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April 4, 2012 Issue
Front Page
On Monday afternoon, April 2, at about 4pm, an 8-inch water main transmission line broke on Elm Street, just north of Fulcher Street. The line was older and brittle, reported Nathan Cantrell, director of public works for the City of Blanco. When city employees were installing a tap in the line, it split.
Fire hydrants were opened, causing water pressure to drop to nothing for many homes and businesses in the city, to allow city employees to get to the line and fix the break.
The employees wra ...
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Former mayor Jim Rodrigue, who served as Blanco’s mayor for six years from 2003 to 2009, and was the Comal Independent School District Athletic Director, died on Sunday morning, April 1. He was 65 years old.
Rodrigue served on city council from May 2000 until he was elected mayor in 2003.
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From Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District
The Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District has terminated the drought conditions for all Blanco County groundwater users. This declaration went into effect Monday, April 2, 2012. There are no restrictions on groundwater usage for Blanco County well owners at this time.
According to Ron Fieseler, General Manager for the District, due to the recent rains, water levels in District’s monitor wells have risen several feet and are approaching more average levels.
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By Belinda Nagy, Johnson City Chamber of Commerce
The mixer, hosted by Vitalogy Skin Care and The Preserve at Walnut Springs will be held on Thursday, April 12, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Preserve at Walnut Springs, located off Flat Creek Road in Johnson City at their gorgeous clubhouse. Weather permitting, it will be outdoors on their breathtaking patio and pool area enabling the guests to take in the picturesque views.
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• Easter Sunrise Service, 7am at Yett Park, south of Blanco's city limits. Praise & worship lead by John Lightfoot. Message by Stephen Mackey, the Greater Hill Country Area Director of Young Life. Hill country breakfast prepared by Chef Steve Becker of the Chess Club. Experience the Cowboy life with Christian Cowboy Mike Schnabel presenting lessons on roping from the arena.
• New Hope Lutheran [ELCA] will be serving a delicious breakfast on Easter Sunday, prior to the 9:00am Easter Service ...
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Franklin Family Ranch hosted their annual Easter picnic and egg hunt on March 31 with over 1,200 in attendance. The kids eagerly awaited the signal to run out and collect the eggs. Before and after the hunt, they enjoyed train rides, bouncy castles, face (and arm) painting, live music, hot dogs, and more.
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Eleven days and counting to Blanco’s annual Trash-Off Event. On Saturday morning, April 14, volunteers will be hard at work picking up litter and trash along our streets. Keep Blanco Beautiful can use more volunteers. Call Retta Martin at 830-833-4720 to sign-up to help.
The City Yard has been open since April 2 for those with vouchers (picked up at City Offices) to drop off large items cluttering property during business hours.
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Benjamin Pilon, a Blanco resident and filler operator/quality specialist at Real Ale Brewing Company, wondered what to do when a quality control issue at the brewery left him with over 200 full cases of beer to dump out.
“Trying to figure out the fastest way to open all those beers,” Pilon said, “I started wondering what the world record was for ‘most bottle caps removed’ or ‘most bottles opened’ in one minute.”
The current Guinness World Record for most crown cup bottles open ...
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Grant Weaver, a freshman at Texas A&M University and a member of the Corp of Cadets, this weekend received the honors of Most Outstanding Freshman of Company Spider D-1 and Best Drilled Freshman for 3rd Brigade, which is made up of four companies. Grant was also promoted to Corporal. His family attended the ceremony banquet during Parents’ Weekend.
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Blanco County 4-H Shooting Education shooters competed on Saturday, March 10, at the 2012 State BB Gun Competition held in Fredericksburg. The following kids participated in the event: Jenna Vasquez, Jordan Wheeler, Alyssa Wheeler, Hailey Bickley, Alexus Crochet, Brendan Anderson, Brinley Portie, Hugh Galloway, Jayme Mowery, Brett Sultemeier, Garrett DeSpain, Cade Pittman, Lynlea Janvier, Brian Janvier, Caleb Dowdy, Darren Sultemeier, Ross Sultemeier, Ashtyn Portie, Jessie Mowery, and Josh Vasq ...
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The Blanco County 4-H Shooting Sports group traveled to Manor, Texas, on March 3 to compete in the 2012 James Harlow NRA BB Gun Invitational. Despite the cold outdoor air and the strong wind, the shooters represented Blanco County very well. The shooters competed in the following four shooting positions: prone, standing, sitting, and kneeling.
Every Blanco County shooter brought home at least one medal and they are as follows: Brian Janvier – Pre-Junior 1st Place Sitting and 2nd Place Kneeli ...
