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Tuesday, October 8, 1996
"The program is open to students kindergarten through 6th grade," said
art teacher Walter Holland.
A secondary program is open to students in grades 7-12, Holland added.
The students in this special program are nominated by parents, teachers
or individuals from the community. "The program can accommodate about 50
students," Holland explained.
The after-school program is a non-credit class open to students who are
interested and talented in art.
"The students are not graded, but are evaluated," said Holland.
The program encourages the older students to compete for scholarships
and points them in the right direction towards furthering their art
education.
Alonzo Garcia is the other art instructor who works with students in the
program.
The group painted eagles on some of the dumpsters around various school
campuses. "The eagles were painted by our older students, but the
younger ones did a lot of different things," said Holland.
"If everything goes well, we want to do some murals at the schools," he
added, while photography is also a part of the plans for this school
year.
Some of the students in the program have been involved since it
originated, during the 1994-95 school year.
"I've been in this program for two years and I really like it," said
third grader Joe Rudy Rodriguez.
Rodriguez' favorite part of the program is the painting.
Rosanna Granado is a fifth grade student who has also been in the
program for two years.
"I love to draw, that's my favorite part," said Granado. "I'm working on
my art fair pictures now."
Granado also said she has really been learning more about art this past
two years and would like to continue in the program.
"We're fixing to do a sculpture and in the future hope to get a big
computer for the students," said Holland.
"I like the painting part of this class," said Roxie Mendoza, a third
grade student. "I enjoyed doing bird houses last year also."
The class meets throughout the school year.
David Davis, fourth grade student; Bryan Chowning, fourth grader and
Jake Morton, fifth grade, all said that they enjoy the after-school
class.
"I've always been interested in art," said Davis.
Daniel Tarin is a second grader who's been in the class for two years
and states that drawing has always been one of his favorite things to do.
Loren Wein, a sixth grade student, really likes the class and states,
"It's better than math!"
"Art has always been my favorite subject and I enjoy every part of it,"
she said. "I'm hoping to have at least four drawings in the art fair."
John Canon is a seventh grade student who has been in this class for its
two year existence.
"I'll be entering about five drawings in the art fair this weekend,"
said Canon. "Pencil drawing is my favorite part of art."
Canon said that someday he might like to make art a career, maybe
teaching it.
"I really enjoy it and it's something I'm good at," he said.
The Annual Mother Goose and Friends Parade, sponsored by the Women's
Division of the Pecos Chamber of Commerce, will kick off events
Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Children from newborns through 10 years of age are invited to dress up
in costume and participate in the parade.
First, second and third place ribbons will be awarded in five divisions:
individual birth through four years of age; individual five through
seven years of age; individual eight through 10 years of age; group and
decorated bicycle.
Honorable mention ribbons will be awarded to all others.
Participants should be at the drive-through parking lot at First
National no later than 5 p.m.
Parade organizers are asking that participants bring a canned goods item
for donation to the food bank, though it is not a requirement for
participation in the parade.
Judging will be promptly at 5:30 p.m., with the parade commencing at
that time.
The parade will travel from the First National Bank down Oak Street to
the West of the Pecos Museum. The Pecos seventh and eighth grade bands
will be in the parade, as will the Pecos High School Cheerleaders.
For more information contact the Pecos Chamber of Commerce at 445-2406
or Debra Armstrong at 445-7180.
The Fall Fair will officially open on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Reeves
County Civic Center.
A Pet Show is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the center and is sponsored by
Zavala Middle School.
Pets of all sizes will be on hand with the judging ranging in several
categories including small dog, big dog, cats and exotic animals.
The fair will close its doors at 10 p.m.
On Friday, the fair will open at 9 a.m. Livestock Show Weigh-In will
commence at 4 p.m. For more information on the show, contact C.W.
Roberts at 447-9041.
The fair will close at 10 p.m.
Saturday morning at 8 a.m. the fair will open its doors to the public
and livestock show judging will begin. At 5:30 p.m. Cross TaeKwon Do
will have a special exhibition.
The fair will close at 10 p.m. Saturday night.
A carnival will be located next door to the Civic Center beginning on
Wednesday, with different rides, foods and games available.
Pecos Housing Authority directors on Friday will consider a plan by
Pecos High School evnironmental science students to construct a park on
land owned by the authority.
PHS teacher Cary Hannsz and his students will present the project design
plan proposal and projected cost for park construction and equipment.
The board will consider allocating funds to meet part of the cost from
funds in the old Airbase Apartments account.
In other business, the board will hear a tenant regarding the proposed
termination of her lease agreement, consider termination of lease, hear
an update from attorney Scott Johnson on tenant's forcible detainer of
premises (eviction) and consider writing off collection losses on four
residents for a total of $566.
