100 YEARS AGO....
Rockdale called off its Fourth of July celebration because Thorndale was set to hold a three-day, county-wide observance to welcome home soldiers who were continuing to return from World War I. Rockdale leaders promised a similar three-day observance in 1920.
The Rockdale Chamber of Commerce meeting turned into a loud town hall promoting construction of a new high school. A unanimous resolution passed in favor of a new school containing the sentence “our high school has been appropriately named ‘the bat roost’.”
County commissioners opened bids for a new six-mile road linking Rockdale and Tracy and were dismayed to find the lowest bid was $4,000 per mile. The matter was tabled until the next commissioners’ session.
The U. S. Senate voted 56-25 to send the women’s suffrage amendment proposal—making women eligible to vote—to the states. Approval by three-fourths of the states would add the amendment to the U.W. Constitution.
FORTY YEARS AGO....
The Rockdale City Council named Felipe Martinez as police chief. Martinez was a former Cameron chief and replaced Verl Freeman who had resigned in January.
Will of the late H. H. Coffield of Rockdale left his substantial estate divided equally between the Boy Scouts of America, Salvation Army and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Coffield’s wife and son had pre-deceased him.
Meeting in an emergency session, the Texas Railroad Commission approved a revised surface mining permit application by Alcoa’s Rockdale Operations, enabling the mine to stay open after the federal Office of Surface Mining ordered the cessation of coal-hauling operations there.
“Out of gas” signs had begun to appear on Rock-dale pumps after a nationwide gasoline shortage cut supplies to local merchants.
TWENTY YEARS AGO....
A tame city council meeting turned torrid when a council member said Waste Management Inc., the city’s garbage contractor, had missed picking up trash in his business dumpster four of eight times in May and once already in June.
School trustees cut two classroom days from the 1999-2000 RISD calendar but students were still looking at going back to school on Aug. 12.
A crowd of 400 packed the KC Hall for the annual Rockdale Homecoming as the event was held on the 125h anniversary of Rock-dale being declared a city. (See column above).
Jubilee Days events featured “gunslingers,” turtle races, a yo-yo contest, barbecue cookoff and the annual Jubilee Days Rodeo.
TEN YEARS AGO....
On a split 4-2 vote, Rock-dale ISD trustees decided to close the high school campus at lunch. Safety was cited as the main concern. Trustees noted the new high school, under construction, would have its own “food court.”
A Cameron policeman was recovering from injuries to both arms, sustained in a foot chase and scuffle with a suspect in that city.
The murder trial of Gordon Curran got underway in 20th District Court, Cameron. Curran was accused of killing 48-year-old Gregory Storey in Milano on Oct. 20, 2008.
Thorndale defeated D’Hanis to earn the Bulldogs’ third trip to the Class A state baseball tourney in the past four years.
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