RHS Homecoming Set for September 26-28

In its initial meeting at the school last Wednesday, Roscoe High’s 2013 Homecoming Committee set the weekend of September 26-28 as the dates for this year’s celebration. 

Committee members are Christi Beal, Connie Baize, Delma Boston, Edwin Duncan, Ernestine Edmiston, Rita Fried, Vickie Haynes, Katie Heaps, and Gaynell Mullins. 

It has tentatively scheduled a number of activities:

Thursday, September 26, evening – Bonfire

Friday, September 27
    Exes Tea
    Pep Rally
    Dinner in Cafetorium
    Football Game at Plowboy Field
    Post-Game Reception in Cafetorium
    Lumberyard – Music featuring Roscoe Exes

Saturday, September 28
    9:00am Meet and Greet – Robotics Demonstration
    Awards, Door Prizes, Tours of new facilities
    11:30-1:30 Lunch
    3:00pm Homecoming Parade
    Saturday evening – Class Parties

At this stage, all of the above are tentative and subject to change, but this should be close enough for exes to begin making plans to attend.

Those who do Facebook should visit the Roscoe Homecoming Facebook Page for details and further information. 

Roscoe’s Homecomings are held once every three years.  The most recent was in 2010.

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CITY SWIMMING POOL OPENING TOMORROW

Scenes like this will once again be possible when the pool opens.

After the disappointment of learning the Roscoe City Pool was not opening on Memorial Day as announced in Facebook, Roscoe kids will be happy to learn that the pool will indeed be open for business starting at 1:00pm tomorrow.  And that isn’t all the good news. 

Admission for tomorrow only is free of charge, and City Councilman Robert McBride has vowed to scatter ten dollars’ worth of quarters in the bottom of the pool for those who can find them first. 

This summer the pool is being run by Patty McBride and Lus Pantoja, and Elementary Principal Andy Wilson will be the instructor for swimming lessons.  It will be open Tuesday-Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00pm.  Price of admission is $1.50 with season passes available for $60. 

The pool can also be rented for private parties that begin and end between 6:00 and 9:00pm.  The fee is $60 for two hours and $70 for three hours, and that price includes an approved licensed lifeguard.

For additional details, phone 325-766-2352 during open pool hours or visit the pool’s Facebook Page at Roscoe City Pool.

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JUNIOR BROWN TO PLAY HERE SATURDAY NIGHT

Junior Brown

Country music star Junior Brown, known for his guitar skill and his “guit-steel,” a double-neck guitar with a traditional 6-string guitar for its top neck and a steel guitar for the lower one, will be at the Lumberyard Saturday evening.

He became a local success at the Continental Club in Austin in the late 1980s, and his debut album, 12 Shades of Brown, was released in 1990.  In 1996, the video of his song “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead,” won the CMA Country Music Video of the Year, and his music has been showcased on several TV shows and movie soundtracks, including SpongeBob SquarePants, and the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard remake, in which he was also the narrator.

His music ranges from honky-tonk and western swing to blues and Tex-Mex.  Notable singles include “Highway Patrol,” “I Hung It Up,” “Gotta Sell Them Chickens” (with Hank Thompson), and “Venom Wearin’ Denim.”  He released his tenth album, Volume Ten, last October.

The show starts around 9:00pm.  Cover charge is $10, and tables may be reserved.  For more information, call the Lumberyard at 325-766-2457.

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WEATHER REPORT

These little yellow flowers are in bloom in ditches and vacant lots all over town.

It rained last Thursday, but not as much as was needed nor as all the thunder and lightning portended.  Amounts ranged from nothing or just a trace to three-quarters of an inch, depending on location.  I had just over a quarter of an inch at .26”, but Roscoe weatherman Kenny Landfried got .66" as the city's official amount. 
 
Since then, it has generally been breezy with 15-30 mph winds and relatively mild temperatures. Weekend highs were in the mid 80s to 90° with lows in the upper 60s and lower 70s.  Yesterday was cloudy and cool for most of the day with a high of only 81°.

