Levelland and Hockley County News-Press (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 49, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 17, 2000 Page: 2 of 25
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2-LEVELLAND & HOCKLEY COUNTY NEWS-PRESS, Sunday, September 17, 2000
Sundown lowers tax rate,
increases utility charges
NEW TRUSTEE — Mike-McNeely was administered the oath of office
Thursday night by Levelland school district employee Janie Johnson.
McNeely was appointed to the position of at-large trustees by the school
board after Dee Macha resigned last month (Staff Photo)
Council supports demolition,
appoints new board members
The Levelland City Council
took steps toward demolishing
dilapidated buildings and -also
appointed members to various
boards in a regular meeting
Tuesday
City Manager Greg Ingham told
the council that the city has become
the "caretaker” of buildings that are
dilapidated and potentially
dangerous.
. Taxing entities including the
city acquire the properties because
of back taxes Owed on them. Ingham
said
He said that Jeff Hemphill, the
city's chief building official, has
iccommended that three or four of
the worst structures be demolished.
Ingham said that, because the
city would incur most of the costs in
tearing down the buildings, it might
be a good idea to approach the other
taxing entities about sharing the
costs of demolition
The council directed Ingham to
contact the other taxing entities
about demolition.
If the entities agree, the city
would pay for tearing down the
buildings and then recover as much
of the demolition costs as possible
' after a property is sold
Let's approach them with this
and see what we can do,” Ingham
said
The council appointed six more
people to the Capital Improvements
Project Task Force
Appointed were Ruben
Guajardo. Luis Rodriguez, Mike
Jackson. K W Hill and Dr Gary
McDaniel County Judge Larry
Sprovvls or another designee will
represent the county.
The task force, which includes
another 17 members, will gather
information on such areas of the
fity s infrastructure as streets, parks
and w ater supplies The information
will be used by the city to develop a
comprehensive plan for Levelland.
Council members also approved
Nathan Tubb. Jim Cole and Barbara
Gilley to serve on the Cemetery
Adv isory Board
Waymon Jackson, David Dufly^
and Micah Paxton were appointed to
the Electrical Board
In other business, the ouncil
voted to join the county in seeking
bids for leasing mineral rights at
Levelland Municipal Airport.
Assistant City Manager Rick
Osbum said a Midland company has
shown interest in leasing 80 acres of
land on the north end of the airport
for oil and gas exploration. The
property is jointly owned by the city
and county
The council OK’d a resolution
asking the Texas Municipal League
to support legislation that would
allow cities to cancel uncontested
special elections.
City' Secretary' Chris Wade said
the city had to go forward with such
an election last month, even though
it was uncontested.
General elections can be
canceled if they are uncontested, but
not special ones, Wade said.
The resolution will be sent to
the state Legislature for the
upcoming legislative session, she
said
"Maybe they can address the
issue.” Wade said "I 'm going to try
it."
Wade told the board that Carl
Shamburger was willing to serve
another two-year term the Canadian
River Municipal Water Authority
board
"I appreciate Mr Shamburger’s
willingness to do that.” said Mayor
Hugh Lvnn Bradley.
The council reappointed
Shamburger to the position, and also
nominated Siemon Mendez for a
second two-year, term on the
Hockley County Appraisal Review
board
The council awarded a fuel bid
to Homer Johnson Oil & Butane
Co for gasoline and diesel
Homer Johnson submitted a bid
with a markup of 3 cents a gallon
The other firm that entered a bid.
Petro Products, offered a markup of
5 cents a gallon on gasoline.
MOVE continued from page 1
afternoons and evenings With the
move, the college will also be using
classrooms in the mornings, said
Mike Box. board chairman
McDaniel said moving
classroom and office equipment
from downtown should not cost the
college much.
