Farmer's Almanac not for farmers

I happily picked up my free yearly Farmer's Almanac yesterday at a local store, thinking with pleasure about perusing it while daydreaming about seeds I want to plant too early.

I opened the little book up this morning and on page six I found a very bizarre article.

What caught my eye was a catch line that reads "Checking Your Banking And Investments." I'm  pretty good about staying on top of all that, but wondered what people are not doing, other than not reconciling or looking at balances.

In this two paragraph snippet, it calls for investors to move everything away from coal, oil, gas and transportation.

That's just about everything that makes life possible on the farm, or anywhere.

What an odd thing to be in the Farmer's Almanac. It seems counterintuitive, like it's written for another culture.

It is such a broad, sweeping condemnation, almost like Jean Grigsby, author of the article "What Can You Do to Help Slow the Effects of Climate Change," had no idea who the target audience was going to be. Is Grigsby a farmer? How does this person run their tractors? How do they get crops to market?

Shoot, I'm disappointed, just like when I figured out Mother Earth News and The Rolling Stone were political. I almost wish I was ignorant and could just enjoy reading magazines without seeing the bent.

P.S. Farmer's Almanac and Old Farmer's Almanac are two different publications. I'll have to pick up (and pay for) a copy of the latter, and hope not to be disheartened.

Adkins trial venue uncertain

A look at the 32nd District Court calendar does not make it clear where Shawn Adkins will be tried for the 2010 murder of Hailey Dunn.

Here are the dates and explanations set for Adkins on the docket:

February 10, final plea hearing in Nolan County; 

April 11, jury trial, Nolan County (venue moved); 

April 12, jury trial, Fisher County (venue moved); 

April 14, jury trial, Nolan County (venue moved).

If it is moved to Fisher County, that would make the third change of venue for this trial which was originally set in Mitchell County, where the crime occurred.

A little ditty

It seems like lately John Cougar's (pre-Mellencamp) song Jack and Diane keeps popping up in my thoughts and conversations. That song always takes me down a well-worn path of a single memory. I try to hold it at bay, because, by this point, it is tiring. I've been thinking about it for forty years.

It's no big thing, kind of like every time I put on mascara I'll remember a girl named Janie telling me I need to put some on the top of my lashes, and every time I shave my legs I remember a boy named Gary telling me he dreamed that the back of my legs were super hairy, behind the knees. Every single time, for forty years.

One evening, 1982-83, in downtown Sweetwater, my friend Dawn and I were at the pool hall, where the grocery store management company is now, by Dairyland. I wasn't particularly comfortable being there, it wasn't my kind of crowd, but Dawn wanted to talk to somebody who was there. I was talking to Gerilyn Stone out in the parking lot, and I reluctantly lent her my American Fool cassette, which had that seminal song on it. I never got it back.

Around that same time, Gerilyn's mom rented the house next to ours out at Lake Sweetwater, in the Fireman's Point vicinity. There was a big blow-out of a party at Gerilyn's one night. I took a couple of friends to it, parking up from my house, so my folks wouldn't see my car.

I can't believe it, but I drank beer out of a cowboy boot that night. That's how good that party was. 

When the shout went up that we were about to be raided, my buddies and I took off running. We piled into the car and I drove through some bushes trying to get out of there before the cops came. I took my friends back to town, then came back home and had to act like I was as peeved as my folks that there was a party next door and that there were cars parked all in our driveway and yard. It's pretty funny that my parents were the ones who called the sheriff. 

Gerilyn died a few years ago. I can't say that we were part of each other's lives. The last time I saw her was at Willie's Farm Aid in 1986, out by Austin. She was riding in the back of a pick-up with a bunch of other people. She was waving and laughing, much like she always was in my recollection of her. That's a pretty good way to remember somebody. That gal was always up to something.

My favorite part of the song is this:

Let it rock, let it roll,
Let the bible bounce,
Come and save my soul,
Hold on to sixteen,
As long as you can,
Changes come around real soon,
Make us women and men.

And how.

P. S. I like bible bounce instead of bible belt. My interpretation.

Appraisal board chairman, former Rotan mayor dies

Pete Garcia, Sr. of Rotan died Friday, January 13. His services were held at the Rotan Church of Christ Thursday, January 19. He was buried at Belvieu Cemetery outside of Rotan. 

Mr. Garcia was the current chairman of the Fisher County Appraisal Board and formerly served as the Rotan City Mayor.

His funeral was directed by Weathersbee Ray Funeral Home.

