T H U R S D AY, M AY 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

News
Library ...

O Continued from Page 1

But the most changes, according
to Garrison, will be with the young
adult participants.
I want to give points not just for
how much theyre reading, but for
my personal theme of training the
brain and general learning and
experiencing new things, Garrison
said. For example, last year, you
had to read five hours in order to
get the T-shirt, which I felt was a
fine amount of reading for a
month, you can squeeze some
reading in there. I also count
fanfiction in there along with
audiobooks, reading graphic
novels, a subtitled movie or TV
show, a documentary, anything that
will expose them to new ideas and
learning something new. It gives
folks the opportunity to break out
and do things they havent before,
like read a biography or read a long
newspaper article. And hopefully,
since its a little fresher and a little
different, it will appeal a little more

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to the teens, who are used to
getting their information through a
lot of different media.
And since it is summer vacation,
Garrison added, the teens get to
choose.
They dont have to do any
homework assignments, but if they
want to watch a documentary
about snakes because they are
super-interested in snakes, I
heartily recommend thats how they
spend part of their summer,
Garrison said. Or they can go to a
museum, theres a lot of things to
do in this area to get people out of
the house, being active and
exploring the community.
Even with the success of last year,
both Garrison and Rankin said they
feel this years program will be even
better.
I think its going to run more
smoothly than it did last year,
because I know they were a bit
short on staff last year since they
had lost their childrens librarian, so
that was hard, Rankin said.
Oh definitely, we have better
coordination because we have
more time, Garrison agreed. And

Arrest ...

O Continued from Page 1

second time with the confidential source. Sarmiento
delivered over 25 grams of crystal methamphetamine
to the confidential source.
Boley said Sarmiento later left the parking lot and
was detained without incident by deputies with the
Texas County Sheriffs Department and officers with
the Hooker Police Department.
A search of the vehicle revealed U.S. currency
identified as currency provided to the confidential
source for the purchase of the crystal methamphetamine, the sheriff said. Sarmiento was arrested on
violations of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous
Substance Act and is currently being held on a
$100,000 bond.
Boley ended his release by praising the efforts of both
his department and Hookers police department.
This is just one more example of how a strong
working relationship exists between the sheriffs
department and other law enforcement agencies in
Texas County, he said. This working relationship at
the local level has been essential to the operations of
the men and women of the sheriffs department and
police departments who are out on the streets
combating the threat of local drug trafficking and other
crimes directly related to the drug problem within our
county.

its spread out a little more, so were

not trying to cram everything into
one month. That will also give more
opportunities in the community for
them to choose what they want to
do since we arent just cramming
everything in.
And the themes for the summer
reading program should also prove
to be a hit with those who participate.
This year, since the theme is
based on sports and exercise, I
think were also going to try and do
a lot more activities outside to get
the kids outdoors and moving,
Rankin said. So thats cool, too,
and I hope we can inspire that in
the kids to get out and play.
Overall, library staff is excited for
this years program.
Were doing a lot of different
stuff, weve got the downstairs now
so we have a much bigger space in
which to do stuff, Garrison said.
Were doing things slightly
different and moving away from the
traditional read, read, read into
more of a celebration of learning
type of environment. We cant wait
for people to join us.

A B O V E : T h i s y o u n g m a n v e r y t e n t a t i v e l y f e e l s a b u l l s n a k e h a n d l e d b y R a t t l e s n a k e A n d y l a s t ye a r a s p a r t
o f o n e o f t h e m a n y s u m m e r r e a d i n g a c t i v i ti e s . R a t tl e s n a k e A n d y s v i s i t w a s v e r y p o p u l a r l a s t y e a r , a n d h e
w i l l b e r e t u r n i n g t o L i b e r a l M e m o r i a l L i b r a r y f o r a n o t h e r d e mo n s t r a ti o n th i s s u m me r .
F R O N T P A G E : O n e y o u n g m a n tr i e s t o d e m o n s tr a t e h i s s u p e r s t r e n g t h b y a t t e m p t i n g t o p u l l a p a i r o f
s u c t i o n c u p s a p a r t d u r i n g a M a d S c i e n c e p r e s e n t a t i o n , o n e o f l a s t y e a r s m a n y s u m m e r r e a d i n g a c t i vi t i e s
a t L i b e r a l M e m o r i a l L i b r a r y . M a d S c i e n c e w i l l b e vi s i t i n g t h e l i b r a r y a g a i n f o r s u m m e r r e a d i n g f o r a n o t h e r
dem o nst r a ti on . L&T file photo/Elly Grimm

US wont appeal court rulings on lesser prairie chicken

Oil and gas groups had
opposed the threatened
listing, the Permian Basin
Petroleum Association said it
would impede operations
and cost companies
hundreds of millions of
dollars in oil and gas
development in one of the
countrys most prolific basins
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The
U.S. government said Wednesday that
it wont appeal recent court rulings in
Texas that stripped the lesser prairie
chicken of federal protection under the
Endangered Species Act.
The Fish and Wild Service said in an
emailed statement that the Justice

Department filed a motion Tuesday to

dismiss its appeal of rulings in
September 2015 and February 2016 by
the U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Texas. That court ruled that
the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to
make a proper evaluation of a conservation plan from affected states when
the agency listed the lesser prairie
chicken as threatened.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said
despite seeking to drop the appeal, it
intends to reassess the status of the
species based on the courts ruling and
the best available scientific data.
The USFWS will continue working
with states, other federal agencies, and
partners on efforts to conserve the
lesser prairie-chicken across its range,
the statement said
Oil and gas groups had opposed the
threatened listing. The Permian Basin
Petroleum Association said it would
impede operations and cost companies
hundreds of millions of dollars in oil
and gas development in one of the

countrys most prolific basins, the

Permian Basin in the Texas Panhandle
and eastern New Mexico.
The lesser prairie chickens Great
Plains habitat has shrunk by more than
80 percent since the 1800s, and its
population by 99 percent. It lives
primarily in Kansas, but also in Texas,
New Mexico, Oklahoma and
Colorado. About 95 percent of the
birds range is on private lands.
In an effort to keep the bird off the
endangered species list, the five states
organized their own conservation
program, offering economic incentives
to landowners and companies that set
aside land. Still, the Fish and Wildlife
Service last year designated the lesser
prairie chicken as threatened, one step
beneath endangered status. The classification means federal officials think
the bird soon will be in danger of
extinction.
Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts,
who has long opposed listing the bird
for federal protection, noted the Fish

and Wildlife Services intention to

reassess the birds status.
We have certainly not seen the last
of the Obama administrations
regulatory agenda, Roberts said.
The Center for Biological Diversity,
which filed a lawsuit in 2014 seeking to
force the federal government into more
aggressive steps to preserve the lesser
prairie chicken, said it was disappointed
with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
My fear is that the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has gotten into the
routine of bending over backward to do
whatever conservative Western states
want it to do to such a point that it
cannot appeal court orders won by
those states against it, Kieran
Suckling, executive director of the
nonprofit environmental group, said.
He added that the agencys
statement that it will review the birds
status is just an excuse to pretend
theyre still taking action and that a
review can take years and even decades.


   

   

 



      
   


 
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