100 YEARS AGO....
Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke returned to work after a three-week bout with “flumonia.” He wrote: “I felt like I have lost a bushel of pep, but I can still hammer that typewriter.”
Indeed. Cooke marked his return with a multi-column, boxed editorial on the front page urging creation of a Commercial Club—a forerunner of a Chamber of Commerce—for Rockdale. “Let’s get Regal Rockdale back to the basis of before drouth and war came to us,” he wrote.
Local pharmacist Ed Prewitt was discharged from the U. S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and was back behind the counter at Perry & Quebe Drug Store in downtown Rockdale.
Former longtime Milam County Clerk Jeff Kemp was appointed the new postmaster in Cameron. He replaced Ed English, who has resigned the post.
FORTY YEARS AGO....
Rockdale residents were headed to the polls to decide the fate of a three-proposition city bond election. A total of $2.8-million targeted “red water,” street repair and paving.
A half-page ad signed by former Rockdale City Manager N. E. Alford Sr. asked city voters to reject all three propositions.
Thirty Gause-area residents had filed a lawsuit against Milam County, targeting the county’s tax appraisal system.
Rockdale Knights of Columbus Council 7014 announced plans to build a KC Hall on a site east of the city limits on US 79. A 10-acre site had been purchased and a 15,000-square-foot building was envisioned.
TWENTY YEARS AGO....
Rockdale Medical Association merged with King’s Daughters Clinic in Temple.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) had a surprise for the City of Rockdale. TxDOT planned to start a major US 79 expansion project early and that the city had until August to complete moving utilities to facilitate the project.
Jennie Richards, a resident of Manor Oaks Nursing Home, turned 106 and was honored with a party at the facility. An RVFD firefighter, clad in full gear, stood by with a pressure hose in case it was needed after Richards’ 106-candle cake was lit.
TEN YEARS AGO....
In the wake of the Alcoa smelter closure, the South Milam County United Way had raised only $3,179, just 3.5-percent of its $90,000 goal for 2009.
A 48-year-old Rockdale man was shot in the leg during an incident in which he told police he was chased down US 77 by a man firing a handgun at him. A Rock-dale man and Copperas Cove woman were charged in connection with the incident.
Alcoa, moving toward its final layoffs as the lengthy process of shutting down Rockdale Operations continued, terminated 55 more employees, announced more layoffs in mid-February, followed by still more in mid-March.
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