January 8, 2010

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Politics 2010 shaping up


 

 

SANDERSON – A four-way race for Terrell County treasurer is on the ballot in the March 2 Democratic Primary after late filings this week.

Leila Cash filed earlier for the nomination to replace Treasurer Lynda Helmers, who chose not to run again.

Anna Garza filed last week and, just before deadline Monday, Assistant Treasurer Ana Barron and County Judge Secretary Cindy Kelso joined the race.

County Judge Leo Smith has drawn opposition in his bid for re-election in the Democratic Primary from Terry “Tex” Toler. The winner will face Libertarian Pete Sanchez, Jr., in the November General Election.

The only other contested race in the Terrell County Democratic Primary pits County Commissioner Della Fuentes against challenger Michelle Marquez.  

The winner of that race will face Libertarian Jan Patrick Baker of Dryden in November.

Commissioner Kenn Norris is unopposed in his bid for the Democratic nomination for re-election but he will face recently-retired Deputy County Clerk Donna Smith in November.

Smith filed for the Republican nomination before the Monday deadline.

US Rep. Ciro Rodriguez gets a pass in March but there is a six-way race in the Republican Primary and two Libertarians are running for the 23rd District seat.

David Aguilar, Francisco “Quico” Canseco, Joseph Mack “Doc” Gould, Will Hurd, Mike Kueber and Robert “Doc” Lowry are all seeking the GOP nod to take on Rodriguez. 

Libertarians Martin Nitcschke and Jessie A. Bonley also are competing for the job.

State Sen. Carlos Uresti and Rep. Pete Gallego are unopposed in the Democratic Primary but Dick Bowen and Robert Sol Mayer will face off for the Republican nomination to face Uresti and Yolanda Sotelo Garza will face Thomas “T.C.” Kindaid, Jr. for the chance to face Gallego. Libertarian Mette Ann Baker of Dryden is seeking Uresti’s job.

It might be easier to list Texans not running for governor.

Incumbent Rick Perry faces a challenge from US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and lesser-known Debra Medina of Wharton in the Republican Primary but there are seven candidates in the Democratic primary and five Libertarians seeking the state’s top office.

The Democratic primary offers Bill White, Felix Alvarado, Bill Dear, Farouk Shami, Alma Ludivina Aguado, Clement E. Glenn and Starr Locke.

Libertarians will choose between Jeff Daniel, Steve Nichols, M.J. “Smitty” Smith, Edward “Ed” Tidewell and Katherine Youngblood Glass.

Both major party candidates for lieutenant governor are unopposed in their primaries but Democrat Ronnie Earle will challenge incumbent Republican David Dewhurst in November.

Libertarian candidates for the number two state job are Scott Jameson and Todd Minor.

The Libertarian Party does not have a primary but has county, district and state conventions to nominate their candidates. 

County conventions will be March 13, district conventions will be March 20 and the candidates for governor and other statewide officials will be selected at the June 12 state convention in Austin.

New filings in Brewster County included Van Neie, Jr., for county commissioner, Pct. 4 and Danielle J. Gallo for Democratic precinct chair, Pct. 3.

County Judge Val Beard will face Avinash K. “AviRangra for re-election and there is a three way race for county commissioner Place 2. Bill Bourbon and Andy Byrnes will take on incumbent Kathy Killingsworth,

And Democratic Party Chair Dale Christophersen faces a challenge from Clarence Russeau.

Republican Chairman Greg Inderlied said there were no local races in the Brewster County GOP primary.

Football for grads planned

By ANNA La FLEUR

News Leader Writer

AUSTIN – Sanderson and Marathon High School graduates who are past their high school football careers may have another chance to play their favorite sport.

Joy Helbing of Alumni Football USA said she is trying to organize alumni football games for West Texas.

“This is an opportunity for former football players to get on the field one more time and play a full contact game with full gear and regular high school game rules,” Helbing said.

Bob Cazet, the founder and director of Alumni Football USA based in Santa Rosa, CA, has organized these games for the past 19 years. Tim Bishop is the Texas Regional Director based in Austin.

The games are organized in other states and are now being set up in Texas.

“This will be an opportunity to raise money through pre-sale tickets when they collect half of the proceeds,” Helbing said. “So far, 1,200 players have signed up to play and we’ve only reached a tiny portion of the state.”

