News around LHS & LISD
By Charles Keaton
The Lady Horns basketball team made it to the playoffs but drop a heart breaker in the first round to Tahoka, 34-32. (By the way our friends to the east – girls didn’t make it but their guys are still playing.)
Realignment came February 1 and LHS is now in Class 1A District 6 with Crosbyton, Hale Center, New Deal, Olton and Ralls for football and in District 4 with Anton, Crosbyton, Hale Center, New Deal and Ralls for basketball. The schedule begins Aug. 29 at Slaton, then three home games starting Sept. 5 with Floydada, Sept. 12 with Claude and Sept. 19 with Springlake for HOMECOMING! Non-district concludes Sept. 26 at Nazareth. District play begins Oct. 10 at Crosbyton, Oct. 17 home with New Deal, Oct. 24 at Olton, Oct. 31 at Ralls and close out the season with Hale Center at home on Nov. 7. Watch the website for more updates. Baseball and softball is underway as well as all the stock shows. Spring break is just a couple of weeks away, then track, UIL academics, tennis and golf will be in full swing. Prom is not far away and for the class of 2008, it’s only three short months to graduation.
Back Then… Breck Record Remembers
By Breck Record, class of ‘79
Author’s note: I thought it would be nice if Mr. Keaton had different alumni write their favorite memories or funny stories of what it was like “Back Then.” I will start it off and probably add another one later, depending on how the response is. –BR
My memories of growing up in Lockney began in the early ‘60s. I can remember when downtown was bustling with two pharmacies that had great fountain drinks and ice cream. Brown’s Department Store always had the best up-to-date clothing for the time. The old Variety Store was a place I always liked to go “look around.” There were grocery stores, furniture stores, burger shops and restaurants. Back then, you always knew that around 3:30, “Mrs. Smith” was going to go downtown and she wasn’t necessarily going to pay attention to everyone around her and you better give her just a little extra room as she was driving. And, when she left the old post office, she was backing out and probably not looking for anyone behind her.When the Dairy Queen opened, that became an instant hot spot for the teens to go get a soft drink…that is, unless it was during school hours and the Longhorn Inn across from high school was the place to go. Now, back then, to be first in line there, you had to pretty much be a track star. Nobody would dare drive in front of high school during the lunch hour. And when the junior high let out for their lunch hour, you had further to run. Better be fast if you wanted to eat. Ms. Cooper had the swimming pool that we all enjoyed going to during the summer time. Nice cold water on a hot day was always refreshing. It was always the guys who were responsible for seeing how many ways we could make the lifeguards blow their whistle and call us down. And underwater tag was the game. It seemed like we could hold our breath forever under that pool and “hide” from whoever was “it.”
Whether you were in sports or band or whatever related to Lockney High School, we had the best fans in the stands. Whenever the team came on the field, or the court, or the band finished with the Fight Song, the fans would stand and cheer and make you feel like you had just won the lottery. I remember my parents, along with all the other parents, always standing up and cheering as the band came off the football field playing the Fight Song. I even seem to recall that somehow the “LL” sign got left on the field of a competitor once, although I can neither confirm nor deny that.
When I was in school, back then, the girls still played 3-on-3 until our freshman or sophomore year. It’s been too long to remember the exact time. Our girls’ teams really did play some good basketball, back then, and, for that matter, the girls’ basketball in that whole area was about the best anywhere in the U.S.
Friday nights, after the football games, as well as Saturday nights, were the nights to “drag Main Street.” Everyone seemed to be downtown going up and down the street and every now and then you might honk at one of your friends. Normally, just a cool wave was all you would do. Cool was in. Back then, it always took two people to drive the pickups. That was when pickups still had the bench seats and your girlfriend could sit real close to you and help you drive. Most dates on a Saturday night required that you go to Plainview for dinner and a movie, that is, after the Seale Drive-In closed down. K-Bob’s Steakhouse and a movie was always my favorite. Wished I could go back to then and do it all over again.
