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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
Extension appointments await state, local action
By KRISTEN CARREON
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., July 8, 2003 -- Texas Cooperative Extension Service has been
unable to fill two positions in Reeves County, the agricultural agent and
the family and consumer science agent, but is hoping funding from the state
and authorization from Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo will soon allow
both positions to be filled.
According to Scott Durham, District Extension Director in San Angelo,
one of the reasons for the two positions being vacant is the unstable budget
at the state level.
"Up until a short time ago, we were not filling any positions because
of the nature of the budget," Durham said.
Brenda Rue, the District Extension Director in Fort Stockton, agreed
with Durham saying that from January to May, the service underwent a hiring
freeze.
"This is when the Texas Cooperative Extension Service stops any external
hiring of positions. The reason for this was to wait and see what the state
legislature was to do with the state budget," Rue said.
Both Rue and Durham said that the other reason for the job vacancies
was the lack of authorization from the county judge.
"At this point, we need authorization in order to fill the positions,"
Durham said.
Rue, who is the supervisor in charge of filling both positions, said
that many letters have been sent to Galindo, but they have not received
any responses.
"We sent one to the county attorney (Luis Carrasco) to give to the county
judge. We have faxed several over for him to sign, and we have mailed several
letters. All of these letters were the same," Rue said.
Rue also said that Galindo's signature is the only thing required in order
to authorize filling the positions.
When the County Judge's office was contacted, they issued a statement
stating that the judge had been contacted about the positions for the extension
service.
Rue said that the Reeves County Extension Service Agent's position have
been left unfilled for roughly six months, since the departure of Terry Holder
from the job at the end of December.
The position of family and consumer science agent for Reeves County has
been vacant for a year, since the resignation of Marie Cardenas from the
job in July of 2002.
"We were trying to get the positions filled before the hiring freeze in
January, and have been trying since it ended," Rue said.
According to Rue, both positions provide beneficial assistance to the
community.
"The Texas Cooperative Extension Service provides research based education
to all of the counties in the state. The agricultural agent handles ag
related topics, and the family and consumer science agent handles a variety
of topics, such as health concerns and financial management," Rue said.
Rue said that the Extension Service provides assistance to youth and adults
to develop leadership skills through educational programs. She said that
these programs help maintain leadership roles in the community.
The extension service also provides assistance for community economic
development.
"We help to develop ways to draw in tourism. The interstate captures
a lot of traffic. Agents are backed with research specialists to assess
the community in ways that could help recruit more income," Rue said.
According to Rue, the extension service is a great partner for a county
to have. She said that these agents deliver a wide variety of information
to the community that can help to help it better itself.
Gomez confident of funding in future years
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., July 8, 2003 -- A month after getting a scare about its future
funding from state officials, the Trans Pecos Task Force doesn't anticipate
any future problems with funding, despite fears expressed by the Permian
Basin's other drug task force agency.
"We just received notice that they will fund us for the next year and
probably the following years," said Reeves County Sheriff Andy Gomez.
A story in today's Odessa American stated that the West Texas Narcotics
Enforcement Task Force will be funded for another year, but it might be
the organization's last year in existence.
"We're not worried about being funded in the future," said Gomez. "This
is something we have to do every year, is apply each year."
Gomez said that the funding is done annually, and that the local task
force has received their funding for the 2003-04 fiscal year. "We'll have
to do it again the following the year, but we don't expect any problems,
as far as funding," he said.
"As far as we're concerned, we'll keep going and the funding will continue
every year as normal," said Gomez.
West Texas Narcotics Task Force Commander Sonia Garcia told Ector County
Commissioners that congressional funding of task forces through the Edward
Byrne Memorial Fund Program might be dicey as Congress cuts expenditures
next year, the American reported.
The Trans-Pecos Drug Task Force received a grant in the amount of $503,106
from the Criminal Justice Division last week. In early June, the task force
was incorrectly told by state officials that it would not receive funds
for the new fiscal year. The error was corrected the following week.
"We're very pleased and know that we will make them proud," said Gomez.
"Officers on this task force work very hard and bring about results."
