May 1, 1997

Sixta Sotelo joins medical team

County funds in good shape

Bands win sweepstakes

Land board seminar May 8

Barring unforeseen and unexpected developments, citizens of the city of
Monahans and Winkler County will receive a property tax break on Oct. 1
The City Council of Monahans, county seat of Ward County, and the
Winkler County Commissioners sometime in June will validate a half-cent
sales tax increase enacted by the voters about a year ago in an
attempt to lower their property taxes.
The voter approved sales tax increase has been stalled because of
conflicting jurisdictions between the two governmental entities. Special
legislation was needed to resolve the problem. That came from Ward
County's legislative delegation in Austin.
State Rep. Bob Turner, D-Coleman, and State Sen. Bob Duncan, R-Lubbock,
led the bipartisan initiative that, says Duncan, "finally will bring the
tax relief the citizens of Monahans and Winkler County approved many
months ago."
"Gov. George Bush will sign it," comments Turner.
Turner's 73rd State House District and Duncan's 28th State Senate
District includes Ward County.
The final legislative step came on Friday, April 25, when the House
approved the legislation. State Senators approved the bill on March 5.
Both bills are the same, eliminating any need for a conference committee
to resolve any differences between the House and Senate versions of the
legislation.
Cosponsors of the legislation were Winkler County's delegation - State
Rep. Gary Walker, R-Plains, of the 80th District and State Sen. Teel
Bivins, R-Amarillo, of the 31st District.
According to state law, the property tax relief will be proportional to
the amount of monies collected in the special half-cent sales tax.
The jurisdiction conflict that postponed enactment of the sales tax was
cited by the State Comptroller's Office when it disallowed the election
saying overlapping governmental boundaries caused the overall sales tax
to exceed the legal gap.
Monahans had annexed 5,000 acres of Winkler County in the 1950s.

Trustee election Saturday

Million-dollar upgrade at Sandhills

TAAS scores up

Foret new hospital CFO

Shafter is more than ghost town

This sign might well be posted below the one on the highway which says
Shafter is a ghost town. By the usual definition, it is not because
there are citizens here and they own property. They are an independent
people who resent unwarranted poking around the remains of what once was
a booming silver town on Cibilo Creek about 20 miles North of Presidio
and only a half-mile from hell.
There are living people here.
And even, more importantly, ghosts do walk when the sun heads down
behind the mountain and the wind begins to croon through the old
graveyard of wooden crosses which carry no names, past the jail which
still stands (somewhat appropriate) and in and around and over and
through the ruins of an old Texican's fortress of adobe and stone that
marks the hill as well as those classical ruins of Greece and Asia Minor.
In these mountains, in this high desert, are the crumbled remains of the
massive fort built in 1854 by Milton Faver for protection against the
Apache. They must of sat in those hills and laughed as they watched the
walls rise.
Now the Apache are gone. Milton Faver is gone. The wraiths of both still
may wander the halls and rooms of Faver's fort, some of which has been
obviously mined for building materials in some of the still standing
buildings of Shafter.
Faver's fort remains, still a wondrous sight. The Apache's mountains
remain.
From the walls of Faver's fort, you can look into the Apache's mountains
where the ghostsdefinitely walk. They hide a secret of blood and
plunder, death and thunder, politics and guns.
And what always speaks of blood and plunder, death and thunder, politics
and guns?
Gold!
Gold!
Gold!
Gold accented with minted silver, gold stolen by a man who preyed on the
peones and himself was brought down by one of two men who once stood for
the people of Mexico against the plutocrats and the thieves in velvet
who haunted the politics of Mexico City.
Those two men were Emiliano Zapata, the savior of the South, and Pancho
Villa, the savior of the North. Both men were murdered by the guns of
trusted friends, hired by the plutocrats. As soon as Villa and Zapata
died, the government propaganda machines began to grind and attempted to
portray these two as brigands who killed only for their own gain. The
propaganda mills resulted in conviction by the historians, never by the
people.
But our tale here is of Pancho Villa and Gen. Orozco, whose first name
it appears is lost in the tales told around the campfires, but who is
listed by the so-called historians as a champion and hero while Villa is
vilified by the rich and loved as a heroic champion by the poor.
This then is a tale of revolution and greed. This is a story of the
Mexican revolution of 1910 (the year in which the silver mines started
to play out at Shafter. They would be more or less gone in another six
years) and a revolution that spilled North across the Rio Grande and
reached into Shafter.
By 1914, the dictator Diaz had been deposed and replaced by Madero, who
called himself president of all Mexico.
Madero, whose fist in the North had been Villa, was killed by Huerta,
Don Victoriano.
Villa, who had been living on funds supplied by his patron Madero in El
Paso, once again picked up the rifle.
Villa's target was Orozco who stood between him and one of his principal
bases of support at Ojinaga, just across the Rio Grande from Presidio
and where today Villa is remembered in the songs of the street as well
as an Ojinaga museum dedicated to his exploits.
Villa moved through Texas in a diversion that led him through Valentine
and Shafter through Presidio into Ojinaga where his screaming cavalry
and Irish mercenaries hit Orozco and shattered him.
Orozco had been stealing gold and silver from the government of Mexico
and its people for years. An associate once told of going with Orozco
North to Shafter where, in a mountain there, he had added to a secret
cache of gold and silver. That horde was in an abandoned mining shaft
overlooking Shafter. The shaft was in a mountain. No, we will not tell
you the mountain's name.
Running from Villa, Orozco, it is said, was carrying more gold and
silver plus 80,000 American dollars in greenbacks. Orozco rode hard to
Shafter where friends he bought with the greenbacks hid him from Villa.
One night, he slipped away to the treasure shaft and banked his gold and
silver one more time in the mountains. Living now off the greenbacks,
Orozco returned to Mexico in an attempt to link with some of Huerta's
supporters, Pancho Villa caught Orozco. The general was running and
screaming from Villa when Villa shot Orozco down like a paisano for an
evening's supper. Orozco never revealed , some say, where his treasure
could be found.
Some suggest Villa did learn of its location and reclaimed the gold and
silver for the maintenance of his troops. No one, it seems, really
knows. It would be correct to say the ghosts know. It may even be the
ghosts have spoken to the living.
Ghosts walk you know in Shafter. Ghosts walk in Faver's old fort and in
the streets. Somewhere in those mountains is the treasure of Orozco
guarded by the ghosts of tyrants. Villa did not take it Ghosts know
where the treasure lies and they talk. Listen to the wind teach its
mysteries..

