BRIDGE
Dec. 29: First place A, Charles Grimes and Ann Servatius; first place B, David Hudson and Debra Jones; second place A, Mark Knox and Jean Pistole; second place B, Linda Scarpelli and Lonnie Yee.
Dec. 30: First place A and B, Betty Fernandez and Barbara Miles; first place C, Linda Scarpelli and Lonnie Yee; second place A, Deborah Brookins and Jean Pistole; second place B, Debra Jones and Scott Vaughan.
In the blink of an eye, Daeshon Francis found his opening.
Francis poked away his steal. He put a palm around the ball near midcourt. He put down his dribble, picked up his steam, then took off for a powerful slam.
Just like that, the Falcons were up by 19 points, and on their way to a ninth-straight victory.
The No. 8 UTPB men’s basketball team downed Midwestern State 88-71 Saturday in the Falcon Dome, exploding out to a big early lead and cruising down the stretch to get to 5-0 in the Lone Star Conference.
Francis scored 28 points, with 18 coming in the first half, including the breakaway dunk that put UTPB up 45-26 with four and a half minutes left to play in the first half, and well on its way to another victory.
In this one, the Falcons seemed to be clicking on just about all cylinders.
“Our team’s tough, man,” Francis said with a smile.
UTPB finished with an efficient 60.7-percent shooting from the floor, and outrebounded the visiting Mustangs by 10 on the way to 12-1 overall on the season — and to another push further from their last loss in mid-November.
Sammy Allen scored 15 points and hauled in eight rebounds, while Amari Bryant and forward Zeldric King each added 11.
“I was really happy with our guys,” UTPB head coach Andy Newman said. “We gritted it out. We played great. We played unselfishly.
“That was fun to be a part of.”
The Falcons finished with 50 points in the paint. UTPB knocked down 20 of 28 shots in the first half for 71.4-percent efficiency, as the Falcons flexed their muscle in finding high-percentage shot opportunities.
“Coach told us, ‘Don’t settle. Get to the paint. Get to the cup.’ So that’s what we were doing,” King said.
That effort ended with a business-like victory for Falcons team soaring high in the nation’s top 10 in the NABC’s Division II poll.
“Guys are turning down good shots to get great shots, and that’s when you’re good,” Newman said.
“We were that tonight.”
After a 6-6 start in the early going, UTPB pieced together a 12-3 run early in the first half to go up 18-9 on a King score with 13:06 left before the break, and the Falcons pulled that lead into double figures in the ensuing stages of the first half.
Later in the half, Francis’ steal and slam capped an 8-0 run that pushed the margin from 37-26 to 45-26 in little more than two minutes.
“I feel like we were just a little more aggressive,” King said, calling back to a loss he and other Falcons returners suffered at Midwestern State last season.
“They beat us last year at their place,” he said. “We had them, up 20, and they came back from a 20-point deficit and beat us.
“We had a little chip on our shoulder, and we came out revengeful. We took advantage of everything they were giving us.”
The Falcons’ lead was never cut to single digits in the second half, as UTPB’s winning streak rolled on.
“It’s the whole team. Everybody’s bought in,” Newman said. “We’re unselfish. We’re fun to watch. Nobody’s taking bad shots out there. It’s a fun team to play on.
“They’re bought-in to that team mentality, and when you get something like that, it’s special, it’s unique, and it’s fun to be a part of.”
MIDWESTERN STATE (4-11 overall, 1-5 Lone Star Conference)
Devante Pullum 6-10 3-4 18, Brandon Neel 7-18 1-1 17, Wanaah Bail 3-8 5-5 12, Logan Hicks 3-10 3-5 11, Nick Powell 2-4 0-0 6, Trey Kennedy 1-6 0-1 3, Charles Callier 1-4 0-0 2, Nemanja Krtolica 1-1 0-0 2, Ola Ayodele 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Huntley 0-2 0-0 0, De’Quaan Haggerty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 12-16 71.
