October 20, 2021 Issue

The shooting that occurred in Mason County last month, which sent a man to the hospital, is unusual in the county, which has a low crime rate. “This kind of incident is not typical of our county,” said Mason County Judge Jerry Bearden. “I can’t even remember the last shooting we had here.” On the evening of Sept.

Both the City of Mason and the Chamber of Commerce will benefit from an uptick in Hotel Occupancy Taxes (HOT) collected from local lodging providers. The City has a long-standing agreement with the Chamber to allocate the HOT revenues to the City. Mayor Whitney Leifeste said the HOT revenues are growing and are much more significant than in the past.

Standing unassumingly on the Southwest corner of Mason’s Historic Square; the Mason Community Thrift Store provides more than just a shelter for the many necessities and treasures found inside its walls. Bedazzling the front entrance is a butterfly garden, with its array of plants and colors. Visitors are often seen taking photos of the garden while catching a glimpse of a wandering butterfly or two. Everything here has a “repurposed connection,” beginning with the building itself.

The Mason High School varsity football team picked up a pivotal victory on Friday, Oct. 15, when the Punchers traveled and put a 49-7 beatdown on 2A-1 District 14 rival Harper High School. The host Longhorns, who entered the night with a perfect 6-0 record, had their homecoming celebration spoiled by the Punchers as Mason absolutely dominated the first half to take a commanding lead.

The Mason High School girls and boys varsity cross country teams competed on Tuesday, Oct. 12, in the District 29-2A Championships meet at San Saba River Golf Course. The Cowgirls varsity squad again did outstanding in their two-mile race as Mason advanced to regionals in first place with 37 points in front of second-place Goldthwaite High School with 59 and Johnson City High School in third with 61 points.

JH vs. Eldorado/Center Point - 10/7/21 7th grade vs. Eldorado The seventh grade Punchers continued their winning streak as they travelled to Eldorado to take on the Eagles, coming out with a 40-0 victory. Scoring for the 7th grade were Grant Nobles with a rushing touchdown; Slade Buell with one rushing touchdown and one rushing two-point conversion; Si McLarty with two two-point conversions; John Alan Whittle with a punt return for a touchdown, an interception for a touchdown, a rushing ...

Dan Ryland Priess, 76, of Sunrise Beach, made his Earthly departure on Thursday, October 14, 2021, at the Georgetown Hospital after a courageous battle with Parkinson’s. A resilient, magnificent, and loving man, husband, father, bronco rider, and former rancher, Dan was nicknamed ‘Cowboy Dan’ later in life. Dan was born September 20, 1945 in Brady, Texas, to parents Perry Priess and Frances Haler Priess and raised in Mason.

Betty Ruth Brown was born November 17, 1938, to L.D. and Jesse Scheussler in Mason, Texas. She was 82. She is survived by three sons, Donald Gibson, Tim Gibson, Layton Larry Brown Jr., and one daughter, Shauna Lyons; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and three nieces. She was preceded in death by her sister Lois Terry and her brother Kenneth Don Scheussler. Carla White, Anna Cochran, Candee Willman, and Billie Potter were her nieces. A Memorial Service was held Saturday, ...

When I was in primary school, my mother returned to college to finish her degree. I recall having a great time one year helping her collect samples for her zoology class. One week, her class assignment was to look for microscopic aquatic animals. I knew lots of promising water holes where all kinds of life likely thrived, so my mom went to class that week loaded with many vials of water samples to examine under the microscope.

I have written before about the more common Hill Country trees and shrubs. Here are some that are not rare, but certainly not very common either. Carolina Basswood, or Linden tree (Tilia caroliniana) can be a rather large tree of rich, deep, moist soils. It is fairly common throughout the whole eastern half of the US, into east Texas.

On Halloween Night, the library will pass out candy from 6:00 to 8:00. Our theme for this year will be Harry Potter, so stop by to see our decorations on October 31. Our Friends of the Library Book and Bake Sale will be on October 28, 29, and 30 at the Mason Community Building.

Beyond our garden, there are many people working together to bring biological diversity and food production together to supply food to our table and integrate native forests and plants for a truly sustainable, healthy growing practice. For example, here in Texas farmer/ranchers plant Daikon radishes as cover crops between seasons. Many employ ‘no-till’ practices by using a seed drill to plant.

If you've followed my column for long, you've noticed that I publish a lot of biscuit recipes. There are two reasons for this. 1)I love biscuits with butter, with gravy, or under a nice fried egg; maybe with a piece of sausage wedged into the mix. 2)The number of recipes available to play around with seems limitless.

“Tex, you are looking at a new record holder.” “Oh, what’s that Ron? Most putts of any golfer in the last tourament?” “Well, that, yes. But I’m talking about something else. Today I broke my own personal reord for most days lived.” “And how many days is that?” “Can you keep a secret?” “Yes.” “So can I.” Laughing, Tex said, “Okay, but I can guess there are enough of those days that instead of Ronald, I can start calling you Ron Old Birk.” Whe ...

We are so thankful for the beautiful fall weather. It is time to put my plants in the green house and clean the garden. However, after a fall Friday evening, I am hobbling around and not accomplishing anything. It will be better next week. A workday is scheduled for the grounds at the Art Methodist Church on Saturday, October 23, from 9:00 to 12:00.

The temps are starting to drop; the smell of wood smoke is in the air. Temps are more chilly than warm. That's when veteran homeowners know it's time to do these six things if they want to avoid grief or overspending. #1 Buy Appliances Whisper to them. Do a rain dance. Whatever it takes to get your old appliances to wait until fall to go on the fritz.

For those of you who have a life, and can’t keep up with the hourly advances the woke left keeps coming up with to control what you’re allowed to do and say, I’ve got your six. The newest no-no, according to wealthy fruit loop actress Demi Lovato, is that it’s derogatory to use the term ‘alien.’ No doubt you’re thinking the left had already denounced that word as insensitive and offensive, and that’s true.

On October 12, the Mason Lions Club met at Nacho’s for their weekly meeting. Lion Bruce Lehmberg introduced Ealy Stanley Watson and Kaycee Ingleby, niece of Mr. Watson, as his guests and also as our guest speakers. Kaycee and Ealy spoke about their two local radio stations, KHLB, 102.5 and KZZM, 101.7, which they bought about a year ago.