CHESS (Christian Home Educators Support System) has been in existence for three decades. The home school Co-op consists of parent-led classes offered on a semester basis, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. Each semester is 9 weeks long with classes held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Victory Baptist Church in Copperas Cove, a home the group is quickly outgrowing, says Alaina Frederick, CHESS Secretary. There are 93 families currently enrolled from several local counties, including Lampasas. On average, each family has 4 kids enrolled, Alaina included, with 4 of her 5 boys attending regularly. CHESS accepts children from the nursery all the way to high school senior, but families must have at least 1 school-aged child enrolled at all times. A look at the curriculum for CHESS shows how they’ve managed to grow so quickly. Though there are several classes offered regularly each school year, such as life skills like baking and grammar, oftentimes, the students have a voice as to which classes make the cut – they speak up and their parents show up to support those passions. And not all who join CHESS need participate in the class work. Alaina says many families join for the opportunity to meet up with other homeschoolers in the area for field trips, outings, graduation events and even Prom, which the Co-op celebrated last night for the 2023-2024 school year. We had an opportunity to sit in on the last class of the year on Friday, April 12th, a CSI class taught by Cheryl Feinberg, CHESS teacher of 7 years. Cheryl offers the class at least once a year, with the goal of exposing students to laboratory skills and the overall scientific process, with lots of hands-on experiments. To this end, each semester students are presented with a murder case they must investigate, analyze and solve, with the objective of building a case solid enough to obtain an arrest warrant. This year the students were in for a real treat, as local Judge F.W. Bill Price volunteered his time to hear their cases. Price is the Justice of the Peace for Precinct 2 in Coryell County, as well as a Copperas Cove Municipal Court Judge, which means he magistrates for Lampasas County cases as well. With 30 years of experience under his belt, the students were hard-pressed to find a better evaluation of what they’d learned. Judge Price remarked that he was greatly impressed with their cause of death report, analytic theory of what “probably” happened, and use of forensic instruments for measurements of the physical evidence. “A medical examiner’s report is usually gibberish,” laughed Price, “but I could read theirs. By and large these kids did a great job.” After the hearing, we spoke with three young ladies who presented their investigation to the judge, Seniors Serenity L. and Millie C., both lead investigators of their respective cases, and Sophomore Katie B. As we spoke, they described in detail the skills they needed to learn to build their cases, including DNA analysis, serology (the study of bodily fluids), chromatography and handwriting analysis. It was clear all three girls enjoyed and participated whole-heartedly in the class, and all were grateful for the “real-life” opportunity to present their work and earn the arrest warrant (which both classes did successfully). Serenity, a Lampasas resident with hopes of a career in Law Enforcement as an Investigator, expressed her gratitude to Judge Price for volunteering his time: “It was a real honor meeting the Judge and getting to experience the actual issuing of a warrant.” Katie remarked that they all knew there’d be a mock investigation, but not that there’d be an actual judge to present their case to and convince. She has hopes to become a Paramedic in the future, while Millie wants to become a Florist (a well-rounded one at that!). From theater production to mock hearings, fellowship to career development, CHESS has continued to produce well-rounded members of our community and invites everyone to follow their journey as it unfolds. - MG
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Corix Utilities, water supplier to some residents in Lampasas County (Northwest Lampasas and Lometa, specifically), has sent notice to its customers of pending rate changes. In the letter, they inform customers of their official request with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) on January 31st, 2024. The rate changes, a roughly 20% increase on the meter rate, regardless of use, have been requested to go into effect on March 6th, 2024. The reason Corix has given PUCT for their proposal is an "Increased revenue requirement to recover cost of system improvements and increased expenses."
But residents aren't buying it. Many are appalled that Corix would request such a change when the quality of their product has remained exceptionally poor, with breaches to the system going unrepaired for weeks and a consistent odor of "dead fish" or "wet dog", as some have described it. Some pay out of pocket twice, choosing to buy their drinking and washing water elsewhere as a safety precaution. A form was provided along with the notice of rate changes for customers to fill out and return should they wish to protest the rate hike. A 10% refusal rate is needed (roughly 500 residents) to stop the change from going into effect. If you are a customer of Corix Utilities and wish to have your voice heard, you can find a copy of the form here. - MG Lampasas Radio would like to wish a happy 1-year Anniversary to Herb & Earnie’s Diner! The restaurant, a quaint establishment nestled into downtown Copperas Cove, is owned by two long-time residents with “dual-citizenship” in Cove and Lampasas, Andy Remedies, LHS c/o ’98, and Betina Cash. As the story goes, Herb & Earnie’s was named in honor of two of their relatives - Batina’s dad, Herbert, and Andy’s grandfather, Earnie - both active members of the Killeen and Copperas Cove communities. Earnie was a member of the Exchange Club for 50 years, and delivered meals with Meals on Wheels as well. Andy says about his grandfather, “It was a long time before I even knew what he had been doing. He just didn’t need the recognition.”
