April 18, 2008
Los
Jaks Two in the books
|
By KIM RAPP News Leader
Production Manager MARATHON
– More than 50 riders registered for the second annual Los Jaks biker rally
here last week – 51 to be exact. Of
the 51, 42 riders participated in the poker run in which the riders were
required to bring back three scratch-off lottery tickets along with a poker
hand. The
high hand went to Danny Fuéntez, of Austin. He got to choose between $300
cash or the scratch tickets. Fuéntez opted for the cash. There
were riders from all over, including Vancouver, BC, Oregon and North Dakota. There
were several items up for raffle including an outdoor cooker, complete with
full bottle of propane, donated by Sanderson Propane. Phoebe
Campbell was the winner of the cooker.
Another
much-wanted item was a gas powered chain saw, won by Melinda Garcia of
Kermit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- at
BBORR FORT STOCKTON – Dave Carpenter and Dan Stoltenberg of
Parker, CO, won the unlimited class in the Big Bend Open Road Race between
here and Sanderson Saturday. The two made it down and back at an average speed of
166.535 miles per hour in their 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix, dubbed the “M&M”
car after its sponsor, the popular candy. It was the only car to finish in the unlimited class and
it does not set a new record. But it beat last year when the car was not able
to start because of a mechanical problem. Mike and Marsha Borders of Las Vegas, NV, still have that
record in their trophy case, even though they did not enter this year.
Overall, they set the course record with an average of 172.584 mph. Winning the “Hand Timer” award this year and posting the
closest time to their speed were Roger Greene of Henderson, NV, and brother
Bill of Santa Rosa, CA, who came
within .051 seconds of their speed of 150 mph in a 2004 Porsche. The time also was not the record. Billy Hunt and Mike Laurence
of Fort Stockton came within .000014 seconds of their target speed of 120
miles per hour in the 2005 Big Bend Open Road Race. George Hansard, president of Pecos County State Bank, won
the Sportsman Award this year. He navigated a 1990 Corvette driven by Ten Zaleski of Austin.
They came in fifth place in the 150-mph class with a time of .863 seconds off
the speed. An even dozen of the 152 entries did not finish because of
mechanical problems including one of the two cars in the unlimited class. Charlie Friend of Alamogordo, NM, had ignition and oil
pressure problems on the return lap after making it to Sanderson at an
average speed of 161.883 miles per hour. One other car did not start and seven more were
disqualified. The most common cause of a disqualification is the driver going
over or under his “tech” speed. In all but the unlimited class, drivers compete not on the
highest speed but how closely they can come to the posted speed for their
class. Each speed has “tech” speeds and going over or under that
speed is grounds for disqualification. Race Director Randy Archer said there were a number of
cars that did not finish because of mechanical problems but he noted there
were no injuries. He also said the rookie class of 57 drivers was the
largest rookie class in the 12-year history of the race. The 152 cars in the race was also the largest number after
the cutoff was increased from 150 last year. He said there had been several “ups and downs” in the
12-year history of the race but had special praise for Dale Lascano, branch
manager of Pecos County State Bank in Sanderson, for taking over as volunteer
coordinator with only two months left after the race was back on track in
late February. “She did an excellent job,” he said. “Speaking for the whole town, we had a blast,” Lascano
said. Lascano not only pulled together volunteers for course
workers, she also arranged for several booths selling food, gifts and jewelry
at the Courthouse Lawn Saturday. MARATHON
– The Student Council is appealing to area businesses to help fund a new
marquee to replace an old one. “First
of all, we want to thank you for all the cooperation and support that you as
a business and as an influential resident of Marathon have shown to the
