MARBLE FALLS — Though Adam Rankin Johnson first saw the falls on the Colorado River in 1854, it would take another 33 years before he eventually founded Marble Falls.

Now the community gets ready to celebrate the city’s 124th anniversary on July 9 with the annual Founders’ Day celebration, sponsored by the Falls on the Colorado Museum.

"Marble Falls is unique in several ways," said museum board member Frances McSpadden. "One thing that really sets it apart is how it’s tied to the State Capitol. The granite for that building came from Granite Mountain (located just west of town)."

The Founders’ Day Celebration is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Lakeside Pavilion, 307 Buena Vista Drive.

The actual founding day for the city is July 12, 1887.

MARBLE FALLS — The Texas Department of State Health Services will hold vaccination clinics for children and adult immunizations in July.

Vaccinations will be given 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. July 18, 1-4 p.m. July 25 and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. July 27 at 1016 Broadway, Suite 103.

To prevent childhood diseases, children need routine vaccinations at the ages of 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15-18 months, 4 years and 11-12 years, according to a state health services news release.

As a Texas Vaccine for Children’s Provider, children may receive vaccines at low or no cost for uninsured or underinsured children, children covered by CHIP or Medicaid, or children who are Native American or Native Alaskan heritage. Walk-ins are welcome as time permits. Adult vaccinations also will be provided.

For more, call (830) 693-8424.

MARBLE FALLS — Marble Falls Elementary School teacher Debby Phillips admitted she had to take her seat during the last few up-and-down maneuvers made by the KC-135A turbojet on its reduced-gravity flight.

After all, there’s a reason NASA astronauts affectionately refer to the plane ride and its parabolic maneuvers simulating weightlessness as the "vomit comet."

"But I didn’t throw up," the educator said with a laugh.

PHOTO 1: Marble Falls High School teacher David Smith checks out what effect weightlessness has on a Slinky during a flight July 1 on a NASA KC-135A turbojet. Smith and fellow Marble Falls educators Randy Guffey, Debby Phillips and Sasha Chesnut were one of 14 teacher teams selected across the United States to participate in the  NASA program. The four teachers conducted an experiment that measured how fish dissolve oxygen in water in a reduced-gravity environment. Photo courtesy of NASA

KINGSLAND — A blood drive to help with summer blood shortages is July 8 at the Kingsland Community Center.

The drive will be conducted on the Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas’ Bloodmobile bus at the center, 3451 Rose Hill Drive.

Each donor will be entered to win a $500 airline gift card and two three-day passes to an Austin music festival. Winners for the airline gift cards will be drawn at the end of July. The winner of the music festival tickets will be drawn Sept. 2.

Basic requirements to donate blood include being at least 17 years old, weighing at least 123 pounds for whole blood donation and being in generally good health. Donors need to bring a photo ID. The process takes about 45 minutes to one hour.

Visit www.inyourhandsonline.org and enter the sponsor code "kingslandcommunity" to make an appointment or contact (512) 608-5215 or nvommaro@inyourhands.org. Walk-ins are welcome.

LLANO — Horseshoe Bay author Terry Johnson will sign copies of his book "Kirby: From the Baseball Field to the Battlefield" at 1-3 p.m. July 9 at Fuel Coffee House, 106 E. Main St.

The book is about Kirby Wilcox, a natural-born leader and athlete able to turn the head of any girl in his class with his new red Ford Fairlane convertible. He aspired to win championships, wed the homecoming queen, play Major League baseball and attend college where only the elite enter — West Point Military Academy.

Set in the Missouri Ozarks, a 20th century Camelot for those who came of age during the 1950s, "Kirby" takes a journey through the era of rock ‘n’ roll before launching into the social turbulence of a changing nation in the 1960s and the dark years when young Americans fought an unseen enemy in the jungles of Vietnam.

MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls school district is cooking up some big changes in the food service department July 1.

The Marble Falls Independent School District is officially assuming the role of providing breakfast and lunch for students after ending a relationship with Aramark, a private company that ran the schools’ cafeterias for two decades.

Earlier this year, Interim Superintendent Jim Boyle told trustees the district could see $300,00 in savings by taking on the food-service role itself.

BURNET — A 37-year-old woman accused of denying food and medical care to a severely disabled daughter who later died was arrested June 27 on a warrant charging her with injury to a child.

Georgina Chavez Garcia, also known as Gina, of Horseshoe Bay was was arrested by police on the first-degree felony charge sometime before 6 p.m., according to a short release issued by city information officer Crista Bromley.

No bond information was available at press time. Bromley said more details are pending.

Police earlier in the day said Garcia may have been in Georgetown.

Municipal Court Judge Peggy Simon signed a warrant June 24 for Garcia’s arrest, charging the certified nurse with failing to provide her 9-year-old daughter with adequate food and medicine.

MARBLE FALLS — It took a year, but the Marble Falls Independent School District board picked a finalist Thursday night as the potential new superintendent.

After more than three hours behind closed doors, the trustees emerged about 10:30 p.m. during a special session and announced Robert “Rob” O’Connor as the lone finalist for the superintendent position.

O’Connor runs the 2,000-student Celina Independent School District, which is about half the size of MFISD.

Marble Falls officials hope he can raise MFISD’s state ranking to “exemplary.”

“We came together in unity and consensus as a board in this selection,” said board President Rick Edwards. “Dr. O’Connor is an exciting and dynamic person. I do believe after going through 16 to 17 interviews and candidates, we’ve chosen the one best for Marble Falls to lead us in the direction we and the community want.”

O’Connor, who holds a doctorate in education, took over Celina ISD north of Dallas in the summer of 2007. Prior to that he served as the Whitewright ISD superintendent from 2005-2007.

MARBLE FALLS —Though construction has been causing significant gridlock along several of the city’s major roads, the highway department is working hard to get things back to normal in the next few weeks, a state official said.

However, work on the U.S. 281 bridge replacement project is about six months behind schedule, officials with the Texas Department of Transportation confirmed Friday.

Construction crews involved in the three major projects — the bridge over Lake Marble Falls, work on RR 1431 and FM 2147 — are working as fast as they can, officials said.

“The biggest part of the delays should be behind us for this summer,” said Howard L. Lyons, the Burnet Area engineer for TxDOT.

“Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid all inconveniences with construction, but we try to take the worst-case scenario out of play by doing night work on 2147, 1431 and 281 to the largest extent possible,” he added.

Both TxDOT’s projects and several by the city on municipal roads will yield great returns in the future, said City Manager Ralph Hendricks.