The forecast is for a high in the upper 80s today with a 30% chance of rain and a low of 70° tonight with a 20% chance, along with strong south winds 20-30mph.  Tomorrow and Friday should also be breezy with highs in the mid 90s.  Saturday and Sunday will bring another chance of rain, either 30% or 20%.

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27 RCHS Seniors to Graduate Friday

A chapter of life will close for twenty-seven Roscoe Collegiate High School Seniors as they receive their diplomas and successfully complete their high school careers in the Special Events Center on Friday evening.  Even more impressive is the fact that nineteen of them have already received their Associate’s Degree from Western Texas College in a ceremony held on May 10. 

Valedictorian of the Class of 2013 is Faith Boren, who had an overall grade average of 99.77.  She plans to attend Texas A&M.  Salutatorian is Torrey Willman with an overall average of 98.11.  She is going to Texas Tech.   

Here is the Class of 2013:

        *Joe Luis Aguayo A 
        Maria Aguayo
        *Faith Boren A
        Shelby Borton
        Kyle Bromley A
        Tyler Bromley A
        *Brant Burnett A
        Alexandria Cuellar
        Christopher DeLeon
        Eduardo Gallegos A
        Landon Jones A
        Blanca Leanos A
        *Crystal Luna A
        Brenon Moore A
        *Kendall Moses A
        *Pete Ortega A
        Laura Pantoja A
        *Kane Peavy E
        Carolina Perez A
        Jose Rangel A
        Alura Renteria A
        Alexander Rhoades
        Dionisio Rosas
        Julie Segura E
        *Mirian Solis A
        *Stina Tomlin A
        *Torrey Willman A

        A = Associate’s Degree
        * = Top Ten 
        E = Early Graduate

The Baccalaureate Service was held Sunday Evening at the First Baptist Church.  

Graduation ceremonies at the Special Events Center begin at 7:00pm this Friday, May 24.

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TORREY WILLMAN WINS NOLAN COUNTY BOARD OF REALTORS SCHOLARSHIP

Torrey Willman

RCHS Salutatorian Torrey Willman is one of four 2013 Nolan County graduates to receive a $500 College Scholarship from the Nolan County Board of Realtors. 

The recipients were chosen from over forty applicants from Nolan County schools.  The Board’s Scholarship Committee reviewed the anonymously written essays to keep the selection as fair as possible.

Besides Torrey Willman, the other three scholarship winners were all from Sweetwater High School.  They were Isaiah Hernandez, Whitnee Murff, and Blake Young.

The Nolan County Board of Realtors extends a special “Congratulations!” to this year’s winners.

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ROSCOE STUDENTS HONORED AT ACADEMIC BANQUET

Several Junior High and High School students received honors and awards at the annual Academic Banquet held last Thursday evening in the Roscoe School Cafetorium. 

One boy and one girl from each grade received awards for Best All-Around Student and for Outstanding Work Ethic:

Senior Best All-Around: Jose Rangel and Torrey Willman
Outstanding Work Ethic: Chris DeLeon and Laura Pantoja
   
Junior Best All-Around: Luke Rovig and Whitney Williams
Outstanding Work Ethic: Shelton Toliver and Jacinda Cedillo

Sophomore Best All-Around: Chase Cathey and Korie Rogers
Outstanding Work Ethic: Gabriel Alvarez and Samantha Ortega

Freshman Best All-Around: Vincent Pantoja and Cassandra Chavira
Outstanding Work Ethic: Jacob Lomas and Alejandra Solis

8th Grade Best All-Around: Caleb Ward and Shirley Sanchez
Outstanding Work Ethic: Brayden Beal and Brittany Jimenez, Karina Cisneros

7th Grade Best All-Around: Parker Payne and Murissa Horton
Outstanding Work Ethic: Clemente Aguayo and Morgan Bowers

College Class Awards went to the following:

English 1301       Luke Rovig
English 1302       Eva Aguayo
Govt 2305          Faith Boren
History 1301      Whitney Williams
History 1302      Amber Craig
Biology 2401/2   Pete Ortega
Music 1306         Cassandra Chavira
Speech 1315       Rainne Ruddick
English 2326       Faith Boren
English 2311       Pete Ortega
Psych 1300        Jake Wilson
Math 1314         Shelton Toliver
Math 1324         Luke Rovig

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SCHOOL’S OUT!—ALMOST

The day Roscoe kids have been looking forward to for some time now—the last day of school—will finally arrive on Friday.  At 1:55pm school lets out for the summer.

