3rd Meeting with the Architects From Tom Lavin Architect Firm

The Chamber's Convention Center study committee met and looked at the architect's new configurations on Tuesday. Tom Lavin of Lavin Architect began by telling the feasibility committee how they took what the committee said they wanted and made a configuration of what they heard.  The Lavin Architect realize that there has to be a master plan that can be built in stages.  The completed plan would be around 300,000 sq.ft.  It is a little larger than first discussed.  Tom Lavin said when they got into the details of it with the committee this could be refined to suit the communities needs.

Lavin Architect took this gaming piece from September's meeting and came up with a grand design.

Architects from Tom Lavin Architect Firm

View of Convention Center showing the Arena on the left.  Building the Arena would be Phase one. 

The indoor arena can be used for equestrian events, rodeos, car shows and sports events such as volleyball or basketball events.  The Indoor Arena would be 155' x 250' which would include seating for 1,250 to 1,400, a warm up area, return alley, dressing room with restrooms only and storage.  The arena will be a metal commercial building that is heated and cooled.

December or January will bring another meeting with the architects to discuss the cost of the Convention Center which would be more like an event center.

Valero Has Annual Cook-Off To End Their Successful United Way Campaign But This Year It Ends With Valero Employees Mourning Two Members of the Valero Family

Lauren Bird, VP and General Manager

Normally at the end of their annual BBQ Cook-off that marks the end of their United Way campaign there is a celebration atmosphere with prizes and giveaways.  Not so this year.  The McKee Valero employees did enjoy a feast of meats fit for a king but with sadness.

Lauren Bird, VP and General Manager of McKee Valero Refinery took this opportunity to speak the crowd gathered.  Lauren began by informing everyone gathered for this event that this BBQ cook-off is going to be different.  Mr. Bird said there would be no judging this year, no winners would be picked. Lauren Bird also said that random prizes for those who gave to the United Way campaign would be done separately and at another time.

Lauren spoke of the loss that the McKee Refinery has had this past week when they lost two employees on two separate days.  He said this as he tried to hold back his own tears.

This is what Lauren Bird had to say to his employees at the McKee Refinery.

"To everything there is a season
 A time to be born
 and a time to die
 a time to plant
 and a time to pluck that which is planted
 a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 a time for every purpose under Heaven
 a time to weep and a time to laugh."

"Now is not the time to laugh or to dance

 Now is the time to weep and to morn

 For those who have left."

"We are arranging for Grief counseling to be at the refinery on Monday morning.

Meanwhile each of us is processing through our grief as best as we can."

"So for now let us mourn those who mourn, give comfort to those who stand in need of comfort.

We pray for the families of the deceased.  And we seek to support each other in our grief."

Let us now remember and ponder the lives of Geraldo Hernandez and Jimmy Eads

Valero Employee's Cook-Off.  Great ending to a great United Way Campaign.

Valero employees enjoying the feast of meats.

Ben Maples of Valero and Ken Braun, Grocery Manager with United Supermarket.

Special guests at the Cook-Off  for Valero's United Way Campaign.

Some are board members of United Way, sine are agencies that receive 

United Way funding and others are County and City dignitaries.

The Dumas Office of The Bridge Host Chamber's Business After Hours

The Bridge hosted this month's Business After Hours for the Dumas/Moore County Chamber of Commerce.  Below are pictures of Chamber members visiting at the Bridge office in Dumas.

April Tucker, Brenda Elzner, Amy Rhoades and Sam Cartwright at the Chambers Business After Hours

Edye Cunningham of CASA 69 visiting with Amy Rhoades Board Member of The Bridge

 The Bridge proactively engages community partners, implements impartial investigative techniques, coordinates case tracking, makes counseling referrals and educates victims and non-offending family members on victims’ rights, resources and options.  These steps reduce duplication of efforts between agencies involved in the investigation, expedites prosecution, increases conviction rates of offenders, and helps victims onto the path of recovery.

The collaborative efforts of a multi-disciplinary team, the core element of a children’s advocacy center, has resulted in a program that holds offenders accountable, enhances accuracy of information gathered during investigations, increases convictions and decreases the stress placed on a child caught in the judicial system.

With the broad continuum of specialized services The Bridge provides, the cycle of abuse is being broken. Every child deserves the chance to enjoy their childhood and the opportunity to become a healthy, productive adult.

Local 4-H Members Give Back To Community

One Day 4-H is the Saturday of National 4-H Week. 4-H members from all over the Nation go out into their communities and counties to give back for all that has been given to them. Over 10,000 Texas 4-Hers participate in some type of community service project that day. This year, Moore County had three different service projects that were completed for One Day 4-H on Saturday, October 10.

            The Double D Community Club volunteered at Talon Point, which is a camp for disabled children. Children from all over the United States attend camp at Talon Point at no cost to them or their families. Double D was touched by their story and wanted to help out. 12 4-H members met early that morning to get started. They painted wheel chair ramps, hauled wood and cleaned up trash and debris that was lying around. While cleaning up at Talon Point, they also found out more about volunteering for individual camps, which is something they plan to do in the upcoming year.

            

Sunray Community Club had a town recycling day. They went to the homes of some of the elderly people in town to take their recyclable items to the City of Sunray Recycling Center. Four 4-H members and one Clover kid collected old phone books, empty plastic bottles, boxes and other recyclables that day. They were able to see inside of the center to see exactly what a recycling center looks like. Sunray 4-H plans to take a trip to the Recycling Center during business hours to see what all goes into recycling.

