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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Monday, June 19, 2000
Weekend rains help ranchers, hamper crops
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, June 19, 2000 - More rain hit Pecos and surrounding areas this
weekend, and additional showers are expected over the southern sections
of the Trans-Pecos region today.
Coyanosa received an inch of rain in town and an inch and a half outside
of town.
Robert Gamboa, farmer and owner of Coyanosa Food Center, said Coyanosa
has gotten four inches since the 10-inch rain they received on May 31.
Gamboa said the rain is good for ranchers but does not help the farmers.
"We had to replant cotton and some vegetables," Gamboa said. "This rain
ruined a lot of onions."
He added that what the farmers need now is to have the fields dry out.
"We haven't been able to get out in the fields." Gamboa said.
Pecos has not had as much rain as Coyanosa. According to KIUN Studios,
Pecos received three-tenths of an inch Sunday morning and one-tenth of
an inch on Sunday evening. This last rainfall brings the total rainfall
for the year to 1.35 inches.
KIUN also reported an area eight miles north west of Pecos received
a half-inch on Saturday and 1.4 inches on Sunday, while to the southwest,
the Texas Department of Public Safety stated that FM 869 was closed this
morning due to flooding.
The Reeves County Sheriff's Department reported the flooding at 1:45
a.m., this morning, with water over the highway. The water had receded
by mid-morning, but debris from the flood still lined the west side of
the highway. Chris Smallcomb, National Weather Service meteorologist, said
the area around Pecos received 1-1 ½ inches of rain all weekend.
"Approximately eight miles west of Pecos 1.67 inches of rain fell on
Sunday," Smallcomb said. Overall, Texas A&M Agriculture Experiment
Station reported receiving 1.97 inches of rain over the weekend.
Smallcomb said a flash flood watch is in effect today for Brewster,
Jeff Davis, Pecos, Presidio and Terrell counties until 5 p.m.
Smallcomb said Presidio and Brewster counties have received four to
six inches of rain in the last few days.
Pecos will have a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms this afternoon
and this evening, Smallcomb said. He said there is also a chance of thunderstorms
each day through Friday in the afternoon and evening hours and it should
start drying up on Saturday.
The rain is part of a long storm line that stretched from the El Paso
area across Texas and up through the middle sections of the Eastern United
States. The showers are expected to continue in those areas through Tuesday.
Probe continues of seven-fatality crash
From Staff and Wire Reports
PECOS, June 19, 2000 - Law enforcment officials are continuing their
investigation of a bizarre accident, which occurred about 2 p.m., Saturday
and left seven people dead on Interstate 10, 17 miles west of Van Horn
in Hudspeth County.
A car going the wrong way on I-10 collided head-on with another car,
killing all seven people in the two vehicles at a site midway between Van
Horn and Sierra Blanca.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said a 1998 Pontiac was traveling
westbound in the eastbound lanes of the interstate, into the path of a
tractor-trailer truck and a 1994 Nissan in the process of passing the truck.
DPS spokesman Mike Cox said the truck veered to the shoulder to avoid
the Pontiac, which then collided with the Nissan. The force of the accident
sent both cars spinning in the air, according to the report.
The driver of the Pontiac was identified as Lorenzo Sukis, 33, of El
Paso. Also in the vehicle were Ivana Sukis, 10 and Pablo Sukis, 5. Killed
in the Nissan were Fredo Fernandez, 46, and Maria Escobar, 51, both of
Los Angeles, Calif.; Carlos Laugart, 45 of Southgate, Calif., and an unidentified
Hispanic woman.
Three of those killed were in the Pontiac, while the other four victims
were in the Nissan, according to the DPS report. All were wearing seat
belts except for the five-year-old victim, who was thrown from the Pontiac.
Cox said troopers at the scene found evidence that drinking may have
been involved, but toxicology reports won't be available for a few weeks.
Only a grassy median separates the eastbound and westbound lanes of
the four-lane highway, Cox said. That section of I-10 also allows cars
to crossover the westbound lanes of traffic to reach the eastbound lanes
from the service road on the north side of the highway. The crossover is
used mainly by cars traveling east out of Sierra Blanca on the service
road going towards Van Horn.
"We're still investigating this accident and have several officers from
different DPS (stations) out there," said an officer from the Hudspeth
County Sheriff's Department this morning.
City's sales tax rebate slight increase for June
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, June 19, 2000 - Sales tax rebates for Pecos were up slightly
for June, while figures across the Permian Basin were mixed this month,
based on sales made during April.
According to figures released by State Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander's
office, the city received $56,632 back this month, based on its 1½-cent
share of Texas' 8¼ percent sales tax. That's a 6.6 percent improvement
from a year ago, when Pecos received $53,123 back from the comptroller's
office.
