JUNE 2017
your local Design Build Firm servicing the greater Boerne and Texas Hill Country, as well as North San Antonio.
Specializing in:
Other Features:
Architectural color rendered master plan
• Irrigation Installation and Repair (including water efficient drip irrigation)
including brilliant images and plant descriptions in both 2D & 3D, outlining 10 months of color with a balance between evergreen and deciduous foliage containing movement throughout, resulting in low maintenance, drought tolerant and deer resistant landscape.
• Outdoor Kitchen • Lot Clearing, Cedar Tree Removal and Mulching • Outdoor Lighting • Hardscape (including Fire Pits, Seat Walls, Retaining Walls, Flagstone Patios, Stained and Stamped Concrete, Arbors, Pergolas, Split Rail Cedar Fencing, and more)
Stop in and see us, our associates are ready to assist you. 3 2 2 5 5 I H 1 0 Wes t , B oer n e, TX 78006 | Tel : 830. 816. 3200 | Fax: 830.249.3090 w w w.acaci al an d s cap ean dd es i gn . com
QUALITY SERVICE
HEALTHY TREES
BEAUTIFUL VIEWS
CERTIFIED ARBORIST DEEP ROOT FERTILIZATION PHC TREATMENT TREE PRUNING TREE REMOVAL BALL MOSS REMOVAL TREE MITIGATION PLANTING STUMP GRINDING
www.burkettarborcare.com | 830.229.5700 | Contact us for a FREE ESTIMATE
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507 E. Blanco Rd. | Boerne, TX | 210-642-0401 | www.RelianceRetirement.com
FORMERLY
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CONTENTS
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marjorie Hagy History Marjorie is a bibliophile, a history nut and an insomniac, among several other conditions, both diagnosed and otherwise. When she's not working tirelessly to avoid getting a real job, she nurses an obsession with her grandson and is involved in passing legislation restricting the wearing of socks with sandals. She is an aspiring pet hoarder who enjoys vicious games of Scrabble, reading Agatha Christie, and sitting around doing nothing while claiming to be thinking deeply. Marjorie has five grown children, a poodle to whom she is inordinately devoted in spite of his breath, and holds an Explore record for never having submitted an article on time. She's been writing for us for five years now.
Old Timer Just Old Timer The Old Timer tells us he's been a resident of Boerne since about 1965. He enjoys telling people what he doesn't like. When not bust'n punks he can be found feeding the ducks just off Main St. or wandering aimlessly in the newly expanded HEB. Despite his rough and sometimes brash persona, Old Timer is really a wise and thoughtful individual. If you can sort through the BS.
EXPLORE magazine is published by Schooley Media Ventures in Boerne, TX. EXPLORE Magazine and Schooley Media Ventures are not responsible for any inaccuracies, erroneous information, or typographical errors contained in this
12 From The Publisher
30 Summer Movies
16 Calendar
34 Live Music Venues
20 Art of Cultivation
38 Old Timer
publication submitted by advertisers. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EXPLORE and/or Schooley Media Ventures. Copyright 2016 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Ste. 200, Boerne, TX 78006
24 History
Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com
10 | EXPLORE
Operations Manager Peggy Schooley peggy@smvtexas.vom
Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com
ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com
DEAREST EXPLORE READER, I’m on my 6th draft of my publisher’s letter. It’s 9:21pm. I’ve found these letters increasingly difficult to put together and I’m not exactly sure why. I get more feedback about the Publisher’s Letter than any other element of the magazine, so I feel the pressure, but sometimes it’s hard to talk about nothing. And sometimes that’s exactly what these letters are; a discussion of nothing. Sure, they are letters that dwell upon a thought, a moment, or a conversation that requires some elaboration, but I’m not writing tax-code here…I’m just blathering on. But it’s harder than you think. For preparation, I like to drive to work and listen to classical music on the way. I figure that if I can zone out on some music, some great topic or discussion will just hit me. It is a habit I learned in Houston. I hate Houston. I know that we have a lot of Houston transplants here, and it’s nothing personal, but I despise that damn town. It’s the most terrible cauldron of insanity I’ve ever tried to habitate in. It gets in your head and destroys you. I remember that at one point I burned a CD of “white noise” to listen to on my commute in Houston. I swear I would probably be on a “watch list” now with how insane I must have looked at the end of each day. And that, my friends, is why I live in the Hill Country. It’s a sweet symphony in your head. Anyway, I like to drive and listen to that symphony. I’m tired of talk radio. I’m so done with what they call “music” nowadays. I have but a few scant moments everyday where I can simply watch the sunrise over the dash of my truck and zone out on the genius of Mozart. And hell, why not? I need the dissolution of NOISE. My entire day is a blur of that noise; of phone calls, of emails, of ringing phones, and of appointments. It is proofing sessions, suggestions, and critiques. The whole day is but a train-wreck that is in slow-motion. Sure, we survive the wreck, but the ride is a wild one. So I seek and demand the solitude of my 9 minute commute into the office. And isn’t that downright pathetic? Isn’t it ridiculous that I must covet my 9 minute commute? Isn’t it ridiculous that we must seek our solace so aggressively?
I like to watch the guys that go fishing on the Cibolo Creek across from the Dodging Duck. Now, anyone that has ever been here for more than 5 years knows that there isn’t a single fish in the Cibolo. In 25 years of driving past that river, I’ve never seen anyone catch anything bigger than a perch. Except for that time in ’89 when they drained the river to clean it and they pulled out a Volkswagen. And old men pulled out huge catfish. But that’s another story. But there they are, in their business attire, fishing. And I’m so envious. I’m so jealous that they found the time to turn off their phones, get out of the office, and go catch perch while sitting by a small creek in a small town in the middle of the Hill Country. I suppose it’s their “9 minutes of solitude” I receive every morning. I suppose, in a deeper sense, it’s them reconnecting with the fact that besides being businessmen and women, besides being Moms and Dads, and dreamers, and lovers, and philosophers, we’re all just people. And people need time. People need to have a moment, be it your 9 minute commute, or fishing by the creek, to remember that while we are all in this never-ending roller coaster ride together, we also need to the time to remember that we are powerful in our own solitude. We are so interwoven together as a community that sometimes, it’s required that we shuck off our backpacks and have lunch by the creek while feeding the ducks. We have to put our lunchboxes away, our crayons back in the box, and get a Hall Pass long enough to skip rocks, listen to the trees, and act like we’re fishing. Even if we know there really are no fish in the Cibolo. But there IS a bounty to be found on the sides of small creeks in small towns. Or in 9 minute commutes. Or in blathering Publisher Letters. Welcome to June. May the sun shine on you, warm your soul, and that you find some time to be YOU. Smiling, Benjamin D.
ben@hillcountryexplore.com
12 | EXPLORE
Authentic
WE ARE
518 River Road | Boerne, TX | www.littlegretel.com | 830-331-1368
AREA EVENTS
Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country!
