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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Thursday, November 2, 2000
Harrington marks 100th year of W. Texas life
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, Nov. 2, 2000 - Many things have changed over the past 100 years,
and one lucky lady has been living in Texas for all that time.
Clairebel Harrington is celebrating her 100th birthday today,
and said she is very lucky to have had the life she has.
"I don't want anybody to think I'm bragging but I've had a wonderful
life," she said. "I couldn't have got another one better."
Clairebel was born on November 2, 1900 and adopted by the most "loving
parents", Martha and Boley Brown, from the Buckner Children's Home in Fort
Worth.
Automatically she gained two parents who loved her and a brother and
a sister.
Gail Averett, Clairebel's granddaughter, said her brother and sister
were grown when she was adopted so she became the "little princess."
"I was spoiled rotten," Clairebel admits. "They did everything and anything
I wanted."
Clairebel lived with her family on 24 Ranch, one of the four major ranches
in Kent County outside of Post, in the South Plains area.
She said her father was the "biggest rancher in the country at one time."
Because her father owned a big ranch, there were always many cowboys
around, and Clairebel got to know all of them.
She said she loved all those boys and they all loved her.
"I learned to love them all," she said.
Everybody thought she would marry one of those boys but she didn't,
Clairebel said.
"The cowboys were just a bunch of funny boys," she said.
After going to high school at Ward Belmont, a prep school in Tennessee
and then to Texas Christian University, Clairebel came back to the 24 Ranch.
According to Averett, Clairebel was watching a young man breaking horses
for her father while sitting on the fence; little did she know she was
about to be confronted by fate.
"She fell off the fence," Averett said. "He picked her up and they fell
in love."
The young man breaking horses was Olda Harrington, Clairebel's future
husband.
After marrying Olda at age 18, Clairebel and her new husband moved to
ranch out of different areas around Van Horn.
All Clairebel wanted to say about her husband is that he was a "good
looking man" who was also a "good cow man."
At age 21, Clairebel had her first daughter, Alice, and 18 months later
she had her second daughter, Johnnie.
She raised her children on the ranch just as she grew up and by the
time her second daughter was married Clairebel and Olda lived at Eagle
Mountain Ranch between Van Horn and Sierra Blanca.
Johnnie married a serviceman, according to Averett, who is Johnnie's
daughter.
She said her father would bring some of his friends in the service to
Clairebel's ranch to hunt for a few days. Clairebel and Olda would let
the men keep the meat they caught or made sure their families got it.
Averett said all the men knew where the ranch was and during World War
II would fly over the ranch house during training missions.
"They would buzz the ranch house and she'd (Clairebel) would come out
in her bonnet and wave at them," she said.
After her husband died about 50 years ago, Clairebel moved to Pecos
with her daughter's family and has been here ever since.
Clairebel is now 100 and has seen many things and made many friends.
"She probably had more friends than anyone I've ever known," Averett
said.
She has seen very good times and hard times as well and has traveled
to many places.
"I went everywhere I wanted to," Clairebel said.
Clairebel has survived the deaths of most of her family. Averett, her
daughter and granddaughter are the only family Clairebel has left.
"She's still a lady at 100," Averett said. "She's always loved her family."
Through all the times, good and bad over her 100 years in Texas, Clairebel
said she wouldn't change a thing.
"Everybody has always been nice to me," she said. "My life meant a lot
to me all the way through."
The Pecos Nursing Home is hosting an open house from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.,
on Sunday to celebrate Clairebel's 100th birthday. The community
is welcome.
Juarez gets fireman's award during carnival in Barstow
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
BARSTOW, Nov. 2, 2000 - Barstow Volunteer Firefighter Victor Juarez
received the honor of becoming this year's Fireman of the Year last Saturday
at the Barstow Halloween Carnival.
"The firemen were asked to choose who they thought deserved this award,"
Barstow Fire Chief Joel Martinez said.
Martinez said there was a three-way tie between Juarez, Gabrial Ortiz
and Armondo Ortega but the final decision was made during the carnival
to give the award to Juarez.
"He's been a fireman for over 25 years and probably has never received
anything for his dedication," Martinez said.
Juarez will receive a jacket in honor of being chosen as Fireman of
the Year.
"This is the first year that Barstow has awarded a Fireman of the Year,"
Martinez said. "It is something we hope to continue every year."
Barstow did not have a Halloween Carnival the previous two years following
to the closing of Barstow Elementary, which sponsored the carnivals in
years past.
The fire department sponsored this year's carnival and hopes to carry
on the tradition.
Martinez said the carnival was a great success and appreciates the community
support.
