If you’re reading this, then you’ve made it to Thanksgiving for another year, and, if nothing else, you can be grateful for that. But of course there is always more than that to be thankful for, and tomorrow most of us will once again be getting together with family somewhere to give those thanks, celebrate, and enjoy the day.
Most of us will also be eating those once-a-year dishes reserved for the day: roast turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce, topped off with mincemeat or pumpkin pie. With the possible exception of the sweet potatoes, does anyone actually ever eat any of these dishes any time during the rest of the year? I know I don’t.
All you football fans will be happy to know that, once again, the day will be a football extravaganza on TV. Yes, one of the teams, as always, will be the Detroit Lions, but they won’t be playing the Cowboys this year. Instead, they’ll face off against the high-flying Houston Texans at noon on CBS.
Then, at 3:30 the Cowboys get their turn on Fox, this year against RGIII and the Washington Redskins, and with the way the Cowboys have been playing this year, there is no telling how that one will turn out.
Unfortunately, there is no Longhorn-Aggie game this year for the first time in decades. Instead, Texas will be playing TCU at 6:30 on ESPN, in a game that strikes me as something of an anticlimax. Aggie fans have already had their Thanksgiving game. It came weekend before last against Alabama.
In any case, Happy Thanksgiving, and here’s wishing you all a safe and wonderful holiday break!
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COMMUNITY CENTER TO HOST THANKSGIVING DINNER
If you want to enjoy a good Thanksgiving dinner without the hassle of fixing it, or if you’re away from family this year and have nowhere to go, the solution to your problem is at the Roscoe Community Center, which is hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner from 11:00am-3:00pm with turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings.
The price is $6 a plate, including drinks and dessert, and all are invited.
Donations and help are also welcome. For more information, contact Helen Perry at 325-766-3149.
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ROSCOE MAN FINDS WHAT MAY BE OLD MITCHELL COUNTY COURTHOUSE CORNERSTONE
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| Juan San Agustin and the Mitchell County cornerstone. |
Recently, while on a family outing to Lake Trammell, Juan San Agustin noticed a limestone rock his family members were walking over. Curious because of its square shape, he dug it out of the dirt, turned it over, and was surprised to find that on the side that had been down there were letters etched into it, the most prominent being the numerals 1884.
He also noticed that badly rusted barbed wire had apparently been used to tie the stone to something. He was unable to make out what the words said but knew he had something historical and was afraid to knock off the rust and caked dirt for fear of damaging the letters. He took the stone home and later brought it to me since he knows I am the curator of the Roscoe Historical Museum.
The stone is 12” x 11” x 5” and weighs 45 pounds. After carefully brushing off some of the rust and dirt from the letters, I was able to make out what they spell:
MITCHEL. CO.
COURTHOUSE
1 8 8 4
HARRY HALL
Speculating that what San Agustin might have found was the cornerstone of the original Mitchell County Courthouse, I did some research online and found information that said the original courthouse was built in Colorado City in 1883 of native rock. It was torn down shortly afterwards because the original surveyor made a mistake and built it in the right-of-way of Oak Street instead of facing Oak Street, as intended. The second courthouse was demolished to make way for the current one, built in 1924.
Although the lettering on the stone is neat and carefully done, it is not professional work such as you'd see on a tombstone, so another possibility is that the rocklayer, who may have been the Harry Hall whose name is on the stone, carved the letters himself before laying the stone in the courthouse wall.
In any case, after the original courthouses were torn down, it appears that someone picked up the stone, tied barbed wire around it and threw it into Lake Trammell, perhaps for use as an anchor for a trot line. Then it lay there forgotten for many years until San Agustin saw it and picked it up.
The cornerstone has been donated to the Heart of West Texas Museum in Colorado City and will soon be on display there. Patty Pharis, the curator of the museum, was surprised and glad to get the relic of an earlier time.
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PLOWGIRLS’ WIN STREAK SNAPPED AT FOUR BY COLORADO CITY 27-23
The Plowgirls suffered their first defeat of the season last night as Colorado City pulled out a come-from-behind victory to win a close game 27-23. Previous to that, the Plowgirls were riding a four-game winning streak after beating Winters in Winters last Friday evening.
Against Colorado City, the score was tied 5-5 at the end of the first quarter, and at halftime the Plowgirls led 13-12. They then led by two at the end of the third quarter 19-17, but in the final frame, they were overtaken by the Lady Wolves and lost by four points.
Even so, Colorado City as a 2A school is larger than Roscoe, so the defeat, while disappointing, is something the Plowgirls can take in stride and learn from.
The Plowgirls were led in scoring by Stina Tomlin with 5 points, while four girls—Faith Boren, Kendall Moses, Carolina Perez, and Torrey Willman—had 4 each.
Last Friday, the Plowgirls won their fourth game in a row with a victory over the Lady Blizzards, 37-27.
At the end of a closely played first quarter, the score was 8-7 in favor of the Plowgirls, who extended their lead in the second quarter to be up at halftime 18-9. By the end of the third quarter, the Plowgirls were ahead 27-17 and went on to win the game by ten 37-27.
Leading scorer for the Plowgirls was Carolina Perez with 10 points, followed by Faith Boren with 8 and Mirian Solis with 6.
The Plowgirls are now 4-1 and will play their next game next Tuesday, November 27, against the Lady Bearcats in Hawley.
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PLOWBOYS’ FIRST BASKETBALL GAME CANCELLED
The Plowboys were originally scheduled to play their first basketball game of the season last night against Colorado City, but the game was called off because the Wolves won their bi-district football game over Crane 20-0 last weekend and so are still involved in the football playoffs.
The Plowboys’ first game will now be Hawley next Tuesday in Hawley.
With this year’s re-alignment of the districts, both the Plowboys and Plowgirls will have new district foes. As members of Class 1A-II Region 2, District 13, they are now in the same basketball district as Hermleigh, Highland, Ira, Loraine, and Westbrook, and will play each of those teams twice, once at home and once away.
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WEATHER REPORT: NICE FOR THANKSGIVING
If the meteorologists are correct, then tomorrow will be pretty much a repeat of today with mostly sunny skies and a high in the mid to upper seventies. Friday and the weekend should also be nice but a little cooler with highs in only the sixties. Still, the weather should be clear, so people out driving this weekend should be fine, at least as regards the weather.
There is a 20% chance of precipitation tonight.
The forecast weather is pretty much a repeat of what we’ve just had all this past week—sunny skies and the mild temperatures typical for this time of year. There have been no more freezes, so plants not killed by the freeze of the week before are still alive and kicking—and if the forecast is correct, they may still be growing this time next week.
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Maybe the rock was used as an anchor for the original surveyor named Harry Hall.
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