Billie Faye (McBeth) Ellison July 5, 1928 ~ June 9, 2021 (age 92)

Billie Faye Ellison,92, passed peacefully from this earth Wednesday, June 9,2021 in the early morning hours at her home in Levelland, Texas.  She was surrounded by her daughter Staci, grandson James, granddaughter, Marcy and great grandson, James.  They have been her caregivers and have been with her continuously throughout her last years.  Graveside services will be held at 1:30 pm on Saturday, June 12, 2021 at the City of Levelland Cemetery.

Faye as everyone knew her, was born to Artie McBeth and Artie Dudley McBeth July 5 ,1928 in Rotan, Texas. Faye was born and raised in the Baptist Church and was a member of Fifth Street Baptist Church of Levelland.

She is preceded in death by her loving husband, James Virgil Ellison,  son, Billy Jack Ellison, a grandson, a great granddaughter and a great-great grandson.  

She is survived by son, Jim Ellison and wife, Lou Ann, of Levelland; daughter, Shirley Melton of Midland; daughter and caregiver Staci Jimenez of the home; grandson, whom she played a big part in raising, James Jimenez and wife, Marcy of Levelland; daughter in law, Carol Ellison of Colorado; sister, Lula Butler and husband, Jimmy of Abilene, along with 8 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and 7 great-great grandchildren.  Faye was loved by all of her family as well as many friends that considered her Grandma. She will be truly missed, and always loved by many. 

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Krestridge Funeral Home 

Olivia Garcia, was born on July 30th, 1921 in Mathis, to Antonio and Maria Nieves Rodriguez Garcia .  She married Domingo Mendoza on June 18th, 1948 in Mathis, Texas and they had three daughters from this union.  They moved to Levelland from Denver City in 1983.  Olivia cleaned homes, washed clothes, ironed clothes,  cooked and sewed like a professional seamstress, crocheted, quilted blankets in patches for all her family members,  she was an excellent cook, enjoyed eating  Ice Cream and peanut butter Sandwiches, she liked watching her novellas Soap Operas on television , doing cross word puzzles,  reading Christian books and prayed her rosary daily, she was in a charismatic prayer warrior group,  Olivia, was a Crusistas for several years and Very Dedicated and Devout long time member of St. Michael’s Catholic church in Levelland.

SPC Board of Regents Meeting June 10th

The SPC Board of Regents had a meeting yesterday at lunch in their board room for a busy agenda. First and foremost, the Canvasing of the recent runoff election to fill board position 5 took place, and the board recognized Chris Eden’s as the winner with 61% of the vote. Mr. Eden’s was sworn in and settled into his spot along side his fellow board members. Next, there was a presentation on an employee survey that was given out between Oct 8^th and Nov 20^th. The sample size was 353 employees, or around 60%, and responses were overall very good for the college. For the most part, the staff polled believes SPC is a good place to work with an environment of professionalism that cares about their students first and foremost. Areas that were highlighted for improvement, however were communication between departments and allocation of resources. In one week Board members will be meeting with the folks at LEDC to talk about the possibility of moving the colleges truck driving, and other workforce training programs back home to Levelland. This comes as part of the Boards plans to move things away from the Reese Center to better utilize their Lubbock and Levelland Campuses. Finally the funds related to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund or HEERF were discussed at length. HEERF has had two separate allocations thus far, with a third coming along in later months. The board was adamant that HEERF 3 funds would not be utilized until all of HEERF 2’s allocation was spent. The college received over $2.5 Million from HEERF 2, and has awarded $1.8 Million of those funds. As the rules and regulations for these funds are strict, and ever-changing, there is only a select set of uses for it, and the college has been searching for ways to get it dispersed fairly. New with this round of HEERF though, any student that was enrolled from March 13^th 2020 forward may be eligible to receive some of these funds, and students that were previously denied funds under HEERF 1 may re-apply under HEERF 2.

Olivia Garcia Mendoza

Obituary

Olivia Garcia, was born on July 30th, 1921 in Mathis, to Antonio and Maria Nieves Rodriguez Garcia .  She married Domingo Mendoza on June 18th, 1948 in Mathis, Texas and they had three daughters from this union.  They moved to Levelland from Denver City in 1983.  Olivia cleaned homes, washed clothes, ironed clothes,  cooked and sewed like a professional seamstress, crocheted, quilted blankets in patches for all her family members,  she was an excellent cook, enjoyed eating  Ice Cream and peanut butter Sandwiches, she liked watching her novellas Soap Operas on television , doing cross word puzzles,  reading Christian books and prayed her rosary daily, she was in a charismatic prayer warrior group,  Olivia, was a Crusistas for several years and Very Dedicated and Devout long time member of St. Michael’s Catholic church in Levelland.

Visitation will be Tuesday & Wednesday from 9am-9pm, with the Reciting of the Rosary to follow on Wednesday, June 9th at 7pm. All services will be held at Head Duarte Funeral home in Levelland at 1402 Houston St.

Sundown City Council Meeting June 9th

On Tuesday Night Sundown became the 31^st city to adopt the “sanctuary City of the Unborn ordinance that has been making the rounds throughout Texas. After lengthy debate over slight word changes, ultimately the ordinance was adopted. The council acknowledged that the ordinance for their community was largely symbolic, but much like with other smaller communities in the area, it was adopted to deter Planned Parenthood, or any other organization to relocating within City limits. Also in the meeting the council went over their plans for the new Wastewater plant. In order to pay for the new facility, the Utility rate for water and sewage will be going up a total of $22. Before his departure from the council, Councilman Fryar was the sitting Mayor Pro-Tem, but with his absence a new one needed to be appointed. Lonnie Geisler was ultimately voted in as the next Mayor Pro-Tem. Finally the Sundown City Library is looking to move to a larger space to facilitate more events. A couple of local buildings were sighted, including the Catholic Church building owned by the school. This expansion would allow the Library to set up and participate in several larger events, including their planned “Back the Blue” Rally which is still in the works.

