Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 194, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Page: 1 of 12
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CM K
DEDICATED TO PROUDLY DELIVERING LOCAL NEWS SINCE 1881
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
www.sweetwaterreporter.com
113,Issue
50 cents
Town falls in love with an Angel
A Lubbock man is spending the night behind bars
after his 4-year-old son was found wandering in the
middle of Interstate 20 on Tuesday morning in Nolan
County.
The child was found at 6:30 a.m. near the Highway 70
split on the east side of Sweetwater.
When turning onto Interstate 20 early Tuesday morn-
ing the last thing Sweetwater high school basketball
coach Al Hunt and his son expected to see in the middle
of the road was a child.
Yet standing in the middle of the dangerous freeway
was 4-year-old Angel Flores.
The coach scooped up Angel and called police. That's
when Sweetwater Chief of Police Jim Kelley says they
brought the boy to the emergency room and in a hurry.
"Because he has hundreds and hundreds of cactus in
him," said Kelley. "At one point we heard that they had
counted four to live hundred of them."
After word of Angel's rescue spread through social
media, the Saginaw Police Department informed
Sweetwater that a man named Carlos Rico had turned
himself in and admitted to leaving Angel.
"We understand the father was in route from Lubbock
back to Saginaw to live with family members due to
marital pre lems and he had a religious experience
and threw him out of the car into a pasture," said Chief
Kelley. "He said that this was around 3 a.m. on Tuesday
morning, so Angel was alone for at least three and a half
hours before he was found."
Rico is charged with child endangerment, and after
further questioning he told officers that he had also
thrown a black duffel bs out of the car at the same
time. More than a dozen officers combed the area where
the boy was found looking for the bag. Kelley stated that
efforts are being made to bring Rico to Nolan County
Jail and that more charges are being sought as their
investigation continues. "We have two officers in route
to Saginaw and we will continue working here on the
case."
Angel was admitted to Rolling Plains Memorial
Hospital for observation. His stepmother is currently
in Sweetwater with an uncle and is available to take
• See ANGEL page 3
Community comes together for prayer
f
The Nolan County community came together on Tuesday evening for prayer. Many attended the prayer for rain in light of so many local
fires and lack of rain in the area.
Photo by Brett Smith
Rural communities hit
hard by Texas drought
Nearly all parts of Texas look like "the dead of winter"
as the drought continues to intensify in all parts of the
state. Now rural towns and communities are feeling the
economic impact of the very dry weather.
"The estimation right now is probably a $1.5 billion
loss to agriculture," said Nolan County Farm Bureau
• See DROUGHT page 3
Plea entered in court
Diana Ortiz pled true to revoking her probation on
Monday to Judge Glen Harrison during 32nd Judicial
District Court on Monday.
Ortiz was on community supervision for possession of a
controlled substance, namely cocaine on Aug. 8, 2007. She
was put on community supervision on May 11, 2009.
For her plea, Ortiz will have to serve 18 months confine-
ment in the State Jail Division of the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice. She will also have to pay a $750 fine,
$370 in court costs and $140 in restitution to the Texas
Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory in Abilene.
She will receive 61 days credit towards her sentence for
time already served in jail.
leadership
Sweetwater
applications
being taken
The Chamber is cur-
rently accepting applica-
tions for candidates for
the 2011-2012 Leadership
Sweetwater class. The
Class is limited to 12 par
ticipants. Those selected
should exhibit qualities
that indicated the poten-
tial to become significant
contributors no1 only to
the community, but also
to the businesses that
employ them. Leadership
Sweetwater requires the
commitment by both the
participant and his/her
sponsor to devote one full
day each month for ses-
• See CHAMBER page 3
Community donates to Red Cross
Disaster Relief
American!
