Llano County news

By Phil Reynolds
Contributing Writer

Jo Karr Tedder had a message for Lake Buchanan Conservation Corp. (LBCC) members Wednesday, Jan. 15, and it probably wasn’t a message most of them wanted to hear.

Tedder is president and founder of the Central Texas Water Coalition, a volunteer non-profit organization whose mission is “to promote responsible water management policies, equitable pricing and greater conservation by all.”

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

When he was a first grader, 15-year-old Rode Ligon knew he had discovered his calling.

“To build something like that, watch it be born, to take care of it, nurture it and watch it succeed in the world, it brings a lot of joy,” he said about showing goats. “I enjoyed it and thought it would be a fun and economical thing to pursue.”

From staff reports

The Texas Press Association recognized The Highlander for outstanding achievement in several areas during its annual trade show and convention Jan. 16-18 at the 140th TPA Convention & Trade Show held at Moody Gardens Hotel, Convention Center & Spa in Galveston.

The Highlander won four awards in the 2018-19 TPA Better Newspaper Contest, finishing fifth overall in its circulation classification.

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

A grassroots non-profit organization has labeled the elections websites for Burnet and Llano counties “not secure” in its latest survey of Texas county websites.

Special to the Highlander

Highland Lakes Publishing welcomed Jeff Shabram to their family of media publications in November as the new publisher and editor of The Highlander and Burnet Bulletin as well as a growing number of print publications and digital platforms.

Prior to settling in the Highland Lakes, Shabram was the publisher of the Hearst-owned Midland Reporter-Telegram and oversaw Hearst's west Texas media publications as president and group publisher from 2015 to present. Shabram took over the reins for the Highlander and Bulletin staff on Nov. 4.

Connie Swinney/The Highlander

Vandals have knocked down the Packsaddle Mountain Fight historical monument, seen here on Friday, Oct. 18, just off Texas 71 adjacent to CR 309 in Llano County. The 1936 Texas Centennial marker commemorates the last battle between area settlers and Indians in the region on Packsaddle Mountain in 1873. Over the years, criminals have removed the bronze center star wreath in 2015 and spray-painted a racist message on the marker in 2017 which had to be restored by a contractor for the Texas Historical Commission.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct ordered a justice of the peace in Horseshoe Bay to take ethics training, after upholding a public admonishment Aug. 7 for her dealings with a woman she accused of having a relationship with the judge's estranged husband.

The state commission concluded that Llano County Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Beatrice “Bebe” Rocha “lent the prestige of her judicial office to advance her own private interests by invoking her judicial position during a telephone conversation . . .”

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

An effort to restore Sandy Creek has taken root in Llano County.

About 25 landowners, conservationists and other volunteers attended the Sandy Creek Riparian Restoration Field Day March 2 on private property (County Road 316) adjacent to Sandy Creek to assess land and put so-called revegetation efforts into practice.

“People like myself and other professionals, we really didn't think about rivers. They were just part of the landscape,” said Steve Nelle, a Natural Resource Conservation Service retiree. “We didn't know anything about how to manage them or take care of them.”

Sponsored by Hill Country Alliance, the Bender family welcomed the volunteers to their property to tour the creek shoreline, plant black willow cuttings and sedges as well as broadcast native seed and transplant muhly grasses.

This Friday, April 13, Llano will join Mason, Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock State Park in a regional partnership to “Turn On The Night.”

All four of the communities are in some of the last remaining dark night sky areas in Texas, yet closest to the major metropolitan areas of the state. They want to see if a concentrated effort to darken the landscape will be measurable.

Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) employees are rolling up their sleeves to work side by side with 30 communities to make life better for their citizens in the 4th Annual Steps Forward Day on Friday, April 6.

In Marble Falls, Steps Forward serves as the kick-off day for the city wide 2-18 Keep Marble Falls Beautiful Spring Clean Up event.

LCRA employees will help with clean up of the Marble Falls Historic Cemetery at 400 Avenue S, the back nine of the Westside Park Disc Golf Course and the nearby neighborhoods between Avenue N and Industrial Boulevard. Specifically, that means picking up litter from Avenue N, from Ranch to Market Road 1431 to Second Street, Second Street from Avenue N to Industrial, Industrial from Second Street to RM 1431, and RM 1431 from Industrial to Avenue N.