Economic Development Board Approves Support of New Liquor Store

The Rockin' S Cantina will be located on this lot just west of the Shell station in south Roscoe.

At its last meeting, the City of Roscoe's Economic Development Board, also known as the A Board, approved a proposal to support a new liquor store projected to open in south Roscoe shortly before the annual Wind Festival in October.

The establishment, known as the Rockin’ S Cantina, will be run by Jason and Tarrah Stuart and will be located on the lot just west of the Chillerz Shell station on the access road to I-20 West. 

It will be housed in a metal building with a drive-thru facing I-20 and will be a combination liquor store and gift shop.  The Stuarts say they have already spoken to some local residents about providing homemade canned goods, art work, and other items for sale there. 

They hope to create a hometown atmosphere and provide as many as five part-time jobs for local residents.  

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ROSCOE INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION TO BE NEXT SATURDAY, JULY 7

Music for the street dance will be provided by country music star Curtis Potter.

The Plowboy Mudbog will be only one of the attractions for Roscoe’s annual Independence Day Celebration next Saturday.  In addition, there will be a parade down Broadway starting at 10:00am, street vendors on Broadway and Cypress all afternoon and evening, live music and a street dance on the stage between the Roscoe State Bank and Old Town Park—and, of course, a spectacular fireworks show.

There will also be plenty of entertainment for the kids as there will be three kinds of bounce houses to keep them busy—one for ages 3-5, a larger one for ages 5-12, and yet another, a twenty-foot slide, for ages 12 and up.

This year’s live music will be provided by country music star Curtis Potter.  More information about him can be found by clicking here. 

Complete details about the celebration will be provided in next week’s Roscoe Hard Times—but make plans now to attend.  You don’t want to miss it.

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THIS YEAR’S PLOWBOY MUDBOG PROJECTED TO BE THE BEST YET

Organizers of this year’s Independence Day Plowboy Mudbog expect it to be the biggest and best yet as some of the most well known mud boggers in the region are planning to compete here. 

This will include for the first time “Bug Nasty” and “Headhunter” from Hobbs, New Mexico, as well as contestants from Amarillo, Odessa, Ballinger, Colorado City, Roscoe, and elsewhere. 

The mud track, just beyond right field of the baseball park, will be 200 feet long and go from two-feet deep to four-feet deep in good ol’ squishy Roscoe blackland mud.  Winners are those that go the farthest before coming to a halt. 

Entries will be in five classes:

1.    Street: 35” tires and 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.  

Since there’s an advantage in going last rather than first, each truck takes two runs, with the second run in reverse order from the first. 

The registration fee for entries is $30 with the winners of each class taking the fees as prize money.

Registration begins at 11:00am on Saturday in front of the baseball field at Second and Sycamore Streets. The public gate will open at 11:00am.  Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for kids from 8 to 14.  Children 7 and under are free.  All proceeds go to benefit the Roscoe baseball little league and the Roscoe FFA. 

For more information, contact Felix Pantoja at 325-514-8384 or David Pantoja at 325-280-1917.

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A TRIP TO HAWAII AND MY DISCOVERY OF MESQUITE TREES THERE

This is the kind of view of Hawaii you'd expect to see, except that those trees out on the point are mesquites.

For those of you who are interested, my trip to Hawaii was a nice break from the west Texas heat.  One of my daughters was there house-sitting for a friend who was on a month-long vacation to Canada.  I’d never been to Hawaii, so when she invited me out and told me her friend was happy to let me stay at her house, I felt that I should take advantage of the opportunity.

I spent my entire time there on the biggest island, Hawai’i, which is the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.  It has three major mountains on it, all volcanoes, many unusual sights, and miles and miles of beaches and shoreline.  The island has a wet side and a dry side, and each has its own characteristics. 

The wet side is lush and tropical with more weird and unusual plants than I’ve ever seen in one place.  The dry side, which averages only ten to twenty inches of rainfall a year, is in some ways unique and in others surprisingly familiar for someone from west Texas.

My biggest surprise was in discovering that large parts of the dry side of the island are covered with—get this—mesquite trees!  No, I am not making this up and am posting photographs to prove it. 

