The Farmers’ and Craft Market was crawling with Badgers this past Saturday, up bright and early to raise money for their team. Dressed in Badger blue warm-ups, hoodies, and Letterman jackets, these students hit the pavement instead of hitting the mats, due to unfortunate budget restraints that cost them a tournament trip to Bryan, TX.
You wouldn’t know by looking at them, however, that their weekend plans had been spoiled - wrestler Charlie Freese greeted shoppers warmly as they approached, kindly asking for their support with the same confidence she has surely channeled into her multiple wins this season. According to the team, they typically compete in 10 tournaments and 15 meets each season, but, like everything else, inflation has wreaked havoc on the school’s transportation costs, and only 5 of the 10 tournaments are fully funded as of now. Though there are many willing and able adults who could drive the Badgers to their out-of-town events, LISD is required to bus them, according to booster club founder and president, Dawn Fernandez. While the wrestling team is in its 7th season, the booster club just came into existence this year, not a minute too soon. And they are not the only group doing so - the fire department rode down to the Square in style to pose for a photo op with the Badgers, and the Hill Country Wildcats Wrestling Club donated half the proceeds from their "Sunday Scrap" to the wrestlers. There truly could not be a team more deserving of your support. After posing flawlessly for a group photo in front of the LFD fire truck, every wrestler clambered around, eager to have their story told, not for their own individual glories, but for the sake of a team that has trained hard enough to earn a place at every tournament. Varsity Team Captain Daemien Rivas proudly, though humbly, informed us, “This is the best talent we’ve ever had.” If you'd like to help the Badgers make it to their next tournament, you can donate directly to the LHS Wrestling Booster Club by contacting them at lampasaswrestlingboosterclub.com. And gear up for Badger Wrestling’s last home match of the season Wednesday, January 17th! This match will be a Tri (3 teams competing against each other) with competitors Leander Rouse and Chaparral (Killeen). Be sure to come out and support the home team. Let’s Go Badgers!!
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This past Saturday, the LHS Law Enforcement Team competed at a Regional Competition in San Antonio. The class competed in 4 separate events, in teams of 4 and 6 as well as individually. Last year’s group, led by Coach Michael Tatum, did well enough at Regionals to drive on to the State finals - we are happy to report they repeated that success this year! What’s more, this is the team’s first time competing in 3 of the 4 events, and they were still able to pull out the W’s!
A team of 4 Badgers placed 1st in the Felony Traffic Stop event. Congratulations to Srs. Jason Brock and Bryce Neely, Jr. Lena Jefferies, and Soph. Lilian Stephens! This was the team’s second year in a row coming in 1st. In the Cell Extraction event, a 6-person team scored 2nd place. Congratulations to Srs. Connor Ferreira and Jason Brock, and Jrs. Loreily Mejia, Johnathan Harris, Willow Collins and Lena Jefferies! In the Intoxicated Driver event, Badgers competed individually. Congratulations to Sr. Connor Ferreira, who placed 2nd, and Jr. Lilian Stephens who came in 3rd! And finally, in the Fingerprinting event, congratulations to Jr. Loreily Mejia for placing 1st and Brice Miller, who followed with a 2nd place win! Coach Tatum is very impressed with these two Badgers for placing so highly in an event with 31 competitors. Let’s Go Badgers, we’ll see you in January for State! The LHS Law Enforcement class were not the only Badgers in the building at the Texas Public Service Teachers’ Association’s regional competition last Saturday - the EMT and Fire students showed up just as ready to win!
In the EMTs’ Patient Response event, 1st place went to teammates Jakiyra Taylor, Sarah Rouss, Abigail Bell and Ben Ybarra. The Fire students competed in multiple events on Saturday. In the Search and Rescue competition, Badger Anthony Carey placed 1st, and in the Bunker Race, Jenytre Obeda (JD) and Joseph Walden came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.] The Fire Agility Course allowed students to compete individually as well as in teams of 4. In the individual event, Justin Matous came in 1st place and Gunner Rhymes came in 2nd. Two LHS Teams competed in the team event, taking 1st and 2nd place as well! The first-place team consisted of Anthony Carey (Tire Slam), Joseph Walden (Dummy Drag), JD Obeda (Equipment Carry) and Justin Matous (Hose Drag). The second-place team was made up of classmates Wren Garner (Equipment Carry), Gunner Rhymes (Dummy Drag), Gabe Stembridge (Hose Drag) and Peyton Sutherland (Tire Slam). A huge congratulations to our all our Emergency Services Badgers, and we’ll see you at State next year! Did you know that Lampasas High School offers law enforcement, fire, and EMT classes? If you do, it’s thanks to the efforts of two of LHS’s finest, Michael Tatum and Steve Haviland, founders of the courses training the next generation of first responders. When we came across a video of the class, hard at work, training for competition, we knew there was a brilliant story to be told under all that gear – Lord knows why it took us so long to come around!
