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SAN ANTONIO –
Terrell County Judge Leo Smith said Monday he met with members of the board
of directors of Amtrak here last week and Chairman Thomas Carper indicated he
would help the county in its plans to acquire a platform to be used for a
depot in Sanderson. There had been
reports Amtrak might eliminate the stop in Sanderson in its thrice-weekly
service east and west through town. The train
stops in Sanderson if someone wants to get on or off. If it passes through
ahead of its scheduled departure time, it has to stop until that time. Smith said
Amtrak had earlier indicated that if the county built a permanent “platform”
for people to use to board and de-board the train, it might decide to
continue to stop in Sanderson. Smith said the
discussion was on a platform with a roof and at least three sides plus rest
rooms and a drinking fountain inside. “He [Carper]
told me he would talk to Union Pacific about our need and maybe get some land
to put the platform,” Smith said. “This could take some time but our interest
in providing a station could help keep our Amtrak service.” About the same
time reports surfaced that Amtrak might eliminate the stop in Sanderson,
there were other reports the company was considering daily service along the Sunset Limited route. Brian Rosenwald, Amtrak’s chief of product management, outlined the
proposal before the California Rail Political Action Committee/National
Association of Railroad Passengers meeting in April as reported in Train
Magazine. The train would operate as an extension of the Texas Eagle, which
currently connects Chicago with San Antonio, and would take the place of the
current Sunset Limited. A stub train would operate between San Antonio and New Orleans to
handle passengers in that portion of the corridor. Currently, a coach and sleeper from the Sunset operate as through
cars to Chicago on the Eagle three days per week, while a dormitory sleeper,
full sleeper, dining car and coaches operate from Los Angeles to New Orleans
through Sanderson. The train has not operated east of New Orleans since August, 2005,
even though tracks were rebuilt several months after hurricane Katrina’s
devastation. Rosenwald told Trains at the time, the concept was still subject to
the outcome of negotiations with the Union Pacific Railroad. He said Amtrak had determined that running the train daily from Los
Angeles to Chicago would generate more than enough revenue to offset the
increased cost of daily service. Part of the offset would come from an increase in efficiency from
the tri-weekly train, which now has two-day crew layovers and idled
equipment. Resumption of service east of New Orleans is under review, mandated
by Amtrak’s 2009 reauthorization. Rosenwald said last spring that the changes were being targeted for
the October timetable change, but that hinged on working out the details with
the Union Pacific. SANDERSON –
Football fans around the country, including Sanderson, will huddle in front
of their television sets Sunday to watch one of the biggest spectacles in
sports, the National Football League’s Super Bowl XLIV. The Sanderson
Band Boosters also hope they’ll gather around a “steaming hot bowl of chili”
to support the Sanderson band program. The annual
Chili Supper to support the Booster programs will be from 12 noon to 3 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 7, at St. James Hall. Band Director
Eric Cooksey said the band will play for chili eaters at 1 p.m. “That way,
those that want to hear the band can plan to come at that time,” he said. It will
include the fifth and sixth grade group, the sixth and seventh grade group
and the full high school band group. Cooksey told
the School Board last month that the band now involves 59 students including
25 in the “high school group” and the future looks bright with all of the
music students in grades below high school senior. Because there
are no seniors in the band, none will be lost to graduation. There are two
juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen. The rest are junior high grades
and lower. Band Booster
President Kathy Lawson said the band’s success under Cooksey has also helped
the Booster group double its membership, The fact there
is no senior means there will not be a scholarship so those funds could help
more students go to band camp. Tickets for
the chili supper are $7 and $8. Takeout will be available for those who have
to rush home to watch the pre-game activities, though the actual game between
the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints doesn’t start until 5:30
p.m. ALPINE –
Environmental historian Dr. Megan Benson will discuss “Groundwater War! Law,
Politics and the Texas Rule of Capture” Friday, Feb. 12 at Sul Ross State University. Benson’s
lecture will be at 7 p.m. in the Morgan University Center’s Espino Conference
Center. There is no admission charge. Her talk is
sponsored by the Excellence in West Texas History program of Angelo State
University, a program that emphasizes the sharing of the finest new Texas
historical research with the community. It is co-sponsored by the Center for
Big Bend Studies and Sul Ross. Benson will
describe the courtroom drama and explain the politically-charged environment
that gave birth in 1904 to the controversial “rule of capture,” known
colloquially as “the law of the biggest pump.” Groundwater
provides more than 60 percent of Texas’ water needs. Unlike surface
water, which can be managed for the general public interest through applicable
laws, groundwater is controlled by the controversial “rule of capture,” which
provides absolute control of groundwater to the owner of the overlying land. Under this
rule, the landowner can pump groundwater with few restrictions and little
regard to neighboring properties, or to the resource itself. The rule is
applied in Far West Texas to sell groundwater to distant municipalities such
as El Paso and Midland. How did this
“rule of capture” come to be? Does this early 20th-century ruling serve Texas
and Texans well today? An expert in
the history of water law, Benson received her Ph.D. in American History from
the University of Oklahoma in 2003. Recipient of
the 2009 Fellowship for Excellence in West Texas History from the West Texas
Collection of Angelo State University, her fellowship research explores the
intersection of Texas groundwater law with the Ogallala aquifer, lessons
which apply directly to the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. Benson
received the 2002 Edward Everett Dale Award for Best Dissertation in Western
History from the University of Oklahoma and the 2008 Vivian A. Paladin Award
for best article from Montana Magazine: The Magazine of Western History for
her two-part article, “The Fight for Crow Water.” In addition to
her Friday evening talk, Benson will be interviewed on Talk at Ten on KRTS
Marfa Public Radio, 93.5 FM, on Friday morning, Feb. 12. SANDERSON –
Sanderson Junior High School students raised $1,154.10 for the Saint Jude
Children’s Research Hospital this year by asking the community for donations.