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A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the Blanco Chamber of Commerce for Paula Allison, a real estate professional in Blanco who joined the Keller Williams Heritage Hill Country Market Center.
Paula Allison has an extensive background in residential and rural real estate. She has been in the real estate industry since 1978 and devoted to a full-time career in the industry for the last 8 years.
Her pursuit of real estate has awarded her these achievements: ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative) ...
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Pack 497 received the Journey to Excellence Gold Award, which is a big accomplishment for our small group of cub scouts. Every scout and leader of Pack 497 received a Gold Award patch to wear on our uniforms. The Journey to Excellence is a performance recognition program. Your pack has to show growth by having new scouts join.
The pack has to have advancement, which means you have to have a percentage of your scouts advance to their next level by completing all the achievements for their curre ...
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Tickets for our Annual Friends’ Dinner and a Movie are going fast! Be sure to get your ticket from the library or from Liz at her shop, On the Square. This Southern Style dinner on April 20 is catered by our wonderful renowned chef, Sibby Barret. Remember, this is a social and BYOB event at the Old Blanco County Courthouse at 6:00 p.m.
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On Thursday morning, March 29, the Blanco Historic Cemetery, Blanco American Legion Memorial Highway Post 352, and the Blanco County Historical Commission honored Vietnam veterans in a special event at the cemetery. Rebecca Howerton read a list of names of deceased Vietnam veterans and Sherry Jenkins read a list of names of those still living.
Those who served our country in Vietnam were personally thanked by the speakers and by the audience.
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First day to apply for a ballot by mail was March 30, 2012 (you may apply now). Last day to apply for a ballot by mail is May 22, 2012 (must be received by the County Clerk by this date, not postmarked).
You may vote early by mail if:
• You will be away from your county on Election Day and during early voting;
• You are sick or disabled;
• You are 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
• You are confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
Contact the County Clerk by phone at 830 ...
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It’s very difficult to realize we’re living two separate lives in the same body, during our pilgrimage on earth, but we actually are, if we’ve been reborn.
Because when we’re not saved, living carnally, or worldly as some say, we’re not trying to go against the current, so we’re carried down river, floating with the rest of the trash.
But, for those of us who’ve been saved, trying to swim upstream (or I should say, live and walk in the spirit, not as the rest of the world) it’ ...
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The Canyon Lake Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will hold an open house on Saturday, April 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about the LDS Church,” said Bishop George Hurt who is the lay minister of the congregation located at 41301 FM 3159.
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By John Kinslow, Minister, Blanco Church of Christ
It has been pointed out that the reason Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth..." is that He didn't want everybody, at least not right then.
On more than one occasion, in His personal ministry on the earth, Jesus dealt with death. There was the resurrection at the city of Nain of a widow's only son (Luke 7:11-17).
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By Pastor J.D. Link, agf-blanco.com
A careful reading of Acts chapter 1 and 2 will help in following today’s lesson on revival. What we see in these two chapters could rightly be termed the first new Testament revival. I suppose some could argue that Pentecost was the initial coming of the Holy Spirit, and therefore should not be termed a revival.
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On April 1, First Baptist Church of Blanco’s adult choir, joined by a string quartet, guitar, piano, and percussion, performed "Never Thirst Again," a dramatic musical telling the Easter story through the eyes of the woman at the well. If you didn’t attend, you missed out on a stunning production and performance.
Did your church have an event?
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James “Jim” Rodrigue joined his Heavenly Father on April 1, 2012. Jim was born October 16, 1946, in Brady, Texas. He was a graduate of Brady High School and went on to San Angelo State University, where he played four years of Ram Football and graduated in 1969 with a degree in Health and Physical Education.
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Frances Louise Potter, 96, passed away on April 3, 2012, in Llano, Texas. She was born August 10, 1915, in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Jesse and Kittye Morrow Newton. She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Herbert Henry Potter; and her son, Barry James Potter. Frances was the treasurer for the First United Methodist Church of Sudan for 21 years.
She is survived by two sons, Robert King and wife Judy of Wimberley, Texas, and Shawn Potter and wife Kathy of Roswell, Georgia; seven gra ...
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Dear Editor,
It was a war that many of us remember. It was a war that was not kind to its warriors, either 'in country or upon their return home. Last Thursday, through efforts of Amercan Legion Post 352, the Blanco Historic Cemetery and especially Rebecca Howerton, our Vietnam Veterans were finally recognized for the heros that they are.
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Carechex, a subsidiary of the Delta Group, the nation’s largest privately-held healthcare information services company, issued five awards to Hill County Memorial for patient safety in the following categories.