Rosters for teams are being compiled from Alpine, Balmorhea, Christoval, Dell City, Junction, Marfa, Marathon, Mason, Menard, Sanderson, Sonora and Van Horn.

Players can sign up to play by visiting www.WestTexasB.com.

Fans and players alike can link to individual Facebook pages to discuss and reminisce about rivalries, players and games, Helbing said.

Work days for Fair set

SANDERSON –The Terrell County Fair Board plans three work days to get the Fair Hall ready for the 31st Annual County Fair this month.

Adult-only volunteers will meet at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan 10, for the first work detail. Fair Board President Wayne Truesdell said children should not be involved in the first work session because a lot of heavy equipment will be used.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

Workers will again show up at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17, to prepare for the fair, which will be all day Saturday, Jan 23.

County Extension Agent Mark Carroll said some 80 animals have been validated and the fair could set a new record.

Revenues could be a problem because of the economy, however. The fair produced more than $17,000 last year, significantly higher than the previous year’s $14,000, which also was a new record.

But 4-H Livestock Liaison Clay Houston said revenues are slow coming in this year and asked board members to pursue funding resources.

There will be a change in the schedule for the main day this year.

In years past, there was animal judging in the morning, a noon barbecue luncheon and the auction after the meal.

Because there has been a rush to get the judging done in the morning, it was decided to move the meal to an evening meal, starting at 4:30 p.m., and to have the auction in conjunction with the evening meal.

Vendors will be available for those who need a noon meal.

There will be a free dance at 8 p.m. that evening with a band from Del Rio, arranged by Alan Askins. Truesdell said Askins did not know the band’s name.

The Terrell County 4-H Club also plans to raffle off a Remington 312 12-gauge, over/ under shotgun with proceeds going to the club.

Tickets will be $5 each and the winner will be announced at the Saturday evening auction.

The event will get under way with the acceptance of arts and crafts entries, 4-H and school projects, food and displays from 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan 21.

On Friday, Jan 22, arts and crafts entries will continue to be accepted and booth and vendor set ups will be from 9 to 11 a.m.

Judging of arts and crafts will be from 1 to 4 p.m. and livestock check in for lamb, goats, pigs and cattle will be from 12 noon to 6 p.m.

The fair day itself will get underway with check in for rabbits, chickens and horses from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and the livestock and arts and crafts shows from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Animals in the show will include rabbits, chickens, goats, lambs, pigs, cattle and horses.

There will be a pet show at 2:30 p.m.

Proceeds that go to the Fair Board are used to offset the cost of presenting the fair.

Old cemeteries dot history

By KIM RAPP

Production Manager

SANDERSON – Right now, families of the deceased can chose between the county-run Cedar Grove Cemetery and the private Santa Rita for burial here but at least three others cemeteries were in town prior to the opening of the current burial grounds.

One was located across the street from The RoundHouse Café on Oak Street.

Around 1910, while digging the foundation for a railroad men’s bunkhouse, workmen discovered numerous coffins.

Commissioner’s Court at that time gave permission to remove the remains and move them to the present cemeteries.

 All remains were not located then, however. In the 1940s, workman found buttons, bones and portions of a coffin while digging in a back yard to place a propane tank in the same area.

The book “Terrell County, Texas – Its Past, Its People”   tells of another cemetery located behind the Western Hills Motel, now known as the Budget Inn.

A few old-timers remember this cemetery, but most do not remember any cemetery other than the current two.

A third burial ground was located just west of Javelina Hill, at the intersection of Cargile and US Highway 90.

In “about” 1927, all locatable remains were moved to the present cemeteries, the history book reports.

Some say the cemetery behind what is now the Budget Inn was never there and a few other old-timers remember one being there but no other details.

Donna Smith, who was deputy Terrell County clerk for the last 10 years, said she did extensive research on this particular cemetery and there “simply is no record of it at the courthouse.”

Whether there’s record of it or not, it was there.

Local resident Tony Calzada does remember it being there and his older sister, Olivia Salinas, remembers a nine-year-old boy named Reyes Marquez was buried there and later moved to Santa Rita Cemetery.

She also remembers a boy, 11 years of age, with the last name Garza being buried there, later moved to Santa Rita. He was the son of TomasitaTomi” Garza.

An organization called Woodmen of the World owned the property and “allowed” a few burials, possibly 10 to 12, Salinas said.

