Friday, March 29, 2024

Year in Review, Part 2

Posted

The second half of 2019 heralded significant political changes.

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, who was first elected to represent Texas District 11 in 2005, announced that he would retire at the end of his term. That announcement kicked off heated competition for the congressional seat.

State Rep. Mike Lang, R-Granbury, surprised many by dropping his bid for a third term and running instead for a seat on the Commissioners Court.

The November-December filing period for the 2020 spring primaries brought out what may be the largest field ever of Republican candidates for local office, or at least the largest number in recent memory.

Meanwhile, people continued moving to the lake community, and some opened businesses here. Among them were Mark and Laurie Cohen, formerly of Austin, who opened the “Sew Much Love” quilting business, and Jim and Melanie Malone, owners of Granbury Ballet & Dance Arts. Both businesses are near the historic square.

Here’s what happened during the second half of 2019:

JULY

First responders find the body of 50-year-old Angela Perry Hickson outside her burned car in Lake Granbury Harbor.

Visit Granbury Director Tammy Dooley says she is thrilled by the announced three-year project to restore the historic Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells and predicts that the destination hotel will boost tourism throughout the region.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, announces that he will seek re-election in 2020.

Jeff Gerber, CEO of Pierce, Goodwin, Alexander & Lin-ville, gives a slide presentation to the Granbury City Council on the proposed $13 million, 29,000-square-foot police station as city officials move toward turning dirt on the facility, possibly in the first quarter of 2020.

The Granbury School Board approves a new salary package that allows pay raises of up to $4,000 for teachers, librarians, counselors and registered nurses with more than five year’s experience.

Although many jailers can’t wait to leave the low-paying, less-than-glamorous job, Granbury High School graduate Eric Turbeville, 26, stays, works his way up and becomes the jail administrator responsible for 48 staffers at the 192-bed county jail.

Storms with winds up to 65 mph cause the roof to cave in at a home in Canyon Creek and leave firefighters and other first responders scrambling to respond to emergencies.

Granbury city officials agree to try to undo or renegotiate a contract related to “prime real estate” that was signed in 1982 and to pay closer attention to contracts in the future after Mayor Pro Tem Tony Mobly points out that the city had lost, at minimum, $177,500.

The Commissioners Court hires firefighter, paramedic and arson investigator Ciji Montemayor to be the county’s new fire marshal and emergency management coordinator.

Mark and Laurie Cohen of Austin retire 15 years earlier than anticipated and move to Granbury to open Sew Much Love, a quilting business, near the square.

The city hires Mike Linnabery to be the new operations manager for the Lake Granbury Conference Center and also hires Crystal Douglass to serve as sales manager.

Political newcomer Lee Overstreet files for the Place 2 seat on the Granbury City Council and Mayor Nin Hulett files for re-election while Granbury School Board incumbents Mark Jackson (Place 5), Barbara Townsend (Place 6) and Rhonda Rezsofi (Place 7) also file.

Granbury High School graduate and mother of three Angela Justice seeks help from the Sky Harbour community in finding her 5-foot-long ball python Vicky, who escaped after someone failed to secure the lid on her aquarium.

In a workshop with AT&T representatives and state employees, the county judge and commissioners express wariness about participating in the state’s grant-funded Election Security Assessment program ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Granbury School Board president Mark Jackson says the district is considering building a new elementary school to accommodate the district’s enrollment growth.

AUGUST

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, becomes one of six Texas GOP House members to announce that he will not seek relection in 2020.

355th District Judge Ralph Walton says that the creation of a district Child Protection Court with a traveling judge could relieve his court’s caseload and delay the need for the county to spend significant sums to create a second district court.

City officials ask for the public’s help in demanding that the Texas Transportation Commission re-commit to widening Hwy. 377 from SH 144 to SH 167 after the state fails to list the promised project on its 2020 Unified Transportation Plan.

Though still waiting on a final autopsy report, Sheriff Roger Deeds says he believes that Angela Perry Hick-son’s death was an accident caused by tall grass catching fire from her car’s exhaust.

