RamblerNewspapers.com September 10, 2016 50¢ Irving, Grand Prairie work together building state of the art fire facility By Vaughn Lloyd training had to travel to the west end The scheduled date of completion is partners with Tarrant County Col- job training. A facility likes this will Firefighters in the cities of Irving of the DFW International Airport to April 11, 2017. lege to do its training has never had make us be that much better, that and Grand Prairie will soon have a train, which often left parts of the “We were able to get twice the its own fire training facility at all. much more prepared and operate new joint training facility, thanks to city exposed during the process. facility with half the money, which “We don’t have one and really much safer.” cooperation between the City of Ir- “The premier part of [the facility] saves our community a lot of tax have never had a facility,” Grand Taylor added that many inside ving and the City of Grand Prairie. is our five story training building,” dollars as well as Grand Prairie’s Prairie Fire Chief Robert Fite said. the department had doubts that the Construction is well underway for Taylor said. “It is a multifunctional residents,” Conley said. “We’re obviously excited about it the joint facility that will be located building that allows us to do a va- Grand Prairie which currently since everything we do here is on the See TRAINING Page 5 on the corner of North Belt Line riety of training. We have two fire Road and State Highway 161. The simulators, and three burn rooms, Irving Fire Department had been which allow us to practice fighting looking to build a multi-faceted fa- live fire.” Fritz Park welcomes cility for over 17 years. Fire chief Victor Conley was quick “This project has gone through to point out that the burn building many fire chiefs,” Irving Assistant will allow officers in training to prac- Fire Chief Jack Taylor said. “It fi- tice many rescue tactics essential to disc golf players nally worked out. Our city council, their profession. city manager and mayor were very “It will help keep firefighters instrumental in ss getting that, so trained on multiple aspects of re- we’re very appreciative.” sponses, from confined spaces to The department’s current facility, trench rescue, and high and low res- located on Esters road in Irving, is cue,” Conley said. dilapidated and has been deemed The project is roughly over $4 as unsafe, according to Taylor. As million, but Irving is only responsi- a result, new officers who required ble for funding half of the project. Discussion on Irving Arts Center's leadership, museums' may merge The crowd holds its collective breath as Chris Farnham makes a decisive play for the fifth hole on the Fritz Park Disc Golf Course. He sinks it, much to the disappointment of Kenny Gilbert, seen playing in his traditional green. If Gilbert doesn't pick up the pace soon, it may be back to the 'honey do' list for him. Photo by John Starkey Matthew Pedersen ship this body has seen towards the The Irving Heritage Society came Heritage Museum Project,” Haw- By Demond King park. ment, but heard how great it was. together with the Irving Arts Board kins said. “We also felt it necessary Over the last three years, Irving “The park was good before,” Hol- He plans to sign up for the next one. in a meeting to discuss the future of to distinguish the museums from Parks and Recreation Department land said. “The park updates have “The upgrades also add to the oth- the cultural assets of Irving. Held at the Arts Center. It’s one of the rea- and Irving Disc Sports Association just made it great. We come out at er things Fritz Park has to offer visi- the Irving Arts Center on Tuesday, sons for having the Heritage Society have worked together to transform least once a week just to play a game tors,” Holland said. “My family also Aug. 30, the meeting was a public host this discussion and not the Arts Fritz Park Disc Golf Course into or two.” loves the petting farm here. We visit forum introducing a plan to bring Center.” one of the premium courses in the Additional upgrades include new every summer.” the various museums and historical The Irving Heritage Society and Metroplex. Originally only a nine- benches, tree maintenance, and Fritz Park also features a chil- locations within Irving under the the Arts Board share common goals hole course, Fritz Park Disc Golf more restrooms for tournament dren’s playground, an amphithe- guidance of the Arts Board. when it comes to serving the city of Course has been expanded to 18 play. Holland says these improve- ater, a baseball field, a softball field, Todd Hawkins, Executive Direc- Irving, and the proposed consolida- holes. ments to the park make it much and two basketball courts. Holland tor of the Irving Arts Center, led the tion plan will allow them to better Steve Holland grew up playing more enjoyable. and his family use many of the fea- presentation and discussion. achieve these goals. disc golf with his father and broth- The “On the Fritz” disc golf tour- tures at Fritz Park and are excited to “We felt it was very important to “While both [the Irving Heritage er. He brings his family to Fritz Park nament took place at the park last learn if there will be any new ameni- have an authentic public input, and Society and the Arts Board] have every week for a family outing, and month. The tournament was a suc- ties added in the future. in doing so, recognize the steward- very similar mandates, the same op- even competes in a tournament cess, even though the weather was portunities and challenges, it’s vital from time to time. He is grateful rainy. Holland missed that tourna- See DISC GOLF Page 7 for this process to really talk about that the Irving Parks and Recreation them as two separate institutions Department and Irving Disc Sports Association partnered to update the See MERGER Page 3 Joy of football brings people together By Fredy Gonzales that officer will take you to jail,’ and Children ages 6-15 demonstrated their kids start screaming and so their football skills during the NFL forth. So they come out here, see us Punt, Pass and Kick Competition in a different light and see that we hosted at the Sam Houston Middle are people and care for them. School practice field on Saturday, “I think that will go a long way not August 27. only now but in the future. Once the “The event reaches out to the kids get older they will remember community, so that they come out, stuff like this and remember things interact with the law enforcement the PD has put on and know that we here in Irving or from the surround- care about them and everyone else ing Metroplex and build a relation- in their community.” ship so that we can be successful in “It’s good to see kids playing out- our neighborhood,” Officer Bennie side without video games or tablets Bazley, a resource officer at Sam or phones or anything like that,” Houston Middle School, said. Travis Jackson, the parent of two “This event is awesome. I enjoy children competing in the event, it. I see a lot of kids from my school said. “The event gets kids outside and their parents come out. We get and teaches them to stay healthy to interact with the parents, and we and be healthy by staying outside. get to show that we are not just in- “I think that it is awesome that dividuals who come around just to IPD takes the time out of serving arrest people,” Bazley said. “A lot of the community to serve the kids in times you come across kids whose parents say, ‘You better behave or See FOOTBALL Page 6 Page 2 September 10, 2016 www.RamblerNewspapers.com City of Irving presents a live comedy show By Matthew Pedersen got bigger talent here than we had events. Anywhere you can go to multiple ant. The City of Irving presented a for the first two years. All of our co- “That’s my favorite part of the open mic nights during the week,” “I think because of technology wildly unique and entertaining medians this year have TV credits,” event,” she said. “We started work- he said. “You’ll hear this from every- now, and you’re on your phone now show for its residents beside Lake Lee said. “They’ve been on Comedy ing on this year’s show back in No- body, and it’s not really news, but all the time, community is lost. So Carolyn in Las Colinas, bringing Central and Showtime, and Ameri- vember. So it’s been almost a full the way to get good at comedy is to something like this is just reaffirm- together world famous comedians ca’s Got Talent. We’ve really stepped year of work to make this show hap- write it a lot and to perform it a lot. ing that it feels good to get together for an evening of jokes and laughs. up the talent here. This is akin to go- pen. Then, when I get to sit down at Just write as much as you can and as a group, so we should continue This marks the third year for Laughs ing to a night at the Improv, or one the show with my family and hear perform as much as you can, and doing this and everybody should by the Lake, a comedy festival orga- of the comedy clubs in the area, ex- everybody laugh, that’s the best that’s how you get better.” come back next year,” she said.