Another new sheriff

During a special meeting, called for December 31, Fisher County Commissioners voted unanimously to appoint John "Pat" Dickson as sheriff.

Commissioner Micah Evans, Precinct 4, advised Dickson that his duties would be administrative. This is due to Dickson not holding a peace officer license. 

Officers who have been appointed to fill a vacancy in an elective office have two years to get licensed.

Commissioners also voted unanimously to accept Sheriff Tom Pohlman's resignation.

City to test ordinance

Rotan City Council will meet this Thursday. Default meeting dates for the cities of Rotan and Roby are the second Thursday of the month; Rotan at 7 a.m., Roby at noon. That falls on October 10 this time around.

The Rotan agenda will include a public hearing regarding the torn up trailer house and vehicle situated at 511 East Sammy Baugh. This is the first property to come before the council in enforcement of the new substandard structure ordinance that was passed back in May.

County commissioners will meet next Tuesday, October 15, at 9 a.m. They usually meet the second Monday of the month, but pushed the meeting forward a day due to Columbus Day on October 14.

Note: Fisher County: Public Hearing Notice

Enough already

Y'all, it's gettin' silly how many earthquakes there have been. I'll just say, if you are talking to someone who lives in this area, and if they are sitting, standing, breathing, feeding chickens or cows, driving down the road in a truck or tractor, you can take it for granted that there is an ongoing earthquake, one that has just happened, or one that is about to happen. 

Oh, man, if only earthquakes were rain, they'd be calling us Seattle right now.

Fisher County Commissioners to meet Monday, vote on budget

Well, I was right about the last meeting (meetings, rather, it lasted for two days, with breaks). There was yelling, cursing and a walk out. Invigorating!

Once again the question of whether or not to close the jail was raised, and it was the contributing factor for much of the hubbub. It wasn't on the agenda, but the topic was introduced by County Judge Ken Holt, presiding officer of the commissioners court. It seemed an odd time to bring it up, after numerous presentations from vendors for services at the jail.

Anyway, during the budget meeting the next day, the court decided to leave the jail open. Holt was not present. Everyone agreed, or understood, the jail is not a money-making proposition, but a needed service for the community.

Tomorrow the Court is scheduled to discuss and vote on the following items:

• Purchase of a new truck for the sheriff
• Engagement and payment for services to monitor inmates and the jail
• Engagement and payment for telephone services at the jail
  
• The county budget
• The tax rate

Tune in to the live feed on The Double Mountain Chronicle facebook profile at 9 am.

Isaac Donaghey 1988-2020

- Isaac, 2006 -

When I first met Isaac, I didn't like him. It was sometime during his teenage years, and my husband at the time, Fred, and I were giving Isaac and my son, Dylan, a ride back to Rotan from the Rattlesnake Round-Up. The boys climbed into the back seat of the pick-up, and Isaac, a big ol' boy, was eating a bag of pork skins. He would eat one, burp, say he was going to be sick, then resume eating them. I didn't know what to make of him. I kept rolling my eyes at Fred, like "Can you believe this guy?"

It's funny to think now that I didn't know then how this boy was going to be a fixture in the background of my life. I'm not fooling myself into thinking I knew him in any deep way. He was my son's friend, and kids have a parallel but separate life from adults. I certainly didn't know him as those in his close circle in the Rotan contingent did, or even in the way the general community knew him. He threaded in and out of my sight, but I was always hearing about him. A little bit of Isaac went a long way, and that made him a bit of an enigma.

We all have our Isaac stories because he was a larger than life character. He wasn't shy. He wasn't demure. He was loud. Nothing was ever just Isaac did this, there was always a tale in the telling.

One of my own Isaac episodes had us in a car chase down Cleveland Street in Rotan. Some people had taken my pick-up joy riding and I was on their bumper in my other vehicle, yelling "Pull over the damned pick-up!" Unbeknownst to me, Isaac was in the back seat, and when he got out, my demeanor completely changed, from crazy-woman to mother-of-somebody, very polite all of a sudden (I was a little ashamed of my behavior, and I guess he was a little surprised). He was very respectful. I even had him drive the truck and park it at a secure location, and I gave him a ride to where he wanted to go.

