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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
April 23, 2001
City looks to keep RTBI families in area
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 23, 2001 - With construction underway on the Air Force
electronic bombing and scoring site near Verhalen, the Town of Pecos City
is starting to take steps to insure that the workers who will be brought
in to operate the site and their families will have everything they need.
"We're going to do whatever we can to try to get them to relocate in
our city," City Manager Carlos Yerena said.
Lt. Col. Dale Garrett from Langley Air Force Base, who visited Pecos
a few weeks ago, said that each individual family has to opportunity to
live wherever they would like to once they come here.
In other words, they have the option of living in Pecos, Monahans or
any surrounding city.
"They get a chance to live where they want to live," he said. "That'll
be up to them as individual citizens."
The Pecos Economic Development Corporation (PEDC), which began working
this project almost a year ago after the Air Force announced its plans
for the Realistic Bomber Training Initiative (RBTI), sent out questionnaires
to the 16 prospective families with numerous questions pertaining to their
lives and how they live.
According to the questionnaire, nine of the 16 families said that they
plan to buy a home if they move to Pecos with five stating that they would
rent.
PEDC President Gari Ward said that questionnaire helped them to get
an understanding of what the families are like.
"This created a real good profile for us to work with," he said.
Yerena said that the city plans to organize a "get together" for the
city and the families in order to show the families Pecos and to "see how
we can serve their needs."
"We're going to do whatever we can to try to get them to locate in our
city," he said.
Officials with other companies, such as Pennzoil Sulphur and Smithers
Tire Testing Service, chose in the past to live in Carlsbad, N.M. and Monahans
instead of living in Pecos, despite the longer commute the trip involved.
The RTBI electronic scoring site being built by the Air Force will be
located midway between Pecos and Balmorhea, about 17 miles south of Pecos.
Commuting from either of the other two main area cities, Monahans or Fort
Stockton, would involve an additional 80-mile drive each day.
Yerena said that he believes that Pecos has a good education system
and overall is a good city that would be pleasing to the families.
"I think we have the quality of life that will be to their liking,"
he said.
Yerena said that the first step has been completed in getting the Air
Force to construct the site just outside of Pecos.
"To complete the Economic Development Initiative is hopefully getting
as many people to come to the City of Pecos," he said.
The Air Force hopes to have the RTBI site in operation by next year,
though there are currently two lawsuits pending in U.S. District Court
in Pecos and Lubbock seeking to block implementation of the flights by
B-1 bombers from Dyess AFB in Abilene and Barksdale AFB in Shreveport,
La., over the area.
The bombers will fly a loop around Pecos at altitudes as low as 500
feet near the electronic scoring site. A similar site will be built between
Snyder and Lamesa, though the bombers there will fly at an altitude of
about 3,000 feet when making their practice runs.
Mom, daughter die in rollover near Balmorhea
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 23, 2001 - A mother and daughter were killed when the vehicle
they were in rolled over early this morning along Texas Highway 17 in Jeff
Davis County, 12 miles south of Balmorhea.
According to a report from the Department of Public Safety office in
Alpine said that a family of five was traveling to Chihuahua, Mexico, in
a Chevrolet pickup truck driven by the mother when the vehicle rolled over
on Highway 17 in northern Jeff Davis County at approximately 3 a.m., this
morning.
"We feel that she fell asleep and lost control of the vehicle," the
DPS spokesperson said.
Both Pecos and Balmorhea Ambulances were called to the scene of the
accident along with the Aerocare Ambulance, Reeves County Sheriff's Deputies
and DPS troopers.
All five passengers were injured, with two transported to Reeves County
Hospital in Pecos while a third was flown by Aerocare to Lubbock before
reaching the hospital.
The names of the family members and which one was taken to Lubbock were
not released at press time, but the mother apparently was not pronounced
dead at the scene, according to the DPS report.
