PECOS, June 28, 1996 - Cantaloupe and onion fields at Barilla and
Coyanosa stayed mostly dry Thursday when a welcome rain soaked Pecos and
surrounding areas.
Harvest is underway in cantaloupe and onion fields, and Pecos
Cantaloupe Company head A.B. Foster was pleased that the greatest amount
of rain on those fields was half an inch. Most fields received about .25
inch, he said.
Officially, Pecos received 1.79 inch, more than double the rainfall for
the first six months of the year. Downtown gauges caught more than 2
inches.
Heavy rains were reported at Verhalen, where creeks were up, flooding
fields and roads.
The line of storms covered a narrow area and traveled from the
southwest to northeast Thursday afternoon and evening. Rains also fell
in the Pyote, Wink and Kermit areas, and flash flood warnings were
issued during the evening for Ward and Winkler counties and Lea County
in New Mexico.
Both Red Bluff Lake and Toyah received good rains. James Calloway
reported 1.43 inch in the National Weather Service gauge at Red Bluff,
with no accompanying hail and little wind.
Coyanosa got no rain, said Gail Fritter, Coyanosa Co-op manager.
Balmorhea got "a little," said an employee at Balmorhea Fishing Resort.
Combined with the .80 inches of rain Pecos received on June 16, the
city's rain total is 2.59 inches during the past two weeks. Only .75
inches had fallen in the city up until then in 1996.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms will dampen portions of the state
tonight and Saturday, but most areas won't get any significant
precipitation, the Associated Press reported.
In West Texas, it will be partly cloudy with a chance of showers or
thunderstorms over the northwest South Plains and from far West Texas
eastward through the Trans-Pecos.
PECOS, June 28, 1996 - Quail Dobbs will once again be in Pecos for the
West of the Pecos Rodeo festivities, and a special exhibit has been set
up at the West of the Pecos Museum in his honor.
The exhibit is on display at the museum between now and July 15 and
Dobbs is planning to make a special appearance there on next Wednesday
and Thursday. He will be on hand to sign autographs and entertain the
children. Quail Dobbs puppets and T-shirts also will be on sale at the
museum.
This is his 16th year the Coahoma native has participated in the annual
event.
Since 1981, Dobbs has been spending his July 4 in Pecos. He has
entertained everyone at the rodeo events with his cantankerous car,
visited with young people and charmed those at the nursing home.
Each year he visits the West of the Pecos Museum and is generally a very
sought after, popular fellow while in town.
He has been in professional rodeo as a clown for more than 34 years and
has made appearances annually in 25-35 rodeos all over the United
States.
His awards include the prestigious "Coors Man in the Can" for 1985,
1986, 1990 and 1993. He has worked the National Finals Rodeo four times,
once fighting bulls and three times as barrel man.
He has been a Barrel Clown for rodeos from Canada to Australia to Texas.
His award list is long and impressive.
Dobbs was honored as "Act of the Year" of the Texas Circuit last year.
Born in Albany, Tx., to A.C. and Avis Lucille Dobbs, he and his older
brother Leon, were raised in the back of a boot and shoe repair shop.
With his family moving several times Dobbs started grade school in
Albany, then on to Post, Kermit and Abilene before graduating from
Colorado City High School in 1961.
During high school he met Judy, the daughter of deputy sheriff,
successful calf roper and rancher W.R. (Billy Bob) McGuire. After high
school graduation Judy McGuire went to college West Texas State in
Canyon, while Dobbs went and "tried to be a cowboy" by riding bulls and
barebacks.
In those days he could be found washing horses, being a tack man, taking
care of saddles, feeding and watering livestock, building arenas and
trying to keep from getting bucked off.
In 1962 while at the rodeo in Buffalo, Minnesota, Dobbs was asked by
bullfighter George Doak if he was interested in being a barrel man. Doak
had a barrel, but no one to work it and he asked Dobbs to give it a try.
He has been doing it ever since.
Dobbs worked several rodeos that next year with other guys and got his
PRCA card in 1963. He and Judy were married in 1964 during his first
year as a pro, making their home in Coahoma, Tx. and she went on the
road with him in the travel trailer they called their second home.
As their children, Stephanie and Coley, were born the family continued
to travel with Dobbs on the road from rodeo to rodeo. They settled in
Coahoma because they wanted their children to have a normal academic
school life. They liked the small community and the people and felt that
Coahoma was where they wanted the children to be raised. During the
off-time for the Rodeo, he drove a truck in the winters hauling cattle
and feed to make ends meet.
