West Texas Wind Festival This Saturday

Mo Pitney

Plans are being finalized for the fourteenth annual West Texas Wind Festival this Saturday, and organizers are anticipating a good crowd, especially for the free concert and the fireworks show.

The downtown streets will be lined with vendors in the afternoon and evening, and the downtown shops will be open for business. The Roscoe Historical Museum will also be open, and the Roscoe Express Shuttle will be on hand to take people to and from selected parking areas, the Plowboy Mudbog, and downtown all afternoon at no charge.

The Plowboy Mudbog competition begins at noon at the baseball field at Second and Sycamore in east Roscoe. It will go on until 4 or 5pm depending on the number of entries. Admission is free.

Music for the free concert and street dance on Cypress Street will begin at five with Lyndall Underwood and the Dusty Creek Band. At six, east Texas country singer Dylan Wheeler will get a turn, and at seven Giovannie & the Hired Guns, an up-and-coming young Texas group from Stephenville, will take over. Then at around eight, Nashville star Mo Pitney will take the stage.

The 27-year-old Pitney was born into a musical bluegrass family in southern Illinois but 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.”

The fireworks show will follow Pitney’s performance at about 9:40pm and conclude this year’s Wind Festival, although those who aren’t ready to go home yet can move over to the Lumberyard, where Lyndall Underwood & the Dusty Creek Band will play until midnight with no cover charge.

Plowboy Mudbog

As always, mudboggers will be coming in from near and far to try their vehicles in Roscoe’s blackland mud at the Plowboy Mudbog,

Registration for entrants begins at 9:30am Saturday morning at the northwest corner of George Parks Baseball Field at Second and Sycamore Streets.  The driver entry fee is $30.

Entries will be in five classes, possibly six:
          1. Street: 35” tires & under with limited engine modification
          2. Super Street: 35” with engine vac under 13”
          3. Modified: 36” to 39” with limited engine modification
          4. Super Modified: 36” to 39” with engine vac under 13”
          5. Open: 40” and over.
          6. Tractor Tires (possibly)

Since there’s an advantage in going last rather than first, each mud vehicle makes two runs, with the second run in reverse order from the first. Street and Super Street classes will do both their runs first, and then the rest of the classes will follow in order.

The public gate will open at 11:00am with mudbog competition beginning at noon.  Admission is free of charge.

Spectators are encouraged to bring sun block, canopy, and lawn chairs. For more information, see the Plowboy Mudbog Facebook page, or contact Felix Pantoja at 325-514-8384.

Downtown Schedule:
          5:00pm – Lyndall Underwood & the Dusty Creek Band
          6:00pm – Dylan Wheeler
          7:00pm – Giovannie & the Hired Guns
          8:00pm – Mo Pitney & Band
          9:40pm – Fireworks Show
        10:00pm – Event Ends

So, make plans now to attend, bring lawn chairs and coolers, and help us celebrate the day! Also, please be considerate of others by maintaining social distance and wearing masks. We don’t want the event to be a Covid-19 hotspot!

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FALL FESTIVAL THIS FRIDAY

There will be plenty of games to play at the Fall Festival.

The Roscoe Elementary School and Early Childhood Center are holding their annual Fall Festival this Friday, October 16, 5:00-7:00pm, at Circle Drive in front of the Elementary School building.

As always, there will be activities of all kinds, prizes, and games of luck and skill. These include a cake walk, bingo, bounce house, snacks, booths, and much more to make the festival a fun evening for everyone.

Proceeds benefit the Roscoe Elementary School and Early Childhood Center.

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PLOWBOYS TO PLAY HAMLIN IN HAMLIN FRIDAY

After a long meeting this morning, District 5-2A-II officials have decided that Roscoe will not be playing Ralls here Friday night but Hamlin in Hamlin. This schedule change has come about because some of the Ralls Jack Rabbits have tested positive for Covid-19, meaning that the team would be unable to play the Roscoe game this week.

A tentative schedule for the remainder of the season for all the teams in the district was devised earlier this week, and Roscoe Edu-Cast posted that revised schedule, but that schedule was not confirmed.

I just received the updated schedule from Coach Jake Freeman. Here it is:

REMAINING VARSITY SCHEDULE

      1.,   FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16TH VS HAMLIN IN HAMLIN @ 7:00 PM
      2.    THURSDAY,  OCTOBER 22ND VS RALLS  IN ROSCOE @ 7:00 PM
      3.    WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28TH VS LOCKNEY IN ROSCOE @ 7:00 PM
      4.    MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND VS CROSBYTON  IN CROSBYTON @ 7:00 PM

REMAINING JH AND JV SCHEDULE

1. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15TH VS SEYMOUR IN SEYMOUR. 7TH GRADE @ 4PM, 8TH  GRADE @5 PM, JV APPROXIMATELY 6:30 PM.
2.  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21ST VS RALLS IN RALLS – 7TH GRADE @ 4PM, 8TH  GRADE @5 PM, JV APPROXIMATELY 6:30 PM.
3.  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29TH VS LOCKNEY IN LOCKNEY -  JH ONLY- STARTING AT 5 PM.
4.  TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD  VS CROSBYTON  IN ROSCOE. - JH ONLY - STARTING AT 5 PM.

