SPORTS
OUTDOORS: State parks continue recovery process from rain
Flooding left more than 50 Texas state parks drenched during the Memorial Day weekend.
Since then, communities and park staff statewide have teamed up to clean up, restore and reopen most of the damaged sites.
Thanks to their efforts, only four parks remain closed: Cedar Hill, Lake Somerville, Lake Whitney and Ray Roberts Lake State Park.
All units of Ray Roberts – located in Sanger – and Lake Somerville are closed at this time.
“We are currently assessing damages that require capital repair,” Brent Leisure, the director of the state parks division at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said. “We intend to move on those repairs as quickly as possible and get Texans back into those parks.”
State park recovery projects are estimated to cost $16 million.
To date, the most costly infrastructure damage was sustained at Bastrop with the loss of the park lake dam, said Director of the Infrastructure Division at the TPWD Jessica Davisson.
A section of the park road also washed away when the dam breached. Preliminary reports for reconstruction are more than $6 million.
Recovery would not have occurred as quickly without the help of more than 300 volunteers who dedicated about 6,500 hours toward cleanup efforts. Others loaned equipment to help move debris.
Lake Whitney State Park in Whitney has had volunteers show up daily. Local farmers and ranchers there have offered their tractors to help with park cleanup projects. The number of volunteers has increased on a weekly basis, the TPWD reports.
Mother Neff State Park in Moody continues to put on clean-up events during restoration efforts. Two of three rental facilities impacted have been cleaned and are nearly ready for rental.
Moreover, Debris was picked up so mowing can begin again. Volunteers brought power washers and generators to assist in the clean up.
Volunteer Flood Day events at Ray Roberts have helped the park clean and remove debris at Sanger and Pond Creek satellite units. The Greenbelt Unit also had a volunteer event to clean the multi-purpose trail. More than 90 volunteers dedicated 1,180 hours toward restoration.
At Blanco State Park, another one of the parks hardest hit, the Texas A&M Forest Service, the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, a pair of ranches and a hauling company removed tons of debris, which helped get the park ready for its recent partial reopening.
For more information about the status of current parks, log onto the website: texasstateparks.org.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (Logo provided by the TPWD, used with permission)
Bellevue’s girl’s basketball team led at halftime but a quick 9-0 Jacksboro run in the opening moments of the second half would prove the difference in a 28-25 Lady Eagle loss June 15 in a Nocona Summer League game.
Leading 12-9 at the half, Bellevue continued to shut down the inside game of the Tigerettes. Jacksboro switched tactics and began firing from outside. Three 3-pointers in the span of just under two minutes gave Jacksboro an 18-12 lead.
Bellevue kept things close, however, getting on the second half scoreboard with Mattie Broussard’s basket and free throws cutting the deficit to two, 18-16. A Haven Jones 3-pointer put the Lady Eagles up 19-18 midway through the second half.
The Tigerettes had just one 3 -pointer the rest of the way but got inside for a pair of buckets to take a 25-21 lead with 4:50 to go. Both offenses shut down late.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Most school-age athletes start off playing everything. By the time they graduate, they whittle it down to just one or two.
New Bowie girl’s track and overall cross country coach Shawnda Childers is no exception. While at Iowa Park she competed in volleyball, cross country and track before cutting out volleyball and focusing on track and cross country to close out high school.
Childers did not stay with athletics while moving on to Midwestern State University, where she received her bachelor’s and master’s Degrees. After graduation, shestarted coaching in Electra. She came to Bowie for one year, then went back to her old stomping grounds in Iowa Park where she spent the next four years.
The return home also put her in contact with now-Bowie Coach Griffin Fields, who was a coach there at the time. From Iowa Park, she spent the next three years at City View.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
New Saint Jo Girl’s Basketball Coach Grant Gooch isn’t completely unfamiliar with the area.
“We went to Muenster quite a bit when I was a kid,” Gooch, who will be going into his 20th year as a coach, said. “We’d load up the cooler from the meat markets. It’s good to be back.”
Gooch worked with Saint Jo Athletic Director CJ Hantz when the pair were in Throckmorton. Gooch comes to town from Menard where he spent three years at the West Texas school.
Gooch says coaching and education kind of come naturally to him.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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