Marble Falls High School soccer coach Rick Hoover is retiring after 11 years at the helm of the program. Courtesy photo
Longtime Marble Falls High School soccer coach Rick Hoover announced his retirement on April 11. He’s been at the helm of the boys’ program for 11 years.
“I have been considering this for the past couple of years,” Hoover told DailyTrib.com. “It has been a privilege to be in charge of the boys’ soccer program for over a decade, and now it is time for someone else to take over.”
The beloved coach transformed the soccer team into one of the school’s most dominant sports programs with a career playoff record of 12-6.
The team’s best finish was in 2018, when it reached the Class 5A Region IV semifinals.
“We have won many championships and have had much success in the playoffs over the years,” Hoover said.
Central to the program’s success is its commitment to building players on and off the pitch, the coach said.
“Our goal has always been to help our kids become good people with the highest character,” Hoover said. “Academically, our kids have excelled and enjoyed success in the classroom.”
“I will miss all of it, of course, but just the daily routine of working with the kids and their families just can’t be replaced,” Hoover said. “Hopefully, they will always consider me their coach.”
Marble Falls Independent School District is searching for job candidates with “experience at a high-level soccer program as a first assistant or head coach,” Athletic Director Keri Timmerman confirmed.
“We will miss the time and love (Hoover) poured into families over the past years,” the AD said.
Hoover will remain the district’s director of Special Programs, a position he’s held since 2021. The post focuses on improving school safety, handling truancy cases, and planning for emergencies.
The Hill Country Humane Society‘s annual Wags to Riches fundraiser is 5 p.m. April 27 at the YMCA of the Highland Lakes at Galloway-Hammond, 1601 S. Water St. in Burnet.
Tickets are $160 per person or $1,250 for a table of eight with bottomless beer, wine, or margaritas. They can be purchased online.
Enjoy a catered dinner from Blue Corn Harvest Bar & Grill as well as a live auction and raffle. Top prizes include firearms, bottles of Blanton’s bourbon, and getaways to local resorts.
The annual fundraiser helps the nonprofit Hill Country Humane Society pay for expenses at its no-kill facility, 9150 RR 1431 in Buchanan Dam.
The animal rescue contracts with local governments to shelter homeless dogs and cats.
https://www.hillcountrycollisiontx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/wp-header-logo-75.png6831024https://www.hillcountrycollisiontx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Logo-2.png2024-04-19 07:30:502024-04-19 07:30:50Unleash generosity at Wags to Riches fundraiser April 27
Faith Academy of Marble Falls sophomore Halley Offutt won first place in the Marble Falls VFW’s Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest. Courtesy photo
Nine students from the Marble Falls school district and Faith Academy of Marble Falls are winners in the Marble Falls VFW 10376 auxiliary patriotic art and singing contests.
The top finishers in each competition will move on to the regional and potentially national levels.
Apprentice lineworkers get hands-on learning at the Pedernales Electric Cooperative training center in Marble Falls. The center opened in 2020 and is graduating its inaugural class in 2024. Photo courtesy of PEC
The inaugural class of Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s apprenticeship program, which opened in Marble Falls in 2020, has graduated—just in time for Lineman Appreciation Day on Thursday, April 18.
Graduates include J.R. Ewing of Marble Falls, Austin Hernandez of Oak Hill, Jacob Chapman and Phillip Stapp, both of Junction, and Blake Jackson and Jacob Simons, both of Liberty Hill.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of this program and for having PEC’s full support,” said Ewing, who is now a journeyworker. “We learned so much through our training and from the seasoned journeyworkers, and I’m eager to impart that wisdom with the new apprentices to keep our PEC crews strong and the lights on for our members.”
PEC developed its program in partnership with Northwest Lineman College in Denton, which is where PEC apprentices had to train before the Marble Falls center was built.
“Keeping training local, within PEC’s service area, allows lineworkers to go home to their families after training and keeps PEC crews nearby to respond to outages when needed,” said a PEC spokesperson in a media release.
Through their training, PEC lineworkers gain hands-on experience working with energized equipment in a controlled environment. They practice real situations that they might encounter in the field and focus on safety protocols and improving technical skills.
“Seeing our lineworkers learn, grow, and perfect their craft over the past four years has been an incredible journey,” said James Vasquez, PEC’s director of Safety and Technical Training. “They have mastered skills at an extraordinary level and with a commitment to safety.”
