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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Council to get water, landfill project update
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, January 24, 2001 - A representative from Frank X. Spencer &
Associates is scheduled to give the Town of Pecos City Council updates
on projects that the company has been working on for the city during the
regular meeting at 5:30 p.m., tomorrow at City Hall.
Spencer & Associates has been working on the development of the
South Worsham Well Field as well as the maintenance on the original Worsham
Well Field.
The city was told in 1994 that the Worsham and Ward County water fields
would only be able to provide adequate water to the city until 2008. Work
began at that time to locate a new field, and the city settled on development
of the South Worsham Field two years ago.
The Council is scheduled to hear the status reports on both fields as
well as a report on the city's arid exempt landfill permit and site development
plan modification. City officials were in Austin on Tuesday to discuss
the permit, which would sharply cut the cost to Pecos for building a new
landfill trench southwest of town. The exemption would allow the city to
put in a landfill without a clay/rubber liner, which had to be placed in
the last trench dug by the city, at a cost of over $1.2 million.
Clark Lindley, local activist against Envirocare of Texas, will also
give a report to the Council on the low-level radioactive waste facility
meetings he has been attending.
Lindley and several other community members have been fighting against
Envirocare's plan to place a low-level waste facility eight miles northeast
of Barstow. The site would be 14 miles northeast of Pecos, in Ward County.
The Council will also consider adopting model subdivision rules of a
municipality given to them by the Texas Water Development Board.
In other business the members will discuss public hearings on annexation
and authorizing a signatory on city check accounts as well as discussing
the city's franchise agreement with Classic Cable.
Town Hall focus on city's trash troubles
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, January 24, 2001 - Trash talk _ mainly about new projects and
another landfill for Pecos _ were topics of discussion at the third meeting
with the Rural Resource Team held Wednesday evening at the Reeves County
Civic Center.
Darren Clark, with the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission,
was once again on hand to help those attending make decisions and plan
ahead for Pecos.
Committees were formed following the meeting. The committees will head
different projects and hopefully began planning on some new ones to improve
Pecos.
Clark told the group on hand that it would take a lot of people to start
on the projects. "What we need is to make a list of two or three things
that you would really like to start on, and then began those projects,"
he said.
Elizabeth Schmidt brought the up the problem of old mattresses and junk
being dumped everywhere.
"Well at the last meeting we talked about the landfill," said Clark.
Town of Pecos City Council member Gerald Tellez told the group that
they are in the process of turning in a permit to open a new landfill.
"We're also in the process of planning a temporary burn, to burn wooden
materials laying in alleys and having that once or even two to three times
a month," Tellez said.
Council member Larry Levario said that Mayor Ray Ortega, new City Manager
Carlos Yerena and Health and Sanitation Director Armando Gil were in Austin.
The city is seeking an arid exemption permit to build a new landfill trench,
a permit that was denied a decade ago, forcing construction of a more expensive
clay- and rubber-lined trench.
"They are trying to speed up the process and possibly have a controlled
burn, because that seems to be one of the problems, no place to put the
debris," said Levario.
At the last meeting the group had also discussed old, abandoned houses
that were posing hazards. "Even if they demolished the buildings, there
isn't anywhere to put the debris and that's why we want to get a permit
for a landfill," said Levario.
"All these old mattresses and sofas are hazardous and are a real eyesore,"
said Schmidt.
"We have to come up with some kind of a campaign or something that everyone
wants to become a part of," said Christian Home Director Bruce Dury.
Landfill employee Jerry Millan said that each household is allowed one
trip out to the landfill.
Town of Pecos City Marshal Jack Brookshire said that they had spoken
to TNRCC about a possible burn. "They told us the only thing we could burn
was brush," said Brookshire.
Aside from the debris around houses, there was also a discussion on
what to do with dilapidated and unoccupied houses around Pecos.
"There's so many old houses that are really hazardous and something
needs to be done about them," said Sally Perry.
She mentioned several such houses, including one on Fifth Street and
another one on Sixth Street.