The most comprehensive events calendar. Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com
FREDERICKSBURG June 2 First Friday Art Walk Fredericksburg Tour fine art galleries offering special exhibits, demonstrations, refreshments, and extended viewing hours the first Friday of every month. June 10 Summer Barbecue Enjoy a summer night with live music, wine, and world-famous barbecue. Dance away to the best of the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s as you enjoy the sounds of The Instigators. June 16-18 Fredericksburg Trade Days Shop more than 400 vendors in seven barns and acres of antiques, a biergarten, live music, and more. June 24 Hill Country Food Truck Festival The fourth annual event features a food lovers’ paradise of food trucks, wine, beer, and live music in legendary Luckenbach Texas. GRUENE June 11 Gospel Brunch with a Texas Twist In the tradition of a New Orleans-style gospel brunch, this event serves aweinspiring gospel music coupled with a mouth-watering buffet catered by the Gristmill River Restaurant and Bar. June 15 Come and Taste It A featured winemaker showcases three of its newest released, top-selling, or hardest-to-find wines, alongside a craft brew hand-picked by The Grapevine staff. The complimentary tastings are held on the patio and garden. Samples of food that is offered for sale will be provided, and each event features live music and prize giveaways. June 17-18 Old Gruene Market Days Nearly 100 vendors offer uniquely crafted items and packaged Texas foods. Free admission.
BANDERA June 3, 10, 17, 24 Flying L Chuckwagon Dinner Enjoy barbecue, wagon rides, roping lessons, hat and pistol branding, archery, old time photos, cowboy stage show, gunslingers, line dancing, and other entertainment. June 3, 10, 17, 24 Cowboys on Main Cowboys, steers, horses, wagons, strolling cowboy musicians, and gunfighter reenactments are just some of the western-themed action you might see on Main Street every Saturday afternoon. June 11 Second Sunday Music Fest The Frontier Times Museum and the Bandera Music Hall of Fame join together to present an afternoon of music, food, and fun. June 24 Riverfest River activities, arts and crafts, children’s activities, music, and more along the banks of the Medina River. Enjoy car show and parts swap meet, and enter the barbecue contest or the “Bandera Idol” competition. BOERNE June 3 Family Fish No one needs a fishing license or stamp endorsement on Free Fishing Day, which is always the first Saturday in June. The goal of this tournament is to provide a free opportunity to introduce the sport of fishing to children, as well as create a safe environment for parents and children to enjoy the outdoors together. June 3, 10, 17, 24 Farmers Market at the Cibolo Shop fresh local produce, farm fresh eggs, breads, jams, jellies, local honey, and Texas Hill Country arts and crafts at the historic farm. Enjoy free live music, gardening classes, cooking demonstrations, and children’s craft activities, too. This popular Texas Hill Country outdoors farmers market will be open to the public every Saturday from March 4th through November. June 7, 20 Abendkonzerte The Boerne Village Band is the longest continuously playing German band in the world outside of Germany. Concert regulars come early to grab their favorite spot at the Plaza, to hear the ooom pah pah of their favorite tunes and watch the kids do the chicken dance. Bring lawn chairs, blankets, and picnics.
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June 10 Neo Camerata Performance combines the emotion and beauty of classical and the energy of pop with the awe-inspiring technique of virtuoso musicians playing riveting original music. Neo Camerata has created what critics have called a “genre-busting,” “technically impressive,” “emotionally stirring,” and “totally cool and amazing” experience. June 10-11 Market Days Hundreds of festive booths display everything from collectibles and remembrances of the past to modern innovations that will bring a smile of wonder to those who stroll past. Scrumptious food and captivating music top the experience and delight the senses. June 17 Summer Solstice Enjoy an eclectic mixture of uplifting, contemporary acoustic songs, ancient instrumentation, improvisation, and contemplation featuring the words and music of songwriter/performance artist Rudi Harst (vocals, guitar, flute, Tibetan bowls) and The Circle Band. Focused on the thematic interplay of darkness and light marked by the Summer Solstice, part of the program will be performed in either total darkness or flickering candlelight, providing a truly memorable experience.
KERRVILLE June 1-11 Kerrville Folk Festival Featuring more than 100 songwriters and their bands, this Hill Country songwriters festival attracts an international audience. June 3 Kerr County Market Days An indoor marketplace for vendors of original handcrafted goods, artwork, and homegrown plants and produce. Pets on a leash are welcome. June 3 Hill Country Swap Meet A giant community garage sale, flea market, and trade days all-in-one. Buy or sell new, used, antiques, collectibles, arts and crafts, knives, books, furniture, tools, clothing, kitchen and household items, and more. Concessions and free parking available. Pets on a leash are welcome. June 7, 14, 21, 28 Kerr County Farmers Market Clean, local, farmfresh foods fill our market every Wednesday afternoon. Open year round, rain or shine, our market offers an array of seasonal fresh and canned fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, meat, farm eggs, honey, fresh baked goods, flowers, plants, and gifts.
June 25 Boerne Concert Band Special Patriot Concert The Boerne Concert Band performs live musical concerts free to the public. This group of volunteer musicians presents a wide variety of music to entertain audiences of all ages.
MARBLE FALLS June 16-18 Marble Falls Soapbox Classic This is the 8th Annual ADULT Soapbox Derby held on Father’s Day Weekend. Enjoy a parade, food and craft vendors, live music and a street dance, and the Derby Hat Contest. Watch racing under the lights Friday night, dance in the street Saturday night, and see the finals on Sunday.
BURNET June 17 Summer Concert Series Texas country music singer and songwriter Roger Creager in concert; Cameron Nelson opens.
WIMBERLEY June 3 Market Days More than 475 booths along a windy, shady path featuring treasures of all sorts. Live music and great barbecue too.
COMFORT June 13 Music in the Park Enjoy an evening of outdoor music, performed in the Gazebo of Comfort Park. There is no admission charge. Bring a lawn chair. Sponsored by Gaddis UMC and Comfort Chamber of Commerce.
June 30-July 2 VFW Rodeo Events at the 72nd annual event include calf scrambles, bull riding, tie-down calf roping, bare back riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping, mini bull riding, women’s breakaway roping, and women’s barrel racing.
