Opinion

It comes in different dressed up names; from school choice to vouchers, let’s call it what it is: sending taxpayer dollars to fund private school tuitions. Coming up, presumably on October 9, Governor Abbott is set to call legislators back to Austin to debate public education funding and school vouchers, with the latter being his highest priority.

As the changing of the guard is always inevitable in rural America, I would like to reflect on the incomprehensible gratitude we as a community have for the entire Porter’s Family. Porter’s has been the cornerstone of our neighborhood, serving not just as a place to shop for essentials but as the go-to fundraiser location for our community. Porter’s is the heart of our community. They sponsor Little League teams, participate in neighborhood events, and contribute to local charities. Their commitment to the community’s well-being goes beyond selling groceries; it’s about doing what’s right Today, as the Porter family reluctantly bids farewell to their beloved store, we find ourselves reflecting on our immense gratitude for this family-run gem that has enriched our lives in so many ways.

Dallas may be a long 500-mile drive from Alpine, but every year Visit Big Bend makes that trip and takes a little piece of Far West Texas to the State Fair. The DFW area is a major contributor to visitation in the Big Bend region and the staff of Visit Big Bend, along with several contract workers, man a booth for the full 24 days of the Fair.

“Everything exists to end in a photograph.” – Susan Sontag (1933 – 2004) American writer, philosopher, and political activist. “Going to get your picture struck,” my grandmother asked me once.

“All to Jesus I surrender; At His feet, I humbly bow, Worldly pleasures, all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.” — Traditional hymn lyrics by Judson W. Van DeVenter, 1896 Despite the old joke about getting to church “early to get a good seat — one in the back,” the front seat is where I sit.

Texas has a lot to offer which includes over 80,000 highway lane miles. We also have world-class rail and air facilities for freight and passengers. Nearly 2,000 people move here every day, steadily increasing the pressure on our infrastructure. That’s one of the reasons why my Texas Transportation Commission colleagues and I made history this month with the approval of a record $142 billion total investment for Texas’ transportation infrastructure, including the $100 billion 10-year Unified Transportation Program (UTP). This funding will help ensure vital transportation projects will improve safety, congestion, preservation, and connectivity for Texas drivers.

Alpine- Casparis Municipal Airport, also known by its Federal Aviation Administration location identification E38(Echo 38), is located northwest of Alpine. The airport is owned by the City of Alpine and is considered a general aviation facility being primarily for small commercial and private aircraft. Our airport is non commercial meaning it does not have a scheduled air service for passengers. The airport has two intersecting runways, 01/19 and 05/23, with the longer being 6003ft and the latter 5018ft. The runways are identified with two numbers because they can be used in either direction for take offs and landings, with pilots usually choosing the runway with the more favorable wind direction.

“If these walls could talk, I wonder what secrets they’d tell.” — Gayle Forman, writer That question was evidently on my mind many years ago. April 3, 1975, to be exact.