The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. SEVENTY-SECOND YEAR, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 10, 1997 Page: 1 of 10
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THURSDAY, JULY 10,1337
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© 1997 The Big Lake Wildcat
All rights reserved No part of
this newspaper may be
reproduced in any form or by
any means without permission
in writing from the publisher.
"Birthplace of the fabulous Permian Basin"
(USPS 055-860)
It
SEVENTY - SECOND YEAR
Number 28
Column 1
July 10, 1997
50<2
10 Pages
Deaths
Jones...Se!lman...Lands
Morrison...Williams
Please see page 3
Notes
Bake sale
There will be a bake sale Fri-
day, July 11 at T&C Village
Market starting at 8:00 a.m. The
bake sale will benefit the Reagan
County summer track program.
Come to the bake sale and sup-
port your local kids.
3rd, 4th & 5th
graders
The trip for 3rd, 4th and 5th
graders to travel to Midland to
see a Midland Angels game is on
go for Friday, July HL-Stud»nte
will depart from the elementary
busrampat4:00p.m. Theschool
will provide students and spon-,
sors with a tickets. The bus will
return to Big Lake at approxi-
mately 11:00 p.m. Call 884-
3741 from 8:30 to 12:30 or 884-
6874, to help sponsor the trip or
for more information.
3rd grade
TAAS Busters
3rd graders making the Sonora
Caverns trip will leave Tuesday,
July 15. Departure time from the
elementary school bus ramp is
10:00 a m. and the bus will re-
turn at approximately 6:00 p.m.
To help sponsor this trip or for
more info, call Kim Sexton at
884-3741 between 8:30-12:30 or
884-6874.
Summer TAAS
Reagan County High School
is offering TAAS tutorials for all
students that have taken the
TAAS, but have not mastered all
three portions. The tutorials will
be at RCHS as follows. Math
tutorials: July 7-15, 9-12 each
day; Writing and Reading
tutorials:July 7-15,1-4 each day.
Weather
This Year
Date
Hi
Low
Rain
July
03
96
70
.00
July
04
96
69
.00
July
05
97
67
.00
July
06
96
66
.00
July
07
96
70
.00
July
08
98
71
.00
July
09
95
70
.00
(Readings taken at 8:00 a.m. daily).
13
3.75
.80
4.13
1.12
3.38
13.31
Rainfall for January
Rainfall for February
Rainfall for March
Rainfall for April
Rainfall for May
Rainfall for June
Rainfall for 1997
Trace of snow for 1997
Last Year
Total rainfall for 1996 ...18.77"
(Jan. .10; Feb. .11; Mar. .18; Apr.
2.94; May 1.26; June .82; July 1.04;
Aug. 4.91; Sept. 3.83; Oct. .74; Nov.
2.84; Dec. .00; total for 1996,18.77.)
(Official records maintained by the
Natural Resources Conservation
Service.)
'Big Lake's Best Seller'
50 Cents
Contractors contacted and advice on seal coating project to be obtained
City talking street improvements
Big Lake City Council members
are getting more serious about im-
proving city streets and are in the
process of contacting several con-
tractors and getting advice on how
to go about saving as many streets as
possible through seal coating.
Additionally, the council is dis-
cussing the issue of dilapidated
buildings and houses and how to
remove unsightly and unsafe struc-
tures.
City Secretary David Chavez
explained to the Council that he had
Home run hitter
Reagan County Senior All Star Marcus Stenix prepares to take off his batting
helmet after hitting a towering home runover the center field fence in Pecos
last Wednesday. His and team members efforts were not enough to
overcome Pecos as the local boys lost 21-16. The senior All Stars lost again
last Sunday 5-3 in Winters to end their season. The 9-10 All Stars and the 10-
11 All Stars are also out of post season competition. The Big League players,
age 16-18 will start their first game Friday in Ballinger.
been asked to seek council permis-
sion to obtain contractor assistance
regarding various methods avail-
able to fix crumbling streets. Mr.
