West Texas Wind Festival Enjoyed Saturday

Mo Pitney & band at the free concert.

Despite the ever-present Covid-19 threat, a respectable crowd was in town for the 14th Annual West Texas Wind Festival on Saturday. The weather was perfect, well, almost perfect, as there was a substantial southwest breeze, but, as Mayor Pete Porter said in his introduction to the band, “It is the West Texas Wind Festival.” Skies were clear, and the afternoon high of 86° was suitable for being outside, so no one was complaining about the weather.

Street vendors sold their wares on Cypress Street, and at the baseball field the roars of mud vehicles could be heard. As afternoon became evening, a crowd gathered downtown to hear Nashville country singing star Mo Pitney, who put on a good show. Giovannie & the Hired Guns, who opened for Pitney, were also a hit with many. As usual, the grand finale of the day was the fireworks show, although many of the audience who weren’t ready to go home went to the Lumberyard for a little dancing to the music of Lyndall Underwood and the Dusty Creek Band. Once again, the festival was an enjoyable event for those who attended.

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RCHS CROSS-COUNTRY TEAMS FINISH SECOND AT ANSON

The Roscoe cross-country teams competed in the Anson Invitational last wed.  Varsity girls and junior high girls both placed 2nd.  Top five finishers were awarded medals.  For varsity girls, Kaidy Ornelas placed 5th.  For junior high girls, Zoey Welch placed 1st and Ava Burrell 4th.

The Junior High team will compete in their district meet on October 20th in Colorado City.  The Varsity will compete in district the following week, October 26, in Coleman.

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HAMLIN DEFEATS PLOWBOYS 49-13

In a game rescheduled because three of the teams in the district were unable to play because of players with positive Covid-19 tests, the Plowboys traveled to Hamlin instead of playing Ralls at home. The Pied Pipers, currently ranked second in state, had little trouble with the Plowboys, defeating them 49-13.

The Plowboys, although outclassed, played hard the entire game and in the fourth quarter put together some good drives, scoring a couple of touchdowns before game’s end. Kolten Hope scored one on a run and Tyler Guelker the other on a 17-yard pass from Antonio Aguayo.

Hope had 132 yards rushing on 28 carries with 1 TD. Jax Watts completed 7  of 11 passing for 81 yards, and Antonio Aguayo had 3 receptions for 58 yards along with his 17-yard touchdown pass. Zeke Murphy led the defense in tackles while Aguayo had 1 interception.

Scoring by quarters:

                             1           2        3          4         T
Hamlin              21        14        8          0        43
Plowboys           0          0         0        13        13

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Plowboys vs. Ralls at Plowboy Field Tomorrow

Because of the revised district schedule, the Plowboys will face Ralls tomorrow evening at Plowboy Field. They are playing on a Thursday because the only way the district could get all its games in before the playoffs was to have some on weeknights. Last week, three district teams were unable to compete because of positive Covid-19 tests, which was the trouble that caused the scheduling problem.

So, instead of playing Ralls last Friday, as originally scheduled, they face them here tomorrow evening. Ralls is a strong opponent. Texas Football magazine predicted them to finish second in district to Hamlin. The Jack Rabbits return 6 offensive and 5 defensive starters from last year’s 10-2 area finalists. They are led by QB/DB Xavier Garcia and RB/LB Bryson Jones.

This year, they are 4-3 so far with victories over Seagraves 44-0, Quanah 30-28, Plains 28-0, and New Home 46-15. Their losses were to Farwell 7-0, Clarendon 18-12, and their first district game to Hamlin 42-22.

Kickoff at Plowboy Field is at 7:00pm.

Junior High and Junior Varsity Plowboys play at Ralls today starting at 4:30 and 6:30pm.

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PLOWBOY MUDBOG RESULTS

Mudbog organizers were hoping for enough entries for Tractor Tire class. They were pleasantly surprised when 14 entries of that class showed up to compete.

Here is a list of the top three finishers in each class. Each vehicle made two runs, and the times listed are the number of seconds it took to finish both runs.

              Driver                             Time
Street Class 
          1. Chris Sparks                  20.12
          2. Sydni Sparks                 28.11
          3. Demetria Pantoja         30.92

Super Street
           1. David Scott                   18.36
           2. Robert Sparks              21.88
           3. Chris Sparks                 22.67

Modified
           1. Brian Averehe              14.41
           2. Nick Pantoja                25.55
           3. Alex Pantoja                37.79

Super Modified
           1. David Smallwood        13.22
           2. A. Montgomery           16.32
           3. Adam Galvan               26.36

Open
            1. Wacey Daniel               11.4
            2. Brande Oden               14.87
            3. Jesse Bacherini           27.08

Tractor Tire
             1. Toby Walker               16.38
             2. Jeremy Sisk                16.84
             3. Adam Smith               17.79

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LOCAL FARMER LONNIE ORMAN DISCUSSES SUNFLOWERS ON KRBC-TV

Lonnie Orman is growing lots of sunflowers on area farms this year, and yesterday he was the subject of the KRBC-TV news interview below. It lasts a little over a minute (1:17). The article is available on the Big Country Homepage by clicking here. 

