Beto O'Rourke Impressed With RCHS Visit

Beto O'Rourke (center back) stands with RCHS students.

Beto O’Rourke, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, hadn’t planned to come to Roscoe but was glad he did after meeting with high school students on Friday and learning about Roscoe’s P-20 Program. He came away impressed and singing the praises of the school’s accomplishments on his Facebook page and in a subsequent talk.

O’Rourke had made a scheduled speech in Sweetwater on Thursday afternoon as part of his 34-day campaign tour of Texas. Afterwards, he and his campaign manager went to Skeet’s for supper and were waiting for a table when RCHS teacher Katie Ralph saw him and introduced herself and her family to him. After taking pictures, she invited him to come by the school the next morning to meet with her students, and to her surprise he accepted.

They showed up at 8:30 the next morning, and he first visited with Joe Rackley’s government class, where students asked him his stance on such hot-button issues as the Dreamers Act, assault rifles, and others. Afterwards, he met with other faculty, students, and administrators and learned of the collegiate program with Western Texas, as well as of Edu-Weld, Edu-Vet, Edu-Drone, and robotics.

He was impressed to learn that almost all RCHS seniors graduate with Associate’s Degrees and certifications that give them a jump start to career employment, as can be seen in this two-minute video of a subsequent talk he gave at Argo’s bookstore in Sweetwater.

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HAWLEY HALTS PLOWBOYS 49-21

The Plowboy defense brings down the Hawley ball carrier.
(Football photos by Tamara Alexander.)

The Plowboys had a rough start to the season in Hawley Friday as the Bearcats handed them their first defeat 49-21. Hawley jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, and the game was never in doubt after that.

Hawley opened the scoring with a drive that ended in a one-yard run into the end zone followed by an extra-point run to go up 8-0. Later in the quarter, they scored again on a Beal interception and a 46-yard return for their second touchdown. In the second quarter, they scored again to go up 21-0, but the Plowboys answered with a 22-yard Barrett Beal pass to Junior Martinez followed by a Jose Ortega kick to narrow the score to 21-7. The Bearcats then scored again on a 25-yard pass play to go up 28-7, which was the score at halftime.

Then Hawley put the game out of reach in the third quarter with three touchdowns to make the score 49-7. In the fourth quarter the Plowboys made two more TDs, both by Ortega, one on a 17-yard pass reception, the other on a 9-yard run, but they were too little, too late as the Plowboys fell 49-21.

The Plowboys got most of their yardage through the air with 259 yards passing and 52 by way of the run. They actually had more total yards than Hawley with 311 to Hawley’s 299 and also had 21 first downs to Hawley’s 15, but they also had four interceptions, while Hawley had only one.

Beal completed 25 of 42 passes for 2 of the 3 Plowboy touchdowns. Brandon Lavalais led the receivers with 12 catches for 141 yards, followed by Ortega with 6 catches for 53 yards and a TD. Martinez had 1 catch for a 22-yard TD. Nick Limones ran the ball 9 times for 32 yards, and Ortega 3 times for 24 yards and 1 TD. Beal carried twice for ten yards.

On defense, Ortega led with 8 tackles and 4 assists, while Ryan Highsmith had 6 and 2 assists, Limones 6 and 1 assist, and Jacob Rainey 4. Several others had 2 or 1. Ortega also had an interception.

Plowboys Face Stamford Here Friday

Life doesn’t get any easier this weekend as the Plowboys take on Stamford in their home opener. Stamford, the preseason favorite to win District 3-2A Division I, opened their season Friday with a 52-13 thrashing of 3A Merkel.

The Bulldogs are strong on both sides of the ball and against Merkel had a balanced offense with 27 passes and 28 runs. Their leading receiver, Trace Edwards, had a breakout game with an astounding 334 total yards receiving and 4 touchdowns on 9 receptions, one of them a 95-yarder. Their quarterback, Peyton Bevel, completed 14 of 27 passes, and their leading rushcr, D’Marcus Barber, gained 75 yards with 2 TDs on 8 carries. Edwards and Bevel were named this week’s Big Country Players of the Week by the Abilene Reporter-News.

Kickoff is at 7:30pm.

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ROSCOE POLICE WARN RESIDENTS OF MEAT SELLER

Police Chief Felix Pantoja wants residents to be on the lookout for a person or persons going from door to door selling meat from their vehicle. Targeting the elderly, they reportedly walked into the home of an elderly female without knocking and walked around inside the house. At this time the only information known is that the person is a white male going by the name of Jason from Colorado City.

