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TURKEY, BEER & FOOTBALLOpen for Thanksgiving!Call to make a reservation.(972) 373-0333855 W. John Carpenter FreewayOn the corner of Walnut Hill and HWY 114Champps, Champps Americana and the Champps flag logo are registeredtrademarks of Champps Operating Corporation. All rights reserved 2011.

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Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank recently named four U.S. organizations as recipients of the 2012 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for performance excellence through innovation, im-provement and visionary leadership. The winners in this, the 25th anniver-sary year of the award, represent four

different sectors, one repeat recipient and a health network recognized for the same honor earned previously by its flagship hospital.

The 2012 Baldrige Award recipi-ents—listed with their category—are:

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, TX (manufacturing)

MESA Products Inc., Tulsa, OK

(small business)North Mississippi Health Ser-

vices, Tupelo, MS. (health care)City of Irving, Irving, TX (non-

profit)“The four organizations recog-

nized today with the 2012 Baldrige Award are leaders in the truest sense of the word and role models that oth-ers in the health care, nonprofit and

business sectors worldwide will strive to emulate,” said Acting Secretary Blank. “They have set the bar high for innovative practices, dynamic management, financial performance, outstanding employee and customer satisfaction, and, most of all, for their unwavering commitment to excel-lence and proven results.”

“This is an historic day for the

City of Irving.” said Irving City Man-ager Tommy Gonzalez. “To have our city declared a national model of performance excellence after the na-tional board of examiners conducted a comprehensive and rigorous man-agement evaluation is a validation of the strategic operations plan we have implemented. Considering we are the

By Jess PaniszczynDriving through downtown

Dallas it is hard to miss the giant, 14 story, grey cube that is the Pe-rot Museum of Nature and Sci-ence. Situated on a 4.7 acre site, this unique piece of architecture houses 11 permanent exhibits and one traveling exhibit.

Entering the building is an experience in and of itself. As visitors experience an outdoor plaza and science park, they are greeted by 13 bright frog sculp-tures playing around a pond. Water continually flows into the pond through a river with dinosaur tracks evident in the

river bed. Once inside the exhibits

themselves the only word that comes to mind is ‘wow.’ I really do mean, ‘Wow!’

In the T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall, an Ala-mosaurus skeleton looms over everything including a Tyran-nosaurus Rex skeleton. In the Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall, visitors can manipulated an amethyst geode weighing over 2,000 lbs. Visitors can bend light and zoom through space in the Expanding Universe Hall. Not to mention all the cool exhibits

Photo by Amanda Casanova

Korean War hero laid to restA bagpipe player looks on as Col. James L. Stone’s is laid to rest. Stone is the first Medal of Honor recipient to be buried in the DFW National Cemetery.

STORY, PAGE 8. Veterans Day Coverage, PAGE 8

City of Irving wins Baldrige National Quality Award

Perot Museum offers adventures in awesome No more TwinkiesHostess seeks permission from bankruptcy courtto shutter its business

Irving-based Hostess Brands Inc. today announced that it is winding down operations and has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to close its business and sell its assets, including its iconic brands and facilities. Bakery operations have been suspended at all plants. Delivery of products will continue and Hostess Brands retail stores will remain open for several days in order to sell already-baked products.

The Board of Directors authorized the wind down of Hostess Brands to preserve and maximize the value of the estate after one of the Company’s largest unions, the Bakery, Confec-tionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers

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See BALDRIGE, Page 4

See ALCOHOL SALES, Page 10

See HOSTESS, Page 7

See PEROT MUSEUM, Page 9

By Tracy BeglandThe Coppell High School Band’s contest

season ended with a top five finish at the UIL State 5A Marching Band Contest in San Antonio.

The Nov. 6 state competition at the Al-amodome opened with a preliminary round featuring the top 38 bands in the state. The 350-member Coppell band performed their show “The Spectrum: the Sounds of Richard Wagner.” Their program began with a slow march from the sideline accompanied by a woodwind ensemble featuring four Texas All State musicians.

A powerful sound along with crisp march-ing drills entertained the audience as the group performed Wagner compositions including Die Meistersinger, Pilgrims’ Chorus, and Lohen-

Coppell HS band ends season with top five finish

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By Amanda CasanovaThe City Council voted on Nov.

8 to grant a variance to a Kroger site near a school that would allow the grocery store to sell beer and wine.

The exception for the 515 S. MacArthur Blvd. Kroger store lifts a prohibition that bars selling alcoholic beverages within 300 feet of a public or private school. The Kroger store’s property line stands within 240 feet of Haley Elementary School’s property line. The store, however, is actually about 700 feet from the nearest school building, according to city staff.

City council members voted 6-3 for the variance with Mayor Beth Van Duyne, Roy Santoscoy, Dennis Webb, Rose Cannaday, Brad LaMorgese and Gerald Farris for the exception. Council members Michael Gallaway, Thomas Spink and Joe Putnam voted against.