One day my daughter said we should go to Kiholo Bay Beach, which is a great place for swimming and also where big wild sea turtles come to shore to sun on the rocks.  The beach is public, but to keep it from being overrun by tourists, the locals purposely post no signs to it and have blocked off road access so that the only way to get to it is to park at an unmarked spot near the road and then hike down a mile or so through the woods—which is what we did.

On the hike down, I was struck by how much the landscape resembled west Texas—and how much the trees were like mesquites.  Then I looked more closely at one and noticed that it had beans hanging from it as well as the characteristic mesquite leaves, thorns, and limbs.  I then realized the whole countryside was covered with what were unmistakably mesquite trees and that the wild goats we encountered there are living on mesquite beans.

I was mystified by this discovery until later on when we did some research on the computer and found out that in 1828, a South American priest, Father Bachelot, the head of the first Catholic mission to Hawaii, planted a mesquite tree on the grounds of the mission, and all the mesquite trees in Hawaii have descended from that single original tree.

The priest introduced them to control soil erosion, but they quickly spread and are now a permanent fixture in the dry areas.  In Hawaii they are called kiawe trees, and their wood is prized for barbecue, just like it is here. I tasted one of the mesquite beans, and they taste as you would expect but without the bitterness you find in the local mesquite beans. 

My image of Hawaii will never be the same after discovering how common they are there. 

Photos of my trip are available for viewing by clicking here.  

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WEATHER REPORT

I don’t know what it was like before Tuesday because I wasn’t here, but the temperatures have hit triple digits every day since then with Tuesday at 105°F, Wednesday at 106°, and yesterday about the same. 

The forecast for today is for a high of 99° and tomorrow 98° with Sunday in the mid-nineties.  There is no rain in the forecast.

--o--

No Roscoe Hard Times this week.

There will be no issue of the Roscoe Hard Times this week as ye olde editor is in Hawaii.  I will return on June 25.  Aloha!

Asleep at the Wheel to Play Here Friday Night

Roscoe’s growing reputation as the music Mecca of West Texas will advance to another level Friday night when nine-time Grammy Award winners Asleep at the Wheel perform on the outdoor stage of the Lumberyard.

Led by Ray Benson, who also hosts the television series Texas Music Scene, the group has been a fixture of Texas music since the seventies, appearing on Austin City Limits a record ten times.  They have been named the Best Country Music Band by Rolling Stone magazine, toured Europe, and appeared in the movies Roadie and Wild Texas Wind.

The group starred in the musical A Ride with Bob, about Bob Wills, which played to standing-room-only houses in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and won a regional Emmy Award.  When it played at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, it was attended by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. 

In fact, the group would have played in the White House but never made it because they were scheduled for the fateful September 11, 2001.

In 2007, they practically swept the Austin Music Awards, winning Band of the Year, Songwriter of the Year (Benson), Country Band of the Year, Record Producer of the Year (Benson), Male Vocals of the Year (Benson) and Acoustic Guitar Player of the Year (McQueen).

In 2009, they collaborated with Willie Nelson to produce the album "Willie and the Wheel," which has several western swing classics.  It was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. 

They are members of the Texas Music Hall of Fame and have received numerous other major awards. 

The recent appearance of the Bellamy Brothers at the Lumberyard drew a crowd of over seven hundred people, and a similarly sized crowd, if not more, is expected Friday night.

The cover charge will be $12, and the show begins at 9:00pm. 

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ROSCOE PADRES ARE COLORADO CITY LEAGUE CHAMPS

Top of the Heap: The Roscoe Padres (Padres photos courtesy of Lus Pantoja.)

The Roscoe Padres are the Freshman League Champions of the Colorado City Baseball League and will go on to the district playoffs in Hawley in July.  Exact dates and opponents have not yet been set, but the games will be during the week of July 9th.

The Padres’ last week of the regular season was an exciting one.  They entered it in first place with only a single loss to the Colorado City Reds.  But then they lost to the Colorado City A’s and were thrown into a three-way tie with the Reds and A’s. 

The next game against the Reds was a gimme, since only eight of their players showed up and they were forced to forfeit, taking them out of contention.  That left only the A’s and the Padres, so everything came down to the final game between the two teams.

The A’s jumped out to an early lead and by the third inning had a six-run lead over the Padres.  But the Padres battled back and tied the A’s in the final inning, throwing the game into extra innings—which they went on to win by a single run to become the league champs.

