Roscoe Hard Times: City Council Awards Bids, Approves Cinco de Mayo Celebration

City Manager Cody Thompson addresses the Council at last night's meeting.

Among other actions at its monthly meeting last night, Roscoe’s City Council named the winners of the bids for City waste disposal, swimming pool operation, and cemetery maintenance. They also approved a Cinco de Mayo celebration and parade to be held on May 2.

Knox Waste Services, the company which currently operates the City’s waste disposal, was selected to continue its operation for the next five years, primarily because most Roscoe residents are satisfied with the job they’ve been doing for the past few years. They were challenged by Republic Services, whose costs and services were similar to those of Knox Waste Services.

The current custodian of the Roscoe Cemetery, Harold Gruden, who chose not to apply for another term, will be replaced by Mark Garcia of Sweetwater, who is also currently employed by Smartt Move LLC in Roscoe. The City Swimming Pool will once again be operated this summer by Kalyn Presley Tate, who ran the pool last year.

Roxanna Reyna spoke for the group who requested and received the City Council’s permission to hold its annual Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown Roscoe on Saturday, May 2. The event will run from 10am to 10pm with the parade down Broadway at 11am. This year’s celebration will differ from last year’s in its focus on family and children with children’s music, children’s games, and clowns.

City Manager Cody Thompson also gave his monthly public works update to the Council. He reported that the City Water Treatment Plant has been operating as planned for the past three to four weeks delivering R. O. water with no problems. He also said the City has been hauling and using recycled asphalt from the US 84 highway area and that the City will once again work with the County in the annual sealcoating of streets this May and June.

The park fence by the swimming pool will be completed by the end of this month, and the ballpark lights at George Parks Field will be repaired within the next couple of days with the help of ECM Electric’s cherry picker truck.

EHT Engineering of Abilene is working with the Texas Water Development Board on the City’s sanitary sewer line improvements currently underway, and the City has informed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that cleanup of the old sanitary sewer plant will begin within the next sixty to ninety days.

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PLOWBOYS, PLOWGIRLS QUALIFY FOR AREA MEET

A number of Plowboys and Plowgirls did well enough at last week’s District 7-2A meet in Stamford to advance to the Area Meet at McMurry University in Abilene next Wednesday, April 22. In order to qualify, athletes had to finish in one of the top four places in each event.

Max Nemir won first place in the boys’ 300 meter hurdles with his best time of the year, 41.11 seconds; the Plowboys’ 4 x 400 meter relay team also won their event with a time of 3:33.28; and the Plowboys’ 4 x 100 meter relay team came in second with a time of 45.15. Kevin Lavalais also came in second in the 200 meter dash with a time of 23.56.

Lyndi Wilkinson was the star for the Plowgirls, winning the Triple Jump with a distance of 34’ 11½”, her best result yet, and finishing second in the girls’ 400 meter dash with at time of 1:02.06. Magali Casas qualified for the Area Meet by clearing 7’ 4” in the Pole Vault, good enough for fourth place.

The Area Meet will determine qualifiers for the Regional Meet at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa on Saturday, May 2.

Here are the complete results of the District Meet for the Plowboys and Plowgirls:

Plowboys

Event Place Athlete        Time/Distance
200 meter dash 2 Kevin Lavalais 23.56
400 meter dash 7 Pablo Huidobro    56.32
300 meter hurdles    1 Max Nemir 41.11
4 x 100 meter relay       2    Roscoe 45.15
    (Ryland Madrid, Max Nemir, Javier Leanos, Kevin Lavalais)
4 x 200 meter relay 6 Roscoe    1:38.14
    (Eric Huidobro, Javier Leanos, Pablo Huidobro, Ryland Madrid)
4 x 400 meter relay    1     Roscoe 3:33.28
   (Juan Solis, Max Nemir, Javier Leanos, Kevin Lavalais)
Shot Put       5     Anthony Ortegon 39’ 5¼”
Discus Throw    7       Anthony Ortegon 108’ 3”

Plowgirls

Event Place Athlete        Time/Distance
400 meter dash 2 Lyndi Wilkinson 1:02.06
1600 meter run    6 Alejandra Solis 6:16.50
   8 Allison Acebedo 6:48.20
3200 meter run     6 Allison Acebedo 15:28.32
100 meter hurdles 6 Magali Casas    20.32
4 x 400 meter relay 5 Roscoe       4:17.40
   (Karina Cisneros, Lyndi Wilkinson, Dani Dean, Murissa Horton)
Pole Vault    4 Magali Casas       7’ 4”
Triple Jump        1 Lyndi Wilkinson    34’ 11½”
Shot Put                         8 Arizona Guevara 24’ 1”
         9 Alex Guia 22’ 5”
Discus Throw       11 Arizona Guevara    65’ 7”
13 Alex Guia    49’ 6”

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READERS PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT LAST WEEK’S FEATURED OLD PHOTOS

Roscoe Lions Club softball team in 1963 or 1964.

Several of the questions raised about the two old photographs featured in last week’s post have been answered by readers with good memories. Doc Pietzsch phoned to say that the team was indeed made up of members of the Roscoe Lions Club and that their opponent was a team from the American Legion whose players also dressed in female outfits. He said the teams played one another every year for three or four years at the Roscoe baseball field, and the reason was to raise money for charity.

Billy Joe Jay said that the name of the unidentified player in the team photo was Joe Sneed, former owner of Sneed’s Drug Store, and Ken Brawley, whose parents were sitting in the ’58 Chevy in the second photo, was able to pinpoint the year of the photos to 1963 or 1964.

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WEATHER REPORT: RAIN

Rain falls on Monday afternoon.

The big weather event for the week was the rain that gently fell off and on for most of the day on Monday. It had been a while since we'd had a good rain, so when the skies on Sunday were covered with low clouds and there was a 50% chance of precipitation, everyone was hopeful that something would happen. So, it was frustrating that every time a little shower would begin, it would also cease within a couple of minutes, doing nothing more than wetting the sidewalks. Thus, Monday’s showers were a welcome contrast. Area totals for the day ranged from a little over a half-inch to an inch and a half.

In east Roscoe, weatherman Kenny Landfried recorded an official total of .83”, but noted that he got 1.4” on the family farm northwest of town. In south Roscoe, Ken Brawley had .98”, and areas south of town got totals ranging from .57” to .87”, although I understand that the Champion area got more. Avenger Field five miles east got .66”. In any case, everyone got enough to be temporarily satisfied and looking forward to more since the forecast is for a 50% chance of rain tomorrow and 40% for Friday.

Temperatures were mild for this time of year with the high for the week at 84°F on Sunday, but the rest of the week saw highs only in the seventies and sixties. The outlook is for a high today of about 81°, which should be warmer than the rest of the week through Monday, when the highs are all predicted to be in the seventies and lows in the fifties.

The long range forecast is for another good chance of rain next week. So, with all the chances we’re getting now, maybe the ground will be in good shape when planting season begins.

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