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Friday, September 27, 1996

Stickels defends role in handling local drug cases

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By MARI MALDONADO
StAff Writer

PECOS, September 27, 1996 - District attorney John Stickels claims race
and socioeconomic status are behind the Town of Pecos City Council's
criticism Thursday of his handling of drug cases.

The council heard and voiced complaints about the 143rd District
Attorney's prosecution record of residents charged with drug related
crimes during their regularly scheduled council meeting.

Councilman Randy Graham asked police captain David Montgomery, "Are we
still having the same problems with the DA?," asking specifically for
the status of a pending case against Evigael Navarrete, 37, in whose
home small amounts of cocaine and marijuana were allegedly discovered by
a local entry team.

More than $12,000 in cash was found in the mobile home as well.

The money was seized by the local entry team, but returned after the
Town of Pecos City and the State of Texas filed a non-suit for the funds
totaling $12,695 and granted by a 143rd District Court.

Thursday's edition of the Enterprise incorrectly listed that
the money was awarded to the respondent by a Reeves County court.

This particular case, Stickels said, was not presented to him until one
week before a grand jury hearing date. The defendant was indicted on
possession of a controlled substance, cocaine charge in July.

"I have no control on how long it takes the police department to present
these cases to me," he added.

He said a hearing is scheduled Oct. 4 on a motion to suppress the
evidence collected by the entry team, based on the argument that the law
enforcement group did not properly seize the evidence.

"It just seems amazing to me when I prosecute some poor Hispanic guy and
give him probation, and the chance to turn his life around, Graham and
the people like him claim that I was too easy," Stickels said. "but when
I prosecute someone like Jim Ed Miller and he gets probation these same
people claim I'm too hard."

Miller, general manager for the Red Bluff Water Power Control District,
was sentenced to 180 days in a state jail, suspended to two years
probation, on a tampering with a witness felony charge.

"It appears to me that these people like Graham take into consideration
the race of the defendant and whether or not the defendant is in the
same socioeconomic status as they are," Stickels continued.

"I have never conducted prosecutorial business based upon the race and
socioeconomic status of a defendant," said the district attorney, "and
I'm not about to start now because Graham wants me to."

Stickels stated that he feels Graham has launched an attack against his
office proceedings because of actions he took against the spending
practices by the Ward County Water Improvement District #1 and Red Bluff
Water Power Control District, whose audits were conducted by Graham.

Graham said today, "I've always been concerned," about the local drug
issues, and the water district investigation had nothing to do with his
statements.

He called Stickels' rebuttle, "petty," and that the facts are, "he
doesn't prosecute drug cases," and added race and financial level of
the defendants are not a consideration.

"I've got kids who go to school here and I don't want them exposed to
drugs," he said.

Carrico recalled fondly by ex-students

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By MARI MALDONADO
Staff Writer

PECOS, September 27, 1996 - The man responsible for putting Pecos on the
map for its outstanding band program seems overwhelmed and delighted by
all the attention towards his recent honor.

W.T. (Bill) Carrico directed the Pecos High School band and choir for
over 30 years, acquiring many prestigious awards and making the Pecos
High School band program known throughout the state until his retirement
after the 1981 football season.

Current Head Band Director Steven Clary requested that the choir room
and band hall, which have undergone renovations for the dedication
ceremony, be labeled the Carrico Music Center in honor of the
75-year-old retired director.

Clary said during his presentation to the school board June 13, that
although he'd never met Carrico, recollections of his term in Pecos
never cease.

"He made the local school band program known throughout the state,"
Clary said, "(and) what we're trying to do is thank the gentleman...for
all his influence on this community."

"It's really kind of him," Carrico said today, of Clary's move to honor
his musical efforts in Pecos. "It all seems so nice to me."

Carrico began his Pecos career in 1949 and retired as a
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD staff member in the Spring of 1982, thus
dedicating a total of 33 years to thousands of local band students.

"Everybody was so helpful," Carrico said of school administrators and
parents, during his teaching days. "The parents were great and the
students really wanted to the work."

Former band student and 1979 graduate Lorenzo Guzman, who played the
tuba and co-captained the PHS Band with Carrico's son, Lance, said, "he
had a gift that wanted to make you try harder."

"We were always glad to do the work for him," he added.

"I remember him as being so patient with everybody," Guzman recollected.

His wife, Dolores Guzman, formerly Dolores Maldonado, said she remembers
his original sense of humor. "We could never tell when he was joking,"
she said.

Dolores, a 1982 PHS grad, recalled that he told jokes with a straight
face and students were only able to tell he was telling a joke when he
burst out in laughter.

Most former students who called in comments about Carrico had fond
memories, but all agree that he expected a lot out of them, and they
didn't mind giving it to him.

One of his earlier choir students, Jack Chinn, PHS Class of 1954, who
now resides in El Paso, said, "I thank him for everything he taught me."

He said that what Carrico extended to him contributed, "well beyond my
love and appreciation of music."

Deanna Miller, formerly Deanna Kay Home, PHS Class of 1962, said she
participated in the high school band and choir program under Carrico's
direction and, "was the accompanist for the choir and first chair
trumpet (player)."

"Because of him I went on to major in music," and served as director for
the music program for the Dallas Independent School District and is
currently in the full time ministry music program for her church.

