The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 99, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 10, 1960 Page: 1 of 20
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Deadline
For Texas
Auto Tags
For 1960
Is April 1
The Winkier County N ews
Weather
Published Twice Weehly—Read Daily
(Member Associated Press)
Monday, March 7
High
......49
Low
30
Tuesday, March 8
......91
42
Wednesday, March
9 82
37
Thursday, March 10
(7 a.m.) ................
......57
50
Vol. 23—No. 99
Classified Ads on Page 4
Kermit, Winkler County, Texas
20 Pages in Three Sections
Thursday, March 10, 1960
: 'v-
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BY RAY MARTIN
Locations in West Texas are
described in a manner that is
strictly West Texan. So far as
this department has been able
to determine, no other area has
a similar way of spotting lo-
cations.
In some regions it’s “east
side of the river,” or “west
side of the mountain.” Or in
Colorado, it’s the East and West
Divides. Or it might be a tim-
ber line in a certain area that
is used in describing any given
region.
But here in West Texas, it’s
the famous Caprock, that mys
terious rock layer that Nature
slipped beneath the surface mil-
lions of years ago. It’s either
“on the Caprock,” or “behond
the Caprock.” And that covers
a lot of territory, and is, to all
practical purposes, a north-
Auth. line that runs across the
™ar center of West Texas.
Here we’re west of the Caprock
—off it. Up in New Mexico,
the Caprock juts farther west
Mgttisiderably.
^^unny thing is that the weath-
er is different on the two sides
of the Caprock. Only 20 miles
east of here they have a differ-
ent kind of weather. That’s
“on top” of the Caprock.
Like last Saturday, for in-
stance. It was rather pretty
here in Kermit. The sun was
shining — kind of puny-like but
shining just the same. And it
was balmy.
Came the daughter and her
husband, picked up the old
folks and we went with them to
Odessa. And smack on top of
the Caprock — bang! The
weather changed, and not for
the better. In fact, the weath-
er was downright heavy. The
sun disappeared, the tempera-
ture dropped a good 10 degrees
or more, and jt seemed os if we
had ./stepped back smack into
the middle of winter. Along the
side of the roads were bits of a
left-over snow which had dis-
appeared in Kermit several
days before.
And a marrow-piercing wind
was blowing, too! The 1956
wercoat, already used more
IPan usual this winter, had been
left behind, much to my yegret.
That night, coming home, the
fog on the Caprock side of the
tf^ite turned into California den-
sity, and Les had to creep along
at a snail’s pace, with the back
seat giving him frequent advice
or he wouldn’t have been able
to have made it all. (I have two
licenses for back seat driving:
1. A slip that says I’m a regis-
tered back seat driver, and 2,
the prerogative any father-in-
law has to back seat drive.)
Then we dropped over the
Caprock, the fog lessened, and
by the time we were within a
mile or two of Kermit, it had
,turned into a mere shadow of
its Caprock cousin, and we
breezed on into town with the
greatest of ease, even without
the expert counselling from the
back seat. I guess he’s a pret-
ty good driver at that, for a
son-in-law.
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HOT CHECKS APLENTY—Here’s a small part of the accumulation of “hot”
checks that reach the inkier County Attorney’s office each week. Shown looking
over the supply of unpaid checks are Mary Jones, secretary, and County Attorney
John Banks. The total ryve 10 to as high as 63 a day, and collection averages
one out of five, the Co Vr Atlo y say ;s. (News Staff Photo).
nPhen Sunday afternoon we
vrent for a drive again and hap-
I«<ed to go in the same direc-
tion. It was a pretty day, even
on the Caprock, although not
quite as pretty or quite as warm
as it was here.
But have you ever come over
the top of the Caprock heading
west in the late afternoon and
viewed the valley-like pano-
rama spread before you? If
you haven’t, then you have
missed one of the real beauties
of the west.
Like Sunday afternoon, for
instance. There was a blue
haze that lay for miles in a
westerly direction off the Cap-
rock. Throughout the “valley”
this blue haze spread, like
smoke coming off the Smokey
>J|untains in the eastern part
c™the United States.
Off in the distance could be
seen the hundreds of oil op-
erations of one kind or another,
and a long, lazy trail of black
smoke slithered haphazardly
across the range from north
to south from a carbon black
plant.
Above all this, a baby blue
sky was completely cloudless,
and the haze served merely to
exaggerate the blueness of the
sky, haze and sky complement-
ing each other.
It was the sort of scene that
artists might go crazy trying to
capture on canvass. But they
would never quite succeed in
tying down the picture to a
mere piece of cloth.