The property was then sold to Frank Wiggin, who sent letters to families and publically posted at the Post Office for families to excavate their loved ones and remove them from the property.

At the time, the remains were taken to either the Santa Rita Cemetery or Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Tony’s wife, Edelmira, does not remember the cemetery itself but vividly remembers being told stories about the site.

Edelmira is currently the vice-president of Sanderson Cemetery Association and helped with some history on the Santa Rita.

She documented that the land that Santa Rita is on was purchased by deed by the Association in 1925 and the fence was erected simply for land boundary purposes.

The plots are not for sale. They are donated, she said.

Calzada said she has names of several deceased whose remains were moved to Santa Rita from other cemeteries in the early 1900s.

Smith remembers playing as a child, maybe six or seven years old, and finding human remains in the root cellar, which was located at the site of the cemetery across from the RoundHouse Café.

This story may get even more interesting and our research is on-going. Any further information will be published in a later issue of the News Leader.

If anyone has documented proof of any of the cemeteries, please call me at 432/290-4053.

County gets ‘stimulus’ funds

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of US Rep. Ciro D. Rodriguez announced this week that two jobs in Terrell County had been “saved or created” with $169,938 in “direct and guaranteed loans for rural housing.”

He said 14 counties in his 23 Congressional District received a combined $30 million in loans, administered by the US Department of Agriculture.

The funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the “stimulus.”

“While the economic downturn affected all of us, rural residents were hit particularly hard,” Rodriguez said. “This program is a life-saver for so many rural residents who have been unable to purchase their own homes.

“Once again, we are seeing that the Recovery Act is working to put people back on their feet, create and save jobs and stimulate our economy,” he said.

Rodriguez said Brewster County got $568,623, Bexar County received $16,213,704, Crockett got $71,050, Pecos County benefitted by $1,135,686, Culberson County received $202,132 and Dimmit County took in $224,450.

Jeff Davis County received $111,224, El Paso County got $3,770,268, Maverick County took in $5,928,141 and Medina County got $899,580.

Reeves County received $62,244, Uvalde County got $805,543 and Zavala County took in $88,500.

Total jobs “saved or created” in the district were 365, Rodriguez said.

Earlier, Rodriguez announced that ten counties in the district will receive a combined $1.2 million in federal funding to help local response organizations meet the needs of the hungry and the homeless.

“Hunger and poverty do not discriminate between young and old, male and female, veteran and non-veteran or different ethnicities,” Rodriguez said.

“Everyone suffers and sometimes people just need a helping hand,” he said. “During the harsh winter months, filling these needs becomes even more critical.

“This FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] funding will allow local response organizations to continue providing food and shelter to the most vulnerable populations,” Rodriguez said.

Pecos County will receive $10,117, Presidio County is in line for $8,723 and Val Verde County is scheduled to get $27,489.

Bexar County will receive $718,385, Dimmit County will get $6,053 and $387,505 will go to El Paso County.

Maverick County is in line for $47,843, Medina County will receive $18,603, Uvalde County is set to receive $12,892 and Zavala County will get $8,293, for a total of $1,245,903.

Tax help classes set

AUSTIN – The Texas comptroller’s office is offering 18 free taxpayer seminars around the state this month to help new and existing business owners understand their state tax responsibilities.

“A diverse economy, growing work force and friendly business climate attract more businesses to the Lone Star state every day,” Comptroller Susan Combs said.

A complete list of locations, dates and times is available at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/seminars.html.

Taxpayers can learn about sales tax forms, filing and paying taxes electronically, taxable goods and services and “e-services” to help taxpayers manage their accounts online.

Combs said the e-mail subscription service alerts taxpayers when new tax information is posted online and there is an array of other services and information available from the comptroller’s office to assist taxpayers.

Comptroller representatives will answer questions and provide assistance to attendees.

“A strong and diverse business community is the key to Texas’ economic strength,” Combs said. “We are committed to assisting Texas businesses by making taxes simpler, smarter, faster and, above all, transparent.  We owe it to our taxpayers to provide the best customer service possible.”

Those who are unable to attend the seminars can call the Comptroller’s tax assistance line at 800/252-5555. 

Tax forms and tax information also can be found on the comptroller’s web site at www.window.state.tx.us.

