The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. SIXTY-SIXTH YEAR, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 3, 1991 Page: 1 of 10
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THURSDAY JANUARY 3,1991
"Birthplace of the fabulous Permian Basin"
(USPS 055-860)
Glancing Around
...by David Werst
t
Tournament features varsity and JV divisions this year
60th RCHS tourney starts today
The 60th annual Reagan County
Invitational hoys basketball tourna-
ment will start today (Thursday)
and will continue through Saturday
with four games set for each day.
This year’s tournament will feature
four varsity learns and four junior
varsity teams vying for the champi-
onship of one of Texas’ oldest bas-
ketball tournaments. The two cate-
gories arc separate; there will be a
varsity champion and a junior var-
sity champion.
Varsity teams represented will
include Crane. Ballinger, Alpine,
and Reagan County. Junior varsity
teams include Alpine I, Alpine II,
Crane and Reagan County. Action
will start Thursday aflcm»x>n with
Alpine I JV against Crane’s JV. At
4:30 Thursday afternoon Crane
Varsity will meet Ballinger Varsity.
At 6:(X) Alpine II JV will meet
Reagan County JV and the evening
Health Fair slated January 17th-exercising starts January 21
Wellness Center enrollment starts
Happy 1991. We know 1991
vill be a great year for you. Of
course. I'm an optomistic type. You
;now...makc lemonade if you get
handed lemons. But that's just me.
For two local notables, that ad-
vice may be a little hard to lake right
now. As far as I can determine, they
were the First two casualties of 1991.
. Notice I say casualties. Not fa-
talities. They were injured. Both in
freak ways. Both stories arc suspect
coming at a lime of merrymaking
and all.
When most teachers were
headed bac k to sch(x>l on Wednes-
day,one teacher was flalon her back
in bed trying to recover from inju-
ries. Fourth grade teacher Alicia
Werst made a trip to the emergency
x>m at Reagan Memorial on New
car's Day after knocking herself
unconsciousby walking into thega-
rage door.
Big Lake Mayor H.F. Ritchie is
sporting eight stitches across his
forehead right between his eyes af-
tei flinging himself into the door of
his bedroom about 2:(X) a m. New
Year’s morning.
Both parties tell with a straight
face that they ran into their respec-
tive doors in an innocent and sober
fashion.
Mayor Ritchie made the first trip
to the F.R. He had come home from
the New Year's Eve dance at about
1:00 a.m. and gone upstairs to bed.
Wife June and grandaughlcr were
already asleep downstairs.
Grandma June was babysitting that
night and did not attend the dance.
Since Ritchie's band was playing,
and Ritchie is die lead singer, he was
what you call on duty.
It was above and beyond the- call
of duly for Ritchie to be performing
that night anyway. He had been
suffering from a cold and sore throat
and had been to the doctor earlier in
the week.
Here's how Ritchie tells it. Al ter
he got home that night, he had a
coughing fit. He finally got up and
he must have got up a little fast. The
next thing he knew he hit the fUxx
alter bouncing off the door facing.
Our mayor knew he was injured
fairly hadly and he held a bandage
on his head with one hand and
dressed himself and called the hos-
pital with the other. Not wanting to
wake June and die baby, he went
downstairs and drove himself to the
hospital. They patched him up with
eight or nine stitches and he got bac k
h >mc about 4:30 a m. June was still
asleep.
Ritchie went back to bed. It was
later in die morning when gran
daughter came upstair to Find our
Mayor with his head wrapped in a
turban. Naturally she was sur-
prised. So was June. However, our
Mayor survived and is in his usual
good spirits once again even with a
mw crease right between his eyes.
The next casualty was in the
middle of Fixin' New Year’s Day
dinner when she opened the door of
4he fridge and discovered the ice
machine was not working. With
folks gathering around the table, she
took off in a rush to the store to get
some ice. I was out back tending to
th^aeaks. I heard the pickup return,
sh got out and still in a rush, appar-
cn v started into the house through
If you want a positive way to
make your New Year’s fitness reso-
lution become reality, you can now
sign up for Reagan Memorial
Hospital's Wellness Center pro-
gram. Sign ups for the Wellness
Center program is now underway
starting uxlay (Thursday) at the
hospital.
Enrollment for lime slots is start-
ing tixlay at the business office at
Reagan Memorial. Participants
must make cpiry at the hospital
business office and they will then
schedule a meeting with Wellness
Center director Cary Cooper. Ms.
Cooper will go over the general
program and each enrollcc will re-
ceive a copy of Wellness Center
politics. A Health Fair-Grand
Opening is scheduled for January
17,1991. Those enrolling uxlay can
also make an appointment for
health-cholesterol screening on
Grand Opening day.
Here is the tentative schedule of
cvcnLs:
January 3, 1991-cnrollmcnl
starts for WclIncssCcntcr use. Meet
with dirccUir, receive preliminary
information and medical screening
document. Schedule exercise
limes. Schedule exercise testing
time.