Later, in a game played to determine second place, the A’s held off the Reds and will also advance to the district playoffs.

The Padres players are Clemente Aguayo, Gage Braden, Sean Cuellar, Francisco Garcia, Diego Garza, Derrick Hudson, Jose Ortega, Paul Pantoja, Adrian Rangel, Zack Rangel, Ethan Scott, Konner Turney, Jazmine Alvarez, and Jovana Peña (the only two girls to play in the league). 
  
Padres Coaches are Edward Garcia and David Pantoja—and thanks are due to proud mom Lus Pantoja, who provided me with all this information. 

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COTTON CROP OFF TO GOOD START

Cotton planting has been going on around Roscoe for the past couple of weeks and is 80% to 90% complete in most places.  

Despite washout from recent rains necessitating some replanting around Champion, the area crop seems to be off to a promising start with good stands and healthy young plants. 

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CITY INVITES INDEPENDENCE DAY PARTICIPATION

The City of Roscoe hopes to make this year’s Independence Day parade the best ever and is asking for your help in making it a success.  The parade, which begins at 10:00am on Saturday, July 7, will kick off a day of celebration full of fun and activities culminating in live music, a street dance, and a fireworks show. Line-up for the parade will be on W. Broadway at 9:30am, and judging will be at 9:45am. 

Parade organizers are looking for creativity and variety.  Float awards will be presented to best overall, best western, and most patriotic, and prizes will also be awarded for the best bicycles, antique vehicles, motorcycles, semis, and farm implements.   

For more information, call Valerie Pruitt at 325-338-4666.

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WEATHER REPORT

After a week of unseasonably mild temperatures, the weekend heated up with Saturday’s high in the upper nineties and Sunday topping out at a torrid 104°F.  At midnight that night, it was still 87°F.

Monday’s similar heat produced an afternoon thundercloud that cooled things off and brought the double rainbow pictured at the top left as well as strong wind gusts, but no more than a sprinkle as far as precipitation was concerned. 

The forecast is for a 30% chance of rain tonight but no more after that.  Temperatures the rest of the week should be typical for this time of year with highs in the low nineties and lows in the low seventies.

--o--

No Roscoe Hard Times this week

There will be no regular issue of the Roscoe Hard Times this week due to a death in the family.

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† LAURA FAY WILSON DUNCAN 

Funeral services for Laura Fay Duncan, 105, will be held on Wednesday morning at 10:00am at the First United Methodist Church in Roscoe, followed by interment in the Roscoe cemetery.  There will be a visitation on Tuesday evening, 6:30-8:30 at McCoy’s Funeral Home in Sweetwater.   Mrs. Duncan passed away on Saturday, June 2, 2012, at Sweetwater Healthcare Center.

Laura Fay Wilson was born in Cisco, Texas, on May 7, 1907, and graduated from Cisco High School in 1924.  In 1928, she graduated with a B. A. in English from Texas Woman’s College in Fort Worth and that fall began her teaching career at Divide, where she taught for two years.

In 1930, she moved to Roscoe, where she was the high school English teacher until 1939.  The seniors of 1939 dedicated the annual to her, and that same year she retired from teaching and married Everett Duncan, who remained her husband until his death in 1978.  In 1941, she completed her M. A. at Hardin-Simmons University.  She had three sons: Joe, Edwin, and David, and spent the forties and fifties raising them.

As long as she was able, she was active in church and community and for many years was well known as a public speaker who gave talks to women’s clubs and organizations all over the big country.  An artist, she also taught art classes and worked with ceramics, and over the years made too many quilts to count.  One of her paintings of a desert flower is in a museum in Arizona.  

A lifelong Methodist, she had been a member of the Roscoe congregation since 1930 and taught Sunday School there for over seventy years.  

She lived at home until she was 100 but had been at the Sweetwater Healthcare Center since November 2007. 

This past month was proclaimed “Laura Fay Duncan Month” in Roscoe by the Mayor and City Council, and in 2007 she received a similar honor and was Grand Marshal of Roscoe’s July 4 parade.

