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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Dedication of new highway to Chihuahua City
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
PECOS, Thurs., Sept. 25, 2003 -- The inauguration of a new route
into Mexico from West Texas is scheduled for Friday and officials who
initiated the new highway are excited about the venture.
"This is great for industrial and economic development, but a lot of
it is tourism as well," said director of the Midland-Odessa
Transportation Alliance James Beauchamp about the new highway between
Ojinaga and Chihuahua City that will be dedicated Friday morning.
The Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance were the first to propose
the La Entrada al Pacifico, (The Entrance to the Pacific) trade
corridor. Officials from the group and other individuals will be on
hand Friday for the inauguration of the new two-lane highway, which
improves on the 100-mile long route which had problems handling truck
traffic.
"Some individuals from Midland-Odessa, Fort Stockton and Presidio
will be joining us for the special occasion," said Beauchamp. "We're
just all very excited about this."
The new highway will be open to the public at the end of this month
and signs are already set indicating the new route, according to
Beauchamp. "There's another little section that needs some work done on
it, but because of the recent rains they haven't been able to fix it,"
said Beauchamp.
Beauchamp said that vehicles could still drive on it, but that it
required some work. "It's really muddy out at that section, because
there's been a lot of rain," said Beauchamp. "As a matter of fact, I
was on it last week, it's just a remarkable road."
The first portion coming out of Ojinaga, about 15 miles, will be
upgraded. "It will be widened and some work done on it," said
Beauchamp.
The road has been under construction for about four years and the
completion is something MOTRAN officials are really excited about,
according to Beauchamp.
La Entrada would begin at the deep-water port of Topolobampo, on
northern Pacific Coast and continue through the northern Mexican
interior to Chihuahua and Ojinaga. From there, La Entrada would follow
the route of existing Texas highways to Odessa-Midland, joining
Interstate 27 at Lubbock, some 800 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
The new Chihuahua highway was actually supposed to open at the end
of 2002. But work in the remotest stretches of roadbed in the state of
Chihuahua was halted because of a lack of water due to the drought,
according to TxDOT Public Information Officer Glen Larum.
"Because of the severe drought, it had been under construction, but
not completed," said Larum. "This comes as a great surprise and we're
very happy that it will be open now to the public," he said.
Larum said that this would help avoid the mountainous sections south
of Ojinaga.
From Ojinaga, the La Entrada route is designed to follow U.S. 67
from Presidio to McCamey, and from there north on U.S. 385 to the
Midland-Odessa area and on to Lubbock. However, that route has been met
with opposition from Alpine residents, who do not want the increased
truck traffic going though their city.
The designated La Entrada route is also about 25 miles longer than
two other routes to the Midland-Odessa area that most drivers between
there and Presidio currently use, running along Texas 17 through Fort
Davis, Balmorhea and Pecos, or along FM 1776, through Coyanosa and
Monahans. However, all three routes are still about 125 to 150 miles
shorter to Midland Odessa and points east than the current route from
Chihuahua City, through the El Paso-Juarez border crossing.
"We'll pursue more vigorously meetings with officials of some of the
world's largest corporations with value-added manufacturing operations
in Chihuahua City," said Beauchamp.
The purpose will be to market Odessa-Midland as a distribution and
warehousing hub.
"It will be great for tourism and the industry as well," he said.
Council to discuss budget, rodeo hall project
By BRENDEN BRIGGS
Staff Writer
PECOS, Thurs., Sept. 25, 2003 -- The town of Pecos city council is
scheduled to vote on final approval of the 2003-04 city budget and tax
rate, during its regularly scheduled monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. at
City Hall.
On the agenda for the meeting is the second reading of the adoption
of the 2003-2004 annual budget. The council held its first vote on the
new budget during its Sept. 11 meeting, along with voting on the tax
rate, which is unchanged from a year ago.
The council has planned to decide what amount of revenue to allocate
towards the repayment of debt borrowed from the state. These funds were
borrowed to alleviate the city's previous monetary problems.
