Levelland and Hockley County News-Press (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 83, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 16, 2000 Page: 1 of 27
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Levelland And
Hockley County
News-Pk-ess
5<K
\OHMh 2 1 IVt MltER 83 US PS 146.380 Drawer 16 28 Levelland,Texa* 79336-1628 Phone (806) 894-3121 Sunday, January 16,2000 16 Pages In 1 Section X Supplement
Trustees OK coach's assignment change
Contract extended for Superintendent Martin
The Lcvelland school board
approv ed a "change of assignment"
Thursday in which Royce
Blackshear will no longer coach
boys basketball but will serve as a
high school shop teacher
Board members made the
announcement after meeting in
executive session for 2 hours and 5
minutes to discuss it and the
contract of Supt Bob Martin
Blackshear did not attend the
meeting
Martin said the varsity coach
had made the request and had not
been asked to resign He declined to
comment on Blackshear s reason
for the change of assignment
Blackshear was in his third
season as head coach for the Lobo
basketball program.
Martin said that Athletic
Director Tom Ramsey would make
a decision on how coaching duties
would be handled for the remainder
of the season
The assistant coaches will take
care of that," he said "They’re
going to divide the duties
Tom Hesse, board president,
said trustees agreed to extend
Martin's contract by one year
However, the board opted not to
adjust Martin's annual $80.()()()
salary until budget hearings start in
the summer
The board also approved Mike
Bright as the new assistant principal
at the junior high school
Bright, an educator from
Lampasas, will replace James Cross
who abruptly resigned in August to
take a position with the Whitcface
school district
The board accepted a $75,037
bid from a San Antonio company to
install refurbished scats in the
junior high auditorium
MRS & Associates offered to
refurbish 725 used auditorium scats
at a cost of $103.50 per unit, said
Ed Marshall, director of technology
instruction and support scrv ices
Marshall said the only other bid
submitted was by a company that
proposed to do the work at a cost of
$250 per seat
The board also authorized
spending $2,300 to pay for breaking
the chairs anchors and patching the
floor
According to the proposal, the
company will renovate slightly used
college auditorium seats by
installing new hinges, re-doing arm
rests and putting on new fabric
Trustees agreed with Marshall’s
suggestion that the district store the
old seats until they can be sold or
auctioned off at a later date
Company officials say they can
refurbish the seats in four to six
weeks Marshall said he will work
with the firm to see if the scats can
be installed during spring break.
As pan of the project, the
auditorium walls will be repainted
and about 1,600 ceiling (tiles will be
replaced New carpet will be
installed in the aisles and new stage
curtains may also be purchased, he
said
Young people with the
Lcvelland Opportunity Center will
remove the seats and store them,
Marshall said
MRS had asked the district to
pay them $5,500 to remove the old
seats, he noted.
Marshall said the district should
be able to do the entire auditorium
project for under $100,000 Its
original cost had been estimated at
$150,000 for the seats alone, he
said.
Deputy Supt Mark Holcomb
informed the board about the results
of the fall exit-level Texas
Assessment of Academic Skills
exams.
Holcomb said that 26 of 42
REGISTRATION PROCESS - Students like Michael Bussanmaz.
standing middle, had to go through a series of stations Thursday during
registration at South Plains College The steps were all part of the
V
registration process that hundreds of students had to endure to enroll for
the classes that they needed The spring semester at the college gets under
w ay Tuesday (Staff Photo)
juniors who re-took the exams in
October passed Seven of 14
seniors passed while three of them
were exempt One of three
sophomores passed
A year ago. 19 juniors. 13
seniors and nine sophomores did
not pass all three parts of TAAS, he
said
Trustee Dec Macha asked why
juniors were having so many
problems with the tests
"Two years ago it was 36
juniors who failed. Holcomb said.
"It’s come down.”
All students who fail TAAS
have other opportunities to take the
exams again They can also get
remediation, he said
Holcomb said that two seniors
did not earn their diplomas last
May
Holcomb and Martin advised
the board on the latest enrollment
figures for the district
As of Jan 11. the district s
enrollment of 3.077 students was
down 124 from the same time a
year ago
Holcomb said the economy was
the main reason for the loss in
numbers
Martin said ninth-graders make
up the single largest class this
school year. Their numbers tally
285 Seniors number 211, followed
bv juniors at 223 and sophomores
at 234
^ He added that 202 first-graders
make up a "very small” class for a
school district of this size
The district does not have a
single grade with as many as 300
students, he said It has not since
1996, according to enrollment
figures.
