February 18, 1966

The Great Texas Lumber Co. of Fredericksburg was awarded the contract for constructing the new elementary school building. After the architects and school board agreed on some minor changes, the contractor agreed to a bid of $191,787.00 on the revised plans and was awarded the contract. The contractor was expected to begin construction as early as the following week. The contract called for 180 calendar days to complete construction, which would have the building ready for school opening in time for the 1966-1967 school year. • Among the announcements for public offices, the following announced their intentions: Jim Griffith announced for Representative, Arthur Walz announced for County Judge, Alton E Felps Announced for County and District Clerk (as the first Democrat in Blanco County for the county office), and A.H. Poehler announced for Justice of the Peace. • Lucy’s Beauty Salon was happy to announce that Miss Donna Hohenberger was the winner of “Queen for a Day.” Each customer registered the week before Valentine’s Day, on Saturday, February 12. Nina West did the drawing. Donna’s name was drawn and she won a shampoo and set, oil manicure, or anything she chose to make her queen for a day.

February 20, 1976

The Johnson City ISD board of school trustees heard a report from tax collector Barton Smith that 66.8% of the district’s needed $165,000 in taxes have been collected. Smith told the board that six or eight school district taxpayers had inquired about a story in the Johnson City Record Courier that they could delay paying their taxes until after a decision from the courts on a suit brought by seven taxpayers seeking to throw out the school district’s 1975 property valuations. • Martha Bethke, teacher in the Blanco elementary school for over 14 years, was selected as one of the state’s outstanding educators for 1975-1976. A biographical sketch of Mrs. Bethke appeared in the 1975-1976 edition of “who’s Who in Texas Education.” Less than 4% of Texas teachers were honored in that edition. • The Blanco Panthers journeyed twice on the road with success both times for the district 29A championship. The Panthers successfully defended their title with wins over Lackland (92-83) and Marion (72-52). The following week the Panthers would enter the Texas State Basketball playoffs for the second year in a row. This time the bi-district opponent would be District 30A champ, the Sabinal Yellowjackets.

February 19, 1986

Acting on a tip, The Blanco County Sheriff’s Department and DPS narcotics agents seized a methamphetamine laboratory in a subdivision approximately five miles north of Blanco. The apparently abandoned operation consisted of two trailers, one an old mobile home and the other a utility trailer, both painted in camouflage fashion and parked under large trees to avoid easy detection from the road or air. This would have been a “big operation capable of cooking five pounds of meth every 24 hours, with a street value around $100,000 or more. No arrests were made and no warrants were issued, as the lab seemed to be abandoned. • The Blanco Lion’s Club purchased 13 McGruff puppets for the elementary school, one for each classroom. The police dog puppets, which were familiar to children from TV spots in which they urged youngsters to “fight crime,” were used to educate children on how to say “no” to molestation, abuse, drugs, and crime. • The Blanco Little League joined forces recently with Johnson City Little League to form the Blanco County Little League, an officially sanctioned National Little League Association.

February 21, 1996

Blanco school trustees voted unanimously to offer $200,000 for a 50-acre tract of land fronting Ranch Road 1623 across from the football stadium, land which would be used for future construction of additional campuses. • Charles Scott recovered from a brown recluse spider bite he received the previous month. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” he said while seated in the living room of his Blanco home. “This has taken two years off my life, just the shock of it all.” The spider’s nightmare legacy to Scott was a bandaged left index finger, which had undergone two surgeries and intense physical therapy. Scott couldn’t even remember when the poisonous spider attacked him, but he must have startled the reclusive arachnid sometime while building a new fence, installing chicken wire around the base of his home or perhaps while putting on some gloves. The following morning, while enroute on a jet to Dallas, his index finger began to feel stiff. By the time he reached his hotel, the finger was swelling and he couldn’t write. As the finger continued to swell, he called Nell Krueger, a Blanco friend who had a Dallas office, who drove him to the emergency room at Baylor Medical Center. Originally, the doctors told him he might have to get a tetanus shot because they suspected a sliver of steel had lodged in his finger. He was prescribed an antibiotic and pain killers and sent back to his hotel. The next morning, his finger was even bigger, but he attended his convention anyway, despite also feeling sick to his stomach. He delivered his one-hour presentation and flew back to San Antonio that night. Later, he and his wife Jewell spent four hours at Hill Country Memorial Hospital in Fredericksburg. The doctors there at the hospital were also wrong. “Instead of it being down like they told me it would be, my finger was worse,” Scott said. “We’re talking banana size.” There was also a red streak up his arm that lead to his lymph glands, which were sore to the touch. Finally, Scott called a good friend who linked him with an orthopedic specialist new to the Hill Country. After one look at his finger, the doctor called for an operating crew, thinking the bite was either a snake or brown recluse bite. Dr. Dan Robinson said, “It’s gone too far now. We’re going to have to operate now.” Two separate surgeries removed the gangrene flesh, eaten away by the spider’s venom called hemotoxin. Scott remained in the hospital for a week undergoing physical therapy to remove more dead tissue from his hand.

February 22, 2006

The Blanco County Sheriff’s Department has joined more than 8,000 law enforcement agencies worldwide who have added TASER stun guns to the top of their list of resources for officers who must resort to a force tactic.