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By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 7, 1997 - Rope Myers has been doing more wrestling than
roping over the past year. But the Athens, Tx., native did well enough
in both to capture the All-Around Cowboy title at the 115th Annual West
of the Pecos Rodeo Saturday night.
Myers placed second to Byron Walker in steer wrestling on Saturday, and
combined with his winnings in steer roping earlier in the week, it
allowed him to take the All-Around title with winnings of $3,849.
"Last year, I didn't rope because I broke my wrist a year-and-a-half
ago," Myers said following the conclusion of action on Saturday. "I
still haven't quite gotten things right yet in steer roping, but it will
come around."
Myers was the top-ranked steer wrestler from 1996 entered at this year's
West of the Pecos Rodeo, having finished sixth, and came in ranked third
this year. "I've been coming here since my rookie year in 1992," said
Myers, who earned Profession Rodeo Cowboy Association Rookie of the Year
honors then.
Myers wasn't the biggest money winner at the West of the Pecos Rodeo -
which paid out $217,363 to its competitors this year, a new record - but
along with J.D. Yates was one of only two cowboys to earn money in more
than one event last week.
Steer roping Jerry Cox of Cottula took home the most money from the
rodeo, as he won $6,417 after taking top honors both in the finals of
the event, and winning the average with a 36.2 time, a new record for the Buck Jackson Rodeo Arena.
By CARA ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 7, 1997 - There were a few accidents over the long holiday
weekend and some vehicles were totalled, but their operators were a
little luckier than their transportation.
On July 4, Lee Davis, 65, of Balmorhea had an accident in which he lost
control of his motorcycle at the corner of Railroad and Austin streets
in Balmorhea. Alcohol was not involved. He was taken to Reeves County
Hospital and then transferred to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa,
where he is reported to be in fair condition.
Saturday morning at approximately 7:15, Department of Public Safety
Trooper Richard Jacobs investigated a one-car roll-over at mile marker
19 on Interstate 20.
The driver of the 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix, Pedro Cavarrubias of El Paso,
lost control of the car. He was taken to Reeves County Hospital, along
with his wife and daughter. According to Jacobs, Cavarrubias' daughter
was injured, but all three were released from the hospital. No alcohol
was involved in the accident.
On July 6, Raymond King, 20, was involved in a one-vehicle motorcycle
accident. King, a Marine Corps Private First Class stationed at Fort
Huachuca, Arizona, was transported by Care Flight to Methodist Hospital
in Lubbock, where he remains in stable condition. Alcohol did not play a
part in this accident, according to Jacobs.
There was also a two-vehicle accident involving a Pecos Police
Department reserve officer on duty early yesterday morning. Because the
accident involved a city police car, the accident is being investigated
by a Department of Public Safety trooper who was not available to
comment at press time.
Pecos Police Chief Troy Moore said that the police officer involved, Ernesto Loscano, was not seriously injured in the accident.
By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 7, 1997 - Federal officers arrested 14 defendants named in
sealed federal indictments June 26 as a result of undercover
investigations by the DEA task force in Alpine.
James Rose, resident agent in charge of the Alpine DEA office, said the
indictments stem from a continuing investigation into drug use in Alpine.
"We are attempting to put a little more emphasis on the street dealers
in Alpine," Rose said. "There is a lot of blatant drug use we noticed in
the last several months, and we are going to continue to pressure until
we have got a hand on that."
Sul Ross State University students and others who had moved into Alpine
are among those charged in numerous indictments over the past few months.
In those unsealed last week, charges include marijuana, cocaine and
heroin possession/distribution.
Charged with conspiracy to possess and possession with intent to
distribute heroin in May and June are Jeffery Tod Williams, Letitia
Garcia, Irene Olivas and Irene Campos.
Marilyn Jean Ingram, 41, of Alpine, and Lorenzo Glenn Delao are charged
with conspiracy to possess and possession with intent to distribute
marijuana in May and June.
Jessica Kinkaid, Sarah Sanders and Matthew Sanders were indicted for
possession with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine in June. The
Sanders are charged with distributing marijuana while under 18 years of
age.
Terrell Adams, Kendra Greaves, Joseph Justice, Jody Lnu and Clifford
Rose are charged with conspiracy to possess marijuana. Greaves, Justice,
Lnu and Rose are also charged with possession of marijuana.
In other recent indictments, some sales were allegedly made within 1,000
feet of a university (Sul Ross State University) or an Alpine elementary school.
By SHANNON BRYER
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 7, 1997 - A Lamesa woman reported missing last night on the
Pecos River found her way to safety this morning when she spotted a
deputy sheriff on the bridge at State Highway 302.
Kevin Sneed called on the Red Bluff game wardens' office Sunday night at
9:30 to get help finding his common law wife, Davena Franklin, according
to Reeves County Deputy Sheriff Cesar Urias.
"Franklin and Sneed had been rafting, and Sneed went to get his Jeep to
pick up Davena and the raft on the river near the area called Sandy
Beach. When he returned, she and the raft were gone," Urias said.
Sneed drove up and down the river several times looking for Franklin and
got two flat tires in the process. Then he decided to call for help.
