Saturday's Internet Edition, July 31, 2010.
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| Making progress fast.... The $5 million expansion of Culberson Hospital is making fast headway. Hospital Administrator LaDella Bates said this week that, “We are expecting it to be completed in time to have our Open House during Frontier Days.” Bates went on to say, “Our contractor is doing a great job of keeping the project on schedule.” |
- Van Horn seldom has anything to do. When there is an event here, it is usually over in a few hours. This weekend will be different! Cowboy poets and musicians have been pulling into town today for the 2nd annual Crossroads Cowboy Gathering & Talent show. These entertainers will be meeting at the Westerner for a no host mixer at 6pm this evening and the public is invited.
The festivities will begin tomorrow morning at 8am with a “local mic” for local s to showcase their own music, poetry, or stories about the area. At 9am the Crossroads competition begins with entertainers vying for one of the ten slots for the Saturday night finals show. Van Horn’s own Ray Fitzgerald will be among the poets in the first day’s slate. Judges from four different gatherings, one from New Mexico, two from Texas, and one from Arkansas, will be selecting an act from that top ten to perform at their respective gatherings.
Entertainer Geff Dawson, from Kansas, has had so much snow this year he ha to cancel. In support of Crossroads he is sending a donation which will be given to the winter of a new poem contest, judged by the Mc’s Ralph Hampton and Tamara Boatright. The performer who writes and performs the best version of the poem/song “Too Dumb to Live, Too Tough to Die” will receive whatever money Mr. Dawson is sending down. With this kind of entertainer support, and a good turn out from Van Horn this event could turn into a big thing for the town!
Friday night at 7 the Crossroads dinner show will take place, Catered by Shanna Roberts. The lineup for the dinner show will be Buck Helton, Phil “Tumbleweed” Crawford, (both returning from last year) Eddy Harrison, Bill Shaw, and Dave P. Fisher (coming all the way from Reno, Nevada!)
Saturday, in addition to more poetry and music, Crossroads will feature a trappings and swap meet. Several area cowboys will have tack and trappings to trade all day. At the end of this session, the judges will announce which acts will appear in the Finals show that night.
El Capitan will be sponsoring jam sessions after the ticketed shows both nights. These informal jams are a lot of fun and you can get to know the entertainers, so don’t miss them!
The Culberson County 4H club will have a food concession both days, so if you are working, stop in for lunch and support the kids!
Tickets for the dinner show are $20 and $10 for the Finals show on Saturday night. The proceeds from ticket sales are being donated to the Culberson County 4H and the Van Horn Community Christian Shelter. This is an opportunity to have a good time and support the community at the same time!
Revitalized Chamber of Commerce ready to work
Officers of the Van Horn Chamber of Commerce met with the former Main Street Board last Thursday evening with the outcome being a reorganized and revitalized Chamber of Commerce.
Larry Simpson, the Chamber of Commerce president met with the Main Street board and he explained what the Chamber has been doing for the community.
The Chamber has been supporting a web advertisement on vanhornadvocate.com, has donated annually to the Womens’s Service League Easter Egg Hunt, has been supporting the 4-H youth with the Rodeo and Rodeo Queen event, has supported the Annual Golf Tournament at Mountain View Golf Course, has paid the Lighted Christmas Parade prize money each year and has paid the Texas Mountain Trial for all of coordinator Beth Nobles benefits.
Simpson also reported on the Chamber current bank balance as of that night, which was $33,687.12 of which about $16,000 is obligated to the Texas Mountian Trial for 2009 benefits.
After hearing what the Chamber has done, the Main Street board all voted to join the Chamber of Commerce and, as members, they then voted themselves to be the new Chamber of Commerce directors.
Now, with a full slate of directors, they proceeded to elect new officers for the 2010 Chamber year. Elected as President was Sooky Borrego; Vice-President is Larry Simpson; and the Secretary/Treasurer is Patricia Golden.
