Plaza Theatre Co. kicked its 2022 season off with a tour de force blast of Buddy Holly’s music and life story.

Quick on the good thing uptake when they see it, Plaza folk on New Year’s Eve teed their new season off with an equally impressive run through the life of the Man in Black.

“Ring of Fire,” featuring the music of Johnny Cash, runs through Jan. 28.

Don’t expect Cash’s detailed life story from “Ring of Fire” — plenty of available suitable books, including the late singer’s autobiography, are replete with such particulars for anyone curious — but rather brace yourself for great music, and lots of it.

He’s a funny one Cash, pure country on one hand, controversial as the Clash on the other. The rare country performer both hugely popular in his own musical circle but also dearly admired by many who otherwise hold little or no interest in the country music genre. Maybe because he dabbled in rockabilly, rock, folk and other musical fields as well as country. Or, perhaps, simply because timeless, classic songs transcend attempts to force musical styles into individual boxes.

In the end, Cash was just Cash, flowing with but also bigger than the music he loved, an American musical giant on par with Sinatra, Presley and Armstrong.

Certainly it’s impossible to, with a straight face, imagine buying any of the current crop of popular country performers singing about shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die, but Cash sold it. He certainly did.

“Ring of Fire” starts not at the beginning but toward the end of Cash’s life with a haunting performance of “Hurt,” a 1995 Nine Inch Nails song Cash covered on his stunning late-life string or Rick Rubin produced albums. “Hurt” writer Trent Reznor, upon hearing Cash’s take, humbly admitted that the song wasn’t his anymore.

Kevin Poole, who plays Cash, delivers a superb take on the song to open the play.

More accurately, Poole sort of plays Cash in Plaza’s production. The cast is fluid throughout with Poole also playing Cash’s father, Sun Records producer Sam Phillips and other characters at times. Stephen Singleton plays Cash at other times, as well as other characters while Susan Metzger and Megan Liles switch off playing June Carter Cash in addition to other characters. What sounds confusing really isn’t. The action of the play and ability to keep up with who’s who remains easy.

Elsewhere, skeletal details nicely move the action along providing highlights of Cash’s life — early life turmoils, death of his brother at a young age, big break with Sun Records, romance, addiction, Folsom Prison etc — but “Ring of Fire” is more celebration of Cash’s music than straight narrative affair.

In that respect, the entire cast shines both musically and instrumentally.

“I’ve Been Everywhere,” sung by the female actors oddly enough, proved a musical highlight among the night’s musical highlights. It and other songs had opening night audience members singing along and tapping toes all night.

“Ring of Fire,” “Jackson,” “I Walk the Line” and “Delia’s Gone” join Cash’s other big hits but just as fun are the handful of lesser known tunes.

Photos of Cash throughout his life hung on the walls and a bit of light show aside, the bare bones scenery of a desk her, bench there, bed in another scene perfectly compliment the play’s overall feel.

Wish the play would’ve included a nod to Cash’s friendship and collaborations with Bob Dylan but that’s a small quibble in an otherwise grand, musically thrilling production.

Makes one wonder whether the good people of Plaza will launch their 2024 season by tackling another musical giant. Time will tell but for now, it’s all Cash at Plaza and “Ring of Fire” is Cleburne’s hottest ticket.

For tickets and information, visit plaza-theatre.com or call 817-202-0600.

Week 1 of the 2023 softball season featured plenty of success for the Cleburne Lady Jackets: a 7-0 start, a tournament championship and a coaching milestone.

After a 9-8 win over Arlington Bowie in their season opener Tuesday night, the Lady Jackets went 6-0 in the Fort Worth Arlington Heights Tournament for a 7-0 start to the season.

“I’m extremely happy with our start,” Cleburne Coach Troy Culwell said. “I knew going in we had strong enough pitching for this tournament and I knew our defense was going to be solid, but our hitting was unreal. Our bats are alive right now and we’re producing a lot of runs. This tournament had some quality teams and some teams had slow pitching which has kind of been our kryptonite. We didn’t have patience or our timing down against slower pitching last year, but we didn’t struggle with that this week. So that shows a lot of growth.

