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TOP STORIESMarch 10, 1998PBT to search for teachersBy CARA ALLIGOOD Staff Writer PECOS, March 10, 1998 - A team of about 25 Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD administrators and teachers plan to attend job fairs throughout the state to recruit teachers for PBT schools. Gome Olibas, PBT ISD Administrative Assistant/ Personnel Director, selected the team of 24 district teachers and administrators to travel with him in a search for qualified teachers. "Our students deserve the best," said Olibas. Teams will travel to several upcoming fairs around the state in the near future. A team consisting of Olibas, Gail Box and Jim Workman from Crockett Middle School, Laurie Lopez from Zavala Middle School, Oscar Guerrero from Lamar Middle School, Debbie Flores from Bessie Haynes Elementary, Barbara Armstrong from Pecos Elementary and Beau Jack Hendrick, principal of Austin Elementary, will tour three job fairs later this month. The team will leave the afternoon of March 30 for a job fair the following day at Tarleton State University. They will then go to a job fair at Angelo State University on April 1 and another job fair in Abilene on April 2. Olibas said that these and other teams will be traveling to the job fairs to find not only people to fill vacant positions, but people who are qualified, competent and who will not only come to Pecos, but stay here and make a commitment to teaching Pecos students. Olibas said he wants to recruit professionals who will do the best possible job of teaching local children. Commissioners approve arrangementsBy RICK SMITH Staff Writer PECOS, March 10, 1998 - When the final loan payment for the current expansion of the Reeves County Detention Center is paid in seven years the project will have cost the county $4.383 million. But the expanded facility will begin generating about $3.9 million in annual revenue immediately, according to Reeves County commissioners. To finance the expansion, commissioners yesterday approved taking a loan on bond sales of $3.455 million at 6.7 percent interest to be paid off in seven years. During the meeting yesterday, Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo announced that Ambac Assurance Corporation has commited to insure the 1998 Additional Taxable Certificates of Participation that will be used to fund the project. By obtaining municipal bond insurance, the county lowers its interest costs for the series by as much as 50 basis points. A breakdown of project costs shows the day-room addition to the RCDC will cost $2.08 million; materials testing, $30,000; smoke and fire walls $325,000; support building shell, $460,408; contingency for support building, $46,000; architectural costs, $125,000; general contingency, $200,000; underwriting management fee, $69,100; lessor fee, $77,737; cost of issuance, $35,296; insurance $26,302; rounding amount, $3,547; less acquisition account interest earnings of $27,392. Earlier in the meeting commissioners approved payment of $421,816 to Banes General Contractors for work completed so far on the RCDC day-room addition. An agenda item concerning modification #15 of the RCDC statement of work was tabled until Galindo receives some clarification from the Texas Bureau of Prisons. In other business, the county will soon witness a battle of the tractors as area John Deere, Ford and Caterpillar dealers bring industrial loader/backhoes to demonstrate their qualities for the commissioners. The county recently sent out for bids for an industrial loader/backhoe and three dealers responded. Cisco Ford had the low bid at $47,570 with a three-year power train warranty on a Ford tractor. West Texas Cat bid $50,453 with a five-year full machine warranty on a Caterpillar. Air Master Equipment Corp. bid $47,753 with a three-year power train warranty on a John Deere tractor. While Cisco Ford had the low bid, commissioners questioned whether the Ford tractor might end up costing the county more money in the long run with additional maintenance expense after the warrant expired. Russ Salcido reported to commissioners that all three tractors met the bid requirements, but he recommended the county consider accepting the John Deere bid. "I talked to people at TxDOT, Pecos City and Madera Water who all have John Deere tractors and they are all happy with their tractors," Salcido said. Scott Cyberg, Cisco Ford owner, said he did not understand why the commissioners did not accept his low bid since it met all of the bid requirements. "If this was going to be negotiated, why waste our time with bids?" Cyberg said. "We bid in good faith, we were low bid, so therefore we should be awarded the contract." However, Cyberg agreed with the other three dealers to bring a tractor to Pecos for a demonstration for the commissioners. The agenda item on the tractor was tabled and a demonstration is expected to take place late next week. Commissioners approved the purchase of a full size pickup from Colt Chevrolet at $17,434. Colt was the only company responding to a request for bids on the truck. The purchase of property located at Third and Mesquite streets by the Pecos Catholic War Veterans was approved by commissioners. The property was condemned for lack of payment of back taxes and the veterans group offered payment of $10 for the land and building. The group has already been approved by the Pecos City Council but was rejected by the PBT school board. Representatives of the Catholic War Veterans said they would now seek approval from the Reeves County Hospital District Board to purchase the property. The group must get approval from all taxing entities before the property can be purchased. Pupfish may not be native to Pecos RiverBy JON FULBRIGHT Staff Writer PECOS, March 10, 1998 - The Pecos River pupfish can be found in only one tributary of the Pecos River in Texas, and may never have used the river as a natural habitat, a marine biologist investigating the fish's status told Red Bluff Water Power Control District board members on Monday. Bart Reid, a marine biologist involved with shrimp farming at the Imperial Reservoir, was retained by the district to locate the habitats of the small fish, whose fate could determine future water use of the Pecos River in Texas. Federal officials are considering adding the pupfish to the endangered species list as the result of a lawsuit filed against the government, Reid said. That would allow federal officials to determine water and land usage within the fish's habitat area. "The fish's