I concur , Ospurt . The days of "Build It and They Shall Come" never really existed here in the real world .

In order to have and maintain a successful business/church or any other endeavor you must promote your product in advertising BUT you also have to get out and meet people ( The pressing of flesh) and tell them face to face what a great product you have and why it's just right for them.

You do not do this two or three times a week , or on weekends . You do this every day . Every. Single. Day .

Some people have a pretty strange idea of what sales is about. These are people who have probably never worked on a commission . They probably believe you work behind a desk and people come up to you begging you to take their money..and you get to pick and choose whose money you shall take . ( I actually interviewed a guy wanting a sales job at an Odessa broadcasting station years ago ,who wanted to sit at the front desk all day and handle walk-in sales for five hundred a week plus comission. Hardy har har !)

I think what we need is a sales professional or two whose soul job is to promote and sell the stadium . A commitee need not apply .

Ok . Sometimes I get "preachy" . My point was to hire an individual or two "locally" and have them promote the stadium , not to kill a thread .

I can think of several retired ad guys with the serious creds to get the job done .

They might "volunteer" for the job, but I have discovered a healthy commission seems to improve an already impeccable work ethic .

One stands out as being a former Ad Man now doing news with a tall morning host on an AM station.

Then again what do I know .

Well Otto, I guess the commenter's are napping.

Either that or they are pursuing their goal of marrying Megyn Kelly rather than reading this little 'ol blog.

Okay Os, you know what I'm thinking here . What's your imput?

Who is Megyn Kelly and why can't she spell her name right???

I agree with your analysis.

As much as I oppose the *WAY* the commissioners court went about building the Horseshoe (without a voter referendum), the full-time professional manager keeps that thing full of concerts, gun shows, roping's, weddings and garden club lunches. I'm not sure it pays all the bills and retires the debt, but at least the facility is used every weekend and most weekdays.

As for Megyn Kelly, I guess you don't know your smokin' hot blonde Fox News babes very well.

Yes again Ospurt ! The Horseshoe has a full time manager who knows whats what.

Get a person or persons not ruled by a committee at the stadium and we taxpayers may have a chance to keep our homes an additional two or three years..maybe.

I'm sorry to hear that Fox news has hired a woman for her looks who doesn't know how to spell her own name. Megan . Pity that . But I've come to expect it .

I have been following this with much interest... I appreciate the fact that you have posted some community concern for this matter. However, I do have a few questions....

Can you tell me how many days out of the year the complex goes unused?

What committee actually runs the complex? I was under the impression that the city oversaw Nancy Swallow's contract to run the complex. Is there a committee at the CVB that actually controls the complex and its marketing?

And, if the city already contracts out to Nancy to manage the Complex; why would you blame the CVB for this event leaving. I was not aware that the CVB had direct responsibility to actually run events. I thought they were charged with bringing them here.

With that, if MISD or band boosters were in charge of the event and they decided not to pursue the event, why are they not to blame?

Furthermore, you mentioned "events like this vanishing". What other events are you aware of that have left the stadium? Are we just harping on one event or have there really been several others and can you name them?

I ask these questions because the stadium was a gamble to begin with...calculated gamble, but a gamble none the less. However, as reported in the MRT in the article about John James running again, it appears that over the course of six years they have raised revenues/eliminated costs at an average of $100,000.00 a year and I would think that is a step in the right direction. However, everyone seems to be beating their chests and asking for blood. Is there nothing good you or anyone else can say about a sports complex that helps bring in visitors? Don't these visitors spend money in our community?

Sorry for all the questions, but this seems to be so very important and I would just like to hear some hard facts. Thank you.

As to how many days the complex goes unused, a better question what is the utilization of each of the facilities, and how often do they host events outside of Rockhound games at the baseball stadium and local HS football and soccer at the football stadium? I don't think you can count using the parking lot for a car show.

My my , Mr. Robinson ! You certainly have been a busy bee this morning ! Five ( count'em ) five comments from 12:18 till 1:16 this morning ! I must say it takes me almost that long to put a sentence together , but 5 large comments in 58 minutes is impressive !

I have tried to figure "from whence thou cometh" after your initial toe in the water on July 21st, but after your statement of "quit complaining and do something about it", you have removed no doubt in my mind.

For starters , some of us can not DO something about it . Do you need a doctors excuse or would you just think I forged it.

