At left: Soldiers stood at attention while others prayed during a memorial service at Fort Hood in memory of those killed during the November mass shooting. At right: Miss Spring Ho Jessica Tucker and Little Miss Spring Ho Caylin Watson are selected. Many news events graced the pages of the Lampasas Dispatch Record during 2000.

A sampling of the major happenings for the second half of the year follows.

JULY

The first case of swine flu, or “Influenza A (H1N1),” at Rollins Brook Community Hospital was confirmed, but medical officials reassured area residents there was no need to panic.

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George Herrmann was named marshal of the Spring Ho Grand Parade, and he reigned over the weeklong festival events.

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Jessica Tucker was crowned Miss Spring Ho, and Caylin Watson was selected Little Miss at the annual opening-day ceremonies and pageant.

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Gov. Rick Perry named Gail Lowe, co-publisher of the Lampasas Dispatch Record, to succeed Dr. Don McLeroy of College Station as chairman of the Texas State Board of Education. The 15- member board and the education commissioner oversee the state’s public school system.

Her term as chairman will expire Feb. 1, 2011.

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The Library Foundation of Lampasas, Texas hired an architect to develop plans for expanding the Lampasas Public Library.

The addition likely will be built to the east of the existing facility on what is now a parking lot.

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The Lampasas City Council gave final approval for a sports park off Farm-to-Market Road 580 West and awarded a bid of $1.81 million to CWA Construction of Waco. The park will include two soccer fields, two baseball fields, hike and bike trails, and a concession area.

A joint effort by the city and county resulted in a new animal shelter, which opened its doors in September. * * *

The Texas Department of Transportation activated new traffic signals at the intersection of U.S. Highway 281 South and E.E. Ohnmeiss Drive at the Hancock Park entrance, and at the entrance to the new Lampasas High School.

AUGUST

The Lampasas City Council considered eliminating one police officer through attrition in order to balance the city’s 2009-10 budget and to help provide funding for what City Manager Michael Stoldt called “more pressing needs for parks and fire employees.”

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Longtime Lampasas Independent School District educator and former principal Glenda Summers died Aug. 6. She taught school in Lampasas for many years and then became a principal until her retirement.

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Two Lampasas parents were arrested in connection with the death of their two-month-old daughter, Isabella Garza.

A preliminary autopsy report received by Sheriff David Whitis ruled the death a homicide by blunt-force trauma. Deputies arrested and charged Lowell Preston Garza and Crystal Raquel Garza, both 19, with injury to a child with the intent of serious bodily injury.

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Although Oncor Electric Delivery has not selected final routes for electric transmission lines the company will install in Lampasas County, some local landowners and those in neighboring counties are fighting the line paths they say will harm property values and the environment.

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Maureen Adams, a Lampasas resident and principal of West Ward Elementary School in Killeen, has been in training as part of the Space Frontier Foundation’s Teachers in Space program which prepares educators for sub-orbital flights. The foundation encourages participants to share with their students and fellow teachers the knowledge and experience they gain.

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The Lampasas Independent School District opened both its new campuses -- Taylor Creek Elementary and Lampasas High School -- to much fanfare and positive reports from the respective principals.

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Medical personnel began releasing additional information about vaccinations against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. The illness gained national attention in the spring and caused some schools and businesses to close and events nationwide to be postponed or canceled, including in Lampasas.

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The city of Kempner expanded its borders as council members approved an ordinance annexing seven acres of land into the city limits for the site of the Sylvia Tucker Memorial City Park.

SEPTEMBER Lometa Independent School District personnel were notified of an $800 pay raise per faculty member, which was included in the district’s proposed budget for the 2009-2010 school year.

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Lampasas was awarded a $100,000 grant by the Texas Department of Agriculture to establish a higher education center that will offer vocational training and the opportunity to graduate from high school with an associate’s degree.

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Carlyle Walton, former Rollins Brook Community Hospital administrator and vice president of Metroplex Hospital, accepted the post of president/chief executive officer of Metroplex Health System, owned by Adventist Health Systems. He returned to Central Texas in September.

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Crime Stoppers made the transition from a Lampasas unit to Hill Country Area Crime Stoppers Inc., joining Burnet, Marble Falls, Llano, Blanco, Johnson City and Mason in the program that provides for students to report crimes without fear of being identified.

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The Lampasas Independent School District deferred to its current bus transportation policy after several parents of Taylor Creek Elementary students requested concessions to the district’s busing policy because they said it is too dangerous for their children to walk to school, and the area on Big Divide Road does not provide any signs that require traffic to slow down for students.

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Although the city of Lampasas increased water and wastewater rates, as well as one component of the electric rate, officials told customers they may experience a slight decrease in electric bills. The council voted to increase the monthly base rate for water and wastewater by 25 cents and to add 15 cents per 1,000 gallons to the usage charge. As a result of the rate hikes, the average water and wastewater bill was increased by $2.49 a month.

