NEWSBRIEFS

All the safety devices on a car can bereplaced by one careful driver.

— Quips & Quotes

See BRIEFS, Page 5

SERVING ANTHONY, VINTON, CANUTILLO, EAST MONTANA, HORIZON, SOCORRO, CLINT, FABENS, SAN ELIZARIO AND TORNILLOVOL. 32, No. 28 JULY 14, 2005

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AUSTIN — Jerry Patterson, Commissionerof the Texas General Land Office and Chair-man of the Texas Veterans Land Board, hasannounced details for the upcoming dedicationceremony for the Ambrosio Guillen Texas StateVeterans Home in El Paso.

The ceremony will take place at the home,located at 9650 Kenworthy Street, at 2 p.m.Tuesday, July 19. The public is invited.

“El Paso has a proud military tradition andhas always cared for her veterans,” Pattersonsaid. “This home will continue that tradition.It is long overdue and I am proud to say to ElPaso veterans ‘welcome home.’”

The El Paso home will open Aug. 1, 2005. Ithas 160 beds, 60 of which will be certified forAlzheimer’s care in a separate, secured unit.The home will employ about 150 full-time

Dedication planned for El Paso’s Texas State Veterans Homeemployees, including registered nurses, li-censed vocational nurses, therapists, nurses’aides, laundry and housekeeping staff, activi-ties aides, cooks and dietary staff.

The Texas State Veterans Home in El Pasojoins existing homes in McAllen, Big Spring,Floresville, Bonham and Temple. Work is setto begin soon on a new home in Amarillo. Eachexisting home has 160 beds and providesskilled long-term nursing care, comprehensiverehabilitation programs, special diets, recre-ational activities, social services, a library, anda certified, secured Alzheimer’s unit with itsown secured outdoor courtyard.

For information on Texas State VeteransHomes or other programs for Texas veterans,call 800-252-VETS (800-252-8387) or visit ourWeb site at www.texasveterans.com.

45th tournamentThe 45th Annual State Farm Sun BowlBasketball Tournament has the look of oldand new in its 2005 lineup, as the fieldfeatures Colgate University of the PatriotLeague, Georgetown University of the BigEast Conference, Mississippi Valley StateUniversity of the Southwestern AthleticConference and UTEP of ConferenceUSA. UTEP, who officially joined Con-ference USA on July 1, will be making its45th consecutive appearance in the oldestcontinuous holiday championship tourna-ment in the nation. This year will markMississippi Valley State’s third appear-ance, while Colgate and Georgetown willbe making their first-ever appearances inthe field. “The field for the State Farm SunBowl Basketball Tournament has gottenstronger every year that I’ve been at UTEP.We’re excited about this year’s teams,”said Miner head coach Doc Sadler.“Georgetown won 19 games last year andhas all of its starters returning. Colgate andMississippi Valley State are up-and-com-ing teams. I think it’s going to be a highlycompetitive tournament and a lot of funfor the fans to watch.” In its 45th year, theTournament will be Dec. 27-28, at the DonHaskins Center. Tournament tickets can bereserved now by calling the Sun Bowl As-sociation office at 915-533-4416 or 800-915-BOWL. Tournament tickets are alsoincluded in UTEP season ticket packages.

Reading habitFeed your kid’s reading habit this summerby taking them to the library for programsthat feature entertainers like Terry Alvarezwho will visit the Armijo Library on Sat-urday July 16 at 3 p.m. and the MemorialPark Library on July 23 also at 3:00 p.m.Terry will sing, dance and tell stories withher audience. The programs will includeaudience participation. For more informa-tion on this or other programs, visitwww.elpasolibrary.org or call your near-est branch and check out what’s new atyour library, which could include perfor-mances by Daisy the Party Clown, ZZ theClown, Karaoke King, and MagicianBobby King.

In other news� Navy Airman Jose O. Ortega, son ofAngelina Alanis of El Paso County par-ticipated in Trafalgar 200 commemorativeevents in Portsmouth, England while as-signed to the amphibious assault ship USSSaipan, homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.The event commemorates Admiral LordNelson and the 200th anniversary of theBattle of Trafalgar. The International FleetReview included more than 160 ships frommore than 36 of the world’s navies. Am-phibious assault ships like USS Saipandeploy throughout the world as a highly

— Photos courtesy of Texas General Land Office

The Ambrosio Guillen Texas State Veterans Home, located at 9650 Kenworthy Street, willhave a dedication ceremony on July 19 at 2 p.m. The facility is named for veteran AmbrosioGuillen, at right.

EL PASO COUNTY — Imagine attend-ing a social event where the sole purpose isto get sick.

This scenario isn’t so far-fetched.The medical community has documented

actual get-togethers staged by parents for thesole purpose of exposing healthy children tokids infected with the varicella (chickenpox)virus in the hopes that they will catch thedisease and gain lifetime immunity.

Despite the availability of a chickenpoxvaccine, some parents rely on these “parties”or visits to the home of children withchickenpox as a means of protecting theirchildren from contracting the disease laterin life. It is commonly thought they sufferless and the side-effects are less severe if theyhave the disease during childhood.

During a recent lecture at the Santa RosaMedical Center, Donald J. Gordon, MD, aprofessor at the University of Texas HealthScience Center, asked 50 nurses if they werefamiliar with the chickenpox party phenom-enon. Not only were the nurses familiar withthe parties, two said they have immediaterelatives who had participated in them.

Although chickenpox parties continue tobe held in many communities, physicians ofthe Texas Medical Association (TMA) dis-courage this outdated practice, becausechickenpox is far from being a benignchildren’s disease. “The fact remains that asignificant number of those exposed do infact either die or experience serious and per-manent health disabilities,” says Andrew C.Eisenberg, MD, immediate past-chair of theTMA Council on Public Health.

Dr. Eisenberg also reminds us that today’svaccines are manufactured under strict ster-ile conditions, thus limiting the potentialcross-contamination inherent in natural ex-posure, whereas chickenpox parties run thegreater risk of transmitting mutant or other‘wild type’ infections. “While the intentionsof those conducting chickenpox parties areappropriate in the sense that immunity issought from this disease, the methods do notweigh in as safer than the established routeof vaccination,” claims Dr. Eisenberg.

To improve the Texas immunization rateand educate caregivers about the life-and-death importance of vaccinations, TMA haslaunched one of the most ambitious publichealth programs in its 151-year history. BeWise — Immunize SM is a joint initiativeof TMA and the service-oriented TMA Alli-ance and funded through a grant from thephilanthropic TMA Foundation, to substan-tially increase statewide immunization rates.The multi-year program promotes immuni-zation education and sponsors immunizationevents.

For more information about immuniza-tions, call the Texas Department of StateHealth Services toll free number, (800) 252-9152, or look on the TDSHS Web site,www.dshs.state.tx.us or the Be Wise—Im-munize page of the TMA Web site (http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=2656).

Doctors recommendchickenpox vaccineover pox-parties

Doctors say do not goto chickenpox parties

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry has expandedthe call of the special legislative session to in-clude legislation that limits government’s abil-ity to take property from pri-vate owners through eminentdomain.

The U.S. Supreme Courtrecently set a new legal pre-cedent that allows govern-ment entities to seize privateproperty for economic devel-opment purposes.

