McMurtry got it right

- Scott's Corner & Rotan -

When I get frustrated with all things political in Fisher County and the outlandish behavior of some local high profile individuals, I am just going to think about Larry McMurtry's Texasville and know he hit the nail on the head. It's not so far-fetched that a giant wall of tumbleweeds would take out the town. Not at all.

The water line project has gotten to Scott's Corner. Further lines have been staked out along FM 611, going east towards Rotan.

Now that Dollar General in Roby is open, I can make a little drive to Rotan to get .25¢ gallon jugs of filtered water from the kiosk next to Dairy Queen, then on to Roby for shopping. It's nice to wheel a cart around a brand-spanking new store and pick up some essentials.

The Rotan DG looks finished and the lights are on, but the building is sitting empty at this time.

Ace Hardware is coming along. There are a lot of workers there finishing up the store.

The condemned house is still standing on the corner lot of Sammy Baugh and North Richard in Rotan. City council talked about getting someone to tear it down in their meeting this week.

The old hospital hasn't had any work on it since the city sold it, but the grass is cut and foliage is trimmed.

The photos are of Scott's Corner, Ace, the condemned trailer house and the Callan Hospital building.

Things going on

- IREN, Childress Co., Texas -

I didn't get on here in time to announce the special meeting held by Fisher County Commissioners this morning, but it's online at the Double Mountain Chronicle facebook page, if you'd like to watch it. It will also be posted on the Fisher County Courthouse Texas YouTube site.

I drove up to the Childress area to check out the IREN bitcoin mining project going on there. First I drove through a new solar construction zone, mistaking it for the IREN site. There's a lot of building going on in that area, around a community called Kirkland, but Childress County has a lot of space, and these huge projects seem to take up a small portion of it when looking at all that sky.

Between Childress and Guthrie, Guthrie and Aspermont, there is restful landscape to lay the eye on from horizon to horizon. I stopped in Paducah, between Childress and Guthrie, and got a cheeseburger from the Dairy Maid. There's more fries comes with that order than I can eat. Reminds me of the old days (1970's).

There's some activity going on out by the Wetsel Substation, where IREN has bought property for the Fisher County bitcoin mining project. It's just north of where the Claytonville gas plant used to be.

So, while I was looking to the left, something else was happening on my right. In Sweetwater, a data storage facility has been installed on Sam Houston Street. Veribi has a much smaller operation than IREN. I don't even know if it's the same product. If you stop at the 1 1/2 acre site and listen, it sounds like a giant evaporative cooler.

My guess is that there are some lucrative government subsidies for this industry, much like that for the windmills and solar farms. Chances are they'll be popping up everywhere, big and small.

One other thing, the Dollar General in Roby has opened. That is massive progress in this county and brings a department store a few more miles closer to my house.

December 2024 public meetings

• Monday, December 9, 7 a.m. - Fisher County Appraisal District Board of Directors
• Monday, December 9, 9 a.m. - Fisher County Commissioners Court
• Monday, December 9, 6 p.m. - Roby Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees
  
• Thursday, December 12, 7 a.m. - Rotan City Council
• Thursday, December 12, noon - Roby City Council
• Monday, December 16, 7:00 p.m. - Rotan Independent School District Board of Trustees
  
• Monday, December 23, 5:30 p.m. - Fisher County Hospital District Board of Directors

Meetings that are highlighted have been confirmed. All others have been placed on their default date.

A tale of two stores

- Dollar Generals, Fisher Co -

Construction of the new Dollar General Stores in Rotan and Roby wrapped up this week.

I'm really looking forward to the grand opening of these businesses. I drove to Sweetwater for a new coffee maker this morning. It would have been nice to drive 13 miles instead of 30. 

Snyder is closer to my house, only 21 miles, but I had to go to Rotan and Roby to take these photos. I like the Sweetwater Walmart better, anyway.

I hope they cut those ribbons, soon. I'm ready to buy cat food, Snickers, ballpoint pens, Windex, motor oil and milk in Fisher County.

Second week of September events

- Sept. mud bog -

There are a few things going on this weekend to take pleasure in and enjoy the fresh weather we're having.

It is Rotan Homecoming Week and the Yellowhammers will play against the Rule Bobcats Friday night, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m. The parade and bonfire will be on Wednesday, Sept. 11.

There will be a mud bog at the rodeo grounds west of Rotan on Saturday, Sept. 14. Gates will open at 11:00 a.m. General admission is $10. That evening there will be a dance at the pavilion featuring singer Robert Sullivan.

In Nolan County, the Sweetwater Jaycee Roosters will have their annual fall motorcycle rally. The event will begin Friday night and last through Sunday. That will take place at the Sweetwater Lake Park, by the amphitheater below the dam.

The Snyder Downtown Farmer's Market will be going on this Saturday. After this weekend, there are only two more left for the 2024 season.