The college will have enough
employ ees to accommodate students
at Reese, he added
Regent William Clements said
he was concerned with how the
college might dispose of the
downtown building
McDaniel said the building was
given to the college
'"We won’t abandon it.” he said
"I'd like the authority to try and
dispose of the building to have a
new owner ”
McDaniel assured regents that
he would go through the proper
procedure in finding a new owner
for the property
The board approved a motion by
Regent Jim Montgomery to relocate
the campus to Reese Regents also
authorized McDaniel to dispose of
the property
The move will be completed in
time for the start of the fall semester
next year
SPC had collected 98 1 percent
C Levelland <t Hockley County
NEWS-PRESS
Serving All Of Hockley County"
Drawer 1628 Levelland. Tx
79336-1628
711 Auatin St. (806)894 3121
Publication No. 146-380
Published Every Wednesday
& Sunday at 711 Austin.
Levelland, Tx. 79336
Srrnnrt Class Pottage Paid
Al Lrvrlland. TX. 79336
Postmaster send change of address to the
Levelland a Hockley County News Press.
Drawer 1628. Levelland. Tl 70336
of itsproperty taxes as of the end of
August, said Tony Riley, vice
president for finance and
administration.
"Taxwise we re looking pretty
good, he said, adding that the
college is currently earning more
than 6 percent interest on its
certificates of deposit
Including investments and more
than $2 million in cash. SPC had
$8,757,853 in the bank at the end of
August, regents learned
A financial report showed that
the college had spent $23,436,555
for the 1999-2000 budget year as of
Aug 31
McDaniel said the college will
look at bids in two weeks for an Ag
building that will be erected.
The administrator said he would
like to see the new building
completed in time for the start of
next year's fall semester.
Regents agreed to a request that
an old building in Whitharral be
demolished
Christy Clevenger, county tax
assessor, notified the board that
County Commissioner Billy
Thetford was scheduled to bulldoze
the building and remove it last
month.
Republican Party
slates rally in city
A Republican Party official will
hold a rally for the Grand Old Party
Tuesday, Sept 19, in Levelland
Jane Cansino, a
committeewoman for the Senatorial
Republican Executive Committee,
will discuss the issues in the
November general election during
the rally
Cansino, who is from Lubbock
County, will also discuss what is
going on in the Republican Party in
the state
The Sundown board of
aldermen adopted a deficit budget
Tuesday, lowered the property tax
rate and increased utility rates
Aldermen reduced the tax levy
from 96 9 cents to 92.785 cents per
$100 valuation
The expenditures budget of
$1,754,798 contains a deficit of
$459,995, said City Manager Brad
Stafford.
About $346,000 of the deficit
will go for such capital expenditures
as two new police patrol cars, a
pickup for the utility department, an
annual fire truck payment of
$40,000, and improvements at parks
and the municipal golf course,
Stafford said.
The administrator said actual
expenditures for 2000-2001 will
probably come in under budget
Last year, aldermen approved
an expenditures budget of $1,576
million that contained $337,000 in
red ink
Revenue sources for the new
budget include $265,963 from
property taxes, $140,000 from water
sales, $61,000 from wastewater
operations; $270,000 from natural
gas sales; $ 110,000 from golf
course operations; and $112,000
from the refuse fund.
Stafford said the estimate for
gas sales could be off because of
fluctuating prices.
The city will not keep all of the
revenue from garbage collection, he
added.
Aldermen increased water rates
for Sundown residents., raising them
40 cents a month for the minimum of
2,000 gallons a residence.
The board also hiked residential
garbage rates by 96 cents a month,
and increased wastewater rates by
50 cents a residence.
Aldermen passed an ordinance
creating a voluntary park fund for
the city
When residents receive their
monthly utility bills, they will have
the option of paying $1 or more
toward the new fund.
"We have some great parks and
we’re making sure we can keep
them great,” Stafford said of the
rationale for the fund.
The board voted to lower the
speed limit on West Richardson in
the vicinity of Sunset Park from 55
mph to 45 mph
The city had wanted to lower it
to 40 mph but went with the state’s
recommendation of 45 mph.
Actions taken Tuesday by the
board will mean that citizens who go
before the municipal judge will have
to pay higher fees.