We support and assist with spay/ neuter of feral cats and young kittens
Only cats board at our facility offering a quiet, peaceful environment for your feline friend
“THE SMALLEST FELINE IS A MASTERPIECE”
- Leonardo Da Vinci
Dr. Tamara Oesterling is a member of the American Association of Feline Practitioners
117 Commerce Ave. Boerne, TX 78006
Your CAT deserves the best
830.249.2147
www.heartofthehillsvet.com
314 Schweppe St $525,000 MLS# 1234208
Charming cottage on .66 acre lot one block off Main Street. 3/2 Main house 2403 sq. ft. 1/1 Guest suite off garage (not included in footage). Mature trees and meticulous landscaping.
Rehabilitate in Boerne, One Step Closer to Home
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in the heart of Boerne, with individualized therapy programs that enable one to return home quickly. By receiving rehabilitation services close to home, family and friends are able to visit often and with ease.
Cibolo Creek stands apart by:
• Being the most contemporary rehabilitation facility in Boerne • Providing physical, occupational, speech, and vital stim therapy in a modern and innovative setting under the guidance of highly trained and experienced therapists • Offering both inpatient and outpatient therapy services to improve one’s overall strength and mobility • Facilitating admissions 24/7
1440 River Road • Boerne, Texas 78006 • 830.816.5095
C ibolo C reek H ealtH . org
18 | EXPLORE
F A M I LY
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R E A L E S TAT E
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BUSINESS
706 E. BLANCO, SUITE 200 | BOERNE, TEXAS 78006 | O: (830) 249-3559 | F: (830) 214-2181
T
ART OF CULTIVATION Tyler and Amy Burkett, owners of Burkett Arbor Care, have fast grown to become one of the most successful arbor businesses in the area. Through mountains of hard work, they have taken a mutual love and appreciation for trees and honed their craft toward the preservation and cultivation of this living resource.
Tyler begins, “I began the company with a dba in 2006, and following our marriage in 2008, she was able to join me full time in 2015.” A certified Arborist, Tyler took a philosophical stance toward trees, and it fueled their growth quickly. Amy explains, He really likes taking a piece of property and seeing it through to the end. He always says trees will always grow, trees will always die, and through the daily grind that trees make people happy and so he’s always had a passion for that.” Tyler agrees, “They’re living organisms but they can’t tell you what’s going on with them. If something is a danger to a dog, it runs away. A tree can’t do that obviously. People are always doing things underneath trees (trenching, landscaping, etc) and there’s a million things that can go wrong and you have to investigate that. It’s either a living or non-living stress. Nothing with trees happens quickly, so when a builder comes in and cuts roots and puts landscaping down, the tree dies 3 years later and nobody is blaming the builder. Pouring paint buckets out around trees, the chemicals, there’s countless things that can negatively impact a tree…and to understand the threats to trees sort of makes you a detective.” While they began their company doing substantial landscaping work in addition the tree care, they were able to quickly specialize in the arbor work. From there, it’s been a mission of both education and preservation. Tyler continues, “You have to apply your knowledge to every situation, and even here in Boerne, the land by the river is great soil but on top of the hill there’s no soil. So our favorite clients are the ones that call us in before they start building as we can enact tree preservation and educating the client as there are a lot of things that should happen during that process to ensure the tree preservation. Also, people will call you and ask about tree trimming in the spring, and that’s one of the worst things to do during that time. So the ones that call us and ask questions and are willing to LEARN about trees are the ones that become our long term clients.” And for Tyler, it’s a true passion and a form of art for him. Amy explains, “He loves being the only person that touches the trees. He calls it an art progression as he sees the wounds heal, the limbs grow back, and the tree become as healthy as possible. The way that we cut lets the wounds heal a certain way. When you get around people that are educated in horticulture you see that most clients
20 | EXPLORE
really don’t understand the true complexity of things. There’s probably 200 companies in the San Antonio area that are doing what we do, and there’s probably 10 that are doing things to the level that we are. There’s not a lot of us that are doing things with the care that we are.” Now with 12 employees, Burkett Arbor Care continues to expand its reach, services, and education. Now working closely with many developers, the Burketts are working tirelessly to ensure the beauty of this area for future generations. Tyler continues, “When we meet with developers, we talk to the client about their needs and goals. We listen to them. We look at the high value trees and look at the high risk trees. It’s sort of a risk assessment on the trees and identifying the ones that are a liability to the person’s property. We prescribe a pruning or fertilizer dose for the tress, and we try to keep the largest canopy intact for the area. A tree is a living sculpture or a living piece of artwork. It can be butchered, or proper care can be a really wonderful thing for the tree and the art itself. Each leaf is a little sugar factory, so the more leaves you strip off the less energy it has. You have to look at the trees so that the ones underneath can get the energy they need, and vice-versa. It’s called structural pruning and it’s one of the most important things that we do as it shapes the trees for generations.” With Amy focused on the operations side of the business, and Tyler focusing on execution, the couple is poised for even more growth. Amy adds, “We’re getting there, and it’s our goal. Going forward, we’re focusing our growth in the surrounding areas, and we’re buying new equipment, training more professionals and staff that can enable our growth. We just bought an office on 3351 right next door to Cordillera’s new gate. We are about to put up a billboard on 46 and we’re working like crazy to provide for our hometown of Boerne. We’re both BHS grads and we want to be equipped to service them as best we can.” Amy concludes, “I’m trying to give back and I’m trying to get more involved with the community and we’re trying to educate the builders and work with them to show how they can do things in a way that they can preserve the landscape. With all of the growth in the area, we owe it to everyone to do everything possible to preserve the beautiful ‘art’ of our wonderful trees.”
WWW.HILLCOUNTRYEXPLORE.COM | JUNE 2017
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WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A REALTOR? Attention Someone that listens to and understands what is important to their clients. Dedication Someone that will not sacrifice good service by taking on too many clients. Honesty Someone that is always honest with you even when the truth is difficult. Loyalty Someone that always puts their client’s best interest first.
