February 4, 1966

Mr. and Mrs. Herman Riba assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Joe D. Riba honored Mr. Fritz Koch on his ninety-sixth birthday at the Blanco Mill Nursing Home. Mr. Koch was born at Twin Sisters January 13, 1870. He lived in that community until a year previous when he came to the nursing home. He retired as a farmer and rancher at age 80. • Mrs. Leonard Smith, chairman of the March of Dimes Drive announced that 133.88 was collected in the Mothers’ March. Donations of $5.00 each were contributed by the Live Oak HD Club and the Ranch Hi-Way HD Club and a $2.00 donation from Chimney Valley HD Club. • An ad for the Western Steak House & Coffee Shop ran, advertising for their upcoming open house.

January 30, 1976

Deputy Sheriff Conrad Nagel walked into the Sheriff’s office in Johnson City and turned in his handcuffs and holster (the gun was his own). In an interview with the Blanco County News, Nagel stated that he had asked the sheriff numerous times to see about a raise in pay and all that the sheriff’s office got was a 2 cent per mile increase expenses. Nagel indicated that he could no longer work the hours that he does for that kind of pay.

January 29, 1986

Working their way through a stack of routine business, Blanco County Commissioners felt the first faint chill of economic change in two quarters: insurance and federal funding. The fire insurance for the courthouse had been cancelled and the court gave Judge Charles Scott authority to start looking for replacement coverage. According to Scott, the insurance industry is in a crisis and many cities and counties had been hard hit by insurance cancellations and the inability to find other coverage. This had affected vehicle coverage in some instances, virtually shutting down law enforcement, while the escalating cost of malpractice insurance had adversely affected medical care. • Arrest warrants had been issued for two San Antonio men who went on a rampage in the Western Café, causing damage in excess of $800. The two men, part of a group thought to be musicians on their way home from a dance, became incensed when the waitress informed them the kitchen was out of seafood. They became abusive, according to Gary Ritchie, and began using extremely foul language. When Ritchie, standing in the doorway between the restaurant and the motel office, asked them to refrain from using obscenities, one picked up a sugar dispense and hurled it at him. It flew past Ritchie’s head and bounced off the back wall of the office. The pair went to their car for an iron bar which they used to break windows in the restaurant and they pushed the cash register off the counter. During the fracas, Ritchie was injured, but not enough to seek medical aid, he said. One of the accused threw the iron bar at Ritchie’s car, causing damage to the front end. The restaurant damage was extensive enough to result in a felony charge of criminal mischief.

January 31, 1996

People who live in nursing homes or veteran’s hospitals are often forgotten and ignored, but not by the ladies of the Blanco American Legion Auxiliary. For each holiday of the year (except Christmas), the 13 women who belong to the organization, which formed in 1984, make favors and deliver them to the county’s three nursing centers. Every other month, they also visit a veterans’ hospital in Kerrville, delivering sandwiches, deviled eggs, cookies, and plenty of smiles (plus they host a bingo game). • PEC announce that 27 incorporated cities with Cooperative franchise agreements shared $635,366 in PEC franchise fees in 1995. The fee received by each city represents two percent of the total billed revenue within that city, according to PEC General Manager Bennie Fuelberg.