UTPB (12-1, 5-0)
Daeshon Francis 12-17 4-5 28, Sammy Allen 4-5 7-7 15, Amari Bryant 4-6 0-1 11, Zeldric King 5-7 1-3 11, Josh Morris 4-9 1-2 9, James McPherson 3-9 1-2 8, Garrett Baggett 1-1 0-0 3, Andres Villa 1-2 0-0 2, Renard Thomas 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 34-56 15-22 88.
Halftime — UTPB 50, Midwestern State 37. 3-Point goals — Midwestern State 11-32 (Devante Pullum 3-6, Brandon Neel 2-8, Logan Hicks 2-8, Nick Powell 2-4, Trey Kennedy 1-3, Wanaah Bail 1-1, Charles Callier 0-2), UTPB 5-13 (Amari Bryant 3-5, James McPherson 1-5, Garrett Baggett 1-1, Daeshon Francis 0-1, Sammy Allen 0-1). Total fouls — Midwestern State 21, UTPB 20. Fouled out — Midwestern State: Nick Powell. UTPB: Zeldric King. Technical fouls — UTPB: James McPherson. Rebounds — Midwestern State 29 (Wanaah Bail 7), UTPB 39 (Sammy Allen 8, James McPherson 8, Daeshon Francis 8). Assists — Midwestern State 17 (Devante Pullum 6), UTPB 18 (Sammy Allen 5, Daeshon Francis 5).
Falcons players on the home bench locked their arms, leaned in, and turned their necks to peer down the length of the floor to the far basket — knowing they needed just one miss.
That’s when the first shot went up, hung in the air, arched its way down, then crashed off the rim and fell wide, sending the UTPB women’s basketball players on the bench into a quick, muted frenzy before they settled themselves back down onto the bench.
A miss and a make later, and after an inbounds pass to make it official, UTPB had beaten Midwestern State 59-57 for a big Lone Star Conference victory Saturday in the Falcon Dome — and with the final buzzer, the Falcons were free to jump for joy, and celebrate arm in arm all across the court.
Midwestern State trailed by three points on the game’s deciding possession, and drew a foul on its last-second 3-pointer, sending a Mustangs’ player to the free throw line needing to make all three foul shots with just 0.7 seconds left on the game clock.
But when that first free throw fell wide, UTPB knew it had survived.
“It’s exciting,” Falcons guard Jasmine Spriggins said after the win. “It really is.”
In victory, UTPB toppled the second-place team in the conference standings, handing Midwestern State just its second league loss as the Mustangs fell to 7-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference, and UTPB pushed to 5-9, 3-3.
The Falcons led by as many as 11 in the third quarter, and held on down the stretch to pull off the win.
With their third Lone Star Conference win, the Falcons have already matched the team’s conference win total from last season.
“I think everybody is excited to be a part of a changing culture for this program,” UTPB’s first-year head coach Rae Boothe said. “It starts with them, the players.
“I’m glad that they got to get some success tonight, with how hard they’ve been working.”
Sierra LaGrande led UTPB with 17 points, while Khali Pippins-Tryon scored 13 and Spriggins added another 11.
The Falcons and their havoc-wreaking defensive system, which leads the conference in steals and turnover margin, helped dictate the pace through a low-scoring first half.
Limiting Midwestern State to make just four of 29 shots from the field in the first half, UTPB went into the locker room with a 21-14 lead.
Scoring picked up in the second half, but UTPB matched Midwestern State’s firepower. LaGrande and Pippins-Tryon knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to put UTPB up 39-28 with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
Down the stretch, Midwestern State chipped its way back in, especially once Falcons’ senior guards Victoria Lopez and Jackie Perez fouled out, the second of coming out with more than three minutes to go in the game. But the sophomore, Spriggins, and junior Kayla Bretherton kept composure on the floor to stave off the Mustangs in the late stages.
“We’ve been working hard, and it finally paid off,” Bretherton said. “It’s a good feeling.”
The Falcons poked away 12 steals, near the mark for a team averaging a league-best 12.5 per game. Unlike previous conference losses, though, this time the Falcons outrebounded their foes to go with those steals. UTPB hauled in 45 boards while Midwestern State mustered just 34. UTPB’s 45 rebounds marked a season-high in conference action.