“Today I am expanding thecall of the special legislativesession and asking lawmak-ers to take swift action to pro-tect the private propertyrights of every Texan,” Perrysaid. “The Supreme Court’sruling would allow govern-ment to condemn yourfamily’s home, bulldoze it and build a newshopping mall or some other kind of economicdevelopment project simply to generate moretax revenue. I stand with an overwhelming ma-jority of lawmakers and citizens who believethat this starts us down a slippery slope thatwill lead to the erosion of Texans’ rights.

“I support an amendment to the Texas Con-stitution because, by definition, the constitu-tion is intended to protect the people from ar-bitrary acts by government that infringe on their

Gov. Perry expands purpose of specialsession to include private property rights

Lawmakers asked to shield Texansfrom effects of Supreme Court Ruling

basic rights. One of the most basic rights inTexas is the right to own property, and govern-ment shouldn’t be able to take that away to pad

its tax coffers.”Gov. Perry’s specific mes-

sage allows lawmakers toconsider “legislation relatingto limiting the use of eminentdomain to take private prop-erty for private parties oreconomic development pur-poses.”

The Texas Constitutionauthorizes the governor toset the agenda during a spe-cial session of the legislature.The governor called law-makers into special sessionbeginning June 21, and hasasked them to considerschool finance, education re-

form and property tax relief legislation.Legislation has already been filed in the

Texas House and Senate that addresses theeminent domain issue. Gov. Perry’s action wasrequired for lawmakers to have the authorityto pass such legislation.

“I have expanded the purpose of this specialsession because this recent decision by theSupreme Court requires immediate action. Wedon’t need to study this issue, we need to act,and I believe this legislature will,” Perry said.

Gov. Rick Perry

WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIERPage 2 July 14, 2005

One perspectiveBy Francis Shrum

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PublisherRick Shrum

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SERVING ANTHONY, VINTON, CANUTILLO, EAST MONTANA, HORIZON, SOCORRO, CLINT, FABENS, SAN ELIZARIO AND TORNILLO

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View from here By Jim Quinten

As a vehicle owner, I’m pretty sureyou would agree that you should havethe right to choose where your car,SUV, minivan or pick up truck areserviced and repaired. You probablywouldn’t be too happy if the car com-pany that built your vehicle con-trolled where you take it for service.After all, it is your car.

Well, if we are not careful you justmight lose your right to get your ve-hicle serviced at your neighborhoodrepair shop and be forced to take itto a new car dealership. Why? Be-cause today’s modern vehicle is avery high tech machine and nearlyevery system on it is controlled andmonitored by computers. It takestechnical information, software andtools for professional technicians toservice and diagnose and repair thesevehicles.

So, what’s the problem? The

Holding hostages with information

Car dealerships seeking tolock up repair market, too

problem is that the big car compa-nies are not making enough profitselling new cars and they need tomake more money selling parts andservice. Even though a dealership’sparts and service sales accounts forabout 12 percent of total sales, itcontributes to 48 percent of theirtotal operating profit, according tothe National Automobile DealersAssociation (NADA) themselves.Compare this to the fact that newcar sales are 60 percent of totalsales, but only contributes 35 per-cent to total profit.

To capture a bigger piece of yourvehicle service and repair business,they are trying to “lock out” the in-dependent repair shops from the in-formation and tools needed to workon your car so you will have to re-turn to the dealership. Not a prettypicture. But there is something you

can do about it.You can fight for your right to

choose by contacting your con-gressmen and urging them to sup-port the Motor Vehicle OwnersRight to Repair Act (HR 2048). It’seasy and takes only a couple min-utes to go to www.righttorepair.orgto send a letter.

The Motor Vehicle Owners Rightto Repair Act is a bill that requiresthat the same information and toolsthat car manufacturers provide totheir dealerships to service and repairyour vehicle should also be availableto your neighborhood repair shop.After all, when you buy a vehicle,you should choose where it’s fixed,not the giant car companies.______________________________________________________Jim Quinten is President and CEOof the Automotive Parts & ServicesAssociation.

See HOSPITALS, Page 4

Hospitalsare a lot like major transportation ter-minals.

Almost everybody goes throughthere at one time or another, eitherfor themselves or someone else. Yousee all kinds of people, of everyshape, size, income and educationlevel, in every stage of life from be-ginning to end.

There was a very precious personof mine in the hospital this week so Ihad quite a bit of time to contemplateon this after the initial rush to get ourcrisis under control. Having been inand around hospitals in both big cit-ies and in small communities, I wasthankful that this one was in the lat-ter.

You see, I don’t care what they say.Smaller is better. In the smaller placesit’s less about body count and moreabout people. Real people with realpain and real concerns and real feel-ings.

Some equally real attention fromyour health-care provider is a lot bet-ter guarantee of quality health carethan the most up-to-date techno-gad-get that could count the freckles onyour molecules if they had any.Chances are, even if that machine ison the floor, nobody knows how touse it or it’s not working properly.

Give me, instead, a nurse who cantake blood pressure accurately, counta pulse with her fingers and gauge apatient’s pain by the beads of sweaton his forehead or the color of hisskin instead of asking him where heis “on a scale of one to 10… ?”

Anybody who can put in a IV with-out tearing up a weak person’s armis worth their weight in gold.

So I was glad this was a small hos-pital, in a community that still doesn’t

Time ina hospital

treat everybody like they live in alittle cookie-cutter house right up thestreet with a nine to five job.

They made accommodations.Because our family was in from

way out of town and our patientneeded close observation, they rec-ognized the value in having a con-cerned family member on hand tohelp with nursing duties. They gaveus a bed for one person, plenty offreedom to poke around for supplies,and didn’t get snooty when we askedquestions about drugs, dosage andprocedure — questions that may havesounded dumb to them but didn’t tous.

It gives me a happy feeling to seesick people in hospitals being caredfor by people who love them and acold, empty sensation to see themalone and at the mercy of a stranger’scare.

When it came time for us to trans-fer from intensive care into a regularroom, there had to be some shufflingdone, because there were no roomsin that section not already occupiedby people of the wrong sex. Well, notthe wrong sex, just not the one weneeded. So they moved this one oldfellow while his people were notthere.

After awhile this neat, white-hairedlittle woman walked into our roomwith a bag full of supplies and an in-dignant expression on her face.Where’s my husband? she de-manded. A little shame-faced, weexplained what had happened and shemarched out.

Later the nurse told me she hadbeen unable to reach the lady byphone to tell her they had moved her

July 14, 2005 WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIER Page 3

Did you know that Texas is the sec-ond-most popular travel destinationin the United States? With summerupon us, Texans are busy mappingout their vacations. The good newsis that an exciting vacation doesn’thave to include travel agents andcomplex flight arrangements. Texanscan find some of the country’s great-est destinations right here in the 23rdCongressional District.

Take a stroll down the River Walkin San Antonio, explore out west orset up camp at oneof the many recre-ational spots in thesouthwestern re-gion of our state.The opportunitiesare endless!

I am fortunate torepresent some ofthe most populartourist sites in theworld. I encourageresidents of the23rd District to ex-plore or revisit some of these famedspots. I have created a list of hot spotsand summer events that are sure toprovide an exciting and meaningfulvacation.

