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Their efforts to expand water supply lines to Sand Lake and the Lindsay
Addition have been thwarted by tiny fish and bureaucracy, but they are
submitting another grant application.
Reeves County Commissioners have approved a resolution supporting the
application to lay a water line from Hoban, 17 miles south of Pecos, to
the Lindsay Addition. Although Madera officers will develop the grant
request, the Texas Community Development Program requires county or city
support for funding under the economically depressed areas program.
the grant request is for $300,000 from the state's Colonia Construction
Fund or other funds under EDAP. Madera Valley has already obtained $1.5
million for the overall project, including two grants and a 40-year loan.
Construction items for the total project include buying water rights,
buying a 100 ft.-by-100 ft. well site, drill and equip two wells, lay
pipeline and build two booster stations.
President Cecil Jim Lee said that, while the project targets Sand Lake
and Lindsay Addition, the additional well field will benefit the entire
system. It will provide a more dependable supply of water and lessen the
water demand on the existing well fields.
Sand Lake is located north and west of Pecos and north of Interstate 20.
Toyah has in the past provided water to the area, but that water did not
meet state requirements. Lindsay Addition is a platted sub-division
southwest of Pecos.
Madera Valley had earlier obtained a $300,000 grant from TDCA to install
a six-inch pipeline from the Huelster and McIntire well fields west of
Toyahvale to the Alamo Booster Station, a distance of 25 miles.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied construction approval and
after a three-year confrontation, Madera Valley was forced to relinquish
the grant funds.
Hydrologists and biologists who studied the discharge and drainage basin
of San Solomon and associated springs said that the Comanche Springs
Pupfish and Pecos Gambusia habitat could be destroyed by excessive
pumping from the regional aquifer.
The San Solomon Spring group is located in Reeves and Jeff Davis
counties near Balmorhea, and contains the last major springs still
flowing in Texas' Trans-Pecos region.
Over-pumping of the regional aquifer has drawn down the water table and
many of the area's springs have gone dry, the study showed. Among these
springs are the Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton, which ceased flowing
in 1962.
The Comanche Springs pupfish is a federally listed endangered species,
and is now known to occur only at the San Solomon and associated
springs, which also provides habitat for the endangered fish Pecos
Gambusia.
After the study was made, a federally-funded construction project
created a concrete raceway for the tiny fish at San Solomon Springs.
Later, a marshy area was restored in the Balmorhea State Recreation Area
at Toyahvale to provide additional habitat for the endangered fish.
Madera Valley Water Supply Corporation is a non-profit organization
created in 1967 for the purpose of furnishing potable water to the
Reeves County farming area and the communities of Toyahvale, Brogado,
Saragosa and the Lindsay Addition.
The original system, completed in 1969, served 300 customers and has
been followed by five supplemental projects, including the Sand Lake
area and development of the McIntire Well Field. It now serves 640
customers, Lee said.
Madera Valley's new Lindsay well field draws from a different aquifer
closer to Pecos, and the water quality is better, Lee said. Fort
Stockton has well fields on both sides of it.
Lee said that Madera has title to the well field and water rights, and
funding for the pipeline from the wells to the new Hoban Booster Station
are in hand.
The line from the Hoban station to the Lindsay Addition is Phase II of
the project.
Phase III, which will require an additional grant, is a new line to the
Sand Lake area. Phase IV will upsize laterals in the Sand Lake and other
areas.
Al Cate was general manager of the corporation from June 1969 until his
recent retirement. He compiled a history that details development and
progress through 1990.
Lee has been president since 1979. Others were Garland Rowe, Robert
McNutt, Dale Toone, Jack Davis, J.S. Wofford and Crews Adams.
Cate said Madera Valley is one of many small water systems developed
through funding by the Farmers Home Administration. It began with a
vision to get potable water to Saragosa and spread to most of the rural
are of Reeves County.
Work started on the project in 1966, and the first water was delivered
in the summer of 1969.
"Caller ID is not currently scheduled," said GTE Public Affairs Manager
Charles Watkins. "The company is revisiting that concept."
Watkins said that for "company reasons" GTE's Caller ID program roll-out
has been delayed nation-wide. Those reasons might range from possible
new technology on the horizon to re-configuring current technology,
Watkins said.
He said he was sure GTE was rethinking the concept to be sure the
company was offering the best possible service for the cost.
Pecos already has digital switching, Watkins said, and only needs
upgrading to include Caller ID and several other extended services.
Watkins was unsure as to when GTE would come to a decision concerning
Caller ID. He said as soon as a decision was made the public would be
notified.
In February, Watkins stated that delays in obtaining equipment that
allows the statewide GTE system to recognize calls contributed to
postponing the Caller ID service.
