The Veterans Memorial Monument Association, Municipal Development District and the City of Natalia will host a Memorial Day Service on Sunday, May 24th, 2026 at 7:00 pm at the Veterans Memorial Monument.
Everyone is welcomed. Please bring your own seating.
We will pay TRIBUTE to all men and women who gave the Ultimate Sacrifice in defense of our Country.
Memorial Day starts the Annual Name Drive to add new names to the monument. Criterion is that the name of the individual who served our nation needs to have been born in Medina County, raised in Medina County or is living in Medina County. The cost for names to be engraved on the Monument will be $175 per name. The deadline for all names to be turned in will be September 1st, 2026. Forms can be picked up at the Natalia Municipal Development District Office, City of Natalia Office or on line at: cityofnatalia.com. Click on Community Places & Events, click on Natalia Veterans Memorial Monument name Registration Form, fill out necessary information and mail to the address on the form. Or you can also drop off the form at either office.
Author: admin
Medina County Museum Heritage Day May 23
OPENING CEREMONY 10:00 at the flagpoles in front of Museum with Judge Keith Lutz and members of Rio Medina Boy Scout Troop 471, SAR, SCV
Museum and outdoor exhibits will be open until 3:00 following the Opening Ceremony.
Exhibits include blacksmith shop, antique farm implements, 19th century wagons and buggies,
SAR American Revolution and SCV Civil War reenactors, 1913 D’Hanis Brick & Tile steam engine, old school house (complete with original WPA outhouses), 1964 (unrestored) caboose, and thousands of unique items portraying the frontier beginnings of Medina County when this 1893 Southern Pacific Railroad Depot was relocated from downtown Hondo to present location (2202 18th Street) becoming Medina County Museum in 1970.
Local DRT, CRT, 4H, CCHA organizations and vendors will be selling local honey, homemade soaps, lotion, yarn, and books.
There’s room for more vendors at no charge. Vendors bring your own canopy as shade is limited. No electricity available outside of buildings. We’d love to have music (piano, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, etc). Anyone wanting to sell hot food must get a (no charge) permit from City of Hondo; no permit required for sales of cold sodas, lemonade. If you’d like to bring a box lunch picnic, bring your picnic quilt and lawn chairs to eat under a shade tree.
The theme is Patriotic as we will be honoring our Veterans and our Nation’s 250 Years of Freedom so dress in Red, White and Blue; Veterans wear your Military insignia ballcaps. It’s also fun to dress in pioneer costume.
Come join in the fun!
For more information please contact Director @ 830-538-3911
Medina County Runoffs: This week is last chance to vote in two big races
Modgling-Everett will have a runoff against Bermea for the Medina County Clerk seat.
Two local races will end with the runoff election ongoing right now. Early voting continues until May 22, and Election Day is May 26th.
Vying for the JP 3 spot is Teresa Koch and Michael Sanchez.
Cindy Modgling-Everett and Kimberly Bermea are running for the Medina County Clerk seat.
For the runoffs, Early Voting began this week, May 18-22, and Election Day is Tuesday, May 26.
Massive power line project draws local backlash
Brandon Herrera, a Republican congressional candidate for the Texas 23rd District, and Wes Virdell, representing District 53 in the Texas House of Representatives, face local participants in a town hall meeting May 13 at the Devine VFW to discuss the controversial Howard-Solstice power line project. (Photo by Anton Riecher)
By Anton Riecher
Concern about land rights, health issues and cost of a proposed 370-mile power transmission line project to connect San Antonio to the Permian Basin in West Texas monopolized the discussion during a town hall meeting May 13 at the Devine Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.
Brandon Herrera, a Republican congressional candidate for the Texas 23rd District, urged those tracking efforts to win regulatory approval for the 765-kilovolt Howard-Solstice transmission line project to contact not one, but all their elected representatives able to bring influence to bear.
“Everyone should be hearing about this from you because they need to know that this is an issue that they should be advocating for as well,” Herrera said. “That might be enough to push them over the edge, that maybe they make a phone call and maybe that call has a little bit of influence to push things down the line.”
