City Council Approves Game Room Ordinance

The City Council at yesterday evening's meeting.

At a special meeting at City Hall yesterday evening, the Roscoe City Council discussed and approved a game room ordinance for the City of Roscoe. The new ordinance, which passed unanimously, is more restrictive in accordance with the wishes of local law enforcement and several Roscoe residents who attended the meeting.

As explained to residents who attended the monthly meeting two weeks ago, game rooms are legal in the state of Texas so long as they abide by the restrictions set by the state legislature. However, since their operation requires increased police review and regulation, the city they are in may pass restrictions which apply to any new game rooms receiving a permit. Game rooms already operating, however, are not subject to the ordinance until they come up for renewal at the end of the year.  

Highlights of the new ordinance include an annual renewal fee of $2500 per game room, limited hours of operation, location restrictions, and fines of between $250 and $500 per violation. There are other stipulations as well regarding parking, signage, and other related matters.

At present, only one game room is still in operation in Roscoe.

--o--

PLOWGIRLS FALL TO FORSAN, DEFEAT WINTERS

Cameron Greenwood takes a shot in yesterday's game with Winters.

The Plowgirls lost a close one to Forsan in Forsan on Friday, 29-27, but then rallied to beat Winters at the Special Events Center last night, 45-18.

The Plowgirls couldn’t quite pull it out in the game with Forsan. Like the first game with the Buffs in Roscoe, the game was a battle all the way, the difference this time being that Forsan managed to come out on top.

Carson Greenwood led the Plowgirls in individual scoring with 12 points, followed by Shauna McCambridge with 8, Jacey Rodriquez with 5, and Mia Lavalais with 2. McCambridge had 14 rebounds, Carson 8, Cameron 2, Mia Lavalais 1, Jacey Rodriquez 1, and Kaidy Ornelas 1.

Scoring by quarters:
                           1           2          3           4           T
Forsan              8          10         5           6          29
Plowgirls          8           6          6           7          27
 
Then yesterday evening, the Plowgirls jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in easily handling the Blizzards, 45-18. The score at halftime was 23-9.

Carson Greenwood had 15 points, Shauna McCambridge and Jacey Rodriquez both had 8, Kaidy Ornelas 7, Mia Lavalais 6, and Cameron Greenwood 1. McCambridge had 16 rebounds, Carson 9, and Rodriquez, Ornelas, Lavalais, and Cameron had 2 each.

Scoring by quarters:
                            1          2          3           4          T
Plowgirls          11        12         9           13        45
Winters             2          7          5            4         18

The Plowgirls are now 11-7 on the season and 6-3 in district play. Their final district game with the Lady Wolves in Colorado City Friday is an important one as its outcome will have playoff implications.

--o--

2021 NOLAN COUNTY STOCK SHOW RESULTS

These are the complete results of Roscoe FFA exhibitors in the 2021 Nolan County Livestock Show in the Nolan County Coliseum January 14-16.

Broilers
8th Ally Benner
9th Peyton Morgan
11th Ryleigh Mahan
12th Kaidynce Tilley
Showmanship – Kaidynce Tilley  

Rabbits
Class 1 – Lightweight
1st Shauna McCambridge
6th Krslyn Jackson
9th Kadence Lane
11th Athena Newman
14th Ryan Roberson

Class 1 – Heavyweight
14th Nate Anderson-Jones

Goats
Class 1
5th JoAnna McAnally
6th Kaycee Gunter

Class 2
7th Kaleb Martinez

Class 3
5th JoAnna McAnally
8th Cheyenne Moorhead

Class 4
8th Marcella Saenz

Lambs
Class 1
7th Kaycee Gunter
9th Kaycee Gunter

Swine
Class 1 – Black OPB
5th Lincoln Tiemann
6th Colson Moffet

Class 2 – Black OPB
1st Seth Wilcox
3rd Jacob Kiser
6th Lincoln Tiemann

Class 1 – Black OPB
3rd Dakota Freeman
Reserve Black OPB Champion
Seth Wilcox

Class 1 – Cross
6th Aiden Richburg
7th Zeke Murphy

Class 2 – Cross
1st Seth Wilcox
4th Madison Castillo
8th Xander Moffet

Class 3 – Cross
4th Reese Kiser
6th Jacob Kiser
7th Aiden Richburg

Class 4 – Cross
4th Dakota Freeman
6th Bentlee Cunningham
7th Maggie Morris
8th Ivy Morris
9th Sayge McCambridge

Class 1 – Duroc
4th Seth Wilcox

Class 2 – Duroc
4th Reese Kiser
Aiden Richburg

Class 3 – Duroc
4th Dakota Freeman
6th Savannah Little

Class 2 – Hampshire
5th Aiden Richburg
6th Gaven Martinez

Class 3 –Hampshire
8th Ally Benner
10th Alyssa Aguilar

Class 2 – White OPB
4th Zeke Murphy

Steers
Class 1 – American
2nd Shannon Sanders
3rd Shannon Sanders

Reserve American Breed Champion
Shannon Sanders

Class 3 – British
4th Kelbi Parks

Class 4 – Exotic
5th Kelbi Parks

Class 5 – Exotic
4th Shannon Sanders

--o--

COVID-19 CASES FALL AS DEATHS REMAIN HIGH

The winter holiday Covid-19 surge may have reached its peak as case numbers have begun to drop on national, state, and local levels.

