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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, September 10, 2010
Deputies to give polygraph to driver after teen’s death
A polygraph test has been set up for a Pecos man who was involved in an incident that resulted in the death of a Pecos woman on Aug. 30.
According to the Reeves County Sheriff’s Department, they believe 18-year-old Tabby Garcia jumped out of a vehicle early Thursday morning while it was traveling on State Highway 17 south of Pecos, suffering severe head injuries in the process. The incident happened at 3 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 26, and Garcia died four days later in an Odessa hospital.
However, Reeves County Sheriff’s Deputy Reno Lewis said the department has set up a polygraph test for 27-year-old Glen Lee Arredondo, the man who was driving the gray Ford Bronco, Garcia was a passenger in on Aug. 26. Lewis said Arredondo has consented to the polygraph.
“At this time, it is still under investigation and he (the driver) is cooperating with us,” said Lewis. “His story has not changed, he still tells us that she jumped out of the moving vehicle.
The deputy said that no arrests have been made in the incident, and that following the polygraph test, they will present their findings to a grand jury.
“It’s up to them if they want to prosecute,” said Lewis.
Deputies received a call on the incident at about 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, while the incident had been reported to the police at 5 a.m.
“At that time, they were already loading her in the helicopter to be transferred to Odessa,” Lewis said the day after the accident occurred.
If anyone has any information or saw the incident they are urged to contact Millan or Lewis at the sheriff’s department at 445-4901.
Lewis said another incident on State Highway 17 occurred this past Monday that could have resulted in serious injuries, but instead landed one man in jail for DWI.
He said that about 3:30 p.m., Monday, he noticed a vehicle that was traveling in the southbound lane traveling north on Highway 17.
The driver of the vehicle, Oscar Lopez Gutierrez, 39, of Portales, N.M., was arrested and charged with DWI.
The vehicle was traveling near the Ramones Grocery, about nine miles south of Pecos, when Lewis spotted it going in the wrong direction.
“He was intoxicated with something other than alcohol,” said Lewis. “I turned in my file to DPS, who has taken over this investigation.”
Local 16th of September events start Friday
Everyone in the community and surrounding area are invited to attend this weekend’s 16th of September festivities, at the Santa Rosa Church grounds on East Third Street.
Kickoff for the 85th annual local celebration will be at 7 p.m., Friday, with a big welcome from Father Fabian Marquez and the food booths opening.
Music at that time will be provided by D.J. Ricky Barreno and from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Mariachi Angeles Dorados of San Angelo will be performing on the stage.
The Santa Rosa Dancers will perform from 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., then Jerry Rodriguez (Mariachi Singer), of New Mexico will be entertaining the audience from 9:30-10:30 p.m.
Mariachi Angeles Dorados will again perform that evening from 10:30-11:30 p.m., and at 11:30 p.m., the 16th of September Queen Candidates will be introduced.
The Fiestas will resume at 8 a.m., Saturday morning, with the parade-line up at the rodeo grounds and the food booths will re-open at 10 a.m., at the Santa Rosa Grounds.
D.J. music will be heard provided by D.J. Ricky Barreno and mariachi singer Jerry Rodriguez will perform from 12:30-1:30 p.m.; at 1:30 p.m., Mariachi Union of Pecos will be playing and the Matachines Dancers of El Paso will take the stage at 3 p.m.
The Mayahuael Folkloric Dancers of Dallas will be performing from 4-5 p.m.; the group Pulcinella Dancers of Pecos will take over from 5-5:30 p.m.; Mariachi Union from 5:30-7 p.m. and Mariachi Angeles Dorados from 7-8 p.m.
At 8 p.m., the Coronation of the 16th of September Queen will take place along with the Grito De Independencia, National Anthem, followed by a moment of silence in memory of 9/11.
A dance will follow at 9 p.m., with Wayne West of Pecos.
The Fiestas will resume at noon on Sunday with D.J. music; Matachines will perform from 1-2 p.m.; Presidio High School Folkloric Dancers from 2-3 p.m.; Mariachi Perla of Pecos from 3-4 p.m.; D.J. Music, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. and Mariachi Perla from 5:30-7 p.m.