Tom Patterson Licensed Realtor EXP Realty, LLC
Integrity Someone that lives by the ethical principles of their profession and the moral principles of their faith. Exposure Worldwide exposure for your home through the syndication of hundreds of websites and social media outlets! Expertise Market awareness by a Realtor that has lived and worked in the area for over 17 years and team collaboration that is unmatched by any brokerage firm in the industry! If these qualities are important to you, then we have something in common. I would be honored to serve you, your family, or your friends. Please call or email me if you are interested in buying a home, selling a home, or would like a free comparative market analysis of your home. I am here to serve. Thank you and God bless
210.573.5909 | tom.patterson@exprealty.com www.tompatterson.sa.exprealty.com www.facebook.com/TomPattersonRealtorTX Joshua 24:15...”But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Coffee I Tea I Smoothies Bubble Tea I Pastries I BAGELS Organic & Gluten Free Snacks Meetings I Parties I Live Music
215 W. Bandera, Suite 115 Boerne, TX 78006
830.331.2272
22 | EXPLORE
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FOUNDING FATHER By Marjorie Hagy
I 24 | EXPLORE
If you’ve been living in Boerne more than two weeks or so I bet you’ve heard of the Herffs. In the future, if certain legislation passes, new arrivals to town will be met at the city gates by a local historian trained to walk backwards like those kids who give college campus tours, given an exhaustive TED talk and a Power Point presentation covering salient events and personages in our compelling history and a t-shirt that says Don’t Hassle Me I’m Local, but for now I’ve run into a hitch as to where the city gates are located.
So you’ve probably just seen the Herff name on things around town- streets, subdivisions, schools, the Fairgrounds, Herff Farm- or else you’ve heard about a certain travesty taking place on old Herff land. You know how a lot of times you see an old name somewhere, a town named after somebody or a street or something, but the story’s been long forgotten, and all that’s left is the name? I know I can’t be the only one who’s wondered about the Perrin family of San Antonio, for instance, or- here’s one, I just got back from Port Aransas- what’s the deal with Edroy and Odem? (One of my daughters threatens to have a couple of sons and name them Ed Roy and Odem and I tell her that’s fine, so long as you have some kids, and then she gets miffed at me and I don’t ask about grandkids again for a day or two.) Why right here in Boerne there’s a street over by the cemetery called Advogt, and everyone assumes it’s named after a guy named Adolph- Ad- Vogt, when it’s actually named for two guys, a fella named Adler and another named Vogt who each donated a sliver of land on which to build the street. And by the way, when I say everybody makes assumptions about Advogt Street, I of course use the term in its original Greek sense, meaning nobody. Well anyway, the Herffs were, and are, a really amazing family and their history in America is all tangled up in the history of Boerne like the roots of a cypress tree in the banks of the Guadalupe River. And instead of theirs being just another one of those names you see around and wonder about, I want to tell you their stories and let them become real people again in the town they loved- and still love- so much. It all started in the aristocracy in Darmstadt, in Hesse, in the decade just after the Napoleonic Wars, when the last Holy Roman Emperor had relinquished the throne in the wake of bloody defeat. The Holy Roman Empire, according to Voltaire, was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire", but it had survived for more than a thousand years and in 1806 it lay in ruins, and Europe in turmoil. These were the times into which Ferdinand Ludwig von Herff was born, in Darmstadt, on November 29, 1820. His father was Baron Christian von Herff, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Hesse-Darmstadt, and his mother was Baroness Eleanora nee von Meusebach, cousin of the John O. Meusebach who would also eventually emigrate to Texas and make a name for himself. Information about Ferdinand’s boyhood is pretty thin on the ground and the next we hear of him he’s headed off to school, still young, to study botany and medicine at the University of Berlin and then the University of Bonn. It didn’t hurt young Ferd that an uncle of his, one Doctor von Rehfuss, just so happened to be president of the University of Bonn, and that Ferdinand made his home with Uncle Doctor where he had the opportunity to hobnob with all kinds of brilliant and famous and influential people. The family hung around with the likes of naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; a fellow student at the Bonn university was Frederick III, the future King of Prussia; and both universities were the alma maters of Karl Marx. Von Herff made the most of his opportunities to study under the influential medical scientists at both schools and one other, the University of Giessen, from which he received his medical degree in 1843, at the age of twentythree. He was a brilliant student, and after graduation he signed on for a surgical internship with the Hessian army, where he served until 1847. Herff quickly became known for his first-rate work, and his accomplishments in the field were amazing- I mean, stuff you wouldn’t think people were even doing back in the mid-nineteenth century! He was a skilled and ground-breaking plastic surgeon and he perfected this technique for making artificial noses- making new noses! In the middle of the 1800s! He developed a new and safer technique for amputating limbs; he successfully treated tuberculosis- far and away the number one killer of the times- by draining tubercular lung abscesses; he learned to surgically remove cataracts only a couple of years after the whole procedure was invented. So there he was banging along in the Hessian army, a young and talented doctor from the nobility, plenty of money and making a name for himself in his profession, surely one of Darmstadt’s Most Eligible Bachelors. And what does he do? Well, obviously his next step was to chuck it all and take a boat halfway around the world to establish a communist society on a patch of land in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by hostile native Americans. Naturally. Okay, so I already gave you the bare bones of our young Dr von Herff ’s resume but obviously I left out a couple of things, like how back in his salad days our Ferdinand
was a wild-eyed radical all mixed up with a crazy crowd of fellow liberals with Utopian dreams and plans to change the world for the good of all mankind. Not a bad aspiration at all, and the kind of thing close to my own heart, AND the kind of thing that looked like it was just possible in those years of revolution and change. See, in those days there were women and men in Germany, thinkers and dreamers, intellectuals who conversed in Latin, liberals, abolitionists and Freethinkers, educated, intelligent, and dazzling. They talked of philosophy, literature, music and ideas, the nature of man. And they talked of creating the perfect society, and of what form that society would take. As a group they were called the Lateiners (the Latin ones) from their habit of holding discourse in the learned Latin tongue, and young Ferdinand von Herff was of that number. And this same guy, von Herff, he got together with a couple of his friends- Hermann Spiess and Gustav Schleicher, by name- and founded the Darmstadt Die Vierziger (the Society of Forty), which was often also called the Socialistic Colony and Society, if that gives you any clue to what they were up to. This was a fraternity of young German students with chapters at a couple of different universities whose meetings were characterized by some mild nineteenth-century-type male debauchery including sword duels and song, grog-swilling and late night holding forth. And that talk of creating the perfect society? That’s where the Socialistic Colony part came in. They shared a vision of a society in which all the work and all the possessions and all the material as well as all the fruits of the labor would be shared out equally, each according to his ability and according to his need. They were young men and they dreamed their dreams, and no matter what else, thank God for high ideals and for those who aspire to fix the world. In 1847, the young men of the Society of Forty set their sights on...you know where, don’t you? And you’re absolutely right- Wisconsin. Wait- that’s not what you were gonna guess? Oh dear... yes, well, at the same time people from Germany were coming to Texas they were heading to Wisconsin too, and for a while it must’ve been kind of a toss-up as to where the Society of Forty would land, but in the end fate sort of bumped them towards Texas. So our Ferdinand von Herff took a leave of absence from the Hessen army and in January, 1847, the Society received a grant for a tract of land on the Llano River, and within weeks, von Herff and thirty-three of the Group of Forty embarked on the journey to the New World. Among his provisions from home, Dr von Herff had packed his surgical instruments and a supply of ether, which had just been introduced for use as an anesthesia a few years before. They named the village they founded Bettina after a social activist and friend of theirs, and pretty much immediately started trying to make a go of it. Conditions were completely primitive- this was just some land on the banks of a river, and they had to build all their shelter and kill or grow all of their food, and the place ended up being in the middle of native territory to boot, and hostile natives, too, which was a more or less unexpected wrinkle. And yet, a bare few weeks after these greenhorn philosophers and starry-eyed idealists arrived in this raw country, a group of natives presented themselves at the camp. There was no treaty then between the Germans and the Indians, and the natives were understandably skittish about these newcomers, and the newcomers of them. However, they had amongst them their chief, who was blind, and they had overcome, however temporarily, their nervousness about these strangers in order to ask for help for their comrade. Dr von Herff took a look at the man and diagnosed cataracts, a condition with which he was very familiar. He laid the patient down on a rock in the bright sunlight near the river, while ten of his fellows waved palm fans to keep off the flies, and performed a bilateral cataract extraction, which turned out to be a complete success and which restored the chief 's eyesight. It was also the first known cataract surgery performed in Texas. Imagine what was at stake, too, besides the patient's eyesight, as a band of his skeptical and quite possibly hostile friends stood by while this unknown stranger took a scalpel to his eyes- what would have happened had he died? (But he didn't, and when he was well enough he immediately paid the doctor- by presenting Herff with a native woman. The young woman became a ward of the colonists, and later married Hermann Spiess, co-