PEC lineworkers maintain more than 25,000 miles of distribution and 300 miles of transmission lines across 8,100 square-miles of service territory in some of the nation’s fastest-growing counties.
“Our lineworkers are the key to our reliability, responding to outages in all weather and at all hours,” Vasquez said. “As they show their commitment to power our members and communities, we are proud to build programs to support their safety, training, and education and to pave a path for a bright and fulfilling career.”
To further promote careers in linework, PEC also works with local high schools.
Those interested in serving their community through a linework career can learn more online or apply at jobs.pec.coop. Additional information on PEC’s apprenticeship program is available by emailing PECpreapprentice@peci.com.
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Our dear mom, grandma, sister, aunt, and friend passed away in Marble Falls, Texas, on April 6, 2024, at the young age of 91. Carolyn Irene Cooper (formally Carolyn Cooper Gundelach) was born in Houston, Texas, on May 24, 1932, to William Prince Cooper and Elsie Penfield Cooper.
Carolyn was an amazing person. She was witty, creative, funny, intelligent, and beautiful. She graduated from Columbus High School in Columbus, Texas, in 1951, where she excelled in her academics, basketball, the school newspaper, and head cheerleader for the Columbus Cardinals.
Carolyn loved to play tennis and taught tennis to many others in her small town. She attended the University of Houston and nursing school at the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston.
As her children attended school, she became everyone’s favorite teacher at Thompson Intermediate School in the Sagemont area of Houston. Also, as an elder at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in south Houston, she led as an example for others.
She later diligently studied and earned her certification as an Ophthalmic Technician and Ophthalmist, working many years before retiring from the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, Cullen Eye Institute.
She retired to the lovely Texas Hill Country, spent time with family, traveled, and was a member of the Highland Arts Guild of Marble Falls as an active artist. She especially enjoyed creating art from Mother Nature’s gourds (gourd art).
Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents, William and Elsie Cooper; brother William Penfield Cooper; and sister Margaret Cooper Percival.
She is survived by her sisters Elsie Cooper Hagenlocker (deceased husband Richard Hagenlocker) and Mary J. Cooper Franklin and husband Michael. Survived, as well, by her four children: son David Charles Gundelach, daughter Diane Gundelach Doherty and husband Kevin, daughter Jan Gundelach Woods and husband Chuck, and daughter Joan Marie Gundelach. She is also survived by grandson Travis Penfield Doherty and wife Jessica, granddaughter Olivia Woods Rich and husband Cam, grandson Taylor Franklin Doherty, granddaughter Annmarie Jessamy Woods and husband Josh Zimmerer, grandson Trey David Doherty and wife Erika; and great-granddaughters Josephine Jane Doherty and Bella Rose Doherty (parents Travis and Jessica).
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For one week in April, artists from across the country gather outdoors in Marble Falls to capture the visual heart of the Highland Lakes in bold brushstrokes and vivid colors during the Paint the Town Art Festival. The Highland Lakes Creative Arts event, which is April 21-27, 2024, evokes the spirit of French Impressionism as artists came out of their studios to paint everyday scenes en plein air.
“The Impressionists started trends in art that we still see the results of today,” said Jeffrey Neel McDaniel, an artist traveling from the Garner State Park area for his second year in the Marble Falls competition. “The French Impressionists were painting local scenes and local people. Previously, the primary topic of art was mythology or religion painted in studios.”
One of 35 juried artists competing in Paint the Town, McDaniel said leaving his studio to work in plein (plain) air makes him a better artist.
“When you’re painting in plein air, you’re trying to capture a place, a moment, an emotion,” he said. “It’s not so much what you’re painting but what you’re trying to say, what you are trying to communicate to someone.”
Austin artist Bruce Bingham is making her sixth appearance at Paint the Town. She said painting outdoors is like sailing a boat.
“You may go through a storm, have high winds, a rapidly moving sun, all those experiences of being outside in the elements,” she said. “It’s exhilarating. It challenges your painting ability.”
To paint en plein air is to paint alla prima, an Italian phrase that means “all at once,” Bingham said.
“There’s a time limit with the sun moving so fast and changing the scene,” she said. “It’s very alla prima, very very direct. It’s quickly and directly painted. You don’t see a lot of refined portraiture in a plein air event.”
Artist Elizabeth Bartlett Culp, who is competing for the second time in Paint the Town,has been practicing for this year’s Paint Out competition, which features pedigree longhorns at a local ranch.
