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County commissioners agreed this morning to hire a new Chief Executive
Officer for the facility. The vote came during the continuation of their
regularly scheduled meeting, which began on Monday morning.
Rodolfo "Rudy" Franco, who has a long list of credentials working at
other prisons, will be assuming his new duties in Pecos, following a
lengthy study of the matter.
The new CEO will begin his employment at the rate of $81,000 per year.
"This is an effort to meet the expectations of our clients, Bureau of
Prisons," said County Judge Jimmy B. Galindo. "This person is definitely
interested in the position."
Franco's resume lists him as currently serving as warden (CEO) of the La
Tune Federal Correctional Institution north of El Paso, a secure Federal
Prison with 1,300 inmates and 300 staff. Franco had bottom line
authority for the prison's $24 million annual operating budget.
His prior experience include warden (CEO) Metropolitan Detention Center,
Guaynabo, San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was responsible for a 1,000
bed Metropolitan detention center housing some of the most violent
federal offenders in the Bureau of Prisons. The San Juan facility was a
$20 million a year operation.
Franco has also been associated warden at La Tuna, discipline hearing
officer, case management coordinator and a police officer.
"The court had previously approved $70,000 for this position," said
Galindo, while explaining that through some reclassification and
budgeting the extra $11,000 in salary can be provided.
"We will reclassify the two associate warden's position to fund the new
CEO," he said.
The Bureau of Prisons supports this effort, and is anxiously awaiting
the commissioners' response, according to Galindo.
"They feel that he will meet their expectations and are very happy about
this," said Galindo.
Under the contract provided to him, Franco will function as a CEO of the
Reeves County Detention Center, will be responsible for the day to day
operations, and will answer directly to the Reeves County Commissioners'
Court for the discharge of these duties.
He will be responsible for all command and control functions and will be
available for response within three hours at any time during a weekend
off-period.
If not available within three hours at any time during a weekend
off-period, an alternative acceptable to the commissioners court will be
provided.
While Franco assumes the position of CEO at the prison, RCDC Warden Joe
Trujillo will remain in his current position at the 650-bed facility.
Along with his salary, Reeves County will provide $6,000 for travel
allowances. However, under the terms of this agreement, Franco would not
be provided health care benefits or retirement benefits by Reeves County.
"This would certainly offset the amount the court first adopted as being
the salary," said county auditor Lynn Owens.
"We just need to study the part about retirement benefits and make sure
he waives that also," said county attorney Bill Weinacht.
"This will be on a one-year basis, after the first year we will have a
review and re-appointment," said Galindo. "We ought to have an excellent
relationship with the BOP."
"Everything is looking very positive," he added.
Commissioners recessed until 2 p.m. to discuss and set new salaries for
RCDC employees.
"The document isn't final and there are still some adjustments that need
to be made," said Galindo.
In other action this morning, commissioners signed a proclamation
declaring the 16th of September Fiestas and noting that the
Mexican-American Heritage is a very important part of Pecos.
Christina Winfrey will be working as an election worker at a salary of
$6 per hour from Sept. 10 until Nov. 5.
At the Reeves County Juvenile Detention Center Lorina Carrasco will be
working as a Juvenile Detention Officer on a part-time, on call, as
needed basis, $5.50 an hour; Mark Mendoza, juvenile detention center,
$5.50 an hour, part-time, on-call, as needed; Michael Carrasco, a
full-time Juvenile Detention Officer, at $13,520 per year plus benefits
and Eusebio Carrasco, full-time Juvenile Detention Officer $13,520 a
year, with benefits.
Five part-time employees were also hired to work on the second perimeter
fence with construction under-way at this time. The employees will be
classified under Roads and Bridges.
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
Testimony concluded this morning in the 143rd District Court suit filed
by Elizer G. Florez against Reeves County Law Enforcement Center,
claiming discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Florez claims he applied for a job at the LEC (now the Reeves County
Detention Center) in 1994, but was not hired because he has four fingers
missing on his left hand.
Pete Garcia testified this morning he was one of several persons who
interviewed Florez and rated him according to criteria set up in the LEC
personnel manual.
Each member of the committee rated applicants and gave results of their
scores to the personnel manager for action, Garcia said. The person who
scored highest on that date was Brenda Padroza. She had completed her
training and obtained her jailer license and certification, Garcia said.
Closing arguments were set for this afternoon before the 12-member jury.
Richard Bonner represents the county, while Allen Shroder is Florez'
attorney. Judge Bob Parks is presiding.
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
Reynolds is one of 10 defendants in a civil suit filed by Reeves County
to recover a $131,000 low-interest loan made to the corporation in 1993
to establish a goat dairy.
Simmons said he asked to look at the books after he and other
corporation stockholders went to the goat dairy south of Pecos in May,
1994 and found it in poor condition.
Goats were sick and dying, equipment paid for with corporation funds was
missing, and much work needed to be done, Simmons said. The group worked
all weekend cleaning up, doctoring goats and cutting hooves, he said.
Before the work started, the stockholders had a confrontation with Danny
Reynolds, consultant and acting manager on the project, Simmons said.