In 1965 Dobbs knew he needed a specialty act and Stock Contractor Bob
Barnes told him that if he'd buy "the car" from Jerry Olson - who had an
old jalopy act as well as a trained buffalo act - he could bullfight for
all the Barnes Rodeos.
Dobbs bought the car from Jerry and credits the car as "the best thing
that's ever happened to me in Rodeo. Without it I couldn't have
accomplished everything I have."
The car has opened doors for Dobbs all over the United States. Although
he doesn't take it with him every year, the car act got him noticed and
invited back by folks in Cheyenne, Wyoming for 25 years; in Houston for
22 years; in El Paso for close to 30 years and of course Pecos, for the
past 16 years.
His wife, Judy works for the Coahoma School District. Daughter Stephanie
Rotan is a school teacher in Odessa. She and her husband Wayne, have two
children Reagan, 4, and Shelby. Son Coley (John Coleman) graduated from
The University of Texas and is presently working at the State Hospital
in Big Spring.
When asked he had any regrets about not staying with the "cowboy route"
Dobbs said, "No regrets. This is my niche. I knew I could make it as a
clown. I always knew I wanted to be funny, at least that's why my
teachers said in high school."
PECOS, June 28, 1996 - A special mass has been scheduled on Sunday at
the Pecos High School gymnasium to welcome the Most Reverend Armando X.
Ochoa, the new Bishop for the El Paso Diocese.
The Catholic parishioners of Pecos and the surrounding area are invited
to attend the special welcoming mass for the new bishop, sponsored by
the Santa Rosa Catholic Church.
A reception will be held following the mass at the Reeves County Civic
Center.
Bishop Ochoa was installed Wednesday in El Paso, where he succeeds the
Most Reverend Raymundo J. Pena, who was named bishop of Brownsville in
July 1995.
He assumed his duties as head of the El Paso Diocese, which includes the
Pecos area, this past Sunday.
During this week, El Paso Catholics have celebrated the appointment of
Ochoa to their bishop's chair.
Celebration events began with a prayer ceremony on Sunday in St. Patrick
Cathedral, when he formally took possession of the diocese. Ochoa met
with youth from throughout the diocese that same day for a convocation
of prayer and psalms.
The installation on June 26 was attended by about 40 bishops from Texas
and California and about 200 priests and religious dignitaries.
The announcement that U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm will fill the senate
agriculture committee seat vacated by Bob Dole is great news for Texas
farmers and ranchers, said the president of the state's largest general
farm organization.
"We are facing some of the worst agriculture problems related to drought
that this state has faced in a long time - maybe the worst problems
ever," said Bob Stallman, Texas Farm Bureau president.
"It's going to be very important to have an advocate for Texas
agriculture in Washington, D.C. and appropriately placed on the senate
ag committee to help us out," he said.
Gramm said his first and most critical mission on the committee will be
to make certain drought-stricken producers have every bit of assistance
that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is capable of providing.
He said the current drought represents the largest threat to the state's
agriculture industry since he's served in the Senate.
"I believe this new committee assignment will help me help farmers and
ranchers in Texas," Gramm said.
PECOS, June 28, 1996 - Reeves County may or may not have a County
Democratic Party Chairman, but that does not prohibit the longtime
leader of Democrats from participating in political party activities,
according to a local attorney.
No one has been able to answer the question whether Robert Camp (Bobby)
Dean is officially still the Reeves County Democratic Chairman, but his
attorney Scott Johnson said that he, "personally encourages," Dean to
continue as an active member of the Democratic Party.
Dean agreed to resign from his post earlier this year, following a
session of the 143rd District Court grand jury. His resignation from the
position as Democratic chairman was posted by the Reeves County Clerk's
Office on April 24 and was to become effective May 31, but no official
announcement has been made on the status of the chairman's position.
Dean was unavailable for comment as of press time, and Johnson said he
has asked Dean to restrain from public comment.
Dean's resignation was, "pursuant to the agreement previously reached,"
on February 29 before a Reeves County grand jury hearing, said Johnson
in an earlier interview.
There has been no formal announcement by anyone on either side of the
issue as to the reason for the grand jury investigation into Dean's
position. But Dean signed an agreement drawn up by 143rd District
Attorney John Stickels that called for his resignation.
Dean ran unopposed for the party chairman's position 13 days later and
received just over 38 percent of the votes cast during the March primary
election.
A new party chairman should have been chosen by members of the party's
executive committee, composed of the 12 elected precinct chairpersons,
during a May meeting.