Chavez is currently in the process of
talking to paving contractors to see
what can be done about street im-
provements. City Council member
Janet Wilburn mentioned contrac-
tors Reece -Albert, Jones Brothers,
and Price and the City Secretary will
talk to as many contractors as pos-
sible. Wilburn also stated she would
like to see a portion of 12th street
laid in concrete to prevent contin-
ued washouts of streets. City utility
superintendent Jerry Floyd men-
tioned that water lines would have
to be cased or put in a vault to allow
access to water lines and other utili-
ties under concrete. Wilburn made
a motion for Mr. Chavez to look into
street repair and concreting certain
areas and the motion passed unani-
mously.
In the same meeting, Mr. Ron
Galloway made a pitch for seal coat-
ing streets using his experience in
Aspermonte as an example. Mr.
Galloway expressed deep concern
regarding how long street work has
been put off in Big Lake with excuse
after excuse being given for not be-
ginning the process.
Mr. Floyd brought up the fact
that the street superintendent from
Midland had mentioned virtually
the same thing in seal coating streets
to save them and provide longer
wear. Mr. Floyd said, "There are a
number of streets in town that could
be saved. They need to be sealed
and in other cases, flat bladed to
address the cracking and other topi-
cal deformities." Mr. Chavez was
asked by the council to pursue these
‘West
by the editor
The cost of postage is going up again
The U.S. Postal Service is seeking a rate increase that
will boost the price of stamps to 33 cents sometime next
year.
After that news, came several comments from news-
papers across the state about the proposed rate increase.
It was not the amount of money so much as the service.
Most of the newspapers I read have similar sentiments as
we do here. The local folks at the local post office do a
good job. They bust their tails getting us our mail and go
out of their way many times to be of service. We
appreciate that.
But something is wrong somewhere.
Why can't Everett Miller get his newspaper in Arkan-
sas within a week.? He says he sometimes gets two
newspapers printed a week apart on the same day.
Why does it take five or six days to get a letter or
newspaper to Austin?
Did you know that if you mail a letter in Big Lake to
someone else in Big Lake, that same letter will go to
Midland to get sorted and then come back to Big Lake the
next day?
Prices have gone up steadily and I'm sure the amount
of deliveries have also increased. Please just get our mail
that leaves Big Lake on a timely basis to its destination on
a timely basis. That would be worth the money.
Did you know?
In the Country's early years, postal charges were
based on distance and applied to each piece of paper.
Letters were simply folded and sealed, since an envelope
would have resulted in an extra charge.
Prices ranged from 250 a sheet for mail traveling more
than 400 miles to between 6 cents and 8 cents for under
40 miles.
A standard rate, regardless of distance, was estab-
lished in 1863 at 2 cents per half ounce. It rose to 3 cents
in 1883.
The current system, established in 1885, sets the basic
rate on the first ounce. Since September 14, 1975,
additional ounces for heavier items cost slightly less that
the basic rate.
The basic rates for first class:
July 1, 1885 - 2 cents per ounce
November 3, 1917-3 cents
July 1, 1919 - 2 cents
July 6 - 1932 - 3 cents
August 1, 1958 - 4 cents
January 7, 1963 - 5 cents
January 7, 1968 - 6 cents
May 16,1971-8 cents
March 2, 1974- 10 cents
December 31, 1975 - 13 cents
May 29, 1978 - 15 cents
March 22, 1981 - 18 cents
November 1, 1981 - 20 cents
February 17, 1985 - 22 cents
April 3, 1988 - 25 cents
February 3, 1991 - 29 cents
January 1, 1995 - 32 cents
And how do we stack up with the rest of the industri-
alized world in regard to the cost to mail a letter?
The cost (expressed in U.S. currency) of mailing a
domestic letter in selected countries:
Australia 34 cents
Austria 58 cents
Belgium 45 cents
France 48 cents
Germany 58 cents
Israel 32 cents
Japan 63 cents
Mexico 29 cents
Netherlands 41 cents
Sweden 65 cents
Switzerland 54 cents
United States 32 cents
issued and be prepared to address
them at the next City Council meet-
ing.
