Notes from the west Jan 2025

- Cats rule -

It was so cold this morning that the cat was hogging the heater. She sat her little chin on the bar and gave no thought to my comfort.

I went out to the mailbox to post a letter just as a fellow working for the appraisal district was slowly driving by in the barditch. He got out and introduced himself, but I didn't catch his name. It's too bad he had to see me in my pajamas.

The commissioners meeting yesterday was a two part deal, both very short. Stuart Posey, the new commissioner for precinct three, had his first day with the court. 

It was good to see that Jeanna Parks, county treasurer, was there.

The quorum went into a closed session about 10 minutes into assembly, then returned for about six minutes before adjourning.

One thing that caught my interest was something said by Micah Evans, the commissioner for precinct four. The meeting had resumed after the closed session and a motion was made by Judge Ken Holt for approval on a professional services contract with Sterling Burleson, agenda item 12.

Right before a unanimous vote of yes was given, Evans said, "This is just in regards to the case that's...".

I wonder what case that is. I'm hoping to see some clues in the next issue of the Double Mountain Chronicle.

Elected sheriff declared ineligible

During the November 18 election canvass meeting, Fisher County Judge Ken Holt ruled Simon Wade ineligible to hold the office of sheriff, despite having won more than three times the votes as his opponent, Tom Pohlman. 

Wade was appointed sheriff in July of 2023, after Sheriff Randy Ford resigned.

Wade ran, and won, in the March 2024 primary, in an uncontested race, but he resigned from office a few days later. He does not have a Texas Peace Officer License, which is required to be a sheriff.

Pohlman, who was serving as a deputy with the Fisher County Sheriff's Office, was then appointed sheriff by the commissioners court.

Timeline:

Ford resigns June 29, 2023

Wade appointed July 10, 2023

Wade files for primary December 4, 2023

Wade wins primary March 5, 2024

Wade resigns March 14, 2024

Pohlman appointed March 14, 2024

Pohlman files for general election August 20, 2024

Wade's name remains on ballot, wins general election November 5, 2024

Holt declares Wade ineligible, November 18, 2024

What's next? The Texas election code says that if the deceased, withdrawn, or ineligible candidate receives the vote required for election, the resulting vacancy shall be filled in the regular manner.

Does that mean another appointment? Or keep on keeping on with Pohlman? Will time tell? Does it matter? Maybe not, but it's an interesting study in election minutiae.

Info: Texas Election Code Chapter 145.005

Newspaper launches podcast

The Double Mountain Chronicle has a new podcast, called The ShortCut, an audio digest of their latest headlines.

DMC primarily reports Fisher County news, for the cities of Rotan and Roby. They also write about Stonewall County events, where Aspermont is the county seat.

Get The Shortcut wherever you listen to podcasts.

Covington arrested in Nolan County

The Sweetwater Reporter blotters revealed that Kyler Lane Covington was arrested by the Nolan County Sheriff's Department. In the August 29 issue of the newspaper, the charges listed were "Fisher Co Warrants - Capital Murder of Person Under 10 YOA and (2x)/Agg Assault W/Deadly Weapon".

Vinelink custody details show that Covington was booked August 27 and bonded out.

Covington was the subject of a high speed chase in Fisher County on July 5. According to the Double Mountain Chronicle, July 11 issue, he was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evading law enforcement. He bonded out the next day.

Covington has an arraignment set for September 11 at the Fisher County Courthouse.

No life was lost, the charge should have been printed as Attempted Capital Murder in the newspaper.

Construction underway

- Store sites -

The Rotan Dollar General site is abuzz with workers this morning, and if the swiftness in which the Roby DG store is going up is any indicator, we'll be buying socks and waterhoses and ballpoint pens and catfood in no time, from both locations.

The photos in order, from top to bottom, are Rotan DG site, Roby DG site, and Ace Hardware Rotan site.

According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration, the Rotan DG store is planned for 12,480 square feet and Roby DG for 9,100 square feet. The Double Mountain Chronicle reported that Ace is planned for 12,500 square feet.

RRC response to earthquakes

"The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has been investigating the earthquakes that have occurred this week in the Camp Springs area along the Fisher/Scurry County line in West Texas.
 
In efforts to reduce seismicity possibly caused by underground injection of produced water, several operators in the area have converted deep saltwater disposal wells to shallow saltwater disposal wells within the last year. (Disposal wells are used to dispose of produced water, which is water that comes out from wells during oil and gas production.)
 
RRC inspectors are out inspecting saltwater disposal wells within two and a half miles of the cluster of earthquakes this week and the RRC will evaluate next steps that can be taken to mitigate earthquakes.

We’ll continue to take measures necessary to protect the environment and residents in the area."

-This was in response to an email I sent them this morning. My original inquiry is posted below:

We had another big quake like the one on Monday. I'm in Fisher County in Texas. We've had multiple quakes between now and then. It is becoming very alarming. If saltwater injection is inducing the quaking, can you help in any way? It is frightening to feel like the house may be destroyed with me in it.

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.