Citizens were able to play many different games, with the most popular
being the cakewalk.
After the carnival was over the remaining cakes were auctioned off .
The highest bid of the night for any cake was $58.
An award for best costume was given to 3-year-old Joshua Ornelas, who
was dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
All proceeds raised at the carnival go to benefit the Barstow Volunteer
Fire Department.
Classic planning to upgrade lines for digital cable
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Nov. 2, 2000 - Pecos cable TV viewers had another channel added
to their lineup this week, and are expected to have access to 80 more channels
by early next year, following a system upgrade planned by Classic Cable.
Classic added a new WB network satellite channel to its system, which
is seen on Ch. 53 in Pecos. The 24-hour channel airs prime time comedies
and dramas and morning, afternoon and weekend children's programming from
the WB network, along with syndicated shows during other hours of the day.
The addition of the new channel replaces the WB network programming
formerly seen on WGN (Cable Ch. 4) during prime-time hours. WGN dropped
WB programming from its satellite feed to cable systems around the country
last year, due to the increasing number of independent stations around
the United States carrying the same shows. The station continues to broadcast
the WB Network in the Chicago area.
However, Pecos cable viewers continued to have access to WB shows like
"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," "Charmed" and "7th Heaven" over
KTLA (Cable Ch. 5) out of Los Angeles, though due to the time difference,
those shows aired locally on a three-hour tape delay.
The Pecos cable system now has 52 channels available to local subscribers,
and according to area manager Chris Christiansen, that number will rise
to over 130 channels by sometime next year after Classic adds a digital
cable service option.
"We'll be starting a major rebuild of the system," in order to increase
the capacity enough to allow digital cable operations, he said. "Hopefully
we'll get started next month."
"The digital service will add somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 more
channels," Christiansen said. The include an increased number of pay channels,
like HBO and Showtime, along with allowing people to order pay-per-view
events directly through their digital cable boxes at home, instead of going
down to Classic Cable's office on Oak Street.
"We're excited about it," Christiansen said. Along with the extra TV
channels, the system will also add about 35 digital satellite music channels
to the system when the upgrade is completed.
Digital cable has been available though other cable systems around Texas
and the U.S. since the mid-1990s. Digital cable subscribers usually pay
between $15-$25 extra per month for the service, and have to use a digital
cable box with remote control on top of their televisions to access the
new service.
Most of those systems also offer the option of high-speed Internet connections
with their cable services. Classic cable's website includes a page on offering
high-speed internet services in the future, but does not mention when that
service would be available in Pecos.
Christiansen said the company hopes to have the work completed by the
end of next March, but couldn't set an exact date for completion at this
time, due to the difficulties in installing anew fiber-optic cable system
throughout town.
"It's going to be hard to say … this (fiber optic cable) just takes
a tad longer to build, but I expect it to be done by the first quarter
(of 2001)," he said.
Classic Cable operates a number of systems in the Permian Basin, with
Pecos being the largest. Christiansen said Kermit and Monahans will also
receive digital cable upgrades, but not all systems will have fiber optic
lines installed for digital operations in the near future.
Man only slightly injured after being struck by Jeep
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, Nov. 2, 2000 - Pecos Police and Emergency Medical Service personnel
were called to a vehicle/pedestrian accident early this morning on the
east side of Pecos.
The accident was reported at 1:47 a.m. today in the 200 block of Mesquite
Street, near the Lee Lumber building. Police Investigator Olga Lopez said
Geronimo Hignojos, 55, was crossing the street when a 1984 Jeep Wagoneer
hit him.
"He said he was crossing the street and he didn't see the vehicle,"
Lopez said. "It was just an accident."
Lucia Mata, 31, was driving East on Third Street and turned the corner
onto Mesquite Street.
Lopez said Mata saw Hignojos and tried to avoid him but still hitting
him with the corner of her vehicle.
Hignojos was transported to Reeves County Hospital where he was treated
for minor lacerations and abrasions.
"He was lucky," Lopez said.
Hignojos was held overnight and released earlier this morning.
Weather
PECOS, Nov. 2, 2000 - High Wednesday 73. Low this morning 42. Forecast
for tonight: Cloudy with areas of light rain or sprinkles developing. Low
in the lower to mid 40s. Northeast wind 10-20 mph. The chance for measurable
rain is 30 percent. Friday: Cloudy: Breezy and cool with a 60 percent chance
of rain. High in the mid 50s. Northeast wind 15-25 mph. Friday night: Cloudy
with a chance of rain. Low in the lower 40s. Saturday: Mostly cloudy with
a chance of rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Low in the upper 40s. High
from the upper 50s to the mid 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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