“We didn’t back down. We did not have that one bad inning where multiple errors hurt us all tournament. I think we had two errors the entire tournament. We didn’t have that one inning where someone popped us, we were the ones exploding on them.”

On Thursday, Cleburne opened play in the Arlington Heights Tournament with an 8-0 win over Azle in a game where pitcher Hannah Sian tossed a complete-game, five-hit shutout. Then the Lady Jackets claimed a 13-2 win over Ennis — a team that swept the Lady Jackets in district play last season with wins of 12-3 and 10-6.

On Friday, Cleburne notched victories of 2-0 over Cedar Hill and 9-2 over host Arlington Heights with Sian collecting two more pitching wins.

And on Saturday, the Lady Jackets dominated Dallas Jefferson and Fort Worth Diamond-Hill with wins of 15-0 and 11-1.

“It’s huge to win a tournament,” Culwell said. “We’ve got some youth still on this team. You’ve got the five seniors but then a lot of youth. As each day went on, it was us telling them, ‘You’ve got a chance to do this but you have to beat every single team.’ Cedar Hill had a lefty with some good movement on it and it brought some adversity. We beat them 2-0 because our pitching was at a higher level. We shut them down. When the bats did cool off a little bit, everything else came up a level to help that out. I saw a whole lot of growth with this tournament.”

Saturday’s 15-0 win over Dallas Jefferson was the 100th head coaching victory for Culwell, in his eighth season as a head softball coach.

“It means a lot,” Culwell said. “It’s one of those things that I didn’t talk about it with the team. It’s not about me, it’s about them. I knew I got it after the Jefferson game and I walked over and picked up the ball and asked my daughter to put it in my bag. But some people had seen my record and the coach from Arlington Heights and I are really good friends and he knew I was close. ... But it was a special moment.”

Culwell said everyone throughout the lineup stepped up during the tournament.

“We moved Azriela Huber to leadoff and wow, she produced,” Culwell said. “She was incredible. As a freshman, she got us started and got us going. Kamree Kirkpatrick led us in RBIs and her bat is huge right now. Her defense was also amazing. She had a huge diving play to get us out of the inning late in one of the games. Hannah was tremendous. Hannah had a lot of good spin and movement on her ball. Kyleigh Stotts came in and almost had a no-hitter. She was throwing really hard.

“I was greatly impressed with my assistant coaches this tournament. They did a great job of making adjustments and tracking everything.”

The Lady Jackets are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Monday at Godley before they head to Abilene later this week for a challenging tournament.

“Godley’s a really solid program and I want to see how we respond [Monday] playing a good team at their house,” Culwell said. “And then we’re going to Abilene. Pretty much everybody we’re playing but one team was in the playoffs last year and most went three or four rounds deep. We’re going to find out if we’re a playoff-caliber team. I put us in this tournament because I knew it would be hard and test us, being away from home, too, and playing on dirt fields. If we come out of this tournament with a winning record, we’re ready to compete right now. If we don’t, we’ll have to fix some things and then get ready.”

The Lady Jackets will open play in the Abilene Tournament at 3:45 p.m. Thursday vs. Snyder.

Cleburne will soon join Fort Worth, Dallas and dozens of other area cities in initiating a year-round watering schedule.

In effort to conserve water and address drought conditions, the city on April 3 will implement a year-round, twice-a-week outdoor irrigation schedule with assigned days for all water customers.

The schedule is as follows:

• Residential addresses ending in even numbers may water on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

• Residential addresses ending in odd numbers may water on Thursdays and Sundays.

• Non-residential sites, including apartments, businesses, parks and common areas, may water on Tuesdays and Fridays.

In addition to the designated days, unattended watering or irrigation will not be allowed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“With that, we’re trying to avoid that evaporative loss during the heat of the day and encourage good watering practices,” Cleburne Director of Public Works Jeremy Hutt said.

Hutt discussed and announced the upcoming change during the March 14 Cleburne City Council meeting.

Exceptions to the new requirements exist.

• Watering with a handheld hose, soaker hose, drip irrigation or hand watering may occur on any day.

• Repairs of irrigation lines, plumbing, fountains or other similar systems are exempt for the period of the repairs.

