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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Monday, June 18, 2001
Two persons die in Ward County cycle, car wrecks
By JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Monday, June 18, 2001 -- An Odessa man and a boy from Georgia were
killed in separate accidents in Ward County, one between Monahans and
Coyanosa early Sunday morning and the other between Pyote and Barstow
early today.
The boy died following a one-vehicle accident that occurred 10 miles east
of Pecos on Interstate 20 in Ward County at about 3:35 this morning. Nicholas
Maddox, 11, of Griffin, Ga., was pronounced dead at Reeves County Hospital
and was taken to Pecos Funeral Home after being brought there by Emergency
Medical Service personnel.
According to a report filed by the Texas Department of Public Safety,
the 1983 Mercedes Maddox was a passenger in was westbound on I-20 when the
car struck some tire debris on the road, causing the driver, Wade Gleason
Maynord, 44, of El Paso, to lose control. The car then went into a ditch
where the driver then over corrected and re-entered in a broadside skid.
The Mercedes skidded into the center medium and entered the eastbound lane
of I-20, where it overturned twice, ejecting the boy.
Maynord and a second passenger, identified as Raven Floyd Maynord of El
Paso, were also taken to Reeves County Hospital. Both are listed in good
condition with contusions and abrasions.
Highway Patrol Trooper Phillip Breeding responded to the accident.
The other fatality was the result of a motorcycle accident on Farm Road
1776, a tenth of a mile from county road 1771 in southern Ward County.
Richard Alexander Goin, 46 of Odessa was pronounced dead at the scene
by Ward County Justice of the Peace Ronald Ray, following the motorcycle
accident, which occurred shortly after midnight on Sunday. His body was taken
to Harkey Funeral Home in Monahans.
According to the DPS report, Goin was headed southbound on his 1994 Harley
DavidsonWhile on FM 1776 he drifted off the roadway and lost control of the
motorcyclecausing it to go into bar ditch and then into a barbed wire fence
alongside the road.
The DPS report was filed by Highway Patrol officer Manuel Moreno of Monahans,
who responded to the scene.
Duke served up honor by rodeo committee
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, Monday, June 18, 2001 -- In the days of the Old West, the wagon trains
were always equipped with a chuck wagon that would feed the fleet of
cowboys and cowgirls. Although the number of wagon trains has dwindled
down to very few you can still see a few chuck wagons here and there.
For about 10 years, the West of the Pecos Rodeo contestants and their
families and friends have seen a very unique chuck wagon built and run by
Jack Duke.
The West of the Pecos Rodeo Committee is dedicating this year's rodeo
to Duke for his many hours of work he does each year in order to feed the
rodeo contestants and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association members.
Rodeo Committee President Brenda McKinney notified Duke this morning at
his business, Colt Chevrolet, of the committee's decision to dedicate this
year's rodeo to him. Duke will be honored at the Directors Dinner at 6:30
p.m., on Saturday at the West of the Pecos Museum.
"This is a surprise," he said. "There's a lot of people that have done
more than I've done."
McKinney said that the rodeo committee chose Duke because he is always
willing to help where he is needed.
"Any time the committee has ever needed him he's been there, bless his
heart," she said. "I don't know what the committee would have done without
him."
Duke started cooking for the rodeo contestants in the early 90's when
his son, Kevin, was the Rodeo Committee president.
He said that Kevin was worried about the contestants who came to Pecos
for slack and stayed till the end of finals.
"He thought it would be a good idea to do an appreciation dinner for the
rodeo contestants," he said.
Since then the appreciation dinners have become a tradition and Duke's
cooking has become famous.
"It's been very rewarding to feed the contestants," he said.
Duke has kept the contestants well fed with many different meals including
barbecued chicken and beef and hamburgers. He cooks all of those meals
on his "bar-b-fryer", which has helped him and many other volunteers feed
up to 600 people at a time.
Duke and two friends built his "bar-b-fryer " from scratch, in approximately
three months and have traveled many places with it.
Through the years, Duke has pulled his "bar-b-fryer" to many cook-offs
and family gatherings, including a family reunion this past Memorial Day
in New Mexico.
"We've won the best cooker in every event we've participated in," Duke
said. "And that's about 30 events."
Duke, who is originally from Nara Vista, N.M., near Dalhart, is one of
thirteen children born to Fred and Zella Duke. He was the middle child with
six older and six younger siblings who are divided evenly into six brothers
and six sisters.
After graduating from high school, Duke stayed home to take care of his
family and the farm while his older brothers were away at war and his father
was ill.
At a State Fair, Duke met the love of his life, Marjorie, who was raised
on a ranch 70 miles north of Tucumcari, N.M.
Two years later the two were married and have been together for 51 years.
In January 1956, Duke said that he and his wife moved to Pecos where he
and Walter Shaw joined together and started farming cotton.
At the time the Dukes arrived in the town of Pecos, the area was in the
middle of an agricultural boom. "It was a flourishing cotton metropolis when
we came here," he said.
Since then the Dukes have seen many changes.
After the Pecos cotton industry declined, Duke moved into the car dealership
business in 1977.
Next February, Duke said that he would be celebrating 25 years of owning
Colt Chevrolet, which he loves and from which he never intends to retire.
Duke said that his favorite part of owning a car dealership is meeting
people.
"That's a happy time for people, when they're getting a new vehicle,"
he said.
Duke also provides vehicles to be used by rodeo sponsors and contestants
who fly into Pecos for the rodeo.
Duke and his wife have also raised two sons, Craig and Kevin, who also
live in Pecos, and are now watching their four grandsons grow up here, one
of whom just graduated from Pecos High School.
When not selling cars or cooking at the rodeo, Duke said he loves to hunt
and fish, especially with his grandsons, Tye, Trey, Nathan and Coe.
"I love taking my grandsons fishing," he said. "They are good fishermen
and hunters thanks to their love of being outside."
Although Duke has been involved with the rodeo for many years he said,
"I haven't been a contestant. I've just been a supporter of it since we've
been in Pecos."
Duke has watched both of his sons compete in the wild mule races, before
it was changed to mares, and saw them win for four years in a row.
This year, Duke will be able to enjoy the rodeo without any responsibilities.
"Jack is not cooking this year," McKinney said. "This is his year off."
Instead of seeing Duke cooking away for the contestants, Herb Stewart
and Hugh Box will be taking his place.
Both Duke and McKinney said that Stewart and Box would do a very good
job.
"They'll do it," McKinney said. "But they do have some big shoes to fill."
Weather
PECOS, Monday, June 18, 2001 -- High Sunday 99. Low this morning 69. Forecast
for tonight: Mostly clear. Low near 65. South wind 10 to 20 mph. Tuesday:
Partly cloudy. High in the mid 90s. South wind 10 to 20 mph. Tuesday
night: Mostly clear. Low near 65. Wednesday and Thursday: Partly cloudy.
Lows near 65. Highs 90 to 95.
Obituaries
David, Hernandez, Beverly Lindemann and Ysidro Zermeno, Jr
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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