April
23, 2010 Use Back button
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Road Race
tomorrow
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SANDERSON – By
the time most people read these words, it will be all over – except the most
exciting part. The Big Bend
Open Road Race blasts off from Fort Stockton at 8 a.m. tomorrow, bringing
some 162 race cars here and back, each in pursuit of a trophy and bragging
rights. For a dozen
years, people have come from far and wide, bringing everything from
Volkswagons and minivans to antique cars to the latest in high-tech racing
machines to test their driving skills on a 59-mile stretch of US Highway 285. Most are in a
class in which they attempt to come as close to their specified speed as they
can, from 85 to 150 miles per hour. A few – three
this year – will be in an “unlimited” class, seeing how fast they can go, chasing
a record of 172.584 mph set by Mike and Marsha Borders of Las Vegas, NV, in
2007. For a dozen
years, the annual event has brought teams of drivers, navigators and crews to
the area for what has been billed as one of the last great road races left
and one of the most challenging. US Highway 285
will be closed between here and Fort Stockton at 6 a.m. tomorrow and
nominally remains closed until 5 p.m., though crews usually re-open it soon
after the last car crosses the finish line near Mockingbird Lane south of
Fort Stockton. Two days of
events in Sanderson came to an end with the annual Chamber of Commerce
reception and picnic at Bicentennial Park yesterday. Several
drivers paid a call on Sanderson Elementary School yesterday morning in an
event that has become, if anything, more popular with the participating
drivers than it has with the school children. The kids
return the favor by coloring pictures in a coloring book for the race crews. Today, it’s in
Fort Stockton for the annual car show at Zero Stone Park from 4 to 5:30 p.m.,
followed by the parade down Dickinson Street. The first 59-mile
leg of the race tomorrow ends near Downie Arena north of here with the first
cars getting here in a few seconds the other side of 20 minutes. The community
participates in a noon “turnaround” at the Courthouse with booths providing
food and entertainment to race crews and citizens alike. It’s the best
chance for Sanderson people to see the race cars up close and personal and to
meet with drivers and their crews. After lunch,
the cars go in convoy back to the start-finish line for the return trip to
Fort Stockton. It ends with a
party in Rooney Park in Fort Stockton as soon as the cars start clearing the
finish line. The annual
awards banquet is at 7:30 p.m. at the Pecos County Civic Center. OKLAHOMA CITY
– Rumors that SandRidge Energy planned to close or phase down work on the “Century
Plant” 37 miles north of Sanderson are “totally false,” a SandRidge spokesman
said Tuesday. Senior Vice
President for Business Development Kevin White told the News Leader “several
hundred people” are working on “Train One” at the plant, a joint venture with
Oxy Petroleum of Los Angeles. He said he
expects Train One to be completed by late summer. “Then, with
natural gas prices as weak as they are, we probably don’t have any reason to
work around the clock to get it done as fast as possible,” he said. “But we
are on a time table to be within the contract.” White said
“Train Two” should be completed by the first half of 2012. “We had a nice
rally [of gas prices] last summer and we built our plans around that,” he
said. Meanwhile,
SandRidge is still exploring for gas and oil in the “West Texas Overthrust.” “We are still
building the full Century plant,” White said. “Prices are still cyclical but
we fully expect prices will recover. “When they do,
the Piñon Field is a world-class asset and will need to have full capacity on
the Century Plant,” he said. The $1.1
billion plant near US Highway 285 and Puckett Road will separate carbon
dioxide from methane. Oxy will use
the CO2 to extract oil resources and Sand-Ridge will use the methane as
natural gas for its customers. SandRidge also
plans more activity in oil exploration. It announced two weeks ago it had
acquired Arena Resources, Inc., of Tulsa. The two announced
jointly that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement which will
position Sand-Ridge as one of the largest producers of oil and gas in West
Texas. SAN ANTONIO –
Sanderson Junior High students faced some big-school competition and held
