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PECOS, Jan. 17, 1996 - An aide to State Senator Frank Madla's office in
Fort Stockton and State Representative Gary Walker were on hand in Pecos
Monday evening to honor area school campuses.
Tina Hagey, Madla's aide from Fort Stockton, and Walker visited Pecos to
congratulate Pecos Elementary School and Austin Elementary School for
their state recognition on the TAAS test.
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD School Board members Linda Gholson, Earl Bates
and Oscar Saenz were also present for the gathering.
The schools were commended by the state for their students' high scores
on last year's TAAS exams.
"Lamar (Elementary) was recognized with significant gains," Gholson
added.
A presentation of certificates to each teacher of the three campuses was
held, along with a special program with guest speakers, Hagey, Walker,
Gholson and Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD Superintendent Mario Sotelo.
Gholson said the certificates were hended out along a receiving line,
"with all the board members that were there, the state representatives
and Sotelo,"
"Something special has been planned for each of the campuses for this
week," she added.
Pecos Elementary and Lamar Elementary School will be having refreshments
provided by the school's cafeteria throughout the day on Wednesday while
Austin Elementary will be celebrating on Thursday.
The honors were based on scores for all non-Barstow students in first
and second grades who attend Austin Elementary last year, while Pecos
Elementary and Lamar Elementary's honors were for students who were in
Grades 3 and 6 during the 1994-95 school year.
"I wish Washington would get off their butts and find out what's wrong
with us," he said. "They say there's nothing wrong with us."
Dominguez said he has gone to Veteran's Administration doctors for
tests, and they give him medications.
"But it's not helping," he said.
Although officials claim that no chemicals were thrown at the troops,
Dominguez said he knows better. His transportation crew with the 18th
Airborne Corps saw a herd of sheep killed near their camp one night.
"That night Saddam said he was going to throw chemicals at us. We didn't
think anything of it, but the next morning all those sheep were dead,"
he said. "We freaked out. So we know there was something going on."
Troops always had masks with them to protect them from chemical warfare,
he said.
It was Dominguez's job as sergeant of a transportation operation to keep
troops in the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne supplied with
ammunition.
Starting in Bahrain, they moved to Riad, then to King Faud Military
Command, then the desert "until we hit Iraq," Dominguez said.
The 82nd Airborne was deep in Iraq, and Dominguez's trucks went in and
out every day.
"When the ground war started, it was all over Iraq," he said. "We had
convoys going out every single night. There was a little resistance, but
not much. Basically, they were shooting at us so they would know where
we were so they could surrender."
Iraqi troops were so anxious to surrender that some of them surrendered
to news photographers, he said.
Dominguez remembers the weather - 140 degrees, with dust storms so thick
you couldn't see and would have to cease operations. And sometimes it
rained in torrents.
"It was miserable conditions," he said. "But when you go in, you don't
anticipate staying in motels and stuff."
They slept in tents, trucks, on the ground, "everywhere," Dominguez said.
He was impressed by the cooperation between countries and different
branches of the military.
The Army and Air Force normally compete with each other, but when we got
down to it, everyone was a whole. That's what won the war. If there were
bickering going on, it wouldn't have gone as well as it did."
Seeing casualties was among the worst things for Dominguez. That and
Iraqi families in distress.
"You throw them rations. That's the human part of you," he said. "They
are your enemies, but they are human, and there's kids involved. They
really appreciated our help."
Dominguez recalls those scenes whenever he sees something on television
to jog his memory, or "sometimes when I am alone and I sit down and
think about it."
Looking back, he would do the same thing again, although he didn't want
to go to war.
"Nobody wanted to go," he said. But we signed on the dotted line, and
when the Commander in Chief says `go,' we just go and do our job."
ODESSA, Jan. 17, 1996 - Steve C. Ashley of Odessa has been named
District 15 director for the State Bar of Texas.
District 15 includes 41 Texas counties - Reeves among them.
State bar directors are elected from 17 districts apportioned by
population. Six public members are appointed by the Supreme Court, three
coming from a list pvoided to the court by the governor, with no two
public members serving from the same district.
In addition, four minority directors with full voting privileges are
appointed by the president.
All directors serve staggered three-year terms.
Johnny Dale Seago of Monahans sued the city of Fort Stockton and its
former police chief, Gary Wayne Buchanan, claiming damages under the
Americans With Disabilities Act.
Seago testified that he was injured on the job in 1992 when he was a
patrolman for the Fort Stockton Police Department. Chief Buchanan
refused to accommodate his injury by providing a part-time dispatcher
job.
Buchanan said no such position was available.
Jesse Garcia, Fort Stockton city manager, was the last witness to
testify, and the attorneys closed their arguments at 12:45 p.m.
PECOS, Jan. 17, 1996 - High Tuesday 79, low last night 58. Tonight,
mostly cloudy and turning colder. Low around 30. Wind diminishing to
west and northwest 15-25 mph and gusty during the evening then becoming
north after midnight. Thursday, partly cloudy. High 40 45. North wind
10-20 mph.
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