September 2022

Pecos County Memorial Hospital’s first step in reaching a hospital district election is set to be finalized by the end of the week. The hospital needed at least 100 petition signatures to take the next step in the process to reach an election and according to PCMH CEO Betsy Briscoe, 210 signatures have been unofficially verified through the voter roll.

Crane gave Fort Stockton everything they could handle in the first 14 minutes of play on Sept. 16 during the Panthers’ homecoming game. Fort Stockton responded to the Golden Cranes’ hot start with their best offensive stretch of the season, scoring touchdowns on seven consecutive possessions in route to a 46-6 victory.

Ali Jackson placed 14th and Jesus Hernandez placed 16th to lead the Fort Stockton cross country teams at the Lubbock ISD Invitational on Sept. 17 at Mae Simmons Park – the location of this year’s regional meet. The event, which had races separated by classification, served as a regional barometer for the Prowlers and Panthers as numerous top teams from Fort Stockton’s district and region competed in Saturday’s race. Randall, who moved down from 5A to 4A this year won the girl’s division while Canyon won the boy’s division as they swept the top 5 spots. The Fort Stockton girl’s placed 13th out of 20 teams with in the 4A race while the Panthers, who were without their top runner in Fabian Perez, finished in 12th place out of 18 teams with a score of 307 – one point ahead of Pecos. Jackson crossed the finish of the girl’s twomile race in 13 minutes 8 seconds, good enough for the third-fastest time out of the teams that reside in Fort Stockton’s district (4A District 3). A pair of freshmen residing in 4A District 3 programs – Monahans’ Elyse Santiago and Big Springs’ Bergan Pinkley – placed 10th and 13th respectively.

The Fort Stockton tennis team opened up district play against their most formidable foe in Andrews on Sept. 20 in an away. A pair of freshman Panthers earned victories in singles play at the No. 5 and No. 6 lines in the match, marking improvement from a shutout loss a season ago. In No. 5 singles. Alexander Gomez secured 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-7 win. Dylan Jones followed suit with a three-set win (6-4, 7-5, 10-5) in No. 6 singles.

Freshman Gerardo Diaz made the most of his move up to the junior varsity squad last week in the Panthers matchup with Crane. And so did his teammate Jaxon Norman.

Fort Stockton secured their third win in their last four outings on Sept. 17 in a non-district matchup at Alpine.

The week of Sept. 23-28 is Eating Together Week with your children and family. Parents and children have busy schedules, going in different directions, and eating at different times. Why is eating together so important?

Dear Neil: I have planted several Esperanza plants in various places around our yard. All they have done is grow quite tall. I have tried cutting them down to three to four feet, but it didn’t help to get them to bloom. Still no flowers at all, even though they’re in full sun. What can I do?

Fort Stockton Pioneer Photos are from the Fort Stockton Pioneer archives at the Pioneer’s office located at 210 N. Nelson St.

“We can’t wait for next year!” The shared sentiment was voiced among many attendees at Barrio Fest – a four-day festival that celebrated the Hispanic culture and heritage of Fort Stockton from Sept. 15-18. The Thursday tours around the barrio surrounding Fort Stockton Community Theater took people down memory lane. Isai Rojas highlighted articles from the Fort Stockton Pioneer dating back to the 1930s and 1940s in which the Mexican American community celebrated the traditional Fiestas Patrias. On Sept. 16, third graders from the Fort Stockton ISD and Christian Academy took a tour of ten activity stations that included the art of tamale making, corn husk dolls, pinatas, storytelling by our local veterans, the culture of quinceaneras, free books from the Literacy Coalition of the Permian Basin and much more.