By ANNA La FLEUR

Production Manager

SANDERSON – A dozen Sanderson High School seniors took one of the biggest steps of their young lives when they “walked across the stage” and accepted their high school diplomas Saturday.

Valedictorian Victoria Sotelo Busch choked back tears in her remarks when she remembered her friendship with Salutatorian Jessica Garza.

Battery backup eyed

SANDERSON – A seven-hour power outage here last week caused by a severe thunderstorm in southeast Pecos County has sparked interest in a battery backup similar to one installed recently in Presidio.

Presidio City Administrator Brad Newton told the News Leader this week the four megawatt battery has been dedicated but it is “not quite fully functional yet.”

By ANNA La FLEUR

Production Manager

SANDERSON – Third grader Elijah Carrasco was the only student in Sanderson Elementary school who had all As all year and was given an award on Friday at the elementary awards ceremony.

Kenney-Mae Pacheco was the only fifth grader and the A/B honor roll all year.

ROCKPORT – Funeral services are pending in Sanderson for Troy William Druse, 88, who died here Saturday.

He was born October 11, 1921, in Sanderson to William and Lydia Druse. 

A 1938 graduate of Sanderson High School, he attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth before entering in the US Army Air Corp during World War II.

Druse was an aircraft maintenance crew chief in Hawaii for most of the war.  He

Store ‘cards’ electronically

By ANNA La Fleur

Production Manager

SANDERSON – Stripes of Sanderson, better known by its former name of Town and Country, has been swiping driver’s licenses like a credit card of anyone purchasing alcohol or cigarettes.

“I haven’t heard anything about that but it seems like an invasion of privacy,” Sheriff Clint McDonald said.

Most ace TAKS tests

SANDERSON – A substantial majority of students in Terrell County Independent School District passed TAKS tests in the final testing of the school year, it was announced late last week.

Grades three to 11 took the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills this spring and most students aced at least part of their subjects.

Bridge opening today

DEL RIO – The Box Canyon Road Bridge near here will officially open at 11 a.m. today after a reconstruction project.

Box Canyon Road is northwest of here off US Highway 90 about two miles west of the Lake Amistad Reservoir in Val Verde County.

By ANNA La FLEUR

Production Manager

SANDERSON – Kenneth & Audrey Turner of Sanderson met Daris George from the NBC show “The Biggest Loser” recently.

Their son, Billy & Jennifer Turner, are friends with George and the three run marathons together.

City faces water ‘emergency’

FORT STOCKTON – The city faced a “Stage Five” water emergency this week and, at press time, officials hoped to stop a leak before the city ran out of water.

A 10-foot crack and three-foot hole in the city’s main water line was discovered Wednesday afternoon and the City Council convened an emergency meeting that evening.

Subra, Whitehead on Dean’s List

ALPINE – Melissa M. Subra and Rebekeh L. Whitehead of Marathon were among 256 Sul Ross State University students, 203 on the Alpine Campus and 53 at Rio Grande College, named to the spring semester Dean’s List.

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‘Alice’ auditions set

ALPINE – Open auditions will be Monday and Tuesday, June 7 and 8, for the Theatre of the Big Bend’s “Alicia in Wonder Tierra,” a bilingual adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale “Alice in Wonderland.”

Auditions will begin at 5 p.m. each day in the Studio Theatre in the Francois Fine Arts Building at Sul Ross State University.

Project Graduation tops $28K

SANDERSON – Project Graduation, the all-night, chemical-free party for graduating high school seniors Saturday had taken in $28,000 to $30,000 as of press time this week, including $1,500 from Piñon Foundation and more was coming in.

Co-Chairman Gina Garza said money and gifts came from merchants and others and there were several fund raisers to pay for the party.

‘Bug off,’ EPA told

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry has urged President Obama to stop efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency’s to take over Texas’ federally-delegated, successful Title V permitting program and replace it with a less effective Washington-based, bureaucratic-led, command and control mandate.  

“Texas’ air quality permitting program is achieving significantly cleaner air while encouraging jobs and economic growth at the same time,” Perry wrote in a letter to the President. “The facts prove that penalizing Texas will undermine those significant environmental and economic successes and harm America’s leading producer of domestic energy, refined products and chemicals.

SR names interim director

ALPINE – Sul Ross State University Director of Teacher Education and Associate Professor of Education Dr. Tyra Manning has requested that her assignment be changed to a half-time teaching position effective with the fall semester.

Associate Professor of Education Dr. Jim Hector has been named interim director while a national search is underway for a permanent replacement.