Wes Virdell, representing District 53 in the Texas House of Representatives, and members of the Hill Country Preservation Coalition were also on hand.
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Data center meeting draws capacity crowd to Devine community center
Citizens packed the town hall meeting to hear information and voice concerns about the proposed “El Camino” AI data center and possible annexation to City of Devine. (Photo by Anton Riecher)
By Kayleen Holder
Editor
In a packed house, the Devine City council, zoning commission, as well as two of our local county representatives took time to listen to the concerns, questions, and thoughts of local citizens in regards to impending and ongoing data center development in the Devine area and Medina County in general–and there were a lot. A total of about 60 people signed up to speak, most of them local city and county residents.
“We are here to look at both the opportunity and the risk based on facts,” Mayor Butch Cook said before opening up the podium.
The co-founder of Texas Energy Group, Ryan Nuckolls, gave a presentation on the facility’s projected plans. He discussed water use, and plans to produce half of the power the site will use by building a gas-powered power plant on site. So the 800 Megawatt site (which is the largest in Medina County), will rely half on the electric grid, and half on power produced by its own power plant using natural gas.
The City has two major things to decide on: Will it annex? And will it offer tax abatements?
Nuckolls declined to provide his contact information for additional questions, but stated the company wants to be part of the community and answer the community’s questions.
He stated that there would be 8-9 buildings on the site including an electrical substation and a power plant. When asked if they owned the property or leased the property, he said his company has the “developer rights” and he was unsure who the actual customer coming into the site would be.
“Who owns it? Who will run it? Who are we going to be dealing with for the rest of our lives?” local resident Heather Yanta asked.
“A hyperscaler data center operator will eventually come in and own the property,” Nuckolls said, noting they had several reputable clients.
TX Energy Group’s presentation stated that the entire facility is projected to use the 1.7 million gallons for the initial fill, though it will be staggered, and that won’t need to be replaced for approximately 15 years–except for a 2% evaporation rate which is an annual evaporation rate according to Nuckolls.
The developer stated the closest building on the site will be about “5,000 feet away from the closest community in Devine”. The site is a half mile from Devine City limits on Hwy 132 near the intersection of I-35.
Developers stated they would try to route traffic down I-35, and not through downtown Devine.
TJ Richardson was one of many residents who spoke.
“They are going to ask a lot of us, and so we need to ask a lot of them,” Richardson said.
Former County Commissioner Jerry Beck suggested that the center use “effluent water (treated water) that’s spit out of the sewer plant”. There are in fact, some data centers that do use effluent water so this appears to be a viable option if council pursued it.
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County commissioners lack authority to regulate data centers, Lutz says
By Anton Riecher
The legal authority of the county commissioners to regulate data center development is strictly defined by Texas state law and the state Constitution, County Judge Keith Lutz emphasized in comments Monday during the Medina County Commissioners’ Court hearing.
“The only authority that this court has or any court in the state of Texas is what is given through the state’s Constitution and laws,” Lutz said.
Lutz noted that the data center boom, particularly in Medina County, has been a hot topic on social media and during a May 12 town hall meeting in Devine on the proposed “El Camino” data center project south of town.
“The public is really finally taking notice of what’s going on around us,” he said.
The rapid proliferation of nearly 400 data centers statewide includes 80 near Bexar County and nine either operating or under construction in Medina County. Key concerns include water consumption and electricity usage.
Lutz said he has been dealing with data center issues since is first day in office as county judge.
“There are so many across the state that people are really engaged in the process,” Lutz said. “I do believe that more than anything people want answers. And it is a lot to absorb. People don’t know what they can and can’t trust. You have outside influences that make their way into different groups.”