Unfortunately for some, the recess will be brief as summer school begins on Monday, June 3.

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WEATHER REPORT

Roscoe got its first 100° day of the year on Friday when the mercury topped out at 104°F, and the three days after that weren’t much cooler with highs of 98° and lows in the mid-seventies.  Yesterday, however, a front blew through and dropped temperatures about twenty degrees with a high that reached only 77° and a low of 64°. 

The mild weather won’t last, though.  Today will see a return to the nineties with lows in the upper sixties, and those temperatures should hold through the weekend and Memorial Day. 

There is a 20% chance of precipitation on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

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A MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE TO HN PHILIP CONVERSE

Patches from top to bottom in the center are for the III MAF, the 3rd MARDIV, and the 9th Marines. On the right are Converse’s Navy Corpsman patch and his four medals: the Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, and Vietnam Campaign medals.

HN (Hospitalman) Philip Howell Converse was a member of the RHS Class of ’59.  Born in Dallas on June 12, 1941, he was killed in action by mortar fire in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, on July 2, 1967.  A Navy Corpsman, he was with H&S Company, First Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, III MAF (Marine Amphibious Force). 

After leaving Roscoe in 1959, he moved to Dallas and lived there until joining the US Navy in early 1967.  He had been in Vietnam about six weeks when he was killed at the age of 26. 

His name is on the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, on Panel 22E, Line 99.

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Voters Approve School Bond for STEM Center

Election volunteers Amy Austin and Ernestine Edmiston wait for voters at Saturday's bond election.

In a record turnout for a school bond election, the voters of the RISD overwhelmingly approved the passage of the $3.5 million bond for a new Capstone STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Research Center, to be located at the school’s ag farm:

For: 158    Against: 57

The heavy turnout was indicative of the local interest, as was the size of the crowd at the public hearing on April 15. Superintendent Kim Alexander, who was pleased with the election’s outcome, has emphasized the advantages a STEM endorsement will have for our students, whether they go on to college or directly enter the work force. 

As one of Texas’ 23 designated high performance school districts, Roscoe has leadership responsibilities, and school officials anticipate that the Research Center can be successful enough to serve as a model for many of the state’s other rural schools considering reproducing student opportunities to earn STEM endorsements.

Now that the bond has passed, Dr. Alexander said the hope is to have all the planning and preliminaries done by August 1 so that construction of the new center can begin.  The goal is to have the facility finished by August 2014.

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RCHS NAMES 2013 VALEDICTORIAN AND SALUTATORIAN

Valedictorian Faith Boren and Salutatorian Torrey Willman.

The top two students in this year's graduating class have been named.  The Valedictorian is Faith Boren, who graduates with an overall grade average of 99.77, and the Salutatorian is Torrey Willman, who graduates with an average of 98.11.

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NINETEEN RCHS SENIORS EARN ASSOCIATE'S DEGREES FROM WESTERN TEXAS COLLEGE

Back row left to right: Joe Luis Aguayo, Tyler Bromley, Eduardo Gallegos, Landon Jones, Brenon Moore, Jose Rangel, Pete Ortega, Brant Burnett, Kyle Bromley; Front row: Torrey Willman, Carolina Perez, Faith Boren, Blanca Leanos, Crystal Luna, Mirian Solis, Laura Pantoja, Alura Renteria, Stina Tomlin, Kendall Moses.  Graduates with gold collars were members of the Honor Society.

