If you love the Texas Hill Country, you will want to watch this video:    We're for the Hill Country   It is outstanding! It doesn’t matter if you were born and raised here or if you came here from a different place, you know the Hill Country is special and needs our protection. The Hill Country Alliance can help us with the “how”. Please don’t “love the Hill Country to death” or try to turn it into something else. Fritz Steiner, Ph.D. and Bill Neiman, our neighbor in Kimble County both have said “If this had been anywhere else this would have been a National Park. The Hill Country is that special.” How can you! help? We’d love for you to start by helping BCFNS protect the Night Sky.

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BOARD MEMBER BOB HEINONEN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Bob Heinonen has announced his retirement from all volunteer responsibilities in all organizations effective Texas Independence Day in 2026 (March 2, 2026). He is resigning from the BCFNS Board as of that date. Bob explained “It is that time of life to focus my time, energy and mental capacity on my wife, our cat and myself. It is time to get back to exercising, binge reading, gardening and fixing things. I will still be available for input. I will continue as the Wizard Of The Night Sky as we find and I mentor understudies.”

Bob has numerous volunteer duties within BCFNS that need to be picked up by volunteers. He says, “We have come a long way in the 7 years I’ve been with BCFNS, but it is time for others to step forward to work on achieving the goals of this organization.”

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CHECK THIS OUT

Our Comal County Friends of the Night Sky (CCFNS) neighbors are trying something new. They have created a cool YouTube channel “The Dark Sky Defenders”. You can check it out at: CCFNS YouTube

Be sure to “Like” and “Subscribe” to continue to view the great information they will have to share. If you live in Comal County and would like to join them at a future meeting, go to their website at Comal Dark Sky

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CONSIDER BECOMING A MEMBER

A membership sign in your yard is a great way to let others know that you care about the night sky and perhaps make them curious about the organization. We have been successful with our Membership Sign Promotion but still need your help. The more signs we can get out in the public, the more people we can reach with our message about “saving the stars”. There are now 160 BCFNS membership signs hanging on fences and gates throughout Blanco County (and beyond). Each of these shouts to the world “Stop polluting our Night Sky”.

If you have been thinking of joining BCFNS or renewing your membership, you can still take advantage of our special offering of a free one-year membership ($20) with the purchase of a sign ($35 tax included). A membership sign is the best publicity the night sky can have. Here’s the link: BCFNS Membership Signs

For more information on all our membership options click here: Membership Options

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NEXT BOARD MEETING

The next Board meeting will be November 19th at 9:00AM, at the Blanco County Community Resource Center (CRC) in Johnson City. The address is 206 South US Highway 281. Meetings are informal and consist of part business and part brainstorming. You are welcome to join us.

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THIS NEWSLETTER

We hope you enjoy our newsletter. We are always looking for ways to make it better and more enjoyable. To that end, we invite your suggestions, comments and ideas for articles. In fact, if you would like to write an article to be published in our newsletter, we will certainly consider including it. Please send them to: newsletter@blancocountynightsky.org

Remember we are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Please consult your accountant or tax adviser for details regarding deductibility for any donation you make.