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

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Thursday, February 5, 1998

Boys and Girls Clubs get boost

Monahans citizens have started a major drive to bring Boys
and Girls Clubs to the Monahans area with the help of a
potential $50,000 grant through the Boys and Girls Clubs of
America national organization.

Under the plan, the Monahans clubs would operate as a unit
of the Midland Boys and Girls Clubs, reports Bill Shuey, the
youth organization's executive director in Midland.
Shuey says the potential grant would be made through monies
available to the national headquarters, dollars which come
through the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Citizens of Monahans already are working hard to find a
potential site or sites for the club's activities in Ward
County, says Shuey.

A public meeting to find the proposed site and begin work on
a founders campaign fund raiser will be held at the Ward
County Convention Center on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m.
Shuey says the grant dollars plus about $25,000 expected to
be collected in Ward County would give the Monahans area
club a sound financial footing from which to begin its
programs.

"In effect," says Shuey, "Monahans would be a unit of the
Midland club. We would provide administrative support so
that the club there would not be forced to spend dollars in
the beginning for such professional expertise."

He emphasizes that although the administrative effort would
come from Midland, the Monahans organization funds would be
spent only on Ward County programs.

"It is my understanding that several potential sites for the
club activities in Monahans are being studied," says the
Boys and Girls Clubs executive. "In the best case, we would
need a large building with open space for class rooms and
recreation areas. Enough space for basketball, volleyball
and comparable youth sports would be excellent."

Some foundations in Monahans already have been contacted, he
says.

The Monahans contact, says Shuey, is Jeff Benbow. For those
who seek further information, he can be contacted at
943-7322 or 943-1620.

The clubs serve children from six to 18 years old with
programs ranging from athletics to assistance in academics
at school.

Pecos Pupfish gain protectors

Special to the News

ROSWELL, N.M. - Federal wild life officials in New Mexico
want a place on the endangered species list for a two-inch
long, minnow-like, brown spotted fish found only, they say,
near Grandfalls and in Reeves County.

The diminutive Pecos Pupfish once swam the Pecos River from
North of Roswell to South of Sheffield in Pecos County.
Hans Stuart of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unit at
Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Roswell says the
Pecos Pupfish is "likely to become extinct if not placed on
the endangered species list."

Right now the creature is found only in Salt Creek, a Pecos
tributary in Reeves County, and in a gravel pit not far from
Grandfalls.

Texas state law already forbids taking pupfish. Stuart says
there is no visible opposition to saving the vanishing fish.

Mega donors jump start drive

Three mega donors Friday, Jan. 30, jump started the public
subscription drive for $350,000 to renovate and enhance Lobo
Field. Superintendent Clifton L. Stephens of the
Monahans-Wickett-Pyote School District reports letters
asking for help are being mailed to businesses in Monahans
as well as to companies outside the district but who are
part of the community. Stephens urges those interested in
giving to come by the administration building across Betty
Avenue from the High School. Says Stephens: "The spirit of
the community always shines brightly when the opportunity to
better our schools presents itself. Pride is what this is
about. So I would like to challenge everyone to make a
commitment to help us reach our goal of $350,000 and put
their words into action."

Horse show opens 59th livestock exhibit

Twenty-six young equestrians competing Saturday, Feb. 7, at
the Ward County Arena trigger the fifty-ninth annual Ward
County Livestock Show.

"Following the judged horse show events, the Queen and
Princess Contest will begin. Rules are Junior age for
Princess and Senior for Queen," according to a statement
from Andy Stewart, the County Extension Agent for
Agriculture.

Before the stock show ends with a barbecue and dance on Feb.
21, there will have been a ranch breakfast starring biscuits
and steak, scores of stock competitions and the stock show's
parade in through and around downtown Monahans.
More than 200 area 4-H and FFA club members will take part,
Stewart says.

Livestock barns at the Ward County Coliseum Fairgrounds will
begin to fill with pigs, heifers, goats, steers, rabbits,
sheep, capons and gamebirds on Monday, Feb. 16, weigh-in day
for the stock show animals.

That is the day, Stewart says, the competitors "along with
their parents and assorted adult leaders will begin to wash,
clip, comb, brush, blow dry and fluff their animals as this
year's projects come to an end."

Livestock will be paraded into the show ring inside the Ward
County Coliseum beginning at 5 p.m. each evening during the
remainder of that week.

Notes Stewart of the show and those taking part:
"The hum of electric clippers, brushing, trimming, clipping,
polishing, hair conditioners, shampoos, blow-drying, more
trimming, and before your very eyes, it all changes. What
began about a year to six months ago as a shaggy,
cantankerous, wild-eyed, unruly animal has been remade into
a magnificent specimen of a show animal. All those hours of
work, tense moments of anguish, nail biting and concern are
finally worth it.

"The huge steer now walks gently side-by-side with its
little owner; the sheep are snow white; and goats, that were
once only good for butting, are now almost as gentle as your
dog or cat. The pigs are clipped and brushed and ready to
root. The capons are washed and fluffed and ready to show
their white feathers. The rabbits are cute and cuddly. The
gamebirds hold their heads high to listen for every sound
and strut in their pens."



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