Marathon Student Council these past three years,” the council said in a
letter. “We
have had many successful fund-raisers these past years because of community
involvement,” they wrote. The
council said a “personal or business name will appear on the sign with the
horseshoe” for those who donate to the program. “With
your generous contribution, our coming school year will start with a brand
new marquee that we can all be proud of,” they wrote. “Won’t you help us buy
a new marquee that will make our school and our town more beautiful than it
already is?” For
more information, call the school at 432/386-4431. La
Marrana de Oro Por SUSANNA FUENTES Especial al News Leader Esta
historietita la oí muchos años pasados cuando estaba chica y luego otra vez
de mis suegros en los 70s. La
historia de las dos familias era igual, así que llegué a creerla porque los
que me la contaban eran gente buena y sincera. (¡Además,
mis suegros actualmente vieron esta aparición!) Antes
de contar la historia, es importante que comprendan que de entre la cultura
mexicana había una creencia que si alguien veia una aparición de animales en
el campo, de seguro que había un entierro o tesoro allí. Así
que los que veían algo, lo iban a seguir para encontrar ese tesoro. También,
mucha gente religiosa y temerosa, como eran mis padres y mis suegros querían
que alguien encontrara ese entierro para que las apariciones se fueran. Ellos
no tenían interés en hallarlo porque también las apariciones eran espantuosas
porque se decía que esas personas que hallaban el tesoro eran víctimas de
mala suerte en alguna forma. Sin
embargo, a estas apariciones les daban mucha importancia, ya fuera por temor
o curiosidad. Sí,
es muy corta, pero muy interesante: supuosamente, en los 20s, la casa de mis
suegros estaba cerca de un llano o monte con zacate muy alto y se le refería
“Chihuahuitas” porque había una u otra familia de Chihuahua viviendo allí. La
gente no iba por allí porque era un lugar muy solo. (Ese llano ahora está
lleno de casas. Yo y mi esposo también vivimos allí.) Pues,
algunas tardes cuando el sol se desaparecía detrás de las montañas, se oía un
ruido muy extraño, y con mucha luz, como caballos o algo que corrían entre el
zacate alto. Esto
pasaba casi al mismo tiempo por alguna temporada. Una
vez, cuando mis suegros, disfrutando de una tarde hermosa, oyeron este ruido
y decidieron investigarlo. Lo
que encontraron era algo supernatural: era una marrana grandota con sus
marranitos . . . ¡y eran color de oro!
Se asustaron y se regresaron para sus casas. Después,
al cuanto tiempo (mis suegros trabajaban afuera en sus jardines todas las
tardes) volvieron a ver esa marrana y sus marranitos dorados. Decían
que la marrana se paraba y los miraba, como que quería que la siguieran. Mi
suegra nada más bendecía a la marrana y seguía con sus quehaceres. Nunca
la siguieron y hasta la fecha no se sabe si alguien siguió esa marrana de oro
y si se halló un entierro o no. Tal
vez, algunos de ustedes que han vivido muchos más años en Maratón saben esta
historietita mejor que yo y tienen un fin mas interesente que el mío. EDITOR’S
NOTE The above was provided for
our Spanish speaking readers. A translation will be provided next week. Pollard
to be SR commencement speaker ALPINE
-- Trisha Pollard, vice chairman of the Board of Regents of the Texas
State University System, will deliver the commencement address during Sul
Ross State University’s spring graduation exercises, scheduled Saturday, May
10. Ceremonies
will be at 10 a.m. in the Pete P. Gallego Center on the Alpine Campus and at
7:30 p.m. in the Del Rio Civic Center for Rio Grande College. An
estimated 241 students are candidates for degrees, 175 on the Alpine Campus
and 66 at RGC. Pollard,
of Bellaire, is vice president of Pollard Development, LP. She was
appointed to the Board of Regents in 2007 by Governor Rick Perry. An
attorney, she has also had a lengthy career in the natural gas industry and
been active in civic and church volunteer activities. She
received a bachelor of Business Administration degree from Sam Houston State
