Latest / Austin Signal / Camp Mystic ordered to preserve damaged cabins

Transcript

Camp Mystic ordered to preserve damaged cabins · Austin Signal

0:08
Water use for Tesla's GigaTexas
0:10
in far, far east Austin jumped more
0:12
than 200 million gallons in two
0:14
years.
0:15
That's raising concerns about
0:16
whether Austin can fulfill its
0:17
long-term water conservation goals
0:19
as plans for a new semiconductor
0:20
plant could push demand even higher.
0:23
And a state district judge has
0:24
ordered Camp Mystic not to alter,
0:26
demolish, repair or remove
0:28
structures affected by floodwaters.
0:30
27 people died at the girls' camp
0:32
during last summer's deadly flood in
0:34
the Texas Hill Country.
0:35
The latest updates coming up
0:37
on today's show.
0:38
The Austin Signal is a production
0:40
of KUT News, hosted by
0:42
Jerry Quijano.
0:43
Plus, Fusebox Festival continues
0:45
through the weekend, and the Austin
0:47
Symphony is doing something new,
0:49
teaming up with an indie rock
0:51
band. We're gonna hear a little
0:52
preview of that performance.
0:55
Those stories coming up next,
0:56
right here on Austin Signal.
1:07
Howdy out there, this is Austin
1:09
Signal. It is Thursday, April
1:12
16th.
1:13
I'm your host, Jerry Keconnell.
1:14
Thank you for making us part of
1:16
your afternoon.
1:17
We hope you're having a nice one out
1:18
there. Glad you're here.
1:19
With community powered public radio,
1:21
this KUT News.
1:24
A Travis County judge ruled Thursday
1:26
that Camp Mystic cannot use the
1:28
cabins or structures damaged by the
1:30
2025 floods in order
1:32
to preserve evidence in the ongoing
1:33
civil suits for the parents of
1:35
victims.
1:36
For more about that, we are speaking
1:38
with KUT's Kaylee Hunt,
1:39
who has been at the courthouse all
1:40
week long, watching this hearing
1:42
unfold.
1:43
Kaylee, thanks for joining us here
1:44
on the show.
1:44
Hey Jerry, thanks for having me.
1:46
So the hearing started Monday.
1:48
What was the atmosphere like in the
1:50
courtroom? Can you describe it for
1:51
us a little bit because there wasn't
1:53
much recording allowed, right?
1:54
Yeah, that's right.
1:56
So this actually, there were so many
1:57
people that wanted to attend this
2:00
hearing and all the testimony that
2:02
happened that they had to move it
2:04
to a larger courtroom.
2:05
So we were in the ceremonial Travis
2:07
County courtroom.
2:09
And yeah, it was
2:11
very crowded.
2:12
On one side, you know, you had a lot
2:14
of supporters and members of
2:16
the Eastland family, the owners of
2:18
Camp Mystic.
2:19
And then on the other side, You had
2:20
the parents,
2:23
family members of...
2:24
Seal Stewart, the eight-year-old
2:26
girl at the center of this hearing
2:28
and case that was one of the victims
2:30
of the flooding last summer.
2:33
And you had several members
2:35
of other families as well whose
2:36
daughters were victims of the flood.
2:38
One of the significant things about
2:40
this hearing was the amount of
2:42
details that a lot of people got to
2:43
hear for the first time about that
2:45
night from folks who were actually
2:47
there.
2:48
What were some of the details that
2:49
stood out to you?
2:51
Yeah, so we heard lots
2:52
of testimony from the camp's
2:55
directors, as well as a
2:57
night watchman who was
3:00
awake and, you know, on
3:02
the grounds at the time of
3:04
the flooding.
3:05
And I do want to point out to
3:07
one piece of
3:09
testimony that occurred.
3:11
It was particularly moving and
3:13
very emotional when it happened.
3:15
And it came in an exchange between
3:17
the Howard's attorney,
3:19
Christina Yarnell.
3:21
And Mary Liz Eastland,
3:22
who was the camp's chief health
3:24
officer.
3:25
You knew the property, you knew the
3:27
flood lines, you know, you knew
3:29
access points, your children
3:31
knew them.
3:33
And these were first year
3:35
campers.
3:37
You had 34 more
3:39
years of experience been sealed.
3:42
She needed your help and
3:44
you abandoned her didn't you?
3:50
So we know that the Stewart family
3:52
was asking to preserve the evidence
3:53
of these structures that were
3:54
damaged by the floods.
3:56
What was Camp Mystic's arguments
3:57
against that?
