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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Thursday, February 6, 2003
Mexico is topic at study club meeting
PECOS, Feb. 6, 2003 - An International Affairs Department program was
held recently in the home of Catherine and J.E. Travland. Nan Cate chairman
of the International Affairs Department was the planner and presenter.
She selected for the program the thought-quote - "Which of these three do
you think was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?
He answered, "The one who showed kindness." Jesus said to him, "Go
and do as he did" - Luke 10:36-37-Revised English Bible.
As Nan Cate began her program entitled, "Our neighbors to the
South - Mexico," she told of three of the problems facing Mexico and
the United States which she had investigated and studied.
First she told of the non-compliance of Mexico with the Water Treaty of
1944 in which the United States and Mexico agreed to share the waters of the
Rio Grande River. The U.S. was to furnish 1,500,000 acre-feet of water to
Mexico from the upper Rio Grande where water from the Colorado River and
Pecos River are tributaries to the Rio Grande. Mexico was to furnish 350,000
acre-feet of water to the United States from the Rio Grande since the Rio Concho
River and other tributaries in Mexico add water to the Rio Grande. Mexico
has failed to live up to the agreement with the result that the fields of Mexico
are green while the fields on the American side are brown and dead.
Mrs. Cate continued stating that illegal immigration is another
problem of the two nations. The U.S. acts as a safety valve for Mexico by
their extremely poverty-stricken people crossing the border illegally to
obtain jobs. The money Mexican laborers send back to Mexico is the third
biggest source of income (behind oil and tourism) for Mexico.These
immigrants save the consumer money in the lower costs of food and lower priced
consumer prices. Proposals are being made to activate a "guest-worker" program
to make it possible to handle the problem in a more orderly fashion.
The study by Mrs. Cate was ended by noting some of the positive
aspects of our relationship with Mexico - our adoption of their food, their
cheap labor and their beautiful affordable vacation spots for U.S. citizens.
Those in attendance also heard reports of three people from Pecos
who had made "mission" trips to Mexico
to help relieve medical, housing, and educational problems of the
border region. The missionaries found the people friendly, surviving in
terrible conditions and very grateful for our help.
President Joyce Morton gave the welcome and presided at
the meeting. Paula Fuller lead to the Club Collect and Shirley Shaffer led
the pledges to the United States flag and the Texas flag, as those in
attendance repeated all in unison. Paula Fuller, secretary, read the minutes of the
two previous meetings.
During committee reports scholarships and totes for
M.D. Anderson Cancer Research patients were discussed. It was reported
that two of the completed totes had been given to local residents who
were going to receive treatments at MDA.
The projects: Books for Babies, distribution of books entitled
"Jack Crow Said Hello," Bears on Patrol were discussed.
Roll call was answered by giving an advantage or disadvantage
of being a neighbor to Mexico The project for this bi-monthly
meeting was to bring an item for hygiene kids for a family in Mexico.
Pearl Gustafson was remembered as having a Jan. 24 birthday.
Joining Mrs. Travland with hostess duties were Shirley Shaffer and
Martha Jay. Those in attendance enjoyed "A Touch of Mexico" theme in the
home and at the refreshment table.
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
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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