"Danny got mad and was storming around and starting to tell everybody
what to do," he said. "There was lots of anger because of the condition
of the dairy. Danny stormed off and left in a hurry."
On the third weekend the group worked at the dairy, they discovered that
a large number of tools purchased by the corporation had been removed by
Danny Reynolds, Simmons said.
After talking with corporation president John Teague about the condition
of the dairy and finances, Simmons and his sister-in-law, Sandy Wilke,
went to Dr. Reynolds office and asked to look at the books.
Simmons said they found numerous questionable expenses and asked for
copies of the invoices so they could study them. Dr. Reynolds later had
his staff make copies for them, he said.
"We started seeing so many things wrong, we reported to the officers
that we had some real problems," Simmons said.
"We talked about doing something different...possibly some things wrong
needed to be checked into immediately. At a stockholders' meeting we
re-elected officers, and I was elected treasurer."
Among the paperwork was a water analysis on a well purchased from Dr.
Reynolds along with the 80-acre farm, Simmons said. The analysis showed
the water was very hard and barely suitable for livestock, he said.
Numerous reimbursements to Danny Reynolds were questionable, he said,
including gasoline purchases for which two separate cash tickets were
paid; purchases from Reynolds' convenience store in Carlsbad, N.M.;
tires for Reynolds' pickup; a payment of $1,339 for overhaul of the
company pickup which had been purchased from Reynolds; $1,250 for an
overhead gasoline tank that was not located at the dairy; and $130 for
half the cost of bailing the water well on the property before the
corporation purchased it from Dr. Reynolds.
Corporation members Rosemary Wilkie, president, Simmons, Debra Simmons,
secretary, Wiley Kidd, David Kidd, Mark Wilkie, L.A. Lively, Stewart
Lively and Denise Clements wrote a letter to Reeves County Judge Jimmy
Galindo on Sept. 9, 1995 detailing some of the alleged abuses and the
poor condition of the dairy.
"We have worked and paid out of our pockets for the past year to try to
keep a dream we know will work," they concluded. "We are asking for the
help before you foreclose in the way of an audit, investigation and
hopefully a restructure of the dairy."
In response to that letter, Elvia and Danny Reynolds filed a cross-claim
against signers of the letter for "falsely accusing them of
misappropriation of funds, a criminal offense."
They each seek $100,000 damages. Danny Reynolds also seeks $2,400 in
wages which he claims the corporation promised but failed to pay.
The action also claims that Reeves County failed to timely foreclose on
the collateral, give proper notice of default and/or disposition of the
collateral.
A story in Monday's Enterprise incorrectly named Randall
Reynolds as a party to the suit. Reynolds is a stockholder, but agreed
to pay his share of the debt and is not a party to the suit.
The land was sold at auction Sept. 3, according to Monday's testimony.
Some of the goats have been sold. All proceeds of sales are held in
trust by the county's attorney, John Stickels.
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
"Our philosophy, (is) that we can deliver this with a smile and a
positive attitude," Matta said.
With the first aspect of that theory in mind, Matta started up West
Texas Financial Services, Inc., the first and, currently, the only
locally-owned finance service here in town three years ago, located at
508 E. Third St.
Gaining experience while a loan officer for the Security State Bank in
the 1980s and as manager of Ben's Spanish Inn for 13 years, Matta began
his venture in May of 1993.
In May of 1995, exactly two years after forming his first business, he
and Ortega partnered into Desert Rental and Sales. "We expanded to
include furniture, appliance and electronics sales," he added.
Prior to expanding, Matta conducted his study and went so far as to
count vehicles that trafficked through East Third Street, which was an
important point in making before posting the newer business venture next
to his financial service.
"In a one-year period, we've broken our own projection," said the
co-owner. "All our goals and projections have been met," thus far, he
added.
He stated that he and his partner anticipated on making at least one
sale a day, "but we're averaging about five (sales per day)."
When they went into business two years ago, Matta said his hopes were to
provide small loans to the community with a better attitude, better
service and make the company's policies fit the local needs.
The office has been manned by Matta, Ortega, Aida Contreras and
part-time employee, Monica Navarette.
"Our idea paid off," said Matta whose past work included 14 years on the
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school board. "Lots of hard work and long hours,"
has produced some 850 clients.
"It looks like that's what the local community wanted," he added.
"To date, we insist on personally handling every transaction, in order
to stay in touch with the customer," said Matta on the financial
service's operations.
Even after adding Desert Rentals, "Ray and I still handle most of the
customers personally and we insist that everybody be greeted when they
walk through that door," Matta said.
Two more employees were hired to aid in the operation of DRS, one to
help out with the office work and another with the delivery, which is
free.
Currently DRS is working with 350 accounts, "and we expect, before the
end of the year, for that number to increase to 500," Matta added.
"Everything has been running well," Matta said, "and since we want to
provide the customer with what they want," the store keeps a slew of
catalogs on hand for customers to choose and purchase items that are not
available on the floor.
Providing a better line of furniture and appliances at reasonable costs
was the idea behind the DRS endeavor said Matta.
"We have a variety of repayment plans," he added, "and we hope to expand
the showroom in the future," to include, "a larger bedroom showcase,"
and appliance displays.
