A 3-acre, consistently crystal-clear lagoon could be the latest luxury amenity at Ascensions on Lake Travis in Spicewood. The housing development’s proposed resort-style centerpiece would offer public access.
Ascension on Lake Travis, 25904 Haynie Flat Road on the Travis County side of Spicewood, is the result of a collaboration by developers Austin Real Estate Ventures LLC and Crystal Lagoons, the masterminds behind manufactured Mediterranean getaways.
Crystal Lagoons has 70 such lagoons in Texas, according to a media release regarding the swanky waterpark.
A similar project can be seen in Texas City near Houston at Lagoonfest Texas.
Plans for the Ascensions lagoon include white sand beaches and space for restaurants, concert venues, and more.
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A dangerous, high-speed chase took law enforcement across Mason, Llano, Burnet, and Lampasas counties on Sunday, June 23, in what might have been a “suicide-by-cop” attempt, according to officials. The driver reportedly tried to run officers off of the road several times and lied about having a child in the vehicle with him.
Ryan Anthony Lopez, 38, of Pleasanton was arrested peacefully after Lampasas County Sheriff Jesus “Jess” Ramos convinced him to exit his stopped vehicle. No one was hurt in the ordeal, officials said.
Lopez is currently being held in Burnet County Jail and is charged with four felonies: two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and two counts of evading arrest with a vehicle. He was also charged with a Class A misdemeanor for carrying a weapon without a license.
“It is highly possible Lopez was considering a ‘Suicide by Cop’ result,” reads a media release from the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Office. “Sheriff Ramos was very appreciative of all law enforcement agencies’ assistance, and he credits the positive outcome and (peacefulness) of this dangerous incident to his patience and experience in dealing with dangerous persons and situations throughout his career.”
Lopez reportedly tried to run officers off of the road and strike their vehicles several times during the chase. He told officers over the phone that he was armed and had a child in the car with him. He demanded the media come to the scene.
The pursuit ended on U.S. 281 near Putters and Gutters Fun Center in Lampasas when Lopez’s vehicle ran off of the road, the tires of his 2018 Toyota SUV having been destroyed by spike strips laid out by law enforcement.
Armed officers surrounded Lopez on the side of the highway while Sheriff Ramos built a rapport with him over the phone and learned he had no child with him. He did have a dog and an unloaded firearm in the vehicle.
According to the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Office media release, Lopez told Ramos that he was “tired of being harassed” by the police and that the CIA was involved in the harassment.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers began the pursuit of Lopez on Texas 29 in Mason County on Sunday morning. He led troopers into Llano County, reportedly reaching speeds of 110-150 mph.
Lopez passed through the city of Llano and reportedly tried to run Llano County Sheriff’s Office deputies off of the road.
The pursuit continued on Texas 29, passing through Buchanan Dam. Burnet County Sheriff’s Office deputies joined the chase and successfully spiked Lopez’s tires as he approached the city of Burnet.
Lopez again reportedly tried to run officers off of the road near Burnet and later as he approached Lampasas. His tires began to fall apart as he drove north along U.S. 281 and his speed steadily dropped.
Another successful spiking destroyed the remaining tires on Lopez’s vehicle just outside of Lampasas, bringing him to a stop.
Aggravated assault of a public servant is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison and $10,000 in fines. Evading arrest by motor vehicle is a third-degree felony that comes with two to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. The unlicensed carry of a weapon is a Class A misdemeanor, which can result in up to a year in county jail and as much as $4,000 in fines.
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“The Court finds that Defendant Horseshoe Bay Maintenance Fund has withheld funds contractually owed to Plaintiff Horseshoe Bay (Property) Owners Association,” retired Judge Frank Griffin of the Brown County Court of Law wrote in his June 15 order.
Griffin denied additional injunctive relief sought by the POA, including $200,000 to $1 million in damages and full control of the maintenance fund.
The POA’s requests to have the resort provide an accurate list of all property owners and their lot numbers and monthly accounting of all deposits into the maintenance fund were also denied.
Horseshoe Bay POA President Donald Beeman was happy with the outcome.
“Our fiduciary duty is to work for the property owners,” he told DailyTrib.com. “The judge’s ruling was a win for the property owners.”
