COUNTY NEWS
Boll Weevil Spray Pilot Killed In Plane
Crash
Crop duster, Tye Goddard, 36, of Abilene, was
killed Friday, September 28, after his plane clipped a standing
irrigation air pipe and crashed. This was the second of two crop
spraying accidents within two days last week involving pilots
spraying for the Texas High Plains Boll Weevil Eradication Program.
The accident involving Goddard occurred around
4:26 p.m. Witnesses state that Goddard was dead at the scene. The
official statement released by the Texas Boll Weevil office states
the plane crashed as a result of mechanical failure. However the
mechanical failure was said to have occurred as a result of the
impact with the stand pipe. The plane crashed into a wheat field, in
Hale County, located about a mile west and a half a mile north of the
Providence community, according to Trent Parrish of the Plainview
Boll Weevil Eradication office.
Parrish also said another crop spraying plane,
piloted by Peter Hardy of Big Spring, crash landed into a field two
miles south of Aiken last Thursday morning around 10 a.m., September
27, due to engine failure. His plane sustained some wheel damage but
Hardy was not injured.
Both pilots were working for the Lockney office of
the Northern High Plains District of the Texas Boll Weevil
Eradication Foundation.
Goddard was born, August 12, 1965 in Dumas. He was
a 1983 graduate of Dumas High School. He earned his commercial pilots
license about 4 years ago.
He is survived by his parents, Sue and Sonny
Kitchens, of Dumas, and Vance and Chris Goddard of Abilene; three
brothers, Scott Goddard of Dumas, Joe Kitchens, of Amarillo, and
Jason Hetherington, of Cedar Park; one sister, Kim Powers, of Cedar
Park; and a fiancee, Misti Watts, of Wellington.
Bead Run and Motorcycle Games Return to
Punkin Day
Floydada will soon host hundreds of visitors
coming to the city's annual Punkin Day.
Included in those visitors will be motorcycle
enthusiasts coming for a bead run and motorcycle games.
Registration for the bead run is at 8:30 a.m. in
front of Floyd County Farm Bureau, on Wall Street. The last bike must
be out by 10:00 a.m., and back in by 1:00 p.m.
The bead run is a designated course, for
motorcycles, of approximately 100 miles. There are 5-6 stops along
the course. At each stop the rider will pick out a colored bead and
put it on a string.
Each colored bead already has a predetermined
value unknown to the riders.
The riders return to the start after they have
visited all the stops and the rider who has chosen the lucky bead
colors will receive a cash prize.
The motorcycle riders enter the game by paying
$5.00 per string. They can buy as many strings as they wish, and the
winner will earn 50% of the pot.
You must return to the starting line by 1:00 p.m.
If you do not, you will be disqualified.
Other motorcycle games begin at 2:00 p.m. around
the square in downtown Floydada. In years past the games have
included: a "slow race", washer toss, tiny pumpkin 'pick-up', and
others.
Other pumpkin games (for all ages), will begin at
1:00 p.m. and will include the wheelbarrow race, pumpkin toss,
pumpkin rolling race, seed spitting, pumpkin drawing, and pumpkin pie
relay.
Classic cars will also be in abundance in downtown
Floydada, as well as a large variety of arts and crafts and food
booths.
LIGHTHOUSE ELECTRIC LLINEMEN RAISE THE FLAGS--Shown raising the
American and Texas Flags are: (top, l-r) Joel Evans, Steve Anderson,
Brad Jackson; (middle) Tate Glasscock; (bottom, l-r) Brent Sanders,
Larry Smith, and Jamie Suarez.
Photo by Johnny Gourdon
DPS Issues Private Plane Cautionary
Advisory
The Department of Public Safety is reminding
private plane owners to be extra vigilant in light of the recent
terrorist attacks.
Specifically, DPS is advising private plane owners
to periodically check on their planes to make sure they are accounted
for - and to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
If any plane is either missing or unaccounted for,
plane owners are urged to immediately call their local police
department or sheriff's office. If unable to contact local
authorities, citizens also can call the roadside assistance line,
1-800-525-5555, and DPS will assist you in contacting the appropriate
authorities.
"We have no specific information related to
attempted thefts, but are asking plane owners to check on their
aircraft more often than they have in the past, simply as a
precautionary measure," said DPS Director Thomas A. Davis Jr.
Museum Will Host Red River War Seminar Oct.
16
To commemorate October as Texas Archeology
Awareness Month, the Floyd County Historical Museum will host a
symposium on the Red River War at the museum, October 16.
The speaker will be Texas Historical Commission
Archeologist Brett Cruse. He will give a presentation on the
archeological investigations conducted in 1998 and 1999 at various
sites in the Panhandle as part of the Red River War Battle Sites
Project.
In 1874 the U.S. Army launched a major offensive
against the Southern Plains Indians in an attempt to remove them from
the region to allow settlement by Anglo Americans. The ensuing
battles came to be known as the Red River War.
Admission is free to the seminar which begins at
7:00 p.m. in the Museum in Floydada.
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