City Council Deals with Requests, Approves Contracts, Learns of $275k Grant Approval

Several Bandera residents attended yesterday's City Council meeting.

At its monthly meeting in City Hall yesterday evening, the City Council made an alternate suggestion for one information item, heard a resident’s complaint in another, tabled a request to extend a contract, awarded a proposal for bond counsel and approved a contract for financial adviser for the Texas Water Development Project. It also approved an engineering services agreement for the proposed travel center and hotel project and learned that a $275,000 grant the City applied for over a year ago has been approved.

The meeting began in some confusion as a group of Bandera residents showed up to present their case and ask for help in dealing with their ongoing problems with neighborhood flooding. After learning that only previously designated speakers could address the council, their spokesperson, Joe Smith, said they were looking for a solution and wanted to discuss the matter with the Council. Mayor Pete Porter suggested that since any solution would also involve the county and state, they might do better to schedule an informal meeting in a different venue with a member or members from the County, TxDOT, and the City all in attendance to provide input.

Roscoe Cemetery maintenance man Skeet Kimbrell then asked for a one-month extension on his contract to deal with problems caused by recent heavy rains. He said the earth had sunk above about twenty graves, creating holes that needed to be filled. City employee Joe Vick said that City workers could handle that task, and the request for an extension was tabled.

City Manager Cody Thompson was unable to attend because of a health issue but sent word that the Texas Department of Agriculture has approved the Texas Community Block Grant of $275,000 for continued sewer line improvements that the City applied for over a year ago. He also sent word that the building of a pavilion in Windmill Park will soon be underway.

The Council then approved the awarding of a contract with Hilltop Securities for financial adviser and the engineering firm e/HT, Inc., for the Texas Water Development Board water project. It also approved the engineering services agreement with e/HT, Inc., for the travel center and hotel conference project through the Texas Department of Agriculture.

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CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE HUGE SUCCESS

Shoppers check out new wares at Vickie's Gifts on Sunday.

The Christmas Open House has always been a successful event for Roscoe’s merchants, but this year’s version may have been the best one yet. On Sunday afternoon the downtown area was full of cars, and shoppers crowded all the participating businesses.

At Vickie’s Gifts, Koti Lindsey reported giving away over 400 door gifts and a long line of people waiting to get in to check out the latest ideas for Christmas. Cotton Belles and the Wildflower Boutique also reported busy afternoons with brisk sales, and the Roscoe Community Center also had a successful weekend with its Trades Days. In short, it was a profitable afternoon for local businesses and a great way to kick off shopping for the 2018 Christmas season.

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CROSS PLAINS ENDS PLOWBOYS’ FOOTBALL SEASON, 33-12

Xavier Frith (40) goes up for a pass. (Football photos by Tamara Alexander)

Hopes for an upset never came to pass on a chilly Friday evening in Cross Plains as the Buffaloes ended the Plowboys’ football season with a solid 33-12 victory. The Buffaloes now advance to a bi-district match-up with Christoval here in Roscoe Friday night, while the Plowboys stow their football gear and move on to round ball.

The game started well for the Plowboys. On their first possession, Gary Shaw broke free on a 46-yard touchdown run. Jose Ortega’s kick was no good, but the Plowboys had a 6-0 lead before the game was two minutes old. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the high point of the evening for Roscoe. Midway through the quarter, Cross Plains capped off a drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass and with a successful extra-point kick moved ahead of the Plowboys 7-6. It was a lead they never relinquished. In the second quarter, they scored two more touchdowns while shutting down the Plowboys, and by halftime they led 20-6.

In the third quarter, the Buffaloes scored twice more to put the game out of reach at 33-6. Roscoe managed another score in the fourth on a 10-yard Jayden Gonzales pass to Junior Martinez, but it was too little too late, and the final score was 33-12.

Statistically, the Plowboys actually racked up more total yards than the Buffaloes with 259 to Cross Plains’ 238, but the Buffaloes had the ball almost twice as long with a 31:28 time of possession to Roscoe’s 16:32. Turnovers also hurt the Plowboys with four, three fumbles and an interception, while Cross Plains had only two, both interceptions.

For the Plowboys, Gonzales completed 18 of 37 passes for 179 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. Junior Martinez had 6 catches for 66 yards and 1 TD, and Brandon Lavalais had 5 for 69. Barrett Beal caught 3 for 33 and Ortega 3 for 7. Gary Shaw led Plowboy rushers with 83 yards on 9 carries and 1 TD, while Ortega had 2 carries for 16 yards.

Ortega and Garrett Bowers led the defense with 9½ tackles each. Lavalais had 8, Shaw and Nick Limones had 6 each, Martinez and Ryan Highsmith had 5, and Jacob Rainey had 4, while four others had fewer.

Scoring by quarters:
                                                1          2          3          4           T
                   Plowboys           6          0          0          6          12
                   Cross Plains      7         13         13         0          33

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PLOWGIRLS DOWN IRA IN HOME OPENER 40-35

The Plowgirls won their home opener in the Special Events Center yesterday evening, defeating the Ira Lady Bulldogs in a close game 40-35. The Plowgirls jumped out to an early lead and led most of the way.

Here are the scores by quarters:

Plowgirls          10        28        30        40
Ira                        8        17        29         35

Individual scoring for the Plowgirls: Victoria Martinez 13, Sadie McCambridge 13, Shauna McCambridge 6, Jovana Peña 3, Bonnie Wilkinson 3, Liberty Saenz 2.

The Plowgirls will next play the Lady Blizzards in Winters Friday, followed by Post in Post next Monday. Their next home game won’t be until November 27, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, against Jayton.  The varsity boys will begin their season with Jayton the same evening.

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CROSS PLAINS PLAYS CHRISTOVAL HERE FRIDAY EVENING

If you live somewhere around Plowboy Field, don’t be surprised Friday evening if you see the lights on and hear bands playing and announcers speaking into the PA system. You aren’t missing a Plowboy game.

Cross Plains and Christoval, both 7-3 on the year, will be facing off in a bi-district playoff. It should be a good game as the teams played one another earlier this year with Christoval edging the Buffaloes 27-26 in a match that went down to the wire.

The weather should be good for November football with game-time temperatures in the fifties and a light southwest wind of 5-10mph. Kickoff is at 7:30pm.

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WEATHER REPORT: FIRST FALL FREEZE

Strong north winds had the flags at school flapping on Monday.

Roscoe got its first fall freeze on Monday night and experienced a week of cool weather that gave the area its first intimation of the approach of winter. The only day to reach the sixties was on Sunday afternoon during Christmas Open House. 

Otherwise, highs were only in the low fifties or forties and lows dropped below freezing and as low as yesterday’s 22°F—which felt even colder with a strong north wind that reached 25mph with gusts into the low thirties. There was even some rain on Monday morning, but it amounted to only about .2”. Highs on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were 51°, 50°, and 49° respectively. Monday’s high was 50° and yesterday’s only 42°. Lows dropped below freezing on Monday, yesterday, and this morning.

The forecast, however, is for sunny skies and warming weather through Saturday. Today’s high will be about 53°, tomorrow’s 65°, Friday’s 66° and Saturday’s 63° as cloudy skies return. Sunday’s high will be only 47° as another cold front moves through. There is little prospect of rain before next Wednesday when the chances for precipitation reach 40%.

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