The City of Roscoe requires any solicitors to have a permit to go door to door and requests that residents report any solicitors to City Hall at 325-766-3871 or Police Dispatch at 325-235-5471.

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GIRLS’ FALL BASKETBALL LEAGUE BEGINS TUESDAY

RCHS is hosting a fall basketball league starting next Tuesday, September 11. Several area high-school girls’ teams will play here one day a week for four weeks. These include Robert Lee, Roscoe, Roby, Colorado City, Hermleigh, Snyder, and Trent. The games will give the girls some preseason competition in preparation for this year’s basketball season.

Each team will play three 20-minute running-clock halves with three different teams. Games start at 4:00 and end at 6:30. All games are in Roscoe at the Special Events Center and will be on these dates: Tuesday, Sept. 11; Tuesday, Sept. 18; Monday, Sept. 24, and Monday, Oct. 1.

These games are open to the public, and there is no charge. The concession stand will be open serving soft tacos and hot ham and cheese sandwiches.

For more information, contact Roscoe girls’ basketball coach, Shella Arnwine.

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WEATHER REPORT: COOLER WITH CHANCE OF RAIN

Yesterday's sunset. (Photo by Eden Baker.)

The hot summer weather lasted until Saturday, but since then we’ve been getting the kind of cooler weather we haven’t seen here for quite a while. We’ve also had chances for rain the past four days, but so far without any significant results.

It’s rained enough to get the ground wet a couple of times. On Sunday night I got .06” and yesterday .04”, but with all the chances we had for more, that was precious little. The cooler weather has been a welcome change, though. The latter part of last week the heat wave continued with highs of 97°F on Wednesday and Thursday, 96° on Friday, and 94° Saturday. But then on Sunday the sky thickened with clouds and the high dropped to 90°, to 85° on Monday, and to 81° yesterday with lows of around 70°.

The forecast is for continued cool and cloudy weather with chances of rain. Today’s chance for a shower is 60%, tomorrow’s 80%, Friday’s 100%, Saturday’s 50%, and Sunday’s 40%. Winds will be light and from the east today, shifting to northeast tomorrow and for the next four days.

Temperatures will also drop. Today’s high will be around 81°, tomorrow 77°, Friday 76°, Saturday, 78°, and Sunday 82°. Lows will be in the mid-sixties.

Here’s hoping we get some significant rainfall at least one or two of those days.

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† ROBERT MENDEZ MORALES

Holy Mass of Christian burial for Robert Mendez Morales, 65, was at 10:00am, Monday, September 3, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church with Father Michael Udegbunam officiating. Interment followed at Roscoe Cemetery under the direction of McCoy Funeral Home. He passed away on Friday, August 31, at Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo.

Mr. Morales was born September 2, 1952, in East Bernard, Texas, of Wharton County. He was a 1972 graduate of Roscoe High School. He was a Specialist E-4 in the United States Army during the Vietnam Era. He loved supporting his grandchildren in their extracurricular activities ranging from football, volleyball, and softball to recitals and theater. He was a retiree from Lone Star Industries, where he forged many lifelong friendships. He enjoyed listening to music and visiting with good company over a fresh cup of coffee. He never met a stranger and shared many engaging stories with everyone he encountered.

Mr. Morales is survived by Sandra Gomez of San Angelo; two sons, Justin and Starla Morales of San Angelo, and Travis and Gregory Sullivan-Morales of Austin. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Bolton Morales of Carbondale, Ill, and Rylee and Kambry Morales of San Angelo; brothers, Victor Morales of Sweetwater and Lee Roy Morales of Houston; sisters, Liz Lara of Victoria, and Susan Martinez, Rosa Morales, and Becky Alvarado, all of Roscoe, and Penny Lara from Sweetwater, Mary Hardin of Abilene, Martha Dillard of Parker Co., Alice Ronquillo of California. and Mary Wren of Oklahoma.

He was preceded in death by his parents Albert and Alicia Morales, sister Beatrice Ramirez, and brothers Albert, Jr., and Joe David Morales.

Pallbearers were Victor Morales, Leroy Morales, Jerry De La Cruz, Paul Villanueva, Ricky Heredia, Tony Villegas, and Johnny Santiago.

Honorary Pallbearers Tony Deloera and Jimmy (Snake) Nelson and Charlie Rosas.

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