100 YEARS AGO....
Graduation was to be held in the City Hall Auditorium for the RHS graduating class of 1920. Members were S. B. Ford, Snively Riddle, Pearl Fletcher, Ivy Williams, Ellen Prewitt and Ophelia Estell.
“Scribler” reported the drought had gotten so bad out at Ellison Ridge “even the news has dried up.”
Rockdale was in the process of organizing a community band. Apparently to stave off any protests about noise, The Reporter pledged: “We are going out to practice at the Fair Grounds until we have hog-tied all the noise.”
March was the biggest cattle-dipping month in Milam County history with 4,034 herds dipped, 698 of which had tick-infested cattle.
FORTY YEARS AGO....
Biggest local race in Milam County primary election voting came in the Democratic Primary where H. N. “Spud” Caywood of Rockdale defeated P. L. Paris of Thorndale. Both men were incumbents who were thrown into the same district by countywide redistricting.
Ground was broken on Childress Street for the new Rockdale Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Building. Target completion date was July 1.
A public meeting at Fair Park was scheduled to address complaints by US 79 residents over “problems generated by gravel trucks.”
Milano’s Joel Williams, standing 5-4, leaped 6’-4” to punch his ticket to the state track meet in the high jump. Williams also qualified for state in the long jump.
TWENTY YEARS AGO....
A representative of Classic Cable appeared before the Rockdale City Council, ostensibly to request a rate increase, but he ended up being grilled by council members on complaints about service and reliability.
Challenger Jerry Caywood ousted an incumbent school trustee in a fourman school board race. In the other trustee contest, incumbent Gaye Bland was re-elected over challenger Stephen Jones.
A potline was set to reopen at Alcoa’s Rockdale Operations, bringing the smelter capacity to six, its highest operating level in seven years.
Rockdale’s One-Stop Center was reopening after a weekend water heater burst, flooding about half the building and resulting in $3,000 to $4,000 in damages.
TEN YEARS AGO....
Rockdale voters, in both the 2010 and 1994 city limits, okayed creation of a Municipal Development District (MDD) and also endorsed transferring a one-half cent sales tax from the Rockdale Hospital District to the MDD.
Winners in contested races for the Rockdale City Council: Dr. Larry Jones mayor; Joyce Dalley, east ward; Toby Johnson, west ward.
The Reporter printed a special section commemorating what would have been the 100th birthday of George Sessions Perry, the acclaimed Rockdale author.
Rockdale’s Tiger golf team became the school’s first-ever boys’ golf team to qualify for the state meet. Members were Lance Loewe, Kirk Williams, Patrick David, Casey Burrough, Waylon Boyd and Tyler Wright. Coach was Earl Gandy.
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