• The exemptions do not apply to locations served by well water, treated wastewater effluent for irrigation or other alternative water supply sources.

• A 30-day variance applies when grass sod or grass seed is installed for the purposes of establishing a new lawn.

How we got here

Conservation concerns play into the decision as do ongoing and unpredictable drought occurrences.

Recent heavy rains aside, drought conditions remain in Cleburne, Hutt said. Area precipitation has been significantly below normal, about 6 inches down, over the past year. The bigger picture is that the past three years have also checked in below normal, Hutt added.

Lake Pat, the city’s main water source, has progressed substantially since hitting a low point in October, but still has a way to go to be fully charged.

“Our current way of addressing drought situations has been to adjust to adapt to current conditions as we experience them,” Hutt said.

To those ends, the city implemented Stage 1 drought requirements in February 2022 and moved to Stage 2 requirements in August. Such incidents, Hutt said, require planning more long term.

“That’s looking at the drought and the fact that it was not a short-term drought,” Hutt said. “And the fact that these situations, periods of drought and periods of wet weather, are something we’re routinely seeing now.”

All of which calls for a change in approach, Hutt said.

“Droughts aren’t going away,” Hutt said. “We’re experiencing good rain now, but that could change and we could be back in drought conditions fairly quickly,” Hutt said.

Benefits of the new schedule

Given that the North Texas area remains susceptible to drought, implementing the new schedule helps the city both conserve existing water supplies and reduce the impacts of droughts, Hutt said.

“Because the new schedule will help flatline peaks because we won’t have people instantaneously watering at any given time,” Hutt said. “The same amount of water but lower impact on our infrastructure, which should help with maintenance and repair costs.”

The new system will also reduce the needs for residents and businesses to adjust automated irrigation systems, Hutt said, adding that horticultural experts agree that landscapes are healthiest with deep and infrequent watering.

Along with the upcoming new system, city officials plan to, through multiple means, communicate education on how to water as per schedules, amounts and ways to reduce waste. Also information on drought tolerant plants and the use of hardscapes and mulches.

State law requires cities to maintain a water conservation and drought contingency plan, Hutt said.

Cleburne adopted its original plan in 1995 with several updates since the most recent being minor revisions in October.

The next major update, scheduled for this and next year, will take into consideration current conditions and trends, raw water supplies, standard conservation measures and other concerns.

Lake Pat lessons

Spring rains in 2022 contributed only 36 percent of a normal season’s rainfall, which reduced Lake Pat levels to its lowest in at least two decades, Hutt said. The lake in October fell to 51.9 percent full, about 9 feet below capacity.

Recent rains helped the lake bounce back to a level of 79.4 percent full, about 3.6 feet below capacity.

“Recent rains have been beneficial to the region and allowed the lake to begin to replenish, yet we remain below normal,” Hutt said.

But it worked

Drought conditions of late raised concerns, but Lake Pat held its own.

“The lake continued to perform its primary function, which is to serve as a raw water source for Cleburne,” Hutt said. “Yes, the lake is there for recreational purposes too. But it was built and intended to serve as a water reservoir and it has done exactly that and continues to do so.”

Council members voiced approval for the new plan.

“We all need to do our part,” Mayor Scott Cain said. “There’s only so much water to go around.”

Cain asked Hutt to repeat the part about Lake Pat faring well through the drought.

“The lake did what it was designed to do,” Cain said. “That’s a shout out to the people on social media.”

New retail construction and establishment remains robust, Cleburne Economic Development Director Grady Easdon reported during Tuesday’s Cleburne City Council meeting.

Easdon was on hand Wednesday morning for the ground breaking of a new retail strip center soon to be built in the parking lot of Nolan River Mall as were officials from the Woodmont Company, a Fort Worth-based commercial real estate company.

The center will house Firehouse Subs, Sport Clips and Aspen Dental.

“This will be a strip center of about 6,000 square feet,” Woodmont Vice President of Development Jake McCoy said. “We’re looking at about six to seven months to delivery.”

Issues with FEMA and TxDOT since resolved slowed progress.

