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July 17, 1997

Police work two drug cases


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By CARA ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 17, 1997 - Local law enforcement officers worked two
drug-related cases this week, according to Paul Deishler, Narcotics
Investigator for the Pecos Police Department.

Tuesday, he says, "we executed a search warrant at approximately 8:42
p.m." The operation was a cooperative effort between the Reeves County
Sheriff's Office and the Pecos Police Department, Deishler said.
They had a search warrant for apartment #10 at Casa Manana apartments.
Upon searching the residence, they found a substance believed to be
cocaine and a substance believed to be marijuana. At this time, a
warrant is pending for the arrest of the subject who resides in the
apartment on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Early Wednesday morning, Patrolman Freddy Contreras made a traffic stop
which resulted in an arrest on drug charges.

Contreras observed a pickup truck travelling north on the 500 block of
North Cedar Street. It appeared that the driver's side door of the truck
was open, and the patrolman could not see a rear license plate on the
truck.

When the truck stopped, the driver, Russell Doyce Johnson, 66, 1901
Iowa, in fact had no rear license plate. The truck also had an expired
inspection sticker, and Johnson failed to provide proof of liability
insurance.

Contreras transported Johnson to the Reeves County Jail. Upon being
searched at the jail, a brownish substance believed to be heroin was
found in the cap of a prescription bottle in his possession, and residue
of the same substance was found in a clear plastic bag which was also in
Johnson's possession.

The jailer who searched Johnson also found a syringe in his possession,
which Johnson claimed to have due to allergies, according to Contreras.

Johnson has been charged with possession of a controlled substance as well as with the moving violations, Contreras said.

Bank looking for good samaritan


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PECOS, July 17, 1997 - First National Bank of Pecos is trying to
identify a good samaritan.

Earlier this week, bank officials found a package of money (the amount
was not revealed) in the night depository with a note from an
unidentified person saying he could not keep the money.
Apparently, the money was lost by a bank customer.
Bank officials would like to know the identity of the person who found
and returned the funds so they can be properly thanked. If you are that person, call James Baker at 445-9444.

T.U. Electric ordered to refund
$150 million to customers


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By JUAN B. ELIZONDO Jr.
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN (AP) July 17, 1997 - More than 2 million Texans are getting a
break on their summer electricity bills.

The Texas Public Utility Commission on Wednesday ordered Texas Utilities
Electric Co. to refund nearly $150 million to its 2.4 million customers,
including 2.1 million residential customers.

The Dallas-based company provides electricity in north Texas.
In addition to an $80 million negotiated refund and a roughly $67
million ordered refund, TU has said it will return to customers another
$67 million, for a total of about $214 million.

The refunds will amount to roughly $28 per customer.

The negotiated refund came after agency officials said TU was making
more money than allowed by the commission. As part of the agreement, the
PUC will delay any TU rate cuts until next year.

The negotiated refund of about $17 per customer will be applied to
August bills, according to TU spokesman Jim Lawrence. He said
residential bills in August average $152, making the refund an 11
percent credit.

TU is appealing the ordered $67 million refund and has not scheduled a
time to return the additional $67 million it has offered.

The company announced earlier this month it would make the additional
refund because fuel used to generate electricity from October 1995 to
May 1997 cost less than projected and already charged to customers.
The PUC ordered the other $67 million refund because commissioners said
the company overcharged its customers for other fuel costs.

Commission Chairman Pat Wood said TU customers should be reimbursed for
bills that paid for extra fuel costs after the collapse of a
600-foot-high chimney stack at the TU steam generation plant in Mount
Pleasant four years ago.

The collapse, which killed one worker and injured three others, resulted
in additional fuel costs of $66 million. Wood said customers already
were paying for the stack and should not have to pay for the additional
fuel charges.

"There were prudent choices that could have been made even 10 years
before the chimney fell," Wood said. "It's just not equitable
(customers) would have to pay again."

Lawrence said TU will appeal the ordered $67 million refund.
He added that TU denies making more money than allowed by the PUC, but
said the $80 million negotiated refund clears the way for the company
and the agency to deal later with exactly how much TU will be allowed to
make in the future.

Laurie Pappas, of Office of Public Utility Counsel, said negotiating the
$80 million settlement sped up the process and saved TU customers the
cost of an administrative law case.

"We were very pleased with the decision," she said. OPUC is a state office that argues utility issues on behalf of consumers.

Storm blowing toward New Orleans
may bring heavy rains


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NEW ORLEANS (AP) July 17, 1997 - A tropical depression located about 200
miles southwest of New Orleans was expected to begin a slow drift to the
northeast later today.