Too bad they don’t have an
observation parking area at the
(Continued on Page 5)
Hardin-Simmons
Famous Band
To Play Here
One of the nation’s most
widely-traveled collegiate musi-
cal organizations, the Hardin-
Simmons University Cowboy
Band, will present a concert
here Tuesday, March 22, at
7:30 p.m. in the High School
Auditorium. The band’s ap-
pearance is being sponsored by
the Kermit Evening Lions Club.
Director of the band is Marion
B. McClure. The band has
been on three overseas tours,
visiting all of Europe and the
South Sea islands. The band
also has marched in parades
down New York’s Fifth Avenue,
Chicago’s Michigan Avenue,
San Francisco’s Market Street,
New Orleans’ Canal Street and
Hollywood Boulevard. The band
also has appeared with many
famous persons, including Bob
Hope, Gene Autry, Bing Crosby,
and Paul Whiteman, and has
given performances for Eleanor
Roosevelt, King George • and
Queen Mary of England, Rich-
ard Nixon and Presidents Hoov-
er, Roosevelt and Eisenhower.
The late Will Rogers gave the
band its first contribution for
buying music.
Tickets are being offered by
the members of the Evening
Lions Club.
Attorney’s Headache:
4Hot’ Check Writers
Chamber Chiefs
Air Problems
West Texas and Southeastern
New Mexico Chambers of Com-
merce managers discussed
problems which Chambers face
at a District 6 and 7 session
of the West Texas Chamber of
Commerce here last Saturday.
Fred Pearson, manager of the
Kermit Chamber, presided. The
meeting was in the nature of
forums. “We tossed out our
problems and then discussed
them,” he said, “and I’m sure
we all got much benefit from
mutual airing of these prob-
lems.”
Such items as building prob-
lems, promotions, publicity, and
sales activities were discussed.
Attending the meeting from
New Mexico were Harry Nunan,
Hobbs; Louis Whitlock, Carls-
bad; Leo Butler, Artesia; Hel-
en Harris, Eunice; JoAnn Brin-
instool, Jal; and from Texas,
Jack Pridgen, Pecos; Burvin
Hines, Midland; H. M. McRey-
nolds, Stanton; Bill Quimby,
Big Spring; Bill Thomas, An-
drews; John Cockerham, Sem-
inole, and Pearson.
Next meeting will be Eunice,
N. M., in May.
Hot checks are becoming a
major headache for County At-
torney John Banks and his sec-
retary, Mary Jones, and there
is no relief in sight.
In fact, the arrival of the
morning mail each day is al-
most a dreaded experience
for the two because the mail
is certain to bring a new batch
of checks that have “bounced.
The number varies from 10
to 63 checks in a single day.
It’s up to the County At-
torney’s office to attempt the
job of collecting these rubber
pieces of paper that have been
given business firms in Winkler
County. The payoff, however,
is fairly good — one in five.
The business firm which took
the check is supposed to make
every effort to contact the sign-
er before turning the slip over
to the County Attorney’s office.
Frequently, however, cash-
iers who have taken the check
in the first place can’t even re-
call anything about the giver
and sometimes fail to get any
kind of identification at all.
Some, the County Attorney says,
have been “run through” the
bank for payment as many as
three times and returned for
the same number of times.
Banks’ first job when he re-
ceives the checks is to send the
giver a letter — if the address
of the signer can be found. The
letter points out that the Texas
penal code provides that “it
shall be unlawful for any per-
son to give, with intent to de-
fraud, a check, knowing at the
time that there are not suffi-
cient funds to cover the check
and all other checks then out-
standing.”
He tells them also that if the
check is returned by the bank
“and is not paid within 10 days
after notice, the law presumes
there was knowledge and intent
to defraud.” The notice, neces-
sary under the law, “is a reg-
istered letter . . . addressed to
the maker or deliverer of the
check at the town shown on the
check or at the last known ad-
dress.”
In his letter he says that “un-
less payment is made to this
office within 10 days from re-
ceipt of this letter, complaint
will be filed and a warrant is-
sued for your arrest.”
Fie says the County Attorney
must also collect the entire
amount of the check and cannot
accept partial payments “or do
anything other than . . . pros-
ecute in case the check is not
paid in full through this office
in the 10-day period.”
Banks says the number of hot
checks seems to be on the in-
crease. One day recently 63
such checks were received at
his office.
In addition to sending notices,
it is necessary for his office to
keep a complete file on each
case, and this one file alone,
is jammed.
