Transportation News, Volume 25, Number 9, May 2000 Page: 15
16 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 41 x 29 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Transportation News
Letters%~
Military pleased with TxDOT help
Executive Director Charles W Heald received
the following:
I wish to bring your attention to the out-
standing assistance Terrance Murray provid-
ed the 5th U.S. Army Headquarters specifi-
cally, and the U.S. Army in general.
In support of the San Antonio Stock
Show and Rodeo, the U.S. Army Recruiting
Command established a static display booth
to highlight Army opportunities for today's
young people. Unfortunately, an older style
armored personnel carrier had been placed in
the booth for display. Two senior general
officers, to include the adjutant general of
Texas, asked if the older armored personnel
carrier could be replaced with the armored
Bradley fighting vehicle. As you may well
know, when generals ask for something, the
decision has been made. We were in the exe-
cution mode.
Our mission, therefore, was to move a
Bradley fighting vehicle from Camp Bullis to
the rodeo grounds and replace the older
armored personnel carrier. Furthermore, we
only had 24 hours to complete the mission.
This is where Murray came into the pic-
ture. My action officer called the Texas State
Area Command Headquarters for assistance.
However, due to an upcoming drill weekend,
the headquarters was closed. The action offi-
cer next contacted your staff directly to
determine what coordination was necessary
to move the oversized load. Our military
sources indicated this process normally
requires four to five days from request to
clearance, a time delay we were unable to
concede.
After hearing the situation, Murray took
personal interest in solving our dilemma. He
worked directly with my action officer to
expedite the process. Murray went well above
and beyond the normal expectations of any
employee. His dedication to, and astute
knowledge of the Department of Trans-
portation procedures and, more importantly
for us, his dedication and commitment to the
armed forces, enabled us to move forward
with the senior general officers' requests.
Murray remained at his desk after the nor-
mal end of day to ensure completion of all
essential coordination with the engineers forrouting the heavy load. He faxed the com-
pleted clearance to us after 5 p.m. on Friday.
I am happy to report the Bradley fighting
vehicle was moved and in place Saturday
morning prior to the spectators entering the
grounds. The public had the opportunity to
experience firsthand the Army's latest equip-
ment used in defense of this great nation. We
could not have completed this mission with-
out Murray's exemplary dedication and fer-
vent commitment.
I thank Murray and congratulate you for
establishing the conditions for the success of
this endeavor. Obviously, your leadership sets
the climate within the department of trans-
portation as evidenced by the superior efforts
of this employee.
Furthermore, if you should ever be in San
Antonio I invite you to visit our historic 5th
Army Headquarters located on Fort Sam
Houston in the Quadrangle. This epic head-
quarters was built in 1876. I would be
delighted to show you around the headquar-
ters and the adjacent grounds.
Thanks again for everything you and youremployees do for the state of Texas and the
U. S. military.
Kenneth R. Knight
Colonel, U.S. Army
Chief of Staff
San Antonio
Terrance Murray works as an administrative
technician in the Permit Section, Motor Carrier
Division.
San Marcos airport commends TxDOT
On behalf of the San Marcos Municipal
Airport and the city of San Marcos, please
accept our sincere appreciation for your
exceptional service to our airport. The run-
way repair work you performed in February
is absolutely vital to the safety of the local
flying public. You and your highly profes-
sional work force not only accomplished
everything that we asked, you did it in only
half the time that we reasonably expected.
This is an added bonus for us which makes
your accomplishment even more impressive.
All of us at the airport consider you and
your Texas Department of Transportation
people to be important members of our air-
port community, and we are proud to have
you as friends and neighbors.
Jack Doughty
Airport Manager
San Marcos
From among the district special crews and main-
tenance offices, and the San Marcos, Lockhart, Bas-
trop and Travis South maintenance sections of the
Austin District, 20 employees worked on the airport
project. Edward Villalpando Jr. is a supervisor in the
San Marcos Maintenance Section.
Dallas District helps with birthday gift
Recently my father mentioned an interest
in an overpass being built at Texas 161 and
Texas 183 in Irving. My siblings and I deter-
mined it would be a great unusual birthday
gift to put him and my mother up in a hotel
with a great view of the construction. I con-
tacted the Texas Department of
Transportation and subsequently was referred
to Gary Grant.
This letter is to express my siblings' and
my appreciation for the cooperation and pro-
fessionalism of Grant. He went out of his
way to keep us informed of any and all perti-
nent changes regarding the construction
date, hotels with the best views and evenmentioned the best view should we not stay
in a hotel.
He even put us in touch with a newspaper
reporter who was writing a story on the con-
struction and was interested in speaking with
my father about his interest. Grant was gen-
uinely excited to have community members
interested in the engineering of the project.
Because of Grant's diligence, when we
arrived the morning of Feb. 5, my father was.
able to satisfy a lifelong curiosity and my sib-
lings and I were able to give a truly unique
gift.
It's nice to know we have state employees
that are so conscientious and helpful to
Dallas' residents.
Beth Ann O'Neill
Dallas
Gary Grant is a construction inspector in the
Dallas Northwest Area 94ice, Dallas District.Ferry passenger thanks employee
Corpus Christi District Engineer, Billy Parks
received the following:
For about the past month, I used the ferry
to Port Aransas several times, including at
times a boat, pickup and motor home.
Driving onto and off of the ferry, especially
with the motor home, was not a fun task!
However, my use of the ferry was made
much easier by the directions of Ramiro
Dominguez, one of your employees. His
directions (hand signals, etc.) were very clear
and helpful.
I hope that this letter will be placed in
Dominguez' personnel file.
Leland E. Roberts
Manchaca
Ramiro Dominguez works as a deck hand at the
PortAransas Ferry System, Corpus Christi District.
''''''''''
Customer lauds MCD branch's service
Supervisor Sue Cable of the Motor Carrier
Division's Commercial Vehicle Operations
Branch received the following:
I just wanted to thank you for how nice
and helpful you were to us. I was shocked to
hear that you actually called my home to find
out where my mother-in-law was. And on
top of that, you let her in the door after
hours and got all of our paperwork in order.
You are truly one of a kind. I don't know
anyone else who would go out of their way to
help people like that!!
Getting these tow tags, as you know, is
very important to us. Without them we can't
run and that means no income coming in.
You were very in tune with my needs. As you
probably know, most any place in the "Texas
Department of ..." the workers there are
rude and don't want to answer any of your
questions. You were extremely helpful with
all of my 101 questions, and on top of every-
thing you were able to get our paperwork
completed so that we can get our tags in
Houston quickly. I know how extremely busy
you and your office are. You were definitely
God sent to us. I know with your attitude
and personality you will go far, and you will
be blessed when you are in need. Thank you
again, and God Bless.
Yolanda Martinez
Houston
Motorist thankful for roadside helpRecently, I was going to Vernon from
Quanah. As I got to Lake Pauline Hill, I had
a flat. I was sitting in my pickup wondering
what to do when over the hill from the east
came Maurice Farris. He pumped up my tire
so I could return back to Quanah, but the
tire had a huge nail in it and kept going
down. We stopped three times and aired it
up again. We finally got back to town, and
he even went with me so I could buy a new
tire, then saw I got home OK.
You cannot imagine how grateful I was.
He is always helping someone out in need.
We in Quanah feel so very fortunate to
have this man in our area. He does many
good things to help us out, especially wid-
ows, as I am one.
Mrs. Bill Odom
Quanah
See MORE LETTERS, Page 16i5
May 2000
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Texas. Department of Transportation. Transportation News, Volume 25, Number 9, May 2000, periodical, May 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth576386/m1/15/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.