BELL AND CORYELL COUNTIES – Area home sales were up in June, according to information from the Fort Hood Area Association of Realtors. Sales in Killeen, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Kempner and Nolanville increased by 12 percent from May — to 223 from 198.

It marked the fourth consecutive month that homes sales increased or held steady.

June home sales dropped 16 percent from June 2010. In the 12 months leading up to June 30, 2010, 2,822 homes were sold versus 2,215 between then and June 30 of this year.

The median price of a home sold on the local market in June was $127,000, up from $116,150 in May.

The area’s housing inventory is also inching closing to the six-month supply that would indicate a healthy market.

Read more at the Killeen Daily Herald.

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HARKER HEIGHTS, COPPERAS COVE – Two new medical clinics will serve as extensions of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center and provide military members with easier access to a team of health care providers in their communities.

The idea of personal care from a “hometown doctor” is becoming a reality for Fort Hood active-duty-military service members and their families.

Harker Heights Medical Home is located in Suite 200 in the Market Heights shopping center at 201 East Hwy. 190. The Harker Heights clinic is open to military personnel and their families living in Harker Heights, Nolanville, Belton and Salado.

The Copperas Cove Medical Home Clinic is located at 458 Town Square on West U.S. Hwy. 190. The new Copperas Cove facility will serve soldiers and their families who live in Copperas Cove, Kempner, Lampasas and Gatesville.

Both clinics will employ about 35 people. Each clinic has a capacity to serve more than 8,000 eligible beneficiaries.

A Killeen facility will open soon near the corner of Elms Rd. and Stan Schlueter Loop.

The clinics are located in communities where beneficiaries live, meaning patients no longer have to travel to Darnall for routine care.

Read more at the Fort Hood Sentinel and Killeen Daily Herald.

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KILLEEN – The number of troops deployed from Fort Hood will soon reach a two-year high, retired Col. Bill Parry said, but there’s evidence that their families — and their dollars — will stay put.

“Families are staying here, and that’s what we want,” Parry said.

He based his assertion on military child enrollment within the Killeen Independent School District, which has only grown since 2004, despite the rise and fall of Fort Hood troop levels over the same period.

Parry, head of the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance, attributed the trend to the community’s support of military families. “The Army is doing a better job of taking care of families, but the Central Texas community has stepped up and taken care of families.”

Sometime this summer, Parry said, the number of deployed Fort Hood troops will reach 25,000 to 26,000, leaving about 23,000 at home. About 21,000 are currently deployed.

The new peak still isn’t projected to be as high as spring 2009, when the number of deployed Fort Hood troops swelled to about 31,000.

Troop levels will begin rising again by fall, with the return of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and 1st Cavalry Division elements from Iraq. Fort Hood’s total troop assignments hovers at just under 50,000 soldiers.

The number of military retirees in Killeen, Harker Heights and Nolanville has also grown by about 16 percent since 2008.

Read more at the Killeen Daily Herald.

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The welcome mat is out for potential homebuyers in Harker Heights — at least one Central Texas city that has experienced little downturn in sales despite the housing slump seen in other parts of the nation.
Harker Heights Chamber of Commerce President Bill Kozlik said the number of people requesting welcome packets has remained steady in recent years. “There’s never been a slowdown,” he said. Read More

By Sonya Campbell

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