SANDERSON – A Terrell County Deputy was having dinner in a restaurant with his wife and child one night when a call came in and he had to leave.
His young wife had to listen to people at the next table attacking the young deputy because he was not “on the street working when he got the call.”
Sheriff Clint McDonald said that deputy now works in an adjacent county and the snide remarks were just one of the reasons he decided to leave Terrell County.
McDonald said his deputies now are working an average of 19 hours per day.
Spending a few minutes with their families while still on call is still putting a strain on their relationships and listening to such comments is particularly hard on family members.
McDonald said he used to host his entire staff at “steak night” at a local restaurant but had to quit because of the complaints that the officers were “not working.”
He said he has not been able to fill two vacant positions for deputies because he cannot promise shorter shifts.
McDonald asked Terrell County Commissioners Court Monday to add two new deputy positions so he can begin working toward a 40-hour workweek for deputies.
He said two recent potential applicants refused to turn in an application because of the long hours with no relief in sight.
“They don’t want to work 80 to 90 hours per week, not when they can get $100,000 [per year] working in the oilfield instead of the $33,000 we pay,” he said.
“I am an elected official and I chose to run for this job,” he said. “But I can’t ask my people to make that kind of sacrifice.”
County Judge Leo Smith said the issue “needs a lot of discussion.” He asked if a solution would be to allow payment of overtime instead of “comp” time now offered by the county.
“The problem is the deputies are burned out,” McDonald said. “One of the biggest problems in law enforcement is fatigue.”
There was discussion of a “night watchman” to patrol the streets late at night to relieve deputies.
“Visibility is 90 percent of our jobs,” McDonald said.
If the deputy is home asleep and the only one watching the town is an unlicensed, unarmed “night watchman,” there is little protection against late-night crime, he said.
Smith questioned whether the county could transfer funds from another account to fund new positions.
“I want to see if we can do it,” Commissioner Yolanda Lopez said.
McDonald said even if the county had to wait until the next budget cycle, he would still get some relief for the future.
Smith said he would put the matter “on the very next agenda” for further discussion. a
SPRING VALLEY, CA – Three young grandchildren of David and Susan Brotherton of Sanderson were killed last week in a two-alarm
house fire near San Diego.
Killed were Abby Irene Groff, 6, Andrew James Groff, 4, and Austin Lafell-Cary Groff, 2.
There will be a
memorial service for the three children at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 16, at First Baptist Church in Sanderson. A graveside service will
follow.
A memorial fund has been established in their names at Sanderson State Bank.
They were the children of James and Mindy Van Buskirk who had just moved to the area from Texas and were staying at home of the children’s other grandparents, an investigator with the county Medical Examiner’s Office said.
The single-story house stood alone on a large lot at the end of a long driveway. It caught
fire about 10:40 p.m. Wednesday and was destroyed by the blaze.
Firefighters had been told that three children were in the house,
San Miguel Fire Capt. Read Clark said.
“We attempted a rescue but the house was fully involved,” Clark said. “There was no gaining
access to the inside of the house at all.”
The grandparents were in the house when the fire started along with several other people.
The parents were not home at the time, Clark said.
David Brotherton said a full report on the fire will be released, perhaps as early
as late next week.
Any other comments until that time would be “speculation,” he said. Early indications were that the fire was accidental.
Fire crews from nearby Santee and La Mesa assisted San Miguel firefighters in extinguishing the blaze.
The San Diego Union Tribunecontributed to this report.
By LYN ROSAS
News Leader Business Manager
The girls from Sanderson High School edged the Dell City Cougars 44-43 to take the championship.
Leading the pack with high point honors for the Lady Eagles was senior Hannah Black with 18, followed by Jenny Hernandez and Noemi Nunez with eight each, Sarah Sivils and Vicky Busch each added four and dumping in two apiece were Blakeney Chriesman and Miriam Nuñez.
“We took Dell City way too lightly and not nearly as serious as we were against Rankin,” senior Jenny Hernandez said. “Highland is number three in the state and the intimidation factor is definitely there.