their own at the Regional Texas Quiz Bowl here last weekend. Eight teams
competed in the quiz bowl. The Sanderson team placed fourth overall. It was the
only school here from a small district. All other teams came from much larger
5A schools. Competing for
SJHS were Jalen Chriesman, Kayla Fuéntez and Daniel Luevano. Megan Seidel
went as an alternate. Superintendent
Gary Hamilton said students from the larger schools get to spend a lot more
time preparing for the quiz. “That’s all
they do, while we have track and band and tennis and you name it,” he said. Sanderson
students try out every year for this opportunity and this is only the second
year that they have participated in the Quiz Bowl. The students
had to answer questions about “all things Texas” including history, geography
and even Texas slang. Questions were based on the Texas Almanac. The students
were in San Antonio for two nights and, while here, they went to see the Alamo
and visited the historic King Williams District. They also
experienced “Fiesta,”' which was taking place during their stay. Accompanying
the kids were Trisha Nichols, Tami Carrasco, and Hamilton. By
ANNA La FLEUR Production
Manager SANDERSON –
Both girls and boys Sanderson High School varsity tennis teams are district
champions and qualified for regionals this week. The boy’s
track team was runner up at area and also will go to regional qualifiers. Cordell Lawson
placed first and Kelley Lomas was second in boy’s singles in tennis. Casey
Couch and L.A. Galvan placed second in boy’s doubles. Vicky Busch
placed first and Roxanna Rodriguez placed second in girl’s singles. Jessica
Garza and Noemi Nuñez were first in girls doubles. Blakeney
Chriesman and Darren Seidel were first in mixed doubles while Amber Bon and
Robert Montalvo placed second. The two junior
high students who placed for Sanderson were Brianna Lozano and Luis Garza who
were the district mixed doubles champs. The SHS boys
track team is the area runner up will go to the regional qualifiers. Travis Roberts
placed first in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 952.68 and the 1,600-meter
run with a time of 4:31.18. Jacob Benavidez
was first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.31. David
Shoemaker placed second in shot put with a distance of 43 feet, 3.5 inches and
fourth in discus with a distance of 124 feet, nine inches. William
Roberts was second in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:08.64 and the
1,600-meter run where he ran a time of 4:41.02. Shawn Stegall
was third in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:11.40 and the 1,600-meter
run with a time of 4:58.78. Chris Marquez
was third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:03.82 and fourth in the
400-meter dash where he ran a time of 52.83. Joseph
Hopkins, Travis, Chris and Jacob placed fourth in the 4 X 400-meter relay
with a combined time of 3:36.34. Noemi placed
first in the 800-meter run and second in the 3,200-meter run. Jessica was
second in the 1,600-meter run. Hanna Swanson
placed fourth in the 100-meter dash. SANDERSON –
The Terrell County School Board Monday approved – for the second time – an
agreement to give the old High School building to the county for office
expansion. “We voted to give
the school to the county in 2007 and they didn’t take up the offer at that
time,” School Board President Ada Lee Robbins said. “We authorized the
agreement again [Monday] to give the school to the county but we want to keep
the auditorium.” The deal also
does not include the cafeteria and two gymnasiums in an adjacent building. The school had
a $980,000 line item in its $14 million bond issue to renovate the building
for the tax office and for work in the auditorium. But to redo the
building, which was built in 1931, for classrooms would have cost $5 million
so the bonds paid for a new high school wing on the junior high building
which is now nearing completion. A committee of
Robbins, Superintendent Gary Hamilton and Board Member James Chapoy will work
out details of the transfer with the county. “They have
agreed to keep the historical integrity of exterior of building,” Robbins
said. County Judge
Leo Smith said last week the county has not determined yet which offices it
would move to the building. The high
school is scheduled to move to the new building May 4. Next week is the TAKS
test schedule but seniors are not scheduled for the tests so they can begin
moving furniture while the lower class members take the mandated state tests. The school
