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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Monday, November 4, 2002
Early vote total for county falls from primaries
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mon., Oct. 4, 2002 -- Early voting has ended in Reeves County, with
about half as many ballots cast as during March's Democratic primaries,
but more than local election officials expected.
Election officials and other county workers are now getting ready for
Election Day on Tuesday, when voters will go to the polls at 11 sites in
Reeves County.
"We've just been very busy, getting ready for tomorrow and all the election
things," said Reeves County Clerk Dianne Florez.
Florez said that during early voting they had 1,013 voters to cast their
ballots by personal appearance and 272 who mailed in their ballots. "We
sent out 332 ballots by mail," said Florez.
The combined 1,285 total is almost 900 fewer than in March, when 2,165
people voted early or by mail in Reeves County. However, with no contested
elections locally on the ballot, Florez said that early voting went really
well and that they had more voters than they had expected.
"We're hoping for a good turnout tomorrow," she added. "It's a very important
election and hope that everyone that is registered to vote will come out
to vote tomorrow."
"All the voting polls will be open and if they don't know where they're
supposed to vote or have a question about something they can contact my
office," she said.
Florez said that voters who have questions or don't know exactly where
they should cast their ballots can contact her office at 445-5476 or they
can call the Secretary of State's office, at 1-800-252-8683.
"They can contact the Secretary of State if they have some concerns or
have some questions and they'll be happy to answer them," she said.
The clerk's office will be closed tomorrow due to the elections, but
will re-open at their regular time on Wednesday, according to Florez.
Although there are no county positions that are contested on the ballot,
there are a couple of regional and statewide elections that are expected
to be tight. They include the race for the 23rd Congressional
District, where Democrat Henry Cuellar is challenging five-term incumbent
Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla, and the race for the open U.S., Senate
seat, where Republican John Cornyn and Democrat Ron Kirk are seeking to
replace retiring Sen. Phil Gramm.
Statewide, the other close race is for Lt. Gov. where Democrat John Sharp
is facing Republican David Dewhurst. Other races county voters will help
decide include the governor's race, where Rick Perry is seeking a full four-year
term after being appointed to the office in 2000, and is challenged by Democrat
Tony Sanchez, and 74th State Legislative District race, where
six-term incumbent Pete Gallego is facing Republican challenger Pete Nieto.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and county voting
sites are: Box 1, Pecos Community Center; Box 2, Odessa College; Box 3,
Pecos High School new gym; Box 4, Toyah Community Center; Box 5, Balmorhea
Fire Hall; Box 6, Saragosa Multi-Purpose Center; Box 7, Reeves County Library;
Box 8, Lamar AEP campus; Box 10; Reeves County Annex; Box 11, Sidney Sadler
Community Center; and Box 12, Texas New Mexico Power Co., Reddy Room.
Florez said that Orla voters who in the past cast their ballots in Box
9 at Red Bluff Lake would now be voting at Box 8, at Lamar Elementary in
Pecos.
Barstow voters will also go to the polls in the state and Ward County
elections on Tuesday. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at the
Barstow Community Center.
New rules could affect rodeo's participation
By JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mon., Oct. 4, 2002 -- With the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association
under a new set of rules that will affect which rodeos the nation's top
riders decide to attend, the question remains on whether it will have a
huge effect on the West of the Pecos Rodeo.
According to an article in Sunday's edition of the Odessa America, the
changes will affect the number of rodeos that would count for the Wrangler
National Finals Rodeo, cutting the number by 50 percent in some cases.
Jim Nichols, PRCA interim co-director of rodeo administrator said that
the PRCA board of directors reduced the number of rodeos from 100 to 50
for timed events after cutting the rough stock events from 125 to 75 in
June of last year.
Nichols added that the changes have the support of the competitors, rodeo
committees and stock contractors and is aimed at boosting the dwindling
of PRCA membership and helping rodeos big and small. However, the changes
could mean the top cowboys will be attending fewer rodeos in the future.
Payouts have been down the past two years, after surpassing the $200,000
mark in the late 1990s and in 2000. Total payout for this year's rodeo came
to $160,801, which was down by a little over $20,000 from a year ago, and
the number of top cowboys at this year's West of the Pecos Rodeo was down
in several events.
The payout for the West of the Pecos Rodeo remains in the Top 40 of all
U.S. and Canadian rodeos and was about $15,000 larger than the Sandhills
Rodeo in Odessa, but Rodeo Committee member Brenda McKinney said that she
believed that the changes would have an effect on the rodeo and other rodeos
not in large metropolitan areas.
"It will hurt a lot of little rodeos," McKinney said, adding that that
it is already hard to get cowboys to Pecos and that the changes would possibly
force some of the little rodeos to go amateur.
"It will also change the direction of our rodeo," McKinney said.