In the US, the number of new daily cases has fallen from a little over 200,000 last week to 156,000 yesterday with the numbers dropping in 45 states. Deaths, however, remain at peak level at around 3,000 per day. Hardest hit states are South Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and North Dakota. Vaccine problems of supply and distribution continue, however, and the new variant strains of Covid-19 continue to spread.

In Texas, the good news is that the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations are also beginning to drop, although the number of deaths, over 300 a day, remains high. If we have passed the peak now, then the number of deaths should also start falling soon, and the decrease in hospitalizations will provide some relief to overworked medical personnel.

Similar trends are being seen in the Big Country. The number of active cases in Taylor county has dropped from last week’s 2,585 to 2,502, and the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients has dropped from 122 to 84. This is the lowest number since the 83 on November 18.  However, the number of Covid-19 deaths remains high with 24 more deaths this week compared to 20 last week. There have now been 270 total deaths in Abilene hospitals.

In the Big Country’s trauma service area, the percentage of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients is also dropping. Last week, it was 22.08% compared to this week’s 16.4%. The number of hospital staff in quarantine has also dropped to 44 from 59 last week.

In our four-county area, the numbers are also improving. Nolan County has dropped to 262 active cases from last week’s 275, and Fisher County has dropped to 12 active cases from 25 last week. Mitchell County now has just 21, down from last week’s 32, and Scurry is down to 51 active cases from last week’s 101. Nolan County had 2 more deaths to bring its total to 26; Fisher had one death with a total now of 10, and Scurry had 3 more deaths to bring its total to 49. Mitchell County had no deaths, so its total remains at 7.

RCISD reports good news again this week with no active cases among students or staff.

Here are the Big Country’s county totals since the pandemic began as of yesterday (with last Tuesday in parentheses): Howard, 2,766 (2,662); Erath, 2,454 (2,379); Scurry, 2,350 (2,270); Jones, 2,053 (2,015); Brown, 1,750 (1,643); Nolan, 1,447 (1,399); Comanche, 932 (915); Eastland, 759 (705); Runnels, 717 (668); Mitchell, 552 (535); Callahan 538 (481); Coleman, 454 (419); Stephens, 415 (402); Fisher, 276 (266); Coke, 235 (234); Haskell, 179 (171); Knox, 152 (144); Shackelford, 116 (100); Stonewall, 48 (48); Throckmorton, 45 (35); Kent, 34 (33).
 
Selected west Texas counties yesterday (with last week in parentheses): Lubbock, 46,329 (45,600); Midland, 15,197 (13,334); Wichita (Wichita Falls), 13,687 (13,325); Ector (Odessa), 6,929 (6,547); Tom Green (San Angelo), 4,440 (4,337).

Texas now has had a total of 1,988,063 cases (1,872,614 last week), 376,862 active cases (376,764 last week) and 34,701 total deaths (30,219 last week).

--o--

WEATHER REPORT: MIST, FOG, AND CLEARING

The fog was thick on Friday morning.

The past weekend was marked by a little moisture and three days of mist and fog. There were about four days there when the sun never broke through the clouds. I had to drive to Houston on Sunday, and I was surprised that there was heavy fog, along with intermittent rain, all the way from Roscoe to Houston. I can’t remember fog covering an entire state, or at least most of it, like that. Despite the clouds and wetness, the amount of moisture it provided the Roscoe area was minimal. Roscoe weatherman Kenny Landfried recorded a total of .06".

Since I was returning from Houston on Monday, I’m not sure when the sun came out, but I see there was a strong west wind Monday morning, so I’m assuming it blew the clouds away and let the sun come through. I know the sun was shining on me all the way back. Then yesterday was partly cloudy and cool with a north wind and a high of 55°.

The forecast today is for sunny skies, a continued north breeze, and a high of only 51°F. Tomorrow the wind will be from the south and the high a little warmer at 55° with partly cloudy skies. Then Friday and Saturday will be warmer with highs of 63° and 64° respectively along with strong west winds on Saturday. Sunday and Monday will be a little cooler at 59° and 62°. Lows from tomorrow through Monday will all be above freezing.

There is no rain in the forecast.

--o--