JANUARY
JAN. 5
Area Editor mourned
For as long as a family member can remember, April Suzanne Kelley had her sights set on becoming a journalist.
Kelley, who had served since August as Granite Media Partner’s Central Texas area editor, including the Taylor Press and Elgin Courier, died Christmas Eve of natural causes at the age of 36.
“She was really passionate about getting people’s stories heard,” recalled her big sister Nicole Gray. “She would stop and talk to anybody on the street and just kind of listen and hear their story...Not pinpointing a person, but people from different backgrounds and different beliefs, trying to see what everybody was like, what the differences were and how they were similar.”
Kelley, who was born April 25, 1988, in Monroe, Louisiana, credited their late father, Lonnie Fay Kelley, with planting the seeds for her career through his love of the truth and adventure — as well as a generous spirit.
“He would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need, every single time,” Kelley wrote in an autobiographical article. “He cared more for others, even strangers, than anyone I have ever known.”
Prior to coming to Taylor, Kelley worked in more than a dozen newsrooms across the country, including in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Colorado and Wyoming for the Thermopolis Independent Record, filling both editor and reporter positions.
April S. Kelley, late Central Texas area editor for Granite Media Partners.
A memorial service is 10 a.m. Feb. 1 at Medders Funeral Home in Crossett, Arkansas.
— STAFF REPORTS
JAN. 8
Funds set up for injured officer
The Taylor community is rallying around an 18-year veteran of the Police Department — including setting up a GoFundMe page — after an off-duty motorcycle accident in Bastrop left him seriously injured.
Corporal Keith Urban was headed home following a 12-hour shift when a collision Jan. 3 resulted in him being airlifted to a hospital in Austin, said Police Chief Henry Fluck.
The Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office investigated the mishap, but additional details remained unavailable at press time.
An online post indicated the officer faces “multiple surgeries in his future.”
“He’s a good leader, and he’s really involved in the community … and provides excellent service to members of the community,” Fluck said. “He’s certainly a role model for officers in our department. … We wish him a speedy and full recovery, and our sympathies go out to his family.”
As of Tuesday, Jan. 7, the GoFundMe and MealTrain pages had raised a combined total of $11,500 to help the lawman and his family.
— KELLY TRAN
Lawyer says racism behind Kerley arrest; Florida police disagree
An attorney for Fred Kerley, an Olympic sprinter and former Taylor resident charged after an altercation with police in Miami Beach, Florida, said this week his client’s arrest may have been racially motivated.
Kerley, who earned a silver medal for the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a bronze at the 2024 Paris Games, is facing a felony charge and two misdemeanor charges after an incident with officers on Jan. 2.
The episode occurred in Miami-Dade County, where Kerley resides.
Kerley’s defense attorney, Yale Sanford, issued a statement to CNN condemning the officers’ actions, suggesting the incident may have been prompted because Kerley is Black.
“It just goes to show that no matter how hard you work, how many medals you earn for your country, and how many people across the globe you inspire, in Miami Beach, Mr. Kerley was treated like millions of African Americans, male and female, around the country — with a lack of humanity, compassion or respect,” Sanford said.
Miami Beach police spokesman Christopher Bass told USA Today: “Our officers reverted back to training. Our officer was battered, and they responded to the resistance appropriately and professionally.”
Police released bodycamera footage showing the 29-year-old athlete being approached by police. In the video, an officer brushes his hand against Kerley’s chest, prompting Kerley to push the hand away.
The situation escalated into a physical confrontation involving several police. According to officials, Kerley reportedly refused arrest, leading officers to use a stun gun, which caused him to collapse.
— CARTER BORDWELL
JAN. 22
Taylor observes 20th MLK Day March
As Taylor’s population grows, the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Committee hopes its annual march and celebration will keep bringing the community together for another 20 years.
