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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Top Stories

Wednesday, January 12, 2000

Work underway on OC's planned campus in Pecos

By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Jan. 12, 2000 - Demolition and cleanup has already begun at the site for the Pecos extension of Odessa College, and the target date for completion has been set for four months from now.

"The target date for completion has been scheduled for May 15," said Pecos Economic Development Director Gari Ward.

Ward was instrumental in procuring the building, which was donated by Dr. Norman Harris and in obtaining funds for the reconstruction of the former auto supply and repair store.

"There's about 26,000 square feet in here and right now the crew is cleaning up and tearing down walls," said Ward.

Vanco Insulation Abatement of Midland has three weeks to complete the demolition and cleanup part of the project, which began on Monday.

"The floor will come up next, because of asbestos," said Ward. "We'll just have clean space, four walls and a roof, to start the reconstruction part of the project," he said.

Brick walls will cover the front of the building, with the offices located in that area. Towards the rear of the building there will be six classrooms, a lounge and restrooms, located behind the office space.

The building will accommodate two study rooms, which can be used by any student, a computer lab with 48 computers and one room for interactive courses.

Out of the six classrooms, the building will include one science lab and one computer room, according to OC's Pecos Office Director Michelle Workman.

"This has been very exciting and I'm looking forward to moving in here," said Workman, whose office is currently located at the Executive Building, 320 S. Oak St., Suite 4.

Registration for classes to be offered in Pecos through Odessa College was held Monday. "For the fall semester we had a total of 71," said Workman. "The total right now is 273," she said.

Regular registration will be held until Friday with classes set to begin Jan. 18. Late registration will be held Jan. 18-21. "A $10 extra charge will be assessed for late registration," said Workman.

"Out of the total number of enrollees, we have 18 that are high school students," said Workman.

A year and half from the date that the project was first proposed, it is now becoming a reality. Discussions were held about an OC campus in Pecos a decade ago, but the college opted to keep its smaller campus in Pyote open.

"It's been great working on this project, this is probably the greatest thing that has happened in the community," said Ward. "It's the best thing that could happen to Pecos, because it gives us the opportunity to train people in different areas, that they otherwise wouldn't have the chance to train for."

Vocational courses will also be offered and one side of the building will be dedicated to those particular skilled courses.

"Right now we can't say what vocational courses we'll be offering," said Workman.

Workman stated that this decision would depend on the number of students, their needs and their particular career plans.

"It depends on the students, where their interests lie, based on career plans, that tells us what they need and we'll take it from there," she said.

The Pecos office offers counseling, financial aid, admissions, guidance and counseling, degree plans, short-term loans, and will also be a bookstore, of sorts.

"I'll be going to Odessa on Friday and they'll have books ready for me to bring back," said Workman. "A lot of the students who registered on Monday thought they would have to drive all the way to Odessa for the books."

The books will be in the Pecos office on Tuesday, Jan. 18. The office is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. or for more information call 445-5535.

College, dairy on PEDC agenda

By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Jan. 12, 2000 - Renovation progress on the Odessa College building and a prospective new dairy for Reeves County are among topics to be discussed Monday by the Pecos Economic Development Corporation's board of directors.

Oscar Saenz, board chairman, will preside for a discussion of changing the fiscal year to Oct. 1-Sept. 30 to coincide with that of the city; approval of the 1999 financial statement, and a review of four articles in the by-laws.

Under "Annual Report," the board will consider the chief executive's report and adopt the $124,000 budget for Year 2000.

They will discuss tenure of officers, annual meeting and selection of officers.

Kyle Hoodenpyle and Pecos Economic Development executive director Gari Ward will present proposed strategies that would encourage more dairies to locate in Reeves County, with a note from Pete Kunkle, independent dairy farm appraiser.

Hoodenpyle plans to establish a dairy on 1,000 acres he owns southwest of Pecos.

Bob Curry, president of BCTI, will report on their planned expansion since being included in the Enterprise Zone.

Ned Pilcher, Odessa College dean, will update the board on renovation of the old White's building for use as a Pecos campus. Work began Monday to tear out walls and ceilings, which will allow removal of all asbestos materials.

Ward said the building's interior would then be remodeled to accommodate classrooms, offices and vocational training labs.

The meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the snack bar on the second floor of the Security State Bank building.

Crockett plans top Thursday's P-B-T agenda

PECOS, Jan. 12, 2000 - Final review of plans and specifications for the Crockett Middle School additions, and releasing documents for competitive sealed proposals will be among the topics of discussion at the regular Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD board meeting scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, in the boardroom.

