July 29th, 2026

This is the West Texas Dispatch. I'm Nathan Bernie Sanders. Last week, several statewide Democratic candidates made a West Texas swing through communities like Amarillo, Plainview, and Abilene, which have long been considered Republican strongholds. They started in Lubbock with appearances at a roundtable, a rally, and a local protest, a recurring topic of these separate events, large-scale data center expansion, and a growing call for state action with a special session of the legislature. KTDZ's Brad Burt reports that concerns over these facilities have cross-party lines for voters in rural Texas, and Democrats are pushing to take advantage. Riley Rodriguez is the Democratic candidate running for the Texas Senate seat in District 28, which covers parts of the panhandle down to south of San Angelo in the Rolling Plains. At a rally in Lubbock, Rodriguez said large-scale data centers are what got him started on this campaign. Facilities like Stargate, a $500 billion project to facilitate data for future AI data models, brought 6,000 temporary construction workers and sent rents skyrocketing in Rodriguez's hometown of Abilene. When Stargate came into Abilene, on day one, we had rent heights. That ain't nothing to agree. That's not West Texas and that's not rural Texas, it's not the Texas that I grew up in. And when I reached out to our representatives, The answer was that's progress. Sometimes we're going to have some growing pains. Earlier in July, Rodriguez was one of more than 500 West Texans who attended a forum hosted by the city of Lubbock to gather public input on large-scale data centers. The majority spoke against to them with some calling for a moratorium or outright ban of the facilities. Rodriguez opponent incumbent Republican Senator Charles Perry wrote in an op-ed with the Lovac Avalanche Journal that he believes these data center projects could present an opportunity for shrinking rural communities to build new revenue and draw jobs back. But he added that Texans deserve transparency from developers in the process. Meanwhile, citizens in Childress, a town of about 5,700 people within District 28, came out to protest in mid-July when rents shot up at a local apartment complex, forcing the long... time citizens to vacate. Community advocates linked the situation to nearby data center development. When see the mothers, you're getting displaced and put into hotel rooms. The day that their rent goes up and they're just trying to get by. That's not progress. Rodriguez was joined at the rally by other West Texas Democrats and November midterm candidates from across the state, including Ag Commissioner candidate Jay Clayton Tucker Carlson, Lieutenant Governor-Candidative Vicki Goodwin, and Representative Gina Hinojosa, competing against Greg Abbott for Texas governor. For some West Texans in a region where Republicans have held the majority for nearly 30 years, the recent level of campaign attention from statewide Democratic candidates is unfamiliar.

This march saw record-breaking midterm primary voter turnout across the state, with Democrats in their primary outpacing Republicans for the first time since the presidential year in 2020 and rural voters in Texas, casting the highest percentage of all votes. Democrat Kyle Rabel is running against Republican Tom Sell for Texas District 19 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He remarked on the number of new faces at the rally both on and off the stage as a sign of confidence. We took the entire statewide slate almost, and they came out to Lubbock, Texas. That proves two things, that we are together in this fight, but also that rural Texas is on the radar for us. Earlier that day, Representative Hinojosa sat down at a roundtable with Lubbock community members to talk about data centers. I know that y'all are leaders in this community, and you have big fights happening, and I hear you're winning. In January, developers requested zoning changes over 936 acres of land in Northeast Lubbock to build a large-scale data center. Members of the North and East Lubbock Coalition and Lubbock's chapter of the NWCP came to the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to advocate against the development. The commission voted against the project, and developers eventually withdrew the proposal. Hinojosa's roundtable included leaders from the group Save Lubbock, which is currently collecting signatures to put an 18-month moratorium on data center development before the city council. The large-scale data processing campuses can take up thousands of acres, with the potential for significant energy and water needs scaling up as the campuses grow, which has left farmers and ranchers across the country, feeling pressure to compete with tech companies like Google and Meta. Hallie Bertrand is an organizer with Save Lubbock whose fiance works as a rancher in West Texas. Agriculture is in most of the rural areas and a lot of Lubbock as well are number one industry. And so if that is being decimated by these out-of-state data centers, there's nothing left for us here. More than 10 years ago, state lawmakers approved a tax break to draw in new development with facilities like large-scale data centers. Now, Governor Greg Abbott, who has called Texas a, quote, centerpiece for AI data centers, is saying they should be banned in rural areas. Hinojosa says that allowing decisions to be made on the local level by electing officials who know their communities means more accountability than when control is held at the state level, but that may not be enough. People are fighting a fight that is reasonable. People just want power over their communities. They want to say over what's happening. They want basic information about what data centers are doing to our communities and our resources. Critics on both sides of the political aisle are calling for faster action. After the rally, Democratic candidates came back together, this time joining with outgoing Republican Ag Commissioner, Sid Miller. Miller, who lost the GOP nomination to return as Ag Commissioner in this year's primary, has been an outspoken opponent of data center expansion. Miller told reporters that waiting for the state's response through the regular session would leave time for data center developers to solidify legal responses of their own.

