MARBLE FALLS — More details on the first two construction phases of a possible regional sports complex and how to pay for it could be discussed during a citywide workshop Tuesday, officials said.
The workshop, the latest in a series to determine whether a sports complex is economically feasible for Marble Falls, is 4 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 800 Third St.
MARBLE FALLS — One glance at the Marble Falls business landscape and a theme begins to emerge.
Cranes tower over new businesses, city offices, a hospital and a bridge. Scaffolds and building crews seem to be everywhere. Downtown office spaces are a tick away from being 100 percent filled.
After four years of one of the worst economic recessions since the Great Depression, the business climate seems to be improving.
PHOTO: Sunrise Beach resident Judy Miller (right) examines a few store items, including specialty soaps, at La Ti Da, located at 203 Main St. in Marble Falls, as store owner Michele Hart talks about the product. The store owner says she is experiencing an uptick in business during the past few months as the local economy begins to recover. Staff photo by Connie Swinney
MARBLE FALLS — After months of discussion, parks and rec commissioners are forwarding a feasibility study on a proposed sports complex to City Council, with some suggesting that existing facilities be improved instead.
The Parks and Recreation Commission made the decision Nov. 5 after an hour of listening to different opinions, saying the council should consider the report as a “discussion tool” while also considering upgrades to existing ball parks and sports fields as another option.
The commissioners approved the recommendation one day before they join the council and the Economic Development Corp. in a workshop 4 p.m. Nov. 6 in the council chambers, 800 Third St.
Proponents say the proposed complex can bring more revenue to the region by attracting tournaments and athletic events. Some estimates have put the cost of building the complex in phases at $34 million.
Commissioner Leta Stephenson-Smith asked her colleagues to think about the purpose of constructing a sports complex.
“We’re looking through rose-colored glasses saying if we build it, they will come,” she said. “Are we building it for the community or to show our neighbors we have enough money to build it?”
Commissioner Bob Fallis said a sports complex has been discussed since he moved to Marble Falls in 1980.
“We always come up with the same problem — availability of land and cost of land in Marble Falls,” he said. “The feasibility study is very thorough and very optimistic. The numbers of tournaments put on over a period of a year, I don’t trust those figures. I don’t think we can put on that many tournaments in a year.”
City Manager Ralph Hendricks suggested the commissioners advise the council to use the feasibility study as a tool.
Consultants CSL International and Baker-Aicklen & Associates conducted the study at a cost of $50,000.
Commissioner Steve Manley suggested the council use the feasibility study as a guideline for phases 1 and 2, which include outdoor playing fields for soccer, tennis, baseball, softball and football, and not consider phases 3 and 4 for building indoor courts and a natatorium.
Several commissioners opposed that recommendation, and Manley then recommended the council simply focus on improving current facilities.
Parks and Recreation Director Robert Moss said he invited members of the sports complex feasibility study steering committee to attend the workshop.
MARBLE FALLS — The River Cities Sunday Tribune’s last edition will be distributed the weekend of Nov. 10-11, announced Publisher Amber Weems.
“The best features of The Tribune will remain, however,” Weems said. “The Tribune is being merged into The Picayune, which will continue to publish on Wednesdays and be distributed for free.”
The new “super” Picayune will begin publication on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012.
The merger of these two award-winning newspapers will better serve the information and advertising needs of the Highland Lakes as the local economy continues to recover from a national recession, Weems said.
“After 17 years of covering the news in Burnet and Llano counties, The River Cities Sunday Tribune is no longer a viable economic venture,” Weems said. “By merging the two papers, we can provide a better service to both our advertisers and our readers. The readers get the best deal — they get the best of both papers on a weekly basis and they get it for free.”
The merger was timed to coincide with Editor Thomas Edwards’ departure, Weems said. Edwards is leaving The Tribune and The Picayune for a new media opportunity in San Antonio.
“We are sorry to see Thomas go and know his expertise in reporting the news will serve him well in his new job,” Weems said.
As the flagship newspaper of Victory Publishing Co. Ltd., The Picayune will continue to print and distribute more than 25,000 papers each Wednesday — the largest press run of any newspaper in the Highland Lakes.
Paid subscribers to The Tribune have until Friday, Nov. 30, to request a refund on their remaining subscription. Tribune subscribers can call (830) 693-7152, email subscriptions@thepicayune.com or drop by the office at 1007 Ave. K in Marble Falls for their refund. Subscribers also will have the option to choose to donate their refund to The Helping Center, a local food pantry, or Picayune Pennies, a regional benevolence fund.
