June 2024

Being home to the “World’s First Rodeo” offers a sense of pride to thousands of folks in West Texas. It’s their ancestry, their legacy. Whether they were raised on one of the massive ranches and know the ins and outs of the Western lifestyle or they rarely left the paved roads in town, everyone in this part of the country feels their connection with the West of the Pecos Rodeo and the history of the sport.

On June 18, the Fort Stockton historic site is opening its doors for the first “Forts and Frontiers Day,” welcoming a limited number of kids from the ages of 9-17 to participate. Students will have the opportunity to step back in time and see how life on the frontier was lived and immerse themselves in a historic educational experience filled with reenactments, stories, and games.

Your guide to local places to go and things to do! If you have an event for our Do Something! listing, please e-mail litzy.rodriguez@fortstocktonpioneer. com JUNE 6 Fort Stockton Public Library Summer Reading Program, The Magic Show with Bronson Chadwick, 6p.m.

Starting next week, on Friday June 14, the Pecos County Memorial Hospital District is hosting a vaccine clinic out of the Family Care Center Clinic on the second floor of the hospital, 387 West I-10. This clinic is an effort to return to a schedule for the student’s required vaccines for the school year.

There is a concept in physics known as the Heisenberg, or Uncertainty, Principle. This ideawasconceivedbytheGerman physicistWernerHeisenberg who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927. In the simple termsthatIunderstandthis principle states that, in quantum mechanics, it is impossible to determine two related quantities at the same time. One can measure the position of a particle, but not the direction, or one can measure the energybutnottheposition.

House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, narrowly won re-election in a hotly contested runoff race and has vowed to seek his third term as speaker, drawing threats from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to oppose any of his supporters in the 2024 primary.

“Good morning, Fort Stockton,” That is similar to how I started the 1,125, give or take, emails that I sent off this week introducing myself digitally to the people serving the city, county, schools, and local businesses, letting them know to divert their agendas and calendars my way. And now it’s your turn. So, whether it’s “paper day” Thursday morning, or Friday afternoon by the time you are picking up the Pioneer, I am very happy to meet you.

According to my extensive research (approximately five minutes on Google when I should have been folding underwear), the Chinese zodiac system assigns an animal symbol to each year. It is believed that people born in a given year have the personality of that year’s animal. For example, based on the placemats at my favorite Chinese buffet, I was born in the Year of the Dog, which means I am loyal, honest and difficult to housebreak.

I am not a mother; I have had the taste of knowing pregnancy, but it was short lived. Although I have a friend whose story I will tell you about. She was young woman who learned she was pregnant and it was amazing! Knowing a little someone was growing in her tummy and the plans she had for her baby were endless. Nine months of pure bliss. Then the inevitable would surely come. It was time to deliver the baby. The terrible pain and the unknown were nearby. The anticipation of the newborn and the 26-hour labor were all mixed feelings. But as it is said, pain and sorrow last a night, but joy comes in the morning! John explains it best by stating in chapter 16:21, “ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.”

The small building was on the main street and had been abandoned for years. One day as I passed by, I noticed an old man painting the building. Later, it had windows, a door and a sign that said, “Donut Shop “. On my next trip to that town, I decided to stop in and see what was going on. There was not anyone inside but the old man, a few bakery goods and hot coffee. I ordered a donut and coffee. As I was drinking my coffee the old man came over and sat down at my table. He told me that he was retired, and it had been his dream ever since he was a little boy to make bakery goods. He said, “I like getting the flour on my hands and mixing the dough”. He also said that he liked making pastry goods that people enjoyed. That donut shop reminds me of something about God. God loves us very much and He wants to give us good things, (Psalm 103:5, Deuteronomy 6:10&11). God has made those things available to us, but we must be willing to go to Him to get them, (James 4:8, Hebrews 4:16). The greatest good thing God has given to us is His Son, Jesus Christ, (John 3:16, Hebrews 7:25). We receive that gift by trusting in Jesus and what He did on the cross, (Hebrews 10:19-22).