Directors then talked about some various standing committees that might be needed and Simpson suggested that the Chamber might want to be involved in a February 20th Porsche Rally slated for the Van Horn airport.
The Rally will feature cars from the Porsche Club of El Paso and nhere might be an opportunity to attract cars from the Odessa/Midland area. Steven Urias was named as the director to head up the Chamber’s involvement.
Director Lisa Cottrell reported that she had appeared before the City Council and that council was going to give the Chamber $5,000 from the Main Street funds to help jump start the Chamber. An additional $10,000 may become available after the city embarks on it’s new fiscal year on April 1st.
Director Fran Malafronte was named to head up a two-month long Chamber of Commerce membership drive. The Chamber hopes to attract most of the businesses in town as well as a lot of individual members. Dues were set at $65 for businesses and $25 for individuals.
New Chamber directors also voted to move the Chamber telephone from the Convention Center to the Museum/Thrift Shop complex; to keep A.P. Flores, Jr. on as the Chamber bookkeeper; and to keep Vvice-President Larry Simpson on the Chamber’s signature card at the bank through March 31, 2010.
Before concluding the session, new Chamber directors talked about a Welcome Basket proposal from Kaye Carson. They opted to do nothing with the proposal as they have a lot on their plate getting the Chamber up and running well again.
Council approves 50 year lease agreement, will get $346,000
Van Horn City Council members met Tuesday evening and formally inked an agreement which will put $346,000 in city coffers.
Council members unanimously agreed to go with the 50 year lease agreement offered by Unison Site Management for the cellular array atop the city’s water tower.
Unison, by leasing the facility, will now get all cellular lease payments from the tower and will pay the city 50% of any new business they are able to sign onto the tower.
Council members opted to take the $346,000 payment rather than take the current $40,000 a year they get from Verizon. And, council noted, “with the changes in technology, who knows what we’d have in a year or two.”
City Attorney Steve Mitchell had drafted the agreement with the consent of Unison. Now all the city has to do is wait to get the $346,000 check. No word yet on what they plan to do with the money.
And, while they were inking things, council members signed an interlocal agreement with the county so that the city and county, together, can provide workmen’s compensation insurance coverage to members of the Van Horn Volunteer Fire Department.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city will include the firemen on it’s workmen’s compensation policy and the county will pay the city up to $2,000 for the coverage.
At the request of Mayor Flanagan, council members also approved a request to have a company load some concrete barriers for the city. TXDOT has told the city that they could have some, located at the east end of town, if the city would pay to have them loaded and pay for the hauling. The county has agreed to haul the barriers for the city.
The concrete barriers will be placed near the Pilot Travel Center to better control the traffic flow in the area.
With regard to other matters considered by council during the session, the following action was taken:
* Council tabled a request form John Clark to have the part-time employees of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rural West Texas added to the city payroll, and then reimbursed by the BGCRWT. Council could not offer health insurance to the part-timers.
* Council members agreed to allow Chris Loveless to meet with city employees to offer them a new voluntary insurance program. There will be no cost to the city for this service.
* Council members, after some discussion, agreed to adopt the same holiday schedule for city employees this year as the county has. It will allow them more time off during the Christmas/New Years holiday period.
* At the request of El Paso Electric, council members agreed to re-schedule a vote on a proposed rate increase from February to May 31, 2010.
* Council members renewed the janitorial services contract with an Austin firm which employs people locally.
* Council members unanimously accepted the lone depository bid from Western Bank to be the city’s depository for the next two years.
* Council also approved an amended settlement agreement between the city and former City Adminstrator Becky Brewster. City Attorney Steve Mitchell drew up the settlement as it related to vacation pay and travel reimbursement.
* And, following a behind-closed-doors executive session, council reconvened and unanimously voted to adjust the rate citizens pay for natural gas. This decision was made necessary because the gas supplier has been providing “hot gas” to the town for well over a year and the city has not been collecting for it. The rates will take effect immediately.