The ruling followed a May 16 hearing for a temporary restraining order against the resort in Horseshoe Bay Property Owners’ Association, Inc. v. Horseshoe Bay Resort Destination, Horseshoe Bay Resort Development, Horseshoe Bay Resort, LTD. The lawsuit was filed on May 6 in the 33rd Judicial District Court in Llano County. District Judge Allan Garrett recused himself, which led to Griffin’s appointment as a visiting judge.
In the suit, POA officials claim the resort failed to follow its contractual obligation to deliver property owner dues collected by the resort’s maintenance fund to the Horseshoe Bay POA.
Horseshoe Bay Resort is responsible for collecting dues and allocating the money to the POA for landscaping and other public improvements.
The suit backdropped a prior $1 million lawsuit filed by the resort against the POA in October 2023 for failing to follow contractual obligations. The resort dropped that suit in March after both parties failed to reach an agreement during court-ordered mediation in February.
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A former CEO of Horseshoe Bay Resort is facing charges of child sexual assault after being indicted by a grand jury. Morris Douglas Jaffe III, 44, turned himself in at the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Office on June 13, according to jail officials.
The two charges are based in the 424th Judicial District Court. The indictment was unsealed on the afternoon of Friday, June 21, eight days after Jaffe turned himself in.
Jaffe is accused of committing the two crimes on Jan. 17, 2024.
He was released from the Lampasas County Jail on a $100,000 bond—$50,000 for each charge.
Sexual assault of a child under 17 is generally a second-degree felony that carries a punishment range of two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Jaffe’s attorney, Perry Q. Minton of Minton, Bassett, Flores & Carsey in Austin, sent a statement to DailyTrib.com via email.
“Douglas Jaffe has never hurt anyone in his life and is completely innocent of all charges against him,” Minton wrote. “The person who has made these allegations recently lost a family law proceeding in district court regarding their child and has decided to retaliate by making false allegations to law enforcement. This person has made similar allegations in multiple jurisdictions, only to be turned away by several law enforcement agencies and district attorneys alike. This case will be dismissed, or Mr. Jaffe will be found not guilty. Period.”
Morris Douglas Jaffe III is the eldest son of Horseshoe Bay Resort owner Morris Douglas Jaffe Jr. He served as the resort’s chief executive officer from 2005-12.
An arraignment hearing is scheduled for July 25 at 9 a.m. at the Llano County Courthouse, 801 Ford St. in Llano.
DailyTrib.com will follow this story as more information is made available.
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Burnet County is preparing to switch to paper ballot voting to comply with a new state law that takes effect in September 2026. Officials are planning for new voting machines in the current budget cycle and hope to implement the paper ballot system by the spring of 2025.
The county hosted a public demonstration of a prospective voting system from Hart InterCivic on Wednesday, June 20, at the AgriLife Extension Office in Burnet. The system allows voters to see their physical ballot and vote with pen and paper rather than electronically like the current system.
Despite the change, Burnet County Elections Administrator Doug Ferguson said the current system is accurate and reliable.
“There’s a small group of people who complain about election integrity,” Ferguson told DailyTrib.com. “They think our equipment is hackable, and they think people can sneak in and adjust votes. These pieces of equipment are not connected to a network and don’t have internet capabilities. Hacking is not possible.”
“(This change) is the wave of the future,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that think the only real secure way to vote is on paper. It’s kind of trying to satisfy that group of people and still keep it where it works and it’s countable and auditable.”
The Hart system still has an electronic element: a scanner that tabulates the paper ballots. Voters will be handed a printed paper ballot, mark their choices with a pen, and actually see their ballot processed through the scanner.
Even without the new law, using the old machines much longer is not an option, Ferguson said.
“I just can’t imagine anybody really wishing we would have stayed with the old machines,” he said. “Those things are old, and they’ve been around a long time and we need to move forward.”
Burnet County is currently using Hart electronic voting machines purchased in 2005.
To comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, all polling locations will still have at least one electronic voting console.
The price tag on the voting machine switch is unknown right now. Burnet County Auditor Karin Smith said the county plans to budget for the new machines for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Workshops on the upcoming budget are underway.
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Marble Falls Fire Rescue officials are considering building a second fire station on a 2-acre, city-owned property near Baylor Scott & White Hospital and the Thunder Rock subdivision off of Texas 71.
The department unveiled its plan during its annual presentation to the Marble Falls City Council on Tuesday, June 18.
“It gives us great access to U.S. 281 and (state highway) 71,” Fire Chief Tommy Crane said. “Our response times will come down tremendously.”
