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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Thursday, July 29, 1999
Highway 17 rebuilding set to begin
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 29, 1999 -- While the traditional seal coating work during
the summer is slowing down motorists on roads around the area, drivers
are being advised by the Texas Department of Transportation a larger project
is about to get underway in southern Reeves County.
Barricades have already been set up by TxDOT in the Saragosa area in
preparation for rebuilding more than nine miles of State Highway 17 from
Farm to Market Road 3334 to the south frontage road of Interstate 10 near
Balmorhea, according to Pecos Area Engineer Paul Henderson.
"We started that yesterday, putting up the barricades and the real work
will began either today or Monday," said Henderson.
"Construction, which will start at the north end of the project, will
be completed in three-mile sections," said Henderson, and will run south
to the small rest area, where Highway 17 merges with I-10 on its way to
Balmorhea.
The work zone includes the community of Saragosa. "Actually, Saragosa
is about in the middle of it," said Henderson.
The work will be performed by Jones Bros. Dirt and Paving Contractors,
Inc., of Odessa, at a cost of at about $3.7 million. Construction is expected
to be completed by mid-January with the final surface to be placed in late
May, according to Henderson.
Motorists will encounter a flagman, who will advise them of the length
of the expected delay. A pilot car will ferry traffic through the work
zone. Drivers are urged to observe all warning signs and proceed with caution
through the project.
Traffic using County Roads 310, 307 and 305, and FM 1215 and 2448 should
proceed cautiously from those intersections.
Residents of Saragosa can expect construction at that community about
the second week of October.
"We've been planning this project for awhile," said Henderson. "Usually
when we have a project of this magnitude it takes about two years of planning,"
he said. Work on rebuilding the northern portion of Highway 17, between
Pecos and Verhalen, was carried out by TxDOT in the early 1990s.
Old gym gets new look over summer
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, July 29, 1999 -- Go by Pecos High School right now, and the
reconstruction work on the Eagle Stadium track is easy to spot.
But work is also continuing next door, in the old Pecos High School
gym, where improvements to the 39-year-old building have been underway
since June.
Both projects are a combined effort of the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD,
the Town of Pecos City, and Reeves County. The gym project was approved
along with the formation of the Reeves County Community Recreation Department
last year, and is a continuing job, with the first section scheduled to
be completed in the next few weeks.
"We better have it done by the time school starts, because it has to
ready for the kids to use when they get back," said Community Recreation
Department director Nora Geron, whose new office in the old gym's lobby
was the first work done at the facility.
Right now, paper covers the floor of the main gym, while work is underway
to repaint the wooden walls and the ceiling of the building. Meanwhile,
in the small gym on the south side of the facility, the walls already have
been repainted white and a new floor mat has been laid down.
The two basketball goals have been taken down and two air conditioning
units have been installed at either end so it can be used as a fitness
center.
Part of the gym wall still has to be stripped of peeling paint before
it can be redone, and Geron said after the white base is applied, "Mr.
Holland (Pecos High School art teacher Walter Holland) is going to put
some sort of design on after it's all done."
On Wednesday, Holland's daughter, Leia, and Geron's granddaughter, Victora
Hernandez, were helping to apply purple and gold trim to the walls of the
small gym.
"They next thing I want to work on is the lobby," Geron said. She hopes
to get the walls painted and rearranged the trophies and photos currently
along the lobby's back wall.
One thing that definitely won't be in place by the time school starts
is a new racquetball room. After initially looking at putting it in an
existing part of the building, it was decided earlier this year that a
new section would have to be built for the racquetball court.
"The architects are looking at the area over near the fence (on the
west side of the gym) to see if they can put them there," Geron said. The
original plans had the racquetball courts going into the small gym, but
the ceiling was found to be too short to fit a court wall in without covering
up the windows and the new air-conditioners.
The gym still isn't cold this time of year — the a/c units are only
slightly larger than a regular window-mounted home unit — but Geron said,
"They create a little breeze, and the aerobics people say that really helps."
The main part of the gym remains fan-cooled, and will also need more
work sometime in the future.
"I hope they can get to the floor next," said Geron, referring to stripping
off the old the varnish and resurfacing the wood, while new padding for
the undersides of the basketball backboards is also needed.
The gym project was part of a effort to create a new recreation facility
for Pecos. The old Pecos Community Recreation Department had been housed
at the West Pecos Gym at Third and Park Streets until December of 1990,
when the building was closed due to unsafe ceiling rafters.
