8/8/2019 Page 2/2 Pflugerville Pflag Story on Death Row Exoneree Anthony Graves Receiving $3,000 in Donations from Tex

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Homeless Coachs

Celebrate Community

The Homeless Coach invitesthe Austin-area community outto Princess Craft Campers and

Trailers at 102 1st St. inPflugerville at 1 p.m. on Sunday,Nov. 28 to help take the nextstep toward aiding the regionshomeless residents. Attendeeswill be able to tour the latestrenovations of the HomelessCoach RV and share a meal withsome of the areas homeless.Attendees can enjoy localPflugerville cuisine, crafts to art

up the Coach and tax-free holi-day shopping. Guests will alsoparticipate in a communityteam huddle photo that willsubsequently adorn theHomeless Coach exterior. Theevent is free and open to thepublic. For more information onthe Homeless Coach visit home-lesscoach.org.

Library closed for

Thanksgiving

The Pflugerville CommunityLibrary will be closed Thursday,Nov. 25 through Sunday, Nov. 28in observance of Thanksgiving.

The library will reopen Monday,Nov. 29 at 10 a.m.

Square dance lessonsopen now at Rec. Center

The Pflugerville RecreationCenter is offering 10-week ses-sions of square dance lessons.Sessions begin Nov. 27, Dec. 4and Dec. 11, but interested par-

ties are encouraged to jump intothe Saturday classes held afterthose dates as well. For moreinformation on how to sign up,contact Al Frazier at 339-7910or tsca@austin.rr.com.

Methodist single

mothers support group

The First United MethodistChurch in Pflugerville has creat-ed a small group for singlemoms that meets from 6-8 p.m.each Tuesday in the churchseducation building and focuseson building friendships. Thegroup meetings are aimed togive single moms a break fromthe kids and a chance to relax,as well as having dinner withother adults and learning lifeskills from each other and fromoutside sources. There will be apotluck meal for moms at eachweekly meeting, and childcarewill be provided at no charge.

For more information contactMelissa Wade-Meyer at 251-5477 or 484-5929.

Pflugerville RecreationCenter Free First Friday

Pflugerville Recreation Centeris offering free family nights onthe first Friday of the month,starting Nov. 5. The nightincludes free admission for any-

one at the PflugervilleRecreation Center from 6 - 9p.m. For more information call251-5082.

Fire department

food drive

The Pflugerville FireDepartment will coordinate afood drive for the ImmanuelLutheran Food Pantry Nov. 15 toDec. 20. Canned goods andnon-perishable food items willbe accepted at any Pflugervillefire station. For details, contactLt. Tim Wallace at 251-2801.

PYBA basketball

registration

Registration for the PflugervilleYouth Basketball Association isnow underway. Boys ages 6-14and girls ages 6-12 as of Sept. 1may register. The fee is $105 perplayer and pays for five to sevenpractices, more than 10 games,a $14 picture packet and agame jersey. Practices start inmid-November and games startthe first week in January.

Visit pyba.info underRegistration. Referees are beingregistered under Links/Referees/Coaches on the website.Referees should e-mailtommy.nobles@yahoo.com foradditional information.

Pet vaccinationclinic

Hendrickson High School soc-cer teams will sponsor a pet vac-cination clinic on Thursday, Dec.3, from 5 to 7 p.m. on the frontsteps of the high school. Rabiesvaccines are $5 and yearly vac-cines are $15. Contact DeannaEssler at 251-3148 for moreinformation.

Holiday Craft

Extravaganza

Hendrickson High SchoolsSenior Celebration 2011 pres-ents its Holiday CraftExtravaganza Dec. 4 from 8 a.m.to 4 p.m. The event will includea silent auction and shoppingopportunities for arts and crafts,

jewelry and more. Admission isfree. Contact Christy Davis at217-4722 or by e-mail atChristy_Davis@rocketmail.com.

HendricksonBreakfast with Santa

Hendrickson High SchoolsSenior Celebration 2011 hostsBreakfast with Santa Dec. 4from 8-11 a.m. at the

Hendrickson High cafeteria. Theevent will include keepsakecrafts, photos with Santa and apancake breakfast. Pre-eventregistration is required; cost is$10 per child. Registrationdeadline is Nov. 30. Parent pan-cake breakfast will be availablefor $5. For details, e-mailsantabrkfast@gmail.com.

Churchs Breakfast

with Santa

St. Elizabeths Ladies Club ishosting its annual Breakfast withSanta on Saturday, Dec. 4 from

7:30 a.m. till 11 a.m. The pub-lic is invited to enjoy breakfast.Santa will be on-site and avail-able to take pictures withyoungsters.

The church Craft Store, offeringhandmade items, a variety of giftitems and baked goods, will beopen. Photos will be made avail-able for download on a website;orders can also be taken throughthe church photographer.