In a similar City improvement
issue, Council member Wilburn
wanted to address the issue of di-
lapidated buildings around town,
especially those owned by low in-
come persons without the resources
to pay for the cleanup of their prop-
erty, and the demolition of danger-
ous buildings. The thought by
Council member Wilburn would be
to secure the services of local con-
tractors to volunteer their time and
machinery for this purpose, with the
costs of these services being used as
a tax write-off. The debris would be
taken to the lake bed to be burned,
with the permission of the land-
owner. The residual debris would
then hauled to the landfill for final
disposition.
Mr. Ron Galloway spoke saying
he had taken the initiative of con-
tacting the Texas Air Quality Con-
trol Board. He had spoken to Mr.
Mark Newman concerning the rules
governing the burning of a ceremo-
nial bonfire using the debris from
the torn down building to fuel the
fire. Homeowners would have to
sign a release allowing contractors
to do this.
In other City business. City Sec-
retary Chavez stated there was one
bid for a recycling trailer to be
placed in Big Lake. Century Trailer
in San Angelo bid $8,421. The
trailer will be placed at a strategic
location for citizens to recycle plas-
tics glass and paper materials. The
city had budgeted $8,500 for the
trailer. Alderman Donald Moon
made the motion and the council
unanimously approved.
Alicia Thompson will hold
girls basketball clinic here
Alicia Thompson
A girls basketball camp is
planned for July 14-18 and the in-
structors are among the very best.
In fact, Big Lake's latest All
American, Alicia Thompson, will
be one of the instructors along with
Melinda White.
There will be an A.M. camp
from 9-12 each morning. This
camp is designed for girls in grades
3-7 (the grade you will be in next
year).
In the A.M. camp, very basic
fundamentals will be taught along
with contests and games which are
designed to let the camper learn.
improve, and also enjoy their first
camp experience. The atmosphere
of the camp is more relaxed than
other camps and a goal of the staff is
for the campers to come away with
a love of the sport of basketball.
The P.M. Camp is designed for
girls in grades 8-12 and it will run
from 1-5 P.M. There will be exten-
sive instruction in fundamentals for
all phases of the game. Campers
will also be involved in one game a
day, giving them a chance to prac-
tice their skills in actual game com-
petition. Individual instruction will
be broken down into positions
(guards and posts) allowing the
players a chance to work on their
specific position. The posts will
have an excellent opportunity to
develop their post game while the
guards will have the chance to be-
come good, better, or great shooters.
Cost of the camp is $30 per
camper and the camp will be held in
the RCHS gymnasium. Checks
should be made out to Melinda
White. Registration will be held at
8:30 a.m. on Monday, July 14 for
the A.M. camp and 1:00 p.m. for the
P.M. camp.
All campers need to wear com-
fortable clothing, shorts and a t-shirt
preferred. For more information
please call (806) 796-2585 or 884-
2472
Southside League event raises money for scholarships
Several hundred attend
July 4th celebration here
With a crowd of several hundred
people in attendance, the 4th of July
celebration sponsored by the
Southside League Association of
Big Lake held at the Northside Park
last Friday could be considered to be
a great success.
Besides the many food and game
booths, there were activities for
young and old; and everyone had a
good time. For the young, there was
a water glass-filling contest, a wa-
termelon-eating contest, and a wa-
ter balloon toss game.
For more mature participants,
there was a recreational sand vol-
leyball tournament, a washer pitch-
ing contest, and the fajita cookoff.
Winners of the sand volleyball
was the team of T.J. Pena, Harvey,
Florez, Rudy Bonilla, and Marcos
Jacobo.
The washer pitching contest saw
the return to championship from
Paul and Gilbert Romero. They had
won this contest for three years, but
had not won for the last two. They
are serving a warning that they are
back. The fajita cookoff winners for
the second year in a row, was the
team of Emilio Balderas, Oscar
Sanchez, and Luis Zapata.
Although the Southside League
did not make much monetary profit
from the festivities, the members
felt that it was still a success since
everyone seemed to have a great
time in Big Lake on July the 4th.
TcfcAdvertise or Subscribe to the Wildcat Call 884-2215-We're Big Lake's 'Best Seller'
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Werst, David. The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. SEVENTY-SECOND YEAR, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 10, 1997, newspaper, July 10, 1997; Big Lake, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth739343/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Reagan County Library.