Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 16, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 4, 2005 Page: 1 of 12
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Seminole Sentinel
12 Pages, 1 Insert
Sunday, December 4,2005
Volume 97, Number 016
Weekend
Edition
750
A Look Inside
Today's Issue
Moffatt Wins 2005
Bonus Bucks Drawing
Grand Prize
See Page 3
Garden Club
Decorates for
Christmas at Assisted
Living Center
See Page 7
Indians Down
Lovington 58-54
See Page 12
Obituaries
Dorothy J. Berry, 80
Evan P. Christian, 7
Mos.
See Page 3
Local Weather
Sun
12/4
60/22
4**
A lew clouds. Highs in the low 60s
and lows in the low 20s.
Mon
12/5
47/21
Sunny. Highs in the upper 40s and
lows in the low 20s.
54/18
y
JL.
*bi>
Times of sun and clouds. Highs in
the mid 50s and lows in the upper
teens.
Wed
12n
35/14
More clouds than sun. Highs in.the
mid 30s and lows in the mid tedns.
Thu
12/8
36/16
Plenty of sun. Highs In the mid 30s
and lows In the mid teens.
2005 American Profile Hometown Content
Service
Off to a Lukewarm Start
Local Sales Flat, Internet Sales
Skyrocket for Christmas Shopping Season
Blake Ovard
Seminole Sentinel
The opening weekend of the official
Christmas shopping season appears to
have gotten off to a start dead even with
last year, according lo results announced
by the national research group, Shop-
perTrak RCT Corporation, which tracks
sales figures from more than 45,000 retail
outlets.
ShopperTrak RCT Corporation's
National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE)
reported that sales totals over the three-
day weekend totaled $16.8 billion nation-
wide, which is an increase over 2004 of
9.2 percent.
'Thanksgiving week in 2004 was
very strong so most comparison ver-
sus this time period will naturally seem
weaker," said Bill Martin, co-founder of
ShopperTrak.
While Black Friday (so named be-
cause the after Thanksgiving shopping
surge supposedly pushes retail stores into
the "black", or into profit, for the year)
may be important to retailers, it may not
always be the best indicator of the shop-
ping season's patterns.
"Black Friday weekend is traditional-
ly not an accurate predictor of consumer
spending patterns during the rest of the
season," said Martin. "So retailers should
Sentinel Photo/ Blake Ovard
FOR
SHOPPING
Sherry Redmon straightens one of the
shelves containing some great bargains
at Brown's Ace Hardware, located on the
Square. Many retailers said sales for the
, opening weekend of the holiday shopping
season were only slightly better this year
than they were last year. -
withhold judgement until we move closer
to Christmas."
While Black Friday is reported as the
busiest shopping day of the year, in 2004
it was actually only the second busiest of
the year, with the busiest day being the
last Saturday before Christmas.
"Although some discounting may
have slowed the early pace of sales,"
said Michael Niemira, chief economist
and director of research for the Interna-
tional Council of Shopping Centers, "the
industry can expect to see much healthier
sales patterns as we move into December
and closer to both Christmas and the an-
nually strong Saturday before Christmas
boom."
Locally, merchants reported sales
patterns along the same lines as they were
nationally, with Friday morning sales be-
ing the strongest, and tapering down over
the weekend.
"Sales were good on Friday, and
they were up from last year," said Karen
Gardener, manager at Wal-Mart, here in
Seminole. "Sales were up everywhere in
our district, which is here and Southeast-
ern New Mexico. We opened at 5 a.m.,
an hour earlier than we normally do, and
we had specials that only ran from 5 a.m.
to 11 a.m. Those did really well."
"Sales were good on Friday," said
See Shopping...Page 3
Law Enforcement Center Passes Annual
Jail Inspection ’With Flying Colors’
MEMBER
2005
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Seminole (Gaines County),
Texas 79360 0 2005
By Dustin Wright
Sentinel Managing Editor
Inspections can sometime be harsh, but they help point out faults
and help facilities, like the Gaines County Law Enforcement Center,
better protect the citizens of Gaines County from the criminals locked
up behind the facilities' steel bars.
On Tuesday afternoon, the local jailhousaJacility. underwent their
annual inspection, conducted by the Texas Jail Commission, in which
the facility passed "with flying colors," according to Gaines County
Sheriff Jon Key.
The inspection, according to Key, included both a physical over-
look of the 25 year old facility, as well as the documentation and book-
ing of inmates, as well as the Gaines County Sheriffs Office Code of
Procedures involving inmate housing.
"Everything went great with the inspection," said Key. 'They went
through all the paperwork and documentation, as well as the overall
structure and the cleanness of the jail, which we passed with no prob-
lems."
Key went on to state that the inspectors do take in consideration
the ages of the facilities that they inspect and the common problems
faced with older facilities, such as lack of parts for replacement, and the
deterioration of the facility that comes with time and age.