in January, they finish in June, and the new laws won't take effect until September 2027. That's over year away. We don't have 14 months. We need to deal with this now. Goodwin is running for Texas Lieutenant Governor's seat against incumbent Republican Dan Patrick, but she also currently represents Texans in the Austin area in the Texas House. She said, while it probably wouldn't help her campaign schedule between now and November, she's joining the call on Greg Abbott for a special session. We need transparency from these companies to understand how much water and how much electricity they're going to be using. We need to set in place and regulation to make sure that they aren't pushing the cost of the new infrastructure to bring that water and energy onto us in our homes. While localized community efforts have seen steps forward, such as the Data Center ban in San Marcos, smaller rural communities rely more on counties, which do not have the same regulatory control as city offices. Commissioners in other counties have tried to enact moratoriums and been met with lawsuits from developers and warnings from state lawmakers. Without wider authority, West Texans worry county-based developments will remain largely unchecked. I'm Brad Burt in Lubbock. During the recent flooding in Texas, there was an additional hazard. Beyond the high water and damage to roads and bridges, in the Rio Grande, there were breakaway buoys. Texas Public Radio first reported on the Department of Homeland Security buoys in March, when experts warned they could become a public safety threat during Rio Grande flooding. Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies has more on the story. The high water was the first major test of the Department of Homeland Security's floating border wall, which is made up of large orange cylindrical buoys. The buoys were definitely in the water, could not be retrieved, and were on their way down the Rio Grande. That's America Garcia Graywall, who is the co-director of the Frontera Federation. The city of Eagle Pass shut down transit on its two international bridges while the buoys passed underneath. Eagle Pass is also where Governor Greg Abbott has placed 2,000 feet of operational. Operation Lone Star Buoys at a press conference on the flooding, Greg Abbott said his buoys withstood the flood. The state buoys remain intact where they were located initially and have not moved. Greg Abbott's buoys didn't float down the river, but Garcia Graywall says she has seen the Texas buoys since the flood, and many of them are damaged and dislodged. The front of the buoys... is curled up. It's just kind of curled into itself. And she said the back end of the buoys are not secured. And they're wagging back and forth in the current like the tail of a dog. She said this string of buoys came dangerously close to breaking entirely free. which would have created a public safety hazard. And that's what happened to about 600 federal DHS buoys in the Eagle Pass area. Tricia Cortez is the executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center. It's such a fiasco. Cortez said most of the buoys became stuck in the river, and the ones that ended up on the Mexican side were salvaged by Mexican citizens and sold for scrap metal.

Cortez warned that the buoys were a bad idea when the Trump administration announced it would deploy over 500 miles of interconnected buoys in the Rio Grande as a barrier to illegal immigration. You know, all of this was already predicted. Our organization commissioned a risk assessment of the wall and buoy system. They found that during a river flood, the buoys could break free and could damage critical infrastructure like the international bridges. Mayor Victor Trevino said that was the concern when the breakaway buoys reached his city and began slamming into support columns under the World Trade Bridge. Because the buoys were lodged under the bridge that was concerning to us. So we have to pause traffic. Trevino said this is one of the U.S.'s busiest international bridges that sees about $1.2 million in trade per minute. So that is important to the economy of the United States, all the merchandise that goes through. Inspections have not found any damage, and traffic was opened back up. But Democratic San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro says this could have been much worse. This work was done in a shoddy way. obviously. And there were two companies who each got, I believe, a billion dollar or more contracts. Castro was calling for a congressional investigation into what happened and how to prevent this from happening again. This whole thing was a big show, and it was done completely incompetently. Laredo Mayor Trevino agrees that the border buoys are not necessary because illegal river crossings in the area have become rare, and he's more concerned about the threat of the buoys when the Rio Grande floods next time. This is not a major flood. It was a moderate flood with you. We can just imagine what was major flooding. In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said contractors are working to recover remaining buoys. They gave no indication if they would make changes to the floating border wall to prevent this from happening in the future. I'm David Martin Davies in San Antonio.