The 14
students did extra math problems and raised the money to help the children,
their families and the research efforts hospital. St. Jude was
founded by entertainer Danny Thomas on the
premise that "no child should die in the dawn of life." He named the
hospital in Memphis, TN, for Saint Jude
Thaddeus,
the Catholic patron saint
of hospitals, desperate cases and lost causes. Founded in
1962, St. Jude is a leading pediatric treatment and research facility focused
on children's catastrophic diseases. All medically
eligible patients who are accepted for treatment are treated without regard
to the family's ability to pay. Students who
raised $125 or more were Memory Colston, Grace Jahn, Jesse Roberts, Mayra
Rodriguez and Brandee Stegall. They were
awarded a certificate and a prize from the $125 to $249 group of prizes. All but one
student chose the six-in-one game. Grace decided to go with a basketball. Anthony
Fuéntez, Luis Garza, Olivia Adauto, Mariah Aguilar and James Castro raised
amounts from $75 to $125. They were each
awarded a certificate, a pass to Six Flags amusement park, a tee shirt and a
book bag. Students who
raised $35 to $75 were Mason Blackmon, Kayla Fuéntez, Daniel Luevano and Sage
Sesson. Each of those students
was awarded a certificate, a Six Flags pass and a tee shirt. “Thanks to
these compassionate and intelligent students children with serious childhood
diseases may receive the treatment and other services from Saint Jude
Children’s Research Hospital for them and their parents without cost to their
families,” sponsor Becky Norris said. “I appreciate these young adults so
very much for their compassion and their maturity to go the extra mile to
help others.” ALPINE – The
24th annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering will be Friday and Saturday, Feb.
26 and 27, on the campus of Sul Ross State University here. About 50
poets, musicians and storytellers from around the world will participate. The West Texas
National Bank is the title sponsor. The City of Alpine also provides
significant support. The gathering
will officially start at 10 a.m. Feb. 26 in Marshall Auditorium. Michael
Stevens will be the master of ceremonies for the opening session. Sul Ross
President Dr. Ricardo Maestas will welcome guests and officially open the
gathering. Mike Beck and Joel Nelson will perform during this session. The Desert
Sons will perform for the popular “Tribute to Marty Robbins” session, which
will be expanded to include the music of the Sons of the Pioneers at 11 a.m.
in Marshall. Don Cadden will host a preview of the
gathering with Cowboy Celtic, Red Steagall and Jack Sammon in Marshall
Auditorium at 1 p.m. Multiple
sessions will start at 2 p.m. simultaneously at various places on the Sul
Ross campus. All the
daytime sessions Friday and Saturday are free. The Friday
evening show at 7 p.m. in Marshall Auditorium will be hosted by Don Cadden.