"Our jail, naturally, will not be comparable to newer jails, just be-
cause of the fact that it is fairly old, compared to the jail building boom
that has taken place over the past several years," said Key. "But we still
have a very functional jail, despite the fact.that it is getting older."
The local 32-bunk jailhouse has been under some pressure in re-
cent months by the State jail commission for overcrowding issues that
were discovered in a July 2004 jail inspection.
As of Thursday morning, the Gaines County Law Enforcement
Center had 29 inmates within the facility, and an additional 22 inmates
housed out of county in other jail facilities.
'The inspector was real pleased with the way that we have handled
the overcrowding problem," said Key.
'The jail standards state that we should not go over 100 percent
capacity and when we got to the position where we were at or above
100 percent, we had to learn how much of a cushion we could have
here locally, so we wouldn't go over our capacity."
Key stated that, on average, he tries to keep around 25 inmates at
the local facility, to allow for the cushion from the 32 inmate capacity.
Since that July 2004 inspection, Sheriff Key and the county has
had to spend local taxpayer dollars for the out-housing of inmates in jail
facilities in Reagan and Dickens Counties.
According to figures given by Sheriff Key to the Commission-
ers Court during a November 14 meeting of the Court at the Gaines
County Courthouse, Gaines County taxpayers are currently paying an
estimated $38 dollars per day per inmate that are housed out of the
county, and is on tract to spend an estimated $300,t)00 for out-of-
county prisoner housing for the 2006 fiscal year.
Those numbers were produced by Gaines County Auditor Rick
Dollahan, and presented to the Court during the same November 14
meeting.
Since the Jail Commissions' findings in mid-2004, the County has
spent an estimated $294,000 thus far in the prisoner housing out of
the county, with $35,000 spent so far in the 2006 fiscal year budget,
which began on October 1 of this year and runs through September
31, 2007.
Reports recently conducted by the State Jail Commission earlier
this year also stated that with the current trends here in Gaines County
in dealing with the arrests and jail population issues at hand, the Coun-
ty should consider constructing or expanding a facility that will house a
minimum of 96 bunks for county inmates.
During the November 14 meeting, Gaines County Commissioners
See Inspect,on...Page 3
Dry November
Helps Bale Count
Rise Over 217,000
By Dustin Wright
Sentinel Managing Editor
Farmers in Gaines County
might have noticed that no record-
able precipitation fell in the month
of November, helping out the lo-
cal harvest of many crops.
That lack of rainfall has
helped many local farmers pull in
their crops for the 2005 growing
season.
According to the Sentinel's
2005 bale count report, Gaines
County has processed 217,853
bales of cotton for the growing
season, as of Friday morning.
All nine county gins were
contacted in the report, and a
consensus of the gins stated that
their operations were at full speed
and that they didn’t expect to slow
down until mid-January to the first
of February 2006.
According to John Moffatt,
local observer for the National
Weather Service, the city of Semi-
nole did not see any measurable
precipitation fall during the entire
month of November, something
that he claims is unheard of for
Seminole's weather.
See Bale Count...Page 3
One Challenger, Two Incumbents
Seeking Election in March Primaries
CRAIG BELT
Craig Belt, Gaines County
Commissioner, Precinct 2, autho-
rized the Seminole Sentinel Friday
morning to announce that he will
be seeking re-electioh for the Pre-
cinct 2 Commissioner's seat, in the
upcoming March 2006 primary
election.
Belt, a resident of Gaines
County since; 1968, was elected
1 See Belt...Page 2
VICENTA MUNGUIA
Vicenta Munguia has autho-
rized the Seminole Sentinel to an-
nounce that she is a candidate for
Gaines County Treasurer, subject
to the Democratic primary elec-
tion in March 2006.
Munguia has been a resident
of Seminole since 1962 and is a
1974 graduate of Seminole High
School.
See Munguia...Page 2
CHARLIE LOPEZ
Charlie Lopez, Gaines
County Commissioner, Precinct
4, authorized the Seminole Senti-
nel Friday morning, to announce
that he will be seeking re-election
for a fourth term as the Precinct 4
Commissioner's seat-holder, in the
upcoming March 2006 primary
election.
In seeking re-election, Com-
See Lopez...Page 2
Santa Visits Seminole
HE'S MAKING A LIST...
Santa Claus arrived in Seminole on December 1 this year. The jolly old
elf arrived in a parade that was put together by the 4-H club, and he rode
In on one of the area fire engines, leaving his reindeer at home. Santa
gave candy canes to all of the good little boys and girls who were out
waiting for his arrival. ' ' ' ’ '
m
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Wright, Dustin. Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 16, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 4, 2005, newspaper, December 4, 2005; Seminole, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth825022/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gaines County Library.