Thanks for tuning into the West Texas Dispatch. The city of Abilene is asking the public to help with naming the newly renovated Recreation Center on Ambley Avenue. The Abilene City Council requested in March that the Parks and Recreation Board remove Caesar Chavez's name from the facility after allegations of sexual misconduct triggered the renaming of buildings, parks, and streets nationwide. Officials chose Sears Recreation Center as a temporary name while they moved through the renaming process. Director of Parks and Recreation, Leslie Andrews, is here to update us. Leslie, thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. Leslie, there's now four names that are being considered, Ovelia Campos, Billy Enriquez, Sergeant Rubin Marcus Fernandez III, and Mark Rogers. Why have these names made the final cut? The Parks and Recreation Board has a naming policy, and part of that policy is an application that people from the community can submit names with justification on why they think they should be, what makes them eligible and recommended for a name change. It does require 50 signatures of Abileneans, citizens living in the city limits, as part of the application. these four names, checked all the boxes in the policy to be considered. This facility is in a neighborhood with a strong Hispanic population. Is that part of the consideration in picking the name? I think some of the names that were submitted. may have considered that as part of it. I don't know that that is the only qualification or it's certainly not part of the policy as far as the naming consideration. Some in the community have pushed back on the naming, saying they want the name to continue to recognize Arthur Sears and that naming the Recreation Center something different from the name of the park will be confusing. Why is that not being considered? Actually, it is being considered. Arthur Sears was the original name. It was the name for more than 50 years. In 2020, when Caesar Chavez was recommended, we visited with the Sears family, and they were comfortable renaming the recreation center as long as the park said the Arthur Sears name. It's not that it can't be considered as... you know, one of the names, it was just not one that somebody submitted an application for. And what's the process? The window for public comment opened last week. How long will the city be taking this input? And then what's done with that input? We are taking... input from the citizens really over the next couple of months. The big push is this month, and then in the August Parks Board meeting, they will consider all the research that staff is doing, the recommendations from the applications, as well as citizen input to...

potentially come up with a final recommendation. Once Parks Board does select a final recommendation, it does require two public hearings at a Parks and Recreation Board meeting before it becomes finalized. So this is a lengthy process, but we want to make sure that we're being respectful in doing our due diligence. I know this has cast a bit of a shadow on the overall positive experience of these new recreation centers. opening. Just talk about big picture how excited you are about where we stand now as a city. Oh, I think these recreation centers are fabulous. We've received many compliments since they've opened. We have significantly more citizens that are using our recreation centers. We were able to put things into the centers that we have not been able to have in the past with a small fitness room, with a small gaming room, open gym time, extended hours, an indoor track. I think the citizens are really enjoying the recreation centers. And if you have not come and visited, we welcome you do that. If you live within the city limits, there is no charge to come to the recreation center. If you live outside the city limits, it's a $30 annual charge per household. And then we do have a $5 drop in rate. So if you have a cousin visiting for the summer and you want to go play basketball, there's an opportunity. for that as well. And finally, when do you think we'll know the name of the Recreation Center on Ambley Avenue? Do you have a timetable? It requires two public hearings once Parks Board chooses a final selection. So I would say at this point the earliest would be September. I would say by October, September, October would probably be when. But I do know they're going to make sure that they do this correctly. So if we need longer, they will take longer. Leslie Andrews, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you for having me. We'll share a link on our social media to the email address where people can add their thoughts on the proposed names.