All 35 artists will spend a day putting their version of the Texas State Large Mammal on canvas. A new prize for Best Longhorn Painting has been added to the usual lineup of Best in Show and first, second, and third places.
“I’m not sure how to paint a longhorn if he’s moving around a lot,” Culp said. “If he’s lying down chewing his cud, I can handle that.”
She has been practicing by painting longhorns from photographs.
Animals are a favorite subject for Marble Falls resident and regular plein air competitor Marla Ripperda, who has thousands of wildlife pictures from her trips to Africa that she uses as inspiration in her art studio.
“I’m more of a studio artist,” she said. “I like to have more time to mess with the painting.”
Artist Rita Kirkman of New Braunfels won Best of Show at Paint the Town several years ago for ‘Sunny Morning on Main Street,’ which was done in pastels. It was a companion piece to ‘Rainy Day on Main Street,’ which won the year before. Highland Lakes Creative Arts used the rainy day version for its promotional T-shirts the year ‘Sunny Morning’ was painted. The sunny version hangs in EDC Executive Director Christian Fletcher’s office at Fourth and Main streets. Image courtesy of Rita Kirkman
For plein air, Ripperda prefers to paint on Main Street in downtown Marble Falls, a change of pace from the solitude of her studio.
“Where the people are is where I prefer to paint,” she said of the competition. “We all want to talk to people, to educate people about our art. I invite people to the reception and out to the pavilion for the pop-up.”
POP-UP GALLERY
The pop-up gallery is open from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. April 25-27. As the artists complete their works, they put them on display and up for sale. Entry to the pop-up is free.
VIP AUCTION
Tickets are available online at hlcarts.org for a VIP reception and silent auction from 5:30-9 p.m. April 26 at Lakeside Pavilion, 305 Buena Vista Drive. Plein air winners are announced at the reception.
Another local artist, Betty Bielser of Buchanan Dam, has been in every Paint the Town competition but one since it started 16 years ago. She was the first to use watercolor in the competition.
“That’s the way it was for years,” Bielser said of watercolor. “It slowly became more popular. About three years ago, a watercolor actually won first place. I was elated. Watercolor was finally acceptable!”
Many plein air artists prefer working in oils because it’s easier to fix mistakes. Bielser admits watercolor has its challenges in the elements.
“It depends on the humidity,” she said. “I have painted in the rain, and it really doesn’t work very well. Then, there are times when the weather is so dry you can’t put a wash on your work because it dries before you’re finished. You’re constantly adjusting the water content of your paint to the elements.”
No matter what medium an artist uses, painting in the great outdoors can be demanding.
“I have painted in the cab of my car with the steering wheel as an easel because it was raining so hard,” Ripperda said. “I’ve had paintings blow into the sand. I’ve learned to take blue painter’s tape and tape my easel to a light pole or stationary object. You learn by experience.”
Experience is not just for juried artists at Paint the Town. Event co-chair Erin Hinzmann emphasized the importance of community engagement at the festival, including an art session for high school students as well as a Family Art Day.
“There aren’t many plein air shows that serve a student population,” Hinzmann said.
STUDENT ART DAY
Around 70 students from Marble Falls and Burnet high schools and Faith Academy of Marble Falls will participate in Student Art Day at Lakeside Parkon April 24. Eighteen of the plein air artists will be on hand to give a watercolor demonstration to the students, who will be provided with the art supplies needed to create their plein air works.
“They go home with art supplies so they can keep creating,” Hinzmann said. “That’s what this is all about. All the proceeds of the whole event are used to buy art supplies and put them in the schools. Students with art and music have better grades in math and science; they are more creative, empathetic workers. Our mission is to get art back in the schools and build art tourism.”
FAMILY ART DAY
Also in that vein, Paint the Town is hosting a Family Art Day from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. April 27 at Lakeside Pavilion. Families can join the artists for free activities, including watercolor, acrylic, and finger and bubble painting.
QUICK DRAW
The public is invited to join the Quick Draw competition from 10-11:30 a.m. April 27. The 90-minute event is free for registered plein air and student artists and $15 for the general public. The winner is automatically entered free in the 2025 Paint the Town competition as a juried artist.
Prints of the winning art in the main competition are available for $20 each.
“Part of our mission is to have everyone go home with a piece of art,” Hinzmann said.
