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PECOS, May, 16,1997 - Something new and exciting will be an added
feature during this year's West of the Pecos Rodeo events.
Rodeo events will be held nightly, Wednesday through Saturday, July 2-5
at the Buck Jackson Rodeo Arena.
"We're really excited about this new event that will be taking place,"
said West of the Pecos Rodeo Committee President Jim Bob McNeil.
The newest thing added is something that bigger rodeos participate in
called "trade shows."
"At the Reeves County Civic Center merchants will be set up displaying
different items," said McNeil.
Booths will be set up inside the center, housing numerous merchants and
their wares.
"Big Bend Saddlery will be here, selling hats, cleaning block hats and
other western attire," said McNeil.
Other booths will feature silver jewelry, western clothing, gift items
and handmade merchandise.
"Debbie Thomas is in charge of that this year and she's really excited
and looking forward to it," said McNeil. "She hopes to make this a part
of the events surrounding the rodeo each year," he said.
This will also give visitors and area residents something to do during
the day before the rodeos held nightly, according to McNeil.
"The center will be open all day so that everyone has an opportunity to
look at the many items," said McNeil.
The rodeo committee will again be offering an event that has grown and
that is looked forward to each year.
"The `Kids Boot Scramble' is a very popular event, that we're happy to
be able to offer again," said McNeil. "Every year it has grown with more
kids participating," he said.
The children will be divided into two categories, ages five and under
and children ages 6-10.
During this event kids deposit one boot in a pile, then scramble to that
pile searching for their boot and the first one to put it on and run
back to the official wins that race.
"A prize will be given in each division, nightly," said McNeil. The
coveted prize for each event is a savings bond.
"What will be slightly different this year, is that the boot scramble
will be done first, before each rodeo," said McNeil. "We thought this
would be easier for the kids," said McNeil.
A free dance will be held on Wednesday, July 2 featuring Texas Express.
"This is to show our appreciation to all our rodeo fans and
participants," said McNeil.
Tickets for the dances go on sale June 9 at the chamber office.
Emilio will be performing at the big dance scheduled for that Saturday,
July 5.
Emilio is a popular Tejano/Country Western star who has won numerous
awards in both Tejano and Country Western music. He and is brother are
the lead singers with an outstanding band backing them up.
Pre-sale tickets for the dance will be discounted and reserved tables
sold.
NewsWest 9 is co-sponsoring Emilio.
West of the Pecos Rodeo will again be using Bad Company Rodeo who bring
in the best in bucking bulls and horses in the business.
Parade entrants are still being sought for the yearly event held in
conjunction with the rodeo.
The parade is scheduled for Wednesday and will have a 1950's theme in
keeping with the Golden Girls theme.
Anyone wishing to be a part of the parade can contact the chamber of
commerce office at 445-2406.
PECOS, May 16, 1997 - It's not enough that a burglar broke out the plate
glass window to his store and destroyed display cases. Now Pedro "Pete"
Herrera faces a federal court damage suit because the burglar was shot
in the stomach the second time he tried to break into the store.
Adan C. Rodriguez of Ojinaga, Mex. is suing M.B. Supermarket Inc. of
Presidio for $150,000 damages for "loss of wages, loss of earning
capacity, physical pain, medical expenses, anguish and other
compensatory damages.
Herrera said Thursday he had not been served with the petition, which
was filed in Pecos Division of U.S. District Court May 5.
Rodriguez was suspected of several burglaries in Presidio, but was never
prosecuted, said Robert Halpern, owner of the International, Presidio
Paper.
"He came and broke in once, and we fixed everything up, and he got cut,
I think," said Herrera. "He tried to break into Baeza's, too. He broke
the TV in the jail so he could stay there."
Herrera said that, after the first break in, a friend offered to watch
the store, and he was across the street when Rodriguez tried the second
time to break out the front window with rocks.
"He tried to kill the guy that was watching the store with rocks, and
the guy shot him," Herrera said.
