Teen-Age Plowboys Win Mitchell County Baseball League, Advance to State Tournament

Padres pitcher Brandon Lavalais looks in for a signal in Freshman game.

Roscoe’s Plowboys, ages 13-15, finished the season with a 9-1 record and will now advance to the TTAB (Texas Teenage Baseball Association) State Tournament to be held in Ennis July 22-26.  Between now and then, they will be having fundraisers to help defray travel expenses. The first will be at the Plowboy Mudbog on July 6, where they will be selling snow cones, ice cream, and water.  A car wash is also in the works.

The Roscoe Rangers, T-Ball Champions of the Mitchell County League.

The T-Ball Roscoe Rangers also were the winners of their age group.  They concluded their season by winning the championship game against the Colorado City Rangers by a score of 11-9.  

The Midget Brewers just missed the playoffs by finishing third in their league.

The Freshman Padres also finished third.  Several of them have been chosen as pick-up players for the teams advancing to the district playoffs.

Thanks to Lus Pantoja for providing this information and the baseball photos.

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WEATHER AWARENESS MEETING HELD AT COMMUNITY CENTER

Roscoe Police Chief Felix Pantoja and Fire Chief Gary Armstrong.

A meeting to educate the public in dealing with inclement and dangerous weather was held at the Community Center on Thursday evening with Roscoe Police Chief Felix Pantoja, Roscoe Volunteer Fire Chief Gary Armstrong, and the National Weather Service’s Hector Guerrero leading the discussion.

Guerrero explained what to do when threatened by tornadoes, hail, lightning, wildfires, ice storms, and flooding.  He also spoke of the importance of planning so one can be ready when such events occur, and of listening for updates and warnings on television, radio, and special weather radios, which often continue to perform when other broadcast media are down. 

Armstrong announced a new Nolan County service called Code Red, which lets 911 personnel know where to direct their responses in cases of emergency calls or texts from cell phones.  Those interested in having the service should go to the Roscoe Volunteer Fire Department home page and click on the Code Red heading to set it up.

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KEVIN PANTOJA A WINNER IN STATE 4-H PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

This photo, taken on a trip to Italy last year, won Kevin Pantoja a blue ribbon in the Nature/Landscape category.

Kevin Pantoja, who will be a Junior at Highland High this fall, was one of two Nolan County students to win in the state 4-H photography contest.  He came away with three blue ribbons, one in the Nature/Landscape category, one in Dominant Color, and one in People.
 

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ANOTHER LIFE LOST AT “DESTRUCTION  JUNCTION”

Last Monday night a westbound 18-wheeler on I-20 crashed into a guard rail and concrete retaining wall where the Interstate merges with US 84 about a mile east of Roscoe.  Sadly, the driver, Mensur Osmic, 54, of Phoenix, Arizona, was killed and, ironically, the truck’s trajectory was pretty much a carbon copy of the one that slammed into the bridge columns last September, the collision that rendered the overpass unsafe and resulted in its current reconstruction.  In both cases, the westbound trucks failed to make the curve just before the overpass under rainy conditions and a wet roadway.   

The US 84/I-20 merger is known locally as “Destruction Junction” because of the numerous wrecks and fatalities that have occurred there over the years—for both east- and westbound traffic.  For this reason, many hoped that architects would come up with a new, safer design for the merger, but this most recent wreck suggests that apparently this will not be the case.  From all appearances, the new design is essentially the same as the old, although TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) will have a longer clear zone on the northwest side of the underpass. 

Tomorrow the construction crew will be setting the beams for the new bridge, so detours will be in place all day, and westbound I-20 traffic will be re-routed to US 84 north. 

The $1,564,229 project is currently about 70% complete and is scheduled to be finished in about three more weeks.

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WEATHER REPORT

The weather for the past week has been normal for this time of year—highs in the low to mid nineties and lows in the mid to upper seventies with plenty of sunshine and no rain. 

But this is not to say I didn’t see any rain last week.  I did, except it was nowhere near Roscoe.  On our way back from Albuquerque, we ran into a sandstorm at Santa Rosa and were in and out of it all the way to Fort Sumner.  We were following a storm with dark blue skies and lightning ahead of us, and for a while I thought we might run into a mudstorm, but we didn’t. 

We got to Muleshoe just after a big shower, and the streets were full of big puddles at all the low points.   Then in Lubbock we finally caught the storm, and the rain was coming down hard.  On the road to Slaton it got so bad that we even had to pull over to the side of the road for a bit.  We drove out of the storm between Southland and Post, but we could tell it was moving southeast. 

So the first thing I did when I got home was to check the radar to see if it was going to make it to Roscoe.  Unfortunately, it made it only to Scurry County before completely dissipating. 

Last Thursday the National Weather Service issued its three-month forecast, and the outlook for west Texas in July, August, and September is not good—temperatures hotter than normal and precipitation well below normal.

The National Weather Service 3-Month Precipitation Forecast. B means Below Normal.

The National Weather Service 3-Month Temperature Forecast. A means Above Normal.

We’ll be experiencing some of those above-normal temperatures for the rest of the week with highs of over 100°F and lows in the seventies.  There is no rain in the forecast.

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† LYDIA MARIE KAFER ALTHOF

Funeral services were held Monday morning, June 24, at the First Baptist Church for Lydia Marie Kafer Althof, 98, who passed away on June 21.  Interment in the Roscoe Cemetery followed the funeral services.

She was born on July 25, 1914, in Hurnville, Texas, to Karl and Anna Kafer, and married Richard Emil Althof on November 4, 1934.  After living for many years in the country, she moved into Roscoe in 1982.  She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Roscoe.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Emil Althof, her parents, her daughter Dorothy Ann, her son Harold, and her daughter-in-law Rita Althof.

She is survived by her two daughters, Leona Julian and husband Terry of San Marcos, Carolyn and husband Richard Young of Abilene, daughter-in-law Pat Althof and her daughter Rene of San Antonio. Grandchildren include Dee Julian of San Marcos, Dickie Julian and wife Krista of Dripping Springs, Greg Althof and wife Crystal of Roscoe, Jeff Althof and wife Jessica of Abilene, Scott Young and wife Suzette, and David Young, all of Houston. 

Great grandchildren are Dr. Jason Barnes and wife Jenna of Corpus Christi, Carson Barnes of Commerce, Kasi and Tyler Althof of Lubbock, Jake and Layla Althof of Abilene, Amy Marie, Benjamin and Charlie Julian of Dripping Springs, Gabriella, Jacob, Jamin, Katelyn, Zachariah, Ashley Young of Houston. Great-great grandson is Bentley Barnes of Corpus Christi and she was awaiting the birth of another great-great-grandchild in December. 

Surviving siblings are her brother, Edward Kafer and wife Willa Dene of San Angelo, sisters Rosemary Schaffner of Clyde, Ruth Gardner and Anna Lee Lewis of Abilene.

Pallbearers were Dickie Julian, Greg Althof, Jeff Althof, Scott Young, David Young and Tyler Althof.

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