For the 43rd annual Tour de Gap. This year's ride once again brought together riders from across Texas while raising money for a local nonprofit. KACU's Allison McCall has more. Before sunrise on Saturday, riders unloaded bicycles, checked tire pressure, and chatted with friends beneath the oak trees in Buffalo Gap. Some were preparing for their first Tour de Gap. and others were returning for the 43rd year of one of the big country's longest running cycling events. This year's event featured routes ranging from 11 miles to 100 kilometers, with proceeds benefiting the Presbyterian Medical Care Mission. First held in 1983, Tortugap is described as the classic midsummer ride, and it attracts riders from across Texas. Bike town owner Jim McDonald has volunteered with Torda Gap for more than 20 years, helping organize everything from rider safety to course timing. This is a fun, enjoyable bike ride through a really pleasant area in South Taylor County. Lots of trees, a little bit of hills, a little bit of breeze, and this is a cool little... outreach piece for the local cycling community that raises money for a good cause. McDonald says the event is not geared towards professional cyclists. This is an event that anybody, all skill levels can do, and so we try and make it evident that kids and trailers and small bicycles can do it. You don't have to be a Tour de France level rider to do this event. Most of the people are just normal people coming out to have a good time and having fun. That welcoming atmosphere is part of what keeps families coming back year after year. 11-year-old Bill Cassidy Grimsley says that biking with her dad has become part of the family's summer tradition that she looks forward to. You do get a little nervous. I feel like once you start riding, you just calm down and everything. It's just like, it's just fun to ride. The event also serves a larger purpose, raising money for a local nonprofit. This is the second year proceeds have benefited the Presbyterian Medical Care Mission, which provides health care for local uninsured patients. Executive Director Brady Harwell says the clinic works to keep care affordable, even though the actual cost of providing that care is much higher. As a charitable clinic, we do charge our patients very nominal fees, but the average patient of ours only pays about $15 to be seen by a doctor, get about three or four labs that they need to kind of peek under the hood and see what's going on with their health, and about $3 to get the medications that they need. So $15 as an organism. it costs us to deliver per patient closer to about $200. Harwell says that community support, including events like Tor de Gap, helps cover that difference, allowing the clinic to continue serving uninsured patients without passing the full cost onto them. The ride's impact extends beyond the dollars that it raises. Cyclists say the friendships and traditions built over four decades are what make Tor de Gap worth returning to.

Hardin Simmons writer Aidan Sikens finished second overall in the 50-kilometer race after winning the event last year. But even for one of the day's fastest riders, competition isn't what defines toward a gap. The goal is to have fun, which Tortugap does an amazing job doing that. And so we're happy to come out again and represent. Seekin says everyone leaves with the same accomplishment, regardless of how far they ride. There's some people who haven't ridden for months. This is their first time riding. Some of us have been doing training plans and getting set up. And so then you all finish together. And at the end of day, you did 11 miles, 31 miles, or 62. And so for me, it's just people getting to move. Makes things better. By late morning, almost 300 riders had crossed the finish line, collected medals and door prizes, and gathered beneath the trees to chat about the race before heading home. Organizers say they look forward to welcoming riders back to Buffalo Gap next summer for the event's 44th ride. I'm Alison McCall in Abilene.

This is the West Texas Dispatch. I'm Nathan Bernie Sanders. Nearly every state in the country has put in place new restrictions on the movement of animals as the destructive New World screw worm continues to spread. As Harvest Public Media's Hope Kerwin reports, it's created challenges for animal shelters that move dogs and cats out of Texas. Ellen Jefferson is the head of animal rescue Austin Pets Alive. She says there are more pets in Texas than potential adopters. But moving dogs and cats has become more complicated as states try to guard against the New World screw worm. The parasitic fly has infected livestock in Texas and New Mexico since June. Most states now require animals coming from those areas to have a pre-travel inspection by a vet and a round of medication. Jefferson says they're reasonable precautions, but they're still costly for rescues. Over 200 shelters in Texas do not have access to a veterinarian. So giving them even the medicine is really, really hard. She worries more animals will be euthanized because of overpopulation if shelters keep relying on transport to other states. I'm Hope Kerwin, Harvest Public Media. We now have Mia Ben Dixon, Executive Director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, joining us. Mia, thanks for being here with us. My pleasure, Nathan. First, Mia, we wanted to ask you, has your organization heard from Texas shelters that they're finding it difficult to send their animals out of state? We have. And, you know, this is one of the ways shelters solve their issue of overcrowding is by transporting animals to where they're needed. And I can give you a little background on that if you want me to, but it's a multifaceted issue. There are many reasons why shelters are overcrowded. There's just many, many animals and not enough capacity in shelters. And in some counties, there are no shelters at all. And they're caring for animals that are adoptable, plus sick animals and animals. you know, rescue from cruelty or hoarding situation. So there's already overpopulation in most of the shelters in Texas. I see. So how common is this? Is this something that usually happens a lot, the difficulty of sending animals out of state like we're having in that right now? Well, as I said, one of the ways shelters solved their overcrowding is by transporting animals to where they're needed, particularly like the Northeast, where they may not have as many animals to begin with. They may have stronger spay-neutral laws or different attitudes for adopting mixed breeds versus purchasing pure breeds. You know, there's all kinds of reasons, and plus the weather. We're in an area where straight populations can flourish. It's warm in Texas. or in the northeast winters then out the stray population so there's a higher demand in those areas so that is one of the ways we we cope with it we send our animals out to out to those states where they're actually in demand so yes it's it is really hurting the shelters here they're seeing additional costs from increased vet exams increased woo care supplies preventative medications isolation of suspected animals