Pulcinella Dancers will be performing at 7 p.m., followed by the Santa Rosa Folkloric Dancers.
The events will culminate with D.J. music from 8-10 p.m.
Citizen patrol, tax cut given council’s OK
Town of Pecos City Council members gave tentative approval to a new city budget and tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, along with a new program that would put local citizens on the street to assist police officers in spotting violations and possible crimes.
Council members tentatively approved the city’s new tax rate and budget, which calls for a decrease of roughly two cents in the property tax rate. The rate of .72267 cents per $100 in valuations was approved in a first reading of a city ordinance, with a second reading set for Sept. 23.
Council members voted 4-1 in favor, with councilman Joe Keese casting the lone ‘no’ vote. He said he would prefer to keep the tax rate at its current level than look at a $1 flat rate rise in the city’s sewer rate, to pay for projects such as street repairs during the 2010-11 budget year, which begins on Oct. 1.
“If you’re looking to find money in the budget for some of the critical items and you’re looking at raising sewer rates, would you rather raise taxes on everybody or raise the sewer rates,” he said. “I think the property tax increase, although everybody hates it, would be more fair because everybody pays it.”
The council also OKed the Citizens On Patrol (COP) program, following a presentation by Pecos Police Chief Clay McKinney and investigator Paul Deishler, who is in charge of organizing the program.
“We’ve been working with the Midland Police Department and Ms. Gloria Newman, their community relations officer,” Deishler said. “The Midland PD said they’ve had it for several years and it’s one of the best programs they have.”
The program would use graduates from the Pecos Citizen’s Police Academy to work in two-person teams to patrol the city in a vehicle provided by the police department. The volunteers could not make any arrests or issue summonses, but would use cell phones to call police and notify them of any violations or crimes in progress.
“They can’t get out of their vehicles. They have to wait for police officers to arrive, and the police officers take over from them,” Deishler said. He added the patrols would focus on areas of the city where there have been higher numbers of burglaries.
The city would have to provide fuel for the vehicles, which would be either a seized unit or one of the older police cars scheduled for retirement when new patrol units arrive later this year.
“It’s more eyes and ears for the community,” Deishler said. “The night shift only has three officers on patrol, and when one’s on vacation, we only have two for the whole city. That’s a lot of territory.”
He told the council they’ve had about 20-30 inquiries on joining the program, while Mayor Venetta Seals asked about how the insurance on the vehicles would be handled.
“That’s one of the questions we have,” McKinney said. He added they are waiting to get information from Midland PD on how they insure their COP vehicles.
“We won’t let anybody roll until we get the liability issues worked out,” McKinney told the council.
City to study cost options for insurance
Town of Pecos City Council members will look at several options on health insurance premiums and deductibles over the next two weeks, before making any final decision on selecting an insurance plan for city workers for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Council members met with Rick Holder of RH Administrators, the Lubbock company currently handling Pecos’ health insurance plan, as well as discussing quotes on health insurance from Blue Cross-Blue Shield and the Texas Municipal League during their regular meeting, held Wednesday evening at City Hall.
Councilman Joe Keese requested the outside quotes, saying the city’s current plan overcharged for workers with only themselves or one family member on the plan. “It’s a great plan, but to go back to the other side, it’s not equally beneficial to all our employees,” he said.
Currently the city is self-insured, and Holder handed out a sheet showing claim payments ranged from $482,641 three years ago, to $546,543 during the 2008-09 fiscal year.
“Blue Cross quoted $1,550,000. Why waste your money. You pay up front and don’t get your money back,” he said. “We’ve got stop-loss, so you just pay the claims. If you were fully insured you’d be paying $1.5 million in premiums, and if they paid out only $600,000 in claims, they’d keep the rest.”
Holder said the health care bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama this past spring is going to result in increases in insurance premiums, and that the city’s current $1 million cap will end and it will face an unlimited claim responsibility if Pecos changes insurers between now and 2014.
“We can keep you grandfathered in. But if you change, you lose it,” Holder said.