Several local residents take that mission seriously. Judy Miller, owner of OutBack Patio Furnishings in Marble Falls, and Christian Fletcher, executive director of the Marble Falls Economic Development Corp., each make a point of buying at least one work of art a year. Miller hangs her purchases at the store and in her home. Her works include paintings of downtown fixtures RBar, Uptown Theatre, Jardin Corona, and Choccolatte’s.
“I love it!” she said when asked why she buys one or more paintings a year. “I love the art, and I want to support it. The paintings are really good, but I am running out of room.”
Fletcher has an entire wall in his downtown office dedicated to Paint the Town pieces.
“I love Paint the Town,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite events. I love the the idea of people coming into our community and giving us their perspectives on what they think is interesting or cool and unique. They interpret our community differently.”
He holds himself to one painting a year because of space. His pieces feature the old and new U.S. 281 bridges, a view of Main Street from Second to Third streets, and a simple landscape painted during a full moon.
Meeting the artists is another draw for Fletcher, while the artists look forward to meeting members of the community.
“One of the coolest things about this event is to meet the people,” McDaniel said, adding that, until last year’s Paint the Town, he had never been to Marble Falls. He prefers painting nature over buildings and chose a scene at a park just below Wirtz Dam for his subject in 2023.
“Plein air is credited with the establishment of our national park system,” he said.
In the 1870s, artists from the Hudson River in New York State traveled west and painted the amazing landscapes they encountered, bringing the scenes back east for public viewing, raising awareness and interest in land conservation.
“Plein air became a very popular genre of painting for a lot of artists,” McDaniel said. “You see the light and color and compositions firsthand. Even with amazing cameras, it’s very rare you’ll get the exact color.”
Whether capturing landscapes or street scenes, painting is about light and emotion, he continued.
“The sun rises 365 days a year, but 365 times it’s different,” he said. “Sunset or sunrise, you have a shortcut to connecting to someone emotionally. At sunrise is the beauty, the feelings the scene represents: optimism, hope, potential. With a sunset, you get serenity, peace, and calm.”
All that on what started as a stark white canvas of picture-perfect potential in a small lakeside community that cherishes its art and artists.
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The 2023 winners of the Rosalyn Lackey Memorial Scholarship given out by the Burnet County Area Fair: Bryson Culver (center) and Grace Gates (second from right). Courtesy photo
The deadline is April 29 to apply for the Rosalyn Lackey Memorial Scholarship awarded by the Burnet County Area Fair. Applications are available online for high school seniors in Burnet County who have been accepted into an accredited university, community college, technical school, or other higher education institution.
This is the fourth year the fair will hand out the Lackey scholarship. At least one student will receive $1,000. The money comes from the fair and the estate of Rosalyn Lackey, who died in 2020, said fair organizer Lela Goar.
“Rosalyn got the fair started again in 2010 and was the first president in 2010 and 2011,” Goar said. “She helped with the fair until she couldn’t anymore, and when she passed, we decided to give a scholarship in her honor that year.”
That was in 2020, when the fair awarded one $500 scholarship. The number and amounts have grown with the help of the Lackey family.
Lackey (1937-2020) was known as “a fierce pillar in her community” of Bertram, according to her obituary.
“She was a dedicated donor to the Bertram Library Thrift Shop, a Master Gardener/trainer, and was very proud to have revived the Burnet County Fair in 2010,” the obituary reads.
The fair was held in Bertram from 1903 until the late 1930s, when it moved to Burnet. It was discontinued in 1990 due to a lack of volunteers. The event was revived with the help of the Highland Lakes Master Gardener Association, Texas Extension Education Association of Burnet County, and Burnet County AgriLife Extension.
The Burnet County Area Fair, which includes competitors from Burnet, Bell, Blanco, Lampasas, Llano, Travis, and Williamson counties, is now held in the Burnet County AgriLife Extension Auditorium at 607 N. Vandeveer St. in Burnet. The 2024 fair is June 7-8.
To apply for the Rosalyn Lackey Memorial Scholarship, download and fill out the online application. Application, checklist with signature, and supporting documents may be sent by mail to: Burnet County Area Fair, Attn: Scholarship Committee, P.O. Box 163, Bertram TX 78605.
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Candidates for the Burnet City Council and school board attended a forum hosted by the Burnet Chamber of Commerce on April 16 at the community center. Each candidate was given one minute to introduce themselves and two minutes to answer questions written by the chamber.
The forum was moderated by 33rd/424th District Court Judge Evan Stubbs.
Candidates were given the questions for the forum ahead of time.