The daughter, a five-year-old, was pronounced dead at 5:46 a.m., at
Reeves County Hospital by Justice of the Peace Amonario Ramon.
DPS Troopers from Alpine are still investigating the accident.
The accident happened well after Sunday's high winds in the Trans-Pecos
had died down. Winds in the area were gusty throughout the weekend, and
were high enough on Sunday for Texas Department of Transportation crews
to close Highway 17 late Sunday morning, due to blowing dust near the Lindsey
Addition and in the Verhalen area.
Salt cedars still plague Pecos River
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one in a continuing series of features
on historical locations in Pecos region
By The Ghost Writer
PECOS, April 23, 2001 - The salt cedar, once considered a blessing,
is now considered a curse and we are spending large sums to eradicate it.
How it got into this country is disputed with some thinking it was sold
to Old American Nursery in Philadelphia. Others think that the Spaniards
introduced it to this country and the name, Tamarix, is named after the
Tamaris River in Spain. The tree was used for shade, windbreaks, to stabilize
streambeds and as ornamental shrubs. The Orient Hotel, now the West of
the Pecos Museum, had salt cedars in front of the entire building.
The U. S. government planted the cedars along the Pecos River in the
early part of the twentieth century and they soon spread outside its cultivation
area. A cedar tree has roots that extend deep into the soil and sends roots
out to take in surface water. This tree is tolerant to various stress conditions
such as drought, cold, heat and high concentrations of salt. Salt cedars
takes up salt solutes and deposits it on the ground making it difficult
for naïve plants to grow. A documented study of salt cedar infestation
on the Brazos River beginning in 1941, showed that in 1979, the river depth
reduced from 18.4 feet to 10.2 and the width changed from 515 ft. to 220
ft. The narrow width causes flooding and the river overflowing countryside.
There are several methods to control salt cedar and none are 100%
effective. The Pecos Enterprise reported that the Bureau of Reclamation
tried eradicating the tree from the New Mexico state line to two miles
south of Orla. The Pecos River Commission brought about the clearing of
salt cedar from Girvin to the headwater, however, little clearing happened
above Santa Rosa. Mechanical clearing was the method used and it proved
to be less than successful. At the time, people would ask how much water
would it add to the river and the answer was, "None, but everyone else
is getting government money and so should we." A poor reason to spend tax
revenue.
Michelle Koidin with the Associated Press reported that 28 miles of
river had been sprayed by helicopter and that they would have to wait until
spring to see the results. The Department of Agriculture has received permission
from USDA to release 3000 eggs of Chinese leaf beetles at sites across
western U.S. These beetles eat only Old World species of salt cedar. They
will be placed in cages while one year of experiments is conducted. You
must protect the nesting places of flycatchers, don't you see.
The manager and directors of Red Bluff Water District are trying to
improve the quality of Pecos River water by diverting salt from entering
the river in New Mexico. This and the elimination of the water guzzling
salt cedar should make it possible to have more and better farming with
the river water.
CCRC fundraiser for school supplies set for next Friday
PECOS, April 23, 2001 - Community Council of Reeves County will be having
a fundraiser on Friday, May 4, to raise funds for school supplies.
The fundraiser will be a flauta plate sale and surplus sale, which will
be held from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., at the CCRC office, located in the Reeves
County Annex building at 700 Daggett St.
Plates will consist of four flautas, rice, beans, salad, sour cream
and guacamole. Tea will be offered for eat-ins only.
Cost per plate will be $4.
Obituary
Edna Cook
Weather
PECOS, April 23, 2001 - High Sunday 81. Low this morning 43. Forecast for
tnight: Clear. Low around 40. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Tuesday: Sunny. High
75 to 80. Southeast wind 10 to 15 mph. Tuesday night: Clear. Low in the
lower 40s. Wednesday through sunday: Mostly clear. Lows from the mid 40s
to the mid 50s. Highs from the mid 80s to the lower 90s.
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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