|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Friday, June 22, 2001
Smithers to shut test facility after weekend auction
By JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Friday, June 22, 2001 -- After 14 years of operations, Smithers
Scientific Services, Inc. will be closing its doors this weekend with an
auction of all remaining on-site equipment.
"Items that are to be put up for auction are office supply and furniture,
various tools, vehicles and equipment", Project Coordinator- Systems Administrator
Mari Maldonado said.
The auction will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, at the company's facility,
located off FM 1450 about 15 miles east of Pecos, and will continue until
all items are sold.
Terms of the auction are cash cashier's checks; personal or company
checks with irrevocable bank letter or guarantee from your bank dated June
23, 2001.
The items will be sold "AS-IS, WHERE-IS" without warranty. There will
be no credit cards, minimums or reserves allowed at the auction.
In a press release sent out in early April, the company said that it
was closing its tire and automotive testing complex due to an inadequate
business volume over the last several years that has adversely impacted
operations.
Mike Fay, director of Communications said that the company will join
with a subsidiary of Daimler/Chrysler in Laredo on a joint venture.
"What we will be doing in Laredo will be different," Fay said. "We will
be doing different operations and the testing will be different."
In their April statement, the company said employees were being offered
equivalent jobs at other Smithers' locations.
"Our people in Pecos did a phenomenal job over the last couple of years
to keep the facility open through cost-cutting initiatives and efficiency
improvements," said Smithers' President and CEO J. Michael Hochschwender.
The business of Smithers Scientific Service bought the testing facility
January 1987 from the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Co., and over the years provided
employment for hundreds of local people.
Uniroyal had operated the facility for several years after merging with
Armstrong Tire Co., then moved their operations to the same facility Smithers
is relocating to after merging with B.F. Goodrich. The combined company
abandoned the Laredo facility several years ago, after which it was taken
over by Daimler/Chrysler.
`Dumped'drug defendant held without bond
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Friday, June 22, 2001 -- A suspected drug trafficker who was
kidnapped by agents of the Federal Judicial Police in Mexico and taken
to the Rio Grande border crossing at Presidio where he was turned over
to U.S. authorities, was ordered held without bond after a court hearing
in Pecos Thursday.
Luis Ernesto Valeriano Valles, aka "El Negro," a former Pecos resident,
was turned over to U.S. authorities about a week ago and had been placed
in the Brewster County Jail in Alpine.
Valeriano-Valles had been a fugitive since 1999, when he was charged
with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in a major federal
conspiracy case.
He was named on four counts in the 15-county indictment and appeared
in court Thursday for a detention hearing before U.S Magistrate Judge Durwood
Edwards at the Lucius Bunton Federal Courthouse.
According to The (Presidio) International Valeriano-Valles
was barbequing outside his son's home on June 14 in the coloina Emilano
Zapata when he was kidnapped by the federal agents, said the son, Luis
Valeriano Payen, in filing a complaint against the Federal Judicial Police
with the Chihuahua State Prosecutor's office.
The paper said Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez said deputy Mitch
Garcia received a call from someone saying there was a man handcuffed by
the Rio Grande and he should check it out. Garcia reportedly found Valeriano-Valles
and called Border Patrol Special Agent Wayne Wiemers, who did a background
check and found the outstanding federal warrants for his arrest.
Valeriano-Valles was ordered detained without bond and placed back in
jail by Judge Edwards. The indictments include conspiracy to possess with
intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled
substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance
and money laundering.
The conspiracy case is a 21-defendant case, according to court records.
A case of six defendants who were "backpacking" from Mexico into the
United States carrying illegal drugs is continuing at the courthouse before
District Judge Royal Ferguson.
Commissioners to study RCDC project dispute
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Friday, June 22, 2001 -- Reeves County Commissioners will meet
behind closed doors at their start of their regular meeting on Monday to
discuss possible action centering on a dispute with Banes General Contractors
and the Reeves County Detention Center's recent expansion project.