Martin said the good news is
that the district had budgeted for a
student loss of 200 instead of 124
Macha expressed concern over
the continuing loss in student
numbers.
I think we re going to see this
See COACH Page 2
SPC regents mull survey, approve new building
South Plains College s board of students were that:
here
regents reviewed the results of a
student survey Thursday and
learned that instructors were
favorably evaluated by students in
the fall semester
The college participated in the
American College Test s Faces of
the Future Survey" in October said
Bobby Jajnes. vice president for
student affairs
A random sample of 263
students here and at the Lubbock
and Reese campuses were asked to
answer 30 questions The questions
included information on students
background personal situations and
their satisfaction with SPC. James
said
"Its giving us some
information and confirming" other
things, lie said It gives us
information to plan for the future."
Among the findings on SPC
Sev enty-seven percent of them
are 22 y ears old or younger
* Forty-seven percent work part
lime while 21 percent have lull-
lime jobs
* More than 60 percent use the
Internet at least once a week
* Eighty-nine percent come
from a background where English is
the native language
*ln the last two years 48
percent have changed or lost a job:
17 percent have gone through a
div orce or separation
* The primary reason for taking
classes: 53 percent cited the future
and jobs/work; 44, percent plan to
transfer to a four-year college and
36 percent intend to earn an
associate s degree
* Fifty-three percent said SPC s
academic reputation was a major
factor in their decision to enroll
* Eighty-four percent are high
school graduates. 6 percent have
vocational/technical certificates: 2
percent hold associate’s degrees
and 2 percent have bachelors
degrees
* Eighty-four percent said they
would recommend the college to
friends of family, with 90 percent
saying they were satisfied or very
satisfied with the education they
were rccciv ing
James said the high percentage
of satisfied students was good news
for the college
Our best advertisement is a
satisfied customer. lie said
Anytime you have that kind of
satisfaction rating, you know you’re
doing well and need to do
better"
Kelvin Sharp, the new vice
president for academic affairs, said
that both full- and part-time SPC
instructors won high grades from
their studcim in evaluations this
past fall
On a scale of I to 5. all
instructors on all campuses were
rated 4 6. Sharp said
Four point six is between very
good and excellent.” he said,
adding that the ratings have been in
that range for the last 10 years.
We think all of them arc doing
an excellent job." Sharp said We
think that’s what these scores
rcllecl
The evaluations were based on
nine questions that students were
asked to answer
In a review of finances. Tony
Riley advised the board that
property tax collections for SPC
should increase substantially next
month when oil companies begin
paying their tax bills
Property tax collections for the
college tallied $1,300,687 at the
end of December.
Year-to-date expenditures for
SPC at the end of December were
$7,792,978; total income was
$8,641,079. according to a report
Regent Jim Montgomery asked
Riley how well the college's
investments were doing
Riley said "fairly well, ” noting
that the schools investment
portfolio was averaging a return of
4 5 percent to 4.75 percent
James informed regents that the
occupancy rale for SPC s
dormitories was between 85 percent
and 89 percent for the fall and
spring semesters
Riley said that the dormitories
serve as a useful recruiting tool for
some students
Drr Gary McDaniel, college
president, said that some of the
men's dorms are 25-30 years old
All of our facilities are going to
need continuing improvements.’’
McDaniel said Keeping the inside
rooms painted requires the efforts
of two full-time painters during the
year, he said
McDaniel told regents that two
programs, licensed vocational
nursing and surgical techniques,
have been moved from the
downtown Lubbock campus to the
Reese campus for the new spring
semester
"We re doing really well out at
Reese." he said "Our crews have
been remodeling Next week we ll
be teaching out there.”
The movement of the two
courses to Reese will give the
college some activity there during1
the day McDaniel said
It will involve 100 students.
See REGENTS Page 2
Agriculture
conference
Plans unveiled for Texas
slated Wed.