January 17, 1991-Health Fair
and Grand Opening. Tour facility
and have cholesterol, blood pres-
sure, bhxxl glucose and other health
tests done by hospital personnel.
January 21, 1991 -Exercising
begins for all cnrollccs. Additional
enrollments will be accepted.
Starting Kxlay, January 3, those
wishing to enroll in the Wellness
Center program may go to the hos-
pital business office and become
enrolled on the hospital records
Most persons will meet with Cary
Cooper and receive information
about the Wellness Center and will
receive a medical screening docu-
ment. Any person showing major
health risk factors such as high
blood pressure, high cholesterol, or
smoking, or a combination of sev-
eral secondary risk factors will he
asked to sec a physician and obtain
a physician's recommendation be-
fore participating.
In addition to the medical screen-
ing document, each participant will
be tested and evaluated in the five
major components of health re laud
fitness which include cardiovascu-
lar endurance, muscular strength,
muscular endurance, flexibility,
and IxxJy composition. Specific
tests would include a 3-minutc
bench step lest, maximum bench
press, I-minute sit up and push up
tests, sit and reach rest, and skinfold
measurements. Established norms
for these rests will be used to evalu-
ate each participant’s performance.
Nutrition and stress management
analyses will also be given to each
participant.
Results of the Fitness evaluation
will be discussed with each individ-
ual participant in order to set spe-
cific goals according to their
strengths and weaknesses. Depend-
ing on the needs of each participant,
an individualized exercise program
will he prescribed Participants will
also keep rcccxds of their exercise
sessions on charts pmvided by the
Wellness Center. These charts will
be monitored by the director of the
Wellness Center along with the
participant to ensure that exercise
requirements arc being met by par-
ticipants and to offer assistance.
Fees for the Wellness Center arc
$30 per month for individuals, $25
for corporate members who provide
memberships for multiple employ-
ees, with a maximum of $40 for a
couple.
Hospital administrator Ron Gal-
loway added, 'This Wellness Cen-
ter concept has been thoughtfully
developed with Reagan Ccxinty citi-
zens in mind. Our motto here at the
hospital is “Your Partners in
Health.” Please lake this as an invi-
tation to come in and enroll m the
Wellness Center and attend the
Grand Opening and health fair
January 17lli.''
High School-Middle School to take advantage of educational network
Equipment is installed for Channel One
PlMse see next casualty page 2
Representatives of Channel
One, an educational television serv-
ice, are in the process of installing
television monitors and related
equipment at Reagan County High
School and Reagan County Middle
School.
The Channel One network pro-
vides schools with equipment and
programming in exchange for die
right to show short commercials to
students in lire dassrixmi. Reagan
County High Schtx>l and Reagan
County Middle School will receive
television sets and video receivers
in each classroom at no charge
along with multi educational pro-
gramming. Whittle Educational
Network is the parent company of
Channel One.
The commercials are from cor-
porate sponsors such as Nike, Rcc-
bock, Levi Strauss, Coca Cola, and
such. No advertising of alcohol or
labacco products or controversial
advertising will be aired.
The network will actually pro-
vide three channels to students and
teachers. Channel One is a daily 12
minute news and information
program. The Classroom Cfunnel
is a scries of programs designed as
supplemental teaching tools to sup-
port ongoing lessons, and the
Educator's Channel is a program
service dedicated to helping teach-
ers.
Each MminulcsotChannelOne
programming includes four 30 sec-
ond commercials Channel One is
carefully designed to make die news
relevant to the concerns and studies
of teenagers. It offers students a
regular opportunity to digest the
•vents of the day and to connect die
significance of dtosc events to their
daily lives. Schools have discre-
tionary power in deciding when to
show Channel One through the day.
Principals have an opportunity to
view each program before airing it.
The Classroom Channel is de-
signed as an enrichment tool. There
arc programs of numerous descrip-
tions available from science lessons
to social studies available to teach-
ers and these programs do not have
commercial programs involved.
The Educator's Channel will
provide programs on leaching tech-
niques, classroom strategics, and
updates on current trends and re-
search.
Here is how it works:
1. Every day, Channel One is
produced new in prtxluclion studios
in New York City. Channel One
world and national news footage
comes from its own crews.
2. The completed Channel One
broadcast-featuring late breaking
news- is transmitted to schools by
satellite around 3:00 a.m. every day.
3. The school receives the Chan-
nel One signal using a roof mounted
non penetrating aluminum satellite
dish.
4. The Channel One broadcast is
automatically recorded on vide-
otape in the principal's office li-
brary, or other location of the
school’s choice. The early record
' mg time allows the principal ample
time to preview die broadcast be-
fore it is shown.
5. Whittle provides 19 inch color
TV’s throughout the school as well
as the internal wiring to transmit all
programming.
The Channel One production
staff works with an advisory board
of 22 experienced educators. The
board contributes guidance and per-
spective as well as programming
ideas and detailed assistance in the
creation of die Channel One teach-
ers guide.