In a ceremony held Friday evening, nineteen of this year's twenty-seven graduating seniors at Roscoe Collegiate High School were awarded their Associate's Degrees from Western Texas College in Snyder.  

This is the largest percentage yet of RCHS graduates to earn their Associate's at the same time they finish high school.  Last year, thirteen of twenty-five did.

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LEANOS, THREE HORNETS WIN MEDALS AT STATE TRACK MEET

Jesus Leanos 

Roscoe’s Jesus Leanos finished third in the 3200-meter run at the State 1A-DII track meet in Austin Friday with a personal best time of 10:27.70, while Highland had three medal winners: Beth Richburg, Sheldon Hall, and Michael Hyde. 

Beth Richburg won a silver medal in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.31, Sheldon Hall was third in the boys’ 800-meter run (2:01.30), and Michael Hyde also won a bronze medal with a pole vault of 12’6”. 

Hall came in fourth in the 400 meters (52.20) and Richburg was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (49.15).  Highland’s girls’ 4x400 meter relay team finished sixth.

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CITY WILL RE-OPEN BIDDING FOR WATER TREATMENT PLANT AND LINE UPGRADE

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

The City of Roscoe’s plans to complete the new reverse-osmosis water treatment plant this year received a setback when contractors' bids were opened and read last week.  First, only two companies made a bid, which was a disappointment since as many as seven were expected, and, second, both bids were about three quarters of a million dollars more than the City planned to spend on the project.  After being informed of the situation last night by eHT engineer Scott Hay, the City Council rejected both bids.

So now City Engineers eHT of Abilene will revise the project description and start a new round of bidding in three weeks or so.  It will then open the new bids around the end of June and present its results and recommendations to the City Council for approval in July, setting the overall project completion date back by about two months.

Roscoe received $1,765,000 from the Texas Water Development Board last year to fund construction of the new water treatment plant and improve the city’s outdated water lines. But about $300,000 of that will go to City Engineers eHT of Abilene to do the engineering, create and get approval of the specifications, and supervise construction of the project.  So, the bids, both of which exceeded $2 million, were considerably beyond what is feasible with the available funds. 

Project revision will involve a decrease in the footage of upgrade which can be done to the city water lines.  However, it will not affect construction of the reverse-osmosis water treatment plant or the installment of the SCADA system that computerizes the pumps.

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CITY COUNCIL PICKS PATTY McBRIDE TO OPERATE CITY POOL THIS SUMMER

At its monthly meeting last night, the City Council selected Patty McBride to run the City Swimming Pool this summer.  She and Elementary School Principal Andy Wilson ran it last year.  This year, she and Lus Pantoja will be in charge of the daily operation, although Wilson will still be available to teach swimming lessons.  For more information, contact Patty McBride at 325-766-3049.  For information about swimming lessons, contact Andy Wilson at 325-436-1890.

City Manager Cody Thompson informed the Council that the repair and upgrade to the pool is underway and will be done in time for the pool to be opened the first week of June.  The pool is getting a new filtering system, drain, and drain covers.  The cost will be about $26,000. 

In other Council news, the Council approved the site layout plan for 26 proposed extended-stay rental units on lots 1-6 of Block 29, which face Laurel Street between 3rd and 4th Streets.  

It also considered a preliminary plat for some seventy lots of the Young Farm Estates on the city’s north side east of FM 608 and south of the lift station.  The lots will be 110’ x 60’ or 75’ each.

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CENTRAL ROLLING PLAINS CO-OP HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING

Co-op President Larry Williams addresses the crowd.

The Central Rolling Plains Co-op treated its stockholders to a barbecue dinner last night at the Roscoe School Cafetorium.  Items of business included the manager’s report, regional reports, audit report and the election of three directors, who remained the same as this year.  

Speakers included Tom Engelky, Alan Hoelscher, Brett Cypert, and Paul Williams.  Ralph Stirl presented the Soil and Conservation Award to Scott Etheredge.  Dividend checks and equity retirement checks were also distributed and door prizes awarded.

