Alpine Avalanche

09/02/2026

The Blues Man, Royce Clinton “RC” Toler, went to his mansion in the sky that God prepared for him on August 31, 2026. Where his mother, Marguerite Chandler, will be playing the piano; his brother Tommy Toler will be dancing; and his son-in-law Bevin Hollan will be waiting to share a laugh. RC leaves behind a legacy of love in his wife, Regina; his daughters Page Valentine and husband Sean, Debbie Hollan, Sherri Toler, Amber Campbell, and Danielle Bass; grandchildren Blake Hollan and wife Taylor, William Valentine, Brooke Hollan, Harley Epsy, Scarlett Lara, Rey Vega, and Peyton Campbell; great-grandchildren Hadley and Heidi Hollan. His brothers Stuart Chandler, Don Chandler and wife Denise; niece Erin Adams and husband Chip; and his great-niece Madeline Adams, along with many other cherished relatives and friends.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Museum of the Big Bend https://www.museumofthebigbend.com/ or the Alpine Humane Society https://alpinehumanesociety.org/contact-alpine-humane-society/
Services for RC will be held on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 11 a.m. at the Big Bend Cowboy Church, 90408 US 90 in Alpine, Texas. Afterwards, please join the family at the Railroad Blues, where we can share stories, memories, and celebrate his amazing life.

09/02/2026

Dora Delia Vega Rojo
Our beloved mother, Dora Delia Vega Rojo, passed away peacefully on Thursday, August 20, in Odessa, with her children at her side. Dora was born in Ft. Stockton on April 2, 1954, to Tomas Granado Vega and Teresa Fierro Vega. She attended Centennial School and Alpine High School, where she played volleyball and was a cheerleader. She married Danny Hartnett Rojo in May of 1971 and gave birth to their first child, Christy, that September. Together they had two more children, Danny, in 1972, and Jaime in 1985.
Dora lived most of her life in beautiful Alpine. She also lived in Mineral Wells, Kempner, and Marfa. She worked as an administrative assistant at Alpine Community Center, American National, MHMR, and in different departments at Sul Ross State University up until her retirement at SRSU Upward Bound in 2016, making dear friends along the way. During her time at Alpine Community Center, she oversaw the quilting group as well as performed DJ duties for the very popular Friday night disco dances for AHS students. She also painted beautiful seasonal murals on the windows at the Community Center. As a hard-working single parent, she also worked at Amigo’s, waited tables at La Casita, made tortillas for La Casita and Alicia’s Burrito Place, and drove crew recovery vans for Union Pacific Railroad crews.
Dora had many things that brought her joy. She loved feeding her cats and birds every morning (even the occasional javelina and deer). She loved listening to her disco and Motown music, reading, and watching her favorite shows. She was an excellent seamstress, sewing clothing for her children and grandchildren for special occasions. She also embroidered beautiful dish towels for loved ones. She loved cooking and baking. Her family and friends were always happy to eat something from her kitchen. Her lemon meringue pie, biscochos, and peanut brittle were the best many had ever tasted. For her, cooking and baking were ways of expressing her love and gratitude to the people who had been kind to her.
Her biggest joy came from being Mom and Grandma Dora. She loved and adored her children and grandchildren. They were her biggest pride and joy, and she shared that with everyone who would listen to her. She celebrated their achievements and attended all the events and celebrations that she could attend. She dedicated her life to her children, always putting their needs first and making sure they grew up knowing how deeply they were loved, supported, and cherished.
Dora is preceded in death by her parents, Tomas and Teresa Vega, her grandparents, Julian and Paula Fierro and Tomas and Luciana “Chana” Vega, the father of her children, Danny H. Rojo, and her nephew, Reymundo Vega.
Left to honor her memory are her children, Christy Rojo Zunker (Rusty), Danny V. Rojo (Michelle), and Jaime O. Rojo (Ashley), her grandchildren, Jerram Rojo, Haley Rojo, Daniel Rojo (Karla), Noah Zunker (Margot Shang, fiancée), Derek Rojo, Eli Zunker, Devon Rojo, and Samantha Rojo, her great-grandchildren Jace, Javon, and Naomi Rojo: She also leaves behind her siblings, Mary Ann Acosta, Eduardo Vega (Emma), Roderick Vega (Estella), Sylvia Vega, Cecilia Torres (Angel) and her aunts and uncles, Lupe Dominguez, Ramona Ramirez (Fred), Juan Fierro, Margaret Fierro, and Palemon Vega, as well many cousins, nieces and nephews who adored their Tia Dora.
Her pallbearers include her grandsons: Jerram, Daniel, Derek, and Devon Rojo, and Noah and Eli Zunker. Honorary pallbearers are her granddaughters: Haley and Samantha Rojo.
Services are taking place on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church with a visitation beginning at 9 a.m., Rosary at 9:30 a.m., and funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Interment will take place after the Mass at Holy Angels Cemetery. Services are entrusted to Alpine Memorial Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial donations to Alpine Humane Society in honor of Dora and her love of animals. Donate – Alpine Humane Society 2 or mail checks to: P.O. Box 1464, Alpine, TX 79831
This world will be less bright without her smile and her laughter. Mom, everything we are is because of you. We love you all the way up to the sky.