Tourism reveals mixed signals

By ANNA La FLEUR

News Leader Writer

SANDERSON – There were conflicting reports here about the effects of the economic crisis facing the nation in the year just ended with some hospitality businesses reporting an uptick in business while others were off from earlier years.

The Budget Inn reported more customers for the New Year’s holiday this year than last year. Other motels said they had less business than last year.

Big Bend National Park spokesman David Elkowitz said the park had fewer visitors than the previous year but he said hotels and motels in the park may have had more visitors than he would know about.

Danny Fergison from the lodge inside the park reported business has been up and down at the same time.

Fergison said even though there are more park visitors staying at the lodge, there is less spending on gifts than usual.

Mike Boren, executive director of the Big Bend Natural History Association, said sales were up about five percent in park book stores in 2009.

He said so far in 2010, sales have been up slightly more than that.

Overall, it was reported that people visiting the park were still arriving to stay in the park but spending is not as prevalent as it used to be.

Fort Lancaster Site Director Chris Elliott said 2009 was down from the previous year but the overall trend is upward.

“We have seen a dramatic rise in visitation in 2008 compared to previous years,” Elliot said. “This can be attributed to an extreme change in operations.”

He said the site is now open seven days a week, instead of four, staff has been increased from one in 2007 to five the next year.

Fort Lancaster has also increased its advertising budget and made improvements to the site.

“Even though 2009 wasn’t as great as 2008, it still is constantly increasing,” he said.  “We are also continually increasing our operations to better suit our visitors. Traditionally as the economy declines, individuals find more affordable ways of entertainment, therefore we see a rise in our visitation.”

Carolyn Hutto at the Terrell County Visitors Center here said there has been a major increase in tourists stopping there in the last two weeks, on their way to Big Bend.

She said tourists are buying things at the center to remind them of their trip to West Texas.

Remembering Albert ‘Al-B’ Peña

By KIM RAPP

Production Manager

SANDERSON – Nieves Alberto Peña, also known as Albert and known to some as Al-B, passed away peacefully in his home last week.

To me, he will be remembered as someone you could count on for a smile. Apparently he was also known as a “prankster.”

Some locals knew Peña when he ran the Arroyo Grande Cantina, some remember him traveling the country as a truck driver with sidekick Nina Picasso and some remember him hauling our Eagles to football games, basketball games and wherever else they were going.

I once asked him why he did that and he simply smiled and said, “I love it.”

Sometimes, his love of traveling with the kids paid off for him, like when he got to attend a hockey game with the Odessa Jackalopes and found a carnival in the parking lot.

Peña also loved to cook and the more people who came to eat, the better he liked it.

Those who worked with Al-B also enjoyed the cooking of his mother, “Grandma Connie.”

At a beautiful memorial service this week, I learned that he also had a knack for “pushing people’s buttons, only to make them smile,” sister Susan Duarte said.

However you remember him, I bet it will be with a smile.

Light, camera, two legends

By MARK GLOVER

Contributing Editor

CASTELON - Texas photographers Walter Frerck and Blair Pittman have been stacking up award-winning photographs ever since they met in the buzz of the Houston Chronicle newsroom in 1965.

Both eventually traded city life for the Big Bend desert.

Gone are their nearly matching 1962 Rambler Station wagons, regular spelunking, several wives, the vacation drives to the Big Bend and film. But the duo keeps on clicking.

Corralling these two legends was not easy. So when I finally got the call, I was ready.

“Why don’t we go down south,” Frerck said from his home in Alpine. “We’ll meet Blair at the Johnson Ranch. Got something to look at.”

I quickly agreed, although I had no idea where the Johnson Ranch was.

Several hours later and 16 miles east of Castelon off the River Road in the Big Bend National Park, a hand painted sign at a fork in the dirt road let me know we had arrived.

I had a feeling my editor Robert Halpern chose me for this assignment because I had the most to gain on photography – in other words, get some lessons while you’re at it.

In a flat perch overlooking a thicket of Salt Cedar that hid the meandering Rio Grande, the south side of the Chisos Mountains, a towering red-brown rock monolith shooting up to 6,000 feet, beckoned in the distance as our three truck entourage parked.

“You have how many kids?” Pittman asked.

“Four,” I said.

“I raised seven,” he chuckled.

Pittman came to the Big Bend the first time in the 1940s. He caught pneumonia in Arkansas at the age of four and the doctor told his father the boy needed a hot, dry climate.