Mr. Biggers had a lot to say

I was looking for something, who knows what, in the Texas Tech online digital world, when I came across a publication called The Lone Coyote, published in 1908. I couldn't make out what it was about, even though it purported to be "The Official Howler for Fisher and 247 other counties". The office location was reported as being in the first dugout, south side of Double Mountain Canyon.

After reading several articles and realizing it was all tongue in cheek, I saw the name Don H. Biggers listed as "by". A little searching revealed that Biggers was the publisher of the Rotan Advance 1907-1909, as well as many other undertakings, which is putting it mildly. He was a prolific writer of west Texas life and politics. He owned, wrote and published several newspapers, and was the author of many articles and books. He was also a farmer and a Texas House Representative.

What caught my eye in this second issue of The Lone Coyote was his definition of a newspaper, thus follows:

"If I were writing a dictionary for academic and family use, and came to define the modern daily newspaper, I should endeavor to briefly cover the subject about as follows: 

"A medium the chief mission of which is to declare dividends, disseminate accounts of degrading crime, demoralizing scandal, and shocking casualties; a panderer to the stupid mental cravings of mankind; the champion of partisan politics and a producer of prejudice; a plaything for plutocrats and a stranger to principle; a debaucher of morals; an advertising directory of frauds; the apex of folly and the parade ground of vanity; the product of brains; the output of peons and the servant of scoundrels; a revealer of infamy and a concealer of sin; the megaphone of demagogues; a saint in pretensions and a hypocrite in performance; a reeking, putrid mess of mankind's filthy conduct, paraded without shame as the triumph of enterprise; the moulder of men's nations, yet a meddler rather than an agency; a fusion of facts, fiction, falsehoods, folly and indigestible bombast; the cheapest excursion route for busy people to migrate to uttermost realms of ignorance."

I wonder what he would have thought about presidents, governors and law makers "tweeting" and the loss of gravitas in those high stations? He may not have been surprised.

Biggers was a clever satirical writer and many of his works, serious articles as well, can be found in the Texas Tech University Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.

Funeral services set for Richard Wright

Well known Fisher County citizen Richard Wright died last Thursday, January 12. He was 76.

A graveside service will be held Tuesday, January 17, 11 a.m., at the Hobbs Cemetery. Visitation will be Monday evening, 5:30 p.m., at Weathersbee Ray Funeral Home. 

Flowers can be sent through Southern Touch Flower Shop.

County appraisal district website revamped

The Fisher County Appraisal District site has a new look, with easier searching capability and a list of local taxing entities on the home page. All boards and members are listed distinctly on a separate page.

The Comptroller of Texas names Holly Bufkin as Fisher County Chief Appraiser (spelled Holli on that page). She is licensed as a property tax appraiser through the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation.

Current appraisal board members, according to the site, are Pete Garcia, Hunter Stuart, David Mullins, Chris Keiser and Michael Noell; appraisal review board members are Tommy Bibb, Brad Stuart, Cindy Greene and David Hudnall; agricultural advisory committee members are Terry Coker, Todd Coker, Micah Evans, Dennis Cumbie and Reid Cave.

The reappraisal plan for 2023/2024 can be found on the Resources page of the Fisher CAD site.

Commissioners special meeting Jan. 18

Fisher County Commissioners will meet next Wednesday to discuss policies on water line crossings. Reinstatement of the burn ban is also on the agenda. 

The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in the commissioners courtroom in the county judge's office.

Texas don't play

My eighth grade government teacher must have said a million times, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse". I wonder if that includes ignorance of what kind of bail an arrested person will be given to get out of jail. The amount can seem arbitrary.

Say a person travels across Texas not wearing a seatbelt and holding marijuana, then gets pulled over and routed out; I understand the fault is on the individual for breaking the law, because in Texas seatbelts are mandatory and marijuana is illegal.

Then that person is given $505,000 bail. Unless that person is a murderer, terrorist or pedophile, it seems excessive. 

Anyway, whatever my opinion is, this situation has happened to a young Massachusetts man, a kind of troubadour magician, who was passing through and visiting family in east Texas. He seems like an affable fellow and could use a little bit of help. 

He's known as IE the Magician and has a gofundme page.

Back to my opinion. Some laws prey on those with the least resources or ability to maneuver the legal system, and the disparity between bail and crimes is egregious.

Another law in Texas is that bail amounts are required to be posted as public record and can be viewed at Texas Online Public Information. Comparisons can be made there.

Commissioners meet this morning; new member, more pipeline discussion

Fisher County Commissioners court will meet this morning at 9 a.m. Pipeline permitting is on the agenda, along with county reports and sheriff's department requests. New commissioner Micah Evans will be attending for the first time, replacing Kevin Stuart, for precinct 4. The public is allowed to attend or you can watch online.