September is suicide prevention and awareness month.
Three Blanco County residents took their own life since last September. When adjusted to the national average, this rate is more than double the national rate. With higher suicide rates reported in rural areas, Hill Country Mental Health Developmental Disability Center is trying to expand support and services in Blanco County.
The national suicide rate is 13.26 per 100,000 people.
2017 TAX STATEMENTS IN THE MAIL OCTOBER 2nd
The Blanco County Appraisal District will be mailing tax statements on October 2, 2017. There will be approximately 16,000 statements mailed out. Please watch the mail and if you do not receive your statement, please call the Appraisal District at 830-868-4013. Please keep in mind that the Board of Directors of the Blanco County Appraisal District approved a new policy that went into effect on 9/1/17.
After months of deliberation and discussion, the county budget and tax rate was approved unanimously by Commissioners and Judge Bray. On Monday Sept. 18 Commissioners met for a special meeting called to vote on the budget and tax rate as well as to approve salaries for elected officials and new employees.
At last week’s budget hearing the final minor changes were made to the 2017/2018 budget and at Monday’s meeting commissioners voted to approve the new budget.
The Texas State Library & Archives Commission (TSLAC) recently awarded funding to Johnson City Library under its Special Projects Grant program to fund the 2017/18 Discovery Academy.
Now in its eleventh year, Discovery Academy is an after-school enrichment program in science and math for third through fifth graders. The program uses hands-on experiments and projects to instill a life-long love of learning.
Texas drivers statewide have to put their cellphones down when behind the wheel as a new law banning texting while driving took effect Sept. 1, 2017.
The law prohibits motorists from any reading, writing or sending electronic messages while their car is moving.
The ban extends to popular communications, such as posting on social media, sending emails or using similar apps.
When the call came into Blanco County EMS for support for Hurricane Harvey in advance of landfall, Chief Ben Oakley didn’t hesitate for a second.
“When Blanco County had its emergency in 2015, the communities needing help were the same communities who sent resources here to help us,” said Chief Oakley.
“I couldn’t help thinking that if aliens ever landed on earth and you only had a few hours to help them understand America, all you would have to do is take them to any state fair.” — Arthur Grace
State Fair is Arthur Grace’s photographic odyssey through fairs in ten states—California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.
City Council reviewed the 2017/2018 budget for Johnson City at a special meeting on August 31. They ironed out some of the details in the city’s general and system budgets during the workshop as they sought a way to increase revenue without raising taxes.
At the start of the budget workshop, the city needed $68,000 to balance the system budget.
The Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department is back from almost seven days of deployment conducting rescue operations in Port Arthur, just as Tropical Storm Harvey made its second landfall late Wednesday, Aug. 30.
Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department received a request from the State of Texas for rescue assistance on Tuesday, Aug.
Gas stations around the county have yet to recover from the panic caused by a rumored fuel shortage across Texas.
Last Thursday, there was a rush to get gas that caused all the stations in Blanco County to run out of supply by that night. Texas Railroad Commissioner, Ryan Sitton, has since assured Texans that there is plenty of gas supply.