“They’ve had an opportunity to not be surprised by the questions,” Stubbs told the crowd.
The event was livestreamed. Visit the chamber’s YouTube page to watch the full forum.
Election Day is May 4. Early voting is April 22-30.
BURNET CITY COUNCIL
Burnet City Council members serve staggered, two-year terms. Three seats are up for election this cycle. The top three vote-getters out of six candidates will fill those seats.
Running for the council are Anthony Francisco, Tommy Gaut, Dennis Langley, Zac Neely, Cindia Talamentez, and Philip Thurman. Of the six candidates, only Talamentez was absent from the forum.
Each candidate was asked five questions. DailyTrib.com selected three of those questions and the candidates’ responses for this story.
PHILIP THURMAN
Thurman is the current mayor pro-tem of the city of Burnet. He is the chief executive officer of OfficePLM, an engineering software company.
“I am pro-citizen, pro-business, and pro-Burnet,” he said. “What that means is I’m motivated to let you have the best experience you can with the city.”
ZAC NEELY
Neely was born in Burnet and raised in Lampasas. He was a teacher for four years before working at ExxonMobil. He has been the assistant boys’ camp director at Camp Longhorn for nearly five years.
“The whole reason for me and my wife to come back to Burnet was to raise our family here,” Neely said. “I’d like to see Burnet keep its small-town atmosphere.”
TOMMY GAUT
Gaut has lived in Burnet since retiring over 10 years ago from the computer industry. He has served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for the past 10 years and as the board’s chair for the past five years. He also chairs the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.
“I want to be an advocate for all the voices,” he said. “I want to be proactive. I want to listen.”
DENNIS LANGLEY
Langley is the owner of Dennis Langley Construction and an incumbent city councilor.
“I’ve enjoyed serving on council and working with the city staff and City Manager David Vaughn,” he said. “Over the past two years, I think we’ve accomplished some good things.”
ANTHONY FRANCISCO
Francisco has lived in Burnet for 30 years after leaving for six years to attend college and for work. He is the owner/partner of Thess Mortgage in Burnet.
“My motivation would be to make sure that Burnet is transforming and moving forward in the right, correct way and for the people,” he said.
QUESTION 1
What particular skills and experiences qualify you to serve on the City Council, if elected?
NEELY: “In a way, I’m already on a city council as a management position at Camp Longhorn. (The camp is) a small city of about 750 people. The only difference is they switch around about every two weeks.”
Neely also cited his experience as a turnaround specialist for ExxonMobil as proof of his knowledge of construction practices.
GAUT: “I bring to the position 25 years of senior management experience. I’ve been responsible for projects nationally and internationally in areas like anti-corruption, human resource development, and re-engineering businesses to particular forms that were more cost-effective.”
Gaut also referenced his familiarity with city ordinances and codes from his longtime work on Burnet’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
LANGLEY: “I’ve been a small-business owner for well over 30 years. I think that gives me the experience to be financially responsible and help the city go in the right direction.”
Langley followed with the importance of working to improve the lives of residents and city employees by ensuring their voices are heard.
QUESTION 2
With the projected growth and the growth that’s occurring, where do you see the city of Burnet in five years?
THURMAN: “It’s going to impact our life. It’s going to attack the way we live, but it’s not all bad. How do you turn that growth into something good? You do that by using the money from the growth to grow the city the way that you want. What does that mean? It means that we have to plan for the growth. We can’t just sit back and wait for it.”
Thurman pointed to the importance of strategically preparing and planning for an influx of new residents to avoid mirroring mistakes made in other municipalities, such as Liberty Hill and Dripping Springs.
NEELY: “The growth is going to come, and we have to plan for it. Burnet is in a fortunate situation where we’re just far enough from Austin that we can see it coming our way. We do have that foresight there because of our distance.”
Neely also touched on how interest rates can dictate growth. He specifically mentioned how record-low interest rates in 2020 fed into growth in other Central Texas towns.
LANGLEY: “I believe with the leadership that we have and the nature of the citizens, I think that Burnet will still be the best place to live in five to 10 years. Now grant you, it’s going to grow, and, unfortunately, Austin is moving this-a-way. We’re fortunate that our leaders have got to watch places like Liberty Hill and Dripping Springs, and, yeah, we’re still going to have issues. But I think, that being said, the city workers and the (council) kind of know what’s coming.”
Langley doubled down on his hopes that Burnet remains small but also identified the historic downtown square as an area that could benefit from future growth.