However, for the first half of 2000, the city's sales tax totals are
virtually unchanged from a year ago. Pecos has gotten $392,781 back from
Austin for the period from January through June, up 1.6 percent from the
first six months of 1999.
In contrast, Balmorhea reported a big increase in their rebate check,
while Toyah's check was down sharply from last year.
Balmorhea got $448 in tax rebates in June, up 130.9 percent from the
$194 the city received in 1999, while Toyah's check was $273, down by over
87½ percent after last year's $2,182 rebate check from Rylander's
office.
Across the area there were more gainers than losers this month, but
most of the larger cities showed only slight changes from a year ago.
Midland was up 41 percent, getting the area's largest tax rebate of
$1.09 million, but that was due in part to a ¼-cent increase in
the city's tax rate since last year. Odessa's rebate check of $897,702
was up 8.77 percent, while Andrews reported an 11.6 percent increase and
Fort Stockton's check was 5.9 percent above last year.
Monahans saw the biggest drop this month; falling 30.3 percent from
a year ago, while Alpine, Van Horn and Presidio were also down from last
year.
June's tax rebate for the Reeves County Hospital District totaled $21,367,
up 4.3 percent from last year. But for the first half of 2000, the district
has seen its rebate check drop 3.4 percent to $148,277, based on the hospital's
½-cent sales tax rebate.
Statewide rebate checks were up this month by 8.37 percent over last
June and are up 8.07 percent for the first half of 2000. Houston's check
for $21.02 million was the largest single check sent out by Rylander's
office and was down 2.72 percent, while Dallas got a 15.3 million check,
up 10 ½ percent from June of 1999.
Rifle club hosts match after long break
By SMOKEY BRIGGS
Staff Writer
PECOS, June 19, 2000 - The Pecos Rifle and Pistol Club hosted a Service
Rifle shooting competition over the weekend with ten shooters from as far
away as Houston competing for top honors.
"This was the first match the club has hosted in a long time," rifle
club president Dannie Shelton said. "We had a good turn out and everyone
had a good time."
"The match rules were modified to include as many competitors as possible,"
said Mike Mason, who is vice president of the club.
"We relaxed the Service Rifle rules to include almost any rifle that
has seen military service and can be reloaded quickly enough to compete
in the rapid fire stages of the match," he said.
Mason said that competitors used rifles ranging from British Enfields
dating from World War I to modern-day AR-15s, the civilian variant of the
military's M-16 service rifle.
First and second place was captured by shooters shooting M-1 Garands
dating from World War II and third place went to a shooter using an AR-15
type rifle.
"We also shot every leg of the match at 200 yards and used reduced targets
to simulate the 300 and 600 yard stages of the match," Mason said. "This
summer we plan to improve the range so that we can shoot a similar match
at the actual 300 and 600 yard distances."
Match results were:
Smokey Briggs (383), Allen Gallego (369), Larry Longoria (366), Allen
Gallego (316), Mike Mason (303), Olin Briggs (296), Buster Brown (284),
Raymond Rayos (279), Joey Hernandez (273), Bobby Clark (112). All scores
are out of a possible 500 points.
"We had an excellent match with a lot of good riflemen," Mason said.
"We also had a good representation of different rifles."
Mason said that at the next match there would probably be two categories
_ one for more modern weapons and one category for older, bolt-action service
rifles with no modifications.
"Bobby Clark shot the match with a hundred-year-old rifle with the original
barrel and sights that really don't adjust for target shooting. That put
him at a tremendous disadvantage competing against the more modern semi-automatic
rifles with fully adjustable sights. In the next match we will have a category
for older, completely stock rifles as well," Mason said.
Mason said the club plans to sponsor another match in late July and
invited anyone who is interested to contact a member of the Pecos Rifle
and Pistol Club.
Enterprise offering `Melodrama' tickets
PECOS, June 19, 2000 - Tickets to the Melodrama, which will be presented
on July 1-4 at the State Theatre will be available at the Pecos Enterprise.
Five tickets will be given to the first new subscribers.
The Melodrama, which is part of the annual West of the Pecos Rodeo Week
events, will take place at 8 p.m., each evening and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Senior Citizens get in free.
Weather
PECOS, June 19, 2000 - High Sunday 78. Low this morning 67. Precipitation
last 48 hours at Texas A&M Experiment Station, 1.97 inches Forecast
for tonight: Increasing cloudiness with a 20 percent chance of showers
or thunderstorms. Low in the upper 60s. Southeast wind 10-20 mph. Tuesday:
Morning cloudiness: Otherwise partly cloudy with a slight chance of afternoon
thunderstorms. High in the mid 90s. South to Southwest wind 10-20 mph.
Extended forecast: Tuesday night: Increasing cloudiness with a slight chance
of thunderstorms. Low in the upper 60s.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, 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@pecos.net
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.
Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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