Change. The change’ll do you good. So they say. All is change. Like it or not, change happens. Zavala’s Mexican Restaurant closed. After some 40 years or so. Commercial Bank is redefining itself. And redesigning itself. And moving next door TFN. Cocoa Luna Chocolates migrated over to Good To Go. And GTG just had a major facelift of fresh paint. Inside and out. By RPM Painting Plus. T ...

The late Thomas Paine and Dallas entrepreneur Mark Cuban, historically separated by a couple of centuries, would have had a lot to talk about, nodding knowingly about much. On matters of courage, boldness and ingenuity, each deserves high marks. Like Paine, Cuban laughs at risks, defies convention and likely has slack-jawed parents.

If you didn’t notice the Orphan Train article last week, be sure to find it this week because this is a free, multimedia program for the public that you won’t want to miss! Over 225,000 children were sent to the West on the orphan trains, yet many of us remember it only vaguely if we remember it at all.

I was driving out to The Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve on Saturday and realized that something was wrong with the batmobile. It wasn’t rattling, creaking, rocking, banging, or bumping as it always had on the trips out to the cave. I started to pull over and as I glanced around to find a safe place to pull over, I noticed “it”.

This past weekend was one of the biggest and best Round-up activities that Mason has seen in several years. The parade was great, the arts and crafts booths were better than ever, the entertainment and games added some fun and the food was as tempting as always. The Rodeo and dance was a great success and congratulations to the new Queen Caitlyn Felts and her Court.

You are what you eat and do not eliminate. Now that can be a troubling thought when you consider all of the chemicals we take in that are foreign to our body. One great hiding place for toxic waste is our lymphatic system, which is the pathway for cellular waste to leave our tissues to be eliminated from our body. The lymphatic system is a network of nodes, glands and tubes that relies on muscle movement to flow and drain properly.

Whether you plant them or pick them up at the grocery store or farmers’ market, adding fresh herbs is a quick way to transform ordinary meals into extraordinary meals. Besides helping flavor foods when cutting back on salt, fat and sugar, herbs may offer additional benefits of their own. Researchers are finding many culinary herbs (both fresh and dried) have antioxidants that may help protect against such diseases as cancer and heart disease. A snip of a fresh herb into a ...

The Mason Lions club met Tuesday, July 10th, for its regular weekly luncheon meeting at Willow Creek Cafe. There were 41 members and seven visitors in attendance. Lion Ted Smith was responsible for the program and he answered some questions about the tax appraisals that were sent out last month. This being our first time to meet at Willow Creek Cafe, things were a little hectic; but, everything will work out when they learn our routine and we learn their's.

Another busy week/weekend for Mason. Seems funny to Roundup all the folks and then let them go! Rain, YES! Donkeys? Yep, there is always an abundance of them! Now, Who wants some Bar-B-Que? Didn’t think so! Z and Poncho are on their way home! Seems Z has seen more tractors than he has ever seen!

Rain, rain, rain in July! Now that’s something we folks around here don’t see very often! What a wonderful sight it has been. Having said that, and living in the Castell area, for some reason, we don’t seem to get as much rain as everyone else. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m profoundly grateful for every drop we do get.

A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless because I don’t want to get him in trouble, used to have a pair of hawk talons hanging from the rearview mirror in his car. Hawks, of course, are protected, so you’re not supposed to have hawk talons hanging from the rearview mirror of your car.

In this age of instant communication, it's still exciting to answer the phone and hear a voice that you haven't heard in years. That was the reaction I had last week when my office phone rang and a gravelly voice I hadn't heard in several years came on the line. "Hello, Gerry.

Editor: I would like to personally thank everybody who participated in and attended the Loyal Valley Volunteer Fire Department’s first ever fund raiser. Wow, how nice it was to see all the support. Its not easy for a such a sparsely populated area to take on such an endeavor. Its nice to see all of the participation at the monthly meetings and training sessions.

Gerry, The U.S. premiere of “We Went To War” at the Odeon theater this weekend was a tremendous success. There was a near-sold out crowd for the first showing at 2pm on Saturday and impressive attendance at the other showings later that day and on Sunday. Responses to the film were overwhelmingly supportive, some enthusiastic, some emotional, but overall very grateful for a film about war which had no typical war scenes in it. The two surviving veterans of the three ...

“Why does it have to take another country to recognize our Veterans?” shouted a man from the back of the Odeon Theatre. The sizeable audience had begun heading for the exits after seeing We Went to War, the American premiere of a film about the lives of three Vietnam veterans from Menard, Texas.

First Baptist Church will have their Vacation Bible School August 6th –10th from 9 a.m. till 11:30 a.m. The theme for this year's VBS is Amazing Wonders Aviation. We are enrolling children that have finished pre-K through those that have finished 5th grade. The children will have fun learning God’s word through song, bible story’s, crafts, missions, and through game time. We at First Baptist Church are excited about the VBS program and we cant wa ...