The West Texas Fair & Rodeo is going into its second week and will finish off Saturday night with a concert by Isaac Cole in the H-E-B Pavilion at the fair grounds in Abilene.

The week of meetings, Sept 2024

Next week is going to be busy with meetings. Here are dates, times and places of some of them:

Fisher County Commissioners Court, Monday, September 9,  9:00 a.m.

Clear Fork Groundwater Conservation District will meet at noon on September 9, at the USDA service center in Roby, located on Lyon Street, west.

Fisher County Appraisal District Board of Directors meeting, Tuesday, September 10, 7:00 a.m., at the CAD office across from the courthouse, north side. 

The Fisher County Historical Commission meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the museum in Roby. That would be September 10, on Concho, just north of the red light.

Fisher County new grand jury, Wednesday, September 11, 9:00 a.m., Fisher County Courthouse.

Also next week, if going by the default schedule, Rotan and Roby City Councils will meet on the second Thursday of the month, September 12. Rotan meets at 7:00 a.m. at Rotan City Hall on west Sammy Baugh, and Roby meets at noon at Roby City Hall on Lyon Street, just west of the red light.

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.

Roby possible site for Dollar General

- East Roby -

Dollar General has registered details for a store in Roby with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

The site address is 411 East South First Street, east of the Fisher County Courthouse. 

Square footage for the building is listed as 9,100 with an estimated cost of $750,000.

Construction is currently going on at the site.

School start dates 2024

The doors open for the new school year on the following dates:

Rotan Independent School District - August 14.

Roby Consolidated School District - August 15. 

Sweetwater Independent School District - August 14.

Big Country Homepage has an exhaustive list of all school begin dates.

August 2024 public meetings

The Fisher County Appraisal District Board of Directors will meet August 13, 7:00 a.m., at the appraisal district office located at 107 East North First Street in Roby. They will discuss the 2025 budget, the 2025-2026 reappraisal plan and will swear in a new board director. The last known chairman of the board, Pete Garcia, died in March 2023.

Two agendas have been posted for the date. The notices, one for a public hearing at 7:00 a.m., and one for a public meeting at 7:05 a.m, can be found on the Fisher County Posted Notices page.

A public hearing notice and a proposed budget notice for the CAD were in the August 4 issue of the Double Mountain Chronicle.

The City of Rotan has posted a meeting notice for August 8, 7:00 a.m. 

Fisher County Commissioners Court will meet August 12. The usual time is 9:00 a.m.

No agendas were posted for the city and county meetings.

A notice and a separate article in the DMC indicate there will be discussion regarding a reinvestment zone and the yearly budget at the commissioners meeting.

Builders build during dry season

- John Deere, Rotan -

There may not be a new dollar store going up on the south side of town, but the Rotan John Deere house is growing. United Ag & Turf is more than doubling in size and it's going up fast.

There were people on the Rotan Ace Hardware site this week, measuring and marking.

In Roby, there has been a major clear out around the old truck stop on the west side of town. There are workmen on big equipment getting down to the dirt.

In Sweetwater, it looks like they're building a major sports complex for the school. There are fancy new tennis courts west of the Mustang Bowl.

It's good to see things going outward and upward around the Rolling Plains.

A little public meeting notices audit

In September 2023, during the 88th Texas Legislative Session, HB 3440 was made a law. It amended a Texas Statute regarding Government Code 551.056(b), now requiring government entities to post meeting times, agendas and minutes on the internet, if they maintain a website.

In Fisher County, the County Commissioners Court and the Brazos G Water Planning Group both comply with the new law.

The City of Rotan, the Fisher County Appraisal District and the Fisher County Hospital Board all have websites, but do not post the meeting times and agendas 72 hours beforehand. The City of Rotan and the Fisher CAD also do not post the meeting minutes afterward.

The City of Roby does not maintain a website, so they are not subject to the new law.

Another provision of the new ruling is that offices that post meeting times and agendas on their website only have to have the physical (paper) notice available to the public during business hours.

The new ruling can be observed in the Texas Municipal League 2024 publication, Handbook for Mayors and Council Members, page 35.

Coming up: quail and mud

Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch 100th Quail Appreciation Day will be held May 17, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pre-registration is required. $30 fee, limit of 75 people for the event. Lunch is included. It will take place at the headquarters in Fisher County, about 15 miles west of Roby.

Fisher County Red Dirt Mud Bog LLC is kicking off the season this Saturday, May 18, 11:00 a.m. $10 to get in and $35 to enter a vehicle. There are usually concessions on site. The event will be held at the Rotan rodeo grounds, on the western outskirt of town.

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.

Bitter Creek files bankruptcy

Bitter Creek Water Supply in Sweetwater filed for bankruptcy in the Texas Northern Bankruptcy Court November 21, 2022. The final filing was today.

Seventy-five creditors are listed on the account, including the Fisher County Appraisal District and Big Country Electric.

This information was found using Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER).

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.

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.

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.