Christmas Open House a Hit with Shoppers

Shoppers in Vickie's Gifts on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks in part to the beautiful weekend weather, this year’s Christmas Open House downtown was once again a roaring success. Cars lined Main Street from Broadway to Main Street Antiques and both Broadway and the Community Center area were full as well.

All the merchants I talked to spoke of large crowds, lots of fun, and plenty of sales. The Community Center was full of vendors and customers both at the Clodhopper Trades Day on Saturday and the Open House on Sunday.

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CITY COUNCIL HEARS REPORTS, CONDUCTS BUSINESS

At its monthly meeting at City Hall last night, the Roscoe City Council heard the City Manager’s report on public works, rejected Skeet Kimbrell’s proposal to extend the cemetery maintenance contract, approved a financial arrangement with Young Farm Estates, and discussed the hiring of a new City Secretary.

City Manager Cody Thompson said the City has completed the installation of a computerized system to record the number of gallons of affluent flowing from the city sewer for irrigation of the nearby fields, as mandated by the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality). 

This week, City workers will be putting in new filters at the City’s reverse-osmosis water plant and putting up the Christmas tree in Old Town Park.

The water-line improvement project is on track, and environmental compliance in progress. Bidding on the project will begin in late December or early January.

The water and sewer rate study to determine user costs, which began in September, is still in progress. The recent laying of the new sewer line between Cypress and Main Streets proceeded on a loan from the TWDB (Texas Water Development Board), most of which will have to be repaid, thus necessitating some raising of current rates.

Cemetery maintenance man Skeet Kimbrell proposed extending his contract into the winter months so that the trees at the cemetery could be trimmed. After some discussion, the Council rejected the proposal.

Carl Childers, developer of the Young Farm Estates housing development in north Roscoe, proposed a change in the current tax structure of the development that will allow him to continue to build new homes there. After some discussion, the Council approved his request to provide a tax break.

The Council then discussed the hiring of a new City Secretary to replace Donna Parker, who will retire at the end of the year. Some applications have already been received, and interviews will take place next Thursday, November 21, at 7:00pm in City Hall.

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CROSS PLAINS DOWNS PLOWBOYS 45-20

Junior Martinez scores a Plowboy touchdown on a one-yard run.

The Cross Plains Buffaloes dashed any hopes the Plowboys had for the playoffs with a solid 45-20 victory at Plowboy Field Friday night. In doing so, they ended one of the most difficult football seasons the Plowboys and Coach Jake Freeman have experienced in many years.

This year’s team faced one of the toughest schedules imaginable since many of the opponents were fielding their best squads in years. These included not only state-ranked teams like district foes Hamlin and Albany, but also Hawley and, at the time, Stamford. Christoval just finished the regular season at 9-1, and both Miles and Cross Plains finished 7-3. In fact, the only other opponents that didn’t finish with a 7-3 record or better were Chico and Haskell, who both finished 3-7. The Plowboys beat Chico and lost to Haskell.

Friday’s game with Cross Plains began slowly with neither team able to mount any sustained drives until late in the first quarter when the Buffaloes put together a 9-play drive that started on their own 24 and ended with a 1-yard touchdown run followed by a failed conversion to go up 6-0.

They got another touchdown in the second quarter on a 38-yard return of an intercepted pass. The extra-point kick was good, and the score was 13-0. Later, they mounted another drive ending with a 2-yard run to increase the lead to 19-0, the score at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Buffaloes scored again to go up 26-0. Then, in the fourth they put the game out of reach with 2 more TDs to increase the lead to 38-0 before the Plowboys got on the scoreboard with a 25-yard pass from Junior Martinez to Antonio Aguayo. Ryan Highsmith ran for the 2-point conversion to make the score 38-8. After Cross Plains responded with another touchdown to lead 45-8, the Plowboys followed with two more touchdowns, both one one-yard runs by Martinez, to make the final score 45-20.

For the game, Martinez completed 15 of 35 passes for 1 TD and 246 yards but with 4 interceptions. Zachary Parrott completed 1 pass for 5 yards. Antonio Aguayo led the receivers with 4 catches for 113 yards and 1 TD. Highsmith had a catch for 65 yards, Parrott had 6 for 56 yards, and Jaythan Coale had two for 7. The rushing game was essentially non-existent with Martinez totaling 1 net yard but with 2 TDs. Jake Gonzales had 3 yards on 2 carries and Gunner Helm had I yard on 1 carry.

Kolten Hope led the defense with 6 tackles, while Gonzales had 4, and Martinez, Helm, Antonio Aguayo, and Garrett Bowers all had three. Several others had at least one tackle or assist. Coale intercepted a pass and Parrott covered a fumble.

Scoring by quarters:
                             1         2         3          4          T
Cross Plains      6         13        7         19        45
Plowboys           0          0        0         20        20

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ROSCOE STUDENTS HONOR VETS ON VETERANS DAY

This video by EduDrone instructor Dusty White presents highlights of the tribute to veterans by Roscoe students on Friday.
 

