Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
|
| Mr. & Miss VHHS.... These two seniors, Hayley McCoy and Daniel Borrego, were awarded the honor of being named Mr. and Miss VHHS by their teachers last week. |
- Culberson County Commissioners, meeting in monthly session Monday morning, learned that the recent Texas Department of Public Safety operations in town have literally overwhelmed local Justices of the Peace.
Justice of the Peace Betty Velez appeared before commissioners on behalf of Justices of the Peace Villalobos, Kincaid and herself, asking the court for some part-time help with their case loads.
She told commissioners that they simply don’t have enough time to enter the case into the computer and that the work is not done until they’ve been entered.
She remarked that Justice of the Peace Oscar Espinoza doesn’t have quite the problem because there are three people in his office to enter the cases.
After hearing the problem, commissioners acknowledged that there probably was a need for an additional employee but no money had been set up in the budget for one.
After some further discussion, commissioners decided to proceed with the hiring of a part-time person to work 20 hours a week. They allocated $5,000 initially from contingency funds for the newly created budget line item.
And, they agreed to look for added money from the state to cover some of these added local costs for such operations as the DPS one.
And, Sheriff Oscar Carrillo noted, “Maybe the state could bring some support money when the DPS comes out our way.”
Commissioners then directed their attention to various grant matters and, in particular, to receiving proposals for engineering services and administrative services for Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) Border Colonias grant for some $332,000.
They accepted an engineering proposal from the Frank Spencer firm out of El Paso. For the administrative services proposal, commissioners accepted the proposal submitted by Marbek Consulting Services (Becky Brewster) of Van Horn.
After approval of the grant agreement with TXDOT, they proceeded to finalize adoption of a resolution on the Phase II Youth Activity Center Community Development Block Grant.
And, they also approved an Office of Rural Community Affairs pre-agreement for a proposed Phase III Youth Activity Center grant to finish the inside of the facility and establish a local food bank office.
The food bank office proposed would be in the Nutrition Center building.
And, before leaving grant matters, they discussed the process to apply for the 2009/2010 grant cycle which is upcoming soon.
Jeff McCoy, executive director of the Van Horn Economic Development Corporation, came before commissioners to ask them if they might consider selling the Records Management/JP Office building on Broadway.
He told commissioners that he had been approached by a prospective business that would like to locate in the Downtown Business District. In return, that business would purchase another facility and finish it to county specifications for use as the Records Management/JP Office.
Commissioners apparently didn’t like the idea as they, after hearing Judge Espinoza speak, nixed the idea.
McCoy also asked commissioner to approve the Industrial Park Incentive Plan that had been talked about back in January.
McCoy said that he had met with the County Judge, Attorney Steve Mitchell and Paul Blankenburg to iron out the details of the proposal.
After reading the proposal, Attorney Steve Mitchell suggested that the matter be tabled so that he could insure that all the bases were covered. He noted that the format looked good, it just needed a little more before commissioners approved the plan.
With regard to other items considered by commissioners during the meeting, the following actions were taken:
* They approved a Dell Telephone plan to run fiber optics cable along some county roads in the county with the understanding that they might have to secure easements from private property owners where they were not along a county road.
* They approved having some county surplus property auctioned off in a forthcoming auction.
* They approved holding another Government Day again this year and are looking at a date in mid-May.
* They approved a contract to paint the jail in preparation for an upcoming Jail Standards inspection. Sheriff Carrillo noted that he already has the funds budgeted for the work. The court approved having Oscar Borrego do the painting.
* They approved budget amendments as recommended by Auditor Mark Cabezuela.
* And, after approving the submitted monthly reports, they approved payment of bills and salaries amounting to $314,778. Of that sum, $175,091 was for payrolls and expense while $139,686 was for monthly bills.
Sheriff arrests local man on drug charge
Sheriff Oscar Carrillo reported this week that on Friday, April 11, 2008 at approximately 10:30 p.m., his deputies arrested a local man on a charge of Possession of Felony 2 Amount of Cocaine.
Sheriff Carrillo said that the local man was Saul Urias, 40, of Van Horn.
Urias was arraigned before Justice of the Peace Ismael Villalobos who sent his bond at $40,000. Urias posted the bond and awaits further action.
If he is convicted on this charge, he faces 2 to 20 years of jail time and a fine of up to $10,000.
“Ironically,” noted Sheriff Carrillo, “We picked this same individual up on April 6, 2008 on a charge of Purchasing of Alcohol for a Minor, a Class A offense.”
On that charge, he also appeared before Justice of the Peace Villalobos who set bond at $1,000. He posted that bond and was free on that bond when arrested on the Possession of Cocaine charge.
On the Purchasing of Alcohol charge, Urias could be fined up to $4,000 and be sentenced up to 1 year in jail.