University in Huntsville and a Juris Doctor degree from the South
Texas College of Law in Houston. Perry
appointed her to a three-year term as a Public Member of the Texas
One-Call Board in 2003. Pollard
has served as a director of the Sam Houston State Alumni Association, foreman
of the Harris County Grand Jury for three terms and chairman of the Building and Standards Committee for the City of
Bellaire. During
her career in the natural gas industry, she was assistant general counsel at
Kinder Morgan, Inc., vice president – Legal & Human Resources at
PennUnion Energy Services and attorney at Transco Gas Marketing Company after
working as Manager for Gas Purchases and in other business positions at Transcontinental
Gas Pipe Line Corporation. She
is a Presbyterian elder and is a member of First Presbyterian Church of
Houston. She also serves on Houston Bar Association committees, was chair of
the Oil & Gas Section of the Houston Bar Association and a member of the
State Bar of Texas. She
has been active in both the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, serving as an assistant
Boy Scout Leader and troop secretary. Pollard
and her husband Randy, a CPA, have three children, Matthew, a student at
Texas A&M University, Jenny, who attends Stephen F. Austin State
University at Nacagdoches, and Jonathan, a middle school student. |
Other
items included a $15 gasoline certificate from Ernesto’s filling station, a
gift certificate from J & G Shell and a gift certificate from the Big
Hair Shop for $80.Gily Rodriguez of Alpine was the winner of the “Ball in
Pipe” game with help from Sierra Lowe. He also won the “Slo-mo” race. Hugo
Galindo and “Butter,” aka Joanna Ramos, won the “Weenie Bite” contest. Dinner
consisted of BBQ brisket and sausage with all the trimmins’. Seven plates of food and cokes were donated to
the firefighters battling the fire near Cathedral Mountain west of Marathon. hard
to fight By R.M. GLOVER MNL Editor MARATHON
-- Lightening bolts set off flames in this dry, parched country last week,
sending black smoke spiraling above the Glass Mountains. The
smoke choked the thin air with carbon and the flames glowed eerie red at
night. Named
the Cathedral Fire by the Texas Forest Service because of the nearby
Cathedral Peak, more than 23,000 acres had been consumed by press time. As
many as six air tankers assisted smaller craft, bombarding the flames with
water. Firefighters
from as far away as Montana arrived here, packing their lunch boxes and disappearing
into the scrub for days at a time. “It’s
pretty rough country,” Forest Service spokesman Jeanne Eastham said Wednesday
morning. “The ground crews are ‘billy-goating’ in the northeast part. And
they’re cold-trailing with the bulldozers. “They
got air support if they need it, but didn’t use it yesterday,” she said. “The
fire’s about 75 per cent contained.” During
a squall that moved in April 23, lightening struck at Altuda then a second
strike northeast of there doubled the ignition. By
the next day, the smoke was thick and, by Friday, 4,600 acres had been
consumed. A
“norther” blew through over the weekend but did little to slow the lines of
flame creeping along the ridges of the mountains. One
residence has been evacuated and two other residences remain threatened. The
firefighting cost so far was estimated at $1.875 million. “I
think they should let it burn,” Marathon High Science Teacher Travis Jarrell
said. “Its nature’s way of replenishing soils and strengthening the desert.” At
the Brewster County Commissioners Court Tuesday, a letter of thanks was
issued to the Texas Forest Service for providing fire-fighting services. Commissioner
Ruben Ortega of Marathon verbally thanked the Texas Highway Department and
county workers for their assistance as well as J.P. Bryan for allowing the
air-tankers to replenish water at his well. MARATHON
-- Concerned citizens met at the James Evans Gallery here Monday night to
listen to Big Bend National Park geologist Jeff Bennet discuss aquifers. Once
an aquifers capacity and recharge rate is known, the amount of water being
pumped out will determine the approximate water reserve for some future date.