Game wardens and deputy sheriffs searched for Franklin all night.
"The search was brought to a halt at one point by a two-hour lightning
storm, since the game wardens have a metal boat," Urias said.
"A DPS chopper was called in to light up the place and locate the
person, but it was delayed because of the storm," continued Urias.
Each deputy was assigned a duty. "Some went to a bridge in the area of
Orla, and one in Mentone. Deputy Floyd Estrada and I went to the place
where she was last seen," Urias said.
"The Reeves County Sherriff has been here all night, so have the
deputies and the game wardens. The sheriff of Loving County even came
to help us out," Urias said.
"We did what we could do until daylight. Then the helicopter came back
and flew along the river," Urias said.
"Franklin rafted down the river and waited to find a major highway. She
found Deputy Damon Compton on highway 302," said Sergeant Jeff Baeza.
Franklin did not need medical treatment.
By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) July 7, 1997 - Seeking to reduce U.S. dependence on
foreign oil and boost the domestic energy industry, a Texas congressman
is proposing tax breaks to resuscitate some of the nation's more than
900,000 inactive wells.
Rep. Mac Thornberry's legislation is patterned after a Texas incentive
program that returned more than 6,000 idled stripper wells to production
over three years, resulting in an estimated $1.6 billion annual boost to
the state's economy. Stripper wells are those producing less than 10
barrels a day.
The Clarendon Republican's bill, introduced in June, would grant oil and
natural gas producers a federal income tax exemption for reviving wells
that have been abandoned, plugged or idled for at least two years.
Thornberry is touting his measure as one that could help reduce growing
U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Last year, the United States imported 9.5 million barrels of crude oil a
day - nearly half of domestic consumption. The federal Energy
Information Administration predicts that by 2015, net imports will top
60 percent.
"Every barrel of oil we produce here at home is one less barrel we have
to buy from overseas," Thornberry said.
The measure also should help create jobs, said Thornberry, who is a
member of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral
resources.
And, it would provide new revenues to the U.S. Treasury by requiring
that the owners of the land on which the wells are located pay federal
income tax, Thornberry said. Since the wells are inactive, those royalty
holders aren't paying any income tax on the wells' production now, he
noted.
Thornberry's initiative parallels recommendations made earlier this year
by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, which favors so-called
"tax holidays" for idle wells.
The commission, which represents the governors of 36 states that produce
virtually all the oil and natural gas in the United States, urged other
states to adopt an incentives program similar to the Texas model.
The Texas incentive, which ended in early 1996, provided up to 10 years
of tax exemption for wells idled for at least three years. State
officials have pronounced the program a success, noting that in the year
before its enactment, fewer than 400 inactive wells were returned to
production.
This year, the Legislature revived the program. A dozen or more states
have offered some type of production incentives to revive idled wells.
Such tax relief "has been highly effective in bringing wells back into
production, and in creating well-paying jobs and a significant boost to
state economies," the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission said in
a study of state incentives.
Thornberry's bill has been endorsed by the Independent Petroleum
Association of America, which represents the nation's small producers.
It has also enthusiastically embraced by the National Stripper Well
Association. Its president, Houston oilman Steve Layton, said the
benefit of the tax holiday "will easily stand up on its own."
"The inactive wells are the wells that really do hold the key that would
unlock the door to the nation's 350 billion barrel resource base,"
Layton said. "Anything we can do to encourage the preservation of those
wells and also to encourage the ultimate reactivation of the wells can't be anything but positive for the industry and for our nation."
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) July 7, 1997 - Mollie Burleson stood solemnly with
hundreds of others gathered at a dusty ranch to hold a proper memorial
service for five dead aliens last weekend. Then someone giggled.
"Some kooky people might be here. I don't think that's right," Burleson
said Friday. "Some little aliens died out here, and that's not something
to make fun of."
The memorial service, complete with Indian dancers and silent prayers,
was one of the latest in a stream of activities commemorating the 50th
anniversary of a purported UFO crash in this Old West ranching town of
48,000.
Thousands of believers spilled into town to listen to lectures and swap
abduction stories, mingling with others who loaded up on souvenirs and
looked for a good time.
But the mood was somber on the sheep and cattle ranch where Burleson and
others claim a spaceship and five aliens crashed July 8, 1947, an
incident they say has been covered up by the military for 50 years.
About 100 members of the media shadowed 300 others at the service, which
included the unveiling of a stone with an inscription that reads: "We
don't know who they were, we don't know why they came, we only know they
changed our view of the universe."
Five Laguna Pueblo Indian dancers dressed in fur headdresses and
shell-covered belts called spirits of the past to the site with a
buffalo dance. Eight drummers pounded and chanted ancient rhythms.
"We're inviting the spirits into this area where we're having our dance
and asking them to make it sacred," said Mark Cheresposy of Laguna.
Miller "Hub" Corn, who now owns the ranch, watched the commemoration
with his wife Shiela.
"This has been quite an experience," Corn said. "The only thing that
bothers me is that I'm afraid someone is going to drive into one of my
sheep."
The Corns charged more than 200 people $15 each for a tour of the ranch.
