Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 96, No. 84, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 31, 2005 Page: 1 of 12
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Weekend
Edition
Sunday, July 31,2005
Volume 96, Number 084
A Look Inside
Today's Issue
Nichols Residence
Named Final Yard
of the Week for ’05
See Page 5
Maidens 'Midnight
Madness' Practice
Slated Monday
See Page 8
Indian Two-A-Days
Start Monday
Morning
See Page 8
Babe Ruth
North Arkansas 7,
Seminole 3
Local Weather
™ 91/60 I!
Sunny. Highs in the low 90s and
lows in the low 60s.
Sentinel Photo/Durtin Wright
LOADING UP
Members of the Seminole 14-year-old Babe Ruth Baseball team load their belongings and gear into the bottom
storage compartments of a charter bus, which the team, coaches, parents and faithful fans boarded at Robert,
Ryan Field Wednesday afternoon, for their long haul to Merdian, MS for the 14-year-old Southwest Regional
Tournament, which was held over the weekend, and will run through Tuesday. Full results of the tournament will
be made available in the Wednesday edition of the Sentinel.
SISD Board Calls
Special Tuesday Meeting
Trustees to Take Second
Look at £005-06 Fiscal -
Year Budget
Welcomed Rain
Falls in Region
Wednesday
By Dustin Wright
Sentinel Managing Editor
A sigh of relief could be heard all across the city of Seminole and
Gaines County Wednesday morning, as local residents awoke to the
sights and sounds of rainfall.
Much needed rainfall.
Officially, 1.55 inches of rain fell in the city on Wednesday, according
to National Weather Service monitor John Moffatt, who compiles weather
data for the weather monitoring group.
In total, 1.77 inches fell over a two day period in the city, with higher
rain totals experienced throughout the county, especially in the western
and southern portions of the county, where as much as 4.2 inches of
rain was collected at Oasis Gin, located 15 miles west and seven miles
south of Seminole.
"This rain was very important to our farmers, especially the dryland
farmers," stated Michael Whitefield, Executive Director of the Gaines
County FSA.
See Rain...Page 2
Court Okays Elected
Officials Pay Increase
93/61
Sun
7/31
Sunny. Highs in the low 90s and
lows in the low 60s.
Mon
8/1—
93/62
.....
Abundant sunshine. Highs in the
low 90s and lows in the low 60s.
Trustees with the Seminole Independent School
District Board of Directors will meet in a special
meeting, slated for Tuesday night, at 7 p.m., at the
Seminole ISD Administration Building.
On the agenda for Tuesday's meeting is the
consideration by board members of the approval
of revisions to the Employee Handbook for SISD
employees, as well as a budget work session.
Also on tap is an executive ’session for the
board, where board members will consider
resignations, consider employment of personnel,
and discuss possible candidates for the District 4
board vacancy.
That seat was formerly held by Guy Chaney,
who was appointed to the SISD board of trustees in
September of 2003.
Chaney turned in his letter of resignation at the
hoard's June 30 meeting, citing that he had recently
moved out of his voting district and into another
district. "
Representing District 4, Chaney was appointed
by board members to replace former SISD board
president and member Gary Dugger, who also
resigned because of moving out of District 4, over a
year and half ago.
SISD Business Manager Johnny Hill gave an
overview of the proposed 05-06 fiscal year budget
back on June 30, which showed a total estimated
revenue of $33.2 million for the upcoming school
year, an increase of $4.79 million from one year
By Dustin Wright
Sentinel Managing Editor
With no arguments from the
general public, the Gaines County
Commissioners approved of a
three percent pay increase for
elected officials for the 2006 fiscal
year, during the Courts special
meeting, held Thursday morning at
the Gaines County Courthouse,
ago, thanks in part to the higher property values. The Court held a public
With an estimated $470 million dollar property hearing on the proposed pay
valuejncreasr'expected for the Semiriole Indepen increase for elected officials, per
the reguations mandated by state
law, and then took action after no
public concerns were raised on the
issue.
County employees who are
. not elected officials will also see a
three percent pay increase for the
2006 fiscal year, which begins on
October 1 of this year.
Also approved in Thursday's
meeting was the consideration of
approving the salary schedule and
other compensation policies for
the County, as well as a listing of
budget amendments as presented
by County Auditor Rick Dollahan,
and the approval of the payroll and
end of the month billings for July.
A copy of the proposed 2006
budget is available for public
viewing in the Gaines County
Clerk’s Office at the Courthouse,
and will be considered for approval
by the Court, following public
hearings on the budget during the
month of August.
Dollahan stated in a recent
Commissioners' Court meeting
that the county had an overall
budget of around $12,882,000
for the upcoming 2006 fiscal year,
with the county's General Fund
dent School District in the 2005-06 fiscal year, SISD
trustees began the preliminary procedures of work-
ing on the district's upcoming fiscal year budget dur-
ing that first budget hearing held in late June
Hill stated in the first budget workshop that
the estimated rollback rate for the district could be
at 99.6 cents per $100 valuation, and the district's
effective rate could be set at 88 cents per $100 valu-
ation for the fiscal year, which begins on October 1
and ends on September 31, 2006.
Current year taxes saw an increase of $4.52
million for the 2005-06 fiscal year, while an ad-
ditional $200,000 is expected to come in on the
County-wide Equalization Taxes, which is set at 25
cents per $100 valuation.
