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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Thursday, April 20, 2000
Unemployment in county drops, jobs rise by 210
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 20, 2000 - Unemployment continued to drop in Reeves County
and the Town of Pecos City in March, while over 200 new jobs were added
to the area, according to figures released today by the Texas Workforce
Commission.
Local unemployment remains higher than for most other surrounding counties,
but at 11 percent in March, it was down from 11.3 percent in February,
12.5 percent in January and from the 12.3 percent rate the TWC reported
in March of 1999.
In actual numbers, the report said Reeves County unemployment went up
by one, from 762 in February to 763 in March. But that was offset by an
increase of 210 jobs locally, while the labor force increased from 6757
in February to 6968 last month, the TWC said.
The number of jobs in Reeves County stood at 6205 in March, which was
also up from the same time last year, when 5717 people were employed and
802 others were out of work.
Unemployment for Pecos remains slightly higher than for the county as
a whole, but also is continuing its downward trend. The city had a 12.5
percent jobless rate in March, down from 12.9 percent in February and 13.8
percent in January. There were 683 people unemployed in March out of a
work force of 5,470, the TWC report said.
Overall unemployment in the Permian Basin was also slightly lower in
March than in February, though joblessness for the area remains above the
statewide average of 4.4 percent.
Howard County reported the biggest drop in the Permian Basin, falling
from 5.3 to 4.5 percent, as the county added 145 new jobs last month. Both
Ector County and Midland County saw their rates fall by two-tenths of a
percent, as did Pecos and Crane counties, while Ward County saw it's unemployment
rate fall by half a percent, from 9.5 to 9.2 percent, through the total
number of jobs was up by only two from February.
The total labor force in all of those counties except for Howard County
shrank between February and March, according to the TWC.
The highest jobless rate in the area remains in Presidio County. The
TWC said unemployment there stood at 24.3 percent in March, but that's
still down nearly five percent from its level two months earlier.
Statewide, the 4.4 percent jobless rate represented a .1 drop from February,
and was down from 4.7 percent at the start of the year. The TWC said nearly
9.9 million people were employed last month, out of a workforce of 10.3
million.
Pattillo requests vote recount for Precinct 3
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 20, 2000 - A recount of the April 11 runoff election for
Reeves County Commissioners Precinct 3 has been requested by the losing
candidate, and plans are being made for the voting recount sometime early
next week.
"I don't know yet, exactly when we're going to do it," said Reeves County
Clerk Dianne Florez. The recount of the April 11 election, in which incumbent
Herman Tarin defeated challenger David Pattillo, has been delayed after
Reeves County Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Dean suffered a heart attack
this past weekend.
"When he's released he's going to come and take care of things," said
Florez.
Dean is expected to be released from the hospital today, and a recount
will take place within the next couple of days. However, all county offices
will be closed tomorrow, due to the Good Friday holiday, which will delay
the recount until sometime next week.
The recount was requested by Pattillo, who lost out in the runoff election
by 17 votes to Tarin. Pattillo had beaten Tarin by 11 votes in the March
14 Democratic Primary, with both men advancing to the runoff election in
the four-person race.
Churches plan services for Good Friday, Easter
PECOS, April 20, 2000 - Area churches are observing Holy Week, the week
prior to Easter Sunday, with several special services today and on Good
Friday leading up to this year's Easter Sunday services.
Holy Thursday will be observed with a special service at 6:30 p.m. this
evening at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Pecos and at 7 p.m. at Our
Lady of Guadalupe in Saragosa and at Santa Rosa Catholic Church in Pecos.
Good Friday services will begin at noon, with the Stations of the Cross
and Veneration, at Christ the King Catholic Church in Balmorhea, Our Lady
of Guadalupe Church in Saragosa and Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church
in Barstow.
At 3 p.m., Via Crucis and Veneration will be held at Santa Rosa Catholic
Church in Pecos and at 7 p.m., Passion of Our Lord.
Passion of Our Lord services will also be held at St. Catherine Catholic
Church in Pecos, at 6 p.m.
Easter vigil will be at 6 p.m., at Christ the King; at 8 p.m., at Santa
Rosa in Pecos and Our Lady of Refuge in Barstow and at 9 p.m. at St. Catherine
in Pecos.
Easter Sunday services will commence at 5:30 a.m., at Santa Rosa Catholic
Church in Pecos and at 10:30 a.m. at both Santa Rosa and St. Catherine
in Pecos. Services will be at 10 a.m., at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Saragosa.
A Community Easter Service will be held Sunday, at 7 p.m., at the First
Baptist Church. The Pecos Ministerial Fellowship sponsors the annual event
and everyone is invited to attend.
