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Tuesday, March 18, 1997

Few incumbents opposed with filing deadline near


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By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer

PECOS, March 18, 1997 - Potential candidates for the May 3 city, school
and hospital district elections have just one more day to toss their
names in the ring for the various local races.

With a deadline for file of 5 p.m., Wednesday, only two of the seven
area races are guaranteed to be contested.

In the Toyah City Council race, four persons are seeking the three
available seats.

Vying for those positions are incumbents Diana Tollett and Rose Barnes,
who are joined by challengers Jana McHorse and Howard Dennett.

Bart Sanchez who currently holds the third position on the council up
for election, but has not put in is bid for re-election.

All three seats are 2-year terms.

The Balmorhea ISD election became contested on Monday, when a third
candidate filed to run for the two available terms on the school board.

Joining incumbents, Paul Matta and James Garlick will be Reyes Castillo.
All are seeking three-year terms on the board.

Incumbents are the only ones to file so far in the Town of Pecos City
and Barstow city elections, as well as for the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah and
Reeves County Hospital District races.

In the Pecos city elections, the incumbents up for re-election are
Gerald Tellez, Dr. Elvia Reynolds and Randy Graham. All have filed for
new terms.

Also filing in Barstow were incumbents Olga Abila, Lucio Florez and
Salvador Villalobos. The three are seeking new two-year terms on the
city council.

In the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD election, Hugh Box and Steve Armstrong
are the only ones to file. Both are seeking three-year terms.

In the election for RCH board, only voters in Precinct 2 and Precinct 4
will cast ballots this year. Incumbents Marcella Lovett ad Jeannette
Alligood are seeking new two-year terms.

In the Balmorhea city council election, Kathy Haynes, Norma Jean Redwine
and Janelle Ward are the three incumbents whose two-year terms expire in
May. As of today, none had filed for new two-year terms, while only one
challenger, Richard Hoefs has entered his name for election to the
council.

Early voting for Pecos voters in the city, school and hospital elections
begins April 14 in the Pecos Community Center, 508 S. Oak St.

Town of Pecos City Council will hear reports on sewer evaluation, test
holes and water well in the Worsham Field and status of the landfill
arid exemption in a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. today.

They will also consider applicants for city manager.

Engineer Frank Spencer is to report on the first three items. He has
worked with a contractor to evaluate the sewer system to determine what
needs to be done to bring it up to standard.

Councilman Randy Graham asked that test holes be drilled in the Worsham
Field to determine if additional wells can be drilled there, where the
oldest city wells are located. Hydrologists had earlier recommended no
further drilling in that field, and the council began developing a new
field to the south.

Spencer also is working to change the city's Type I landfill permit to a
Type IV with an arid exemption that would allow a trench to be dug
without a liner.

The council has interviewed five applicants for city manager and have
investigated those prospects. They have said they may interview others
or choose one of the five.

Mendoza testifies on beating


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By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer

PECOS, March 18, 1997 - Ruben Mendoza told a 143rd District Court jury
this morning that a fight that left both he and his sister, Lupe
Mendoza, lying unconscious on the pavement near the Eddy Street car wash
last summer began at a dance in Saragosa Hall.

Gabriel Gonzales, who is on trial for aggravated assault, hit him in the
head with a shovel, Mendoza said. Although he identified four other
defendants as also hitting him with their fists, feet, a bat and shovel,
Mendoza said the first blow knocked him unconscious.

Mendoza said his 16-year-old girlfriend, now his wife, later told him
the names of his assailants.

The girlfriend, identified as Manuela Hernandez, had gone to the dance
without his knowledge, and he was upset to find her there, Mendoza said.
That led to a fight outside and his expulsion from the dance.

The five men who later assaulted him at the car wash chased Mendoza, his
sister, George Natividad and Alma Fuentez as they left the dance.
Mendoza said an altercation occurred on Plum Street, and when he swung
the club at Gonzales, he knocked out a window in their car.

"They were all going to jump me," he said.

At the car wash, Gonzales swung at him twice, Mendoza said. "The third
time, I swung at him with the club."

"Did you hit him?" asked defense attorney Richard Abalos.

"No, I fell down," Mendoza said.

Mendoza denied being "stumbling drunk," testifying he had only five
beers during the day and evening of the attack.

Ten days after the attack, Mendoza identified Gonzales, Charlie Arenivas
and Joe Machuca from a photo lineup.

Pecos Police investigator David Davis testified he made the photo lineup
from high school yearbooks.

Davis said he collected evidence from the fight scene, including two
pieces of a wooden handle, an anti-theft device used on the steering
wheel, commonly known as a club, separated into two parts; a side window
out of a car, the top portion of a broken bat and a tire tool.

Mendoza's shirt, which paramedics cut off, was lying in the street
soaked with blood, Davis said.

That evidence was entered into evidence just before the noon recess.

Police continue investigation into

convenience store theft


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PECOS, March 18, 1997 - A Pecos Police investigator is continuing to
investigate a Sunday night robbery of a downtown convenience store.

A report by Patrolman Felipe Villalobos indicated that about 8:10 p.m.
police responded to a panic alarm at the Uncle's Convenience Store at
210 E. Third St.

