The Brazos G Regional Water Planning Group is looking to fill a board member seat.
Fisher County is one of 37 counties that make up the region G area of the Texas Water Development map. Brazos G is the board that oversees this region.
Explore the Brazos G Water Planning Group website to review board member qualifications and to request an application packet.
Nomination packets may be submitted until December 30.
Sweetwater - In Nolan County, a pre-trial hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow in the case of the State of Texas versus Gary Don Dunlap, Sr.
Dunlap was arrested in June 2021 for the negligent homicide of Jessica McQueen. He is accused of abandoning her after she died of a fatal dose of illicit drugs.
Dunlap was 57 at the time, McQueen, 33.
Update, Nov 28: Before court began, the bailiff announced that Dunlap would not be coming to court because he broke his ankle during transport. Pretrial will be rescheduled.
When giving a book as a gift, one should ask the recipient exactly which book they would like, otherwise one might offend the recipient or make the gift feel like homework, if it isn't a book to the person's liking.
I managed to offend and repulse both my parents with books. Back in a time when I was younger and didn't understand strict political and religious lines, I thought I was giving my folks enlightening literature.
To my father, a pure Baptist and God-loving man, I gave Nostradamus. I think he read it, but he deemed it the devil's work.
To my mother, a usually fair, bi-partisan individual, I gave Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. I think she read it, as she tossed it to me later and said, "He's a socialist."
I say my mother was bi-partisan, and voted for the candidate that was best, not along a party line, because we once had an argument where I yelled, "I've never supported George [W.] Bush!" and she yelled "Neither have I!", and she watched both CNN and Fox news, to get both sides, she said.
I believe in knowing thy enemy, and diving into a fear-mongered book is a good start. I think it would be interesting if the people who ban books are made to read the books they ban.
I don't understand the bans, as one can simply go to the internet and conjure whatever book is wanted in an instant. Do kids still check books out of the school library? I'm too long out of the loop to know.
Maybe it's a diversion tactic so Texans won't look at the 3,803 laws that were passed in the last legislative session.
By the way, the next session begins January 10, 2023.
While looking through the newspapers on The Portal to Texas History site, I came across this poem written by my great-grandfather Percy Templeton, from Atlas, Texas. It was in a 1915 edition of a socialist newspaper called The Rebel, which seemed to have a lot to do with the farmers lament. Funny, they were talking about fake news even then. Here's the poem:
How the Farmer Gets Him
Come all you people if you want to know
How to us farmers milk and honey does flow
Made fifty bushels of smutty corn
Never had such luck since I was born
Work from morn till the close of day
Poor old Beck did not have a feed of hay
The cow went dry, the old sow died
The hens quit laying and seemed satisfied
The garden burned up when the weather got hot
So there was not anything to bile in the pot
The children’s hats, they had no crown
On top of all this the cotton went down
Everyone we owed he wanted to say
I sure must be first and get my pay
The Landlord said he sure must have his
For he needed it badly in his biz
The banks tell us what to plant and how to do
But will not say I’ll see you through
They say raise a living and stay out of debt
That is good advice all right you bet
But how will a fellow, till he makes a crop, go
Without something to eat? Is what I want to know
The wise Guys are ready with their advice
What to plant and how to work it, “oh, how nice!”
A certain hardware man tells us how
Nobody belongs to God but farmers now
That the old farmers are a favored lot
And will not have to go where it is very hot
Tells us how cheap everything is now
Such things as rakes, and hoes and plow
And what enormous prices we get for what we raise
Such as chicks, cattle, corn and maize
They say sell your cotton pay what you owe
Cut out such luxuries as candy and the show
Wear less, eat less, and be sure to work more
And get ready to meet Mr. Sanford on the Beautiful Shore
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| - Mesquites losing leaves - |
The season seems to be changing in a more normal fashion this year. That may just be my perception, but the frost seems to have come at the right time and it has been cold enough to wear sweaters. If I still had my 1980's sweater collection, I would be decked out, in an out of style type of way.
The commissioners meeting last Tuesday was more interesting than Yellowstone. Not to denigrate the tv show, just showing how exciting the meeting was.
Fisher County Third Precinct Commissioner Preston Martin took the floor to relate a compelling and succinct chain of events leading up to and following his arrest and dismissal of charges for theft of material and payroll. It appears his indictment was folly, with no evidence or investigative resources being presented against him in court.