Rodriguez was treated in a Lubbock hospital for a gunshot wound to the
stomach, then sent back to Mexico with no charges filed, said Halpern.
"He tried to kill me and my wife when we went across the river, and we
haven't been back since," Herrera said. "I gave a letter to the sheriff,
and he didn't do a damn thing about it."
Herrera said that Rodriguez's father had come into the store demanding
money. "I told him no. He came in trying to scare me. Not too long ago
he was caught smuggling illegals. That tells you what kind of people
they are."
Rodriguez alleges that the man who shot him was not licensed to possess
a handgun or act in the capacity of an armed security guard.
B.M. Supermarkets was negligent, he claims, and should pay actual
damages, punitive damages and court costs.
PECOS, May 16, 1997 - Child safety will be the focus of a Pecos Evening
Optimist Club event this weekend.
"Always Buckle Children in the Back Seat" has been stressed by the Pecos
Evening Optimist Club throughout this week and will culminate with a
special event this Saturday.
Earlier this week, Town of Pecos City Mayor pro-tem Danny Rodriguez
signed a proclamation declaring May 12-16 as "Always Buckle Children in
the Back Seat."
"We are planning a fun Saturday to send out our message," said club
member and organizer of the event, Manuel Galindo.
The proclamation signed by Rodriguez reads, "The Pecos Evening Optimist
Club has been a vital part of the leadership of our community for the
past 30 years and Optimist International has long been a "Friend of
Youth."
Events surrounding this message are set to begin on Saturday at 8 a.m.
at the Gibson's Tru Value parking lot.
"A Department of Public Safety trooper will be on hand to speak to the
group about safety," said Galindo.
Refreshments will be served to all those who attend.
Galindo stated that in conjunction with this message the club will be
noting bicycle safety also.
According to the club and it's message, injuries to children can be
prevented by following three simple guidelines: buckle up every child in
a motor vehicle properly; whenever possible, put children in the back
seat of the vehicle; and always secure rear-facing infants seats in the
back seat.
Joint concern and action is a proven method of resolving the community's
problems and the Optimist International Child Safety Program "Always
Buckle Children in the Back Seat" raises community awareness of the need
to safely place children in cars, according to club members.
"Octavio Garcia is helping with this project and we hope to have a good
turnout, because this is a very important message," said Galindo.
A bicycle safety inspection will also be conducted for those youths who
would like to take their bicycles to get inspected, according to
Galindo.
PECOS, May 16,1997 - There is an old adage that says the only thing
constant in life is change. A newly established advocacy group for all
people with disabilities has evolved from the former Association for
Retarded Citizens and the new organization seeks to provide a wide range
of services to a great variety of people.
The newly established organization is called The Arc of the West and was
founded in its current form on April 18, 1997. The Arc is a non-profit
group which seeks to help all people with disabilities to obtain the
services they need and the acceptance they feel that they deserve. The
local chapter covers the seven-county region of Crane, Loving, Reeves,
Terrell, Upton, Ward and Winkler counties.
The Arc will serve as a clearing house by talking to anyone with a
disability and then referring them to whatever organizations that exist
to help with their particular needs. Parents of disabled children can
also use the Arc's services.
The main goals that Arc representative Lela Hall wants to pursue are
educating the public, setting up a resource center and working toward
inclusion in both public schools and the community.
Hall plans to educate the public both about The Arc of the West and
about people with disabilities in general through seminars and media
campaigns.
"We intend to have training seminars for teachers, parents and
individuals," said Hall. She also plans to make materials available
which will allow everyone access to the resources needed to help others
with any kind of disability.
Jonean Walton, who holds a Master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling
and is confined to a wheelchair because she suffers from cerebral palsy,
wants to work to further inclusion and to repair the architectural
barriers that are still found in some places.
Walton defines inclusion as "quality education for disabled people in a
regular classroom and a quality life in a community that is truly
educated about disabilities."
