Looking back... Through The Reporter Files

100 YEARS AGO... At the Rockdale opera house the home talent of Thorndale presented a play entitled “Dust of the Earth,” as a benefit to the “Captain L.L. Lee Post No. 131,” American Legion of Thorndale. The play was also recently presented in Thorndale and met with the approval of the audience.

Express your faith

I was at the post office the other day. It was a Monday. Typically, Monday is a busy day for me and normally a productive day. I hit Mondays running, emptying the inbox like a “boss” and this Monday was no different. The trip to the post office is where my Monday pumped the brakes on my efficiency.

Cabbage for luck, pasta because it’s good

I hope you all ate your black-eyed peas like you were supposed to so you’ll have good luck this year. And also some greens of some kind for money. I made this cabbage recipe. It’s really simple and you definitely need to add the vinegar at the end.

Relief and hope

Hope. That is exactly what was injected into a world exhausted by the novel coronavirus pandemic, via the arms of some Milam County health-care providers. A world that has seen 1.8 million deaths is indeed tired of dealing with this.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear editor, I want to thank the many wonderful citizens who participated in the Christmas sponsorship for our Milam County children in foster care and kinship care. Each year, we have more children who have been removed due to dangerous family situations.

As for me, I’m happy we made it to 2021

I stayed up until midnight on New Year’s Eve to make sure 2020 got left behind. On New Year’s Day I already felt a little lighter, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt happy all day. We had Bloody Marys right before we pigged out on our black-eyed peas.

County updates on vaccines, other news

BURN BAN IN EFFECT—A burn ban is back in effect for Milam County as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5. Although we had a lot of rain last week, the grass is dry and burns quickly.

Looking back...

100 YEARS AGO... The Reporter was asked by the Ladies’ Cemetery Association to call attention to the necessity for the public to take more interest in the three Rockdale cemeteries. First the funds these ladies get are not sufficient to keep the grounds in first-class condition.

Carved in wood

John Shoemake came by woodworking almost naturally, like a birthright. “I grew up in the poor belt of southeast Oklahoma,” he said recently in his workshop in Rockdale. “My dad was a carpenter and a farmer. When you grow up poor you have to make them when you can’t buy them.

Milam County Junior Livestock Show entry nights for 2021

The MCJLS is to be held on March 24-28. The rules and deadlines are posted on the website. Baked goods will be coming soon. https://counties. agrilife.org/mc4h/4-h-projects/milam-county-juniorlivestock-show/ • Market bunnies will be tattooed: Feb. 27, 8-10 a.m. (subject to change).