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That's because much of the company that comes into town goes to Pecos
High School for sports events, and Walthall is a shortcut from U.S.
Highway 285 to the school.
Kevin Duke and his bunch of volunteers will burn up some debris they
piled up along 285 earlier when they trimmed the salt cedars and cleared
out a lot of underbrush to beautify the entrance to town from the south.
And does it look better!
They're not stopping there, of course. They plan to go on down 285 and
clean up the north approach, where lots of tourists arrive from
Carlsbad, N.M.
Roy Lindsay is demolishing about two dozen buildings condemned by the
city. One of those is on the west approach to town, the abandoned
American Motor Inn. What a boost to the town it will be to get
everything shined up and company-ready.
I met some people who had bought the old Louis Lively store and
surrounding land. They moved down from Carlsbad, where it is "too
crowded." Doesn't that pump you up, knowing the migration from Pecos to
Carlsbad can be reversed?
Our new city manager asked me at his interview (he interviewed me while
he waited his turn) about the run-down look of the town and what the
city is doing about it. "Tearing down the old buildings as fast as we
can pay for it," I told him. He seemed to think the city could help
folks to fix up their houses. But I told him the county already got in
trouble for that, and it is not likely the city is going to get
involved. At least I hope not. But maybe by tearing down abandoned
buildings, the city can encourage people to fix up their own property.
Do you sense an air of optimism in the town? I do. Seems like people
are working together better and trying to find solutions for problems
instead of blaming each other.
One of the brightest spots in town is Anchor West, where around 400
people slice, par fry and freeze onions to be shipped all over the
country to mostly fast-food places. We don't write much about them,
because they don't want their competitors to know what they are doing.
But we know they are there, because our friends and neighbors work
there. Besides, we can smell the onions cooking when the breeze is out
of the south.
I guess the county's prison is a bright spot, even though its mission
is a sad one, and it has had more than its share of problems. It
provides a lot of jobs.
Overall, I'd say things are looking up for Pecos. God is blessing
efforts to please Him.
"Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight
in them." Psalm 111:2, NIV.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Peggy McCracken is an Enterprise writer and editor whose
column appears each Tuesday.
What's next? I assume that you advocate bringing back the Corvair as
well?
Steve Spurgin
El Paso
Thomas says: "I once believed that all homeless people needed was to
learn a skill or get a job. However, my experience taught me that help
is important, but hope is imperative." He says that if all we do is
teach a homeless person a skill, nothing changes on the inside. What you
get is a skilled homeless person.
Anyone who believes his or her problems are permanent and unsolvable
will give up easily. That's an inside problem, not a skill problem. If a
person believes that problems are temporary and specific, they are
optimistic about their future and continue trying to overcome life's
difficulties. Many homeless people have given up and are resigned to
living in poverty.
Thomas says that at Dallas Life Foundation, "we're about the business of
offering a helping hand and developing hopeful hearts. We teach physical
and mental skills in our effort to help." True success comes when people
learn to solve problems. Successful people are not necessarily people
without problems, they are people who learn how to solve their problems.
The desire to solve problems is an expression of the inner person. An
enthusiasm for the future inspires people to overcome the adversity of
the present. A lack of enthusiasm is not a skills problem, but a feeling
of hopelessness because the one thing that produces long-term results is
hope. If the Dallas Life Foundation's approach were taken all over
America, many of the homeless would no longer be without homes. One
committed person, backed by a committed community, can solve community
problems.
Take the hope approach, and all of us will have a better chance of
getting to the top!
"The bee is more honored than other creatures not because she labors,
but because she labors for others." - St. John Chrysostom
EDITOR'S NOTE: Zig Ziglar is a motivational speaker whose column is
copyrighted and distributed by Creators Syndicate Inc.
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Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
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