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If you didn't, you missed a real treat. There was a large crowd on hand
to witness the rite of passage of some 163 students from high school
into another life, a life they must decide.
The ceremony moved quickly, being concluded in slightly more than one
hour with some parents and/or other family members being on hand to pass
out the diplomas if they so wished to the graduates.
This is the second year Pecos has done this and I believe it is
fantastic. Parents should experience and share this special time if they
so desire. I realize some parents believe it is more official to have
members of the school board present the diplomas and they can choose to
have it done that way.
In some cases, I've heard that some parents are too bashful to take
part, which is their right. It's up to the individual and that's the way
it should be.
As far as I know, nobody else does it this way and other schools would
do well to copy what Pecos has done.
The addresses by valedictorian Daniel Tarin and salutatorian Albert Lee
were touching and - as requested by classmates they said - brief. It
should be noted that Tarin has a SAT score of 1190 with 428 honor points
while Lee scored 1260 and had 420 honor points. There were 18 graduates
who scored more than 1,000 on the test which in my mind is incredible.
The race for valedictorian and salutatorian went down to the wire as it
was extremely close with four students in the race until the last
minute. Wow!
A number of people have noted that this is a very special class. We hope
that each and every member of the class realizes what they hope for in
life. And we hope they have set their goals high enough. Some people
don't always realize their potential and dream a little dream rather
than reaching for the stars.
Guest speaker was a 1966 graduate of Pecos High School, David Alba, who
is now a special agent for the FBI in charge of the El Paso office. His
story is one of success and shows what can be done with work and
determination.
He was also the speaker for this year's Pecos Chamber of Commerce Awards
Banquet and his speech at both events was well received. It's always
nice to see and hear from someone who has succeeded in life and is proud
of where they came from. It was obvious that Alba is proud to have
graduated from Pecos.
He made the speech at the Pecos graduation, missing the graduation of
his son in El Paso.
As I noted, the ceremony was impressive and touching. Even if you don't
have kin graduating, it's nice to go and lend your support to these
young people and our school system. Our system is turning out some
really high caliber young people.
That's a credit to their parents first, the teachers and the system. As
I noted, they've got a good foundation for life. Now, it's up to them on
what they will do with that good start.
Editor's Note: Mac McKinnon is editor and publisher of the Pecos Enterprise. His column appears on Friday.
It's obvious to us that the state Public Utility Commission has not done
it's job in trying to keep utilities under control. Or maybe they have
and we simply don't understand how it works.
We see no reason for fuel adjustments. Utility companies should have
contracts with their fuel suppliers at a certain rate in order to live
within the rates the PUC has approved for that company.
That brings up another question. Why are rates different? It appears to
us that rates in Texas should be the same. Why should rate payers have
to pay for mistakes made by utility companies like building expensive
generating plants where there are cost overruns. It appears utility
companies are acting like the government and passing on their
incompetence to the rate payers.
It appears to us that the stockholders should be left holding the empty
bucket when mistakes are made. They are responsible for the management -
i.e., mismanagement, of utilities.
Have you ever stopped to wonder and try to figure out just how much you
are paying for long distance calls. We're not sure anybody understands
it. Why can one company offer a flat rate of 9.8 cents per minute when
others charge 15 cents or more and that rate is adjusted based on the
time of day and day of week. With some companies, you have to pay a
monthly service charge to get their low rates.
The bottom line is that the customer is confused and some people,
particularly the poor people who can't understand, are not being
protected as they are supposed to by the PUC. The PUC was created to
protect the consumer.
Rates in our opinion should be set so that everybody can understand and
the same rate charged by all. We believe in competition but long
distance telephone companies can compete on giving service rather than
in pricing.
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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
e-mail news@bitstreet.com
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