Congratulations on your decision to make physical activity a part of your lifestyle! There are so many advantages of your choice. A free Lunch ‘N Learn program open to all citizens of the Mason area focused on your interest in exercise is offered by the Wesley Nurse at First United Methodist Church.

Mason 4-Hers will meet at the Extension office at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 20th to elect one set of officers to run our monthly 4-H meetings. If you can’t be there and would like to be an officer you must call the Extension office at 347-6459 to let us know and THEN you may have a friend nominate you at the meeting.

The Hilda Community Club will hold it’s monthly meeting on Friday, July 20th, at 6:30 p.m. Hosts for the meeting are Danny and Florence Smith and Scott and Cindy Spencer. The hosts will provide a ‘Mexican Pile On’ dinner with drinks for the club members and guests. Members attending are encouraged to bring a dessert dish to finish out the meal.

It could be called “Bach at Luckenbach.” In what may be a “first,” the Fredericksburg Community Orchestra is hosting an evening of string music, food, and fun at Luckenbach Texas, on Wednesday evening, July 25. 5 - 6 p.m. Local string students perform recital pieces. 6 - 7 p.m. Vickie Bonewitz of My Own Chef Catering serves a buffet meal of Spaghetti with vegetarian marinara sauce and meatballs, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread, and Lemon Sugar C ...

Free and open to the public—for general audiences of all ages EVENT: RIDERS ON THE ORPHAN TRAIN PLACE: MASON CO. LIBRARY—STRIBLING ROOM TIME: FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2012 11:30 A.M.-1:00 P.M. The Library Board is hosting a special presentation for the July 20 Brown-Bag Luncheon on July 20. Alison Moore and Phil Lancaster will present a multimedia program on the Orphan Trains.

The winner in the Mason County Chamber of Commerce's Jackass Competition was Denise Brandenberger! Rather than receiving support from her friends, Denise found that those same folks were the ones selling t-shirts to move her further ahead in the competition! As it turned out, Denise had family obligations on Saturday and was unable to participate in the race; but, she will always be known as the first Jenny Jack in race!

Dale Scott participated in the 20th annual Police Olympics in the fighting division on June 21st in Austin. Officer Scott, who has been with the Sheriff's Office for 15 years, brought home a respectable 3rd place this year.

Fredericksburg, Texas – The Quality Texas Foundation has named Hill Country Memorial one of six achievement level recipients of its 2012 awards. The award is HCM’s second Texas Quality achievement award in a row and follows a number of recent notable awards which include a top safety score by The Leapfrog Group, a CareChex® overall hospital care ranking among the top 10% nationally and Thomson Reuters recent recognition of Hill Country Memorial as a Top 100 Hospital in the na ...

The County Clerk's Office has notified the the News that, for the Primary Run-off Election, early voting will run July 23-27. Election Day – July 31. Due to the projected low turnout on primary runoff elections, they will hold voting for all Precincts in the courthouse just like early voting.

Through the generosity of the Willow City Fire/ Rescue, the Loyal Valley VFD received a donated Jaws of Life unit. The Loyal Valley VFD recently sent four of their members through the Fredericksburg Fire Department’s Extrication School. This unit is another tool to add to our arsenal to be well equipped to help serve our community and our surrounding communities. We appreciate all the support we have received and our department continues to grow.

Betty Landry Deans passed away July 12, 2012, at 5:10 a.m. Betty Faye Landry was born to Clara Rosa (Lang) and William Logan (Bill) Landry on October 26, 1931. She attended Mason High School. Betty married Marion Frances Deans on May 6, 1947, and moved to Voca, Texas. They were married 61 years and farmed and ranched together.

Attention all 7th – 12th grade Puncher football players: Our strength and conditioning camp will be at 7 p.m. on the following dates: July 16, 17, 19 July 23, 24, 26 July 30, 31, and Aug 2 This camp is highly recommended and the staff encourages each athlete to be in attendance if at all possible.

MVP: AUSTIN TRIP, SR MASON OFFENSIVE MVP: GARRETT DE LEON, SO JOHNSON CITY DEFENSIVE MVP: KOLBY KITCHENS, FR CENTER POINT NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: JARED VELASCO, JR CENTER POINT 1ST TEAM PITCHERS: WILL RUTHERFORD, FR JOHNSON CITY HUNTER KUNC, FR MASON CATCHERS: WINSTON TRIP, SR MASON PRESTON WORKMAN, SO JOHNSON CITY LENUEL RAMIREZ, JR CENTER POINT DH: VALENTINE LUNA, SO MEDINA UTILITY: BODIE ADAMS, SR MASON OUTFIE ...