Now going into its 22nd year, the weekly Picayune will continue its founding mission to foster a sense of community and keep readers informed of the news and events important to the Highland Lakes, Weems said.
Victory also will continue to publish its magazine, 101 Fun Things to do in the Highland Lakes, each spring/summer and winter/fall, as well as The Picayune Area-Wide Phone Book. The Picayune’s online component, DailyTrib.com, will continue to be the go-to website for breaking news in the area.
“The Picayune is a part of what makes the Highland Lakes unique,” Weems said. “We will turn all of our attention to community reporting. We coined the term ‘Picayunish,’ a word that means writing stories about who we are as a community and what we’ve done to make our community unique. In the end, it’s who we are that makes this the best place to live.”
That commitment to community coverage has been acknowledged by several statewide journalism associations over the years with numerous awards for excellence in writing and reporting.
Dan and Lee Alvey began The Picayune in 1991. Before owning his own publication, Dan Alvey worked at The Highlander from 1974 to 1987, starting in ad sales and finishing as publisher. His wife, Lee, also honed her publishing skills at The Highlander, serving as treasurer of Highland Publishing.
The two began their own newspaper empire in 1991 with publication of The Picayune. From a small office on Main Street, the paper outgrew several locations before moving into its current facilities on Avenue K, where its presses and TV production studio also are housed.
After establishing The Picayune, the Alveys sought to meet the community’s need for a paper more focused on hard-news coverage. The River Cities Tribune began weekly publication in 1995. In 2005, The Tribune became the area’s first daily paper.
Nationally, newspapers have been in trouble for many years, with steadily declining ad revenues closing such stalwarts as the Rocky Mountain News and the Cincinnati Post. Last year, 152 newspapers shut down in the U.S. The year before that, 151 closed their doors.The Picayune has proven an exception.
The 21-year-old publication remains a force in the community, Weems said, and Victory Publishing will continue to expand and experiment in areas of the industry now on the upswing: online video and digital publications.
The Picayune TV began in 2010. It currently provides three local daily news, sports, weather and community video stories online at DailyTrib.com and Youtube.com. The Picayune also sends out a daily email newsblast to online subscribers recapping the day’s top stories.
The Picayune TV is growing in popularity, Weems said, and is free, along with the email newsblasts.
“We’re excited about our expansion into video and online,” she continued. “With this merger, we’ll be able to focus more time and attention to that area.”
And that area is the future for anyone in the news business, Weems said.
“Watch closely,” she said. “The future of journalism is developing right here in the Highland Lakes. If you’re reading this, you are a part of that future.”
BURNET — Republican District Attorney Sam Oatman won’t contest a judge’s decision to have his office step aside in the prosecution of a former GOP official who once sought candidates to run against Oatman.
The next step will be finding a prosecutor for the case. Oatman’s staff has sent a formal request to the Texas Attorney General’s Office to take over the prosecution of Johnnie B. Rogers, 63, who is accused of injuring a newspaper editor in a fight during the Republican Party primary May 29.
If the state doesn’t take the case, a special prosecutor will have to be appointed by the court.
A visiting state district judge during a brief hearing granted the motion Nov. 5 to have Oatman’s office removed from the case.
Rogers, 63, who is a former Burnet County and state Republican leader, is charged with injury to the elderly after police said he punched Burnet reporter James Walker, 66, several times outside the Burnet County Republican Headquarters.
Defense attorney Richard Davis filed the motion Oct. 3 requesting the court remove Oatman from the case, claiming the district attorney made statements that "revealed a bias and conflict of interest which impedes his legal duty to see that justice is done rather than serving primarily as an advocate."
In a sworn statement, Rogers said in the past he had sought GOP candidates to challenge Oatman, who has been the district attorney for nearly three decades. Oatman last year decided not to seek another term.
Oatman told The Tribune in October that at the time he wasn’t planning to step aside, but was reviewing the motion.
This is not the first GOP official to be removed from the case. Republican 33rd State District Judge Guilford "Gil" Jones recused himself Oct. 4.
In his place, Administrative Judge Billie Ray Stubblefield of Georgetown appointed Judge Robert C. Richardson of the 379th state District Court to handle the proceedings and possible trial.
During the hearing Nov. 5, Assistant District Attorney Gary Bunyard told the court the 33rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office would not oppose Davis’ motion.
"We do not agree with the merits of the motion, but for purposes of safety and making sure it is handled appropriately, we do not oppose the action," he said.