board has not yet accepted the floor of the new building because it still has
some flaws. “They
[contractor Mid-Tex of Midland] wanted the students on the floors,” Robbins
said. “Then during the summer they can touch up the floors and hopefully we
can accept them this summer.” She said the
contractor wants traffic on the floors to see how well the fixes will stand
up. The library
books have all been moved to the junior high library. The steel for the new
field house at Sanderson Stadium was being erected this week. Technology
Director David Carrasco told the board the new telephone system from Toshiba
should be installed in July and new fiber optics will tie all of the
buildings in on one communications system. DEL RIO – A
group of kids in Sanderson Elementary School’s kindergarten and first grade
classes went 120 miles for lunch and to show off their manners last week. Funded by a
grant from the Piñon Foundation, the 22 students came here for lunch and
returned home via the Judge Roy Bean Center in Langtry. “Math,
science, history and –manners?” the Del Rio News Herald wrote in a Page 1
story. “Students cover a lot of topics in the classroom but for a group of
kindergarten and first grade Sanderson children, table manners were the
focus.” The paper said
a lot of “pleases” and “thank yous” were evident as the kids gathered at the
Ramada Inn and “put their table manners to the test in a large restaurant setting.” First grade
teacher Suzie Grusendorf said she takes her students to places like Alpine
and Midland. “We try to
fill in the gaps with things they need to know,” she told the Herald. “That’s
not to say they aren’t taught these things at home but it never hurts to
practice.” The students
selected from a menu that included Mexican food, fish, spaghetti and hamburger
steak. “I was
surprised when I got the request” for the visit, the hotel’s Director of
Public Relations and Sales Garry Golstead told the Herald. “This is a trip to
the big city for them so we worked up a menu and here they are. They look
like they’re having a good time.” By
MARK GLOVER Contributing
Editor ALPINE - Tresa
Mois’ son Michael was four when she explained to him she had cancer. “That was the
hardest thing,” Mois said sitting in the shade at Talgar’s here. “’Baby,
Mommy’s sick and has to go away for a while,” she told him. Mois is a
cancer survivor. Diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer in September of 2008,
she underwent a series of chemo therapy and radiation treatments at Texas
Oncology in Odessa. “It started
with a bad chest pain,” she said. “Dull, achy, throbbing, sometimes I
couldn’t breathe.” Mois started
smoking when she was 13. By adulthood, she smoked a pack and a half of Marlboro
Lights a day. Google Health
says almost all SCLC patients are smokers and it is the most aggressive form
of lung cancer. “I was very
lucky that I went to the doctors early and they found it when they did,” Mois
said. The cancer had
attacked her bronchial artery and there wasn’t much time. A team of local
practitioners including Dr. James D. Luecke and Cathy Duncan got her into the
oncology center quickly. “When you have
cancer, you must accept it.” Mois said. “But you don’t take ownership of it,
otherwise it will own you.” On occasion she
brought Michael to the hospital so that he could see how it all worked and be
familiar with it. He also stayed with her at the Hope House, a converted five-bedroom
home in Midland, established to assist cancer patients’ needs. “With Michael,
I tried to keep it light,” Mois said. “I joked ‘Mommy’s going to be bald again’
and he thought that was very funny. “The first
time I came home between radiation sessions, he grabbed my hand, gave me a
kiss, took me to the restaurant [Edelweiss] and went to every table and said,
‘This is my mommy. She’s sick. But she’s going to be OK.’ “Even now if I
start coughing a little or mention Odessa he’ll say, ‘Mommy, don’t die.’” Mois has
always been a religious person but said she moved closer to God during the
treatment. “I met a lot
of cancer patients over the past two years and I didn’t meet one that didn’t
want to be prayed for,” Mois said. Mois has been
cancer free for one year but goes every four months for check-ups. “Nothing
scarier than going in for the tests and waiting a week for the results – that’s
a long week,” Mois said. Mois still doesn’t
not have health care coverage. “A big reason