“But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going into the game prepared and ready to play,” she said.
The ladies will travel to Monahans on tonight, Feb. 15, to face off with Highland in the second round of the play offs. Tip off is at 7:30 in the High School Gymnasium.
SANDERSON – Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. today, Feb. 15, at First Presbyterian Church here for John Lewis Whistler, 80, who died Monday in San Antonio.
Reverend Burt Bronaugh will officiate and interment will be at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
He was born July 26, 1927, in Del Rio and was raised by his grandparents, John and Bertha Whistler who moved to Sanderson early in his life.
Whistler completed all his schooling in Sanderson and entered the US Navy immediately after graduation from Sanderson High School.
He married Betsy Bates on March 3, 1953, and died one month short of the couple’s 55th anniversary.
Betsy Whistler served as an English and theatre arts teacher in Sanderson schools for 29 years.
Whistler retired after 50 years service to the Southern Pacific Railroad where he served as a fireman and later an engineer.
He was an avid outdoorsman and, after retirement, he spent most of his time at a property he owned on Amistad Lake near Del Rio.
“All he did was fish, fish, fish,” Betsy Whistler said.
A veteran of World War II, Whistler was a Mason, an Elk and a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Ruidoso, NM, and Del Rio.
He also was a member of the American Legion Clarence Haley Mulkey Post 160 in Sanderson.
Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, John and Rasario Whistler, Jr., of Del Rio and Tom Whistler of Littlefield; a sister, Margaret Dee Barbee of Lubbock; a brother, Mike Whistler of Del Rio, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Pallbearers
will be Bill Russ, Pinky Carruthers, Tom Low-rance, Jack Babb, Tom Stewart and Zeke Bradford.
Honorary pallbearers will be Kenneth
Shirley, R.D. Hall, Kevin Farley, Wayne Folmer, Gary Hutto, Tommy Arthur, Reid McClellan and Ross Stavely.
Funeral arrangements
were by G.W. Cox Memorial Funeral Home in Del Rio.
The family suggests memorials may be in the form of a donation to a favorite charity.
SANDERSON – Instead of using a $50,000 matching grant for a new apron at Terrell County Airport, County Commissioners agreed Monday to apply for the grant but to use it for “miscellaneous” to help correct some mistakes made in seeking airport improvements.
County Commissioners and members of the Airport Board Monday discussed a letter from the Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division, which County Judge Leo Smith described as a “whoa letter.”
In it, TxDOT Airport Planner Megan Caffall brought up several “compliance issues” that needed to be addressed before the airport could proceed with desired expansion.
She said a Routine Airport Maintenance Program grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, administered through TxDOT, could have provided $50,000 in RAMP money to be matched by a $50,000 county contribution for a new taxiway.
But the taxiway is premature with some compliance issues to be resolved and that money could be used to provide other maintenance, she said.
It also could include “professional services” to get the airport into compliance, Caffall said.
A key issue was a hangar the county allowed John Pierce to build for his Piper Tomahawk, which should have been included in an FAA Form 7460-1 for “notice of proposed construction or alteration” filed with FAA.
The form would initiate an aeronautical study to determine if it were to be built within standards to allow “sightlines” between taxiways and runways.
Caffall said there was also an issue of a vehicle stored in the hangar, which she said was a violation of state rules.
“It is acceptable for an aircraft owner to replace the aircraft in a hangar with a personal vehicle for short periods of time while flying the aircraft, but to use airport property for storage of non-aeronautical equipment is not allowed unless the area has been identified on an approved airport layout plan as available for non-aviation use,” she said.
“Generally these areas do not have access to the airside improvements of an airport and would not be located on an apron or taxiway area,” she said.
Caffall said other compliance issues include whether there exists a storm water pollution prevention plan as required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and a spill prevention control and countermeasures plan required by the US Environmental Protection Agency for fueling facilities.
Airport Manager C.D. Curry said the aviation fuel tank at the airport is double walled and meets all state standards.
