July 20th - Aug.17th

Roby CISD & Rotan ISD dates to be placed on the ballot for school board elections. Rotan ISD has 4 places that are up for election. Roby CISD has 3 places up for election. You can pick up an application at the Adminstrations Offices.

August 1st

Enchilada Dinner Fundraiser for Gaberial Daniels - 11am unitl 3pm or we run out. downtown Rotan at Ray's. 2 Beef Enchilads, Mexican Rice, Refried beans, Salad and dessert. $8 a plate, add a drink for $1. Delivery or Pick-up available. Call or text 325-514-4587. All prcidds are going toward callege Tuition at Lake Houston School of Business and Technology. All Donations are very much appriciated!

August 1st-2nd

Aspermont Golf Club - Mulligan Touney - Entry $80 - Contact Timothy Meador (940) 200-0655 or Margie McNutt (940) 200-0156

August 3rd

Two-a-days begin for High School sports - Roby, Aspermont & Rotan Schools

August 7th

Meet The Hornets!

August 10th

Fisher County Commissioner Court meeting 9am

Stonewall County Commissioner Court Metting 9am

Hendrick Regional Blood Center Blood Drive outside the Double Mountain Chronicle Office in Rotan1pm-6pm

Rotan ISD School Board Meeting 7pm

Roby CISD School Board Meeting 7:30pm

August 13th

First Day of School for Rotan ISD Students!

August 19th

First Day of School for Aspermont ISD & Roby CISD Students!

As Fisher County has roughly six weeks left before adopting the FY 2021 budget in Septem-ber, the commissioners are looking at possibly saving taxpayer dollars by closing the county jail during this budget cycle.

The Fisher County Law Enforce-ment Center (LEC) has faced a variety of issues since open-ing in the summer of 2016. Saddled with controversy shortly after breaking ground, the jail continues to provide obstacles for county officials to over-come. One of the more persistent issues the jail faces is the struggle to keep staffing within state compli-ance guidelines.

In the early stages of COVID-19 beginning its spread across Texas, the commis-sioners met in an emergency meeting, where after hearing a brief report from Fisher County Sheriff Allen Arnwine, the court voted unani-mously to voluntarily close — or depopulate — the jail in mid-March.

In his report, the Sheriff said the facility had been operating on minimum staffing for weeks with no way to train any new employees due to restrictions. He added that two jailers only lacked the physical, hands-on training por-

tion that takes place during a multi-day course they could not attend because

of COVID-19 guidelines.Based on the staffing situa-

tion in March, if just one jailer were to be out for any reason, the facility would be out of compliance and required to close. Given the uncertainty of the situation, Arnwine

said temporary depopulation seemed to be the best course of

action for the County and the jail. He informed the court that the

Scurry County Jail would accept Fisher County’s transfer inmates, and the commission-ers voted unanimously in favor of the tempo-rary closure.

Arnwine said he hoped to be prepared to reopen after one or two months of being closed, and the original plan was to hire new jailers in

New Rotan business celebrates grand opening

SEE GRAND OPENING ON PAGE 2

Community Calendar

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CHRONICLECHRONICLECHRONICLEReporting the News for Fisher & Stonewall CountiesReporting the News for Fisher & Stonewall Counties

www.ffin.com

Double Mountain Double MountainDouble Mountain $1.00 Volume 113

number 48*

Friday, July 31, 2020

doublemountainchronicle.com

** (Will be Livestreamed on Double Mountain Chronicle Facebook page. You can also watch the recorded videos on www.doublemountainchroni-cle.com.)

By Jeff HurtDouble Mountain ChroniCle eDitor

By Jeff HurtDouble Mountain ChroniCle eDitor

SEE FISHER CO. ON PAGE 9

By Jeff HurtDouble Mountain ChroniCle eDitor

Aspermont ISD to release back-to-school guidlines

Fisher Co. Commissioners to consider closing jail

The Downtown Rotan office of Compre-hensive Land Management and Ekdahl-Nelson Real Estate officially welcomed everyone through its doors in a grand opening Saturday, a celebration, months in the making for business owner Rory Burroughs.

Burroughs and LaRissa Place have spent more hours than not over the past six months, working on transforming the inside of the downtown building into func-tioning office space. Burroughs said it was great to finally open, and the tremendous turnout was even better than anticipated.

“I actually felt like I only got to visit with a third of the people because there were so many,” said Rory.

LaRissa, who worked alongside Rory during the countless days, spending every spare minute to complete the project admitted she was ready for some much-needed sleep. “I am so tired,” she said. Although, there were a few things they are still working on, “I knew we just had to put an end-date on it and just get it done.”

LaRissa took a few moments away from Saturday’s opening crowd to give the Chronicle a brief tour. She said Rory loves to preserve things, and when he replaced the damaged wood from the upstairs ceil-ing, now sanded and stained the 110-year-old shiplap was repurposed to cover one of the walls in Rory’s office.

The onetime city hall, fire depart-ment, and Rotan Jail has been the home of everything from a dance studio to broker-age offices and has once again taken on new life after getting a six-month-long facelift. From the moment a person enters

the front door, pieces of the building’s long history are nestled within the contempo-rary atmosphere throughout the building.

“I grew up in East Texas, but I got here as quick as I could,” said Rory Burroughs when he met with the Chronicle back in January. At the time, the corner building was almost completely gutted, but he envi-sioned a place where he could combine his passions of helping people, making money, working with nature, and being outside as often as possible.

The building that six months ago was full of bare rock, exposed supports, and

naked concrete has been filled with a welcoming storefront, warm office space, a well-stocked kitchen, and bathroom that is sure to have you leaving with a smile. In addition to having a chance to peruse Rory’s selection of larger items to suit your outdoor needs in the former fire department engine bays, grand-opening visitors got an unexpected surprise.

The once dark, wet room in the back of the building is now dry. As a lover of history, Burroughs has kept the room that once served as the city jail as close the way

Petunia & Clover, otherwise affectionately known as "The Flowers" take their jobs as the official greeters seriously at Comprehensive Land Management. But do not think you will get by without letting them know what a good job they do with a few scratches behind their ears.

Friends, family and members of the Fisher County Chamber of Commerce celebrated the Grand Opening of Comprehensive Land Management & Ekdahl-Nelson Real Estate with an official ribbon cutting downtown Rotan last Friday July 24th. Afterwards everyone gathered for refreshments and to tour the new storefront.

"I don't think anybody

knew what they were voting for”

Commissioner Kevin Stuart

The Aspermont ISD Board of Trustees met earlier this week, and while AISD is one of the last districts in the re-gion to amend its school cal-endar, they will be one of the first to release guidelines for returning to school amidst the spread of Covid-19.

Like in neighboring districts, the AISD Board ap-proved changes to the 2020-2021 school calendar, more specifically, the length of the day. AISD Superintendent Zach Morris shared with the board members discussions had with other superinten-dents in the region, saying...

SEE AISD ON PAGE 9