She added that she did not believe Pecos would be one of the top 50 rodeos
in the future, though another Rodeo Committee member, Charlene Martinez,
said that she did not believe the PRCA changes would have any effect on
the West of the Pecos Rodeo.
Martinez said that because of the rodeo's steer roping event it the changes
would not decrease the number of cowboys entering the West of the Pecos
Rodeo. The Buck Jackson Rodeo Arena is one of the few in the U.S. that is
large enough to handle steer roping, and most of last year's top money winners
in the event attended the 2002 rodeo in Pecos.
"I don't think it is going to effect us much," Martinez said. "We will
have to see how it effects Odessa to know more about it."
"I don't think that top cowboys will not just enter the top 50 rodeos,"
Martinez added, while saying that the committee would know more about the
ranking of their rodeo in January due to the fact that the last two rodeos
have just ended in Kansas and San Francisco.
McKinney also added that they would know more about the effects on the
West of the Pecos Rodeo during the rodeo convention held in Las Vegas during
the National Finals Rodeo, in the first week of December.
According to McKinney, she, along with her husband, West of the Pecos
Rodeo Committee President _ Elect Clay McKinney, Martinez and her husband
Jim, also a committee member, would be attending the Las Vegas convention.
Current West of the Pecos Rodeo Committee President Trevor Teague could
not be reached for comment.
Election training program planned
PECOS, Mon., Oct. 4, 2002 -- An election training program will be held
at 6 p.m., today at the Reeves County Courthouse, in the second floor courtroom.
Everyone is invited to attend the program. Election Day is Tuesday, with
polls open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at 11 sites in Reeves County and at
the Community Center in Barstow.
Hunter's safety ed classes set
PECOS, Mon., Oct. 4, 2002 -- The Texas Cooperative Extension Service and
Reeves County Game Warden Brad Reeves will be conducting a hunter's safety
education course this weekend at the Texas Cooperative Extension Service
office at 700 W. Daggett St., Suite E.
The course will run from 3 to 9 p.m. on Saturday and from 2 to 6 p.m.
on Sunday. Cost of the course is $5 per person.
For further information, contact either Brad Reeves, at 447-0077, or the
Texas Cooperative Extension Service office, at 447-9041.
Weather
PECOS, Mon., Oct. 4, 2002 -- High Sun. 53. Low this morning 43. Weekend
rainfall at Texas A&M Experiment Station .03 inch, morning rainfall
.43 inch. Forecast for tonight: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of rain
this evening. Lows near 40. SE winds 5 to 15 mph: Becoming SW around midnight.
Election day: Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. NW winds 10 to 20 mph.
Tues. night: Partly cloudy. Lows near 40. Wed.: Partly cloudy. Highs 60
to 65. Thurs.: Partly cloudy. Lows near 40. Highs near 70.
Police Report
EDITOR'S NOTE: Information contained in the Police Report
is obtained from reports filed by the Pecos Police Department, Reeves County
Sheriff's Office, or other officers of those agencies.
The serving of warrants by an officer for outstanding fines of either
traffic citations, animal control violations or other court costs are considered
arrests and will be printed as such unless indicated that the fines were
paid. In such instances we will indicate payment and release.
***
Bernardino Mora, 37, was arrested at 3:55 p.m., on Oct. 27 in the 100
block of Raul Flores Boulevard for a warrant for parole violation.
***
John Natividad, 25, was arrested at 10:33 p.m., on Oct. 26 at Eighth
and Mesquite streets for a warrant for assault under the family violence
act.
***
Maximino Tapia, 55, and Gustavio Tapia, 22, were arrested at 2:19 a.
m., on Oct. 27 in the 700 block of East 11th Street , Maximino
Tapia for public intoxication and Gustavo Tapia, for driving while under
the influence.
***
Jadson Ephrian, 27, was arrested at 6:25 a.m., on Oct. 26, in the 400
block of Mulberry Street for public intoxication.
***
Francisco Mencheca, 29, and Francis Martinez, 21, were arrested at
1 a.m., on Oct. 26 at the Oasis Bar in the 1100 block of East Third Street
for public intoxication.
***
Mingo Jimenez, 24, was arrested at 10:07 a.m., an Oct. 22 at the Reeves
County Attorney's office for warrant for delivery of a controlled substance,
marijuana a class a misdemeanor.
***
Sandra Ronguillo Ortega, 28, was arrested at 9:05 p.m., on Oct. 29 in
the 500 block of Mulberry Street for a warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia.
***
Annette Ybarra, 22, was arrested at 10:21 p.m., on Oct. 28 at the Towm
& Country Food Store, 1219 S. Cedar St., on a Ward County warrant for
operating a vehicle without any registration and failure to appear theft
by check and failure to maintain financial responsibility.
Obituaries
Marylou Richards and Eva Rodriguez
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 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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