It will feature Mike Beck, Joel Nelson and others. Saturday
night, Michael Stevens will be the master of ceremonies in a show featuring
Cowboy Celtic, Red Steagall and friends, also at 7 p.m. The two
evening shows cost $12.50 for adults and $6 for children. Lap babies are
free. Folks who were
not invited to participate but would like to recite or sing are invited to an
open session at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 26, in Rooms A and B of the University
Center. A pair of
spurs specially made for the gathering by Gene Klein will be raffled off to
support the event. A custom made
bracelet and a stock whip made by Jack Sammon will also be raffled. Tickets will
be on sale at the event. The drawings will be during the Saturday night stage
show. The
headquarters during the event is in the Sul Ross University Center where
tapes, CDs and books by the performers will be on sale. SANDERSON –
Dr. Robert Lowry of San Antonio wondered last week why it would take more
than 2,000 pages for a federal healthcare bill when the entire nation was
founded on just a few pages. The
Senate-passed healthcare bill last year was 2,400 pages long in its final
iteration, just a few pages longer than the House-passed bill. Lowry, a
candidate for the Republican nomination to the 23rd US Congressional
District, treated about ten Sanderson residents to a lunch and meeting at the
RoundHouse Café to share his vision for the job he is seeking. He faces David
Aguilar, Francisco “Quico” Canseco, Joseph Mack “Doc” Gould, Will Hurd and
Mike Kueber in the March 2 Republican Primary. Incumbent Ciro
Rodriguez faces Miguel Ortiz in the Democratic Primary and the two
major-party candidates will face the winner among two Libertarians, Martin
Nitchschke and Jessie A. Bonley. A full-time
physician and businessman, Lowry compared the national “healthcare reform”
issue to car insurance. He said we
have insurance on our cars, not to pay for “windshield wipers, oil and new
tires” but to cover an unlikely accident with major damage and injury. If people
wanted it to cover routine maintenance, the cost “is going to skyrocket,” he
said. Asking health
insurance to cover routine healthcare is a major cause of the escalating
healthcare costs, he said. Lowry said the
problem with healthcare in the US today is that “they have taken free market
forces out.” By insuring the
provider instead of the insured, the patient is stuck with using the provider
listed in the policy, not his choice of provider. “Medicare runs
the pricing structure,” he said. “And Medicare provides very little
healthcare. Most of its expenses are for administration and things like
marketing.” Doctors are
not free to compete, he said. In fact, if a doctor agrees with another on a
price for a procedure, they can “go to jail” but Medicare does it all day
long. If the patient
collected the insurance payment, he would be free to shop for the best
provider and the best price. The present
system deprives the patient of that freedom and results in much higher
costs. And government
paper work contributes significantly to the problem, he said. Lowry said his
staff spends about 40 percent of its time on government and insurance
paperwork, not providing health care. And the
proposed health care bills would provide even more bureaucracy and more
entitlements. “You think the
IRS is onerous, the real threats come from Medicare,” he said. “It’s
happening right now in the US.” On other
issues, Lowry was asked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, more formally
called Federal National Mortgage Association and the
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp-oration, which many credited with creating
the housing bubble that led to the current recession. Lowry said
those agencies, along with many others, should never have been created in the
first place. “The Heritage
Foundation says that once the government starts something, it is very hard to
stop,” he said. “They should never have been in your pockets to begin with. “We are smart
enough and have good judgment if the government will just stay out of it,” he
said. Government
bailouts of large businesses just helped perpetuate the economic woes, he
said. “If General
Motors were worth $1 a share then that’s the value to those who buy it,”
Lowry said. He said if it
had to go bankrupt, someone else would buy the assets and turn the company
around. “You can’t
throw a boulder in the pond and not have waves going all over,” he said.
“That’s not the way society works.” Lowry said he
thought about running for Congress after his now-teenaged children grow up
but he was encouraged not to wait because the country “will go over the falls
by then.” He said he
hopes to begin turning the nation back around from many years of going the
wrong direction. Lowry likened
the position the country is in today to someone with a $400,000 house with a
$400,000 mortgage and two Mercedes cars on which he owes $100,000 each. “You are not
wealthy,” he said of the person in that example. And the nation is not
wealthy because of the massive deficits. Lowry said it
will take years to change back to the principles on which the nation was
founded but he hopes to find “40 or 50 new guys who are thinking down the
same road.” He hopes to
begin the long-haul process of cutting through massive government bureaucracy
and massive expenditures. And he does
not plan to be a career politician. “You’d better
find someone better than me in six years because I plan to come home,” he
said. AUSTIN – For
those just getting used to what “TAKS” stands for, the state has come up with
a new acronym for testing students in public schools. Education
Commissioner Robert Scott announced last week that the next generation of
student tests, starting in the 2011-12 school year, will be known as STAAR,
for “State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness.” The first
state-mandated tests were called TABS, for Texas Assessment of Basic Skills,
and were in use from 1980 to 1985. Then came
TEAMS, for Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills, from 1986 to 1990. Then TAAS, for
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, from 1990 to 2002. And TAKS, for
Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, was in use from 2003 to the
present. The newest
contraction will be used for the 12 end-of-course assessments mandated by SB
1031 in 2007 and the new grade 3 to 8 assessments mandated by HB 3 in last
year’s Texas Legislative session. “The new tests
will be significantly more rigorous than the previous tests and will measure
a child’s performance as well as academic growth,” a Texas Education Agency
release states. “The grade
3-to-8 STAAR tests in reading and mathematics, by law, must be linked from
grade-to-grade to performance expectations for the English III and Algebra II
end-of-course assessments,” TEA said. In a speech at
the midwinter conference of the Texas Association of School Administrators,
Scott said the last TAKS-based school accountability rating will be issued in
2011. Ratings will
be suspended in 2012 while a new accountability system is developed, he said.