The clerk on duty told police that she stepped out to help a white,
male customer at gas pump #5. She told Villalobos he was with two other
white males in a Nissan pickup.

Soon after returning to the store, the employee said the man came in
and asked her to step back, according to Villalobos' account, and took
the cash register.

Criminal Investigator Kelly Davis was called in about 8:20 p.m. to
process the crime scene.

The store closed temporarily during the investigation.

Dress code meeting set for tonight


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Parents will meet today at 6 p.m. at the Pecos Community Center, located
in the 500 block of Oak Street, to discuss further action on the Pecos
High School dress code.

Originally, the group had planned to meet Sunday, but were forced to
cancel the gathering when both the community center and local civic
center were discovered booked.

According to a representative of the group, Louis Matta, parents are
embarking on a strategy to request school board members to postpone any
enforcement of the new dress code until all parties - parents, students,
administrators and teachers - can work on a more favorable code.

School board members unanimously passed revisions to the original dress
code included in the student handbook in August.

The changes were suggested by a committee of eight high school teachers
who met with the superintendent before taking it before the board during
their Feb. 27 school board meeting.

The revised dress code was enforced almost immediately following its
approval.

Parents and students continue to voice their opposition to the changes
and how they were integrated.

Effort underway to limit graffitti


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Four local agencies are pooling their financial sources to aid in the
identification of Pecos' problem "taggers".

Pecos Police Chief Troy Moore said taggers are graffiti artists that
target local buildings.

The Pecos Chamber of Commerce, Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School
District, Reeves County Sheriff's Department and Pecos Police Department
have each contributed to a pool of reward money used to pay persons that
can identify those guilty of such an act of criminal mischief.

For more information, contact the Pecos Police Department.

OBITUARIES


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Agapita Armendariz

Funeral services for Agapita Armendariz, 87, who died Friday at Medical
Center Hospital in Odessa will be March 19 at Santa Rosa Catholic Church
at 2 p.m., followed by a burial at the Mt. Evergreen Cemetery.

A rosary in her honor was said Sunday at the Martinez Funeral Home
Chapel.

Armendariz was born September 9, 1909 in San Antonio, Mexico. She was a
lifetime resident of Pecos and a housewife.

Survivors include: six sons, Ismael Armendariz of El Paso; Alfredo
Armendariz of Odessa; Alfonzo Armendariz of San Jose, Calif., Juan
Armendariz of Folson, Calif., Efren "ET" Armendariz of Mineral Wells and
Armando Armendariz of Canadian; two daughters, Elia Contreras of Pecos
and Susie Guerra of San Jose, Calif.; two sisters, Nicanora Perez of
Fresno, Calif. and Leandra Madril of Van Horn; 35 grandchildren; 10
great-grandchildren and 20 great-great-grandchildren.

Joseph W.C. Knust

Joseph Wilhelm Carl Knust, 76, of Clifton died March 13.

Funeral services were held Saturday at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in
Clifton. The Reverend John R. Austin presided. A burial followed at the
Clifton Cemetery.

Knust was born March 14, 1920, at the Running Brook Farm just south of
Womack. A former resident of Pecos, he was a United States Navy veteran
of World War II.

Knust retired from managing a feedlot in Pecos in the 1970s before
moving to back to Bosque County.

He is survived by wife, Lydia Knust, of Clifton; four daughters, Barbara
Treat, Sue Mills, Nell Vaughn and Peggy Ashley; one sister, Rosa
Knudson; seven grandchildren and two nieces and one nephew.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Esther Wiederaenders.

Letha Hohenberger

Letha F. Hohenberger, 58, died Tuesday, March 11 at a hospital in Fort
Worth.

Funeral services were held Friday at Brown, Owens and Brumley Funeral
Home in Fort Worth.

She was born Dec. 17, 1938 in Jayton.

Survivors include three sons, Ronald Jones of Tomball, Robert Jones of
Houston and Michael Otto of Sandusky, Ohio; one daughter, Julie Miller
of Elkhart, Ind.; her mother, Lizzie Vandiver of Fort Worth; three
brothers, Walter Vandiver and Charles Vandiver of Fort Worth, Gene
Vandiver of Austin; two sisters, Bessie Osborn of Pecos and Mary
CarlottaWier of Fort Worth and 12 grandchildren.

Ann Means

Ann Means, 95, died Friday, March 14 at Pecos County Memorial Hospital
in Fort Stockton.

Private services were held for Means by the family.

She was born in December 1901, was a former Pecos resident, retired and
a Methodist.

She was preceded in death by her husband Walker F. Means in 1993, who
was a lawyer in Pecos for a number of years.

Survivors include one son, Richard W. Means of Van Horn; two daughters,
Martha Jane Means of Fort Stockton, Mary Ann Lindsay of Fort Stockton;
two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Harkey Funeral Home of Monahans is in charge of arrangements.

WEATHER


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High Monday 86, low last night 62. Tonight, mostly clear. Low in the
upper 30s. North wind 5-15 mph. Wednesday, sunny. High in the mid 70s.
Variable wind 5-10 mph.
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Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
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