August 23, 2017 Issue

Twenty school leaders were recently named TEPSANs of the Year by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). Members from the 20 Education Regions across the state annually honor a colleague for their outstanding service. Award recipients must be committed to serve as a voice for Texas Students. Honorees were awarded at the TEPSA Awards Reception Wednesday, June 14 at the Austin Renaissance Hotel. The 2017 TEPSAN of the Year for Region 15 is Tammy Frerich Parrish. ...

Never, ever underestimate the power of determination. If you’ve ever been around a two year old boy who wants something, you can appreciate my previous statement. Now, multiply that little guy times 35 and you will have an equation befitting the events last week at The Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve.

At this time there are quite a number of issues that the City Commission and Staff are working on. The Budget is available for public inspection at the City offices and will be adopted in September. The engineering design for the water treatment facility is in the works and we are working with several consultants on that.

“Boss” Lion Jim Heidelberg convened the weekly meeting of the Mason Lions Club on August 15. Thirty members along with six visitors attended the meeting. “Boss” Jim said on this day in history on August 15, 1969, the Woodstock music festival opened in Bethel, New York. Richie Havens, as the festival’s opening act, held the crowd for nearly three hours. Lion Elliott Courtwright introduced his speaker, Mona Lois Schmidt.

After months of hard work, commitment and stewardship the Llano County Master Gardeners had their traditional harvest dinner August 17 at the Lutie Watkins Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. The dinner was a celebration and fellowship at the end of a long planting season. It also highlighted and inspired gardeners to utilize their harvest and bring it to the table in tasty ways. This year we were in for a special treat.

Twenty school leaders were recently named TEPSANs of the Year by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). Members from the 20 Education Regions across the state annually honor a colleague for their outstanding service. Award recipients must be committed to serve as a voice for Texas Students. Honorees were awarded at the TEPSA Awards Reception Wednesday, June 14 at the Austin Renaissance Hotel. The 2017 TEPSAN of the Year for Region 15 is Tammy Frerich Parrish. ...

Can you feel it?!?! The excitement of Puncher football is just around the corner with the Mason Punchers having already started their “Two a Day” workouts and a successful scrimmage versus Sonora. This season looks to be exciting as we prepare for our 102nd year of Mason Puncher football. The coaches, football players, trainers, cheerleaders, Puncher Pete, flag corps, and band have been preparing for the new season.

Mason ISD has unveiled a brand new website! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out you will want to do that. There is a completely new format and design with wonderful Mason County photographs, thanks to Jeff Durst for sharing his expertise. All available information is on our website, but we are constantly updating and changing information. One of the greatest new features of the site is the ability to “Subscribe” to a teacher page.

Hill Country Memorial and orthopedic surgeons are again teaming up to offer free orthopedic and physical therapy evaluations to middle and high school students on Saturdays from Aug. 26 through Nov. 11. Sports Injury Clinics are held each Saturday from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Hill Country Memorial Hospital, 1020 S.

The Mason County Ministerial Alliance invites you to join us on Thursday, August 24th at 8:00 AM to pray for our children, their teachers, and the Mason ISD administration. We will hold this 15 minute time of prayer at the tennis courts behind the school. There will be prayer, singing, and a short devotional.

The Mason Puncher Club will be auctioning off a 50 yard line box seat. Hurry to Meet the Punchers or the Chamber of Commerce to put in your bid! This will be a great opportunity to get a prime box seat if you miss out on the MISD box seat drawing.

Below is a web site with more information about our Memory Café. If you have any more questions please call Michael Stork at 903-399-5472 or Ann Scarth 325-347-5983. Looking forward to seeing you at our Memory Café the last Thursday of every Month at our Senior Center. In August it will be 24th at 2 PM http://www.alzheimerscafe.com/public.html.alzheimersatoz.com/Welcome.html What it is: An Alzheimer’s, dementia or memory café is a monthly gathering of individuals with memory loss ...

Mason ISD has unveiled a brand new website! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out you will want to do that. There is a completely new format and design with wonderful Mason County photographs, thanks to Jeff Durst for sharing his expertise. All available information is on our website, but we are constantly updating and changing information. One of the greatest new features of the site is the ability to “Subscribe” to a teacher page.