The new state rating system will debut in 2013. SANDERSON –
Kayla Fuéntez of Sanderson has been selected for the United States
Achievement Academy’s Who’s Who in Leadership Service for the 2009-10 school
year. Kayla, the
daughter of Marco and Ronnie Fuéntez, was the winner of the USAA’s National
History and Government Award last year. She is the
granddaughter of Pancho Fuentes and Yolanda Martinez of Sanderson and Don and
Susanna Fuéntez of Marathon. Kayla was in
the top ten of last year’s winners and qualifies for a personal biography in
the permanent USAA National Yearbook. “Second, it
means [she] qualifies to apply for one of the USAA educational cash grants,”
Academic Achievement Council Director Scott Washing said. “Only students who
are true achievers – in fact, outstanding achievers whose names appear in the
official yearbook – are invited to apply for a USAA Educational Cash Grant,
up to $10,000.” The eighth
grader is a member of the National Junior Honor Society, Junior High School
Student Council president, a member of the band, plays basketball, is a
cheerleader and a Girl Scout. She was
nominated for the National History and Government Award last year by Coach
Trisha Nichols. AUSTIN –
Sanderson High School will be in District 6 in Class 1A, Six Man Division II
this year. The new alignment was announced Monday. Joining the
Eagles in the district will be Balmorhea, Dell City, Grandfalls-Royalty and
Imperial Buena Vista. In the current
year, the Eagles are in District 8 with Balmorhea, Dell City, Marathon and
Sierra Blanca. Head Coach
Mark Dominguez said Sierra Blanca moved to Division 1 and Marathon will not
field a football team next fall. The alignment
affects only football, he said. “Right now, we
are having issues on scheduling,” he said. “When we finalize the schedule, it
may be in the best interest of our kids.” But he said he
is having “the hardest year I’ve had trying to find some games. Travel can be
extreme.” Dominguez said
there may be some games played on a neutral site with far-away schools in
non-district play. Students
collect pennies for patients SANDERSON –
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has invited Sanderson Elementary School
to participate in a fund raiser called “Pennies for Patients,” although all
coins will be accepted. Beginning
Monday, Feb. 8, and ending Friday, Feb. 26, the students will participate in
raising funds that will help support the cause “Our goal is
for the entire elementary to collectively raise $100 in those three weeks,”
School Nurse Violita McDonald said. “The class who raises the most money will
be rewarded with a pizza party.” “I think it
will be a fun and meaningful experience for the students,” she said. “I hope
they can learn compassion and the importance of helping to find cures for
those who are sick. “The money we
help to raise will go towards helping out families of those who have children
with Leukemia,” McDonald said. “Proceeds benefit the Leukemia/Lymphoma
Society.” Leukemia is
the name for a group of diseases that are cancers of the marrow and blood. There are four
main types of leukemia: acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelogenous
leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia. Lymphoma is a
type of cancer that begins with a malignant change in a lymphocyte, lymph
node cell or a cell in the lymphatic tissue of the marrow, gastrointestinal
tract, spleen, skin or other site. The disease
results from an acquired genetic injury to the DNA of a single cell, which
becomes abnormal, or malignant, and multiplies continuously. The
accumulation of malignant cells interferes with the body's production of
healthy blood cells. An estimated
139,860 people in the United States were diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or
myeloma in 2009, the society’s Web site says. New cases of leukemia, Hodgkin and
non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma account for 9.5 percent of the
1,479,350 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States last year. SANDERSON – A
“Local Working Group” for the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural
Resources Conservation Service and the Rio Grande-Pecos River County Soil and
Water Conservation District decided Tuesday to concentrate on “domestic
livestock” at a meeting here. The NRCS
hosted the public and any agencies with an interest in conservation issues to
receive input from local agencies, organizations, businesses, and individuals
that have an interest in natural resource conditions and needs in Terrell
County. The LWG
decided that it will address “cross-fencing and livestock water distribution
practices” for county-based funding through the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program and other conservation programs offered by NRCS. “These
programs are geared toward livestock improvements on local ranches in Terrell
County,” NRCS said in a press release. “The 2008 Farm Bill stipulates that
conservation programs must continue to be locally led. “Through stake
holder meetings, the public is given an opportunity to help local
conservation leaders set program priorities,” the agency said. “All
these meetings are open to the public.” For more
information and qualifications, call the USDA Service Center here at
432/345-2595. Service center
locations and program information can be found on the Texas NRCS Web site at www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov. By
ANNA La FLEUR News
Leader Writer SANDERSON –
The Varsity Eagles came out second best to Rankin here Tuesday in close games.