founder of the Forty.) Word of Dr von Herff 's healing powers spread among the natives and soon he was doing cataract and other surgeries for them, as well as removing arrowheads and bullets when the need arose, and along the way the doctor became fluent in the Comanche and Apache languages. The enthusiastic settlers of Bettina, though, were in the end too ill-prepared to cope with the sterner realities of colony-building on the harsh Texas frontier. The people of Bettina managed, in the year and a half they stayed, to raise a few buildings and bring in one crop of corn, but they finally admitted defeat, broke camp and went back to Germany. No physical trace of Bettina can be found on the banks of the Llano these days and I know, because I’ve searched. But even so, I liked the feeling of standing there looking out over the river and thinking of those bright-eyed young men- and one woman- taking such a giant leap of faith, just heaving their regular lives out of the way to take this enormous chance. Coming all the way across the world in order to try to build what they saw in their mind’s eyes, but which everyone else surely told them would never fly. Well, Bettina as a commune in Texas didn’t work, but that didn’t mean they were wrong to believe in it or that those dreams were dead and the dreamers just threw up their hands and gave it up. I don’t know what all of those guys did after Bettina, but at least some of them weren’t finished with Texas yet, and a few years later eight of those men came back to Texas to try again on the banks of a different creek in a new commune they called Tusculum- but that’s a different story. Dr von Herff also went back to his native land to regroupand also to marry his sweetheart, Mathilde Klingelhofer'of a noble family in Giessen'- in 1848. But although Bettina had been a disappointment, Dr Herff hadn't abandoned his Texas dream- in fact, he was determined that Texas would be his ultimate home. He had come to love the wild new world and its rugged inhabitants who looked up to and trusted him, and his heart wasn't in Germany anymore. But in 1848, revolution had come to Germany, and von Herff was pressed into service with the army again. The following year, in 1849, the doctor and his wife came back to Texas, traveled inland by oxcart from Galveston, became US citizens, dropped the aristocratic ‘von’ from their name, and settled briefly in New Braunfels. A year later they moved again, with their newborn son, to San Antonio, where Herff became the first surgeon in Texas and embarked on one of the longest careers in Texas medicine. In San Antonio he continued to treat his old friends and make new ones among the Comanche, Lipan, Kikapoo and Apache tribes, and once performed another miracle when he treated a young Kikapoo brave for traumatic epilepsy that had been caused by a skull fracture from a tomahawk blow. Herff used a technique to correct the man’s depressed skull in order to alleviate pressure to his brain- the first such operation done in the United States- and affect a total recovery from the seizures from which the patient had suffered. Another of Dr Herff 's miracles is close to my hearthe performed a tracheostomy on a little girl and thus resuscitated her, after her family believed she was stone dead. His first use of chloroform and the very first lithotomy in Texas was Dr Herff ’s removal of two big bladder stones from a Texas Ranger, an operation that was witnessed by a crowd of onlookers including fellow Ranger William AA “Big Foot” Wallace. He removed cataracts and arrows; he performed cranial surgery to remove, at various times, bullets, a piece of wood, and brain tumors. He performed gastrostomy on a little girl who had accidentally ingested lye- the first gastrostomy in the United States. He performed the first hysterectomy in the US and, at age eighty-four and under primitive ranch conditions, he operated on his daughter-in-law, who had an ectopic pregnancy. Surgery in those early days of Texas medicine was performed in homes, hotels, open-air locations (like the native chief on the Llano River), and on at least one memorable occasion, the lobby of the Menger Hotel, but Dr Herff ’s insistence on cleanliness- of the wound, the operating space and his own hands- and all this way before anyone knew anything about microbiology and the microorganisms that cause disease- saved countless lives, both in the operating room, on the battlefield and on the kitchen tables of far-flung prairie houses and ranches standing alone out in the brush country. Early on the idealist Dr Herff of the socialist dreams and the perfect society had determined that he would treat patients whether or not they could afford to pay for his services, and his own family suffered financial hardship
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many times in those early years due to his dedication to treating his patients. He was a godsend to the poor people of San Antonio and the wealthy alike. Dr Herff was very active in city and medical organizations and charities. He was a San Antonio city alderman from 1850-1851, and served as city health officer in 1860. He was pressed into service as a Confederate Army surgeon during the Civil War- even though his loyalty to the United States was well known; he received threats from CSA treasonists, and rebel forces took over his Boerne ranch for a prison camp, destroying the property and livestock. Dr Herff is known as the Father of Texas hospital care, having aggressively campaigned for the construction of a hospital in San Antonio, and was instrumental in founding San Antonio’s first infirmary, operated by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Santa Rosa Infirmary eventually became Santa Rosa Hospital. He helped organize the Bexar County Medical Society, the West Texas Medical Association, the Texas Medical and Surgical Record, was a charter member of the Texas Medical Association in 1853 and served on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners in 1880. Herff also served as a member of the original Board of Directors of the San Antonio National Bank; he was a member of the SA Loan and Trust Company, and part-owner of the La Coste Ice Company, the first manufacturer of artificial ice in the United States. Meanwhile, Dr Herff 's other life was going on- his personal life, his life with his sweetheart-bride Mathilde. Together they had six sons and two daughters- several of his sons followed Herff into the medical profession, and medicine became a family business, down into the fifth and sixth generations. One of the great ambitions of the German immigrants to Texas was to become landowners, and what Dr Herff yearned for was not just a family home but a spread of land, a homestead among the million acres of wilderness. He looked at lots of land and rejected most of it for one reason or another, until he got to know a guy named John James, a landowner, trader and surveyor in the Hill Country northwest of San Antonio, who convinced Herff to come with him and take a look at the beautiful land available in the rolling, verdant Cibolo Valley. John James just happened to be planning on building a town there, which he would call Boerne- but that wouldn’t happen for another two years, and James, a savvy businessman, knew that having the famous Dr Herff own land in those hills would be a draw once he started selling lots in the new town. So one day in 1850, Herff and his wife rented an old stagecoach and a pair of mules, hired a driver and a cook and set out to explore among the hills and valleys of what would become Kendall County. His grandson told how the road to Boerne in those days was “merely a winding unpaved trail”, as recorded in Dr Herff 's journal. “We bumped our way over ruts and rocks until we had laboriously climbed to the top of the escarpment [later known as Eight Mile Hill]. Making the primitive highway even more impassable was the dearth of bridges; travelers simply took their chances in
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traversing the several fords. With the exception of this hazard,” Dr Herff went on, “the route was more fraught with irritation than with danger, and the trip proved delightful.” This was Dr Herff 's first sight of the land that would become his beloved home. “The caravan,” he wrote, “finally arrived at the rim of the Boerne Valley.”
