What the Abilene Reporter-News liked and disliked: How 'bout ... that weather
LIKES
Fall inches in. We complain enough about the weather - and, yes, we could use more rain - but it has gotten nice lately with cool mornings, not-so-blazing afternoons and nights that are pleasant. It should only get better. If it would rain … but there we are complaining again.
Super smarties. Congrats to three local high school students - Connor Brown and Ayden Gertiser of Wylie High and Griffin Sullivan of Abilene High. The trio were named as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. They are among 16,000 high school seniors nationally who were chosen for the honor. They hope to be among 7,200 scholars who will be awarded $28 million in scholarships. That will ease student debt.
Congrats also … to the teachers who earned cash awards from Abilene Education Foundation last week, when the Prize Parade (don't dare call them the Prize Patrol or Ed McMahon will come back to haunt you!) made its Tour de Abilene.
June in September. June Wideman, a retired longtime First Financial Bank employee, was honored Friday with the first Jeanette Castellano Administrative Professional Lifetime Achievement Award (which takes almost a lifetime to say or type). The award was created to honor the mother of Administrative Awards Founder Sunny Nunan. It recognizes employees with 30+ years as an administrative professional who made significant contributions to their company. Congrats to June!
Movie madness. Excitement built in Abilene toward Saturday's premiere of "Dangerous Ones" at the Paramount. Of course, that happened before with the film version of "Brother's Keeper," about the 2009 Abilene High football title run. Abilene on the big screen is worth a look.
How 'bout them Cowboys. The team is surviving without key players. That may not carry the team through the season but it's fine now.
More:Movie based on "Brother's Keeper" book is underwhelming
DISLIKES
Adios, El Fenix. Fans of the former longtime Abilene Mexican restaurant got heartburn last week. On top of the Burro Alley location apparently closed for good, the former site on North Treadaway was bulldozed. It probably needed to be but driving by would bring back memories of when it was located there. Yes … years ago.
And ARN letters, too. Last week, the large letters stating "The Abilene Reporter-News" were removed from the west side of the building on Cypress Street. That pretty much removes our name from the property, which has been sold. Demolishing will start at some point this year. The letters were saved; The Grace Museum one day could exhibit the history of the local newspaper. And if you were wondering, the historical marker there also was removed. It will be stored until being placed again on the property.
Ugly to hear. Still amazed at the hateful words, ridicule and self-editing of the Bible that we heard at last weekend's Pride Parade. Whatever side of the street you stand on LGBTQ+ issues, there is no call for that. It only brought out similar venom. The only upside is that this was out-of-town riff-raff. Don't let the screen door hit you on your way out of town …
More:El Fenix celebrates 75 years in business
More:El Fenix ends 83 years in business
More:Family plans to reopen iconic El Fenix
HMMM
Define progress. So, the Texas Rangers are 66-89, a record already better than the 60-102 mark in 2021. And the team is not last in the American League West. However, the Rangers sat 35.5 games back of the first-place Houston Astros. Texas last year finished 35 games back. That suggests it's not getting much better. Houston took 14 of 19 games vs. the Rangers this season.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: What the ARN liked and disliked: How 'bout them temperatures
