Columns

Drought. I have lived long enough to remember the drought of the 1950s.

C APITAL Highlights Texas Press Association The Texas Department of State Health Services has received and distributed 14,780 doses of the monkey pox vaccine to local health departments and DSHS regional offices. Another 27,000 doses could be made available by the Strategic National Stockpile.

Special to The Fayette County Record I just discovered a new way a vacation can be ruined. My Facebook account was hacked.

T EXAS History This Week in Texas History Fifty-one years after playing in his last major-league game, a talented Texan tragically struck down in the prime of life finally made it into the Baseball Hall ofFame on Aug. 7, 1972.Four or five years after Ross Middlebrook Youngs’ birth at Shiner in 1897, his father moved the family to San Antonio.

I’m sitting in the quietness of my casita, alone, except for my canine companions crowding against me, one on either side pushing the boundaries ofmy one person chair.It’s a clear and soft morning, expectations abandoned, duties postponed, a remote calmness seeping into my being, stilling the restless energy of accomplishment. Seldom do I allow my mind to rest, to sit idle, wander hidden paths without destination, content to just be in my aloneness.

Doak Walker ended speculation about his future in football by announcing on July 29, 1955 that he had agreed to play one more season with the Detroit Lions. Grantland Rice, dean of American sportswriters, called him “the most authentic allaround player in football history.” Doak Walker could do everything – run, pass, catch, punt and kick – and did it with a modest grace that endeared him to fans who never had heard of Southern Methodist University.

Texans often travel to escape summer’s heat, heading for the Gulf Coast, the Hill Country or the mountains. A few travel to Europe, where they’re finding a “heat wave” that’s even more punitive than ours.

As the nearly statewide drought shows no signs of abating, wildfire danger continues to spread across the state. The Chalk Mountain Fire in Somervell County and the 1148 Fire in Palo Pinto County caused local officials to urge residents to evacuate. Several lakefront homes were destroyed around Possum Kingdom Lake last week as a result of the 1148 Fire, which involved 457 acres and was about 50% contained as of Sunday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Our daughter heads off to college in a few weeks. She’ll be a University of Texas freshman living in a 5,000-person dorm (more people than live in her hometown).

To the editor: When I spoke to the school board on July 18, I used the word “all” schools in Houston had metal detectors at their football fields back in 1994 when we moved to La Grange, but of course it was not “all.” I should have said “several” schools. I would like to add to what I was going to say on July 18 (before my 5 minute time limit ended).