News

BY GLYNIS CRAWFORD SMITH
THE HIGHLANDER

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Citizens may want to make a special effort to attend the meeting of the Cottonwood Shores City Council meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4.

The council will be honoring the 2016 Cottonwood Shores Outstanding Citizen, Carlos Naumann.

Naumann was chosen from among four nominees at the July 21 council meeting.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Granite Shoals City Council chose a conservative path Tuesday, July 26, delaying a citizen vote on a bond issue that could restore major thoroughfares.

The meeting wore on to midnight as the council weighed the possibility of putting a bond issue for around $2.8 million on the November ballot. In the end, Mayor Carl Brugger's vote decided to delay the ballot option to citizens until May.

The bond issue would buy the city another $3.4 million in grant matching funds if the proposed street project were to cost as much as $6.2 million.

by Alexandria Randolph

Burnet Bulletin

Burnet County officials and law enforcement are preparing for an influx of inmates from nearby counties in coming weeks.

Burnet County Judge James Oakley said commissioners court approved contracts with three Texas counties on Tuesday to house inmates in overflow conditions or special circumstances, and the jail has hired additional staff to handle the increase. Hayes, Somerville, and Taylor county jails have all contracted for the ability to send inmates to Burnet County Jail.

by Alexandria Randolph

Highland Lakes Newspapers

After a lengthy deliberation by jurors, a Kingsland woman was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment Monday in Llano District Court in the August 2014 murder of her partner.

Kathryn Louise Preston, 47, was convicted of the murder of her romantic partner Jose Mario Hernandez, 23, on Monday, July 25, in the court of District Judge Evan Stubbs. Preston was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment after eight hours of deliberation by jurors.

BY ALEXANDRIA RANDOLPH
HIGHLAND LAKES NEWSPAPERS

BY ALEXANDRIA RANDOLPH
HIGHLAND LAKES NEWSPAPERS
A family of three has been indicted on charges stemming from an alleged aggravated kidnapping in May of last year.
James Russell Graves, 45, of Hoover Valley, son Ty Russell Graves, 18, of Hoover Valley, and Ty's mother Patricia Michelle Neff, 45, of Georgetown, were all indicted on charges of aggravated kidnapping for ransom on July 7.
James Graves was taken into custody Thursday, July 21, to face criminal proceedings.
The charges stem from an incident on Monday night, May 18, 2015, when between 9:30 -10 p.m., Marble Falls police got a call from a 26-year-old man who stated he was at Walmart and had been held against his will.
“He told officers that there was a vehicle outside with ‘bad people with guns,’” Marble Falls Police Sgt. Tom Dillard said during the investigation. “When officers arrived, they found exactly what he described.”

Rain showers have moved through Burnet County, pouring welcome relief on the parched Highland Lakes area and a chance exists for continued small respites.
The small break in dry heat was forecast by Bob Rose, chief meteorologist for the Lower Colorado River Authority, “as the stubborn ridge of high pressure that has been across Texas since the middle of June finally shifts west, allowing clouds and moisture to spread into Texas.”
“With the ridge weakening across Texas, the atmosphere should become more unstable over the next few days,” Rose predicted Monday. “Meanwhile, a small area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere is currently situated over Louisiana with a second area of low pressure noted over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Both of these lows are forecast to push tropical moisture into Texas over the next few days, leading to the development of scattered rain showers, thunderstorms and lower temperatures.

BY LEW K. COHN
THE HIGHLANDER
MANAGING EDITOR