affordable, hoards of these poor people began spilling into Boerne. “With the reasonable fares and accessibility of the railroad,” his grandson wrote, “Nearly every passenger train brought in several hollow-eyed, hecticly [sic] coughing spectres, most of whom were journeying to their deaths.”
“It was late afternoon,” his grandson wrote, “that eerily beautiful time when the landscape takes on a cloak of intense loveliness, when everything seems painfully real and alive-pastures padded by knee-deep stands of grass; sturdy, primeval trees hovering like great beasts of fable; Texas wildflowers closely crowding each other in a colorful, paradisiacal riot, their hues now changing, now fading into the hushed anonymity of twilight.”
Dr Herff not only helped to establish San Antonio’s first hospital, but he also worked with the Sisters of the Incarnate Word to establish St Mary’s Sanitarium (for tuberculins) in Boerne, as well as the Holy Angels Academy Catholic school, both in 1890. As a matter of fact, it was because Dr Herff first sent his TB patients to Boerne that this little mountain town (as they styled it) became a world-renowned health resort, an industry that would put Boerne on the map and support the villagers for fifty years- from the 1860s til after the end of World War I. Dr Herff was so famous and so well-trusted that his advice to those first patients was repeated by every doctor to their own poor sufferers, and the healing reputation of Boerne was established.
Dr Herff was a man under an enchantment that would last the rest of his long life. The next morning, he signed the papers which made the land his own, the first three hundred acres of the Herff ranch. At its largest, it encompassed most of the Boerne Valley and stretched all the way from Sisterdale, to the land that would become Camp Bullis and Camp Stanley. The Herff family later, much later, would donate some of that estate for the building of the ‘new’ high school, on Adler Road, and five acres to be used as the Kendall County Fairground. Part of the old Herff place would become the Cibolo Nature Trail and the Herff Farm. For years after the purchase of the land and the construction of the ranch house, Dr Herff 's stays on his country place were necessarily sporadic, as the trip between Boerne and San Antonio was a long and arduous trek, but with the coming of the railroad Herff and his family were able to get away to their beloved ranch more often, and became part of the life of the little village in the Hill Country. He would be instrumental in getting the railroad to his beloved Boerne, and the SA & AP Railroad even named one of their engines the Dr Herff. In 1888, a band of native warriors went on the warpath through Boerne, Wasp Creek and Sisterdale, killing several shepherds who worked for George W Kendall. But the Herff property was not only unharmed, but legend has it that a single arrow with a white feather was found shot into the gate of the Herff farm- the tribe's sign for peace. It seemed the natives remembered the Doctor’s friendship to them. Not everyone in Boerne was always delighted with Dr Herff, however, and some blamed him for changes to Boerne for the worse. “His detractors,” said his grandson, “blamed him for having converted their scenic mountain hamlet into a graveyard for tuberculars.” What happened was this: Dr Herff, noticing that he had never seen a case of that Number One Killer of the nineteenth century, tuberculosis, in Boerne, theorized that “where the disease was not prone to develop was certainly the locality where its victims might be easily cured,” and, so thinking, sent some of his tuberculin patients in the early stages of the disease, to Boerne to recuperate in the mountain air- or die trying. Rumors got about among desperate sufferers of the White Death that miraculous cures were being effected in the little mountain village of Boerne, and with the advent of the railroad making the trip suddenly
Altogether, along with the Indian dialects, Herff spoke ten different languages, keenly and with a gentle or vicious wit, as the case demanded. His grandson said he was “able to call an insolent opponent an s.o.b. in Bohemian or German, an officious meddlesome ass in Greek or Latin, and a perfidious humbug in Spanish or French; a stupid dunce in English or Italian, and another vile name in Apache or Comanche.” “His sense of humor never failed him,” Herff ’s grandson said, and indeed this was apparent on one occasion when the doctor's sidespring buggy was stopped on the side of a dusty road and three “prairie highwaymen” demanded the driver's money. “A man's life wasn't worth a plugged pfenning in those rough-and-rowdy 1850s, and the young physician knew it,” goes a newspaper report from a hundred years later, but Herff took a chance and reached down into his instrument kit to randomly extract a bizarre-looking gadget which he aimed point-blank at the muggers. Herff put on a snarl and growled: “Get out or I'll let you have it!” The highwaymen got out, and fast. Dr Herff then finally looked down to see what he’d aimed at the would-be thieves- and found he’d just threatened their lives with a pair of obstetric forceps. Dr Herff performed his last surgery at the age of eightyseven, and kept up his general medical practice for another year, finally taking down his shingle in 1908. He died in 1912, at the age of ninety-two, having become a legend: Pioneer homesteader, frontiersman and brilliant doctor, friend of the Indians, founder of a hospital and a big, fine family and a ranch ten thousand acres wide, a healer and a lifesaver and a miracle man, husband and father and grandfather and a big, booming, twinkling, larger-than-life man, and one of our real-life, hometown Founding Fathers.