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The Best Baseball Glove
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
-Rogers Hornsby
My true affection for baseball began in 4th grade. After a solid school day and long walk home from the bus stop, most afternoons I would retire to our “shop” – a corrugated tin shed that rested behind our house. There I tinkered with my bicycle – or I should say bicycles, plural, for I had a few. Smelling of WD-40, with a crescent wrench in my hands, I spent many afternoons working on my battered bikes while listening to Vin Scully broadcast Dodger games. Our sterling neighbor Mrs. Williams loved baseball and kept her radio positioned next to an outdoor PA system so she could hear games while she worked outside. The whole neighborhood got to listen, and that was a good thing. For me, the sound of baseball was intoxicating.
At about this same time in school we began to play baseball in earnest (we actually played softball – but we called it baseball). From early spring through the end of the school year, we played baseball with abandon, at P.E., during recess, and on weekends in the dirt fields at home. At school, I was the only kid who didn’t have a baseball glove of my own. I always had to borrow one when we played. One day, out on a shopping trip with my dear mom (we were prowling the aisles of what we used to call a “Dime Store”), I found a glove. I begged my mom to buy it for me. She did, reluctantly.
The next day my triumphant entry into the world of elementary school baseball glory was met with ridicule and shame. The other kids teased me mercilessly, for my new glove was nothing more than a cheap toy, unfit for the rigors of baseball in the 4th grade. I was crushed. But soon things changed…
A week later my dad came home from work with a surprise for me – a real baseball glove. The best baseball glove that I’d ever seen. It was a second-hand J. C. Higgins brand Bob Allison Signature Model 1646. I believe Dad got it from a friend of his at work. Well broken-in with an old-school leather patina, it looked like it had already caught a thousand fly balls. I loved it! At school it gained me instant respect from the other boys. When I took to the field with this seasoned glove on my hand, I looked like I’d been playing ball for years. And I was in heaven.
That glove became my most valued possession. With a black marker I wrote my name on it in large letters. All was good until my glove was stolen later when I was in 6th grade. I had left it at school, and during our annual Halloween Carnival some low-life yobs infiltrated our classroom and nabbed it along with some other baseball equipment. I was heartbroken. After the word went out that my precious glove had been stolen, another student saw my glove in his hooligan neighbor kid’s backyard, and he stole it back for me (I will always be grateful – thank you Raymond Laye).
In recent years I’ve done some research on my vintage glove. J. C. Higgins was a brand name used by the Sears & Roebuck Company beginning in 1908. The brand name was used on much of Sears sporting goods up until 1961. John Higgins was an actual Sears employee, working as a bookkeeping manager and company comptroller until retiring in 1930. For some reason Sears’ executives liked his name and asked to use it, adding the “C” since Higgins did not have a middle name.
My glove was a Bob Allison signature model. Bob Allison played 13 seasons in the Majors (from 1958 to 1970) with the Washington Senators and the Minnesota Twins. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1959, and was named to the All-Star team three times, in 1959, 1963, and 1964. I believe my Bob Allison signature glove is a 1960 model.
I loved my old baseball glove. I used it playing ball all through elementary school, then in junior high, and finally in high school my sophomore and senior years. My daughter even used it for a time when she played ball. And she and I carried it to Texas Ranger’s games, always arriving early to watch batting practice while enjoying our hot dogs, with gloves at the ready just in case a fly ball flew our way.
That old glove sits on my desk right now as I type these words – loving leather soaked in warm personal history. The memories are so thick I have to brush them away from my face.
Thank you Dad – I love
Lions Club Donates to Mission Devine
Mary Jane Dennis
In loving memory of Mary Jane Dennis of San Saba, Texas, who passed away at her home surrounded by family, on May 11, 2026. She was 91years old. Mary Jane brought joy, laughter, and kindness to everyone she met. She was born in Devine, Texas in 1935 to Kathleen (Cox) and Charlie Paine DuBose. She graduated from Devine High School and attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College (STSTC) in San Marcos, Texas, earning a degree in Home Economics Education. While at STSTC, she met the love of her life, George T. Dennis. George knew she was the one the moment he saw her smiling eyes.
