News

Country music is mourning the loss of one of its own as singer-songwriter Bobby Boyd passed away last Thursday, June 22, in Spicewood, Texas. He was 69.

Boyd is best known for co-writing Garth Brook's No. 1 country hit, “Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House,” which appeared on Brooks' album, “No Fences.” He also co-wrote “Working Man's PhD” with Aaron Tippin, who took the song in 1993 to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and featured it as the leadoff single on his album, “Call of the Wild.”

By Phil Reynolds

The Highlander

Llano County commissioners voted not to impose a county-wide burn ban Monday with three commissioners voting to table the matter, one voting in favor of a ban, and County Judge Mary Cunningham abstaining.

The question of a burn ban is a regular agenda item during commissioners court meetings. Commissioners have been voting to table the question recently, saying conditions don’t warrant a ban.

Monday, however, Precinct 2 Commissioner Linda Raschke noted that the county had seen several “really big” fires recently, some burning “close to houses.”

County Emergency Management Assistant Ron Anderson said three fire chiefs in the county had told him the previous Wednesday that if the county got “significant” rainfall over the weekend of June 24-25, they might reconsider their recommendation for a ban.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor
The Highlander

Marble Falls Independent School District trustees approved a $41.8 million balanced general fund budget for fiscal year 2017-18 during their regular board meeting Monday night after holding a public hearing.

The new budget includes a three percent payroll increase for all staff with additional market adjustments plus an additional $25 per month in health insurance premium benefit for all employees.

The budget assumes a total tax rate of $1.2786, which includes $1.0533 per $100 valuation for maintenance and operations and 22.53 cents for interest and sinking.

Voters in Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s District 2 and District 3 elected directors in the 2017 annual election.

District 2 re-elected Emily Pataki to serve as its board director and District 3 elected Randy R. Klaus to serve as its new board director. Klaus replaces former director Kathy Scanlon, who served District 3 for nine years.

Election results were announced during the PEC annual meeting Saturday, June 17, in Leander. This year’s meeting focused on PEC’s commitment to going “beyond the lines,” highlighting the cooperative’s stable financials, low rates, record growth and increasing member satisfaction in 2016.

The Highlander has won three awards in the 2017 Texas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards were announced during the awards brunch at the Texas Press Leadership Retreat held this year at the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, New Mexico.

The newspaper won second place in Community Service in Division 4, Semiweeklies, for its coverage and support of a possible bridge crossing at Wirtz Dam and its inclusion in the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) transportation plan for Burnet County. The Highlander ran numerous articles on the proposal, columns in support of a bridge crossing and stories about open houses held in the area regarding the transportation plan.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Marble Falls City Council on Tuesday, June 20, approved a five-year extension of the solid waste and recycling contract with Republic Services that included good news for Marble Falls customers, especially those in the commercial category.

“Under the terms negotiated between the city and Republic, once per week residential service will continue at the same cost ($16.52 per month) for two years of this five-year agreement,” said Margie Cardenas, city finance director.. “Future price adjustments of three percent could be petitioned in the final three years of the contract with council approval.”

Recycling services will continue at the $3.30 per month cost, to include a 95-gallon bin pick up every other week, as opposed to the current 18-gallon, once-per-week pick up. Customers will be able to add a second container at no cost.

“Commercial trash pick up is the big news,” said Cardenas.

The City of Marble Falls annunced this week that Seventh Street repairs that may inconvenience traffic are about to begin.

The Seventh Street project, to begin Monday, June 26, will involve work from US 281 to Avenue J that should be complete in about 45 days.

“We will take out the old, dilapidate road, replace it and add curbing off Avenue J,” said Chad Smith, Street Department superintendent. “We will try to keep traffic open as much as possible.

“It won't be as large an undertaking as Broadway Street, but there will be times traffic will be blocked.”

AUSTIN—Texas Press Association, an organization of more than 400 paid-circulation newspapers, has named Jim Moser the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Frank W. Mayborn Award for Community Leadership. 

The presentation was made at Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, New Mexico, during the association’s annual Summer Leadership Retreat on June 17.

Presenting the award was Charles Moser, longtime editor and publisher of the Brenham Banner-Press and a previous recipient of the award presented annually to a publisher or newspaper executive who has displayed outstanding and exemplary leadership to the community. Outgoing TPA President Randy Keck noted that Charles and Jim Moser are the first father and son recipients in the history of the Mayborn award.

The award comes with a $3,000 scholarship to a Texas college or university of Moser’s choice, to be used to further the education of a full-time student journalist.

By Phil Reynolds

The Highlander

A revolution may be brewing in Llano County over what some residents perceive as an unneeded and unwanted change to Ranch to Market Road 1431 and an attitude bordering on contempt for local officials by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

At issue is a plan to change the ranch road from four lanes to what is known as a “super two” highway – one lane in each direction with intermittent turn lanes and passing lanes where engineers think they’re needed. The approximately 30 miles of Texas 71 between US 281 south of Marble Falls to Texas 16 in Llano is an example of that type of highway.

David McGuffey of Marble Falls is no stranger to catching big fish. He previously caught the lake record bass on Lake Marble Falls and while the largemouth he caught Thursday, June 15, at Wirtz Dam on Lake LBJ is not a record-setter, it still is a pretty nice catch.

McGuffey reeled in a certified 9.07-pound, 26.5-inch-long largemouth bass at 4 p.m. using a five-inch Senko worm for bait.

“He was feeding on shad and I caught him on the first cast on the rip raff (a bank of rock leading to the dam),” McGuffey said.

McGuffey owns a guide service and still holds the Lake Marble Falls for an 11.18-pound largemouth bass he caught in 2010.

Asked if he planned to have the fish mounted, McGuffey replied, “I don't know … I'm still just shaking!”