Lots cleared and staked

- Former White's lot -

Two prominently damaged buildings in downtown Rotan have been demolished.

The Family Dollar Store and White's Hardware were both ruined in a severe storm last June.

The photo is a view looking west across the lot from Cleveland Ave/SH 70. The Lance Theater sign can be seen peeking over the tree tops on the left side of the picture and the bank and Landes Furniture can be seen on the right. The white wall straight ahead is the east side of the library (click on photo to zoom).

The local newspaper, The Double Mountain Chronicle, reported that plans are being made to build an Ace Hardware Store on the site.

Public sales for May 2024

GovDeals has 120 salvage road signs up for auction, bidding ends May 6, 11:59 p.m. The signs are located in Midland.

Perdue Brandon tax sales for Nolan and Mitchell Counties, as well as other Texas counties, will be May 7, 10 a.m. at the respective court houses.

Jones County has three foreclosure properties up for bid May 7, at varying times.

Coke County is selling a police responder vehicle, bidding ends May 10.

And now, a poem

August 17^th 

 

Maybe I’ll come see you 

August 17th 

I’ll drive through dusty cotton fields 

Double Mountains in my view 

 

I’ll see the water tower rising 

Looking down 

On your little town 

I’ll hear cocks crowing 

They’ll be ready for the fight 

 

I’ll drive by your house and see you 

Standing in the yard 

Can of beer in your left hand 

Half-burned cigarette in your right 

 

I’ll continue around the block 

Head out of town 

On my way home 

Thinking about 

How I came to see you 

On August 17th

Rotan hospital changes hands

- Callan Hospital, built 1938 -

The Rotan City Council accepted a bid for the historic Callan Hospital.

The council voted to put the building up for auction during their March meeting.

The only bidder was David Mullins, who offered $760. Council members agreed to include minerals in that price.

Bidding ended Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Public sales for April 2024

Many properties will be available to bid on at the Perdue Brandon Nolan County Sheriff sale April 2, at the Nolan County courthouse, 2:00 p.m.

Also at that court house on April 2 are two trustee sales, one property is in Sweetwater: Reyes/Gwinn at 10 a.m., and one is in Roscoe: Borders at 2 p.m. 

The Whitley May Farm Sale in Loraine will be on April 6.

Bidding on the Callan Hospital in Rotan ends April 10 at 5 p.m. Contact city hall for more information.

The Rotan Farm Sale is on April 20, 9:30 a.m.

Hospital on the hill

- Callan Hospital, 1938 -

The old Callan Hospital in Rotan was recently put on the block for public auction by city council. It is in poor condition, so much so that the Rotan  High School students use it as a haunted house at Halloween.

There was a time when the building was a source of pride for the community.

Excerpts from 1938 issues of The Sweetwater Reporter and Nolan County News reported progress of construction on the new hospital.

On site excavation for the hospital began January 3, 1938, and was finished by January 20. The building plan included two stories, a ground floor and a basement; thirty rooms, twelve in the basement; the ground floor was to have six private rooms and two wards. The exterior was to be made of native rock. R. T. Martin was in charge of construction and had projected it would take five months to build the hospital.

Famous Families of Fisher County, a book published around 1986, cites that the hospital opened with 9 beds and office space for the Callan Clinic. The outside is covered in rock.

On September 30, 1938, the hospital had been open for a few weeks and an open house set for October 1 & 2.

Famous Families recounts Dr. Chester Uri Callan's part in establishing the hospital.

Around 1935 and 1936, during Dr. Callan's time as Rotan Mayor, he wanted to build a hospital using Works Progress Administration funds, but the city council did not support him. He found other means to achieve his goal.

After the new hospital broke ground, Dr. Callan resigned from his mayoral duties, around April or May of 1938.

After nearly forty years of service, the Callan Hospital was closed in 1976.

Dr. Callan died May 18, 1987 and is buried in the Belvieu Cemetery east of Rotan.

The deed for the property was transferred to the city in 2000.

Citations:

1.  The Portal to Texas History: (Break ground - Sweetwater Reporter, Wednesday, January 5, 1938), (Excavation finished -Sweetwater Reporter, Thursday, January 20, 1938), (New mayor -Sweetwater Reporter, Friday, May 13, 1938),(Hospital opens - Sweetwater Reporter Friday, September 30, 1938)
2. Famous Families of Fisher County, Fisher County Historical Commission, page 49, Dr. C. U. Callan Family
3. Fisher County Appraisal District
   

Around the county

Thomas Pohlman is the new Fisher County sheriff, appointed by commissioners after the resignation of the former sheriff, Simon Wade.