The boys lost 34-38 and the girls came out behind in a 41-49 ball game. Travis Roberts
was the top scorer for the boys with 11 points. Cordell Lawson was on his
heels with nine points. Darren Siedel was not far behind with seven points.
Tim Hopkins had five points and William Roberts scored two points. Sarah Sivils
topped the scoring for the girls with 13 points. Blakeney Chriesman was next
on the point scale with ten points. Amber Bon was
up there with nine points. Noemi Nuñez scored five points and two points were
scored by Lizette Ramirez. Roxanna Rodriguez and Vicky Busch scored one point
apiece. The junior
high boys traveled to Imperial to defeat Buena Vista Monday 37 to 15. Jalen
Chriesman and Mason Blackmon tied for top scorer with 11 points each. On
their heels were Santiago Gonzales with six points, Luis Garza with five and
Daniel Luevano with four points. The Varsity
Eagles traveled to Grandfalls Friday where the boys drubbed the Cowboys 48 to
7 and the girls also cleaned house also with a win of 56 to 14. Darren was top
scorer for the boys with 18 points. There was a tie for ten points between
Cordell and Travis. Tim scored six points and Robert Montalvo had two points. Blakeney was
the top scorer for the girls with 18 points. Sarah dumped in 12 points and
eight points were earned by Noemi. Amber had six
points and Vicky scored five points. There was a three way tie for two points
between Roxanna, Juliana Castro and Jessica. Julianna Larrinaga had one
point. FORT STOCKTON
– A Fort Stockton Border Patrol agent seized 282 pounds of marijuana with a
street value of more than $225,000 last week. The agent was
on patrol on US Highway 285 south of Fort Stockton when he encountered an
SUV. The driver
appeared to the agent to be very nervous. After a license plate check
revealed the vehicle was a rental from El Paso, the agent pulled the vehicle
over to make an immigration inspection. It is not
uncommon for rental vehicles to be used to smuggle illegal aliens and
narcotics. When the agent
approached the vehicle, he noticed poorly covered bundles that were packaged
in a manner consistent with narcotics loads. The driver was
a 37 year-old man from Kansas. He was
turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the vehicle
and the pot. OC sponsors
youth democracy program ODESSA –
Odessa College will sponsor a democracy program to educate youth about the US
Congress and encourage them to become active participants in the democratic
process. The program,
created by the Committee for Citizen Awareness, involves two major
components. The first is
an educational DVD, “The US Congress and You,” which discusses the operation
of Congress and a citizen’s role in the legislative process. US Rep. Mike
Conaway and Odessa College President Dr. Gregory Williams appear in the
award-winning video. Through the
sponsorship of Odessa College, CCA has distributed this DVD at no cost to all
schools, community colleges and many libraries in the 11th Congressional
District of Texas. The second
component is an interactive Web site with a youth opinion poll of the month,
developed in consultation with George Gallup, Jr. The poll gives
participants a first-hand opportunity to actively engage in the legislative
process and better understand their civic duties. “Odessa
College believes that understanding Congress’s role in passing laws is key to
understanding the importance of participation in the political process,”
Williams said. “We are proud to bring this exciting program to our local area
and we encourage area youth to become actively engaged in the democratic
process.” The DVD is
among a series of award-winning civic education DVDs created by the Committee
for Citizen Awareness. National
dignitaries including Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, former Majority Leader
Bob Dole and Vice President Joe Biden also appear in the video series. CCA’s Web site
can be found at www.citizenawareness.org. It was
launched in April, 2008, to provide young citizens with a source for
information about their representatives and government. In addition to
the monthly opinion poll, the Web site contains trivia and quizzes about the
US government as well as information about how students can contact their
Congressional representatives. By
MARK GLOVER Contributing
Editor SANTA ELENA
CANYON - Like many west Texans, I wear a few hats, ranch hand, adobe man,
writer man and about once every three months I get a call to be a tour man.
This call came at 6:45 am. I couldn’t
make out the accent. Chinese? Romanian? Over the next several months the call
came regularly. “It’s Mr.
Mullet again,” Lori would say handing me the phone across the bed. Mr. Mullet
was reconfirming his tour of the Big Bend National Park. So when I saw
four guys walking down Holland Avenue in matching black hats, matching black
vests and cobalt blue shirts, I thought – Oh, Mariachis. And then I saw
their pale white skins, black beards and modified Prince Valiant haircuts.