Commissioners will meet at 9:45 a.m., Monday to arbitrate/litigate/employ
all necessary professionals and authorize all necessary action in their
dispute with Banes during the closed portion of the meeting. The company
was responsible for the 1,000-bed expansion at the RCDC that was due to
be completed last September, but came in several months behind schedule.
The county is currently planning another 960-bed expansion of the prison,
and in open session on Monday commissioners will discuss and take action
on professional services contract between Reeves County and LMD Architects,
PLLC for RCDC III Project; professional services contract between Reeves
County and Carothers Construction Inc., for RCDC III Project and professional
services contract between Reeves County and Frank X. Spencer and Associates
for RCDC III Project.
The group will discuss and take action on request for payments for several
items for Lorraine M. Dailey, architect; interagency agreements with the
Trans Pecos Drug Task Force and Midland County and City of Pecos; water
line easement on County Road 404; deputation and oath-Lionel Garza; property
bids; RCDC inmate transportation crew payment for service and reimbursement
of lost property.
The group will again meet in closed session to discuss and take action
on real estate property acquisition by Reeves County.
Regular items on the agenda to discuss and take action, include:
Reports from various departments.
Budget amendments and line-item transfers.
Personnel and salary changes (RCDC, recreation department, county judge,
road and bridge).
Action on minutes from previous meetings.
Semi-monthly bills.
Spread on the minutes: Contract between Reeves County and Garza County
Regional Juvenile Center.
Local youth choir to perform on Midland station Saturday
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, Friday, June 22, 2001 -- A group of Pecos youngsters will be
in the spotlight when they appear on the Prime Time TV Show on KMLM-TV
this weekend.
A group of children, between the second and seventh grade, from the
First Baptist and New Life Baptist Churches have come together to form
a children's choir and will be performing a musical on the Christian station
in Midland.
Choir Director Eva Garcia said that the musical would be televised at
2 p.m., Saturday on Cable Ch. 10 in Pecos.
Garcia said that the musical was a part of the recent Vacation Bible
School that was held at First Baptist Church. Of the 250 children enrolled
in Bible school, 35 volunteered to perform in the musical.
"It was open to all the students who wanted to participate," she said.
Pastor for New Life Baptist Church, Pablo Garcia, said that this is
the third year that the children of Pecos have appeared on the TV station.
He said that this is becoming a tradition _ performing on television
after their Bible school.
A few years ago, Garcia said that he was invited to preach on the program
the children will be performing on, and he happened to mention that they
had a children's choir.
He said that the director was interested in the choir and invited them
to perform on the program as well.
This year, the choir is performing the musical Truth Trackers,
which is based on the gospel of John 14:6.
"It's based on the gospel of John where they're seeking the truth,"
Pastor Garcia said.
In order to prepare for their television performance, Mrs. Garcia said
that the children have been practicing about two hours a day for two weeks.
Pastor Garcia also said that the church has taken the children's choir
to Alamogordo, N.M., to perform at a church for a couple of years as well.
In addition to the Alamogordo trip, the choir is also planning to perform
at a small church in Lubbock later this summer.
Garcia said that the children have a lot of fun on these trips and that
they take them swimming and to White Sands, N.M. in addition to their performances.
He added that he believes that the children's choir is good for the
children and is very proud of them.
"I've always thought that there is no better place for kids than church,"
he said.
Weather
PECOS, Friday, June 22, 2001 -- High Thursday 99. Low this morning 72.
Forecast for tonight: Partly cloudy with a less than 20 percent chance
of showers and thunderstorms. Low 65 to 70. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy. High in the mid 90s. Southeast wind 10 to 20 mph.
Saturday night: Partly cloudy with a less than 20 percent chance of showers
or thunderstorms. Low in the upper 60s. Sunday: Partly cloudy with a slight
chance of showers or thunderstorms. High 90 to 95. Monday: Partly cloudy.
Lows 65 to 70. Highs 90 to 95.
Obituary
Julia Acosta
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
|