FRANCISCO: “I think if we can continue to have a firm foundation for Burnet to grow—when we do hit those spurs and absorb those extra people—we’ll look like professionals that have been doing it all along. We can do it with open arms and continue to be Burnet: kind, loving, and great.”
Francisco also echoed Thurman’s concerns that Burnet needs to work hard to prepare itself for future growth.
QUESTION 3
Being on the City Council requires teamwork. Give us an example of when you have worked as a team.
THURMAN: “Teamwork is about doing and being part of a solution. As it relates to the question, I’ve been on a team with (former City Councilor) Ken Graham and (City Manager) David (Vaughn) and remodeled Galloway-Hammond (City Park) and handed it over to the (YMCA). We were taking about a $500,000 hit on that (annually), and we turned it into an incredible facility for the people of Burnet.”
Thurman also touted his experience reworking the Delaware Springs Golf Course budget to become sustainable without being subsidized by tax dollars.
GAUT: “To deliver projects to customers, by default, you have to be able to work with teams. Not just in leading teams, but by being a collaborative team member. Being a chair of the Planning and Zoning (Commission) and the (Zoning) Board of Adjustment, I work with my fellow commissioners and city staff.”
Gaut spoke directly to the city’s recent passage of its new short-term rental ordinance as an instance that required coordination between multiple bodies, including city staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Burnet City Council.
FRANCISCO: “There’s many things, from being a collegiate athlete to being a member of many startups to also being involved in large transactions with investment brokers. When it comes to teamwork, it’s just allowing everyone to use their strengths and working with them to create unity, not uniformity.”
Francisco promised the crowd that he would lead when needed but also let others lead when the time was necessary.
BURNET CISD
Burnet school board candidates Amber Cardenas (left) and Katy Duke. Staff photo by Nathan Bush
Burnet Consolidated Independent School District trustees serve staggered three-year terms on a seven-place board. Place 5 is the only contested race in the May 4 election with Katy Duke and Amber Cardenas vying for the spot. Trustees vote on BCISD policies and budgets.
School board candidates were each asked four questions. DailyTrib.com selected two of those questions and the candidates’ responses for this story.
KATY DUKE
Duke is a Realtor with GEC Real Estate in Bertram. She has served on several committees within the district, including the District Advisory Committee and the Bond Oversight Committee. She was appointed to the BCISD Board of Trustees in November 2023 following the death of longtime Trustee Andy Field in September 2023.
“The main reason that I want to serve on the school board, and the main reason I already am serving on the school board, is that I am very committed to making sure that all of our kids are well-cared for and have the best opportunities they possibly can,” Duke said.
AMBER CARDENAS
Cardenas is the owner of Bill’s Burgers in Burnet and has lived in the city for the majority of her life. She is also a marriage and family associate therapist. She has four children in the district.
“I want to be a voice that represents the public’s interest,” Cardenas said.
QUESTION 1
With the growth that Burnet has seen and will see in the future, where do you see Burnet Consolidated Independent School District in five years?
DUKE: “I see an additional elementary (school) or two, possibly a middle school, and I know there’s been conversations about a possible fifth- and sixth-grade center. I’m a real estate agent, so we need to be buying land now.”
Duke also mentioned that BCISD could have its own police force by 2029 and touched on the potential of one or two future bond elections to cover costs from the district’s expanded enrollment.
CARDENAS: “In five years, I see Burnet CISD as a district that will be providing safe and supportive learning environments for our kids, providing staff and faculty with resources to provide a great education, and meeting our goals for students to lead successful lives and be prepared for their future.”
Cardenas also acknowledged that growth is already here and touched on the importance of retaining quality staff and faculty to ensure successful outcomes for students.
QUESTION 2
If you had the sole power to change one thing, what would you change and why?
DUKE: “Ideally, I’d like to do away with Robin Hood (a state law that sends tax dollars from wealthy school districts to poorer districts) or get more help from the state. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s something that I’ll have direct impact over. As a board member, you don’t have sole power to change anything. You’re a team of eight (including superintendent). I want to work the best I can with that team.”
Other hopes outlined by Duke were that the district continue its focus on building students that are “ready to adult” upon graduation through providing academic support and resources.
CARDENAS: “I would ban cellphones. I mean, all the way, across all campuses, all the phones, all the students. I’ve heard from numerous faculty that the policies we currently have on our books don’t work.”