“We moved to Pecos. There weren’t any trees, so I found a lumber yard to play in,” Pittman recalled, the partial sun illuminating his lamb chop sideburns jutting from under his cap.

“One day while crawling under a bundle of 2 x 4s I ran face to face with a rattlesnake,” he said. “He struck but my pet cat jumped in front and took the snake’s full blow. Saved my life.”

The cat’s swollen head was treated with a poultice of lechuguilla juice concocted by the cleaning lady. The cat lived.

“Cortisone,” big John Klingemann said as the three of us leaned over the open hood of Pittman’s Toyota. “Used to be a factory in Alpine that produced natural cortisone from lechuguilla.”

This cat story and more will be part of Pittman’s sixth book and second in a series called “Tales from the Terlingua Porch – Volume II,” being released next week.

Pittman’s first big break after going freelance was his work in the Big Thicket that made the National Geographic Magazine in October of 1973. A month later Congress made the Big Thicket a National Preserve.

“That’s the power National Geographic had,” Pittman said.

After a picnic of chicken salad sandwiches under high wispy clouds, author and historian Glenn Willeford explained the intent of the old Johnson Ranch.

“The Johnson’s had hoped to get rich growing cotton in the river valley but they were too far to market,” Willeford said. “Later they grew truck crops for the quicksilver mines in Terlingua. Beans, squash, corn.”

From the remnants of the old adobe ranch house, Willeford pointed toward Mule Ears.

“They use to fly deHaviland DH-4 bi-planes between the ears,” he said.

In the vast plateau of the ranch, less than a mile from the ranch house, the US military operated a landing strip from 1936 to 1939.

“Pilot training,” Willeford explained.

1939 was a busy year for the Johnson Ranch. A copy of the guest registry that Willeford pulled from his notes shows the first guest that year was J. Frank Dobie.

Amelia Earhart and an unknown male companion landed that summer. And the famous sculptor of Mount Rushmore visited in October.

Gutzon Borglum was hoping to convince the feds to fund another Mount Rushmore project,” Willeford said, as he nodded at the vertical face of the Chisos.

I watched Jean Hardy-Pitman gaze at the rock cliffs of the mountain, her burgundy coat ablaze in a beam of sunlight.

I set the dial on my camera to “auto” and then thought about the lesson I had received earlier from Frerck.

“Light is most important. Sunrises and sunsets are best,” Frerck explained on the ride down. “Mid-day light in the desert is unforgiving but sometimes you can use the F-stop and the shadows to get contrast.”

Frerck started his photo-journalism career in St Louis with the now defunct newswire service, United Press International.

He was transferred to Little Rock and later to Houston and covered the NASA space program, Super Bowls, World Series and a number of other events including Hurricane Beulah, the storm of the year in 1967 that ravished south Texas.

His photo of a man leaning into the wind in front of a flooded house near a clump of beached shrimp boats won The National Press Photography Award.

In 1988 he became a free-lance photo-journalist and his portfolio includes two books on Spanish, Moroccan and Mexican architecture, a short film on the man who lived in the cleft of Mariscal Canyon and a number of photos and copy for newspapers and magazines worldwide including the French wire service, Agence France-Presse.

Toward the end of day on the way out of the park we stopped at Sotol Vista. I caught the two photographers in a shaft of horizontal glow from the setting sun.

Pittman smiled and nodded. “That’s good light,” he said.

‘Eye in the sky’ prowls

SANDERSON – The News Leader had several calls about a low-flying helicopter circling town Fright night, many thinking it may have been a medivac helicopter on a medical mission.

US Border Patrol spokesman Bill Brooks said the helicopter was called in to shine a search-light on the railroad tracks looking for some illegal aliens who escaped from a roundup.

Agents had rounded up several suspects but Brooks said a couple of them got away.

Some agents in vehicles searched back roads but found nothing. Others walked on foot along the railroad tracks.

Agents suspected the pair may have boarded a freight train that had stopped in the area but a search failed to turn up anything.

Brooks said while two got away, most of the suspects being rounded up remained in custody.

Cactus Chat

New Year brings some more visiting

By ANNA La FLEUR

News Leader Writer

SHEFFIELD – Marine Lance Corporal Charles Michael Galvan visited family here for the holidays. Charles is stationed at Twenty Nine Palms, CA.