This
is known as the desired future condition, a term used often in reference to
Marathon’s water situation. Marathon’s
aquifer has not been studied since 1961 and its true reserves are not known. Discussion
is underway as to whether a grant can be obtained to fund a full and complete
study on Marathon’s underground reserves. More
is known about Marathon’s water consumption rate. Last year, Marathon Water
Supply pumped approximately 33 million gallons of water from their wells. Many
private wells are used in the community as well as on surrounding ranches. Compiling
the overall water consumption rate will be part of the puzzle to determine
Marathon’s desired future condition. Some
of Marathon’s concerned citizens intend to issue a letter soon to the
Brewster County Water District to highlight their concerns about the recent
application by Buddy Cavness to pump, sell and transport Marathon underground
water to oil companies prospecting in the area. MARATHON – The traditional Graduates’ Mass at
St. Mary's Catholic Church will be at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 17. There will be ceremonies for graduates from
kindergarten, eighth grade and high school. “Everybody’s invited,” Organizer Susanna
Fuéntez said. “We hope to see you there.” MARFA
– Marfa Public Radio will spotlights several civic affairs on “Talk At Ten,”
the local interview program broadcast live on weekday mornings at 10 a.m. and
again at 6:30 p.m. A
representative of the first Marfa Film Festival will be heard today, May 2. Marianne
Stockebrand of the Chinati Foundation and Richard Shiff of the University of
Texas will discuss the Chinati Foundation Symposium, “The Writings Of Donald
Judd,” on a special broadcast at 3:30 p.m. today. The
symposium will also be broadcast on a live remote this weekend, May 3 and 4. The
Symposium at the AmVets Building here will comprise a series of lectures and
panel discussions on the writings of the late Marfa resident. The
symposium will also be streamed live on the website at www.marfapublicradio.org. “Talk
at Ten” programs next week include contested municipal elections in Marfa on
Monday, contested municipal elections in Alpine on Tuesday and area school
board elections on Wednesday. Musician
Paul Minor, performing in Alpine and Marfa, will be the feature of the
Thursday, May 8, broadcast and Friday’s show will feature Peter Orner,
writer-in-resi-dence of Lannan Foundation in Marfa. AUSTIN
– A dozen students from Sanderson and a pair from Marathon will represent
their schools this weekend at the 28th Annual State History Fair here at the
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum at the University of Texas at Austin. The
students all advanced by placing first or second earlier in the spring. Raquel
Hinkley, Jessica Garza, Vicky Busch, Noemi Nuñez and Andy Milstead will make
the trip from Sanderson. Also
going will be Juliana Castro, Casey Couch, Travis Roberts, Jalen Chriesman,
Daniel Luevano and Mason Blackmon. Taylor
Roberts earned his spot at the state level by winning the Trans Pecos Award,
taking home $150 cash with his
third-place exhibit on early 20th century Texas Rangers. He
also won best regional entry, which qualified him to go to the state competition. Winners
of first or second place in the state competition will advance to the
national level June 15 to 19 in College Park, MD. The
Sanderson students will be accompanied by Adam Portillo and other sponsors. Representing
Marathon will be Omar Grano and Zach Gonzales. Going up with them will be
Andrea Johnson. Omar
and Zach won first place with their exhibit, “The Conflicts and Compromises
of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts,” at the regional level last month in
Alpine. through May 9 ALPINE
– “Desert Mirage,” an exhibition of printmaking by Sul Ross State
University student Kelly Sufficool of Alpine, will be on exhibit
through Friday, May 9. The
exhibition is in compliance with her bachelor of Fine Arts degree. There
will be an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. today, May 2, in the Main
Gallery of the Francois Fine Arts Building. There is no admission charge and
the public is invited. Sufficool’s
prints are a reflection of growing up in the desert and of the nature of the
desert in the Big Bend area. She
has been drawing most of her life and enjoys the manifestation of the mark. She
realized a few years ago that carving her drawings into Plexiglas was
much like drawing and she could achieve different effects using different
methods of carving the Plexiglas. Adding
a second piece or pieces of different colored or textured paper onto another
larger sheet of paper before printing changes the way the image is
interpreted. This method of “Chine` colle” is very influential in her work. SR
papers on biology presented ALPINE
– Sul Ross State University professor of Biology Dr. Keith Sternes and seven
students will present papers at the American Society for Microbiology general
meeting in Boston, MA. The
2008 general meeting will be June 1 to 5 in the Boston Convention and
Exhibition Center. Sternes
and Sul Ross student Emmalee Sternes of Alpine will present “Survey of
Pathogenic Bacteria in Restrooms Along Insterstate Highways in the Southwest
United States.” Students
Jackie Haynes of Alpine, Raquel Acosta of Big Bend National Park, Sajag
Bhattari, Lainchour, Kathmandu and Lucia De La Rosa of San Antonio will
assist in the presentation. Sul
Ros microbiology lab manager Karen Little will present a second paper,
“Bacterial Pathogens in the Rio Grande Basin,” authored by Sternes, Little
and David Sauerzopf. Acosta,
Haynes and Bhattari will assist with the presentation. Also
attending the ASM general meeting will be Sul Ross student Aldo Carrasco of
Presidio. Carrasco and DeLaRosa are McNair Program Scholars. |
Before the drawings, a “hog” was fired up
and a moment of silence was observed to remember Ray Beverly who was killed
in a car accident the day after the rally last year. Beverly was a member of
the Los Jaks MC club. A DJ set up shop and partakers were invited to dance the night away both Friday and Saturday night. Marathon
murder probed, one held MARATHON
– Friends don’t let friends drive drunk but unofficial reports here said that
commandment took on a new urgency Saturday. Marathon
is known as a quiet little town but it didn’t quite fit that description last
weekend. Sheriff
Ronny Dodson said Richard Lyn Purdy, 48, of Lubbock, was shot and killed outside
the Gage Hotel at around 10:15 p.m. Purdy
and long-time friend T.J. Dunlap, 68, of Presidio had volunteered for the Big
Bend Open Road Race that day. They
were seen walking up the sidewalk from The Oasis Café, and some witnesses
said they apparently were arguing about who would drive the car back to the
hotel in Sanderson. Dodson
said that part of the story is still “under investigation.” Dunlap
allegedly pulled a .44 caliber snub-nose pistol and shot Purdy in the face.