I told my son about this later, how politely Isaac had spoken to me, and my son said, "That sounds like how he talks to cops." So I know he probably always put on his speaking-to-the-uncool facade with me, but I can still say I knew him. I have a lot of photos and stories to back that up.

I don't know what happened that fateful morning when he physically ceased to be, but it was too soon for such a young man to leave us. Gone but not forgotten is a trite saying, yet true in this instance. I can't help but wonder what he would have to say about all of this.

I bet it would be a hell of a story.

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!".

The Birds

I've had a series of experiences with fowl in the recent weeks, the latest occurring today when a bunch of mud-nest making birds decided to reside under the eaves of my house. I keep going out there to shoo them away and spray down the beginnings of nests with the water hose. I went and looked in the cement culvert they usually stay in to see if there was an obvious reason they had taken to the house, but I didn't see anything. Maybe they know it's going to rain and wash away their nests.

I saw a pheasant out here a few weeks ago, and I've had three other people tell me they have also seen it. He just pecks along the side of the road, not caring a fig about traffic, so busy with his doings. It's so funny, because one year we went to North Dakota, and I was just about guaranteed a pheasant sighting, but it never happened. I had to wait until pheasants came to Texas to see one.

That same week I also heard a road runner make a sound for the first time in my life. One time I heard one thrum it's beak when it thought I was threatening it's baby, but this time I heard an actual voice. I was at a neighbor's house getting out of my car when I heard a mournful sound that I first thought was a dove. Then I thought it might be a dog shut up in the garage. I moved my head to hear the sound more clearly when something on the peak of the roof caught my eye. There was the roadrunner standing there, then I saw his throat move, like a rooster's does, when he made the sound. It's nice to know there are still things to discover in a place I'm overly familiar with.

Also that same week I had gone north from Camp Springs up to the ranch at the end of the road, then turned left onto the dirt, when I saw some of the funniest white birds. They didn't look like an egret. Each had a big, rounded-out face with an amusing expression. It made me laugh.

Of course I didn't have my camera for any of the photo opportunities! Prepared? Not me. I was sorry to see what looks like grackles in the back yard this morning. I'm a big animal lover, I hate to run over even a mouse in the road, but those rude birds may inspire me to do some target practice with the .22.

P.S. Ms. Chicken and five chicks have been forced back to the coop since I found one dead on the shop floor. Boy, was that a dumb idea!

Woo-oodmen, come out to pla-ay

I went to see the damage at the Dowell Cemetery done by the groundskeeper, as was written to the Rotan Newspaper in a letter to the editor, but I got it in my head it was Sardis Cemetery, for some reason, so I went there.

There was no damage, since I was at the wrong cemetery, but I did find a Woodmen of the World Memorial marking the grave of H.W. Germany. I have been looking for one for a while, since reading on the Handbook of Texas website that at one time there was a Woodmen of the World Lodge at Hobbs.

Which I guess really has nothing to do with the marker, since the tombstone tree stump was part of the insurance award for anyone who purchased a policy. Still, the stones are rare because the company discontinued the issuance of the tree stump monuments after 1920, due to high cost. There is a tree stump marker in the Hobbs cemetery, but there's no indication that it's a Woodmen memorial. Anyway, I'm glad to have finally seen one.

I saw a great documentary on Ovation TV, Old, Weird America: Harry Smith's Anthology of Folk Music. Mr. Smith was an eccentric fellow, and basically this show is about a record collection he put together in the 1940's. When I first saw the commercial for it, I thought it would include songs such as This Land is Your Land and There's a Hole in the Bucket, but then I heard that eerie mountain music and I knew that this was something different.

To get a taste of what the album (cd) contains, you can go to amazon.com and click on the sampler. I think this is the most important music collection I've ever heard or read about. Oh, and it is equally important to have the program recorded, because it has modern interpretations by David Johansen and such, and you'll just want to skip right past that. The only current artist I enjoyed was Steve Earle, but they didn't even play the whole song he sang. He gave a lot of commentary, though, and I liked that.