City Shows
Big Gain
In Meters
Kermit has 928 more water
customers today than it had
five years ago, report of the
City Water Department for
February, released Wednesday,
shows. Of this number, 249 of
the new customers were added
during the past year, or more
than one-third of the total gain
recorded in five years.
Kermit, in February, had
3,496 water customers as com-
pared with 2,568 five years ago
and 3,247 a year ago. Sewer
customers also showed an in-
crease from 2,009 five years
ago to 2,369 last month or 2,238
a year ago.
Water usage also is on the
increase. Despite unusually
cold weather in February, wa-
ter usage showed a sharp
gain over the previous month.
Water metered in February
totaled 25,138,000 gallons as
compared with 20,723,000 for
January. The city water de
partment pumped 25,404,000 gal-
lons in January and 37,157,000
last month.
Receipts also showed a slight
gain. Water sales brought in
$12,237.39 for January and $12,-
487.23 last month. Sewer re-
ceipts totaled $5,397.15 in Feb-
ruary as compared with $5,422.-
85 in January. Garbage re-
ceipts dropped slightly — from
$4,046.45 to $3,935.0.
Total receipts by the City for
the three services was $21,729.38
in February and $21,706.69 for
January.
6 Candidates Seek
City Council Posts
Two File
For Mayor
Of Kermit
Defaulted Farms
Offered to Vets
Winkler County Veterans
have an opportunity to buy
farms from the Veterans’ Land
Board but they must submit
their bids by March 30, Lyndon
Webb, Veter^ L officer here,
said Wednes<W^
The farms, some 50 in num
ber and scattered over all of
Texas, are “take-back” farms.
Original owners have defaulted
on their payments or abandon-
ed the farms, Webb explained.
Bids must be accompanied by
5 per cent of the bid price, plus
two $25 checks for service
charges, and bids must be for
at least the amount of money
against the land.
Complete descriptions of the
farms available can be had at
Webb’s office in the Community
Center in Kermit.
Six candidates have tossed
their hats into the ring for the
two Kermit City Council seats
which are to be filled at this
year’s elections. This includes
four new candidates and the
two incumbents.
Two names also have been
,entered in the race for mayor,
Hugh Moore, a Kermit auto-
mobile salesman, facing Incum-
bent Bert Stevens, a hotel and
restaurant operator.
Incumbents who are seeking
re-election for City Council
posts are Ira Barrett, owner of
a drive-in grocery, and L. V.
.Lewis, a pumper for Gulf.
Additional candidates are Wil-
lis I. Bacon, who operates a
welding business; L. L. (Straw-
berry) Deaton, an oil company
employe, and E. E. (Butch)
Williams, a driller.
The City election is slated
for Tuesday, April 5, at City
Hall. City Secretary J. C. Hill
says the polls will open at 8
a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
Filing deadline was last Sat-
urday at 5 p.m.
The two places will go to the
two candidates receiving the
highest number of votes. No
run-off is planned.
Meantime, five candidates
are seeking two school board
positions to be filled at an
election on Saturday, April 2.
Incumbents E. H. Glass, op-
erator of a men’s store, and
,L. G. Edwards, an appliance
store operator, are seeking re-
election.
They will battle it out with
three other candidates — Elby
Choate, general superintendent
pf Mid-Tex Construction Co.;
C. W. (Weldon) Wright of
Wright Construction Company,
and D. R. (Slim) Melton, an
employe of Gulf Oil Corp.
The school election will be
held at the Junior High School
(library from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Election Judge John F. Moore
has announced.
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their part for the
18 in Senior High
TEACHERS’ TALENT SHOW-—Kermit teachers will do
Student Council when the teachers present a program March
auditorium. Funds will go to the Student Council. Shown rehearsing, are (1. to r.)
Betty Green, Julia Amason, Sarah Crowson, and Gwen Welsh with Roy Walker at
the piano. (News Staff Photo)
Mrs. Peden to Head
Census Takers Here
Mrs. Roy Peden of Kermit will
will have charge of the I960
Federal census here and v/ill
name crew leaders soon to start
the giant task of taking the
18th decennial census, it was
announced Wednesday by J.
Glenn Bixler, Supervisor of the
Bureau’s district office in El
Paso.
The appointment of the crew
leaders was announced by Bix-
ler for all of the West Texas
area included in the El Paso
district. Leader at Monahans
will be Denison P. Greenwade.
Each crew leader, Bixler said,
Central Winkler County Wildcat
Shows Gas on Drillstem Test
BY JAMES C. WATSON
News Oil Writer
Texaco, Inc., No. 29 Seth
Campbell, McKee sand wildcat
in the Kermit, South (Ellen-
burger) area in Central Wink-
ler County, developed gas on a
drillstem test in the McKee
sand.
