My wife, son, and I recently sold our home in Aledo and were looking for a home to rent while we looked for land to build a house on. After looking for some time and finding nothing, I had the idea to just buy a home in River Oaks and live there until we found what we were looking for. We purchased a home on Black Oak Lane and thought this would provide the perfect stop gap before our new home. Well, I was wrong; the City of River Oaks has drawn me and my family in. I have rediscovered what a wonderful place this city truly is. I met all of my neighbors within hours of moving in, something I didn’t find in Aledo. My yard and home are provided with shade from the massive trees. You can get to downtown, the new 7^th street development, and the mall all in under ten minutes. The services the city offers are great: street sweeping, trash pickup three times a week, a diligent police force, and a fire department.

  River Oaks is changing. It’s surrounded by new development. Westworth Village has seen a tremendous amount of growth with a new Wal-Mart, Target, and Sam’s Club.White Settlement Road is getting a face lift by investors tearing down Swaim’s and someother buildings and making room for new construction. The City of Fort Worth is about to begin construction on the Trinity River project that will include part of White Settlement Road. While this will be huge for the City of Fort Worth, I believe it will also be beneficial for River Oaks. A group of citizens, called River Oaks for Growth, wants to see the same kind of growth for the boulevard and wants to get city council members that have the same vision as our mayor. The group just had its second meeting and the number of people attending was four times the number of people at the first. That shows how much people in this town desire change.

 Castleberry is also turning the corner. The district has given their teachers a salary increase putting them ahead of other schools such as Aledo and Azle. Castleberry Elementary and Joy James Elementary are both recognized campuses with all the others receiving an acceptable rating. At a recent meeting I attended, the speaker stated that the district has acquired teachers from the Carroll and Birdville districts, and they are wanting to stay. A member of the school board was also present and he did not dispute the statements made. Castleberry has a 15 to 1 student teacher ratio and with only 854 students in the high school, your children will have every opportunity to do what ever extracurricular activities they desire.

   In closing, what this letter really is, is an invitation for all Castleberry Exes to come back to River Oaks and make it your home. We need the pride and love that we all have for Castleberry to be instilled back into the district. Wouldn’t it be great if all of our children could play on the same teams together, play in the same band together, or perform in the same musicals. It seems people have forgotten just how special this city really is. You get the feel of a small town with the benefits of being surrounded by a big city. Let’s bring River Oaks and Castleberry back to the front.

 

I would love any feedback you can                                       Jason Cearley ‘96

give me. Also the next River Oaks

For Change meeting is Sept. 25. at

601 Merritt 7pm