News

It is easy to know when someone is praying. If we see someone with their hands uplifted or their hands clasped in a special way or someone on their knees, we know that they are praying.

He was just a big kitten, maybe half grown. I saw him one afternoon wobbling across our backyard. He was very skinny, and I went and got a bowl of water and set it out for him. He slowly crept over to the bowl and drank. Later, I went and got some food for him, and he ate and ate. Well, several months have passed and now he gets a bowl of food twice a day and you wouldn’t know it was the same cat. He stays by our front door most of the time but will not let you get close. Something he does not know or understands, I love that cat and I would bring him into the house and love and pet him if he would let me. That little cat reminds me of something in the Bible and in our world today. The little cat misunderstands my intentions just as most people misunderstand God’s intentions. They think He is out with a big stick to club them. Wrong!! God loves people, everybody and wants good for and to them. Both God the Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ love us very much, (John 15:9, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4, 5:2). God is a loving God, (1 John 4:8). He even provided a way our sins could be forgiven: a new life now and a new future (John 3:16, 1 John 4:9&10, 1 John 3:23).

GARDENER’S MAILBAG Dear Neil, I saw a devil’s ivy plant with huge (dinnerplate- sized) leaves in a tropical botanic garden. How can I get mine to produce leaves that large? That’s “adult” foliage, and it’s only produced on stems that are growing vertically.

Fort Stockton Pioneer.

On Tuesday, March 4, Midland College’s Williams Regional Technical Training Center (WRTTC) hosted a two-part event that provided freshmen with a hands-on introduction to the college’s academic and technical programs, while also offering parents the chance to learn more about the newly expanded, free dual credit program.

Although he was searching for deer, a hunter at the O2 Ranch (a privately owned ranch in Brewster and Presidio counties) found something very different and a little puzzling. Could it be a mammoth tusk? In West Texas? “I was skeptical when a deer hunter showed me a picture of what he thought was a fossil,” says O2 Ranch Manager Will Juett.

YOUR GUIDE TO LOCAL PLACES TO GO AND THINGS TO DO Your guide to local places to go and things to do! If you have an event for our Do Something! listing, please e-mail litzy.rodriguez@ fortstocktonpioneer. com MARCH13 Karaoke Night @ Joe’s Place 9 pm MARCH13 Pups On the Patio, 4 pm-8pm, Hodges Pavilion, Distemper/ Parvo Vaccination & Frontline Flea/ Tick Treatment MARCH14 Free Showing of “Twilight” @ West Texas Cinema- Fort Stockton Convention Center Theatre 6pm & 9 pm MARCH15 Painted Ponies Playday @ Pecos County Coliseum 8 am MARCH15 Free Showing of “The Batman” @ West Texas Cinema- Fort Stockton Convention Center Theatre 4 pm & 8pm MARCH16 Free Showing of “Despicable Me” @ West Texas Cinema-Fort Stockton Convention Center Theatre 4 pm & 8pm MARCH22 Trash-Off- Help Keep Our Community Clean! @ Fort Stockton Convention Center, 9am- 2pm.

Thanks to a partnership between the Fort Stockton Community Theatre and the Midland Festival Ballet, Fort Stockton residents can enjoy complimentary tickets to the closing production of “The Firebird.” The performances will take place on Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30, at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center in Midland. A limited number of 30 tickets per performance are available for Fort Stockton residents.

The Pecos County Senior Citizens Center will host a St. Patrick’s Day potluck dinner on Friday, March 14, at noon.

Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) has spearheaded a bipartisan effort to address the growing threat posed by the New World screwworm (NWS), a destructive pest that endangers the nation’s livestock, farming, and wildlife industries. In a letter signed by 43 colleagues, including members of the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Gonzales urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand eradication and containment efforts to prevent a potential outbreak that could cause significant economic losses.