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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
'Christmas' volunteers plan delivery of gifts
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., Dec. 16, 2003 -- Elves are ready to make their trek
through the area on Wednesday, delivering gifts to children in the
community that would otherwise not experience a joyful holiday.
Gifts will be delivered to families and children in the community
tomorrow, after 5 p.m., according to Christmas For Kids organizer Sofia
Baeza.
"We'll be loading the trailer up at 5 p.m. and start delivering the
gifts," said Baeza.
Baeza said that the group has been working diligently on buying and
wrapping the gifts for the 512 children on the list this year. "The
number is up a little from last year," said Baeza. "Last year we had
492 children on the list and 167 families and this year it's 512 kids
and 171 families," she said.
The group is comprised of volunteers who raise funds to provide the
essentials for children in the community, who would otherwise lose out
on having a Merry Christmas.
"Our main goal is to provide a happy Christmas for as many children
in the community as we can," said Baeza. "We don't just provide toys,
but the essentials, such as coats and shoes."
Baeza said that about 17 children did not qualify for the program,
either because they did not live in the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD or
didn't meet the financial criteria outlined in the application.
"We had some applicants from other towns, but we can only provide
for the ones in the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD area," she said.
Deliveries of the gifts will be made on Wednesday, Baeza said, "But
we will help in an emergency situation. If anybody knows of a family
that is in dire need, we will help them up until the 24th."
"We always have a lot of good help and a lot of volunteers," said
elf Linda Clark. "We want them to know that we really do appreciate all
their help."
Clark said that anyone who wanted to help out with the deliveries
could do so at the sheriff's department office on Wednesday, beginning
about 4 p.m.
Baeza said that she wanted to thank everyone in the community, the
businesses, organizations and especially the volunteers.
"We had a lot of volunteers this year. Some of the volunteers
commented on how much work it was and that they didn't realize how much
it took to provide all this for the community," she said.
Baeza said that this year and next year the group would be screening
the applications more closely, after using a computer for the second
year in a row to match up all the names submitted to the program and
finding some duplicate names.
Only one application is allowed per household. If three adults live
in a household, only one adult is allowed to complete and turn in an
application. The applications will also be screened to see if the
children really do exist and that the names are not fictitious, and
family household income will also be taken into consideration.
Baeza said that a lot of their applications come from the schools,
but that they are available in some city and county offices, as well as
the sheriff's department.
Donations are still being accepted for the program. "We like to have
a little saved up in the bank for emergencies," said Baeza. "This year
we also helped four families that had their homes burn."
Baeza said that if more emergency situations like this arose, they
wanted to be prepared to help. She said anyone wanting more information
on Christmas for the Kids could call the Reeves County Sheriff's
Department, at 445-4901.
Police investigators promoted by council
By BRENDEN BRIGGS
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., Dec. 16, 2003 -- The Pecos Police Department's criminal
investigation division recently received promotions, approved by the
city council and involving all four of its investigators.
Kelly Davis, Paul Deishler, Olga Lopez, and Armando Granado have all
been promoted one rank higher in the department. Davis has moved from
lieutenant to captain, Deishler from sergeant to lieutenant and both
Lopez and Granado from investigator to sergeant.
The city council has opted to provide all of the promotions include
a pay raise that will be accounted for on next year's budget, according
to Police Chief Clay McKinney.
These promotions provide additional responsibility for the criminal
investigation division (CID) officers and the city council felt that
additional workload called for compensation, McKinney said.
The CID takes care of all of the follow up investigations that stem
from the reports filed by the patrol officers. This includes most
felony charges and certain misdemeanors that require additional
scrutiny.
Individuals on the CID team have their own areas of expertise,
according to McKinney. Davis is the department's forensic specialist,
including fingerprinting evidence, handwriting analysis, and any type
of DNA recovery; Granado is the team's gang specialist; Deishler is the
Narcotics specialist; and Lopez shares the forensic burden with Davis.
"We have all four on the same team, that way when a major crime
takes place, we have four very qualified investigators to work the case
from the same department," McKinney said.
"Last quarter the CID department had 77 new cases filed in, on top
of the 24 old but active cases carried over from the previous quarter.
The team as a whole processed over 300 items of evidence during that
three-month period," McKinney added.