I didn't have any luck on the Hobbs Senior Ring front. It must have been some other Panther. It was a ladies ring from 1973, and only guys graduated that year from our school. I appreciate the finder trying to find the owner, though. It still might make a good story for someone else.

By the way, we're looking to add a Guinea pig to the family, and if any of you out there have a lead on where to get one, let me know. I prefer to get one that is already in a home instead of a pet store. Maybe one of you have a colony of Guinea pigs that you'd like to reduce. That is the correct term for a group of GP's, incidentally.

Yays: Drivers License office in Roby; rain

Nays: A wasp in the grass when you're walking barefoot

Haven't Seen You Since Last Year...

- Hereford bull -

It's always a surprise when it turns out that winter is really here, although it comes every year. Just like we're always surprised by baseball sized hail every summer.

Hope everyone had good holidays. Here's the update on two Rotan Advance Roby Star Record issues:

December 21, 2006:

• Rotan City Council Meeting Minutes, Request Made to Close Streets and Drive Ways
• Shelby Spikes Wins 2nd Place at District FFA Banquet for Singing (photo)
• Israel Ramon Convicted of Being a Pervert and Child Molester
• Newspaper Subscription Renewals Due
• Rotan Community Stock Show (photo)
• Bradey Murphree Accepts TPTA Midwest District Award (photo)
• Birth Announcement for Daniel Benito (photo)
• Chamber Christmas Benefit, photo of Amy Garland and Peggy Rivers
• Haskell Livestock Auction Prices
• Rotan UIL Results (photos)
• Obituary for Royce Doyle Rasco
• Recipe Corner: Cranberry Salad
• Fisher County Hospital Board Meeting, Judy Niell P.A. and Donald Wheat DPM Approved as Staff
• Western Texas College Registration January 11
• Roby CSD Financial Statement
• Fisher County Basketball (photos)
• Abilene Rehab & Rotan Stock Show Photos
• H.A. "Tince" Kiker Celebrates 100th Birthday

Rotan sales tax rebates for December 2006 were $10,766.61 (Dec. 2005 $9,547.51), year to date $155,189.19 (2005 $144,198.99).

Roby sales tax rebates for December 2006 were $4,400.05 (Dec. 2005 $1,390.25), year to date $29,644.65 (2005 $22,134.31).

December 14, 2006:

• Winners Named in Rotan Christmas Parade (photos)
• Sophia Scott Makes All Region Band (photo)
• Judy Niell PA to Join Clearfork Health Center Staff (photo)
• Rotan Junior Livestock Show Dec. 16th
• Ginning Season Ends, Low Totals
• December 8th Vehicle Accident (photo)
• Roby School Board Minutes, Steady Attendance of 289
• Rotan ISD Meeting Minutes, Steady Enrollment of 363
• Julie Henderson & Mark McCall Engagement Announcement
• Marcia C. Mota e Silva & Carlton W. Robertson Marriage Announcement (photo)
• Lizzie Young Celebrates 97th Birthday (photo)
• Fisher County Commissioners Court Minutes, Steve Estes Reported Animal Id Program Dropped by USDA, Rodney Tankersley Expresses Courthouse Maintenance Issues
• Obituaries for Oliver Earl Cooper, Mrs. Willie Sivilla (Bill) Sumerlin, Juanita Williamson and Carl Thomas Hitt
• Results for Nolan/Fisher County Pecan Show, Jimmy Laurie, Aiken Ranch and Jimmy Price Winners
• Recipe Corner: Sugar Free No Bake Cookies
• Fisher County Basketball (photos)
• Colin Hicks Shoots First Deer (photo)
• FCHC Meeting Minutes, Next Meeting First Tuesday in Feb. 2007
• Roby City Council Minutes, BFI "Forgets" to Give Good Customer Service

Someone ran off with the last issue for 2006, so I need to pop down to Thriftway and get it before the new one comes out. Happy New Year, all, and a prosperous one at that.