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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Top Stories

Thursday, May 14, 1998

City ban sought on strip shows, sex mags, tapes


By Greg Harman
Staff Writer
Faced with a roomful of local religious leaders and their
parishioners angry about a recent performance of male
strip-dancers, Town of Pecos City Council members voted this
morning to draft an ordinance regulating adult entertainment
within city limits.

Matt Williamson, pastor of Abundant Life Church, asked the
council to make the ordinance as strict as possible. "Let's
get it as far as we can go," he urged.

The performance on April 24 of the dancers, at Club
Suavecito on South Cedar Street, was the first in Pecos
since a similar show 12 years ago resulted in similar
protests.

A petition that has received 350 signatures in support of a
"community standard of decency" in Pecos was presented by
Williamson to the council.

It urged the creation of an ordinance that would make it
illegal to sell or display any "adult books or magazines
with pornographic sexual content, including nudity, partial
nudity and/or obscene language, films and videotapes with a
rating of X or NC 17. Exotic dancers, strippers, etc. who
perform in the nude or partially nude."

Asked by the council to draft an ordinance along these
lines, City Attorney Scott Johnson said he would examine
those drafted by other cities and model Pecos' ordinance on
them.

"I'm not sure we can keep Playboy out," said Johnson
referring to the petition. "There is a First Amendment you
understand."

"The way I understand the law, we as a community can set our
own standards of decency and what we consider pornographic,"
Williamson has previous said.

Several in attendance cited their Christian faith as the
motivation for their support of the petition, and warned of
the possible consequences of continuing to allow adult
entertainment.

"This kind of lifestyle and printed material," said James
Sain, pastor of West Park Baptist Church, "brings a
clientele that will not enhance the status of Pecos. We
already have a problem with teenage pregnancy."

Sain stressed that money was at the root of the pornographic
industry and directly connected to drug use and gambling.
"If you let one go, the others will come hand in hand," he
said.

Council members will vote on the ordinance at its 7 a.m.
meeting on May 28 in the council chambers at City Hall.

Cancer society's `Relay' set for arena


Reeves and Loving County walkers and runners will go around
the clock in the battle against cancer during the American
Cancer Society's Relay for Life, scheduled for this weekend
at the Buck Jackson Rodeo Arena.

Teams of walking and running enthusiasts from all walks of
life will gather at the rodeo arena to show their support in
the fight against cancer.

Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's
community-oriented team event, where participants walk or
run around the track relay style for 18 hours. When they
aren't taking their turn on the track, team members camp out
around the track and take part in a variety of fun
activities. Teams from companies and organizations collect
contributions.

"Relay for Life is as much an awareness raiser about
progress against cancer as it is a fund raiser," said Reeves
County Extension Agent Marie Cardenas. "Many of the
participants will be recovering cancer patients themselves.
Their involvement is proof of the progress that has been
made not only in cancer cure rates, but in the quality of
life following cancer treatment."

"The funds raised will enable us to continue our services to
cancer patients and their families, to offer more
educational or risk reduction programs, and to expand cancer
research programs," said Cardenas. "In Reeves-Loving Unit
last year 24 cancer patients received services, with a
dollar value of $14,974 or help through the American Cancer
Society."

If anyone would like to register a team for Relay for Life,
participate as a cancer survivor or recognize someone during
the evening Luminaria ceremony, contact Cardenas at 700
Daggett, Suite E or call 915-447-9041.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide,
community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to
eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing
cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer,
through research, education, advocacy and service.

Pflugerville trucker killed, Pecos men hurt


By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
One person was killed and three injured, including two Pecos
resi¬ dents, after accident that occurred Tuesday afternoon
between Balmorhea and Fort Davis.

The two vehicle accident occurred at 1:25 p.m., 12.7 miles
north of Fort Davis on Texas Highway 17, in Jeff Davis
County. According to the Department of Public Safety, the
vehicles involved were a 1984 Dodge Ram, driven by Roberto
Garcia Martinez of Pecos, and a 1996 Freighter Truck driven
by Mervay Charles Milburn of Austin.

The DPS report said the accident occurred when Martinez,
while northbound on Highway 17, looked down to pick up
something off the floorboard. The 1996 Freighter Truck was
southbound, when the Ram truck came across a left-hand
curve, it crossed the center median and drove into the
southbound lane, hitting the Freighter head-on.

Henry Trevino Martinez, 51, a truck driver out of
Pflugerville, was taken to Big Bend Regional Hospital, where
he was pronounced dead by Dr. David Sanchez. Next of kin was
notified and his body taken to Gees¬ lin Funeral Home in
Alpine.