Commissioners court videos can be viewed on YouTube.
Elections resulted in Greg Abbott continuing to serve as Texas Governor for four more years. Locally, Zach Johnson won as Mayor of Rotan; Randy Cox, Loyd Greene, Joy Dennis, Frank Miranda and Gordon Scott Toliver won Rotan City Council seats; Michele Terry, Kevin Kelly, Stormy Rasberry and Dakota Rasberry won spots on the Roby School Board; Gerald P. Rodriguez, David Digby and Christy Garcia are school trustees for the Hermleigh Indendent School District. That's my take anyway, the unofficial results can be viewed on the Fisher County Election page.
At the beginning of district court in Roby this morning, the state moved to dismiss felony charges against Fisher County Commissioner Preston Martin.
Also in court today, Brandon Baldiva and Anthony Hernandez were offered a plea deal, dropping felony assault and disarmament of Officer Josh Benitez to a Class A Misdemeanor. Both accepted the plea and were sentenced to jail time plus fines, minus time served.
Other cases were deferred.
A pretrial hearing for Shawn Adkins, indicted for the murder of Hailey Dunn, will be held at the Nolan County Courthouse, Nov. 9.
For those who are interested in the play-by-play of the Texas November 8, 2022 General Election, the Texas Secretary of State website has a myriad of information, right down to the names of voters.
On the site link provided above, go to Unofficial Early Voting Turnout By Date>Date>Submit to get a breakdown of unofficial early voting reports from each county. One more click to the right, on Voter Details Report, will show who has voted so far.
Fisher County reports 2,680 registered voters.
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| - Downtown Rotan - |
Newspapers are available online from Texas Tech University and the University of Texas.
UT's Portal to Texas History and Texas Tech's Southwest Collection both allow searches by keyword.
The Portal will highlight the word being searched within the document.
The Southwest Collection has contiguous capability, allowing the user to scroll through an entire newspaper.
The Texas Tech collection has Rotan/Roby newspapers.
Texas newspapers in the archives date back to the mid-1800's.
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| - Alamo Street - |
The article seemed innocent enough, an accidental drowning when a family fishing trip went awry, but subsequent articles told a different story: a man accused and arrested for murdering his wife practically in front of their children. He wanted to cash in on several life insurance policies, and to make a future with a prostitute from Oklahoma.
Court documents from the case mentioned that the prostitute was staying at Hazel Woods place before the accused man put her up at a nice hotel.
I thought "Hazel Woods? Who is Hazel Woods?"
I went searching, searching for Hazel Woods, and, finally, found a 1937 death notice for her. She was otherwise known as Clara Bowman.
I wondered why a woman at that time would have an alias. I guess if you were a lady running a "bawdy house", you might not want to use your real name.
After reading many newspaper, book and court articles, I ascertained that Hazel Woods place was in the vicinity of 605 Alamo Street in Sweetwater. Somewhere between 1901 and 1913, Clara bought the property from Kate Morse, a madam who had arrived in Sweetwater from Stephenville in 1901.
After Hazel Woods aka Clara B Webb Bowman died in 1937, there were newspaper ads offering rooms for rent at the property, known as the Alamo Hotel.
References: Portal to Texas History, Caselaw Access Project, Casetext, Sins of the Pioneers, Polk City Directory: Original drowning article; Parks arrest; Parks v State, Hazel Woods place mentioned; Bowman v State, Clara admits to a lot, as well as buying the house from Morse; Kate Morse in Stephenville
An attempt to oust Fisher County Precinct 3 Commissioner Preston Martin has been delayed.
Judge Ernie Armstrong, filling in for Judge Glenn Harrison of the 32nd District Court, announced that "additional matters need to be prepared and a future date and time will be set".
The judge made the decision after talking to council for both sides in chambers.
Court was scheduled for 9 a.m. The announcement was made at 11 a.m., leaving spectators, plaintiff, and defendant in suspense for two hours.
The hearing today was to determine if Martin should be allowed to finish his term in the wake of being accused and arrested for felony theft of $30,000 or more and tampering with time sheets.
The felony case has not yet gone to trial.
Martin is currently serving a four-year term, 2021-2025. He has been Precinct 3 Commissioner since 2009.