HUMMER – It snowed last month but this hummingbird didn’t seem to mind. It did its thing at a feeder outside the window at the Paul
La Fleur home, dining on sugar water from the feeder, apparently oblivious to the snow that was on the ground all around it.
Brewster County Judge
Val Beard
P. O. Box 1630
Alpine, TX 79831
432/819-2412
Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson
201 W. Ave
E.
Alpine, TX 79830
432/837-3488
County Commissioner
Ruben Ortega
P. O. Box 233
Marathon. TX 79842
432-294- J 096
Marathon
ISD Superintendent Conrad Arriola
N. 5th Street
Marathon. TX 79842
432/386-4431
Terrell County Judge
Leo Smith
P. O. Box 4810
432/345-2421
Terrell County Sheriff
Clint McDonald
P. O. Box 320
Sanderson, TX 79848
432/345-2525
Terrell County
ISD Superintendent
Gary Hamilton
P.O. Box 747
Sanderson, TX 79848
432/345-2515
NEW SCHOOL – The new year will bring many things to Sanderson, among them the completion of most, if not all, the projects being financed
under a $14 million school bond program. A key project in the program is a new high school nearing completion on Second just south
of, and connected to, the existing junior high school building.
Dead body found
SANDERSON – The body of a young man was found Monday on the Jack Deaton ranch southwest of Sanderson.
He was later identified as Jason Mathew Beaty, 29, of Clearwater, FL.
Sheriff Clint McDonald said an autopsy had been ordered but a
preliminary cause of death seemed to by hypothermia, or exposure to cold. The official low temperature Monday morning was 27 degrees.
Toler files in county judge race
SANDERSON – County Judge Leo Smith has drawn opposition in his bid for re-election in the March 2
Democratic Primary election.
Terry “Tex” Toler filed late Wednesday as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for county judge.
Streets will be closed
SANDERSON – Some street closures will affect traffic patterns around Sanderson, starting next week.
Terrell County
Road and Bridge Superintendent Mike Sanchez said new drainage ditches are being provided throughout town under a Texas Department
of Transportation grant.
St. James observes
Lady of Guadalupe
By KIM RAPP
Production Manager
SANDERSON – St. James Catholic Church here celebrated the “Lady of
Guadalupe” last month, beginning with the singing of Mañanitas the evening of Dec. 12.
Mañanitas are traditionally anniversary or birthday
songs sung in the early morning.
After singing, they were off to the Parish Hall for a breakfast consisting of tamales, menudo, coffee,
tea and a little something for the sweet tooth.
By ANNA La FLEUR
News Leader Writer
SANDERSON – Christmas is a time for visiting, right? Well, we did.
Emily Wilson was one who came
to call. The daughter of Rita Rodriguez of Sanderson is in the Navy and is currently attending the “A” school for aviation in Pensacola,
FL.
Annette Harris had the most wonderful visitor she could when husband Rob Harris visited from California.
Annette & her children Angelina,
Read more...Lighting winners named
SANDERSON – Lupe and Joe Ponce will put $25 in their pocket, as well the Eagle’s Nest Café. They were the winners
chosen for the Christmas lighting contest.
The Ponce home is on East Hackberry east of Fifth and east of Hudspeth Street. The café
is across US Highway 90 from the old Princess Theater and the proposed site of a County Convention Center.
The contest, sponsored
by the Chamber of Commerce, was back by popular demand this year.
Lady Eagles third in tourney
By ANNA La FLEUR
News Leader Writer
SANDERSON – The Sanderson High School varsity girls came in third and
the varsity boys placed fourth in the Sanderson Tournament here the weekend before Christmas.
Marfa girls won the tourney and Van Horn
came in second.
Van Horn boys won their side of the tourney. Fort Davis was second, Marfa third and Sanderson came in fourth.
Next football Sunday
SANDERSON – Only seven players turned out for the Sanderson Recreation football game Sunday, Dec. 21, and since
at least 12 kids are needed to field two six-man football teams, the game was canceled.
The holidays always take some kids out of town
to grandmas or wherever, but when they come back, they will have jerseys waiting for them, with numbers and everything.
The next game
will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 3 in “The Pit.”
The Cowboys will face the Colts, both teams representing Sanderson.
~
SANDERSON – The Housing shortage here is getting some relief with some new residences going up on School Street near Hackberry.
Monty
Harkins and Jay Holstein are partners in an apartment complex west of School and across the street from the complex of four homes
Billy Black and Jon Tom Lowrance are building on the former Flower Company property.
Cavness gets BA ‘cum laude’
ALPINE – April J. Cavness of Marathon graduated from Sul Ross State University last month with a BA in
psychology “cum laude.”
She was among a total of 219 students, 144 from the Alpine Campus and 75 from Rio Grande College, who were
candidates for degrees during fall commencement exercises at the Pete P. Gallego Center.
A “cum laude” degree is one earned with a
grade point average of 3.5 to 3.69.
Cavness is the daughter of Sam and Dara Cavness and granddaughter of Patsy and the late Sam Cavness, all of Marathon.
~
PCCAA gets $150,000
AUSTIN – The Pecos County Community Action Agency, which serves Terrell, Pecos and Crane Counties, received $150,000
of a total $30.1 million grant from The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
The grants went to 48 eligible nonprofit
and local government agencies offering an array of services designed to transition low-income Texans out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency.
‘Pfishing’ scam told
MIDLAND – The Better Business Bureau has reported on another “phishing” scam designed to steal personal identity
information.