Red Cross
Sweetwater Regional Federal Credit Union and First Financial Bank in Sweetwater partnered with The
American Red Cross to help collect food and water for the first responders of the White Hat Ranch Fire in
Maryneal and Nolan Fires by holding a water/Gatorade and food drive to support the The American Red Cross
Big Country Branch yesterday. Shown is Jonel Guihama, American Red Cross volunteer, standing in front of
some of the donations received at the Sweetwater Regional Federal Credit Union in Sweetwater. Donations will
be distributed to areas of need for fire victims and fire fighters.
Photo by Brett Smith
Rode Owen promoted at FFB Merkel, Trent
SWEETWATER#
Texas — First Financial
Bank, N.A., Sweetwater
announced the promotion
of Rode Owen to Assistant
Vice President and Branch
Manager for First Financial
Bank in Merkel and Trent.
He replaces Vice President
Eddie Mitchell who recently
retired from First Financial
Bank after eight and a half
years of service.
-TEXAS-
LOTTERY
PICK 3 (Day)- l-%\
Daily 4 (Day) — 7-0-3-4
PICK 3 - 9-2-2
Daily 4 - 7-5-4-2
MEG A MILLIONS
12-17-27-47-48 MB: 33 MP: 4
CASH FIVE
5-10-11-13-33
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13 10522
"We congratulate ®0de
on his promotion and know
that he will be a great asset
to our Merkel and Trent
communities," said Kirby
N. Andrews, President and
CEO. "We wish Eddie a
very rich and rewarding
retirement and appreciate
his outstanding contribu-
tions and dedication to our
bank through these years."
Rode Owen grew up in
Stamford, Texas and has
extensive knowledge of
farming, ranching and the
banking business. He is a
2009 graduate of Hardin-
Simmons University
and attended the Texas
Bankers Association
Lending School in Austin.
He has been employed at
the Merkel Branch since
August 2009. Since join-
ing the Bank, he has been
trained as a personal bank-
er and teller and has been a
loan review analyst at First
Financial Bankshares,
Inc., the parent company
of First Financial Bank,
N.A., Sweetwater. He is
a member of the Merkel
Lions Club and was recent
ly named to the Merkel
Economic Development
Commission.
Rode and his wife, Laura,
are residents of Merkel.
When he is not working
at the Bank, he enjoys
playing and singing music
with their local group,
'Texas Crude." Laura is a
senior student at Hardin-
Simmons University and
will complete her student
teaching this fall.
First Financial Bank,
N.A., Sweetwater oper-
ates offices in Sweetwater,
Merkel, Roby and Trent.
It is a subsidiary of First
Financial Bankshares, Inc.,
a financial holding com-
pany that operates 11 sepa
rat ly chartered banks with
52 locations in Texas. The
other bank subsidiaries
are First Financial Bank,
N.A., Abilene, Albany,
Clyde, Moran and Odessa;
First Financial Bank,
N.A., Cleburne, Burleson,
Alvarado, Midlothian and
Crowley; First Financial
Bank, N.A., Eastland,
Ranger and Rising Star;
First Financial Bank,
Hereford; First Financial
Bank, Huntsville; First
Financial Bank, N.A.,
Mineral Wells; First
Financial Bank, N.A., San
Angelo; First Financial
Bank, N.A., Southlake,
Tropby Club, Keller,
Bridgeport, Boyd and
Decatur; First Financial
Bank, N.A., Stephenville,
Granbury, Glen Rose and
Acton; FirstFinancialBank,
N.A., Weatherford, Willow
Park, Aledo, Brock and Fort
Worth. The Company also
operates First Financial
Trust & Asset Management
Company* N.A., with
seven locations and First
Technology Services, Inc.,
a technology operating
company.
First Financial
Bankshares is listed on The
NASDAQ Global Select
Market under the trading
symbol FFIN. For more
information about First
Financial Bankshares,
Elease visit our website at
ttp://www.ffin.com.
J
Rode Owen was recently promoted to Assistant Vice
President and Branch Manager for First Financial
Bank in Merkel and Trent. He replaces Vice President
Eddie Mitchell who recently retired from First Financial
Bank after eight and a half years of service.
K
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 194, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 29, 2011, newspaper, June 29, 2011; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229500/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.