Commissioners to appoint new sheriff

Well, the rumors are true, then.

After an executive session during the April commissioners meeting, people around Rotan were asking each other if Fisher County still had a sheriff. I kept asking them, "What are y'all talking about?", and they would just shrug their shoulders and say "I don't know, I just heard we don't have a sheriff."

Although there was no public record of the subject or decision of that session, that is when people started saying that Sheriff Randy Ford had resigned.

People say gossip is a sin, but it's really the best, and sometimes only, way to hear news.

"Appoint New Sheriff" is number 14 on the agenda for the July 10 commissioners meeting.

 

7/10/2023 update:

Commissioners unanimously voted for Simon Wade, resident of the McCaulley area, to assume duty as Fisher County Sheriff.

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.

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.

Top ten Fisher County oil leases

- EA6869 -

The EA6869 lease is using one location to drill two wells, one with a bottom hole on the Emily lease in Fisher County, the other on the Adams lease in Scurry County. It looks like a city being built out there. Access is from Fisher County Road 347. That's a long way to go across pasture and field. The site is visible from FM 1614, north of the Emily 1H and Emily 2H wells.

The top ten oil producing leases in Fisher County from January to April 2022, most to least, were:

• Grand Canyon W 31-46 at 68,222 BBL (barrels of crude oil, 42 gallons)
• Saguaro W 105-58 at 66,936 BBL
• Carlsbad Caverns 54-55 at 59,928 BBL
• Canyonlands E 61-60 at 51,338 BBL
• Tennie Unit at 44,328 BBL
  
• Jill Unit at 40,054 BBL
• Johnson Unit at 38,094 BBL
• Sequoia E 63-6 at 35,838 BBL
• Hannah-Stevie Unit at 35,497 BBL
• Sequoia 63-6 at 32,865 BBL
  

Clear Fork, Peregrine and Moriah are the operators on these leases. The Railroad Commission doesn't have reporting for production beyond April. More information can be found by going to the RRC website and clicking Query>Production Data Query>General Production Query.

Changes in the view

- Bugs on FM 419 -

Besides the oil and wind industry changes in the landscape, a few other things are looking different around here.

Up on Rooster Corner, named by me and my kids, just north of Nunn Hill (what TxDOT guys called it) and Bus Wreck Curve (named by me, from a school bus wreck I saw in 1968 or '69), nothing is left except two eternal Volkswagen Bugs. It was always a topic of conversation to try to identify whether the old brick house that sat there was occupied or not. A long time ago there used to be roosters in the extensive pens, but trees had grown through them and they sat empty for decades.Sometimes there were dogs there. It's looking pretty good, now.

About a month ago, I noticed the old jail in Roby was being cleaned out. I mean desks, shelves, everything. I wonder what they're going to do with it. It has the best facade in the county, I hope it's not going to be razed.

The Rotan school looks like a big purple building as you drive in from the west. That's just the new construction, not the final exterior. It looks like it's where that weird little sidewalk from the south side of the cafeteria used to be. My kids were always falling down and hurting their legs there.

I took a drive back into Rough Creek, where I recently saw my first Mountain Boomer (Collared Lizard). He was so colorful he didn't even look like he was from here. He was so quick, I didn't actually see his collar, just a lot of aqua-blue and green. On a second drive, I saw the female, pretty, but mostly brown. I didn't see the male that time, but I'm glad he's not out there alone.

Driving farther down that road and coming up behind Koonsman, I saw a huge solar farm in the beginning stages. It had Criswell in the name, so I'm guessing it's on that ranch. It's in Scurry County.

Following a trail to Mount Zion

- Mount Zion Cemetery-

I decided to follow up on my Nettie West story by taking a trip out to where she was buried, the Mount Zion Cemetery, between Rotan and Hamlin.

Expecting to find something like the Hobbs Cemetery, with a fair amount of graves kept up regularly by caretakers, I was surprised to find a fenced off acre or so with about 25 graves scattered in small groups. It was mowed enough to walk through, the back quarter of it in pasture. The most recent grave I could find was from 2014, a good many being from the early 1900's.

The cemetery is not in ruins, though it looks unfrequented. It is situated on County Road 241, going north off of State Highway 92.

There are discrepancies in the information I've found about Nettie West and her family. The article from The Farm magazine cited Nettie as saying her brother Jim Tazewell died in 1942, but his headstone has 1944 as his year of death. She said she was born in Illinois, but the death certificate information on the Find-a-Grave website says she was born in Texas. The certificate text gives her maiden name was Tazwell, but it was spelled Tazewell on her father's and brothers' grave markers. Genealogical researchers must have headaches all the time from trying to sort out such stuff, just from errors alone.

That same website says that Nettie married Charlie Bailey in 1900, and Johnny West in 1947. 

The site lists 42 memorials for the cemetery. There are graves there marked for the Bates family, Nettie's neighbors who took her to town.

An article about an article: Nettie West

- Nettie West, 1955 -

In an ongoing state of serendipity, I'm always finding interesting items while in the search of others.

