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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Monday, September 10, 2001
North side home destroyed in Sunday blaze
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- An early morning fire destroyed a Pecos family's
home and sent Pecos volunteer firemen to the site twice on Sunday,
and the cause of the early morning blaze remains under investigation.
The original fire call woke up members of the Pecos Volunteer Fire Department
(PVFD) before sunrise. Firemen were called out on a house fire at 5:06 a.m.,
on Sunday morning in the 2200 block of West F Street.
Pecos Fire Marshall Jack Brookshire said that the fire department fought
the fire for quite some time but unfortunately were unable to save the structure.
"We were out there for about two hours," he said. "It was a total loss.
There was nothing left of it (the home)."
Brookshire said the home belongs to Donny and Christina Winfrey.
No one living in the home was injured in the fire and no firemen were
hurt while fighting the fire, according to Brookshire.
"Nobody was home at the time," he said.
Firemen were called back out to the site about 12 hours later to hose
down an area that was beginning to re-ignite.
Brookshire said that the cause of the fire is unknown at this time and
is still under investigation.
City participates in Earhart flight recreation events
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- A California woman who is recreating the 1928
round-trip flight across American of pioneer aviatrix Amelia Earhart
will be make a stop in Pecos on Tuesday morning, though she's not planning
on having the same type of extended stay Earhart had in Pecos 73 years
ago.
Dr. Carlene Mendieta left Westchester County Airport in White Plains,
N.Y. last week, and will be flying south from Hobbs, N.M. to Pecos on Tuesday,
where a full day of activities have been scheduled to mark the recreation
of Earhart's 1928 flight from New York to Los Angeles and back.
That flight ended up making an extended stop in Pecos, due to engine trouble
with her 1927 Avro Avian airplane, for which a replacement part had to be
brought in from El Paso. That's the next stop for Mendieta after Pecos, but
she plans to be there by Wednesday afternoon, after spending most of Tuesday
and part of Wednesday morning in town.
My understanding is she'll arrive here at 10:15 a.m.," said Pecos Municipal
Airport manager Isabel Blanchard. The mayor (Ray Ortega) will be out here
with the city manager (Carlos Yerena) to greet her, and the (Pecos High School)
cheerleaders have committed to being out there, but we don't know about the
band because it was such short notice."
Earhart's 1937 disappearance while flying across the Pacific Ocean remains
a mystery and the event most associated with her. But she first gained national
fame by becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928
and her 1928 cross-country trip, which Blanchard said traveled west from
Fort Worth's Mecham Field to Hobbs, and from there south to Pecos while the
repairs to her plane were being made.
According to a press release about the recreation, Mendieta, who regular
job is as a dentist in Sonoma, Calif., is flying a fully restored 1927 Avro
Avian, the only working Avian left in North America. The flight will land
in 23 cities along the historic route and cover approximately 5,500 miles
at an average speed of 82 mph.
For Earhart, the original flight was among her first aviation records
and was the first solo, round-trip transcontinental crossing by a woman.
The flight is called "Amelia Earhart's Flight Across America: Rediscovering
A Legend," and is sponsored by St. Paul, Minn.-based HistoricAviation.com,
while information in the flight itself is available at www.AmeliaFlight.com
.
After being greeted at the airport, Blanchard said Mendieta will be taken
in a Model A car owned by former Pecos mayor and pilot Bill Hubbs to the
West of the Pecos Museum, where museum volunteers have created an exhibit
marking Earhart's 1928 visit to Pecos.
"When they're there, the mayor will sign a proclamation in the room where
the display is declaring Tuesday `Amelia Earhart Day'," Blanchard said, which
will be followed by a hamburger lunch prepared by Pecos Rotary and Lions
Club members. "We've also asked her to be the guest speaker for the Rotary
Club, the same way Amelia Earhart was," she added.
"After that, she'll be taken by the house where Ameila stayed when she
was in Pecos," Blanchard said. The Hickory Street home is owned by Mr. And
Mrs. Jimmy Dutchover, and Blanchard said, "They have been kind enough to
let me take Dr. Mendieta into the house to share a little bit of the historical
value of the house."
Since Mendieta's stay will only be for one day, Blanchard said she didn't
know if she would be able to recreate some of Earhart's other activities.
"When she was here, Amelia Earhart went by car to Carlsbad Caverns. Dr. Mendieta
is staying the night, and there will be transportation available for her,
but I don't know if she'll be going to Carlsbad."