She is survived by three sons: Joe and wife Tove of Lillesand, Norway; Edwin of Roscoe, and David and wife Rebecca of Roscoe; eight grandchildren: Hans, Erik, and Heidi, all of  Norway; Vanya of Denver, Colorado; Mary Grace and Laurie of Atlanta, Georgia; Karsten of Sacramento, California, and Katherine of Houston; and six great-grandchildren.   

Pall bearers will be Lonnie Orman, Landon Orman, Pete Porter, Billy Joe Jay, Kenny Landfried, Gary Pieper.  Honorary pall bearers are Arlon Wayne Orman, Harold Duvall, and Darrell Aljoe.

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Swimming Pool Opens for Summer

If you’re a kid in Roscoe with a little spare time on your hands, life has to be looking up—school’s out and on Saturday the swimming pool opened for the summer.  It’s being run this year by Elementary School Principal Andy Wilson and schoolteacher Patty McBride. 

The pool is open Tuesday-Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00pm.  Price of admission is $1.50 with season passes available for $50. 

The pool can also be rented for private parties that begin and end between 6:00 and 9:00pm.  The fee is $60 for two hours and $70 for three hours, and that price includes an approved licensed lifeguard.  For additional details, phone 325-766-2352 during open pool hours.

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ROSCOE AND THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY

In this modified 1936 county map, the red line indicates the route of the old Bankhead Highway; the blue  one is I-20.  The map will appear in Dan Smith's book on the Bankhead Highway.  (Use of map courtesy of Dan Smith.)  Click image to enlarge.  

Earlier this month, the Roscoe City Council approved the placement of a historical plaque commemorating the Bankhead Highway in Memorial Park, just across the street from the museum.

Most of us are aware that Broadway used to be a part of US Highway 80 back before Interstate 20 was built in 1959, but not everybody knows that before  it was Highway 80, it was known as the Bankhead Highway—an early grand route that stretched from Washington, DC, to San Diego, California. 

Now, a group of enthusiasts is working to preserve the memory of this once famous highway, and it is largely through their efforts that Roscoe will join the project, just as other such cities along the route as Ranger, Eastland, and Cisco have recently done. 

The Bankhead Highway was so named for Alabama Senator John H. Bankhead (1842-1920), an early proponent of national highway development and, as I’ve been told, a distant relative of the Roscoe Bankheads. 

Originally, the highway that ran through Roscoe, then a dirt road, had no name, but that changed in 1917, when the entire route from Texarkana to El Paso was officially designated Texas Highway 1.  Then in 1920, it also became a part of the transcontinental Bankhead Highway, a marked national auto trail. 

In April 1919, when the Bankhead Highway was being organized and the routes being set, a pathfinders’ convention was held in Mineral Wells to determine the best route from Memphis to El Paso. 

After much argument, the group settled on a main route and a couple of alternate routes.  Roscoe was on two of the routes—the main one that went from Texarkana to El Paso and the alternate “scenic” one that went from Texarkana to Roscoe and then up to Snyder, Lubbock, and Carlsbad.

The pathfinders’ convention also made proposals about the required quality of the highway.  Here are a couple that reveal the state of the roads at the time:

        • To so construct and repair all roads and bridges that a uniform speed of twenty miles an hour may be made over the roads and bridges in automobiles without injury or discomfort to the occupants of the machine.

        • To maintain free and safe ferries over such streams that cannot be bridged at present.

The highway’s main route received an additional designation in 1927 when national highways were assigned numbers.  It then became US Highway 80, with the 0 on the end indicating that it went from coast to coast. 

During the time it was the Bankhead, the highway received many improvements that made travel by car much easier.  Locally, the underpass under the railroad track on the “old road” near Avenger Field was built in 1926, the same year the city of Roscoe paved its downtown streets with bricks.  The underpass just west of Loraine was built in 1929.  

Additional paving was done throughout the late 1920s and into the 1930s.  A brochure describing Highway 80 in 1927 said that 798 of its 2671 miles, about 30%, were paved with brick, concrete, or bituminous macadam and over half, 1472 miles, was surfaced with gravel, sand-clay, or topsoil.  It would later become the first highway paved from coast to coast. 

This map showing the Bankhead Highway will be on the plaque placed in Memorial Park.