daily wound monitoring and staff training recognizing screw worm. So it's added a new level of complication. And then you have three states where they're not allowing transports at all, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. And 45 states are allowing dogs from Texas if they meet very rigorous guidelines. So some of the things that are needed. or certificate of vet inspection signed with a very tight window and then wound clearance or certified vet statements that the dog was closely examined that bets have to sign off on and in many counties and shelters they have no vets or no access to vets i mean a large number of our counties just don't have vets and then the shelters themselves don't have vets So it's definitely complicated things. The larger shelters with more resources can weather it a bit better. They often can redirect their rescues or their, I'm sorry, their transports out of state to another state. But even then, it's difficult just considering how big the issue is. If we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, what's the overall situation of animal welfare in Texas? I could be better. We are definitely a state that has a lot of overcrowding. Texas is very big, and then in areas where overpopulations and occurring, the math may not add up. There's just not as many adopters as animals, and their lifelong commitment. So people who would adopt already usually have dogs. And then, you know, what is happening in Dallas may be different than rural communities. large differences in spay neuter because a lot of those counties, again, don't have vets, let alone, you know, low-income or free spay-neuter clinics. And people are getting animals from shelters. versus other sources. There's just so many options in Texas. So you can have a breeder, you can have a pet store, and shelters are often not their first choice. It seems like the AI data center boom is affecting so many aspects of life. Has there been an impact on animal welfare as well? Well, that's interesting you. You're mentioning that. I just was up there in Abilene and we had a little meeting. It's called Unleash event. We go around and we talk to the communities. We tell them what we do. We talk to the communities about their concerns. And right now, they're not in a quarantine zone. So it hasn't really affected that area.

The screw worm hasn't affected that area, although they are having obviously the same transport issues. But there is a large increase in dog dumping due to AI centers. Increased rents are a big part of that. So one of the things I heard, and I haven't, I have not. you know, verified it, but that rents used to be, you know, 500 bucks for one bedroom, a decent one bedroom, and now there are 1,000 or more. And that leads people with no place to live, and then the dogs get dumped. So AI centers are definitely affecting the overpopulation of animals that are put on the street. Well, there's a new legislative session starting in January. Is there anything that your organization is watching or advocating? Well, we're definitely looking at, you know, bringing an ethical pet sales bill. We bought that the last few sessions, and our hope would be that that would slow down the sale of cats and dogs from pet stores. There's many, many other issues as well that... I'm hoping, you know, at some point will be brought, whether it's by us or another group, to help slow the population growth. There's roadside sales, which, you know, there's just the backyard breeders that sell their dogs on the side of the road. There's just many, many issues that we deal with in Texas that just contribute to overpopulation. Mia Ben Dixon is the executive director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network. Mia, thank you for joining us. You're welcome. My pleasure.

It's time for West Texas roots. When kids stumble across money, it's a big deal. Vivian Ushery was so close to the childhood dream of striking it rich, but it was one of her siblings that claimed the prize that day. She recalls the memory of that walk with her brothers, and she shares her favorite thing to do these days while working in the kitchen at Lindale Living Center. I got four brothers older and three brothers younger. And one of my brothers, my dad was in the military and one of my brothers was born in England. I must have been four maybe. I think it was two to four when we lived there. I remember when we were in the airplane flying over to get there and coming back all the beautiful flowers that England has. It's just very beautiful. My dad retired from the military and when I was in second grade, so I grew up here in Abilene. My dad's mom lived in Blackwell, Texas, very small. And we used to go there and visit.