Tolar ISD leads all Hood County public school districts in the 2019 Texas Education Agency Accountability Ratings with an overall score of 94, while Granbury ISD receives a grade of 81, or a B.

Library Director Karen Rasco resigns.

Visit Granbury, with help from a volunteer Lake Committee, plans its first “dive-in” movie for boaters and others.

A 3-year-old is found alone in a boat and her father’s body is recovered from the lake hours later.

Granbury attorney Kellye SoRelle announces her intention to challenge state representative and fellow Gran-bury resident Mike Lang for the District 60 seat that Lang has held for two terms.

The Commissioners Court appoints Andi Ferguson, the chief deputy of Tax Assessor-Collector Teresa McCoy, to fufill McCoy’s unexpired term after she resigns to move out of state with her husband.

Thanks to Laguna Tres resident Karen Bedford, who didn’t freak out when she found a 5-foot-long ball python curled up on her backyard grill, Angela Justice is reunited with her pet of 20 years, who had been missing for a month.

The Hood County Pastor Council sends a letter to each member of the Commissioners Court asking that their search for a new library director focus on one with “strong Christian world views.”

Gov. Greg Abbott announces that Granbury has been designated by the Texas Film Commission as a “Film Friendly Texas” community, opening the door to more jobs and further boosting the tourism industry.

Thanks to increased state money, the Granbury School Board slices the school tax rate 7 cents.

The Granbury Pirates and Tolar Rattlers begin their 2019 football campaigns.

The Commissioners Court suspends Personnel Director Richard Aguirre for two weeks with pay following a closed session meeting in which they discussed several issues, including Aguirre’s failure to contact the Texas Association of Counties for legal assistance after a former jail inmate sued Sheriff Roger Deeds.

Officials in county government privately criticize the 2019-2020 Fiscal Year budget prepared by County Judge Ron Massingill and County Auditor Becky Kidd because of wide disparities in pay raises and favoriticism shown to the sheriff’s office.

SEPTEMBER

Morgan Graham, who serves on the State Republican Executive Committee and is the Republican Party Chair for Cameron County, defends Granbury attorney and state representative candidate Kellye SoRelle against claims by Republican incumbent Mike Lang and others that she is a Democrat because of her primary voting record while living in Graham’s predominantly Democratic South Texas county.

Nine-year-old Jessie Richardson Berry donates money she had been saving for a trip to Disneyland to Cook Children’s Medical Center, where her best friend, Zackary Gonzalez, had been treated for a rare and uncurable blood disorder.

The city seeks citizen input on its new parks and recreation master plan.

New laws adopted by the Legislature strip the city of Granbury of its ability to impose the masonry requirements that over the years have caused the city to have an aesthetically pleasing, cohesive look.

The Dewey R. Christopher Professional Development Center at the Royal Air Force Mildenhall Air Base in England is named after a 96-year-old Granbury man whose maintenance work on the ground helped keep bombers in the sky during World War II.

The Hood County Commissioners Court fires personnel director Richard Aguirre for, among other things, his mishandling of a federal lawsuit filed against Sheriff Roger Deeds by a former jail inmate.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, state Rep. Mike Lang, R-Granbury, and Gran-bury City Council member Greg Corrigan are among speakers at the 9/11 Patriot Day Ceremony at Memorial Lane Park commemorating the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attack that took 3,000 lives on American soil.

The Commissioners Court grants permission for Sheriff Roger Deeds to seek grant funding to pay for the purchase and installation of additional jail cameras.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Bruce White announces that he will not seek a second term in 2020, and Lipan Fire Chief Kevin Andrews confirms that he will compete for the Precinct 1 seat that James Deaver will vacate.

The Commissioners Court agrees to allow Information Systems Director Drew Wiederkehr to purchase two cameras for the purpose of filming and posting online all public meetings of the Commissioners Court.

Authorities determine that the fire that caused the death of Angela Hickson, a 50-year-old Rolling Hills resident who had several medical problems, was an accident.