JUNCTION – A Lone Star Healthy Streams workshop will be held September 8 at the Llano River Field Station, 254 Red Raider Ln, in Junction. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service workshop will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. An RSVP is not required but can be done by contacting Matt Brown at 979-862-8072, or on the Lone Star Healthy Streams website,www.lshs.tamu.edu/workshops. Workshop presentations will focus on basic watershed function, water quality and specific best management prac ...

The Bennett Trust is a first-of-its-kind endowment made by Eskell and Ruth Bennett. The trust provides an endowment for AgriLife Extension to continue their tradition of conservation education and preservation of the Edwards Plateau. Funded by the endowment, the Bennett Land Stewardship Program uses conferences tailored specifically for land management in the Edwards Plateau, covering issues such as brush control, prescribed burning, estate planning, water management and livestock stocking ra ...

The Heart of Texas Historians and Storytellers will be hosting their 5th annual event on Sunday, September 10, 2017 at the Heart of Texas Event Center. This year the group has invited William Groneman III who was a captain and company commander of Engine Company 308 which worked at Ground Zero just hours after the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. William Groneman III was born and raised in New York City, and currently lives in Kerrville, Texas.

Hill Country Memorial and orthopedic surgeons are again teaming up to offer free orthopedic and physical therapy evaluations to middle and high school students on Saturdays from Aug. 26 through Nov. 11. Sports Injury Clinics are held each Saturday from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Hill Country Memorial Hospital, 1020 S.

The Mason Community Foundation fall grant cycle is currently open to any organization registered as a non-profit corporation under the rules and regulations of the State of Texas. Also, any other local non-profit organization that contributes to the betterment of the community of Mason or organizations that receives funding from this type of entity are eligible for the grant. The Mason Community Foundation has provided funding for many organizations funding that might otherwise be difficult ...

It’s time to put down your phones and drive, Texas. Beginning Sept. 1, it will be illegal to read or send text messages, post on Facebook or update Twitter while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. “This law was put in place to save lives,” Shannon Worrell, Mason County Farm Bureau president, said.

MATTHEW Matthew is another one of our senior cuties whose owner passed and now he needs help finding him a new family. Matthew is about 11 years old and is neutered and current on his vaccinations. That salt and pepper sprinkled face wants nothing more than to be loved on. He is an easy going guy but still has a spring to his step.

Mr. and Mrs. Foster (Frosty) Mitchell Miller of Pontotoc, will celebrate their 50th Anniversary on August 26, 2017. Growing up together in Llano, only four houses apart, and attending LHS together, Frosty and Vicki (Virdell) were married at Lutie Watkins Memorial United Methodist Church in Llano. Both were attending Texas Tech University at the time.

On August 26, 1967, Johnny Beth Davis and James Martin Heidelberg Jr met in a Baptist Church in Oak Cliff in Dallas and made a mutual commitment to spend the rest of their lives making each other happy and entertained. The commitment has endured and they will celebrate 50 years together this Saturday.

The Mason County Ministerial Alliance invites you to join us on Thursday, August 24th at 8:00 AM to pray for our children, their teachers, and the Mason ISD administration. We will hold this 15 minute time of prayer at the tennis courts behind the school. There will be prayer, singing, and a short devotional.

Alive Inside is a cinematic exploration of music’s capacity to reawaken and uncover the deepest recesses in the very souls of people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. This rousing documentary features Dan Cohen, social worker and founder of the nonprofit organization Music and MemoryTM as he works to demonstrate music’s ability to improve the lives of patients living in a nursing home.

The Mason Puncher Club will be auctioning off a 50 yard line box seat. Hurry to Meet the Punchers or the Chamber of Commerce to put in your bid! This will be a great opportunity to get a prime box seat if you miss out on the MISD box seat drawing.

Another great week is in the books. The Art United Methodist Church continues with some maintenance projects. This week the new carpet was installed in the sanctuary. It is beautiful. It was also the Sunday to bless the backpacks. We had children that attend out of town schools that have started school and local children that are anxiously waiting for the first day on Monday, August 28th. We had a mini family gathering on Sunday.