Oh ! here's a list of do-nothings . Lamb ,Bacon ,Mark Twain , Kurt Vonnegut, Saki , Sand..oh the list goes on and on of people who called attention to problems and thereby prompted others who COULD do something about them to do so !

Taking me to task about my correct feelings that special incentives to certain businesses is bribery and creates a special halo of protection around these businesses to save face should they stumble or out right fail is illegal and unconstitutional.

And yes , I am aware the only constant in the universe is change , but tell me , would you marry off your daughter to a business competitor just to enhance your business..if everyone else did it ?

Your reference to me as the kettle calling the pot... proves you are a newby here as I have stated my positions on issues time and again for years .

Even if I disagree with your obvious cozying up to the Status Quo I will respect your opinions and welcome you to Jessicas Well.

I , like yourself , am but a mere letter writer but I am sure we will agree on some issues .

Welcome aboard .

Actually, I am glad to be here. The fundamental quality that makes Republics and Democracies wonderful is the free exchange of ideas. I have no doubt that we may come to agree on many things, as humans are not often all that different from each other. Differentiation is method for one to feel special, but often results in isolation and loneliness. Furthermore, with passion and poise, I am certain that we may come up with a few compromises and maybe a valuable idea or two.

As for the Status Quo, I advocate evolution in life - it makes us a vibrant and viable people. The status quo stands far too still for me. Plus, one man’s forward movement is another man’s status quo – invariably life is about perspective (a tricky ‘truth’). HOWEVER, I do feel that solutions are often a better path, than one of stationary discontent.

Thank you for your welcome. I hope our new found "relationship" will be both entertaining and enlightening.

Don't knock busy, Otto. We like busy.

Who's knocking busy Mr.S.A. ! Five long comments in one night is almost up to Theo's standards ! I have to use spell-check a LOT and that takes up a bunch of time lest my intellect tells on itself .

Besides , I like to read ALL comments whether I agree or disagree..and I'd like to see a lot more..as you see , I like busy too !

So there ! :-)

What do you define as the status quo,when local, state, and national budgets are bleeding with a plethora of build-it-and-they-will-come investments?

Is this not the status quo?

And how can one call these projects frontiering when the final arguments for them all comes down to "everyone else is doing it" and "we have to get in the game"?

Bob , you know darn well we're on the same page about 90% of the time and sorta snarky 98% of the time (and I freely admit to snarkism when I called out Mr. Robinson's earlier comments) but Mr. Robinson is asking for information on how we came to our current thinking , and this leads me to believe he has an open mind .

As you know ,Bob , if he had started reading JW even just one year ago he would have read the information he needed AND been given the links to follow to make up his mind..however unpleasant that might have been .

He might wish to peruse the Archives .

What we now have is a gentleman who has bought into the theory of ED and may need to be "gently" shown through factual analysis why it is a bad thing.

I'm sure we get a ton of people like that , but so few ask questions or even write to tell us to go to hell.

Bring'er on Mr. Robinson . Let us help you . :-)

I aspire to be as snarky as Walsingham one day.

Ospurt , your lip's to Gods ear's .

Is it "snarky" if it is true?

Not at all , Portia . We have ALWAYS been at war with Andrews , and that sorta hacks me off .

You could say it's in my genes . Everybody busy?
No one want to play today ?

Forgive me as I misspoke . When I stated it's in my genes , I meant to say it's in my glens .
Thank you .

