Archives for April 2001

The 63rd annual Clarendon College Alumni Reunion and Homecoming will be held April 21 and 22.

Registration will begin Saturday in the Bairfield Activity Center at 9 a.m., and a full day of events has been planned this year.

Tours will be available courtesy of the CC Student Ambassadors, and brunch will be served from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

The Bulldogs will face New Mexico Junior College in a double header homecoming game, and the spring intramural rodeo will also be held the same day.

An honor banquet will be held at 5:45 p.m. in the Bairfield Center. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.

The CC Fine Arts Dept. will produce “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” on Saturday night, and a lunch and business meeting will be held on Sunday.

For more information, contact Darlene at the college at 806-874-3571.

With just one week to go before the final votes are tallied, local banker Vic Jeter has widened his lead over Mayor Tex Selvidge, and he now appears to be unstoppable in his effort to be Donley County’s first Turkey King.

Jeter was leading the Clarendon mayor by a margin of $27.32, according to this week’s Enterprise / Gobbler Poll. That’s nearly $10 ahead of where Jeter was this time last week.

Election judge Linda Gray said things have been relatively quiet at the polling place with the exception of campaign handbills appearing there. One was put on the door of Duckwall’s, and another was placed right on the jar of the candidate in question – Mayor Tex Selvidge.

Electioneering within 100 feet of any polling place is a clear violation of the law, but when asked if she thought the Selvidge campaign was at fault, she said no.

“I think Vic [Jeter] was behind it,” she said, “but don’t quote me.”

Jeter denied any knowledge of the Selvidge posters and reacted angrily when told about the electioneering rules.

“Who’s making up all these rules??” he exclaimed. “We need someone to write all this down. There ought to be a book or something.”

A faceless committee known only as the “Don’t Wanna Be Turkey King Campaign” might be responsible for the posters. That group has also taken out an ad in this week’s paper supporting Selvidge.

The Jeter forces aren’t going to be outdone, however. “Birds of a Feather,” the committee to elect the local banker, has also purchased print advertising this week.

Meanwhile, a confrontation erupted between candidate Jeter and Chamber of Commerce director Judy Burlin. According to witnesses, Burlin told Jeter he couldn’t be present when the votes are counted next week.

“Haven’t you ever learned about any election laws in your life?” she asked. “Candidates are never present when votes are counted.”

Burlin continued and even stooped so low as to say that Jeter’s real name is Vic Gore.

Local political analysts unanimously decried Burlin’s comments and accused her of mudslinging and dirty politics.

“The politics of personal destruction must end,” one analyst said. “Jeter may be a lowlife, cheating turkey, but he is no Al Gore. To say otherwise is an insult and a disservice to turkeys everywhere.”

In other Turkey Festival news, anti-poultry forces have struck again – this time in the yard of Game Warden Gary Hunt.

Hunt finally received one of the pink and green wooden turkeys in his yard last Thursday. But then when no one was looking, the anti-poultry forces attacked.

“I was patrolling in Armstrong County when my wife called,” Hunt said. “She said the turkey had gone to roost.”

When he came home, Hunt found that someone had put the turkey up in the top of a maple tree about 30 feet off the ground. The bird was so scared of heights that it wouldn’t come down and was reported to still be in the tree at press time.

Hunt said that while it’s common for the Rio Grande turkey to roost that high in the wild, the Salt Fork plywood turkey generally does not like to be that far from terra firma.

At least Hunt’s turkey still has his life though. One bird last week was not so lucky when he encountered the anti-poultry squad. Thomas Prescott Featherbottom was lynched in the front yard of Tessie Robinson last week.

No suspects have been identified as the attackers of Featherbottom, who was known as Tom to his friends.

The victim will lie in state at the Burton Memorial Library on April 19 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. A wake will be held at the same time, and refreshments will be served. Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors and the library staff.

Memorials in Featherbottom’s honor may be made to the Donley County Tourism Committee.

Anyone can have a turkey put in someone’s yard for a birthday, anniversary, or gag gift for a $5 donation to the Tourism Council. Call Carolyn Blackerby at the Burton Library at 874-3685 for your order.