It was a more complete performance on Saturday night, and one the Falcons hope to duplicate when conference play picks up against next Thursday.
“I just think that we really brought it today, and we actually played to our potential,” LaGrande said. “Obviously we have a lot of things to continue to improve on, but I think when we actually bring that intensity and fire, we can cause a lot of trouble in this league.
“I think it just gives us more confidence to keep going.”
MIDWESTERN STATE (7-5 overall, 4-2 Lone Star Conference)
Jasmine Richardson 2-3 8-10 12, Whitney Taylor 3-14 1-3 10, Kristin Rydell 3-8 0-0 9, Chelsea Adams 1-3 5-8 7, Micheline Mercelita 3-8 0-0 6, Kityana Diaz 1-2 2-2 4, Chelcie Kizart 0-4 3-8 3, Mica Schneider 1-1 0-0 3, Leanna James 1-1 0-0 2, Courtney Kerr 0-4 1-2 1, Avery Queen 0-2 0-2 0, Anni Scholl 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Reynolds 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-53 20-35 57.
UTPB (5-9, 3-3)
Sierra LaGrande 6-13 1-2 17, Khali Pippins-Tryon 5-6 1-1 13, Jasmine Spriggins 4-8 0-2 11, Kayla Bretherton 3-11 3-8 9, Jackie Perez 0-5 4-4 4, Alexandria Dockery 0-2 3-4 3, Victoria Lopez 1-5 0-0 2, Heather Crittenden 0-2 0-0 0, Kristel Reid 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-52 12-21 59.
Midwestern State…… 8…. 6 19 24 — 57
UTPB……………………. 9.. 12 21 17 — 59
3-Point goals — Midwestern State 7-18 (Whitney Taylor 3-9, Kristin Rydell 3-5, Mica Schneider 1-1, Chelcie Kizart 0-1, Courtney Kerr 0-1, Anni Scholl 0-1), UTPB 9-20 (Sierra LaGrande 4-8, Jasmine Spriggins 3-4, Khali Pippins-Tryon 2-2, Jackie Perez 0-4, Victoria Lopez 0-2). Total fouls — Midwestern State 19, UTPB 29. Fouled out — Midwestern State: Micheline Mercelita. UTPB: Victoria Lopez, Jackie Perez, Khali Pippins-Tryon. Technical fouls — Midwestern State: Jasmine Richardson. UTPB: Khali Pippins-Tryon. Rebounds — Midwestern State 34 (Chelsea Adams 5), UTPB 45 (Kayla Bretherton 9). Assists — Midwestern State 11 (Jasmine Richardson 4), UTPB 12 (Jackie Perez 4).
It’s time for a change at the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo.
Not with the personnel who run the event, or the contractors, cowboys and cowgirls that come in to compete at the annual Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event each year.
No, the change needs to be made on the calendar.
Every January, the SandHills is one of the first rodeos on the PRCA calendar, a prestigious spot for sure.
But it’s not one that really gives the event its best chance of drawing the top talent so early in the season.
The elite cowboys and cowgirls are less than a month removed from the National Finals Rodeo, a reward for a year-long journey to hundreds of rodeos around the country in order to qualify for a trip to Las Vegas each December.
Those athletes are strung out, physically and mentally from that 10-day pressure cooker and need time to decompress and prepare for another season. Many of them look to the bigger winter rodeos — Denver, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston — to earn big paydays in order to make the spring and summer months much less stressful.
It is just hard for the Permian Basin’s annual rodeo to compete against the National Stock Show in Denver, which begins next week, with the qualifying rounds having already taken place.
No, the SandHills needs to move to June or July, during that wonderfully hectic time around the Fourth of July known as “Cowboy Christmas.”
Big Spring runs a three-day event (June 21-23 this year) and Pecos runs a four-day event each year (June 27-30 in 2018).
There is a perfect window between the two events for SandHills to move into, keeping rodeo enthusiasts moving west down Interstate 20.