Amish! It’s Mr. Mullet – they’re Amish. I thought to
pull over and introduce myself but I didn’t want to scare ‘em off. I hadn’t
washed the Suburban yet and the shoestring was still securing the mirror, a
last minute adjustment I had made to pass inspection. The next
morning, I pulled in front of the Holland Hotel. Mr. Mullet
introduced himself as Sam and then I met Isaac, Levi and Krist – smiles
breaching their black wool hats. “You don’t
have problem with Amish, do you?” Sam asked. They were
young men, boys as they are known in their district of Ohio, unmarried and –
until that day – boys without voting rights in their community. The Amish sect
of Christianity began with a schism among Anabaptists in Switzerland in 1693.
Jakob Ammann
led a splinter group to Pennsylvania where the Amish-Mennonite Church was
first formed. Later the Amish and Mennonites split. Today there
are more than 200,000 Amish living in America. Approaching
the Glass Mountains, I began my spiel on the ancient seas that once covered
our land. Sam
interrupted me. “We don’t
understand science,” he said. “Tell us about something recent, 18th century.” “Tell about
animals,” Isaac called out from the back seat. We passed a
blackish carcass on the side of the road. “That’s a
javelina.” “Oh ya.
Javelinas,” Sam said. “I heared about them. Pigs.” English is not
their first language. At home they speak a form of German, sometimes called
Switzer-Deutsch. “How is it
pronounced, Rio Grand or Rio Grandee?” Sam asked as we turned south at
Marathon. “On this side
of the border, Rio Grande, in Mexico, Rio Bravo.” “John Wayne,”
Sam said. “We like Louis L’Amour too.” I mentioned
the Mennonite “Oasis” farm community just south of Ojinaga. “Horse and
buggy?” Sam asked. “Chevrolets.” “We’re not
allowed that,” Sam said. “No driving?” “That’s why we
called you,” Sam said. On their farm
in Ohio they grow corn, wheat, oats, apples and strawberries and use a horse
to pull the plow. “What about
electricity?” Sam shook his
head. “Candles?” “Kerosene
torches,” Sam said. “What about
pesticides, herbicides on the crops?” “Round-Up,”
Sam said. Sam’s father
is a district leader and Isaac’s father is a preacher. They hold church
inside family homes, alternating weekly. Sam works 60 miles from where he was
raised, a two-day buggy ride. Sam and his
friends spend most of their time within the Amish community and all hope to
marry soon. But for the moment they are single and use their one-week-a-year
vacation time to visit national parks. Last year,
they saw the Grand Canyon. “Those
mountains are in Mexico,” I said pointing to Pica Peak in the distant Sierra
del Carmen Mountains. “Old Mexico?”
Sam asked. “Yep.” “Not New
Mexico?” Levi asked. “Nope. Mexico
Mexico.” Sam stared at
the jagged horizon. “I always
wanted to visit old Mexico,” Sam said. We passed the
iron oxidized red browns of the Dead Horse Mountains and into the park. At Santa Elena
Canyon, the four of them marched toward the skinny part of the river. I
watched them from a high point on the trail. It was like a
rock video or a John Wayne movie, four guys in glimmering cobalt blue shirts
with black vests and black hats trudging across the sand along the river
against a hazy mountainous back drop. They stopped
and gazed at the sheer cliff on the other side. They’re going
to cross, I thought to myself. I don’t want to see this. I turned and
walked down the trail, deeper into the canyon. I came over a ridge and looked
back. They’ve changed their minds. They’re not going to do it. Then, holding
hands, the four of them waded into the current. They were
laughing now, clapping each other on the back, standing firmly on foreign
ground. Then, as if
some iron magnetism kicked in, they grabbed each other’s hand and waded back. I headed
toward them. Sam produced a
rock. “Mexico,” he
said and threw it over the river. He watched the rock bounce on the other
side. “I may never
be here again,” he said. FORT DAVIS –
Former Odessa Police Chief Chris Pipes has been hired as the new Davis
Mountains Project director for the The Nature Conservancy. Born in
Garland and raised in Odessa, Pipes served for 25 years in the Odessa Police
Department, rising through the ranks from cadet to chief. He served in
that capacity for six years, overseeing a force of 220 people serving a
community of nearly 100,000, until his retirement from the department in
2008. “My wife
Pamela and I are longtime members of The Nature Conservancy and believe
strongly in its mission,” Pipes said. “We love the wide open wilderness of
West Texas and have vacationed here for years. “To be offered
a position with this fine organization and to be able to live and work in the
Davis Mountains is a dream for me,” he said. “Chris'
education, experience and passion for conservation make him a great fit for
the organization, and his extensive knowledge of the land, water and wildlife
of West Texas make him uniquely qualified for his new role,” said Jeff
Francell, director of land and water conservation for The Nature Conservancy
of Texas. As Davis
Mountains Project director, Pipes will be responsible for managing the Davis
Mountains Preserve, which at 32,000 acres is the largest private nature
preserve in Texas. His duties
will include overseeing preserve stewardship activities, managing public use
and access, implementing conservation strategies for the entire Davis
Mountains conservation area and coordinating volunteer activities. He also will
work with the conservancy’s partners in conservation easements on more than