114 rehabilitation project
wealth of
to improve
livestock
An agriculture conference
designed to update growers on their
production knowledge and inform
them about marketing and
alternative crops will be held
Wednesday. Jan 19. in Whitcface
The West Plains Cotton
Conference 2000. which will be
held in the Whitcface Activity
Building, is one of a series that are
being offered this month in the
area
"Every year these conferences
provide farmers a
information on ways
their crop and
enterprises, said Jett Major. Texas
Agricultural Extension Service
district director for agriculture in
Lubbock
The times for each topic and the
scheduled speakers are
* 9 a m - Pest management. Dr
Jim Lcser
* 9:45 a m - Irrigation
technologies Dr Dana Porter
* 10:30 a m - Weed control
systems. Dr Peter Dotray
* II 15 am - Colton
production system Dr Randv
Bowman
* I p m - Laws and regulations,
a Texas Department of Agriculture
inspector
* I 45 p m - Alternative crops.
Dr Calvin Trostlc
* 2 30 p m - Marketing Dr
See CONFERENCE Page 2
INTERSECTION UPGRADE — City employee Joe Guerrero, assisted by
Jimmy Samarron. removed two yield signs Friday at the intersection of
Tanglewood Lane and Driftwood Drive, replacing them with stop signs.
The new signs are for motorists traveling north and south on Driftwood
Residents of the neighborhood asked for the change because of the number
of accidents and near accidents at the intersection (Staff Photo)
City residents got an overview
of a major highway rehabilitation
project Wednesday, with some of
them voicing concerns over
potential flooding as one side effect
of the work
The $114 million rehab of
Texas 114 will affect homeowners
and businesses from FM 1490 east
to the Lubbock County line
Construction work should start
this month and end in February
2001
The project will be divided into
four phases, said Rob Comey. rural
area engineer with the Texas
Department of Transportation
Comey and other state and local
officials spoke during a town hall
meeting at Levelland City Hall
Under Phase 1. which should
end April 25. construction crews
will install curb and gutters on the
north side of Texas 114 from FM
1490 to the intersection of U S
Highway 385
Phase 2 will cover the same
stretch of highway but on the south
side of the road July is its
estimated completion date
Concrete will be poured at the
juncture of U S 385 and Texas
1 14. and the intersection will be
modified to give large trucks a
wider turning radius
The intersections at Sherman
Avenue and Alamo Road will also
undergo the same work
Under Phase 3. curb and gutters
will be built on the north side of
Texas 114 from U S 385 to the east
city limits Oct 24 is the projected
completion date
Workers will curb and gutter the
south side of the highway between
U S 385 and the city limits for
Phase 4 That work should end in
February 2001
Overall, the project will also
include a "little widening." cutting
the highway deeper in places and
pouring several inches of hot mix
on the existing roadway. Comey
said
Starting in April, new asphalt
will be poured on Texas 114
between Levelland and the
Lubbock County line One lane will
be paved at a time and the work
should take at least 60 davs. said
Robert Lane, project manager with
Amarillo Road Co., the firm doing
the work
During the project, workers will
leave enough room for motorists to
access driveways. Comey said He
said most businesses have two
driveways and crews would close
one of them while working on the
other
Jo Ed Crawford Sr., owner of
Crawford Equipment, said he was
worried about how customers
would park in front of his Texas
114 business
"If you pul a curb in. how arc
my customers going to get mT
Crawford asked "That kills me
They'll have to jump the citfb ”
Comey said that customers
would access the business through
driveways.
We ll be as accommodating as
vve can." he said "We’ll work with
you
Asked about access to
driveways for tractor-trailer rigs
pulling into Southern Cotton Oil,
Comey said road crews would have
to look at the company’s schedules
before starting work
Kenneth Shipley of Bell Mobile
Homes said he worried that
installing curbs could lead to excess
wafer in front of his business during
rainy periods —
“All that water is going to get
dumped in front of our lot." Shipley
said
He said that putting the overlay
down in front of the business would
"shut us down" for mobile homes
coming into and leaving it
Comey said the project is Hot
designed to change drainage
patterns along Texas 114
It will, however, eliminate bar
ditches alongside the highway, he
said Comey said that excavated
material from vertical cuts in the
roadway would be used as "fill
material in the ditches
"It’s going to be water across
the highway." commented Shipley
Residents who ‘have had
standing water in front of their
See PROJECT Pa>»e 2
|p9EB!
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Rigg, John. Levelland and Hockley County News-Press (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 83, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 16, 2000, newspaper, January 16, 2000; Levelland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1168835/m1/1/: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting South Plains College.