Pecos runs Wednesday through Saturday, so perhaps SandHills could run Monday through Saturday, with a short-go on Sunday to reward the top 12 in each of the disciplines and showcase them all in a final worthy of their talents.
Added money, added exposure, added excitement— a win-win situation for everyone.
It would be a lot easier to get the top competitors to travel 75 miles instead of jumping right in their vehicles for drives of 10 hours or more to get to their next stop as they try to compete in as many rodeos during that two-week period as they can.
SandHills would see all the top guns showing up to work inside the Ector County Coliseum, looking to make a check to kick off their summer charge.
Throw in an Xtreme Bulls event and things would really get rocking.
A schedule change would also alleviate some logistical issues with the Coliseum, which host myriad events during the year, along with the Odessa Jackalopes of the North American Hockey League from October through April.
Each January, the Jackalopes take a 25-day “Rodeo Road Trip” as the ice is taken out of the building for the rodeo, motocross and monster trucks. All those events could be moved to the spring, as well, when the dirt is back in the building.
Also, the Odessa College rodeo would then have the chance to build up its event, which showcases the top talent in the Southwest Region each February in the Coliseum.
Do changes like this happen overnight? Of course not, as there are some many contributing factors to putting on a PRCA event and doing it well, as the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo does year in and year out.
But it’s something to think about.
AMARILLO The Odessa High girls basketball team dropped its District 2-6A opener Friday night 86-35 to Amarillo Tascosa.
Odessa High’s Aneth Jimenez led the Lady Bronchos in scoring with 13, followed by Skylar Herrera, who had 11. Amarillo Tascosa’s Ka’Lia Smith led all scorers with 25 points.
Odessa High (5-17 overall, 0-1 district) trailed from the outset of the game, including a 26-point deficit at halftime.
The Lady Bronchos return to action Tuesday on the road against Wolfforth Frenship.
ODESSA HIGH (5-17 overall, 0-1 District 2-6A)
Arianna Aguilar 0 2-4 2, Aneth Jimenez 3 5-8 13, Elena Brito 0 1-2 1, Melina Escogido 1 0-0 2, Skylar Herrera 4 2-2 11, Mariah Sanchez 1 0-0 2, Natalia Garicano 0 1-2 1, Itayla Saenz 0 3-7 3. Totals 9 14-25 35.
AMARILLO TASCOSA (14-9, 1-0)
Alexis Wall 0 0-2 0, Rylee Zimmer 0 3-5 3, Jessalayn Gonzales 1 2-2 5, Jada Miller 5 1-2 13, Tayjanna McGhee 3 0-0 6, Aubry Nash 4 0-0 8, Alexis Romero 4 0-1 8, Ka’Lia Smith 12 1-3 25, Genedee Valdez 8 2-2 18. Totals 37 9-17 86.
Odessa High…………. 5.. 10 3 17 — 35
Tascosa……………… 18.. 23 27 18 — 86
3-Point goals — Odessa High: 3 (Jimenez 2, Herrera 1); Tascosa 2 (Miller 2). Total fouls — Odessa High 15; Tascosa: 16. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — Odessa High (Team); Amarillo Tascosa (Nash)
LUBBOCK Odessa High’s Miguel Fonseca hit seven 3-pointers to lead the Bronchos to an 82-69 victory over Lubbock Coronado Friday night.
Also chipping in for Odessa High (16-5) was Kaleb Murry, who had 21 points, and Isaac Hernandez, who finished the game with 16.
The Bronchos trailed by three at the half, but scored 48 points in the second half to run away from the Mustangs by the end of the game.
Odessa High starts District 2-6A play at home Friday against Midland Lee.
ODESSA HIGH (16-5)
Isaac Hernandez 6 4-4 16, Josh Cabello 1 0-3 2, Kaleb Murry 6 8-13 21, Kameron Gonzales 0 2-2 2, Miguel Fonseca 8 2-4 25, Memo Anaya 5 0-0 10, Cole Bordner 2 2-2 6. Totals 28 18-28 82.
