What the Abilene Reporter-News liked and disliked: Those who serve

LIKES

Craig Middle School student Breanna Hodges, right, with her mother, Fransuelle, in 2013, when Breanna earned a trip to Disney World. Ten years later, Breanna is a college graduate.
Craig Middle School student Breanna Hodges, right, with her mother, Fransuelle, in 2013, when Breanna earned a trip to Disney World. Ten years later, Breanna is a college graduate.
  1. Flags out. This is a three-day weekend, for a reason. Monday is Memorial Day. Let's put out the flag and consider our freedom to enjoy doing what we want to do, thanks to those who serve those who have died for us.

  2. A difference a year later It's easy to complain about the weather, but let's give a late May shout-out to Mother Nature. We had six days of 90 degrees or warmer going into the weekend. Last May, we had 17 days of 100 or hotter. Also we were inching toward 5 inches of rain, and are 2 inches above the average. Our lawns are green, the need to water is less and our lakes are filling. We are appreciative.

  3. For sure, these five students rock. Five students recently were honored with scholarships at a meeting of Abilene-area oil and gas folks. Honored were Eli McCarson Peacock, Tarleton State, $3,000, to study petroleum geology; Shelby Elizabeth Long, $2,000, Angelo State, wants to be a geology professor; Alyssa Brae Bodecker, $2,000, Angelo State, to study geology; Jacob Carl Heidema, $2,000, Angelo State, to study geology, and Zachary Robinson, $2,000, Angelo State, to study paleontology and geology.

  4. Are you smarter than these above-average Bears? Allison Taylor with the Baird school district asked if we could toot some horns. Baird High sent eight students to the UIL state academic meet, with Brady Deel taking first place in literary criticism. The junior's score placed her in the top 15 for Classes 1A to 6A. Other successes were: 2. team literary criticism (Deel, Bree Tennison, Jadyn Smedley and Westen Isenhower); 3. Taelor Stephens, editorial writing; Ashlyn Crawford, copy editing; Haileigh Coleman, prose interpretation; 4. Tennison, poetry interpretation.

  5. "Disney Girl" does it in three. It seems that we just did a senior story on Breanna Hodges, graduating from Abilene High. Well, that was 2020. Despite her physical challenges, she was a success story. So, how about this update - she just graduated from the University of North Texas with two degrees - psychology and addiction studies - in three years. Her GPA was 3.984 and she was in the Honors College all three years. She moves on to grad school. Her parents, Fraunselle and Ronnie Hodges are darn proud. So are we back in Abilene. Oh, the "Disney Girl" part? We wrote about her when she was given a trip to Florida in middle school. You go, "Disney Girl."

  6. Best of the team left. Congrats to Wylie baseball, the last Abilene team standing. The Bulldogs battled Abilene nemesis Argyle in the region semifinals. Still playing as the school year ended were Albany, Hawley, May, Stephenville and Wylie in baseball, and Coahoma, Hermleigh and Stamford in softball. What a way to end the year.

  7. Alan with the call. Congrats to Abilene High baseball for its turnaround season. The Eagles took a game from Lubbock-Cooper before bowing out of the playoffs last wekeed, and AHS senior Alan Mercer was given the mic by Chuck Statler. Mercer is going to Alabama and hopes to be a sports broadcaster. Well, he got his shot in the 9th, calling the Eagles' walk-off 1-0 win when an overthrow sent home the runner rounding third. Sadly Mercer will have few victories to call watching Crimson Tide football ....

DISLIKES

  1. More tough news in Jones County. While the rain was mostly gentle in Abilene, a brief but destructive tornado bounced around Jones County to destroy several homes. This was a mostly rural area, but folks do live out yonder and we hope those affected get the help they need and their spirits are lifted. It has been an up and down spring in Jones County, for sure.

Tornado damage in rural Jones County.
Tornado damage in rural Jones County.

HMMM

  1. Sam, I am, at ACU. This doesn't happen much in local sports, but an administrator at one university has been hired as an administrator at another. It is a bit shocking to see Sam Ferguson in a purple tie, but the McMurry athletic director has jumped to a Division I program at ACU. McMurry will be challenged to find a champion of sports on the same level as Ferguson, who had been there for nine years. Now we have a former Hardin-Simmons football player (Jordan Neal) and basketball player (Zach Pickelman) coaching at McMurry, and Ferguson at ACU, which has been a vacuum cleaner in recent years, hoovering local folks and programs to the Hill ...

  2. Book your flight now. We gets all sorts of rankings each week. This one was random: Marble Falls is ranked No. 27 as an "alternative" romantic destination. Marble Falls ranks 30 places ahead of Fredericksburg. The top five, if you're not going to Maui or New Orleans, are St. Augustine, Fla.; Paia, Hawaii; Hilo, Hawaii; Asheville, N.C.; and Carmel-by-Sea, Calif. Not ranked are Tye, Texas, or Carmel-by-the Corn, Iowa.

If you read the fine print, the "no parking" has one exception - the guy who parked his car there. Don't know if this softball fan was for Forsan or Stamford, but ACU police missed this call.
If you read the fine print, the "no parking" has one exception - the guy who parked his car there. Don't know if this softball fan was for Forsan or Stamford, but ACU police missed this call.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: What the Abilene Reporter-News liked and disliked: Those who serve