Even if GTE decides to implement Caller ID not all of Pecos will be
hooked up at the same time.
Watkins explained in past interviews that GTE has two offices that serve
Pecos, one for 445 prefixes and one for 447 prefixes. Barstow and areas
east of Pecos also have a 445 prefix. The Caller ID service will be
installed for one prefix first then the second prefix will receive the
service.
Caller ID provides the date, time and information about the calling
party such as the telephone number of the person calling or that the
call is "anonymous" or "out of the area."
The service will be available for one per-line monthly charge for
residential customers and a higher charge for business customers.
CNID requires a display device which must be purchased separately.
GTE has announced plans to modernize 50 to 60 switching centers,
including those in Mentone, Orla, Imperial and Balmorhea. The modernized
telephone offices should provide faster and more reliable service in
addition to offering some of the latest optional services, according to
information released by the company.
The new switching centers are a part of an accelerated plan by GTE to
provide digital telephone service to all of its Texas customers. The
company said cost estimates for the project exceed $37 million.
GTE already serves 96 percent of its Texas customers with modern digital
technology. The newer technology provides added services, such as the
basic call waiting, call transfer and call forward, as well as the more
advanced services in most cases, such as automatic call return, busy
number redial, call block and VIP alert.
Joe Thornton, Area General Manager for GTE in Hobbs, N.M. also said that
providing the on-ramp to the information superhighway for GTE customers
through office modernization is a high priority for the company.
GTE has committed to accelerate the company's original five-year plan
for digital modernization into three years.
The Texas/New Mexico operations of GTE, headquartered in Irving, serves
1.9 million customer lines in the two states.
Pecos Police Investigator Paul Deishler said in an affidavit filed with
the court that the money is believed to be connected to a controlled
substance violation, although no drugs were found in the search.
Deishler said that Arenivas attempted to leave the house as officers
entered with a search warrant. When he was stopped and searched,
Patrolman Cosme Ortega found the money in Arenivas' possession.
Arenivas said he knew the officers were coming and had removed the
money from underneath the carpet in his bedroom. "He couldn't say how he
got the money," Deishler said.
District Judge Bob Parks on Thursday accepted a plea of guilty to
burglary of a habitation and assessed six years confinement - probated
for six years community supervision - for Alejandra Ornelas.
Ornelas also was assessed a $1,000 fine and given two days credit for
time spent in jail.
Roberto Carlos Sanchez, 34, of Dardanelle, Kan., was arrested Nov. 26,
1996 and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
The trial is expected to be completed today.
A second jury was chosen for Petra Garcia Quinones, 36, and Silvestre
Quinones, 49, both of Electra. They are charged with importation and
possession with intent to distribute marijuana on Jan. 19.
Their trial is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Mike Barclay of Alpine represents Sanchez and Petra Quinones. Monty
Kimbal represents Silvestre Quinones.
Judge Furgeson began today's docket with a motion to revoke probation
for James F. Worthy. His attorney is Scott Johnson.
Three sentencings are to precede the Quinones trial Tuesday. One
sentencing and two motions to suppress evidence are set for Wednesday.
``We have attorneys who won, investigators who won, secretaries who won
- our interpreter won, so it ran the gamut of our office,'' Jane Roden,
one of the group, told Fort Worth television station KXAS on Sunday.
She said when she learned the winning numbers, ``we pretty much went
berserk after that and we haven't slept since.''
If their ticket is validated by the Texas Lottery, they'll each receive
$56,000 per year for 25 years.
``All I know is that at 11:10 last night, I became eminently aware that
my life had changed forever and it would never be the same again,'' said
King Solomon, an attorney for the public defender's office.
Solomon did not immediately return a telephone call Sunday night from
The Associated Press.
So far, the state lottery can only confirm that one winning ticket for
the latest drawing was sold at JJ's Convenience Store in Terrell. The
winning numbers were 2, 16, 24, 42, 48 and 50.
``No one can confirm a winner until they bring a ticket in to be
validated,'' Texas Lottery spokesman Steve Levine said in Austin. ``They
seem like a nice group of people, but until we get the winners validated
all we can say is that one ticket was sold at the convenience store.''
The group had used $123 in winnings from Wednesday's lotto drawing to
purchase tickets for Saturday night.
``I stopped at four different places in Terrell and just lucked out that
this one place had the right Quick Pick. That's what I got,'' said Larry
Reid, chief investigator for the office.
The convenience store would receive a payment for selling a winning
ticket.
``It feels great,'' said Jim Phounsavath of JJ's. ``I am not winning the
money, but I am proud for them and I am proud for the owner.
Congratulations to us all.''
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transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages
arising from any of the foregoing.
_
Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
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