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DEAR ABBY: Our daughter (age 21) has made a series of bad choices and failed relationships since she was 16. She went to college and quit (twice), joined the Air Force and hated it, but managed to get a “general discharge.” At age 19, she had a baby with a high school dropout and violent drug abuser. They’ve had an on/off relationship. He has pushed, shoved and outright hit her, destroyed two of her phones, hit her sister and smashed her phone. He took my daughter’s car while fleeing the police, leaving her and the baby stranded. We have paid countless sums of money for an attorney and sent her more to get her car. She has lied and deceived us on her relationship status. We wanted to believe our daughter.

READING CHAMPS

SMCISD FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2023

The start of a new school year includes specific training for teachers and staff in a wealth of areas. Security and Texas state law affects schools even more in 2023. San Marcos Police Department Officer Mendoza recently brought a presentation to SMCISD High School teachers about vape pens and THC pens, including information about the current laws and what teachers should do if they find the devices on campus. San Marcos CISD students and families need to be aware that if a student possesses a vape on San Marcos Consolidated ISD property or at a district event, by law, they must be placed in a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP). Texas legislators passed HB 114 in the last regular session, and starting on Sept. 1, students will be bound to the new standard. The new school year began Tuesday in San Marcos with thousands of students, teachers and staff across the district getting to know many new routines. Over the next several issues, the San Marcos Daily Record will continue to share First Day of School photos sent to us. For today, head to Page 4.

San Marcos City Council voted, six to zero with one council member absent, to set the proposed property tax rate at 60.3 cents per $100 of taxable value for Fiscal Year 2024. The rate is the same as 2023.

The state’s child welfare agency has a new head of Child Protective Investigations, the department tasked with investigating reports of child abuse and neglect.

DEAR ABBY: I have a lovely goddaughter I’m estranged from. Although I had promised her she would be maid of honor at my wedding in 2015 (my second marriage), I didn’t do it. My fiance was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, so we decided instead to have a commitment ceremony. I felt bad but didn’t contact her right away to explain I wouldn’t have any attendants after all. It’s a blur now, but I think I emailed her or asked her mother (my dear friend) to tell her. My friend denies that her daughter is angry, but my goddaughter hasn’t spoken to me since 2015. She is now engaged. I’d like to write her a letter, but I don’t know what to say. I was thinking of mailing it without telling my friend because, as I said, she still denies anything is wrong. I found the address on the internet. What do you think? I’m heartbroken knowing I cannot celebrate her upcoming wedding. – SADDENED IN MASSACHUSETTS DEAR SADDENED: If you feel the need to write your goddaughter a letter explaining the legitimate reason you and your husband decided to forgo a formal wedding with attendants, do it. Your reason for changing your plans was a valid one. Although I’m sure things were hectic at the time you made that decision, it would have been better had you explained directly to her the reason for your abrupt change of plans. Because this is weighing on your mind, apologize for the delay in contacting her, tell her you were delighted when you heard about her forthcoming wedding and you would love to celebrate it with her. Then cross your fingers because the ball is in her court.

Talking county law

Viking Construction will be microsurfacing roads to improve the appearance and life of the road beginning Monday, Aug. 21 and going through Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Nanomaterials research is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific study in the world today. At the atomic level, common materials and compounds can be arranged and combined in novel ways to produce novel properties that did not exist previously, but accessing those properties when disparate materials are combined has proven elusive.