"The things I learned from him were so valuable," she exclaimed.

She recalled a time when another boy requested to be the choir
accompanist during their performance of Exodus, although she was the
traditional accompanist, and Carrico made the two contest for the
exercise.

"I won out," she said, "but he gave me that little boost," to fight, "to
go on."

"He was very strict," she added. "He called us by our last names," but
her memories of her band years were fond.

"I now sing in major works with the Dallas symphony," said Miller and,
"he had a lot to do with this."

Another Dallasite, Sandra Alley, PHS Class of 1954 and choir student,
said Carrico "was an important part of all of our lives."

"He got the best he could out of us," she added, "and he gave us a good
part of himself to us."

"He disciplined us, but it wasn't heavy handed," said Alley. "We all
knew he expected a lot of us and we tried to give it back."

The Class of 1954 was responsible for establishing the Bill Carrico
Scholarship for a PHS graduate going on to pursue a musical career.

Well wishes were extended to Carrico from former students now living in
Tulsa, Okla. They are: Annie Tyler Smith, Class of 1954; Mark Alan
Smith, Class of 1976 and Lisa Smith Good, Class of 1977.

"Sending you our congratulations and best wishes. Would love to be
there," their message read.

Lance Carrico, who lives in San Angelo, where the senior Carrico is also
residing, said, "he treated me like he treated everybody else."

He said his father was probably stricter on him, "but informally, we all
called him `Dad'."

What this reporter recalls her first year of band, as a sixth grader,
and Carrico directing the first-time clarinet players, is that he was
always fair, as competition for chair positions was stiff.

Carrico's half-time shows are probably some of the most interesting that
the Town of Pecos has seen.

One included, according to Guzman, an instance when marching band
students intentionally spelled H-E-L-L-O as O-H-E-L-L. The band director
walked out on the field and yelled at the band, "No, no, you're spelling
wrong," and those forming the letter "O" ran over to the end of the
formation to spell "HELLO."

This reporter remembers the bow and arrow show that included students
forming a huge arrow, pulling back on the bow, also formed by students,
and shooting out across the field to a Native American tune.

State OKs new W. Texas road study

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PECOS, September 27, 1996 - The Texas Transportation Commission has
given approval to the second phase of a study on upgrading highways in
West Texas.

The study comes after HDR Inc., a consulting firm hired to conduct a
$2.3 million study of the area's transportation needs, advised against
the extension of Interstate 27 either south from Lubbock to I-10 or
north from Amarillo to the Oklahoma state line.

The new study, budgeted at $1.5 million, will be conducted by the Texas
Department of Transportation (TxDOT), it was announced Thursday. TxDOT
will survey five 10-mile wide corridors to determine which roads should
be upgraded to four-lane divided highways and in what order the upgrades
should occur.

Corridors due for study include the I-27 route proposed by the West
Texas Transportation Alliance (WTTA) and the Midland-Odessa
Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN). It runs south from Lubbock through
Lamesa to Midland, and south from Odessa to Bakersfield. WTTA and MOTRAN
proposed that route as part of a future link between West Texas and the
Pacific coast of Mexico, through Chihuahua and the Presidio-Ojinaga
border crossing.

The other four routes include two I-10 connections from Lubbock and two
others north from Amarillo to the Oklahoma border.

The southern routes run from Lubbock through Lamesa and Big Spring to
San Angelo, and from there onto Sonora, and from Lubbock through Snyder
and Sweetwater to San Angelo, and from there south to Junction.

The northern routes TxDOT will study run from Amarillo north through
Dumas to the Oklahoma state line, and northeast from Amarillo through
Pampa to the Oklahoma line.

Texas Commissioner of Transportation David Laney said the TxDOT study
"covers an important area of Texas. The study area includes 62,000
square miles and has a population of 1.5 million people."

Along with the study of the five routes, the TxDOT survey will also
include environmental overview studies and reports, as well as public
involvement in compliance with the federal Intermodal Surface
Transportation Act.

PHS grad in crew at airshow

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PECOS, September 27, 1996 - Pecos High School graduate David Scott
Colmery will be part of the B-1 bomber crew which will appear with their
plane at this weekend's Confederate Air Force Airsho `96 at Midland
International Airport.
Colmery, a 1990 PHS grad, is crew chief on the B-1 bomber stationed at
Dyess AFB in Abilene. He is the son of Jim and Judy Greenwood of Pecos.

Obituaries

Arthur Brown

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Services for Arthur Brown, 84, who died Wednesday, Sept. 25, at the
Pecos Nursing Home, will be Monday at the Shiloh Baptist Church in
Cleburne. His burial will follow the church service at a Cleburne
cemetery.

He was born Oct. 8, 1914 in Brenham, was a Baptist deacon and an Army
veteran.

Survivors include: a brother, T.C. Brown, of Monahans; sister, Lilly Mae
Bailey, of Pecos and numerous nieces and nephews.

Arrangements were handled by Pecos Funeral Home.

Weather

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High Thursday 91, low this morning 55. Tonight, mostly clear. Low in the
lower 40s. Light wind. Saturday, sunny. High in the upper 70s. Southwest
wind 5 10 mph.



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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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