3:59
Yeah, they want to preserve that
4:01
evidence as they move forward with
4:02
this civil case accusing
4:04
negligence.
4:06
But yeah, Camp Mystic argued that
4:08
it was essentially that
4:10
the stewards and their attorneys as
4:12
well as other families have had
4:13
ample time at this point to
4:15
go ahead and go out to the property
4:17
and collect that evidence.
4:18
They say they've done been nothing
4:20
but cooperative with law enforcement
4:22
and with attorneys from
4:24
these girls and their families
4:26
who are suing.
4:27
So that was their argument.
4:28
They also said that, you know, there
4:30
were some folks that were displaced
4:32
ultimately by this order and
4:35
that they want to renovate and get
4:36
ready for camp in
4:38
the summer.
4:39
And uh... This this hearing was
4:41
going on for the first three days of
4:42
this week uh...
4:44
What did the judge ultimately
4:45
decide?
4:46
Yeah, so the state
4:48
district judge here in Austin,
4:50
she ultimately cited
4:53
with the Stewart's family and
4:54
their attorneys. She chose to
4:56
uphold an order
4:58
that essentially does
5:00
not allow Camp Mystic
5:02
to use those structures
5:04
and cabins and grounds that were
5:06
affected by the floods.
5:07
If they were to reopen it this
5:09
summer, they cannot be altered.
5:12
Damaged, remodeled, removed in any
5:14
way, those need to be preserved as
5:16
of right now for evidence.
5:18
So a lot of interest in
5:20
this story, as you mentioned,
5:22
at this courthouse hearing in
5:23
particular.
5:24
What happens moving forward from
5:26
here?
5:27
Can Camp Mystic still appeal this
5:28
most recent ruling?
5:30
Yeah. And in fact, they actually
5:31
have a pending appeal
5:33
in the Third Court of Appeals
5:35
Court here in Austin.
5:37
And that actually stems from
5:39
that initial order that came from
5:41
the state district judge telling
5:43
them to preserve those cabins as
5:45
evidence.
5:46
So yeah, that appeal is still in
5:47
process and there are some
5:49
deadlines that are coming up next
5:50
week. So we should expect
5:53
Alrighty, well that is KUT's
5:55
Kaylee Hunt. She has been covering
5:57
that Camp Mystic hearing happening
5:58
this week in Austin.
6:00
Kaylee, thanks for coming on the
6:01
show.
6:01
Thanks, Jerry.
6:12
The City of Austin's long-term water
6:14
conservation goals are in question
6:16
as water usage at Tesla's Giga
6:18
Texas increased more than 60%
6:20
in the past two years.
6:21
The plant's treated water usage came
6:23
in at more than 200 million gallons.
6:25
That's from 2023 to 2025.
6:28
And with plans advancing on a new
6:30
semiconductor factory in Eastern
6:31
Travis County, that number is
6:33
expected to increase.
6:35
That reporting comes from Sam Stark,
6:37
Austin Current's government
6:38
reporter. He is joining us now on
6:39
the show. Hi Sam, thanks for coming
6:41
back. Thanks for having me.
6:42
So can you tell us about Austin's
6:43
initial water conservation goals?
6:45
These were voted on by the city a
6:47
couple years ago, I suppose.
6:48
Yeah, so in 2018, the city
6:50
pushed forward with its Water
6:52
Forward Plan, which is
6:54
essentially this working group that
6:56
works to look at
6:58
Austin's water supply for the next
7:00
100 years.
7:01
And they actually update the water
7:03
plan every five years, taking into
7:04
account larger consumers
7:06
of water as more technology
7:08
and companies move into Austin.
7:10
OK, so these
7:12
plans look like now that they
7:14
could possibly be upended by
7:16
two separate Elon Musk facilities
7:18
here in Travis County.
7:19
Can you tell us more about those
7:20
facilities?
7:21
Yeah, so when
7:22
they initially went on, it
7:24
wasn't that big of an issue.
7:26
So when the Gigafactory was built in
7:28
2020, later opening in 2022,
7:31
they applied for a service extension
7:33
request with Austin Water, which
7:34
ultimately was granted.
7:36
What has people on this
7:38
or a couple of the environmentalists
7:40
on the board who I spoke to
7:41
concerned is just how much
7:43
the water use has increased in
7:45
just two years.
7:46
So, the Tesla Gigafactory
7:48
was number five.
7:50
In 2023.
7:52
It went up to the
7:54
third highest user
7:56
of treated water
7:58
in Austin.
8:00
So one person I spoke to was
8:02
just like, we can't really
8:04
take someone who's rapidly
8:06
growing this much.
8:07
But the bigger concern comes
8:09
with what might come in the future.