Regarding the 1996 CIAP grant, the board will consider a letter from Joe
Brinkley, HUD director, to begin drawdown of funds and adopt a
resolution to do so; and approve resolution to open bids in the November
meeting.
Nellie Gomez, executive director, will ask the board's permission to
purchase a laser printer for the network computers, and will present
monthly reports on finances and occupancy for September.
In the Farm Labor Housing portion of the regular meeting, the board will
hear a report on the multiple family housing project budget and receive
a farm labor housing inspection certificate issued by the Texas
Department of Health.
Routine reports for September include finances, occupancy and rent roll.
A water heater has been determined to have been the cause of the fire
last Wednesday that burned two rooms at the Lone Star Motel.
Fire Marshal Jack Brookshire said the unit burned the wooden floor
beneath it, causing flames to run up the wall and into the attic. Fire
units were called out about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 2.
Firemen were at the scene in the 1100 block of West Third Street for
over an hour attempting to extinguish all hot spots.
Fire Chief Doug Cox said during an earlier interview that the fire
burned through the ceiling and roof of the wood frame buildings that
bore a stucco exterior and composition shingles, which made the
firemen's extinguish efforts difficult.
District Judge Bob Parks has found the district and four of its
directors not guilty of misapplication of fiduciary property, as alleged
in indictments returned last year by the Ward County grand jury.
Board chairman Donald Morton, Bobby Joe Gray, Robert Hayes and Raul
Molinar were named along with the district.
Judge Parks had earlier quashed the indictments against the four
directors, but District Attorney John Stickels appealed to the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals.
That appeal was dismissed at Stickels' request and the indictments
re-instated so that all five of the cases could be heard by the 143rd
District Court on issues raised by the pleas of not guilty, defendants'
motions and a stipulation of facts.
Stickels, along with the water district's attorney, William Monroe Kerr,
and the four directors signed an agreement re-instating the indictments
on July 12. Morton, president; Hayes, Grey, Jim Daniels and J.M. "Rusty"
Carpenter signed the attached stipulation of facts the same day.
They were filed in the Ward County Clerk's office Aug. 13.
Stickels said Friday that the defendants understand that they spent the
district's money incorrectly in the past and have agreed not to spend
money on those same types of items in the future.
But no mention of improper expenditures of water district funds is made
in the agreement nor stipulation. The district showed current assets of
$2.7 million to $3.1 million from 1988 through February 1996.
During the years 1991-95, Red Bluff Water Power Control District paid
$566,099 to Ward #1 as its share of interest earned by funds held by Red
Bluff.
In that same period, the district spent $984,563 on irrigation and
farming activities. Included are salaries of water master and his staff,
pickup allowances, contract labor for work on canals and machinery,
purchased water, supplies and operation of the irrigation system.
"There is no evidence or suggestion that any funds of District in any
way involved in this case have been appropriated by, or otherwise have
inured to the benefit of, any Director of District, other than the
routinely authorized incurred and paid fees and expense reimbursements
made to the Directors for Directors' meetings and reimbursement of
Directors' out-of-pocket expenses incurred for the District," the
stipulation reads.
In the stipulation, the parties agreed:
- The District will use funds distributed to it by Red Bluff Water Power
Control District only for authorized purposes;
- The District may make expenditures to support agricultural and
livestock shows for youth that are held in Loving, Reeves or Ward
Counties if and when such are paid over to the sponsor organization
conducting such show...
- It is a lawful purpose of District...to financially support the care,
maintenance and attractiveness of the Barstow Cemetery...
- District may make payments to the Barstow Volunteer Fire Department to
provide fire protection to District and its properties...
Judge Parks' verdict of "not guilty" closes the criminal action against
the district and its directors, as the state waived any right to appeal.
Alamo-Kerley Gin got a little pre-season business from the state prison
near Fort Stockton, ginning two modules of cotton grown by inmates on
the prison farm at Belding.
But regular-season ginning is two weeks to a month away. Farmers are
just beginning to put defoliant on their crops, and it takes a few weeks
to work.
Gail Fritter, Coyanosa Co-op manager, said that area has excellent
crops. She expects to start ginning in "maybe two weeks."
Reeves County farmers will be harvesting 7,204 acres of Upland cotton
and 1,320 acres of pima. That is fewer acres than last year, said a
spokesman for the U.S.D.A. Farm Service Agency.
Yet, the seemingly out-of-place merger between Texas Equipment Co. and
Marinex came about for the same reasons any companies merge: Each side
perceives the other as a valued financial partner entering the next
century.
Paul Condit, an ex-farmer and founder of Texas Equipment in this small
city halfway between Lubbock and Odessa, sees the Internet company as a
superhighway to his dream of creating a gigantic retail outlet that can
supply farmers everything from seed to silos.