“What Obama did didn’t do anything to contain the costs. What they’re doing is requiring everybody carry insurance, so they don’t have to accept Medicare or Medicaid any more,” he said.
Holder told the council the city could make some changes within the plan to save money, which would involve either raising the current $125 flat rate to insure additional family members, or raise the deductible on the plan.
“I would like, with the council’s acquiescence, to sit down and go through the different options,” Keese said. “With some new items and with the proper structure, it won’t have a huge impact on our employees, but it will have an impact on the premiums.”
“I don’t see the reason to change, because we have such good requirements,” said councilman Danny Rodriguez. He said the city’s overall costs have gone down over the past two years, though Holder added with the new federal regulations, the city’s health care costs will rise in the upcoming year.
“If you can accomplish something by raising the deductibles, it accomplishes the same as (raising) the premiums,” Keese said, adding that a deductible change would only affect workers who use the insurance plan. “Maybe we can find $100,000-$200,000 a year without impacting the employees.”
In other action, council members following an executive session agreed to give city manager Joseph Torres a 3 percent salary increase, and gave Torres the authority to approve 3 percent raises for police chief Clay McKinney and city public works director Edgardo Madrid. The raises are similar to the 3 percent increases other city workers will receive under the 2010-11 budget.
The council also began accepting nominations to the Pecos Economic Development Corp. board of directors. Terms expire on the seats held by Rodriguez and Leo Hung. Torres said Hung already has informed him he would like to serve for an additional two years on the board.
“If they’re both willing to serve, I don’t see why we can’t appoint them tonight,” councilman Frank Sanchez said, while mayor Venetta said she wanted to wait until the council’s Sept. 23 meeting, so that anyone else interested in being on the board could submit nominations.
“If we can wait, I don’t see why we have to do it now,” she said. “One reason I mentioned it is a couple of people have called me about the positions.”
“The two up are good members. They attend almost every meeting,” city attorney Scott Johnson said. “They’re also the president (Rodriguez) and vice-president (Hung).”
“I think to avoid upsetting the public we should extend it another two weeks,” Keese said. Council members agreed to have letters of nomination accepted at the city secretary’s office between now and Sept. 22, the day prior to the council’s next regular meeting.
Urias’ announce birth of daughter
Claudia Payen Urias and Felix Urias announce the birth of their daughter, Isabella Maria.
Little Bella was born at 2:15 a.m., July 28, 2010 at Arlington Memorial Hospital in Arlington.
She weighed eight pounds, four ounces and was 20.5 inches long at birth.
Maternal grandparents are Joe and Rosalinda M. Payen.
Great-grandparents are the late Andres and the late Maria C. Mata and Guadalupe and Maria Payen, all of Pecos.
Paternal grandparents are Jose Maria and Carmen Urias of Pecos.
Public invited to attend bi-monthly meeting
The Texas Pecos Trail Region Board of Directors bi-monthly meeting, networking lunch, and educational experience will be held on Sept. 16, 10 a.m., in Junction at the Texas Tech-Junction Campus Amphitheater. The public is welcome to attend.
Complimentary lunch will be served at noon in the Dining Hall and is sponsored by the Junction Texas Economic Development Corp.
Optional activities in the afternoon include a kayak adventure on the South Llano River, birdwatching/hiking opportunity, or tour of the Kimble County Museum.
The Texas Heritage Trails Program is the Texas Historical Commission’s award-winning tourism initiative designed to help Texas communities promote tourism, revitalize local economies and foster community leadership through historic preservation.
The Texas Pecos Trail Region encompasses 22 West Texas counties in the Trans-Pecos area: Andrews, Crane, Crockett, Ector, Edwards, Glasscock, Kimble, Kinney, Loving, Martin, Maverick,
Midland, Pecos, Reagan, Reeves, Sterling, Sutton, Terrell, Upton, Val Verde, Ward and Winkler.
RSVP to Scott Jordan, Executive Director, at HYPERLINK "mailto:info@texaspecostrail.com" info@texaspecostrail.com or (325) 387-3900 by noon on Sept. 13 and indicate participation in the kayak adventure.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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