Martinez was the only one not wearing a seat belt, according
to DPS trooper David Nesbitt of Fort Davis, who investigated
the accident.

Mervay Charles Milburn, 33, truck driver out of Austin, is
listed in stable condition, with head and chest injuries at
Big Bend Regional Hos¬ pital in Alpine.

Robert Garcia Martinez, 39, of Pecos, is listed in good
condition, with head and left arm injuries at Big Bend
Regional, while Oscar V. Rodrigu¬ ez, 18, of Pecos, is in
good condition with bruises and abrasions at the Alpine
hospital.

Area cities' tax rebates up for both month, year


Sales tax receipts for the first three months of 1998 were
up for all three reporting cities in Reeves County, with
Pecos, Balmorhea and Toyah each receiving increased May
checks from State Comptroller John Sharp's office, based on
sales in March.

Pecos received a check back for $72,424, based on its 1½
cent share of the state's 8¼ cent sales tax. That's up 6.16
percent from the $68,218 total the city received from Austin
in May of 1997.

For the first five months of 1998, Pecos has gotten back
$324,650, a 10_ percent rise over last year's when it
received $293,169 in sales tax rebates. The total is just
above the statewide average so far for 1998.

Balmorhea's tax rebate check for $1,174 was up 7.69 percent
from the city's $1,090 check of a year ago, while Toyah got
$557 back from Sharp's office, an 87-61 percent rise from
the $297 check they received last May. For the January-May
reporting period, Balmorhea has gotten $4,183 back from
Austin, a 43.85 percent rise over 1997's $2,908, and Toyah's
$2,229 is up 17.39 percent from the $1,899 total for the
first five months of last year.

Also up for the month and year was the Reeves County
Hospital District. It's ½-cent share of the sales tax
brought in $25,609, an 11.22 percent rise from last May's
$23,024 total. Overall, the district's $124,877 total is up
8.7 percent from last year, when the district got back
$115,552 over the five month period.

Most other area cities also received increases in their
sales tax rebate checks, Sharp's office reported, and the
state as a whole reported a nine percent rise from May of
1997, while rebates are up 10.3 percent for the January-May
period.

"The robust growth of the Texas economy still shows no signs
of slowing, with higher employment numbers going
hand-in-hand with higher consumer spending," Sharp said.

The area's largest cities, Midland and Odessa, both got back
rebate checks over the $1 million mark for the month, while
Alpine and Monahans reported the largest percent increases
for mid-sized cities. Alpine's check was up 22.6 percent
from last year and Monahans' rose 25.9 percent, though part
of that was due to an increase in the city's sales tax since
then.

Andrews, Crane and Van Horn were the only area cities that
received smaller checks compared with May of 1997, with
Andrews reporting the biggest decline, of 11.13 percent.

OBITURARY

Carlotta Granado


Carlotta Sanchez Granado, 56, of Pecos, died Tuesday, May
12, 1998, in Big Spring.

A rosary is scheduled for today, at 7:30 p.m., at Martinez
Funeral Home Chapel.

Mass will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, May 15, at Santa Rosa
Catholic Church with burial in Greenwood Cemetery.

She was born March 5, 1942, in Pecos, was a lifetime Pecos
resident, a housewife and a Catholic.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Jesus and Nicasia
Sanchez.

Survivors include her husband, Oscar Granado; one son, Oscar
Granado, Jr. of Pecos; one daughter, Rosie Poitevint of
Pecos; four sisters, Margarita Lara and Lupe Acosta of
Pecos, Edwina Vasquez of Carlsbad, N.M., Jessusita Pallan of
Odessa and three grandchildren.

Martinez Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

WEATHER


High Thursday 99. Low this morning 62. Forecast for tonight:
Hazy, due to smoke from forest fires in Mexico, with a 20
percent chance of thunderstorms in the Permian Basin, higher
in the Panhandle. Lows tonight in the upper 50s to mid 60s.
Friday: mostly sunny, with temperatures in the low to
mid-80s.
A complex storm system pushed thunderstorms across the
Mississippi Valley and mid-Atlantic coast early today after
violent weather struck the West Coast, Gulf Coast and Great
Lakes. Scattered showers also lingered over the northern
Plains, the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley and the Northeast.
A storm system over the Rockies was likely to bring
unsettled weather to much of the western United States.
Showers and thunderstorms were possible from Colorado and
Wyoming into Oregon and California, with gusty winds of more
than 50 mph, small hail and heavy rain. Temperatures
Wednesday in the lower 48 states ranged from 109 degrees in
Laredo, Texas, to 27 in Alamosa, Colo.



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Pecos Enterprise
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net

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