Our beloved Nathan “Nate” John Sattler, age 35, resident of Austin, Texas, was called to our Heavenly Father on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. He is survived by his loving wife of 18 years, Stephanie Nuncio Sattler, and their children, Nathaniel George, Jaden Nicole, and John Casey Sattler; his parents Julio (Dona) Sattler and Melinda (David) Torres; his brother, Eric (Latasha) Sattler; sisters, Keetha Poehl and Glynis (Matt) Poehl Burnett; his grandparents, Carmen Sattler, Mary Sattler, a ...

We Were United.... In Darkness! Sometimes, the hype preceding an event places such high expectations on the outcome, it's difficult to ever be completely satisfied. I would not put the solar eclipse of 2017 in that category. Of course, Mason was only on the periphery of this particular event. Bridget Langdale had organized a viewing party out in front of the News office, and for several hours, we followed the progress as little bits of the sun were covered by the disk of the moon.

Safety Issues The 2017-2018 school year will begin in a few days. Our children are valuable and treasured assets and they are the key to our future. Their health and safety should be a top priority in any community. There is a hazardous situation on N. Robin St. that represents a threat to the health and safety of our children.

Challenge To the citizens of Mason, I recently wrote a letter to the editor, I had a very positive response to that letter. The landfill has been on my mind a lot here lately. There are many issues with the closing and the opening of a landfill. Again I want to encourage you to recycle.

Rain-lily. Gentle white proof that it rained. Stalwart little things. Trumpeting the good news. Standing high above the mowed grass. Cooperia Drummondii. A Texas wildflower. Sometimes solitary. Sometimes an entire symphony. Another rain prover is Texas sage. A Hill Country favorite. Grows into a massive bush. Whitish-gray leaves. Distinctive sage aroma. But then… (Drum roll) It is going to rain. Texas sage says so. It explodes in purple blooms. Which dr ...

Another great week is in the books. The Art United Methodist Church continues with some maintenance projects. This week the new carpet was installed in the sanctuary. It is beautiful. It was also the Sunday to bless the backpacks. We had children that attend out of town schools that have started school and local children that are anxiously waiting for the first day on Monday, August 28th. We had a mini family gathering on Sunday.

Nacho Cheese Bugles Hot Mexican Dip This is one of the countless recipes my mom would cut out and save. She had a couple of drawers full of recipes that had been cut out of magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, I can spend hours looking though these. I am terrible about cutting out recipes from magazines or printing them off of the computer, screen shooting recipes, I guess I got my addiction to recipes from my mom I can tell this particular recipe she cut off a “box” of Bugles and I don ...

Upon Finding Still Waters… Glen Campbell made the most of his decision three dozen years ago when he accepted Christ, was baptized and rose to walk in newness of life. He was led beside still waters, restored and ultimately able to cope with Alzheimer’s. He dealt with life’s final storm on even terms during most of his last six years. Aren’t we glad the gardener at his Scottsdale, AZ, home invited him to church?

Yes, I smoke! When I started the Surgeon General didn’t say anything about smoking. It made you look,”Cool!” I know, it’s not good for your health, or so they say! I know, that you can’t smoke in public anymore! But, I don’t like when I’m smoking in my own space, for people to gag and give me a lecture on smoking. Ex-smokers are the worst!

Two Decades Milestones, it’s been said, are good times to reflect on our past, and anticipate our future. Actually, I said that, so I don’t really know if it’s true. What I do know is that I have a personal milestone coming up next month. September 2017 make 20 years I’ve been writing this weekly outdoor humor column.

August is National Romance Awareness month, and the library has romance writers galore. A small sampling would include authors Barbara Delinsky, Jude Deveraux, Tamera Alexandra, Jody Hedlund, Cindy Woodsmall, Danielle Steel, Nancy Thayer, and Nora Roberts. And that’s not all of them! If you love romances, come celebrate the month! Audiobooks: Cut and Thrust by Stuart Woods (CD F WOO Sto.30) The Lady in Blue by Javier Sierra (CD F SIE) Non-fiction: Memory’s Last Breath: Field Gui ...