News

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program will begin its season helping with Income Tax returns tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 2.

Free preparation and electronic filing will be offered in Marble Falls at the Boys & Girls Club, 1701 Broadway Street, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Feb. 2-April 13. The exception will be March 14 and 16.

In Burnet, assistance will be offered 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Mondays, Feb. 6-April 10 at the Hill Country Community Foundation Building, 402 East Jackson Street. The one exception will be Feb. 27 when the service will be open at the Herman Brown Free Library, 100 East Washington Street.

The local program was developed to provide free tax preparation to help anyone over 50 who could no afford help with their Income Tax Return. In practice, the program is open to all ages and backgrounds who need assistance.

As fundraising continues for the Gateway to the Hill Country Beautification Project, volunteers of Citizens for Scenic Texas Highways (CSTH) carried a report on its progress to Luci Baines Johnson this month.

The organization has dedicated the community-funded project to the 'Legacy of Lady Bird Johnson,' the former First Lady and Luci's mother. She welcomed Soc Gonzalez, Shannon Heep and Linda Baker to her Central Texas home where they shared information about the groundbreaking Dec. 27 on the two-year project to beautify the intersection that welcomes visitors to Burnet County--US 281 and Texas 71 in Marble Falls.

The site has been called the Gateway to the Hill Country and Highland Lakes Region and described as a “welcome mat” at the threshold of traffic from seasonal visitors from within Texas and from far beyond Texas borders.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Debbie Bindseil received permission from the Burnet County Commissioners Court to put in a walk-up window at her office during Tuesday's regular court meeting.

Bindseil had asked commissioners to allow her to modify her office in the Burnet County Courthouse Annex, 810 Steve Hawkins Parkway in Marble Falls, to put in a nine-square-foot (36 inches by 36 inches) tempered glass window to the left of her door. The window will include a pass through tray and speaking hole to allow communications with customers on the other side.

by Phil Reynolds

The Highlander

Llano County commissioners dealt out $121,337 in hotel occupancy tax money on Monday, Jan. 23, to let eight different organizations continue to draw travelers to the county. Hotel occupancy tax funds, so-called “HOT dollars,” are to be used for tourism promotion by state law.

Among the grants:

$30,000 to Texas Hill Country Tourism to fund marketing on the county’s web site, Facebook promotion, and print magazines articles;

A total of $29,875 in three grants to the Kingsland Chamber of Commerce to continue to develop memberships for lodgings, to continue the promotion of Llano County through the Kingsland Magazine and to continue to develop Aqua Boom 2017;

$19,945 to Lakes & Hill Publications to fund website and advertising Mar. 1-Feb. 28;

$11,840 to Friends of the Llano Red Top Jail for restoration of the first level ceiling of the jail;

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Granite Shoals City Council on Tuesday night, Jan. 24, launched into its sixth lengthy discussion of fencing in the city and the issue is far from over.

Long Planning & Zoning Commission study aside, the item has drawn citizens to meetings every time it has been on the council agenda. And, their interest did not wane Tuesday, when they sat out the discussion to 10:30 p.m., four of them addressing the council.

Only one consensus has emerged: the existing ordinance will change. At issue are utility easements, non-conforming existing fences, materials, heights, incline construction and safety. Interior fencing for pools, gardens and dog runs is such a fractious item the council has agreed to pull it from the main ordinance.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

The former general manager at Cecil Atkission Motors in Burnet has been arrested and indicted for theft of money from his former employer that was earmarked to pay for a direct credit mailer.

Kirk Edmond Hagen of Bertram, 39, currently a licensed Realtor with RE/MAX Burnet, was arrested by Kerrville Police Department on a warrant from Burnet County on Friday, Jan. 20, and was released on $7,500 surety bond. He was charged with theft of property greated than $1,500 but less than $20,000, a state jail felony under Section 31.03(e)(4)(A) of the Texas Penal Code.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Working in conjunction with other local agencies, Burnet County Sheriff's deputies in the Special Operations Unit have arrested 17 individuals in Burnet and Llano counties as part of a month-long undercover investigation targeting methamphetamine dealers in the two counties that culminated in a raid Thursday at multiple locations.

Burnet County Sheriff Calvin Boyd said a total of 31 warrants were obtained on the 17 individuals arresed, charging each with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in penalty group 1, more than one gram but less than four grams.

Each charge is a second-degree felony under Texas Penal Code, Chapter 481.112(c), punishable by a prison sentence of two to 20 years and a $10,000 fine.

“This represents a significant impact on the local methamphetamine supply network,” Boyd said.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Tips from Hill Country Crime Stoppers led to the arrest of three boys in Burnet for break-ins Jan. 9 and Jan. 21 that caused at least $10,000 in damage, repair and stolen property at the old Burnet Elementary School campus where Quest High School and new Texas AgriLife Extension facilities are located and at the Burnet High School.

Burnet police were able to catch up with the three suspects on Tuesday morning, Jan. 24, after Crime Stopper Tips started coming in,” said Burnet Police Chief Paul Nelson, who said his department gathered evidence and located all of the stolen property that was taken during the burglaries.

“All three juveniles will be charged with Burglary of a Building and Criminal Mischief,” said Nelson. “They were taken to juvenile detention yesterday afternoon (Jan. 24) where they are under the supervision of juvenile probation. A 33rd Judicial District judge will decide where they go next.”

 The National Weather Service in Austin has issued a Red Flag warning in effect through 4 p.m. today, Jan. 25, for the Rio Grande Valley that places all of South Central Texas in a moderate danger zone due to low humidity and strong northwest winds. Low relative humidity values and gusty north to northwest winds behind a dry cold front will produce locally critical fire weather conditions across portions of the Rio Grande Plains, read the early morning alert. Rapid fire growth and spread will likely occur in cured fuels such as dry grasses. Winds initially will be out of the northwest at 10-20 mph with gusts to near 25 mph this morning before becoming more northerly as they weaken this afternoon. Relative humidity values, now around 36 percent, could fall below 20 percent and remain below those levels until around sunset. Winds should weaken to help decrease fire spread concerns by 4 p.m.