At 4 a.m. CDT, the depression was nearly stationary at latitude 27.8
north, longitude 92.3 west with top sustained winds of about 35 mph with
higher gusts in squalls east of center. It could become a tropical storm
in the next day or so.

Forecasters say heavy rains are possible over parts of Louisiana and
southern Mississippi in the coming day or so. But that could spread
eastward to Florida as the system develops and moves along.

"We're encouraging people on the coast, particularly on the rigs, to
watch this thing. It could go fast," said Jerry Jarrell, deputy director
of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "It's a concern,
particularly, I guess, with it developing right on top of them."
Although computer models indicate the system will probably head away
from the Texas coast, forecasters say Texans shouldn't ignore it.
The storm could also change direction, get stronger, dissipate or simply
strike land in its present form.

"We'll have to keep an eye on it," said meteorologist Andy Patrick of
the National Weather Service. "Because it is stationary now, the
confidence of the forecast is nowhere near as high as one would think."
Dan Darbe, another meteorologist, said the storm's rapid formation in
the central portion of the Gulf of Mexico is similar to the 1983
formation of Hurricane Alicia, which eventually slammed into the Texas
coast and then plowed through Houston.

Although the depression could weaken, the Hurricane Center said it
believes the system will reach hurricane force - 74 mph winds - by
Saturday.

Darbe said conditions are ideal for tropical storm and hurricane
formation, as depressions can draw energy from the 80-plus degree waters
of the Gulf of Mexico.

"What you need are weak winds aloft and a water temperature of 80
degrees to a depth of 100 feet, and that's exactly what we've got," he
said.

The hurricane center said winds of minimal tropical storm strength - 39
miles an hour - already were being felt Wednesday night on offshore oil
rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. It said a slow east-northeastward movement
was expected to begin later today.

It warned interests along the Gulf coast and offshore from Louisiana to
northwest Florida should monitor the progress of the system.

It said the highest probabilities Wednesday night were that the storm
might pass by Saturday night within 75 miles of a broad area extending
from Galveston to St. Marks, Fla.

Boats and helicopters began ferrying some nonessential workers from
offshore production platforms in the Gulf on Wednesday.
About 17,500 employees work on 3,968 oil and gas platforms now operating
in the Gulf.

"We're already experiencing 35- to 40-mile-an-hour winds offshore, and
barometric pressure on our platforms have been falling all day long,"
said Pierre Degruy, spokesman for Texaco in New Orleans. Texaco took 15
workers from one platform and had another 50, scattered over a
half-dozen platforms, on standby, he said.

The Coast Guard's 8th District headquarters, which monitors Gulf
shipping from Texas to Florida, was in a state of "heightened awareness"
Wednesday night, said Petty Officer Heraldo Chavez.

Oil companies, shipping companies and the state Office of Emergency
Preparedness all kept an eye on weather reports.

"As of right now, we haven't taken any action. Just watching," said
Betty Hoag, spokeswoman for Louisiana Land & Exploration Co.
If the winds should strengthen, some ships may be asked to leave docks
and anchor further out toward the sea, said Dmitri Spanolios, a
steamship agent at Naftilos Shipping Agencies Ltd.

Ships at sea are better off than those at docks, he said: "All they do
is change course and steer away and keep an eye on it. They're safer
than we are - they can run away from it."

Degruy said the depression was right at the border of the western and
central Gulf of Mexico. "There's not that much in the western Gulf. ...
But it looks like it's going to really impact more the central Gulf. And there's a lot in the central Gulf."

Members of militia group arrested


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DENVER (AP) July 17, 1997 - Seven members of a multi-state militia group
that authorities claim planned attacks on military installations were
being held in jails in four states, including Texas, officials said.
Capt. John Keathley of the Missouri State Police said the attack on Fort
Hood had been planned because members of the group believed United
Nations troops were being trained there.

"Their belief was that several military bases around the U.S. were
training United Nations troops," said Keathley. "This group had a very
strong aversion to that. Their belief was that the U.S. government
should not be involved in the U.N., and that U.N. troops would
eventually be patrolling our streets."

Michael Leonard Dorsett, 41, of Arlington, Texas, and Bradley Playford
Glover, 57, were arrested July 4 at Colorado Bend State Park in San Saba
County by FBI agents who had been watching them.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike Cox said FBI agents and
DPS troopers found Dorsett and Glover in separate tents at the park.
Both carried loaded pistols.