09/02/2026

Robert L. Soza, Sr.
Robert L. Soza, Sr. passed away on August 19, 2026. He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, pharmacist, businessman, and friend whose life was woven into the history of Alpine and the Trans-Pecos region.
Robert was raised in Presidio, where his father, Manuel G. Soza, operated a grocery store and managed farming and ranching operations. From him, Robert learned that business was trust, responsibility, and service to the people who depended on you. He graduated from St. Edward’s High School in Austin and earned his pharmacy degree from the University of Texas in 1963. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, Evalina Alvarado. Together they built a life of faith, family, and work, raising two sons—Robert Jr. and Alfredo—both of whom became attorneys.
For more than fifty years, Robert served his community from behind the counter of Highland Drug—not simply filling prescriptions, but listening, advising, encouraging, and treating generations of customers as neighbors. In an era when few Mexican-American professionals owned businesses in Alpine, Robert became one of the community’s first—a steady example of dignity, service, and possibility.
Robert served Alpine and the surrounding communities of Presidio, Marfa, Fort Davis, Marathon, Sanderson, South Brewster County, and Ojinaga. In a vast region where medical services could be far away, Robert often opened the drugstore late at night, on Sundays, or whenever someone urgently needed medicine. He was an active member of Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church and the Alpine Evening Lions Club.
Robert’s legacy lives in the people he inspired. For generations of Alpine residents—especially young Mexican-American students and families—his life showed what was possible: that a boy from Presidio could earn a professional degree, return to Far West Texas, build a respected business, and open doors for others by example. A number of employees he trained went on to become licensed pharmacy technicians; others went on to earn their pharmacy degrees.
He is survived by his wife, Evalina Soza; his sister, Guadalupe Shields; his son, Robert Soza, Jr.
(wife, Roxanna Gonzales-Soza) grandchildren Felicia Mia Soza (husband, Christian Lowrey)
Gabriella Marie Soza (husband, Eastin Issac), Manuel Diego Soza (partner, Julia Eva Kinney)
Elias Adrian Soza (wife, Isabel Mendes); Nina Elissa Soza, Ileana Isabel Soza, and Roberto Javier Soza; and great-grandchildren Langston Bly Soza-Lowery, Zora Evalina Soza-Lowery, Mateo Manuel Soza, and Lucia Marisol Soza. He was preceded in death by his son, Alfredo A. Soza, his brother, William Soza, and his sister, Evangelina Juarez.
Memorial Service: Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Alpine, Saturday, September 5, 2026. Viewing at 9 a.m., Rosary at 9:30 a.m., with Mass and Burial to follow.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Robert’s honor to: Sunshine House, Alpine; Food Pantry of Alpine; Alpine Public Library; Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend; Casa Hogar Orphanage; or the Alpine Humane Society.

