March 12, 2009

The Johnson City Library is proud to announce its latest program offering – Adult Art Classes. Susan Evans, a local artist and teacher, will be offering a basic drawing class for adults beginning on April 15th. The class will meet for six weeks on each Wednesday from 3:00pm to 4:30pm and additional classes will be announced, according to student interest, after the first six weeks of drawing classes are completed.

Surprise!! Two beautiful boys! Following their first helicopter ride safely inside mommy. Raymond Lee and Jamison Ray Waits were born at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin on February 11, 2009. At 36 weeks Raymond measured 18 inches, 6 lbs. 6 oz., and Jamison followed eight minutes later at 18 ½ inches, 6 lbs.

Hochheim Prairie donates a portion of the premiums residents pay back to Blanco County Organizations that help Blanco County. The branch #157 board of directors receives requests from the various groups and gives out the donations each year. This year those organizations were Hill Country Children’s Advocacy Center, Johnson city Library Capital Fund, Blanco County Disaster Response Group, Blanco United Methodist Church for Relay for Life to American Cancer Society, Blanco County Child Welf ...

Called an “Icon of the Chili World” by the president of the Chili Appreciation Society International, Johnson City resident John Raven will be in attendance at the Texas Men’s State Chili Championship March 28th. Raven a 37 year veteran of the chili cook-off circuit is the most honored man in the “Chili World”.

PEC employees Conrad Carbury and Jim Wilson presented Johnson City Chamber of Commerce with a $1000.00 donation from PEC Light the Way. Pictured left to right are directors Carol Bigott, Tony Gonzales, Dale Hardy, Porter Dunnaway, Mike Stewart, Jim Wilson, Pattie Elliot and Conrad Carbary.

Saturday, March 14 is the official Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting day for the locally owned and operated Sears. Linda Kuykendall and Dennis Green are the owners of the newest retailer in Blanco. The event will be held from 11:00am to 1:00pm and will offer refreshments and drawings for gift cards. The new Sears store is located in Blanco at the Super S shopping center. Everyone is invited to come out and take advantage of the great special grand opening sales!

Wow, this week seems a little busy for us around here and we sure do like that a lot. We love the fact that we are now having a game day. And we love the fact that this week has some rain predictions in it. The rain would help our yards and would bring relief to the dry conditions we are having. My grandson, Steven and his girlfriend came for a visit and along with his visit he brought us a fruit basket, bread, and cookies.

Brady Odiorne knows where he wants the car to go, and he’s pretty sure how to make it go there, but he hadn’t counted on Hanna Hudler having other ideas about speed and destination. Happily, moms were in easy reach to make sure no major conflict broke out. They’re all part of the MOMS program at the First United Methodist Church, where the preschoolers have an unstructured play-day in the church playground every Wednesday morning.

Often it is easy to forget about what is close to our homes that make the Texas Hill Country a very special place. As we go about our daily lives, we can overlook opportunities for recreation and education that are right on our doorsteps. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is one of those opportunities, and half of the park is located right in Blanco County. This year is the 40th anniversary of this national park. Back in 1969, President Lyndon Johnson gave his boyhood ...

Well, we took off this week looking for some great bargains and we were not disappointed, but we just did not find them where we thought we would. We took a trip to IKEA in Georgetown or Round Rock, wherever it is. Last time we went that way, there was a new JoAnn Fabrics opening soon. Well, we were too soon, we missed it by 4 days, so we will have to make another trip over there. (Oh darn) We did go to IKEA though and if you need exercise, that is the place to go. Lots of walk ...

I am about tired of hearing about spreading the wealth so lets talk about spreading the warmth for a change. The biggest thing to hit retail marketing in ages something like a blanket with sleeves and they are called by any of these names: The Snuggie, The Snuggle, Toasty Warm or the original The Slanket which was developed by a then 19 year old college kid looking to make a few bucks way back in 1999.

Starting Weight: 288.6 This Weeks Weight: 248.6 Down: 40 pounds Time Spent: 36 Weeks Next Goal: 50 Pounds Gone It’s been nearly three months since my last Johnson City Experiment article. In my last column I victoriously succeeded in winning a medal in my very first 5k race in Fredericksburg. The purpose of my column is quite simply to inspire healthy living amongst my readers, while chronicling my own personal journey from “Flabby Man” to People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” ...

*****Former Johnson City resident Chris Moore will be in town for Spring Break weekend, she is picking up her daughter Serenade Foster for the holiday. Chris now lives in the Dallas area with her other two children Jonah & Autumn Brodbeck where she recently bought a new house with her fiance’ Dan! Congrats Chris!!! *****Shane Buck, his Dad Curtis Buck & father-in-law Jerry Casparis attended Grandparents Night at the United Methodist Church on Wednesday, March 4th. Haley Buck ...