former range was from Fort Sumner, N.M. to Sheffield," Reid said. "I've spent the past few weeks researching the Texas side, and the only remaining habitat is the upper reaches of Salt Creek (Screwbean Draw)." The draw comes into the Pecos River just south of Red Bluff Lake. "The Pecos River is no longer a suitable habitat for the pupfish ... and will probably never be suitable," Reid said, explaining that the fish only lives in very brackish water, and the salt content of the Pecos is too low to support the pupfish. Board president Randall Hartman said New Mexico's capture of much of the Pecos River's water in the 1940s may have raised the salinity of the river high enough to allow the pupfish to live there in the ensuing years, and board member Lloyd Goodrich said the river's flow above Screwbean Draw was "almost non-existent," back in 1980. A lawsuit filed by Texas against New Mexico was finally settled in 1989, and forced New Mexico to release more water downstream. Releases over the past several months have raised the amount of water in Red Bluff to 100,000 acre/feet, and Goodrich said the salt level in the river is much lower than in past years. Reid said the Texas Department of Fish and Wildlife is aligned with Red Bluff in seeking to prevent the Pecos River pupfish from being added to the endangered species list. Reid added that the fish was not even identified as a different species from the Leon Springs Pupfish, whose habitat is in the Fort Stockton area, until 1975. "We need to keep it from being listed until we find out how long it's been here, and if it is a distinct species," said Reid, who added the fish can still be found in sinkhole ponds near the Pecos River in New Mexico. The pupfish that were in the river have been hybridized, and have lost dominance to the Sheepshead minnow. That fish is normally found along the Gulf Coast, though Reid said the ones in the Pecos River didn't come from there. "We don't know if it belongs here or not," he said. "The main thing is, we need for the feds to back off until we figure this out." The pupfish was one of several items discussed by board members during their regular monthly meeting. General manager Jim Ed Miller told the board the district's effort to further reduce the river's salt content, by pumping a spring at Malaga Bend away from the river, is still awaiting final approval from the city of Carlsbad. Red Bluff wants to remove the salt water and pipe it across land owned by Carlsbad to three man-made lakes, where the salt would later be harvested by Sun West Salt Co., of Loving, N.M. "I talked to Albert (Wanger, Sun West president), and he said there's still a few things they need to do," Miller said. He added that Curt Kennedy of the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, who has been working with the district, advised Miller to being to make plans to file permit applications for pumping with the state of New Mexico, in order to speed up the process. On a motion by Richard C. Slack, and seconded by Teresa Walker, board members voted to keep the lot lease rate at Red Bluff Lake at $120 annually. Miller said about 10 to 12 families live in homes at the lake year-round, and some are retirees. The fee hike was discusses as a possible way to get "undesirables" out of their leases at the lake, but Goodrich said it would hurt the other residents. "We don't need to raise it on people who don't have anything except Social Security," Goodrich said. "We can throw out anybody who's objectionable. we have a real tight lease, but it won't be if we don't enforce it." The board also voted to approve the 1998 district budget, which projects a $119,760 surplus, based on income of $443,150 and expenses of $323,390. Of that total, $152,000 goes to salaries for district employees, and $50,000 was set aside for drilling the Malaga Bend well. Cash disbursements and accounts payable for February were also approved. That included a $1,250 bill to James Blair, Inc., of Odessa, for removal on Sunday of an antenna tower located at the rear of the district's Second Street offices. The antenna had been out of use for about 40 years, and was put up back in the 1940s for dispatch work, when the district ran its own power company at the lake. Goodrich later said work needs to be done on removing two other antennas, located near the Red Bluff Dam. Second man arrested for enticing a childPECOS, March 10, 1998 - A second man in the past two weeks has been arrested in Pecos for enticing a child. The name is different, but the case is similar, an adult man dating a teenage girl and not staying away from her after being told to do so by the girl's family. Steven Ray Natividad was arrested shortly after 11 a.m. Friday at Eddy and Lincoln streets on two warrants, a local warrant for enticing a child and a Travis County warrant for insufficient funds. OBITUARYIsabel LaraIsabel "Chavelo," "Bill," Lara, 58, of Pecos, died Saturday, March 7, 1998, at Reeves County Hospital. A rosary is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, at Martinez Funeral Home Chapel. Mass will be held at 10 a.m., Thursday at Santa Rosa Catholic Church with burial in Greenwood Cemetery. Lara was born July 8, 1939, in Stanton. He was a lifetime Pecos resident and a Catholic. Survivors include: his wife, Modesta O. Lara of Pecos; four sons, Ernest Lara of Odessa, Leonard Lara of Roscoe, Mondie Lara of Farmington, N.M. and Rene Lara of Pecos; three daughters, Elsa Levario, Norma Mata and Lisa Lara all of Pecos; two brothers, B. M. Lara of Goldsmith and Ramon Lara of Pecos; four sisters, LaLa Villalobos of Odessa, Chaga Paredez of Big Spring, Olivia Carrasco of Monahans and Jessie Pratt of Pecos; 21 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Martinez Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. WEATHERPECOS, March 10, 1998 - High Monday, 55, low this morning, 26. Temperatures plunged into the teens in the Panhandle and to below freezing as far south as the Hill Country early today. More cold weather is in store across the state at night until a warming trend begins on Friday. It was 17 before dawn at Amarillo, 24 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and 31 at Burnet. It was 47 at McAllen and Corpus Christi. Clear to partly cloudy skies are forecast for West Texas tonight and Wednesday. Lows tonight will be in the teens in the Panhandle and in the 20s and 30s elsewhere in West Texas, highs Wednesday will be in the 40s, 50s and 60s in West Texas.
Pecos Enterprise
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