Together, Mr. Tatum and Mr. Haviland have been training students, both in and out of the classroom, to bravely fill the shoes of a dwindling but desperately needed part of our society. Students attend class every day as an elective, and train afterschool 3-4 times a week, for an hour or more. Offered to Seniors only, completion of the EMT course allows them to apply to take the National Registry Certification upon graduation. Students of all 3 courses also take part in competitions to test their skill-sets - all 3 teams advanced to the State level last year, and hope to repeat that success this weekend! The teams left for San Antonio Friday night to compete in a regional competition hosted by the Texas Public Service Teachers’ Association. Ten students on the law enforcement team will compete in 5 events: building searches, felony traffic stops, fingerprint listing, standardized field sobriety tests, and cell extraction. The EMT team will compete in a patient assessment event for time and accuracy. The Fire pupils will compete in a bunker gear race, a timed event. Mr. Haviland says that while the cut off time for an individual to accurately don their gear for State certification is 1 minute, the goal is to get it done in 30 seconds. As of now, one student, Sophomore JD Obeda, has successfully hit that mark! Other events include a search/rescue and individual/team agility courses (with all their gear on!). Both coaches would like to shout out 3 students that have stuck it out with them for the long-haul, Sr. Bryce Meeley, Sr. Jason Brock, and Jr. Tony Carey. Good luck to you all this weekend and to our readers, stay tuned for a report on all the action! It’s that time of the year again! Join Vision Lampasas, Lampasas Radio, and the Chamber of Commerce for Christmas on the Creek, today, December 9th, at WM Brook Park from 5 to 8 pm! The event will include: visits and photos with Santa, sleigh rides, playing in the snow (and maybe snowball fights, I hear!) bounce animals in Santa’s barnyard, music and strolling through the lights, free s’mores and hot chocolate, and several other goodies to eat and drink! Admission is free and activities are free, and there will be some foods available for purchase. Vision Lampasas’ Dorinda and Dianna joined us in the studio yesterday morning to promote the event and give us a little history lesson on how it all came to be.
Prior to 2014, the City decorated the park with Santa’s Village, Twelve Days of Christmas and other lights. But eventually, a few locals thought, “MORE LIGHTS!”, and a fundraising campaign was started. Thus, the “Christmas on the Creek” committee was born! Year by year, the committee refurbished the City’s old props, redesigning and repainting buildings in Santa’s Village and the Twelve Days of Christmas cards, refurbished Santa’s big sleigh and reindeer, making a forest of Christmas trees, and even building a sleigh to offer rides in the park. Past fundraising by the Christmas on the Creek committee and by Vision Lampasas, along with generous support from the city, have allowed for larger and larger displays each year! But nothing lasts forever, and that includes Christmas lights. The bulbs burn out and need to be replaced every year, which costs several thousand dollars. And now, more than just the bulbs need to be replaced, the wiring also needs to be brought up to date. You will see that the park is only half lit this year, as all working bulbs and wiring has had to be combined in one area, leaving the north side of the park without the canopy lights in the trees. The original lighting cost almost $90,000 so after 10 years of inflation, you can imagine the current costs. To cover the expense, Vision Lampasas is launching the “Buy a Bulb” campaign, with the slogan “Buy a Bulb and Be the Light, Lampasas!” They are also encouraging donations on their website, visionlampasas.org, via debit/credit card, and will have a donation booth at the Christmas on the Creek event. Alternatively, you can mail them a check or drop one off at the Chamber of Commerce, who will be happy to pass it along! In addition, the Briggs, owners of My Girls, have generously allowed them space in their lobby to set up Total Solar Eclipse merchandise - t-shirts, stickers, note pads, calendars, coffee cups, and new items coming in all the time! All the proceeds from these items are going towards Christmas on the Creek. Donation or not, be sure not to miss this beloved Christmas spectacle, coming to you live and on the radio at KACQ 101.9FM and lampasasradio.com. Police Chief Melissa Cantu was indicted Wednesday, December 6th, in the 27th judicial district. Lometa lawyer Raika Roe confirmed. Cantu had previously been placed on administrative leave while undergoing an investigation by the city, which came on the tail of a separate investigation done by the DA and the Texas Rangers.
The County’s investigation found Cantu to have violated TX penal code 16.02, which prohibits the unlawful interception, use, or disclosure of wire, oral or electronic communication. In essence, the code prohibits unlawfully obtaining these types of communications, as well as using or disclosing communications knowingly obtained in an unlawful manner. Cantu was indicted not only for unlawfully obtaining (intercepting) the recordings, but also for disclosing that information to third parties. Following the county’s investigation and subsequent warrant, Cantu was placed on paid administrative leave while a City investigation commenced. The purpose of the City’s investigation was to determine whether employee policy & regulations were violated. According to Rowe, their investigation looked into the recording equipment that was used and whether its use directly violated employee policy. The investigation was conducted in a closed executive session at Tuesday’s Lometa City Council meeting, where Police Commissioner Bob Butler and Park Commissioner Jaelyn Downey presented their findings, according to the posted agenda. Cantu's Administrative leave was scheduled to end Monday, Dec. 4th after the regular meeting of City Council, but that meeting was postponed until Tuesday. Despite the delay, Cantu's leave did end, and according to Rowe she was free to return to duty Tuesday. Cantu was booked by Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department that Wednesday and has already bonded out at the time this story was written. Going forward, the Mayor will decide on next steps regarding Cantu’s employment, as he oversees the procedures for investigating department heads/employees. For the rest of us, we will just have to wait and see what happens next. The Lampasas Volunteer Fire Department and Lampasas Police Department hosted a luncheon yesterday to drum up support for LVFD’s annual Toy Drive event. The luncheon’s numbers took a beating during Covid, but is back up and running strong this year and last, according to Police Chief Jody Cummings. Volunteers collected a trailer full of toys and many cash donations, with roughly 400 people in attendance! LVFD and LPD would like to give a this grateful shout out to the community: “Thank you to our great community and to everyone who helped!” |