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Opinion

Mac McKinnon

Observations

By MacMcKinnon
Enterprise Publisher

Tuesday, October 6, 1998

Tax proposal means
new industry, jobs



Last week, I wrote about the urgent need for city voters to
pass the 4A sales tax initiative for use of the money for
economic development.

I want to follow that up with more information on what this
is all about.

Let me quickly explain that the election is about diverting
1/4 cent sales tax from the city to be used for economic
development. It will still be controlled by the city as they
will appoint the five-member board that will oversee
economic development efforts.

It is NOT a tax increase.

I believe everyone knows that we need economic development.
For too many years, if anything bad happened to Pecos, the
old song and dance was that Pecos will recover - it always
has and this time is no different.

Well, times have changed. All smaller towns are having
problems and the ones who survive and prosper are the ones
who go out and do something about their problems.

That is what economic development is all about. To be frank,
there are many different opinions on what needs to be done.
Some people believe the Chamber of Commerce should be doing
this. The Chamber in most communities have done this over
the years but they can only do bits and pieces because of a
lack of time.

That's what has happened here over the years with a special
committee to work on prospects. But, most of the people
involved have fulltime jobs and don't have the time,
particularly in difficult times, to spend doing the work of
economic development.

That's why a person or persons are needed to do this work
fulltime. One of the main things that needed to be done was
to get information about Pecos and Reeves County together to
be able to present it to prospective businesses and
industries, such as what kind of buildings are available,
labor force, taxes, utilities, transportation, land and land
costs, etc.

Gari Ward, who has been hired as our economic development
director, has already taken care of getting our homework
done. You can't very well go out and peddle the town to a
prospect unless you know what you've got to offer.

We've had a number of prospects over the years but while
many people have taken a considerable amount of time to work
with them, we simply didn't have our act together to pursue
and close the deal.

Again, that takes time. It's nobody's fault other than we
simply haven't had an organized effort.

We get lists of prospects from various organizations such as
the state commerce department and utility companies and
there is a lot of work involved in putting together
proposals. There is no telling how many manhours have been
spent by a number of business leaders to do just that.

A key to landing a prospect is knowing exactly what to do.
We all need training in industrial recruiting and Ward has
been attempting to do that, sending our surveys to get
people involved and finding out what people need to know.

Plus, we must get everyone involved in having pride in our
community and making people feel welcome when they do come
to town. Pride is something that seems to be in short supply
and we've got to believe in our town if we want someone to
move here.

Many times, we need to go to other places to meet and talk
with people about Pecos. Pecos needs to be exposed to the
outside world through various types of efforts such as trade
shows, meeting with industry leaders, etc.

And all of that takes money. That's the bottom line on the
need to pass the 4A tax proposal. Please do so Nov. 3.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mac McKinnon is the editor and publisher of
the Pecos Enterprise whose column appears each Tuesday. He
can be e-mailed at: bigmac@bitstreet.com

YOUR VIEW

Formal protest filed in land sale dispute


To The Editor:
Re: Cause No. 95-11-15226-CVR Pecos River Livestock Company,
ET AL.

I am formally protesting and appealing your judgment of
September 21, 1998 in the above case. I am specifically
protesting your Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law,
page 2, paragraphs 4 and 5.

I purchased the Pecos River Livestock Co. land which was
sold at a Sheriff's/Constable sale on September 3, 1996. I
also paid 2 years delinquent taxes on the property plus I
was paying the current taxes (until I found out the sale
might have been illegal). I have incurred attorney fees,
travel fees, countless telephone charges and the loss of a
buyer for the property due to the delays of the Court, the
outright fraudulent claims of the defendants, and now the
possible incompetence of the Reeves County officials in
charge of carrying out court orders.

Your Honor states in his findings that the sale was not made
in accordance with the Court's Order. Where is that Order?
It is not a part of the records I received from the Court
files. The Sheriff Arnulfo Gomez, acting as an agent for
Reeves County, assured me that the sale was a legal sale.
The former District Attorney for Reeves County, John
Stickels, also assured Sheriff Gomez that the sale was a
legal sale. I have been waiting for a year and a half for
your Honor to sign the final judgment because I (had) a
buyer for the property.

As for your findings listed in paragraph 5, where is the
Stipulation you mentioned? It is not a part of the judgment
that I can see. My attorney drafted an agreement for the
defendants to sign when I was trying to get a clear title,
but to my knowledge, it was NEVER signed by officials of
Reeves County. Again, where is that Stipulation? Why isn't
it part of the judgment?
I sincerely hope your Honor can answer my questions and
provide me with the items I have mentioned above.

Sandra Kimbel
Lomita, Calif. 90717

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