8:11
So in March, Elon Musk
8:13
announced this new semiconductor
8:15
factory called Terafab.
8:18
Which would just make chips
8:20
for all of his expanding,
8:22
you know, technology portfolio.
8:25
But these plants require a
8:27
great deal of water.
8:28
I talked to one professor who said,
8:30
a typical North American one
8:32
requires 1 million to 2 million
8:34
gallons of water a day.
8:35
But Musk called this one the most
8:37
epic chip factory in
8:39
history.
8:41
And so an environmentalist I spoke
8:43
to was worried that that might
8:44
require 10 to 15 million
8:47
gallons water idea.
8:48
An epic amount of water for an epic
8:49
project. That's right.
8:50
That's right. What have you heard
8:51
from the city about this?
8:53
So I spoke to one council
8:55
member, council member Ryan Alter,
8:57
and you know, they talked about this
8:59
tension that exists in central
9:01
Texas of wanting, you
9:03
know economic growth, wanting these
9:05
big opportunities to further
9:07
solidify Austin's reputation as a
9:09
technology hub.
9:10
But they also acknowledge the
9:12
fact that water is a top concern
9:14
in our city.
9:16
So I think that they
9:18
are you know, not ruling
9:20
this out. I think that they might be
9:21
a little bit excited about it, but
9:23
they want to work with this
9:24
company to see, you know how
9:27
they can conserve water, how maybe
9:28
they could offer some incentives
9:30
like improving water
9:32
infrastructure, things like that.
9:34
Yeah, water is always a big concern
9:35
here in Travis County, really for
9:37
all our counties in central Texas.
9:39
With that in mind, has Tesla had
9:41
anything to say about their water
9:42
usage, their increasing?
9:44
Water usage?
9:45
No, I mean, Tesla is has a
9:46
reputation of not, you know, always
9:48
responding to the media.
9:49
I did reach out asking about their
9:50
conservation practices,
9:53
why they think that this increase
9:55
happened.
9:56
I did not get a response back.
9:58
But I do know that, you know,
10:00
these companies, they they require a
10:02
lot of water, there's a lot of
10:03
washing, they have to ensure all
10:04
these parts are clean, because any
10:05
sort of impurity can cause a defect
10:07
in the technology.
10:08
What are you watching for next in
10:09
this story? What are continuing to
10:11
report on?
10:11
You know, just the plans for
10:13
this semiconductor factory have
10:15
not been finalized yet.
10:17
I think we should see some documents
10:19
going through either
10:21
the Travis County Commissioner's
10:22
Court or the Austin City Council
10:23
pretty soon here.
10:25
And so once those are filed,
10:27
we'll have a better sense of how
10:28
much water this factory will
10:30
need and how big it might be.
10:32
All right, we have been speaking
10:34
with Sam Stark.
10:35
He's the government reporter at
10:36
Austin Current.
10:37
They are KUT and Austin Signal's
10:39
partner in covering the city of
10:41
Austin. Sam, always great to talk
10:42
with you. Yeah, thanks so much.
10:43
And we have done a little bit of
10:45
reporting here on Austin Signal
10:47
about that terafab factory.
10:49
We spoke with Shelly Brisman of the
10:51
Texas Standard. You can find that
10:52
episode at kut.org
10:56
slash signal.
10:57
And as always, you can find more
10:59
from the reporting that we share
11:01
with you in the episodes.
11:02
In the podcast show
11:04
notes.
11:16
Coming up after the break, we got
11:18
a lot of arts to share with you, a
11:20
little bit of Texas music history,
11:22
but we let you know earlier in the
11:23
week about Fusebox Festival.
11:25
We had a conversation with the
11:27
co-director of the festival.
11:29
Coming up, we're going to share an
11:31
audio preview of one of
11:33
the performances happening with
11:35
Dirty Projectors and the Austin
11:37
Symphony.
11:37
That is coming up right
11:40
after this break.
11:41
It's right here on community-powered
11:43
public radio KUT News.
11:45
You're listening to Austin
11:47
Signal.
11:58
This is Austin Signal, welcome back,
12:00
thank you for making us part of your
12:02
day. Now we've got some Texas
12:04
music history to listen back on
12:06
this week, and as always we're led
12:08
by Jason Mellard from the Center for
12:10
Texas Music History at Texas State
12:11
University.
12:13
Today we have got the story of
12:14
a music venue that boomed
12:16
with the region and the Texans
12:18
around it.
12:29
This week in Texas music history,
12:31
Maddie Castleberry opens a thriving
12:33
dance hall drilling into the East
12:34
Texas oil boom.