Its nickname, “The Broadway of America,” was responsible for the renaming of First Street in Roscoe to Broadway—and Second Street in Sweetwater, also to Broadway—because those streets were the route the highway took. 

It was also sometimes known as the Dixie Overland Highway and the Coast-to-Coast Highway and was touted as an important military and “all-weather” auto route across the U. S.  

The Bankhead Highway plaque is not a marker from the Texas Historical Commission but the creation of the Texas Bankhead Highway group headed by Dan Smith of Fort Worth, who came up with the signs and has been instrumental in getting them placed in cities along the route.   

Smith has been researching the highway for years and will soon publish a book on the subject through State House Press in Abilene.  He has also recently given talks in Ranger, Eastland, and Cisco on the highway and its history.

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WEATHER REPORT: MORE RAIN!

Storm clouds over Roscoe on Monday afternoon. (N.b.: This is a color photo.)

Amidst several hours of thunder, lightning, occasional strong winds, and even hail in some places, the area got some much needed rain on Monday evening.

Amounts varied from no more than a trace north of town to three and a half inches and more south and southwest of Roscoe.  Most of the hail fell around Champion and south of Loraine and varied in size from pea-sized to an inch in diameter.  Areas south and southeast of Sweetwater also got some hail.

In Roscoe, reported amounts of precipitation varied from a half to three-quarters of an inch.   Wastella and areas west of town got about the same.  Cristal Aljoe, just northeast of town, got .8”. 

Roscoe hit triple digits with a 100°F day last Thursday, and yesterday the temperature rose to 97°, but the weekend was milder with highs in the upper eighties and lows in the upper sixties.

Today should be hot with a high around 100°F, but tomorrow and Friday should be milder with highs in the eighties and lows in the sixties.  The weekend will see a return to the mid-nineties with lows in the seventies.  There is no rain in the forecast. 

--o--

† MANUEL D. SANTIAGO

Holy Mass of Christian Burial for Manuel D. Santiago, 89, was held this morning at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church with interment following at Roscoe Cemetery with United States Army Graveside Honors.  Mr. Santiago died Sunday, May 27, at Sweetwater Healthcare Center.

He was born June 5, 1922, in Sweetwater and married Tomasa Herrera on January 1, 1947, in Loraine.  A member of St. Albert’s Catholic Church, he was a groundskeeper at Texas State Technical College until his retirement.  During his life, he also farmed and worked for the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railway.  He was a veteran of World War II and a lifelong resident of Nolan County.

Survivors include his wife, Tomasa Santiago, daughter Julia Jimenez and son-in-law Margarito, all of Roscoe; sisters Martina Quintana of Roscoe and Carmen Herrera of Coahoma; daughter-in-law Gloria Santiago of Roscoe; grandsons Junior and Fabian Jimenez of Sweetwater and Christopher Santiago of Roscoe; granddaughters Diana Jimenez of Roscoe, Linda Brooks and Amy Lujan of Sweetwater; 14 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a son, Robert Santiago; brothers Ralph, Vicente, and Raymond Santiago, and sister Cecilia Quintana.

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20 Roscoe High School Seniors to Graduate at Friday Commencement

RCHS Class of 2012 Valedictorian Jacinda Morales and Salutatorian Lynnsi Moses.

A chapter of life will close for twenty Roscoe Collegiate High School Seniors as they cross the stage to successfully complete their high school careers on Friday night.  

And, as was the case last year, over half of them will graduate with their Associate’s Degree from Western Texas College in Snyder already in hand, thanks to Roscoe High’s collegiate program. 

This year’s valedictorian is Jacinda Morales, who finishes high school with a four-year average of 99.08.  She will enter the University of Texas in the fall.  The salutatorian is Lynnsi Moses with an average of 96.08.  She plans to go to Midwestern University. 

Here is a list of the Class of 2012:

*Amber Adames  A
Isabel Aguayo
*Natalie Anthony  A
*Hannah Box  A
Dakota Bradbury
Matthew Cuellar
Devon Freeman  A
*Corey Hatcher  A
John Hermosillio  A
*Sara Herrera
*Sara Kingston  A
Anjelica Lomas
*Katie McIntire  A
Shlana Mitchell
*Jacinda Morales  A
*Lynnsi Moses  A
Eric Padilla
Adrian Segura
Corey Vrubel
*Hannah Weems  A

* = Top Ten
A = Earned Associate’s Degree

Dakota Bradbury, Anjelica Lomas, and Corey Vrubel are early graduates who completed their work at the end of the fall semester. 

