March 14, 2018 Issue

Mayor Martha Herden opened the meeting by paying tribute to the late Chuck Homan, former mayor of Blanco from 2010 until 2015. Services will be held Thursday, March 22, 2018 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Blanco. The first issue on the agenda involved changes to the city Employee Manual. City attorney Laura Mueller addressed Council and answered questions regarding the proposed changes. Council agreed to a number of hours month of accrued leave for employees with less than four years with ...

More Texans than usual cast ballots in primary In early voting, Texans participated in greater numbers in the state Democratic primary than the Republican primary, but on Election Day, March 6, the Republican turnout exceeded the Democratic turnout by half a million votes. Primaries historically have been light-turnout affairs. About 10 percent of the state’s 15 million registered voters cast ballots in the Republican primary and about 7 percent in the Democratic primary.

The Texas Hill Country is a unique region of scenic beauty, diverse wildlife, star-filled skies, and historic towns. With a rapidly growing population and increasing development coming to the region, many of these special qualities are at risk of being lost forever. For its 12th annual photography contest, the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) asks photographers to take out their cameras and capture what is unique and special about the Texas Hill Country that they would like to conserve. “We ar ...

Keep Blanco Beautiful’s 19th Annual Don’t Mess with Texas Trash Off and 12th Annual Blanco River Clean-up will be held Saturday, April 7, 2018. The event will begin at Bindseil Park at 9 a.m. and the new KBB t-shirts will be passed out. In the past, many different organizations have joined us to pick up litter from the city easements and we’re looking forward to working with everyone again this year! The morning of the event you will see Blanco ISD students, teachers, Girl Scouts ...

The March 8, 2018 meeting of the Blanco County EMS Board began with a call to order by president Elaine Cross, followed by the presentation of EMS Chief Ben Oakley’s report. After presenting those in attendance with a copy of the report, the chief provided a financial update, which included monthly expenditures and income relative to the budget and year-to-date figures.

In my official capacity as “Supervisor de Escuelas,” I was observing a first-year teacher in a small elementary school in the city of Veracruz, Mexico. She held up a picture of some firemen and asked the class, “Que hacen los bomberos?” or “What do firemen do?” Immediately, a hand shot up and an excited little boy could hardly wait to be called upon to answer.

pring is in the air, and I’m sure that both students and staff are looking forward to a well-deserved break. The school year is moving quickly, and we at Blanco ISD are working fast and furious to keep the pace. We have come to the time of the year where the rigors of the classroom join the many extracurricular opportunities that are available.

6th Grade Tori Adkinson Alexandra Beliveau Celeste Campa Callan Drum Craddock Faris Owen Grosch Alexandra Hartmen Brayden LaRue Henry Lewis Regan Lozano Nessah Marquette Hemma Porter Keirsten Sauceda Sydney Shiller Carson Smith Trent Smith Torynce Soli Jess Whitehead Wesley Whitehead Whitney Whitehead Katherine Windham 7th Grade Roanna Acosta Noe Alegria Aviv Buchenbacher Aolani Caballero Townes Curbow Cassidy Daves Rylee Davis Anast ...

the driver’s seat of a special vehicle Friday, March 9, 2018, and donned augmented reality glasses, as part of UNITE’s Arrive Alive Tour® program that uses a high-tech simulator, impact video and a number of other resources to educate the public about the dangers of intoxicated driving. The simulator allows participants to experience the potential consequences of impaired driving in a controlled environment. The event was funded by the Blanco Coalition on Awareness, Prevention, and Tre ...

The Blanco High School Panther band competed at the Region 12 University Interscholastic League Concert and Sight Reading Contest on Friday, March 9, 2018, in a competition held at the Canyon Lake High School fine arts auditorium. In order to receive the Sweepstakes award, a band must make a Division I in all three areas; marching, concert and sight reading.

The Blanco Panthers recorded a 2-2 record in the Blanco County Baseball Tournament co-hosted with Johnson City Thursday, March 8 through Saturday, March 10. The San Antonio Wolverines won the tournament, with the Johnson City Eagles placing second and the Marion Bulldogs taking third. The Panthers played their first game of the tournament Friday morning versus the St.

9th Grade Olivia Atchley Anna Believeau McKenna Clark Jackson Cress Lexi Creswell Andres Elizondo Raylee Faris Gabriel Gonzalez Savannah Greene John Handley-Kainer Shae Jester Danae Kimmel Joshua Ludolf Shanon O’Neill Shablow Rafael Ruiz Tristan Schlinke Baylor Smith Audrann Soli Gavin Young Presley Young 10th Grade Mitchell Barnett Seth Blakeslee Abbey Blankburg McKenzie Boop Kiara Carrasco Kyla Davis Yida Garcia Torres Danny’l Ga ...

win Sisters’ Hermann’s Sons Lodge No. 138 recently conducted a food drive for the benefit of our local food pantry. Pictured from left: Phil Hartmann (President of Lodge No. 138), Tanja Tomlinson, Travis Tomlinson, Benjamin Olmedo and Juan Olmedo. Hermann’s Sons collected four large boxes of food and over $400 for the Food Pantry at the Blanco Good Samaritan Center.

On March 8, 2018, local real estate agents from Blanco and Johnson City united. This was the group’s first meeting to talk about ways to work together, start local tours in Blanco County, how to promote listings, help buyers and ways to advertise. General real estate practice was discussed along with possible articles submitted to the newspaper, and more. These agents live in Blanco County.

Stephan Roy Penshorn, my beloved son, left way too soon on March 3, 2018. He was born on April 21, 1987, in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Blanco and attended Blanco schools and played little league, football and tennis growing up and participated in FFA. Later he played co-ed softball and would pick up a spot here and there on a bowling team. He loved fishing, playing pool, arrowhead hunting, being on the Blanco River, and working on his family’s ranch. There will be a “Celebration o ...

On February 24, 2018, Chuck went to rest peacefully after a long battle with cancer. He was born into God’s family to Jeanette Homan of Janesville, Wis., on June 7, 1950. Chuck is preceded in death by his parents Jeanette Gladys Lamphier Karman and John A. W. Karman, father Earl B.

Bobby George Sewell, age 79, of Stonewall, Texas, was born August 16, 1938 in Johnson City, Texas. He was a resident of LBJ Medical Center in Johnson City when he went to meet his Heavenly Father on March 10, 2018. He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert “Bob” and Ruth Sewell; two brothers, William “Bub” Sewell and Printess Sewell; and sister in law, Charlene Sewell. Bobby is survived by Linda, his beloved wife of 28 years; sisters, Zoe Uziel and husband Ralph of Johnson C ...

If you think about it, the journey that Jacob took from Bethel to Peniel is a kind of Lenten journey that everyone of us should take. Jacob was the younger brother of Esau who sought to take care of himself. Esau had the honored position in the family by being the first born. This may have been a reason Jacob learned to live by his wits.

Last week we learned from Ephesians 2:1-3, that all mankind - by nature, and without exception - are children of wrath; dead in sins and trespasses; live according to the ways of Satan; and have his spirit actively working in them. That is the bad news. However, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news, and that is what we will examine today. Eph 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” Isn’t it wonderful that there is a “but”, and not a ...

Have you ever noticed what grows along the water’s edge and in fields when nothing is purposefully planted and land is neglected? We encountered some of that today, here on the farm… The sun was shining on Sleepy Creek. It was a perfect day to tackle some improvements along the bank near the swimming hole.