■ ■■
Girls Town Chief
To Talk to Lions
Kermit Downtown Lions Club
will hear the Managing Direct-
or of Girls Town, U.S.A. at
its luncheon Thursday, March
17, Jerry McGuire, program
chairman, announced Wednes-
day.
She is Mrs. Bebe Sims of
Whiteface, Texas. Mrs. Sims
will tell of the work done by the
organization.
■I
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A
OFFICERS — Here are the
new officers of Kermit High
School Student Council. At
left is Jack Evans, president;
(above I. to r.) Kenneth
Batchelor, parliamentarian;
Sandy Martin, vice-president,
and Kathryn Hubbard, sec-
retary. (News Staff Photo).
Open two hours, the test cov-
ered the section from 9,884 to
10,010 feet. Gas surfaced as
soon as tool was open, and
flowed at the rate of 519,000
cubic feet per day.
Recovery was 720 feet of gas-
cut mud, with no shows of
water. Another drillstem test
was scheduled at 10,131 feet.
Location is 1,800 feet from
north and east lines of section
23, block B-3, psl survey.
Texas Crude Oil Company No.
1-25 S. B. Wight is to be drilled
as an 11-500-foot project in the
one-well Wight (Ellenburged)
area in Southeast Winkler
County.
Scheduled for immediate
drilling, it is one location north-
east of the discovery well, 14
miles southeast of Kermit, 1,980
feet from south and west lines
of section 25, block 40, psl sur-
vey.
Electric logs were being run
Wednesday in Diversa, Inc.,
and others of Dallas No. 1-B
J. D. Amburgey, East Winkler
County wildcat, after a drill-
stem test in the Wolfcamp.
Operators tested the section
from 7,670 to 7,703 feet, with
tool open 45 minutes. Recovery
was 10 feet of very slightly oil-
cut mud.
Location is 1,980 feet from
north and east lines of section
22, block B-7, psl survey, 10
miles southwest of Notrees.
Dr. Sam G. Dunn and others
No. 1-D Edwards is a new well
in the Leek pool in North Wink-
ler County.
The well finaled for a 24-hour
flowing potential of 79.5 barrels
of 35-gravity oil, plus seven per
cent water, through a 20-64-inch
choke.
The completion was from pay
section behind casing perfora-
tions from 2,836 to 3,168 feet.
Location is 330 feet from
north and west lines of section
5, block C-23, psl survey.
Texaco, Inc., No. 37 Seth
Campbell will be dug as a 5,500-
foot project in the Keystone
(Clear Fork) pool in Central
Winkler County, two miles
northeast of Kermit.
Drillsite is 660 feet from
north and 1,800 feet from west
lines of section 22, block B-3,
psl survey.
Texaco No. 38 Seth Campbell
will be dug in the same pool,
1,980 feet from north and 1,980
feet from west lines of section
22, block B-3, psl survey. It
too will drill to 5,500 feet.
Another 5,500-foot project in
the Keystone (Clear Fork)
field is Texaco No. 35 Seth
Campbell.
supervise about 20 enu-
merators in the big nation-wide
census which begins April 1.
Crew leader training began
March 7 for rural crew leaders,
while their city counterparts
will start their training next
Monday.
Topics to be covered in the
training sessions include pro-
cedures for recruiting of census
fakers, how to train their cen-
sus takers, canvassing methods,
preparation and submission of
Reports, and the supervision of
census takers to insure a com-
plete and accurate count, Bix-
ler said.
He explained that the crew
leader is one of the key persons
in the field operations of the
1960 census. Official title of
the census is “1960 Census of
Population and Housing.” It is
the “responsibility of the crew
leader to recruit and train cen-
sus takers; plan and allocate
work assignments; review the
work of the census takers and
take remedial action where
necessary, and to handle prob-
lems of difficult enumeration.”
Questionnaires are to be mail-
ed out in advance, and resi-
dents are urged to have the
forms completed before the
census taker calls.
Crew leader at Pecos will
be Georgette E. C. Browder.
Odessa will have five leaders,
El Paso will have 15 and Mid-
land four.
Traffic Violations
Show Sharp Increase
Kermit police shook the dust
off their ticket books during
February and handed out 80
of the little slips of paper for
traffic violations, the month’s
police report, issued Wednes-
day, reveals. January’s total
was 53 tickets.
Moving and parking infrac-
tions topped the list with speed-
ing running second.
