News

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Not every 16-year-old can portray a sexagenarian, Russian milkman with riotous emotions and a Yiddish accent.

However, soft-spoken Marble Falls High School sophomore Wolf Williams mastered Tevye (the protagonist in the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof) so well he walked away with the coveted Best Actor in a Lead Role award at the Greater Austin High School Musical Theatre Awards. 

A theater and choir student, Williams and hundreds of theater students and teachers gathered last week at the Long Center for Performing Arts in Austin to celebrate their craft with a host of 15 awards for everything from costume and set design to choreography.

“It’s one of the top three awards that are given away,” said MFHS Choir Director Bryce Gage. “It’s an incredible honor; we’re really proud of him.”

by Alexandria Randolph

A 43-year-old man from Torrington, Wyo. is awaiting trial in Burnet County Jail after indictment on six charges of indecency with a child and 19 charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Grady Leroy Hodge was booked in Burnet County Jail on Monday, April 13 after he was indicted in the 424th District Court on the charges on April 2.

The 25 charges stem from an investigation of alleged sexual assaults from as early as July 2005 and are alleged to have occurred on several occasions between July 2005 to July 2006.

Aggravated sexual assault of a child is a first-degree felony, and indecency with a child is a second-degree felony. If convicted, Hodge could face up to 99 years in prison for each charge.

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.

Horseshoe Bay Police Department investigators arrested a Burnet County man on charges of fraud in connection with the Bay Pharmacy burglary, which occurred in the early morning hours of March 18, officials said April 13 in a statement.

Investigators developed Russell Coty Powers, 30, of Burnet County as a person of interest after obtaining information from several pharmacies in the region regarding possible prescription drug abuse by Powers, according to the statement. 

Horseshoe Bay investigators arrested Powers April 8 at his Burnet County residence after getting an arrest warrant from Calvin Boyd, Burnet County Justice of the Peace, earlier this month.

He was released on $7,500 bond April 9, according to jail records.

For more on this story, see Friday's Highlander.

Burnet and Llano counties may expect severe thunderstorms and even hail on Monday and Tuesday, April 13-14.

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the south central Texas area.

“Isolated thunderstorms could approach severe levels late this afternoon and this evening across northern portions of south central Texas,” the outlook reported. “The primary weather threats will be for hail up to an inch in diameter and wind gusts to around 50 miles per hour, mainly north of a line from Rocksprings to Fredericksburg to Georgetown.”

Chance of thunderstorms on Monday night will be 20 percent, rising to 30 percent Tuesday. Temperatures will see highs of 82 degrees on Monday, lows of 60 on Monday night, and highs of 76 on Tuesday.

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Every now and then, even the best dog can go unnoticed, and therefore not adopted, even as other dogs come and go.

The years pass.

“She’s seen hundreds of other dogs come through here, so she probably feels this is her place,” said Matt Chlapek, Highland Lakes SPCA shelter manager on Tuesday, April 7.

While Chlapek spoke, Jessie drenched his face in doggie kisses.

Jessie, a yellow Lab mix, has been at the shelter since July, 2010, when she was a year and a half old. Christened “Clover” by her original owner, Jessie was eventually “re-branded” with her new name.

“Half the volunteers still call her Clover, and Matt [Chlapek] calls her ‘C.J.’, and she doesn’t seem to mind; she’s pretty flexible,” said Jeannette Murphy, volunteer and past Highland Lakes SPCA board president.

Like anyone, Jessie has her good qualities as well as things to work on.

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

The Cottonwood Shores police chief has resigned, effective April 16, confirmed city officials Monday, April 13.

Cottonwood Shores Police Chief Tom Williams will continue to be on paid “administrative leave,” as he has been since Monday, April 6, until his resignation, confirmed Sheila Moore, city administrator/secretary, in an April 13 statement.

“In order to minimize any speculation that might affect the City of Cottonwood Shores in a negative manner, Williams...tendered his resignation,” she said.

The police chief is being investigated by the District Attorney’s office for a disturbance involving him and his fiancee.

In what has not yet been confirmed to be a connected matter, investigators in the District Attorney’s office, 33rd and 424th Judicial Districts (which include Llano County,) are probing an incident between Williams, 69, and his reported fiancee, Candace Meyer, 51, of Weatherford, Texas.

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

The Cottonwood Shores police chief was placed on “administrative leave,” starting Monday, April 6, officials confirmed Thursday, April 9.

Chief Tom Williams’ leave is for an indefinite period of time, said Sheila Moore, city administrator and city secretary.

Chris Bieze, Cottonwood Shores police officer, is the interim police chief, Moore said. 

Williams has been the police chief in the city since November, 2014.

The Highlander will post more information as it becomes available.  

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Less than two months after completion of its last home in Marble Falls, the Highland Lakes chapter of Habitat for Humanity is gearing up for the next one.

Saturday, April 11 is the first workday for the third of a cluster of four homes on Avenue M in Marble Falls. It will be the 18th Habitat for Humanity home in the region.

Work is from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., but folks are welcome to volunteer for as long as they like, said Trish Moncus, Habitat for Humanity board secretary, Tuesday, April 7.

“The first stage is framing the house and usually the day we get our biggest turnout of volunteers,” Moncus said. It is usually a mix of first-time volunteers and Habitat veterans.

Maintaining that volunteer momentum is “a challenge,” Moncus said. “We try to hit a sweet spot with the number of volunteers where everyone is busy.”

The initial rush of workers fits with the homebuilding strategy.

by Alexandria Randolph

A woman was charged with murder after another was found deceased in a travel trailer on Friday, April 3.

On Friday at approximately 7 a.m., the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office received a request to check the welfare of Pamela Ross, 63, in the Deer Springs area west of Burnet. According to a Burnet County Sheriff’s Office release, Ross was found strangled on the floor of her fifth wheel trailer when deputies arrived.

Rhonda Carrell, 39, has been charged in Ross’ murder.

Deputies responded to the Inks Lake RV Park and attempted to make contact with Ross.

“When no contact was made, deputies were able to look through a window and observed a white female (laying) on the floor,” the release stated.  

Burnet Fire Department and EMS were called to the scene. Firefighters assisted with entry into the travel trailer, and assessed Ross and advised she was deceased.

by Alexandria Randolph

Two teens were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries and the Lampasas High School soccer team was uninjured following a three-vehicle accident involving a school bus on Thursday afternoon.

At 5:12 p.m., emergency responders were dispatched to an accident at the railroad crossing on US 281 just north of Marble Falls city limits, where three-vehicle accident was reported with one vehicle in a rollover.

Burnet Volunteer Fire Department Spokesperson Daniel Dilworth said the accident occurred when a Lampasas ISD school bus carrying 28 high school soccer players was making a required stop in front of the railroad tracks while traveling southbound on the highway.

Dilworth said a blue Dodge Ram 1500 struck the back of the bus, and a black Ford Escape swerved to avoid the collision, rolling off the roadway to the right and flipping several times, coming to rest right side up.

For the full story, see Tuesday's Highlander.