Levelland and Hockley County News-Press (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 94, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 1, 1989 Page: 1 of 37
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Commissioners split over new ambulance equipment costs
Contract, maintenance agreement draws disagreement, too
Commissioners split iheir votes over paying an additional $3,750 to broke tire tie, voting with Langford andThetford.
LevcIlandAid Ambulance toequipanew ambulance paidfor by the county "It’s going to be an advantage. They’ve been using backups from other
and city. places. This iscsscntial in my opinion,"said Langford. "I think the bettcrbox
"I thought we gave you directions (earlier) when we gave you $30,(XX) was money well spent. I’m for the $3,750. It’s more money well spent. Those
(matching the city’s $30,(XX)). You were going to buy a $50,000 ambulance men do a good job. Let’s pay it and be done with it."
and have $10,000to buy the equipment with," County Judge Don Avery said Another concession won by Shaheen was assistance in the maintenance
to ambulance operators in a special mectingT uesday. "You bought a $57,000 of new ambulance purchased by the city and county and rented to Aid Ambulance
ambulance. For some eason, somco/ic said this commj.,?i^ needs this truck for $1. Aid Ambulance will provide all routine maintenance, up to a $200
for $57,000." • .<<■• ceiling. When repairs run over $200, the ambulance service will pay 50 percent
"We were not trying to mislead you," replied F..E Shaheen, manager of the bill, the county will pay 25 percent and the city will pay 25 percent,
of the local ambulance service. ’That vehicle cost $50,(XX) when we specked "I’d rather they mainiain it since we’re furnishing it," said Stanley, and Hensley
it. Willi the additional $10,000, we were covered." agreed with him, saying ”1 feel like our subsidy is enough.”
Commissioner Sam Langford cxplainedUiatastrongcr-built ambulance "If we pul in a new motor and you decide to do it without us, we’d be out
waspurchasedandtliatlhecityandcountychosclobuy the better-built ambulance that motor," said Shaheen.
instead of the cheaper unit which could have been purchased for $54,000. David Ehlcr, co-owner of the service, explained that if the service had to
Greg Ingham, Lcvelland’s city manager, told the commissioners that pick up die entire cost of major repairs, the ambulance might be out of commission
the city council went with the better box, hoping for a longer life of Uic ambulance, for some time simply because the service did not have any money for repairs.
"They need another $3,750 from each of us. The council decided to go Ehlcr also presented a financial statement to the commissioners to demonstrate
along with it since we would own the ambulance and the basic support that the company did not have enough cash available to install the equipment
equipment. Then we’ll own it if we decide we can’t work with these people," needed to bring the new ambulance up to a basic operational level. However,
Ingham said. "We ’ll keep inventory tags on the equipment to ID the property." Avery, Hensley and Stanley questioned some of the entries on the statement,
Aflcrmorcthananhour’sdiscussion.commissioncrssplittheirvotc.wilh such as some investments.
Sam Langford and Bill Thetford agreeing to Aid Ambulance’s contract and "Is there an accountant in the room? I’m a good ambulance jockey,” Ehlcr
J. R. Stanley and El Lea Hensley voting against the requested changes. Avery said, "but I’m not an accountant. All of this has been done by an accounting
firm. Wecan have them come andexplain it to you if you like. I can’t tell you
about the treasury stock. Understand, we ’re not talking about a statement of
the last several years. We’re looking at the bottom line. I admit the silver
investments were ridiculous, but the Mcrril Lynch stock is good business.
That’s good business to have some backup. If anyone thinks we’re making
money under the table, they can go see my accountant, but I’m just not an
accountant."
He also pointed out that he is not asking the commissioners for an increase
in their subsidy for the next two years, the length of the contract. "I’m not sure
we won’t need it. It’s going lobe tough pushing it for two years. But with the
new ambulance, I can’t ask for an increase," he said. "If I showed a financial
statement of $30,(XX) to $40,(XX) a year, it would be different, but the money’s
not there. That’s the bottom line for us. We’re sucking up to go into the next
two years without an increase."
Shaheen was quick to point out that an increase in service calls may increase
their revenue enough to tide them over on the same budget for the next few
years. Calls have increased recently from an average of 75 a month to 110
per month. Charges for service in town are a basic rate of $95 plus milage.