Part of the difficulty with community inclusion for Walton has been
architectural barriers, some of which still exist. An example of what
she means by this is the absence of a ramp allowing a person in a
wheelchair access to a public building. Walton, who loves to read, was
unable to get into the public library in Kermit only two weeks ago, she
says, which is a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The Americans With Disabilities Act has been law in the United States
for almost seven years now. According to Hall, the act was passed by the
U.S. House of Representatives on July 12, 1990; by the U.S. Senate the
following day, and signed into law by President George Bush on July 26,
1990.
Part of the function of a resource center would be "recycling" medical
equipment. Hall says that people sometimes outgrow or upgrade equipment
such as walkers and wheelchairs. They don't always have anything to do
with the old equipment, so it ends up being stored somewhere. This
equipment is often still functional, and the idea is to match those
things up with other people who need them.
To fund its programs, the Arc will hold fund raisers and seek grants,
which must be matched with money from the organization itself. The
majority of the dues that the organization charges annually stay at the
local and state levels of the organization, says Hall. Individual
membership costs $15, or a year-long family membership is available for
$25. Of the $15 that an individual would contribute, Hall says, $7.50
stays with the local group, $5.50 is contributed to the statewide
organization, and only $2 of those dues are sent to the national level,
so Texas members are funding Texas programs.
The next meeting of The Arc of the West will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, May
22, in the Monahans Community Center, located at 400 East Fourth Street
in Monahans. For more information, contact either Hall or Walton at
915-586-5702.
PECOS, May 16, 1997 - Nobody likes salt cedars. Outside of Russian
Thistle - better known as tumbleweeds - no non-native plant may cause as
much annoyance in the desert southwest.
The thirsty trees soak up the region's precious water while offering
little in return, and their wood doesn't even make very good barbecue
fuel. But if a pilot program undertaken by New Mexico State University
is successful, something could be done about salt cedars in the near
future.
Dr. Keith Duncan of NMSU's Artesia, N.M. branch is supervising the
project just south of that city, and it has attracted the interest of
the officials in Texas, and of the Red Bluff Water Power Control
District.
Red Bluff board members talked with Brad Newton, Pecos River Compact
Commissioner, and Alfonso Leal of the Natural Resource Conservation
Service during their meeting on Monday about implementing a similar
program in Texas, where the tree reduces even further the flow of the
river from Red Bluff down to Imperial Reservoir.
The board plans to see if district funds can be used towards a salt
cedar eradication project, while Red Bluff General Manager Jim Ed Miller
was asked to seek permission from the State of Texas for using Arsenal
herbicide on the trees. The project would involve both aerial spraying
and ground application of herbicides to the plants.
"We would be looking at especially heavy stalks to do the project, where
we would try and manage it in the areas where it does the most damage,"
Newton said.
"Eradication is a bad term, because it implies you can get rid of it,"
said Duncan, whose project is entering its third year of operation. "If
plans are laid out and thought out and maintained you can reduce the
impact of salt cedars on the environment, and what it is doing to us."
Limiting the growth of salt cedars, which crowd the banks of the Pecos,
is not a project going against the normal environment, Duncan said.
Instead, it's an attempt to return the river to its natural state prior
to the start of the century.
"It's the first time a project like this has been done anywhere," Duncan
said. "It's the first time a project like this has been done with the
idea of native plant restoration.
"The whole concept is to remove the salt cedar and replace it with
natural vegetation," which he said was mostly grassland, along with
other small trees such as mesquite and wolfberry. "Salt cedar was
planted on the Pecos in the early 1900s by a federal agency for stream
bank stabilization."
The trees did stabilize the banks, but the river itself at times looks
like less than a stream, or no stream at all during dry periods in the
Sheffield area south of Interstate 10.
"Nobody claims responsibility for it right now," Duncan added.
While studies have been done on how much water the trees soak up from
the river, Duncan said exact figures are unknown. "We think this area up
here loses about 8 acre/feet of water (per acre of trees), but we have
no hard figures."
