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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Top Stories

March 22, 2001

Deadline filings add to crowded P-B-T race

By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - At least one area election is on the verge of being cancelled while another will be very crowded on May 5, as new filings before Wednesday's deadline brought the total number of candidates to 10 in the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school board election.

The Barstow City Council race faces cancellation after the three incumbents whose terms are up were the only ones to file to run in the election. Aldermen Olga Abila, Dora Villanueva and Lucio Florez will automatically be elected to new two-year terms in the upcoming local elections if no one files to run as a write-in candidate by next week.

Most of the other area elections gained enough candidates in the past week to avoid cancellation, with two last-minute filings adding to what is now a crowded field in the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school board race.

Ruben Salazar filed for the one-year unexpired term on the P-B-T ISD board on Wednesday, joining Michelle Galindo and Francisco "Frankie" Rodriguez. The spot is currently held by Paul Deishler, who filed to run for a full three-year term on the board.

That race gained a seventh candidate on Wednesday, when Julio Torres joined the race. Along with Deishler and incumbent Brent Shaw, the other challengers Veronica "Ronnie" Dutchover, Saul "Chip" Flores and Crissy Martinez. Voters will elect three full term spots on the school board in May, with the other two currently held by Earl Bates and board president Louis Matta, both of whom opted against seeking new terms.

There were no final day filings in the Town of Pecos City election, where five candidates will compete for the three council seats. Mary Patino was the last person to file on Tuesday, joining incumbents Larry Levario, Gerald Tellez and Johnny Terrazas and former Pecos mayor Frank Sanchez in the race.

Balmorhea voters will also have a contested school board race to decide on May 5. Two seats are up on the Balmorhea board and incumbents Armando Mondragon and Paul Ward are being challenged by Cathy Carrasco for the available three-year terms.

In the race for the Reeves County Hospital District board, two of the five seats are up for election on May 5, but only voters in Precinct 2 may have to cast ballots in May. Linda Gholson and Clark Lindley are seeking the seat currently held by Marcella Lovett, who did not file for re-election. Incumbent Holly Key also did not file for a new term on the RCH board from Precinct 4, where Hugh Box was the only person to file for the two-year term. The current hospital board will have the option of canceling the Precinct 4 election if no write-in candidate enters the race within the next week.

In the Balmorhea city election incumbents Olga Lopez and Ike Ward have filed to retain seats on the council. Voters will decide on three council seats in the May 5 elections.

Incumbent Velma Robey has joined the other incumbent, Diana Tollet of Toyah in filing to retain their seats on the council. The two are joined by challengers Danny Wayne Enmon and Laura E. Budlong. There are three positions open in the Toyah election.

The last day a person may register to vote in the local elections is April 5. Early voting by personal appearance will be April 18 through May 1. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., on Election Day, May 5.

Long distance calls disrupted after cable cut

By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - Long distance service into and out of Pecos was down for about two hours late Wednesday morning and early that afternoon, due to a cut cable on the main line between Pecos and Odessa.

Valor Telecom Communications Representative Erika McMinn said that Southwestern Bell accidentally cut a Valor fiber cable between Monahans and Odessa. "So that affects Pecos," she said.

Vice President of West Texas Operations Danny Ammons said that Southwestern Bell is currently installing 100 miles of fiber optic cable along the existing lines, which follow the old U.S. 80 (I-20 and Business I-20) route through West Texas.

"They are plowing in a new cable next to an existing cable," he said.

Ammons said after the line was cut, Pecos residents could make local calls but not long distances calls. "No one in Pecos could call long distance," he said, though some long distance cellular calls were possible while the underground cable line was broken.

McMinn said the long distance service was only out from about 11:40 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., but added that because Southwestern Bell is laying down 100 miles of cable, they could accidentally cut the cable again.

"It won't be out for long periods of time," she said, and any outages would be repaired quickly by the phone company crews at the site..

Ammons said that when something goes wrong with service and the cables Valor knows about it immediately because everything is hooked up to alarm systems.

"When something like this happens we're aware of it," he said. "It just doesn't happen and know one knows it."

Ammons said that Valor is not worried about this happening again because they understand that it would be fixed as soon as possible.

"We know that they're going to jump on these things as quickly as they can," he said.

