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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
TOP STORIES
Chamber learns of new civic center fees
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 12, 1995 - Pecos Chamber of Commerce Manager Tom
Rivera updated board members on an agreement made between
Reeves County and the chamber of commerce in reference to
the rental of the Reeves County Civic Center during the
board's monthly meeting Tuesday.
"Instead of paying $150 for renting the civic center,
individuals will be leasing it for $500," said Rivera.
Non-profit organizations are able to lease the civic center
at no charge, but private individuals who would like to rent
the center for events for profit will have to pay $500 and
place a $250 cleaning deposit, Reeves County Judge Jimmy
Galindo said today.
Only two changes were made to the original contract which
included the new fee scale and the fact that the chamber
will have to pay according to the new fee scale if they
co-sponsor any events which are for profit, said Galindo.
No other major changes were made to the contract.
"Events which will compete with private sectors sponsored by
individuals," said Galindo. "Those individuals will be
assessed the new fee," he said.
The public shouldn't have to pay for somebody's personal
benefits, he said.
"We also asked the chamber if they would like to assess a
booking fee, for each booking that they do," said Galindo.
"And they declined to assess a fee," he said.
"We'll have to make it clear who is classified as non-profit
and who is not," said Rivera.
The chamber in previous years has co-sponsored several
activities at the center, geared toward bringing tourism and
profits into Pecos.
"For those events, we will now have to pay the user fee,"
said Rivera. "The chamber will have to decide as a body if
they want to co-sponsor any of these events and pay the
fee," he said.
"Is there any way we can go back to the county and talk to
them again," said board member Mac McKinnon. "Let them know
we're not really happy with this."
"We could try discussing the issue again with them," said
Rivera. "It's just that I've been gone and haven't had a
chance to call the county judge."
Rivera said he would try to have more information for
chamber members at the next meeting.
"Once we have the contract from the county, we can look at
it more closely," he said.
In other business, members were updated on the lawsuit the
chamber is considering against Mazz, a popular Tejano music
group, who was supposed to have presented a concert here
last October 1. The band pulled out of the Fall Fair concert
at the last minute, and reportedly performed in Monterrey,
Mex., that same night.
"I have sent them several letters and they've all come
back," said Randy Reynolds. "I know they know about us, but
they're just either ignoring us or don't want to deal with
it.
"Litigation is costly and time-consuming, but if we want to
get our money back, that will be the only way," said
Reynolds. "I talked with the promoter, Ivan Hernandez, and
he seems willing to give us our money back.
"We'll need Ivan to help us with this lawsuit," said
Reynolds.
Reynolds also proceeded to ask chamber members if they
wanted to proceed with the lawsuit and all agreed that would
be the best method to deal with the issue.
"We need Mazz to come back and reimburse us for what we
spent," said Reynolds.
The chamber was also told next month's Cantaloupe Festival
will not be organized by the Lion's Club.
"The Lion's Club just doesn't want to do it anymore," said
Fred Dominguez, who is chamber president and a Lion's Club
member.
"I want to urge everyone to come out and help to keep the
festival," he said. "We need to get started on it, we must
keep it going."
Dominguez also urged everyone who could to help out with
festival activities and claimed the festival, which is
usually held the first weekend of August, was a big part of
Pecos and the industry.
Fiesta Night proved to be a big success, according to
organizer Velma Dominguez. "Everybody who helped did a
tremendous job and I just want to thank everyone," she said.
New racks will be displaying brochures at the chamber office
and the financial report showed revenues were "pretty well
where we should be for mid-year," said Rivera.
Paul Hinojos is working on organizing a group for Keep Texas
Beautiful.
"I met with a couple of civic organizations," said Hinojos.
"This helps you work with the city as a community and get
things done, rather than just talking about it."
Hinojos is trying to set up a meeting with the organizations
and interested individuals who would like to work on the
project.
Rodeo Parade activities went really well, according to
organizer Kathy Hurley. "I want to thank everyone who helped
make it a success," she said.
Hurley also asked that the motorized category be put back
in the list of events and that chamber members make up a
float for the committee to ride on next year.
