November 19, 2008

On Tuesday November 11th at the PEC Auditorium the 2009 Blanco County Relay for Life Committee kicked of this year’s celebration with a bang. As the powerful energy filled the air to set off a wonderful year of Relaying, this year’s committee was on hand to talk about Relay For Life and acknowledge those that had given so much of their time and have supported Relay For Life in the past. The Relay for Life is not only a fund raiser to raise money for the American Cancer Society to fund rese ...

On Saturday, November 15 at 8:00am, cars began to arrive at the Habitat for Humanity home site for the first A Brush with Kindness project for the Blanco County Chapter. In the crunchy cold of a windy morning, Jan Booth set up the registration table in the front yard to process volunteers.

WE CARE, SO WE SHARE. That’s the main theme of Blanco Masonic Lodge’s annual Care & Share Dinner. This is to remind all in and around Blanco that the 18th annual Ernest R Davis Memorial Masonic Care and Share Dinner will be held Saturday, November 22nd at the Blanco Masonic Lodge at 11th and Main.

Every year, Blanco residents dutifully traipse to surrounding cities to do their Christmas shopping. Blanco residents miss out on the magical, relaxed, and convenient experience of shopping for unique and special gifts right here in our hometown. This year, the Blanco Chamber of Commerce encourages all Blanco residents to think twice before heading off to somewhere else to do their shopping.

On Thursday, November 20, the American Legion will host a Thanksgiving dinner and program. The American Legion Post 352 Pastor’s Dinner is a chance to thank area clergy for their service to the community during the Thanksgiving season and for everyone present to become better acquainted. It is also an opportunity to inform the religious community of the service programs conducted by the American Legion (and other organizations ) for veterans and their families so that clergy might advise t ...

American Legion Memorial Highway Post 352 hosted the first Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 8, 2008. The Post provided the Color Guard leading the parade of over 60 entries. Following the Blanco High School’s outstanding, award-winning Marching Band was the Post’s Sergeant-at-Arms Oscar Segura and the Riderless Horse. After the parade and Veterans’ Memorial, the Post and Auxiliary hosted their 2nd Annual Spaghetti Dinner, serving over 100 meals to veterans and the public. On Sun ...

The Blanco Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors met for a very productive and exciting day of strategic planning last Wednesday, November 12 at the Red Corral Ranch. After reviewing accomplishments and what could be improved upon from 2008, Executive Director Julie Dill led this lively group in defining what can and should be done for 2009.

November 20, 2008 •Tejas Art Club is having a business meeting on Thurs, Nov 20 at the Blanco Library at 6pm. Omce Depew will give a demonstration on her talents. Public welcome! For info, call Olga at 833-1966. November 22, 2008 Antiques Appraisals and Document Harvest at the Old Blanco County Court House.Historical documents submitted will be scanned into the Texas Public Archives from 10am to 4pm.

BLANCO, TX — Suzette Connell, of Leaning Tree Gallery, between Blanco and Wimberley, will be seeing purple this year as a featured vendor and artist at the Blanco Lavender Lights Christmas Market and Uptown Blanco Art Center Star Show, both which make their debut in the Hill Country this Thanksgiving Weekend. Connell’s artwork is featured on a first-ever Blanco County limited edition ornament, for sale at the show.

Blanco will host a major panel discussion of the 2008 hurricane season in Texas. The free meeting will be at 9:30 am Saturday at the Blanco United Methodist Church. The meeting is sponsored by the Blanco County Disaster Response Group. Although Blanco County escaped the devastation that Hurricanes Dolly and Ike visited upon the Rio Grande Valley and Southeast Texas, it was just a matter of luck.

Join former UT football heroes, Johnny “Lam” Jones, and Johnny “Ham” Jones, at the CASA Speak Up for Kids 5K & Fun Day at Johnson Park on Saturday, November 22, 2008. Funds raised will benefit CASA, a nonprofit organization that serves children in Burnet, Blanco, Lampasas, Llano, and San Saba counties that have been removed from their homes by the state due to abuse and neglect.

Several prominent speakers are presenting programs during the 2009 MG Class. The 2009 Class begins on Tuesday, January 13th, and we are hoping to schedule the majority of the sessions in the new Johnson City Library with its wonderful facilities for speakers and their audience. Todd Swift, Blanco County’s Extension Agent, will begin the class with an introduction to the Master Gardener program and its association with the AgriLife Extension Service and our Land Grant College, Texas A&M.