• Big Bend National ParkYou can enjoy sightseeing by per-

sonal car, backpacking, jeep touring,camping, fishing, float trips, hikingand wildlife viewing just to name a fewof the many activities. Commercialfloat trips on the Rio Grande are avail-able through outfitters just outside thepark. Big Bend National Park is openyear round, 24 hours a day, seven daysper week. For more information visitwww.nps.gov/bibe/home or call thepark at 432-477-2251.

• Alpine/Marfa: Labor DayWeekend, Big Bend Balloon Bashand the Marfa Lights Festival

There are few more amazing sightsthan the contrast of colorful hot airballoons in the morning West Texassky above the Alpine Valley againstthe Davis Mountains-except perhapsfor the mysterious and unexplainedMarfa Lights, seen by motorists almostevery night of the year. If you’re look-ing for wide open spaces and a touchof mystery this Labor Day weekend…go West! For more information visitthe Marfa Chamber of Commerceonline or call them at 800-650-9696.

• San Antonio/The Alamo & TheRiverwalk

I am proud that more than 2.5 mil-lion people visit San Antonio eachyear to see the 4.2 acre complexknown worldwide as “The Alamo.”The Alamo is open every day of theyear except Christmas Eve andChristmas Day. Visitation hours are9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday throughSaturday, and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.on Sunday. The jewel of San Anto-

nio is the Riverwalk. After theAlamo, it’s the most visited attrac-tion in the State! The Riverwalk of-fers a variety of attractions and ac-tivities including riverboat rides, livemusic, art galleries, great shopping,and world class restaurants. For moreinformation on the above attractionsvisit www.sachamber.org or call 210-229-210010) 229-2100.

• Del Rio / Lake Amistad,National Recreation Area

Situated on the U.S.-Mexico Bor-der and near thecity of Del Rio,Lake Amistadis known pri-marily for ex-cellent waterrecreation in-cluding: boat-ing, fishing,s w i m m i n g ,scuba divingand water-ski-ing. Areas sur-rounding the

lake provide opportunities for picnick-ing, camping and hunting. CiudadAcuna is just a short drive from thelake where visitors can cross the bor-der for an afternoon of shopping andauthentic Mexican cuisine. For moreinformation on the lake and the recre-ation area visit www.nps.gov/amis orcall (830)775-7491.

• Garner State ParkProfound canyons, crystal-clear

streams, towering mesas, and chis-eled limestone cliffs are among themany sites that you will discoverwithin this intriguing terrain. GarnerState Park is found in the northernpart of Uvalde County. Located 30miles north of Uvalde and sevenmiles north of ConCan, Garner StatePark has 10 acres of awe-inspiringriverfront. The park offers camping,hiking, picnicking, canoeing, fishing,swimming in the Frio River, minia-ture golf, paddle boat rentals, jukebox dancing at the concessions build-ing, and bike riding. Friends of Gar-ner State Park has introduced a newprogram called Cowboy Sunset Ser-enade. This program gives an over-view of the history of the AmericanCowboy through songs and cowboypoetry. These performances are heldfrom Memorial Day weekendthrough Labor Day weekend. Formore information visitwww.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/garner orcall 830/232-6132.

There are hundreds of ways to makeTexas your vacation destination thissummer. Take joy in the natural beautyand wonder of our state and invite afriend “down” to share in the fun. Formore ideas about where to go withyour family in the 23rd CongressionalDistrict of Texas, visit our state’s http://www.TravelTex.com web site.

Don’t forget the Alamo

EyeonD.C.

By U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla

See REYES, Page 4

Reyes Reports By U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes

Fighting for Ft. BlissThis past

Monday, theBase Re-a l i g n m e n t

and Closure (BRAC) Commissionheard strong arguments favoring theability of the El Paso community towelcome new troops, many of whomwill be coming from overseas basesscheduled for closure. The panel lis-tened to concerns about errors in thedata used by the Department of De-fense in crafting the list of militarybases recommended for closure, andEl Paso leaders testified against theproposed move of the Air DefenseArtillery (ADA) Center and School.

The nine-member BRAC Com-mission, led by former Departmentof Veterans’ Affairs Secretary An-thony Principi, is analyzing thePentagon’s recently-announced 2005BRAC recommendations and held aregional hearing on Monday in SanAntonio to give communities an op-portunity to respond to the proposedchanges. The BRAC Commissionwill provide President Bush with a

final list of changes to our militarybases later in the year for his ap-proval. The President’s approval, aswell as the agreement of Congress,will finalize the BRAC process.

Overall, Fort Bliss has fared verywell in BRAC, as the Pentagon pro-posed changes that will result in a netgain of 11,500 military and civilianpersonnel at the post — the largestmilitary personnel gain of any mili-tary base in the country — and anannual economic impact of about$1.8 billion. However, we believe thePentagon’s proposal to move theADA Center and School from FortBliss to Fort Sill, Oklahoma wouldbe detrimental to both the El Pasocommunity and to our nation’s abil-ity to train the next generation of airdefenders.

Bob Cook, Interim President of theEl Paso Regional Economic Devel-opment Corporation; Major GeneralJames Maloney, a retired formercommander of Fort Bliss and a mem-ber of the Texas State Military Pre-paredness Commission; and I testi-

fied before the BRAC CommissionMonday, stressing El Paso’s capac-ity for growth in key areas — fromwater and housing to schools.

Together with White Sands Mis-sile Range and Holloman Air ForceBase, our regional military facilitiescomprise the largest Department ofDefense-controlled air and groundspace in the world and can live fireevery weapon in the Army’s arsenal.This unmatched capability is just oneof the reasons why the Army hasrated Fort Bliss as the number onebase in the nation for military value,and it is this top ranking that madeFort Bliss and El Paso the logicalchoice for the basing of the new unitsas part of the Army’s transformationinitiative.

While El Paso was pleased that theArmy has recognized the strategicvalue of Fort Bliss, we were disap-pointed that the Secretary of Defenseproposed moving the ADA Centerand School and ADA brigade to Fort

WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIERPage 4 July 14, 2005

ReyesFrom Page 3______________________

With the special session on schoolfinance and taxation currently under-way, Texans need basic knowledgein order to cut through the politicalrhetoric.

Much of how our current systemoperates is not exactly how it wasintended to operate. But the fact re-mains — it is broken.

Here are some easily understoodfacts about how the system does —and does not — operate.

Fact #1: Rising property valueshelp finance state government.Through the funding formulas andthe Robin Hood equalization sys-tem, the state determines how muchmoney each school district is entitledto. If local property taxes are less,the state makes up the difference. Ifthey are more, the state takes the dif-ference. Rising property valuesmean less state money is needed,freeing state resources to fund otherthings.

Fact #2: In the 1990s alone, in-flation-adjusted per-student spend-ing increased by one-fifth and hastripled since 1970. No more than ahandful of school districts havefailed to grow spending in excess ofenrollment growth and inflation.

Fact #3: The United States gets apoor rate of return on its educationspending compared to other nations.The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank,the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and theWorld Bank have all noted that theU.S. academically achieves less thanother nations spending far less onpublic education.

Fact #4: Only half of current pub-lic school employees in Texas are

classified as classroom teachers.Fact #5: There are currently fewer

than 15 students for every teacherin Texas. In 1960, there were about24 students for every teacher. Teach-ers once outnumbered non-teachersand SAT scores were as good or bet-ter compared to today.