Andy and Betina did not fall far from the tree of their paternal influences. Both are former CCISD employees and continue to give back to the district. Herb & Earnie’s employs many CCISD students, hosts booster nights and makes regular donations to CCISD groups, and hosts a trivia night the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month to give people an opportunity to enjoy a night out with each other. Copperas Cove does not have many long-standing restaurants, like Lampasas, due to the transient nature of the City’s large military population. Andy gave a warm shout-out to Lampasas for our thriving local commerce; he and Betina both hope Cove’s downtown continues to grow in kind. Some of the challenges Andy admits to facing in the early days of their opening were getting the day-to-day processes down, creating consistent food quality, and dealing with “1-and-done” customers who were unwilling to extend grace to the fledgling business while they worked out the kinks. Andy’s parting advice to new entrepreneurs is this - “Know your market, do your research, be prepared before signing any contracts, hire good people, and stick with it!” In our support of local enterprise, let’s not forget to “love thy neighbor” in the process. - MG Have you picked up your February book yet?? In January we launched the first ever Radiogram Reading Challenge, inviting all you readers to make this your New Year’s resolution, too! Hester’s Books on the Square heard the call and has made it even easier to participate with hand-picked book selections to match each month’s theme. This month, we’re reading “Books written in non-chronological order.” Now, “non-chronological” may sound like a daunting word, but it simply means a book that doesn’t read in a straight timeline from start to finish. Of the 4 books Hester’s suggested to us, I chose to pick up a copy of The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides. I’ll admit, this one wasn’t the one I was inclined towards, which would have been All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (because I cheated and watched the trailer for the movie on Netflix). But what are resolutions for if not a chance to break out of your comfort zone?! So I went with the thriller. At first, the book was a bit difficult to commit to. The story does not begin with the main character, Theo Faber, but rather in the diary of the woman who will eventually become his patient, the “silent patient”, Alicia Berenson (spoiler alert!). After murdering her husband, Gabriel, Alicia ceases to speak and is reprimanded to a mental health facility, where Theo eventually comes to work. The book continues to go back and forth from Theo to Alicia, examining their personal lives, past and present, as well as the parts they’ve come to share together. The more I know about them, the easier it gets to keep reading, and the harder it is to put it down! With only a few chapters left, I am dying to see how their complex relationship plays out. If you’d like to get in on the action, head down to Hester’s Books on the Square and grab yourself a copy today! Or, if the plot of this story doesn’t strike your fancy, we’ve got two more suggestions for you: Idaho, another psychological thriller, by Emily Ruskovich, and The Passenger, one of a two-part series, by Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy. Two weeks is plenty of time, when you’re lost in a book not contained by it - so get reading, folks! - MG It’s clear to anyone looking that Lampasas High School sets a glowing example for others in many areas, sports, academics and an overall commitment to their students’ growth and development just a few. We recently noticed another place where LHS shines that’s worth mentioning – staff appreciation. The high school has taken it upon itself to make the first Friday of every month a day to celebrate its people, eliciting help from different groups around campus. Lori Wienheimer, Testing & Accountability/EB Coordinator, enlightened us as to how the decision came to be. “The administrative team at LHS wanted to improve staff morale and make sure that our teachers and staff knew how much we appreciated them. We decided the first Friday of each month would be staff appreciation, and came up with several fun themes and developed a sign-up sheet for groups to be responsible for each month. So, on Feb. 2nd our FCCLA/Culinary program did muffins with the theme ‘we would be muffin without you.’
