The Cooperative Extension Program of Prairie View A&M and Texas AgriLife wants to encourage you to attend our USDA – NRCS Programs Seminar. The Seminar will be held on February 7, 2013 at 6:00 PM at the Zavala County Justice of the Peace Office, Pct. 4 in La Pryor, Texas. J.M. Villarreal, USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service, will be discussing their conservation and cost share programs. USDA-NRCS has several programs that should be of interest to agricultural producers and they do have a “Beginning Rancher-Farmer Program” and a “Socially Disadvantaged Rancher-Farmer Program” that can assist qualifying farmers to start or expand their agricultural operations. Prairie View A&M University has placed an Extension Agent in Crystal City with the responsibility of providing technical assistance to residents in the areas of Community and Economic Development. Prairie View’s expansion into the Texas-Mexico Border Region is not new. Although, the majority of its Agents are in East Texas, Prairie View A&M currently has Extension Agents in Eagle Pass, Laredo, Edinburg, Raymondville, Rio Grande City, and El Paso working with local limited resources producers. Prairie View A&M Cooperative Extension Program’s Vision is “Meeting Needs…Changing Lives.” For more information about this or other Cooperative Extension Programs, please call Mario A. Morales or Betty Avila at 830-374-2883 or come by our office at 211 N. 1st Avenue, Crystal City, Texas during normal working hours. The Cooperative Extension Program serves people of all ages regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, political beliefs, and marital or family status.

Dorothy Standridge Butler died on January 23, 2013 in Lubbock, Texas of natural causes.  She was 91 years old.

She was born in Temple, Texas, on April 21, 1919 to Dolphus Bush Standridge and Robbie Quine Standridge.  Her older sibling, Mary Elizabeth Standridge, preceded her in death in 2008.

Dorothy Standridge married Clifton Butler in 1945 after graduating from Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas and moving to Eagle Pass, Texas in 1944 to teach school.  Her husband predeceased her in 1978.

Dorothy Butler taught at Webster Elementary School and was later a social worker for the Eagle Pass Independent School District.  She was a long-time member of Redeemer Episcopal Church and late in life joined the United Methodist Church.

Butler is survived by her three sons and their spouses -- Clifton Standridge and Maria de los Angeles Butler, Hiram Butler and Andrew Spindler-Roesle, and James Robert and Griselda Butler.  She is also survived by three grandchildren -- Cliff, Kathlene, and Bridgette.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm Saturday February 9, 2013 at the United Methodist Church, 571 Quarry Street, Eagle Pass, Texas.

Ascencion G. de la Cruz, formerly from Eagle Pass, Texas and a 20 year resident of San Antonio, was called to be with the Lord on January 13, 2013 at the age of 88. He is preceded in death by his parents, Nicholas and Isabella, and his son-in-law, John. Ascencion is survived by his wife of 65 years, Manuela, their children Roy (Patty) de la Cruz, Carlos (Concepcion) de la Cruz, Esther (Roberto) Trevino, and Elizabeth Epperson; and 13 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great grandson. Ascencion dedicated 50 years of his life working at the Ritchie Brothers Farms.