“This is the most people I have seen gathered in one place,” the Rev. Anthony Watson of The First Baptist Church of Taylor said. “(The city) is expected to get over 50,000 people within the next couple of years. … If you only hang to the remnant that you are used to, you’re going to have some 48,000 new people that don’t subscribe to your philosophy, and you’ll be left behind. So, we can come together now and be one. … It’s enough room for everybody to eat at the table.”
The parade commemorates the vision and leadership of Baptist minister King, a leading U.S. civil-rights activist beginning in 1955 until he was felled by an assassin’s bullet in 1968. He advocated nonviolent civil resistance to racism and prejudice.
Watson launched the city’s marching tradition 20 years ago after being unable to attend one in San Antonio in 2005, having just moved to Taylor from his hometown.
Believing that Taylor should have a celebration of its own, Watson began talks with city officials that summer.
“As pastor of The First Baptist Church in Taylor, Texas, why are my members and myself having to drive somewhere else to commemorate Dr. King?” he thought at the time.
With more understanding of Watson’s goals, the city reached out to lend support year after year, with attendance growing each time.
“This is not the same Taylor. There (are) people that were not made here that are living here now,” Watson said. “And, if we all come together and continue the fabric working together, it’ll be even greater than what you could ever imagine.”
— KELLY TRAN
Pastor retires after 40 years at church
It’s the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one for a 130-yearold church in Taylor.
Last month, the Rev.
James “Jimmy” Hejl preached his last sermon at Taylor Brethren Church, located at Sloan and Seventh streets— ending a pastorship that spanned nearly four decades.
“This is the last Sunday I will stand in this place as pastor of this church,” said the 70-year-old Hejl Dec. 29. “After this day, everything changes for this church, and everything changes for us…I will grieve deeply when I leave you.”
Members of the congregation, as well as Ron Braley, the incoming pastor at Taylor Brethren as well as a Taylor Press columnist and author of several books, said Hejl’s departure will be felt deeply across the city.
“I have big shoes to fill,” said Braley, the former pastor of Northview Christian Church and an Air Force veteran who holds a Doctor of Ministry and a Master of Divinity from Regent University. “He has been here a long time and done lots of great things, and I know the church will sorely miss him.”
Taylor Brethren, which was founded in 1895, is part of the Unity of the Brethren, a Protestant denomination founded in the mid-19th century by Czech immigrants to Central Texas.
— NICOLE LESSIN
JAN. 26
There’s a new Sheriff in town
One might say the role of Williamson County sheriff is one Matthew Lindemann was destined to fill.
Early inspiration, a childhood idol, twists of fate and deep community roots all seemingly lined up neatly in guiding his path to the job. He was elected Nov. 5 and took office Jan. 1.
Lindemann was born in Taylor in 1966, the year sniper Charles Whitman would barricade himself in the observation deck atop the University of Texas-Austin tower to indiscriminately fire on people on the ground below. The gunman would ultimately fatally wound 15 bystanders (including an unborn child) and injure 31 more before being killed by police.
Nearly 60 years later, the tragedy continues to elevate some of the lawmen involved to near-mythic status — perhaps none as vividly as Jim Boutwell, a legendary officer who would later serve as Williamson County sheriff.
Boutwell commandeered a small plane that day to engage Whitman in a gunfight, eventually distracting him enough that other cops at the scene were able to finally take him down.
Boutwell ultimately would emerge as a controversial figure for a tough-on-crime approach. But to an impressionable youth, the die was cast. In the intervening years following the UT-Austin campus massacre, Lindemann had found himself a role model.
“He just had the persona of a Texas lawman,” Lindemann told the Press in a recent interview. “He always wore a suit and western hat, and had a slow drawl. He was a really interesting guy.”
As fate would have it, Lindemann would end up working under his childhood hero in 1985 when he took a job as a corrections officer for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.
— TONY CANTU
The Rev. James “Jimmy” Hejl retired after 40 years of service at the 130-year-old Taylor Brethren Church.
