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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Top Stories
Monday, October 11, 1999
Gang blamed for latest damage to PHS, vehicles
By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Oct. 11, 1999 - Vandals returned to the scene of their crime
Friday night, roaming the Pecos High School parking lot with a BB gun and
shooting out windows in vehicles and buildings. Graffiti on brick walls
and doors of the school identified the damage as work of the Brown Power
Gang.
PHS Principal Danny Rodriguez said that graffiti on the brick walls
was sandblasted off early this morning. Two smiley faces on the rear glass
entry doors to the main building were the only traces of the gray spray
paint at mid-morning.
Holes remained in windows of classrooms in the annex, however. And 14
vehicles left in the parking lot while the PHS band was in Fabens had windshields
and windows broken by the BB shot.
Pecos Police Lt. Kelly Davis said that juveniles known to be BPG members
are suspected of the vandalism, which is the third such incident at Pecos
High School in recent weeks.
On Sept. 24, vandals broke seven windows on vehicles owned by Crane
residents who were attending the football game at Eagle stadium. Then on
Oct. 3, another seven windows were broken in the early-morning hours. Crimestoppers
has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects
in that case.
"I am sure it happened more than that, considering how many times cars
have been parked at the high school," Davis said. "Is it these same people?
I don't know."
But a BB gun was used in all incidents, and Davis said police have juvenile
suspects.
"We have a list of who we think is in the Brown Power Gang," Davis said.
"Some prominent people are on it."
Plans are in the works for a gang officer to be added to the police
department, he said.
"He would be able to spend the extra time needed to keep tabs on the
people."
All the recent stabbings are gang related, he said. "And we have a lot
of criminal mischief."
Friday's incident occurred while band members were in Fabens for Pecos'
football game against the Wildcats. Last season, vehicles were damaged
outside the Pecos High School field house during a football game in El
Paso.
Police are enforcing the curfew for juveniles, but this latest spree
apparently happened before 11 p.m. when it was discovered by Patrolman
Jeffery Lee Green, Davis said.
"We find some out after curfew, and all are ticketed, as are their parents,
who usually say they didn't know the kid was out," Davis said.
"Home life is our problem. When parents take care of their children
and work with them, we don't have a problem.
"If they would take them to church, spend time with them, read to them,
ask them how their day was…Delinquent parents create delinquent children,"
he said.
New duties keeping Hernandez busy
By PEGGY McCRACKEN
Staff Writer
PECOS, Oct. 11, 1999 - Benny Hernandez greets Pecos High School students
by name as they spill into the hallways between classes.
It's his job as assistant principal to enforce the dress code, apprehend
class skippers, and file charges against truants and their parents _ "Everything
you can think of. Anything goes wrong they call me."
In his first year as an administrator, Hernandez said he is enjoying
it a lot; "having a blast."
"More than anything I like the freedom to move around all over the place.
The classroom is confining," he said.
Hernandez, 37, started his classroom work at Pecos Elementary, and then
graduated to Bessie Haynes. Six of his 10 years in the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah
ISD were as a special ed teacher. During that time he completed work on
his master's degree in administration at Sul Ross State University in Alpine.
He also spent some time coaching junior varsity football and varsity
baseball, and he misses that the most.
Enforcing the dress code is the biggest challenge he has found in his
new job as disciplinarian, as students have had to adjust, or "come to
terms with it," as Hernandez says.
"We had truancy problems last year. We are trying to get that under
wraps. A lot of kids are staying home or coming halfway and taking off
and riding around," he said. "We have toughened up on truancy rules."
In the past, truants got seven warnings before school officials filed
charges in Municipal Court. Now both the student and parents get a warning
on the first offense. On the second offense the student spends three days
in on-campus suspension. And on the third offense, charges are filed.
Hernandez said he has six cases awaiting trial before Municipal Judge
Amonario Ramon.