DUE TO THE IMPACT OF COVID-19, THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY POINT.  I WILL GET ANY CHANGES THAT ARE MADE TO THE SCHEDULE SENT OUT AS SOON AS I RECEIVE THE INFORMATION.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

I WILL ATTEMPT TO FIND JV GAMES FOR THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF THE SEASON AS LOCKNEY AND CROSBYTON DO NOT HAVE A TEAM.

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CROSS-COUNTRY RESULTS AT IRION COUNTY

The Varsity Plowgirls finished second at the Irion County Invitational Meet last Wednesday, and the Varsity Plowboys fifth. Individual medalists were the following:

Varsity Plowgirls: Kaidy Ornelas 3rd, Itzel Ortega 5th, Jissel Rodriguez 7th, and Candy Ortega 9th.

JV Plowgirls: Jaden Amador 1st, Cheyenne Moorhead 10th.

The RCHS cross-country teams are competing today at the meet in Anson.

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CITY COUNCIL HEARS REPORTS, APPROVES ITEMS

Cody Thompson addresses the City Council at yesterday's meeting.

At its monthly meeting in City Hall yesterday evening, the Roscoe City Council received reports from the City Manager and Chief of Police and approved several action items including approval of the quarterly investment report.

City Manager Cody Thompson stated that work is 95% complete at both the old and new sanitary sewer plants but that workers are still waiting on the new pump for the north side lift station. Regarding personnel changes, he said that Joe Vick will be leaving as his wife has taken a managerial job in Tyler. Employees Brandon Reed and Josh Jones have both completed 20-hour potable water and wastewater courses with the TCEQ (Texas Commission for Environmental Quality), and Reed will take Vick’s job of managing the City reverse-osmosis water treatment plant.

City employees are preparing for the West Texas Wind Festival, which will be this Saturday.

Broadband service for Roscoe is being planned to be maintained and improved in the City, and a state grant application for $14,000 in Coronavirus Relief Funds has been completed. A transmission tower behind and above City Hall was erected this week with ten more smaller relay towers to be placed strategically around town to create a cloud of full service for the entire community. Since the FCC has dropped the requirement for AT&T to maintain copper wiring for landlines, they have begun pulling out of smaller towns, which will demand local action to maintain internet wi-fi capabilities.

Roscoe’s annual Christmas Open House shopping event is planned for Sunday, November 8. The general election is Tuesday, November 3, and early voting at the County Clerk’s office began yesterday.

Police Chief Felix Pantoja was called away before he was able to present his Police Report for September, but he left his handout before leaving. It states that the Department received 79 calls for service in September and that Roscoe Police issued 4 citations, issued 11 warnings, made one arrest, and handled one vehicle crash.

The Council then approved an ordinance reducing the posted speed limit from 75mph to 65mph during the future reconstruction of 1-20 and US Highway 84. It also approved a fireworks permit for the West Texas Wind Festival and approved the Quarterly Investment Report.

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COVID-19 CASES INCH BACK UP

Nationally, the number of Covid-19 cases is showing a slight increase with the hotspots now being the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain states. Texas also reports a slight increase in numbers of new cases and hospitalizations while the number of new deaths is about the same as last week.

Governor Abbott is allowing bars to open in counties if the local judges agree, and County Judge Downing Bolls is opening the bars in Taylor County today, but only at 50% capacity and with other restrictions in place. A spike in Tarrant County has its health director calling for a switch to virtual learning in the schools, while the Tarrant County Judge is allowing the county’s bars to open today.

Taylor County is also showing a significant increase in its number of active Covid-19 cases. It now has 719 compared to 519 a week ago and 409 a month ago. Many of the new cases are coming from the universities in Abilene, particularly ACU, which more than doubled its number of active cases from 44 last week to 114 yesterday with 275 others in quarantine. Hardin-Simmons has 33 active cases and McMurry 22. The county’s number of hospitalizations is about the same with 27 yesterday compared to 24 last week and 20 a month ago. Abilene hospitals have now had 61 total Covid-19 deaths, 3 more than last week.