Changes at Crockett are in preparation for the combining of both seventh and eighth grade classes at the school. Currently seventh graders attend Zavala Middle School, but under the board's plan, the school will be converted to use by sixth graders who now attend Lamar Middle School. Lamar would be closed under the district's consolidation plan.

Board members will also discuss a report on school uniforms; proposed policies for Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD golf students/coaches for Reeves County Golf Course; renewing the Texas Disaster Shelter and Feeding Agreement with American Red Cross of Southwest Texas; Take Our Daughters to Work Day and discuss/approve closing debt service fund _transfer to maintenance and operations.

In other business the board will discuss and approve request by American Cancer Society Relay for Life for use of the Pecos High School football stadium May 19-20, and waive fees; 1999-2000 budget amendments and Y2K report.

A report on reading academies Grades K-5 will also be discussed.

Other items to discussed and approved include:

· Attendance/enrollment report.

· Tax report.

· Depository securities report.

· Cafeteria report.

· Commodities received report.

· Current bills and financial report.

· Investment transaction report.

· Reconciled bank balance report.

· Reeves County Community Recreation Department report.

· Date and time for next board meeting.

· Calendar of events.

· Request for items for next agenda.

The group will also meet behind closed doors, as authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Section, 551.101 et. Seq., Section 551.074: discuss personnel or hear complaints against personnel and Section 551.071 _ private consultation with the board's attorney. They will also discuss extending Administrative Assistant/Personnel Director Gome Olibas' contract.

Board members will return to open session and take action, if any, on items discussed in closed session.

State approves charter for Rodeo Hall of Fame

By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Jan. 12, 2000 - It's official. Pecos will have its very own Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame.

New president of the Pecos Chamber of Commerce Jeannette Alligood presented the charter to John T. Rediger, at their regular meeting held Tuesday, during the Chamber's monthly luncheon meeting at the Pecos Senior Citizen's Center.

"This is in appreciation of all his help in making this a reality," said Alligood.

"This is very exciting and with everybody's help we can make it work," said Rediger.

Rediger presented his idea to the chamber a while back and since then has been working with chamber director Tom Rivera in obtaining the charter and trying to get a lease on the old Missouri Pacific train depot at First and Oak streets, the site designated for the Hall of Fame.

"We really want to pursue this thing and with everybody's support," Rediger said. "Now, we're trying to get a long-term lease on the property."

After that, it will be a done deal, according to Rediger.

Rediger said that since it will be called Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame, funds would come from the state.

"We're really proud and excited," said Rediger. "Tom (Rivera) put in a lot of work into this, but we've still got a ways to go."

"I'm proud of our town and I hope we can all work together in making this dream a reality," he said.

The Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame will feature items from the rodeo, all Texas cowboys and different things associated with the rodeo.

On a related topic, West of the Pecos Rodeo Committee chairman Starkey Warren spoke to the group about upcoming plans for the Annual West of the Pecos Rodeo scheduled for July.

"We're trying to improve attendance at the event," said Warren. "Bringing in the cowboys is no problem

Warren said among the plans for this year will be awarding belt buckles to the public for the first time. "Award Design Metals, who make this buckles for the national rodeo event, will be donating eight buckles to us," said Warren.

"We'll be giving them out during the rodeo events," said Warren. "Maybe, by lucky seats or program or something, that's something we'll have to work out," he said.

Another addition will be the use of a scoreboard for the first time at the Buck Jackson Rodeo Arena. "The sound system we have is just not going to get any better, because the arena is so big," said Warren. "We've had numerous complaints about the sound system, that people didn't get to hear the score or who else was coming up and sometimes the announcer only says it one time."

Copenhagen Skoal will be one of the sponsors of the new scoreboard.

Along with showing point totals, people can just look up and see who is due to ride next, according to Warren. "More billboards will be added to the back section to help fund the event," he added.

Four more billboards will also be added to the north side. "These will be for sale, if anyone wants to advertise," said Warren.

A new program, which will go out about five weeks before the rodeo, is also part of the plans to increase attendance at this year's show. "They have this program, from Prescott, Arizona, that they hand out before the rodeo," said Warren.

"We want to spread ours all over West Texas before the rodeo," said Warren. "We're kind of following the example from Prescott."

Warren said this way people would know what's happening in Pecos a month before the rodeo begins.

"Another idea is bull fights and clowns," said Warren.

