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During a break, from left, Burnet County Judge James Oakley and Austin attorneys John Carsey and Sara Donovan awaited proceedings Aug. 29 in Johnson City at the Blanco County Annex District Courtroom. Oakley was found not guilty. -
All that's left of the Mayfield building includes remnants of the storefront of the China Kitchen restaurant. A state investigator deemed the cause "undetermined." -
Newly-selected head football coach and athletic director, Keri Timmerman, met athletes Lexi Edwards and Hayden Gasaway at the Marble Falls ISD Board of Trustees meeting in December. File photos -
Early in the year, Belóved Gallery announced its Premier Exhibition – Akiane: The Early Years – and featured a display of the world famous painting, Prince of Peace, for the first time in two decades. -
FiestaJam was one of the big events in 2023, featuring John Arthur Martinez and area singer/songwriters. -
By a razorthin margin, Dave Rhodes, pictured here during a candidates forum, defeated incumbent Richard Westerman in the Marble Falls mayoral race.
The top story of 2023 involved the outcome of the trial and eventual ac - quittal of a top public official.
On March 7, Burnet County Judge James Oak - ley faced a four-count grand jury indictment, al - leging abuse of official capacity, tampering with evidence and official op - pression. The Texas Com - mission on Judicial Con - duct suspended Oakley without pay.. Just four months lat - er on July 10, 433th Judi - cial District Judge Dibrell "Dib" Waldrip quashed three of four misdemeanor charges against the embat - tled judge. The remaining misdemeanor charge al - leged Oakley violated his role as county judge when he drove his county vehi - cle three times in 2021 to attend Pedernales Electric Cooperative meetings at PEC headquarters in John - son City, where he is an elected board member of the utility co-op. On Aug. 31 a Blanco County jury found him not guilty of the charge. He was subsequently re-instated and received back pay, following a vote by the Burnet County Commissioners Court.
Mayfield Building Fire Next, a blaze that ripped through a community landmark structure generated the most interest as the top story in 2023.
Referred to locally as the China Kitchen building, a landmark two-story structure fell to ruins, following a blaze the evening of Oct. 4. As of Dec.
27, a completed State Fire Marshal’s report deemed the cause of the fire as “undetermined.” The destruction, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, displaced at least 20 business.
Kingsland Slab Deaths A summertime double homicide came into Llano County Sheriff’s Depart- ment officials via 9-1-1 call and led them to a cou- ple around 10 a.m. June 10 on the Llano River.
The section of the waterway is known as the Slab just off CR 3404.
Autopsy results con- firmed that Mark Bald - win, 59, and Kellie Lee ann McCormick, 62, both of Kingsland, died of “blunt force trauma.”
The two individuals were found floating face down in shallow water at the venue which attracts visitors from around the country. To date, the agency has not released information about a possible murder weapon. A reward has yet to produce suspect(s).
Highway Fatalities
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the death of four people in a crash in Round Mountain on the eve of Thanksgiving.
Also, just hours later, offi cers responded to another fatality, reported on Park Road 4 in Burnet County.
The first reported head-on collision, which resulted in a quadruple death, occurred at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 22 in the 14,000 block of U.S. 281 in Blanco County adjacent to the Burnet County line. A Fort Worth family – Zach Muckleroy, his two children Lindsay and Judson (12 and 9 years old) – were killed. Lauren, Zach’s wife, was listed in critical condition. An occupant in another vehicle was also killed.
A second fatality followed a few hours later on the same highway. The crash occurred at approxi- mately 10:40 p.m. on Park Road 4, near CR 119. "As a result of the crash, the female driver was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the preliminary report continued. “The male (passenger) was released at the scene.”
Prince of Peace
Early in the year, Belóved Gallery announced its Premier Exhibition – Akiane: The Early Years – and featured a display of the world famous painting, Prince of Peace, for the first time in two decades.
Eight-year-old Akiane Kramarik painted the face of Jesus from her re curring Heavenly visions.
The painting became a world-renowned masterpiece after it was stolen … twice. Now, the Prince of Peace, considered one of the most recognized faces of Jesus across the world, hangs on the walls of Belóved Gallery, 206 Ave H Suite 101, in Mar ble Falls, Texas. Belóved Café debuted the painting to an exclusive audience in February and hosted the gallery’s grand opening the weekend of April 6-8, 2023.
