MEADOWLAKES — A blaze at the home of a firefighter Aug. 28 damaged a side of the dwelling and the roof, as well as causing some smoke and water damage inside, officials said.

A woman and a child were at home when the blaze in the 200 block of Chaparral Street broke out about 12:45 p.m., but officials said they weren’t injured.

The home is the residence of a Granite Shoals firefighter, several neighbors said.

PHOTO: First responders rushed to a house fire at the corner of Chaparral Street and Meadowlakes Drive on Aug. 28. Crews were able to bring the blaze under control at the house, which sustained damage to a side and the roof, as well as some water and smoke damage inside. A large vent over the garage shows damage from smoke. Photo courtesy Jared Fields

“There is light smoke and some water damage on the interior,” said Terry White, chief of the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department. “As far as the origin, we’re still looking at that. It’s unknown at this time.”

White said the fire started outside on a patio and moved up the siding and then to the roof.

First responders rushing to the scene included the Marble Falls volunteers, Marble Falls Fire Rescue, Granite Shoals Fire Department, Horseshoe Bay Fire Department, the Spicewood Volunteer Fire Department and Burnet County deputies.

jared@thepicayune.com

LLANO — A defendant charged with murder told investigators it was either kill or be killed by members of a motorcycle gang if he didn’t carry out an execution-style slaying, a jury heard during the second day of the man’s trial.

Thomas Barkley Creech, 35, is accused of fatally shooting Mark Shurish, 29, whose remains were found October 2010 in a burn pit on a ranch in Mason County.

A Llano County jury on Aug. 28 heard Creech in a taped interview with sheriff’s investigators Mark Burke and Bill Boyd claim he killed Shurish on the orders of two members of a motorcycle gang as part of an ongoing drug war.

"I was going to clean up the mess or I was part of the mess," Creech told the lawmen in a videotaped interview, which was played to jurors in 424th state District Judge Dan Mills’ courtroom.

Two interview sessions were conducted Oct. 22 and Oct. 24, 2010, after Creech’s arrest.

In the tapes, Creech outlines what happened June 5, 2010, when he and Shurish arrived at a Buchanan Dam residence in the 9000 block of RR 1431 after leaving a local bar.

During the interview played for jurors, Creech said he got Shurish to the residence under the pretense the deceased was going to meet a possible funding source in the drug trade. Once in the home, Creech told investigators he and Shurish went to the bedroom where methamphetamine transactions took place.

"About the time that (Shurish) realized nobody was there, I shot him," Creech said in the video.

Llano County investigators said Creech took the body to the ranch to dispose of it.

Creech fled to Missouri, where he eventually turned himself in to authorities after Burke contacted him about recovering Shurish’s body, the investigator told jurors.

Creech told investigators that he killed Shurish under orders from two members of a mid-tier motorcycle gang.

Burke told jurors that Creech believed the pair directed him to take the action because Shurish was beginning to expand a methamphetamine business on their turf.

However, Burke said it seemed likely the two motorcycle club members were actually carrying out a personal agenda.

Burke told the court that investigators learned one of the men had a previous relationship with Shurish’s wife Kelly Ann Lee.

During the interviews two years ago with investigators, Creech told deputies he felt coerced into slaying Shurish because if he didn’t, he and his then-girlfriend Letecia Chapman Jeffers could be the ones who were killed.

Under questioning by defense attorney Richard Davis, Burke said it appeared Creech believed the slaying was authorized by an outlaw motorcycle gang.

In earlier testimony, witnesses told jurors that Creech was a member or a prospective member of a lower-tier affiliate of two other motorcycle gangs.

The two men Creech told authorities coerced him into killing Shurish were members of a middle-tier gang, Boyd told jurors.

But during their investigation, Boyd reached out to a member of the top gang, who told the lawman they take care of their own issues and don’t delegate, Burke told jurors.

Burke told the court the two men probably acted on their own. He added deputies have not been able to locate the pair, although they know their identities.

After Shurish died, the lower-tier club stripped Creech of his patch and took his motorcycle; the two men who spoke to Creech were also banished by the clubs, investigators said.

Lee testified Aug. 27 that she believed her husband, Creech and another woman were involved the methamphetamine trade.

A woman who lived near the Buchanan Dam residence where Shurish died told jurors she witnessed many people coming and going day and night.

Both the state and defense rested Aug. 28.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Aug. 29.

As the investigation unfolded two years ago, three other people were charged in the case with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, meaning a corpse — Mary Louise Grote, 56, Justin Dale Silvernale, 26, and Jeffers, 25.

Authorities have since dropped the charge against Grote. Jeffers was scheduled to enter a plea Aug. 17 but never showed up, court officials said.

Silvernale earlier this year pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to two years in prison.