The clowns will get inside the arena to fight the bulls, according to Warren. "We're trying to get that in the schedule," he said. "Anything we can do to get attendance up, we'll do."

Under the financial report, Alligood reported that as of end of December the chamber was under their revenue projections.

"The bed tax did a record setting collections," said Alligood.

Alligood said that because of all the construction going on in town, with the Union Pacific Railroad workers replacing 25 miles of track, Texas Department of Transportation doing curb work and the construction work at the Reeves County Detention Center and the U.S. Border Patrol Building, the companies are brining in people to Pecos.

"This is great for us," said Alligood. "The tourism and advertising committee is doing an excellent job," she said. Still to come in 2000 is construction of a new Post Office building at Eighth and Cedar Streets and a new facility for the Texas Department of Transportation on Interstate 20.

Alligood stated that some representatives from the chamber were on hand at the regular Reeves County Commissioners Court meeting held Monday. "We were there because the civic center was on the agenda."

Another meeting of the civic center committee will take place at 5:30 p.m. next Monday, at the civic center.

"We'll be bringing a report back and hope we can bring back some type of agreement about the center," said Alligood.

Operations and who would be in charge of fees and clean-up, were to be the topic of discussion, about the civic center. Commissioners tabled the item on Monday, to give the committee a chance to meet and come up with some recommendations.

During the executive director's report, Rivera passed out information on Ray Stone and the work he does. "This should explain a little bit more about his program," said Rivera. Stone is being considered as a speaker in Pecos, and has broadcast the Dallas Cowboys Report on radio for the past two decades.

Chamber members listened to an update from Jesse Stephens, during the community development report.

"As you know, the city has entered into an agreement with GrantWorks to obtain a $240,000 grant from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) under the HOME program," said Stephens.

The city will also have to pay GrantWorks another 15 percent for getting the grant.

"Now they're reneging on that," said Stephens. "It seems to me that they were trying to eliminate competition."

Stephens told the group that Town of Pecos City Mayor Dot Stafford and city manager Kenneth Neal would be attending a seminar in Socorro to talk about this. "And if the city gets some money, they'll need help with this," he said.

"It's a very complex situation and I would like to see a committee formed to learn more about it," said Alligood. "We will also need help from other groups."

Alligood stated that the chamber would really need to look into this program and see what needs to be done and what it entails before starting.

Chamber of Commerce directors opted to form a committee to study the housing project further.

Rotary Club to hear from district governor

PECOS, Jan. 12, 2000 - Pecos Valley Rotary Club members will gather Thursday to greet the district governor for district 5730, Dudley Faver, and assistant district governor Don Shinn.

According to Bill Hubbs, a member of the Pecos club and former district governor, the life of the district governor for district 5730 is a hard one.

"This district covers a lot of territory _ from Pecos, east to Sweetwater and all of the Panhandle," Hubbs said. "The governor will visit each of the 55 clubs in the district at least once this year."

"It's a lot of miles. I wore out a car the year I was governor," Hubbs said.

Faver, who lives in Lubbock, retired from the Air Force as a general and has served as chairman of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Lubbock Armed Services Committee and is a charter board member of the Institute for Vietnam Studies.

Balmorhea ISD's academic report on board's agenda

The Balmorhea Independent School District will hold a public hearing on Thursday at 7 p.m. to discuss the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report. The discussion will be part of the board's regular monthly meeting, which will be held in the BISD boardroom at First and El Paso streets in Balmorhea.

Copies of the AEIS report are available to the public at the BISD administration office.

Other items on Thursday's agenda include evaluation of superintendent Dr. Carl Hoffmyer, discussion on the Balmorhea High School senior trip for 2000, driver's education instructors and SBDM board participation. In executive session, the board will discuss personnel, a staff member's discipline of students and administrative response and the BISD athletic program.

Lotto

AUSTIN (AP) - Results of the Cash 5 drawing Tuesday night: Winning numbers drawn: 8-13-14-25-38. Number matching five of five: 0. Matching four of five: 206. Prize: $935.

***

AUSTIN (AP) - The winning Pick 3 numbers drawn Tuesday by the Texas Lottery, in order: 7-1-4 (seven-one-four)

Weather

High Tuesday 81. Low this morning 46. Forecast for tonight: Clear. Low near 40. Light southwest wind. Thursday: Sunny and not as warm. High 70-75. Northeast wind 5-10 mph. Thursday night: Fair. Low in the lower to mid 30s.



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