12:36
With the discovery of the East Texas
12:37
Oil Field in 1930, the region
12:39
saw a population surge almost
12:41
overnight.
12:42
Local Maddie Castelberry recognized
12:44
a business opportunity and opened
12:45
Maddie's Ballroom on April 19th,
12:48
1931, strategically positioned
12:50
on a highway between Longview and
12:51
Kilgore.
12:52
The original building was a modest
12:54
wood structure among pine trees,
12:55
offering entertainment to oil
12:56
barons, derrick hands, and local
12:58
youth. On a typical night, one might
13:00
see anything from German polka to
13:02
big band swing to square dancing at
13:04
Maddie's.
13:05
Simultaneously, Maddie found herself
13:06
involved in another legendary Texas
13:08
dance hall, the Paul Mile, which
13:09
opened its doors outside Longview in
13:11
1935.
13:13
Initially a business venture for
13:14
three entrepreneurs hoping to
13:15
capitalize on the region's recent
13:16
population spike, the club boasted a
13:18
1,600 square foot hardwood floor,
13:21
one of the state's biggest.
13:22
The Paul Mile's owner leased the
13:24
club to Maddie in 1942 after he
13:26
was drafted in World War II.
13:27
She briefly operated both venues but
13:29
made the difficult decision to close
13:31
Maddie's Ballroom in 1943 and
13:33
focus on the bustling Palm Isle.
13:35
Bands that frequented the Palm Isles
13:36
in that period included Glenn
13:38
Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Ella
13:39
Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Bob
13:41
Wills.
14:01
Maddie sold the Palm Isle in 1948.
14:03
In 1951, new owners rechristened
14:06
the venue as the Rio Palm Isles,
14:08
still there, and turned to country
14:09
acts like Ray Price, Jim Reeves,
14:11
Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and
14:13
even Elvis Presley.
14:14
Maddie Castleberry's chapter in the
14:16
venue may have closed, but her
14:17
example of women's The newer ship in
14:19
East Texas remains a source of local
14:21
legend.
14:34
You can hear music from the Lone
14:35
Star State 24-7 on the
14:37
Texas Music Experience at TMX.fm.
14:50
The Austin Symphony Orchestra
14:52
will perform tonight with the indie
14:53
rock band Dirty Projectors out
14:55
at the Long Center.
14:57
It's just one of many performances
14:58
featured as part of this weekend's
15:00
Fusebox Festival.
15:02
As Maya Fawaz reports for KUT's
15:04
Artbeat, the performance helps show
15:06
how classical music can
15:08
adapt.
15:09
It's been 54 days
15:11
since these words were spoken
15:13
here in Austin.
15:15
And I don't wanna be working in
15:16
ballet or opera or
15:18
things where it's like, hey, keep
15:19
this thing alive even though no
15:21
one cares about this anymore.
15:22
That's award-winning actor, Timothy
15:24
Chalamet.
15:25
There's been a lot of backlash.
15:27
And unfortunately, the conversation
15:30
has grouped in all of
15:31
the performing arts as dying,
15:34
including symphonies.
15:40
We are often playing music
15:42
that is 400 years
15:44
old.
15:45
That's Justice Zimmerman.
15:47
He's the CEO of the Austin Symphony
15:49
Orchestra.
15:49
As an orchestra, we have to be
15:51
careful not to get sucked into
15:53
the sands of history and make sure
15:55
that we're moving forward and
15:57
creating a living, breathing art
15:58
form.
15:59
He says, what Chalamet brought up
16:01
is kind of true.
16:03
There is a feeling of adapt or
16:05
die for the arts, but not
16:07
necessarily for the Austin Symphony.
16:10
They've been adapting and pushing
16:11
the envelope, and part of that is
16:14
this upcoming performance with the
16:15
band Dirty Projectors.
16:21
Indie rock, new music,
16:23
new classical music.
16:29
He says the Austin Symphony has
16:31
never done anything like this
16:32
before.
16:33
And the newness doesn't stop there.
16:36
Dirty Projectors are also switching
16:38
things up.
16:39
Here's a song from their album, Bida
16:40
Orca. It was released in 2009.
16:47
["Bida Orka"] And
16:49
here's a from their latest album,
16:51
Song of the Earth.
17:04
Summer
17:08
and they'll be playing songs from
17:09
this album with the symphony
17:11
live on stage tonight.
17:20
Chant-a-ta-ta, chant-a ta-ta ta,
17:23
so
17:24
I'm going to be at a drum set, but
17:25
I'm also going to have a giant bass
17:26
drum next to me
17:28
and wood chimes and
17:30
stuff like that.