No one else has been charged in the case.

daniel@thepicayune.com

BERTRAM — The small city of Bertram has has had some big problems this past year.

An independent audit found expenditures that helped trigger a probe, three council members resigned and temporarily halted city functions, a former city treasurer filed a whistle-blower suit against the city alleging fiscal impropriety and the state Attorney General’s Office is now conducting an investigation.

LLANO — A Llano County jury heard opening statements Aug. 27 in a case that could decide whether a man’s death was a cold-blooded slaying or the result of an "off-the-books" business that went sour.

Thomas Barkley Creech, 35, is charged with murder in the death more than two years ago of Mark Shurish, 29, whose remains were located on a Mason County ranch in October 2010.

Authorities say Creech lured Shurish to a Buchanan Dam residence June 5, 2010, intending to kill him.

"(Creech) lured Mr. Shurish there for the sole reason of executing him," prosecutor Stacy Street told jurors as the trial began in 424th state District Judge Dan Mills’ court.

But defense attorney Richard Davis told the jury of seven women and six men — including an alternate — that the case may not be so cut and dried.

"The evidence is going to show you there was a murder," Davis said during his opening arguments. "But as you hear the evidence, (it) isn’t quite as simple as the state (claims). The real issue here is the circumstances surrounding it."

Davis alluded to an "off-the-books" business Creech and Shurish were involved in.

Following jury selection that morning, open statements and then testimony began after lunch.

Eddie Huddleston, 39, testified that Creech told him sometime during the summer of 2010 that Creech had shot Shurish in the back of the head at a Buchanan Dam residence.

Prosecutors asked Huddleston what Creech, 35, told him about the incident.

"That he had killed (Shurish)," Huddleston said. "(And) that he used a pistol."

According to Llano County deputies, Creech killed Shurish at the residence and then eventually took the body to a Mason County ranch where he tried to dispose of it. Authorities recovered Shurish’s remains months later with help from anthropologists at  Texas State University at San Marcos.

As the investigation unfolded two years ago, three other people were charged in the case with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, meaning a corpse — Mary Louise Grote, 56, Justin Dale Silvernale, 26, and Letecia Chapman Jeffers, 25.

Authorities have since dropped the charge against Grote. Jeffers was scheduled to enter a plea Aug. 17 but never showed up, court officials said.

Silvernale earlier this year pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to two years in prison.

On Aug. 27, Silvernale testified Creech admitted shooting Shurish. Silvernale told jurors he helped Creech pick the body off the floor and place it in an entertainment center, but that was the extent of his involvement.

Street told jurors Creech tried to escape justice.

"He dumped the body, he pawned the weapon and he fled the state," she said.

He was arrested Oct. 19, 2010, in Madison County, Mo., and returned to Llano County where he’s remained behind bars ever since.

Davis told jurors there is more to the story and asked them to keep an open mind about a possible business arrangement.

Shurish’s widow Kelly Ann Lee, 29, testified she believed her husband, Creech and and another woman were involved in the illicit methamphetamine trade.

Lee described for jurors the last time she saw her husband June 5, 2010.

The couple with a third man traveled to Fuzzy’s, a watering hole at Texas 29 and RR 1431 in Buchanan Dam, so Shurish could meet with Creech, she told jurors.

Shurish said he was going to go into Fuzzy’s and visit with Creech for a few moments, the widow testified. But Lee said she knew something was wrong when she pulled around the back of the bar and found Creech sitting in a car next to hers, the court heard.

Her husband left his cell phone, identification and other items on the car seat next to her before getting in the auto with Creech, Lee testified. One thing she noted that Shurish didn’t leave behind was $2,000 in cash.

"After telling me he loved me, (he) gave me a kiss goodbye — emphasized he really loved me — and he got into (the car with Creech)," Lee said.

The two men left Fuzzy’s headed in the direction of the other woman’s home, the widow said.

Lee told jurors she eventually returned home to Leander after Shurish failed to return to Fuzzy’s. When she couldn’t reach her husband for 16 days, she filed a missing person’s report. That in turn triggered the investigation that eventually led authorities to the Mason County ranch where they recovered Shurish’s remains.

If convicted of the murder charge, Creech faces up to 99 years in prison.

Testimony resumes Aug. 28 in Mills’ courtroom.

daniel@thepicayune.com

LLANO —  Investigators are trying to piece together clues in the crash of a small airplane Aug. 25 that killed a student pilot from Bertram and his Kerrville flight instructor.

The wreckage was discovered by another plane south of the Llano Municipal Airport about 3:25 p.m., according to the Department of Public Safety.

Bobby Luker Jr., 51, of Bertram and Scott P. Belt, 60, of Kerrville were pronounced dead at the scene just north of RR 2241 and Texas 29 at 3:27 p.m. by Llano County Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 Linda Ballard.