09/02/2026

William Hayes Mitchell Jr.
William Hayes Mitchell Jr. of Marfa passed away on August 6, 2026. Hayes was born on November 1, 1935, to William Hayes Mitchell Sr. and Adele Crain Mitchell. A rancher by birth, Hayes was the fourth generation of the Mitchell family to ranch in West Texas. Hayes married his childhood sweetheart, Maxine Oliver, on January 9, 1955, and added three girls to the Mitchell clan: Marla, Debbie, and Laurie.
He was a legacy cattleman who brought innovation to his ranching heritage. He piloted his plane to watch his cows with a bird’s-eye view. He covered a lot of country while flying around Texas doing cattle trading. Hayes served on several boards, including the Marfa National Bank board for 28 years; Highland Soil and Water Conservation District; Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association; and Cattlemen’s Roundup for Crippled Children.
Hayes was preceded in death by his parents, Hayes Sr. and Adele; his wife, Maxine; his second wife, Julie Mitchell; his grandson, Colin E. Buren; his sister, Aurie Mitchell West; and his son-in-law, Ellery Aufdengarten. He is survived by his sweet friend Marie Clarie Kyle, his daughters Marla Buren, Debbie Aufdengarten, Laurie Mund (Brad), seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and even one great-great-granddaughter.
A memorial service will occur on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at First United Methodist Church of Marfa at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please make donations to West Texas Rehabilitation Center, 3001 S. Jackson, San Angelo, TX 76904. Hayes’ family is so very grateful for the amazing staff who lovingly cared for him at The Springs Memory Care in San Angelo.

08/27/2026

08/20/2026

Football season forfeiture

08/20/2026

Alpine: The Legend of “The Desk” Returns to Hancock Hill
Jim Kitchen, the man behind Alpine's most enduring local mystery, leads morning hikes and shares the true story August 21–24

For decades, hikers climbing Hancock Hill above Sul Ross State University have stumbled upon an unusual landmark near the summit: a metal office desk. Who put it there, and why, has been the subject of local legend for 45 years — until now.
Jim Kitchen, the man responsible for hauling the desk up the mountain nearly half a century ago, is returning to Alpine to tell the true story. From August 21–24, Kitchen will lead a series of morning hikes up Hancock Hill, sharing firsthand the story behind THE DESK with visitors and locals alike.
Hike Details
Dates: August 21–24, 2026
Time: 7:00 a.m. daily
Meeting Point: Hancock Hill Trailhead
Directions: Enter Sul Ross State University through Entrance 4 to reach the trailhead.
Difficulty: Moderate, with elevation change. Tennis shoes required; hiking boots recommended. Bring plenty of water, sunscreen, and a hat.
Prefer to Just Hear the Story?
For those unable to make the hike, Jim Kitchen will also share the story of THE DESK in a special talk at the Museum of the Big Bend on Friday, August 21 at 1:30 p.m.
Media Contact
Alpine Visitor Center
Phone: 432-837-2326
[email protected]
Photo Credit: Robert Greeson

08/19/2026

Proposed Mariscal Mountain Road: Dangerous and Unnecessary
By Glenn W. Smith

An alarming feature of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s plans for Big Bend National Park is a so-called “patrol road” up and over Mariscal Mountain above Mariscal Canyon and the Rio Grande. This is not to say that the planned 77 miles of a fancy new road along the border (and next to an existing graded road!) is any less alarming or damaging. All are unfortunate for the many who visit the park or the plant and animal lives that call it home.
But a road across Mariscal? According to CBP’s own infrastructure standards and the geophysical nature of the mountain, there are few places so unsuited for such a road. Its slope is too steep and the rock inside too broken.
And what is the point? There is already a road around the mountain, from Talley to Solis. Given the elevation, the number of switchbacks, and the slow-poke speed required to negotiate it all, it would be faster – and safer – to drive around.
Law enforcement officers’ work is limited on top of a mountain. There are few lawbreakers up there with them. And it takes nearly as long to go safely down as it takes to go safely up. It’s possible CBP intends some kind of surveillance installation on top of the mountain, but that could be maintained by helicopter.
And Mariscal Mountain’s very character seems formed to resist road building. Consider the kind of mountain roadcuts West Texans know too well, the kind with a mountain wall rising up along the side of the road. CBP's standards let the wall lean back no more than two feet for every one foot of height, a 50 percent slope. The “lean” is intended to keep the mountain from falling on us. Mariscal's east flank slope reaches 60.3 percent. The mountain rises faster than the wall can lean back. That means the road CBP has drawn won’t meet CBP's own standards.
Now, you are thinking to yourself, “Wait, I’ve driven on plenty of roads where the mountain wall rises straight up, perpendicular to the road. Why won’t that work on Mariscal Mountain?” Good question. Those vertical walls of rock work where the rock is solid. Mariscal isn't solid. It is layers of limestone, the layers bent into a ridge. And the layers run downhill on both sides. Cutting a road into the slope means cutting through the bottom of every layer above the road.
Think of it this way. Tilt a deck of cards in your hand. Your bottom fingers are the only thing keeping it together. Take your fingers away, and the cards slide out one over another. Cutting a road into the slope is like taking away the fingers. Nothing holds them in place.
And the picture becomes even more troubling when we look beneath the surface. According to the Geologic Map of Mariscal Mountain, Big Bend National Park (2010), the mountain's interior is crossed by faults and fractures, including along the ridge where the road would go. The geologists also mapped collapse features in rock that is already "folded, faulted, and fractured," both on the crest and on the mountain's slopes. Limestone dissolving over millions of years has left caved-in pits, some quite large.
In one of those caved-in pits, geologists mapped whole layers of rock, including a sheet of volcanic rock that had dropped into the hole below. Solid rock, sunk into a cavity in the limestone. That is the ground CBP proposes to build a road across.
Then there is the rock they take out of the mountain. In some places along the mountain, construction risks dropping tons of rock into the canyon and river below. And what becomes of the spoil (an understated term for tons of removed rock) if it doesn’t simply fall below? How will it be hauled, and where will it be hauled to?
Mariscal Mountain is many things. A magnificent thing of beauty that holds a great river between its canyon walls. A hiker’s magical dream. A geologic phenomenon of unceasing wonders. But it is no place for a road.