He visited his dad, Carlos & Roxanna Galvan, and his sisters Tiffany & Racheal in Sheffield. He also visited his mother, Rosella Falcon.

And Charles visited grandparents Paul & Connie Galvan in Sanderson. He also visited his aunt Diana Galvan, his uncle Oscar Galvan and his aunt Laura Rubio.

Rene & Laura Rubio, Analise Rubio, Jonathan Calzada, Roy Shoemaker & Alan Marquez then went to Sheffield to continue the visit.

The group ate steaks and played pool. Carlos Galvan said it was a day to remember.

Daniel Jake Lemkuil, wife Alyssa & seven-year-old Tessa Marie visited Sanderson recently. Daniel is the son of Dirk Lemkuil of Sanderson.

The family is from Houston, where Daniel is running for Republican nomination to judge of the 309 District Court.

To get to know Daniel, visit www.lemkuilforjudge.com. Dirk said Alyssa is a family law attorney in Houston and that is how the couple met.

Sanderson has a new resident. Bryan Warby moved here from southern Utah recently.

Warby enjoys living here because of the quietness of the town. He often compares Sanderson to Mayberry because of the small-town atmosphere and the kindness of the folks here.

Mid-Tex of Midland is a company name that has appeared in the News Leader a few times recently.

It is the “contractor at risk” for the $14 million Terrell County School bond program.

There is a new superintendent for their crew working in Sanderson. Joe Marquez lives near Midland with his family.

He replaces Kevan Amonett who was transferred to a job in San Angelo.

Marquez is here four days a week overseeing the construction at the schools.

The grandfather is the brother of Sanderson resident Jesse Marquez, who is in his eighties and still enjoys working hard.

Employees speak highly of Joe Marquez and say he is a good Christian man who cares about people.

It’s School Board Recognition Month

AUSTIN – January is School Board Recognition Month, a time when districts across the state show their appreciation of the role elected boards of education play in their local schools and communities.

“The biggest challenge of education is also one of its greatest strengths,” Gov. Rick Perry said in proclaiming the month. “During a time when state and national mandates rightly place more emphasis than ever on setting the bar high for education, it remains important for each community to retain control of its own educational system.”

Serving without pay on the Terrell County ISD Board are President Ada Lee Robbins, Vice President Eddy Benavidez, Secretary Johnnie Couch and Trustees Sandy Pierce, Cheryl Seidel, Neto Calzada and James Chapoy.

“Balancing the need for local control with directives coming down from larger governmental bodies is neither an easy nor oftentimes appreciated task but, for over two centuries, school boards have risen to such challenges,” Perry said.

“Complicating matters further are issues such as the rapidly expanding role of technology in the classroom, the challenge to keep our children both educated and physically active and – as always – the difficulties inherent in dealing with budgetary priorities,” he said.

“The people who make up these boards are uncompensated and, all too often, unsung for their efforts,” the governor said. “These people volunteer their time because they care. They care about their communities, they care about their schools and, most importantly, they care about the children.

“Each year the Texas Association of School Boards designates January as School Board Recognition Month to emphasize to all of us the importance of the services these dedicated men and women provide to the schools and children of Texas,” Perry said. “At this time, I urge all Texans to recognize the invaluable contributions realized through the work of our school boards.”

“Today’s public schools face tremendous challenges and opportunities, making the school board’s role more critical than ever before,” TASB Executive Director James B. Crow said. “Local trustees diligently work with community leaders, parents and educators to develop sound education policies.

“They help set high standards in the education system, encouraging us to strive to reach those goals and better prepare the next generation of leaders in our state and nation,” he said. “We encourage every community to acknowledge the commitment that board service requires of more than 7,000 locally elected school board members in Texas and support them as they tackle the enormous task of governing school districts.

“We applaud their dedication as they offer vision and leadership and work to empower every child to succeed,” Crow said.

TASB is a nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local Texas school districts.

School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state.

The districts they represent serve more than 4.7 million public school students.

SR registration continues

ALPINE – Web and regular registration for Sul Ross State University’s spring 2010 classes continues through Wednesday, Jan. 20.

Spring classes start Thursday, Jan. 21, and continue until May 15.

Web registration for spring classes continues from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Jan.

Regular registration will also continue from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Jan. 20 in BAB Room 202. Late registration will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jan. 21, in the same room.

New students must report to the room before beginning any part of the registration process.