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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Tuesday, December 28, 1999

Students injured in rollover near Barstow

By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Dec. 29, 1999 -- Five teenage girls were injured in a one-vehicle accident Monday night east of Pecos, with two transported to Odessa Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.

The accident occurred at about 9 p.m., on Business Interstate 20 in Ward County, about two miles west of Barstow.

"All the occupants of the vehicle were juveniles," said Department of Public Safety Trooper Richard Jacobs, who investigated the accident.

The five, all students at Pecos High School, were westbound on Business I-20 in a 1998 Chevrolet Impala, when the vehicle ran off the road on the south side, the driver overcorrected, and the Impala overturned three times before coming to rest upright, at the base of the Union Pacific railroad tracks on the north side of the highway. Four of the five passengers were ejected from the vehicle, Jacobs said.

All were taken to Reeves County Hospital, where three of the girls, identified as Carmen Matta, Cecilia Chavez, and Clarissa Munoz, were treated and released.

The two most seriously injured were identified as Rosa Evelyn Rubio and Eleni Martinez. Rubio was transported to Odessa Medical Center where she is listed in stable condition with a possible broken pelvis while Martinez was transported to Odessa Medical Center for treatment of a concussion and broken wrist. She is listed in stable condition.

The preliminary report did not indicate whether or not excess speed or alcohol were contributing factors to the accident. Jacobs talked to other PHS students who said they witnessed the rollover, and the exact cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Pena, Thomas join commissioners' races

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Dec. 29, 1999 -- The Precinct 3 race for Reeves County Commissioner officially got its fourth candidate on Monday, when James H. Thomas joined incumbent Herman Tarin, Jimmy Gallego and David Patillo on the March 14 Democratic primary ballot. And the race for commissioner in Precinct 1 is now a three-man race with the addition this morning of Roy Pena to the ballot..

"Pena qualified today," said Reeves County Democratic Party chairman Bobby Dean. He currently works for the county in maintenance with the Reeves County Community Recreation Department, and also serves as chief of the Pecos Volunteer Fire Department.

Incumbent Precinct 1 Commissioner Felipe Arredondo already has filed for a new term, along with challenger Jesse Baeza. In multiple candidate races, if no one receives 50 percent of the vote on March 14, the top two finishers will compete in an April runoff election.

Dean said Monday he certified Thomas' petition, and Thomas then filed his treasurer's designation with County Clerk Diane Florez' office later in the day.

With one week left until the filing deadline, the Precinct 3 commissioner's race has the most candidates, while two other county-wide races are expected to be contested elections in the March primary.

Incumbent Arnulfo "Andy" Gomez has already filed with both Dean and Florez to seek a third four-year term as sheriff. He is expected to be challenged by former sheriff's deputy Tony Aguilar, who has filed his treasurer's designation with Florez but has not yet has his filing petition certified by Dean.

"I think he brought his petition to the county tax office for checking, but I haven't seen it yet," Dean said today. Candidates can either file a petition with the signatures of 50 registered voters or pay a $600 filing fee to have their names placed on the primary ballot.

A county-wide race that will be contested is for Reeves County Attorney, where incumbent Walter Holcombe is seeking re-election and will be challenged by Louis Carrasco.

Races where only one candidate has filed so far include Elfida Zuniga for Reeves County Tax Assessor-Collector, Arnulfo Granado for Precinct 1 Constable, and Tommy Martinez for Precinct 3 Constable. Clinton M. Glenn has filed his treasurer's designation for the Precinct 2 Constable's spot.

The winners of either the March primary or April runoff election will be on the Democratic line in the November 2000 general election.

Candidates can also file to run in the Republican Party primary election, which also will take place on March 14. However, most local elections in Reeves County have been decided in the Democratic primary over the years.

If you are interested in running for local office as a Democrat or in becoming a precinct chair contact Bobby Dean at 915-445-3071 or 915-528-7447, for the forms necessary to have your name placed on the ballot. Candidates seeking spots on the Republican Party ballot should contact Republican Party Chairman is Lou Lewis, who can be contacted at Desert Distributors, 2323 Oliver St., or call 447-9078.

Candidates in the Barstow area seeking office will have to file their petitions with the Democratic or Republican Party chairmen in Ward County, as well as filing their treasurer's designations with the Ward County Clerk.

Incumbent Ward County Commissioner for Precinct 1 Julian Florez has filed with the county clerk's office for a second four-year term and currently has no challengers. Also unopposed so far is Robert M Garcia in the race for constable for Precincts 1 and 4.

Four hopefuls have filed treasurer's designations for Ward County Sheriff. They are Steven K. Vestal, Mikel Duane Strickland, Juan P. Rodriguez, Jr., and James C. Price. Kevin D. Acker has filed his designation for Ward County Attorney and Dolores H. Fine for tax assessor-collector, the other two county-wide races in March.

In two races not involving Barstow voters, both Ronald W. Didders and Melvin R. Craft have filed treasurer's designations for the Precinct 1 commissioner's post, and James P. Hammond has filed his designation for Precinct 2-3 constable.

CCRC tries Pyote meeting again

PECOS, Dec. 29, 1999 -- If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

That's what The Community Council of Reeves County is going to do tonight, as they have scheduled another meeting at 6 p.m. in the Pyote Community Center to discuss several items.

The CCRC has tried and failed to meet in Pyote several times over the past few months, with the latest failed attempt due to a lack of a quorum last Tuesday.

Items on the agenda include maintenance on the Saragosa Multi-purpose Center and an agreement for building utilization between in CCRC and Greater Opportunities of the Permian Basin.

