This news article will explain what the Penwell Truck Stop was in Odessa, Texas.
Penwell Truck Stop was built and constructed as a 5,008 square foot building in 1962 on a 4.69 acre lot. Underground storage tanks were installed. Penwell Truck Stop was also home to the TEXAS FUEL STOP and Country Kitchen Café. (Ref: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/15009880/Interstate-20-and-FM-1601-Penwell-TX/)
A tall, yellow on black with the caption “TEXAS FUEL STOP” was located 20 feet south of the truck stop. On the inside were bright red chillers. (Ref: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gtusa/history/usa/tx/penwell.htm)
Rudy Martinez, manager of the Penwell Truck Stop, said the rain from the storm of summer 1972 in Downtown Penwell measured 2 inches at the post office. He said strong winds pushed over service station ground signs. The most rain Penwell had received that summer. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/298485150/)
Diesel prices have gone up 6 cents per gallon and freight rates have not risen in 1974. It was about 35.9 cents a gallon in October 1973. Diesel prices were 42.9 cents a gallon in 1974. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/301777032/)
Penwell Truck Stop underwent new management when Joseph Henry renamed the truck stop to EASY FLOW PENWELL TRUCK STOP, INC. in 1987. However the truck stop was forced to close down in 1988 due to tax forfeiture. This led to the closure and decline of Penwell Truck Stop. (Ref: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0104097500)
Penwell Truck Stop was forced to shut down in 1988 when the state comptroller held assets from the Penwell Truck Stop that were seized in an attempt to recover nearly 2 million in unpaid motor fuel taxes. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/300225533/)
[The state comptroller is holding assets from the Penwell Truck Stop that were seized in an attempt to recover nearly 2 million in unpaid motor fuel taxes. Repeated attempts to contact the Penwell business were unsuccessful this morning. The Wednesday seizure of the truck stops by a 70-member motor fuel taxes task force resulted from an ongoing investigation of diesel suppliers by the state with the aid of the FBI and IRS, Tony Proffitt, spokesman for Comptroller Bob Bullock, said Thursday. If the taxes owed are not paid, the state can sell the assets seized to collect the money, Proffitt said. An audit showed no taxes had been paid to the state on about 11 million gallons of diesel fuel bought through BB Fuels, Inc. and sold at the Easy Flow stations, Proffitt said. Taxes were being collected at the stations but not submitted to the state, Proffitt asserted. Proffitt said BB Fuels was based in Houston and the Easy Flow Holding Co. in Van Horn, but there were no telephone listings for the companies in those cities.The truck stops were in Van Horn, Penwell, Colorado City, Santo, Lufkin, Sealy and Waelder, he said.]
Tax forfeiture is what led Penwell Truck Stop’s closure and what led Penwell Truck Stop to be abandoned in 1989. Penwell Truck Stop was abandoned for more than a decade.
Back in 2006, Michael Dell of Dell Inc enacted a sales tax sharing arrangement with a 1.5 cent tax increase with a half-cent going to reduce property at the vacant Country Kitchen Cafe located on the southwest corner of is located near the site of the proposed FutureGen. However he was unable to buy the land as Rhodes Operating Inc/Rhodes Welding Company still owned the property. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/303076482/)
The Penwell Truck Stop property was put up for sale in 2007 because the town of Penwell, Texas was 1 of 4 sites in the United States for the one billion dollar FutureGen coal-fired electric generation plant that emits nearly zero emissions. The Penwell Truck Stop was a potential Futuregen site. Penwell Truck Stop was sold to Truck Alignment Frame, Llc Mobile Alignment Unit later in 2010. (Ref: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/15009880/Interstate-20-and-FM-1601-Penwell-TX/)
Truck Alignment Frame, Llc Mobile Alignment Unit currently owns the former Penwell Truck Stop property and uses that building as an automobile repair shop.
Penwell Truck Stop was located at Interstate 20 & FM 1601, Penwell, Texas which is actually at Interstate 20 & FM 1601, Odessa, Texas.
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