Reynolds suggested looking for an old float the chamber used
to own and use in different parade activities.
"We used to have a trailer and maybe we should look for it
and use it again," said Reynolds.
This year's rodeo ran from July 1-4, ending on a Tuesday.
Next year will be leap year and rodeo days have been
scheduled for July 3-6, Wednesday through Saturday. Fiesta
Night will be held on June 29.
City ends mix of some water, trash bills
By MARI MALDONADO
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 13, 1995 - Residents who are billed for water
usage on an unimproved lot, but are not using garbage
services provided by the city will be exempt from the
sanitation fee on their water bill as of this morning.
The Town of Pecos City Council passed an amendment to the
sanitation ordinance that exempts persons receiving a water
bill from paying the garbage fee, based on Health and
Sanitation Director Armando Gil's judgment of the lot
situation.
"If they're not using any garbage container," said Gil,
"they will be exempt from the fee. If I see a mobile home,
or building there (on the lot) that will generate garbage, I
won't exempt them."
Gil did advise that up to this date, those receiving a water
bill with a garbage fee included, will have to pay the
entire bill.
The amendment was brought about after Becky Millan and Sammy
Urias addressed the subject during the June 22 council
meeting.
Millan was present at this morning's meeting and noted that
she raises horses outside of city limits but does not feel
she has to pay the garbage fee.
She said she goes out to water the horses, but no dumpster
is located near the horse pens.
In other action today, Councilman Randy Graham initially
motioned to table any action on the Universal Cable
Communication Inc., resolution that will allow United Video
Cablevision to sell its existing franchise with the Town of
Pecos City to Austin-based Universal.
Graham said his motion was to just briefly delay action
before the August deadline for a decision, "Let's just see
what they have to say" in regards to their assumption of the
existing franchise.
Consideration of a new telephone system, as purposed by City
Finance Director Steve McCormick after the three-day outage
suffered by the city recently, was heard by the council.
However, the item was tabled until "next year's budget is
discussed," as suggested by Mayor Pro-Tem Elvia Reynolds.
Engineer Frank Spencer, of Frank X. Spencer & Associates,
presented the board with the completion of his preliminary
plants for the replacement of the 24-inch water transmission
line in Ward County.
He clarified what funds will be covering the different
segments of repair and stated that costs were higher due to
the rise in pipe prices since approval of the project in
1992.
Spencer asked council members for permission to start
advertising for bids, which was unanimously granted.
A detailed review of the new well in Ward County was
conducted by Spencer for the six-member council. The well
was drilled last month in an emergency situation, after the
former well ceased working.
Spencer said that the water supply was down about 300
gallons from 1993 at this same time and asked that the city
continue to closely monitor the city's water supply and
demand situation.
Spencer also presented council members with the results of a
sanitary sewer and manhole study, which began last September.
He said that the project was "time consuming" due to the
fact that some manholes were under asphalt, concrete or in
alleyways under dirt piles.
"It took a lot longer than anticipated," said Spencer.
He noted that he did some revisions to the existing maps to
update it on the locations of all the manholes and that some
of the openings were in "serious condition" and would need
considerable amount of work.
Police Chief Troy Moore submitted Alfredo Saldania, Herminia
Hernandez and Ruben Dominguez for considerations in the
Police Department's Reserve Program. All are "fully
certified," said Moore.
Council members tabled the appointments for another council
meeting, to be discussed in executive session.
The next council meeting was tentatively scheduled for July
26 at 7:30 a.m.
Carolina trucker jailed in Cherry Creek death
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 13, 1995 - A South Carolina man is currently on
his way back to Texas to face murder charges after an
incident early Saturday morning on Interstate 10 at Cherry
Creek which was first reported to have been a death by drug
overdose.
"The bottom line is the accused has been arrested and is
being transported today to Fort Davis," said Jeff Davis
Sheriff Harvey Adams.
Keith Dee Smith, 37, of Anderson, S.C., apparently died from
a blow to the head and strangulation.
