Looking back... Through The Reporter Files

100 YEARS AGO.... “Sea Shells,” The Reporter’s Sand Grove rural correspondent began his column thusly: “Let me tell you Old Cupid just played havoc in this community. Since our last writing, as there is five couples of a recent date that has been happily united in the holy bonds of wedlock.

FULL HOUSE

—It was a packed house Saturday evening at the Milano Fire Station when the Milano Volunteer Fire Department held its annual chili supper. The MVFD accepted donations totaling $33,500 during the course of the evening.

AT COLLEGE

Local students earn Temple College honors TEMPLE—A number of local and area students have earned honors in the fall semester at Temple College: President’s list (4.

Tax filing 101: common errors to avoid

IRS TAX TIPS Filing a tax return electronically reduces errors because the tax software does the math, flags common errors and prompts taxpayers for missing information.

Bloodmobile in Thorndale on Sunday

QUICK LOOK Baylor Scott & White Blood Center will be at St. Paul Lutheran Church & School in Thorndale on Sunday for a blood drawing. Hours are 8 a.m. to 12-noon. Donors will receive a free, limited edition T-shirt and a blood donor lapel pin. A photo ID is required to donate.

Sad record: 3 house fires in 6-1/2 hours

It’s a record the Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department hopes it never breaks—three major house fires in 6-1/2 hours—but it happened last Wednesday (Feb. 5).

Primary early voting starts Tuesday

Early voting begins Tuesday for the March 3 Republican and Democratic Primaries in Milam County. Sample ballots have been released and they indicate there will be a contested race this November in Milam County. Sam Pickett is a Democratic Party candidate for the Precinct 4 constable position.

No water rate hike this year

Monday’s Rockdale City Council session was a meeting of “won’ts.” • There won’t be a water rate increase this spring. • The city won’t buy water from Blue Water, as it decided to do last December.

FYI, it’s Hogan and Hall

There’s no such thing as “Hogan Hall.” There is a structure, adjacent to the Rockdale Chamber of Commerce Rock House Headquarters at 1203 West Cameron, with those two names but it was named for two former Rockdale civic leaders, not one. The “Hall” part is not the venue, it’s a person, Bill R.

Texas blizzard

It’s amazing how much white stuff a few hundredths of an inch of moisture will produce. It impressed former Rockdale High School teacher Mark Brady so much he sent this picture of himself shoveling snow from the “blizzard” to friends in Duluth, Minnesota, which the Bradys visit in the summer.