Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • 9

SbtUne Reporter-Jletoa AA i 1iL A -s1- Wednesday August 16 2000 kjkaaiskijsc 3 i ftf -a lit Taylor County to By Jerry Daniel Reed Nineteen counties have been invit- Reporter-News Staff Writer ed to join the West Central Texas Weather Modification Association to It help this year but on start the cloud-seeding project May 1 Tuesday Taylor County commission- Town hall meetings will be held ers took a leap of faith that it will throughout the proposed 10 3 million-rain again someday acre district next week said Gary They agreed to support a proposed Bomar Taylor extension weather modification district that agent would start a cloud-seeding operation Last week commissioners tenta- nextyear tively allocated $80000 of county rev- join rain enue for the first operation John Flood environmental officer for American Electric Power projected a $1193 million budget for the first year based on operational costs of 11 cents an acre an outside esti- mate with 9 cents a more likely final figure he said Proponents of cloud seeding cite studies that show rainfall increases of 25 to 35 percent during foe growing project season during years when conditions are right Unfortunately for anyone eager to see the present dry spell end times of drought offer poor prospects for producing extra rainfall because promising clouds are scarce Even with a 20 percent increase in rainfall Abilene would gain about 5 Inches a year Flood observed This Please see WATER Page 2AA ROAD WORK OUR SLICE OF TEKRS BRECHENHDGE Hck Peny vMts: A reception will be held for Lt Gov Rick Perry at 10:45 am Thursday at the Breckenridge campus of Texas State Technical College The public is invited COLEMAN Budget accepted: Coleman County commissioners accepted a $15 million budget Monday for 2000-2001 The budget is expected to be fonded by a tax rate of 62 cents per $100 valuation the same as this yeart Commissioners will take final action on the budget and tax rate at an Aug 31 meeting EASTLAND Budget hearings: Two public hearings on budgets for fiscal year 2001 have been set for this week At 10 am today in the Eastland County Courtroom the county judge and commissioners will hold the first of the hearings At 830 am Friday in the 91st District Courtroom District Judge Herod will hold a public hearing on the compensation to be paid to the county auditor assistant auditors and court reporter HAWLEY Adon Madrid and Bobby Sanchez secure a piece of plywood over a box culvert of US Highways 8384 and FarmtoMarket Road 707 Finding New Routes Taylor County rejects merit pay increases By Jerry Daniel Reed Reporter-News Staff Writer Cost-conscious Taylor County commissioners found little merit in proposed merit pay raises Tuesday rejecting all five such proposals presented Requests for merit raises for JoAnn Mashburn Precinct 2 justice of the peace Obie Coker county maintenance supervisor and Mike Lindsay chief Juvenile probation officer and two justice of the peace office clerks all were turned down Commissioners continued to wrestle with a county budget about $135 million short of revenue to match requested Bpending one week before proposing a budget for fiscal year 2001 and a tax rate to fond it Sizable pay raises years earlier were enough to sink most of the requests But Frank Cleveland Precinct 4 justice of the peace persuaded commissioners to upgrade his pay group two notches Commissioners noted that JP court though it still handles fewer cases than the four others has more than tripled his revenue since 1984 pay would increase from $19700 to $22704 a year on Oct 1 under the proposal tentatively approved Tuesday Commissioners rejected a request by Gary Bomar to withdraw the county extension staff from the group health insurance plan and apply the $242 per month savings per employee to salary increases Extension agents are covered by the Texas University system group plan so county insurance is secondary coverage for them Bomar said extension employees have seen little benefit from the plan But County Judge Lee Hamilton said allowing some employees to withdraw from Please see PAY Page 2AA lineup in October hi the ftiture KTES may produce mere original programming or longer newscasts However Rutledge said those plans are just in foe talking stage right now taking baby steps If a big job to start up a new station and we want to do it she said Reyes said she )s excited about foe challenge of launching local Spanish-language TV news culture and foe language are very Important to me This is something this community she said Bilingual advertising salesman Javier Vargas is in charge of producing and selling ads for KTES KTES also will air public service announcements of interest to the Please see KTES Rags 2AA Tuesday afternoon near the Intersection to 10 extra minutes Some routes suggested by Seago: Those coming from foe area southwest of Abilene can get to Wylie schools using FM 89 Those coming from the Fotosi area can avoid 707 by continuing north cm FM 1750 and using Loop 322 to get to FM 89 or Highways 83 and 84 Those coming from southern Abilene on Highways 83 and 84 can turn