For the month of March, the administrative team is doing a nacho bar with the theme ‘nacho average staff.’ Each month has a fun food theme and many different groups in the school have chosen a month to participate. This helps spread out the work and costs throughout the year to different groups, but still allows our staff to enjoy different fun foods.” When asked how an outside group, like Lampasas Radio, could get involved, Lori remarked, “We are always welcome to outside groups showing our teachers love and support. If there is a way you would like to be involved, then let us know and we can work on a plan.” Here’s our official suggestion for the month of April, let us know what you think - “There’s no sub for your love!” - MG Lampasas Volunteer Fire Department needs YOU! The Historic department has seen its numbers dwindling with each successive year, due largely in part to scheduling conflicts, says LVFD Chief Tim Weinrich. With a roster of only 8 active members, including the Chief himself, LVFD could really use our help. New recruits will receive CPR and First-Aid training, get assigned a mentor, have the opportunity to get EMS/Fire certified, and have the distinguished honor of calling themselves one of Lampasas’ finest, keeping our community safe. Established in the 1880s, the Volunteer Fire Department was Lampasas’ first. These firefighters served our community freely until the department was picked up by the City around the 90s and began paying to employ the fighters. Lampasas Fire Department and Volunteer Fire Department share the Fire Annex building on 4th street, with LFD primarily serving the city and LVFD covering those outside of city limits, north to FM 1690 and out towards Kempner to the boundary of KVFD, sometimes assisting to Burnet County as well. Chief Weinrich has served as LVFD’s leader since October of 2022, working his way from support to firefighter to Captain, and taking over the role from the previous Chief, Randy Lake. When asked what led him to make the decision to take the position, he said it was almost solely due to the limited number of options left to fill Lake’s shoes. “It’s a lot more meetings,” he said, “but I consider myself a ‘working Chief’ versus taking just an administrative role.” And boy does he work! When he’s not at his day job as a full-time employee of the State, Weinrich runs the department as best he can with the skeleton crew he’s got. Last year, the department responded to 346 calls, which amounts to almost one a day, on average, though he admits there are sometimes dry spells with no calls at all and hell weeks where everything happens all at once. When asked what 3 qualities he thinks make a good firefighter, the Chief put dedication and commitment to the cause, willingness to learn, and a flexible schedule at the top of his wish-list for new recruits. “It’s an adventure!” says Weinrich. “It’s not always the same stuff all the time. I personally started first as support. Then I went on a call during a Spring Ho Parade and fell in love with it.” If you feel the call to arms, you can pick up an application at the Lampasas Fire Department Annex at 1107 Fourth St here in town. And if we don’t, who will? - MG The University Interscholastic League (UIL) takes a look at its districts every 2 years, typically announcing realignments during February. Yesterday morning, Lampasas waited with baited breath for those announcements – and the results are in! Football, basketball, volleyball, and the academic teams received notice of changes, while a few others are still waiting to hear their fates.
Lampasas ISD Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Troy Rogers gave us some background on the districting and explained the changes to us. “The UIL has to look at all the schools in a certain classification and put them together based on size,” he said, “we are 4A. The UIL has 4 Regions - they put you in a district and region based on location.” We were previously in Region 4 for football, the southern region, but have now been moved to Region 1, located northwest. Volleyball and Basketball stayed in Region 3. “In football we are in the district with Marble Falls, Burnet and we added Stephenville and Brownwood. Good solid district with some state ranked teams in Brownwood and Stephenville. It will be good competition every week,” Coach Rogers remarked. “Basketball and Volleyball lost Lago Vista in the district and added Salado and Taylor. The UIL has not released the realignment information for the other sports yet. That will happen in a few weeks.” Basketball Coach Aaron Nuckles commented on his team’s outcome, saying, “Overall, don’t mind it at all. I think it will be very competitive but nothing that can’t be handled. The playoff possibilities are not too bad either. Nothing easy, but all can be handled with the correct prep and attitude!” UIL Academic Coordinator Judith McGhee also responded for comment, answering, “From a UIL academic standpoint, yesterday’s realignment threw us a curve ball. We lost Lago Vista, but gained Salado and Taylor. Salado is historically a very competitive UIL school, in academics, speech, and especially debate. They have won the coveted Lone Star Cup more than once, and their programs have lots of community and administration support.” Judith isn’t swayed in the least, though, and neither should we be! She proudly remarked, “[W]hile we might have to face tougher competition at the district level, I’ve told my teams that better competition will only make US better and more qualified for Regionals and State.” So there you have it, our Badgers will face some tougher competition this coming school year. But just remember, real recognize real, meaning, you’ve gotta be the best to play with the best! Let’s