Last week, I had the opportunity to represent our fine town on a media panel as part of the Hill Country Alliance Leadership Summit held at Camp Lucy near Dripping Springs.
Several other Fredericksburgers were there to represent their interests in keeping this beautiful Hill Country from being overrun with development, and helping keep our waters clean, our night skies clear and our land in its native state (as much as possible). HCA focuses on all these issues, while being respectful of landowner rights.
Chet Garner, host of the TV show, “The Daytripper,” was our panel’s host. We had an engaging discussion about telling the stories of our communities and also about encouraging others to contribute their takes.
Louie Bond, editor of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, and Robert Rivard, founder of the online Rivard Report and former editor of the San Antonio Express-News, were the other panelists. His website had broken a story just the night before about a new planned crude oil pipeline that would cross over the Edwards Aquifer. And of course, the name Kinder Morgan came up several times over the course of the day.
The group also heard talks on water and land and honored some Texas conservationists. I stressed that hunting was a part of conservation and we promote families and youth who harvest deer, even though a few readers are offended by it.
Hill Country Alliance wants the same goals we do where our land is concerned. Look them up at www.hillcountryalliance.org. They are dedicated facilitators to help us work collectively to keep this region pristine.
Read more from Ken Esten Cooke with The Fredericksburg Standard Radio-Post here.
Our area, our culture and our ‘First freedoms’