There is a US Border Patrol jet fuel tank at the airport, operated by the patrol service. Curry said as a federal agency, he was comfortable it had met all state and federal requirements.
Smith said the existing contract with Curry might need to be reviewed.
Caffall said “it would appear that Terrell County is in need of minimum standards for operation of a business at the airport” that “level the playing field for requirements” to operate a business “as well as protect the airport from granting exclusive rights or discriminating against anyone.”
She said the airport must assure that “all expenditures from the airport fund shall be solely for airport purposes.”
She suggested reviewing the contract with Curry to “ensure that the value of the stipend, use of airport property and utility expense is balanced with services provided by the tenant for airport operations and maintenance.”
Terrell County has supplied TxDOT with the master plan and other documents to be reviewed before taking the next step.
“The Terrell County Airport is strategically located along the Texas-Mexico border and appears to be experiencing development issues as a result of this location,” Caffall wrote.
She said TxDOT is interested in helping to “ensure that the airport development will maxi-mize Terrell County’s investment and opportunity.”
SANDERSON - The Terrell County Food Pantry is now operating out of its new located on Legion Street adjoining the County
Road and Bridge office.
"We moved for a larger, more suitable distribution center," Co-director Lea Hawn told the News Leader;
The new location is complete with an office area and "plenty of storage space," Hawn said.
Also in the new location are two new appliances
including one new stainless-steel refrigerator, compliments of a WalMart grant and a double- door freezer purchased with
donations from the community.
Distribution is still every third Wednesday of the month. It is based on income but no one will be turned
away, Hawn said.
The food pantry is through the West Texas Food Banks and is sponsored by those in the community and run by volunteers.
“It takes six to 10 volunteers a month to distribute the goods,” Hawn said, “Volunteers are always welcome.”
Hawn is a co-director
with Ray Hernandez
The bank distributes healthy foods such as rice, beans, cereal, peanut butter and sometimes fruits and vegetables
and an occasional treat or two.
They have been serving the community since 2002 and the bank is currently a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
SANDERSON – Most of a proposed $936,503 “Border Colonias Grant” from the Texas Department of Transportation would pay for first-time street paving but Terrell County Commissioners agreed Monday to see if they could shift some of that to drainage improvements and other needs.
Most streets in the urban areas of the county have already been paved under earlier Colonia grants.
In a split vote, Commissioners agreed to hire John Landgraf of Landgraf, Crutcher Associates of Odessa to prepare the application.
“I’m not for hiring John any more,” Commissioner Charles Stegall said.
He said there was a problem with a recent job and no one was able to get hold of Landgraf for a solution.
County Judge Leo Smith said part of Landgraf’s problem was that he had lost engineer Tom Schlegel, who moved on to another company.
“I still want to give him [Landgraf] another shot,” Smith said. “If we have a problem on more time, we will never give him another chance.
“We had 12 good experiences versus one bad,” he said.
In other action, commissioners agreed to a $33,950 contract with Pete Galvan, or J.P. Communications, of Fort Stockton for a new 240-by-120-by-15-foot pit at the Terrell County Landfill.
Galvan was lowest of two bidders on the project to provide additional capacity to the landfill.
And Matt Lusk was given the old filling station building at Oak and Second on property the county plans to use for a convention center.
Lusk agreed to pay the county $25 for the building, which Smith said includes “only the walls and ceiling.”
He said the county has salvaged whatever it could before putting the building up for bid.
Lusk has agreed to remove the building from the property.
SANDERSON – A $75,000 program to use helicopters with shotgun-wielding volunteer ranchers to control predators has been about three times as successful as anticipated.
“When we started, the program was set at a target of $900 per kill,” rancher Gary Hutto told County Commissioners Monday. “As you can see by the numbers, we have far exceeded the kill numbers and reduced the cost by nearly two thirds. This program works.”
Hutto serves on a committee with County Judge Leo Smith and Commissioner Charles Stegall to oversee the program in Terrell County.
Commissioners last fall agreed to transfer $25,000 in last year’s budget and to include $50,000 in this year’s budget to finance the program.
