News

The numbers have finally come in and the city of Woodcreek has one new councilmember. The final total came down to just one vote. 

On election night, Aurora LeBrun and Nancye Britner were the top two candidates receiving votes. The city of Woodcreek had a four-person race for three council seats. The final seat was between incumbents Gordon Marsh and Jerry Moore. The total was 272 votes for Moore and 271 votes for Marsh, but the provisional ballots had not been counted.

A provisional ballot is issued on Election Day when someone feels they should be allowed to vote, but the election system says they aren’t properly registered. A provisional ballot is issued so the person can cast a vote, and it is later researched to see if they were properly registered.

Hays County was determined one of Texas’ “most impacted” four counties after the May and October floods of 2015, according to Hays County Grants Administrator Jeff Hauff. Because of the determination, the county is due to receive $7,405,319 through the General Land Office (GLO) in the form of a Community Development Block Grant for disaster recovery.

A public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6 concerning the funds distribution.

Only projects outside of the San Marcos City Limits will be eligible as the city received its own CDBGDR funding in the amount of $25 million.

Of that nearly $7.5 million for the county, 32 percent ($2,369,702) must be spent on housing needs and 68 percent (5,035,617) for non-housing infrastructure needs. Additionally, at least 70 percent of the funding must benefit low to moderate income households.

Something wonderful happened at the Wimberley High School pep rally on Friday before Thanksgiving break. A lot of the town, including parents and everyday residents, turn out at 10 a.m. each week, in the WHS gym to give support to the fall athletic teams and band on Fridays. 

Usually at the pep rallies, all four grades of students get to yell, shout, stomp their feet and make noise to cheer on the athletes and the band. But last Friday, it was a little different. 

There was the pep rally with usual yelling and cheering. But then the rally became very emotional and touching.

One of the seniors is a member of the K-12 group. This means that they have been going to WISD schools since kindergarten and now will be graduating with kids they have known for at least 13 years.

More than 73,000 people voted in Hays County, representing 62 percent of the registered voters. In one of the closest call of election night, Hays County was nearly a perfect split in the presidential race, but it wasn’t the closest in Hays County. At least one race was so close, it has yet to be decided.

There were 33,730 votes for President-Elect Donald Trump and 33,117 for Hillary Clinton.

There were 3,622 votes for Libertarian Gary Johnson, 1,055 voted Green Party Candidate Jill Stein and 1,415 Hays County voters chose not to vote for a presidential candidate. Wimberley precincts turned in an even stronger mandate for Trump with nearly 60 percent of Wimberley votes going to the President-Elect.

Nearly 60 percent of Hays County voters gave their approval to Proposition 2 Nov. 8. The $131.4 million bond proposal will fund wide-ranging roadway improvements as well as promoting safety and mobility.

But none of it will be happening right away.

“The road improvement projects that voters approved by passing Proposition 2 on Nov. 8 will be discussed in the coming weeks following canvassing of the votes, and an implementation schedule will be drafted,” Jerry Borcherding, Hays County Transportation Director, said. 

The first few hundred, of what will, in the end, be hundreds of thousands of trees planted along the banks of the Blanco River, were nestled into the ground by volunteers an TreeFolks staffers this weekend.

This was the first planting of what will be many more over the next few years as efforts to reforest the edge of the Blanco continue.

The first stop was at University Camp on Flite Acres Road where at least 65 volunteers helped plant trees such as the Bald Cypress  – which create the essence of the Blanco River Valley.

“As everybody knows, the flood was totally devastating to both people and property,” Matt Mears, reforestation manager for TreeFolks, said. “It also wiped out most of the riverside forest on the Blanco. That forest cleans the air and water, it slows down flooding, and the flood wiped out those functions that are performed.”

Little did anyone think that when it was started that the little thrift store in Wimberley would get so big. But it certainly has in the fifteen years since. Their Grand Opening on Saturday showed the community the brand new building, a boutique shop of antiques and cool fashions located in the historical Miss Lillie Dobie’s House, and the new Builder’s Supply Barn for repurposed building materials.

It was just an idea back in 2001.  Habitat for Humanity needed funds to meet their needs in Wimberley, so four local residents formed a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization and the first building at 300 River Road was bought and then rented to the thrift shop. Rent was paid with proceeds from the shop.

Since WAG Rescue bought the 6-acre property near Wimberley to build a Refuge and Adoption Center, the group has been hard at work creating a safe haven for the area’s lost and abandoned dogs.  The Refuge and Adoption Center is rapidly shaping up - with all of the focus on the dogs. The organization is constructing outdoor and indoor kennels to house the never ending stream of dogs in need.  

These kennels will provide a safe place for the dogs, and allows the group to provide the needed nutrition and medical care the dogs desperately need while they are searching for the dog’s owners or preparing the dogs for adoption.

The Second Annual Wimberley Alive Music and Arts Festival sure knew how to draw visitors to the “Little bit of Heaven.” Streets were packed, music was everywhere and the people were experiencing the flavor that is Wimberley.

Held in front of the Santa Fe Connection, with plenty of chairs to listen to the music under a tent and room to dance. Happy faces all around showed what a success the event was.

Artists were set up in their tents, locals and visitors were viewing the paintings, photographs, mixed media, glasswork and everything else, including cigar box guitars.

The weather couldn’t be better, as opposed to last year’s cold rain. Sunny, warm with a little breeze, the only thing cold was the beer and wine, because the music was hot.

Built in the 1870s, the Wimberley-Hughes House on Mill Race Lane has long been a part of Wimberley’s history. Now, it is preserved and marked for the future as it was awarded a historical “subject” marker honoring two important early families of our community on Nov. 5.

“This house represents two of the founding families of Wimberley,” Claire Billingsley, with the Wimberley Institute of Cultures, said. 

More than a dozen relatives of the Wimberley and Hughes families were on hand for the dedication including Annette Newberry, a Hughes descendant who at one point lived in the home. She shared fascinating details of a happy household managed by Grandmother Lidie Hughes in lean times.

There was also an exhibit inside that documented the lives of both families.