The announcement put an end to discussions to build the station at Legacy Crossing, a master-planned subdivision going in at the southeast corner of Texas 71 and U.S. 281.
“Our original site didn’t work out,” Crane said.
Marble Falls Fire Rescue needs an additional station as service calls have increased by 20 percent over last year.
“If we keep on this pace, we’re going to have about 400 more calls this year than we did last year,” said Crane, noting the department serviced 2,118 calls in 2023.
Overlapping calls—when MFFR has more than one call going on at the same time—are on the rise.
“It’s getting a little worrisome as we go forward because we’re seeing three calls (as opposed to normally two calls) coming in,” Crane said. “We’re having to initialize (volunteer firefighting agencies) or even Horseshoe Bay to take a call for us. That just comes with growth.”
That growth in south Marble Falls has impacted the department’s response times.
“We’re having to go south on a lot of calls,” Crane said. The fire rescue’s lone station is located in central Marble Falls at 700 Avenue N.
The chief said a second station on the south side of town would solve the bulk of these issues.
“As (the department) grows, a lot of these numbers should come down,” Crane said.
“If we get that grant, it will be very beneficial for the city,” Crane said.
Another item on the department’s wishlist is a new ladder truck.
Crane thanked councilors on Tuesday for approving $3 million worth of renovations to the department’s existing station in February. Those renovations are currently underway.
“I can’t wait to see the finished product,” the chief said. “It’s going to be beautiful.”
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A mistrial was declared Tuesday, June 18, in the murder case against James Mayer Harris Jr. of Blanco County, who was accused of killing his stepson. The trial started June 10 in the 424th Judicial District Courtroom with Judge Evan Stubbs presiding.
To avoid a retrial, Harris pleaded guilty to aggravated assault of a family member with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury or death. As part of the plea deal, he was sentenced to 10 years’ deferred adjudication, which is a type of probation that can only be granted by a judge. Harris will have to comply with certain conditions to serve his sentence in the community rather than jail. Any violation of those conditions will result in imprisonment.
Harris was charged with murder in the Aug. 28, 2021, death of his 25-year-old stepson, Donald Boumans, in Blanco County. The venue was changed to Llano County as preparations for a jury trial began.
The jury split down the middle on whether or not the shooting was in self-defense, District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee told DailyTrib.com.
Judge Stubbs declared a mistrial on the first-degree felony murder charge. Harris then pleaded to the lesser first-degree felony.
DA McAfee said he had planned to retry the case, but when the plea offer was made, he conferred with family members of the deceased and changed his mind.
“I think, under the circumstances, it was the right thing to do,” he said. “The family agreed with me.”
The trial was one of four murder cases that have been on the docket for the 33rd/424th Judicial Districts since the spring. The district includes Burnet, Llano, Blanco, and San Saba counties.
The other three will be on the docket in August, when the one most prepared for trial will begin jury selection. They include:
Dennis Wayne Price II, who faces a first-degree murder charge in the Oct. 3, 2022, death of his wife, Carrie Ann Price, in Kingsland. He is out on a $1 million bond.
Jordan Eric Ostrander, one of two people charged with capital murder in the Jan. 14, 2023, deaths of 38-year-old Preston Wessling and his 14-year-old son, Evan, in Tow. Also charged was Kyler Nathaniel Allen. Both are being held in the Burnet County Jail without bail.
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Emily Pataki was elected president of the Pedernales Electric Board of Directors during its regular meeting on Friday, June 21. PEC held its annual meeting at its Johnson City headquarters at 9 a.m. followed by a regular meeting at 10 a.m.
The election results for three board seats were announced at the annual meeting. PEC members who voted in their respective districts returned incumbents Milton Rister, Paul Graf, and Amy Akers to districts 1, 6, and 7, respectively.
In the officer election, Pataki replaced Mark Ekrut, who served as president last year. He replaced her at the June 2023 meeting.
The board elected Travis Cox as vice president and Ekrut as secretary/treasurer.
Directors James Oakley and Paul Graf both opted out of all three officer elections. Oakley, who is also the Burnet County judge, represents District 5, which includes Marble Falls and Bertram.
The officer election is by secret ballot. Board members write their choices on a piece of paper that is handed in and counted. Results are announced immediately. Each position is a separate vote.
The next meeting of the PEC Board of Directors is 9 a.m. Friday, July 19, at headquarters, 201 S. Avenue F in Johnson City.
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