If anyone is wondering what working a precinct polling place is like on election day, all I can say is, it was a lot of fun seeing democracy at work in Blanco at the Old County Courthouse. The people who run all this like to have a mix of Republicans and Democrats represented as election clerks.

Excited! You bet! As previously reported in my article in the February 28, 2007 issue of this newspaper, my sister, Joanne Klier, and I donated to Rockport’s Texas Maritime Museum a box of the old oxidized lead type found cradled in the remains of the ship George Lincoln along with Great-grandfather Edward Percy Howe’s Washington printing press, all of which were exhumed from the sands on Mustang Island in 1961 by Hurricane Carla.

Wallace and Judy Hinnant of Blanco are pleased to announce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Mae Beth Hinnant to Bryan Taylor. The bride to be is a graduate of Blanco High School and Tarleton State University. Mae Beth is now employed with Boerne ISD as a teacher and coach.

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’” -Matthew 4:4 There is a true hunger that can’t be satisfied with the things of this world. One may possess the finest house, clothes, automobiles and dine on the finest foods, and yet have an emptiness that nothing in this world can fill.

The Blanco Ministers Fellowship will host its annual Thanksgiving Dinner at 6:30pm on Tuesday, November 25th at the Blanco United Methodist Church. This non-denominational event offers the community an opportunity to gather together and enjoy one another’s company for an evening. Several of the local congregations are working together to plan, prepare, and serve a traditional turkey and dressing Thanksgiving meal.

This is the third week in a 5 week series on one of the most important questions asked throughout history. That question is this: “Is the Bible Really True?” That is to say, “Is the Bible we read today the same as what was written by those people “way back when.” This question is a fair question and requires a reliable response.

Jesus said if you go, I'll go with you, Preach the Gospel and I'll preach it with you, Lord, if I go, tell me what to say, So they'll believe in me. Minist'ring friends, and missionary workers, Auxiliary organizers, and all you duty shirkers, Don't remain asleep, for there's work to do, This mission to go means every one of you! These words are from a song my husband sings.

It’s a stretch to expect peace on earth any time soon, and it takes more than a Google search engine to ferret out many instances of good will to men. Still, we pray for government leaders in Washington and Austin to reach across the aisles, and for citizens--all of us--to replace arrows in our quivers with olive branches. Ah, but in Blanket, Texas (population about 400), church folks are very much in the reaching business, all around town and to the countryside beyond…. We read and hear ...

“We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power.” Who made these three positive pronouncements? Abraham Lincoln. Then, in his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation, he added these three serious warnings: “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and strengthened us.

Agnes Doris Gondeck of Blanco, 81, passed away Tuesday, November 18, 2008 in Fredericksburg, TX. She was born in San Antonio, TX to Clinton Brown and Agnes Sampson Brown. She was preceded in death by her husband Edward Ralph Gondeck. Mrs. Gondeck is survived by two sons, Eddie Gondeck and Linda Pitts of Brenham, TX and Wayne Gondeck and wife Yvette of San Antonio, TX; brother, Clinton Brown, San Antonio, TX; four grandchildren, Pamela Hernandez, Brianna Cervnka, Jacqueline Gondeck and Taylor Go ...

Annie Flores Carvajal of Blanco, TX, passed away on November 17, 2008. She was born on May 10, 1928 in San Antonio, TX. Annie is survived by her husband of 61 years, Alfred Z. Carvajal, daughters Anita Carvajal of Blanco, TX, Monica Dovalina and husband Albert Dovalina of San Antonio, sons Jerry Carvajal and wife Kay of Houston, Tony Carvajal and wife Rachel of Spring Branch and Paul Carvajal of Spring Branch.

The Blanco FFA Chapter had a strong showing at the annual Hill District Leadership Development Events held at Blanco High School on Monday, November 10th. Overall, sixteen schools from across the Hill Country competed in twelve different events with hopes of advancing to the Area VII Contests on November 19th.

Several Blanco FFA members spent this past weekend taking part in the Dripping Springs Fall Classic Livestock Show, held at the Blanco County Show Barn in Johnson City. Overall, 17 Blanco FFA and Blanco Junior FFA members exhibited livestock in this year’s show. Leading the way for Blanco, was be Keaton Dodd.