Richardson, however, said he had spoken briefly with the Attorney General’s Office and officials there were reluctant to take over because Assistant State Attorney General Stephen Todd made unsuccessful run for district attorney after Oatman announced he wasn’t seeking another term.
Because there is no Democratic challenger, Republican Wiley "Sonny" McAfee — who included Rogers as an adviser through the primary — is the district attorney-elect.
The District Attorney’s Office hasn’t received an official response to its request, Bunyard said.
Richardson said if the Attorney General’s Office doesn’t take the case, then he would likely have to appoint a special prosecutor.
Rogers’ case is scheduled for trial Dec. 10.
MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) — Bill Dees emerged from his days as an out-of-cash young songwriter to pen tunes recorded by Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and other country music greats, but the centerpiece of his career was his work with Roy Orbison, including co-writing the classic rock hit, “Oh, Pretty Woman.”
Dees, who died in Arkansas on Oct. 24 at age 73, had said writing the song with Orbison in 1964 changed his life. In a 2008 interview with National Public Radio, Dees recalled the night they penned the hit song, Orbison told him he wouldn’t need to go to work that Monday if he didn’t want to.
“He said, ‘Buy yourself an electric piano, and I’ll take you on the road with me.’ And he said, ‘I’ll pay you what the band’s getting,'” Dees said during the NPR interview, which is posted on his Dees’ website.
He went on to tour Europe and perform on the Ed Sullivan Show with Orbison, with whom he also co-wrote numerous other songs, including “It’s Over,” which also was a No. 1 hit.
The Texas native left home to seek work in Nashville, Tenn., where he went on to write songs recorded by performers who also included Glen Campbell. But working with Orbison defined his career.
Dees became embroiled in a lawsuit over “Oh, Pretty Woman” that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the early 1990s, after rap group 2 Live Crew recorded a rewrite despite being refused permission by Acuff-Rose Music Inc., which owned the copyright.
Dees, who detested the ribald rewrite, explained: “It’s like if someone asks you if they could use the car,” he said in 1993. “We said no, but they take it and paint it all different colors.”
The high court sided with the raunchy rappers, saying the recording was a parody that could be considered fair use. Both sides later settled.
Dees eventually moved with his family to Arkansas, and he lived in the Ozarks region of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri for more than 20 years.
A memorial is planned Nov. 3 in Mountain Home, the northern Arkansas city where he died, according to the Kirby and Family funeral home, which didn’t release details about his death. Another gathering will be held in December in Branson, Mo., home to the late Andy Williams’ famous Moore River Theater.
Dees said in a 1970 interview with the Amarillo Globe-News he first met Orbison when he performed in Amarillo. Dees twice went to Nashville in 1962 to work with Orbison, then decided to move his family there in 1964, traveling in a 1955 Pontiac.
“My wife and I decided that we would go as far as the car would take us,” Dees told the newspaper. “If it broke down before we got there, we would save money and move further on later.”
They made it to Nashville, where the car soon broke down — and Dees said he had to use his overcoat as payment to get the car towed to a mechanic, the newspaper reported Oct. 31.
Dees didn’t initially seek out Orbison after moving to Nashville because he wanted to establish himself without help, according to a biography on Dees’ website. But the pair reconnected, and with Orbison, Dees crossed Europe and twice went to England.
“I was shocked when we got off the plane in London, and there was like 10,000 people there at the airport meeting the plane,” Dees told NPR. “It was like The Beatles when they came over here.”
They appeared with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and played on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Dees continued to write songs and perform, and released his first solo album in 2002, “Saturday Night at the Movies,” which includes songs he wrote with Orbison.
As a child, Dees lived with his family in Borger, where his father worked as a sand and gravel supplier, where Dees went on to work. Dees recalled listening to barrelhouse piano music at house parties and getting bit by the music bug, according to his biography.
Dees said many times he and Orbison were lifelong friends. Orbison died in 1988.
Dees is survived by his wife, Nancy Decker-Dees of Kissee Mills, Mo.; four children and two stepchildren, a brother and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to the funeral home’s obituary.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
AUSTIN — A Czechoslovakian folk song didn’t keep several Marble Falls High School students from advancing to the next round of the Texas Music Educators Association’s all-state choir auditions.
Seven Marble Falls High students earned spots on the Region 26 choir with four also advancing to the TMEA Pre-Area auditions Nov. 27 at Eastview High School in Georgetown.