The City of Rotan has an open auction for the historic Callan Hospital building.

There are two employment opportunities listed on the Fisher County website: telecommunications corrections officer with the sheriff's office; part-time personnel with the district clerk's office.

A permit for the Cougar lease has been issued by the Railroad Commission, about a mile northeast of Rotan.

North Texas Auctions & Real Estate will be hosting the Rotan Farmers & Ranchers Sale this year. It is scheduled for April 20, 9:30 a.m.

Searching for a connection

- The Hotspot -

It has been about two years since I last reported on the state of internet in my far flung rural setting. I'm still running a Netgear hotspot with a $55 per month (plus taxes and surcharge) prepaid AT&T card. That buys me 100 gigabytes for 30 days. I can't find that deal anywhere, anymore, so I think I've been grandfathered in on that plan. 50 gb for $55 is what it has been changed to.

I checked in on the legislation from 2021 that was supposed to help implement rural internet. According to an article written by the Texas Tribune, many of the businesses that were given funds to expand internet service to rural communities took the money and ran. It looks like the same thing is fixing to happen again, so I hold no hope that soon I will have easy to access internet with a reasonable amount of data.

I've been scouring the internet (hah! ironic), looking for the next best thing to ease my woes. Verizon touts a wi-fi home internet service, but I have put in every address I can think of, even some from Zillow and post office locations across the nation, and it comes up unavailable every time, even in residential areas where I know the neighbors have this service. I guess they have overserved and are now pulling back on issuing connections. AT&T has lousy plans, T-Mobile says unavailable, satellite service wants a two-year promise with a 200 gb limit, and so on and so forth with all services I found.

Except one, and I am hanging some high hopes on this little device: TravlFi. It's like a hotspot on steroids, if the boasts are true. I've ordered the Journey 1 and I am looking forward to testing out this little booger. The device is less than $200, plans are prepaid, and they use all carriers signals so you're not stuck with just one. 

The unlimited plan is $129 a month. Now, we all know unlimited doesn't mean unlimited in cellular lingo, but TravlFi unlimited is anything over 800 gb, far exceeding the usual unlimited limit, which runs around 60 gb on AT&T and others. Whew! I think I just set a record for using the word unlimited.

Anyway, I'll report back on how it all works out. I hope I have not become gullible during my search for the next great connection. It's almost as bad as looking for the fountain of youth.

Meeting procedures and rules in Texas

Have you ever observed a commissioners court or city council meeting and wondered what all the hullabaloo is over procedure? Well, you, too, can become some sort of minor authority on the official directing of public meetings with the help of The Open Meetings Handbook and Robert's Rules of Order (this link goes to a cribsheet, not the full volume). A basic knowledge of Parliamentary Procedure can't hurt, either.

If all those footnotes and case studies in the handbook seem onerous, go on down to page 82 to see an outline of everything that comes before. The entire document is only 186 pages, less than half the size of a regular fiction novel! Power through, skip the notes. Read it over and over if you feel you can't understand it the first time. It becomes clearer with reading repetition.You'll be all the wiser for it!

Storage room sale early March

Rotan Self Storage, located at 113 North Garfield, will have a storeroom sale March 4 at 9 a.m.

The contents of three storage units will be up for auction.

All items must be removed by the successful bidder.

Trustee sale scheduled for March

A substitute trustee sale has been set for March 5, as posted on the Fisher County website.

Parcel 22457 will be up for public auction. It is a little over 14 acres, coded as qualified ag land, market value appraised at $24,740. It is east of Roby, situated off of US 180.

The posting indicates the sale will take place at 1:00 p.m. (or 3 hours after that time), at the courthouse.

Due diligence should be taken before the sale to check the title and to see if the buyer will be obligated to take on a bank lien.

What do Alan Alda and Sammy Baugh have in common?

I'm always searching for something to read. A book ready at hand helps me to keep my mind in place. I don't know how non-readers keep their sanity. Maybe they go out and do things. I'm not much for doing things.

There are a lot of books in the world, but somehow I am at a loss between volumes as to what to read next. I even got intellectual recently and read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. A lot of talk about farming while in between a lady goes crazy on drugs after a torrid love affair and throws herself in front a train. 800 plus pages of all that. I hope I didn't spoil it for you.

In a desperate hunt for the next read, I went down some rabbit holes and somehow came across a little tome titled MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. 

Everyone is most likely familiar with the series, which starred Alan Alda in the role of Hawkeye Pierce, and some might even have seen the movie.

