Jesse and Shelly Gremminger are proud to announce the arrival of their baby daughter, Lily Vernell, who was born at 1:23am on September 11, 2009, in San Antonio, Texas. Lily weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 inches long at birth. Maternal grandparents are Leo and Beverly Kempf, formerly of Blanco.

The American Legion Memorial Highway Post 352 in Blanco will be hosting the 2nd Annual Veteran’s Parade on November 14 beginning at 10:00am, honoring all veterans, past and present, who have served our country. All entries are free and should sport a military, veteran, or red, white, and blue theme. There will be separate trailers for disabled veterans.

The importance of making a will and safeguarding one’s final wishes will be presented at an annual wills clinic Thursday, November 12, offered by the Hill Country Memorial Hospital Foundation. There will be two identical sessions, one at 9:30am and another at 1:30pm. Anyone interested in updating, creating or learning about wills is encouraged to attend. The HCMH Foundation offers this public service clinic to the community free of charge, and each session will be about t ...

When you build your house, you start by marking out where things are to be on the lot. You will want to locate all of the structures, and mark them with stakes, and you will want to plan carefully for your utilities. You have surveyed and marked the edges of your property, now it is time to mark where the house or structures (garage, sheds etc.) are going to be.

This Halloween, we revisit Rob Zombie’s remake of the classic original movie Halloween. I get bored going back and watching certain scary classics, while others are timeless, so I was excited about this remake because going back now, the original lacked the horror that I remembered as a teen. I’m not a fan of Rob Zombie and have found his movies to be way too over the top, but knew if he ever had something to work with that was already a good script his horror mindset would help.

AUSTIN — More than 200 Texas Department of Public Safety agents, troopers, pilots and Texas Rangers took part in an Oct. 21 sweep targeting the La Familia Michoacana criminal cartel resulting in 81 arrests in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin areas. The law enforcement work was done in coordination with the U.S.

Ted Tisdale, who lives out in Clear Creek Ranches, west of Blanco, proudly displays the three ribbons and the three gourds that won them at the Texas Gourd Society Gourd Festival held at the Gillespie County Fairgrounds in Fredericksburg, October 16-18. The large gourd in the center was done in the dot painting style of the Australian aborigine.

As part of the Blanco Library’s “Visions of the Universe” Exhibit honoring the International Year of Astronomy, Dr. David Lambert, Director of the McDonald Observatory, will give a free address, open to the public, on October 29, at 7:00pm at the BISD Learning Center Auditorium. Dr. Lambert holds the Isabel McCutcheon Harte Centennial Chair in Astronomy at The University of Texas in Austin.

On Saturday November 7 at 9:15am, the Blanco Verde Farm Tour takes off from the Old Blanco County Courthouse in Blanco. Blanco Verde, a non-profit that promotes sustainability in the Blanco River area, invites you to be on board for this day-long adventure of three local farms around Wimberley and Johnson City.

Representatives of Pedernales Electric Cooperative gathered with local elected officials and community leaders for an evening of discussion and partnership building at a Government Leaders Appreciation Dinner hosted by the Cooperative on October 22. The event united PEC Board members and management with community representatives from PEC’s Kyle, Canyon Lake and Oak Hill districts. PEC General Manager Juan Garza, who recently returned to work at the Cooperative after recovering f ...

Rockin’ R Steakhouse is pleased to introduce our new chef, Bud Bouldin. Chef Bouldin was born in Harlingen, Texas, and spent 9 years in the U. S. Navy as a Nuclear Machinist Mate. In 2001, he married Elizabeth Baylis. They have a 7-year-old daughter, Victoria Rose. Bud and his wife, Betsy, have lived in Blanco for 7 years.

Jennie Thomas, owner of Scootique in Fredericksburg Texas took home a first place trophy at the prestigious Harvest Classic Vintage Motorcycle Show. Jennie won the 1970-1974 class with her 1972 Triumph Daytona T100R. This class had the largest number of entries in the show with over 25 of the finest vintage bikes in the Southwest.

At the last meeting of the Blanco Lion’s Club, representatives from Texas Home Health were the guest speakers. Club members learned about the services that this organization provides. Texas Home Health serves our hill country with the utmost respect and they work with you and your family in every way they can to make the situation the least complicated.

