April is Child Abuse Prevention month in Texas and in the nation.  According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services nearly 200,000 Texas children are reported as abused or neglected every year.  It’s a time to focus on ways not only to protect children but also to prevent abuse from ever occurring.

Neglect is the most frequent form of child abuse.  Yes, children die simply because they are put in situations where they are not supervised.

BrownwoodNews.com posted a story on February 18th regarding a drug arrest in Coggin Park.  A photo was inadvertently posted of Andrew Lopez as being Luis Alvarado.  Mr. Lopez was not involved nor has he any connection with this case.  The story has been updated with the correct photo.

We apologize to Mr. Lopez and regret the mistake.

My kitchen has been busier than a one-armed paper hanger, as my mother would say. Three contributing factors: I love to cook; yesterday was Chinese New Year & I look for any reason to celebrate; Old Man Winter hit so hard I couldn’t go anywhere. With the roads icy & schools & businesses closed for several days, it’s easy to go stir crazy. The cure? Get busy cooking!

I took advantage of the confinement by making several things that I put in the freezer for future use. First, I made 3 1/2 gallons of chicken stock. Who doesn’t use chicken stock? It’s one of those staple ingredients that is really easy to make, it just takes a little time. You can put it on to cook while you do something else...for me, that was cleaning the kitchen, bookkeeping for my husband’s business, & cooking lunch.

BrownwoodNews.com has received several email regarding rumors circulating regarding the City of Brownwood regulating garage sales.

One email we received states that the City of Brownwood has been sending out their code officials to require permits at all garage sales, whether personal or charitable, which is being disputed by city officials.

City of Brownwood’s code enforcement official Kevin Pate commented to us regarding the information circulating around town regarding garage sales and asked us to let our readers know about the regulations that are currently in place.  Pate said that the city is not regulating garage sales, but the placement of signs around town promoting the sales, which has been in the City’s ordinances for years.

See Pate’s comments below.