Mary Jane and George got married after college in 1956. They lived in Shiner, Yoakum, and San Marcos, Texas before settling down on their little piece of paradise in San Saba in 1964. In 1965, Mary Jane started teaching in San Saba Junior High in Home Economics education. During the summers, since they enjoyed their summers “off”, she and George loaded the kids and picnic foods in the car and headed out for many educational adventures throughout the western United States. She received her kindergarten teaching certification in the early 1970s, and started her 21 years of teaching kindergarten at San Saba Elementary. Many people who attended San Saba Elementary during these years fondly remember the field trip to Mrs. Dennis’ home where they participated in Easter egg hunts, nature walks, picnic lunches, and boat races in the stream. Mary Jane retired in 1995, filling her time with extended education club, serving at the Bend United Methodist church, and spending time with extended family and friends.
Mary Jane will be remembered for her kindness to all, especially children, infectious laughter, sparkling eyes, exquisite sense of humor, enjoyment of sunsets and moon rises, and her care for wildlife and flowers.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her son, Allen Michael Dennis, her brothers W.L., Pat, and Wade DuBose, nephew Leslie DuBose, brothers in-law C.R. Simmons, William Chambers, and Bob Dennis, and sisters in-law Kitty DuBose and Betty Lou Dennis Heath. She is survived by her loving husband, George Dennis, daughter Shannon Dennis (Sydney Minnerly), sister Rena Simmons, sisters in-law Bobbie DuBose and Carolyn Pickett, daughter in-law Nila Stricker, grandsons Christopher (Larina) Dennis and Matthew (Tina) Dennis and great-granddaughter Gwendolyn Rose and her wonderful nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held at the Blaylock Funeral Home, Sunday, May 17th 2p-4p and services will be held at the Blaylock Funeral Home, Monday, May 18th at 2p with internment to follow at Colony Cemetery. Memorial donations can be made to Bend United Methodist Church, Colony Cemetery Association, or San Saba Friends of Animals.
Raymond Vara, Jr.
Raymond Vara, Jr., a lifelong resident of Von Ormy, Texas, passed away on May 16, 2026, at the age of 74.
Born on August 13, 1951 in San Antonio, Texas to Ramon Flores Vara, and Eloisa Garza Vara. A dedicated accountant by profession, he was respected for his diligence, integrity, and thoughtful nature throughout his career. In recent years he was Office Manager at the Martinez de Vara Law Firm in Von Ormy, Texas.
Raymond graduated from Southwest High School and later earned his degree in accountancy from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Beyond his professional accomplishments, he was a passionate vexillologist whose fascination with flags reflected his lifelong appreciation for history, culture, and identity. He was also a proud Texan who cherished the traditions and spirit of his home state. He was a jalapeno farmer alongside his father. He was a photography enthusiast with his own personal dark room and learned the art of developing photographs himself. He was always the photographer for family events through the years. He was an animal lover with a big heart. In high school he played the drums and loved all types of music throughout his life.
Raymond valued family, learning, and meaningful conversation. Though he never married, he remained devoted to those closest to him and took great pride in the lives and accomplishments of his family.
He is survived by his sister, Sally Ann Martinez; his niece, Stephanie Brady, and her family, J.D. Brady, Nikita Raylene Brady, Ezra Joshua Brady, and Gavin Ray Brady; his nephew, Art Martinez de Vara and his family, Marina Martinez de Vara, Rebecca Ann Martinez de Vara and Arturo Iñaki Martinez de Vara; his nephew, Jason Sanchez and family; and his niece, Patricia Sanchez.
He was preceded in death by parents, Ramon Flores Vara, and Eloisa Garza Vara, his brother Ricardo Vara, his sister, Elida Dolores Sanchez, brother-in-law, Robert Sanchez, and brother- in-law, Arturo Martinez.
Funeral Services will be held at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Von Ormy, Texas on Friday, May 22, 2026 as follows: 9:00am Visitation for family and friends to gather and visit, 10:00am Rosary, 11:00am Mass will be celebrated with burial to follow in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Somerset, Texas
Raymond Vara, Jr. will be remembered for his intelligence, independence, love of Texas, and enduring devotion to family and lifelong passions. His memory will remain in the hearts of all who knew and loved him.