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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Morning fire burns former cafe building
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Wed., July 16, 2003 -- A fire early this morning destroyed the inside
of an abandoned building on the East side of town that used to be a cafe.
Firefighters were called out at 5:38 a.m., today to the former La Despedida
Cafe, at the corner of Fifth and Mulberry Streets. Three fire trucks were
dispatched to the scene along with Emergency Medical Service personnel,
though no injures were reported from the fire.
"At first it was reported that there were two individuals in the building,
but when we got there, nobody was in the building," said Pecos Volunteer
Fire Department First Assistant Chief Jim Riley..
He said that it took firefighters about an hour to extinguish the fire,
but that they were called back out after sunrise when a portion started
to ignite again. "There was some part that rekindled and it took us about
20 minutes to extinguish that one," he said.
The fire started at the front of the building and quickly moved throughout
the empty, abandoned structure.
"There was evidence that people had been sleeping there, but luckily
nobody was in there at the time and nobody got hurt," said Riley.
Riley said that it would take a lot of repairing to fix the building back
up. "They need to just tear it down now, because it's a hazard to the community,"
he said.
"We're waiting on the fire marshal's report to see what the cause of
the fire was," said Riley. Town of Pecos City Fire Marshal Jack Brookshire
was out of town today.
I-20 closed down by evening truck wreck
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Wed., July 16, 2003 -- A truck wreck just east of Pecos on Interstate
20 Tuesday evening resulted in no injuries, but forced traffic to detour
off the highway in both directions for about four hours, while the contents
of the truck's trailer was cleaned up.
The accident occurred about 6:45 p.m. on Thursday when the truck went
off the left side of the highway while eastbound at the 43 mile marker of
Interstate 20. The truck then jackknifed and overturned as the driver attempted
to get the vehicle back on the road.
The cab section of the truck came to rest in the left lane of the eastbound
side of I-20, while the trailer broke open at it's roof, spilling is cargo
of plastic pellets onto the center median, while the rear of the trailer
ended up in the left lane of the westbound side of the Interstate.
Pecos Emergency Medical Service personnel were called to the scene, but
the driver of the truck, Bobby Brumlow, did not require hospitalization.
EMS workers did treat Brumlow at the scene for a cut to his arm before leaving
the scene.
Pecos police, Reeves County sheriff's deputies and Texas Department of
Transportation personnel also were called out, and blocked the eastbound
lanes at the U.S. 285 exit and the westbound lanes at the Collie Road exit.
Traffic was diverted onto Collie Road, U.S. 285 and East Third Street (Business
I-20) until about 11 p.m. Tuesday while the truck was removed from the area.
The crash was investigated by Department of Public Safety Trooper James
R. Johnson.
Border Patrol reports big pot, cocaine seizures
From Staff and Wire Reports
U.S. Customs agents in the Presidio area arrested a Mexican national and
confiscated a reported $10 million in cocaine last Friday, while agents
working at the Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 10 near
Sierra Blanca arrested a Jamaican man on Tuesday and confiscated over 11/2
tons of marijuana.
According to a press release from the Marfa Sector of the Border Patrol,
the Mexican national, identified as Raul Madrid, faces federal charges and
possible deportation after border agents seized 320 pounds of cocaine hidden
inside a truck.
Madrid was charged Tuesday with possession with intent to distribute
the drugs.
U.S. Border Patrol agents estimate the value of the cocaine seized Friday
at $10.3 million.
"That is a lot of drugs kept from the streets of this area as well as
the rest of the United States," Simon Garza Jr., chief patrol agent, told
the Odessa American in Wednesday's editions.
Madrid was arrested at a Bureau of Customs and Border Protection checkpoint
four miles south of Marfa on Highway 67. Border Patrol officers had been
tipped to look for a 2000 Volvo tractor pulling a flatbed trailer that might
be carrying drugs. The truck, being towed by a wrecker, came across the
Marfa checkpoint shortly after 1 p.m. Friday, said Brooks.
Agents searched the truck and found the cocaine in a false tank within
the gas tank.
Madrid was remanded to the custody of U.S. marshals. If convicted, he
faces 10 years to life in prison and deportation to Mexico following any
sentence.
The truck and cocaine were turned over to seizure custodians in El Paso,
said William Upchurch, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Immigration
and Citizenship Services in Presidio.
"They'll process it and destroy it," he said.
The marijuana seizure took place about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, when agents
at the I-10 checkpoint stopped a Kenworth tractor-trailer for an immigration
check. The driver, a citizen of Jamaica and a resident alien of the United
States, caused the Agents to be suspicious so they performed a more detailed
check of the trailer.
Agents said along with some household items, 72 cardboard boxes containing
3,093.5 pounds of Marijuana worth $2,474,800 was discovered inside the truck.
The driver claimed he had been hired by a "friend" to transport some very
expensive China from Phoenix, AZ to New Jersey. He was paid $5,000.
The driver, the vehicle, the Marijuana and the money were all turned over
to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Odessa set to host softball tournaments
PECOS, Wed., July 16, 2003 -- A Men's and Women's Summer Bash 2003
is scheduled for July 26-27 at the UTPB Softball Complex in Odessa.
The tournaments will be a men's class E and a women's recreational tournament,
with Entry Fee of $125.
Area teams are invited to participate. For more information or to sign
up contact Gabriel or Michelle at 432-552-7426 or 432-352-8615.
Student physical exams available on Thursday
PECOS, Wed., July 16, 2003 -- Physicals will be given to all Pecos-Barstow-Toyah
ISD high school and junior high students planning to participate in athletics
during the 2003-04 school year on Thursday by Dr. Orville Cerna at his 925
W. Daggett St. office.
The physicals will be given to students whose last names begin with the
letters A through M from 8 a.m. until 12 noon, while those with last names
beginning with the letters N through Z will have their physicals between
1 and 5 p.m. The cost of the physicals will be $15 apiece and will be paid
at the time the exam is given.
Weather
PECOS, Wed., July 16, 2003 -- High Tues. 109. Low this morning 69. Forecast
for tonight: Mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the upper
60s. East winds 15 to 25 mph. The chance of rain is 50 percent. Thurs.:
Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the upper
80s. SE winds 10 to 20 mph. Thurs. night: Partly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms.
Lows in the upper 60s. Fri.: Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 90s. Sat.:
Partly cloudy. Lows near 70. Highs in the upper 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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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