Does anyone else have favorite memories or funny stories of “Back Then” and want to share? I hope so. And to those I’ve lost touch with over the years, feel free to drop me a note. (Tipping hat) – Breck
brecord@keithandmiller.com or brecord@breckrecord.com
If you want to contribute to “Back Then” email me your stories. --Charles
Tech Talk
By Charles Keaton
Spring is upon us and since all of you grew up in West Texas, you all know one of the best parts (my opinion) about spring is the beauty and power of a West Texas thunderstorm. Of course, working for the school, I have concerns about the safety of our staff and students and since one of my infatuations is the weather, I spend lots of time monitoring storm conditions and watching the weather during this time of year. I have several websites that I find useful for watching the weather. The first is obvious, it’s the National Weather Service at www.nws.noaa.gov, from there you can find out lots of information but you can also go to your nearest office and get local information just by entering your zip code in the search box. My second favorite site is the Storm Prediction Center at www.spc.noaa.gov. This site gives an overview of where severe weather can be expected, reports of severe weather, fire danger information and much more. Both of these sites provide links to educational information that can be utilized in the classroom, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, 4-H or other areas of training and education. My third site I frequent is the West Texas Mesonet site run by the Texas Tech Wind Science and Engineering and Atmospheric Science Departments. The site is located at www.mesonet.ttu.edu. This site is more about reporting what has happened atmospherically around the region rather than monitoring severe conditions.
Another one of my favorite Firefox add-ons is IE Tab. IE Tab lets you run the embedded Internet Explorer engine within a Firefox tab so you don’t have to start up IE but can still see websites that are optimized for IE. To download Firefox go to www.mozilla.com and to get add-ons for Firefox go to addons.mozilla.org.
WORD OF CAUTION: There is an email that is circulating that is a FAKE Windows update notice. One thing to always remember (if you use Windows) Microsoft NEVER sends out update notices via email so do NOT trust one that is delivered via email. If you receive strange email like this, ask yourself, “How did they get my email address?” It is VERY important to keep your Window machines updated, so go to http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us to get your computer updated.
NOTE: The mention of the above websites and products is for informational purposes only. Use of any of the above products is at your discretion and risk. Neither Lockney ISD nor Charles Keaton will assume any liability regarding use of the above mentioned websites or products. This article is the opinion of the writer not Lockney ISD. The mention of the products and websites in this article does not constitute an endorsement by Lockney ISD.
Announcements
DEPARTURES:
David Howell, class of ’58 passed away Feb. 8. The class of ’58 will remember him as Deeter.
Virginia Lee Byrd, retired Lockney teacher, passed away Feb. 3. She is survived by a daughter, Carolyn (Byrd) Simpson, class of ’69. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred and daughter Mary Ann (Byrd) Bobbitt, class of ’71. Fred and Virginia ran a pharmacy in Lockney for many years.
BIRTHS:
MARRIAGES:
ANNIVERSARIES of 50+ years!!!
CLASS REUNIONS:
The class of ’58 is planning a 50th reunion on April 25-26 in Lubbock. The Ashmore Inn will be the headquarters. Contact Anita Wofford at nawofford@hotmail.com.
The class of ’67 is planning a reunion for June 6-7 in Gruene, TX. For more information contact Cheryl (Seago) Stevens at cjstevens68@sbcglobal.net.
Denise (Winter) Montieth, class of ’74 would like to discuss with the class about the possibility of hosting their 35th Reunion at her home in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Contact her at divnivan@weststartv.com or dee@sunsethouse.com.
Begin making plans for Homecoming 2008!!
If you have an announcement of a marriage of an alumni, the birth of a child, grandchild or great grandchild of an alumni or the departure of an alumni or their parent or siblings, send the information to me at keaton.charles@lockney.isd.tenet.edu.
I’m looking for additional Alumni Profiles, please send me a brief write up (between 250 and 260 words) for possible publication in future editions.
Also, if you want to contribute to the new feature “Back Then”