DON’T BLINK – Gilda Gonzales at J & G Shell sported the new Marathon t-shirt, designed by her daughter Katrina Martinez. The idea
was to promote Marathon and maybe make a small profit. Koozies are also available.
By JIM STREET
Ed & Pub
When we started the Marathon News Leader almost exactly three years ago, on April 7, 2006, it was with hopes
of great things to come.
Borrowing on something I saw when I was looking for a newspaper to buy four years earlier, we created the MNL as a companion to the Terrell County News Leader in Sanderson with its own front and back page and two inside pages. All the rest were common pages.
Marathon had not been able to support its own paper in the past and we figured this would give us a chance to provide
one without having to support a standalone venture.
The MNL did break even in the beginning – but just barely. Today, it doesn’t come
close.
At the same time, we are feeling a real economic pinch at the parent paper in Sanderson. We have had the business for sale for
more than a year and we have had a few nibbles. One looked particularly promising but that has apparently just fallen through.
We have
appealed to the business community in Marathon for help and they have provided a little by buying ads from time to time but it’s never
been enough.
The immediate solution to our problem in Sanderson is to cease publication of the Marathon paper. It won’t solve all our
problems but it will help.
Believe me, the last thing we want to do is close either paper. But we have to do something.
MARATHON – “Don’t blink or you’ll miss us.” That is the message on a new T-shirt designed to “promote” Marathon and maybe make a small
profit.
Katrina Martinez told the News Leader she got the idea from tourists always asking, “Where are we?”
Read more...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
Sunday is Easter in Marathon
MARATHON – Sunday is Easter, the holiest day in the Christian calendar, marking the ascension of Jesus
into heaven.
Today, April 10, is Good Friday. The New Testament of the Bible says Jesus Christ was crucified and died on this day.
He
was buried but, by Sunday, had risen from the dead.
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar.
Read more...Sasquatch on agenda at Sul Ross
ALPINE – Sasquatch, the undiscovered North American ape, will be the topic of the 15th annual H.J.
Cottle Lecture on Thursday, April 16.
Dr. Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University,
will address Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science” at 1 p.m. in the Espino Conference Center on the second floor of the University
Center.
There is no charge to attend and the public is invited.
The Biology Club will host a reception immediately after the lecture.
Read more...MARATHON – The Marathon Café has reopened under a new name after being closed for a period of time.
Marathon Newcomers Ste-phanie House
and partner Jorge Oliva have opened what is now the “Peppercorn Café.”
They came from Georgia on vacation originally and loved Marathon. They went home and packed and were back to stay a week later.
Read more...Bikes, cars due in Sanderson
SANDERSON – The roar of motor vehicles will pierce the normally quiet West Texas air for the next two
weeks, the two-wheel variety next weekend and four-wheel racers the week after.
The “West of the Pecos Motorcycle Run” will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 17 to 19, at El Patio Bar in east Sanderson.
Read more...Lichen is a ‘composite’
Lichen, that blue-green, sometimes orange, sometimes multi-colored fuzz we see on the rocks in the Trans-Pecos
is a composite symbiotic relationship between two organisms: fungi and algae.
The fungi provide the surface area and the colorful sponge-like
receptacles to take in nutrients from the air while the algae convert the nutrients through the process of photo-synthesis.
Lichen has no roots and takes water and gas from the air and converts it to digestible sugars.
Read more...MARATHON – The Marathon Basin Quilting Guild will host its 13th annual quilt show from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, in the courtyard
of the Gage Hotel.
All quilters are invited to participate by showing off their quilts. Registration begins at 10 a.m. the day
of the show and will end promptly at 12 noon so organizers can open the show on time.
Ribbons will be awarded for first through third
place for both hand-quilted and machine-quilted entries in 12 different categories.
In addition, a “People’s Choice” award will be given to the maker of the quilt which receives the most popular votes.
Read more...Gem show next week
ALPINE – The 20th Annual Big Bend Gem and Mineral Show “Hidden Treasures of West Texas” will be Friday through Sunday,
April 17 to 19, at the Highland Events Center across from Sul Ross State University on US Highway 90.
Admission is free and numerous events are planned including a “rock food table” featuring rocks that look like food.
Read more...MARATHON – The population here is growing by proverbial “leaps and bounds.”
Marathon Baptist Church Pastor T.J. Joyner and wife Traci
welcomed son Peyton Cash at 10:20 a.m. Thursday, April 2.
Peyton, who was born at Odessa Regional Medical Center, weighing in at five
pounds, six ounces, and was 20.5 inches long.
The family returned home to Marathon on Friday. Traci’s mother Gwenda Carrell of Godley
is in town to help T.J. and Traci as they become accustomed to being first-time parents, as well as getting to know her newest grandson.
