By Penney Wilson —
Being a new resident of Van Horn and after watching the decline in the
community over the last six years that we have owned our property, it is
depressing that in the next 10 years, without changes, Van Horn could
be a ghost town, or one of nothing but mechanics and motels.
Why
are there no new businesses in Van Horn and what happened to the old
businesses that are no longer here. Why do we have to drive 100 miles
for the simplest of things?
After reading an article in the
Advocate last week, 1 discovered that at one time Van Horn had a movie
theater, a drive-in theater, some clothing stores, several grocery
stores and a pharmacy. 1 know for a fact that there was a Dairy Queen
and a Pizza Hut here; where are they now?
Why do the people of
Van Horn have to drive to El Paso or Ft Stockton for a Walmart store? A
Tractor Supply Store? A nice clothing store? What is wrong with Van Horn
that we cannot keep the basics here for the people?
When
driving on I-10 and passing Van Horn, what do people see? Garbage
blowing around, houses that need upkeep, yards that are füll of trash,
fences that are in need of repair and a main street that has nothing of
interest for a tourist to stop at except the Trading Post and Chuy’s.
Nothing that would keep someone in town for more than an hour, just long
enough to fuel up and get back on the road, or maybe have a bite at
Wendy’s or McDonald’s.
And then you have Hwy. 90, a nice road with
some clean, neat homes and then right next to those homes that are taken
care of, are stripped out trailers and school buses, junk yards with
everything exposed to the traveler passing by and just a lot of garbage.
Now,
there are some nice residences in Van Horn and there are a lot of
people that keep their property clean and neat, but aren’t there
ordinances in Van Horn regarding the cleanliness of property and if so,
why aren’t these ordinances enforced?
Why do we turn down any
enterprise that wants to move to our community? I understand that a
while ago that the prison that was built in Sierra Blanca wanted to move
to Van Horn but was turned down by at least one county official. Do 1
like the idea of a prison here? Not particularly, but think of the extra
revenue it would have brought in for the restaurants, motels, mechanics
and gas stations plus the added people that might have moved to Van
Horn to work at the prison.
Possibly, the additional people
moving in to work could have helped us keep the school open and saved
the teachers their jobs and brought other industries to Van Horn.
lt’s
time to start seeing the way to a future for Van Horn – to watch it
grow and not fall into oblivion. To watch it grow and prosper and to
make it a place that people traveling across Texas to New Mexico,
Arizona. or California want to stop and visit because it’s a fun town to
be in with lots ofthings to do and see
Of course, this is just my opinion. 1 hope people are listening.
Sincerely,
Penney Wilson
