About 25 years ago, I enjoyed watching a TV show called “If Walls Could Talk”. The premise of the show was unraveling the clues that the discovered artifacts told of the previous inhabitants of the structures that were featured.

I’ve spent my life in service—first as a combat medic and behavioral health officer, then as a mental health provider, a mother, and a supporter of fellow veterans. Now, I’m turning that experience toward building something lasting for our community. I’ve sat with people in crisis, stood beside veterans in their hardest seasons, and walked with neighbors through real-life struggles. One truth keeps rising to the surface: healing takes a community.

Spending money on things like mowing, weed killers and pesticides can make the land look amazing, but would that money be better spent on improving the soil? This year, I have seen a number of chemical fertilizer trucks and spray rigs applying both solid and liquid products to farmland. And while the land will look great for around six weeks, the effects soon wear off.

Multiple Council sessions and Budget meetings, along with countless hours of planning, goes into fixing drainage and flooding in towns. Almost every town/city experiences this problem to varying degrees. Untold millions of dollars are spent each year by them to try and cope with the runoff.

The debate about immigration, often bitter and divisive, appears to represent irreconcilable views. The political left is viewed as supporting open borders to all and the political right is viewed as supporting sending the “illegals” off to rot in foreign prisons. First of all, I believe any country has the right and duty to control its borders with effective and humane legislation. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have lived up to that responsibility. Second, I want the Constitutional guarantee of due process rigorously applied for anyone charged in the United States, whether a citizen or not.. The first belief is based on the common-sense assumption that a government must protect its citizens. The second belief is because I want to have due process if I am ever charged with some violation of the law.

In this monthly series, local realtor Andrea Schutter Riebeling does a Q & A with local business people about what inspires them. This month’s interview is with La Grange High School graduate Lindsey Pleasant.

Gov. Greg Abbott last week signed a $1 billion private school voucher bill into law in front of a large crowd at the Governor’s Mansion, the San Antonio Express-News and other media outlets reported. Abbott called the new law the biggest legislative win of his time in the governor’s office and touted the new program as the largest in the nation.

“Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.” – Proverbs 12:18 (NLT) Have you ever noticed how easy it is to be critical? It just slips out sometimes. We comment on what someone’s wearing, question how they raise their kids, roll our eyes at their vacation photos, or silently judge their spending choices.

On May 14, 1962, Katherine Anne Porter published “Ship of Fools,” her first and last novel that put the uprooted Texan on easy street. Callie Russell Porter began her long life in 1890 at a wide spot in the road not far from Brownwood called Indian Creek.

To the Editor: Fayette County, the Cities of La Grange, Schulenburg, Flatonia, Ellinger, Carmine, Fayetteville and Town of Round Top are all extraordinarily fortunate to benefit from a well-run, community supported animal shelter. The Gardenia Janssen Animal Shelter (GJAS) relieves a significant burden from local governments as stray dogs and cats running at large is clearly a public safety issue.