If additional services arc used during the trip, additional charges are tacked
onto the bill, making the average bill $125, Shaheen said. Customers taken
to Lubbock receive an average bill of $175 to $200, he said.
"70 percent of our calls to Lubbock arc cardiac emergencies. I ’vc never
seen one go over $360," he said.
Sec AMBULANCE page 2
Levelland And
Hockley County
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 94 USES 146 380 Drawer 1628, Levelland, Texas 79336-1628 Phone 894-3121 Wednesday, March 1, 1989 24 Pages. 2 Sections & Supplements
Sparkman enjoys seeing farmers succeed
Chamber of Commerce's Agri-businessman
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AG MAN OFTHE YEAR-BobSparkman.county supervisorfor Farmers
Home Administration, recently was honored as Agri-Business Personality
of the Year during a Levelland Chambcrof Commerce banquet. (Staff Photo)
by Marlene Lucas
News Editor
Making debtors into good risks is
what Bob Sparkman enjoys about his
job as county supervisor with Farmers
Home Administration.
"It’s still fun to work with these
people that arc working hard and
making progress. You can sec the
gains they’ve made. The young
producers, you sec them get a toe hold
and graduate on to a bank. They buy
a house and raise a family," he said.
Asa creditor of last resort, FmH A
handles the hard cases, he said. MWV
have to deal with the problems and
handle them accordingly. There arc
people in houses who lose their jobs
or they move away and leave iheir
houses. That’s what happens in the
world. Still, there’s a lot more good
than bad," he said.
Sparkman was recently recognized
for his work in the agricultural field
when he was elected Agri-Business
Personality of the Year. He received
the award during the Fourth Annual
Chamber of Commerce Barbecue
Cook-Off and Banquet held Feb. 17.
"I was surprised, but I got a little
suspicious. My two daughters were
planning another activity that night
but when I was at the banquet line, I
saw them come in, and I wondered
why they were there and not where
they’d planned to be. Still, I was
surprised and appreciative of the
honor," he said.
In the more than 20 years
Sparkman has been with FmHA, he’s
seen Uic size of loans more than
double and the nature of loans
expand. FmHA was established in
1935 to provide loans for farms, rural
homes and farm equipment, he said.
In the 1950s and early 60s, loans were
extended to cover water and sewer
systems and, in the case of rural
Tarrant County, 700 apartment units.
In Uic 70s, loaas were designed for
businesses and i ndustrics, such as the
denim mill in Littlefield.
"When I first started, we were
Sec SPARKMAN page 2
Seats remain up for grabs
in many county elections
Elections at several area schools
are shaping up, with several inemfi-
bents Filing for office, while positions
on several city councils remain open.
The Filing period for the May 6
elections opened Feb. 20 and will
close March 22.
Levelland School Trustee L. G.
Griffin, who had earlier stated he
would seek re-election for the District
3 scat, has withdrawn his name from
Uic contest. John R. Thacker, field
manager of Farmer ’ s Coop Elevator,
filed Tuesday to run for the District
3 scat. Trustee J. L. "Whiley" Barnett
will seek re-election in District 1.
Both Levelland councilmcn
Eduardo Estrada in District B and
Keith Paxton in District Dare running
again. Neither candidate had drawn
an opponent by press time.
In Whitefacc, three of the four
school board members whose terms
arc expiring have Filed for re-election.
They are Bobby Neal, Raymond
Marck and Robert Davidson. Larry
Baldwin had not Filed by Monday
noon. Johnny Fielz has also Filed,
seeking a scat in the at-large election.
All three trustees on the Anton
School Board whose terms are
See ELECTIONS page 2
Final production count
tops records for cotton
County gins have gathered their
stray tufts of cotton and ginned their
final bales for the 1988-89 season,
topping the records with 298,597
bales.
Until this record-setting year, the
highest producuon year recorded was
1977 with 261,000 bales. Cotton
producers surpassed that record w iUi
37,597 bales in the just-completed
season.
"That ’s about as great as it’s going
to get around here," said Jim Stewart,
manager of the local Agriculture
Stabilization and Conservation
Scrv ice. "There are not as many long
faces around here as there arc in other
parts of Uic country.
