January 2023

Palma Jean Clark Fessenden Beckett was born on March 20, 1936, in Ringgold, LA and died Jan. 5, in Maggie Valley, NC. She was the daughter of Al and Marguerite Cook Clark of Ringgold. Palma was really bright and talented and had a wicked sense of humor. She was gifted with perfect pitch and a photographic memory and was a music major at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA where she sang in the a cappella choir. When Palma left Northwestern, she moved to the big city of Ft. Worth. Her work life was primarily in technical industries, including American Cyanamide and Lockheed Martin. While at Lockheed, she was the administrative assistant to the VP. In this position, she quickly learned new computer programs and she was asked to teach the new programs to others, which were used to create technical presentations for international participants. When Palma decided she wanted to master new things it happened, because she willed it to be so.

In the Jan. 5 edition, the front page article titled “Its’stock show time again,” the abbreviation for the Big Bend Livestock Show Association should have read BBLSA instead of BBSLA as was printed.

Texas A & M Agrilife Extension in cooperation with Sul Ross’ Range Animal Science Center held its first, of a three-part seminar titled Big Bend Beef 706. This program is funded by the Texas Beef Council and the first session, held this past Saturday, saw around 40 area beef producers attend.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comments on a draft revised recovery plan for the Mexican long-nosed bat, an endangered migratory bat that travels annually between Mexico and the Southwestern United States to follow the blooming period of flowering agaves and cacti.

The Sul Ross State University Alpine campus released the Fall 2022 Dean’s List in an announcement from the Office of Registration and Records, with several students from Alpine, Fort Davis, Marfa, and Presidio making the list.

WEEK Alpine Humane Society Pet of the Week is Lilliana. Lilliana is just a year old but a gentle, old soul who walks very well on a leash. She’s equally attentive to her environment as well as to her human companion.

Jan. 12 WTex Talks, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Granada Theater ‘Cycles and Seasons of Health’ with Mary Powers Jan. 21 Living with Black Bear in West Texas, 9: 3011:30 a.m. at The Bunkhouse at Bad Rabbit Café, Terlingua Ranch and 2-4 p.m. at the J.W. “Red” Patillo Community Center in Study Butte. Seminar hosted by Borderlands Research Institute and Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Jake Crump of Alpine was named to the South Plains College Fall 2022 President’s List. Crump was among more than 340 students named to the Spring 2022 President’s List.

The 2023 Texas legislative session opened Jan. 10, with property taxes, gun control and the power grid expected to be among the top issues on the agenda.

Anne Devenport is shown here with her lamb she intends to show in the Big Bend Livestock Show set for Feb. 10.