LUBBOCK CONORADO
Conwright 7 2-4 19, Anderson 4 1-2 12, Kard 1 0-0 2, Garza 1 0-1 3, Wilborn 1 0-0 3, Williams 2 1-2 6, Washington 1 0-0 3, Weindorf 2 0-0 4, Robertson 2 0-0 4, Giddens 2 0-0 5, Thomas 2 3-4 7. Totals 25 7-13 69.
Odessa High……….. 24.. 10 28 20 — 82
Coronado……………. 16.. 21 20 11 — 69
3-Point goals — Odessa High 8 (Fonseca 7, Murry 1); Lubbock Coronado 11 (Conwright 3, Anderson 3, Wilborn 1, Williams 1, Richardson 1, Washington 1, Giddens 1). Total fouls — Odessa High 15; Lubbock Coronado 20. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
LUBBOCK The Permian boys basketball team took down Lubbock Monterey 58-45 Saturday afternoon to win its ninth straight game.
Leading the way for the Panthers (18-3) were the duo of Brother Miller and Nakavieon White, who had 18 and 11 points respectively.
Permian scored 32 of its points in the second half to secure the win in its final nondistrict game.
The Panthers start District 2-6A play on Friday with a trip to Wolfforth Frenship.
PERMIAN (18-3)
Brother Miller 8 1-2 18, Fabian Flotte 0 0-1 0, Elijah White 1 5-6 7, Nakavieon White 5 1-2 11, Derrick Wright 2 1-2 6, Zach McGee 4 0-0 9, Ozzy Terrazas 2 0-0 4, Kevon Fox 1 1-2 3. Totals 23 9-15 58.
LUBBOCK MONTEREY
Sacnhez 0 2-2 2, Butler 9 1-1 19, Grant 2 3-4 7, Martin 0 1-2 1, White 0 1-2 1, Langston 2 3-4 9, Valderas 0 3-4 3, Tolford 1 1-2 3. Totals 14 15-21 45.
Permian……………… 11.. 15 20 12 — 58
Monterey……………… 9.. 14 14 11 — 45
3-Point goals — Permian 3 (Miller 1, Wright 1, McGee 1); Monterey 2 (Langston 2). Total fouls — Permian 18, Monterey 20. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
Permit applications approved by the Texas Railroad Commission for Dec. 28 through Jan. 2 for Districts 7C, 8 and 8A. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of permits approved for that leasehold.
>> Basic Energy Services, LP, Reeves AH Fee, Reeves, reenter; Guitar, Howard, new drill.
>> BTA Oil Producers, LLC, Escopeta 21901, Loving, new drill.
>> Endeavor Energy Resources, LP, Elkin 44-32 Unit 1, Midland, new drill (2); WTH 10-3 F, Midland, new drill; WTH 10-3 H, Midland, new drill.
>> Energen Resources Corporation, Alldale SN, Martin, new drill.
>> Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd., Fee BK, Ector, new drill.
>> Felix Energy Holdings II, LLC, UL Willow 3836-16, Ward, new drill (6).
>> Impetro Operating, LLC, Kudu A, Winkler, new drill.
>> Laredo Petroleum, Inc., Fuchs F 46-34 (alloc-A), Glasscock, new drill.
>> NGL Water Solutions Permian, LLC, Chapman Ranch SWD, Pecos, new drill.
>> Noble Energy, Inc., Habanero 197-198 Unit A, Reeves, new drill.
>> Occidental Permian, Ltd., Sealy Smith Foundation, Ward, new drill.
>> Oxy USA, Inc., State Sarah Link 3-2-6W, Reeves, new drill.
>> Parsley Energy Operations, LLC, Mike Scott 19-30-H, Reagan, new drill; Trees State 51-54-E, Pecos, new drill.
>> Permian Deep Rock Oil Co., LLC, Bulldog, Midland, new drill.
>> Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc., Ulvestad-Birkhead E20J, Midland, new drill; Ulvestad-Birkhead E20K, Midland, new drill.