The board passed ordinances
allowing the city to charge $4 for a
court technology fund and $3 for a
court security fee
The ordinances, which the state
Legislature allowed in its most
recent session, will allow the city to
use the funds for such purposes as
metal detectors, identification cards
and a computer imaging system, said
Stafford
In other business, aldermen
agreed to donate a round of green
fees for 18 holes and a cart rental
for next month's Senior Citizens
Radio-thon in Levelland.
Police Report
' Police
man and
LkNP*—6N—Cl„™; ^“1 7 ' ”
hrrested a 21-year-old
a 16-year-old boy for
possession of marijuana Wednesday
evening
The man was also charged with
resisting arrest when he struggled
with officers before being
handcuffed, a report said
Officers went to an apartment
after getting a call about marijuana
being smoked They found a
partially smoked roach on a dresser,
as well as a small amount of pot
The drug appeared to have been
mixed with yard grass
The teen-ager was released into
the custody of his mother
A woman said a teen-age girl
threatened her Thursday night and
threw a wrench at her car
Someone broke a rear window
on Alvin Wilde’s vehicle Thursday,
causing a $250 property loss..
A city woman is a suspect in the
case, a report said.
A man said someone has been
writing checks on his bank account
without his permission The victim
said his checkbook was stolen in late
July
Twenty-five joints of well tub
ing were recently stolen from
Butch's Rat Hole & Anchor Service
The used tubing was worth $700, a
report said
A man reported that a woman
stole $20 from him
The suspect went to the man s
house and asked if she could borrow
$20. The man said he did not have
that much on him He took out his
wallet and began counting bills. She
grabbed them from his hand and left
the scene in a blue car.
Police later contacted the
woman, who denied taking the
money, according to a report.
A Lubbock man who was
stopped by police at a checkpoint
Tuesday morning was jailed for
driving while license suspended
The man was ‘Stopped in the
1700 block of West Avenue
Smyer approves
budget & tax rate
Smyer aldermen adopted a new
fiscal year budget Tuesday and
agreed to keep the property tax rate
the same
In the meeting, aldermen voted
to keep the tax rate unchanged at
76 6 cents per $100 valuation
The board approved a budget
estimated at $209,435. down from
the current one of $221,623.
Estimated expenditures for the
2000-2001 budget are: General
Fund - $73,370; Water - $82,070;
and Sewer - $53,975.
Each operations category should
operate in the black in the coming
year, said City Secretary Jo Ann
Beard
The board took no action on
land development within the city
limits, and the issue of delinquent
accounts and late payment
agreements
Aldermen agreed to look at
those issues at a future workshop
The board passed a resolution
nominating Billy Bob Brown to the
Hockley County Appraisal Review
Board
REMEMBERING POWS — Chick Weemes, a clerk at the Levelland Post
Office, raised the Prisoner of War-Missing In Action flag with the stars and
stnpes Friday morning. It was raised in observance of national POW-MIA
Recognition Day. Friday was one of only six days each year when the flag
is raised at the post office. (Staff Photo)
Computer funds awarded
to Whitharral school district
BUCKLE UP -- Nine-month-old Mackenzi Sanders of Levelland had her
new safety seat adjusted Tuesday by Kimberly Dalton, a certified child
passenger safety technician with the Injury Prevention Coalition of the South
Plains Fifteen volunteers made free safety seat checkups at Gentry Square.
They also installed nearly 50 new child safety seats that were donated by
local businesses. The event was co-sponsored by the coalition, Covenant
Hospital Levelland and Levelland EMS. An average of seven children die
and more than 800 are injured each day from motor vehicle accidents in the
United States, according to Karen Slay. The Lubbock woman pushed for
toucher child safety restraint laws after 11 people, including eight children,
were killed in an accident near Snyder in 1994 (Staff Photo)
1
A school library is typically a
place where students can find vast
toinounts of information through
various resources. Individual
schools obviously have different
books, periodicals, and ways to find
additional information, but now
public school libraries are receiving
the opportunity to get connected.
