Dear Editor,
The Sentinel has been an invaluable source of news and information for so many decades. I feel grateful for its existence, the many owners, the writers, and the integrity of the information.
Sam Karas’ recent reporting on the Porvenir massacre and the layoffs at Big Bend National Park are poetic journalism. Exquisitely crafted and deeply researched, these stories inform and touch me deeply.
She is a critical asset to our community and to the history of those who came before us.
I’m grateful for her substantial labors.
Warm regards,
Bridget Weiss
Marfa
Dear Big Bend community,
Let’s build on the excitement from the Far West Texas Community-Building Summit! Please join us for the first post-summit all-project gathering on Monday, March 24, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the parish hall of Alpine’s Catholic Church (Our Lady of Peace). Bring people with you — everyone is welcome. It makes no difference if you or they were at the January summit — it’s still early days with all this. If you can, let us know if you’re coming so we can have as many chairs as people. And if you feel inclined, bring a snack to share!
At the meeting, we’ll update everyone on the ideas that came out of the summit workshops. Then we’ll break into groups roughly in the same “buckets” as at the summit (which were Economic Development, Design, Organization, and Promotion) and (1) fill each other in on progress made since the summit on several projects, and also (2) get the ball rolling on others.
Examples of new projects that people are already working on are: kids’ summer programming, a regional business and promotion alliance, an upcoming housing symposium, a possible renewed Alpine Chamber of Commerce, and a beautification project. We know there are others percolating that we don’t know about, and we’re excited to hear about those too! (If you are involved in one of these and want us to know about it before the meeting so we can include it in the planning, please do!)
Let’s leave this meeting with at least five new projects going — will they include beautification projects? New health care alliances? A new entrepreneurship speakers’ series? A plan to contact landlords of empty businesses to see what might entice them to rent or sell? An alliance of area non-profits? A plan for a business incubator space? A plan among short-term-rental owners to give away some span of time to artists, speakers, authors, or others we’d like to host in our towns? A renewed ministerial alliance? A new community event? A program to fix houses so our seniors can stay in their homes as long as possible? A group of private landowners that band together to allow a network of trails (for us as well as visitors to enjoy)? An expanded transportation plan for getting people to doctors’ visits in El Paso and Midland/Odessa? A group of plant-lovers who take on the landscaping at Kokernot Lodge to make the lawn a space to gather again? A new adult sports league?
As a brain-jiggler, the categories (chapters) that our summit speaker, Doug Griffiths, uses in his book 13 Ways to Kill Your Community are below. At the summit, these 13 chapters were divided up and put into the “buckets” from the second paragraph, above. Keep these in mind as you ponder ideas to bring on the 24th!
The Thirteen Ways to Kill Your Community
- Forget the Water
- Don’t Attract Business
- Don’t Engage Youth
- Deceive Yourself
- Shop Elsewhere
- Don’t Paint
- Don’t Cooperate
- Live in the Past
- Shut Out Your Seniors
- Reject Everything New
- Ignore Outsiders
- Grow Complacent
- Don’t Take Responsibility
Kirsten Moody
alpinecommunityprojects.org
These are the comments I made during the Citizen Comment Period at the City Council meeting on February 27, 2025:
Marfa recently lost a very great lady –– Betty MacGuire died several weeks ago. She was the epitome of caring and kindness and generosity –– a class act who wanted good things for Marfa.
It was Betty MacGuire who funded the construction of our Animal Shelter. She gifted it to Marfa. And then what most of you don’t know is that for many, many years Betty paid for the spaying and neutering of any animals that were adopted from the shelter. How’s that for commitment?
So here we are in 2025. What’s become of the shelter?
For one thing, the police department has seen fit to use it for storage of several of their very large file cabinets. How is this beneficial to the Animal Shelter? Why was this allowed?
And the fenced-in perimeter around the shelter has become a dumping ground for junked, non-running vehicles. It looks like trashville. How is this beneficial to the Animal Shelter? Why was this allowed?
In checking the definition of Animal Shelter, I cannot find a single definition that includes a shelter also being a storage facility for police department records or a junkyard for old vehicles.
Now I can only imagine how Betty MacGuire would feel about what has happened to the shelter. From my perspective it looks like a slap in the face to her. What a crummy way to honor her generosity. What has been allowed to go on at the shelter is not a good look for the City of Marfa. It is an embarrassment.
I am asking that the City Council reassess some priorities and to please, for a change, take positive actions to help the shelter.
Dawn Shannon
Marfa