08/17/2026

New concerns, actions in border wall controversy
Contractors illegally clear land and drill water wells
By Kara Gerbert
Managing Editor

A dispute over border wall construction in the Big Bend has intensified after contractors bulldozed state-owned land without permission, prompting action from the state of Texas.
Two letters, one from the Texas Land Commissioner and the other from a Congressional Delegation, call for a halt to further progress on the construction of a border wall and the accompanying infrastructure for the project.
According to a report from the Texas Tribune, Dawn Buckingham, Executive Director of the General Land Office of Texas (GLO), immediately sent a cease-and-desist letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Barnard Construction after learning contractors had bulldozed state-managed property owned by the GLO in Presidio County without permission.
This action comes as opposition to a proposed border wall and related infrastructure continues across the Big Bend region.
In addition to Buckingham’s letter, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett and other members of Congress have also called for a halt to construction plans for a proposed patrol road inside Big Bend National Park, requesting additional environmental review.
The GLO has played an active role in protecting land along the Texas-Mexico border. The purchase of the 353,735-acre Brewster Ranch in southeast Brewster County in 2024 includes Rio Grande River frontage that forms part of the Lower Canyons of the Big Bend Wild and Scenic River.
Concerns surrounding the construction of the border wall extend beyond Texas.
According to an Associated Press report out of Phoenix, Barnard Construction was among four construction companies identified for drilling unauthorized water wells in the drought-stricken state of New Mexico. The wells were reportedly supposed to be pumping up to 300 gallons per minute.
A rancher brought the illegal drilling to light during a public meeting after speaking with an employee of one of the companies drilling a well on land he was leasing from the federal government.
The AP reported that none of the four construction companies responded to requests for comment. Caddell Construction Co. and Fisher Industries did not respond to requests at all, while Barnard and Spencer Construction did not respond to messages left with their receptionists.
The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, which regulates and oversees water wells in the state, reported that eight illegal wells associated with the border wall project had been drilled without the agency’s permission. According to the Associated Press, the Trump administration later directed the companies to cease drilling.
Brewster County Judge Greg Henington said local officials expect any such activities in the Big Bend by construction companies to follow state law.
“We plan on holding everyone accountable for following the law on the development of wells and water,” Henington said. “There is a process to be followed, and our Groundwater District is on top of it.”
Doggett and his fellow members of Congress urged federal officials to suspend the construction of the proposed patrol road near Mariscal Mountain inside Big Bend National Park, while environmental and cultural impacts are evaluated.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, and U.S. Commissioner for the International Boundary and Water Commission Chad McIntosh, the lawmakers cited concerns over compliance with the 1970 Boundary Treaty and the potential effects the project posed to protected public lands.
Lawmakers and the concerned environmental group Keep Big Bend Wild argued that the existing patrol road north of Mariscal Mountain is already regularly used and sufficient for Border Patrol operations. They questioned the need for a new route, which would be located 1,700 feet above the Rio Grande in one of the least traveled sections of the park.
Construction activity and both legal and environmental questions remain under review as state and federal officials continue to examine the project and construction companies push to move forward with their contracts.