Allen will face South Grand Prairie at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Coppell High School Arena.
Chronicle Crumbs
• TRAFFIC ALERT: The contractors working on DART’s Silver Line project plan to fully close the south end of Moore Road between 8 a.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Feb. 26. Meanwhile, the traffic patterns on East Belt Line Road, which has been reduced to one lane in each direction, are due to shift tomorrow.
• I spotted a coyote galloping down Coppell Road in broad daylight last week. A couple of days later, I saw that Coppell Animal Services shared some useful information about coyotes compiled by the DFW Wildlife Coalition.
• The Cozby Library and Community Commons is asking patrons to take a seven-question survey by March 3.
• Coppell ISD will host its second annual Job Shadow Day, in partnership with the Coppell Chamber of Commerce, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 21. This event offers businesses and organizations the chance to open their doors to students, providing a firsthand look into the workplace and potential career opportunities. If your business or organization is interested in participating, fill out this form (and ignore the Jan. 31 deadline mentioned at the top).
• I’ve been obsessing over the former Subway space near Market Street since two Octobers ago. As you may recall, Shipley Do-Nuts was supposedly going to lease it, but a lockout notice was posted on the door before a single doughnut could be made. A couple of months ago, the shopping center’s leasing flyer was updated to say that space’s next occupant would be Swig. That development was further confirmed last week by a form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation that says this: “The main purpose of this facility is to prepare and serve gourmet soda drinks.” That form also says the renovations should be completed by September.
• The Irving restaurant formerly known as 54th Street is about to be reborn as The Delhi Lounge, which not-so-modestly touts itself as a “culinary nirvana.” If you’re seeking that sort of divine dining experience, you’ll want to be on the westbound service road of Interstate 635, due east of Olympus Boulevard.
• Because you enjoy this newsletter (you do, right?), you might also enjoy this Substack Note about what may have been the first news article I ever wrote.
• Danielle Schwartz has a business called Baked With Love Coppell, and on the day before Valentine’s Day, she posted pictures on Instagram of some tiny heart-shaped pies and cheesecakes. I asked whether I could get my hands on some in time for the holiday, and I had to laugh at her response: “Yes, you can! Are you local in Coppell?” Lady, I dare you to find someone who’s MORE local in Coppell. (The treats were delicious, by the way.)
Community Calendar
Coppell Lions Club 40th Anniversary Party: Lions past and present (and future?) are invited to First United Methodist Church between 6:30 and 8 p.m. on Monday to celebrate the club’s 40 years of community service.
House Districts 105 and 115 Candidates Forum: Democrat Terry Meza represents District 105, which includes the south end of Coppell ISD. She and her Republican challenger, Rose Cannaday, have been invited to an Irving League of Women Voters forum scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Dallas College’s North Lake Campus. The aforementioned District 115 candidates have also been invited.
Crimes of the Heart: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of Beth Henley’s play about three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions. The first show is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday at the Coppell Arts Center.
Tri-City Neighborhood Summit: Residents of Coppell, Flower Mound, and Lewisville are invited to an event designed to create stronger neighborhoods and communities. Connections will be forged between 8 a.m. and noon on Saturday at the Thrive rec center in Lewisville. Lunch will be provided by In-N-Out Burger. RSVPs are requested via the link.
Intro to Podcasting: Vanessa Todora Crixell from Romeo Music will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 2 p.m. on Saturday, when she will cover the basics of podcasting for those looking to create and share content. Registration is required.
Community Football Game: Players from the Coppell Youth Football Association and the Coppell High School varsity squad will team up for a scrimmage at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Leslie Field. Admission is free, and there will be food trucks in the parking lot.
Coppell Chamber Singers: Join the Coppell Community Chorale at 3 p.m. on Feb. 25 at the Coppell Arts Center for the premiere of their newest ensemble.
Severe Weather Workshop: CBS 11 meteorologist Jeff Ray will be at Life Safety Park at 6 p.m. on Feb. 28 to discuss how you can best prepare yourself and your family when the weather turns ugly. This program is free, but registration is required.
Coppell Sustainability Summit: Coppell High School’s Eco Club will host an event at 6 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the school auditorium that will include dinner and a screening of the film The Story of Plastic.
Parent University: Jermaine Galloway, aka “The Tall Cop,” will be the featured speaker at Coppell ISD’s Parent University session at 6 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the Coppell High School lecture hall. His “High in Plain Sight” presentation will focus on the latest trends in substance abuse.
I for one am not in favor of using surplus tax dollars to benefit such a minuscule number of people. Not trying to be a non charitable person but this is like forced charity. Extra tax dollars should be used to benefit the maximum number of taxpayers. BTW I have 27 windows in my 1994 house that need replacing as well as some front yard landscape due to snowmageddon.
A really interesting Coppell Chronicle. A heck of a service to the community in my opinion. Thanks.