He died at the scene at approximately 10:35 p.m. Dunlap
was arrested near Alpine and has been booked on a charge of first-degree murder.
He is being held at the Brewster County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. library
meeting DALLAS
– Four Marathon residents attended the Texas Library Association Conference
here last month. Carol
Townsend, librarian of the Marathon branch of the Alpine Public Library,
attended classes on library management and summer reading programs. Friends
of Marathon Public Library President Steve Griffis, who is also West Texas
sales representative for University of Texas Press, manned an exhibit booth
at the conference. Library
volunteers Sky Townsend and Arlene Griffis worked in the UT Press booth and
Arlene attended some classes as well. Carol
Townsend and Arlene Griffis attended the Author’s Luncheon where Townsend was
recognized as one of eight recipients of a Tocker Foundation grant, which
issues stipends to librarians from small communities enabling them to attend
conferences like TLA. The
two women also attended the Bluebonnet Award Luncheon, which honored author
Lucy Nolan whose book, “Down Girl and
Sit: On the Road,” won the 2007-2008 Bluebonnet Award for children’s literature. During
the conference, Carol and Arlene were able to purchase approximately 100 new
books, which will be added to the shelves of the Marathon Library. “I
would like to thank Carole Henthorne and Lynn Lindsay for keeping the
Marathon Library open while we attended the conference,” Carol Townsend said. By R.M. GLOVER MNL Editor MARATHON
– It’s not only the woodwork and the furniture, the tile and the hanging
heads on the walls at the Gage Hotel. It’s
also the grounds that give it that one-of-a-kind look in a world full of fine
hotels. And
Janice Jobe has a lot to do with it. She’s the groundskeeper. With
a crew of five, her job is not only to tend to the plant life but also the
rocks, the wood and the tile. “Anything
to do with the outside, we do it,” Jobe said. Mixed beds are the garden theme
at the Gage. “Desert
plants are the basic backdrop, perennials such as salvias. There’s a thousand
types of salvia. We use a lot of cenizo, also known as purple sage,” Jobe
said. “Twice a year, we change the annuals. They bring in the bright color.” It
was mid-afternoon and we were walking through the hotel grounds, looking for
a place to take a photograph. White
butterflies seemed to lead us through the gardens while a pair of grackles
sang on top of a Mexican date palm. We
stopped under the canopy of a Mexican elder. Vines crawled up its gnarly bark
and the butterflies disappeared into the limbs. “These
are native to northern Mexico,” Jobe said, gesturing toward the tree. “They
hate being babied. They like to be left alone. But they’ve a shallow root
system and when the spring winds come, sometimes they’ll just fall over. We
lean ‘em back up and stomp ‘em in.” Jobe
and her husband moved to Austin about 20 years ago from Edmonton, Alta. He
was a grip with a film production company and she got a job at a greenhouse
doing propagation. They
vacationed often in the Big Bend and then, about 12 years ago, made the big
move to Marathon. “I
miss real mountains,” Jobe said. “But I’ve been out here so long, these are
real mountains now.” We
looked south toward the Santiago Range. We
walked past a thick clump of honeysuckles climbing an adobe wall strung with
rostra, then past a giant white yucca in route to Café Cenizo’s organic
vegetable garden. “It’s
always interesting working here,” Jobe said. “Very demanding. [Gage owner]
J.P. Bryan has high standards and we have to live up to them. But he’s always
appreciative of our efforts. And that’s rather gratifying.” We
were in the restaurant’s garden now, eating snow peas off the vine. There
were turnips and beets, artichokes, collared greens, purple haze carrots,