Fact #6: Robin Hood is a scape-goat. Whether an administrator orschool board member is from arich district or poor district, RobinHood is always at fault for thedistrict’s academic woes. Either itis claimed too much money istaken away from or not enough isreceived by the district. Only moremoney will cure whatever ails aschool district, according to localofficials.

Fact #7: Well-constructed eco-nomic research from noted econo-mists Eric Hanushek, CarolynHoxby, and Richard Vedder,among others, repeatedly showsthat additional funding for schoolsis not the answer. The largestsingle employer, though not thelargest industry, in virtually everycommunity is the local school dis-trict. Many legislators supportmore money for schools eventhough they know it will not nec-essarily improve test scores ordrop-out rates.

Fact #8: Arguments for equity arearguments for spending and spend-ing alone; not about kids. Equityguarantees that no district can spendsignificantly more than any other. Ifone district’s taxpayers agree to spendmore money, every district’s taxpay-ers spend more money through thestate system. (See Facts 2 through 5.)

View from here By Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.

Texans must understandbroken system to fix it

Sill. In our testimony before theBRAC Commission we expressedour support for retaining the ADACenter and School at Fort Bliss. Interms of geographic space, Fort Silllacks the land needed for air defensetraining. In fact, it would take 12Fort Sills to equal the size of FortBliss. It is also logical to go to schoolwhere you can actually carry out“real world” training, and in fact, itimproves training.

Fact #9: The system is designed,purposely or not, to extract more tax-payer money. The courts have saidthat when districts reach a tax ratelimit, we have a de facto statewideproperty tax, which is illegal. There-fore, the state must constantly bribedistricts to reduce tax rates withmore state money. Meanwhile, prop-erty values continue to rise, reduc-ing the state share, giving an excusefor local officials to raise rates backwhere they were.

Fact #10: School districts are en-couraged to tax at the maximum pos-sible rate. The greater the local taxrate, the greater the state subsidy tolocal districts. Currently proposedlegislation would make this evenworse, guaranteeing future biannual“buy downs” of local tax rates withstate money.

Fact #11: School officials are en-couraged to categorize children.This is because districts get moremoney for bilingual education thanfor regular education.

Unfortunately, current legislationdoes little to solve the problems out-lined above.

Ultimately, the only solution is forthe state to define a satisfactory edu-cational system as one that providesenough teachers and classrooms andmaterials to teach capable childrenthe basics, including English immer-sion. We already more than achievesuch a level of funding. We just needto use it better.______________________________________________________Byron Schlomach, Ph.D., is the chiefeconomist for the Texas PublicPolicy Foundation, a non-profit re-search institute based in Austin.

Our testimony before the BRACCommission was an extremely im-portant step in the BRAC processand we crafted our message with thehelp of many members of our com-munity and state. Just as we haveworked as a team for over eightyears to prepare for BRAC, since therelease of the BRAC recommenda-tion two months ago, we haveworked together with our U.S. Sena-tors, our Governor, our Mayor, andour Civilian Aide to the Secretary ofthe Army, as well as communityleaders from the Greater El PasoChamber of Commerce, El PasoWater Utilities, and our local school

districts. And we continued our re-gional approach with representativesof Alamogordo, New Mexico serv-ing on our team.

Through our combined efforts —briefing BRAC Commission staff andtestifying before the Commissioners— we have educated the decision-makers about the strengths of the ElPaso community and our regionalmilitary complex and stressed the stra-tegic placement of the ADA Centerand School at Fort Bliss. We presentedstrong arguments to the BRAC Com-mission and will continue to do sountil the final changes are presentedto the President and Congress.

husband and had missed her whenshe passed the nurse’s station on theway in. She said she hoped thewoman hadn’t been rude. I laughed.She couldn’t know that this lady’sreaction to her missing husband wasone the most uplifting things I couldhave seen.

We visited with the lady on sev-eral occasions after that in the din-ing room — a tiny, snowy-topped

person with bulldog instincts to seeto the well-being of her thin, one-legged mate. Lucky man.

Later, there was an escapee fromour floor, a fellow in a wheel chairso desperate for a cigarette that hemanaged, in his hospital gown andbandages, to get all the way downto the hospital loading zone and askpassersby for a smoke.

On my way out the front thatafternoon, I was stopped by anurse from our floor who wasgoing off-duty. She had spottedthe man outside, and asked if Iwould go back upstairs and tell

the duty nurse to send someonedown for the truant while shewaited with him.

Somehow, I don’t think this ex-change would have taken place in abig hospital. I was glad for every-one involved, including me, that itdid.

Hospitals, like schools and jails,are places of intense human activityand transition — some success andfailure, joy and sadness, life anddeath.

You never walk away unscathedor untouched by this odd mix ofblessing and curse.

HospitalsFrom Page 2______________________

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CALL 852-3235

SAN ELIZARIO — With the 2005-2006 school year approaching August15, the San Elizario IndependentSchool District will welcome a fewnew faces, including some familiarones making a return to the district.

“We have a very strong leadershipteam in place in the district,” said Dr.Mike Quatrini, Superintendent in SanElizario. “Especially at the campuslevel, where the personnel is young,energetic, and enthusiastic aboutteaching the children of San Elizarioand helping them succeed.”

At San Elizario High School, JoeKeith has been named principal, suc-ceeding Irma Baquera, who retiredafter the 2004-2005 school year.Keith spent 11 years as a teacher inthe Socorro ISD before becoming aprincipal at Sun Ridge Middle Schoolfrom 2001-2004. Keith was namedan Assistant Principal at San ElizarioHigh School in 2004 and will nowlead an AP staff comprised of KathyHarper, Frank Huizar, and SpankySanchez.

Harper has been working in edu-cation for over 25 years, the lastseven of them as an AP at SanElizario High School. Huizar wasfirst hired as a teacher at the highschool in 1998. Sanchez began histeaching career in 1990 for Socorroschools before coming to SanElizario for seven years as varsitybasketball coach and English teacher.After coaching varsity basketball andteaching English at Burges HighSchool in the El Paso ISD from 2002-

New faces help shape up‘enthusiastic’ leadershipteam in San Elizario ISD

2005, Sanchez is making a returnvisit to San Elizario.

“It is truly an honor and a privi-lege to work as principal for SEHS,”Keith said. “I believe that this yearwill provide opportunity for successin a manner that reflects upon ourlevel of commitment to each otherand our students.”

Meanwhile, plenty of excitingchange has occurred at the district’selementary and primary schools.

• Sheri Pellicote has been namedAP at Sambrano Elementary Schoolfor 2005-2006 after an 11-year ten-ure as a teacher in the Ysleta Inde-pendent School District.

• George Augustain, who began histeaching career with YISD in 1983before becoming an AP at SanElizario Primary, then Sambrano forthe next seven years, has been namedthe new principal at Borrego Elemen-tary. Augustain replaces Sylvia Hopp,who became the Assistant Superin-tendent for Planning & Instruction inSan Elizario.

• Mayela Sanchez, who taught atYsleta in 1994 before becoming acounselor at Sambrano Elementaryand then an AP at Loya Primary, hasnow become the AP at Alarcón El-ementary.

• Adam Starke, who had been ateacher at Parkland High School in1995 before becoming an AP atAlarcón Elementary the past threeyears, will now be the new AP atLoya Primary.