An Easter Sunrise Service is scheduled north of Barstow on Farm Road
1516. Breakfast will be held at the Barstow Community Center.
Five advance to state science finals
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 20, 2000 - Our future is in good hands if the trend continues
for a group of junior high students who advanced to state competition recently
with their science projects at the University of Texas-Permian Basin.
"We're very proud of them, they did really well," said teacher Jim Workman,
referring to a group of five Crockett Middle School students who advanced
to the UIL State Science Fair Competition.
"We took 18 students to the regional science fair in Odessa and out
of those, we basically placed in every one of the nine divisions," said
Workman.
Alessandra Carrasco, placed first in Behavioral/Social Sciences. In
the regional science fair, Pete Vasquez and Jay Navarrete, placed third.
In Chemistry, Ysidro Renteria, Jr. took first place, with second place
also going to a Pecos team consisting of Jean Cranfill and Chantel Orona.
Third place went to eighth graders to Daniel Quintana and Alma Porras.
First place in Earth/Space Science went to Dustin Gulihur and Will Oglesby;
second place to Stephanie Herrera and Natalia Ornelas; and third place
to Jonathan Martinez.
In Environmental science, Whitney Lamb and Aysha Hernandez took third
place, while and in mathematics/physics the team from Crockett consisting
of Sylvia Salgado and Blanca Salgado also finished third.
The five competitors who finished first at the regional science fair
were allowed to go to State Competition, which is called the Young Scientists
Discovery Challenge. "They each got a T-shirt also," from that competition,
Workman said.
"The top 10 percent at regionals qualified for nationals, which is everyone
we took to state," said Workman.
National Competition is scheduled for June in Washington, D.C.
"These five competed against other junior division students, with over
400 projects, that they competed against," said Workman.
National Competition consists mostly of paperwork, where the judges
evaluate the projects and then break it down by halves, according to Workman.
"They break it down to 100 and then 50 and those are the ones that get
to go to Washington, D.C.," said Workman.
The five young scientists were very enthusiastic about their trip to
State Competition.
Alessandra Carrasco's project consisted of a behavioral test. "Basically
what I did, is test some students to see what their reaction was while
doing their homework and watching television, listening to the stereo or
in silence," said Carrasco.
Carrasco stated that her results indicated that homework was best done
in while listening to the stereo, with silence, being the second best and
television last.
Carrasco, who is an A-student at the junior high, plans to pursue a
career as a biomedical engineer, following high school graduation and college.
She enjoys playing sports and is on the basketball and track teams.
She is also a member of the band and participated in UIL competition.
Carrasco is the daughter of Sylvia and Jesse Carrasco.
Will Oglesby, Jose Reyes and Dustin Gulihur wanted to find out what
happens when you shoot a laser into a glass. The group found that the laser
is attracted to the thickest part of the glass and bends.
"We really didn't plan on this particular project, it was a last minute
decision, that worked out," said Oglesby.
Gulihur, Oglesby and Reyes also qualified for the Shell Oil Company
Scholarship, a $50 Savings Bond, which was awarded to each student.
Oglesby's favorite subject is science, while Reyes stated that is favorite
subject is math. Both students love sports and playing video games.
Oglesby is a member of the swim team, something he enjoys very much,
and the basketball team, while Reyes participates in football and basketball.
Oglesby is the son of Karen and Bill Oglesby and Reyes is the son of
Freddy and Manuela Reyes.
Ysidro Renteria's project in earth/space science helped to advance to
state competition. "My project was how to split water in hydrogen and oxygen
by using salt and a nine-volt battery," said Renteria.
When he's not busy with schoolwork, Renteria enjoys working in the yard
at his home and playing sports.
He is the son of Dia and Ysidro Renteria, Sr.
Obituary
Charles Perkins
Charles R. Perkins, Sr., of Marana, Ariz., died Monday, April 10, 2000,
at Grand Junction, Colorado.
Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday in the First United
Methodist Church in Pecos.
He graduated from Pecos High School in 1949 and was retired from the
Marana School District.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Thelma Savage and one brother,
Billy Perkins.
Survivors include one son, Charles R. Perkins, Jr. of Pecos; two daughters,
Jacque Burns of Grand Junction, Colo. and Toni Flynn of Hawkins; one brother,
Jack Casimir of Pecos; nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Weather
PECOS, April 20, 2000 - High Wednesday 97. Low this morning 47. Forecast
for tonight: Partly cloudy. Low 45-50. East wind 5-10 mph. Friday: Partly
cloudy and a little warmer. High 85-90. Southeast wind 10-20 mph. Friday
night: Partly cloudy. Low near 50. Saturday: Partly cloudy. High around
90. Sunday: Partly cloudy. Low 55-60. High 90-95.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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