The contractors will provide 20 to 22 hours a month for predator control and have a helicopter available for three to five hours per month for search and rescue if needed.
Steve Forest of Dryden and Phil Johnston of Kerrville are flying Robinson R-22 and R-44 helicopters in support of the program.
Hutto and Wayne Sutton of Dryden are among the ranchers literally riding “shotgun” in an attempt to eliminate predators, which can contribute to rabies problems as well as decimating livestock herds.
Trapper Hoppy Turman of Fort Stockton, a trapper for the US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, said rabies in the gray fox population has mutated and is now affecting coyotes as well.
Hutto said the predator control program has bagged 27 coyotes, 25 bobcats, 60 foxes, 24 skunks and 15 feral hogs.
Turman said since those numbers were compiled, there were probably 10 to 12 more animals that had been killed.
“We flew on 25 different ranches, flying 90 hours,” Hutto said. “We harvested 151 predators and have spent approximately $24,000 in September and $26,000 from Oct. 1 through January 31.
“The average cost per predator is $331,” he said.
County Attorney Marsha Monroe noted the county gained by having helicopter operator Forest living in the county.
“It really helps having Steve Forest in our back yard,” she said.
Early voting for the March 4 Democratic and Republican Primary election throughout Texas begins Tuesday, Feb. 19 through Friday, Feb. 29.
Early voting in Terrell County will be on the first floor of the Terrell County Courthouse during normal business hours. Brewster County early voting will be at the County Tax Office in Alpine.
Marathon voters can vote early from 2 to 6 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Community Building.
Early voting for South County residents will be Feb. 25 at the Study Butte Community Center and Feb. 26 at Panther Junction for Big Benders.
SANDERSON – Dirt has begun to “fly” as the first tangible results from a successful $14 million Terrell County school bond election in May.
Workers were doing groundwork behind the old High School Building for new tennis courts, being relocated to what had been the parking lot.
The present tennis courts will become the parking lot when the new facilities are completed, giving the school true access to the new gym as originally envisioned from the south entrance.
The Terrell County School Board has approved a $585,000 contract with Trans Texas Tennis, Inc., of Houston in November to provide six new lighted tennis courts.
They will be built to serve not only school athletic competition and training but for community use as well.
Meanwhile, school architect Monty Hunter of Hunter Corral Associates, Inc., of Odessa met with board members last week to discuss changes on the new “secondary school” building.
The plan is to add high school classrooms to the south of the existing junior high school building with a common entrance on Second Street.
Current high school classrooms will not be used, at least initially, when the new construction is completed.
However, expansion is possible into the old classrooms if required by future enrollment increases.
Some say the new school facilities will be “outdated” before they are completed with several new Border Patrol agents and their families moving to the area and an increase in mineral development and other construction.
KINGSVILLE – Former Sanderson student Chandler Hill has signed a letter of intent to play football at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Chandler
is the son of Jana Hill of Spring Branch and grandson of JoBeth Elrod of Independence Creek.
The Hills, including Chandler’s younger
siblings, Harleigh, Hayden and Rose, lived in Sanderson for several years.
Chandler Hill played wide receiver and fullback on the Smithson
Valley High School team that advanced to the 5-A Division II Quarterfinals with a 12-2 record last fall.
Smithson Valley’s second
leading receiver, Hill was named to the All-District academic team and is a member of the National Honor Society.
He caught 22 passes
for 403 yards and four touchdowns last fall.
After attending elementary school in Sanderson, Hill played one year of high school football
in Iraan.
He then transferred to Cornerstone Christian in San Antonio where he played both ways on varsity for part of his sophomore
year before being sidelined with a knee injury.
He finished his junior and senior years at SVHS.
“Smithson Valley coach Larry Hill,
no relation, said his staff was more impressed with Chandler Hill the more they got to see him,” the Lubbock Avalanche Journal wrote.
“The
thing about him is he’s a late bloomer,” the paper quoted coach Hill as saying. “To go from a 1-A to a 5-A program was probably a
little bit of a culture shock.