The Commencement ceremony will begin at 7:00pm this Friday, May 25, in the Roscoe High School cafetorium. 

Baccalaureate services were held for the graduates at the First Baptist Church this past Sunday evening.

--o--

FFA AWARDS BANQUET HELD AT ROSCOE HIGH

The 2011-2012 Roscoe FFA Awards Banquet drew a sizeable crowd to the Roscoe High School cafetorium last night for a supper, awards ceremony, and auction.  Roscoe’s ag students were recognized for achievements in several local and district competitions, graduating seniors were given a sendoff, and new local and district officers were named for the coming year. 

Here are Roscoe’s FFA Officers for 2012-2013:

President: Torrey Willman
Vice President: Kendall Moses
Treasurer: Jose Rangel
Secretary: Stina Tomlin
Sentinel: Faith Boren

--o--

SCHOOL’S OUT!—ALMOST

The day Roscoe kids have been looking forward to for some time now—the last day of school—will finally arrive on Friday.  At 1:55pm school lets out for the summer.

Unfortunately for some, the recess will be brief as summer school begins on Monday, June 4. 

--o--

DOWN MEMORY LANE: THE URANIUM SITTING PARLOR

One of the strangest—if not the strangest—of businesses ever to set up shop in Roscoe had to be the Uranium Sitting Parlor.  The year was 1955, and it didn’t stay open for too long, but I can still remember the place and the stir it caused at the time. 

It was in that old red brick building on the west side of the first block of Main Street, the one that had the Barq’s Root Beer advertisement painted on its north wall, and was next to Mrs. Clausell’s laundry.  It was somewhat dark and dingy inside with old people lying in red sand in areas separated from one another by planks.  Some of them were completely covered up to their necks while others had sand over only the affected areas, such as wrists, ankles, and feet.

The sand was radioactive and said to be wonderfully capable of alleviating aches and pains from arthritis,  rheumatism, and other similar maladies.  Customers paid by the hour, and their certainty that the uranium was beneficial caused for a booming business.

Those of you who weren’t around back then may not know that the discovery of radioactivity, its presence in uranium, and the part it played in the creation of the atomic bomb all had a profound effect on the popular thought of the time.  No one was quite sure what it all meant, but the atomic bomb blasts were proof that mankind was dealing with something new and powerful.

A movie of the time entitled “Them” (1954) captured some of the prevalent wonder.  In the movie, ants exposed to radioactivity from atomic testing in the desert became huge and invincible and attacked mankind, reinforcing the impression that radioactivity was a mysterious force with unusual powers. 

Thanks to Stanley Cleckler, who provided me with a couple of articles, one from the Roscoe Times about the local sitting parlor and the other from the San Angelo Standard-Times about the origins of the craze, I am able to supply details that would otherwise have been impossible. 

According to the article from the San Angelo paper, the craze began in Comanche.  A dairy farmer there by the name of Jesse F. Reese discovered that sand on his 216-acre farm had uranium in it.  Not too long afterwards, a stranger knocked on the door one day and asked if he could sit in Mr. Reese’s ditch.  He explained that back home in Washington state, he paid for radiation treatments to ease his rheumatism pains, and he was thinking he might get the same relief from the radioactive sand in the ditch. 

Reese agreed, and before long word got around about the healing powers of uranium sand, and several other people showed up to do the same thing.   Rather than run them off, Reese built a shed in his back yard with enough room for six sitters.  He put sand under the floor and in the walls and charged two dollars an hour. 

Business started slowly, but soon he was getting 150 visitors a day, and it wasn’t too long before a uranium sitting parlor was established in Brownwood.  It was also a big success.

At this point, Harvey Cleckler, a Roscoan who was living in Brownwood, decided to get involved.  He was a character and an entrepreneur who, among other ventures, was the man who used to bring the donkey basketball games to Roscoe.

He came to Roscoe with some of the uranium sand and established the Roscoe Uranium Sitting Parlor.