The PCRD operated out of several different locations after the gym was
shut, supervising outdoor recreational activities until funding was ended
four years ago. Meanwhile, there was no indoor facility for basketball,
volleyball, racquetball or other recreational activities until Reeves County
Judge Jimmy Galindo got together with school and city officials about using
the old high school gym during the summer and after school hours.
The old gym has only been used for a handful of varsity games since
Pecos High School's new gym opened in 1983. It is still used for regular
gym classes, practice, sub varsity games and other school events, but until
now had received only minor improvements over the past 15 years.
"This is a good gym. It's a well-built building, but it had just fallen
into disrepair," said Geron.
Council to study new budget
PECOS, July 29, 1999 -- Town of Pecos City Council members will meet on
Friday at in the council's chambers at City Hall to discuss and consider
proposed budget for 1999-2000.
The 4:30 p.m. special meeting will consist of looking over the budget
only.
Lotto
AUSTIN (AP) — Results of the Lotto Texas drawing Wednesday night:
Winning numbers drawn: 7-18-19-21-34-48. Estimated jackpot: $10 million.
Number matching six of six: 1. Winning ticket sold in: Midland. Matching
five of six: 97. Prize: $1,442. Matching four of six: 5,204. Prize: $96.
***
AUSTIN (AP) — The winning Pick 3 numbers drawn Wednesday by the Texas
Lottery, in order:
8-6-4 (eight, six, four)
Police Report
EDITOR'S NOTE: Information contained in the Police Report is obtained from
reports filed by the Pecos Police Department, Reeves County Sheriff's Office,
or other officers of those agencies.
The serving of warrants by an officer for outstanding fines of either
traffic citations, animal control violations or other court costs are considered
arrests and will be printed as such unless indicated that the fines were
paid. In such instances we will indicate payment and release.
***
Frederico Lara, 42, was arrested at 5:31 p.m., on July 17, in the 800
block of South Walnut Street, on a warrant out of Ector County for bond
forfeiture.
***
Paul Rivera, 30, Anthony Rivera, 34, and Jose Chavez, 20, were arrested
at 11:14 p.m., on July 17, at Saragosa Hall. Paul Rivera was charged with
interfering with a peace officer; Anthony Rivera for resisting arrest/failure
to identify/evading detention and Chavez for disorderly conduct/public
intoxication.
***
Francisco Reyes, 18, was arrested at 8:52 a.m., on July 18, in the 1000
block of Ash Street, on Capias Pro Fine warrants.
***
Santiago V. Ortiz, 34, was arrested at 9:27 a.m., on July 18, at the
corner of Fourth and Cherry streets, on a DWI refusal.
***
Robert Allen Bakewell, 36, was arrested at 9:37 p.m., on July 18, in
the 3000 block of South Cedar Street, for public intoxication/disorderly
conduct/failure to identify.
***
Grace Ornelas, 27, was arrested at 1:41 a.m., on July 19, at the corner
of Ninth and Pecan streets, on Capias Pro Fine warrants.
***
Raul Fuentes Martinez, 46, was arrested at 8:15 p.m., on July 19, at
the corner of Fifth and Cedar streets, on Capias Pro Fine warrants.
***
Delfino Lujan, 47, was arrested at 7:54 p.m., on July 20, on West `F'
Street, for public intoxication.
***
Myron Jenkins, 27, was arrested at 8:58 p.m., on July 21, in the 200
block of Ninth Street, on a Capias Pro Fine warrant.
***
Thomas Salcido, 48, was arrested at 1:23 a.m., on July 23, in the 200
block of West Fourth Street, for public intoxication.
***
Ector Martinez, 36, was served with a Capias Pro Fine warrant at 9:22
a.m., on July 23, at Reeves County Jail.
***
Nicolas Hernandez, 33, was arrested at 12:05 a.m., on July 24, in the
900 block of East Second Street, for public intoxication/disorderly conduct.
***
Wesley Ray Curry, 56, was arrested at 10:23 p.m., on July 25, in the
600 block of North Cedar Street, for public intoxication.
***
Rodolfo Beltran, 36, was arrested at 1:35 a.m., on July 27, at the corner
of 12th and Walnut streets, for unlawfully carrying a weapon/public intoxication.
Weather
High Wednesday 101 Low this morning 73. Forecast for tonight: Mostly
clear. Low 70-75. South wind 5-15 mph. Friday, partly cloudy. High 95-100.
South to southwest wind 10-20 mph. Extended forecast, Friday night, mostly
clear. Low around 70. Saturday through Monday, partly cloudy with a slight
chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows 70-75. Highs in the 90s.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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