Nolan, Mitchell, and Fisher County cases are also on the rise. Nolan County now has 61 active cases, up 39 from the 22 a week ago. Mitchell County has 26 active cases, 12 more than last week’s 14, and Fisher County has 10 active cases, up 9 from the 1 reported last week. These numbers are new highs for each of these counties, so if you are local, remember to take proper precautions when out in public.

Scurry County’s numbers have leveled off. There are now 111 active cases. That’s 1 less than last week but still 39 more than two weeks ago. The county also reports another death since last week for a total now of 12.

Here are the Big Country’s county totals for the year as of yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Howard, 992 (933); Erath, 933 (887); Scurry, 911 (773); Brown, 609 (593); Jones, 573 (577); Comanche, 334 (317); Nolan, 308 (278); Runnels, 293 (283); Eastland, 213 (196); Stephens, 144 (138); Knox, 110 (104); Mitchell, 106 (101); Callahan 103 (98); Coleman, 82 (81); Fisher, 75 (70); Haskell, 74 (72); Coke, 59 (53); Shackelford, 30 (29); Stonewall, 17 (16); Throckmorton, 14 (9); Kent, 9 (9).
 
Selected west Texas counties yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Lubbock, 14,165 (12,766); Midland, 4,176 (3,987); Ector (Odessa), 3,345 (3,254); Tom Green (San Angelo), 2,405 (2,339); Wichita (Wichita Falls), 2,489 (1,989).

Texas now has had a total of 800,415 cases (743,284 a week ago), 77,126 of them active (71,611 a week ago), and 16,622 total deaths (16,111 a week ago).

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WEATHER REPORT: HOT AND SUNNY

Sunday's sunset.

The past week has been sunny and hotter than we usually get in October. In fact, the weekend was downright hot with a 97°F high on Saturday and a 98° on Sunday. Preceding the weekend heat were highs of 90° on Wednesday and 86° on both Thursday and Friday. Monday was a nice break with a maximum of 77° and a low of 58°, while yesterday was warmer with a high of 87°. The heat returns today, however, as the temperature will rise to around 97° this afternoon.

The break in the heat comes tomorrow with the arrival of a cold front that will drop temperatures by about 25 degrees and feel even colder than that with strong north winds of 25-35mph and gusts over 40mph. Tomorrow's high will be 71° and the night’s low will be about 45°. Friday’s high will be only about 70° with a low of 51°. Saturday will be warmer, though, for the Wind Festival with an afternoon high of 84° under mostly sunny skies and breezes from the southwest.

Sunday’s high will be about 80° and will set the trend for next week whose days all have highs in the seventies and lows in the fifties.

Once again, however, there is little chance of any rain as skies remain almost completely sunny.

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† SEBASTIANA FLORES DIAZ

Services for Sebastiana Flores Diaz, 56, of Roscoe will be held at a later date. Viewing and visitation was on Sunday and Monday at McCoy Funeral Home with cremation following. She passed away on Thursday, October 8, at Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital.

Sebastiana was born January 20, 1964, in Mexico.

She is survived by her husband, Alfonso Diaz of Roscoe; son, Rene Diaz of Roscoe; daughters, Brianda Diaz of Chattanooga, TN, Mayra Diaz of Chattanooga, TN, Alma Diaz of Charlotte, NC, and Maria Elena Diaz of Charlotte, NC.

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† BILLIE JEAN MARTIN

A graveside service for Billie Jean (Holley) Martin, 78, of Roscoe was at 2:00pm on Monday, October 12, at Roscoe Cemetery with Reverend David Draper officiating. She passed away on Thursday, October 8, at Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital.

Billie was born September 19, 1942, to parents Joe Holley and Wilma Hyde Critz in Artesia, New Mexico. A 1960 graduate of Roscoe High, Billie was a secretary at Roscoe High School for 40 years. She was a loyal Plowboy fan and supporter. She married Johnny Martin on July 21, 1988, in Sweetwater.  She enjoyed spending time with family, especially her grandkids and great-grandkids.

Survivors include her husband, Johnny Martin of Roscoe; daughter, Sonya Bowman of Sweetwater; sons, Randy Pieper of Blackwell and Britt Pieper of Sweetwater; grandchildren, Steve Allen Eldred of Alba, Texas, Brittany Elliott of Blackwell, Austin Pieper of Weimar, Texas, Alex Massey of Roscoe, Michael Massey of Roscoe, and Cyera Pieper of Sweetwater. Gran dearly loved and enjoyed her eight great-grandchildren.

Billie was preceded in death by her parents.

Pallbearers were Michael Massey, Steve Eldred, Austin Pieper, Josh Boston, Patrick Ivy, and Jason Elliott. Honorary Pallbearer was Jim Boston.

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