“He kind of spent a year in transition and then we changed his position,” Coach Hill said. “If we’d
known then what we know now, we'd have probably found a bigger role for him. We kind of used him everywhere. He's a pretty talented
kid.''
Chandler Hill was given walk-on status at A&M-Kingsville and at Baylor University.
ALPINE – An eight-mile hiking-biking trail along Sul Ross State University’s Hancock Mountain will be part of a City of Alpine grant proposal in the near future.
The city has hired a grant writer to make a proposal to the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife for trail improvements within the city and Sul Ross.
If funding becomes available, the trail would be developed for multi-level use – easy, moderate and difficult – for hikers and mountain bikers, said Dr. Kevin Urbanczyk, professor of Geology and an originator of the Sul Ross trail plan.
Urbanczyk said the present proposal would have three proposed entrances and educational components. A short
section of one trailhead would be wheelchair accessible.
“There is not another university that I have been to that has this immediate access to remote hiking and biking terrain,” he said.
“Trail users would have excellent outdoor activity accessibility. Students could literally step outside their residence halls and be near a trailhead,” Urbanczyk said. “The trail would add educational components for geology, natural history, history, biology, wildlife and astronomy as well.”
Proposed entrances for the trail would be near the Mountainside Residence Hall, behind the Sul Ross Physical Plant and near the tennis courts.
Tom Brown of Naismith Engineering said the proposed improvements would include the three trailheads, misters and water fountains and a riparian restoration along Moss Creek.
There would also be a paved walkway about 75 yards long and an observation/stargazing deck constructed at Trailhead One.
“These improvements are currently estimated to total approximately $62,000 out of a total budget of $795,000,” Brown said. “All trail improvements at this point would be done by volunteers.”
Urbanczyk said he and other volunteers have been working on trail development for about seven
years but the current proposal was added to the city’s master plan in 2007.
The proposed project includes several items requested by the city, including renovations at Kokernot Park, Medina Park, Baines Park and new improvements at Pueblo Nuevo and American Legion parks.
Included in the renovations are new playscapes, picnic areas, solar heating for the municipal swimming pool, trail renovations at Kokernot and a large barbecue pit at the pavilion.
SANDERSON – Seven Band Boosters this week were urged to speak at a hearing before the school board Monday on the future of the band program.
The school board will consider what to do with a faltering band program and will hear presentations at 6:30 p.m. Monday in
the high school library.
Boosters asked anyone supporting the band program to attend and speak at this meeting, adults and students
alike.
Currently there are 22 students in band.
The Boosters also discussed the annual chili super, which is its biggest fundraiser.
The
event has been scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 10. Delivery and take-out will be available.
Chili will be served along with baked
potatoes, dessert and tea.
For $5, diners get a bowl of red or a potato. $7 will get both.
Entertainment will be provided by the Sanderson
Eagle Band, under the direction of Tom Torres.
Tickets will be sold prior to the dinner by both band members and boosters.
Other business
discussed was the profits from the concession stand for football season.
The boosters usually handle basketball but opted not to this
year.
Profits from football were down this year, nearing $800.
A concession stand for the district track meet on April 3 was also discussed.
The Band Boosters raise funds throughout the year to provide a $1,000 scholarship for a graduating senior who has been in band all
four years of high school.
It also funds a competition trip for the kids every other year in which the kids perform in a competition
and also get in on a little fun such as at Six Flags. The next trip will be in 2009.
The boosters also provide scholarships to those
interested in band camp during the summer.
Booster president Lindy Stumberg said the camp is a “wonderful opportunity” for the kids.
MONAHANS – Two Sanderson teams took home second place at the University Interscholastic League academic competition here Saturday.
Raul Salazar, Julianna Larrinaga and Raquel Hinkley placed second in spelling vocabulary and Davis Stumberg, David Shoemaker and Darren Seidel won second in computer science.
The results of were released this week.
In individual events, Travis Roberts brought home fifth in computer applications and sixth in mathematics.
