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Glasscock County News
More
Land for Community Center?
Steve Sturtz reported to
Glasscock County commissioners Jan. 8 that the planned community center’s
septic system might require more land than had been anticipated. Sturtz said the Midland TNRCC septic
system permitting office has told GSW Engineering Services that the building
will require a 5,000 gallon septic system, and that there is not enough room
on the land immediately east of the courthouse to build a drain field for a
system that size. Sturtz
said two other options are being considered: 1) pumping up and into a drain field
to be constructed on three lots owned by the county and located inside the
baseball field south of the courthouse (at an additional cost of
approximately $15,000) or 2) purchasing the Bill Cave house and property
south of the post office for a sum of $35,000. According
to GSW, the septic system will cost more than architects’ estimates,
regardless of how or where it is built. No
action is to be taken until members of the community center building
committee, GSW engineers and building architects can meet and discuss the
matter. Vote Splits on Maintainer Purchase With commissioners
Jimmy Strube, Michael Hoch and Hugh Schafer voting for, and Mark Halfmann
abstaining, the court approved the lone bid for a new maintainer for Strube’s
precinct. The bid, from West Texas CAT of Abilene, was $168,000, less
$115,000 trade allowance, for an amount to be paid of $53,000. There is a
guaranteed minimum repurchase of $117,500 after 5 years or 5,000 hours.
Strube said the new machine has approximately $15,000 more equipment than the
one it replaces, due to the addition of a rear ripper and larger tires. The
old maintainer cost $136,500 when it was purchased new five years ago. The
court once again discussed the need to either equip the fire truck from the
Forest Service or return it to them. Halfmann estimated repairs, including a
new engine, will cost $15,000. County Judge Wilburn Bednar asked the
representative from West Texas CAT to look at the truck and estimate how much
it would cost to replace the engine, and to do other necessary repairs. Bednar
said there are building materials (lumber and roofing) at the west dump,
violating state regulations. He said the materials need to be moved to the
north landfill. More Pagers Discussed The
court discussed pagers for emergency volunteers, and there was unanimous
agreement to purchase additional pagers and/or have existing ones repaired as
needed. Hoch reported that three additional people have volunteered to drive
ambulances if they are provided pagers. Halfmann said the Garden City fire
department is deteriorating, and pointed out that there is no fire chief in
Garden City or in the northern part of the county. He said enough pagers to
go around would help the situation. Alan Dierschke was to check into the location
and status of existing pagers. Bednar
said there have been no applications for the emergency management coordinator
job. Commissioners
all agreed that the volunteer emergency medical service and the sheriff’s
office should be commended for handling the unusually heavy number of
emergencies since Christmas. In
other action, the court approved a letter of intent to have any autopsies
done at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in Lubbock at a cost of $1,000
each; approved the tax-assessor/collector’s bond, and the chief appraiser’s
contract; approved a resolution for a grant for a district court coordinator. Water
District Passes Resolution The Glasscock County
Underground Water Conservation District’s Board of Directors, meeting in
regular session Dec. 19, passed a resolution which is to be sent to state
legislators. The resolution regards
recommendations from the Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee to the 77th
Legislature. The District finds that
“some of the recommendations will advance the best interests of the District
in conserving, protecting, and effectively managing the water supplies in the
Edwards-Trinity and Ogallala aquifers within the District boundaries,” but
that others will impede those efforts. The resolution, which addresses
14 points, is too lengthy to summarize in this newsletter, but copies are
available in the GCUWCD office in Garden City. In
The Spotlight
• Ryan Seidenberger graduated from Texas
A & M University Dec. 15 with a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy with a
specialization in Sports Turf. He is the son of Ellen and Dennis
Seidenberger. • Kerri
Fine, a 1996 graduate of GCHS, graduated from Angelo State University
Dec. 15 with a degree in Special Education. She is the daughter of Joyce and
Jimmy Fine. • GCISD
Students of the Month for December were: second grader Katelyn
Hoelscher, sixth grader Evan Jansa,
eighth grader Logan Willis and
high school junior Matthew Frysak.