OBITUARIES

EDGAR BRYAN
Services for Edgar Bryan, 91, of Flora, Ill. were held April 23
with burial at Elmwood Cemetery in Flora.
Mr. Bryan was born July 5, 1905 and died April 20 at Clay County
Hospital. He was a life-long resident of Flora.
Survivors include his wife, Pauline; two daughters, Gale Birkes of
Monahans and Wilma Laws of Flora, Ill; three grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.

ROBERT F. HELLINGHAUSEN
Services for Robert F. Hellinghausen, 72, of Midland, were held
Friday at St. Ann's Catholic Church with Monsignor T.J. Murphy
officiating. Interment was in Resthaven Memorial Park under direction of
Ellis Funeral Home.
Mr. Hellinghausen was born July 22, 1924 in Breckenridge and died
April 23, 1997 in a Midland hospital. A graduate of the University of
Tulsa, he played in the Sugar Bowl, Oil Bowl and Orange Bowl in 1945 and
was a member of the 1947 college All Stars. He was inducted into the
Tulsa Hall of Fame in Feb., 1997.
He married Su Derrick Jan. 5, 1946 and they moved to Monahans where
they lived until May of 1968. He operated Cen-Tex Supply, Inc. Until
1971. He is a member of the SFOA, Knights of Columbus and St. Ann's
Catholic Church.
Survivors include his wife, Ann; six children, Greg H Hellinghausen
of Austin, Sonia Belcher, Jill McDaniel, Hillary Hellinghausen, Sid
Crouch and Marc Hellinghausen, all of Midland; a sister, Betty Lauer of
Granbury; a brother, Don M. Hellinghausen of Midland; 13 grandchildren;
and five great-grandchildren.

HAROLD L. THOMAS

BOBBY G. THURMAN, SR.
Graveside services for Bobby Gayle Thurman, Sr. were held Sunday in
Dublin Liveoak Cemetery under direction of Harrell Funeral Home of
Dublin with Rev. Bill Campbell officiating.
Mr. Thurman was born April 23, 1935 in Gorman to Elmer Allen and
Cora Velma (Stackhouse) Thurman. He died April 25, 1997. He was a
carpenter and had lived in Waco a year and a half, moving there from
Dublin. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and a Baptist.
Survivors include two sons, Bobby Gayle Thurman, Jr. of Monahans
and Ray Thurman of LaPorte; a daughter, Dollie Jo Thurman of Star; a
sister, Imogene Hall of Dublin and four grandchildren.
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Copyright 1997 by Ward Newspapers, Inc.
107 W. Second St., Monahans TX 79756
Phone 915-943-4313, FAX 915-943-4314
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