The BBB here reported it has received numerous telephone calls from consumers in the Permian Basin reporting a text message
scam. Other BBBs in the US also have received reports.
DALLAS – Karina Mendoza Harrison, daughter of Arturo and Irma Mendoza of Sanderson, has received a doctor of dental surgery degree
from Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry.
Mendoza is a 1996 graduate of Sanderson High School, where she
was a member of the National Honor Society.
She received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry in 2000 from St. Mary’s University in
San Antonio.
The new dental surgeon received her doctorate during ceremonies in May at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center here.
Read more...BY KIM RAPP
Production Manager
SANDERSON – A group of 15 Sanderson residents turned out on a cold December evening last month to light
a candle and say a prayer for Sanderson youth serving our country in the US armed services.
We each took turns telling who we were
there to represent and a little about what our soldier is doing now.
MARATHON – Longtime local Shirley Rooney was treated for a heart condition and was put on medications.
She was flown to Midland
to have an internal defibrillation procedure.
She is recovering and “sounds great,” said brother Bill Smith of Sanderson.
Rooney should return home to Marathon late this week.
(Webmaster's note: Shirley was the first registered dietician and manager of TCISD's new high school cafeteria in the 80s. Of late she is the librarian's assistant at Marathon Public Library.)
~
SHOP CLASS – Shop teacher Jon Tom Lowrance is anxious to get into his new classroom, nearing completion just east of the present junior
high school building. The “Vocational Building” will provide more elbow room for Lowrance and his students to do their creative “thing.”
It is being provided as part of a $14 million school bond issue.
JUST VISITING – Among the Sanderson visitors for Christmas were Marine Joachim Nevarez, left, and twin brother Isaac. They called
on grandpa and grandma Joe & Rosario Fuentes. Also visiting were their dad John and Joe, Jr., and Debbie Fuentes.
TANKS A LOT – Five new water tanks are being stored at the Road and Bridge facility on Legion Street. The plan is to place them at
ranches around the county for use in fire prevention and road repairs as needed. They will be placed as soon as arrangements can be
made with ranchers.
New housing going up
POWER POLE – Crews with Texas/New Mexico Power Co. installed new power poles this week to serve a new housing unit going in on School
Street at Hackberry. On top of things was Talon Casey and with their feet on the ground were Ismael Madrid, left, and Andy Rios.
Evans’ ‘office’ is the Big Bend
Photo by Marci Roberts
HOME OFFICE – When the light is right over the rugged landscape of Big Bend National Park, photographer James
Evans of Marathon heads out to find the honesty of the desert and the creatures that live there.
Karina gets degree
TIN WHISTLE – Some new drainage pipes, known in the industry as “tin whistles,” are being stored at the south end of Legion Street
across from the two cemeteries. They will be used where new drainage ditches cross streets. Expect School Street at Hackberry to be
closed for a few days next week and Persimmon at Hackberry after that as the new ditches progress.
Service people honored
CANDLELIGHT – Several Sandersonites turned out for a candle- lighting ceremony before Christmas in honor of Terrell County people
serving in the US armed forces. Shown, from left, were Doris Harrison, Roxanna Rodriguez and Maria Rodriguez. The ceremony was at
the site of a sign displaying names of service people across from the RoundHouse Café, visible in the background.
SAND PILE – It’s just a pile of dirt right now but this is where the new field house will be build just east of the main football
field at Eagle Stadium. The field house, a major project in the school’s $14 million bond project, could not be started until football
season ended so it will be one of the last to be completed.
FULL MOON – The Moon has been a source of inspiration and awe, probably for all of mankind’s time on Earth. More than 400 years ago,
the heavenly body also provided the first clue that the ancient Aristotelian view of a perfectly smooth and even environment beyond
Earth may not be quite right. Galileo’s brand new telescope clearly showed mountains and other evidence Aristotle may have gotten
it wrong. Visit the Stargazer article and learn more.
40-YEAR FRIENDSHIP –Blair Pittman, left, and Walter Frerck have been friends for 40 years, going back to when they were both photographers
at the Houston Chronicle in the mid-1960s. They are together again in the Big Bend area and showed journalist Mark Glover a thing
or two about getting just the right shot.
Rooney on road to recovery
By PAMELA LeBLANC
American-Statesman Staff
MARATHON – James Evans heads to work, a camera slung over his shoulder and a vast desert
in his windshield.
His office? The Big Bend region of far West Texas, a sprawling, prickly landscape populated by spindly ocotillo,
bristly javelina and a rugged, independent brand of human.
SANDERSON – For those who didn’t stay up to watch the ball drop in Times Square last night, today is the start of a brand new year.
It’s now 2010.
And it is the end of the old year, 2009, a year many of us would just as soon forget.
First up on the agenda for the
calendar in Sanderson – at least the first major event – is the 31st Annual Terrell County Fair and, while it is still three weeks
away, it promises to be the biggest yet.
Some 80 animals have been validated as of press time this week and, in spite of a sputtering
economy, this year’s fair could also set a new record for revenue.
The economy was already going south last year but the fair produced
$17,000, up from $14,000 in a “better” year in 2008.
The events begin Thursday, Jan. 21, and end with the livestock and crafts auction
and dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23.
All events will be at the Terrell County Fair Hall, a building the Fair Board acquired from
the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 2002.
Some of the proceeds from the fairs each year have gone into the building, upgrading it each year.
The year 2010, though, will most likely be remembered as the year the $14 million school bond program was completed with a brand
new high school building vocational building and field house plus upgrades and repairs to all school facilities.
