Roxtonites: Your Community Needs You!

Staff Report

Fellow Roxtonites, here’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss! You have no doubt seen one of the many thousands of blue “Adopt-a-Highway” signs along roadways nationwide. Did you know that the Adopt-a-Highway program is a product of Texas? After a TxDOT official came up with the idea to get citizens involved in highway beautification, in 1985, the Tyler Civitan Club adopted the first two miles of highway in the nation between U.S. 69 and Interstate 20. Since those humble beginnings, 3,700 organizations, families, and individuals have adopted over 7,400 miles of highway in Texas alone. All 50 states have followed Texas’ lead, and today the number of adopted highway miles nationwide is counted in the hundreds of thousands. Well, Roxton is far smaller than Texas, and it by no means includes the many miles of roadways larger cities might maintain. But for a town of Roxton’s size, you’ll be hardpressed to find one offering as many community areas as our little community. Like highways, these areas need to be maintained in the name of community beautification. Consider the public facilities and areas we have in Roxton. Perhaps our most historic area for recreation since before Roxton was founded is Rock Falls Park. We also have a library, a museum, and other facilities in the downtown area. Finally, we have a veteran’s memorial honoring Roxtonites who have made the ultimate sacrifice — perhaps our most hallowed public area. Roxton simply cannot maintain all public areas without citizen involvement. The City of Roxton has a staff of just two full-time public works employees. They spend a tremendous amount of time ensuring ditches along the city streets are clear and maintaining Roxton’s antiquated water and sewer systems. Routine maintenance of public areas is secondary to keeping essential services operable, and too often there is not enough time in a week for the many jobs to get done. Like so many other towns — both big and small — this leaves officials searching for volunteers to help maintain public areas. This is where you — as citizens of Roxton — must step up if our community is to remain the beautiful oasis on the blackland prairie it has been for nearly 150 years. City officials and volunteers serving on various existing committees have identified six areas in town, as well as tasks at each site, in desperate need of volunteer assistance. None are particularly large, and the tasks aren’t particularly difficult. Most supplies will be provided for each site, although volunteers who have a few lawn tools on hand will find the tasks much easier to complete. Your help is needed to maintain the following areas, with primary tasks noted: Lura Gregory Memorial Library: general upkeep of flowerbeds, shrub trimming, leaf removal in fall, weed removal in spring, and branch pick-up. (Thanks to our Mayor who mows the yard.) Chaparral Museum: flowerbeds, shrub trimming, weed removal in parking lot, and watering as needed. Veteran’s Memorial: weeding, trimming around memorial bricks, and planting and watering flowers in the fountain. Rock Falls Park: removal of debris that washes up on banks, weed trimming along fence row, and trash pickup. Community Center: watering plants in courtyard and weeding flowerbed. Downtown Flagpole Memorial Area and Cedar Grove Sitting Area: trimming of shrubs, weeding shrub area, and trash and branch pickup. All of these sites are currently in good shape, so volunteers are needed to maintain what currently exists (although those with ideas to make any area more beautiful and visitorfriendly are encouraged to bring them to the table). Each location will have weed spray, mulch, and yard bags for volunteer use. If you have an able body and a willing spirit, you would be providing a service much needed to keep your hometown in tip-top shape. Roxton may be smaller than Tyler, and the effort outlined isn’t something that will go down in history as a groundbreaking effort. But if citizens step up, volunteers will make a monumental difference in our little town. Please contact Janet Wheeler, City Manager, at City Hall if you, your family, or an organization to which you belong is interested in assisting with the projects outlined. And if you know of an unmentioned area you’d like to maintain, don’t hesitate to mention it. Little doubt exists that the list does not include every area or