• Julian Encina, the CATE Coor-dinator at San Elizario High Schooland district lead counselor, has nowjoined the Department of Planning &Instruction.

By Phillip CortezSpecial to the Courier

July 14, 2005 WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIER Page 5

visible deterrent to would-be ag-gressors, and are equipped withthe most versatile and powerfulweapons available. Ortega is a2003 graduate of Socorro HighSchool and joined the Navy inFebruary 2004.

� The U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services hasawarded UTEP $926,689 in fed-eral funds for the followingprojects, according to Congress-man Silvestre Reyes:• $474,144 for UndergraduateBiomedical Research Training;• $218,349 for the U.S.-MexicoInterdisciplinary Research Train-ing Program;• $209,293 for the Border Bridgesto the Baccalaureate Program, ajoint UTEP-EPCC effort thataims to increase the number ofminority students who pursuebiomedical research; and• $24,903 for the Advanced Edu-

cation Nursing Trainee Positions“I applaud UTEP for their contin-ued work encouraging students topursue health-related fields andproviding avenues to make sucheducation a possibility,” saidReyes.

� The federal Institute of Mu-seum and Library Services hasawarded El Paso’s Tigua tribe a$6,000 grant to improve their li-brary services, CongressmanSilvestre Reyes has announced.The Tiguas will receive a BasicGrant of $5,000 to support exist-ing library operations and servicesand a $1,000 Education/Assess-ment Grant to provide training andoutreach opportunities for librarystaff. “This funding will not onlyimprove the Tigua’s library, it willencourage lifelong learning andincrease educational opportunitiesfor all generations of Tiguas,” saidReyes. “The Tiguas are deservingof this funding, which will alsohelp preserve their history and cul-ture.” IMLS, an independent fed-eral grant-making agency dedi-cated to helping libraries and mu-

seums, provided this grantthrough their Native AmericanLibrary Services Grant program.

� The U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services(HHS) has awarded the follow-ing two grants to the El Paso com-munity, Congressman SilvestreReyes, said this week:• $451,500 to UTEP for BASICS:Screening and Brief Interventionfor UTEP College Students, aneducational program to preventstudent binge drinking on campus.• $450,000 to Aliviane for theRenacer Project. HHS awardedthis grant through the Young Of-fender Re-entry Program, whichenhances substance abuse treat-ment for juvenile and young adultoffenders returning to the com-munity from incarceration.“Fighting alcohol and substanceabuse is hard work, and is espe-cially critical when it concernsyoung people at vulnerable timesin their lives,” Reyes said. HHSawarded these grants through theSubstance Abuse and MentalHealth Services Administration.

BriefsFrom Page 1______________________

EL PASO COUNTY — The SunBowl Association announced todaythat it has secured a corporate spon-sor for the Sun Bowl Parade.

FirstLight Federal Credit Union,a community financial cooperativewith locations in El Paso and LasCruces, has agreed to sponsor theSun Bowl Parade in 2005,2006 and 2007, withan option for the2008 season.FirstLight FederalCredit Union re-cently changed itsname from FortBliss FederalCredit Union.

“We are really excited about add-ing FirstLight Federal Credit Unionto our family as the title sponsor ofthe Sun Bowl Parade,” said Presi-dent Wayne Thornton of the SunBowl Association. “This is a greatfit for both the parade andFirstLight.”

FirstLight FCU becomes just thefourth title sponsor of the paradesince its inception in 1936. The pa-rade was previously sponsored bythe Las Palmas & Del Sol HealthNetwork from 1999-2004.

“The Sun Bowl Parade is the per-fect opportunity for FirstLight Fed-eral Credit Union to let the El Pasocommunity and our troops at Fort

Bliss know that we are here to servethem, what better way than to be-come a part of this community’s tra-ditions,” said Karl Murphy, presi-dent of FirstLight Federal CreditUnion.

The Sun Bowl Parade is thesingle-most attended event in the

Southwest region, bring-ing over 300,000

spectators to Mon-tana Street eachT h a n k s g i v i n gDay. A traditionthat started onNew Year’s Day1936, the SunBowl Parade is

also broadcast on KTSM-NBCChannel 9.

“This is a great fit for both orga-nizations,” said Bernie Olivas, ex-ecutive director of the Sun Bowl As-sociation. “We were looking for alocally-based sponsor for one of ElPaso’s treasures and FirstLight Fed-eral Credit Union stepped up to theplate. With their recent name changeit is a win-win situation for every-one.”

The theme for the 69th AnnualFirstLight Federal Credit Union SunBowl Parade is “Cartoon Crazy”.The parade is slated for Nov. 24 onMontana Street between OchoaStreet and Copia Street.

FirstLight Federal Credit Unionto sponsor Sun Bowl Parade

RESEARCH BACK

ISSUES AT:www.wtccourier.com

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S.Small Business Administration hasannounced the kick off of a live Webchat series for small business own-ers on entrepreneurship, beginning inJuly, to engage business owners andaspiring entrepreneurs in a nationaldialogue about the issues that matterto them most.

Business owners can exchange in-formation on relevant business issueswith real-world industry leaders andsuccessful entrepreneurs. Partici-

SBA offers ‘Web Chat Series’ for small business ownersBy Michael StamlerSpecial to the Courier

pants will converse online in real-time, having direct access to the Webchats via questions they will provide,and be able to receive instant answersto their questions.

Kicking off the first chat will beJ. Scott Plank, chief administrativeofficer of Under Armour Perfor-mance Apparel, on Thursday, July21, at 11 a.m. MDT. The Web chatwill focus on Entrepreneurship:Innovative Strategies for SmallBusiness Growth. Plank will sharethe incredible story of helping tobuild a multi-million dollar busi-ness with other entrepreneurs andaspiring business owners, as well

as provide insight on the successesand challenges of entrepreneur-ship.

Participants can join the liveWeb chat by going online to http://www.sba.gov, and clicking “YourSmall Business Voice LiveOnline.” Plank will answer ques-tions for approximately one hour.Participants may also post a ques-tion for Plank before the July 21Web chat by visiting the same Webpage and posting their questiononline. The Live Web chats will beheld monthly — for details on fu-ture live Web chats, check thewebsite.

CANUTILLO — StephanieSapien, sixth grade student atCanutillo Elementary School, wasamong 80 outstanding Texas sixthand seventh grade students whowere selected to participate in the

Education inA c t i o n ’ s2005 LoneStar Leader-ship Acad-emy due todemonstrateda c a d e m i csuccess andl e a d e r s h i pp o t e n t i a l .They visited

historically, politically and envi-ronmentally significant sites in-cluding the Austin offices of theirstate representatives and senators,the Bob Bullock Texas State His-tory Museum, LBJ Library, StateCemetery, Governor’s Mansion,State Capitol, Supreme Court andMcKinney Roughs EnvironmentalLearning Center. They enjoyed anevening around the campfire witha cowboy storyteller, bat watchingon the Lone Star Riverboat, and aguided rafting program on theColorado River.— Contributed by Alfredo Vasquez

Outstanding Texas studentselected for Lone StarLeadership Academy

Stephanie Sapien

EAST EL PASO COUNTY — Thetsunami that hit Asia Dec. 26, 2004took the students of Desert Wind bysurprise. But after seeing all the presscoverage and all the donations beingraised worldwide, the sixth-gradeteachers decided to do somethingabout it.