Stockholders who were unable to attend may pick up their checks at the Co-op Office until noon next Friday, May 24.  For more information, call 325-766-3431.

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WEATHER REPORT: RAIN

There were two showers last week, one on Thursday and one on Friday.  The amount of rain received varied widely depending on location, but the total for both days generally fell between a half inch and an inch.  The rainfall tended to be heavier east of town on Thursday and west of town on Friday.  The official total recorded by Roscoe weatherman Kenny Landfried was .35” on Thursday and .33” on Friday. The rain on Thursday also had some nickel and dime-sized hail for a short time.  There was also a light shower yesterday evening, but it didn’t last long and didn’t amount to much.

The weekend was sunny and mild with highs in the seventies and lows in the lower fifties.  Monday and Tuesday were warmer with highs of 86° and lows of 59° and 60°.

The outlook for the next few days, however, is for summerlike weather with highs in the mid to upper nineties and lows in the mid sixties.

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† EMMA LOU CLOPTON

Graveside services for Emma Lou Clopton, 75, were held at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 13, at Kuykendall Cemetery in Cherokee, Texas.  She passed away on Thursday, May 9, at her residence in Roscoe.

Emma was born on September 5, 1937, in Austin to Ira Elton and Letha Mae (Smith) McCown. She married James Clopton on June 2, 1952. A homemaker and a Baptist, she is survived by three sons, Jay Clopton and wife Cindy of Goldthwaite, Marty Clopton and wife Mary Lou of Roscoe, and Dale Clopton and wife Shannon of Hamlin; two daughters, Pam Henson and husband Johnny of Burnet and Margaret Gardner and husband James of South Carolina; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; brother, Roy McCown and wife Joyce of Cherokee; and sister, Rosie Gray and husband George of Cherokee.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, James Clopton; one son, Yancy Clopton; and several brothers and sisters.

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George Thomas Home South of Town Burns to Ground

What used to be the Thomas house.

Another house was destroyed by fire late last Wednesday night.   This time it was George Thomas’s nice brick home on the east side of FM 608 less than a mile south of Roscoe. 

Roscoe firemen arrived at the scene too late to save it.  Since Mr. Thomas has moved to a nursing home, the house was unoccupied, as were the two other country homes that have recently burned down.  

Once again, arson is suspected, and the State Fire Marshal was called in to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Anyone with information about any of these fires should call City Hall at 325-766-3871 or Crime Stoppers at 325-235-8477.

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VOTERS TO DECIDE FATE OF $3.5 MILLION SCHOOL BOND SATURDAY

Artist's depiction of the Capstone STEM Center.

This Saturday, May 11, will be election day for the proposed passage of a $3.5 million school bond to build a Capstone STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Research Center at the school's ag farm. 

Voting will take place from 7:00am-7:00pm in the Roscoe Collegiate ISD Cafetorium at 1301 W. 7th Street.  Early voting terminated yesterday. 

Detailed information and discussion about the proposed center with its labs and classrooms may be found at the RCHS STEM Bond Election Information Page on Facebook.  

If you have questions, call the RISD Administration Office at 325-766-3629.

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CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATED AT SCHOOL AND DOWNTOWN

Riders and horses in the Saturday parade down Broadway.

Cinco de Mayo was observed last weekend with a supper and activities at Roscoe School Friday evening, Zumba “on the bricks” and a parade downtown Saturday morning, and a street dance and live music downtown Saturday night. 

A large crowd was on hand for the Mexican pile-on supper and a variety of entertainment in the school cafetorium, and there was also a carnival along with games, music, snacks, and other treats.  All proceeds went to senior scholarships.

On Saturday morning, there was a lively session of Zumba, led by Zin member Alejandra Garza, in the street next to Old Town Park.  It was followed by a parade down Broadway with riders on horseback along with various vehicles from which candy was thrown to the kids. 

Then that evening a large crowd enjoyed the vendors and street dance downtown with music provided by Lunaco, a band from Abilene.

