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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Machuca joined PD after early military career
By JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., Aug. 26, 2003 -- Joining the military at the age of 16, Pecos
Patrol Officer Oscar Machuca accredits his four years in the service as
his reason for pursuing a career in law enforcement.
"I joined the Army at the age of 16," Machuca said. "My father had to
sign for me. I actually turned 17 the day of graduation."
During his time in the service, Machuca was stationed at Ft. Hood in
Killeen where he worked as an electrician.
Machuca eventually left the military and eventually became a member of
the Pecos Police Department.
"I have been with the department for fives years," Machuca said. "Before
I was with Corrections for three years."
Machuca is the only member of the Pecos Police Department with a K-9.
He also has been a member of the S.W.A.T. team for four years and has worked
highway interdiction for three years.
He describes his job as being exciting but at the same time demanding,
since officers have to continue training and stay informed on the new laws
that are created.
"You learn something everyday," Machuca said. "You can be with the department
for 20 years and still learn something new."
Like any job, being a police officer has it good and bad moments, for
Machuca the good thing about his job is that it allows him to get to know
his fellow co-workers and their families.
"The best part of the job is that it allows us to get to know the other
officers," Machuca said. "We get to know each other and their families forming
a bond together."
By forming a bond, Machuca said it helps them work with each other during
a stop.
"We learn how we each reacts and are then able to react if a problem
arises before it escalates to something worse," Machuca said.
The bad part of his job is when he has to handle cases involving children.
"The worst part is when an innocent child is involved in an accident
or child abuse," Machuca said. "We then have to explain to them what is
going on."
Having two kids of his own, Machuca says that the talks to them about
the things he sees while on the job.
"They love to hear the stories," Machuca said. "I tell them about the
drugs and weapons that are out there and explain to them why they are wrong."
He added that his children, Oscar Jr., 13, and Victoria, 10, understand
what he does.
Machuca said that he would suggest to anyone wanting to pursue a career
in law enforcement to join the armed forces and that they must have a desire
to be in law enforcement.
"You must have a drive," Machuca said. "You must love the job and not
do it because of the money. You must also be patient."
County library obtains funds to start repairs
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., Aug. 26, 2003 -- New shelves will be installed at the Reeves
County Library soon, thanks to a grant awarded to the local facility.
"I applied and was awarded another grant from the Tucker Foundation of
Austin," Reeves County Librarian Sally Perry told county commissioners Monday
morning, during her report and update on what is going on at the library
at the regular Commissioners Court meeting.
Perry said that the grant came from Texas Public Libraries and was awarded
to small facilities in the state. The grant is in the amount of $28,566
and will be used for new shelving at the library.
"This grant has no match, so the county won't have to put any money into
it," said Perry.
"This money is designated for new shelving," said Perry. "I went after
this grant because the shelving at the library dates back to the 1960's."
Perry said that some of the shelving is in ill-repair and that some repairs
had been done this summer. "But those were just temporary, because some
of those shelves really need to be replaced," she said.
Perry told the group that this was the second grant award that she had
received for the county library in the past 12 months.
"The other one was to automate the library," said Perry.
The grant was a telecommunications infrastructure grant from the Texas
Legislature.
"This was not a private funded company," said Perry. "It has helped tremendously,
but there is still a lot to do."
Perry said that one of the problems that they are experiencing is the
lack of space in the building, located at Fifth and Park streets.
"As we fill up this library, there seems to be less space," said Perry.
"I was thinking that maybe we need to expand in the future."
Perry said that the library had also been awarded a grant from the Bill
Gates Foundation, which was used towards new computers. "I'm also applying
for a TIFF grant and we'll be getting 15 more computers," said Perry.
Perry said that some of the computers would be slim-line and laptops.
"We'll also be getting a new filter system," for the Internet, she added.
Perry said that she has set some goals for the library that include a
lot of new items. "We'll be getting a lot of new things for the community
and we welcome everyone to come to the library and see everything that we
have done," she said.
"I will go after any kind of money that we are eligible for and that is
out there," said Perry. "The only problem will be space, but I'll see what
I can do in the next year or so."
Amendment voting starting Wednesday
PECOS, Tues., Aug. 26, 2003 -- Early Voting by personal appearance will
begin Wednesday at the Reeves County Courthouse for the Sept. 13, Constitutional
Amendment Election.
Courthouse lobby hours will be between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and early voting
will end on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
The courthouse will be closed on Labor Day.
For questions concerning the election contact Dianne O. Florez, Reeves
County Clerk, at 445-5467.
Weather
PECOS, Tues., Aug. 26, 2003 -- High Monday 96. Low this morning 71. Forecast
for tonight: Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of evening thunderstorms.
Lows in the upper 60s. Southeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Wednesday: Partly cloudy
with a 20 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 90s.
Southeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Wednesday night: Partly cloudy with isolated
thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s. Thursday: Partly cloudy with a 20
percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 90s. Friday: Partly
cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s. Highs
95 to 100.
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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