City Swimming Pool Opens Monday or Tuesday

Summer is for swimming.

If you’re a kid in Roscoe with a little spare time on your hands, life has to be looking up—school is out, and on Monday or Tuesday the swimming pool will open for the summer. The exact date and time will depend on when a new pump arrives and is installed.

This year the pool will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 1:00 to 5:00pm.  Price of admission is $2.00 per day with season passes available for $75.

The pool may be rented for private parties beginning and ending between 6:00 and 10:00pm. The fee is $60 for two hours, $70 for three, and $80 for four with a $15 deposit. The price includes an approved licensed lifeguard.

For reservations or additional details, contact Pool Manager Isabel Moore at 325-514-9416.

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ROSCOE IN YEARS GONE BY: THE 1954 BEAUTY PAGEANT

(Editor's note: This is a slightly edited version of an article from the May 2, 2012, Roscoe Hard Times.)

Miss Roscoe, Christine Clayton, with Maids of Honor Pauline Nance, left, and Norma Eckert, right.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1950s will recall what a big deal beauty contests were in those years.

When TV came to west Texas, it brought with it the annual Miss America pageant, which according to Wikipedia was the highest rated program on television well into the early sixties.

On that night, everyone watched the show and made their predictions about who the judges would pick.  When the winner was announced, host Bert Parks would sing, “There she is, Miss America,” and the newly crowned queen, with tears of joy in her eyes, would walk down the runway as the runners up and everyone else applauded—and for the next couple of days she would be the most popular female in the country.

Local beauty contests were also popular, and in 1954 Roscoe held its own pageant with Christine Clayton being crowned Miss Roscoe, while runners up Pauline Nance and Norma Lynn Eckert were designated her Maids of Honor.

Christine was sponsored by the Roscoe State Bank; Pauline was sponsored by Haney’s Drug Store, where she worked at the soda fountain; and Norma was sponsored by Shelansky Dry Goods, where she worked on Saturdays when everybody came to town.

Miss Roscoe went on to compete in the Oak Creek Pageant when the lake officially opened, but the winner was someone from Sweetwater.

Norma, who has supplied me with all these details, also mentions that on the Sunday after the Roscoe pageant, “the pastor of the First Baptist Church preached a sermon on ‘parading around with hardly any clothes on,’ and there we were, the three that placed, on the front row of the choir with everyone looking at us . . . and two of our dads were deacons.”

Despite all that, she says, “Daddy was still proud of me.”

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CITY MANAGER DISCUSSES DRIVING, MOSQUITOES, DOGS

City Manager Cody Thompson is asking drivers to be aware that school is out for the summer and to watch out for kids in the streets, especially around the baseball field, the park, and swimming pool.

He reminds everyone that mosquitoes are a health hazard as they can carry the West Nile virus. To keep them from multiplying, residents should drain any standing water in yards or containers, clean rain gutters, fill in low areas in their lawns, keep grass mowed, and stay indoors as much as possible at dusk and dawn.

He also wishes to remind residents that there are local leash laws and that they are financially responsible for the actions of their pets. Recently, several dogs have been noticed running free in the streets.

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SAMMY KERSHAW HIGHLIGHTS LUMBERYARD WEEKEND

Sammy Kershaw

It’s another big weekend at the Lumberyard as Cajun great Sammy Kershaw brings his act to town for the first time Friday evening. Kershaw, whose hits go back a quarter-century, will be singing the songs that have made him famous, tunes like “You are the Love of My Life,” (Click title for video) “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer,” “Third Rate Romance,” “Don’t Go Near the Water,” and “Yard Sale.”

Both an accomplished singer and songwriter, Kershaw—a third cousin to Doug Kershaw and native of Kaplan, Louisiana—has been performing in honky tonks since childhood. He began after his father’s death when he was 12, and within a couple of years was opening for Ray Price, Merle Haggard, and George Jones. He really hit his stride in the early 1990s with his release of platinum albums Don’t Go Near the Water, and Haunted Heart, with its number one hit, “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful.” Then followed two certified gold albums, Feelin’ Good Train and Politics, Religion, and Her. Since then, He’s produced eight more studio albums. His most recent, The Blues Got to Me, was released last year.

Kershaw is a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Songwriters Association Hall of Fame.

Cameran Nelson

Opening for Kershaw will be up-and-coming singer Cameran Nelson, who was born in Haskell and now calls Blanco home. He’s lived all over Texas and studied music at South Plains College in Levelland. His first full-length album, Happy to Beer, was released in 2013 and nominated for three Texas music awards: Male Vocalist, Rising Star, and Record of the Year. His single “35 Runs Both Ways” was a multi-week #1 on the Texas Regional Radio Report and the Texas Music Chart. His current project, Good Thing Going, has produced two more #1 hits with “Shotgun,” and “You Can Still Wear White.”

For reservations and more information, contact the Lumberyard at 325-766-2457.

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WEATHER REPORT: HOT THEN MILD, MORE RAIN POSSIBLE

What's left of "Lake Roscoe" as seen from the baseball field.

This past week was mainly a drying out of the big rain from the week before. The so-called dry lakes in area fields still have water in them, but the puddles are essentially gone, and the sun has been shining all week. We got our first taste of summer last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday when the winds shifted to the southwest and the first seriously hot days of the year were felt. The high on Thursday was 99°F and on Friday 98°--and then on Saturday we got our first triple-digit day of the year when the high rose to 100°. A front then moved through early Sunday morning and cooled things down considerably. Highs on Sunday and Monday were 80° and 83° respectively and lows were in the low sixties, except for Monday morning when the temperature dropped to 59°. There was audible thunder on Sunday and a big cloud with lightning was visible in the southeast, but for the week there was no more precipitation than a light sprinkle early Monday morning.

There’s an excellent chance that the current weather will change as early as tonight as a front moves through. The chances of rain for tonight and tomorrow are over 60%, although the amounts are not expected to be great. The percentage diminishes to 20% for Friday, but then picks up again on Saturday evening when it increases to 50% before falling to 20% again on Sunday. Temperatures will continue to be relatively mild. The forecast high for today is 83°, tomorrow 82°, Friday 86°, and Saturday 88°. Morning lows will be in the mid-sixties.

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