Vargas named editor for Dripping Springs Century News

Ken Vargas has been named the new managing editor for the Dripping Springs Century News.

For more than two decades, Vargas was the communications officer for the Internal Revenue Service.

In the past 30 years, he edited and published various newsletters and magazines. In 2007, he founded the Slaughter Creek Reporter in Manchaca.

Vargas said he knew he would be a writer early in his childhood.

“I produced my first newspaper, The Ascarate Eagle, in sixth grade. It was a onepage monthly broadside produced on a carbon- copy master using a manual typewriter, a ballpoint pen, and a straight-edge ruler. The big news was the cafeteria menu — or news about a handful of school clubs. I had to convince my teacher to sponsor the project, and she did. But I have to confess that my real motivation was getting access to the mimeograph machine on press day; it was the kind of newspaper you smelled before you read,” Vargas said.

'I like people,” he continued. I like quirky stories, quirky people and even quirkier hobbies. I love learning from others and finding common bonds and interests. Though newspapers are a fading medium, stories endure as long as someone makes the effort to write them down, and it is a privi- lege to be part of that process.”

Vargas was born and raised in El Paso and moved to the Austin area to attend the University of Texas. He and his wife, Suha, live in Ruby Ranch, just east of Driftwood, where they raise sheep, goats and a menagerie of farm animals including peacocks and llamas.

“I am excited to learn more about Dripping Springs and the people who live here. I’ve visited here as a passerby,” he said. “But now, I get a chance to really learn the history, places and, more importantly, the people who call this charming piece of Texas home.”

Vargas said he is already getting to know folks here, adding, “I will be a familiar face around town so don’t be shy about saying hello. Right now, I am learning what I don’t know about Dripping Springs, and it’s a lot. We don’t have a physical office here, so my office will be the streets and the coffee shops of town. So when you see me, say ‘hello,’ and let’s meet.”