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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Archives 1995
National post to ex-TxDOT engineer
Pecos, Nov. 01, 1995--Bill Burnett, a former Pecos area
engineer for the Texas Highway Department, was sworn in as
president of the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials Tuesday in Norfolk, Va.
Since leaving Pecos in 1982, Burnett served as area engineer
in Midland and Odessa, then was district engineer in Abilene
and El Paso before taking the position of executive director
of TxDOT in October, 1993.
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a member of the
committee on commerce, science and transportation, said,
"Bill Burnett has proven himself an effective leader in
providing safe, convenient transportation for Texas, and I
think he's in an excellent position to serve a national
constituency.
"Transportation policy is at a crossroads, especial, when we
begin to realize the full impact of the North American Free
trade Agreement on our national infrastructure," she said.
"As we begin to reassess the structure of federal
transportation pro grams, I look forward to working with
Bill and AASHTO colleagues."
The purpose of AASHTO is to foster the development,
operation and maintenance of a nationwide integrated
transportation system and to cooperate with other
appropriate agencies on matters of mutual interest in
serving the public need.
Members departments study all problems connected with
highway transport and other modes of transportation, counsel
with Congress on transportation legislation and develop
technical, administrative, and operational standards and
policies.
Maxey Park Zoo finally gets new monkey
By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer
Pecos, Nov.01, 1998--Mikey the monkey made the flight from
Illinois to Pecos in good shape and is happy in the Maxey
Park Zoo, said Armando Gil, zoo director.
Gil went to Brookfield, III. to receive the monkey in
conjunction with the loan and breed program under which zoos
operate. He was given a tour of the huge zoo, which has 400
employees.
He was given instructions how to care for Mikey, one of
about 200 monkeys housed indoors.
"They said Mikey would love being outside in the sun
during the summer, and it helps get rid of parasites, so he
will be adjusted to this area," Gil said.
Gil and Mikey arrived in Pecos Sunday night, and Mikey
met his mate on Monday.
"They adjusted real well from the first day I brought
him in," Gil said. But it will be three to four years before
they will bleed.
Mikey is a large 10-year-old capuchin monkey, "very
healthy, an understanding primate," Gil said. "When you
indicate with a hand motion and tell him to gel out of the
exhibit area and into the housing area, he will do it right
away."
He replaces a male capuchin that vandals killed in
early July. The two juveniles who were found to have
committed the crime were required to pay restitution as part
of their punishment, and Gil said that paid for his trip to
Illinois.
Visitors have flocked to the monkey pen since word
got around Monday, Gil said.
Pecos is "running a Class A operation," Gil was told by
the Brookf~eld zoo director, who did a thorough background
check on~ him and the zoo before turning over the monkey.
"He checked thoroughly, and even the editor of the
newspapers had some good comments," he said.
Enterprise editor and publisher Mac McKinnon has
written editorials opposing Gil's plans to obtain the
monkeys, along with several other animals at the zoo had not
been home to previously.
"He found out about the articles, and that's why they
checked a with him," Gil said.
Mikey joins a group of Emu,ostriches and other exotic
animals shipped in recently from the Waters Ranch. All are
doming great," Gil said.
But he is having second thoughts about obtaining
alligators because they are hard to care for "I don't want
to jeopardize the animals " Gil explained.
Officials find 'hideout' of imate inside RCDC
Pecos, Nov. 3, 1995--Reeves County Detention Center official
and area law enforcement agencies hunted a missing prisoner
- but not, as it turned out, an escapee - for about four
hours on Thursday.
A search of the detention Center's facilities turned up the
prisoner about 8 p.m. on Thursday, after he was discovered
missing from the detainment facility during a mid-afternoon
count.
Victor Valdez Anderson, 45, was reported discovered missing
during a 4:30 p.m. headcount of inmates at the facility the
southwest side of Pecos. "We did not declare an (official)
escape until 6:30 p.m.," said RCDC Warden Joe Trujillo, at
which time all the proper authorities were notified.
Reports of the escape were first broadcast to officers about
5 p.m., and roadblocks were posted at all major highway
about 6:30 p.m., said Trujillo. Canines and horseback units
also were supplied by the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice of Fort Stockton.
"They're something else," said Trujillo of search team.
One of the roadblocks set up by sheriff deputies was on
Texas 17 in the Verhalen area, where another inmate,
31-year-old Ismael Chavez-Romero, was recaptures on Oct. 20,
eight hours after he was reported missing form the prison.
Anderson was serving 18 months at the RCDC for alien
smuggling, according to Deputy U.S. Marshal Billy K.
Johnson, who noted he was convicted by a southern Texas
district court. He is a resident alien form Brownsville,
originally form Matamoros, Mex.
Trujillo said this morning that the prisoner was discovered
hiding "within the secured area," by Captain LaVaughn
Garnto. Trujillo declined to comment on the exact area of
the facility where the prisoner was found.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, 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 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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Pecos Enterprise