Then on Saturday, Ricky and Judy Briones added a baby girl to their family of two boys.
Read more...By ARLENE GRIFFIS
Marathon Editor
MARATHON – A grant from The Libri Foundation has provided the Marathon Library with 87 books, which
have a total retail value of $1,412.89.
Library Branch Manager Carol Townsend announced the grant this week for the Marathon Library,
which is a branch of the Alpine Public Library.
In order to be a Libri recipient, a library is required to raise a portion of the funds locally through a designated fundraising project.
Read more...Fire danger high
COLLEGE STATION – The Texas Forest Service here has warned that extreme wildfire danger could occur in much of West
Texas through this evening, April 10.
Dan Byrd, a National Weather Service meteorologist working with TFS, said the combination of strong winds and relative humidity values in the single digits to low teens could create an extremely dangerous situation for the affected areas.
Read more...Steve and I attended the Texas Library Association annual convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston last week.
Steve’s
employer, University of Texas Press, always has an exhibit there which we set up and man during the three-day event. The event rotates
among the major cities of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
It was at last year’s conference in Dallas that I was first inspired
to write a book review column.
I have always loved to write and have always dreamed – and still do – of writing a book and having it published but life always seems to get in the way.
Read more...I have never taken a dime from either venture. In fact, I have put my own money in from time to time to just to keep it afloat.
But
my little portfolio is just about used up.
We aren’t alone. Newspapers big and small around the country are closing shop.
In our own
area, McCamey and Iraan closed a couple of months ago. The Iraan News started publishing a couple of weeks later under a new owner.
We
wish him well but the jury is still out on whether he’ll succeed. If something doesn’t happen in the next couple of months, we may
also have to abandon the Sanderson paper.
It’s not a good time to be in any business these days and newspapers are being hit with what
cartoonist Al Capp called a “double whammy.” Not only is business off for everyone, newspapers are also facing stiff competition from
the Internet.
We wish we had better news. But it doesn’t look good from here.
Thank you, Marathon, for the support you did give us, particularly Arlene Griffis, Andrea Johnson, Judy Briones, Marathon Library, Patsy Cavness, our loyal advertisers and others.
Marathon will always be a favorite spot for me.
SANDERSON – A large female mountain lion was trapped over the weekend at the Pete Zaionitz ranch about four miles northeast of Sanderson.
The ranch abuts the Sanderson Elementary School campus.
The cat was sedated and urine samples will be taken for study.
Read more...SLEEPY CAT – Three officials posed with a sedated mountain lion trapped over the weekend about four miles northeast of Sanderson.
Holding the cat, from left, were rancher Steve Forest, trapper Zane Cassidy and Game Warden Saul Aguilar.
PEEK-A-BOO – A female mountain lion peered from the bushes after being trapped last weekend on the Pete Zaiontz ranch northeast of
Sanderson. Several mountain lion sightings have been reported in and around town in recent weeks.
YOUNG VISITOR – Kaydence Aliria Corey, the six- month-old daughter of Trey and Jenny Corey of El Paso visited Sanderson this week.
Kaydence is the granddaughter of former Sanderson and Marathon resident Lesley Mendez Looney.
CALLLING QUILTERS – Quilts like this will be on display at the 13th Annual quilt show next month at the Gage Hotel Courtyard in Marathon.
The show will be all day May 2 by the Marathon Basin Quilting Guild.
SECRET FAMILY RECIPE – Jorge Oliva and Stephanie House have reopened the Marathon Café. Going under the name The Peppercorn Café,
the couple will serve things like Migas for breakfast and Fish Tacos for lunch.
NEW PARENTS – Marathon Baptist Church Pastor T.J. and Traci Joyner welcomed their first born home this week. Peyton Cash Joyner was
born Thursday, April 2, at Odessa Regional Medical Center. The “extended” family returned home Friday.
HELLO, SISTER – Izabella Grace Briones was greeted by her big brothers, Isaac, center, and Isaiah, Saturday. They are all progeny
of Ricky and Judy Briones of Marathon. Grace was born Saturday at Pecos County Memorial Hospital in Fort Stockton.
IT’S IN THE BOOK – Marathon Public Library displayed some of the books it received recently with a grant from the Libri Foundation.
The grant provided 87 books with a retail value of $1,412.89. A salad lunch and book sale last fall provided the local input to qualify
for the grant.
GOLD-MEDAL KID – Sanderson Elementary School third grader Jacob Luevano showed off two medals, including a “gold,” he won at the Area
18 Special Olympics in Odessa Saturday. Jacob, who has Down Syndrome, was the first to ever represent Sanderson at the games.