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Lampasas Animal Shelter on College Street opened its new facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and pet adoptions. The shelter accepts donations of bedding, cat litter, cages, crates and other items.

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Reorganization of the Texas Department of Transportation shifted former Lampasas Area Engineer Tom Dahl to a TxDOT regional job. Lampasas still will be served by an area engineer, the agency announced, and TxDOT employees based in Lampasas will not lose their jobs.

OCTOBER

The Lampasas City Council approved an ordinance that will allow the Lampasas Police Department to enforce a new state law restricting cellular phone use by motorists in school zones. A fine of up to $200 could be assessed for those who don’t obey the law after signs to that effect are placed below school zone speed limit markers.

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Lampasas City Council formed a three-man committee to study areas for possible annexation. Though no formal plan has been developed to annex any specific land, a previous annexation committee identified 12 areas of interest.

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Kempner Water Supply Corp. raised its minimum base water rate by $5, effective Nov. 1, to help fund a new water treatment plant under construction. KWSC’s new rate increased from $45 to $50. Customers should notice the increase for the first time on their December bills.

* * * Lowell Preston Garza, 20, of Lampasas was indicted by the Lampasas County grand jury for capital murder stemming from the August death of his two-month-old daughter.

His wife, Crystal Raquel Garza, 19, was charged with injury to a child with the intent of serious bodily injury, and she bailed out of jail after her bond was reduced.

Garza’s bail was set at $1 million.

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Heavy rain brought relief to area pastures -- and some extra sleep time for Lampasas Independent School District students when it delayed the start of classes one morning until 10 a.m., after the National Weather Service in Fort Worth issued a flood warning for the Lampasas River near Kempner.

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Oil States Industries in Lampasas celebrated 30 years in business with an open house, tours and refreshments for visitors at the local plant, which opened in 1979. It has undergone a number of expansions since construction of the original 125,000-square-foot facility on five acres of land along U.S. Highway 190.

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City administrators considered a former city landfill located east of Old Georgetown Road near U.S. Highway 183 as the site for possible wind energy generation and solar panels after they decided to prepare an application for a stimulus grant that could allow Lampasas to generate 1 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources.

NOVEMBER

Though early November rains helped many Lampasas County fields and waterways, the Lower Colorado River Authority continued several water restrictions as a cautionary measure, and Lometa remained under stage 2 restrictions, the more moderate of the LCRA’s mandatory consumption limitations.

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Though all 11 Texas constitutional amendments passed statewide, Lampasas voters nixed two of the propositions in balloting: Propositions 1 and 4. Ballot proposals ranged from regulating calculation of ad valorem taxation to placing limits on the power of eminent domain.

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The deadliest shooting in Fort Hood’s history left 13 dead and more than 30 injured. The shootings by Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan took place at the Killeen Army post’s Soldiers Readiness Processing Center, where troops receive medical and dental care before leaving for overseas duty.

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President Barack Obama traveled to Fort Hood to speak at a memorial to honor those slain in the Army post’s massacre. Gov. Rick Perry and other national and state officials also were on hand for the event.

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Lometa voters may be asked next year to vote for a bond issue between $4 million and $4.8 million to provide a new gymnasium with double the capacity of the current facility, renovation of boys’ dressing rooms into a science lab and a science classroom, and renovation of the girls’ dressing room into two more classrooms.

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A landowner-directed group will draft a list of voluntary policies intended to improve water quality in the Lampasas River watershed because parts of the river have failed state standards for bacteria levels and dissolved oxygen.

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With jail space difficult to find, Sheriff David Whitis was authorized to sign a contract with officials in Upton County south of Midland to house some of Lampasas County’s excess inmates.

Upton County will charge $38.50 per person per day, will transport inmates to and from the Lampasas County Jail, and will take them to and from court dates at no extra charge.

DECEMBER

Lampasas County Republican Party Chairman Skipper Wallace was presented the Volunteer of the Year award by Gov. Rick Perry on behalf of the Texas Republican County Chairman’s Association.

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Bucking nationwide and state trends, several Lampasas retailers report steady sales and, in some cases, improvements compared to last year.

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Former District 54 State Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, one of Texas’ most prominent Second Amendment advocates, released her book “From Luby’s to the Legislature,” an autobiographical account discussing her parents’ deaths in the Oct. 16, 1991 Luby’s cafeteria massacre in Killeen and Mrs. Hupp’s gun rights advocacy since the shooting.

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Because of construction cost increases and declining hotel tax revenue, the Lampasas City Council delayed taking further action on a civic center until May 2011, when the project may be placed on a debt issue ballot.

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The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees accepted an early Christmas present on behalf of several campuses. The architectural firm O’Connell Robertson gave the funds in appreciation of the relationship it has with Lampasas ISD.