July 2023

From a small oasis in the West Texas desert to the towering skyscrapers of one of the world’s “Most Livable Cities,” Andres Madrid has seen it all. Madrid recently completed a whirlwind trip to Melbourne, Australia to represent Fort Stockton at the 2023 Rotary International Convention. Madrid is the incoming president of the Fort Stockton Rotary Club.

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GARDENER’S MAILBAG Dear Neil: Please identify this mystery plant that is growing in my lantana bed. I don’t want to pull it if it would be an attractive groundcover, but I don’t want it to take over the entire bed.

S______ P__ C.___ Fort Stockton Pioneer.

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GUEST COLUMNIST The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the most trusted barometer of children’s classroom progress, has just delivered bad but expected news. Post COVID- 19 lockdown testing found that kids are going backwards in both reading and math.

GUEST COLUMNIST When I was a young adult living under my parents’ roof, my late father always made sure I had Beanee Weenees, Vienna sausage, potted meat and other such snacks to take to my graveyard-shift factory job. Of course, I appreciated the display of paternal love; but Chris van Tulleken, author of “Ultra-Processed People,” would probably be aghast.

It is important to note that an arrestshouldnotbeconsideredas evidence of guilt. The defendants arepresumedinnocentuntilproven guiltyinacourtoflaw.