Local unemployment continues to decline

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - Unemployment in the Permian Basin continued to decline in February, with both Reeves County and the Town of Pecos City among those reporting fewer people without jobs last month.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, Reeves County's jobless rate dropped from 7.7 percent in January to 7.3 percent in February, while Pecos' rate declined from 8.8 to 8.3 percent.

The TWC report said that while there were 112 fewer jobs in Reeves County in February, the workforce declined by over 150 from January, which allowed the unemployment rate to continue its recent downward trend. Compared to February of 2000, the county's unemployment rate is down by nearly 3½ percent, as the workforce has declined by nearly 180 people while the total number of jobs in the county has risen by 77.

Pecos' numbers show the same trends. The total number of workers in the city is down from 5,536 a year ago to 5,368 last month, but the number of jobs has risen during that same time from 4,861 to 4,920, which has allowed unemployment to fall from 12.2 to 8.3 percent. The city's workforce was down from January by 122 people while the number of jobs declined by 87, the TWC said.

The numbers for the city and county matched those for the Permian Basin as a whole, as the total number of jobs in the region declined, but were offset by a drop in the labor force. Regional unemployment fell from 4.4 percent in January to 4.1 percent last month, and is down from 6.9 percent a year ago.

Midland County's unemployment rate fell from 3.7 to 3.6 percent, while Ector County saw its jobless rate drop from 5.2 to 4.6 percent. Ward County's jobless rate fell from 6.3 to 5.9 percent, while Pecos County was the only nearby county to report an increase in unemployment last month, though it was slight, rising from 4.9 to 5.0 percent.

One noticeable change was the TWC's statistics for Loving County. The county's labor force in the January report was listed at 145 workers, but that was before the new U.S. Census figures showed Loving County's population had declined to only 58 people.

The TWC's revised numbers for the county now show a workforce of only 48 people, all but four of whom are employed, giving the county an 8.3 percent jobless rate. The January number listed seven people without jobs, but because of the much higher workforce number, the county's jobless rate was only listed at 4.8 percent.

Statewide jobless totals for February were put at 3.8 percent, down from 4.1 percent in January and from 4.6 percent in February of 2000.

City says cost of water field cause of sewer bill increases

By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - Community members may have noticed that the local sewer rates have recently gone up, and city officials said the cost of developing Pecos' new water field are behind the higher bills this month.

City Manager Carlos Yerena said that the new rates were changed to match the average use during the three winter months, December, January and February.

During October the Town of Pecos City Council agreed to raise the business and residential sewer rates in order to pay of a debt to the Texas Water Development Board.

Yerena said that the city received an approximate $8.3 million loan from the water board that would be used in the development of a new water field.

"We did this so we could fund the additional lifespan of our water wells," he said.

A 1994 report to the Town of Pecos City Council said the city's Worsham and Ward County water fields would only be able to provide adequate water supplies to the city through the year 2008. Since then, Pecos has been in the process of locating and developing a new water field that will come on line before that time.

The field in development is the South Worsham Field, located southeast of Pecos, and as part of the loan agreement for building the new field, the TWDB mandated that the city would conduct a study on existing water and sewer rates.

Yerena said that because of the size of the loan the city would have to have some kind of revenue to be able to pay off the debt.

Once passed last year by the city council, the new rate immediately went into effect for local businesses. However, the residential rates only recently came into effect in order to give the city time to monitor the average use for the winter months.

"We didn't implement that until now," Yerena said.

By borrowing the loan from the state the city will know be able to develop more water wells, increasing the city's water supply by 50 years.

"They (the Council) wanted to make sure we have a continuous water supply," Yerena said.

Weather spotter class scheduled for next Tuesday

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - The National Weather Service in Midland will be conducting the Basic Weather Spotters training class next Tuesday, March 27, at the Pecos Community Center, 508 S. Oak, from 7-9:30 p.m.

Not only are these classes for emergency personnel and amateur radio operators, but also for the general public is welcomed and encouraged to participate. During this class the primary goal will be to become proficient in recognizing visual characteristics that indicate a storm may be severe or may become severe. Particular emphasis will be placed on local severe weather events and situations.

Obituary

John Mitchell

John Mitchell, 84, of Pecos, died Tuesday, March 20, 2001, at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa.

Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, March 23, at Fairview Cemetery.

He was born Jan. 26, 1917, in Valentine, was a U.S. Army WWII Veteran, a retired mail carrier and a lifelong Pecos resident.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Frank "Tig" Mitchell.