62,000 acres surrounding the preserve. In order to
best manage these responsibilities and remain in touch with on-the-ground
conservation work, Pipes will office at the preserve in the McIvor
Conservation Center. As one of his
first acts as director, Pipes announced the resumption of the popular open
preserve days and weekends program, beginning with an open weekend from March
12 through March 14. In addition to
his record of public service, Pipes also boasts an academic resume that
reflects a lifelong commitment to education. He holds an
associate degree in applied science in law enforcement from Odessa College
and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Texas of
the Permian Basin. While chief of
police in Odessa, Pipes earned a master of science degree in biology from the
University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is nearing
completion of a range and wildlife masters degree from Sul Ross State
University. WASHINGTON, DC
– US Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has urged eligible taxpayers to claim the Earned
Income Tax Credit this year, which helps boost needy families out of poverty
each year. “With tax
season coming up, every dollar is going to count,” Rodriguez said. “This
important tax credit is available for eligible taxpayers, but each year up to
7 million eligible taxpayers don’t claim it. That should change this year as
we seek to make more people aware of this key tax benefit.” The American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – or the “Stimulus” – temporarily
extended the EITC to allow working families with three or more children to
qualify for the credit. That
translates into an additional 650,000 families who are now eligible for this
credit. To qualify for
the EITC, earned income and adjusted gross income for individuals must each
be less than $43,279, $48,279 if married and filing jointly, with three or
more eligible children. The IRS
reports one in four eligible taxpayers fails to claim the EITC. “That often
includes workers without qualifying children, people whose earned income
falls below the threshold required to file a tax return, farmers, rural
residents, people with disabilities and nontraditional families such as grandparents
raising grandchildren,” Rodriguez said. “People must file a tax return to
claim the EITC.” Free help is
available to EITC-eligible taxpayers. There are nearly 12,000 free tax
preparation sites nationwide. People who
want to prepare their own tax returns can visit Free File on IRS.gov. The free tax
software and free electronic filing program will walk taxpayers through a
question and answer format and help them claim the tax credits and deductions
for which they are eligible. For more
information on the tax credit and eligibility, visit www.eitc.irs.gov. ALPINE – Sul
Ross State University Associate Professor of English Dr. Barney Nelson will
publish a chapter in a new Blackwell Companion to the Literature and Culture
of the American West edited by Nicolas Witschi. Nelson’s
chapter, entitled “The Nature of Cowboy Poetry,” discusses the abundance of
nature imagery and especially the positive characterization of wolves and
coyotes. The collection is scheduled for publication in 2011. “When the
editor asked me to contribute, I thought I had nothing new to say about
cowboy poetry,” Nelson said. “However, about the same time, I began to
collect poetry about predators for a literature class. “I was
surprised and soon intrigued by the huge selection in the older poetry,” she
said. “It seemed that almost every poet and every poem mentioned coyotes or
wolves and always in a positive light. I expected the older poetry to be
condemning.” The chapter
compares the nature imagery to haiku and the acceptance of nature’s dark side
to Robert Frost. The importance
of lyricism is illustrated by a corrido duet described by J. Frank Dobie
between coyotes and Mexican cowboys. Nelson also
compares identification with the wolf’s howl to Native American warrior songs
and discusses it as working-class sympathies. “The essay is
truly fantastic, exactly what the collection needs,” Witschi said. “I very
much enjoyed reading it, learned quite a lot and think the book will be the
better for it. The essay is truly wonderful.” During the
contract signing, Nelson was also able to retain copyright to the chapter. She has
published several journal articles on cowboy poetry and hopes soon to put
together a new book of her own on the topic. Blackwell
Companions are published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing headquartered in
London and partnered with 665 academic and professional societies. Blackwell
published more than 800 journals and 650 text and reference books in 2006,
across a wide range of academic, medical and professional subjects and had
990 staff members with offices in the US, UK, Australia, China, Denmark,
Germany, Singapore and Japan. “I feel
honored to be invited and even more so to have the chapter accepted,” Nelson
said. “I preach the importance of research to my students and this project
brought that home once more. “As many years
as I’ve been reading, writing, involved with and trying to interest Lobos in
poetry, I had never noticed all those hard-working, lonesome coyotes and
wolves singing and loping through the poems until I did the research,” she
said. “Research gives you the support you need to publish your own thinking.” Deadline nears
for prepaid college AUSTIN –
Families have until Feb. 28 to lock in college tuition and required fees at