I sit on the Midland High Booster Board. I have a few things to clear up regarding this post. First of all, the city has nothing to do with bringing Thunder in the Desert to town. The Midland Independent School District does not bring this event to town. In the past, it was the Midland High Band Booster Club who brought this event to town. Second, the Midland High Band Booster Club chose not to host Thunder in the Desert for two reasons.
First, last year THUNDER IN THE DESERT would NOT come to Midland. We were told Midland was going to be out of the way in Thunder's playing schedule. Therefore, they were not coming this direction. This was an event the Boosters had sponsored for several years. Up out of the blue, they decided not to come, and without any warning to the boosters. In the past, Thunder in the Desert was a major fundraiser for the band. Their decision not to come to Midland put a HUGE burden on the booster club. We were scrambling to find another fundraiser to replace it. We chose to bring The Glen Miller Band. Second, the Midland High Band Boosters chose not to bring Thunder in the Desert back to Midland this year. The reason was, the event is an enormous undertaking physcially and finacially. The year before last when we did host Thunder in the Desert the Boosters barely covered their expenses. In other words, we came close to losing money. It was not a financial success for the band. When they told us last year they were not coming and we were forced to find another fundraiser, we found one where the risk was not quite so great. They called and offered to come this year and the Midland High Band Boosters weighed our options and chose to go another avenue. We chose to turn it down and Odessa High was given the opportunity to picked it up. The Midland High Band Boosters brought this event to town. The financial risk is totally the Boosters. It just so happened the risk for the Midland High Boosters became too great and the boosters chose to take another avenue. It was not a decision the Midland High Boosters took lightly, but it was our decision. The Odessa High Band picked the event up keeping it in the Permian Basin for those who wish to attend to enjoy. The Midland High Band Boosters support the Odessa High Band in this venture and hope they had a successful event and continue to have success. People are clueless at the cost of bringing these events to town. They are not free and if you don't get enough corporate sponsorships and backing, or sell enough tickets, the risk can be financially fatal. The following quote from the original post above is an insult to the Midland High Band Booster Organization. "Those Midland High Band boosters / directors who coordinated it in the past have moved on and the organization was ill prepared to continue after that loss of leadership."

The Boosters are a group of hard working and dedicated parents and directors and I do not believe a derogatory statement such as this was in order. I'm not sure where it came from, but in this context it is derogatory. There was NEVER a loss of leadership in the Midland High Band Booster Organization. The decision was made for financial reasons and for financial reasons only. I think in the future, facts need to be verfied before you just start blasting "those so called ill prepared organizations". I personally think the Midland High Band Boosters and their hard working dedicated directors are owed an apology for the unnecessary and unwarranted negative publicity.

Felicia Pierce
2nd VP Midland High Band Booster Organization
Fundraising Chairman

I do hope you read this response Ms. Pierce, because you have provided the information that needed to be put out into the public domain about this event, and the decisions behind it, in response to the NewsWest 9 Story, not this blog post.

This forum is a blog, a place to speculate and ruminate about the goings on in our fair city. We are very far from being an authoritative news outlet for anything. We never claim to have the facts, and words like "theorize" and "seem to be correct" don't imply any factual authority.

I know it may be frustrating to read these types of posts, but the question of why Thunder in the Desert left was a valid one to ask in light of the quote from the Odessa High Booster that was available in the media (and quoted above). We couldn't weigh and comment on "facts" you have provided because they were not publicly available, so we were left to speculate.

I've been involved with several manpower intensive fund-raising ventures that died once key volunteers left, or moved on from an organization. To say a group was ill prepared to continue a venture after a loss of leadership wasn't meant to be "criticism" as much as a stark truth common to lots of groups. However, as our Site Admin has pointed out reading things in a blog tends to make the words stark and biting, because the overall context of some posts aren't readily understood to infrequent readers.

I was a band student in MISD, and enjoyed every minute of it, so I'm a bit troubled that it was perceived as so negative to you and whomever pointed you toward our small corner of the blogverse.

Personally, from the media reports available, I found it a reasonable conclusion that the DCI festival was a money making venture and that they wanted to come to the Permian Basin.

This is all just reaction to a publicly printed quote.

Also, this is a commentary on the expense of our Tax Dollars to provide and pay for an infrastructure to help promote and bring productions like the DCI festival to the Sports Complex. I know the Sports Complex and MISD didn't do any of the heavy lifting for this event, but there has been a lot of money spent over the years to provide logistical and financial support to event coordinators that fill the stadium. If the decision was purely financial, would cash grants and logistical support from SEAM have made any difference in the Boosters decision not to renew the contract?

It's not much of an apology, but venues such as the Well really exist to foster discussion about local happenings, and we always welcome those can provide the most insight into decisions that impact our citizens and public institutions.

There will always be a place for someone to correct the narrative where we have strayed, or come to a ill conceived conclusion.

Bravo Ospurt ! Mr. S.A. , may I recommend an abbreviated version of Ospurts posting for a "sort" of masthead ?! In ten paragraphs The Wizard of Os was able to sum up the the concerns of Ms. Pierce and in five (condensed) able to sum up the purpose (or , at least what I believe to be the purpose ) of JW ! I know darn well people think I'm sometimes full of crap , but I defy them to say that about me when I say " Way to go , Os "!

U DA MAN !

If you want to buy a house, you would have to get the loan. Furthermore, my brother always utilizes a short term loan, which supposes to be really rapid.

Super jazezd about getting that know-how.