Channel One supplies teachers
with a monthly programming and
discussion guide to assist them in
using die weekly Five part "World
Class” series in their classrooms.
The guide previews each week’s
activity and discussion suggestions,
a brief listing of relevant resources,
and a short glossary of terms used in
the scries. It is meant to be used at
the discretion of the individual
teacher.
Principals Dan Schaefer and
Rxhard McRcavy were enthusias-
tic about having Channel One on
their campuses. They related that
they arc working on times to show
Channel One without cutting into
instructional lime. Some sugges-
tions were to schedule a zero period
at the start of the day for students to
view the program or to schedule
lime after lunch periods. Teachers
and principals will meet income up
with a workable soluUon. Some
teachers will want to use die pro-
gramming during clavs time to en-
hance certain lessons.
At die current time, there arc
some 4,000 schools nauonwidc that
are taking advantage of Whiidc's
offer of free equipment and educa-
tional programming. Whittle ex-
pects to have between 7 and 8 thou-
sand schools with an audience of six
million students in die near future.
Reagan County students should
ba able to start viewing Channel
One by February of 1991.
Whittle Educational Network is
also working on a scries of program-
ming ideas for use m elementary
schools The school distric t has the
right to end the 3 year initial agree-
ment at any time for any reason by
simply not airing the programs.
game will pit the varsity teams of
Alpine and Reagan County against
each other.
Tournament directors include
RCHS varsity basketball coach Noe
Franco, Athletic Director Sam Har-
rell, and RCHS principal Richard
McRcavy.
The RCHS basketball tourna-
ment is the longest running basket-
ball tournament in West Texas. The
tourney was originated in 1929 by
F.F. Tannery. It was first played in
the basement of the old high sctuxil
building which has since been
demolished Dial sloping court had
ns high ends and low ends, but the
RCHS tourney has continued
through its Golden Anniversary
held in 1981 through the historic
60th tournament as it is uxlay.
The tournament was interrupted
for three years during Wtxld War II
in 1943, 1944, and I*>-45 due to re-
stricted travel.
The first tournament was played
February 24 and 25 1929. Accord-
ing to an article in The Big Lake
Wildcat dated February 16, 1929,
"Friday and Saturday of next week
promises to be gala days in Big l ake
and will go down in history as two
full days of fun and frolic.” That
statement the week before the tour-
nament began proved to be true as
the tournament has indeed gone on
now into its 60th year.
Those lluil remember the tourna-
ment in its heyday would recall that
play would start early Thursday
morning and would continue un
slopped w ith game alter game until
late that evening. It would start
again die next day and the same on
Saturday until the championship
game The uximamcnl wcxild have
the gymnasium packed. That was in
the tournament's heyday.
Several factors have contributed
to the decline in numbers of teams
participating and plans arc being
made to make the tournament more
appealing to area schools and fans.
Changes to be considered in
elude
-Changing the dale of the louma
meni to December.
-Holding the tournament m con-
junction with the girls tournament
which isthe first week in December.
Other factors which have con-
tributed to the decline of the boys
uximamcnt include:
-Facilities. One of the factors
that made the RCHS tournament
attractive to area schools was our
faciliues. Reagan County fac ilities
arc still very good for a 35 year old
building. Some renovations, in-
cluding a new flixrr and renovated
dressing rooms are imperative
widun the next few years
-8 team districts. Most area 2A
schcxds have 8 team districts These
districts go into district play just
after New Year’s and they like to
have their tournament play over
with by then.
-Educational reforms. HB 72
has severely limited travel by West
Texas schools. Big tournament like
those 24 and 30 team tournaments
arc a thing of the past
-Number of available tourna-
ments. The number of tournaments
has proliferated. With other area
schools now having first rate facili-
ties, they also have started having
their own tournaments.
60th Annual
Reagan County
Tournament
Reagan County High School Gymnasium
VARSITY
Thursday
Crane
: j
Alpine
4:30
7:30
Ballinger
Reagan Co.
Friday
Ballinger
Crane
4:30
j- -;
7:30
Alpine
! !
Reagan Co.
Saturday
Reagan Co.
Alpine
3:30
t- -:
8:00
Ballinger
Crane
Top teams wear light color
Dressing Rooms
A - Reagan County
B - Ballinger
C - Alpine
D - Crane
1. TWO TEAMS TIED IN RECORD FOR
FIRST PLACE
The team that defeated the other in head to head competition
would be the winner - The other team is runner-up.
2. THREE TEAMS TIED IN RECORD FOR ANY PLACE
A. Add points scored against all teams played. The
team with the least points scored against them wins.
B. If a He remains the winner will be determined by •
coin toss.
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Werst, David. The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. SIXTY-SIXTH YEAR, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 3, 1991, newspaper, January 3, 1991; Big Lake, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth660046/m1/1/: accessed May 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Reagan County Library.