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Area Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Ward County, Trans-Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

TOP STORIES

December 16, 1997

PBT board selects new administrators



PECOS, December 16, 1997 - Don Love, current principal at
Zavala Middle School, will be the new Pecos-Barstow-Toyah
ISD Superintendent, according to an announcement made by the
PBT board after a closed session during a special meeting
held last night.

The board also decided last night that Gome Olibas, current
principal of both Barstow Elementary and Lamar Middle
School, will fill the position of PBT Administrative
Assistant/Personnel Director.

PBT board members made the announcements after spending
close to two hours in closed session last night. Official
hiring will take place at a special PBT school board meeting
to be held Jan. 6, 1998.

"I am very excited about this opportunity to be
superintendent," Love said, "We've got great things going on
and a tremendous educational team."

Love said he thought very highly of Olibas and was excited
about the opportunity to work with him.

Olibas was unavailable for comment, but in a prepared
statement said that he was honored by the "opportunity to
work towards educational excellence for our children."

He said he was optimistic about the change and delighted at
the prospect of working with Love. "I look forward to the
time ahead of me, and I will continue my commitment to the
people of our district."

Love, who holds several undergraduate degrees as well as
Masters degrees in education and school administration, has
been teaching since the mid-70s. He started with Pecos
schools in 1985 as a teacher at Bessie Haynes Elementary.

In 1988, Love moved to Pecos High School where he was
assistant football and baseball coach. Love became the
assistant high school principal there in 1994 and has been
principal at Zavala Middle School since 1996.

Reeves County Hospital board meets tonight



PECOS, December 16, 1997 - Meeting to bring the hospital
into the new year, the hospital board will elect its
representative to the Pecos Economic Development Corporation
board and make appointments of administrator, alternate
administrator, director and alternate director to the
hospital's home health service.

The board will consider emergency room contract bids,
ambulance service agreements with the cities of Balmorhea
and Pecos, the purchase of surgical instruments for podiatry
and hospital storage.

Also, the hospital board will consider the reappointment of
its medical staff for years 1998-1999. The administrator's
annual progress report will be given.

The board meets at 6 p.m. tonight in the hospital classroom
of Reeves County Hospital.

Team sprucing up Park



By GREG HARMAN
Staff Writer

PECOS, December 16, 1997 - Although the Guadalupe mountain
range, one of the most studied ranges in the world, rose out
of the Permian sea to its present height of 4,000 feet
millions of years ago without a nurturing human hand, it
still requires maintenance, and lots of it.

As Tony Armijo, Roads and Trails Supervisor for Guadalupe
Mountains National Park, attested: Mother Nature doesn't
prize level campsites, nor does she shy away from
well-marked hiking trails. Every time the wind blows (and it
does blow -- winds as high as 165 miles per hour have been
recorded at a near-by wind power facility) and every time
snow or rain falls, there is damage to roads and trails that
must be repaired. With more than 80 miles of hiking trails
and a great number of camp sites to upkeep it's more than a
full-time job.

The park employs a crew of six in the roads and trails
division, not including Armijo (who said his six-man crew
sometimes worked like 12). In fact, he had nothing but
praise for his crew - but this didn't quell his gratitude to
volunteer and conservation groups that come from time to
time, helping the park service catch up on its great backlog
of work to be done.

Enter AmeriCorps, a national service program just starting
its third year that allows people of all ages and
backgrounds to translate community service into money for
education. AmeriCorps members serve communities locally by
renovating housing, caring for the elderly, working for
immunization programs, and starting neighborhood watch
programs. Also, there are two national programs: the
National Civilian Community Corp and Volunteers in Service
to America.

One such group has been clearing trails and leveling
campgrounds at the national park for the past two months.
And for the second year in a row, members of the NCCC were
at Guadalupe Mountains National Park repairing trails and
cleaning up camp sites.

"What makes my job easier is groups like this," Armijo said
as he drove into McKittrick Canyon, where a line of helmeted
bodies wound their way around a short hiking loop, cutting
back weeds and removing rock.

Two-year veteran Brad Bushur, team leader for the NCCC group
at Guadalupe, laid his shovel aside temporarily and began to
run down an abbreviated list of the agencies his
organization works with. The list included national parks,
public schools, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S.
Forestry Service.

"We also try to incorporate as many non-profits as
possible," said Bushur, citing a program in the team's
Denver, Colo. home base for the next 10 months that provided
tax help for inhabitants of section-eight housing.

The group is in its sixth week of the 10-month program -
living, working and socializing together. This forced
intimacy has resulted in some pushed buttons. Bushur, who
said the group had had its share of conflict, though not a
lot, maintained that it "was cool being exposed to so many
different backgrounds." He added, thoughtfully, that "people
tend to live in a very homogeneous world. NCCC helps to
break that down.

"We've often joked that MTV's Real World (a program that
documents the lives of young people flung together from a
wide variety of backgrounds) should follow us around."

Bushur, a college graduate, said his experience with NCCC
has helped him get a feel for what it is like working within
various organizations. The experience could also prove
beneficial at a job interview, he said, when a potential
boss is likely to ask what he had been up to the past two
years - community service always looks good.

Kari Sasportas, another second year member, said, "It's not
just labor, but improving ourselves." Not ready for a career
or graduate school, Sasportas was grateful for the
opportunity to travel and try different things. "You get to
wear a different hat with each project," she said.

Later, while viewing video footage of the AmeriCorps team
struggling in the back country of the park - where they
repaired six camp sites and constructed two others - Armijho
remarked, "I guarantee that this experience is something
they'll remember for the rest of their lives."