However, he did say that "One salt cedar tree can transpire 200 gallons
of water a day, if conditions are conducive."
The NMSU project involves 5,000 acres of land on the west side of the
Pecos River, covering a six-mile stretch from the U.S. 82 river crossing
east of Artesia south towards Carlsbad.
"It's along the flood plane, and is one mile wide in some areas and in
others 1 3/4 miles wide," he said
Trees in the area were sprayed with Arsenal and/or Round-up herbicide.
"We got it started about three or four years ago, and started spraying
in 1995."
Newton said the herbicides "eliminate an enzyme in the tree that
prevents its growth," but added it takes up to three years to see full
results. "Most died after the first year, but some others may linger.
That's why we tell people to leave it alone for about two years."
The 1995 spraying covered about 2,800 acres, while another 800 acres
were sprayed by air in 1996.
"All were affected by the herbicide. It still looks like winter out
there," Duncan said, describing the dead trees along the river's western
bank. "It looks like we expected it to look."
In the area where the salt cedars have been killed, the native grasses
will be replanted, either late this fall or early next year, Duncan
said. He added it's still too early to tell what kind of effect removing
the trees will have on the flow of the river and the groundwater nearby.
"We have some monitoring wells to monitor the water table, and at this
point we've seen no response. But this was set up to be a 10-year
project, with the vast majority monitoring of it (water levels)."
Along with monitoring the water, Duncan said, "New Mexico State
University grad students are monitoring the wildlife. They looked at it
when the program began, and we'll have some 2-3 years down the road that
will look at what happens to the wildlife population."
He added that environmentalists were supportive of the project when it
went before the New Mexico State Legislature.
"It's hard for anybody to be opposed to native plant restoration,"
Duncan said.
Ironically, while it was a federal agency that introduced the salt cedar
to the Pecos River, the only land within the test area not being sprayed
right now belongs to the federal government.
"Most of the land in the project are private lands. There's one section
that's (New Mexico) state trust land, and about 50 acres that are (U.S.)
Bureau of Land Management land," Duncan said. "The private landowners
are all participating in the project, and the trust land was sprayed,
but we didn't spray the BLM land."
The need for a new construction manager came about this week after two
contractors informed the commissioners they were resigning their
positions on the project.
Carlos Colina-Vargas, a grant writer from Austin who has helped prepare
grants locally and was currently working for the county on a community
development grant, told commissioners that he no longer would work for
the county during their regular first-of-the-month meeting Monday.
After Vargas' resignation was accepted, county grant administrator Mari
Maldonado was given the responsibility to continue on with the project.
Later this week housing inspector Augustine Hidalgo informed
commissioners that he did not want to work on the project because it was
surrounded with too much controversy, according to Maldonado.
As a result of Hidalgo's departure from the project commissioners
postponed a meeting that was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, which was
a continuation of the day-long meeting the day before, until Friday.
Commissioners are expected to discuss advertising for a housing
inspector to take Hidalgo's place in tonight's meeting.
The next regular commissioners' court meeting is scheduled for Tuesday,
May 27 at 5:30 p.m. due to the Memorial Day holiday.«MDBO»
The San Angelo Independent School District is working on a proposal that
would make Coca-Cola the school's official soft drink.
San Angelo students may not get as wide a drink choice from school soda
machines in the future.
But for sacrificing variety, they could get new athletic facilities,
such as higher-ceilinged weight rooms and fields to accommodate the
district's expanding sports activities.
Coca-Cola Bottling Company of San Angelo has made a preliminary proposal
that would net $300,000 for the school's athletic facilities. In return,
only Coca-Cola's products would be sold in concession stands, snack bars
and other places.
The deal also could get the district more than $52,000 in additional
funding for non-athletic projects. Which projects get funded would be
determined by the school board.