Lawn and Garden Shows Remember at the end of this month, March 28th is the Eleventh Annual Highland Lakes Garden Show. That’s right the last Saturday of March is a great Lawn and Garden show at the Burnet Community Center east of the Square in Burnet 401 east Jackson Street. The entire show including the speakers is free to the public and the hours are 9:00am till 3:00pm.

The Pedernales Wildlife management association and the Texas AgriLIFE Extension Service are sponsoring an educational program with Mr. Robert Linder presenting information on the Rio Grande Turkey. If you are interested in learning more about this interesting and beautiful bird that is native to Texas make plans to attend this program.

Margaret Campbell Bamberger passed away quietly in her sleep this morning, Friday, March 6, 2009. Early Wednesday, shortly after completing an exhausting month of cancer treatments, she fell asleep, never to awaken. A green burial will soon take place on the ranch that she loved so well. Attendance will be limited to immediate family and the ranch family. Margaret was born December 13, 1938 in New Orleans.

Years ago, I conducted a public interview with Bill and Vonette Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ. I asked them, “Was there ever a time in your marriage where you were at a real crisis? A true fork in the road that could have ended in disaster?” Bill’s eyes filled with tears, his head dropped a bit, and he began to nod.

The Texas Middle School Association recognized twenty middle school teachers, one from each regional education service center, as outstanding middle level teachers for 2008-2009. Patsy Simpson was honored as Region XIII’s teacher this past weekend at the Texas Middle School Conference where she attended free as one of the benefits of the award.

Please donate your used cell phones and inkjet cartridges to help raise much needed funds for Texas Heat Baseball, a select baseball team made up of Johnson City and Blanco youth. Texas Heat is collecting used cell phones and inkjet cartridges through June 15, 2009 for the purpose of traveling and participating in the American Youth Hall of Fame Tournament.

The Johnson City baseball team won 3rd place in the annual Johnson City Tournament. The Eagles won 2 out of 3 games by defeating old district teams, Center Point and Medina. The Eagles lost their only game to 2nd place finisher, Florence. The Eagles opened the tournament by defeating Center Point by a score of 12-2. Cody Smith started on the mound for the Eagles and went 4 strong innings.

The LBJ boys and girls track teams traveled to Ingram last Friday to compete against twelve other schools in their first track meet of the season. Many of the schools were 3A and 4A, but the LBJ athletes performed extremely well against the larger schools. The highlight of the night was the JV girls’ team capturing the first place plaque with 79 total points!

Four Johnson City players made the All-Tournament Team in the annual Johnson City Tournament. Luke Neely, William Bullock, Dylan Carter, and Wade Pistole all received All Tournament awards either for their performances at the plate or performances on the mound, or both. Also receiving All Tournament were Chad Garcia from Round Rock Christian, Anthony Polomo from Bartlett, Adam Kenedy from Medina, Chris Martinez from Harper, Josh Jacobs from Center Point, Hunter Anderson, Seth Hallmark, Doak H ...

The Lady Eagles played a great game Friday night beating the Medina Lady Bobcats team 15 to 2 in five innings. The hitting honors were led by Alex Houston and Dana Bushnell with two hits each. Kacie Cantwell, Avery Stolzman and Adrienne Pabon each contributed to the win with one each.

o To overturn a trial court’s judgment, an appellant must show that the trial judge abused his discretion. On March 5, the Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that appellant David Allen Hall did not clear that steep hurdle. In an interview Tuesday, Hall reflected on the court’s ruling.

Tough economic times bring out criminals seeking to take advantage of the desperate or unwary. The current financial environment, especially woes within the housing industry, has spurred a rise in the numbers of foreclosures – and the number of bad actors looking to illegally profit from struggling homeowners. With this week’s announcement of a new federal plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, Texans should especially be alert to foreclosure rescue scams, and should keep in mind that ...

The Fredericksburg Chorale will present Dialogues and Dances on Saturday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall of Zion Lutheran Church located at 426 W. Austin St. The concert will feature new compositions and improvisations by Mark Hierholzer; a trumpet duo by Kent Rylander and Troy Sutton; a new oboe work performed by Robert Foster; new works by student Lauren Wise; poetry by Lianne Mercer, Maggie Gillespie and Stephanie Sutton.

Pedernales Electric Cooperative invites members to attend a presentation regarding PEC rates. Representatives from C.H. Guernsey & Company will present initial recommendations based on their analysis of PEC’s rates. After the presentation, members will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. The forum will take place Monday, March 23, at 6:30 p.m., at PEC’s E.