“We’ve had some of these leases signed for eight months or a year or so,” McCoy said. “So it’s been a long trip around the sun but we’re glad to get it started and hope to get it built quick without delays.”

And on budget as well, Construction Manager Adam Brown added.

Also on hand was Brian Kaus, owner of the Firehouse Sub to come. Kaus said he owns other Firehouse Sub locations in Fort Worth and looks forward to expanding into Cleburne.

Chilly temps and high winds shortened the ceremony but failed to quell enthusiasm for the project.

“The construction of homes and new businesses absolutely figured into our decision to build in Cleburne,” McCoy said. “The market here is expanding, which the Chisholm Trail Parkway had a lot to do with opening the area up to new businesses. Off the cuff, I know of several other national tenants trying to get locations here. Woodmont is in its 43rd year and we’re happy and excited to be doing business close to home.”

Music to Easdon’s ears.

“We look forward to you being here.”

Cleburne Community Development Director David Jones agreed.

“Looking forward to the center coming and thanks for being good partners,” Jones said.

Easdon dubbed the center a win for Cleburne.

“The three businesses coming in are things that we need and something our folks are going to be excited to see come I’m sure,” Easdon said. “It’s great to have new development along this stretch of Henderson Street and great to have new options not only for Henderson Street but for Cleburne overall.”

Easdon added that he looks forward to enjoying a Firehouse sub in the near future.

“Oh I love Firehouse,” Easdon said. “My wife and I ate at the one in Burleson last Saturday. They were already on my mind since I knew they were coming here and I hadn’t been to one in a while. They’re really good.”

New Store to Celebrate with Grand Opening Event on November 11th

With the app, customers earn 3 “Smiles” for every dollar spent, and once they reach 180 Smiles, they earn a free drink. All customers start in the Scooter Doodle status level, with perks that include a free drink on their birthday and surprise rewards, exclusive to the mobile app only. After earning 500 Smiles, customers move into the Caramelicious® status level with additional perks.

To pay with the app, customers simply need to link a credit card and tap “Pay in Stores” from the home screen. Then, if they choose to tip, they can select a custom amount or percentage prior to scanning their app. Customers also have the option to pay with cash or a gift card and still earn loyalty through the app by using the “Scan to Earn Loyalty” Only QR code.

The drive-thru location is owned and operated by Ty Fichtner and Taylor B. Fichtner. “We are so excited to be back in our hometown of Cleburne,” said Taylor Fichtner. “The well wishes and positive feedback has made it such a welcoming environment to grow our business in. We can’t wait to provide high quality drinks to our customers and impact our community in a positive way. “

Scooter’s Coffee is a drive-thru franchise that has been serving world-class coffee for more than 20 years and has over 450 locations in 28 states across the nation. With commitments to build new stores in 30 states, the company plans to open many additional locations in 2022. Its signature drink is the Caramelicious®, and the menu features an array of specialty espresso beverages, single-origin coffee, fruit smoothies, Red Bull Infusions, Cold Brew, baked-from-scratch pastries, and savory breakfast options.

Connect with Scooter’s Coffee via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and share your favorite moments by tagging @scooterscoffee using the hashtag #BeAmazing.

About Scooter’s Coffee

Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooter’s Coffee roasts only the finest coffee beans in the world at its headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. In more than two decades of business, Scooter’s Coffee’s success is simple: stay committed to the original business principles and company’s four core values, which are Integrity, Love, Humility and Courage. The Scooter’s Coffee Brand Promise, often recited to franchisees, customers and employees is: “Amazing People, Amazing Drinks… Amazingly Fast!®” It represents the company’s business origins from 1998 and reflects a steady commitment to providing an unforgettable experience to loyal and new customers.

Scooter’s Coffee is at the dawn of a strategic growth phase in the Midwest and nationwide. The U.S. coffee market is an estimated $48 billion a year recession-resistant industry, and Scooter’s Coffee is striving to become the #1 drive-thru coffee franchise in the nation. Visit ownascooters.com to learn more about the benefits of owning a franchise of a well-established company.

For more information, visit scooterscoffee.com, facebook.com/scooterscoffee, ownascooters.com, or call 877-494-7004.

SOURCE Scooter’s Coffee

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