Katelyn is the daughter of Carl and Kara Hoelscher, Evan is the son of Lisa
and Alan Jansa, Logan is the son of Susan Carlisle and Mark Willis, and
Matthew is the son of Mark and Linda Frysak. Briefly
• A
Natural Resources Conservation Service program availability meeting will be held Feb. 12
at 6 p.m. in the Senior Citizens’ Center in Garden City. According to NRCS
Conservationist Elisha Kuehn, the meeting will focus on the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Continuous Conservation Reserve
Program (CCRP) and NRCS technical assistance. All interested agricultural
producers are urged to attend. • The
Senior Citizens group will meet Jan. 22 at 3 p.m. Attendees are asked to bring “finger
foods.” The next meeting will be Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. and the fare will be stew
and cornbread. You are asked to bring
desserts for this meal. • Barbecued
chicken dinners are being offered by Project Graduation for Super Bowl
Sunday, Jan. 28. See details, page 3. • The top winners at the 64th Annual Glasscock County Junior Livestock Show: Matthew Frysak was awarded the Cap Rock Top Hand
Scholarship, and Ashley Hirt won
the Top Hand Trophy. Laura Halfmann showed the Grand Champion rabbit and Logan Willis showed the Reserve Grand
Champion rabbit. Colby Hirt showed the Grand Champion swine, and Ashley Hirt showed the Reserve Grand
Champion swine. Drew Plagen’s steer won Grand Champion and Tanner Donica’s steer was Reserve
Grand Champion. Erin Hirt showed the Grand Champion sheep and Ashley Hirt showed the Reserve Grand
Champion sheep. Cade Halfmann showed the Grand Champion goat and Amber Halfmann showed the Reserve
Grand Champion goat. • Glasscock County native Dick Cunningham is now a GC News on-line
subscriber. He learned of the newsletter’s web site after his daughter-in-law
in Argentina found it! Robinson
Retires from School Job At the December GCISD
board meeting, School Superintendent Steve Long announced that Betty Robinson
has retired from her job in the school cafeteria after 26 years of service.
Candy Jones has been moved from part-time to full-time to replace her. A longer, more
detailed form for evaluation of the superintendent’s performance will be used
this year, at Long’s recommendation. The form is to be completed by all
school board members, as well as the two school principals and school
secretary. Long now carries cards
that read, “ Caught you doing something great!” He said he will give one to a faculty member or other employee
as he chooses, and that person will get a half-day off work while Long does
his/her job. Exercising one of its
options, the board voted to send its WADA payments to the Alpine school
district rather than to Austin. School enrollment as
of December was177 in K- 6 and 160 in grades 7 - 12, for a total of 337. Long said the
1999-2000 School Report Cards would be sent home with each student with their
January report cards. The SRC’s are required by statute as part of the Texas
Education Agency’s accountability reporting. The board discussed
whether to allow the Junior-Senior Prom to be held in Midland, and will
continue the discussion at the Jan. 11 meeting after talking with parents. Farmers
Want Greater NRCS Presence More than 50 people attended
a joint meeting of the Glasscock County Soil and Water Conservation District
and St. Lawrence Cotton Growers Dec. 19 at the Senior Citizens’ Center in
Garden City. The meeting’s purpose was to consider issues relating to the
Natural Resources Conservation Service’s work in the county. More
than 15 people, mostly cotton producers, described their experiences and
dissatisfactions with the NCRS in recent years. One after another, producers
told of difficulties in trying to get technical help from the NRCS with
projects involving such things as topcon mapping, waterways, water diversion
terraces, drip irrigation and brush control. Their complaints related
numerous instances of unanswered requests for assistance, work promised and
not begun, work begun but not finished, and unreturned telephone messages.
Many said their frustration was such that they had simply stopped asking the
NRCS for assistance. Most producers said
they have been hiring work done, such as topcon mapping, which the NRCS does
for producers for no charge in other counties. Others spoke of NRCS technical
information and assistance regarding reduced-till farming and installation of
drip irrigation, which has been available in other counties but not here.