``There's not anything sketched in concrete as yet,'' athletic director
Jim Hundley told school board members Tuesday night.
Hundley said Thursday he did not want to talk about a plan until school
administrators put together a specific bid proposal package.
The school board voted 5-1 Tuesday night to develop bid proposals for
exclusive beverage vending rights.
Trustee Joe Munoz voted against the measure, and board president Jim
Carter abstained from voting. Munoz said he has nothing against
Coca-Cola, but is concerned about giving any business exclusive selling
rights within the district.
``We get a lot from other businesses in the community,'' he said. ``It
bothers me that we may be cutting out some businesses.''
Janie Giddiens, administrative coordinator of community relations, said
the school district currently is involved in numerous business
partnerships. But she said her office ``puts a special effort not to put
those businesses in direct competition with one another.''
``I'm concerned about excluding anyone from participating with our
schools,'' she said. ``I would say before we jump into this, we really
need to give this some thought.''
But trustee Sam Sparks said the district needs to find ways to fund
needed projects.
``I think we desperately need some athletic facilities,'' he said.
Sparks noted that the weight room for San Angelo Central High School has
only a 6-foot ceiling, which is not enough to allow taller athletes to
perform military presses. He also said the district has no softball
field for girls and has only one soccer field and one baseball field.
During the audience portion of the meeting, regional and state
University Interscholastic League (UIL) participants will be recognized,
and a board member will be appointed as a Texas Association of School
Boards (TASB) delegate.
There will be four items discussed under the old business section. Those
items will be the restructuring study report, discuss/approve action on
the West Pecos Gym and Warehouse, discuss approve Pecos High School
roofing bids and the district inventory update.
Under new business, there are 21 items on the agenda, and four items
listed in the miscellaneous section. Those items to be discussed are:
*election consolidation report;
*discuss/approve plan to curtail discipline problems at Pecos High
School;
*discuss/approve offering a tax collecting service for Reeves County
Hospital District;
*discuss/approve junior high grading scale (Advanced placement);
*discuss/approve job descriptions for professional personnel,
paraprofessional personnel and Tax Collector;
*discuss/approve 1996-97 budget amendments;
*set budget meetings for administrators to meet with the board;
*discuss/approve Region 18 Education Service Center Personnel Services
Interagency Agreement;
*discuss/approve summer recreation program;
*discuss/approve goals for superintendent/District;
*discuss/approve request for district to lease building located at 1104
South Cedar Street to the East Side Boxing Club;
*closed session - as authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas
Government Code 551.101 et. Seq., Section 551.074: Discussing personnel
of hear complaints against personnel Section 551.071: Private
consultation with the board's attorneys;
*discuss/approve settlement of tax litigation;
*discuss/approve billing dispute with McFall-Konkel & Kimball;
*discuss/approve action on probationary contract employees;
*discuss/approve professional personnel - assignments, transfers,
resignations, retirements;
*tax report;
*depository securities report;
*cafeteria report;
*list of commodities received;
*payment of current bills and approval of financial report;
(Miscellaneous)
*parents and board to present diplomas at Pecos High School graduation
May 30, 1997 at Eagle Stadium (weather permitting) - 8 p.m.;
*next regular meeting;
*calendar of events; and
*request for items for next agenda.
The meeting will then be adjourned. Public comments can be taken only
during the audience section at the beginning of the meeting and are
subject to a time limit. The board cannot reply to any comments made,
and no personal attacks will be tolerated.
PECOS, May 16, 1997 - Services are incomplete for Trine Dominguez, 74,
who died today at Reeves County Hospital.
Pecos Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
PECOS, May 16, 1997 - Concepcion Machuca, 86, died Thursday, May 15 at
Reeves County Hospital.
A rosary will be held today at 8 p.m. at Martinez Funeral Home Chapel.
Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 17 at Santa
Rosa Catholic Church with Father Juan Narez officiating. Burial will be
in Greenwood Cemetery.
Survivors include five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Martinez Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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_
Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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