Commentary

Lew Cohn

Managing Editor/Highland Lakes Newspapers

“Outside is America.”

Those words from lead singer Paul “Bono” Hewson resonated from the stage at AT&T Stadium Friday night as U2 performed their magnum opus, “The Joshua Tree,” from front to back, top to bottom, for a crowd of more than 80,000 people, in addition to 10 other gems from their lengthy catalogue.

That album, released 30 years ago in 1987, captured the dichotomy of America — the flashy, mythical, mystical, “desert rose” the band praises and the gritty, all-to-real one where people are “beaten and blown by the wind, trampled into dust.” It was an honest painting of the United States, warts and all, from Ireland's superband, which had fallen in love with the world's largest superpower, not because of what it represented but because of what it could be.

Facebook is a wonderful tool for people to use, but like any tool, it should be used with great care.

The social media site is useful for helping people keep in contact with friends scattered across the globe whom they haven’t spoken to for years. It allows family to reconnect and allows the sharing of photos, ideas and news with others within one’s peer group.

However, it also instantly shows, without context, intent or clarity, the thoughts and ideas a person clacks out on their smartphone or computer keyboard and exposes those posts to instant scrutiny.

Such is the case involving Burnet County Judge James Oakley, who learned a very hard lesson this past week about the lack of anonymity Facebook affords.

On Monday, Nov. 21, Oakley shared a post from the San Antonio Police Department about the arrest of an African-American man, Otis Tyrone McKane, accused of killing San Antonio police Det. Benjamin Marconi on his personal Facebook account.

BY WAYNE CRAIG/BULLETIN SPORTS

There hadn’t been a district wide pep rally at BHS since 2003 but that old tradition came roaring back last Friday. Students and teachers from Bertram, Shady Grove, Burnet Elementary, RJ Ritchie, BMS and BHS packed into Bulldog Stadium last Friday and the voices were heard.

Before hundreds of athletes took their turn running through the tunnel on to Bulldog field the crowd kept busy with a cool round of stadium waves.

There were school cheers, to see who could be the loudest and proudest, and from ground level all sounded great, but the Burnet junior high might have reached the highest decibel.

The Esprit de Corp performed their award winning show, Orbit, and cheerleaders of all ages kept the crowd pumped with cheers, souvenirs, and some high-flying stunts.

The middle school Belles drew standing applause with a great routine. Needless to say this was an old tradition that was gladly welcomed back.

BY WAYNE CRAIG/BULLETIN SPORTS

It’s no secret that the Burnet Bulldogs are in one of the toughest districts around. Friday night was proof that it’s gonna be a dog fight for all who want to take part in the post-season; in boy’s or girl’s sports.

Both the Lady Dawgs varsity volleyball team and the football team took one on the chin Friday night with lop-sided losses.

To put it mildly, it was no easy week for BHS sports as a whole, with China Spring made a clean sweep over all Bulldog football teams, while Liberty Hill did the same to our girls program a second time around.

We simply weren’t the better teams last week.

It’s easy for some to point fingers and say where things went wrong, and while it’s frustrating as a Bulldog fan just remember these young athletes never gave up fighting on the playing field; so don’t give up on them.

BY LEW COHN/ MANAGING EDITOR/ BURNET BULLETIN

Facebook is very anxious to tell me that we have a clown problem in these beautiful United States of America. Clowns are fast becoming the 2016 version of zombies. I can barely scroll through my Facebook feed without reading a story about “creepy clowns” being spotted in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and yes, even in our own backyard here in Burnet County, Texas, and in surrounding communities.

Just last week, an Instagram account named “killer.clown.666” had Marble Falls ISD among four school districts as part of a “hit list.” The school district was monitoring the situation, but did not encounter any acts of clown violence as of Friday, Oct. 7.

Dear Parents,

By Keith McBurnett/ BCISD Superintendent of Schools

I hope you will join me tomorrow morning for coffee and tea with the superintendent.  In addition to coffee and tea, I will be serving up intimate conversations and informative updates. This morning edition of a community forum will be on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 8 a.m. at the Parent Resource Center located next to the Central Office at 208 East Brier. Feel free to stop by, even if just to say hello, and grab a cup of coffee on your way to work. I would like to offer special thanks to MOJO Coffee for sponsoring our morning meeting.

BY WAYNE CRAIG/BULLETIN SPORTS

Topping my list of noteworthy performances this week is the varsity Lady Dawg cross country team.

The cross country teams competed at the Marble Falls meet recently and they competed well.

Burnet senior Abby Bullock led the charge for the varsity squad with a second place overall finish and many of her teammates stayed close by.

Julyssa Silva finished fourth, Neeradt Leon claimed seventh overall, Alexis Munguia raced in at number nine, Fatima Rodriguez claimed 11, and Reagan Giesenschlag finished 16.

Needless to say with all of Burnet’s runners finishing that close together the team brought home gold. It was a great win for the Lady Dawgs!

The varsity boys had some top 15 finishers with Caden Farrell tracking down a number nine overall finish and Ross Giesenschlag crossing the line at number 14.

BY DAVID VAUGHN/BURNET CITY MANAGER

The City Council recently awarded a five year franchise to a new provider, Al Clawson Disposal Inc. (Clawson), for garbage and recycling services.  As a result, customers need to be aware of several important changes that will occur during the transition from the current provider.

The week of Oct. 17 through Oct. 21, Clawson will begin delivering new garbage and recycling carts to all residential customers throughout the City.  It is particularly important to note that the color of the carts will now be green for recycling and blue for garbage.  The last week of service for the current provider will be the week of Oct. 25 through Oct. 28, at which time they will remove their carts immediately following their final pick-up. Clawson will begin their garbage pick-ups the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 4 and recycling collection the week of Nov. 7 through Nov. 11.

BY WAYNE CRAIG/BURNET BULLETIN

There were some more great moments in my past week of life and in covering Bulldog sports.

I see myself as a cup half-full type of guy, so by nature I try to find the positive in anything that surrounds me, but there’s been one thing weighing on my heart with no positives to be found.

There have been countless prayers for an old friend and classmate of mine, Robert Gonzales, AKA Bobby G.

If you ever got to know the guy you know the fun-loving, always smiling Bobby G that many of us call friend.

Just want Bobby’s family to know that prayers are still coming your way for strength and healing.

My sports coverage had me witnessing some great athletic achievements and I also saw some Bulldog pride through my week’s journey.