17:31
That's Ian Frye.
17:32
He's a percussionist with the Austin
17:34
Symphony.
17:35
And he says the percussion part will
17:37
be pretty difficult.
17:39
There's a couple of sections where
17:40
you have to go like
17:43
digga digga, digga-digga, and then
17:44
hit two hands at the same time.
17:46
That's the most technical point
17:47
right there.
17:49
Normally in an orchestra the
17:51
percussion is all the way in the
17:53
back because it's bulky and
17:55
it's loud But for this show with
17:57
dirty projectors, it's gonna be
17:59
front and center They want
18:01
you to see how intricate all the
18:02
parts are
18:03
When you think of a big orchestra,
18:05
you think of dozens and
18:06
dozens of string players.
18:08
And if you're one in a dozen
18:10
or so violinists, you're
18:12
all working together to create
18:14
a single sound.
18:16
But for this album, Song of the
18:17
Earth, there will be way fewer
18:20
instruments.
18:21
So each musician up there is going
18:23
to be really carrying their
18:25
own sound all by themselves.
18:27
So, it's going to really be
18:28
dramatic, I think.
18:33
The preparation for this show has
18:35
been scattered, in different rooms,
18:37
different cities.
18:39
This is from a rehearsal with
18:41
percussionists in LA last week.
18:52
Oh, it's sounding beautiful.
18:54
And that's David Longstrith.
18:55
He founded Dirty Projectors in 2002,
18:58
and he composed the album,
19:00
Song of the Earth.
19:01
Which is the piece we're gonna be
19:02
performing in Austin.
19:05
He says the inspiration for the
19:06
album came during the
19:08
COVID lockdown.
19:09
The original germ of a lot of this
19:11
music came from that
19:14
strange, suspended
19:16
place.
19:18
You probably remember.
19:20
When the weeks slipped into each
19:22
other, our memories grew hazy.
19:24
We lost track of the days,
19:26
of ourselves.
19:28
A lot of us felt sort of
19:31
floating or like
19:33
estranged from
19:35
what had been
19:36
our prior routines
19:39
and selves.
19:41
On top of that, 2020 brought
19:43
record-setting wildfires to
19:45
the state of California.
19:46
At one point when
19:48
my wife was pregnant,
19:51
the smoke in our neighborhood was
19:53
like very inescapable.
19:55
It was an experience that really,
19:56
really made a big impression
19:58
on both of us.
20:02
And Longstrith wanted to
20:04
distill all those feelings,
20:06
that relationship with nature and
20:08
with things out of our control into
20:10
music.
20:11
We're at the mercy of Earth.
20:15
We have this fantasy of having
20:17
created a civilization on top
20:19
of it, but perhaps
20:21
that is all a little bit more
20:23
tenuous and fragile
20:25
than we might have imagined.
20:27
So the album has moments
20:29
of wonder and mystery.
20:32
There's a sense of
20:34
rest and
20:36
relief and
20:38
solace that you can experience
20:40
in the natural world.
20:42
And there's also anger, lots
20:44
of anger.
20:45
Foreboding, danger.
20:48
Concern.
20:50
Exciting?
20:56
He says there's so much beauty
20:58
you can experience through sound,
21:00
that it has the power to connect
21:02
people in a physical space and
21:05
emotionally, despite
21:06
it being completely invisible.
21:09
Art is art is pointless
21:11
you know um
21:13
we have to choose it
21:21
And I'm so, yeah,
21:23
excited that Austin is choosing
21:26
this.
21:39
Each instrument will get tuned.
21:42
It will find the right notes.
21:46
There will be all these moving
21:47
pieces going in their own direction,
21:50
unnecessary chaos,
21:53
before the individuals become
21:54
a collective,
21:57
breathing the same tempo.
22:05
The symphony is not dying,
22:08
it's evolving, and very
22:10
much alive.
22:13
For KT's Art Beat, I'm Maia Fawaz
22:15
in Austin.
22:20
That is it for today's
22:22
show. Thank you, as always, for
22:24
tuning in. We're going to have links
22:25
to the stories we shared in
22:27
today's episode in the podcast show
22:29
notes. And there's always more from
22:31
us, like an interview with the
22:32
co-director of Fusebox Festival.
22:34
You can find that at kut.org
22:38
slash signal.
22:39
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
22:41
director. Welcome back, Ray.
22:42
Kristen Cabrera is our managing
22:44
producer.
22:45
And I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
22:46
Thank you for choosing to spend part
22:48
of your day here with us.
22:49
We'll be back at the same time
22:51
tomorrow and we'll talk to you then.