The” Whitharral public school li-
brary is enhancing the way informa-
tion can be gathered thanks to Tele-
RECORD
continued from page 1
Technology Center campus is
1,186 students, up 100 students
(9.0 percent). An additional 980
students are enrolled in other
olf-campus courses, primarily dual
credit college courses being taught
at 25 area high schools.
Off-campus enrollment is up 142
students (16.9 percent).
“Our faculty and staff have
been working hard to respond to
community and student needs by
offering courses at times and
locations which are convenient and
accessible. We’re pleased that we
are able to serve students in this
way,” said James.
James pointed out that the
breakdown of enrollment by
campus reflects some duplication
where students enroll at more than
one campus. But, the 7,490
headcount is an unduplicated
count.
The official student census will
be .reported to the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
INDICTS
continued from page 1
Shaffer was arrested for drunk
driving July 21. He had two DW1
convictions on his record. Both of
them were in Terry County.
Clemie Smith was also indicted
for DWI. Bond was $5,000
Police arrested Smith on Aug.
20 The defendant was convicted of
the crime in Hockley County in
1995 and 1997
Jesse Daniel Torres was
indicted for endangering a child.
Bond was set at $2,500.
On Aug. 21, Torres endangered
a girl under the age of 15 by abusing
inhalants in her presence
Calvin Scott Vandygriff was
indicted for possession of a
controlled substance. Bond was
$10,000.
Vandygriff was arrested with
less than a gram of
methamphetamine in his possession
on Aug. 19. .
The grand jury learned that he
had been convicted of possession of
a controlled substance in 1989 and .
of indecency with a child in 1993.
Bruno Zapata Jr. was indicted
for DWI. Bond for the offense was
set at $7,000.
Zapata was intoxicated when he
was taken into custody on July 24,
according to reports.
The defendant was convicted of
drunk driving in Hockley County in
1991, and in March of this year in
El Paso County
communications Infrastructure
Fund (TIF) Board, a state agency in
Austin. Whitharral campus library
will receive $34,961 in order to
increase the technology infrastruc-
ture to support the Texas Library
Connection (TLC).
What is the TLC? It is an on-
line resource that promotes the
sharing of current, relevant infor-
mation. The TLC provides an
integrated, statewide resource
sharing system through which infor-
mation resources are identified,
accessed, and retrieved. The TLC
contains merged records of more
than 44 million items from approxi-
mately 4200 campus libraries that
are already online and subscribing.
It also provides these school librar-
ies with online resources such as
Britannica Online, ProQuest Direct,
and governmental documents.
The Non-Competitive Public
School Library Grant (LBS) reaches
out to more than 200 public school
campus libraries throughout the
state of Texas. Some of these
school libraries did not have
Internet connectivity in the library,
some did not have an adequate
Internet connection or very few
student workstations, .and some did
not have a library automation sys-
tem, but regardless of the reason,
these school libraries did not and
could not have access to the TLC
without the proper technology. TIF
grant funds will help these public
school libraries achieve the stan-
dard for high-speed connectivity
and purchase the equipment
necessary in order for the students
and faculty to be able to take advan-
tage of the available TLC resources.
These grant projects officially begin
Oct. 2, 2000.
Since its creation by the 74th
Legislature in 1995, TIF has
awarded approximately $487 mil-
lion in telecommunications
infrastructure grants to its four
constituents-public schools, librar-
ies, institutions of higher education,
and public, not-for-profit healthcare
facilities. The agehey receives ap-
proximately $150 million per year
in revenues from telecommunica-
tions assessments to disburse over a
ten-year period.
Levelland Council
to meet Tuesday *
The City Council will meet
Tuesday to discuss the position of
municipal court judge and to vote on
a resolution regarding a regional
solid waste grant program
application.
Council members will also
appoint a member to the Capital
Improvement Project Task Force
and appoint an auditor for the 1999-
2000 fiscal year.
The meeting will start at 7 p.m.
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Rigg, John. Levelland and Hockley County News-Press (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 49, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 17, 2000, newspaper, September 17, 2000; Levelland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1168873/m1/2/: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting South Plains College.