In the department as a whole, the patrol and CID teams make up 16 of
the 20 possible actual police positions that McKinney has authority
over. Combined the jail and PD have 61 employees, with 12 patrol
officers, the four CID officers, Community Officer Mike Balog, a
Trans-Pecos Task Force position that is currently vacant, police
administrative assistant Raymond Ornelas, with the jail's officers and
staff making up the difference.
Cable company adds, changes channel line-up
By BRENDEN BRIGGS
Staff Writer
PECOS, Tues., Dec. 16, 2003 -- Pecos residents are already seeing the
first of several new channels on their local cable system, as part of
an expanded package and channel changes announced earlier this month by
Cebridge Connections.
Cebridge announced plans to add 10 more channels to the Expanded
Basic service that the customers currently receive. The channels
include WGN out of Chicago, BET, Bravo, Speed Channel, Golf Channel,
Court TV, Trinity Broadcasting Network, E! Entertainment, Outdoor
Channel, Hallmark Channel, and the NBC Shop at Home channel
BET, Bravo, Court TV, E!, The Golf Channel and NBC Shopping were
added to the local system on Channels 61 through 70 on Monday, while
the remaining channels are scheduled to be added by Wednesday. WGN and
Trinity Broadcasting have been part of the local cable package in the
past, but were removed by former system operator Classic Cable. The
other channels are all new to the Pecos system.
Along with added channels, Cebridge said several current channels on
the system will be moving to new locations this week. They include the
National Geographic Channel, which will move to Ch. 60, while WGN
returns to its former spot on Ch. 4; USA Network, which will move from
Ch. 18 to Ch. 23; ESPN 2, which will move from Ch. 58 to Ch. 18; CNBC,
which will move from Ch. 23 to Ch. 47; VH-1, which will move from Ch.
47 to Ch. 58; and Toon Disney, which will move from the expanded basic
package on Ch. 98 to the digital-only Ch. 202.
That move is part of the company's addition of multiple tiers to the
digital service that, according to the Cebridge press release, will
allow customers to customize their package to suit their tastes.
The digital service previously cost $14 per month for the added
benefits of digital service and the extra channels that accompany the
upgrade. Now, however customers can choose what channels they would
like to add, by selecting which package best suits their needs.
According to the press release the tiers offered to area residents
include: the Family tier, which includes Toon Disney, Discovery Kids,
Discovery Health and other Discovery channels, The Science Channel,
Fuse, Style, and more. The Games and Sports tier, including ESPN
Classic, ESPNews, Outdoor Life Channel, Fox Sports World, and the Game
Show Network, among others. The Movie tier that features WE women's
entertainment, Trio, Independent Film Channel, Sundance, and Fox Movie
Network. And the Spanish Language tier that includes Cine Latino, TVE
International, Utillisima, CNN en Espanol, Fox Sports World in Espanol
and MTV en Espanol among others.
Each tier will cost the subscriber $3.99 per month on top of the
normal charges for the basic cable package, plus the $3.99 per month
for the digital converter box.
Task force jails trio in Andrews after drug sting
PECOS, Tues., Dec. 16, 2003 -- An undercover operation by the
Trans-Pecos Drug Task Force resulted in the arrest of three people in
Andrews last Friday.
According to a task force official, officers with the agency, along
with the Andrews County Sheriff's Department, Andrews Police Department
of Texas Department of Public Safety made the arrest at 12:10 p.m. on
Friday at a home at 1112 S. Main St. in Andrews, at which time 74.5
grams of methamphetamine was seized.
Those arrested were identified as Zachary Curry, 26, of Austin;
Victor Manuel Garcia, 21, of Amarillo; and Crystal Dawn Wollis, 20, of
Midland. The three were transported to the Andrews County Jail, where
they were charged with possession of a controlled substance.
In addition, Garcia was also charged on a warrant out of Potter
County with delivery of a controlled substance. Value of the
methamphetamine seized in the Andrews drug bust was put at $9,000.
Weather
PECOS, Tues., Dec. 16, 2003 -- High Monday 71. Low this morning 28.
Forecast for tonight: Mostly clear. Lows near 25. Light and variable
winds. Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Highs near 65. Southwest winds near 10
mph. Wednesday night: Mostly clear. Lows near 30. Southwest winds near
10 mph shifting to the northwest 10 to 15 mph after midnight. Thursday:
Mostly sunny. Highs near 60. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Thursday
night: Mostly clear. Lows near 30. Friday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the
mid 60s to the lower 70s. Friday night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the
lower to mid 30s.
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
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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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