1. Overall Hospital Care
2. Major Bowel Procedures
3. Major Orthopedic Surgery
4. Join Replacement
5. Trauma Care
In each of these areas we rank in the top 10% in the state and nationally for patient safety, meaning that we are in the big leagues when it comes to preventing hospi ...
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International best-practices HVAC contractor organization AirTime500 named 72 Degrees Heating & Air Conditioning its Service Company of the Year and Business Professional Company of the Year for 2011 at its recent Expo in New Orleans.
Only the top one percent of heating and cooling contractors are members of AirTime 500.
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AUSTIN — Texans and all other Americans have until late June to guess how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in the multi-state case seeking to have the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional on account of federal overreach.
Last week, oral arguments were put before the high court.
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Blanco County 4-H Shooting Education shooters competed on Saturday, March 10, at the 2012 State BB Gun Competition held in Fredericksburg. The following kids participated in the event: Jenna Vasquez, Jordan Wheeler, Alyssa Wheeler, Hailey Bickley, Alexus Crochet, Brendan Anderson, Brinley Portie, Hugh Galloway, Jayme Mowery, Brett Sultemeier, Garrett DeSpain, Cade Pittman, Lynlea Janvier, Brian Janvier, Caleb Dowdy, Darren Sultemeier, Ross Sultemeier, Ashtyn Portie, Jessie Mowery, and Josh Vasq ...
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Winning first place in 12 of 23 events, the Blanco High School UIL Academic Team rolled to the District 8-AA championship in events held March 21-31. The team’s nearest competition was Harper, who finished 265 points behind.
Leading the way were sophomore Kristin Watt with 56 points in seven events and Junior Jacob Hallenberger with 53 points in five events.
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The UIL One Act Play 2A District competition was held on Saturday, March 31, at Fredericksburg High School. Blanco High School performed The Elephant Man and will be advancing to the Area competition at Burnet HS on April 12.
The entire cast and crew performed an incredible show, and top honors were awarded to: Best Actress: Madelyn Cox, Best Actor: Kellam Nabers, All Star Cast: Sam Isenberg, Honorable Mention All Star Cast: trio of Paxston Koehl, Annabeth Griffin, and Echoe Burkhart, Superior ...
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The Lady Panthers had a slow start against the Comfort Deer on Friday, March 30, but finished strong for a 13-3 win in five innings. Comfort scored one run in the first inning, followed by two more in the second to lead 3-0.
The Panthers began to hit in the third inning with Angel Williams, Leslie McClinton, and Meaghen Seales each hitting a single.
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Comfort’s rain-soaked field dried out just enough for the much anticipated clash between the Bobcats and the Panthers last Friday. With each team undefeated in district play, the game held the excitement of the traditional rivalry between Blanco and Comfort.
The Bobcats took an early 2-0 lead, with the Panthers scoring one run in the fifth inning.
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By Maryella Vause, BSN, RN, FNP (ret), Wellness Consultant
When discussing supplementation, it is always important to remember that the purpose of supplementation should be to correct a diagnosed deficiency condition that cannot be fixed by changing the diet and lifestyle. The proper use of supplementation is in conjunction with a good practitioner for short-term use for therapeutic purposes.
Vitamin supplements can be divided into two groups: synthetic and natural.
Synthetic vitamins are vitamins produced in laboratories from isolated chemicals that ...
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Spring is actually here, at least by the calendar. It has been a lovely spring. Wildflowers are all over the landscape. Easter is next week, so let us hope we have had our “Easter Spell.”
This will be a very busy month with Easter, the Blanco trash-off, IRS deadlines, the fire department fish fry, plus preparation for our spring gardens.
House plants need to be moved outside, trimmed, and fed.
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I had an awful little secret in high school; one that caused me untold grief, guilt and embarrassment.
In the early 60s in the small town in which I lived there was no television and even radio reception left something to be desired. The social life of the community revolved around the church and the school.
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Gentle readers:
Lots of things to do in and around Blanco County in the next couple weeks, so get out there and do at least one of them, if you can!
This little column over the past few months has rapidly become a thoughts and prayers list, and this week is just another sad one - Jim Rodrigue, the former mayor of Blanco, passed away Sunday morning, so my thoughts and prayers go out to Pat and the family, as well as to Pi Stone and her family in the loss of Dillard.
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April 7, 1961
Leveling of the grounds for the new Blanco Livestock Commission Co., Inc. has been completed and foundation work should be completed by the middle of next week. When completed this auction ring should be of great convenience to the stockmen of Blanco and surrounding counties, as well as a big asset to the area.
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