Weekly Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Ward County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

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Nov. 27, 1997

Engagement, golden wedding fest

Tony Maddux is a cop, a sergeant in the Sacramento County
sheriff's office in California.

Jannye Bristow is an accountant in Sacramento. Her mother,
Dannye, was graduated from Monahans High School in 1947.

On Friday night, Nov. 21, the week before Thanksgiving
1997, in a restaurant in Monahans, with enchiladas and
beans, they celebrated their engagement and the 50th wedding
anniversary of Jannye's mother and father, John and Dannye
Bristow, now of Midland. Dannye's father was Ward County's
first auditor. Everyone, remembers Walter W. Roeber, a
Monahans insurance counselor, called Dannye's dad, "Poppa"
Harris.

It was Roeber who hosted the combination engagement
and wedding anniversary party and who helped write the
beginning of another chapter in the Desert Song of Tony
Maddux and Jannye Bristow This is a tale of two deserts,
Libya and West Texas; a tale of loves interrupted when both
Tony and Jannye were teen-agers; a tale that ended with a
proposal on Friday afternoon in the Ward County Library.

Tony was a 15-year-old rock 'n roll guitar player in 1967
in Tripoli at the American school there. Jannye was 14 years
old and a classmate. They were in love. Today Tony is 45
years old; Jannye, who first acknowledges she is 29 and
holding, then laughs and says she's 44.

His family was in the U.S. Air Force when they were
separated.

"We were boyfriend and girlfriend in Libya," says Tony.
"Then my family was transferred back to the United States."

Jannye still says she didn't want him to go. Tony says he
didn't want to go either. They corresponded for a time but
space and years got in the way and they lost track of each
other. For 27 years they had no contact with each other.

Tony went in the Air Force, subsequently was separated from
the service and he's still in the Air Force Reserve. That
and the unusual spelling of Jannye's mother's last name,
Dannye, comparable to Jannye's, plus help from Cindy
Escamilla at the Monahans Library is what brought them back
together.

"I was at Goodfellow Air Force Base," says Tony. "It was
1994 and I was going up to Midland, which wasn't far from
Monahans."

Arriving in Monahans, he says he first went to the
Courthouse to check some records. After explaining his
quest, Tony Maddux was referred to the library two blocks
away. When he drove to the library, the staff was closing
for the day but Debby Escamilla (Maddux says there is no way
he can thank her enough) took him by the hand and they began
their search through the records.

He found "Dannye's name in a city directory and from there,
the rest is history. Working with that he contacted Jannye's
family, living then in Truth or Consequences, N.M. He got
Jannye's address, who was living in Houston and he wrote her
a letter. In six months of correspondence, they planned to
meet and see each other again. Three months later, they did.

Thus begins the latest chapter in the Tale of Two Deserts, a
tale of childhood sweethearts who met first on the shores of
Tripoli and who 30 years later agreed to marry in Monahans.

Police shoot tires of wild driver

PECOS - Pecos police shot out the tires of a fleeing suspect
at 7:55 a.m. on Interstate 20 near the 13-mile marker in a
bizarre incident that began in Monahans.

The officer who fired the shots said he had no choice
because motorists were being forced off the highway.

It happened on Tuesday, Nov. 25. When it was over, one man
was in the Reeves County Jail. A youth was in the custody of
juvenile authorities. Police in Virginia were seeking
governor's warrants for extradition.

Sergeant Jim Vaughn says he and fellow Pecos Officer Mike
Dominguez noticed a suspicious vehicle and eventually pulled
it over on a traffic violation (no seat belts were
fastened) at the 40 mile marker.

As Dominguez was approaching the vehicle, Vaughn reports,
the driver put the car in gear and took off. Dominguez and
Vaughn pursued in their police cruiser.

When the fleeing vehicle's plates were called in, a
computer check found the white, 1982 Buick had been stolen
from the 800 bock of South Stockton Avenue in Moahans
earlier that morning.

The pursuit continued at speeds over 100 MPH from the 40
mile marker to the 13 mile marker west bound on I-20 until
Vaughn shot out the right back tire of the vehicle.

"The only reason I shot out the tires was they were running
people off the road," said Vaughn. "No one was hurt and
there was no other damage to the vehicle.."

Monahans Police Chief David Watts says when the plates were
called, it was found the owner of the vehicle lived in
Monahans and those people were notified.

"We asked them about the car and they said it was right out
side," says Watts. "When they went to look, they said the
car was gone."

"Both suspects are thought to be from Virginia. Both are
male; one is a juvenile; the other is an 18-year-old. They
both confessed to stealing the cars and charges will be
filed both in Monahans and in Virginia," reports Watts.

Sandhills park grant spurs yucca growth

Friends of the Sandhills State Park received a $5,000 grant
from Chevron on Thursday, Nov. 20, and watched the Friend's
Blooming Yucca grow closer to its $160,000 goal.

Dollars collected in the fund drive will be joined with
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department dollars to enhance the
facilities of the unique park five miles East of Monahans
just off Interstate 20.

Work already has begun on resurfacing park roads. Renovation
and remodeling of the Dunagan Visitor's Center into a
state-of-the-art exhibit and reception structure is
scheduled to begin before the end of December.

Formal presentation of the Chevron grant came at a noon
meeting of the Sandhills board in Vicky's Restaurant at 400
North Main Street. Among those attending were the
green-coated Monahans Ambassadors. Mayor David Cutbirth,
Mayor Pro Tem Clarese Gough and City Manager David Mills
also were present.

Kitty Dunagan, chair of the Sandhills Friends trustees,
accepted the grant from Mike Eaton of Chevron Pipeline, one
of the largest taxpayers in Ward County.

Sarah Porter, a Chevron Pipeline team leader, told the group
Chevron hopes the improvements at the park "will add to the
quality of life of all area residents."

Said Dunagan: "We meet here again at Vicky's for another
delicious Mexican food buffet to celebrate one more happy
occasion, this one because we're taking another giant step
on our journey to raise $160,000 to match that appropriated
by Texas Parks and Wildlife for the renovation of the
Monahans Sandhills State Park Museum/Interpretive Center.

Chevron is responsible for making this a happy day for us.
They come, bringing us a generous donation to be added to
that of the many others who have helped us along the way."

Dunagan noted that major gifts in the Sandhills fund drive
had been made by the Abell-Hanger Foundation, $50,000; Doss
Foundation, $25,000; Dodge Jones, $10,000; the Permian Basin
Area Foundation, $5,000; Wendell Harkey Energy Inc., another
$5,000. Thousand dollar donations came from Winged Foot Oil
and three area ranchers - Sam Vest, Anna Dee O'Brien and
George Clements.

"These large contributions made possible our giant steps but
the smaller sums contributed by numerous Friends of the Park
enabled us to take lots of smaller steps toward our goal,"
said Dunagan. "Dick Hoyer's money management of our funds
added a sizeable amount in interest income and the ingenuity
and hard work of our devoted Edith Grissom in collected
Treasures for Sale in the (Sandhills Park) museum brought in
a surprising amount."

So far grants and donations,; large and small, total
$109,000, "51,000 short of our what we need to reach our
$160,000 goal," says Dunagan.

Then Dunagan once again thanked Chevron for the grant.

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