“We’re extremely excited,” said Marble Falls High choir director Bryce Gage. “The kids have been working extremely hard.”
The students selected for the region choir are Jesus Perez, Julia Weber, Mario Hernandez, Carolyn O’Connor, Blair Hambrick, Meghan Gonzales and Colton Davis.
Davis, Gonzales, Hambrick and O’Connor are also advancing to the pre-area auditions.
The Mustang choir members competed in the regional round Oct. 30 at Westwood High School in northwest Austin. The students are participating in a four-round audition process with hopes of performing as part of the TMEA all-state choir Feb. 13-16 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio.
The seven students will participate Nov. 10 in the Region 26 high school clinic and concert at Leander High School.
While the four students advancing to the pre-area auditions are excited, the process only gets tougher, Gage said.
“Now they’ll have to perform a 10-minute Latin piece by Mozart and a German piece by Brahms,” Gage said. “And (the TMEA) adds sight reading this round. But that should work out for us because our kids are good at sight reading.”
Not only are the selections more challenging, so is the competition, the choir director said.
“Plus, only the top five from each (vocal range) advance to area,” Gage said.
The top 15 advance from region to pre-area.
LLANO — It may not be Black Friday or even the Christmas rush, but local merchants are still celebrating as the hunting season opens Nov. 3 in the Hill Country town known as the "Deer Capital of Texas."
The influx of hunters helps add millions of dollars to the local economy, from restaurants to hotels, officials say. And the town wants to say thank you with a party Nov. 2.
"Everyone in town benefits from the deer hunters from restaurants, to lodging to our merchants," said Patti Zinsmeyer, executive director of the Llano Chamber of Commerce. "It’s a tremendous economic impact for our community."
While the archery season began in late September, it’s the general season — which runs through Jan. 6 — that really attracts the camouflage-clad hunters, officials said.
In fact, the number of arriving hunters can easily double the city’s population over the course of the season, they add.
The proximity to major population centers such as Austin and San Antonio make Llano a great weekend destination for hunters — and a place to spend their money. Chamber officials said.
According to the 2011 National Survey of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife-Associated Recreation report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the average hunter spends $2,484 on trip-related expenses, equipment, licenses and leases.
For instance, in Llano visits from 3,000 hunters during the season translates into an additional $7.5 million in economic activity.
Officials said Texas hunters typically spend a little more than the national average on deer hunting.
Those numbers aren’t lost on Llano residents and businesses.
Meanwhile, the Chamber hosts its annual Hunters Appreciation Day Nov. 2 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The event is at the Chamber office, 100 Train Station Drive.
The chamber and local businesses treat the hunters to food and drinks. There’s also a prize drawing during the day with the winner getting a Marlin .243-caliber rifle.
"We’ll also have 300 goodie bags for the first 300 hunters that come by," Zinsmeyer said. "It’s just the businesses’ and the Chambers’ way of saying ‘thank you’ to the hunters."
With its high number of deer, the Edwards Plateau — which includes Llano and Burnet counties — draws a lot of hunters.
"Deer hunting brings thousands and thousands of people to the area," said Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Capt. Kevin Davis. "It’s a huge boost to the economy."
Davis, who oversees game wardens in Llano, Burnet, Lampasas, San Saba, Mason and Menard counties, said people can expect to see a lot more traffic on area roads.
The season means game wardens stay busy, but their emphasis shifts somewhat from area lakes — which is where most of the activity occurs during the broiling summer — to the brush.
"There’s no slack time for game wardens, especially in the Hill Country," he said. "We’re the lead agency on lake enforcement, so that keeps us extremely busy as well. This is just a change of focus for us."
Davis said the wardens will check deer camps and deer hunters. But his officers will also conduct some "low-visibility" operations to catch people violating game laws.
SMITHWICK — Sixty-three-year-old Marcia Blayney spent 30 years building her home piece by loving piece in the 200 block of Helen’s Road, only to see it destroyed by a fire in a few hours on Oct. 28.
“It was absolutely her paradise. She loves nature walks, she listens to the birds. She hand-raised squirrels there,” said Blayney’s daughter Arwen Blayney-Lietz, who lives in Austin. “She cut every board length and nailed every board. She did literally build it herself.”
PHOTO: A 63-year-old mother, who also is a former Marble Falls school bus driver, and her 44-year-old son have lost their home in a fire on Helen’s Road in Smithwick. Family is asking for the community’s help to rebuild the structure. Staff photo by Connie Swinney