Along with the increase on estimated revenues,
a $4.25 million dollar increase is also shown on the
total district appropriations and transfers for the up-
coming fiscal year. '
That value, according to Hill, is set at $34.18
million, which is up from $29.9 million in the 2004-
OS budget.
According to Hill, this has been the third year
in a row that property values have risen within the
district's boundaries.
A $3.94 million dollar increase in student atten-
dance credits is expected for the 05-06 fiscal year,
while there was an increase of $60,400 in Tax Ap-
praisal and Collection for the fiscal year.
SISD will fund 54.4 percent of the county's Ap-
praisal District’s $736,140 budget for the 2005-06
for maintenance and operations
for the year.
Also according to Dollahan, the
county's tax rate will be considerably
lower for the 2006 fiscal year
because of. increased property
valuations, and with the recent
approval of allowing 3-2-1 percent
discounts on the early payment of
taxes, major tax spenders will
See Commisioners. . .Page 2
Sentinel Publisher
Earns Award at
WTPA Convention
Seminole
Sentinel publisher
Lynn Brisendine
received high
honors for
column writing
judging held
at the West
Texas Press
Association's
A n n u a 1
Brisendine
Convention, held last weekend in
San Angelo.
Brisendine's won first place
in the Division B portion of the
2005 WTPA Better Newspaper
Cdntest.
Division B is made up of a
number of semi-weekly newspapers
in the West Texas region.
The WTPA is considered the
largest regional press association in
the world.
Brisendine has been the
publisher of the Sentinel since
January of 2002. and is also the
V,
See SISD...PAGE 2' taking up $7,375,000 in monies publisher of the Brownfield News.
Tue
8/2
94/63
Paper n’ Ink... What the Future Holds?
Abundant sunshine. Highs in the
mid 90s and lows in the low 60s.
Wed
8/3
93/62
A few clouds. Highs in the low 90s
and lows in the low 60s.
MEMBER
2005
TU
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Seminole (Gaines County),
Texas 79360 O 2005
By Lynn Briesndine
What could be waiting just over
the next rise? Who will cross our
paths and make a difference iri the
way we live our lives? What won-
ders await?
New foods, new fabrics, new
seasonings, new techniques, fresh
ideas, new cultures, treasures and
so many other significant details are
to be had by simply putting one
foot in front of the other and top-
ping the next hill of discovery.
All of which has been one of
.mankind's mantras for as long as
man has been around.
Going that extra distance,
driven by curiosity and a need for
exploration has pushed us forward.
Names like Marco Polo, Christo-
pher Columbus, Lewis and Clark,
Daniel Boone and so many more of
history’s dauntless pathfinders have
blazed unforgotten trails.
Now comes mankind's newest
attempts at finding out what's out
in the far reaches, not just over the
horizon, but huge distances above
our world. And we have only just
begun this newest enterprise of
exploration.
With this ongoing need to find
out what's out where, comes dan-
gers. And too often the means
of transportation to cover the
distances to the next frontier have
been hazardous. Injury and death
have occurred in all of the various
travels.
We have no way of knowing
how many intrepid travelers were
met with disaster along the way and
never made it to their goal. Horse
riding accidents, animal attacks,
unfriendly natives, food and water
shortages, ships sinking, wandering
lost, and storms have taken a heavy
toll. Then came the advances of
lighter-than-air craft and heavier-
than-air vehicles. Untold numbers
of casualties have occurred from
crashes due to mechanical failures
or human error.
Hardship and death have been
constant companions of those who
want to go over the mountains and
across the rivers to seek something
different.
But, with all of the problems
and all of the catastrophes, man-
kind has continued its trek into the
unknown, mostly just to make it
the known.
Now we hold our collective
breaths as the newest shuttle mis-
sion orbits the earth with another
crew of our brightest seeking to
extend our range and improve the
human condition by doing what we
have always done, making a trip to
discoventohat we may.
Taking into consideration all of
the mishaps and the toll they have
taken in the past, the space program
has proven to be safety personified.
Regrettably, too many have per-
ished in the quest for space. Still,
when you compare the numbers of
casualties of these space projects
with the other pioneering efforts in
the past, the injuries and deaths are
almost statistically insignificant. We
lost three men in a rehearsal during
the Apollo program.
And then the Challenger blew
itself to pieces on takeoff as we all
watched. 1 sat in my office that day,
staring at a small television screen
trying my best to see a way of es-
cape for the crew. The scene was
played over 'and over, and to this
day two decades later, I still watch
that ugly and massive smoke trail
in the sky trying to see what had
happened.
It was O-rings, we were told, that
failed to maintain their integrity. A
couple of years went by, and with
them a huge effort to redesign and
retest these crucial parts, until the
next flight lit off the pad and took to
orbit. Many flights later, the sight of
the shuttles taking off and landing
had become accepted feats and old
news. They were taken for granted
events. Even though we all knew of
the extreme complexity involved.
The Space Shuttles are the most
sophisticated, complicated, techni-
cal machines ever built. And with
that fact known, we also can see
that this fleet of vessels is old, out-
dated, ancient stuff in this day of
,>• • ' i ' ;
See Paper n’ Ink...Page 2
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Wright, Dustin. Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 96, No. 84, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 31, 2005, newspaper, July 31, 2005; Seminole, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth825146/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gaines County Library.