Many paid $90 to camp there over the weekend.
Among those who claim to know first-hand about the crash is Frank
Kaufmann, 80, who says he and several soldiers at the Roswell Army Air
Field were dispatched to check on reports of a tumbling fireball that
had crashed northwest of town in 1947.
They found a spaceship and five dead aliens who were whisked away in
body bags by the military, he said. The military denies the story, and
the previous owner of the ranch doesn't believe it either.
Jim McKnight, who sold out to the Corns in 1976, said his family had
worked the ranch since 1901 and he never heard stories about aliens.
"They'd know it a lot of times if a coyote went across the ranch, so
it's very hard to believe they'd miss a spaceship and a military
convoy," he said.
Others have evidence of their own.
"My first moment here, I felt something resonate that told me this is
the place where the UFO came down," said concert promoter John Brower of
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Then there were those who were just enjoying the ride.
Don Thomas of Boston was in Roswell wearing a silver UFO hat that
included a digital watch, blinking lights and a gyroscope.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know what it is," Thomas said. "It just came down and landed on my head this morning."
By PEGGY McCRAKEN
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 7, 1997 - Two federal inmates who escaped from Reeves County
Jail Sunday were caught a short time later and returned to their cells.
Charged with escape and attempted escape this morning before U.S.
District Judge Royal Furgeson were Auden Bernal-Cabello and Jaime
Alejandro Adame.
Bernal was awaiting sentencing and Adame had already been sentenced on a
federal conviction.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Billy Johnson said in the complaint that the two
inmates climbed above the jail ceiling and dropped down into the
administration area.
They were captured within moments of their escape across the street,
hiding behind a building.
In an unrelated case, Judge Furgeson this morning dismissed a charge of
drug possession and importation when the government's prosecutor was
unable to be present for jury trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Blankinship of Alpine filed a motion to
dismiss the charge of importing and possessing with intent to distribute
flunitrazepam "without prejudice" so he could re-file it. However,
defense attorney Tom Morgan made an oral motion to dismiss "with
prejudice," which Judge Furgeson granted.
Morgan argued that the defendant, Dominic Joseph Longo, 25, had already
appeared for trial twice, and he should be released to return to his
home in Ohio.
Longo was living in Midland and attending college when the alleged
violation occurred. However, his father was in court this morning and said he would be moving back to Ohio.
DALLAS (AP) July 7, 1997 - The commanding general who met with a Marine
who shot and killed a teen-ager near the Texas border said he's
satisfied the Marine did nothing wrong.
"I wanted to look him in the eye," Lt. Gen. Carlton W. Fulford said of
his meeting with Cpl. Clemente Banuelos, in an interview with The Dallas
Morning News. "I'm a father. If I had lost a son to an incident such as
this, I'd be very angry."
On May 20, Banuelos, 22, shot Ezequiel Hernandez, 18, who had been
herding his family's goats in Redford, about 180 miles southeast of El
Paso. Marines say it was self-defense - that Hernandez shot twice and
was about to shoot a third time. The Marines were on routine drug patrol
on the border.
Banuelos, Lance Cpl. James Blood, 22, Cpl. Roy Torrez Jr., 19, and Lance
Cpl. Ronald Wieler Jr., 21 were on drug patrol near the border.
A grand jury is expected to complete its consideration of the shooting
by early August. Investigators are waiting for ballistics tests and
subpoenaed documents from the military and U.S. Border Patrol.
Last week, the government retained prominent Houston lawyer Jack
Zimmerman to represent Banuelos. Zimmerman is known for defending Branch
Davidian members after the 1993 Waco siege.
Since 1989, all branches of the armed forces have assisted civilian law
enforcement agencies on a variety of anti-drug missions, coordinated by
the El Paso-based Joint Task Force-6.
Fulford said the incident might not have happened if civilian law
enforcement, not the military, had patrolled the border.
"I would prefer to see those missions handled by law enforcement
agencies," Fulford said from his post in Camp Pendleton, Calif. "That's
their focus, that's what they're trained for."
"Law enforcement agents who live there, know the people and know the
environment may have reacted differently than an outside group who is
briefed, painted a picture, and who reacted to what they're given as a
profile of a drug-smuggling operation," he added. "Somebody from the
area may have known this guy did in fact go out with his rifle to herd his goats."
PECOS, July 7, 1997 - Armando Martinez of Odessa was injured at 7:30
Saturday morning in an oil field accident at Timbersharp Rig 55 near the
intersections of Highways 285 and 302.
Martinez fell 35 feet off the rig, cracking his cheekbone. The accident
required ten stitches on the back of his head and left his right side
badly bruised.
"I was just trying to get the air hoist off the collar, which was
already tied up to the pick up cable, when the collar started slipping
down. The cable got in a bind and the pick up cable threw me off the
floor," Martinez said.
Martinez was taken to the Reeves County Hospital emergency room, and
then flown to Lubbock Methodist Hospital.
"I may have to have surgery on my cheekbone, but I was very lucky,"
Martinez said.
Martinez, who grew up in Pecos, expects to be released in a week. He has worked for Timbersharp for three months as a relief worker.
Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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