After leaving for El Paso at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Mandieta plans to make
three stops in Arizona before arriving in Burbank Calif. She will then begin
her trip back east, taking a northern route through Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska
before returning to Westchester County, tentatively scheduled on Oct. 2.
Commissioners OK payments for next RCDC job
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- Payments to the architect and construction
company that will be in charge of the construction of the Reeves County
Detention Center III project were approved at a regular meeting held by
the Reeves County Commissioners Court this morning on the third floor
of the Reeves County Courthouse.
The group approved the first payment to Carothers Construction, Inc. in
the amount of $220,579 as the first payment for the construction of a 1,000-bed
addition at the facility.
A payment to Frank Spencer and for geo-technical services was approved,
along with a payment to LMD Architects for invoice number #204 in the amount
of $1,300.
Commissioners also approved an interlocal agreement between Reeves County
and the Pecos Housing Authority for the golf course expansion and PHA park
development plan.
Two additional holes will be added to the local golf course and the contract
allows Reeves County to use land owned by PHA on the south side of Interstate
20 for the expansion of the Reeves County Golf Course. The new holes are
part of a project to eventually add seven holes to the golf course to create
a full 18-hole course for the first time in Pecos.
Commissioners were to continue their meeting this afternoon following
a lunch break.
Schools schedule events this week for Open House
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD campuses will be
holding Open Houses to welcome parents and community members to see their
facilities and offer an opportunity to meet the teachers and new principals.
Open House was held at Bessie Haynes Elementary School, all fourth and
fifth graders, Thursday.
Crockett Middle School, eighth graders, will have Open House, at 7 p.m.,
Monday, Sept. 10; Austin Elementary School, 1st-3rd
graders, will have Open House at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11 and Pecos Kindergarten
will have it's Open House at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 18.
Also Crockett Middle School is selling yearbooks from year's past for
$5 each. If interested call Gome Olibas at 447-7202.
Eagles' next game at Alpine changed to 8 p.m.
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- The Pecos Eagles' game this Friday at Alpine
against the Bucks has been changed from a 7:30 p.m. starting time to an 8
p.m. kickoff.
The game will be the first of five road contests for Pecos this season.
Barstow parties lead to arrests, rollover on I-20
By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- A one-vehicle rollover sent six people, five
of them teenagers, to the hospital with minor injuries on Interstate
20 after leaving Barstow Saturday night, while six other people were
arrested in Barstow after Ward County sheriff's deputies received a
report of under-age drinking at two parties held there that same night.
Stephanie Clark, 24, of Wickett, Chanea Robinson, 14, of Monahans, Adrian
Rodriguez, 18, of Pecos, Ashley Arredondo, 16, of Monahans, Chandler Pendleton,
17, of Pecos, and Pete Rodriguez, 18, of Pecos all went to either Ward Memorial
Hospital or Reeves County Hospital after the vehicle they were in rolled
over.
DPS Trooper Terry Gilchrest said that it is believed that the six people
were leaving a party in Barstow that had been broken up by the Ward County
Sheriff's Department.
"They were leaving Barstow and heading to Monahans," he said.
Gilchrest said that Clark was driving a 1991 Pontiac Bonneville eastbound
on I-20 about 10 miles east of Barstow when she swerved to the left and into
the median, where the vehicle rolled.
"She said she was swerving to miss a semi but there wasn't any indication
as such," he said.
Gilchrest said that after entering the median the vehicle rolled and landed
on its top in the westbound lanes of traffic.
Once ambulance personnel arrived on scene three of the six were transported
to Ward County Memorial while another was transported to Reeves County Hospital.
Trooper Emmit Moore said the other two people showed up at the hospital
on their own.
Gilchrest said that alcohol is suspected to be involved in the accident
but no charges have been filed.
However, Clark was given a citation for traveling at an unsafe speed.
Troopers Gilchrest and Moore are still investigating the accident.
Meanwhile, Ward County Sheriff's Deputy Ben Dieshler is still investigating
two separate parties in Barstow that led to the arrest of six people.
The names of the six people that were arrested have not been released
at this time and no charges have reportedly been filed as of this morning.
Weather
PECOS, Mon., Sept. 10, 2001 -- High Sun. 80. Low this morning 67. Forecast
for tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 50s. SE winds 5 to 10
mph. Tues.: Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 80s. South winds 5 to
15 mph. Tues. night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 50s. Wed.: Partly
cloudy. Highs 85 to 90. Thurs.: Partly cloudy. Lows around 60. Highs
around 90.
Obituary
Lloyd Chappell
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 newsdesk@nwol.net
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Copyright 2001 by Pecos Enterprise
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