April 25, 2018 Issue

A forum for Blanco City Council Candidates on April 17, 2018 at the Old Blanco County Courthouse, with Chamber Executive Director Libbey Aly as moderator. Four candidates have filed for the three council positions, with the election to be held May 5, 2018. The candidates, who were all present, opened the evening with a five-minute introduction and explanation as to why they chose to run for city council.

EARLY VOTING REPUBLICAN/DEMOCRAT PRIMARY RUNOFF ELECTION LOCATIONS AND HOURS Johnson City Courthouse Annex 101 E. Cypress Johnson City, TX 78636 Monday, May 14 through Friday, May 18, 2018 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. NEW LOCATION: South Blanco Annex 402 Blanco Avenue Blanco, TX 78606 WEDNESDAY, May 16, 2018 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Lisa Rogers, former Blanco Middle School counselor, entered a guilty plea for an improper relationship between an educator and student in the 33rd and 424th District Court Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The second-degree felony charge was heard by Judge J. Allan Garrett. In exchange for Rogers’ guilty plea to the charge, she was sentenced to 10 years’ probation, according to District Attorney Sonny McAfee. Rogers was arrested for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a stu ...

4/16 arrested a 40-year-old San Marcos man for possession of a controlled substance 4/17 arrested a 41-year-old Austin man on Blanco County warrants 4/18 arrested a 39-year-old Del Valle man for possession of a controlled substance 4/21 arrested a 34-year-old Killeen man for driving with a suspended license 4/22 arrested a 47-year-old Haltom City man for driving with a suspended license

The Blanco County Sheriff’s Office received 387 calls for service from 4/16/2018 through 4/22/2018. The Blanco County Communications Center received the following call types during the seven-day period: 13 = Arrest 219 = Traffic Stops 12 = Reckless Drivers 27 = Medical Aid Calls/Medical Alarm 7 = 911 Hang up Calls, Mis-dials, Open line or Abuse calls 13 = Fire Calls/Fire Alarms 5 = Motor Vehicle Accidents 5 = Disturbance Calls 11 = Animal Complaints/Loose Live Stock Calls ...

Officials discuss funding Gov. Abbott on April 20 joined U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, and local officials in Houston to discuss the $5 billion recently allocated by Congress to Texas for Hurricane Harvey and disaster recovery. Provided through the HUD Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program, the intended use of the grant funding is for the rebuilding of housing, businesses and ...

A native of the Texas Hill Country, violinist Blake Turner enthralled his Blanco audience this past Saturday with a diverse program that incorporated violin, viola, cello, fiddle and vocals. The exciting afternoon was filled with folk-inspired music, one of Turner’s main passions other than classical music, and incorporated its performers into solo, duet, and quartet performances. Blake Turner is a distinguished musician who has performed settings such as China, Carnegie Hall, Curacao, an ...

Texas dance halls are headed to the big screen. “Dance Hall Days,” a documentary on classic Texas dance halls made its premiere April 21 at the Thin Line Fest in Denton. The film will also be screened Thursday, April 26 at the Hill Country Film Festival in Fredericksburg. More than 40 people are interviewed in this film, which was directed, written and produced by Erik McCowan.

The Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District held their monthly meeting Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 10 a.m. After a discussion of the budget, General Manager Ron Fiesler, general manager discussed current groundwater levels. Due to an unusually busy month not all wells were inspected; however, of those tested, levels are trending down slightly from a few inches to the Blanco River well dropping eight feet.

Shell Gas Station and Convenience Store at 48 Main St. has a new owner. Danish Khan of San Antonio took over ownership of the business on April 1, 2018, and has been making changes to give the business a new look with more to offer than a fill-up. “Aside from the usual newspapers, snacks, sodas and other familiar items you find in a gas station,” Khan said, “we will also be offering breakfast tacos, grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers and Hunt Brother’s Pizza.” Expanded food s ...

I have written recently about Hill Country Trees. Now I want to discuss some of the many native Hill Country shrubs. There are far too many to fit into one column, so I thought I would discuss just the evergreen ones today. Most shrubs are multi-trunked although some can appear to be single-trunked small trees. Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora), also called Mescal Bean, is an evergreen shrub usually 4 to 8-foot tall with compound, dark-green leaves with shiny leaflets one to two- ...

