A local educator has been selected to participate in summer 2012 global graduate studies in the Central American country of Belize. In July 2012, Blanco Middle School staff member Pamela Meier of Blanco will study conservation and marine ecology in the Central American country of Belize. More information about Meier’s course is located at earthexpeditions.org/field_expeditions/belize. The graduate courses from Miami University’s Project Dragonfly are based on Earth Expeditions, which has ...

Jerry and Deanna Dosser of Western Sonrise Ministries will perform along with The Baggy Bottom Boys of Granbury at a South Texas Gospel Music Association sponsored concert Saturday, July 21. The concert will be held at the Live Oak First Baptist Church 11560 Toepperwein Road, San Antonio, TX. Doors open at 5pm with concert beginning at 6PM.

When wildfires roared through Texas communities last Labor Day, the American Red Cross was able to help survivors, but only because volunteers were trained and willing to assist their neighbors, like this couple, cleaning up their burned home in Bastrop. Wildfire season is on us, and hurricane season is about to peak, and trained volunteers are needed in case the next disaster is here.

Early voting for the Democratic and Republican Party Primary Runoff Election will be held for one week only. It starts Monday, July 23, 2012 and ends Friday, July 27, 2012 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. Early voting will be held in the Conference Room, located next to the County Clerk’s office, Courthouse Annex, 101 E.

Catholic Charities of Central Texas will be here on Tuesday, July 17th, 2012. Please feel free to phone the number below if you have anything that needs to be resolved soon. Catholic Charities of Central Texas is providing application materials and assistance in completing applications for CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program), Medicaid, SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), Medicare Savings Program, and Long-Term Care Services.

The last time Blanco County residents packed “burn buckets,” it was to send cleaning supplies to survivors of the Labor Day wildfires in Spicewood and Bastrop. Now, they’re coming together again to fill buckets to replace those already sent from disaster warehouses to survivors of wildfires in Colorado and other western states. Bucket-filling day will be 9 am Saturday, July 28, at the First United Methodist Church in Johnson City, but volunteers are needed before then to shop for the li ...

Aggie Student Bonfire: A Photography Exhibit by Dion McInnis is now on display at Rain Bird Gallery through July 29. The exhibit’s opening reception was held at Uptown Blanco Courtyard and has now moved to the gallery at 103 Main St. Since 1907, Texas Aggies have annually built their Bonfire. What began as a one-off celebration of a football victory grew into something much more.

While preparing for one of the August events, namely, the book signing by Mr. Jeffrey Kerr, I was asked what Mr. Kerr has written, so here is a short article from his website, which those with computers can find by just searching his name. Jeffrey Kerr’s debut work, “Austin, Texas -Then and Now,” was a 2005 nonfiction finalist for the Writers’ League of Texas Violet Crown Award.

Blanco United Methodist Church hosted around 75 children for their Sky-themed Vacation Bible School last week. This year at BUMC, VBS kids learned that “Everything is Possible with God!” in many ways. During Imagination Station, they were taught to always trust God through fun experiments, such as watching film canisters explode and hoverballs float in the air.

Two very interesting youth clinics were held for the youth of Blanco Cowboy Church on July 12. Rodeo Bullfighter and Rodeo clown Howard Stevenson entertained the youth with his “tricks of the trade”. This included his pet skunk which caused quite a stir when his stuffed image was thrown into the audience.

Last we looked at the differences between Satan’s tempting and God’s testing. We saw that Satan is the tempter, the adversary, the enemy. It is he who wants to destroy us - not make us better. God, on the other hand, loves us and wants to build us up and make us better.

As I sit here thinking about my children, my heart swells because I’d give them the sun and the moon, if I could. My husband gave me an endearing Mother’s Day card, telling me I’m the best mom, and I know Lawrence watches me and sees how much I do for my sons and what they do for me. It’s kind of one-sided, sometimes.

Phillip Sidney Vela of Austin, TX, passed away Thursday afternoon July 12, 2012 due to an accident resulting in an anoxic brain injury. Phillip is survived by his father Tony Vela of Blanco, TX, and his mother Dyanne Hines Engberg of Austin, TX, and Mike Green of Blanco, TX. He is also survived by two brothers, David Vela (Esther) and Eric Engberg (Tracy), one sister Jody Vela D’Amato (John), four nephews, three nieces, one grandnephew, and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Final ...

It is with great excitement that Hill County Memorial Hospital announces its inclusion as a Community Foundation Spring/Summer Grant Cycle Recipient. Grape Juice of Kerrville was the site host for the official announcement and check presentation reception on Tuesday, July 10th. Representatives from Hill Country Memorial, Frosty Rees, HCMH Foundation board chairman, and Amanda Stevens, CFRE, HCMH Foundation executive director, were present to receive the monies that will help to fund the CPR Any ...

Better-than-expected quarterly results from J P Morgan Chase boosted enthusiasm about earnings season and caused the DOW to jump 203.82 points last Friday, stopping the DOW from its longest decline in almost two months, according to a report in this past weekend’s Wall Street Journal. What’s ironic is that Chase had reported that they had underestimated their “whale” losses from trades that investors had hidden in portfolios.

A new identity theft scam that is sweeping the country claims Americans can get federal financial assistance to help cover the cost of their utility bills. Using in-person solicitations, social media, fliers, phone calls and text messages, scammers are contacting customers and claiming a new federal program established by the Obama Administration is providing free utility bill payment credits or applying payments on customers’ behalf. To benefit from the purported program, utility customers ...

For the past month, several members of the Blanco FFA and Blanco Jr. FFA have exhibited steers at jackpot shows in New Braunfels, Floresville and Seguin. Overall, local steer feeders have done very well, with many other shows still to come before school gets started. The New Braunfels River Round-Up marked the first show of the year for the Blanco FFA and proved to be a successful beginning for many of this year’s steer projects as well as the largest NBRR show to date with almost 300 steers ...

Former Blanco FFA member Kylie Leachman recently exhibited the Grand Champion Female at the North American Junior Red Angus Show in Hutchinson, Kansas. In addition, Kylie teamed with four other exhibitors from Texas to win the “Best 5 Head of Heifers” while also being elected to the NAJRE Board of Directors and placing 4th overall in the livestock judging contest and quiz bowl.

July not only marks the month of America's birthday, but it also holds the title of National Make a Difference to Children Month. While we are celebrating and coming together with our families, it is very important to realize that not every child is fortunate enough to have a fun, healthy and safe environment in which to live their lives.

Who ya gonna call for your construction job? This is really an open question. You can look in the local newspapers, talk to friends, look on line, and decide on who you want to call about your construction job. I suggest you contact a couple of them and get prices to compare.

Many homebuyers mistakenly confuse getting an accepted contract on a home with closing the deal. Don’t be one of them. Texas REALTORS® refer to this challenging period as “contract to close.” Of course, getting a signed contract is reason for celebration for both the buyer and the seller, but there’s still a long way to go before the homebuying transaction can be successfully completed.