Total arrests, however, show-
ed a slight decline from the
previous month 1— 66 as com-
pared with 70 in January.
Drunks in cars increased from
5 to 14, but just plain “drunks”
dropped from 20 to 16 on the
■police blotter. Thirteen were
arrested for drunk and disturb-
ance as compared with 10 the
previous month, and disturb-
ance arrests were the same as
in January — 10 each month.
Affray and assault cases drop-
ped from 21 to 12.
In the ticket-giving depart-
ment, nine license infractions’
tickets were given in February;
January’s . total was three.
Speeding jumped from 16 tick-
ets in January to 23 in Feb-
ruary, and three were arrested
for loud exhausts. Two got
tickets for the noisy exhausts
the previous month.
Moving and parking infrac-
tions jumped from 32 in Jan-
uary to 45 in February.
Police investigated 17 acci-
dents in February as compared
with 20 the previous month.
Dogs continued to give the po-
lice department trouble — 98
cases in February as compared
with 9.6 in January.
Police closed 15 doors in busi-
ness houses which had • been
left open and delivered 24
emergency messages as com-
pared with nine in January.
The officers investigated 96
complaints in February and an
even 100 in January. Three cas-
es went to the county and four
,to the juvenile officer. Petty
thefts showed a big drop — 2
as compared with 20 for the
previous month.
Doing their jobs of patrolling
the streets, Kermit police cars
traveled 13,242 miles during
February as compared with 11,-
366 miles in January.
Fines collected totaled $1,-
852.50 in February as compared
with $1,707.00 in January.
Junior High
Announces 21
On Honor Roll
Twenty-one Kermit Junior
High School pupils made
straight A grades for the fourth
six-weeks’ period just ended,
(School officials announced
Thursday.
Of this number, 10 were
members of the sixth grade, six
were in the seventh and five
in the eighth.
Those receiving the top ranks
were:
Sixth Grade — Helen Burnett,
Linda Sue Castle, Jahis Coul-
ter, Danny Dickerson, Marilyn
Langston, Shirley Lippe, Sharyn
Moore, Mary Rodriquez, Mar-
tha Spinks and Beverly Straus-
ser.
Seventh Grade — Marvin Al-
exander, Lanetta Appling, Rob-
ert Dorris, Glynn Harbin, Ran-
dy Huff and Kandy Mullen.
Eighth Grade — Donna At-
wood, Sherrie Douglass, Don
Helms, Anita Holmans and
Jeanette Pardue.
B List
Sixth Grade—Ted Abel, Julie
Anderson, Mike Autrey, Billy
Ray Baldridge, Barbara Bew-
ley, Thomas Bickle, Linda Bra-
dy, Bruce Brooks, Leo Brooks,
Samuel Burditk, Mike Choate,
Cindy Clark, Johnny Clemmer,
Lonnie Clemmons, Thomas
Ditto, Deborah Edwards, Lu-
ella Geldard, Judson Graves,
David Green, Sharon Hays,
Jimmy Hill, Danny Kincaid,
David Kiser, Kaye Lawson,
Paula Leatherwood, Dickie Lo-
gan,
Armanda Luna, Nell Martin,
Linda Myers, Beverly Ogle,
Toni Parker, Ann Peden,
Gregg Penn, Bruce Piercefield,
Jackie Rankin, Frederick Reed,
Nolen Robinson, Wayne Scott,
Gary Shultz, Sandra Skinner,
Sharron Slover, Melba Smith,
^Michael Spinks, Linda Stoude-
mire, Mike Teague, Donna
Whitten and Laura Wilcoxson.
Seventh Grade — Dale Ayres,
Stanley Baker, Jane- Bell, Kent
Burch, Charles Boyd, Shirley
Cotten, Carol Cockerham, Ty-
leen Deeds, Chad Dicketson,
Pamela Duncan,
Joyce Ferguson, Jean Ellen
(Continued on Page 3)
DSA Deadline
Set far Tuesday
Next Tuesday is the deadline
for nominating young Kermiti-
ans for the annual Distinguish-
ed Service Award to be pre-
sented by the Kermit Junior
Chamber of Commerce.
Nominations should be made
by mail, addressed to P. O.
Box 457, Don Handlin, president
of the Jaycees, said. Any per-
son between the ages of 21
and 35 inclusive may be nom-
inated for this award which
goes each year to the young
citizen who makes an outstand-
ing contribution to his town.
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Martin, Ramon. The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 99, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 10, 1960, newspaper, March 10, 1960; Kermit, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth886147/m1/1/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Winkler County Library.