The Saragosa center is under old items on the agenda. Other items there include updates on the fall community council conference in Galveston in November and on the 1999 energy conference held last week in Austin.

Other new items are updates on the CSBG, CEAP and Weatherization projects, an update on the elderly meals program, presenting the CSBG Community Action Plan and the CEAP Service Delivery Plan, an update on an appeal for denial of services, a proposal for the 1999-2000 audit, an update on the 2000 CSBG budget and consider and act upon the CCRC 2000 holiday schedule.

GTE wants to limit New Year's calls

DALLAS, Dec. 29, 1999 -- GTE is ready for the Year 2000 rollover, and is confident that its customers will enjoy the same level of reliability in its wireline, wireless, video and data networks as they do today without major disruptions.

Customers can do their part to avoid possible network congestion, or a "telephone rush hour," by resisting the temptation to test their home or cell phones at or near midnight on Friday.

If thousands of people in a given area pick up telephone receivers at the same time, using any telephone system in the United States, the system's capacity to complete calls will be overloaded. The same would be true at any time of the year because a telephone switch _ the computer that connects calls _ can only provide a certain amount of dial tone, and too great a demand for that dial tone would result in the system dropping calls.

In the same way that our highways are not built to handle every car on the road at the same time, telephone switches are designed to handle peak traffic that does not include very telephone being in use at once. If customers hear a "fast busy signal" or "all circuits are busy" message it simply means that all circuits are in use, not that the telephone network has been affected by the Y2K rollover. In these instances, customers should simply wait a few minutes and try their call again.

Consumer tips offered include:

· Stay off the telephone when the New Year arrives unless you have a critical need to make a telephone call.

· Heavy e-mail and Internet usage can congest phone lines as much as ordinary calls. Large e-mail messages will eat up available bandwidth. Wait, if possible, to send e-mail. If you have to send messages, make them short.

· Call 911 for police, medical or fire emergencies only. Do not call 911 unnecessarily.

· If you experience other types of problems not related to these emergency services, call the appropriate telephone number for those services.

· Have a list of non-emergency local phone numbers for police, fire and medical services in case 911 is unavailable.

· If you pick up your telephone to make a call and do not hear dial tone, do not hang up. Simply wait a few seconds, and you will get dial tone and be able to make your call.

· If you run a business and will be transferring or re-routing customer calls, be sure to make a test call to ensure the correct destination telephone number is entered. Otherwise, if your customers call and get a fax machine or wrong number, they may assume it is a Y2K issue.

· If you experience telephone trouble, follow the troubleshooting tips in the front pages of your GTE telephone directory. If you are not able to isolate the problem to your equipment call GTE's Customer Care Center at, 1-800-483-1000 (residential), 1-800-483-2000 (business).

Customers can confirm that their local telephone line is Y2K compliant by going to GTE's Year 2000 Readiness web site at http://www.gte.com/customersupport/y2k/npanxx.htm . Additional information about GTE's Y2K preparedness program can be viewed at http://www.gte.com/y2k.

GTE has spend nearly $400 million so that phones work when customers need them during the Year 2000 rollover and beyond. During the past 41/2 years, as many as 1,600 employees worked full time to bring the company into compliance. Mission critical systems have been tested during multiple drills within the the cmpany and with many equipment vendors. Between Dec. 31 and Jan. 4, GTE will have roughly 1,000 employees working at its Y2K command centers located around the world. Another, 1,000 employees will be on call.
 

Lottery


AUSTIN (AP) - Results of the Cash 5 drawing Monday night: Winning numbers drawn: 06-15-28-33-37. Number matching five of five: one. Prize per winner: $76,184. Winning ticket sold in: Schertz. Matching four of five: 226. Prize: $505.

***

AUSTIN (AP) - The winning Pick 3 numbers drawn Monday by the Texas Lottery, in order: 2-9-5 (two, nine, five)

Obituaries

Ana Marie Polanco

PECOS, Dec. 29, 1999 -- Ana Marie Granado Polanco, 52, of El Paso, died Monday, Dec. 26, 1999, at her residence.

A rosary will be held at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 28, at Christ the King Catholic Church in Balmorhea.

Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 29, at Christ The King Catholic Church in Balmorhea with Father Mike Alcuino officiating. Burial will be in Balmorhea Cemetery.

She wsa born Aug. 8, 1947, in Marfa, was the manager for a beauty supply company and a Catholic.

Survivors include her husband, Marcelo Polanco of El Paso; two sons, Marcelo Polanco, Jr. of Lafayette, La., Robert Polanco of El Paso; three brothers, Richard and Thomas Granado of El Paso and Ray Granado of Fredericksburg; three sisters, Ida Garcia of Balmorhea, Teresa Garcia of Odessa and Connie Granado of El Paso; one granddaughter and many nieces and nephews.

Pecos Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Manuel Ponce

PECOS, Dec. 29, 1999 -- Manuel Ponce, 86, died Friday, Dec. 24, in El Paso.

A rosary will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 28, at Martin Funeral Home in El Paso.

Mass is scheduled for 9 a.m., Wednesday, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church in El Paso, with burial at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Saragosa.

He was a long-time former Pecos resident of Pecos and Saragosa and was a farmer.

Survivors include his wife, Clara; one son; four daughters; nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
 

Weather


High Monday 63. Low this morning 33. Forecast for tonight: Clear. Low near 30. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Wednesday: Mostly sunny. High 70 to 75. West to southwest wind 5 to 15 mph. Wednesday night: Fair skies. Low near 30. Thursday and Friday: Mostly sunny days and fair nights. Low in the upper 20s to lower 30s. Highs in the upper 60s to near 70.



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Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
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e-mail news@pecos.net

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