During the interview, Head Coach Gary Grubbs stuck his head in the office
door to ask Hernandez about a student from Mexico who is proficient in
soccer and can kick a football.
"We sure need someone who can kick a football," Hernandez said, after
giving Grubbs directions to the student's classroom.
Hernandez enjoys helping the students to find their niche, either in
the classroom, in sports or in the work place.
"A lot of times we help out the kids to find a job. I will go talk to
the employer," he said. "They get me to do anything."
He's a Pecos Eagle all the way, but Hernandez admits he was starting
quarterback for the Monahans Lobos when they were Pecos' chief rivals.
And he was a member of the 1980 Lobo baseball team that beat Pecos for
the district championship on their home turf.
"I grew up here," he said. "I have relatives here, and was running around
with Pecos people."
His uncle is Gome Olibas, assistant superintendent for P-B-T. And Jimmy
Dutchover, transportation director, was a childhood chum and college pal
at SRSU.
Hernandez said he plans to stay in Pecos, although he will qualify in
three years for admission to the University of New Mexico's doctor ed program
to cap his studies for certification as a superintendent.
"I like Pecos. I know what my kids are doing before they get home,"
he said. "I am not going anywhere."
His wife Shirley, a library aide at Pecos Kindergarten, is from Albuquerque,
N.M., where he says he doesn't want to live. "Where are you going to find
the kids?" he asked.
Cody, 11, Bailey, 9, and Chance, 5, are all Pecos Eagles to the core,
he said.
When he's not riding herd on them and the 881 PHS students, Hernandez
enjoys watching baseball and college football. A knee replacement ended
his playing days, but he still can swing a golf club and hunt with bow
and arrow.
"I love to hunt, but I have no time," he said.
Chamber tells changes to `Goose' parade
PECOS, Oct. 11, 1999 - The Pecos Chamber of Commerce reminds all
parents that the date for the Mother Goose & Friends Halloween Parade
has been set for Thursday, Oct. 21, beginning at 6 p.m.
The parade has been moved back to late October this year. Previously,
it had been held in the week prior to the Reeves County Fall Fair.
Line-up for the parade will be at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 in the parking
lot of the First National Bank, in the 100 block of East Sixth Street.
The parade will proceed from there five blocks north on Oak Street, to
the West of the Pecos Museum, where a Halloween Carnival will be held in
the museum's courtyard.
For further information, call the Chamber a 445-2406.
Lotto
AUSTIN (AP) - Results of the Lotto Texas drawing Saturday night: Winning
numbers drawn: 1-4-17-37-48-50. Estimated jackpot: $14 million. Number
matching six of six: none. Matching five of six: 90. Prize: $1,669. Matching
four of six: 5,222. Prize: $103.
***
AUSTIN (AP) - Results of the Texas Million drawing Friday night: Winning
numbers drawn: 18-19-20-80. Number matching four of four in Group One:
none. Number matching four of four in Group Two: none. Number matching
four of four in Group Three: none. Number matching three of four in any
group: 406. Prize: $300.
***
AUSTIN (AP) - Results of the Cash 5 drawing Friday night: Winning numbers
drawn: 5-6-7-9-20. Number matching five of five: three. Prize: $41,438.
Matching four of five: 382. Prize: $370.
***
AUSTIN (AP) - The winning Pick 3 numbers drawn Friday by the Texas Lottery,
in order: 4-8-5 (four, eight, five)
***
AUSTIN (AP) - The winning Pick 3 numbers drawn Saturday by the Texas
Lottery, in order: 4-1-4 (four, one, four)
Weather
High Sunday 88; low last night 52. Tonight, clear. Low 50-55. Light and
variable wind. Tuesday, sunny. High in the mid 80s. Southwest wind near
10 mph. Extended forecast, Tuesday night, clear. Low in the lower to mid
50s. Wednesday through Friday, mostly sunny days and fair nights through
the period. Highs in the mid 80s. Lows in the lower to mid 50s.
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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