I no longer have the hotel,” she said, referring to the Holland Hotel. “I’m
still paying the medical bills.” She’s working
at KVLF Radio again after resigning six years ago to launch her hotel and
restaurant career. “It’s good to
be back,” she said, her hazel eyes glitter in the sunshine. She wears a
purple dress and a silver necklace with a cross. “The nurses
gave it to me,” Mois said. She smiled. “I never take it off.” Mois finished
all her treatments on March 17, 2009, and with the help of Michael she was
able to make one lap with other cancer survivors during last year’s Relay for
Life. This year, she
hopes to make a few more. SANDERSON –
Project Graduation got some tasty boosts this week with a pancake breakfast
at the Legion Hall on Sunday and burritos for participants at the Big Bend
Open Road Race Wednesday and Thursday. The goodies
were to raise money for the all-night, chemical free party for graduating
seniors on graduation night. This past
month has been a busy one for Class of 2010 Project Graduation. On April 10,
the project had its second Schwan’s fundraiser raising $1,400 altogether. Sunday, April
18, they also hosted a breakfast at the Legion Hall. Students
working for the Project included Angelina Hopkins, Jake Hall, Jessica Garza,
Clarissa Brotherton, Jacob Benavidez, Chris Marquez, Travis Roberts, David
Shoemaker and Sarah Sivils. Helping were
parents Eddie and Dora Benavidez, Teresa Brotherton, Gina Garza, Annette
Harris and David Marquez. The class
thanked the Legion for its support in letting them use the building and providing
them with supplies, making their fundraiser a success. ALPINE – April
J. Cavness of Marathon was named outstanding psychology student in an awards
ceremony at Sul Ross State University that also named the school’s university
man and woman of the year. Monte Piper of
Sugar Land was named outstanding man and Addie Bencomo of Fort Davis was the
outstanding woman at the annual Honors Convocation Monday in Marshall
Auditorium. Piper, the son
of Mr. And Mrs. Monte Piper, will graduate summa cum laude in May with a BA
degree in History and a 3.97 grade point average. He plans to
attend Officer Candidate School in the US Army after graduation. Bencomo, the
daughter of Jimmy and Kathryn Bencomo, will graduate cum laude in August with
a BA degree in English and a 3.52 grade point average. She finished
her schooling in three years. “One of the
greatest parts of the job [of university president] is recognizing students
who excel in and out of the classroom,” said Sul Ross President Ricardo
Maestas. Curry gets ‘vote of confidence’ SANDERSON –
The Airport Board this week voted to keep Airport Manager C.D. Curry as a
voting member of the board. Chairman Jim
Street said some had questioned whether Curry, as a county employee, should
be a voting member of the board or whether he should be an ex-officio – or
non-voting member. In a unanimous
vote, the board gave Curry a “vote of confidence” and suggested he retain the
right to vote unless an item involved him personally, in which case he should
abstain. The board also
agreed to ask county commissioners to award a $9,580 contract with Service
Now of Del Rio for air conditioning and insulation of Curry’s home on the
airport property and to put $25,000 in the budget each year for two more
years for improvements to the home and nearby terminal building. That is the
amount in the current budget for that purpose. Architect
Justin Gilmore of Fort Worth has recommended the county provide new roof,
windows, carpet and other improvements to the home and terminal building. Curry said the
project could be completed for $60,000 to $70,000. The home was
built many years ago by Flight for Christ using donated materials. It has one
window air conditioning unit and a non-functioning evaporative cooler. Curry rents
the home for $500 per month plus utilities. The terminal
provides office space and rest rooms for aircrews flying in and out of the
airport. By
BOB VARMETTE Fort
Stockton Pioneer Reproduced with permission FORT STOCKTON
– The word for the day is "justiciable." Merriam Webster
defines the word as "capable of being decided by legal principles or by
a court of justice." According to
the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District Board of Directors, it
means you get to be a part of the process of determining whether the
production permit for Fort Stockton Holdings is approved. A total of
nine parties were found to have a “justiciable” interest by the MPGCD Board