Condit owns the John Deere dealership in Pecos, which his nephew, Bill
Condit, operates. Bill said this morning that the merger should have no
affect on Texas Equipment's business in the Pecos area.
``The only thing I knew (about Marinex) was that I could merge with this
company and I could get on NASDAQ,'' Paul Condit said.
Marinex benefits from the capital infusion offered by Texas Equipment's
profitability and $25 million in annual revenues, said Jonathan Braun,
the Columbia University-educated former journalist who co-founded the
Internet provider six years ago.
Marinex stock, which traded at 2_ on the NASDAQ bulletin board on Sept.
12, shot to 4 on Sept. 17, the day the merger was announced. The
concern, which isn't traded every day, since has settled at 3_.
The new company will remain in Seminole among the cotton and peanut
fields, although the paper holding company that technically owns both
companies is based in Nevada. Marinex will stay in SoHo.
Condit says the merger will move the company toward ``one-stop
shopping'' for agricultural producers.
Condit plans to supply financing, equipment, raw products, insurance and
virtually anything else a producer could want, and he intends to do it
from this city of 6,500 residents.
``The Mom and Pop operations are on their way out. We're going to be
able to buy in volume, which will make us more money and save the
consumer money, he said. ``The farmer can come to our facility for
everything that he'll need.''
Lining up loans for such a venture would have been quixotic fancy,
Condit says, so he pursued a partner with which he'd go public.
Unbeknownst to him, Braun's securities lawyer, Charles Barkley, had
pinpointed Texas Equipment in February with similar intentions.
``We don't know how long the incubation period for (the Internet)
industry is, whether it's six months or six years or whatever,'' Barkley
said from his North Carolina office. ``What we had was a speculative
venture merging with a proven moneymaker, and I think (Wall Street) will
respond to that.''
Some analysts were taken aback upon hearing that a New York company that
produces an Internet soap opera and an upbeat CD-ROM called ``Trouble &
Attitude'' would unite with a tractor dealer.
``It doesn't sound like there are very many synergies between those two
kinds of companies,'' said Mark Jordan, a high-tech stock analyst for
A.G. Edwards in St. Louis. ``I think investors would rather see (an
Internet) company merge with another from its own field.''
Braun said he knows naysayers will say he's hitched his company to a
tractor instead of a star, but he attributes that to urban attitudes as
provincial as those found in the smallest American towns.
``It's just perception,'' he said. ``In New York they'd look at it like
that, but someday they'll say we're very forward-looking.''
Braun, who lives in a rural area 1½ hours north of New York, said
whether rural consolidations are good or bad, it's the historic trend.
``One of the driving forces is the need to get larger to be able to
compete in terms of volume, purchasing, competitive pricing, and
especially in financing,'' said Cary Mathis, the head of Texas Tech
University's agricultural economics department.
The void that could be left as small-time agribusinesses disappear in
the shadows of Texas Equipment and larger concerns doesn't mean the
small rural company is dead, Mathis said.
``By the time you say that, then enterprising entrepreneurs discover a
niche and become successful and specialized,'' Mathis said, pointing to
emerging Internet companies, like Marinex, that hope to make money
alongside monoliths like Microsoft and IBM.
``If I only knew what those new agribusinesses were, I'd have my money
ready.''
Pecos City Council will consider consolidating elections with Reeves
County Hospital and Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD, when they meet in regular
session at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
Recommendations from the consolidation committee include a job
description, recommended personnel, site for early voting and election
day, site for office for election coordinator, administrative
guidelines, budget, contract, liability insurance and resolution.
The council will also consider proposals for engineering services and
management services for a pipeline project funded by a grant; consider
supporting a Texas Senate bill awarding 5 percent of lottery collections
to counties and cities where the tickets are sold; and providing the
city of Barstow with animal control.
Barstow citizens have asked if they could hire the Pecos animal control
officer part-time.
Routine matters include payment of bills and a report from the fire
department.
Helen Cleo Williams, 81, died Monday, Oct. 7, in Monahans Skilled
Nursing Care Center.
Services are tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday at Pecos
Funeral Home Chapel.
She was born Nov. 17, 1914 in Charleston, Tx., was a Baptist and a long
time member of North Temple Baptist Church in Pecos and a homemaker.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Williams on Nov. 30, 1986.
Survivors include four sisters, Ruth Earnest and Mary Shelton of Fort
Worth, Hazel Oats of Grand Prairie, Freda Mills of Harlingen and one
brother, Robert Chessher of Grand Prairie.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the
Pecos Senior Center or a favorite charity.
Pecos Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
High Monday 87, low last night 61. Tonight, clear. Low around 50. Light
wind. Wednesday, sunny. High 80-85. Light wind.
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_
Copyright 1996 by Pecos Enterprise
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
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