Sometimes in life, things happen that are almost unbearable. Grief doesn't announce that it's coming, and almost always blows in like an unexpected storm. I hope in defining some of the realities of sorrow that it might help someone who feels stuck in their pain. One of the verses that has always given me hope, is Psalm 34:18 'The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.'

With the first half of district action in the books, both the Holliday Lady Eagles and Windthorst Trojanettes each hold sole possession of first place in their respective districts. Fourth-ranked Windthorst (34-4) completed the clean sweep of the first half having not dropped a set following a 3-0 sweep of rival Archer City (25-11, 25-12, 25-7) last Tuesday.

The Archer County Tax Statements will be mailed on October 1. Some of the statements will look a little different this year due to the special wording mandated by the property tax relief legislation. The residents of Lakeside City have the most noticeable change. The bottom of the statement will appear blank. Please see page 2 of 4 (the backside of page 1). The breakdown of all entities will be on the second page.

Windthorst rolled up 508 yards of offense in a 41-7 rout of Petrolia on Fri., Oct. 6, to remain unbeaten in district action.

Holliday could do no wrong in a lopsided 60-0 rout over a hapless Valley View squad to begin its district season on the right foot. Since moving up to Class 3A in 2020, Valley View has been outscored by Holliday 203-22 in the last four meetings – including an 8-6 win by the Eagles’ JV in 2020 due to a Covid outbreak amongst the varsity.

The City of Scotland is sponsoring a Town Clean-Up Day on Saturday, Oct. 21. This is a free service. All residents are encouraged to clean up their property and place items into the large dumpsters located at the Scotland Trash Collection Center on Avenue I behind the fire department. The gates will be open Saturday morning at 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.or until dumpsters are full. Once the dumpsters reach capacity, the gates will be locked. Please do not put items outside the fence or throw items over the fence. Also, below is a list of items not accepted at any Texas landfill:

Archer County Commissioner Pct. 3 Pat Martin III announced his decision not to seek reelection following this term.