According to the Roscoe Times, people “literally began sitting on the first shovel full” of radioactive sand that he unloaded, and the place was soon averaging “upwards of thirty people a day.”  Mr. Cleckler made no claims that the radioactive sand would cure or even help any disease.  He merely made the sand available and charged a price for people to sit in it. 

Here's one customer's testimonial copied verbatim from the Roscoe Times article, "It's the only thing that's ever helped my arthritis.  I could hardly get up the stairs until I started uranium sitting.  Now I walk up them easily."

Harvey's brother Frank took charge of the Roscoe parlor while Harvey moved on to Lubbock to establish another one there.

The Roscoe parlor originally had two “beds,” but that was later increased, and I seem to remember at least five or six.  I don’t remember how long the parlor remained open, but it wasn’t too long.  I guess at some point people figured out that their rheumatism or arthritis was still bothering them and gave up on the sitting sessions and the curative powers of radioactivity. 

But it was all the rage for a while and is now an indelible part of the history of the town.  If anyone has any pictures of the place, inside or out, I’d love to have a copy for the museum.
  

--o--

WEATHER REPORT

Skies were sunny with breezes were from mild to gusty as the area experienced a week of typical May weather.  Highs reached the upper eighties and lower nineties, and lows were in the high fifties and lower sixties.  On Sunday evening there was a solar eclipse right at sunset.

The forecast is for more of the same—minus the eclipse—with no rain in sight and temperatures even warmer with triple digits forecast for tomorrow and highs in the upper nineties for the days following.  Lows will be in the upper sixties and lower seventies.
 

--o--

Christi Pepper Beal and Robert McBride Win Council Seats

Christi Pepper Beal and Robert McBride were elected to three-year terms on the City Council.

Christi Pepper Beal and incumbent Robert McBride were the winners in the City Council election held on Saturday at the Community Center. 

A special meeting of the City Council called for yesterday to canvass the election results confirmed the outcome.  Here is the final tally of votes for the two contested seats:

       Christi Pepper Beal    51
       Robert McBride          50
       Robert Fortin              27

A total of 69 people voted, but not all voted for two candidates. 

Beal and McBride will be sworn in by the Mayor at the next City Council Meeting on June 12 and begin serving three-year terms.  

The term of Council Member Ken Brawley will expire next year, while those of Helen Perry and Virgil Pruitt will last for two more years. 

--o--

STUDENTS HONORED FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS AT ACADEMIC BANQUET

Congratulations to these 11 Seniors graduating with their Associate of Arts Degree from Western Texas College: Katie McIntire, Amber Adames, Devon Freeman, Jacinda Morales, Corey Hatcher, Lynnsi Moses, Hannah Box, Sara Kingston, John Hermosillio, Hannah Weems, Natalie Anthony.

Numerous students received honors Monday evening at the Academic Banquet held at Roscoe Collegiate High School.  In addition to the eleven graduating seniors pictured above who are also receiving Associate Degrees from Western Texas College through Roscoe High’s collegiate program, other students receiving honors were as follows:

Best All-Around Students:

      Senior Boy: Corey Hatcher
      Senior Girl: Jacinda Morales
      Junior Boy: Keeston Ford
      Junior Girl: Faith Boren
      Sophomore Boy: Luke Rovig
      Sophomore Girl: Whitney Williams
      Freshman Boy: Chase Cathey
      Freshman Girl: Jesenia Peña
      8th Grade Boy: Vincent Pantoja
      8th Grade Girl: Teresa Herrera
      7th Grade Boy: Brayden Beal
      7th Grade Girl: Karina Cisneros

Highest ACT Score: Jose Rangel
Highest SAT Score: Keeston Ford

The outstanding students in forty-nine separate high school and junior high classes were also recognized.

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BELLAMY BROTHERS TO RETURN TO ROSCOE ON FRIDAY

The Bellamy Brothers at the Wind Festival last fall. (Click image to play video.)

The Bellamy Brothers, who drew such a large crowd to Roscoe during the West Texas Wind Harvest Festival last October, are returning Friday night for an encore performance, this time at the outdoor stage of the Lumberyard.

The performance starts at 9:00pm, and there will be a $10 cover charge.  For information, phone the Lumberyard at 325-766-2457.

