News

Send your community events to kara.gerbert@alpineavalanche. com Upcoming Events April 18-20 34th Annual Gem and Mineral Show, 9 a.m.

In March, students from the Sul Ross State University Geology program visited Big Bend National Park on a research mission to retrieve dinosaur bones belonging to Alamosaurus. Led by Dr. Jesse Kelsch, an assistant professor, and Dr. Thomas Shiller, an associate professor, participants included students in Stratigraphic Analysis and Structural Geology courses. The goals of the trip included conducting structural and stratigraphic analyses of Cretaceous—Eocene rocks and to retrieve a large vertebra belonging to Alamosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur that lived in North America during the Cretaceous Period. Alamosaurus is the largest known land-dwelling animal to have lived in North America. Fossils from the giant sauropod are known in the Big Bend but are usually fragmentary and poorly preserved. The specimen collected by SRSU belongs to one of the most complete skeletons in the area, originally collected and described by researchers from the University of Texas in the 1970s. Associated vertebrae were previously collected from the same quarry by Dr. Shiller and his students and are currently being studied in the SRSU paleontology lab.

The Big Bend Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas will hold its annual plant sale on April 26 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Forever West Texas 308 West Avenue E in Alpine. There will be native plants including desert-adapted, flowering plants, perennials as well as shrubs available. Experts will be on hand to answer your native plant questions. Plant sale information can be found here: https://www.npsot. org/chapters/big-bend/ plant-sales/ You can also donate plants to the Patty Manning Pollinator Garden being developed at the Alpine Public Library.

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Early voting for the May 3 general election will begin on Tuesday and continue through Friday, April 25. It will resume on Monday, April 28, and continue through Tuesday, April 29. Early voting hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alpine Civic Center.

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In its fourth year, the Spirits of the West Fest will take the stage on the Brewster County Courthouse lawn from April 25 to 26. Vendors from across Texas will be on hand to celebrate our state’s iconic entrepreneurial spirit by showcasing small wineries, distilleries, and eateries, including some from our own backyard.

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The Alpine Independent School District Board of Trustees held a special meeting on Wednesday, April 2, at noon to appoint two new principals to the district. Board president Eddie Natera was not present, vice-president Mary McCallister presided over the meeting. These appointments will fill the Alpine Elementary and Alpine High School positions.