to visit and we'd go fishing and sometimes we'd go down to the corner drugstore to get a soda. Well, one time we were walking down the street and you know those drainage ditches where the water runs off? Well, I was in front of everybody and I looked in that drainage ditch and I didn't see anything. And then my brother just older than me, he was walking behind me and he looked in it and he found a $10 bill. He reached in and he got it and he said, Mom, our mom was walking with us. We were kind of young and our mom, you know, like, well, it's not very far, you know, to go at the corner drugstore. So our mom was back behind her and I started crying and my mom goes, well, you should have looked harder. I was so upset. I missed out on a $10 bill. I don't remember what he did with it. You know, we were going to the corner store. Who knows? He could have got something.

I didn't have a cell phone. I didn't have, I didn't get my first Barbie until I was probably about five or six. We drank out of the garden hose. We rode our bicycles without helmets. We were taught how to tell time on an analog watch. Cursive riding. Kids nowadays, some of them can't read cursive. So, you know, it's important, you know, especially going to work. It's terrible if you say, oh, can you read this to me? And it's in cursive and you can't read cursive. It makes those kids feel kind of, I guess, insecure. Keep in touch with your parents. They are smarter than you think. Grandparents are too. You know, they're a wealth. If you just sit and listen to an old person, they've got stories galore. Those grandparents can teach you a lot. So when you're in your early 20s, you know, respecting your elders and hearing their stories, you may not, you may not agree with them or something, but you've got to hear them out. I'm married, moved away in about 2016, I moved back here to my mother. That's why I work here at Lindale. I love feeding the elderly. It's my love language. That's what makes me happy is feeding people. My favorite day is when I'm not too busy in the kitchen and I can get out into the dining room and go visit with some of the residents. I've got a table where all the ladies sit and we call them the golden oldies. I get to go out and visit with them, and they like it when I go out. They like it when chef goes out. Vivian Ushery is a former sous chef at Lindale Living Center, where we recorded her stories. This is the West Texas Dispatch. For more than two decades, Brownwood's lyric theater has introduced young performers to the world of musical theater through its annual summer workshop. As KACU's Allison Diaz reports, Each summer, the Brownwood Lyric Theater offers local children the chance to put on a musical and make lasting friendships through the Putter and Roxy Jarvis Kids Theater Workshop. The lyric splits the workshop into two groups, one for older and often more experienced actors, and another for younger kids ready to hit the stage. This past weekend, the older group wrapped up eight weeks of rehearsals with three performances of Matilda Jr. that drew rave reviews from the audience who was impressed by the excellent the 6th through 12th graders brought to the production. Children are maggots. In fact, it must have been heard the cats take part under my desk this morning. I'll have the fener. You're suggesting it. But I didn't.

Before opening night, the Brownwood News predicted audiences would leave talking about Tanner Gammon, who portrays Agatha Tunchbull, the awful bully that runs Matilda Wormwood's school. It's a role that demands sharp comedic timing and commanding stage presence. When the curtain rose, Gammon effortlessly embodied Trunchbowl, drawing constant laughter from the audience. Gammon will be a senior at early high school in the fall and has only been doing theater since his sophomore year. He says being a part of the lyric community has encouraged him to dream big. I think going into lyric shows made me realize that I... don't just want to do theater as a hobby. I want to keep doing it throughout my life, and I think it just really made me realize how much I love performing. And since I've started doing lyric shows, I think I've grown a lot as an actor and a singer. For Tanner, the friendships he built at the lyric mean the most. I've gotten to meet so many different people, and I've made some of the closest relationships. I have with people in my community at the lyric. I've met a lot of really good friends and it's become this very safe community for me of just people of all different ages and it's definitely like a second family. During intermission, Tanner's first family, mom, Rinda Gammon, raved about the show after seeing her son perform the first act. So I knew that he was going to be the Trenchville, and I knew that he was going to be dancing a little bit. It's a whole other thing up on stage. I love everything about him in theater. Kids sign up for the theater camp. knowing that they will have a role. But like any other theater production, they have to audition. Upcoming Brownwood High School freshman, Ava Vargas, has been auditioning for lyric shows since her family moved to Brownwood in 2023. After performing in the ensemble for several productions over the last few years, Vargas landed her biggest role yet as the gentle Miss Honey. For Ava, the lyric has given her a place where she could grow. I was a very shy kid. I didn't really like talking to people much. Had a lot of stage fright. I've gained a lot more confidence. I'm comfortable talking to a lot more people now. I love making friendships and everything. And I owe a lot of that to the lyric because it's just impacted my life in such a positive way. Ava's mom, Kristen Vargas, says she didn't expect to find this type of opportunity in Brownwood, Texas. With us being a extremely rural... community that is not necessarily fine arts focused. One of the biggest surprises for me was just how amazing the lyric is and what top talent we have here. Kristen says she's been proud as she watched Ava sharpen her talents.