Under the agreement, new land-scaping and improvements to the store are proposed along MacArthur Boulevard and Sixth Street. Updates will total about $1.4 million.

“This store is not as competitive as other stores in the city of Irving, and it’s not keeping pace with our other stores,” said Gary Huddleston, consumer affairs director for Kroger stores. “Many customers have told us they want the convenience of purchasing beer and wine. Our store can provide a safer outlet to purchase alcohol than others in the area.”

City Council members listened to more than an hour of public input, both for and against the variance. Among concerns were worries that other stores in the Heritage District, where the Kroger store is located, would also seek variances to put al-

cohol on their shelves and thus boost their sales.

But the chief worry was the store’s location near the school. School board members did not meet to discuss issuing a resolution to take a side on the issue. None attended the Nov. 8 meeting.

“This case is dependent on the safety of the kids,” Van Duyne said. “Neither tonight nor at the planning and zoning meeting or back in 2011 or 2009 have we seen parents of kids who go to that school come here to talk about this. I’m hearing from a lot of people but not one parent of a student who goes there.

“If this was a high school, I could see the concern of selling alcohol to minors, but this is an elementary school. I think if a 10-year-old walks in to buy a pack of beer, someone’s going to notice.”

But Gallaway said he couldn’t support the change.

“I have to look at whether ap-proving this zoning case is going to be beneficial, and the conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s not going to be beneficial for the city,” he said.

Kroger will still have to apply for a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commis-sion license and construction on the new improvement could start after the holidays. The store will gain final approval for the license from the city after construction starts.

In October, the planning and zoning commission voted in favor of the variance, adding a stipulation that alcoholic beverages could only be displayed and stored inside the main store building.

In 2008, city staff denied Kroger’s application for a permit to sell wine and beer. Two years later,

Kroger applied again for the permit, this time promising landscaping improvements. While staff recom-mended approval, City Council denied the application.

The third application was re-ceived on Aug. 8.

The City Council will discuss changing its policy on alcohol sales in restaurants at an upcoming Council meeting.

The current city ordinance sets RamblerSubscribe to the

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grin. The color guard accentuated the mood of each movement, unfurling five sets of colorful flags.

The judges ranked the band fourth overall in the preliminary contest, earning Coppell a spot in the finals. That evening the state’s top 10 bands took to the field.

“Very seldom do you have a band perform at the finals better than they did at prelims,” said head band director Scott Mason. “This year our band did.” Mason said the band devised strategies to make their show even better the second time if they made finals.

At the conclusion of the eve-ning’s performances, the cavernous stadium grew quiet as spectators and the competing bands awaited the results.

Coppell finished fifth in the state, missing a three way tie for third by one point. North Texas was rep-resented by Flower Mound Marcus, Hebron, and L. D. Bell. Those bands filled three of the other top five spots.

The band’s journey to state did not begin when they loaded the eight charter buses bound for San Anto-nio, or even during the two-a-day practices in August heat. Mason said success at state began much earlier.

“Part of the reason the march-ing band is so successful is the hard work that goes on from November to June,” he said. “Students work on their All State music and solos through the rest of the year, mak-ing them better musicians and the marching band better each year.”

Coppell High School has the op-portunity to compete at the state level every other year. Nearly 250 bands competed in UIL contests across the state in mid-October. Bands earn-

ing a One Rating advanced to area competitions. Coppell, along with Duncanville, Berkner, and Rowlett, represented Area C at the state event. Participation in the state marching contest has become a tradition for the Coppell High School band. This year marks the 11th time the band has qualified at the state level.

CHS band president Taylor Harwood said she could not be more proud of the 2012 CHS Marching Band.

“The time and dedication we have put into this program is out-

standing,” Harwood said. “We have achieved unity this year more than any other year I’ve been in the pro-gram, and I thank everyone for such a memorable year.”

In addition to their success at State, the Coppell High School Marching Band earned a top 10 finish at the Bands of America Regional in Denton, a sweep of all 5A awards at the Mesquite Marching Contest, and a first place finish at the Duncanville Marching Contest.

Mason summed up his band’s performance this way: “The best yet.”

Council OKs alcohol sales for Kroger store

Coppell HS drumline takes second in LoneStar ClassicBy Gail Thomas

Coppell High School Drumline captured second place in its division in the LoneStar Classic Drumline Competition Nov. 10 at Marcus High School in Flower Mound.

After performing in the preliminaries, the group was selected as one of the five finalists in the Standstill 1 Red Division. Its performance in the finals earned Coppell second place. The Coppell drumline was also awarded Best Front Ensemble.

“Saturday’s excellent performance was the culmination of months of hard work,” said Zach Scheer, Percussion Director for the Coppell ISD. “I feel very fortunate to work with such talented, motivated students.”

Over 65 drumlines from across Texas participated in the LoneStar con-test. The first LoneStar Classic was 1993 in Lewisville. The event is now the largest high school drumline contest in the United States.

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