The charges weren't filed until a preliminary autopsy report
showed Smith had died from the injuries, and not from the
possible drug overdose, as deputies were first told by the
man now accused of his death.
"The incident is still being investigated, but the oral
report I have received is that it was a homicide," said
Adams. "The body has been sent for an autopsy and we will
know more then."
Bruce Wayne Messer of Pelcer, S.C., 40, has been accused of
murdering his driving partner and is currently on his way
back to Texas to face those charges.
Reeves County Sheriff's Department Deputies Larry Humphries
and Damon Compton were patrolling in Balmorhea when they
received a dispatch call around midnight, Saturday, in
reference to a problem at the Cherry Creek Chevron station,
located at milepost 182 of I-10 in Jeff Davis County.
The call alleged that a trucker was acting violently,
refusing to get out of his truck and had been "heavy on
drugs for several days."
The deputies spoke to Messer, who stated that he was the
complainant and he had been threatened by his driving team
partner, Keith Dee Smith. Messer stated that Smith held a
knife to his throat at about the 162 milepost of Interstate
10.
He said that he was able to take the knife away from Smith
and throw it out the window. He also alleged that Smith had
not slept since the previous Saturday and was injecting
illegal drugs into his body.
Messer said that Smith was completely out of control and had
kicked the left front windshield of the semi-truck they were
driving and cracked it in several places. He went on to tell
deputies that Smith went into the sleeper area and laid down.
Messer said after that he pulled the truck into the Cherry
Creek Chevron station's parking area, where he jumped out
and made the initial telephone call for help.
Messer told Humphries that Smith was still in the truck, a
green Kenworth conventional cab pulling a refrigerated unit.
When they looked inside the truck the deputies found Smith
lying on his left side, on the floor of the sleeper area.
His upper torso and head were wedged under the bottom of the
bed frame.
The attempted to rouse him by shaking him and calling
loudly. When the deputies were unable to rouse Smith and
could find no signs of life, Messer assisted them in pulling
him out of the truck to check for signs of life.
Deputy Humphries immediately contacted dispatch so that they
could contact a Jeff Davis County Sheriff's unit arrived.
Sheriff Harvey Adams, Deputy Tom Brown and Justice of the
Peace George Vickers, arrived and the deputies turned the
crime scene over to them. They remained to assist with the
investigation.
Deputy Brown then did a search of the truck and of Smith's
belongings, while Humphries and Compton did a second search
of the truck at the request of Brown, so that they could
locate the deceased's property.
They allegedly located a small bluish-purple cloth bag in
the sleeper area. Upon opening the bag they discovered
syringes and spoons inside and handed the items over to
Brown for evidence.
The body was taken to Pecos Funeral Home. An autopsy has
been ordered by Sheriff Adams and the results have not yet
come back.
"Until we get the results from the autopsy we won't know any
more about his incident," Adams said. "The alleged accused
will be in today and the investigation will continue."
County officials receive reports on shooting
By MARI MALDONADO
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 13, 1995 - The Reeves County Juvenile Probation
Office and County Attorney's Office have received all
reports conducted by Pecos police into Sunday morning's
shooting incident at the Maxey Park Zoo.
Two 16-year-old boys confessed to the crime after their
parents became aware of their involvement in the pellet gun
attacks that resulted in the death of two peafowls, a duck
and one of the zoo's two Capuchin monkeys.
The two juveniles will be facing at the least a charge of
cruelty to animals for each animal killed, said Police
Captain David Montgomery.
All police reports were completed yesterday, said
Montgomery, and have been turned in to Juvenile Probation
Officer Alberto Alvarez and County Attorney Bill Weinacht
for charges to be handled, under normal procedures.
Montgomery added, "Guilt, innocence or punishment is not
determined by the police department. Presenting the facts
and evidence is the responsibility of the police."
"I felt it was necessary to note that the individuals in
question took the initiative to correct the problem by
coming forward," Montgomery said, "and I commended their
parents for taking the responsibility of notifying the
police, which resulted in solving the crime."
"I do not support the wrongdoing of individuals who commit
crimes, nor will I judge those individuals."
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, 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 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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Pecos Enterprise