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Changing form in a Magical Way Our mission at ShapeshifterS is “Forever Changing” meaning we want our returning customers to find fresh new inventory and offerings every time they stop by to visit. Our vision is to be an inviting destination, offering a multi-faceted environment for everyone. Craft and project classes will be offered featuring a vast assortment of subjects and fun projects. Varying special events will be held to enhance the seasons and support the community. Parking is available, so come by and enjoy a relaxed place to rest your feet and share good conversation with neighbors and new friends. An open invitation awaits everyone to visit the”Monkey House” (our restoration workshop) where the magic of ShapeshifterS takes place! Beware though, you can easily get caught up in the intrigue and activities and find yourself helping out. The perfect place for the guys and gals to hang out, swap stories and kill some time while their significant other shops! Come by and say hello to Pam and Hank and enjoy some history, a cup of coffee and experience the “Spirit of the ShapeshifterS”.
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720 N MainStreet Boerne,Texas 78006 830-331-7421 www.shopshapeshifters.com www.facebook.com/shopshapeshiftersBoerne www.instagram.com/shapeshifters.boerne
I
MOVIE MADNESS It’s summer, and summer means MOVIES!! There’s something about the heat of the summer that drives us all indoors and there’s few things better than a lazy Saturday afternoon movie with the drapes closed while it’s approximately 150 degrees outside! As such, your friends at EXPLORE have accumulated a few of the absolutely, positively BEST movies to watch this summer!
FANDANGO – 1985
This was Kevin Costner’s first movie, and it set him up for a wonderful career. Gardner Barnes (Kevin Costner) is a young Texan who has just graduated from college and is unsure of what to do next. Along with his friends, collectively known as the Groovers, Gardner embarks on a road trip to the Rio Grande as a last hurrah for the group. As the trip progresses, Gardner and his buddies, including Kenneth Waggener (Sam Robards) and Phil Hicks (Judd Nelson), struggle with their impending adulthood and the looming issue of the Vietnam War. The synopsis sounds “deep” and parts of it are, but for the most part it’s one of the most memorable movies that you’ve never seen.
JAWS – 1975
Every person on earth has seen this flick, and frankly, a blistering hot summer afternoon is the perfect time to relive this classic. We all know the story, but few movies have reached the legendary status of JAWS. 40 years later, there’s not a person alive that doesn’t think about the movie every time they are chest deep in the surf at the beach.
STAND BY ME – 1986
After learning that a stranger has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton), Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell), Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) and Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives. Don’t miss this movie that be equally nostalgic and engrossing for the viewer.
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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS – 2013
For a while, Star Trek movies were geared more for an older crowd, with an aging crew of Shatner and Company manning the controls. However, with the reboot that includes Chris Pine, these movies have gained a new momentum and really are great flicks. Turn off the lights, turn down the A/C, and crank up the volume as Pine and his crew save from the universe from disaster. Over and over.
TOMBSTONE – 1993
Even if you don’t like Westerns, you’ll LOVE Tombstone. Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers, Morgan (Bill Paxton) and Virgil (Sam Elliott), have left their gunslinger ways behind them to settle down and start a business in the town of Tombstone, Ariz. While they aren't looking to find trouble, trouble soon finds them when they become targets of the ruthless Cowboy gang. Now, together with Wyatt's best friend, Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), the brothers pick up their guns once more to restore order to a lawless land. This movie created an entire generation of Western fans, and with some stellar acting and one-liners from Doc Holliday, it’s simply one that you can’t miss.
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Premier Custom Home Builder in the Texas Hill Country For over 40 years, KCN has been building beautiful custom homes of all sizes in Boerne, Comfort, Bandera, Castroville and throughout the Texas Hill Country. Our reputation for honesty and integrity, combined with our commitment to deliver excellent quality, expert craftsmanship, and customer service, has afforded us the opportunity to build many long lasting relationships with our clients. In fact, we have constructed two or more jobs for 32 different customers.
830-816-5202 920 East Blanco Road Boerne, TX 78006 www.kcnbuilders.com
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FLOORE’S COUNTRY STORE
HELOTES For over 60 years, John T. Floore Country Store has hosted Texas and American music legends alike. This quintessential Texas Honky Tonk has hosted such legendary performers as Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, B.B. King, Little Richard and many many more. Known by many as the musical "birthplace" of Willie Nelson. Willie immortalized John T. Floore in his hit recording "Shotgun Willie". John T. Floore and Wille Nelson were partners in the original Willie Nelson Music Company. In the March 2001 issue of Texas Monthly, John T. Floore Country Store was listed as one of the "50 Things Every Texan Should Do" Opened in 1942 by Mr. John T. Floore, himself, John T. Floore Country Store was not a store at all, but a unique Texas Dance Hall and Cafe. Floore's, long renowned for its world famous tamales and homemade bread, offers a full menu of great "Texas Cafe" style food, ice cold beer and truly unique "Texccentric" atmosphere. For more ticket information or information not listed check out www.liveatfloores.com. Weekly Events: Steak Night every Wednesday night. $18 plus tax will buy you steak dinner and a show. The steaks, cut in-house, are grilled to order over charcoal pits out back. Bike Night every Thursday night. On the 2nd Thursday of each month, Javelina Harley Davidson (Boerne, TX) shows up with promotions and giveaways. Includes live music, bbq, beer specials and more. Complete with reserved bike parking. www.liveatfloores.com/calendar/
GRUENE HALL
GRUENE Today, Gruene is a thriving community, but for decades it was little more than a ghost town. This changed the day that Pat Molak, frustrated with big-city life, wandered into town and began to breathe life back into this piece of Texas history. Pat Molak purchased Gruene Hall in 1975. A few unavoidable repairs were made to the Hall, but little else was necessary. Left uncorrupted, the 6,000-square-foot, open-air dance hall became a virtual magnet, a starting point for many of Texas' up-and-coming performers, and once again, the heart of Gruene. Even with the remarkable growth of this once sleepy little town, the main focus of Gruene is, and continues to be, bona fide Texas. Everything from the wares they sell to the music they play speaks to its commitment to preserving the authenticity of Gruene and providing its guests with an experience that has the signature seal of the Lone Star State. For more information about Gruene and a complete listing of concert information, please visit www.gruenehall.com.