>> Steward Energy II, LLC, Smashed Nickel 536 B Unit, Yoakum, new drill; Lightning Crashes 417, Yoakum, new drill.
>> UpCurve Energy, LLC, Eddie Gunner State 44, Reeves, new drill.
>> Waterbridge Texas Operating, LLC, South Pecos SWD, Reeves, new drill.
>> XTO Energy, Inc., Bradford Trust B Unit 1, Midland, new drill.
>> RAILROAD COMMISSION
As 2019 begins, the federal government remains partially shut down. Proposals are still surfacing and meetings are still being arranged, but as I write this it looks like it could go on for a while (by the time this is printed, it could all be over). One of the central points of disagreement is funding for the border wall, which is a highly controversial sticking point. It will be difficult to reach an agreement, and the longer the shutdown goes on, the more the economic costs will mount.
Even if the shutdown has already ended by the time you’re reading this, it has once again highlighted a very serious problem in our federal government: an inability to agree on a budget (or much of anything else). It’s not the first time we’ve been here, and it won’t be the last. Maintaining basic budget authority to keep the doors open should not be that difficult, and the repeated failures are symptomatic of a lack of ability to tackle many more complex and important problems.
The shutdown is a tremendous hardship to many of the 800,000 people and their families who are directly affected. They are either working without pay if their jobs are considered essential (such as airport security staff) or on leave without pay. Even though they will probably be compensated when the situation is resolved, the human cost is very real particularly given the timing.
If the shutdown ends soon, it will be little more than an inconvenience for the vast majority of Americans. Apart from the workers furloughed or persons directly in need of services affected by the shutdown, the fallout for most individuals will probably be minimal. The employees who are furloughed will likely end up compensated for their time when things shake out; in any case, the consumer spending effects of 800,000 people for a few days given the size of the United States economy are relatively small.
If the shutdown continues, however, effects will begin to compound. Closed offices negatively affect nearby businesses such as restaurants. Furloughed agencies slow processes such as small business loans. Over time, the issues will become bigger and the costs will rise. The associated uncertainty can also reduce or delay private investment decisions and add to market volatility.
Essential functions are still going on and few people are directly affected by the shutdown. At the same time, however, the issue is larger than simply closing doors on some museums and monuments and falling a few more days behind on paperwork. The fact remains that at some point in time, Congress and the administration must work together to deal with budget issues and other, more significant, points of contention.
Proponents of forcing a special election so Odessans can vote on a proposal to restructure the Odessa City Council planned to continue their petition drive, after a group opposing the election threatened to sue organizers and to block the changes in court if the change effort succeeds.
Organizers say they have collected more than half of the roughly 2,500 signatures they need under state law to force the May election on a charter amendment that would give the mayor voting power and create a new council seat elected by voters citywide. On Friday, volunteers returned to Music City Mall, where they planned to collect signatures during mall hours through Jan. 14.
The chief organizer of the petition drive, Jim Rector, said supporters set a self-imposed target of turning in the completed petition the next day. Rector, a real estate developer and appointee on the city’s planning and zoning commission, was one of the volunteers singled out Thursday by a group opposing the restructuring proposal.
That group, calling themselves Odessa Together, threatened to sue Rector and two other volunteers individually.
But Rector declined to respond to the accusations made by Odessa Together but described the threats as an attempt at “intimidation.”
“It’s not stopping anything,” Rector said.
On Friday Rector said he remained confident that the change he seeks is a legal method of reforming the City Council so that power is not concentrated in the hands of only five council members who represent single districts, in an environment where control of the council can change with political whims and little to no voter input. The change would require a charter amendment approved by voters.
But opponents including District 5 Councilman Filiberto Gonzales and representatives of the local League of United Latin American Citizens accused Rector and other volunteers Thursday of trying to dilute the voting strength of Hispanic Odessans so that wealthy east side Odessans control the local governing board.
Supporters of restructuring the City Council sharply denied that claim, including Chris Wray, an insurance agent who has collected signatures and was also threatened on Thursday.
“It’s people from all over,” Wray said. “ . . . This is a community wide engagement, not just a select few good ol’ boys as they wanted to try to paint it.”