But not only memories followed the team of 14 when they left
the park, each member became that much closer to an
educational award, totaling $4,725, that is given to each
worker who successfully completes a 10-12 month term. Other
benefits of AmeriCorps service include a living stipend and
health coverage while engaged in the program.

The NCCC team is not alone in its service to the park; other
groups have put in their time, too. Central Texas Trail
Tamers, out of Austin, and members various high school back
country groups have volunteered time and energy in the
Guadalupe mountain range.

There have even been volunteers from as far away as Germany
and Mexico who come to gain a broader knowledge of
conservation and preservation of national parks. "They try
to get the nuts and bolts," Armijo said, "to take back to
their countries."

The park's Resource Adviser, Eddy Hernandez, who supervised
the NCCC team, praised the group saying that they had worked
right up to the last. The group returned to Denver, Colo.,
last Friday.

Train hits pickup



PECOS, December 16, 1997 - One person was transported to
Reeves County Hospital following an accident involving a
Union Pacific Train, Monday afternoon.

Felipe Cobos, 33, was driving a 1986 Black Chevrolet S-10
pickup, northbound on the 100 block of Willow, when he
noticed the train approaching, according to a Pecos Police
Department report provided by officer Armando Garcia.

Cobos tried to back up, placed the vehicle in reverse, but
was unable to do so before the train struck his pickup on
the front right side.

The impact caused the vehicle to make a 360 degree turn,
ending up in a ditch.

OBITUARIES


Bill Calloway



Bill Calloway, died Monday, Dec. 15, 1997, at Midland
Memorial Hospital.

Funeral services are set for 11 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 18, in
the Ellis Funeral Home Chapel. Cremation to follow funeral
services.

Calloway was a past president of the West Texas Funeral
Directors Association, and was honored in 1995 as their
Funeral Director of the year. He was a longtime Pecos
resident and managed the Pecos Funeral Home. He moved to
Midland in 1992 and became a part of the staff at Ellis
Funeral Home.

Ellis Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Santiago Martinez



Santiago Martinez, 87, died Sunday, Dec. 14, 1997, in Rosie,
Calif.

Services are scheduled to be held in California.

Martinez was a former Pecos resident, a U.S. Army veteran
and a Catholic.

Survivors include: his wife, Lupe Martinez, of Rosie,
Calif.; one son, Ramon Martinez, of Dinoba, Calif.; four
daughters, Margie Contreras of Pecos, Elena, Christina and
Betty Martinez of Dinoba, Calif.; and numerous grandchildren.

Roy Murphy



Roy Murphy, 77, of Midland, died Saturday, Dec. 13, in a
Midland hospital.

Services are scheduled for 2 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 17, at
Wilshire Park Baptist Church with Rev. Steve Tims
officiating. Burial will be in Resthaven Memorial Park in
Midland.

Murphy was born Sept. 25, 1920 in Homer, La. He attended
high school in Hobbs, N.M., was a resident of Midland for 37
years and a machinist in the oil field business. He was a
member of Wilshire Park Baptist Church and had helped to
build churches in Texas and Hawaii with Texas Baptist
Ministries. In Hobbs, he had been a member of First Baptist
church, a boy scout leader, and a civilian crew chief at
Hobbs Airfield and Carlsbad during World War II.

Murphy was preceded in death by his wife, Kathy Murphy,
April 13, 1995, and his parents Ella Bea and Bill Ingram of
San Angelo.

Survivors include: three sons, Pat Murphy of Albuquerque,
N.M., Bill Murphy of Round Rock and Mike Murphy of Pecos;
five grandchildren; one niece; and two nephews.

The family request that in lieu of flowers memorials be made
to Wilshire Park Baptist Church, 801 S. Bentwood, Midland,
Tx., 79703 or Allison Cancer Center, 301 N. "N", Midland,
Tx., 79701.

Pipkin Funeral Home, of Midland, is in charge of
arrangements.

Efren Natividad



Efren L. Natividad, 71, died Sunday, Dec. 14, 1997, at his
home in Midland.

Services are scheduled for 3 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 17, in
the Ellis Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Alex Chavez
officiating. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery.

Natividad was born July 8, 1926, in Saragosa. He was raised
in Pecos, where he lived untl moving to Midland three months
ago.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Amada Baeza.

Survivors include: four daughters, Francis Perez of
Woodward, Okla., Mary Cavazos of Abernathy, Tx., Elvia Gomez
of Seminole and Rosalie Sanchez of Odessa; five sons, George
Natividad of Midland, Joe Natividad of Lamesa, Al (Cat)
Natividad of Midland, Jimmy Natividad of El Cajun and Carlos
Natividad of Springvalley, Calif.; three brothers, George
Natividad of Tulsa, Okla., Ramon Natividad of Pecos and
Manuel Natividad of Saragosa; four sisters, Sofia Gomez of
Saragosa, Asensia Segoria of Jal, N.M., Cecelia Tarango and
Ricarda Salcido of Pecos; 30 grandchildren; 16
great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Ellis Funeral Home of Midland is in charge of arrangements.

Cruz Villa



Services are incomplete for Cruz Villa, 61, of Pecos, who
died Tuesday, Dec. 16, 1997 at his residence.

WEATHER



PECOS, December 16, 1997 - High Monday, 71, low this
morning, 27. It will be slightly cooler across all of Texas
tonight and Wednesday. A weak cold front moved through the
Panhandle into the South Plains before dawn today, but
wasn't expected to have much impact. It will be clear
tonight and sunny on Wednesday across West Texas. Highs
Wednesday will be in the 60s over most of West Texas,
ranging from the 50s in the Panhandle to the 70s in the Big
Bend area of Southwest Texas.




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