St. Elizabeths is located at1520 N. Railroad in Pflugerville.For more information visit steliz-abethpf.org online or call the

Parish office at 251-9838.

Old Town HolidayStroll and Parade

Pflugervilles Old Town HolidayStroll and Christmas paradetakes place Dec. 11 in down-town Pflugerville. The eventincludes vendors, childrensactivities, antique cars andcycles, a Christmas parade andcommunity tree lighting.Shopping takes place from 10a.m. to 8 p.m.; childrens activi-ties and entertainment will befrom 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. andSanta will be posing for photosfrom 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The light-ed Christmas parade will beginat 6 p.m.

Visit cityofpflugerville.com/stroll for details.

Bluebonnet Balletholiday event

The Bluebonnet Ballet, anon-profit associated with theTexas Academy of Ballet locat-ed at 20009 FM 685 inPflugerville, is gearing up for itsannual Christmas production ofTwas the night beforeChristmas. The performance willbe held at the HendricksonHigh School Performing ArtsCenter, at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 11and at 2 p.m Dec. 12.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and$12 for seniors, students andchildren, and are available eitherat the door or by calling the TexasAcademy of Ballet at 670-9959.

In conjunction with theChristmas production, theBluebonnet Ballet presents aGingerbread House Workshopfundraiser, to be held at theFalcon Point Clubhouse on Dec.12. Three sessions will be offeredfor this event. Tickets are $25 andmay be obtained by calling theabove telephone number.

AROUND TOWN _____________________________________________________________________

LOCAL NEWSPflugervillePflag comA2 Thursday, November 25, 2010

Today's WeatherLocal 5-Day Forecast

Thu

11/25

70/36Windy withsome sun,scatteredthunder-

storms.

Sunrise:7:04 AM

Sunset:5:30 PM

Fri

11/26

56/31Times ofsun andclouds.Highs in themid 50s andlows in thelow 30s.

Sunrise:7:05 AM

Sunset:5:30 PM

Sat

11/27

62/42Sunshine.Highs in thelow 60s andlows in thelow 40s.

Sunrise:7:06 AM

Sunset:5:29 PM

Sun

11/28

71/58Mix of sunand clouds.Highs in thelow 70s andlows in theupper 50s.

Sunrise:7:07 AM

Sunset:5:29 PM

Mon

11/29

74/41Isolatedthunder-

storms.Highs in themid 70s andlows in thelow 40s.

Sunrise:7:08 AM

Sunset:5:29 PM

GRAVES from Page A1 _______________________________________________________________________________________

are some legal hurdles thathell have to go through inorder to claim that, Cobb saidIn the meantime we wanted tohelp, so our members havedonated a total of $3,000 thatwed like to give to Anthony.

Despite living what hedescribed as hell, Gravessaid he is not bitter.

I experienced the dark sideof our criminal justice system,and I just think because of myexperience I can bring somelight to it, Graves said.Whatever you think hell is toyou, that was my experience just hell.

Graves said he is an exam-ple of how the Texas criminal justice system is broken, andhe plans on devoting his timeas an advocate of change.

I thought I would be free

again because I was innocent,Graves said. I was just stub-born in that way, that theyrenot going to execute an inno-cent man even though Iknow thats not true.

He said there are more inno-cent people on death row andother innocent people whohave already been wrongfullyexecuted.

A politician can say onething, but I lived that life. Imet those people. Theyregreat people.

Somewhere down the road,Graves wants to go to collegeto major in communications sohe can better spread his mes-sage of awareness, but for theshort-term he is looking for-ward to his first Thanksgivingdinner with his family as a freeman in 18 years.

During his nearly two-decade stint, Graves said henever stopped thinking aboutregaining his freedom. He saidletters and visitors helped himthink beyond the prison wallsto the world he dearly missed.

I would say, Allow me touse your eyes to see theworld, which means write tome. Tell me about your cul-ture. It was what I needed.

Last weekend he was inPflugerville catching up withhis sister and his nieces.

Much has changed in theworld while Graves waslocked up, but he said he has astrong support system to helphim get up to speed in hisdaily life.

Im surrounded by loveand support, so I think thetransition it will not be easy

but it will be one that candefinitely be made, he said.

Graves said the biggestchange hell have to cope withis modern technology.

A cell phone can do somany different things now.Usually back then youd pickup a telephone and all it doesis what its supposed to do,he said. Now youve gotcameras and youve got maps its crazy.

Graves said he is lookingforward to his education, timespent reconnecting with familyand most importantly, his mis-sion to stop innocent peoplefrom repeating his experience.

I dont think I just wentthrough these 18 years just tocome out here and getinvolved in something else.This is my calling now.