The book was written by Richard Hooker and published in 1968. It was based on his experience as a surgeon in the Korean War.

There I am, reading along, and one of the characters in the book says, "Way to throw! Who ever heard of Sammy Baugh?".

That's all that was said about our local claim-to-fame, but it was a shot out of the blue to see it in print. 

Look at us, we're famous! In a roundabout way.

So, Alda and Baugh have a connection, even if it's in a six degrees of separation type of way. They got it in two.

Rotan property on auction now

Texas Communities Group currently has an ongoing auction for a parcel within Rotan city limits.

Parcel 6229, address listed as 601 East Mead, can be bid on until March 4, when the online tax foreclosure sale ends.

The Fisher County Appraisal District has listed the value of the property at $47,940.

City council meeting next week

Rotan City Council will meet January 18, 7 a.m., at City Hall.

The council usually meets on the second Thursday of each month.

It has been scheduled for the third Thursday this month.

Sheriff sale set for January

Two lots will be up for auction at the foreclosure sale, set for January 2, 2024, 10:00 a.m., at the Fisher County Courthouse (usually at the north side entrance).

Parcel 6299, at 601 East Mead in Rotan, has an estimated bid minimum of $15,200.00.

Parcel 6483, at 808 North Garfield in Rotan, has an estimated bid minimum of $2,000.00.

More information can be found on the Perdue Brandon website.

North side of Sammy Baugh Ave still quiet

- Rotan Family Dollar -

The Family Dollar notice of application to sell wine and beer that was in the paper in November has not proven to be a useful indicator of whether or not the store will reopen.

The photo taken today shows the store is empty and there is no sign of life.

A search on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission website yields no result for a license filed by this store.

Commissioner precinct 3 race confirmed

The Texas Secretary of State now reports five candidates running in the 2024 March Primary Election for Fisher County.

Sheriff Simon Wade, Commissioner Precinct 1 Gordon Pippin and County Tax Assessor Collector Jonnye Speck are all running unopposed.

Commissioner Precinct 3 Preston Martin will be in a race with newcomer Stuart Posey.

No one filed for county attorney.

All are running on the Republican ticket.

Candidate clues

The Texas Secretary of State is not reporting any new candidates for Fisher County other than Gordon Pippin for commissioner precinct one and Jonnye Speck for tax collector-assessor at this time, but the appointment of campaign treasurer is a fair measure of who will run, and it looks like there is going to be a race for precinct three commissioner.

As of December 8, Stuart Posey has submitted an Appointment of Campaign Treasurer. A campaign treasurer must be named before a candidate files for office. Candidates are allowed to name themselves as campaign treasurer and it is common practice to do so. Appointment this close to the deadline for candidate filing would indicate intention to run for office.

The filing for Appointment of Campaign Treasurer in August by Damon Clawson, seeking the sheriff's seat, is not known to be a serious bid since it was filed so far back and there has been no mention of his intentions.

When the SOS clears all candidate filings, the Fisher County March 2024 Primary Election might make for an interesting race.

Candidate filing ends soon

Candidates who wish to run for local offices have until December 11 to file for the March 2024 primary.

Positions being voted on are sheriff, commissioners for precincts one and three, county tax assessor collector and county attorney.

As of now only two positions have been filed for: precinct one commissioner by incumbent Gordon Pippin and county tax assessor collector by incumbent Jonnye Lu Speck.

Appointments for campaign treasurers have been made by five people: Sheriff Simon Wade, Commissioner Pippin, Tax Assessor Collector Speck, sheriff challenger Damon B Clawson, and Commissioner Preston Martin. If all five file for candidacy, the only position with a contest will be county sheriff. 

There has been no candidate or treasurer filing for the position of county attorney, currently held by Michael Hall.

To file as a candidate, contact Fisher County Clerk Pat Thomson for forms and fees needed.

Resources for this article: Texas Secretary of State & Fisher County Election page

Rotan writer talks to Tumbleweed

Debbie Toliver of Rotan will be featured on Tumbleweed Smith's The Sound of Texas this Thursday, November 30.

Toliver is an award-winning poet who earnestly began writing in 2015, according to a 2022 article in the Double Mountain Chronicle.

Personally, Debbie is a quick-witted individual who is an anomaly, in the best way. I first saw her at a city council meeting, where we greeted each other with a nod. I then met her face to face in The Country Store in Rotan while shopping. Her sharp observation of a situation is immediately evident and she emits the aura of a person of culture.

The broadcast featuring Debbie can be heard on KXOX radio, transmitting from Sweetwater, as well as many other stations across Texas.