Cardenas elaborated, stating that cellphones lead to undesirable student behavior such as disrupting class and vaping. She recommended the district research the success of similar phone bans at other ISDs in the state.
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Ruthie Jo is a Jersey milk cow that lives on Zoe Kinnee’s Marble Falls ranch. She is the first step in establishing a local herd share for a group of about 10 families who want to cook with, bake with, and drink raw milk. Until Ruthie Jo and her calf, Sabbee, are producing regularly, the group travels to Fredericksburg or La Grange to buy raw milk, which was illegal in Texas until May 17, 2021.
“You still can’t walk into a store and pick up a carton of raw milk — at least not in Texas you can’t,” said Cynthia Cummings.
Cummings, Kinnee, and Meredith Clowdus recently sat down with this reporter to talk about why they love raw milk and what they have to do to get it.
“To sell it, you have to sell straight from the farm,” Cummings said. “To buy it, you have to be part of a herd share.”
In a herd share, people pay a one-time fee, in this case $20, to “own” part of the herd. A bill of sale must exchange hands to make it legal.
Until the Texas Department of State Health Services approved Rule §217.31 in 2021, people had to travel to a farm to pick up raw milk. For the past three years, farmers with a state permit have been able to deliver pre-purchased raw milk anywhere in the state, including at farmers markets. Even if delivered to a farmers market, however, the raw milk cannot be sold directly to walkup customers. The market can only be used as a drop-off and pick-up point for purchases ordered in advance.
Kinnee became a raw milk advocate in 2020. She wanted to improve her health by eating all-natural foods, and raw milk was the next step, she said. She was so happy with the results that she bought Ruthie Jo in 2022 and brought her friends on board soon after.
Clowdus has long lived an organic lifestyle. She and sister Donna Wilcox raise grass-fed cattle and sell the meat directly to families rather than to slaughterhouses. Clowdus has a garden for vegetables and chickens for eggs.
“It was a no-brainer for me to move to grass-fed, non-processed milk,” she said. “Milk always sat heavy in my stomach. I loved milk in my coffee, but it was always a love/hate relationship.”
Not anymore. Raw milk or cream in the morning coffee is a favorite of these three friends.
“Zo’s been known to milk her cow directly into her coffee cup,” said Clowdus to a round of laughter. “It’s so good; so creamy and delicious. We are all addicted to heavy cream in our coffee.”
The taste of raw milk changes from cow to cow, depending on what they are fed. The color is more like butter, rather than white.
Commercially sold milk is most commonly pasteurized by heating it to 161 degrees for no less than 15 seconds and then rapidly cooling it. Discovered by and named after French scientist Louis Pasteur, the process kills bacteria in the milk that could cause disease, and sometimes death. Pasteur patented the process in 1862.
Chicago became the first American city to pasteurize milk in 1909, followed by New York City in 1914. As the nation grew, dairies began pooling milk, which increased the risk of contamination and disease, making pasteurization all that more important.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautions against drinking raw milk, citing the risk of consuming harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites. According to the CDC, raw milk is one of the riskiest foods to consume.
However, strict laws for handling commercial milk sales are loosening across the country. As of 2024, all 50 states allow farmers to sell it to consumers. Of those, 14 states (not Texas) allow retail sales.
Raw milk can be expensive. A herd-share gallon costs around $12, maybe more, depending on where you are getting it. Drop-off places sometimes add a dollar or two to the gallon for the expense of keeping it refrigerated.
Local herd-share group members Meredith Clowdus (left), Zoe Kinnee, and Cynthia Cummings with Ruthie Jo at the Kinnee Ranch in Marble Falls. Ruthie Jo and her calf, Sabbee, will soon supply about 10 families in the area with raw milk. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Clowdus, Cummings, and Kinnee say their issue with commercial milk goes beyond the pasteurization process. Some dairy farmers give their cows a bovine growth hormone, in either natural or synthetic form, to increase milk production. Without that hormone, milking happens in cycles.
“You can milk up to a year, but for the health of your cow, you should stop between 10 to 12 months,” Kinnee said. “In that time, you rebreed.”
The milking stops again about 2½ months before the cow gives birth to let her body rest.
“That’s how God designed these milk breeds,” Clowdus said. “Beef breeds only produce enough milk for its calf. A milk breed actually produces above and beyond, depending on supply and demand.”
As a Jersey cow is milked, she produces more, enough for the baby and the families dropping by for their pre-ordered gallons each week.