Survivors include his wife, Elidia Torres Mitchell of Pecos; three sons, John, Frank and Bob Mitchell of Pecos; two step-daughters, Maria Elena C. Rodriguez and Gloria C. Arredondo of Pecos; one half-brother, Jack Lindsay of Georgetown, Tx.; three grandchildren and eight step-grandchildren.

Pecos Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Weather

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - High Wednesday 91. Low this morning 52. Forecast for tonight: Increasing cloudiness. Low in the mid 40s. Northeast wind 10 to 20 mph. Friday: Mostly cloudy and cooler with a slight chance of showers or thunderstorms. High in the lower 70s. East wind 5 to 15 mph. The chance of rain is 20 percent. Friday night: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers or thunderstorms. Low in the lower 40s. The chance of rain is 20 percent. Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the 60s.

Lifestyle

Thursday, March 22, 2001

Former Pecosite part of special choir

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - Briana Sutlive, formerly of Pecos, has been named a charter member of Celebration Singers, a recently formed district-wide choir in the United Independent School District in Laredo.

The 28-member choir is composed of fourth through sixth grade students from the 21 elementary schools and seven middle schools in the UISD. Members of the Celebration Singers are required to be active members of the honors choirs at their individual schools. They were chosen by audition. The schools have choirs for each grade level. The honors choir members are chosen from the grade-level choirs in each school. Celebration Singers consists, therefore, of the best singers from each elementary and middle school in the UISD.

Briana, the granddaughter of Manuel and Hortencia De La Garza of Pecos and daughter of Chuck and Maby Sutlive (formerly of Pecos) is a 10-year-old fifth grade student at Finley Elementary. She has been a choir member at Finley since 1997 and has been an honors choir member at the school the last three years.

According to Danny Harold Dixon, founding conductor of Celebration Singers, the group was created, "to foster a lifelong commitment to the arts, especially singing. It is the goal of this ensemble to perform at a level that is consistent to the performance level of professional children's choirs."

Briana and the other members of Celebration Singers performed with the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in December and held their first concert on Friday, Feb. 2. A second concert is scheduled for May.

In addition to his duties with Celebration Singers, Dixon is the bass section leader for the Laredo Philharmonic Chorale, and is the music teacher at Perez Elementary in Laredo.

Pushing children puts them at risk

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - Most children who play sports have fun, get exercise and learn important social values as cooperation and teamwork. But parents who push their children too hard put them at risk for physical and psychological problems.

"Parents naturally want their kids to succeed," said Dr. Albert Hergenroeder, chief of adolescent and sports medicine at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "My sense is many children are being pushed harder than ever, and more young athletes are sustaining overuse injuries."
Young athletes tend to have problems with the legs, shoulders and elbows. For example, overuse of bone can lead to a stress fracture. Overuse of the knee can lead to patella femoral pain, an overuse of muscles, tendons and/or cartilage, Hergenroeder said.

Some children also may suffer from psychological problems leading to or caused by a lack of self-esteem because they aren't living up to their parents' expectations.

Females are particularly at risk for a condition known as the "female athlete traid": disordered eating, absent or infrequent menstrual periods and osteoporsis.

Hergenroeder attributes many sports-related injuries to the increase in children training in just one sport.

"Children should be allowed and encouraged to play different sports," he said. "Younger children shouldn't play sports every day. Daily practice is too much before middle school, and even then may be too often."

In Hergenroeder's opinion, grade-school children should participate in two practices and one game per week, while middle-school students can practice one additional time per week.

Parents should recognize children's complaints about persistent aches and pains, loss of enjoyment, worsening performance and unwillingness to practice as signs of potential burnout.

"Parents don't have to hold back children who are talented and enjoy playing sports," Hergenroeder said. "They just need to make sure the kids play sports for fun, not to please mom, dad or coach. Parents should encourage their children, but not push them too hard."

For more information on Texas Children's Sports Medicine Center, call 832-824-3660 or visit www.texaschildrenshospital.org.

Enchilada plate sale set

PECOS, March 22, 2001 - An Enchilada Plate Sale is scheduled from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Friday, March 30, at the Santa Rosa Hall.

A choice of three red or green enchiladas, rice, beans and salad for only $3.50.

For orders call 445-2302.



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Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
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