When Army Spc. Mitchel T. Mutz left for Iraq on his second tour of duty about two months ago, he shared for the first time since enlisting in the service some concern with his Falls City parents.

"Before he left, he said, ‘Mom, Dad, I’m worried this time,’" said his father, Bobby Mutz, recalling that reports of growing violence in Iraq seemed to be weighing on his son’s mind.

"We just reassured him, you know, that we loved him," said the former Karnes County sheriff.

So when the doorbell rang on Thursday afternoon and the elder Mutz saw a chaplain and a uniformed Army officer standing at his front door, he said he knew what to expect.

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Council members in Falls City have been chronically absent from regular city meetings in 2006, but the town’s mayor is confident city business is moving along at a reasonable pace, anyway.

The five council members have recorded a total of 11 absences in 11 months this year — more than two per council member. That total doesn’t include two city meetings that had their regular dates canceled.

Brent Houdmann has been absent once in 2006, Steven Swierc has been absent twice, Gery Jendrusch has been absent three times, Ralph Bollman has been absent five times, and Jeff Johnson has been absent once.