Most said they have been unaware of the services and programs the NRCS
offers. Generally, the producers said they are being left out by the agency,
and most said the problems would be solved if an NRCS person were located in
Garden City. Little NRCS Involvement Warren Multer,
Extension Agent for Integrated Pest Management, agreed with several others
who said that 10 years ago, there was NRCS help, cooperation and support in
Glasscock County, but now, he said, the agency is not very involved here. Multer said the county’s
farmers and livestock producers are progressive and interested in new methods
of soil and water conservation, and should be given help in their
conservation efforts. He and Extension Agent for Agriculture Steve Sturtz
both called for cooperation among government agencies in order to best help
producers. NRCS Assistant State
Conservationist for Field Operations Elisha Kuehn, and Natural Resources Team
Leader Gary Grogan, responded to the speakers’ concerns. Kuehn
said most of the problems are because 1) the NRCS is understaffed and 2) USDA
Program work, which is mandated by Congress, gets highest priority. (Program
work includes CRP, EQUIP, and CCRP.) She cited the agency’s downsizing in
recent years, and said her area of supervision now encompasses 51 counties
and includes 76 employees, 4 of whom are engineers. She said a team of 5
employees, including one engineer, services Tom Green, Coke, Sterling and
Glasscock counties. Workload Dictates Staffing Kuehn said workload
dictates staffing in the NRCS, and Glasscock County’s workload, as it is
recorded in her office, has not warranted more staff here. Producers say the
actual workload is more than sufficient, but that it doesn’t show up in NRCS
records because they are doing most of the work themselves. Grogan
said producers should apply for any NRCS programs for which they qualify, and
should ask for NRCS assistance where it is applicable. He also said producers
should ask their elected state and national representatives to support their
efforts. He said, “If you don’t ask, you never get a damned thing.” Attempting
to find ways to improve the local situation, Kuehn said that if Glasscock
County would provide office space and utilities, she would send one of the
people from the Sterling City NRCS office to Glasscock County for an
undetermined number of days weekly, if there is enough workload to justify
it. Kuehn said she also would look into getting a toll-free telephone number
for the Sterling City office. She said locating a full-time office here would
take USDA or congressional approval. Educational Meetings Promised Kuehn also said the
NRCS would conduct educational meetings in Glasscock County, beginning in
January or February, in order to inform producers about what types of
programs and assistance the agency offers. (See “Briefly,” page 2.) According
to Kuehn, complaints, concerns or comments regarding NRCS service should be
directed to Grogan at 915/655-3521,
ext. 3 or to her at 915/944-0147. The NRCS accountability website is: www.nrcs.usda.gov/prms. In
addition to Kuehn, Grogan, and the SWCD board of directors, those attending
the meeting included Mina Fitting, staff assistant to State Representative
Lamar Smith, Ben Wilde from the Soil and Water Conservation state office, St.
Lawrence Cotton Growers members, the Glasscock County commissioners, the
FSA’s Glasscock County Committee and the Glasscock County Underground Water
Conservation District’s manager and board. From the Schoolhouse
Chicken Dinners on
Super Bowl Sunday
Project
Graduation 2001 is offering chicken dinners for Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 28.
The barbecued chickens are $6 apiece, and a pint of cole slaw, a quart of
beans or a pint of sauce sells for $2 each. The
food will be delivered to the county courthouse at 11 a.m. Jan. 28, or it can
be picked up at the St. Lawrence Hall. Students
will be making telephone calls to take orders between Jan. 11 and Jan. 16. If
you are overlooked, call one of the following to place your order: Karen
Halfmann 535-2236; Renee Niehues 354-2419; Nancy Hillger 354-2350 or Vicki
Batla 354-2665. Partial
Basketball Schedules VARSITY AND JV DATE OPPONENT
HOME/AWAY JVG JVB VG VB 1/12 Water Valley* A 4:00 5:15 6:30 8:00 1/16 Irion County* H 4:00 5:15 6:30 8:00 1/18 & 20 Forsan JV Tourn. A TBA TBA 1/19 Rankin* A 4:00 5:15 6:30 8:00 1/23 Sterling City* A 4:00 5:15 6:30 8:00 1/26 Iraan* A 6:00 7:30 1/30 Water Valley* H 4:00 5:15 6:30 8:00 2/2 Irion County* A 5:00 5:00 6:30 8:00 2/6 Rankin* H 4:00 5:15 6:30 8:00 JUNIOR HIGH DATE OPPONENT HOME/AWAY TEAMS TIME 1/15 Irion County A A&B 5:00 1/22 Sterling City H A&B 4:00 1/27 Robert Lee Tourn. A B
Boys and Girls TBA 1/29 Water Valley A A&B 4:00 2/1 & 3 Dist. Tourn. A A Girls @
Christoval TBA A A
Boys @ Water Valley TBA About This Publication The next issue will be Feb 14. The deadline for
that issue is Feb 12. The Glasscock
County News is published by Joe Melanie Calverley, P. O. Box 98, Garden
City, TX, 79739. Phone or Fax:
915/354-2221; e-mail: gcnews201@aol.com. Website: http://wscope.com/glasscock/ |
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