A pickup truck owned by Dorsett contained a Poly Tech 7.62mm rifle, a
Century International Arms .308-caliber rifle, a homemade silencer for
the Century rifle, five pistols, about 1,600 rounds of ammunition, three
rolls of cannon fuse, a container labeled "riot smoke," a night vision
scope, a radio scanner and handwritten notes of police radio
frequencies, two bulletproof vests and a ski mask.

Glover also faces state charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon and
possession of a weapon in a state park. Holmes said Glover posted
$10,000 bail on the state charges and left Texas before the FBI could
charge him with federal possession of the silencer.
He was arrested a week later in Wisconsin.

Dorsett and Glover, who have asked for lawyers and are not answering
questions, are being held without bail in San Antonio on a charge of
possession of a silencer.

"So far, they're known as the 'no-name militia,' " said John Kundts,
special agent in charge of the FBI office in Denver.

Among those arrested were a couple from Wichita, Kan.
Terry and Kevin Hobeck were arrested on weapons charges last week in
Creede, Colo., where they were staying at the Thirty Mile Resort. The
Hobecks allegedly offered fellow group members "safe haven" at the
remote 10-cabin resort in the Rio Grande National Forest.
They have been charged with one count each of possession of a machine
gun.

During an initial appearance Tuesday, the two were ordered held without
bond, with arraignment scheduled Aug. 12. If convicted, they face up to
10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Information about the alleged terrorist plots surfaced in April when
undercover officers attended a gathering of "radical militia groups,"
Keathley said Wednesday in a news release.

The gathering in Independence, Mo., billed as "The Third Continental
Congress," drew people from across the United States, he said. Their aim
was to elect officers to preside over a provisional government, should
the U.S. government fall, he said.

A small group that was unhappy that the meeting wasn't progressing
smoothly broke away, he said.

"They got together to discuss the direction they felt the government
should go," he said. "We ended up getting invited."

"Their belief is that the federal government is going to take away a lot
of their rights, for instance their guns rights, that the United States
is slowly being taken over by U.N. control," Keathley said.

Authorities said a total of 14 pipe bombs have been recovered, along
with machine guns, silencers, night vision equipment, bullet proof vests and other military paraphernalia.

County hospital approves banking location


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PECOS, July 17, 1997 - The Reeves County Hospital District Board of
Directors met for a regular meeting Tuesday night at 6:30.

The quality assurance committee had nothing to recommend in the joint
conference report.

The board approved banking resolutions to keep bank accounts at First
National Bank and Security State Bank.

The new telephone system will be paid for upon receipt of invoice
instead of by leasing or financing.

Lydia Prieto, the PBT ISD tax assessor/collector, was appointed to
calculate the hospital's tax rate for 1997. Prieto was awarded with the
tax collection contract at a previous meeting.
Durbin and Company of Lubbock, Texas will handle the hospital's
auditing.

The board approved their financial statement.

Credentialling for Sheila Brown, PA-C, John C. Libbie, DPM, and Nikola Gajic, MD was approved.

OBITUARY


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Ruby Dell Cummings

Pecos, July 17, 1997 - Ruby Dell Cummings, 87, of Barstow, died Tuesday, July 15, 1997 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Funeral service will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 19, at the Barstow
Cemetery.

Survivors include: one daughter, Velma Bennett of Albuquerque, N.M.; two
brothers, Shine Avary of Barstow and Kenneth Avary of Monahans; three
grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Lizzie Vandiver

Lizzie Vandiver, 84, of Fort Worth, died Tuesday, July 15, in Fort Worth.
Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Brown, Gause-ware, Owens
and Brumley in Fort Worth. Burial will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Jayton
Cemetery.
Vandiver was born Sept. 18, 1912 in Grosvenor, Tx.
Survivors include: three sons, Walter Vandiver of Fort Worth, Charles
Vandiver of Aledo, Gene Vandiver of Austin; and two daughters, Bessie Osborn of Pecos and Carlotta Weir of Fort Worth.

WEATHER


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PECOS, July 17, 1997 - High Wednesday, 101, low this morning, 70.
Forecasters are keeping a close watch on a tropical depression located
about 200 miles southeast of Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico. But they
say it likely won't be a factor in Texas weather in the next few days.
They expect it to drift eastward or northeastward. It will be mostly
sunny during the day and fair at night in West Texas. Lows tonight will
be in the 60s and 70s. Highs Friday will be in the 90s except in the Big
Bend area of Southwest Texas where the mercury may climb to near 108 by
mid-afternoon on Friday.
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@bitstreet.com
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. Neither these AP Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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