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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO OPERATE CITY SWIMMING POOL

The City of Roscoe is now accepting applications for operation of the City Swimming Pool this summer.  The pool will be open from around the first week of June through the first week of August.

Deadline for submissions at City Hall is next Tuesday, May 14, at 4:30pm.  The City Council will then select this year’s operators at its monthly meeting at 7:00 that evening. 

For more information, call City Hall at 325-766-3871 during business hours.

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WEATHER REPORT

Monday's light rain was enough to get the ground wet.

It was a cool week for this time of year, more like what you’d expect for March than the first week of May.

Highs were in the seventies with lows of around forty through the weekend.  Thursday and Friday both had lows of only 37°F, and Saturday's Cinco de Mayo festivities were conducted in pleasant weather, clear skies, and only light breezes.  Sunday and Monday were similar.   

On Monday afternoon, there was just enough rain to get everything wet, .04 of an inch to be exact according to my rain gauge.  Yesterday, however, was sunny and warm with a high of 86°. 

The outlook for today and tomorrow is for more of the same with highs in the mid eighties and a 20% chance of rain, increasing to 30% on Friday and back to 20% Saturday.  Highs on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be in the seventies with lows in the fifties. Then Monday and Tuesday will be warmer with highs back in the eighties and lows in the sixties.

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Cinco de Mayo To Be Celebrated Saturday

Horsemen ride in last year's Cinco de Mayo parade.

The Cinco de Mayo celebration this Saturday, May 4, will start early and finish late.  Zumba “on the bricks” with Zin member Alejandra Garza will kick off the festivities from 9:30-10:30am downtown on Cypress Street between City Hall and Old Town Park.

Parade line-up begins at 10:30 on East Broadway, and the parade down Broadway is at 11:00.  After the parade, street vendors will set up on Cypress and Broadway. 

DJs will be playing music from 3:00-6:00pm, and a live band, Lunaco, will play a free concert and street dance next to Old Town Park downtown from 6:00-10:00pm.

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FIRE MARSHAL INSPECTS FIRE BEHIND FORMER NURSING HOME

Remains of the fire behind the former nursing home.

The Fire Marshal was in town to inspect the remains of yet another fire, this one in a small wooded area just south of the former nursing home on Cypress and between it and Peppy’s on Main Street. 

City employee Eric Acosta was driving on Main Street Sunday night about eleven o’clock and happened to notice the blaze.  He and another city employee were able to put it out. 

The fire appears to have been set.  It is the third case of suspected arson to occur in a one block area.  The other two are at the McBurnett house at 210 Cypress and the Treviño home at 211 Cypress.

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EARLY VOTING UNDERWAY FOR SCHOOL BOND PROPOSAL

Artist's depiction of the proposed Capstone STEM Research Center.

Early voting in the School Bond Election has begun at Roscoe School’s Administration Building on 7th Street.  Voting hours are 8:00-5:00 M-F and will continue through Tuesday, May 7.  Voters will decide whether to approve the passage of a $3.5 million bond to build a Capstone STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Research Center at the school’s ag farm.

At the recent public hearing at Roscoe, school superintendent Kim Alexander presented the case for approving the bond.  He said the project can be completed without increasing the I&S tax rate, as property values have increased significantly since the current rate was approved by voters in 2008.

Approval will result in the construction of a new high-tech facility that includes environmental, engineering, biotechnology, and animal science laboratories as well as multi-dimensional classrooms.

Students will benefit from observing and working with on-site professionals and in earning endorsements in STEM-related fields, a new state requirement for graduation. Along with the opportunity to earn the Associates Degrees already in place, these endorsements will give them a step up in going on to college and/or moving into STEM-related careers.

Alexander emphasized that STEM education is needed in Texas because the state is unable to satisfy its skilled workforce needs, and Roscoe, as one of only 23 Texas High Performance School Districts statewide, is authorized to be a leader in developing educational methods to fulfill these needs and to serve as a model for other Texas schools.