I came across an article about Nettie West, a past resident of Fisher County, in a 1955 copy of The Farm, written by R.J. McGinnis, the editor of the magazine at that time.

Mrs. West was 78 when the story was published, she being a country widow living alone. A search on Find-a-Grave shows that she lived to the age of 87.

Her maiden name was Tazewell, born in Illinois; later she was a Bailey, then died as a West. She outlived her father, two husbands and two brothers. There is no mention of children, but at the gravesite, among the Tazewells, is a small stone plaque, engraved with the initials M.J.B.

She mentioned some neighbors, the Bates, who would take her to town, Rotan or Hamlin, to shop and bank.

McGinnis wrote, that in 1953. Nettie benefited from royalties in the best well on the Round Top Field (Palo Pinto) at that time.

Fisher County Commissioners to meet Tues Oct 12

Commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning in the county courtroom at the courthouse in Roby. 

Common items on the agenda are departmental reports, county auditor accounting, and the burn ban. 

Other items of interest to be discussed are a curfew ordinance, the Community Development Block Grant, an estimate approval for improvements at the Fisher County Museum, approval of tax forfeiture bids, and appraisal district nominations.

Weekend wandering to Wichita

- Royal Theater, Archer City-

The Spur Hotel in Archer City had no rooms to let, so I stayed on in Wichita Falls Saturday night. It's not too far of a drive.

The to-do was pretty interesting, with a lot of people who did and didn't personally know Larry speaking. It was a good way to study the different facets of a persona, a mix of perception and personal knowledge.

It was surreal to be in that area, in that town, in that building. Watching the movie, I kept thinking, "We are there now". I could turn my head a little and see where a scene had taken place. Then, driving home from Wichita Falls, I kept musing that cyclists driving along the highway were Duane, on the way to see his therapist. 

Driving from the North Plains to the Rolling Plains, with a big sky, endless horizon and little traffic, gave me a couple of hours for rumination. Deep thinking on a Sunday morning, what luxury.

I'd like to make a correction on an earlier article. Booked Up, McMurtry's bookstore, is on South Center Street, just south of the courthouse. There are faded letters on a building on the square, and another ghost of a sign next to the current location, that indicate the business has been in a couple of different places. The current store is housed in a few buildings, on both sides of the street.

Fisher and Nolan county tax sales tomorrow Oct 5

Perdue Brandon has lists of properties that are going on the block for unpaid taxes tomorrow. The Fisher county sale is scheduled for 10 a.m. and the Nolan county sale is set for 2 p.m. The sales will be held on the courthouse steps of the relevant county.

Texas Communities Group has many ongoing auctions, including some for Anson, Hamlin and Sweetwater. Be sure to click on the Live Auction tab for separate listings.

Thinking about Larry

- A few of my books-

I was reading a book the other day, and one of the characters said, "I'll give you one piece of advice about the oil business, the one you're going to be running starting tomorrow, and that's return your phone calls. Don't put it off and don't skip any, even if you think the person you're supposed to call is an asshole or a flake."

That's a good rule of thumb in everyday life, too. I've had high-falutin' people drop the ball, like lawyers and realtors, and it's shameful. I won't do business with people who don't call back.

Larry McMurty wrote the above lines in his book Duane's Depressed, when Duane hands over his oil business to his son, Dickie.

I drove through McMurtry's home town of Archer City the other day, hoping to shop in his bookstore Booked Up. It's on the courthouse square, but was closed that day. From what I've read on the interweb, since his death it has been managed by his store partner, Khristal Collins.The website featured some of the same books I have (see photo, just a part of my collection), and that made me proud.

At a glance, the town looked like what Roby and Rotan might look like put together. I couldn't figure out where Sam the Lion's pool hall would have been, but I was just passing through and had to be on my way. 

Persistence

When I was young, I was astounded to find out most of my favorite songs were simply remastered songs from prior years. Led Zeppelin's Gallows Pole? Sung by Leadbelly decades earlier, and a folk song from long before that. As time goes along, I've found that most things are this way, and also that fads and inventions from centuries before seem more modern than now. You would think I would have grown used to the idea of old is new, new is old, but I guess some things are like a toy you never get tired of, a puzzle with a new twist.

I was reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet the other day, and I found that the back story for Dr. John Watson was that he had been wounded in what he called the Second Afghan War previous to making the acquaintance of Holmes. That was around 1878. Again, astonished to find that the "news" is old. What can be said about Afghanistan now that hasn't been discussed before in the last century and a half?

I couldn't find the chicken and kitten photos I wanted to post here, so I put up an old photo of a spider wearing all it's babies, or else it has a mighty infestation of some kind.

I noticed today that Hastings in Sweetwater will be closing, and I heard someone in another store say that the doors will close Aug. 20. Jack in the Box out by the interstate recently closed, also. Some will blame it on the economy. You never hear a store take the blame for closing. "Oh, we were sloppy with the book-keeping",  "We had really lousy customer service", and "We didn't do all we could do in the PR dept." are all real possibilities. The story of my failed make-believe store would be "I had no idea what I was doing!".