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23, 2010 Use Back button
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Airport lighting ‘on tap’
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AUSTIN – The
Texas Department of Transportation notified Terrell County this week it has
been tentatively approved for engineering and technical design services for a
lighting upgrade for Terrell County Airport in next year’s federal Capital
Improvements Program. “As a safety
concern, we have programmed the airfield electrical and lighting project” and
will “continue to work with you on the apron upgrade and expansion,” TxDOT Airport
Planner Megan Caffall wrote in a letter to County Judge Leo Smith. “We have
tentatively included engineering design services for an airfield electrical
and lighting project in the FY 2011 Capital Improvement Program with
construction of the improvements to follow in FY 2012,” she wrote. “This will
be a 90/10 cost share grant and the FY 2011 project implementation time frame
may be adjusted based on the priority of your airport’s needs in comparison
with other airport requirements across the state.” Caffall told
the News Leader the county could expect to be out only $4,500 in the next
fiscal year for its share of the engineering work. Its 10 percent
share of the $333,500 lighting program would come due in the following year,
if the grant is approved. The county has
matched an annual $50,000 Routine Airport Maintenance Grant each year and
Smith said there is $50,000 in next year’s budget for that purpose. The county was
able to get a complete “game-proof” fence out of the current-year allotment
because the bid from Twin Mountain Fence of San Angelo was low enough to
build a fence all the way around the 640-acre airport. It had been
expected it would take two years of RAMP funds to get the job done. “The lighting
upgrade is needed to get lights up to date and to replace the rotating
beacon,” Airport Board Chairman Jim Street said. “Both must now be left on
all night under new Federal Aviation Administration rules.” The beacon,
built in 1943, is in need of replacement and runway lighting needs to be
upgraded to new standards. “The lighting
upgrade could also qualify the airport for an instrument landing system, or
its modern equivalent, a landing system based on the Global Positioning
System,” Street said. Caffall said,
if approved, the lighting grant would provide an upgrade from low-intensity
runway lighting on the main runway to medium intensity lighting, a new
rotating beacon and tower, an emergency generator and other improvements. Smith said the
grants would allow the airport to gain nearly $380,000 in improvements for a
county contribution of about $38,000 over two years. “This is
really good news,” Street said. “Our airport has the potential to be a real
asset for economic development and getting its lighting system up to date is
an important step in reaching that goal. “These
improvements can make the airport, and with it the rest of the county, more accessible
to travelers who use airplanes for their mobility,” he said. “These are
people who tend to have the resources to make Terrell County a better place
to live.” ‘Polo’
Calzada to mark century By
ANNA La FLEUR Production
Manager SANDERSON –
Leopoldo G. Calzada, aka Polo, was born August 7, 1910, in Sanderson and
remains the oldest man in Terrell County. Polo was the
second of a dozen children. “My father
Jesus was a freighter who hauled ice and water to the locals by wagon pulled
by either horse or mule,” Calzada told the News Leader in a 2006 interview.