According to DPS, the two men were in a Grumman AA-1 series training aircraft which had taken off from the airport.

Airport officials reported they last heard from the pair about four-and-a-half hours before the wreckage was discovered.

"The training aircraft took off from Llano airport at approximately 10 a.m. performing ‘touch and goes’ for student pilot to practice landing the aircraft," the DPS report stated. "Last contact was approximately 11 a.m. At 3:25 p.m. wreckage was reported by another plane from the air."

The Federal Aviation Administration was asked by DPS to investigate. Information about the cause is pending.

editor@thepicayune.com

MARBLE FALLS — Voters in the Marble Falls school district Aug. 25 approved a “tax-shift” that eliminates a $400,000 shortfall and could put money back into some pockets, officials said.

The rollback tax election passed 269-104. The measure moves 1.33 cents from a fund to pay off debts, which are going down, to maintenance and operations. In effect, it shifts a penny and is not a tax increase.

“I think what the community is saying is that we as a district are truly kid-centered,” said Rick Edwards, president of the Marble Falls Independent School District board. “This money is ultimately going directly to the kids to help them become successful.”

Had the measure failed, officials would be forced to cut $400,000 to end with a balanced budget for fiscal year 2012-2013. Classes begin Aug. 27.

“I think this vote is very positive for the district and the community,” said Assistant Superintendent Allen Roberts.

The vote means the overall MFISD tax rate will be $1.28 per $100 valuation compared to the previous rate of $1.29 — an overall savings to many taxpayers, officials said.

The school board voted July 16 to take the 1.33 cents from the debt service rate and move it to M&O, while cutting another penny which taxpayers get to keep. Because the additional money for M&O pushed that portion of the rate over $1.04, it required voter approval.

The district proposed a 2012-2013 budget of $43.4 million with $36.8 million for maintenance and operation.

“It takes all of us to build successful schools,” said Superintendent Rob O’Connor.

daniel@thepicayune.com

LLANO — Two men died in the crash of a plane the afternoon of Aug. 25 in a rural area south of the Llano Municipal Airport, officials said.

The victims have not been identified pending notification of relatives, according to the Department of Public Safety.

The crash occurred about 3:25 p.m. just north of RR 2241 and Texas 29, northeast of town.

The Federal Aviation Administration was called to investigate the crash.

No cause has been reported.

MEADOWLAKES — Homeowner Perri Mancil wasn’t expecting any guests Aug. 20 when she looked out her window, but she ended up with 40,000-50,000 buzzing visitors who stayed several days.

On Aug. 23, those guests got an escort to their new home, courtesy of two Georgetown beekeepers who removed the hive after the winged intruders invaded the outside of Mancil’s home.

PHOTO 1: Elizabeth Exley (left) and her 16-year-old son Paul check out the remaining bees at a Meadowlakes home Aug. 23 after removing a basketball-size hive from the overhang. The homeowner, Perri Mancil, said the bees began swarming Aug. 20 and built the hive — including four honeycombs — in a couple of days. Staff photos by Daniel Clifton

MARBLE FALLS — The city is moving ahead on a budget that gives employees 3 percent merit raises and calls for a slightly higher property tax rate.

Meanwhile, some residents could see a slight decrease in water bills.

The proposed budget calls for about $4,000 more in spending in the general fund over last year for $8.6 million during fiscal year 2012-2013.

“Our staff has worked with us to cut back on the budget,” finance director Margie Cardenas said during the Aug. 21 City Council meeting.

The budget includes 3 percent merit raises for staff, who have not seen a pay increase in three years, officials said.

To provide for the general fund and debt service, the city is proposing an overall tax rate of 64.83 cents per $100 valuation, which is four-tenths of a penny above the previous rate.

Along with the property tax, the city relies on sales taxes to support the general budget. During the past year, those have risen and fallen with the economy.

The council will vote on the budget and property tax rate 6 p.m. Sept. 4 during its regular meeting.

The council held a public hearing on the budget Aug. 21, but no one addressed the general fund.

Along with the general fund expenditures, the city will spend $3.2 million next year on debt payments.

In the meantime, some residents could see their water bills go down slightly if the city approves a change in the rate structure. Officials said 2,000 gallons of water is currently covered in the base rate.

But if the council adopts the recommended changes, the city will charge $3.25 per 1,000 gallons up to 5,000.

Some customers will experience a decrease of $3.58 to $3.30 in the 6,000-10,000 gallon range; $3.61 to $3.35 in the 11,000-20,000 gallon range; and $3.64 to $3.40 in the 21,000-30,000 gallon range. The rates will remain the same above those parameters.

The rates are set per 1,000 gallons.

daniel@thepicayune.com