basil, thyme, cilantro, endives and Swiss chard. “This
is Chef Paul’s place but we tend it for him,” Jobe said, handing me the curly
top of a beet green. She
ran her hand through the rich black dirt and scooped it up, then let it fall
through her fingers. “Momma
always told me as a kid, ‘go play in the dirt.’” Jobe said. “I guess I
listened.” assistant BP chief MARFA
– Randy Davis has been named
assistant chief patrol agent at Border Patrol Marfa Sector by Chief Patrol
Agent John J. Smietana, Jr. Davis
began his career at the Marfa station on August 3, 1992. He
was promoted to supervisor and transferred to the Presidio Station in 2001. He
came to Sector Headquarters in 2003 when he was promoted to patrol agent in
charge of the Sector Intelligence Unit. In
2004, Davis was transferred to the headquarters of the Customs and Border Protection
Office of Anti-Terrorism in Washington, DC, as an assistant chief. He
became an assistant chief in the headquarters office of Border Patrol in Washington,
DC, in October, 2006, Davis
and his wife Deborah have been married 14 years. They have a son and a daughter. student
athletes ALPINE
– Austin Davidson of Hallsville, Art Gonzalez of El Paso and Nitra Woods of
Andrews were recipients of the Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards
this week. Fernanda
Busch of Sanderson won a senior award in tennis. Sul
Ross State University student-athletes were honored for the past year’s
performances at the annual athletics awards banquet Tuesday. Davidson,
a four-year letter winner in football and the American Southwest Conference’s
two-time javelin champion in track and field, won the award for the second
straight year. Woods,
the Lady Lobos’ leading scorer and rebounder in women’s basketball, also
received the honor a second time. Gonzalez,
a four-year letter winner in men’s basketball, was recognized for the first
time. All-conference
and academic all-conference awards were presented, as well as team honors. Gonzalez
and Janice Mitchell of Round Rock received the Lobos’ Scholar-Athlete Awards
and Moises Morales of Fort Hancock and Celina Candelaria of El Paso received
awards for sportsmanship. Former
SR professor’s book published ALPINE
– “Ghost Schools of the Big Bend,” by former Sul Ross State University dean
and professor Dr. Albert B. Tucker, has been published by Howard Payne
University Press. Tucker
compiled the research before his death in 1999. Since then, his wife, Jan,
and sons Robert Lee and Jeffrey worked to complete the manuscript and publish
the book. Tucker
was a professor of education and later dean of professional studies at Sul
Ross from 1985 to 1998 before moving to Howard Payne, where he served as a
professor of education and dean of Continuing Education. “The
schools of the West Texas frontier are nothing but abandoned adobe ruins today,”
A press release from Howard Payne says. “But there was a time, some 100 years
ago, when they were bustling centers of learning that served a diverse
student population. They might even provide model for today's schools.” “Ghost
Schools of the Big Bend” is the first detailed investigation of the schools
of the frontier in this region, the release says. It
unearths details of the teachers, the parents, the students, the hardships
and triumphs of a people long dead but strangely familiar to modern-day
readers. Tucker’s
detailed study covers a 60-year period and brings these “ghost schools” back
to life and invites us to get to know the founders, the teachers, the
principals, the students and the parents, Howard Payne says. Tucker
was born in San Marcos on March 18, 1938, and died Jan. 22, 1999, in San Marcos.
He
received a BA from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene in 1959, an MRE from
Golden Gate Seminary in 1962, an M.Ed. in 1970 from the University of Texas
El Paso and Ed.D. from Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1982. |