News

The Keep Blanco Beautiful (KBB) Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) is in full swing! Cigarette litter is the number one item littered, which is why KBB is trying to eliminate all cigarette litter in Blanco. The overall littering rate for cigarette butts is over 60 percent. “Most cigarette butts are littered on the ground (85 percent), 37 percent into bushes/shrubbery, 25 percent on or around trash receptacles, and 15 percent into planters,” according to Keep America Beautiful (K ...

Blanco County Farm Bureau held its annual meeting on Tuesday, Oct 22 at the Blanco High School. More than 150 Farm Bureau members enjoyed a complementary barbecue dinner, an informative and entertaining talk led by Gene Hall (Farm Bureau Director of Communications), and a presentation to honor Roy Bruemmer, as the Pioneer Award Winner. Bruemmer has been a member of the Blanco County Farm Bureau since the early 1960s.

The Blanco Historic Cemetery had a problem. Over the years various methods of placing flags on the graves of military veterans had been tried. All had fallen short. Plastic and metal tubes placed in the earth tended to fill with soil and water, and the flags were so low to the ground that windy weather, mowers and weed eaters took their toll. Blanco Historic Cemetery Association (BHCA) president Gail McClellan charged her husband with solving the problem.

It was high noon. The sun was bright, and the air was crisp. There was a group of men gathered at the saloon. They were a dangerous-looking bunch. Were they looking for the sheriff? No, it was Pine Moore Days hosting the World Championship Mounted Knife and Tomahawk Throw. This year’s event was titled the Good, the Bad, and the Aces.

Eddy Rogers didn’t start out to write a series of books, but now he has. The Blanco man had his first book published in 2016, and he’s continued the prolific pace since. Rogers recently finished his fourth book, The Assassination, and it’s been published. The book is on sale locally at the Old Blanco County Courthouse, and proceeds from sales there go to the courthouse renovation. His fourth book also includes the old courthouse in the backdrop for the murder mystery. Here’s how ...

For the final installment for Ghosts of Blanco, I saved the crown jewel, the Old Blanco Courthouse. They finished building the courthouse in 1886. It served as the Blanco County Courthouse until 1890. The Old Courthouse went through the hands of many owners. So besides being a courthouse, it has served as a school, newspaper plant, pool hall, offices, theater, skating rink, home of the Farmers Union, and a hospital. If those walls could talk…or perhaps they do.

Blanco County Commissioners held a special meeting on Oct. 22. All commissioners were present. Carrie L. Pickering of Linebarger Attorneys at Law of Austin gave a presentation to the court regarding a resolution/order to add a collection fee to delinquent court fines and fees pursuant to article 103.0031 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. “Our firm has handled various delinquent collections for over 40 years, including county clerk delinquent fees and fines as well as Justices of ...

First Baptist Church was constituted on Sunday, Nov. 6, 1859, with five members. Rev. Bird was the first pastor, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sillman, formerly of Pittsburgh, assisted to organize. From 1859 to 1902, the Baptist met at the Union Church with the congregations of the Methodist and Church of Christ.

Are you tired of seeing trash along 281 and want to do something about it? More and more people are in cars on the roadway which unfortunately means more trash on the ground. Keep Blanco Beautiful encourages businesses, organizations and individuals to look into the Adopt-A-Highway program. The Adopt-a-Highway program is “a Texas-born program that allows volunteers to adopt stretches of state-maintained roadway to conduct litter pickups” that began in 1985.

There is a grand history to Austin’s lakes which traces back to the late 1930’s, when a nation and state struggling to pull itself out of the Great Depression enacted public infrastructure construction programs to build dams and extend electricity to rural areas. In 1936 the US Department of the Interior authorized the establishment of the Lower Colorado River Authority. On that shiny necklace called the Colorado River, several dams were built by the LCRA, which in addition to providing ...