Labor Day closings announced

Monday is Labor Day and all South Milam County schools will have a vacation day. • Rockdale, Milano, Thorndale and Thorndale St. Paul’s and Gause will be out. • There will be regularly-scheduled garbage pickup in Rockdale on Monday and throughout next week.

ROLLING OUT THE GREEN CARPET

The new Tiger Field looks like a football field now. Here’s how it got that way. What exactly are they doing here? It’s the way artificial turf is installed. The black surface is the underside of the turf itself and these six workers are stitching together a seam on the underside.

80 hear support for park splash pad

Keep your promise. Build it. That was the message delivered with one voice Monday evening in a standing-room-only city council town hall in the council chambers. The council had called the special session to gauge support for plans to build a splash pad at Sumuel Park, corner of Fourth and MLK.

Ex-THS grid star survivor of shooting at Florida mall

A former Thorndale High School football standout was one of the nine persons who were wounded and survived the deadly shooting Sunday in a Jacksonville, Florida, mall. Anthony “Tony” Montagnino, now a resident of Round Rock, was shot in the lower back and leg.

Closing recommended for Cameron, Taylor DL offices

The two closest driver’s licenses offices to Rockdale have turned up on a list of possible closures. A closure recommendation list compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety includes the Cameron and Taylor offices. The list was made public last week by the Texas Association of Counties.

Multicolor hydrants going with the flow

Notice a change in some of Rockdale’s fire hydrants? If you haven’t yet, you will. All of the city’s 300 hydrants are undergoing testing, and getting new paint jobs, in a project which will take about a month, according to City Manager Chris Whittaker. There’s a lot more to it than just decoration.

Injuries, damages in area collisions

Rockdale area road accidents included injuries and property damages during the past week, according to Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers. Trooper Jacob Luna was called to Youth Opportunities Investments Rockdale Center (formerly called Rockdale Juvenile Justice Center at 12:25 a.m.

NEWSBRIEFS

Girls may now join Cub Scouts, Sept. 4 meeting Girls can now join Cub Scouting and are invited to a rally set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, at St. John’s United Methodist Church. Cubmaster Jennifer Eubank said in February girls will also be allowed to join the Boy Scouts.

FIRE CALLS

Fire calls dispatched from the Rockdale Police Station during the past week included: • 10:58 a.m. Aug. 23, small fire at edge of the woods off south end of Cady Road, Rockdale VFD. • 5:33 p.m. Friday, mobile home fully engulfed in flames, 12856 West US 79 in Thorndale, Thorndale VFD. • 12:38 a.m.

Old Faithful

City Water Department crews have been busy replacing numerous water line leaks all over Rockdale and some are more spectcular than others. This “geyser” actually occurred Thursday as crews replaced a water line on North Wilcox between Cameron Avenue (US 79) and Bell, just one block from City Hall.