Archives for April 2002

The Donley County Tourism Council will host the second annual Donley County Spring Turkey Strut Festival in Clarendon April 19-21.

The Turkey King contest is already up and running at Duckwall’s, and raffle tickets are being sold for a $300 gift certificate to the local merchant of the winner’s choice.

Activities include a Poker Run at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 19, ending on Kearney St. with a Harley show. Saturday, April 20, will have bird and wildlife tours at the Finch Ranch, Coyote Ridge, and the James Pinkney Rodgers Bird Sanctuary.

Other activities include an arts and crafts show, live entertainment, a kids carnival, and the Turkey Cook-off. KEFH will have a live broadcast at 3 p.m., and the Turkey King will be crowned at 5 p.m. A mattress race will be held along with the kids Strut and Gobble Contest. KLSR will hold a street dance until 10 p.m.

Sunday activities include a Cowboy Church service and country breakfast at the Bittercreek Ranch, and the craft show will continue that afternoon.

For more information about the Donley County Turkey Strut, contact Dee Dee Autry at 874-3889.

Cable television subscribers in Clarendon were surprised last week to find two local channels no longer under local control, but the cable company says it will provide a new channel for the community.

Channel 11, operated by local radio station KEFH-FM, and Channel 8, operated by the First Baptist Church, were unexpectedly taken over by Classic Cable. Representatives of the radio station and the church were both upset by the move.

“They [Classic Cable] told us they wanted to take over Channel 11 about a month ago,” said KEFH general manager Ken Meinhart. “Then they just cut us off last Thursday.”

KEFH owner Patrick Robertson said his station had operated Channel 11 for six years without being charged and now Classic wants them to pay $200 a month for use of the channel.

“It’s just a break even deal as it is,” Robertson said.

First Baptist Church pastor Truman Ledbetter did not know how long his church had been broadcasting services and Christian programming over Channel 8 but said it was for at least 10 years. The church also aired services for the Calvary Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church for an annual fee.

Like the radio station, the church had free use of Channel 8, but Classic last week asked them to pay $25 per hour. Both the church and the radio station maintained their own equipment and fed their signals to the cable company.

Barry Harbison, a representative with Cable Network Advertisers – a division of Classic Cable, said the company is looking at all of its local lineups after coming through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He said he was in charge of looking at the local channels.

“The radio station [KEFH] was broadcasting its signal and selling advertising, and they weren’t paying anything for that,” Harbison said. “And the church had no agreement to broadcast.”

Harbison said Classic usually charges $50 an hour for local airtime but that the company had agreed to set a special rate of $25 per hour for churches.

“We do this in several cities, and it works well,” he said. “We have to charge something except for community service things.”

Classic intends to create one channel – probably Channel 8 – for use as a community channel where local people could advertise and local churches can air their services for a fee, he said.

“We’re not trying to get any churches off the air,” Harbison said. “We’re trying to accommodate the community.”

The topic of Classic Cable is reportedly being put on the city aldermen’s agenda for their next meeting on April 9. The company’s franchise agreement expired February 7, 2002, city officials said.

Mayor Tex Selvidge said he thought it would be a bad thing for the churches to be taken completely off the air for the community’s shut-ins and elderly people. But he did not think charging $25 for an hour of airtime was out of line on Classic’s part.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen took the first step toward hiring a city administrator last Tuesday when they voted 3-1 to reactivate the now dormant office.

Presiding in the absence of Mayor Tex Selvidge, Mayor Pro Tem Mac Stavenhagen opened discussion of the topic by telling the board that by ordinance the City of Clarendon is required to have an administrator.

Ordinance 201 was passed in 1964 and created the office of the city administrator and outlined the duties of that position. The office was filled for a time but has been vacant for decades.

Board consultant Colby Waters told aldermen that hiring an administrator for the city will be a lengthy process but said Clarendon should be able to attract good candidates for the job.

Alderman Michael Tibbets raised concerns about the chain of command after reading Ordinance 201.

“The role of the mayor is not defined,” Tibbets said.

Other board members interpreted the ordinance as saying the administrator would serve at the pleasure of the city council, of which the mayor is a member.