            The Texas Forest Service celebrated their 100^th anniversary by donating Bur Oak Trees for the Texas One Day 4-H project. The Moore County Community Club was very eager to participate in this particular project. Three 4-Hers and five Clover kids planted a four foot tall Bur Oak Tree in front of the Killgore Memorial Library. The Moore County Junior Master Gardner club was able to dig the hole for the tree and learn about the different types of soils along with how to plant a tree. The Texas Forest Service also donated 20 seedling trees that were given to each of the participants. The JMG group plans to keep a seedling to show others haw to plant and care for a tree.

            Moore County 4-H is very proud of each and every one of the 4-Hers that worked so hard to give back for One Day 4-H. Not only were they helping others, but they were learning in the process. Thank you to everyone in the county that has made a day like this possible for our young people.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Read below to find out why these women's silhouettes are at the Moore County Courthouse.  This is an annual event for Safe Place to remind us of the women who have suffered.

These silhouette can be seen at the Courthouse in Dumas, Texas

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, everyone should want to know the meaning of The Silent Witness that are placed in front of the Dumas Courthouse and surrounding towns. Each one represents the story of woman whose life ended violently at the hands of a husband, ex-husband, partner, or acquaintance every year in the state of Texas. The Silent Witness provides hope, help and healing for the victims of domestic violence.

Each paper on each silhouette tells a story about a woman killed by a boyfriend ,spouse ex-spouse or partner.

In 1990, a group of women artists and writers, upset about the growing number of women in Minnesota being murdered by their partners or acquaintances, joined together with several other women's organizations to form Arts Action Against Domestic Violence. They felt an urgency to do something that would speak out against the escalating domestic violence in their state, something that would commemorate the lives of the 26 women whose lives had been lost in 1990 as a result of domestic violence. After much brainstorming, they decided to create 26 free-standing, life-sized red wooden figures, each one bearing the name of a woman who once lived, worked, had neighbors, friends, family, children--whose life ended violently at the hands of a husband, ex-husband, partner, or acquaintance. A twenty-seventh figure was added to represent those uncounted women whose murders went unsolved or were erroneously ruled accidental. The organizers called the figures the Silent Witnesses.

2015 Museum Day

Tractors! Cars! Quilts! Pies! Good food! Perfect weather! Lots of Fun! All these items went into a great Museum Day.

Museum Day 2015 was the ninth year for the event and this year over 500 people attended the event.

We had 15 tractors, 22 cars, 20 pies and 46 quilts exhibited. The silent auction had 122 items and bidders were busy making sure they had the highest bid!

“Best of the West” pie contest winners were Barbara Johnson in the single crust division with a pecan pie, Thelma Smith in the cobbler division with a deep dish plum cobbler and Sherry Harper in the cream pie division with a coconut cream pie and the double crust division with an apple pie.

Brenda Newton won the “Viewer’s Choice” award for her quilt.

People’s Choice Tractor was Joye Watson with 1950 Co-Op. Eight tractor games were won by Ted Ray Coleman of Hereford, Jed Morton of Dumas, Don Dowdy of Amarillo and Howard Landry of Amarillo.

Best History Car was won by Norris Stewart with the history of his 1937 Packard that was bought new by Boss Crump.

Division winners in the Car Show were Jackie Patterson of Amarillo with a 1910 Hupmobile, Tom Ferguson with a 1947 Hudson, Barcine Smith with a 1954 Ford Customline, Dudley and Marilyn Christian with a 1977 Corvette and John Hays with a 1970 El Camino.

Lawnmower slalom was won by Creed Johnson.

Winner of the 50” television was Starla Smith of Sunray. 

The five winners of paintings given by The Art Center were Alexa Maples, Shelly Burnett, Glynda Pflug, Howard Patton and Mike DeBons.

“Miss Piggy” spent the day entertaining. Kids learned about building bird feeders from Tom Cannon.

Janis Hunt won the Candy Guess game, missing by only eight.

Winners of the sidewalk chalk painting were was Arlene Ramos.

Entertainment during the afternoon was by “The Christians”, a father and daughter duo, Alfred and Marilyn.

Lunch was pulled pork sandwiches with trimmings and chocolate cake and ice cream were served during the afternoon.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the day successful!

Casa 69 Adds New Volunteers and New Board Members

The CASA 69, Inc. has had two new board members join the Board of Directors and four new volunteers.

Jesse Torres

Jesse Torres is a new board member representing Dallam/Hartley Counties. Jesse brings his media knowledge and fundraising experience to help the organization continue to be active with public relations and community awareness.

Wayne Smith

Wayne Smith is a new board member representing Sherman County. Wayne’s background in insurance and his strong sense of organization and administrative expertise will enhance our organizational structure.

Beth Moore, Becky Voight, Ann Bookout and Nancy Wyatt

Our new volunteers are anxious to put their 30 hours of initial training to work as they have already stepped into new cases. We are very excited to welcome back Ann Bookout as a Volunteer and Training Facilitator, and Becky Voight from Hartley and Nancy Wyatt from Dalhart along with Bethany Scroggins from Sunray.

Judge McGee and Bethany Scroggins

CASA 69 always welcomes invitations to make presentations to all local organizations and clubs. If you are interested, we would love to talk to you about our volunteer opportunities. You can check us out on our website www.casa69.org, call either office - Dalhart 806-244-2684/Dumas 806-934-4417 to talk to Evinn Wyatt and Edye Cunningham or you can contact us by email casa69@xit.net.