current rates for the state’s public colleges. “The Texas
Tuition Promise Fund helps put higher education within reach for all
families,” Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said. “Whether it’s a four-year
degree or career training at a community college, saving for college will
help our children gain the skills they need for well-paying jobs.” The state’s
pre-paid college tuition program allows families to prepay for undergraduate
tuition and required fees. They can
prepay for a four-year degree, a two-year degree or for just a few classes or
semesters, at prices based on 2009–10 academic year costs for the state’s
public colleges. Type I units,
priced for tuition and required fees for up to the most expensive public
four-year school in Texas, cost $103.40 per unit. Type II units,
priced at the weighted average of tuition and required fees across all Texas
public four-year schools, cost $71.75 per unit. Type III
units, priced at the weighted average cost of tuition and required fees
across all Texas public two-year schools, cost $17.78 per unit. Under the
plan, 100 units equal one academic year of tuition and required fees. Families can
buy up to six years, or 600 units, worth of undergraduate education. The plan
offers several payment options, including lump-sum payments, pay-as-you go or
the installment payment option, which includes an annual interest rate. While benefits
are geared toward Texas public colleges and universities, the plan value can
also be used toward the cost of private or out-of-state schools. Unused units
can be transferred to another qualified beneficiary or refunded. After Feb. 28,
the Texas Tuition Promise fund will close enrollment until September, when
the program will re-open with new contract prices based on college costs for
the 2010-11 academic year. For
information about the prepaid tuition program, including a college cost
calculator, go to the Web site at www.TuitionPromise.org or call
800/445-GRAD (4723), Option 5. ALPINE – Sul
Ross State University faculty members Dr. Louis Harveson and Dr. Patricia
Moody Harveson have co-authored a chapter in a book published by the
University of Arizona Press. The Harvesons,
along with Melanie A. Culver, Cora Varas and Bonnie McKinney, wrote
“Connecting Wildlife Habitats across the US-Mexico Border” in the book,
“Conservation of Shared Environments: Learning from the United States and
Mexico.” Louis Harveson
is a professor of Natural Resource Management and director of the Borderlands
Research Institute at Sul Ross. Patricia Moody
Harveson is an assistant professor of Natural Resource Management. ALPINE –
Comedy, romance and espionage meet under the covers as “The Private Lives of
Private Spies,” which premieres Feb. 19 at the Granada Theatre in downtown
Alpine. Performance
times will be at 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19 and 20 and 26 and 27,
and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 and 28. Written by Sul
Ross State University graduate Joseph Matthew Hardison, the play features two
secret agents in a combat of romance. The saga
includes jokes related to events from the Cold War of the 1970s to the most
recent local calamities. Drive set to
recycle chemicals SANDERSON – A
plan to recycle hazardous home chemicals could be some time this summer,
financed by a $4,000 state grant, County Judge Leo Smith said this week. Smith said the
grant, through the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission, would pay to
have someone haul off items such as oil, oil filters, batteries, paint,
chemicals such as bleach or Drano and other household items that should not
be placed in a landfill. He said it
would not include used tires. They have to be handled differently. “One of the
biggest problems in our landfills today is cell phones,” Smith said. “In an
age of disposable cell phones, more and more people are just throwing them in
the trash.” It’s illegal
to dispose of household batteries because of the lead in them and cell phones
all have small batteries, Smith said. Sully’s Super
Saturday Feb. 20 ALPINE –
Prospective students and their families can explore educational opportunities
and campus life at Sul Ross State University during Sully’s Super Saturday,
Feb. 20. Check-in and
registration begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Morgan University Center. The opening
assembly will include a greeting from the Sul Ross President Dr. Ricardo
Maestas, Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Dr. David
Cockrum and Gregory Schwab, associate vice president for Enrollment
Management. The tentative
schedule also includes a campus tour and information on major requirements,
degree programs, sponsored activities and course offerings. Information on
admissions, financial aid, housing and student activities will be provided. A lunch will
be prepared by Campus Dining Services. Visitors also
may choose to attend women’s and men’s basketball games between Sul Ross and
Concordia University-Texas in the Gallego Center, at 1 and 3 p.m. or several
other activities, including a hike up Sul Ross Mountain, Planetarium
presentations and tours of the Turner Range Animal Science Center and the
Museum of the Big Bend. Students and
guests staying overnight may obtain complimentary tickets for the Sul Ross
Theatre production of “The Private Lives of Private Spies,” playing at the
Granada Theatre in downtown Alpine. For more
information, contact the Sul Ross Office of Recruiting at 888/722-7778 or
432/837-8050. |
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