Cat Fight
In Granite Shoals, a series of audio tapes released of the community’s Wildlife Advisory Committee (WAC) meetings prompted the Hill Country Humane Society (HCHS) to discontinue services with the munici- pality. HCHS officials be lieved the subject matter and how conversation unfolded between committee members and Granite Shoals City Manager Peggy Smith on the audio gave them pause about the relationship the non- profit has with the city. A contentious special-meeting Dec. 19 prompted Gran ite Shoals city leaders to reinforce its approach to managing the feral cat population. The council opted to form a Feral Cat Committee; transfer $5,000 from WAC to the Feral Cat Committee; and re-engage talks with HCHS for a possible new contract.
Store Crash
An elderly woman faced a charge in connection with a crash in December through the wall at the Dollar General in Buchanan Dam. The in- cident unfolded around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10 in the 15,000 block of Texas 29. "(The driver) was tak en to jail for DWI by the trooper,” authorities reported. No injuries were reported. Sandra Kay Thomas, 74, of Horse- shoe Bay was identified as the driver of the 2020 Lincoln SUV. She bonded out of the Llano County Jail later that morning. A reported passenger in the vehicle was initially taken into custody and then later released.
Domestic Death
A Kingsland man charged in the death of his wife has posted a more than $1 million bond April 26, 2023 with the caveat that he continue wearing an ankle monitor. Dennis Wayne Price II, 42, was initially charged with assault family violence (impeding breath or circulation) on Oct. 3, 2022. The victim, 33-year-old Carrie Ann Price, was pronounced dead two days later.
Marble Falls New Mayor With just a 3-vote margin after the May 6 election, Place 2 Marble Falls councilman Dave Rhodes pulled off an upset in the city’s mayor’s race. He paused on taking his seat in lieu of a week to await for the election day mail-in ballots and provisional ballots to be counted. The vote count totaled 227 for Rhodes to 224 for incumbent Mayor Richard Westerman.
Rhodes announced that top priorities for the municipality included a new wastewater plant, securing a new groundwater source and maintaining and upgrading streets and water infrastructure.
Human Smuggler
An alleged human smuggling incident at the Mexico border with Texas revealed ties to the Burnet County area. The case unfolded at 4:46 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 20 at the Juarez-Lincoln Inter national Bridge. That bridge feeds into Laredo.
The suspect, Rosa Martinez- Estrada, 34, was identified as "a legal per manent resident from Marble Falls, Texas” in the arrest document by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Officials say she at tempted to enter into the U.S. with three minors in her vehicle. She allegedly handed border agents three fake passports, claiming they were her own children. She was charged with felony hu- man trafficking.
New AD/Football Coach After sifting through over 100 applicants, Mar ble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) officials selected Keri Timmerman as the new athletic director and head football coach on Dec.
18. The Marble Falls ISD Board of Trustees approved his hire during a regular meeting on the recommendation of Superintendent Jeff Ga saway. Brian Herman resigned the position Nov.
7. Timmerman has been a coach at Vandergrift, Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and China Spring where he served as a football, track and powerlifting coach and as a speed and strength coordinator.
HSBay Broadband
Horseshoe Bay became something of a wireless city in 2023 as three internet towers were built, providing citizens with city-wide fast broadband internet. The action was possible through sharing of grant funds with Llano County. Towers don’t cover the entire city but do provide wireless service for much of it. Commercial internet providers are signing up new customers.
Contentious Mayor's Race Tempers simmered in Horseshoe Bay for weeks after an ad placed in September by mayoral candidate Donald Beeman charging that his opponent had mailed a “vicious anonymous letter” with “unfounded allegations” against him. Beeman is also president of the Horseshoe Bay Property Owners Association. Then-Mayor Cynthia Clinesmith conceded in her regular column that the letter had been sent but said it was “obviously a misguided effort by a supposed supporter.” Clinesmith said the author of the letter had been chastised; she added that no city funds were used in mailing the letter, which was done on behalf of candidate Elsie Thurman. Thurman, then the mayor pro-tem, won the subsequent election Nov. 7.
Resort Lawsuit
A lawsuit that pits the Horseshoe Bay Resort against the Horseshoe Bay POA began working its way through the courts in 2023. 424th Judicial Dis - trict Judge Evan Stubbs told the two parties to get together on a mediator and work the suit out instead of taking up court time.
The resort sued the POA for $1 million on Oct.
33, claiming the owners’ association hadn’t lived up to a half-century-old agreement on landscape upkeep, and that the POA had been withholding funds that should have been spent on landscaping. The POA said it canceled the contract because the resort had been providing substandard service, and said annual audits show there’s been no hoarding of funds. Stubbs said if the two sides hadn’t reached an agreement by Jan. 31, 2024 the matter would return to the Llano County Courthouse and he’d decide the case.
Staff Writer Phil Reynolds contributed to this report.