“Mother was a housewife and a darn good one at that. She made fresh tortillas
at just about every meal. “Growing up in
that time era, school wasn’t real easy to attend,” he said. “In those times,
a youngster wasn’t allowed to pass [beyond] the sixth grade so I stayed in
that grade till I got tired and decided to work.” At the age of
14, Polo told his parents that he wanted a truck to start his own business. “Go round up
28 of the 32 horses and mules I have grazing on the Rio Grande and take them
to Mr. Ferguson and sell them for the down payment on your truck,” his father
told him. Polo didn’t
think twice. He gathered the horses and mules and took them to Ferguson who
found a buyer. Polo then gave
the money to Ferguson for a down payment on his first truck, a 1924 Model T
Ford. He replaced it four years later with a brand new Model T and continued
to upgrade his equipment. At the age of
21, he met Maria Deo Gracia Sandoval in Del Rio and the two were married. Polo and Maria
had seven children named Marta, Alfredo, Raquel, Ana, Berta, Veronica and
Elias. In 1944, World
War II was raging and Polo was drafted and served in the US Army. After three
years of service, he was honorably discharged and came home to his family. “When I got
home, I joined a cactus crew who dug up cactus and sold them,” Calzada said. He also had a
business hauling and building homes. The Calzada
family lost their oldest daughter in the 1965 flood. Marta Calzada
Lopez, her husband Francisco and their two boys Tomas and Jaime all died in
the deluge. There is a
picture of Marta as a child on his dresser. Polo has seen
many changes to this town. He said he has been treated with respect by
Sanderson and its people. CLIFTON –
Electric service outages on the Texas/New Mexico Power line from Fort
Stockton to Sanderson are a concern to company officials and, while a battery
or generator backup is not in the immediate plans, the company has spent more
than $1 million on improvements, a company official said this week. Jim Cosper,
director of operations for central and west Texas, and District Engineer
Titus Akinode responded to questions from the News Leader about outages that
occur when thunderstorms rage along the 65-mile line. There was a
seven-hour outage in May but Cosper said such outages are less frequent than
they were in the past and the company is exploring options. But brief,
one-second outages are still common during electrical storms. There is a
three-way switch about 35 miles north of Sanderson and the power also goes
over a line from Girvin but it’s a “radial” line for the last 35 miles, he
said. “Over the last
four to five years, we’ve spent well over $1 million on improvements,” Cosper
said. Akinode said
there is a five- year plan for continued upgrades in the system. The officials
responded to a question about the possibility of a backup like a battery installed
at Presidio (“Battery backup eyed,” News Leader, June 4, 2010, Page 1.) “We are
willing to learn from Presidio,” Cosper said. “We are all ears. We are open
minded.” A generator
also might work but “we are regulated by the [Texas] Public Utilities Commission,”
Cosper said. “We are a transmission and distribution provider and we are not
in the generation business. The PUC will not allow us to generate power.” Presidio City
Administrator Brad Newton told the News Leader last month the battery will
provide up to eight hours of backup power in case of an outage. The 4MW
battery will provide power for 7,000 Presidio residents for about eight
hours. That’s seven times the Sanderson population. “It will be
kind of a neat thing if it works,” Newton said. “The Presidio
program is probably a pilot program, not a proven solution,” Cosper said.
“They spent millions of dollars on it.” He said Sanderson
is on a “radial feed,” meaning it is not on a grid like larger cities. But “a lot of
towns are on a radial feed,” he said. “They don’t have two or more lines.” Akinode said
the five-year plan will make line more reliable. “We will
continue to investigate how to accomplish that,” he said. “We’ve got
technology we haven’t had before,” Cosper said. “We are looking to see what
we can do.” But he
cautioned that no utility can guarantee continuous power at all times. SANDERSON –
Saint James Catholic Church will host the 28th annual St. James Festival this
weekend. It starts tomorrow
with a 12- hour softball tournament starting at 8 a.m. A concession stand
will be available with food, snacks and drinks for sale. The Saint
James Celebration of Mass will be at the church at 10 a.m. There will be
a lunch of turkey and dressing for a $7 donation following Mass at the Saint
James Parish Hall at 11 a.m. During the lunch, mariachis will play till 1
p.m. Those
interested in playing Bingo can meet up at the Hall at 3 p.m. where sweets
and crafts also will be available. There will be
a dance at the hall from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. As with last
year, there are no candidates for St. James king and queen but the festival
was expected to bring scores of visitors to the community. On Sunday
there will be a continuation of the softball tournament from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A concession stand will be available with food, snacks and drinks. Another
celebration of Mass will be at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. WASHINGTON –
Of the 1,200 National Guard troops to be deployed along the US-Mexico border,
announced in May, 250 will be assigned to Texas. The
Departments of Home-land Security and Defense announced this week that the deployments
to the Southwest border will begin Aug. 1. “Over the past year and a half, this
administration has pursued a new border security strategy with an unprecedented
sense of urgency, making historic investments in personnel, technology and
infrastructure,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said. “These troops will
provide direct support to federal law enforcement officers and agents working
in high-risk areas to disrupt criminal organizations seeking to move people
and goods illegally across the Southwest border.” The National
Guard Southwest Border deployments augment Customs and Border Patrol and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources and assets already at the
border. Other
deployments include 224 in California, 524 in Arizona, 72 in New Mexico and
130 Guardsmen serving as command and control and other support. “In agreement
with DHS, beginning August 1, selected National Guard Members from Southwest
border states will begin the necessary training and integration planning to
knit them into our nation's border security operating structure,” said Gen.
Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau. “The National Guard is
deploying in response to DHS’ request for assistance and will serve in law
enforcement support roles consistent with the Administration's view that
border security is a law enforcement challenge.” The President
also has requested $600 million in supplemental funds for enhanced border
protection and law enforcement activities. Last week,
Napolitano announced more than $47 million in fiscal year 2010 Operation
Stonegarden grants to support law enforcement personnel, overtime and other
related costs to enhance the capabilities of state, local and tribal law
enforcement to secure the border. Nearly 80
percent of the fiscal year 2010 funding will go to Arizona, California, New
Mexico and Texas — up from 59 percent in 2008. Terrell County
did not receive Stonegarden funding in the latest disbursement. LUBBOCK – Two
2010 Sanderson High School graduates got one more chance to put on a uniform
and compete in their favorite sports Saturday. Sarah Sivils
donned a basketball jersey and competed at the Six Man Football all star
basketball game at Texas Tech University here. Her team won
65-36 but Sivils said she did not score any points. “I expected it
[the win] but it was exciting,” she said. Sivils plans
to attend Tarleton State University at Stephenville majoring in agricultural
business. Jacob
Benavidez put on pads and a West uniform to compete in the all star football
game that evening. His team came
out second best by a considerable margin but Benavidez threw two touchdown
passes from his position as quarterback in the losing effort. “Our kids did
a good job and represented Sanderson real well,” Head Coach Mark Dominguez
told the News Leader. At the game,
it was announced that Benavidez had received a $1,200 scholarship from the
Six Man Football Association. Benavidez won
the coveted $16,000 Rose/Silverthorne Foundation Scholarship announced on
graduation night in May. He also took
home $1,000 from the Hunters Feast, a $1,500 Midland College Scholarship, an
Angelo State University Ram Grant for $1,000 per semester, $750 from the University
of Texas at the Permian Basin and $250 from St. James Catholic Church. Benavidez
plans to attend Angelo State University at San Angelo in the fall, majoring
in athletics and physical therapy. SANDERSON – To
call the Sanderson school superintendent’s office, call 432/345-2515. To get
the high school, call 2515. The Junior High is at 2515. And so are all the
other schools and offices in the district. Terrell County
Independent School District this week inaugurated its new telephone system
that routes all incoming calls through the business office at the 2515
extension. A computer
voice will answer the phone and let the caller enter the extension for the office
he wants. Or he can
press “O” and an attendant will come on the line and direct the call to the appropriate
party. Teachers will
have telephone numbers but their line will go to voice mail when they are in
class. But if a caller, say the superintendent, needs to talk to the teacher,
he can enter a code and the phone will ring in. Telephones can
be used to activate the intercom system so anyone at any phone can make an
announcement. “Say there’s
someone with a gun approaching,” Technology Director David Carrasco said.
