Features

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The rest of the world seems to be catching on to what local summer camp enthusiasts have know for some time about Camp Champions near Highland Haven.

When it was founded in 1967, Camp Champions drew headlines over sports greats founders Hondo Crouch, Darrell K. Royal, Horton Nesrsta, and Pete Runnels. The focus of what was conceived as an all-boys camp widened when girls invaded in 1970. Now, you could say it offers a wide-angle view.

Steve (Camp Geek) and Susie Baskin (Camp Mom) bought the camp in 1995, leaving behind his career as an investment banker and investing, instead, in the lives of young people and rearing four children of their own.

By Richard Zowie

The Highlander

In his childhood, Elijah Brown lived in Buchanan Dam and Granite Shoals before attending Marble Falls schools. When his father became pastor of First Baptist Church in Bertram, Brown finished his high school education at Burnet High School, where he graduated in 1999.

“It was a joy to grow up in this area,” said Brown, who currently serves in Washington D.C. as the executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, which focuses on international religious freedom.

On July 7, the Baptist World Alliance’s general council at a meeting in Bangkok elected him to serve as the next general secretary.

Project SEARCH at Seton Highland Lakes recently celebrated the graduation of its inaugural class. Five young adults spent nine months training in complex areas of the hospital, gaining marketable skills to leverage their employment portfolio as they enter today’s competitive workforce.

Friends, families, and fellow Seton Healthcare Family colleagues joined Danelle, Jacob, Janelle, Michael, and Peter to celebrate the end of their internship and begin the next part of their journey: competitive employment.

By Becky Breazeale

Special to The Highlander

Eighteen candidates for the title Texas Master Naturalist recently received their certification in this program — which is comprised of 10,000 volunteers in 48 chapters, the largest and oldest statewide program of its type — during a graduation at Bamberger Ranch Preserve.

An icon of the arts of Mexico was remembered in Marble Falls Monday, July 10, and in a way she might have approved.

Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954), an artist of international fame, employed indigenous Mexican themes in her paintings and became a feminist icon through her lifestyle and depiction of the female experience.

She loved traditional cuisine, collecting recipies for elaborate parties that have been reproduced in a still-popular cookbook. Her paintings, however, cement her reputation in the art world. In her self portraits, and often in public appearances, she dressed in traditional costumes with imaginative headdresses. The Día de Muertos was one of her favorites.

At Marta Stafford Fine Art in Marble Falls, her 110th birthday was celebrated Monday with a hatmaking luncheon,  featuring Robin Chiesa of Old Glory Millinery & Hattery in Llano.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Just three short years ago, Clarissa Serna was turning the heads of judges on the hit NBC TV show, “The Voice” as her rendition of “Zombie” by The Cranberries made Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Usher and Shakira sit up and take notice.

The public noticed as well as her cover of the 1990s rock hit climbed to No. 81 on the iTunes Top 100 chart in 2014, earning her a legion of fans well beyond the confines of her native Texas.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

He may be better known to millions of viewers for his stint on the reality TV show, “The Bachelorette,” but country music singer-songwriter Luke Pell still considers himself a Burnet, Texas, boy at heart who has been fortunate enough to chase his passion since graduating from Burnet High School in 2003.

At 9 p.m. Saturday, Pell and his band will perform at Toupsie's in Lampasas. It marks the first time since the Burnet Concert Series in May 2016, when he opened for Kyle Park, that Pell has played this close to home.

“I'm very excited and so glad to be back and to get to play on home turf,” he said. “We last played Toupsies about two years ago, so it's been a while since we've been there as well.

A ceramic bird feeder takes on a double meaning after a pair of Horseshoe Bay wrens claim it as the perfect nook for their clutch of eggs.

Texas is a nesting host to more wren species than any other state, nine of the 10 in North American. Once a nest is complete and accepted as home sweet home, incubation of eggs takes around two weeks before hungry mouths demand bugs and spiders for another fortnight before fledglings fly away.

Highlander Sports Editor Mark Goodson captured this scene. Can you match his shot? Have a great photo from your summer in the Highland Lakes? Share it with Managing Editor Lew Cohn, lew@highlandernews.com. Don't forget to include your name and a little bit about the photo.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

There's a job opportunity in Llano County that everyone's buzzing about.

Patrons at the Kingsland Library, 125 West Polk Street, may have noticed warning tape around much of the entrance area. But, if they haven't looked up into the large oak tree above their heads, the reason for the warning may not be apparent.

Suspended near a hole in the tree is a bee hive.

“We have had honey bees that have come to visit the last few summers,” said Nathtali Renshaw, library manager. “Some patrons are allergic but, as honey bees are endangered, we don't exterminate.”

Renshaw said the library worked with the maintenance department to put up a box to relocate the bees.

“There are pheremones to attract them inside,” she said. “Once they are relocated, they have a job waiting for them at Fain's Honey in Buchanan Dam.”

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) and noted conservator Robert Marshall of R. Alden Marshall & Associates have restored an 80-year-old Llano County historical marker from damage caused by vandals in February.

The 1936 Texas Centennial marker commemorating a battle with American Indians on Packsaddle Mountain in 1873 was transformed Tuesday, May 23, after a full day of restoration work.