Thursday's Internet Edition, September 09, 2010.
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| Some of the local veterans who were in attendance at Tuesday's special Veterans Day program honoring them for their service to our country. |
- Our local school district turned aside on Tuesday to honor local veterans on Veterans Day. The program, held at Karen Young Memorial Auditorium, featured students from the Elementary and High School campuses.
Following the posting of the colors by members of the American Legion Post 508, Student Council members Eric Enriquez and Noreen Friel led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
After the National Anthem, sung by Julia Luna, Dr. Guillermo Mancha, Superintendent of Schools, made some warm introductory remarks before the program began.
Students from the kinder, 1st and 2nd grades took the stage to sing “Yankee Doodle” and This Land Is Your Land.” Then, 3rd graders took the stage to sing “You’re a Grand Ole Flag.”
Antonio Ortiz, himself a Viet Nam veteran and who served in the Guard and Reserves for 30 years, was the principal speaker. The employee of the Veterans Administration, in El Paso, challenged everyone in attendance to thank a veteran for their service to this nation.
He was followed by Elizabeth Amezaga, who spent two combat tours in Iraq. She, too, urged folks to thank a veteran for their service to this country.
Then, the 4th and 5th grade students took the stage to perform “In Flanders Field” and “America Answers - In Flanders Field,” “America the Beautiful,” “Green Beret,” “God Bless the U.S.A,” and the “All Forces Melody.”
The Van Horn High School band, under the baton of George Rangel, performed, the “Armed Forces Melody” followed by a moment of silence while Joe Morales played “Taps.”
After mentioning school district employees who are veterans, principals John Fabela and Dolores Upchurch read a poem, “Soldiers” and introduced a slide presentation put together by the technology students, after which the program was ended by Principal Michael Barrandey/
Great job school!
TDA holds Certified Retirement Community seminar here
Last Thursday morning, representatives of the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Certified Retirement Community Program were in town conducting a seminar to let folks know about the program.
Becky Dempsey, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and Sherri Gothart-Barron, Program Coordinator, were present and welcomed those in attendance.
Representatives from Pecos, Fort Stockton, Anthony, Alpine and Van Horn were in attendance learning about the Certified Retirement Community program and how to apply for it.
In her presentation, Gothart-Barron attempted to dispel myths about retirees and why Texas thinks it is a good idea to market to retirees.
Additionally, she explained the tourism link to retiree recruitment as well as detailing benefits of recruiting retirees to communities in Texas.
She reported that the sate anticipates having about 100 Certified Retirement Communities (CRCs) across the state. Currently, there are 22 with almost all in the eastern part of the state.
Gothart-Barron hopes that several communities from West Texas will consider becoming CRCs. However, it takes lots of work in order to be accepted into the program.
First, if a community is considering applying to become a CRC, it must appoint a committee to coordinate and move the process along from start to finish.
The process includes making a Community Retiree Desirability Assessment, preliminary scoring sheet, obtaining letters of support, preparation of a community marketing plan, along with a long term plan, and the naming of a CRC board.
The Community Retiree Desirability Assessment includes: Demographics, Geography and Climate of the community; The tax structure, both state and local; Local Housing Availability, Opportunity and Cost; Personal Safety, Security and Crime Statistics; Employment Opportunities; Health Services within the community; Emergency Medical Services, Public Transportation and Major Highways; opportunities for Continuing Education; Leisure Living facts; Recreational Areas and Facilities; Performing Arts; Festivals and events; Sports availability; and any other information deemed significant.
Several folks were in attendance from Van Horn which would indicate that there is interest locally in applying to become a CRC.
If Van Horn intends to pursue this application process, it will have to come up with the $5,000 fee which is paid when the application is submitted.
It would appear that Van Horn has a lot to offer retirees and the town might well consider submitting an application. We’ll probably hear more about this unique opportunity in the days to come.
New Christian Shelter board hires manager
The Van Horn Community Christian Shelter has met three times in the past month to handle the chores of reorganizing the board and hiring a manager for the Shelter.
The reorganized board of directors hopes to have the facility reopened by December 1st providing much needed services to our community.
The reorganized board of directors, as elected at the October 16th meeting, are: Executive Director - Sharron Rust; Board Chairman - Nora Brooks; Vice Chair - Linda Mizell; Secretary - Edna Clark; and Treasurer - Hoyt Turner. Members at large include Gilda Morales, Betty Rose, Steve Jackson and Kaye Carson.
The group advertised for a Shelter Manager and at a meeting on November 10th, the board named Evelyn Sue (Suzy) King to be the new Shelter Manager. She will assume her new role later this month
Shelter directors have also begun actively seeking volunteers from the various churches in the community and already have some named: Nana Carrillo will represent the Catholic Church; Nora Brooks will represent the Baptist Church; Linda Mizell will represent the Methodist Church and other churches have indicated a willingness to also send volunteers.
Shelter directors are also seeking other area entities that might be willing to throw their monetary support behind the Shelter. Among them are the Culberson and Hudspeth Sheriff’s departments since the Shelter provides services for them.
The Shelter still needs your support, in the form of prayer and your financial support, in order to keep the Shelter doors open. If you feel led to help in any way, please let Sharron Rust or one of the other folks mentioned know.