“The teacher could enter a code and call for an immediate lockdown.” Other
announcements could be made as needed over the intercom system, he said. “The phones
can be programmed any way you want,” he said. “You could even take a telephone
home with you and plug it into a computer and work from home.” A cordless
telephone will let the user talk over the school’s phone line anywhere within
50 feet of a school building. Superintendent
Gary Hamilton said a list of extension numbers will be published in a future
edition of the News Leader. Carrasco said
for the time being, people can still call the old number and the call will be
routed into the 2515 number. A message may
be put on those numbers indicating the changes but at least until the new
telephone books come out, people will still be able to call in on the old
numbers. “While the
phones are being installed, there may be some glitches to work out and
callers may not be able to get through,” Hamilton said. “So please keep
trying.” The phone
system, part of the school’s current $14 million bond issue construction
program, was acquired from Visicom Communications & IT Solutions of San
Angelo for $43,348. SANDERSON – To
many, it may seem the 2009-10 school year just ended for the Terrell County
Independent School District. But the new school year is already just around
the corner. Football “two
a day” practices will begin in just more than a week, Aug. 2, and band rehearsals
also will begin the next week. School starts
Aug. 23 but the first football scrimmage will be the week before when the
Sanderson Eagles travel to Fort Davis to meet the Indians at 10 a.m. First regular
football game will be two weeks later when the Eagles travel to McCamey to
take on Grady at the West Texas Shootout. First home
game will be Friday, Sept. 3, when the Eagles have their first district game
against Buena Vista. Meanwhile, the
cheerleaders will get under way with a “mini cheer camp” for girls four and
older, hosted by the varsity cheerleaders, on Aug. 10, at a site to be
determined. The Eagles
will apparently field a pretty complete team this year after some concern
there may not have been enough eligible players. Athletic
Director Mark Dominguez told the School Board last spring he might not have
enough students to field a team with two large families leaving town. But he told
the board Monday he might have 14 to 16 players this fall. The
“two-a-day” football drills will be changed somewhat from years past,
Dominguez said. The University
Interscholastic League calls for the practices and most schools have one in
the morning and one in the evening to get away from the heat of the day. Dominguez said
he cannot work the team for more than three hours at a time but by starting
at 7 a.m. with a rest after two hours, he can get the second practice in
later, say from 10 to 11 a.m. “It’s a little
bit different but we have to get ready for our first district game Sept. 3,”
he said. FORT DAVIS –
There now is an opportunity for mobility-impaired visitors to the McDonald
Observatory here to peer into the heavens from a new telescope at the Frank
N. Bash Visitors Center. The
Wren-Marcario Accessible Telescope, or WMAT, was dedicated last week. It is designed
to be 100-percent wheelchair accessible and will provide sharp views of the
Moon, planets and deep-sky objects. Located behind
the visitor center, the telescope sits on a concrete pad and is surrounded by
wide wheelchair paths. It is part of
the Rebecca Gale Telescope Park used for the Observatory’s popular star
parties every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night throughout the year. The telescope
will be used by non-impaired guests, as well. The telescope
was commissioned earlier this year, and performed well for thousands of
visitors during Spring Break in March. Based on a
design by physicist August Pfund, the telescope’s two 18-inch primary mirrors
are aligned north to south with a steering flat mirror between them to allow
quick, easy access to the entire sky. The small
movable portion of the design allows the telescope to move rapidly from one
target to the next while the eyepiece stays fixed. This
high-speed pointing system will allow mobility-impaired visitors a much
greater level of participation in star parties than previously possible,
McDonald said. The telescope
was built by the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network in Santa
Barbara, Ca, a private foundation building a global network of telescopes for
scientific research and research-based education. LCOGT
President Wayne Rosing was the engineer behind the WMAT project. Long-time
McDonald Observatory volunteer Mike Jones, an optical engineer with Lockheed
Martin, designed the telescope’s optics. Bill Wren
donated several parts from the Wren Supernova Search Telescope for use on
WMAT. The new scope
is named in honor of George B. Wren II (1917-1993) and Mike Marcario
(1954-1998.) George B. Wren
II was Bill Wren’s father. Mike Marcario was a McDonald Night Assistant
during the mid-1990s, an optician who fabricated a key optical element for
the Marcario Low-Resolution Spectrograph on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, and a
friend of the observatory. The WMAT was
made possible by donations from Wayne Rosing and Dorothy Largay, Mike and
Shirley Marcario, Mike I. and Dee Jones, Bill and Becky Wren and anonymous
donors. Established in
1932, The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory near here hosts
multiple telescopes undertaking a wide range of astronomical research under
the darkest night skies of any professional observatory in the continental
United States. McDonald is
home to the consortium-run Hobby-Eberly Telescope, one of the world's
largest, which will soon be upgraded to begin the HET Dark Energy Experiment.