under experienced mentors while learning an important life lesson. She did take some big risk, not knowing anyone and showing about these auditions. And so having some amazing opportunities, but also failing, or not necessarily failing, but being told no or not this time, and kind of patiently waiting her turn for a bigger role. And here we are. Assistant directing manager and head of education Levi Packer says that the positive impact the theater has on the kids draws community support. And people in the community love to come out and see what these young people are working on because they spent their summer doing something in a healthy, positive, reinforcing environment. And then the community gets to enjoy the fruits of that labor. And these kids go away. And the reason they come back year after year is because they follow through on a project and on a... vision and that's empowering each summer the kids work for two months to prepare their musicals that means not just learning lines and where to stand when they say them but songs and choreography all in time for opening night Packer says the workshop is a great opportunity for the kids to learn every part of the rehearsal process They quickly become acquainted with their fellow members, and they begin the process of learning how to do an audition and going through that audition process and how casting works. And then ultimately, they start learning music and dance choreography and acting. Learning these skills in the safe space of the lyric theater isn't something that just happens by accident. College-aged interns keep the summer camps running, mentoring young actors through every rehearsal and performance. Jesslyn Till is a sophomore at Howard Payne University who has been attending the kids' camps herself since 2019. Now, as an intern, Jesslyn reflected on how much she's grown since she did her first show at the lyric. Like, I was just really shy and insecure. I would say in the kids' camps, but also. adult shows is just such like a family and such a safe place. So kind of be nervous and be scared and not know what you're doing and no one's going to judge you. And they just kind of all help you even if you're little kids, like there's still that community there. And then encouragement from the interns who were older kids and I thought, man, those people like they know what they're doing. They're really cool and encouraging me. So yeah, it really just helped me become a more confident person. Now Jesslyn helps run productions behind the scenes while helping a new generation of young actors discover their confidence. One of those younger actors is Madeline. Vira, upcoming freshman at early high school. She played the role of the librarian Mrs. Phelps. Madeline's sister, Caitlin, gushed at intermission about how proud she was of her sister. I'm so proud. Like I think of back to when I was in eighth grade and I was a little like in the corner and she's on there doing the thing and she's got her all and she's doing great and I'm so so proud of her. When the cast of Matilda Jr. came out for the final bows this weekend, audiences stood as they enthusiastically cheered the troop.

Outside the theater, congratulations echoed through the lobby, while the young actors enjoyed the exhausted adrenaline rush that marked the end of their weeks of hard work. Next up, the young kids' camps will bring Finding Nemo Jr. to the stage. The third through sixth graders are putting the finishing touches on their show this week. And after spending the summer working toward a common goal with kids from across the area, even the youngest performers already recognize how much the experience has meant to them. Aaron Turner age 11 has been doing theater at the lyric since he was six years old. He gets to be Nemo's dad, Marlon, in the production. It's really just changed my life because I've gotten to meet way more people than I usually would. I actually get to know like actors and behind the scenes people. My life would just be completely different. Audiences can support this transformative experience for the kids and enjoy finding Nemo Jr. from opening night July 31st until it closes on August 2nd, marking the end of the lyrics annual summer kids camps. I'm Alison Diaz in Brownwood. This wraps up the West Texas Dispatch for the month of July. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be here again next Wednesday at noon, so plan to join us. And if you're squeezing in some end of summer travel, you can stay up to date on all things West Texas when you subscribe to the podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts, or find it on the KACU mobile app. We had help this week from our executive producer, Heather Claiborne, and producers Shayla Conley and Caleb LeGay. Calvin Claiborne is our digital editor. Special thanks to J.C. Gamble, who wrote our theme. I'm Nathan Bernie Sanders.