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NO ROSCOE HARD TIMES NEXT WEEK

Two of my daughters with their families are coming in from Chicago tomorrow to join with me and my other daughter and granddaughter already here for an early Thanksgiving. They wanted to get us all together before my eldest daughter and her daughter return to China.

 China is beginning to open back up for people employed there, so they will be leaving as soon as their visa and other paperwork are complete and airlines tickets purchased. She’s a teacher at the Xiamen International School there and will be returning to regular in-person classes as opposed to the online classes she’s been teaching by long distance from Roscoe this semester.

As a result, I will not be available to gather and write up the news for next week. I should be good to go the following week, though, and, if so, I’ll put two weeks’ news in that posting.  Edwin Duncan, Roscoe Hard Times.

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COVID-19 CASES STILL INCREASING

Covid-19 numbers are growing in the United States. The past week has seen an increase of 60,000 cases a day, an increase of 34% from the average two weeks ago. The hardest hit states are in the north and northwestern states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, but case numbers are also rapidly increasing in New Mexico, where the governor has just issued new restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread.

Cases are also increasing in Texas, just not at the rate it is in the above-mentioned states. Increases have been in the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations, but not the number of deaths statewide, which has decreased slightly. By request, the Texas Health Department is sending extra health care workers to El Paso, Amarillo, and Lubbock, where cases have spiked in recent weeks.

In the Big Country, Taylor County continues to show a steady increase in its Covid-19 numbers. It now has 937 active cases compared to 719 a week ago, 519 two weeks ago and 433 a month ago. The county’s number of hospitalizations is also increasing with 37 yesterday compared to 27 last week and 20 a month ago. 17 of those are from out of county. Abilene hospitals have now had 65 total Covid-19 deaths, including 4 more in the last 5 days.

Locally, both Roscoe and Highland schools have been dealing with active cases, and I know of at least one local adult who is active. Nolan County now has 50 active cases, down from 61 last week but still up 28 from two weeks ago. Mitchell County has 39 active cases, 13 more than last week’s 26, and Fisher County has 15 active cases, up 5 from the 10 reported last week. These numbers are high compared to the past for each of these counties, so if you are local, remember to take proper precautions when out in public.

In Scurry County, the County Health Authority reports an average of 14 new cases per day for the past 21 days, and Dr. Bid Cooper reports area hospitals are reaching critical capacity levels. He says, “We desperately need your help to flatten the curve.” Scurry County’s number of active cases, however, has dropped to 103. That’s 8 less than last week but still 31 more than three weeks ago.

Here are the Big Country’s county totals for the year as of yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Howard, 1,040 (992); Scurry, 996 (911); Erath, 974 (933); Brown, 636 (609); Jones, 586 (573); Nolan, 378 (308); Comanche, 343 (334); Runnels, 287 (293); Eastland, 226 (213); Stephens, 151 (144); Mitchell, 154 (106); Knox, 110 (110); Callahan 110 (103); Coke, 90 (59); Fisher, 91 (75); Coleman, 84 (82); Haskell, 77 (74); Shackelford, 34 (30); Stonewall, 18 (17); Throckmorton, 16 (14); Kent, 10 (9).
 
Selected west Texas counties yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Lubbock, 15,908 (14,165); Midland, 4,550 (4,176); Ector (Odessa), 3,528 (3,345); Wichita (Wichita Falls), 3,023 (2,489); Tom Green (San Angelo), 2,514 (2,405).

Texas now has had a total of 833,557 cases (800,415 a week ago), 83,973 of them active (77,126 a week ago), and 17,087 total deaths (16,622 a week ago).

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WEATHER REPORT: TYPICAL FALL WEATHER

The weather for the past week has been typical for what this region gets this time of year—mostly sunny skies with daily highs ranging from the mid to upper 80s and the lows from the 60s to mid-40s.

After last Wednesday’s unusual high of 96°F, a cold front blew in that lowered temperatures considerably. Thursday’s high was only 77°, and the Friday morning low was down to 43°. Friday’s high was only 70°, but then on Saturday there was a warm southwest wind, and the weather for the West Texas Wind Festival was pleasant, despite the breeze, which was stiff at times. The high that afternoon was 86°, but the evening cooled down to just about perfect for the evening concert and fireworks show. Sunday was also ideal for outdoor activities with sunny skies and a high of 80° with only a mild breeze. On Monday, another cold front came through, lowering the high to 68° and bringing overcast skies, the first time we’ve seen a cloud cover practically the entire month. The accompanying north winds were nippy and dropped the morning low to 43°.

Today and tomorrow will be warm with predicted highs both days of 86° and strong southwest winds. Tomorrow evening’s game with Ralls at Plowboy Field should be warm but windy. Another cold front blows in on Friday morning, also with strong winds but from the north. Temperatures will fall to a high of about 64° Friday afternoon and going down to 43° Saturday morning. Saturday’s high will be about 74° with a light south wind, and Sunday will have southwest winds and a high all the way up to 85°.

Starting on Monday when another cold front arrives, we’ll have our first chance of rain for the month. Right now, the forecasters are giving us a 40% chance of thunderstorms on Monday, 50% on Tuesday, and 40% on Wednesday with strong north winds and lows in the mid-thirties. Some places could even see a freeze if the temperature drops below the current prediction.

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