11TH STREET COWBOY BAR
BANDERA The 11th Street Cowboy Bar is a world-famous destination for all brand of folks, from cowboys to cowgirls, bikers to businesswomen. They come for the good brew, top-tier live Country Western and Country Swing and Dance music, and of course, the good times that only the Biggest Little Bar in Texas can provide. 11th Street Cowboy Bar has been featured in Life Magazine, The Oprah Show, Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, Texas Coop Power (July 2006), USA Today, Southern Living, the Houston Chronicle, Hill Country Happenings, the Hill Country Sun (July 2006), the San Antonio Express-News, area radio stations and many more national publications and outlets as a must-see destination in Texas. Drop in just about any night of the week and you are sure to come across folks from as nearby as down the road and far away as Europe and Asia. For directions or more information please visit www.11thstreetcowboybar.com.
CROSSROADS SALOON AND STEAKHOUSE
FREDERICKSBURG The Hill Country's finest live entertainment venue. They have completed their two year renovation of a historic building located on Main Street in Fredericksburg, Texas. Complete with fine dining and live entertainment it is billed as one of the finest concert venues and restaurants in the Texas Hill Country. Crossroads, which opened on New Years Eve 2010, has showcased a number of impressive bands. For more information about music schedules, please visit www./crossroads-texas.com/. crossroads-texas.com/calendar
LUCKENBACH DANCE HALL
LUCKENBACH Many consider the Luckenbach Dance Hall the “Best Dancehall in Texas: and the Luckenbach bar has more soul per square inch than any other, anywhere. Featuring live music 7 days a week, Luckenbach is a destination for both locals and tourists alike. Kick back, enjoy a cold Texas beer and take in the legend of Luckebach. For comprehensive concert information, please visit www.luckenbachtexas.com www.luckenbachtexas.com/events
ROUNDUP OUTDOOR MUSIC VENUE
BOERNE The Roundup Outdoor Music Venue features a variety of family entertainment. Every weekend enjoy Live Music from the Best Country Bands around! With over 25 beers on tap, you can try some of the best craft beers from local Texas breweries. We also feature amazing Texas wines from vineyards like Sister Creek and Becker! Let your kids play in our large playground which includes a 30’ outdoor obstacle moon bounce course. It doesn’t end there, we also provide a dog park, so you can sit and enjoy a meal from one of the many great Food Trucks at our park while your furry friend runs freely. Don’t forget about our FREE shuttle service to the Guadalupe River where you can enjoy a day tubing, canoeing, or even kayaking and then be shuttled back to The Roundup to enjoy a delicious meal, Live Music, Cold Beers, and more! Visit our event calendar to see who’s scheduled to play this weekend! www.therounduptx.com/event
WWW.HILLCOUNTRYEXPLORE.COM | JUNE 2017
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OLD TIMER Mad-Money-Mike-$chultz is our newly elected Mayor again. (Henceforth he shall be known as “MMM$chultz” in all my future columns) While this does not make me happy, I was even more stunned to see the voting results that were posted. A little over 500 people TOTAL voted in the election. Just let that sink in for a little bit.
In the past year, the populace has become more engaged than ever before. There are multiple Facebook groups wholly devoted to discussing and debating city politics. The City is now streaming all of their Council meetings online for review. We had the city almost come to a meltdown point over 17 Herff, and we packed Council Chambers for the vote on the re-zoning. We have had petitions to stop City Hall (thank GOD), the councilmen and women are under intense scrutiny (as they should be) and people know about what’s going on with the City at an unprecedented level. And then 500 people show up to vote and let MMM $chultz back into office. So while I spend a considerable amount of time bitching about City staff and representatives, it’s your turn, citizens: You guys suck.
I’m sorry. You lost me at “exercise”.
I asked around about why friends weren’t voting and the majority of the responses were this: “Man, the guy running against MMM$chultz is awful, and I can’t stand MMM$chultz, so my vote is a non-vote.” What a wussy response. Did we all just forget the last Presidential election? One side hated Hillary just because of who she is, and the other side was foaming at the mouth with disdain for Trump because he’s Trump. We turned out in record numbers and voted for the lesser of two evils (in many people’s opinions) and bingo – we have a President. Despite what MMM$chultz might tell you and the local papers, there are a TON of people unhappy with his leadership of the City, and I’m one of those that are less than impressed. He’s hell-bent on turning Boerne into
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Stone Oak, and you better believe that this City Hall (Taj Mahal) is a legacy issue for him as he wants it to be his crown jewel. I don’t know a lot about this Pena character that was running against him (though I talked to him a time or two) but apparently he wasn’t a real popular option. I’m not sure why, but there ya have it. I do know, however, that he wanted to practically slam the door shut on development in town and to focus internally on the infrastructure and let developments come later. This is diametrically opposed to MMM$chultz’s view for the City. Was Pena the best option for a replacement? Probably not. Does it excuse you not voting? ABSOLUTELY NOT. You wonder why the City staff roll their eyes when we stomp our feet and demand to vote on certain issues? Wanna know why MMM $chultz tries to get things done via the Council without too much public input? Do I really need to answer this? It’s because you jackwagons can’t get off your asses and exercise the most important right that you have in this democracy. FIVE HUNDRED people voted out of approximately 13,000. That should make you hang your head in shame. I mean, MMM$chultz had one epic tirade at the end of the recent Council meeting over the fact that there was a petition that garnered enough signatures so it will be required to vote on City Hall. This makes me happy, but I think I’m seeing why it doesn’t make HIM happy: it’s because 500 of you chumps will show up to vote on it! I’m disappointed in my town. I’m disappointed that I have typed this column for a couple of years now and we have managed to grow a pretty engaged populace and then you are given the chance to vote on the MOST IMPORTANT position in our City government, and you all stay home for the Spurs game. Oh wait – there was two weeks of early voting. I’m disappointed that there is so much pissing and moaning about things going on that you don’t know about, but then you claim ignorance about VOTING DAY. I’m disappointed because we just proved the City right: you CARE about issues, but not enough to go push a button and vote. Sorry to be so harsh as we enter another beautiful summer here in the Hill Country, but we as a population definitely dropped the ball and we have no-one to blame. We’re going to have a bond vote in November, and this will include City Hall. Frankly, if we don’t turn out in record numbers, MMM$chultz is going to get his Taj Mahal, the City will go farther into debt over it, and you will have absolutely no room to complain about a damn thing.
/RandomTexasFamilyFun t /RandomBeeRGaRdn /RandomTexas
80+ Craft Beers Kid ZONE FAMILY Friendly Dog FRIENDLY Wonderful Food Truck Eats 11 Upper Cibolo Creek Rd.
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