"We've been talking about tearing all these old houses down, but if
we do that, the next problem is where to put the debris," said Brookshire.
"Most of those old houses do need to be torn down, but you have to separate
the wood," said Brookshire.
"I think we should concentrate on downtown Pecos before we go looking
at the houses on those side streets," said Richard Creasy.
Creasy said that one of his biggest pet peeves was all the plastic bags
flying around. "Maybe we need to educate the public on where those bags
belong, in the trash," he said.
"They are an eyesore and are everywhere, especially the area around
Wal-Mart and Town and Country," he said.
Creasy said that the downtown area should be prioritized. "Some of those
buildings bricks are falling out and are in really bad shape," he said.
What to do with white goods (large appliances) was also discussed during
the lengthy meeting.
"Litter bags, white goods, hazardous materials, branches, debris, it's
a whole lot of little problems, that make it a big problem," said Clark.
"How about forming a committee to come up with a plan and the first
project that will be tackled," said Clark.
Clark suggested that the committee could come up with the first project,
pick a date to do the project and work out the many details.
"For example, let's pick up all the white goods," said Clark.
The committee would then pick a date that all white goods would be picked
up and if the people don't have a way to transport the items to the site,
have trailers or appropriate transportation to pick up the products and
safely dispose of them.
"Transportation is a problem, for getting rid of these items," said
Perry.
Another idea was rather than have a cleanup go through the alleys and
clean those things up, the mattresses, old sofas and cut up those branches
to fit in the dumpsters or that can be taken to the landfill, according
to Creasy, though some items will have to wait until the new trench is
completed.
"It will be anywhere from 6-9 months before we get a landfill," said
Tellez. Currently, the city contracts with Duncan Disposal to haul most
of its trash to the company's landfill west of Odessa.
"Maybe at that time we can also identify hazardous materials," said
Creasy.
"The city, county and schools all have trailers that we might be able
to use," said Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD board President Louis Matta. "I think
we have the resources here, we just need to put them to good use."
"If we could use those vehicles we could clean up the alleys and pick
everything up, but where are we going to put it is the problem," said Pecos
Police officer Jeff Green.
Green also suggested bringing in new ideas to Pecos such as a pistol
shoot or an air show.
Green said that a business downtown had closed down because people would
prefer to shop in Odessa. "If we can't keep our businesses in town open,
we're just going to die down," he said.
The Main Street project was discussed briefly, and past chamber president
Jeannette Alligood told the group why the application had been turned down.
"They came in and toured Pecos without letting anybody know," said Alligood.
"And they saw what we see, trash and old, abandoned buildings."
Alligood said that Pecos had been invited to be a self-initiated Main
Street program.
"They want us to do some things, before we receive any funding, and
the projects we do take on, the funding will have to come from the city,"
she said.
They have to see that the community is willing to help themselves first,
according to Alligood.
Green said that he would try to gather more information from the pistol
club and shooting match and report to the group at the next scheduled meeting,
which will be held March 6.
Committees were formed with several individuals signing up to help with
the different projects.
The committees will also report their findings and plans at the next
meeting.
Women's Division membership drive set for Thursday
PECOS, January 24, 2001 - The Women's Division of the Pecos Chamber of
Commerce will hold their 2001 Membership Drive from 5:30 p.m. _ 7 p.m.,
on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Weatherby House, located at 423 Oleander.
Anyone interested should contact Stella Ornelas at the Pecos Chamber
of Commerce, 445-2406 or Laura Briggs at 445-5155.
Weather
PECOS, January 24, 2001 - High Tuesday 63. Low this morning 32. Forecast
for tonight: Increasing cloudiness. Low in the mid 30s. East wind 5 to
10 mph. Thursday: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. High in
the mid 50s. Southeast wind 10 to 20 mph. The chance of rain is 20 percent.
Thursday night: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of evening showers.
Low in the lower 30s. The chance of rain is 20 percent. Friday: Partly
cloudy. High near 60. Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain.
Low near 30. High in the mid to upper 50s.
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
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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