 |
| Mo Pitney |
Born into a musical bluegrass family in southern Illinois, the 27-year-old Pitney has lived and worked in Nashville since becoming a professional musician. He got a standing ovation after singing, “Country,” in his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. Besides his own songs, such as “Ain’t Bad for a Good Ol’ Boy” or “Boy & a Girl Thing,” he is well known for his covers of traditional country classics, such as “Borrowed Angel,” “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?” or with his wife Emily, “Storms Never Last.”
 |
| Giovannie & the Hired Guns |
 |
| Dylan Wheeler |
So, the music emphasis this year is on youth, and it could well be the best West Texas Wind Festival concert yet. You won’t ever get another chance to see these singers for free, so you don’t want to miss it.
 |
| Lyndall Underwood |
In addition to the free concert and street dance, the festival will also feature the ever-popular Plowboy Mudbog at the baseball field, the downtown vendors, the RVFD’s fireworks show, and more, so make plans now to spend the day celebrating the event.
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES 2020-21 CITY BUDGET
 |
| The Roscoe City Council at yesterday's budget meeting. |
At a specially called budget meeting in City Hall Monday evening, the Roscoe City Council approved the 2020-21 budget. It also appointed Mayor Pete Porter to be the signatory for the sale of the old city sewer farm property to TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation).
In setting the budget for 2020-21, the Council slightly altered the tax rate from 2019-20—from 69.5951 cents to 74.9624 cents per $100 valuation, which will raise approximately the same amount of revenue as last year. The General Fund tax rate dropped from 55.3987 to 54.4973 cents, while the Interest & Sinking fund raised from 14.1964 to 20.4651 cents. Last year’s adjusted levy was $431,551, and this year’s anticipated levy is $439,551, an $8,000 increase, the $8000 being the added value of new city property. No raises for City employees were included in the new fiscal year’s budget.
The City is selling the 1.217 acres of the old sewer farm property to TxDOT as it prepares to make changes to I-20 between the merger with US Highway 84 east of Roscoe to I-20 west of town. Sale price is $5,111, which will go into the City’s General Fund. As a signature is needed for the sale, the Council appointed Mayor Pete Porter to act for the City in the transaction.
CROSS COUNTRY TEAM EXCELS AT IRION COUNTY MEET
 |
| The RCHS Cross Country Track Team. |
Varsity girl medalists were Jissel Rodriguez 1st, Kaidy Ornelas 4th, and Candy Ortega 5th. JV medalists were Jaiden Amador 8th, Shauna McCambridge 9th, and Kenzie Danner 10th.
Varsity boy medalists were Graham Gleaton 3rd and Caleb Reed 4th.
The varsity teams are competing in Hamlin today.
PLOWBOYS NO MATCH FOR CHRISTOVAL
The game in Christoval Friday evening was another tough loss for the Plowboys as the state-ranked Cougars jumped out to a 36-0 lead in the first quarter and then coasted to a 64-6 home victory. Christoval QB Brayden Wilcox completed 10 of 12 passes for 235 yards and 2 TDs and rushed for 105 yards on 7 carries for 4 TDs.
The Plowboys’ lone score came in the second quarter when Antonio Aguayo hit Kolten Hope with a pass for a 7-yard touchdown.
Scoring by quarters:
1 2 3 4 T
Christoval 36 0 14 14 64
Plowboys 0 6 0 0 6
With the loss, the Plowboys, who are still looking for their first victory, are now 0-4 on the season.
This Friday the Plowboys tackle the New Home Leopards in an away game.
New Home is a small town (pop. 361) between Lubbock and Tahoka, 109 miles from Roscoe. Like Roscoe, it is a Class 2A-II school. Texas Football predicts its Leopards to finish fourth in District 2-2A-II with Sudan, Bovina, Smyer, and Ropesville. They return 6 starters on both offense and defense from last year’s 4-7 team.
The Leopards are currently 3-1 on the year with victories over 2A-I Floydada 32-13, 2A-II Plains 20-13, and 3A-II Odessa Compass Academy 51-0. Their lone loss was to 3A-II Lubbock Roosevelt 46-0. Players to watch are QB Bode Stewart and RB/LB Kash Starkey, both of whom made first-team all-district last year.
Kickoff is at 7:00pm.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are planning to go to the game, you must obtain a stamped ticket in advance at the Roscoe Collegiate High School office. You will then show your stamped ticket(s) when you pay at the gate in New Home. Tickets will be $5 for adults and $3 for students.
COVID-19 NUMBERS MIXED IN STATE, BIG COUNTRY
Governor Greg Abbott has changed the metric for re-opening businesses in Texas, saying that regions with less than 15% hospitalizations are safe enough to allow additional openings. By this metric, the Big Country is safe enough, and restaurants can go up to 75% capacity. This new metric, however, does not include bars, and bar owners across the state are up in arms about it, saying that many of them will go under if some allowances aren’t made.
Taylor County now has 433 active cases (409 last week), but Abilene currently has only 19 Covid-19 hospitalizations (23 last week), with 13 of those living outside Taylor County. There have been 49 total Covid-19 deaths (48 last week).
Nolan County reports 24 active cases, an increase of 2 from 22 last week. Mitchell County has 12 active cases, up from 9 last week, and Fisher County has 2 active cases (3 last week). Scurry County’s numbers, however, continue to rise. There are now 72 active cases (47 last week), 25 more than last week.
Here are the Big Country’s county totals for the year as of yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Erath, 831 (785); Howard, 677 (438); Scurry, 610 (579); Jones, 580 (566); Brown, 555 (524); Comanche, 294 (254); Runnels, 259 (242); Nolan, 217 (189); Eastland, 167 (155); Stephens, 132 (126); Callahan 86 (79); Mitchell, 85 (82); Knox, 67 (68); Coleman, 70 (62); Fisher, 65 (63); Haskell, 62 (59); Coke, 52 (50); Shackelford, 24 (25); Stonewall, 12 (10); Kent, 9 (7); Throckmorton, 8 (6).
Selected west Texas counties yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Lubbock, 10,515 (9,828); Midland, 3,588 (3,469); Ector (Odessa), 3,069 (2,962); Tom Green (San Angelo), 2,212 (2,151); Wichita (Wichita Falls), 1.645 (1,525).
Texas now has had a total of 716,207 cases (668,746 a week ago), 87,317 of them active (68,483 a week ago), and 15,219 total deaths (14,343 a week ago).
WEATHER REPORT: MORE FALL WEATHER
 |
| Pasture sunset yesterday. (Photo by Vanya Duncan) |
Highs for the past seven days have been in either the 70s or 80s with lows in the 60s or mid to upper 50s. Winds have been light, and skies have been clear or partly cloudy. In fact, it’s been downright pleasant most of the time, which is certainly not always the case in west Texas. The past week’s high temperature was last Wednesday’s 85°, and the weekly low was Sunday morning’s 55°.
Today should be partly cloudy with a high of 81° with a light northeast wind, but temperatures will be warmer starting tomorrow when skies clear and the high reaches 87°. Then Friday and the weekend will be even warmer as winds shift to the southwest. Friday’s high will be around 92°, while Saturday and Sunday should reach 93° as air conditioners again see extensive use. On Monday, a slight cooling trend will once again set in. During these days, morning lows should drop into the mid-sixties as skies remain clear.
There is no rain in the forecast.
What about the water lines busted in almost every road. The mosquitoes are eating us up!
ReplyDelete