Rector argued that the changes would not weaken the voting strength of Hispanic people in Odessa and that people from the city’s five districts were signing the petition, including many Hispanic people.
“We are making it city wide,” Rector said. “There isn’t one particular group we are looking for. We know there are disgruntled people.”
At the mall, volunteers including bilingual supporters of the petition drive put up signs written in Spanish.
“In the mall, it’s a way to reach a lot more people,” said Kathleen Rector, Jim Rector’s wife. They had taken a break from collecting signatures at the mall on Dec. 31 but decided to return.
“We are established at the mall and by having a place where people can come to and know that we are going to be there, that’s why I felt that it was important to fill out the rest of the week by being there,” Kathleen Rector said. “We will get a lot of people.”
Other volunteers had agreed to collect signatures at places including their churches, clubs and workplaces.
LULAC’s lawyer Domingo Garcia had threatened the individual lawsuits, describing the proposed restructuring as an attempt to “rig the system for the powerful and the rich.”
“It is illegal, unconstitutional, un-American, un-Texan and un-Odessan,” said Garcia, a former Dallas politician who specializes in personal injury law and was proactive in the political fight to create single-member districts in Dallas in the early 1990s. “It is seeking to take away the rights of voters to select a city council member of their choice. So I want to put them on notice today that if they proceed with this petition, if they file it, we will sue them individually.”
Many supporters of the council restructuring proposal, including Odessans who are not part of the petition drive, were critical of the threat to sue advocates.
“If you listen carefully to what they are saying, it is that the only people who are signing this petition live in one part of town and implying that they are white people,” said Arlo Chavira, a south Odessa resident running for a seat on the Ector County Commissioners Court who said he plans to sign the petition. “But the case is now that Hispanics live and African Americans live throughout the city. They live in the north side and the east side. So that’s inaccurate what the Odessa Together group is saying.”
Chavira, who said he is not involved in the petition drive, said he believes it’s wrong to deny Odessans a chance to vote on the changes.
“The people are the ones who are going to make these changes,” Chavira said. “It’s not a group of people. It’s not the council. It’s the citizens of Odessa.”
Garcia compared the proposed restructuring of the Odessa City Council to a failed attempt to redraw the council districts of Pasadena in Harris County. And he said the voting rights organization that successfully sued Pasadena, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, would also join in suing Odessa if voters approve the changes in May.
However, MALDEF has made no such decision yet, said Nina Perales, the organization’s vice president of litigation who worked on the Pasadena case. But Perales said the group is concerned and monitoring the effort in Odessa to ensure voting rights are protected.
What Pasadena tried to do differs from the proposed reforms in Odessa.
In Pasadena, voters in 2013 narrowly approved an amendment replacing two-single district seats with at large seats. MALDEF successfully argued that the city had diluted the strength of Hispanic voters at a time when it was growing.
A federal judge earlier this year determined Pasadena had violated the Voting Rights Act and overturned the new districts. The judge also returned the city to federal oversight that stopped for the rest of Texas after a US Supreme Court decision in 2013 cleared the list of state and local governments required to submit changes to election laws for federal “preclearance.”
Unlike in the Pasadena case, none of Odessa’s five-single member districts would be altered. And it’s relatively rare for a city to expand the size of its council, Perales said.
But Perales said the proposed change in Odessa could present the same problem if the restructuring shifted electoral influence from single member districts to at-large positions.
“It’s still a matter of concern if the council dynamics are being altered in a way to shift influence away from minority voters,” Perales said. “And I’m not saying that that’s happening in Odessa. Because one of the very important questions to ask in Odessa is whether there is racially polarized voting.”
That would require analysis of voter data to determine. The signatures on the petition, and turnout during the election, if there is one, could yield insight.
Proponents argue restructuring the council is widely supported by a cross section of Odessans.
Wray said his sense collecting signatures was support from “an equal mix of everyone that probably represents our demographics.” And he said he was confident the results would show that under scrutiny.
“I welcome that,” he said.