“The teachers thought it would bea good opportunity to incorporate thescience of what a tsunami is and whatcan happen due to a tsunami,” saysDesert Wind sixth grade teacherRachel Lopez. “In Social Studies, welearned about the area and foundways we could contribute.”

So as a part of their classroom re-quirements, all sixth graders wereasked to participate in fundraisinggroups. Students were allowed to sellitems in school with proceeds do-nated to the American Red Cross tsu-nami relief fund. By the end of theschool year they raised $788.02.

“The sixth graders really got intoit,” Lopez says. “They had onegoal: to help raise money. And theother students got to see these stu-dents work hard, contribute andcome together for a greater good.In a sense, that made us more of a

By Carlos A. BrianoSpecial to the Courier

Desert Wind sixth graders completefund-raising year for Tsunami relief

community.”Kassandra Lara, a sixth grade stu-

dent, came up with a creative way toraise money.

“I was taking private paintingclasses,” she says. “When theybrought up this project, I decided tosell two of my acrylic desert scenepaintings. I sold one for $15 and onefor $20.”

Sixth graders Luisa Muela andJacqueline Granado teamed up intheir fundraising endeavors.

“For Valentine’s, Jacqueline and Isold candy-grams,” Luisa says. “Wealso sold craft strings. Everybodypurchased the things we were sell-ing to help.”

“I thought of those people and putmyself in their place,” Jacquelineadds. “I hope this will help them re-ceive clothes, food, medicine, thingsthat could help them while they gothrough this circumstance.”

Desert Wind will receive a letterof acknowledgment and a certificateof appreciation from the AmericanRed Cross.

“The children of that part of theworld are going to need help formany years to come,” says MarkMatthys, Executive Director for theEl Paso area American Red Cross.“The students of Desert Wind areheroes to the American Red Cross.”

WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIERPage 6 July 14, 2005

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They say that lightning never strikes twicein the same place, and if it does, there’s usu-ally quite a bit of time between strikes.

The El Paso County Coliseum, however,which was hit with arena football fever last yearonly to see the Rumble and the Intense Foot-ball League wither and blow away, is about tobe hit with that jolting feeling of déjá vu — allover again.

Seems Waco businessman Antwone Taultonhas paid the $250,000 franchise fee for admit-tance into the National Indoor Football Leagueand the team he will bring into the league willbe stationed in El Paso.

Taulton told me this week that the reason hechose El Paso as the location for his first eversports franchise — he has no real ties here —was because he felt the Sun City was a grow-ing metropolitan city with lots of potential.

He said the fact that arena football had al-ready been played at the coliseum was a bigplus. El Paso has already done this and knowswhat it takes to make it work, he told me. He

felt that the fact that it failed had more to dowith the team ownership than the city of ElPaso.

The NIFL is a 22-team league that has beenaround since 2001. In fact, they’re in the middleof their playoffs right now.

The El Paso team, whose nickname will beestablished after a contest is held, will beginplay in March of 2006. They will likely play a16-game regular-season schedule with a coupleof exhibition games.

I don’t know about you, but though I reallywant this thing to work, I’ve got to be a littlebit skeptical. Not because I’m a negative per-son but because I live in El Paso and have aportion of my brain which is dedicated tomemory.

In San Antonio, they say “Remember theAlamo!” In El Paso, we say “Remember theRumble?” and “Remember the Buzzards?” and“Remember affiliated minor league baseball?”

It seems lately that outside of UTEP athlet-ics, most sports franchises in El Paso have metwith disastrous results.

Does that mean this will fail? Of course not— all we need is that one guy with the confi-dence, vision and guts that almost all our city

leaders lack.One thing is for certain — El Paso will never

see the light of day until someone comes alongwith the courage to lead us out of the economic-developmental darkness.

The weaker sex?I can’t lie, I’m not a huge fan of women’s

sports. But then again, neither are most women.I’ll check out the occasional volleyball, soft-

ball or track and field competition on TV, butother than that, I don’t keep up much with theopposite sex — at least not on the sports pages.

But the past week really tweaked my in-terest.

I thought it was a really intriguing story.No, I’m not talking about the Danica Patrick

story. I’ll be impressed with her when she ac-tually wins a race. I’ve seen plenty of womendriving on the freeway — the fact that she candrive fast doesn’t impress me. Women pass meon the way to work every morning — andthey’re putting on makeup and talking on theircell phones at the same time.

No, I’m not talking about the Michelle Wiestory. The fact that she plays golf with the guysdoesn’t impress me. When she can actually

compete with the guys is when I’ll pay atten-tion. By the way, I’m still waiting for the timewhen Wie can actually beat some of the topwomen professionals.

And no, I’m not talking about the Lisa Lesliestory. The fact that her WNBA all-star oppo-nents actually walked off the court so that shecould proceed unmolested to the basket anddunk the ball doesn’t impress me. The fact thatthe defense walked away and gave her a giftshould have embarrassed her.

What I am talking about is a woman whoactually earned her attention and accolades lastweek.

It seemed, to most of the sporting world, thatVenus Williams’ best days were long behindher. Once considered the best tennis player inthe world, she hasn’t even been considered thebest tennis player in her family for quite sometime now.

But Venus went back to the drawing board.She rededicated herself to her game and wentout and defeated Lindsay Davenport for theWimbledon title to regain her lofty position.

No hype, no potential, no gimmicks, no gifts.Congratulations Venus, for doing it the oldfashioned way — by earning it.

Antwone Taulton thinks El Paso is the right place to play arena football

LEGALS

PUBLICNOTICE

Rafael R. Ramirezis requesting thefollowing variancesfrom the County ofEl Paso SubdivisionRegulations for theproposed Park Ad-dition No. 2 ReplatA Subdivision:

1. Minimum lot set-back of 25 feet fromfront of propertyline; and2. 10 feet from sideproperty line

The proposed sub-division encom-

passes three-quar-ters (3/4) acres ofland and has a le-gal description ofPortion of Tract 4,Park Addition No. 2.The El Paso CountyCommissioners’Court will considerthese variances onMonday, July 25,2005, at 9:30 a.m.at the CountyCourthouse, 500 E.San Antonio Street,Room 303, El Paso,Texas 79901.

Anyone interestedin providing com-ment on the pro-posed variances,either in support oropposition, may do

so during the pub-lic comment periodof the Commission-ers’ Court meetingor by providing writ-ten comment to theattention of Subdivi-sion Coordinator, ElPaso Road andBridge Department,500 E. San AntonioStreet, El Paso,Texas 79901. In or-der to be consid-ered by Commis-sioners’ Court, theCounty must re-ceive any writtencomments at leastseven (7) calendardays prior to theCommissioners’Court meeting.WTCC: 07/14/05________________________

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TORNILLO — Students of allages attended the Tornillo ISD Bas-ketball Camp, held June 27-30, at theTornillo Intermediate School gymna-sium. Approximately 30 students at-tended the four-day event, whichgave them the opportunity to stayactive, improve their basketball fun-damentals and have some fun duringthe summer.

TISD Athletic Director DamasoMartinez organized the event, alongwith Coaches Marlene Bullard andKarlin Russell. Tornillo High Schoolstudents Danny Avila and RaulHernandez also helped coach the stu-dents, as well as recent graduateRudy Valenzuela. The camp activi-ties were designed to strengthen thestudents’ basketball fundamentals,

— Photo courtesy Tornillo ISD

AN EYE ON THE BALL — Tornillo ISD students practice their free throwsas part of the TISD Basketball Camp.

