South-Plains News

Follow George Watson's Twitter live from the Texas Tech-Prairie View A&M baseball game at Rip Griffin Park First United Methodist Church traces its roots on the South Plains to the 1890s.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column was originally published in 2008. AS I have been doing nearly every Easter week for the last 40 years, I attended the annual meeting of the Texas Folklore Society - its 92nd.

The Llano Estacado Silver Star Board has scheduled its eighth annual fundraiser from 6:30-10 p.m. April 25 at the American Wind Power Center, 1701 Canyon Lake Drive.

Lonnie Acosta, left, looks at a list of jobs with South Plains College as he speaks with Maria Strong during the South Plains Job Fair at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Wednesday.

New York Times best-selling author Ashley Rhodes-Courter spoke at the South Plains Workforce Solutions Job Fair on Wednesday.

He took leftover hay from a previous crop he had grown and, with the help of family, friends and employees, distributed it in and around the perimeter of his vineyard.

Drank some Italians like Chianti or Bolla Valpolicella, maybe a German riesling named Blue Nun, or a Portuguese sparkling rosA© called Mateus? Orson Wells unctuously quoted Paul Masson: "We will sell no wine before it's time."

But when gardeners create the right environment, the plants can usually adapt. "They don't grow very well naturally in Lubbock - it's a little too cold and dry - but with special care you can get them to come up," said Daniel Cunningham, a Texas Tech graduate student in plant and soil sciences.

Maurice Stanley stood in his barbershop Monday on south University Avenue and explained how he has always used a collection bucket in the past to raise funds for causes such as helping a cancer-stricken friend pay her bills and supporting local schools and churches.

"I like guar because it's got huge genetic variability and it's extremely drought-tolerant," said Dick Auld, chairman of Texas Tech's department of plant and soil sciences.

A much-anticipated strong cold front will continue to move through the KCBD viewing area Sunday evening and overnight.

The South Plains Electric Cooperative restored power to members in South Lubbock after an outage near the Quaker Avenue substation on Sunday, April 13, according to a post on the utility company's Facebook page.

Her grandparents, Walter and Ouida Liles, had moved to the South Plains of Texas from Oklahoma, and were among the early settlers of the Amherst and Littlefield area.

The United Family and Mrs Baird's Bread announced Belinda Pinkerton of Stephen F. Austin Elementary School in Slaton, Daniel Rogers of Rise Academy Charter School and Elias Perez of Olton High School as the March recipients of the second annual Teachers On The Rise program.

The spring cold front will move into the Texas Panhandle early Sunday afternoon, but is not expected to enter the KCBD viewing area until late afternoon and will pass through Lubbock a few hours afterward.

With crop planting time approaching but drought lingering, it's safe to say South Plains soil moisture is not where growers would like it to be.

The distinction, bestowed by the Military Order of the Purple Heart, honored Tech's efforts to organize the largest gathering of Purple Heart recipients in the nation at its Lone Survivor football game in November.

I am going to West Texas next week for research on a project I am writing. Anyone in the Midland/Lubbock/Paducah/TBD area want to help? No word yet on Novak's research interests in the South Plains, but if the Twitter response is any indication, he won't be short on assistants.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday shows all of Wichita County is now in the Exceptional Drought category - the most severe.

Most of the South Plains is considered to be in extreme to exceptional drought. While Lubbock is looking at restrictions, other communities are being hit even harder.