The Blanco Panthers continued their dominant play in the first round of the state play-offs as they easily defeated the Stockdale Brahmas 42 to 7 to be crowned Bi-District Champions. Blanco used a balanced offensive attack to outgain the Brahmas by almost 300 yards, while the defense was just 28 seconds from its fifth shutout of the season. Although Blanco controlled virtually every aspect of the game, it wasn’t until the second half that the Panthers took over.

The holidays are upon us. Groups are busy decorating Bindseil Park and Pecan Bottom, streets and businesses. The Chamber of Commerce is doing a good job encouraging the downtown to decorate with lavender and white lights. This past week PEC, Tom Phillips, Barbara Dowdy, Linda Howard, Pat Vallone, Debbie Homeier, Armando Pena, Charles Rotchenbach, Retta Martin, Ruby Duecker and myself, worked on the lights for both parks.

The Robot Walle blasts into the future and space this week as Disney & Pixar’s latest fun filled adventure. Its a story of a little robot that’s mission is to collect trash along with thousands of other robots that were sent to clean up earth while the humans went out to space to wait for earth to become livable.

When you remodel you often change a lot of things. Sometimes when you demolish walls and move fixtures around you have to have permission to do the remodel, even though it is your home. You sometimes do have to get a permit to do certain projects, but how do you know if you really do need one? Getting a permit from your city is important.

Our own Ada Cooley was seen with my very own eyes, along with Ronnie! She still looks MAH-VELOUS! Don’t forget Saturday at the courthouse is the “Antique Appraisal Show” and document scanning. The appraisals start at 1:00 - the cost is 10.00 for one appraisal or three for 25.00 - a bargain, a bargain, a bargain!

Births November 15, 1968 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hunter Jr. re the proud parents of a boy, Doak Lynn, born November 6 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. He weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces. YHT seniors set open house November 17, 1978 The County – A busy week of activities has been scheduled for the Young at Heart Senior Citizens groups of Blanco and Johnson City, reports director Theresa Allen. Yesterday, accompanied by Claudia Taylor and some residents of the Blanco Mill Nursing Home ...

AUSTIN — Lawmakers filed more than 500 bills November 10-14 in advance of the 81st session of the Texas Legislature, which convenes January 13. With dynamic national and world economic conditions on the table, lawmakers’ big jobs, to appropriate funding and to pass a state budget, are likely to demand more time and effort than in previous sessions. Those issues aside, here are examples of a few early bills: HB 60 by Rep.

If you’ve ever bought and sold a house in the same month, you know the fine art of negotiation. If you haven’t, well, that’s probably a good thing. The truth is that real estate transactions are all about negotiation. Banter. Give-and-take. Take-it-or-leave-it. Either-or. If you’re a mediator-in-the-making, you’ll love this part of the deal.

November 10, 2008, Johnson City, TX – The 19th Annual Lights Spectacular, Hill Country Style will light up the skies with one of the largest light displays in Texas starting at 6:30pm on Friday, Nov. 28 with the lighting of the Blanco County Courthouse in Johnson City. This year, the skies will blaze even brighter with a stunning fireworks display set to music.

The Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA) has awarded a Special Recognition Award to Pedernales Electric for its recently adopted renewable energy goal. PEC received the award Nov. 11 at TREIA’s Texas Renewables 08 Conference in Austin. “We’re honored to receive a Special Recognition Award,” PEC General Manager Juan Garza said later.

Statistics indicate that foodborne illness continues to be a health issue in the United States. Each year, 1 in 4 Americans will become sick, 1 in 1,000 will become hospitalized, and 5,000 will die due to a foodborne illness. Under these new rules, each food establishment permitted by the Texas Department of State Health Services must have one certified food manager.

(Kerrville, TX) – A Christmas Party with lavish holiday costumes at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Stalhbaum will begin the traditional festive journey of the world’s most popular holiday production, The Nutcracker. As the story continues through a battle of soldiers and rats, in which The Nutcracker prevails, snow begins to fall as you are transported to the Land of Sweets, presided over by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

Blanco Police Reports These reports were filed between Oct 16 and Oct 29. Oct 16 •Juvenile Complaint. 4:50 PM. Kids were skateboarding on the sidewalk at Cranberry’s. Oct 17 • Agency Assist. 5:51 PM. An officer was requested to assist with a CPS case. • 911 Hangup. 6:14 PM. • Minor Traffic Accident. 9:30 PM. A caller hit a deer and needed a blue form. Oct 18 • Assault Victim.