For the near future, Matta and Ortega are busying preparing the store
with a wide selection of Action Lane recliners and rockers, which
they'll be offering at a, "buy one, get second free," option.
Imminently, the partners are looking at establishing a, "full service
grocery store...within the next 15 months," said Matta. He said it would
be built on the east side of Pecos. "Traffic is extremely heavy on East
Third Street," Matta said, where the only grocery, Popular Thriftway,
was located before being destroyed by fire in 1992.
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
Sales in Pecos were up by over 25 percent during in July, as reflected
in sales tax rebates to cities, reports John Sharp, state comptroller of
public accounts.
The city joined most other towns in the area to report double-digit
increases in their tax rebates, after sales were basically unchanged
during the first eight months of 1996 compared to the same period a year
ago.
Pecos received $71,337, up 27.74 percent from last year. Balmorhea and
Toyah had increases of 217.71 and 176.49 percent, respectively. For the
year, Pecos' rebate of $550,482 is up 2.7 percent, while Toyah is up 7
percent and Balmorhea is down by nearly 20 percent.
This month's rebate check of $26,283 which went to the Reeves County
Hospital district represented a 54 percent rise over a year ago, while
increases in other area towns showed increases of between 19 and 65
percent.
Sharp issued $165.8 million in tax payments to 1,084 cities and 114
counties. He said the returns are running about 9 percent ahead of the
total for the first nine months of last year.
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
Pecos opens the home portion of its 1996 football season Friday night
against the Alpine Bucks, and booster club president Dennis Thorp said
they'll be looking for elementary school students to be part of the
Pecos Eagle ~"Bleacher Creatures," at the home games this year.
T-shirts for the group are being displayed at Austin Elementary, Pecos
Elementary and Bessie Haynes Elementary. "I haven't had a chance to get
over to Barstow (Elementary) yet, but if they want to we can put one on
display there, too," Thorp said.
"The kids with shirts will be able to go onto the field at halftime and
run from the home side to the visitor's side, and when the cheerleaders
get their banner up, they'll form a victory tunnel for the football
team." He added that the kids will have supervision from adults, as well
as from the Pecos Eagle junior high school cheerleaders while on the
field.
Thorp said the T-shirts could be ordered through their teacher or
through the school secretaries at Austin, Bessie Haynes and Pecos
Elementary, and will cost $8 apiece, with the funds going to the Pecos
Eagle booster club. "We're not making much money on this. We're trying
to hold the price down so we can sell as many as we can," he added. The
club will also be selling its hats and bumper stickers to raise funds
during home games.
Along with the "Bleacher Creatures," Thorp said the booster club has
found enough funds to pay for the purchase of a new scoreboard for the
stadium, though it won't be in place for any of the non-district home
games.
"It's scheduled for delivery the week of Oct. 14," he said. Pecos hosts
Andrews for their second district game, on Oct. 18, and closes out the
regular season at home on Nov. 8 against Fort Stockton.
The scoreboard will be similar to the current one at the stadium, and
will be funded in part by Big Bend Bottling Co., the area's Coca-Cola
distributor. It will display the Coke and Sprite logos next to the
scoreboard, similar to the one in use at Lamesa, where Pecos opened its
1996 season last Friday.
The booster club was able to come up with the extra funds after
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school board members turned down a deal which would
given them a new scoreboard in exchange for a 10-year soft drink
contract with Big Bend Bottling. Superintendent Mario Sotelo said he was
advised against signing that long a contract by state education
officials.
Thorp also said the booster club has received a $3,000 commitment from
Sonic towards the purchase of new scoreboard for the Pecos High School
gym. The current ones could then be moved to the junior high gyms, both
of which have had problems with the aging equipment currently in place.
"With the money from the swimming budget, the swim team is going to be
able to get an underwater camera, so they can videotape their strokes,"
Thorp said. "Hopefully, we can shave some seconds off our times and get
some people to state."
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
Maria Carrasco Martinez, 84, died Sunday, Sept. 8 at Memorial Hospital
in Midland.
Rosary will be said at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catholic Church in Saragosa. Viewing will be today from 10 a.m. until 10
p.m. at the church.
Mass is scheduled for Wednesday, at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catholic Church with burial at the Saragosa Cemetery.
She was born Nov. 12, 1912 in Ruidosa, Tx., was a lifetime area resident
and a Catholic.
Survivors include three sons, Tomas C. Martinez of Saragosa, Frank
(Chico) Martinez, Jr. of Victoria and Ruben C. Martinez of Kermit; four
daughters, Petra Chavez of Odessa, Gloria Martinez of Jal, N.M., Maria
Luz Tarango of Hereford, Manuela Hernandez of Saragosa; two brothers,
Lupe and Nickacio Carrasco of Pecos; four sisters, Francisca Matta and
Manuela Contreras of Pecos, Eugenia Sanchez of Toyah, Catalina Meraz of
Amarillo; 46 grandchildren; 94 great-grandchildren and four great-great
grandchildren.
Martinez Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
High Monday 91, low last night 65.
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_
Copyright 1996 by Pecos Enterprise
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
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