Detailed information about the proposed center may be found at the RCHS STEM Bond Election Information Page on Facebook. 

Election day is Saturday, May 11, from 7am to 7pm at the Roscoe Collegiate ISD Cafetorium.

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PLOWBOY JESUS LEANOS, SEVERAL HORNETS ADVANCE TO STATE MEET

Jesus Leanos qualified in the 3200-meter run. (Photo courtesy of Julie Raughton Toliver.)

Roscoe junior Jesus Leanos and several Highland Hornets are moving on to the State Track & Field Meet after their performances at the Regional Meet in San Angelo last weekend. 

With a time of 10:29.34 in the 3200-meter run, Leanos came in a close third to Jonathan Santiago of Paint Rock and Michael Perez of Rule.  Although it generally takes a first or second place finish in a regional meet to qualify for state, meet officials have a few “floating thirds” they may apply for athletes who finish a close third in an event, and Leanos was one of these.  Plowboy Dillon Freeman, who finished third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42.12, barely missed qualifying for state.

Highland has two boys advancing to state.  Sheldon Hall won both the 400 (51.99) and the 800 meter (2:01.71) races, and Michael Hyde (12’9”) was second in the pole vault.

Highland’s Beth Richburg qualified in three events.  She won the 100-meter hurdles (15.88), was second in the 300-meter hurdles (47.95), and is a member of Highland’s 1600-meter relay team that also includes Hannah Allen, Sierra Allen, and Lora Stewart.  They finished second with a time of 4:21.37.

The State Meet will be in Austin next weekend, May 10-11.

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A&M EXTENSION WORKER KEEPS STUDENTS BUSY

Roxanna Reyna

A recent addition to the Roscoe School, Roxanna Reyna is an Extension Program Specialist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, an educational component of the A&M system that includes the 4-H Club and County Agents.  She’s been here all this school year and has been involved with both children and parents, working to keep students interested and to increase parents’ involvement in school activities, particularly the Hispanic community for which she acts as a liaison.

She just returned from accompanying some thirty eighth graders to College Station to attend the College of Veterinary Medicine’s annual open house.  Next week she’ll be taking a group of elementary kids to Odessa to a robotics meet, and this summer she plans to take a group of girls to a robotics camp, where they will work on underwater robotics, the idea being to get girls interested in a technical field.  

In June, she and Elementary School Principal Andy Wilson will take about 35 sixth graders to the 4-H Roundup at Texas A&M to compete in a poster presentation contest.  The students will stay there two days and spend the night in a motel, paid for by Texas Tech and Texas A&M. 

Part of her job is to work with Hispanic parents in the district to ensure their involvement with their children’s activities and to understand what’s going on with them.  She has also taken an active leadership role outside school, speaking, for example, to the City Council recently, requesting that they allow the Cinco de Mayo celebration taking place this weekend.

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WEATHER REPORT

We need rain.  Yesterday evening there was a big cloud in the northwest that kept building up, and by around ten o’clock there was lightning and thunder to beat the band.  I’m guessing all the farmers in the area were thinking that maybe, just maybe, this could be the one we’ve been waiting for.  As it rolled in, it acted as though it was going to start pouring any minute.  It even teased with enough raindrops to get the ground wet and set off the alarm on my high-tech rain gauge, and the wind would alternately blow hard or stop or change direction.  But in the end it moved on without doing anything—just another fraud like the others we’ve seen this spring.

After a mild weekend, it’s been pretty hot the past couple of days with temperatures reaching the low nineties and the lows falling into only the sixties.  It should also reach the nineties this afternoon, but then another cold front will blow in and with it a 40% chance of rain tonight and 30% tomorrow.  Tomorrow’s high will be only in the forties and the low in the thirties with strong north winds.  Then Friday should be sunny and warmer, with a high around 60° and a low around 40°.  Saturday will continue the warming trend with a high of around 70° and a low in the upper forties.  Even so, this is pretty cool weather for the time of year, especially when you consider that by this time the past two years, we’d already had some 100° days.

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