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Opinion


Sept. 18, 1996
BACKSIDE OF 40
By Jerry Hulsey

Neighbor has reason to

have a thing for phobia

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We had a neighbor who had this thing - phobia. I guess you'd call it,
about pulling a trailer. He was always afraid it will come loose and run
into somebody, so he wouldn't have one.

The older model pickups were made of metal heavy enough to accommodate
what we called frames, and equipped with these, a farmer could haul his
cattle to market.

Since the newer models are of such lightweight material, they would
probably crumble with this attire. So, for his new pickup this neighbor
built a metal crate that merely slid inside the truck bed when needed
and was swung on an A-frame when not in use.

On this particular Saturday, he had three hogs to deliver to Comanche.
Single-handed he slid his new contraption into his pickup and his new
favorite Justin Wilson cassette in the tape player, covered the 28 miles
feeling very contented.

When he pulled into the sale barn to unload, the attendant walked up
with his receipt book, glanced into the back of the truck, and told the
farmer, that if he needed to load he'd have to go to the other side.
"No," replied the neighbor. "I came to sell these three shoats.

What three shoats?

Hogs root, you know. And since this crate wasn't affixed in any way to
the truck, they had pushed it far enough back to allow themselves to
fall out of the pickup.

Anyone else would have panicked. He had just traveled 20 miles of US
377, strowing hogs onto the highway. How many upside down and lawsuits
without end, but he admitted he was concerned about what his pigs would
have brought. He turned back to retrace his route, and as he pulled onto
the highway, there stood a hitchhiker. He picked up the hitchhiker
without commuting anything about his plight.

About three miles down the highway he noticed 2 shoats grazing in the
median. He drove down to them and made the hitchhicker help him catch
them and load them into the crate.

A couple miles further on another pig rooting in the barrow ditch.
Again, the two caught the pig and stuffed him back into the crate with
his companions.

By now, the hitchhiker had progressed just five miles, wrestled and
loaded three hogs with their obnoxious odor on his clothes and body, to
be told by a very happy farmer that this was as far north as they were
going - that these hogs had to go back to Comanche.

Jerry Hulsey is a former school teacher who writes for fun.

YOUR VIEW

It's time to clean

up after yourself

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A Fiesta is a time to celebrate, to have fun and enjoy life. The 16th
of September is a day Hispanics celebrate and have a Fiesta. This year
it took place on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But it wasn't until Monday, the actual day of Sept. 16, 1996 that I
felt ashamed of my race. A day that we Hispanics should be proud. Monday
morning as I drove to work, I drove by the Church. I was embarrassed and
it saddened me to see all the empty beer bottles and boxes left in the
empty lots across from the stage where the Fiesta took place. Don't get
me wrong, I drink beer myself. That is not what I am trying to get
across to you. My point is "CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF."

Hey people it is time to take pride in your community. Don't throw
empty beer bottles and boxes in the streets, empty lots, school
playgrounds and parks. That is where our kids play. Have some respect
for the people who have to look at it. Have some respect for your kids
who have to play in it. Have some respect for yourself. Our towns
appearance has a lot to say about the people who live in it.

Paul Hinojos

OUR VIEW

False economy can

cause problems

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The Town of Pecos City has been working on saving money. That's great.

The only problem we have with that is that it appears in one case to be
false economy. We have talked with city officials about this problem
along with local businesses and there seems to be a conflict.

What is involved here is buying vehicles through the state where
manufacturers offer their very best price, better than local dealers can
provide although the difference is not substantial - about $300 to $400
per unit in some cases, we're told.

This is where false economy enters in. Some of these units are by
manufacturers who don't have local dealerships to provide warranty work,
such as Dodge pickups. The city recently purchased two of those units.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with Dodge pickups, all vehicles
can and often do require some service work during warranty stages. In
order to have a Dodge serviced, it has to be driven to Odessa, which
ties up one city employee for a day, plus gasoline cost and wear and
tear on the vehicle.

In some cases, if the work takes more than just that day, it could
require another person in another vehicle to go along to bring the
employee back to Pecos and later two people and another vehicle have to
be used to go back to Odessa to retrieve the rig.

You start adding that up and pretty soon, the savings get into negative
territory. To many people it appears the city has too many vehicles.

It's something city officials need to consider.
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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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