Ruthie Joe and Sabbee (named so because she was born on the Sabbath) are about 6 months to a year away from keeping the Marble Falls herd-share group fully supplied with raw milk and raw milk products. Sabbee needs to be weaned and then have a calf of her own before she can produce.
The weaning should have already happened, said Kinnee, who was chided by her friends for spoiling her animals. She feeds Ruthie Jo oatmeal soup with molasses in the morning, sometimes adding berries. Both cows graze on natural grasses in the sunshine during the day.
“The cows are living their best life, and we are getting the best milk,” Kinnee said.
She also feeds raw milk to her dog and barn cats.
Another plus, the women said, is that raw milk lasts longer than pasteurized milk.
“Raw milk is fresh for about 10 days. Then, you can use it in baking, make it into yogurt or cottage cheese,” Cummings said. “You can make your own butter at home. From making butter, a byproduct is buttermilk for pancakes and bread.”
Raw milk cheese is the only byproduct none of them have tried to make — yet.
“You can get raw milk cheese at the House of Cheese on Main Street (Marble Falls),” Cummings continued. “H-E-B has it, too. They can sell raw milk cheese but not a gallon of raw milk.”
Leftover milk not used for anything else can be poured into the garden to nourish the soil.
As for contamination concerns when milking, Kinnee follows a strict regime that involves brushing and cleaning Ruthie Jo with warm soapy water and wiping her teats with iodine to sterilize them.
“You milk out the teat a few times before you start aiming into the gallon bucket,” she explained. “Then, you get what’s up in the udder that has not been touched by the outside world.”
Kinnee milks into a stainless steel bucket. When it’s full, she covers it and carries it to the house, where she pours the milk through a strainer.
“I feel like we are meant to live in community, helping support each other,” she said. “We are supporting not only milk in the house but nourishment for the house, for the children.”
https://www.hillcountrycollisiontx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/wp-header-logo-68.png5761024https://www.hillcountrycollisiontx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Logo-2.png2024-04-18 08:33:062024-04-18 08:33:06Marble Falls herd-share group says raw milk does a body good
Justin Harrod of Kingsland was shot and killed by Llano County sheriff’s deputies on Oct. 23, 2022. His wife, Jillian Harrod, filed a federal civil lawsuit against the county, the sheriff, and two deputies on April 11. Courtesy photo
The wife of a 40-year-old Kingsland man killed by Llano County deputies in 2022 filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on April 11 against the county, the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Bill Blackburn, and deputies Bryon Cervantez and Randy “Ty” Shaw. It is the fifth lawsuit that Llano County now faces in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, and the second dealing with excessive force by the sheriff’s office.
Harrod v. Llano County et al. was filed by Kaplan Law Firm on behalf of Jillian Harrod, wife of the late Justin Harrod. The suit charges the Sheriff’s Office with excessive use of force in violation of Justin Harrod’s civil rights as outlined in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Officers were called to the Harrod home on Eula Lane in Kingsland on Oct. 23, 2022, by Jillian Harrod, who reported her husband was drunk and possibly suicidal. According to footage from a body camera worn by one of the deputies, Justin Harrod was found passed out face down on his front lawn with his hands on each side of his head. He was lying on top of a gun.
“The police told Mr. Harrod to both ‘Get away from the gun,’ but also instructed him to not move, instructions that directly conflict with each other and would therefore be impossible to follow,” reads the complaint.
The situation lasted for 18 minutes with five deputies shouting at the prone, intoxicated man. When Justin Harrod yelled back, he was hit with a taser, according to the plaintiff’s original complaint.
“The moment the taser was deployed, Defendant Cervantez and Defendant Shaw knowingly and intentionally shot Mr. Harrod multiple times with their service weapons with the intent to kill,” the complaint continues. “Defendant Cervantez and Defendant Shaw shot and killed Mr. Harrod even though he never pointed a weapon in their direction.”
Justin Harrod was then handcuffed and loaded into an ambulance. A helicopter was deployed to take him to an Austin hospital, but he died before it arrived, LCSO Chief Deputy Brian Evans told DailyTrib.com in 2022.
Kaplan Law Firm claims the Llano County Sheriff’s Office is liable for failing to train its deputies, citing Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York as established law in the area.
The plaintiff is seeking actual, compensatory, and exemplary damages, court costs, attorney fees and expenses, and any further relief the court “deems proper and just under the circumstances.”