Levelland City Council Meeting June 8th

Levelland City Council met last night in City Hall to address some citizen requests that had been made the past few meetings. Firstly, the Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance was read a second and final time before being passed unanimously by the council. This is an ordinance which would make it illegal for anyone within city limits to get an abortion, or to assist anyone seeking one. Its been passed by several other cities throughout Texas and Oklahoma, with Lubbock being the largest to adopt it in recent months. Next the council went into Executive Session to discuss their plans for the Breshear Estates, a group of lots that had been annexed by the city, but had yet to receive city amenities. After a lengthy session, the council returned and informed the representatives for the estates that were present that they would move to diss-anex the plots, to which they seemed very appreciative. This issue was brought before council again several weeks ago in an open meeting where members from the neighborhood all addressed the council, requesting action be taken immediately to either add city amenities to the plots, as they were paying extensive city taxes, or diss-annex the plots.

In addition, the council voted to extend the Oxy Sports Complex Hours to accommodate the Texas Blaze Softball Tournament, which would be an overnight event. The vote was unanimous, as they hoped to establish this as a recurring event within Levelland, to boost the economy. Finally, the council went over the request from the City to apply for a grant through the American Rescue Plan of 2021 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, which would grant the city approximately $2.94 million dollars in two payments. The first half of the money would come in June/July of this year, with the rest to follow one year later. Finally There was a decision to be made about the City’s Audit requirements. The city must be Audited every 5 years, and as that time period is coming to pass, the City began searching for an accounting firm to facilitate the audit. They received 6 responses from various firms, but after weighing qualifications and experience, a Firm that responded from Lubbock was selected.

Anna Ruth (Roberts) Spencer

A Celebration of Life service for Anna Ruth Spencer, 87, who passed from this life on Friday, June 4, 2021 in Levelland, will be 3:00 PM Thursday June 10, 2021 at Krestridge Furneral Home 505 Austin Street Levelland, Texas.

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Krestridge Funeral Home (806)897-1111

Levelland Flooding Start To Subside

After several days of floodwater pumping activity from the City of Levelland, Avenue H. is finally re-opened today. On Monday the water stretched across the street and into the Levelland LEC and Geebo’s parking lots, but it seems that Lobo Lake is finally returning to the confines of its banks. Side roads are still very full of water, so proceed with caution, but through traffic can proceed as normal, barring any more unexpected rainfall. The city does have barricades very nearby should the need for them arise, but for now things can begin to return to normal for that side of town. Breshear Lake is still swelling, but has not spilled onto any streets, and West Avenue is still flooded, but as the City mentioned there is no pump system in that area to alleviate the water.

Levelland Chamber of Commerce Meeting June 2nd

The Levelland Chamber of Commerce had their meeting on June 2^nd at 11:45 in the SPC Founder’s Room for a light agenda and updates from its sub committees. The LEAP group gave their update on their recent projects which include a “rehabing” of some of Levelland Murals and Mosaics, and plans were beginning to form on making some of them more interactive akin to Levelland Mainstreet’s Guided History Tour. In addition there was talk of adding a new mural to downtown, with an artist out of Abilene possibly contacted to create, but a location wasn’t agreed upon. Finally there were plans to turn a small amount of acreage north of Breshear Lake into a recreation area to add more value to our community, and hopefully entice more college students to make their home in Levelland post graduation.

The board also discussed its recruiting plans, with a goal of adding 30 new members to the Chamber of Commerce soon. Members will be provided a list of interested parties to contact about a membership soon. We also got an update from the City from Erick Rejino who said in the coming year Levelland will be paying off significant portions of debts owed, and will allocate newly freed funds towards infrastructure improvements. While no specific projects were confirmed, the topic of road reworks and seal coats was brought up.

Levelland Flooding

After several days of severe weather, Levelland was hit hard by flooding, but nowhere quite as badly as the area around Lobo Lake. The lake, which is surrounding by low-running streets, has far exceeded its banks, forcing a closure of the streets leading up and past the Levelland Police department headquarters. Levelland Received a solid 3 inches of rain or more over the weekend, putting places like the Country Club under water as well. With more rain in the forecast coming up, it could take a while for things to return to normal in town, until then KLVT wants you to be safe and keep these tips in mind from Ready.gov:

• Find safe shelter right away.
• Do not walk, swim or drive through flood waters. Turn Around, Don’t Drown!
• Remember, just six inches of moving water can knock you down, and one foot of moving water can sweep your vehicle away.
• Stay off bridges over fast-moving water.
• Depending on the type of flooding:
  • Evacuate if told to do so.
  • Move to higher ground or a higher floor.
  • Stay where you are.

Make sure that a weather radio is a part of your preparedness strategy to stay up to date with the situation at all times, and tune in to KLVT AM 1230 for our dedicated Emergency Weather Broadcasts

City blockade of Ave H. near 11th st.

UPDATE 6/2/2021: According to Joe Cavazos with the City of Levelland, there is no current timeframe for when flooding near Lobo and Breshear Lakes will subside, but there are two pumps (one at either lake) which are pumping water at full capacity to facilities south-east of town. Currently relief is dependent on how quickly those pumps can displace the excess water, and the closure on Ave H from 11th-15th remains in effect. Additionally West Avenue is closed, though the City has no pumps in that location. Joe Cavazos told KLVT it was affected by a natural playa, which the City has no facilities in, so the water will simply have to dissipate at its own pace.