An
internationally-known leader in astronomy education and outreach, McDonald
Observatory is also pioneering the next generation of astronomical research
as a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope. SANDERSON –
Jessica Harkins took on 23 kids into her home last week for her summer art
camp. The camp
lasted all of last week for elementary school aged kids. Attending the
class were Abbagayle Roberts, Laycee Low-rance, Alaina Stutes, Elaina
Sanchez, Josie Harrell, Elizabeth McClellan and Kate Roberts. And Taryn
Mitchell, Grace Helmers, Kaelyn Cash, Amber Stutes, Amriel Bovat, Katy Jahn
and Landry Lowrance. Also, Grace
Jahn, Lauryn Carroll, Max Baethge, Elijah Bovat, Mark La Fleur, Gabriel
Gully, Morris Gully, Felix Harrell and Luke Carroll. The students
were separated by age groups. Monday, July
12, the kids painted t-shirts and discussed what art means to them. Tuesday each
child painted a self portrait and studied self portraits from Vincent Van
Gogh and Pablo Picasso. Wednesday the
kids learned about pictographs and petro-glyphs and painted pictographs on
rocks. Thursday each
child made a collage and learned the art of collage making. On Friday,
they painted a ceramic tile and learned about the process of making ceramics. “Once the
ceramic pieces are fired and complete, we will have an art show at the
pavilion for the families of the students who participated in the art show,”
Harkins said. SANDERSON –
The Terrell County 4-H Youth Advisory Board has approved the final payment on
a building for the much-awaited 4-H livestock pens on West Oak Street. The pens are
for 4-H participants to store their show animals and have somewhere to care
for them. It would give
the opportunity to kids who want to show a goat or other animal who don’t
have a place to house the animal. “We approved
the money for the building and do not at this time have a time frame set for
the construction,” Terrell County Extension Agent Mark Carroll said. The metal
building being purchased measures 40 by 154 feet. The facility will include
livestock pens for members. It will also
include a wash rack and grooming area so animals can be prepared for showing. The building
has been ordered but a firm delivery date has not been set. After the
building is delivered, the board will continue with taking bids on concrete
work and erecting the structure. SANDERSON –
Teachers in Terrell County Independent School District will no longer have to
give a grade of at least 50 percent to a failing student after the School
Board meeting Monday. The board
agreed to accept the new policy recommended by the state. Under a policy
that had been in effect for many years, a grade of less than 50 percent on
school work was automatically changed to 50. But a new
state law banned the requirement. It was challenged by several lawsuits but
Business Manager Blain Chriesman told board members most of the suits had
been litigated and the trend has been toward supporting the new state law. Superintendent
Gary Hamilton said the rationale behind the minimum grade was that a student
who was behind early in a school year but who later wanted to pull up his
grades might not be able to get to a passing grade no matter how hard he
tried. He said
bringing a grade of 50 up to a passing average would be much more likely than
trying to offset a grade of 30 or even zero. “If a child
really wants to get his grades up, he can do work for extra credit to get it
done,” Board Secretary Johnnie Couch said. Hamilton said
teachers can still give any grade they feel a student deserves but now it
won’t automatically be changed to a 50. SANDERSON –
The Sanderson High School varsity cheerleaders will host a “Mini-Cheer Camp”
next month for girls age four and up interested in learning the art. Registration
will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 28 at the high school. The camp, at a
location to be determined, will be Aug. 10 through Aug. 13. Sponsor Tami
Carrasco said the location will depend on what facilities are not actually
undergoing work in the school district’s current $14 million bond issue. Varsity
cheerleaders include Roxanna Rodriguez, Julianna Larrinaga, Juliana Castro,
Isabel Ramirez and Kayla Fuéntez. On the Junior
High squad are Grace Jahn, Brianna Lozano, Megan Seidel, Hanna Johnson, Mayra
Rodriguez and mascots Olivia Adauto and Cara Birkenfeld. Cost of the camp
is $30 per participant. Advance
registration is available by calling Carrasco at 325/ 650-1252. OKLAHOMA CITY
– SandRidge Energy, Inc., of Oklahoma City and Arena Resources, Inc., of
Tulsa jointly announced last week that stockholders of each company had approved
a merger of the two. SandRidge
stockholders approved the issuance of Sand-Ridge common stock to Arena
stockholders and the increase the number of authorized shares of its capital
stock. Trading in
Arena's common stock on the New York Stock Exchange ended with the merger. SandRidge is
an oil and natural gas company with its principal focus on exploration and
production. The company
and its subsidiaries also own and operate gas gathering and processing facilities
and C02 treating and transportation facilities and conduct marketing and
tertiary oil recovery operations. It is a
partner with Occidental Petroleum of Los Angeles on the $1.1 billion Century
Plant going up 37 miles northwest of Sanderson near US Highway 285 and
Puckett Road. The plant will
separate methane and carbon monoxide, providing CO2 to Oxy for oil extraction
and methane to Sand-Ridge to be sold as natural gas. Lariat
