Archives for February 2001

The keen observations of two Donley County Sheriff’s Department employees probably prevented a burglary here January 19.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Deputy Bruce Burrell was headed home after his shift ended at 1 a.m. when he noticed a suspicious male subject near the rear door of Henson’s. When the man saw Burrell’s patrol car, he took off running and went behind the Community Bank. Burrell immediately called for back up, and Sheriff Blackburn and Deputy Kelly Hill responded.

As the officers searched for the suspect, off-duty dispatcher Lee Ann Cook called in. It seems she was having to scrape the ice off her windshield after her shift when she noticed a strange pickup on Third Street near Henson’s. She described the vehicle as a being white with tail lights mounted both high and low.

Simultaneously, as Cook’s description was read over the radio, a truck matching that description passed by the sheriff on US 287 at Gorst St, and “the chase was on,” Blackburn said.

The sheriff pursued the vehicle south on SH 70 to one-quarter mile past Citizens Cemetery, where the subject abandoned his truck and took off through Ronnie McAnear’s cotton field. The sheriff gave chase in his patrol car and caught the subject.

The subject was identified by Dep. Burrell as the man who intended to break into Henson’s.

Vincent A. Lada, age 19, from Nebraska was arrested on charges of evasion and was arraigned the next day on a stolen vehicle charge. He was transferred January 20 to the custody of Gray County officials.

Lada was driving a Southwestern Public Services pickup that had been reported stolen near Pampa, Blackburn said.

Two local men who stunned the city when they set a cross on fire last October received the maximum sentence for their actions in county court January 18 before Judge Jack Hall.

Max C. Rippetoe and Joseph M. Shadle waived their rights to a jury trial and entered pleas of guilty, according to records in the Donley County Clerk’s office. The two are serving 180 days in the Donley County Jail.

The sentences stem from the October 30, 2000, burning of a cross  on N. Jefferson Street. Another cross was found on S. McClelland Street but did not catch fire after it was lit.

Rippetoe and Shadle were arrested for the crime two days later by the Donley County Sheriff’s Department, and the two subsequently confessed to building and lighing both crosses. They said they had meant their actions to be “a joke.”

Local residents said the acts were unprecedented.

“There’s never been an incident like that before,” former city alderman Mack Smith told the Enterprise at the time. Smith has lived here for 50 years.

County Attorney Pro Tem Kaye Messer said she was personally offended by the cross burnings. She hopes the maximum sentence will send a message.

“I would have loved to have pushed [the sentence] up, but that’s the most I could do, and I wouldn’t budge it lower at all,” she said

Disorderly conduct is usually a Class C misdemeanor, but records say the location of the incident was  selected because of the defendants’ “bias and prejudice against minorities.” The charge was therefore enhanced to a Class B misdemeanor under state statute.

A Clarendon High School student who brought a gun to school was cleared of any wrong doing last week.

District Attorney Stuart Messer said a Grand Jury no billed CHS senior G.J. Martindale last Tuesday.

“The case is over with,” Messer said. “[Martindale] will have no criminal record from this.”

Martindale’s shotgun was found in his vehicle October 3, 2000, during a random search by drug dogs. The young man had become ill while hunting the night before and had forgotten the gun was in the vehicle when he went to school.

A one-vehicle rollover left one person dead and 11 others injured Sunday morning near Hedley.

Serigo Gonzales of Houston was driving a van northbound on US 287 at the Hedley city limits when he lost control and slid off the road at approximately 12:45 a.m., according to DPS Trooper Chris Ward.

Gonzales’ van slid into the right bar ditch and tumbled over an embankment, dropping about 25 feet to the railroad below and landing on its nose. Gonzales and passenger Ovidio Molina, also of Houston, were ejected in the wreck. Ward said the van then fell over on its side and came to rest on top of Molina, killing him.

The 11 survivors were transported for treatment, the trooper said. Another passenger, who fled the scene, was picked up later by the Donley County Sheriff’s Department and turned over to the INS.

No citations or charges had been filed in the case as of Monday afternoon. The incident is still under investigation.

COLLEGE STATION – The Texas Panhandle is deceiving.  Although its vast open plains appear void of animal life, regional variations provide habitats suitable for more than four hundred species of birds.  Their occurrence and habits are described in detail in Birds of the Texas Panhandle: Their Status, Distribution, and History by Kenneth D. Seyffert, past vice president of the Texas Ornithological Society and past president of the Texas Panhandle Audubon Society.

“The purpose of this book is to make known this increase in knowledge and to provide an enlarged as well as a more detailed view of the richness of bird life that exists in the 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle, an area larger than West Virginia,” Seyffert writes.  “Barren…as the High Plains may appear, of the 606 species of birds confirmed in Texas (1998), 67 percent have been confirmed in the Texas Panhandle.”

The Panhandle is composed of two ecological areas: the Rolling Plains and the High Plains.  The Rolling Plains is composed primarily of mesquite shrub and mixed grassland and attracts species such as the red-headed woodpecker and Carolina chickadee.  The High Plains, which consists of gently rolling terrain and scattered rainwater lakes, provides a winter habitat for a variety of migrating waterfowl.  Many of these, such as the stately great blue heron, are common, while others, such as the red-throated loon, have been sighted only once.

For each of the species found in this region, Seyffert provides information on the bird’s status, occurrence, and nesting habits, which allow amateur and professional birders alike to scope out even the rarest species.  Additionally, Seyffert describes his own birding experiences in the Panhandle.  Ten elegant line drawings accompany the text.

Birds of the Panhandle is a must for those already familiar with the avifauna of the Panhandle and an eye-opener for those skeptical of the abundance of bird life in the region.  Residents of the Panhandle will find this a hand reference to places they can view their winged neighbors.

The book is available at stores or direct from Texas A&M University Press (800-826-8911 or www.tamu.edu/press).

The Burton Memorial Library is a busy place these days thanks in part to two technology grants.

A TIF grant from the Texas Panhandle Library Systems has outfitted Burton Memorial with two new IBM computers, a digital camera, a scanner, one black and white printer, and one color printer. Meanwhile a TIE grant acquired by the Clarendon Independent School District has netted two new Dell computers for the library. The TIE grant will also help cover the library’s phone bill and Internet connection expense.

Librarian Carolyn Blackerby says attendance has gone from an average of 30 people per day one year ago to 60 to 70 people per day with some days seeing 100 or more visitors.

All of the computers are Internet accessible using the library’s ISDN line, and Blackerby says people of all ages are using the new equipment.

“We have kids from grade school through college coming in to do research, people use them for making résumés, and we get a lot of travelers through here.”

People on the road stop to check their e-mail, use the restroom, and browse the used book sale, she said.

The library’s two older computers are still available, and the staff uses them to teach very basic computer skills to patrons.

Last week, Burton Memorial got nice surprise when Jay O’Brien and associates made a substantial donation. Blackerby says the money has been put into CDs and will likely be used partly to replace aging reference materials and old chairs in the library.

The remainder may be used as seed money for another project Blackerby has in mind.

“We’d like to remodel some of the upstairs for use as meeting rooms,” she said.

The library is already a meeting site for WIC, Weight Watchers, the Donley County Tourism Committee, and several tutors and students of the literacy program.

In addition, the library is planning a storytelling program for young children in February and will be taking sweetheart pictures of any couples that want them for $2 each for Valentine’s Day.

With all this activity, is the library getting away from its traditional function? Not at all, Blackerby says.

“We also have tons of new books.”