The question is what amount of the total tax rate levied, 0.6967
cents per $100 of property value, will be used to pay off the city's
debt.
The proposed level of 30 percent of the revenue collected this year
will go towards the Interest and Sinking fund, leaving the remaining
revenue to be used in the General Fund.
"A sinking fund is an allocation of money that is not to be used for
the everyday operating expenses of an entity, but rather to pay off the
debt, in the city's case especially, incurred over a period of time,"
city manager Carlos Yerena said. "This is approximately the same rate
of repayment as last year."
Also to be looked at is the possible contracting of the building of
two additional wells along with pumps and connecting lines to the
already existing South Worsham Water Field project. The city is
developing the South Worsham Field to provide water needs past the year
2008, after which the current Worsham and Ward County Fields are not
expected to be able to provide enough usable water for city residents.
Funding is to be supplemented by the Office of Rural Community
Affairs under the Texas Community Development Project. The proposed
contract limits the amount of funding to $350,000.
The subject of the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame will be looked at once
again tonight. Texas Tech graduate students from the university's
Architcture Department presented proposed renovation plans for the
Missouri Pacific Railroad depot last month. The design plans were
presented after rights to build the proposed Hall of Fame at the depot
was cleared with its owner, Union Pacific Railroad.
Other items to be discussed include the sale of property at 2027
Adams St. approved earlier this week by the hospital board, and the
approval of the monthly municipal court, the tax collection and the
accounts payable reports.
Living History Days this weekend in Ft. Stockton
PECOS, Thurs., Sept. 25, 2003 -- Elementary and junior high students
from 32 school districts in 19 counties will travel to Fort Stockton on
Friday for the city's annual Living History celebration, while the
general public can also attend this year's events on Saturday.
The fort site will be transformed back in time to the 1800's, as the
grounds come alive with re-enactors, historians and musicians. Children
can try their hand at drilling with the soldiers or making soap with
the laundresses. They will meet civilians, Native Americans and
craftsmen.
The students get firsthand knowledge from blacksmiths, flint
knappers, tatters and lace makers. Re-enactors will teach the students
about medicinal herbs and plants. Students will learn the hardships of
frontier life on and off this army post of the Indian Wars.
The last Friday in September is designated as Education Day. The
post will be open only to students, teachers and chaperones. There is
no admission fee. Although fourth and seventh graders are targeted
because they study Texas history, all grades and home school students
are invited and encouraged to attend.
Students will also visit the Annie Riggs Museum, Rollins-Sibley
House, Hovey Schoolhouse and the James Rooney Memorial Park during
their Fort Stockton visit.
Living History Days 2003 also takes place the last Saturday in
September. Saturday is open to the public and there is no admission
fee.
For more information about Living History Days, contact Historic
Fort Stockton at 432-336-2400.
Sign-ups planned next week at OC
PECOS, Thurs., Sept. 25, 2003 -- Odessa College's Adult Basic Education
Program will be registering students for basic education (levels 2-8)
and secondary/GED (levels 9-12) classes next Monday through Friday,
Sept. 29-Oct. 3. Both morning and evening classes are available, and
the classes are free of charge.
If you are beyond compulsory public school age and officially
withdrawn from public school, come to Odessa College, Annex B, Room
100, across from OC's main entrance on University Boulevard between 8
a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday or between 8 a.m. and noon on
Friday.
In order to enroll for the fall semester, individuals must register
by Oct. 3.
The office is closed from noon until 1 p.m., Monday-Thursday.
For more information call 335-6380.
Weather
PECOS, Thurs., Sept. 25, 2003 -- High Wed. 94. Low this morning 70.
Forecast for tonight: Mostly cloudy. A chance of thunderstorms. Lows
near 60. Light and variable winds. The chance of rain is 30 percent.
Fri.: Partly cloudy. Isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs
near 90. Light and variable winds becoming SE near 10 mph in the
afternoon. Fri. night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower to mid 60s.
South winds 10 to 15 mph.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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