go Badgers! - MG If you haven’t yet, it’s not too late to start the Radiogram Reading Challenge! Each month, we’ve set out to read one book with a unique theme. January’s theme was “A friend or family member’s favorite book”. My mother, Teresa Gomez, quickly produced a copy of A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers for me, and here’s my official review: Though quite a long book, Rivers does a great job keeping her readers captivated the whole way through, with beautifully developed characters, down to the smallest parts, a peppering of little-known historical facts, and an overall attention to detail that surpasses many other works that I’ve read. While you could call the book historical or theological fiction, it is truly many genres in one, with thrilling romances, a great depth of POVs, and plenty of factual content. But the best takeaway I gained from reading the novel, and the reason I would recommend it wholeheartedly to teens, young adults, and seasoned readers alike, is the book’s compelling call to keep your moral compass. Rivers evokes her readers to stand firm in our faiths and convictions, humbly showing how easy it can be to lose our way, no matter who we are, and that everyone is worthy and capable of redemption. If you are looking for a book that will leave you a better human than when you found it, this is the one for you. This month, we are proud to announce our partnership with Hester’s Books on the Square, located at 516 Fourth St., Lampasas, TX, to bring you a variety of titles that will keep our New Year’s Resolution on track! Owner Anna and her employee Zoe’s February picks are “Books written in non-chronological order” and include – All the Light We Cannot See, Historical Fiction, by Anthony Doerr; Lessons in Chemistry, Romance, by Bonnie Garmus; Wrong Place Wrong Time, Mystery, by Gillian McCalister; The Silent Patient, Psychological Thriller, by Alex Michaelides. I’ll be headed to Hester’s Books on the Square today to make my choice, check back here on February 15th to see which! Happy reading everyone! - MG
Lampasas City Manager Finley deGraffenried was in studio this morning with updates for Ronnie and Angel. The first order of business is the new gateway sign coming to the side of 183 to welcome our guests as they head into Lampasas from Austin, which should be here just in time for the Solar Eclipse! Finley also reminded residents that construction will be coming to S 281 from the Burnet Co. line all the way to Key Ave. Though the start date keeps getting pushed, work will likely begin here in the next few months, and may unfortunately coincide with the Eclipse event as well. Stay tuned. Speaking of that Eclipse (third time’s the charm), Finley reassured residents that city staff, Chamber of Commerce stakeholders, and EMS teams are all prepping diligently for the event, run from Friday, April 5th, to Tuesday the 9th. Their efforts are focused on keeping the public safe and ensuring emergency services have the ability to respond if/when their assistance is needed. With Lampasas slated as an area with one of the longest viewing times for the totality, you can count on there being a disruption to your daily schedule, so please prepare for it! Finley moved on from Eclipse announcements to commemorate the retirement of Fire Marshal JP Harris and LPD Officer Tony Barrio. Fire Chief Jeff Smith has moved on as well, and will be sorely missed! The department will be looking to fill his position in the next 30-45 days, possibly in house. We have a preview of the upcoming City Council agenda for February 12th. Items up for discussion: additions to the 580 Sports Complex, including signs and bike path development; the year-end financial report, which will cover increases in wholesale costs for public works and the need for an updated budget to continue deliver those services efficiently. City Council application packets are also available now! And if you find yourself called to serve but not on the Council, the committees always have vacancies as well, and accept applications on a rolling basis. Remember, this is our town, and if we don’t look after it, who will? - MG
We all get a bit of blustery pride when we talk about “our town.” The view from the Sulphur Creek Bridge, the bandstand on the square, and our 1880s courthouse and the pool and Hostess House all make us proud. Many of us will remember, and testify with pride to the story of the old “cowboy” welcome sign and how it “used to be” and was resurrected to once again welcome people to Lampasas on Hwy 281 by the airport. The obviously busiest local volunteer group, Vision Lampasas, spends a lot of time making our town even better, and making us even prouder. One of the Vision members, Kathryn Mezger, had the vision of another well-needed welcome sign on Hwy 183, one of the most traveled paths into Lampasas. Sadly, before she could see her vision through, Kathryn passed away. But the vision is to be completed. Vision Lampasas, along with Kathryn’s husband Bill, and their company Mezger Enterprises, are working on it. One of Kathryn’s friend’s and Vision member, Libby Bluntzer, is spearheading the effort. The new “Welcome to Lampasas” sign will be erected on Hwy 183 on the property of Ronnie and Sue Ellen Bumpas. It will feature Mezger stone and metal lettering provided by Chris Odum. The sign is predicted to stand about 13 ft tall and 16 ft wide and we’d expect it to be pretty special. City Manager Finley deGraffenried told us they should be doing foundation work this week. We’ll watch as Kathryn’s vision comes to fruition, and on the occasion that we drive into town on Hwy 183, we’ll all flush with a bit of pride about “our town.” RW
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