Burnet County Texas news

The Burnet Job Fair will take Thursday, Aug. 31, from 4-6 p.m. at the Burnet Community Center, 401 East Jackson Street.

The event is designed to help job seekers locate good jobs, change careers or explore employment options, and to showcase Burnet to employers as a good location to live and work.

Attendees looking for a new job, a better job, or even a new career will have the opportunity to visit with more than 25 participating companies, many of which offer on-the-job training or paid training. Some companies have said they plan to hire on the spot.

Over the last eight months, I have received more communication from the district about the Speaker of the House than any other topic. Some think he should be replaced; some think he is the only one with any sense. Spending the 140 days of the regular session immersed in the culture and process of the legislature has given me a slightly different perspective on the issue than I had going in, one I feel deserves sharing.

The problem with singling out one member of the legislature, one leadership team, or one Speaker of the House as being the problem is that it assumes that the problem lies with the person and not with the power itself.

Rather than planning one more pre-school trip to the Gulf Coast, Highland Lakes residents were tracking path of Hurricane Harvey.

The storm was elevated from Tropical Depression status Thursday, Aug. 24, expected to make landfall late Friday in between Corpus Cristi and Matagorda Bay as a Category 3 storm, with winds exceeding 110 mph, according to the National Weather Service (NWS)--the firs of that kind since Hurricane Ike in October of 2005.

It prompted the first Storm Surge Warning ever issued officially by the National Weather Service—one in effect along the Texas coast from Port Mansfield to High Island. A Storm Surge Watch is in effect from south of Port Mansfield Texas to the Mouth of the Rio Grande.

This story appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 6, edition of The Highlander. It prompted a letter to the editor on Thursday, Aug. 10, also found here on HighlanderNews.com and to be included in the Friday, Aug. 11, print edition of The Highlander.

By Phil Reynolds

The Highlander

Llano County commissioners got an earful Monday from county residents who want to keep the county jail open.

Commissioners held a budget workshop but part of that involved a study by Precinct One Commissioner Peter Jones on the feasibility of turning Llano County Jail prisoners over to Burnet County under a contract yet to be written.

Jones emphasized that he hasn’t finished the study. But he said preliminary numbers indicate that the county could save some $170,000 a year by sending inmates to the reginal jail in Burnet.

Burnet County shoppers can save money on a number of items, including school supplies and school clothes priced below $100, during the annual sales tax holiday, scheduled for this Friday through Saturday, Aug. 11-13, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said.

State law exempts most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks priced below $100 from sales tax, which will save shoppers around eight to 8.25 percent ($8 ro $8.25) for every $100 they spend during the weekend.

Burnet County continues to see strong gains in sales tax rebates, as almost every city has experienced an increase of more than eight percent above last year's rebate revenue, with one exception.

Marble Falls, Burnet, Granite Shoals, Cottonwood Shores and Horseshoe Bay all have seen a significant jump in sales tax allocations as the percentage exceeds that for cities in the state, as Texas cities received $439.8 million in July 2017, or eight percent more revenue than in July 2016, and are up 3.2 percent overall for the year.

Those allocations are based on sales made in May by businesses that report tax monthly, according to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

Chi Omega Fraternity alumnae in Blanco, Burnet, and Llano counties recently formed a new alumnae group, Highland Lakes Chi Omega Alumnae that meets next tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 3.

The new group will be meeting together on a regular basis for fun and friendship. Their most recent event was held at the home of Jean Anderson in Horseshoe Bay, where everyone enjoyed a wonderful dinner and the lovely view of Lake LBJ from her spacious deck.

Other events have included a pizza dinner and wine tasting at Flat Creek Enoteca in Marble Falls and an organizational luncheon at Francesco's in Marble Falls. The next Chi Omega Alumnae meeting will take place Thursday, Aug. 3, at 5:30 p.m.

If you are a Chi Omega Fraternity alumna living in the area and interested in joining the group, please contact highlandlakeschio@gmail.com. Be sure to include your contact information, address and initiating chapter.

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

The Highlander

A proposal by Enterprise Fleet Management Inc. to manage Burnet County's fleet of patrol vehicles and light-duty trucks presents “an intriguing concept to reduce costs and update our fleet,” Burnet County Judge James Oakley said.

Kirby Watson, a senior fleet consultant with Enterprise Fleet Management, made the presentation to the Burnet County Commissioners Court at the regular meeting Tuesday, July 25. Watson said Enterprise, the largest vehicle operator in the world with nearly 1.9 million vehicles in use, can help the county achieve savings through leasing vehicles on a shorter term.

Burnet County Employee Terry Bonnett was undergoing surgery Monday morning, July 31, for a broken hip sustained in a fall from the roof of a home he was building.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Billy Wall said co-workers of the Precinct 3 road technician are pulling for his recovery.
“He will be missed in the months it requires for recovery,” said Wall. “There was talk already this morning of trying to find a way to help with that roof.”
“He is building his house from the ground up by himself and with his wife Vicki,” reported the statement posted with a GoFundMe page on the Internet. “He is going to be out (of work) for a long stretch.”
An update reported the surgery would take place at Seton Medical Center - Williamson in Round Rock.

The web address for the GoFundMe account is www.gofundme.com/help-terry-bonnet.

By Richard Zowie

The Highlander

In his childhood, Elijah Brown lived in Buchanan Dam and Granite Shoals before attending Marble Falls schools. When his father became pastor of First Baptist Church in Bertram, Brown finished his high school education at Burnet High School, where he graduated in 1999.

“It was a joy to grow up in this area,” said Brown, who currently serves in Washington D.C. as the executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, which focuses on international religious freedom.

On July 7, the Baptist World Alliance’s general council at a meeting in Bangkok elected him to serve as the next general secretary.