of Directors during a nearly six-hour meeting and hearing Tuesday at the
Large Community Hall here. "These
are people with a real interest or could be potentially adversely affected,"
MPGCD special legal counsel Bill Dugat said. Eleven parties
were not qualified. They included a number of groundwater districts south and
east of Pecos County, as well as the City of Del Rio, the City of Menard, the
Brewster County Groundwater Conservation District and Brewster County. The Rio Grande
International Study Center, which recently formed an alliance with the City
of Fort Stockton to fight Fort Stockton Holdings' plan to export about 47,000
acre-feet of water per year from 18,000 acres Clayton Williams controls in
the Leon-Belding area west of here, was also found to not have a “justiciable”
interest and was not qualified. Dugat, who was
retained by the MPGCD board earlier in the meeting, said the parties who were
admitted during the hearing had easily-identifiable links to the district. He said the
board's focus must be on the MPGCD and the sustainability of desired future
conditions for the district, not on issues outside the district's
jurisdiction. Those who were
granted status at the meeting will advance to the hearing on the merits,
Dugat said. That hearing –
which MPGCD board president Glenn Honaker said is yet to be determined – will
include sworn testimony before the board. The nine
qualified at the hearing include Fort Stockton Holdings, which has its
amended application for a production permit and transport authorization
before the board. Its application
says it plans to withdraw water from 46 existing wells currently permitted
for irrigation purposes to market to potential municipal or industrial users
in as many as 22 counties. Others include
MPGCD General Manager Paul Weatherby, the City of Fort Stockton, Pecos County
Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, Pecos County landowners Mark
Bradley Davis, Dan Piercy and L.B. Ryan, former Pecos County Commissioner Gregg
McKenzie and Brewster County rancher Tom Beard, The
nearly-full Large Community Hall at the start of the meeting was only
half-full a little more than an hour in, and was nearly empty as the session
moved into the afternoon. DRYDEN – The
Nature Conservancy of Texas and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will
host a Kid Fish Event Saturday, May 1, at Independence Creek Preserve near
here. The event is
free and open to kids in Sanderson and the surrounding area from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. Children from kindergarten through eighth grade are encouraged to
participate. Attendees can
take part in morning programs covering angler education, game laws, fish
identification and others. Participants
will then spend several hours practicing their fishing skills with a lunch of
hamburgers and hot dogs to follow. Drinks and snacks will also be served
throughout the day. After lunch,
prizes will be awarded and then kids can swim in the preserve’s lakes or fish
at their leisure. All fishing is
catch and release only. Prizes will be
awarded for largest fish, smallest fish, most fish caught and most species
caught. Participants
should bring towels and swimwear, fishing gear if they have it, sunscreen and
a hat. Restrooms are available at the preserve. Alcoholic
beverages, firearms, stereos and TVs are prohibited. For safety
reasons, children must be supervised by their parents or other designated
adults at all times. No pets of any kind will be permitted. Fishing gear
will be provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for those who do
not have their own. The
Conservancy expressed appreciation to businesses and individuals for their
contributions to the event. They include
Sheriff Clint McDonald, the Sanderson Lions Club, Uncle’s, Slim’s Auto Sales
and Wrecker Service, Lemons Abstract Company, RoundHouse Café, Terrell County
Visitor Center, Haircuts by Janis, Canyons RV Park, Aurora’s Market, Pecos
County State Bank, Eagle’s Nest Café, Sanderson Propane, ‘Tis the Reason,
Dairy King, Papalote, Marathon Friends, the Fort Stockton Wal-Mart, Lowes of Fort
Stockton, Porter’s Thriftway in Alpine and Stuart Nursery. Independence
Creek Preserve is located 36 miles north of here on State Highway 349. Attendees
should keep in mind that the Independence Creek Preserve is a wildlife
sanctuary and that snakes, skunks and other wild animals may be present. Native