Religion stands as a central point in history; sadly the abuse of religion has stood out more (at least in my mind) in history, which includes how the most widespread religion persecutes it's minorities. Minorities generally include women, especially in a religion that gives much power to the man. I personally believe the Abrahamic traditions are strongly rooted in patriarchy, which throws me into contradiction with feminism. Ladies, how many of you out there are feminists?

What if you were the mother of twelve children and when the youngest started preschool you wondered what to do with the rest of your life? Mary Jo Copeland, a Minneapolis mother, found herself in that position and, according to Margaret Nelson and Kerry Pickett, co-authors of “Saving Body and Soul: The Mission of Mary Jo Copeland,” she told her children they’d have to help more around the house because she was going out to share the love in her family with those who didn&rs ...

After telling his children to stay in the house, a father walked from the house through the early morning snow, he looked back to see his three children trying with great difficulty to place their small feet in his steps. He returned the children to the house and reminded them of what he had told them.

May I brag on Jesus? The Lord does take care of His sheep. My brother and I used to claim the “black sheep” title. We always felt different from the rest of our brothers, and perhaps we are. I went astray, but thank God our parents and grandparents kept His commands, because (s God promised) He has blessed us, and has always had His right hand in ours.

Someone once said that if we don’t learn from the past; then we will be destined to repeat it. I fear the church of Jesus Christ as a whole does not know her past very well; and if we stay ignorant about our history, we will be destined to repeat it.

Life long resident of Blanco, Norma Jean Bates, age 78, passed away November 2, 2009. She was preceded in death by her husband, Roy and son, Johnny. She is survived by two sons, Ricky and wife, Joan, and Justin and wife, Bel; three daughters, Joyce Wood, Martha Utsler and husband, Jack, Janice Tessmer and husband, Ed, along with six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Visitation will be Tuesday, November 3, 2009 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

For the 15th consecutive year, the Blanco FFA will be competing at the State FFA Land, Range & Plant ID Contests. The Blanco FFA recently completed the fall schedule of career development events, winning 12 of 15 competitions. The Land Judging team will be traveling to Stephenville in April to compete at the state contest following a 3rd place finish this past week at the Area VII FFA contests in San Marcos.

Football By Paul Elrod 7th Grade Blanco received the kick-off and easily drove to the four yard line, but turned the ball over on a fumble. The defense stuffed the Eagles, and on the 4th down Hunter Goodman blocked the punt in the end zone, with Grant Calzoncit recovering the ball for a TD.

The Blanco Panther JV Team needed only the first half of the game to defeat the Johnson City Eagles 46-0. Sam Isenberg started the scoring for Blanco with a 70 yard rush to the end zone. Isenberg then zipped a pass to Tim Goodman for the 2-point conversion. On the next Panther possession, Isenberg tossed the ball to Grady Childress for the touchdown.

After clinching a play-off spot by defeating Harper, the Blanco Panthers looked to wrap up the district title as they traveled to Johnson City to take on the Eagles. After just one quarter of play, the Panthers were well on their way to securing the district championship as Blanco rolled to a 61 to 0 victory. The Panthers came out strong to open the game, scoring on their first offensive play as senior Layton Dworaczyk raced 46 yards untouched for Blanco’s first score.

Recycle! Recycle! Recycle! Texas Recycle Day is November 15. The Girl Scout Troop 1440 will partner with the Blanco Lions Club and Keep Blanco Beautiful to recycle aluminum cans and tabs. Nan Mikes with the Blanco Lions Club will visit at the Scout meeting on October 28 at the Masonic Hall to inform the girls about the Lion Club's programs and why it is important to recycle.

Love the weather! Lots of outside activities coming up - last game of the season for the Panthers Friday night. Dress warm and enjoy! Congratulations to the Blanco High School Band for advancing to Area! Jill and Doak Hunter hosted a Halloween party at their casa-it was skeery! Bob Daughdril hosted his annual July 4th picnic belatedly two weekends ago, with all his kids, Benjy, Rob, and Brian, their spouses, and all his grandkids, minus one granddaughter and one great-grandson, ...

Woman’s Club October 31, 1969 The Blanco Woman’s Club will hold their regular meeting on Wednesday, November 12 in the home of Mrs. Ira C. Caswell instead of the announced meeting place. ‘42’ held October 26, 1979 The Friendship 42 Club met October 10th at Imgard Weber’s. Next meeting will be at Milli Retzlaff, hostess, Tonie Moelenberg. First prize went ...