Services, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SandRidge, owns and operates a
drilling rig and related oil field services business. SandRidge
focuses its exploration and production activities in the West Texas
Overthrust, Permian Basin, Mid-Continent, Cotton Valley Trend in East Texas,
Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Arena is an
oil and gas exploration, development and production company with current
operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. FORT STOCKTON
– Lexy Gonzalez was crowned 2010 Miss Fort Stockton at the annual Water Carnival
Saturday at Comanche Springs Swimming Pool. Terrell County
School Superintendent Gary Hamilton was a judge in the Miss Fort Stockton
event and his wife Beth judged in the Junior Miss pageant. The annual
event began Thursday night with the Wee Miss and Tiny Tot pageants. Young ladies
ages 3 to 21 competed in six separate age groups, with the crowning of Miss
Fort Stockton as the featured event in Saturday's extravaganza. After a
performance of “Brooke’s Funhouse,” the winners of Wee Miss, Ashlyn Foster,
and Tiny Tot winner Mason Martinez were announced. The Sub Teen,
Miss Teen and Junior Miss pageants were on Friday and winners were announced
after another performance of “Brooke’s Funhouse.” Lupita Marquez
was awarded Sub Teen, Miss Teen was Kimberly Leyva and Carlie Porter was
crowned Junior Miss. After the Miss
Fort Stockton pageant Saturday night was the final performance of “Brooke’s
Funhouse.” The event
centered around an Olympic-sized swimming pool encompassed by bleachers. The
program included dancing and synchronized swimming. The Water
Carnival began in 1936 as an annual community event featuring synchronized
swimming and dance acts. All featured
performers and set productions are done by community volunteers. The event
has been known to have at least 300 performers. ODESSA – The
Texas Department of Transportation will conduct a public hearing here next
month to get citizens’ view of what they want to see in transportation
projects for the next quarter century. The second
round of such meetings will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5, at the
TxDOT office at 3901 E. US Highway 80. “The plan
needs to address all the transportation challenges that face Texas over the
next 25 years,” TxDOT spokesman Glen Larum said. “And there are a lot of
them.” Larum is the
public information officer for TxDOT’s 12-county Odessa District. “Texas has
aging highways and bridges that need to be repaired and replaced, cities with
tremendous traffic congestion problems and a booming population that means
more cars and trucks on the road every day,” Larum said. “The big
question is how do we deal with all that,” he said. “The answer is every way
we can think of.” The plan will
address the need for improvements to all modes of transportation –highways,
pedestrian and bicycle facilities, transit systems, freight rail, passenger
rail, airports, water ports, pipelines and intelligent transportation
systems. “The purpose
of this second series of meetings is to present project updates and to solicit
comments and input to aid in the development of the plan,” Larum said. Information
will be available for viewing at the meetings, including exhibits and videos
about the status and results of the study to-date. Representatives
from TxDOT will be present to discuss the development of the plan and answer
questions. Forms will be provided for submitting written comments. Information
regarding additional meeting locations throughout the state can be found at www.txdot.gov, key word “transportation plan
2035” or by calling the project’s toll-free information line at 888/5-TX-PLAN
(888-589-7526). For those
unable to attend the open-house style public meeting, written comments can be
submitted on the project website at: www.txdot.gov,
key word “transportation plan 2035.” Send comments
by e-mail to TPP_txtranplan@dot.state.tx.us,
or by mail to Peggy Thurin, P.E.,
Project Manager, Statewide Transportation Plan 2035, 4544 Post Oak Place,
Suite 224, Houston, Texas, 77027. Persons with
special communication or accommodation needs may call Larum at 432-498-4746
for assistance. Requests should be
made no later than three days prior to the meeting. Every
reasonable effort will be made to accommodate needs, he said. ALPINE – Erin
K. Smith of Sanderson will show her work at the Francois Fine Arts Gallery at
Sul Ross State University Monday, July 25, through Saturday, August 7. “Trousseau: a
Collection of New Ceramic Work” features functional ceramic tableware by
Smith, a graduate student at Sul Ross State University. Smith will
receive her Master’s degree earlier the same day. Inspired by
wood, leather and tile work from the arts and crafts movement, as well as
vintage fabrics, Smith said she aims to emphasize the beauty of handmade
functional objects and their intimate relationship with the user. “The emphasis
of the show is on emulating the little details evident in fine linens and
lace – things that I've inherited and collected for a long time,” she told
the News Leader. The daughter
of Bill and Gail Smith of Sanderson, Smith is a graduate student working in
Studio Ceramics at Sul Ross. There will be
a closing reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug, 7, which is open to the
public. The Francois
Fine Arts Gallery is in the Francois Fine Arts Building on the Sul Ross Alpine
campus and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment.