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MAYOR PROCLAIMS THE MONTH OF MAY AS LAURA FAY DUNCAN MONTH

At  yesterday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Pete Porter, with the unanimous approval of the Council, proclaimed the month of May as “Laura Fay Duncan Month” in the City of Roscoe.

Mrs. Duncan, who celebrated her 105th birthday on May 7, has been active in the community since moving to Roscoe in 1930, was the English teacher at Roscoe High from 1930 to 1939, served as an election volunteer for decades, willingly donated time and energy to community affairs, and taught Sunday School at the Methodist Church for over seventy years.  

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WEATHER REPORT: MORE RAIN!

Last Thursday, we got a nice, slow rain ranging from an inch and a quarter to two inches, depending upon location.  In town, most of the people I heard from got about an inch and a half, which brings the total for the year to a little over 8.5 inches.

On Sunday, another .05” fell, and on Monday there was a dark cloud in the west that looked very promising but never materialized, not in this area anyway.  Even so, we’ve received an abundance of moisture in the last week or so, and even though more would be better, most of us are thankful for what we’ve got.

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cool for May, with high temperatures in the seventies and lows in the fifties.  That appears to be coming to an end, though, as today’s high is forecast to be in the mid-eighties with a steady warming trend as we move into a weekend with highs in the nineties.  The chance for rain also seems to be over at least for the next few days.

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YUCCA BLOSSOMS AND ALGERITA BERRIES

If you’ve driven around in the ranch country around Roscoe recently, you may have noticed that the yucca plants are in full bloom and the algerita bushes are just covered with ripe berries.  

I mention the yucca blossoms because not everyone knows that in some circles they are regarded as a gourmet’s delight.  The petals of the flowers are good to eat, and back when I was living in Austin, some of the yuppies there considered it classy to sprinkle yucca petals into their salads—both for color and for the delicate taste.   Recipes on the Internet instruct you to boil the petals in salted water or use them as an ingredient in omelets.  They can also be used in soups.

A cousin of mine in the panhandle says that when the stem that holds the yucca blooms first comes out, it is also good and tastes like asparagus, but I’ve never tried it. 

If you’ve never heard of algerita bushes, then you need to know that they’re also very common in these parts and can be found in varying degrees all over the western half of Texas.  Their size varies of course, but bushes are generally three or four feet tall and three or four times that across. 

The berries are small, round, and red, and the bushes are covered with little silvery green leaves that have sharp points on them like holly, only worse.  If you try to pick the berries with bare hands, the leaves are guaranteed to puncture your skin and bring a sharp pain and possibly a drop or two of blood—but the pain is worth it because the berries are just bursting with taste, the perfect combination of sweet and sour. 

One word of warning, though, if you’re going out to pick some—watch out for snakes.  Rattlesnakes know that birds and little critters love the berries, so they sometimes hang out under the bushes in hopes of snagging something. 

A better strategy than picking the berries by hand is to spread an old bedspread or blanket underneath the bush and then beat the branches with a stick.  That knocks the ripe berries right off the limbs, so you can get a lot of them quickly.  Unfortunately, it also knocks off a lot of the sharp little leaves that have to be dealt with later on, that is, if you plan to eat the berries raw or use them to make a pie.
 
If there is an easy way to separate the leaves from the berries, I have yet to learn it.  A few years back, I went out and gathered about a gallon of berries and leaves.  When I got back home, I put water in the bathtub and poured them in, hoping that the berries would sink and the leaves would float, or vice versa. 

Unfortunately, neither occurred.  Some leaves and berries float while others sink, so the only benefit of dumping them in the water is to clean the dust off the berries.  As far as I know, the separation of berries from leaves still has to be done by hand. 

(News Flash: I just talked to Dianna Heady, and she says a hail screen probably available at Higginbotham-Bartlett should be able to catch the leaves while letting the berries fall through.  I’ll have to try it.)

The old timers usually made jelly with the berries, but algerita berry pie is an absolute delight, and it is also possible to make algerita berry wine.  Recipes for all these are available on the Internet.  Bon Appetit!

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†LOUIE SHULER

Former Roscoan Edgar Nance wrote to report that Louie Shuler passed away after surgery on Saturday.  Shuler grew up in Roscoe in the forties and early fifties.  Memorial Service is Sunday in New London, Texas.  

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