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PLOWGIRLS DEFEAT ROBERT LEE, LOSE TO EULA

The Plowgirls opened their basketball season on Saturday afternoon with a 36-27 win at home over Robert Lee, but then lost last night at home 44-30 to Eula. They are now 1-1 on the season.

In the opener the Plowgirls came from behind to win the game after trailing 18-12 at the half. 

Here’s the scoring by quarters:

                            1          2          3          4
Plowgirls           7        12        28        36
Robert Lee       4         18        23        27

Freshman Carson Greenwood led the Plowgirls in scoring with 11 points, followed by senior Sadie McCambridge with 7, junior Riley Sheridan with 6, freshman Layla Herrera 6, sophomore Shauna McCambridge 4, and sophomore Kaylea Perez 4.

The Junior Varsity Plowgirls also won their game with Robert Lee in overtime, 24-21.

Then last night at the Special Events Center, the Plowgirls lost to Eula, 44-30.

Scoring by quarters:
                            1         2           3           4
Eula                  15        29        32        44
Plowgirls           7        14         20        30

Carson Greenwood again led the Plowgirls in scoring with 11 points, followed by Shauna McCambridge with 8, Kaylea Perez 4, Sadie McCambridge 3, Victoria Martinez 2, and Layla Herrera 2.

The JV Plowgirls won their game against the Eula JV 26-19. They are now 2-0 on the season.

Next up for the Plowgirls are the Winters Blizzards in Roscoe this Saturday, November 16. The JV game begins at 12:30pm, and the Varsity game at 2:30.

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MATH PhD PROPOSES TEACHING METHODS FOR RCISD

Dr. Jim Curry presents his proposal to Roscoe teachers on Monday.

In a lecture presented to selected faculty and administrators on Monday afternoon, Jim Curry, a Mathematics PhD from Notre Dame, proposed changes in the way computing and math are taught at RCISD.

Specifically, he made three recommendations:

First, computing classes should be teaching a programming language called LISP, which he believes will be the language of the future because it is simple and easy to teach and more open and flexible than those currently used. One of LISP’s forms, known as Scheme, is preferable to the others.

Second, elementary math education should follow the Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics, a system used successfully for many years in Switzerland. He said it is easy even for small children to learn, and after three or four years of using the system, they are far better at mathematics than students learning math as it is currently taught in the U. S.

Third, a Japanese method of teaching mathematics inspired by Professor Kunihiko Kodaira of the University of Tokyo should be taught to high school juniors. Like the Trachtenberg system, it is a superior method of teaching mathematics that is more explanatory and yet simple enough to be mastered by teachers and students alike.

At the end of his talk, Dr. Curry distributed materials to RCISD faculty members, who will review them for decisions concerning their possible use in Roscoe classes.

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WEATHER REPORT: A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING

Thursday's rain left puddles in the low spots on Broadway.

The past week has been a real doozy as far as the weather is concerned. It was the complete opposite of what we got in August, when every day was almost a carbon copy of the one before it. In the short space of the past six days we’ve had sunshine and clouds, high winds and dead calm, warm weather and icy cold, and even a nice rain.

The rain came on Thursday. It was the first rainfall of over an inch since mid-September and before that since late June. Most of it fell before sunrise, but a bit more fell during the day. I had 1.7” in my rain gauge at about 8:00am, but a quarter-inch more came during a cloudy day for a total of 1.95”, while Kenny Landfried recorded an official 1.87”. Some places in the Roscoe area got over 2 inches, while others got less. The rains came with the arrival of a norther with strong wind gusts and a rapid drop in temperature. Friday’s high was only 52°, but the wind died down, and although the temperature was in the upper forties at the football game Friday evening, being outside wasn’t so bad because the wind had dropped to a light breeze.

The weekend was perfect for the big weekend downtown. Saturday’s high was 69° and Sunday’s 76° with sunshine on both days, so the crowds at the Clodhopper Trades Day and the Christmas Open House downtown moved from one place to another with no hindrance from the weather. The crowds would have been much smaller if the weather we had on Monday had arrived earlier. 

Both Monday and yesterday were seriously cold. The high on Monday came at midnight and by sunrise the wind was howling from the north with gusts up to 45mph and a temperature that dropped below freezing. It was down all the way to 18° yesterday morning with a wind chill down to 9° at one point. Yesterday’s high was only 35°, but even that felt better after what we went through on Monday.

Today will thankfully be warmer. Skies will be mostly cloudy, but the temperature will warm into the mid-fifties this afternoon before falling to 33° by morning. Tomorrow the skies will clear with a high of 54° warming to 61° on Friday and 64° Saturday. A light cold front arrives on Sunday, dropping the high to 53° and the low to 39° before warming up again to 68° and sunshine on Monday.

Precipitation is not likely in the upcoming week as Sunday is the only day with as much as a 20% chance of rain.

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