American or other historic artifacts may be examined and appreciated but may
not be removed. Vehicles must
remain on roads unless otherwise directed by preserve staff. To register
and get directions, call or e-mail Corbin Neill at cneill@tnc.org or Lisa
Wrinkle at lwrinkle@tnc.org
or phone 432/345-6773. Or contact Saul
Aguilar in Sanderson at 432/940-5399 or saul.aguilar@tpwd.state.tx.us
or Ken Stannard in Sanderson at 432/940-1645 or Kenneth.stennard@tpwd.state.tx.us. SANDERSON – The
dinner and a movie at First Calvary Baptist Church was a considered a hit
last week. “It was
awesome just awesome,” said Julianna Larrinaga. The Passion
Series is a four- part series by Louie Giglio and will continue Sunday, April
25. There will be
a makeup session at 5 p.m. for those who missed the “Indescribable” video last
week then, at 6 p.m., barbeque chicken, beans, potato salad, dessert and a
drink will be served. After dinner,
Part Two, “How Great is Our God,” will be shown. It is a
community event and the church has invited all to come and enjoy some good
food, fellowship and a movie. HOUSTON – The
families affected by Independence Creek Road in east Terrell County were
still “assessing our options” on county maintenance of the six-mile dirt road
at press time this week. Attorney
Maureen Singleton said she still needs to meet with attorney Bob Bass, who
represents the county on the issue, before making a decision. The four
parties along the road reached an agreement with the county in October but
Bass said in a letter to the parties last week that there had been a “virtual
wall of silence” since. “It’s always
one thing to have a verbal agreement” but there are “multiple parties” and
there “wasn’t any agreement,” Singleton said.
“We are still assessing our options.” The agreement
provided that the county would maintain a crossing of the creek near the end
of the road, 6.2 miles from State Highway 349. If it washed
out any time in a one-year period, the Chandler family would pay half the
cost of a repair. If it washed out again within that period, the Chandler
family would assume all of the cost of a repair. In his letter,
Bass noted that “private interests” had built a crossing of the creek
“without prior notice or consent of the county” and that the crossing did not
meet county standards. Bass said the county
is “unwilling to assume responsibility for the crossing or to undertake
maintenance of the crossing.” Because the
present crossing was provided without approval of the county, it could not assume
liability for the outcome, he said. Bass said the
county would continue maintenance of the road from State Highway 349 to the
“high water sign” at the edge of the creek bed “but will not conduct
maintenance of the crossing or that portion of the road situated across
Independence Creek. “Should the
parties refuse to execute written agreement to this reduced distance of maintenance
by May 15, 2010, the matter will be set for the Commissioners Court to
consider discontinuance of maintenance for the entire road known as
Independence Creek Road running from State Highway 349 to its terminus,” he
wrote. The issue has
simmered for several years. The county has provided maintenance of the road
but the crossing has been a bone of contention. The families
involved have asked for a permanent crossing but the county has maintained
that would be prohibitive because of the tendency of the creek to change
course in a heavy rain. SANDERSON – Three
weeks ago, the News Leader warned that unless the county could find some more
lifeguards, the swimming pool at Bicentennial Park could be severely limited
in its hours. At the time,
only two people had responded to a call for lifeguards. But that has changed. County
Commissioners last week agreed to hire 11 lifeguards for the summer swimming
season and to pay for part of their training costs at Sul Ross State
University. Juliana Castro
has two years of experience and will be head lifeguard at $8.25 per hour.
Christopher McDonald, with one year experience, will get $7.75 per hour as
will the other nine, who have no prior experience. They are
Tiffany Blackmon, Melissa Gonzalez, Brianna Johnson, Daniela Garza, Nicole
Autrey, Heather Autrey, Ashley Hagelgans, William Roberts and Jazmine Diaz. The county
will pay $75 of the $125 each for the training May 7, 8 and 9 plus five meals
during the 20 hours of the course. The pool will
open to the public on May 29. |
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