Tornillo ISD hosts basketball camp

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including dribbling, passing, shoot-ing, and game strategy. “We want thekids to learn the fundamentals and themental aspect of the game, and de-velop a positive attitude as studentathletes”, said Coach Martinez.

All participants received a t-shirt

on the first day of the camp. OnThursday, a celebration was held,with pizzas donated by Flicks Pizza.Students who participated all fourdays received a basketball. Martinezsaid he hopes the camp becomes anannual event.

By Rudy BarredaSpecial to the Courier

July 14, 2005 WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIER Page 7

Comix

King Super Crossword

OUT ON A LIMB By Gary Kopervas

AMBER WAVES By Dave T. Phipps

THE SPATS By Jeff Pickering

R.F.D. By Mike Marland

By Don FloodThis week I have an extraordi-

nary news bulletin to report: I waswrong!

Regular readers, of course, willbe stunned as much as I was by thisdevelopment — and I apologizefor their emotional distress — butthe facts speak for themselves.

In a recent column, I wrote aboutTom Cruise and Katie Holmes in amanner that, unfortunately, mayhave suggested I took their rela-tionship to be a publicity stunt.

But now, with Tom havingpopped the question atop the EiffelTower and immediately announc-ing it to the press afterward, it isobvious to me that: They Share theGreatest Relationship in History.

And, boy, is my face red.(Editor’s note: His face isn’t ex-

actly red, eyes maybe.)So let’s be clear. Their relation-

ship is NOT a publicity stunt, andif Tom Cruise has to hold pressconferences every day until theopening of his movie to prove it,that’s what he’s going to do.

(Also, regarding that disgracefulbehavior where Cruise got squirtedwith water by a fake microphone,I just want to say to Tom, on be-half of the world media, that I amvery, very sorry I didn’t see it live.)

But inquiring minds want toknow, how do Tom and Katie re-ally stack up against some of theother greatest couples in history?

The following scientific poll,conducted haphazardly by thehighly regarded Fictional Polls,Inc., questioned 1,088 losers whowere actually bored enough to stayon the phone. Margin of error:quite a bit.

According to that poll, the topfive relationships of all time — notincluding my own of course, in

Tom and Katie are for realcase my wife is reading! — are:

Richard Burton and ElizabethTaylor/Cleopatra — Taylor reallybelieved she was Cleopatra andBurton was drunk enough to goalong with it, so for a time thingswent smashingly.

Abelard and Heloise — One ofthe most truly celebrated couplesin history. Unfortunately, no oneknows who they are anymore —blame their publicist — and nowshe’s stuck writing this dopeyhousehold hints column. Last Iheard Abelard was pitching anidea for reality show starring himand Heloise. Even UPN turned itdown.

Paul Newman and RobertRedford — No, I’m not suggest-ing that Newman and Redfordwere a “couple,” but they surelooked good together and seemedto get along well too, even whenall those guys were trying to shootthem at the end of “Butch Cassidyand the Sundance Kid.” In manyrelationships, that kind of stressleads to backbiting and recrimina-tions, but this successful couplelearned to take things one bullet ata time.

Popeye and Olive Oyl — Longregarded as the epitome of TrueLove, the real-life story of Popeyeand Olive had more than its shareof bumps in the road, many revolv-ing around her life-long battle withbulimia, which is especially dan-gerous for cartoon characters.

Burt Reynolds and LoniAnderson — Just kidding. Ineeded a fifth one to round thingsout.

And now, to that hallowed list,we add Tom and Katie. Have fun,you crazy kids!______________________________________________________(c) 2005 King Features Synd., Inc.

SIX-FOOTERSACROSS

1 Kite or coot 5 Chihuahua snack 9 “Goodbye,Columbus” author 13 Egyptian Nobelist 18 Sore 19 Addis _ 21 Merrill melody 22 Menander’smarketplace 23 6' actress 25 6' comedian 27 Cook clams 28 Trickles 30 Clean-air org. 31 Cartoon cry 32 Wool gatherer? 34 Not _ many words 37 “Animal Farm”author 40 6' actor 44 Garfield’s pal 45 Tie the knot 46 38 Down, for one 47 _ impasse 49 Sour sort 53 Swallow up 56 Undergoes 59 Make a pile? 60 Pool person 61 Puzzling problem 62 Scarlett’ssweetheart 64 Actress Hagen 65 Potter’s need 67 Browning’s

bedtime? 68 Diva Marton 69 Young or King 70 6' designer 73 6' author 76 Art deco figure 77 Marsh 78 Parenthesis shape 79 MelodiousMcEntire 80 Deli loaf 81 Robert of “TheCitadel” 83 Feline, familiarly 85 Force 89 ’66 Michael Cainemovie 91 Supervise 93 Take for granted 94 Attack 95 They may get cold 96 Ring out 98 Fix a fight 99 And others101 6' singer106 Paraguayan title108 Mediocre109 When pigs whistle,to Tennyson110 Mongrel111 Address abbr.113 Actress Hedren116 Gettysburgcommander120 6' trumpeter125 6' anthropologist127 Doll up128 Ireland

129 County in 128Across130 Scorch131 Pass on132 Crowdburst?133 Part of a threat134 Connecticutcampus

DOWN 1 Supermarketsupplies 2 “New Jack City”actor 3 Korean statesman 4 Go-getter 5 Lincoln son 6 Disconcerts 7 Spelunker’s spot 8 Tony’s cousin 9 Scott’s “The _Quartet” 10 Mispickel, e.g. 11 Become winded 12 Queequeg’sweapon 13 Mr. Mineo 14 Season firewood 15 Peg 16 Shakespeareansprite 17 Chore 20 Clear jelly 24 Love, to Livy 26 Grounds 29 _ -Cat (wintertransport) 33 Relief initials?

35 Constellationcomponent 36 Furry fisherman 38 Cowes’ locale 39 First name inarchitecture 40 Fellow 41 Brink 42 Role for Liz 43 Has a hunch 45 Craven or Unseld 48 Peter of Peter andGordon 50 It’s down in themouth 51 Copper or cobalt 52 Mastermind 54 Quitter’s cry 55 Vegetate 57 “Disco Duck”singer 58 Keatsian crock 59 Barrel part 61 Tower 63 Each’s partner 66 Head monk 69 See 70 Down 70 With 69 Down,“Heaven” singer 71 Stuff 72 Dumbstruck 73 “True _” (’69 film) 74 Arm-y types? 75 Wading bird 76 Therefore 78 Canine grp. 81 “Same here!” 82 Lock

84 “Lemon _” (’65 hit) 86 Immaculate 87 Kuwaiti kingpin 88 Turkey serving 90 “I’ve _ had!” 92 ConductorKlemperer 93 _ vera 95 Roaring Twentiesfigure 97 Canvas shades100 Inland sea102 Superlative suffix103 Nullifies104 “Nautilus” captain105 Formal106 Kid stuff?107 Comic Leon110 Canterburycleaner112 Austin or Copley114 Velvet feature115 Bucket117 On the briny118 Distribute the deck119 Rochester’smissus121 It may bestrapless122 Whichever123 Carnival site124 Big bang letters126 Adversary

Answer Page 6

WEST TEXAS COUNTY COURIERPage 8 July 14, 2005

Social Security Q&A By Ray Vigil

The patented RealFeel Temperature® is AccuWeather's exclusive index of the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine, precipitation, and elevation on the human body.