The election for Donley County’s King Turkey continues, and pictures of all 12 turkey candidates are on money jars at Duckwall’s. The winner will be the turkey with the most money at the end of the contest.

The king will be crowned during the Turkey Strut Festival on April 21-22.

Money raised goes to the Donley County Tourism Council to help promote our fair county. Vote early and vote often.

LUBBOCK – Texas farmers and ranchers can learn more about agricultural policy and the latest proposed farm bill from national and state leaders at the Texas Agricultural Policy Summit to be held Aug. 13-14 at the Holiday Inn Park Plaza in Lubbock.

The summit will attract producers, lenders, agribusiness representatives, environmental and natural resource stakeholders, and rural community leaders. Registration is $80 per person.

“The goal of the summit is to focus on policy changes under consideration by state and national agriculture leaders, and to better understand the likely consequences for Texas agriculture and the rural community,” said Dr. Abner Womack, summit committee co-chair and director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University.

US Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman will highlight the two-day summit on Aug. 14, speaking on the role of the USDA in defining priority issues. The same day, a panel of federal officials, including US Reps. Larry Combest and Charles Stenholm, both of Texas, will host an afternoon discussion focusing on national policy issues and expected farm bill modifications.

Combest chairs the US House Agriculture Committee, and Stenholm is the ranking minority member on the committee.

State Rep. Gary Walker and State Sen. Robert Duncan will provide a panel discussion on Texas agricultural and natural resource policy. Walker chairs the Texas House Committee on Land and Resource Management. Duncan is vice chair of the Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources.

The summit will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 13, featuring Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, who will discuss challenges and issues for Texas agriculture. Combs’ address will be followed by a discussion of issues underlying the farm bill debate, led by Dr. Ronald D. Knutson, Texas Cooperative Extension economist.

Dr. Abner Womack and Dr. Ed Smith, Texas Cooperative Extension economists, will start Tuesday, Aug. 14, with an 8:15 a.m. discussion about the outlook and alternatives for the current farm program.

H.R. 2646, the farm bill legislation recently proposed by the US House of Representatives, has been analyzed by economists at the Agricultural and Policy Food Center at Texas A&M and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) – a joint institute between the University of Missouri and Iowa State University. Estimated consequences will be presented for all major crops and livestock, plus representative farms in Texas and other major producing states nationally.

Smith noted important additions were made under the proposed bill, including allowing producers to update their base acreage on which program payments would be paid, giving the producer a choice.

“They can either accept what their current base acres are under the current AMTA (Agricultural Market Transition Act) payment, or they can adjust their base acreage to be equivalent to the average plantings in the 1998-2001 period,” Smith said.

A counter-cyclical program was also added in the bill. A counter-cyclical program essentially acts as an income support for farmers, and is tied to a target price. If the market price is less than the target price, a portion of the difference is made up to the farmer.

“That counter-cyclical provision provides the downside safety net that was missing in the 1996 farm bill, and the hope is that it will offset pressure on Congress to pass ad hoc disaster legislation each year,” he said.

The Womack and Smith discussion will be followed by Mike Dwyer, chief economist with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. He will discuss “Agricultural Trade Implications – Who Wins and Loses In A Global Market?”

Roddy Peeples, senior farm broadcaster with the Southwest Agriculture Radio Network, will provide closing remarks.

For more information, contact Cady Auckerman at (979) 862-1771. A summit registration form is online at http://agsummit.tamu.edu .

An investigation is ongoing after two Hedley residents turned over an explosive compound to local authorities.

Melody Johnson and Santiago Rodriguez found a one-pound package of explosive Detagel in an abandoned semi-trailer near their home in Hedley, according to Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn. The couple brought the explosive to the sheriff’s office last Friday.

Officers took the Detagel to the old Clarendon landfill where it was kept under guard by a deputy.

Assistance was called in from Texas Ranger Gary Henderson and federal ATF agents from Lubbock. The gel was turned over to Edward Smith of the Amarillo Police Department’s bomb squad for safekeeping.