San Angelo attorney and Democrat Jon Mark Hogg becomes the first candidate for the District 11 Congressional seat being vacated by Mike Conaway to visit Hood County, speaking to the monthly gathering of the Hood County Democrats.

Former Granbury City Councilman Gary Couch is booked into jail in the early morning hours on a charge of Boating While Intoxicated as authorities begin searching the dark waters of Lake Granbury for a passenger who went overboard: Donald Zacharias Zimmerman, whose body is found about 36 hours later.

Despite having announced that he will seek a third term as state representative for District 60, Mike Lang, R-Granbury, says that he will instead run for the Precinct 3 seat on the Hood County Commissioners Court that Bruce White intends to vacate.

The county agrees to a new economic development partnership with the chamber and the city of Granbury.

Former Eddy County, New Mexico, Sheriff Scott London moves to Hood County and brings with him his Cycle Funeral Services – a low-riding, windowed “hearse” that he hauls with his Harley Road King.

Chamber president and CEO Mike Scott hires Shea Hopkins to focus on economic development, particularly as it pertains to bringing industries with good-paying jobs to Hood County.

Assistant Library Director and Youth Librarian Rhiannon Graham is named interim library director until the Commissioners Court is able to hire a permanent replacement for the retired Karen Rasco.

OCTOBER

Within 48 hours, State Rep. Mike Lang, R-Granbury, goes from running for re-election to running instead for Precinct 3 County Commissioner, then back to seeking re-election to the District 60 House seat.

The Commissioners Court decides to eliminate the college degree requirement for job applicants wanting to become the county’s personnel director, placing a higher value on experience.

The Commissioners Court agrees to purchase 70 cell phones for the sheriff’s, constables’ and district attorney’s offices because of a new law that could expose personal messages and information through the Open Records Act.

Ollie Donahoo celebrates 50 years of employment at Classic Chevrolet Buick GMC.

The city of Cresson and the Granbury Association of Realtors join Granbury, Hood County and the chamber in an economic development partnership.

At the request of Sheriff Roger Deeds, the Commissioners Court adopts a resolution naming Hood County a sanctuary county for gun owners.

The Commissioners Court names Melissa Welborn the county’s new personnel director to replace Welborn’s boss, who was fired by the court.

After just two months on the job, Fire Marshal Ciji Montemayor announces that she will resign because she doesn’t like “sitting behind a desk all day.”

Sheriff Roger Deeds endorses, then un-endorses, then endorses, then un-endorses former Republican Party chair Nathan Criswell for Precinct 3 county commissioner despite Criswell being under a protective order for family violence.

“After the Fire,” the title track on the new album by country singer Cody Jinks and co-written by Hood County resident Larry Hooper, hits No. 1 on the iTunes chart.

The city hires a new engineer for its Public Works department: JoAnne Milhollin Kamman.

Keene ISD athletic director Jason Hill jumps into the DeCordova Bend Estates Country Club pool to rescue a grandmother and her two grandchildren, ages 2 and five weeks, after the 2-year-old hit the gas pedal on the golf cart the trio were riding in, causing it to crash through a fence and into the deep end of the pool.

The Military Officers Association of America donates funds and Hammer and Nails, a group from Granbury First United Methodist Church, provide the labor for a wheelchair ramp for Navy veteran Dee Thomas, which allows the resident of Senior Care of Harbor Lakes to spend weekends at home with his wife.

Granbury school Superintendent Jeremy Glenn cuts a deal with Tarleton that gives Granbury students incentives to attend the Stephenvillebased university.

The Granbury ISD Education Foundation’s seventh annual 50 Fellas Foodfest raises $137,000 for students.

Local beekeeper and rescuer Vicki Parker is enlisted to help remove a huge bee hive at the Shanley House Center for the Arts that somehow previously had gone unnoticed.

Jenn Pautenis, a 29-year-old mother of two, is reported missing.

Tree of Life coffee shop owner Vincent Knox donates most of the shop’s proceeds to mission endeavors.