For more
information, call 432-386-3670. SANDERSON –
Terrell County Judge Leo Smith said this week Gov. Rick Perry has appointed
him as a member of the Permian Basin Regional Review Committee. He replaces
Judge W.E. Bednar of Garden City, who retired. Smith will
serve on the 12-member committee which will review applications to the Texas
Department of Rural Affairs for housing and urban development in rural areas. Smith said
most of the projects have to do with water and wastewater. “Our water
department will have someone from Terrell County in on the review process,”
Smith said. The
appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, is at the “pleasure”
of the governor. SANDERSON – A
tree stood in front of the Walter Falk house on West Pine Street here for 100
years but it is standing no more. Falk, who died
in 2007, said he loved it here and decided to keep his 100-year-old home. “My front
porch in Sanderson is my favorite place in the whole world,” he often said. Falk, an
artist who presided over an annual “Falkfest” here, was passionate about
historically-significant trees. “Revive the
old instead of always building new because once the old trees and buildings
are gone, the history is buried with them,” News Leader writer Anna La Fleur
said. “I saw a
picture of that tree in the book ‘Terrell County Texas Its Past Its People,’”
Kinley Coyan said. “I couldn’t
tell you what page I saw it on but I know it is in that book,” he said. “You
just have to look for that house.” He described
the tree being very young and slender in the picture. It may be the picture
of Maudie and O.D. Gray taken in April, 1955, standing in the front yard of
an unidentified house. “Flipping
through that book and driving around town really got me thinking about how
many other trees should be recognized as historically significant to our
community,” La Fleur said. “Think of how many generations of kids climbed
those trees, played hide and seek behind them and family photos that captured
them.” SANDERSON –
Low interest rates, declining property values and looming questions about the
state’s “Robin Hood” finance scheme all threaten the budget for Terrell
County Independent School District’s coming school year. “There is no
money left” for any items not already in the budget, Business Manager Blain
Chriesman told the School Board Monday. “We are really
doing well on our budget, as we do every year,” School Board President Ada
Lee Robbins said. “But that’s because our teachers have done a good job of
keeping expenses down.” Low interest
rates are good news for those who want to borrow money but they hurt the
school budget in two significant ways, Chriesman said. Interest
earned on the Permanent School Fund, maintained by Terrell County, pays for
budget expenses and the district earns money on funds it has to hold back for
the “recapture” dictated by the state. “Property
rich” districts have to “share” revenues with “property poor” districts. In recent
years, TCISD has had to send upwards of 75 percent of its tax revenues to the
state to be distributed to other districts. Money
collected during the year can be invested in the meantime but, with interest
rates so low, it does not earn much additional income, Chriesman said. But Terrell
County is not alone. Robbins said
El Paso schools, for example, are laying off master teachers and administrators. “To lay off administrators is one thing,”
she said. “But to lay off master teachers is unheard of.” The board also
discussed work under the current $14 million school bond issue, approved by
the voters in 2007. The
contractor, Mid-Tex of Midland, and its sub-contractors are “frantically
working on the elementary school, the field house and air conditioners in the
gym,” Robbins said. Two weeks of
rain early this month delayed much of the work, she said. |
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