Alderman Bob Watson moved to reinstate the office, seconded by Alderman Billy Jack Land. Watson, Land, and Alderman Mark White voted “yes.” Tibbets voted “no.”

As explained at last Tuesday’s meeting, a city administrator would differ from a city manager in that hiring and firing powers would still reside with the Board of Aldermen under an administrator. Also, hiring a city manager would require changing the city’s form of government, a proposal which was defeated by popular vote several years ago.

In other city business, aldermen voted unanimously to solicit proposals for engineering services for the purpose of planning a new street improvement project. Advertisements will run in The Clarendon Enterprise and the Amarillo Globe-News. The proposals will be reviewed later this month.

The board consulted with City Attorney Jim Shelton and discussed a proposed new animal ordinance. The board agreed to set a $20 annual fee for animal land use permits and to charge $10 per animal per year. The board also agreed to have buffalo added to the list of livestock that would be prohibited in the city limits. The proposed ordinance will be re-drafted and brought back to the board.

Chamber of Commerce president Jim Blackerby asked the board to help lease a billboard near the intersection of SH 70 North and US 287 to promote community events this summer and fall. The chamber, the Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association, the Saints’ Roost Museum, and the Donley County Tourism Council had previously agreed to split the cost of the sign. The aldermen agreed to help with this project through using the Motel Bed Tax fund.

Waters addressed the board about a letter of deficiency received by the city from the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC) regarding the transfer station at the Recycling Center. The issues involved are related to the level of reporting by the city’s engineering firm. The board approved a letter responding to the TRNCC.

By Carrie Helms, Clarendon Enterprise

For six months, the local Dairy Queen and its employees endured meticulous inspections and earned high scores in all areas, including customer service, product quality, and cleanliness.

Last week, because of its excellent ratings, the store was awarded the first annual Sparkle Award.

“This is the first year for the contest,” manager Karen Spruell said.  “We are so proud we were chosen.”

In addition to regular monthly inspections, the store was subject to surprise inspectors in disguise.

“We would have Mystery Shoppers who would come in like normal customers and judge us on service and cleanliness,” Spruell said.  “We never knew they had been there until we received a letter from the area inspector; one infraction and we could have been disqualified.”

The nation-wide contest is held among stores of the same owners. The Clarendon store earned some of the highest scores among more than twenty stores owned by Parrish Chapman.

“We were tied for first with stores in Corsicana, Dalhart, and Clayton, New Mexico,” Spruell said.

The winning stores received more than just another ordinary plaque and trophy.

“I received a $1,000 cash prize and a color TV,” Spruell said.  “Each crew member got a personalized plaque, $25 cash, and a letter of congratulations from Chapman, the owner.”

According to Spruell, the contest has already started over for the next year, and prizes are expected to include a new car for the manager.

“All of the hard work has finally paid off,” Spruell said.  “We hope we can continue to provide the best service possible.”

Hedley UIL academic teams were in district competition this past week, and the school will send eleven students to South Plains College in Levelland on April 19 for regionals.

For the second time in three years, the math and science teams swept all their events, winning district championships in Number Sense, Calculator Applications, Mathematics, and Science.

Stephen Howard, Dustin Knowles, and Lauren Hill came in first, second, and fifth to pace the Number Sense team to its first place victory.  Marissa Wells was alternate.

Lauren Hill, Treva Rowland, and Josh Collins placed first, second, and fourth for the Calculator Applications team.  Samuel Howard was the alternate and was 5th place individual. Lacey Wallendorff, Stephen Howard, and Treva Rowland were first, second, and fifth in Mathematics. 

Lora Llewellyn, Lacey Wallendorff, and Lisle Rowland came in first, third, and eighth in the Science.  Llewellyn also won medals as the top chemistry student and the top physics student in the district.

In all, the teams won ten of the 15 medals awarded in math and science competitions.

Rebekah Howard will travel to Levelland as the HHS’ representative in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, having won the overall second place medal. 

Other students who placed and won points for HHS included Aaron Bugg – fourth in Current Issues and Events; Cori Cantrell – fifth in Accounting; Josh Collins – fourth in Headline Writing; and Dustin Knowles – sixth in Headline Writing.