Both area task forces were formed following the dissolution of the Permian
Basin Drug Task Force in 1997. The West Texas Narcotics Task Force was set
up by the Department of Public Safety and is now run out of Ector County,
while the Trans-Pecos Drug Task Force is headquartered in Reeves County
and includes Midland County in its jurisdiction.
Car thief eludes police after high-speed chase
By JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., July 8, 2003 -- A report of a stolen vehicle led Pecos Police
Officers and Reeves County Sheriff Deputies on a high-speed chase through
the west side of Pecos and out to the Lindsey Addition late Monday night,
which ended with the suspect eluding authorities for now.
According to the police report, officers were dispatched to the Sonic
Drive-In in the 300 block of West Third St. at 11:39 p.m., in reference
to a stolen vehicle.
Pecos Police Chief Clay McKinney said that an employee of Sonic had parked
his vehicle on the west side of the parking lot and had left his engine
running while he went inside to pick up an item.
"When he came out his vehicle was gone," McKinney said.
Patrol Lt. Juan Vasquez said that the report identified the Sonic employee
as a male juvenile.
"The report states that a male juvenile called in reference to stolen
vehicle," Vasquez said.
"The vehicle is a 1998 Chevy Z71 pickup."
The report goes onto state that at about 11:54 p.m., Officer Julio Quinones
spotted the vehicle out on Yucca Street. At that point officers began to
search for the vehicle up and down several of the streets in that area and
on the south side of town.
"They located it (vehicle) and it took the officers and deputies onto
the south side of town and onto FM 1946, (County Road) 205 and 206," Vasquez
said. "However, they could not locate it so it was entered as a stolen vehicle."
Though they did not recover the vehicle or locate the person who was
driving it, McKinney said that they do have some suspects and have located
some witnesses.
"We hope to ID the suspect and obtain an arrest warrant for him," McKinney
said.
Junell sets September sentencing date for Harris
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., July 8, 2003 -- The sentencing date for Travis James Harris
in cases involving both a firebombing and a carjacking-related murder has
been scheduled for 9 a.m., on Sept. 9, by U.S. District Judge Rob Junell.
The sentencing will take place in Midland Federal Court, according to
U.S. Clerk's Office records.
Harris pled guilty on April 3 in U.S. District Court in Pecos to firebombing
the Monahans Police Department building on June 3, 2002. The sentencing
in the firebombing case was continued because of Harris' other trial, in
which he was found guilty June 25 of a carjacking resulting in the death
of Odessan Paul John Ceniceros.
A Midland jury found Harris guilty of two counts. Count one was carjacking,
(taking by force a motor vehicle that had been shipped in interstate commerce).
Count two included violent crime, carrying a firearm, which resulted in
the death of Ceniceros.
Harris was already in jail on the firebombing charge when he was charged
in connection with the May 2002 slaying on Ceniceros.
In the case heard in Pecos, Harris, of Monahans, pled guilty to damaging
a building by fire and explosive materials and one count of using a destructive
device in causing an arson fire in the firebombing of the Monahans Police
Department. The fire, which was started by a Molotov cocktail thrown through
a window, did extensive damage to two rooms in the building and forced the
police department to relocate to a new headquarters in Monahans.
The sentencing for both the firebombing and the killing will take place
at the same time on Sept. 9, in the Midland Federal Courthouse.
Alzheimer's support meeting scheduled Thursday
PECOS, Tues., July 8, 2003 -- Alzheimer's Association STAR Chapter will
sponsor a Pecos Support Group meeting at 4 p.m., Thursday at the Pecos Senior
Citizen's Center, 119 S. Cedar St.
Everyone is invited to attend.
Weather
PECOS, Tues., July 8, 2003 -- High Monday 87. Low this morning 73. Forecast
for tonight: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 60s. Southeast winds 15 to 25
mph decreasing to 5 to 15 mph. Wednesday: Sunny. Highs in the upper 80s.
East winds 5 to 15 mph. Wednesday night: Clear. Lows in the lower 70s. Thursday:
Mostly clear. Highs near 90. Friday: Clear. Lows near 70. Highs in the mid
90s.
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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