Terry Stamper of DeCordova and Jacque Gordon, longtime board president of Hood County Christmas for Children, announce that they will seek the Precinct 3 seat on the Commissioners Court.

NOVEMBER

Frustrated with the sheriff’s office, the family of missing mother-of-two Jenn Pautenis asks the Texas Rangers to take over the case.

Neighbors on and around Kingsley Court in Pecan Plantation grieve the passing of Pete the Peacock, who appeared after the May 2013 F-4 tornado and met his end while trying to cross Westover Road.

A Cresson firefighter is hospitalized after inhaling pool chlorine while fighting a large house fire.

Bob Swearingen ousts Rhonda Rezsofi from the Granbury School Board Place 7 seat, Granbury Mayor Nin Hulett wins re-election easily over challenger Joe Davis, and Eddie Rodriquez skates past Lee Overstreet to win the Place 2 seat on the Gran-bury City Council.

Volunteers form a search party but find no clues leading to the whereabouts of missing mother-of-two Jenn Pautenis.

The Granbury City Council approves a replat and Facilities Improvement Agreement, paving the way for Premier High School to build a school on Harbor Lakes Drive where the YMCA used to be.

Cynthia Breyman, a former English and math teacher from Andrews, joins the list of Republicans seeking to replace the retiring Mike Conaway in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Two candidates with law enforcement experience, David Streiff and Greg Neal, file to run against incumbent Sheriff Roger Deeds in the March 2020 primary.

After three lengthy discussions, the Commissioners Court approves an economic development partnership with the chamber and agrees to pay $100,000 per year for five years as part of the arrangement.

Couch Surfer Ministries opens a homeless shelter for men in Thorp Spring.

The Lake Granbury Area Beautification Council donates four 18-feet-tall Christmas trees and $4,000 worth of decorations for placement on the square.

The Commissioners Court rebuffs all but one of the Library Advisory Board’s six board member recommendations, nominating people from their own precincts despite the LAB’s nominees representing a cross-section of the county.

The field of candidates for the 2020 spring primaries grows with five more Republicans filing for county offices.

Republican congressional hopeful August Pfluger of San Angelo chooses Hood County’s courthouse as the place to have his candidate paperwork notarized to symbolize Hood’s importance among the other 28 counties in District 11.

The third library director in four years quits as the Commissioners Court continues to target the Hood County Library and its Library Advisory Board in the ongoing LGBTQ censorship controversy that began four years earlier.

Faye Landham, a volunteer who is involved with the chamber and a number of other organizations, is chosen to be parade marshal in the Night of Lights Christmas Parade.

Months after the Commissioners Court was to vote on whether to participate in a federally funded, state-supervised program to beef up election security ahead of the 2020 elections, the court still has not taken action.

Visit Granbury announces plans for its first Goosebump Jump, a way to involve the community in promoting the January-February tourism season.

DECEMBER

The Commissioners Court hires Springtown ISD teacher and library media specialist Jennifer Logsdon as the Hood County Library’s fourth director in four years.

The Visit Granbury Convention and Visitors Bureau creates a promotional campaign for the Historical Gran-bury Merchants Association’s popular Santa’s House on the square.

The HCN reports that out of 18 felony “impeding airway” or similarly classified family violence cases that were presented to the grand jury in a year’s time, only one defendant was no-billed: the man who was, or soon became, Sheriff Roger Deeds’ campaign manager.

The Granbury City Council authorizes city staff to prepare a “financial package” pertaining to five major projects that could cost a total of around $22 million.

Ed Pautenis confesses to the murder of his wife Jennifer, and law enforcement officials recover remains believed to be that of the missing mother of two.

Hood County Democrat Robert Vick files for the District 22 state Senate seat held by Granbury Republican Brian Birdwell.

The Library Advisory Board adopts a resolution asking the Commissioners Court to bring the Hood County Library under compliance with state and federal law by offering voter registration there.

In a last-minute move before the filing period ends, state Rep. Mike Lang drops his bid for a third term and files instead for the Precinct 3 seat on the Commissioners Court.