General Excellence 10-19-23

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Warriors fall to Randolph 6-14

Plant these favorites now

Sesquicentennial story: Fossil tales

Sports, Page 10

Organic gardening, Page 9

Story below

Current

WEST KERR Thursday October 19, 2023 VOL. XXI NO. 12

Serving Ingram, Hunt, Mountain Home, the Divide

USPS 022498

WWW.WKCURRENT.COM

Ingram school board eyes building trades program By Clint Schroeder West Kerr Current

The Ingram school board Monday got a first look at a proposed construction trades program to give students work experience and provide local contractors with trained employees. Assistant Superintendent Mindy Curran introduced the proposal, which has been considered for years. “We have had several very successful CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs for the last several years and we’re kind of at a place where we couldn’t add another one until we grew

Little League fundraiser Saturday By Irene Van Winkle West Kerr Current

Ingram Little League hopes to begin building its new concession stand and restroom facilities, and fundraising continues this weekend. The public is invited to a special fundraiser this Saturday, Oct. 21, from 4-8 p.m. at the Hunt Store on Hwy. 39. Enjoy the food — a fajita dinner — and then join in for a silent auction and raffle. Music will be provided by Johnny Adair and the Country Fire. See League, Page 11

some to be able to sustain all of the different CTE programs,” she said, “and we are finally there at the moment we’ve been waiting for.” She said Board Member Steven Schulte has been assisting with information about the program. “We’ve been hearing it’s such a need, we hear from our kids they want it, we hear from our community they want us to have it,” Curran said. Board members watched a short video on a construction trades program, Casa Über Alles, that was started at Fredericksburg High School and picked up by other area

Overby named to Kerr court

districts. A spokesman for Casa Über Alles said program graduates can start on a work crew the day after graduation. Curran said the program would require community partnerships with builders and tradesmen, suppliers and other businesses. Students would start the first year with an Introduction to Trades course and then Construction Trades 1 and Construction Trades 2. She said students may start working on a house their freshman year and keep working on it through high school and possibly auction off a finished

By Irene Van Winkle West Kerr Current

See Ingram ISD, Page 2

Deadline near for Ingram residents to apply for free Phase 3 wastewater hookups The deadline is near for residents on the new Phase 3 wastewater lines to apply for a free hookup. City of Ingram residents who live on Josephine, Mineola, Moore, Sutton Circle, Harley, Velma and Winona are eligible. Cty Secretary Ruby Nix said last week that contractors advised the city that as of Tuesday, Oct. 10, there are only a few weeks left in order for them to install the yardlines and connections to the Phase 3 wastewater system. “Please be advised that the Phase 3 Wastewater project is approaching completion. The lines have been laid and it is now time to connect,” Nix said.

“Should you choose not to connect now, you will be looking at having to pay thousands of dollars out of your own pocket for a licensed plumber to come and install a tap for you to connect to the system,” she said. Nix sent letters to affected residents and enclosed apppplication and right-of-entry forms. There is a $25 New Account Fee and a $75 deposit, which can be waived with a credit reference letter from a utility company. The Right of Entry gives the contractors permission to be on your property and connect the lines to the waste water system. Ingram City Hall is located at 230 Hwy. 39; telephone 830-367-5115.

50¢

Photo by Tony Gallucci

Eclipse view Grace Beaudoin, a NASA scientist and Ingram Tom Moore High School graduate (and state champion high jumper) works with kids at the Hill Country Youth Ranch during Saturday’s annular eclipse. She showed the kids the eclipse through a special projector, and brought moon rocks for them to examine.

Monday afternoon, Kerr County Commissioners Court met briefly during which Judge Rob Kelly chose Anne Overby as the replacement for former Pct. 1 Commissioiner Harley Belew, who was ordered to step down on Sept. 29. Calling Overby a “very impressive young woman,” Kelly said that he wanted to change the composition of the court from “a bunch of white guys on Medicare,” and wanted to make a difference. Belew still had a few days left in the week to file an appeal, which he had not at press time. On Monday, he commented on Facebook that Kelly had “jumped the gun,” adding that if he wins his appeal (to be filed by the end of this week), he will be reinstated.” Overby submitted a statement on Tuesday, noting “After much consideration I see a term on the commissioners court as service that I am able to perform at this time in my career. I am thankSee County, Page 11

Hunt School Fall Carnival Oct. 28 By Irene Van Winkle West Kerr Current

Would you believe that on Saturday, Oct. 28, Hunt School will be holding its 86th Annual Fall Carnival? The Hunt School PTSA is hard at work to

make this year even better than ever, and invites everyone in Hunt and surrounding areas to get all dressed up to make it more fun. Come up Dutch Lane by the Hunt Store to the Hunt School for lots of treats, and enjoy the See Carnival, Page 11

Fossils at RNC tell very ancient history lesson EDITOR’S NOTE — This is 566th of a series of articles marking Kerr County’s 2006 sesquicentennial.

Researcher, paleontologist and fossil expert Susan Longacre stands in the Riverside Nature Center in Kerrville, dwarfed by a huge femur of a Paluxysaurus Jonesi, the Texas State dinosaur, which roamed Texas 95115 million years ago. Longacre, a professional fossil expert and life-long researcher, assembled an extensive exhibit now at the RNC until early 2024.

By Irene Van Winkle West Kerr Current

A

Photo by Irene Van Winkle

slight departure from the usual narrative this week takes us 115 million years back, with some interesting places along the road. The story goes on a trip with paleontologist Susan Longacre, who calls herself a “rock reader — I like to see what story is contained within the rocks, especially limestones and dolomites.” The fossils now on display at the Riverside Nature Center took Longacre more than a year to assemble; they come from the pre-fossil era to the near-present from the Texas Hill Country and other locations around the globe. Much

of it is on loan to RNC by the Jackson School of Geosciences at UT Austin till the new year. “It’s been 60 years since my Paleo class, and 50 since I studied trilobites,” Longacre said. “After we put this exhibit together, I felt like I was generating another university degree. For the timelines on the wall, I found most of the images online which are in the public domain.” Longacre is a career professional who has worked for Getty Oil, Texaco and Chevron, where she had to use what she knew about the paleontology of critters, knowing what they require in life today, and extrapolate back. She holds degrees from the University of Texas-Austin and did a lot of teaching. She did her Ph.D. work on Cambrian trilobites, who appeared 510-520 million years ago. Longacre said she spent a lot of time working with younger people doing a lot of the drudgery, and taking a hands-on

deep look at what comes out of the rocks. For the average person, the knowledge of paleontology may consist of finding a fossilized clam shell in a river bed. The ages of geologic time really mean very little but there is a lot of curiousity about dinosaurs, which are in the Jurassic and Cretaceous portions of the Mesozoic age. Sponges were some of the earliest forms and they have continued even as humans appeared. Humans appear at the tail end of the Cenozoic age. Part of the exhibit shows that roughly 3 million years ago in the Pleistocene this area was on land. There are samples of many fossils such as from the Miocene age (23-5 million years ago -- abbreviated as “Ma”), such as a giant shark’s tooth, a small cricket and seeds from the sour gum tree. See Fossils, Page 6


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