"This last year and Uiis year should
See COTTON page 2
Pulling units swab and
repair broken oil wells
(Editor’s note: The following is
the third in a multipart series
concerning the oil industry and how
it affects the people and economy
of Hockley County. The article was
written by a T exas Tech journalism
student and provided to the News-
Press by Tech’s School of Mass
Communications through a grant
from the Reader’s Digest Founda-
tion.)
by Mark Blakemore
Pulling units help keep Uic long
and sometimes complicated process
of producing oil running at a smooth
pace.
When an oil well breaks down or
does not pump correctly, a pulling
unit is called to service the well.
Pulling units have two main func-
tions. They can cither pull the tubing
and rods or they can run the tubing
and rods in an oil well.
To better understand how the
drilling rig works, one must First
understand the components of an oil
well.
First a hole is drilled by a drilling
rig. Casing is then cemented into the
hole, the casing is perforated by
shooting holes through it. Twiis allows
the oil and gas to enter the casing.
Inside the casing is the tubing. At
die bottom of the tubing is a seat
nipple. The seat nipple is on the end
ofthe tubing at the bottom of die well.
Inside the tubing is where the rods
are. A subsurface pump is put on the
end of the rods and seated into the seat
nipple at the bottom of the tubings
These rods arc hooked to the
"horse’s head" of a pumping unit, the
pumping unit moves the rods up and
down, allowing the subsurface pump
to push the oil to the top of the well.
At the top of the well, a stuffing box
keeps the oil from spurting out onto
the ground.
The oil moves to the surface
through the tubing, and the gas that
is released from the ground moves to
the surface through the casing.
There is a "pumping tee” just
below the stuffing box that allows the
oil and gas to mix together again. The
oil and gas then move through a flow
line and into the storage tanks.
With this brief and very general
description of how an oil well
operates, one can better understand
how the pulling unit works.
A "rod job" is done by rigging the
pul ling unit up to the well. Guide lines
are hooked to anchors in the ground
to keep the unit steady. The "horse’s
head" is then removed from the
pumping unit.
The pulling unit then pulls the rods
out of the well to see which one is
broken. A "Fishing tool" is sent down
to latch onto the broken rod and lift
it to the surface so it can be replaced.
Swabbing a well is another job a
pulling unit performs. This is usually
done on new wells to tell the oil
company what the oil and water cut
is on the well. The oil and water cut
gives a break down of the total fluid
in the well and defines what kind of
mixtoe they’re waktaf whh.
Kenneth Barnes of Sundown Well
Service Company said pulling units
work on both oil wells and water
injection wells.
The crew on a pulling unit consists
of four workers. An operator runs the
unit, two floor hands run the power
tongs that screw and unscrew the rods
or tubing and a derrick man latches
and unlatches the elevators that raise
the rods or tubing.
There is always some danger in the
oil Field. On a pulling unit,onc danger
that exists is the presence of Hydro-
gen SulFidc or H2S. This is a
poisonous and highly corrosive gas
let off while drilling and producing
a well, Barnes said. For the safety of
the workers, the pulling units arc
equipped with HzS monitors that
measure the amount of gas that is
present.
Another safety feature on the
pulling unit is the "gcranamo line."
This is a cross bar attached to a cable
that runs from the topof the unit to the
ground. If a problem arises and the
derrick man needs to get down from
the unit quickly, he can grab hold of
this bar and ride it to the ground.
As in most businesses, computers
are becoming more popular, and in
the oil Field the same is true. Many
companies are using computers to
monitor their wells. The computer
tells the company if a well is not
performing correctly so that a pulling
unit can be called to service die well.
Pulling units are an important part
of the oil field; however, tncy are just
a part in the long process of oil
production.
fc w tim w ww ■■ a Wv ■ a^rars * mm ^■ mm ■ —
Sam Rijino and LupeCastillo Mid the rig number is 21
Ig UllllllUlIlkJUIIUWvu vvviiovivivv
operator of this rig was Alphonso I
d the rig number is 21 .(Starf Photo
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Lucas, Marlene. Levelland and Hockley County News-Press (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 94, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 1, 1989, newspaper, March 1, 1989; Levelland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1147643/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Plains College.