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Monday, January 29th and I’m PJ Benevich.
The City of Alpine has posted on its website that City Secretary Geo Calderon has been designated Texas Registered Municipal Clerk by the University of North Texas.
The certification program began in 1967 and is the only university-level professional education program for city clerks and city secretaries in Texas.
It also is the third oldest of such programs in the country and is recognized by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.
The program is comprised of four courses of study covering a variety of municipal functions.
Completion of the program requires more than 200 hours of individual study and successfully passing four examinations.
In addition, the candidate must attend eight related seminars requiring more than 100 contact hours of instruction.
Calderon graduated from Alpine High School in 2008 and received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Sul Ross State University in 2020.
He started with the city as an information technology intern in 2018 and later was hired as a records clerk.
Calderon was promoted to executive coordinator in 2020 and became Alpine’s 17th City Secretary on July 6, 2021.
A ceremony to announce the start of Frontera News, an on-line newspaper covering West Texas and Northern Mexico, has been scheduled for Thursday.
Robert Halpern, former publisher of the Big Bend Sentinel, and members of his family, announced the new venture earlier this month.
The announcement said Frontera News will be a non-profit venture in partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation.
It said the paper will offer, quote, “freely-accessed, non-profit journalism covering issues that shape lives and communities across the Trans-Pecos and Big Bend country.”
Family members include Alberto Tomas Halpern, who was born in El Paso and raised in Marfa, Rosario Salgado Halpern, who was born and raised in Presidio and Robert.
He was born and raised in Alpine and grew up in a family department store business.
Robert holds a journalism degree and worked at the Odessa American and El Paso Times before publishing the Sentinel and International in Marfa and Presidio until selling it a few years ago.
The announcement asks for contributions from the public, both with news items and financial backing.
The official launch will be from 5 to 7 Thursday at the Ritchey Hotel and guests can become founding members with a contribution at the door or donate on-line.
For more information and to R.S.V.P., contact Robert Halpern at 386-7581 or email robertlh54@gmail.com.
On-line training courses by the Sul Ross Small Business Development Center continue with several this week.
First up from 1 to 2 tomorrow is a course on How to Start Selling in Amazon’s Store.
This session will help you discover if you’re ready to sell in that store and how to get started.
Learn the fundamentals of selling with Amazon including what to sell and when, how to list and deliver your products and how to grow and scale your brand online.
It also will include information on the resources and programs Amazon has to help enable small
businesses to succeed.
For more information, contact Norma Martinez at 837-8813 or email norma.martinez@sulross.edu
And Alpine Middle School Principal Mrs. Judith Pardo-Alferez was honored as a Bravo Awardee this weekend at the Texas Council of Women School Executives conference in Austin.
She was selected as one of 10 exemplary education leaders across Texas who lead programs and
initiatives that promote community and parental involvement in their school district.
This has been your local and area news report for KVLF 98.7 FM, 1240 AM and KALP 92.7 FM
Local news can be found on our website at bigbendradio.com.