News

Fisher County received unexpected visitors last Wednesday when members of a sport paragliding competition began landing in fields throughout the county. 

   The first call came in from Rotan on the evening of August 17th. Macy Morales reported a paraglider had touched down, practically in her backyard. 

   This individual would turn out to be the competition’s organizer and former Paragliding World Record Holder, David Prentice. David broke the world record in Zapata, TX. He held it for 26 hours before it was broken.

   “I also hold the record for the shortest amount of time to hold a record,” joked David.

   As we rushed to catch up with David, the second call came in, which resulted in the Chronicle meeting, Chandler Papas, paragliding competitor and friend of Prentice.  

 Nearing the final stages of rebuilding after a devastating house fire in November, the Rivas family received much needed supplies from United States Gypsum Co. in Sweetwater.

   When the Rivas house caught fire in the late evening hours of November 9th and burned through the a.m. hours of the 10th. The 100-year-old house had been the home of, Roy Rivas, and his wife, Minnie, for more than 50 years.  It was the place where they had raised 12 children.   

   “We’ve lost everything,” said Roy. “Now I’ve got nothing but memories.”

   But the story would later get picked up by news outlets in the surrounding areas and retold throughout the state. People from all over pitched in to lend a hand. 

Sheriff Robinson officially turned in his written resignation to county at the commissioners court special meeting last Monday.

   Robinson’s resignation letter consisted of a single sentence:

   “I hereby announce my intent to resign as Fisher County Sheriff with an effective date of August 31, 2016.”

   Robinson graduated from Rotan High School in 1966, joined the Army, and served his country for 22 years before winning the Bronze Starr, retiring as Master Sergeant, and returning home to serve at home. Sheriff J.A. Robinson has been serving the county for 24 years, 7 as Fisher County Sheriff.

   The court accepted Robinson’s resignation. 

   The court briefly went into closed session to discuss Robinson’s successor. Until a newly elected sheriff takes over in January, the court must appoint for the unexpired term.  

Last week, the Rotan City Council tabled the vote for setting a dollar amount on a fund match that will be listed the city’s application to the Texas Park and Wildlife Grant. 

   City Administrator, Carla Thornton received some additional information only minutes before the meeting, and had not had the chance to go over them yet. She wanted to be able to present the council with the all of the information before proceeding with setting a dollar amount for the grant.

   The Texas Parks and Wildlife Grant is a match grant the city plans to use to renovate the playground at the city park. 

At the August 10th, special meeting held at the Rotan Lion’s Club, DP&R members unanimously voted to turn their lines over to the City of Rotan.

   The DP&R water board approached the City of Rotan more than a month ago, hoping the city would consider absorbing the DP&R lines. Members of the board spoke to the council in recent years, but were unable to negotiate a mutual agreement. However, Charlie Cleveland retired and left DP&R without a licensed operator, prompting them to return to the negotiation table. 

   City officials and DP&R board members have been working on the matter for weeks, asking each other questions, learning new information, and working through logistics on a number of issues, but eventually the DP&R board, city officials, and attorneys representing both parties reached an agreement for the city to take over the lines.

Concerns about the declining state of the old Callan Hospital, a building that serves as part museum and part public library, was again the topic of discussion at the Rotan City Council meeting last week.

   Glynetta Callan and Dot Harris had an earlier meeting with Mayor Nowlin regarding the The Rotan Public Library and Callan Museum.

   Nowlin reported to the city council about a number of issues including a portion of the ceiling that was falling in one of the rooms on the museum side.

   Nowlin said Callan and Harris would be looking into trying to get some grant money to help sustain the building, but Nowlin would like the council to consider another options, including finding another location for the library.

At Monday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Greg Decker told the board that not only can the school pay off their 14-year-old bond early, the STAAR test results showed a substantial improvement in student education.  

   Superintendent Greg Decker spoke with the bank about paying the bond off early, a bond acquired in 2002 to fund renovations to the high school campus. 

   Decker learned if they paid $112,000 now, it would save the school around $3,000 in interest payments later. The school in fact had the money in their INS account, and voted to use the money to make the early payment. 

   As a result, the school plans to leave the tax rate where it has been at $1.17, but with no I&S rate to apply, residents can expect to see a tax reduction in this upcoming year. This will be voted on along with the approval of the propose budget during the public meeting scheduled for August 30 at 7:30 a.m.

If you’d just start off, tell me a little bit about yourself, tell me where you grew up and how you got into politics.

Sure, I grew up in Plainview. I tell people all the time that small town West Texas has a special place in my heart. My dad was a tractor salesman, and my mom was a teacher and a homemaker who raised 3 boys. I have a younger brother that’s a community banker in Lubbock, and a brother that’s a pastor in League City, down in the Houston area.

It is time to order Sheep and Goat validation tags. If you or someone you know is needing one your order must be turned in no later than noon Friday August 19, 2016. If you are in 4-H contact Staci Faucett at 325-776-3259 or 432-599-8329. If you are in Roby FFA you can contact the Roby CISD Ag department or Rotan FFA needs to contact Rotan ISD Ag department.

Dan Richardson from the Abilene TxDOT Office spoke to the commissioners Monday about federal money available to repair and replace weakened bridges throughout the county.

   Richardson said he has met with the judge about bridges that will qualify for repair or replacement under the Federal Bridge Program. He said that with being in the northern reaches of the Brazos River basin, Fisher County has the most off-system county bridges in his district and informed the court 9 of these would qualify for the program.

   He went on to say that 3 of the 9 are listed for replacement. Two are on County Road 436 in the southern part of the county, and the other is on County Road 251.