“Without a detonator, the stuff is relatively safe,” Blackburn said. “But a build up of static electricity or any electric charge could set it off.”

Detagel is an industrial explosive used in gravel pits, oil well drilling, and other industrial uses, Blackburn said. It is a federal crime to possess the explosive without a license.

“We don’t believe any more of the stuff is in Donley County,” he said. “We think we’ve found the source was in Hall County, and we have reason to believe there is more of it in Hall County.”

Citizens should contact authorities immediately if they come across something they believe to be an explosive or something marked as such.

“Call us and do not touch it,” Blackburn said.

Donley County filed a request with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) on Friday, seeking an additional $73,159.50 in state funding for the restoration of the 1890 courthouse.

The commissioners’ court voted unanimously to make the request in a called session Friday morning.

The money would be used to restore a third story masonry gable on the building’s south façade and a cast iron fireplace in the district courtroom.

Both items were original to the courthouse, but they were unknown at the time the restoration Master Plan was put together in 1999 and were only recently rediscovered. Commissioners agree the missing elements need to be replaced to make any restoration more complete.

If approved, the supplemental grant would cost the county an additional $12,910.50. A decision is expected from the THC by on April 19, 2001.

Additional money from THC became possible when Archer County, which had received a courthouse grant last fall during Round II funding, recently turned back the state money.

Also on Friday, county commissioners discussed the budget of the courthouse project, and a conference call was held with architect Chris Hutson of Volz & Associates in Austin.

Hutson told the court that he is including “deductive alternates” into the construction bid packages, which would give the county options if bids come in over budget. The alternatives would allow the county to eliminate items from the project that would have the least impact on the restoration.

Estimates for the local project are being made based on going rates for historic restorations in the Austin and San Antonio areas. The cost of using construction companies in the Panhandle region may be cheaper.

“This may go to bid and everything be fine,” Hutson said, “but I would rather prepare for it now than [the county] be hit with sticker shock when the bids come in.”

To learn more about the restoration of the Donley County Courthouse, click here.

Barbara Seal, TxDOT

Everything is bigger in Texas, and community cleanups are no exception as more than 100,000 volunteers take to the streets on Saturday, April 7, 2001, to declare war on trash.

In Donley County, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says there are five Adopt-a-Highway groups who keep twenty miles of road clean during the year. The groups participating in the Trash-Off on April 7 are Clarendon College Cultural Club, Clarendon College Block & Bridle/Phi Theta Kappa Clubs, Hedley Homemakers, and Clarendon Masonic Lodge.

As participants in the 16th annual Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off, these proud Texans will be going to extreme measures to pick up after those who have dared to trash the Lone Star State.

“We are extremely grateful for the way our Trash-Off volunteers demonstrate their Texas pride, but it’s hard work for 100,000 volunteers to pick up after 17 million people,” said TxDOT Travel Division Director Doris Howdeshell.

“Other Texans talk about their state pride, and I challenge them to put that pride into action year-round by keeping our highways litter-free.”

“Currently Adopt-a-Highway volunteers clean only ten percent of the state’s roadways, and state tax dollars must be used to keep the remaining stretches clean,” said Barbara Seal, Childress TxDOT Adopt-a-Highway Coordinator. “Adopting a highway not only helps keep or state beautiful, but it also allows tax dollars to be used for road improvements and beautification instead of trash pickup.”

Don’t mess with Texas Trash-Off volunteers will pick up an estimated 2 million tons of litter in time for the spring wildflower season. This massive statewide cleanup is organized by TxDOT and is fueled by volunteers from Adopt-a-Highway groups and Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) communities around the state.

Along with the Don’t Mess With Texas Trash-Off, TxDOT’s litter prevention programs have reversed a trend in the increase of trash on Texas highways, resulting in a 72 percent reduction in litter. TxDOT’s grassroots partner, Keep Texas Beautiful, is a nonprofit, environmental organization consisting of a network of private citizens, communities, industries, civic groups, schools, and government agencies.

For more information, call Barbara Seal, TxDOT Adopt-a-Highway Coordinator at 940-937-7145.