However, Johnson explained that because five of the 12 party chair
positions are vacant, the committee is currently unable to meet a quorum
to officially approve Deans's resignation and take nominations for a
successor to the two-year, unexpired term.
The executive committee has the final say on who the chairman will be,
said Dean in his agreement.
However, Mary Morey of the State Democratic Party headquarters said that
the State Democratic Chairman, Bill White, can intervene and call his
own meeting to appoint a new CDC. But she added, "there is no reason for
the state office to get involved."
Morey said that the outgoing party chairman can still call a meeting to
elect his replacement.
The state office representative said that they have not received a copy
of Dean's resignation letter nor a list of the executive committee
members, which is the responsibility of the Democratic Party Chairman to
mail to the Austin party headquarters.
Stickels said that Dean, "has resigned and is no longer the (Reeves
County) democratic chairman," and if he is acting as such, "he is acting
under false pretenses."
The long-time Democratic chairman was the target of much criticism
earlier this year, after he failed to ensure that all required
signatures were present before notarizing a petition for candidacy
turned in by Mickey Vasquez, who was seeking to run for the Reeves
County Precinct 1 seat in the March 12 primary. Because of the
discrepancy with the signatures, he was unable to do so.
Vasquez filed his petition on Jan. 2, the final day to file, and his
signature was discovered missing two days later by incumbent for the
same position, Lupe Garcia and Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo,
although Dean's notary stamp was on the document.
Because Vasquez turned in his petition on the last day to file he was
therefore unable to submit a new form to reinstate himself in the
commissioner's race.
Garcia ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in March. Vasquez
will join the race as a write-in candidate in the November elections.
June 27, 1996 - A nationwide search covering several months and dozens
of candidates came to an end this week with the hiring of an executive
vice president for the Fort Stockton Chamber of Commerce. Jerry Watts of
Atoka, Okla. won the position over 31 other applicants. The chamber
board feels he will fit in well and that he will serve the citizens
well, said Chamber president Clyde Sawyer. Watts is a native of Houston.
June 27, 1996 - An open house is planned this Sunday (June 30) at the
Fort Davis Very Long Baseline Array Station from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Opened
in 1993 by the National Radio Astronomy observatory, the VLBA is the
largest single integrated astronomical instrument in the world. The
receiving station at Fort Davis, with its 240-ton dish antenna, is one
of 10 such stations distributed across the United States from Hawaii to
the Virgin Islands. Radio signals received from galaxies, pulsars,
quasars and other celestial objects are recorded on magnetic tape and
sent to VLBA headquarters in Socorro, N.M.
June 27, 1996 - Former Presidio County Tax Assessor-Collector Sandra
Salgado of Marfa pleaded guilty Monday to felony theft and was sentenced
to 10 years probation and ordered to pay the county $34,289 restitution.
She will perform 200 hours of community service, pay court cost of $169
and probation fees. Salgado resigned from office in September 1995 amid
allegations of missing money from the tax office. An audit revealed
$34,289 missing.
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June 27, 1996 - Hundreds of Catholics from all over West Texas are
expected to attend a mass and reception in Alpine June 29 celebrating
the appointment of the Most Reverend Armando X. Ochoa of Oxnard, Calif.,
as the fifth bishop of El Paso. Bishop Ochoa was installed June 26 in El
Paso, where he succeeds the most Reverend Raymundo J. Pena. The special
Mass will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Sul Ross State University.
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June 27, 1996 - Like manna from heaven, $300,000 fell into the lap of
the Presidio Independent School District last week. And that will help
balance the 1996-97 budget without requiring a tax increase, said Supt.
David Simmons. School board members have been struggling with a $1
million deficit and pared back the budget. With the unexpected revenue
from the state's "Robin Hood" plan, the $12.7 per $100 valuation tax
rate won't have to be increased this year.
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June 27, 1996 - Ward County Commissioners approved the coliseum parking
lot in Monahans for discharge of fireworks on July 3-4. In Barstow, the
approved location is the baseball field. It will be illegal to discharge
fireworks on any other date or at any other location. The court made it
clear that violators will be subject to arrest and prosecution.
June 28, 1996 - High Thursday 91, low last night 68. Rainfall 1.79
inches. June rainfall 2.59 inches. Year-to-date 3.34 inches. Tonight,
widely scattered evening showers and thunderstorms. Low in the upper
60s. Southeast wind 5-15 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent. Saturday,
mostly sunny. High in the mid 90s. Southeast wind 10-20 mph.