7-DAY FORECAST FOR EL PASO, TX

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2005

Thu. 6:10 a.m. 8:13 p.m.Fri. 6:11 a.m. 8:12 p.m.Sat. 6:11 a.m. 8:12 p.m.Sun. 6:12 a.m. 8:11 p.m.Mon. 6:12 a.m. 8:11 p.m.Tues. 6:13 a.m. 8:10 p.m.Wed. 6:14 a.m. 8:10 p.m.

Thu. 1:29 p.m. 12:24 a.m.Fri. 2:31 p.m. 12:52 a.m.Sat. 3:36 p.m. 1:24 a.m.Sun. 4:45 p.m. 2:02 a.m.Mon. 5:56 p.m. 2:49 a.m.Tues. 7:04 p.m. 3:47 a.m.Wed. 8:05 p.m. 4:55 a.m.

SunRise Set

First

7/14

Full

7/21

Last

7/27

New

8/4

IN THE SKYWEATHER TRENDS THIS WEEK

Moon

Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

Atlanta 88 72 t 84 72 t 88 71 t 89 71 tBoston 85 67 t 85 67 pc 85 67 pc 88 68 pcChicago 86 68 pc 86 70 pc 88 70 t 90 68 pcDenver 94 62 s 94 62 s 90 60 s 91 62 sDetroit 84 70 t 86 70 t 86 70 t 88 70 pcHouston 96 76 t 96 76 t 96 76 t 96 76 tIndianapolis 81 71 t 85 70 t 88 72 t 87 72 tKansas City 92 70 s 92 73 s 92 72 s 94 74 tLos Angeles 82 64 pc 80 62 pc 80 62 pc 82 62 pcMiami 89 79 sh 89 79 sh 91 79 sh 91 78 shMinneapolis 90 70 s 90 70 pc 90 68 pc 92 67 cNew Orleans 90 77 t 91 77 t 91 77 t 92 77 tNew York City 84 71 t 85 73 t 85 73 t 86 73 tOmaha 92 68 s 94 70 s 94 68 s 95 72 pcPhoenix 114 86 s 112 86 s 112 86 s 112 88 sSan Francisco 76 56 pc 70 58 pc 72 57 pc 73 57 pcSeattle 74 56 pc 74 54 pc 78 56 pc 82 58 sWashington 85 72 t 87 74 t 90 72 t 89 74 t

CITY HI LO W HI LO W HI LO W HI LO WThursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Abilene, TX 99 76 pc 102 74 s 100 73 s 97 74 sAlbuquerque, NM 95 69 t 95 69 t 95 68 s 96 69 sAmarillo, TX 93 68 s 95 69 s 97 66 s 95 68 sAustin, TX 96 75 t 98 71 pc 100 71 pc 97 73 pcBrownsville, TX 96 78 pc 95 78 sh 95 78 pc 94 77 tDodge City, KS 94 68 s 96 68 s 97 67 s 98 69 sJackson, MS 91 74 t 89 73 t 91 73 t 91 74 tLaredo, TX 108 80 pc 106 79 pc 106 78 pc 106 78 pcLittle Rock, AR 94 75 pc 91 73 t 92 74 t 94 76 pcLubbock, TX 98 70 s 98 70 s 98 70 s 96 70 sMemphis, TN 90 75 t 90 75 t 90 75 t 90 77 pcMidland, TX 98 73 t 100 74 s 100 72 s 96 73 sPueblo, CO 98 60 s 100 60 s 96 60 s 99 63 sRoswell, NM 99 67 t 100 67 t 98 67 s 98 68 sSt. Louis, MO 86 71 sh 88 74 pc 90 75 pc 93 74 rSan Antonio, TX 96 76 t 96 76 pc 96 76 pc 95 75 sTexarkana, AR 93 74 pc 95 74 pc 94 74 t 96 76 pcWaco, TX 99 74 pc 98 73 pc 100 75 pc 98 76 pcWichita, KS 97 68 s 97 71 s 98 71 s 99 73 s

CITY HI LO W HI LO W HI LO W HI LO WThursday Friday Saturday Sunday

REGIONAL CITIES U.S. CITIES

Rise Set

Mostly cloudy

Thu. night

73°

70°RealFeel

Mostly sunny

Friday

RealFeel

72°96°

70°94°

Mostly sunny

Saturday

RealFeel

72°97°

71°95°

Mostly sunny

Sunday

RealFeel

72°100°

68°96°

Partly sunny

Monday

RealFeel

73°99°

72°101°

Chance for athunderstorm

Tuesday

RealFeel

72°96°

73°102°

Chance for athunderstorm

Wednesday

RealFeel

67°96°

72°99°

A p.m. t-stormpossible

Thursday

96°

103°RealFeel

Q: I retired from the U.S. Army sev-eral years ago, after 23 years of ser-vice, and receive a military pension.How will my military retirement af-fect my Social Security benefits?

A: You can get both Social Securitybenefits and military retirement.Generally, there is no offset of So-cial Security benefits because of yourmilitary retirement. You will get yourfull Social Security benefits based onyour earnings. More information maybe found in our fact sheet called Mili-tary Service and Social Security,

which is available on our website.

Q: How much will the new Prescrip-tion Drug Program cost and wheredoes want sign up for this new cov-erage?

A: The Prescription Drug Programhas a monthly premium of anywherefrom $35 to as much as $70, depend-ing on which Prescription Drug Pro-vider individuals select, a $250 an-nual deductible, 25% coinsurance upto $2250 in prescription cost. Medi-care will not pay for any prescriptions

after $2250 unless an individual hasmore than $3600 in annual prescrip-tion cost.

Q: My three children receive monthlysurvivors benefits from Social Secu-rity. But my oldest son will turn 18on July 5, 2005. Will his last paymentbe in June or July?

A: Your son’s benefits stop the monthhe becomes age 18 or the month hebecomes 19 if he is still attendingelementary or secondary school fulltime. His last payment will be for themonth of June but he will receive hislast payment in July. You will be no-tified by mail before the last payment.

Q: I worked as a teaching assistantfor a couple of years in the 1970s,and then quit to raise a family. I amnow working again but plan to quitwork when my husband retires. I willonly have about 18 years of totalwork under Social Security. Is therea minimum Social Security retirementbenefit?

A: There is no minimum monthlySocial Security benefit. Your benefitis calculated based on your highest35 years of earnings, and in yearswhen no earnings are reported, ze-ros are added in. However, youshould know that a spouse is entitledto up to one-half of the retired

worker’s full benefit. If you are eli-gible for both your own retirementbenefit and for benefits as a spouse,we always pay your own benefit first.If your benefit as a spouse is higherthan your retirement benefit, you’llreceive a combination of benefitsequaling the higher spouse’s benefit.

______________________________________________________For more information visit your lo-cal Security office, see www.ssa.govor call us at 1-800-772-1213. If youhave any questions that you wouldlike to have answered, please mailthem to the Social Security Office,11111 Gateway West, Attn: Ray Vigil,El Paso, Texas 79935.