The Lady Panther softball team clinched the District 25 3-A championship with a 7-4 win over the Johnson City Lady Eagles on Tuesday, April 17 and a 13-9 win against the Florence Lady Buffalo on Friday, April 20. “I am proud of the team’s hard work throughout the year,” Coach Michael Seales said.

Blanco Middle School will have a new principal for the 2018-19 school year, as Brad Kinney arrives after serving one year as a vice principal at Bandera High School. Previously, Kinney was assistant principal, teacher and coach in the Comfort School District. During his tenure at Comfort, he became familiar with Blanco schools.

David Langford, a seventh-generation rancher in Kendall County, was one of the photographers selected to capture the essence of the 5,500-acre Bamberger Ranch northwest of Blanco. The book, “Seasons of Selah, The Legacy of the Bamberger Ranch Preserve” is a coffee table photography book published by Texas A&M University. The book makes its debut at the annual Selah!

EARLY VOTING REPUBLICAN/DEMOCRAT PRIMARY RUNOFF ELECTION LOCATIONS AND HOURS Johnson City Courthouse Annex 101 E. Cypress Johnson City, TX 78636 Monday, May 14 through Friday, May 18, 2018 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. NEW LOCATION: South Blanco Annex 402 Blanco Avenue Blanco, TX 78606 WEDNESDAY, May 16, 2018 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Hall of Fame recently announced the induction of Blanco native Leon Coffee. Coffee is one of 10 Class of 2018 inductees. As a PRCA gold card member and National Finals Rodeo (NFR) barrelman, Coffee has enjoyed a long career in ProRodeo as one of only three cowboys to be both a barrelman and a bullfighter, according to the PRCA. Since 1973, this Texas cowboy has fought bulls at the NFR twice (1979, 1984) and was a barrelman at the NFR in 19 ...

Blanco Middle School will have a new principal for the 2018-19 school year, as Brad Kinney arrives after serving one year as a vice principal at Bandera High School. Previously, Kinney was assistant principal, teacher and coach in the Comfort School District. During his tenure at Comfort, he became familiar with Blanco schools.

A native of the Texas Hill Country, violinist Blake Turner enthralled his Blanco audience this past Saturday with a diverse program that incorporated violin, viola, cello, fiddle and vocals. The exciting afternoon was filled with folk-inspired music, one of Turner’s main passions other than classical music, and incorporated its performers into solo, duet, and quartet performances. Blake Turner is a distinguished musician who has performed settings such as China, Carnegie Hall, Curacao, an ...

Texas dance halls are headed to the big screen. “Dance Hall Days,” a documentary on classic Texas dance halls made its premiere April 21 at the Thin Line Fest in Denton. The film will also be screened Thursday, April 26 at the Hill Country Film Festival in Fredericksburg. More than 40 people are interviewed in this film, which was directed, written and produced by Erik McCowan.

Shell Gas Station and Convenience Store at 48 Main St. has a new owner. Danish Khan of San Antonio took over ownership of the business on April 1, 2018, and has been making changes to give the business a new look with more to offer than a fill-up. “Aside from the usual newspapers, snacks, sodas and other familiar items you find in a gas station,” Khan said, “we will also be offering breakfast tacos, grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers and Hunt Brother’s Pizza.” Expanded food s ...

Lola Elsa Flugrath Dowdy, 96, of Blanco, Texas died April 23, 2018 at home with her immediate family. She died of natural causes after a long struggle with CHF. She was born on September 21, 1921, in Blanco County Texas the only daughter of Laura and Gus Flugrath. She had one Brother; Marvin (Sammy).

Winston Churchill was once asked, “Doesn’t it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?” “It’s quite flattering,” replied Winston, “But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big.” A Christian must always remember that they were not called to be popular.

Today we will begin chapter three of Ephesians in our verse by verse study. Eph. 3:1 says, “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” “For this cause” refers to that which was previously mentioned in the epistle. “The prisoner of Jesus Christ.” Paul wrote several of his letters from prison (2Tim 1:8, Phm 1:1), but did not consider himself a prisoner of Rome.

As a young pilot, Gail “Hal” Halvorson had flown cargo planes into Berlin during the infamous Soviet blockade of 1948-49. It was designed to give the Soviet Union control over Germany’s entire capital city following the war. The Soviets had taken possession of half the country which left Berlin isolated within the territory they claimed as theirs.