Rosa Gonzales won fifth place in feature writing and Kelly Lomas placed fourth in number sense.
Other students attending the meet were Jacob Benavidez, Clarissa Brotherton, Vicky Busch, Alexa Davis and Jessica Garza.
Also participating were Ernestina Gonzales, Andy Milstead, Miriam Nuñez, kid sister Noemi Nuñez and Jimmy Rapp.
Schools from around the district compete academically for top honors.
By KIM RAPP
News Leader Production Manager
SANDERSON – Nine years have passed since the beginning of “Falkfest” and the ninth and final will be a memorial to its founder.
Walter Falk passed away on July 10, 2007.
Those who knew Falk knew him as a very happy individual whose favorite place on earth was the front porch of his 100- year-old-house in Sanderson.
He and wife Rhonda would visit periodically, whenever they could.
Rhonda taught school here before moving to Rockport several years ago.
Rhonda is expected at this year’s memorial along with sons Ben and Nathan.
The final Falkfest will begin Thursday, Feb. 21, with the “cave party,” meeting up at the Cantina here at noon.
On Friday, Feb. 22, barbecue and drinks will be served at the Cantina and Saturday the party will then move to Junction where it will continue at the Riverside Bar and The Wild Turkey Bar, two drinking establishments at the “Land of Living Waters.”
Some say it may carry on into some “cave party” in Junction.
Falkfest began when a group of Austinites including Mason Adikins, Steve Anderson, Richard Zelade and artist Falk – who had bought homes and property in and around Sanderson – began a series of free barbecues to thank the community. It included a showing of original Falk paintings.
And so Falkfest was born and was expanded to include the community of Boquillas, Coah.
Three hundred pounds of barbecue was prepared and ferried across the Rio Grande and served to the entire community across the Rio Grande from Big Bend National Park while Falk showed paintings.
In the fourth year, the border was closed and the Railroad Blues in Alpine held the co-event with free barbecue and the paintings on their patio.
In the eighth year of Falkfest, Aurora “Paris” Galvan, who had enjoyed the event and community in Boquillas, sponsored the event in Sanderson with free barbecue and art at Cantina El Gavilan.
Over his lifetime, Falk sold more than 40,000 original works of art in shows, on street corners and even in some small-town taverns.
This reporter, friend and neighbor will always remember him as the happy, free spirited, good man that he was.
SANDERSON – Cantina El Gavilan on Sanderson’s main street will get a complete facelift by the new management team of Steve and Shellie Martin, who took over operation of the bar last week.
The bar will retain its existing name, at least for the time being. The couple also plans to operate Sanderson Pizza Co. in the same building and will hopefully be making pizza for real by the time the annual Buzzard Rally motorcycle meeting comes April 4 to 6.
“They tell us it takes four to six weeks to get our [food] license” from the Texas Health Department, Steve Martin said.
“We are making a lot of changes,” Shellie Martin said. “We have a lot of maintenance to do.”
The interior and exterior will be completely painted and “rustic” furniture will be inside the bar.
The pizza business will be operated from rear of the building. Steve will make pizza while Shellie mans the bar.
Steve Martin said he was able to acquire all the equipment he needs for the pizzas from a shop that was closing and offered him “a deal too good to turn down.” He said it is “all commercial equipment.”
The couple will lease the bar from Aurora “Paris” Galvan who has been operating it.
By operating the same business through a management agreement, they do not need to go through the liquor license procedure, the couple said.
“If we buy it, we would have to do that,” Shellie Martin said.
The bar will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Friday and till 1 a.m. Saturday nights while renovations are accomplished.
Then the days will extend to six days a week for the bar. Pizza service will end at 10 p.m. six days a week.
A “walk-up” window will be provided for pizza pickup so customers do not have to enter the bar.
“Some customers might not be comfortable coming into the bar to get a pizza,” Shellie Martin said.
Steve Martin said the driveway does not really provide an opportunity for a true drive-in window but people can park at the curb and walk to the well-lighted window a few feet away.