News

By Alexandria Randolph

The Highlander

In a meeting Thursday, June 7, the Marble Falls Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Board voted in favor of expanding its boundaries across Lake Marble Falls.

By Alexandria Randolph

The Highlander

In a meeting of Burnet County Commissioner’s Court on Tuesday, the court awarded a contract for the construction of two low water crossings.

The Faith Academy Board of Directors has voted to confirm Amy Cozby as interim head of school and principal for the 2018-19 school year, the board announced this week.

Cozby succeeds administrator Joe Rispoli, who submitted his resignation earlier this month. She was part of a five-person interim executive leadership team put into place by the board and was overseeing academics, teachers and counselors as the school's director of academics.

On Saturday, June 9, at approximately 4:47 p.m., Texas Department of Public Safety responded to a crash on Texas 71 close to the Travis/Blanco County line, in which 17-year-old Marble Falls High School senior Maribel Enriquez was seriously injured and transported to St. David's Hospital; Enriquez was later pronounced dead at the hospital. 

According to a statement issued by DPS Sergeant Ryan Howard, Enriquez was traveling eastbound in a Ford Mustang when her slick rear tires caused her to lose control and slide across multiple lanes of traffic into the path of a Mercedez-Benz, occupied by passenger Preben Hammer, 71, of Austin, who died at the scene, and his wife, 68-year-old Alice Hammer of Austin, who was later pronounced dead at St. David's Hospital. The driver of the Mercedes-Benz and the passenger in the Ford Mustang were transported to St. David's Hospital, both in critical condition.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Pedernales Electric Cooperative members have until June 15 to vote early for a candidate to serve in the District 1 seat on the board of directors.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Judge sentences Ochoa Avalos to 12 years in prison on jury recommendation

A Burnet County jury needed less than an hour of deliberation before returning a guilty verdict against a Marble Falls man accused of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Marble Falls Fire Rescue soon will be able to purchase emergency equipment to extract individuals trapped in confined spaces, thanks to a $22,815 community development grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC). 

Thenew equipment also can be used in swift-water and flood rescues.

By Alexandria Randolph

The Highlander

Marble Falls officials examined the future of the city’s waste on Tuesday by identifying four options ways the city might eliminate the eliminations.

With the city reaching a high percentage of the existing wastewater system’s capacity, Mayor John Packer called wastewater and what to do with it “probably one of our more serious issues in the next five years.”

Currently, the city has 2,645 wastewater customers, said Assistant City Manager Caleb Kraenzel. Of those, 2,044 are residential and 601 are commercial. The city has 68 miles of wastewater line, some of which is over 100 years old, he said.

“Our current plant is at 76.9 percent capacity as of February 2018,” Kraenzel said. “Texas Commission on Environmental Quality mandates when you hit 75 percent, planning must begin, and at 90 percent, construction must have begun.”

By Alexandria Randolph

The Highlander

Marble Falls City Council approved a Community Wildfire Protection Plan as well as right-of-way allowances for upcoming highway construction.

In a Tuesday meeting, Marble Falls Fire Chief Russell Sander told council that one of the largest threats to the community identified in a recent hazard study is wildfires.