east on AntiUey Road then south on Fairway Oaks Boulevard or FM 89 to access Wylie schools If drivers do go anywhere near the construction area Seago said they need to be careftil and patient Fines are doubled in construction zones and speed will be monitored frequently by radar he said you do have to come through the intersection" he said reduce your speed observe the warning signs and watch out for unusual conditions in The overpass is being built mainly to make foe intersection safer Seago said by helping local traffic Please see ROUTES Page 2AA KKHR (1063 FM) broadcast commercials for local and national businesses in Spanish and English Both broadcast little news although KBBA used to broadcast news in Spanish KTXS station manager Jackie Rufiedge said having Reyes cm board will allow KTXS and KTES to do news stories that were difficult to do befora you speak the language there is a level of comfortability there" for sources she said At first Reyes will translate news and weather reports appearing on KTXS for KIES and do 30-to6Usecond news and weather updates Eventually Reyes will produce original reports for KTES of interest to the local Hispanic community The newscasts also will expand to five-minute segments weekday mornings by foe time Telemundo joins the Cox cable Construction means detours to Wylie schools By VM Hoang Reporter-News Staff Writer Barents planning to drive their kids to Wylie schools today may want to consider taking an alter nate route Road construction on south side will mean unexpected traffic delays throughout the new school yean The Texas Department of Transportation Is building an overpass for US Highways 83 and 84 -above Farm-to-Market Road 707 to relieve some of file congestion for the high-traffic area Until the planned completion date in October 2001 authorities are asking drivers to use alternate routes when bringing students to and from school to avoid road equipment personnel Meet the Bearcats: The Hawley Booster Club is hosting Meet foe Bearcats Night Friday at the Hawley football field Hamburgers chips and drinks will be available for a small donation Serving begins at 6 pm Players from youth division junior high junior varsity and varsity football teams will be introduced along with junior high and high school cheerleaders and bands KNOX CITY New cty manager Mike Burkham a former Knox City resident began work Monday as the new city manager He is a Knox City High School graduate and the son of Mr and Mrs Leon Burkham Burkham is a former agriculture teacher and has been employed by the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication program R0SC0E Game night: The Roscoe Community Center will have its monthly game night Thursday A meal of fajitas with all the trimmings will be served from 5-7 pjn The meal costs $4 for adults and $2 for children 12 and younger SANTA ANNA Booster club: The Santa Anna Booster Club will hold its annual Meet the Mountaineers night on at 8 pm Thursday Abflsnt Daily Wafer Usage IfyouiwonttwMStakfe oflown and the digit of you my yourUraataddma wHanm 1 or i Sunday 3 Monday Tuesday 1 Wednesday 2 1 Thursday 3 or -I Friday 5 ar 6 Saturday MuM-unit properties use Iasi dgl of lowest address number Rural routes use last digi of PO Bon number or route number Mobile homee me test (tgK of lot number Fort Phantom uee lest efigit of take lot Ybu may water from 12:01 eon or your designated day to 10 un and from 9 (un to midnight KTES to broadcast local news in Spanish and unexpected stops a construction zone unusual said TxDoT project engineer David Seago you can take an alternate route probably the best thing to Alternate routes Will probably add about five minutes to the trip between home and school Seago said so drivers should budget five and KTES KTES also will produce TV commercials for local businesses in' Spanish promote local events of interest to the Hispanic community and join the Cox Communications cable lineup Oct 2 Hispanics make up the largest minority group In Abilene with 22 percent of foe population and several media outlets serve the community But getting local information in Spanish is still a challenge The Abilene Reporter-News and KTXS KTAB-TV and KRBC-TV report news in English Univision carried mi basic cable package (channel 99) has world and national news in Spanish hut no local news Spanish-language newspaper the Hispanic Guide of Abilene comes out on Thursdays wily The two local Tejano music radio stations KBBA (1280 AM) and By Brian Murphy Reporter-News Staff Writer Local television news en Espanol debuts Aug 28 on Telemundo affiliate KTES-TV ABC affiliate KTXS-TV (channel 12 Abilene cable channel 4) recently acquired K40DX-TV and renamed it KTES-TV (channel 40) or K-Tejas The station started identifying itself as KTES on file air Friday Besides broadcasting entertainment programming KTES will be the first Abilene TV station to regularly broadcast local news in Spanish Bilingual reporteranchor Vanessa Reyes a Del Rio native and recent graduate of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos will anchor the KTES news and weather segments as well as report fix- KTXS 111' 'V li £2.