Archives for March 2003

Alderman Tommy Hill has jumped to an early lead in the 2003 race to be Donley County’s third Turkey King.

At press time, Hill was leading in the Enterprise / Gobbler Poll with a total stash of $22.02 His closest competitors were Hedley Coach Kenneth Housden with $3.81, Linda Thornton with $3.36, and Mark C. White (the banker) also with $3.36.

Five other candidates had broken the one-dollar mark with Mark White (the monument guy) at $2.85, Deputy Joe Stewart at $2.17, Nancy Davis at $1.54, lumberman Earl Hartman at $1.04, and Howardwick Alderman Doc Holladay at $1.01.

Howardwick Mayor Billy Woods, College Dean Joel Zehr, furniture man Eddy Eads, and Elementary Principal Mike Word all had less than two bits.

Voters have so far showed no interest in the candidacies of the remaining contenders. Bobbie Thornberry, Annette Osburn, Guy Ellis, Benny Osburn, Richard Gribble, and Mark Suna were all stuck in the starting coop with absolutely no money at all.

Money jars are in place at Duckwall’s, and anyone can vote for his favorite candidate with a donation of cash or change. The candidate with the most money wins.

The primary season comes to a close next Monday, March 31, when the field will be narrowed to the top five candidates. The winner announced at the annual Turkey Strut Festival on April 19.

Recent vandalism at Thunder Junction may be the final straw for the troubled theme park north of Clarendon.

Owner Frank Hommel said this week he does not intend to open the park this summer due to continuing financial losses.

“I just don’t know what else to do,” Hommel said.

Thunder Junction only grossed $14,250 last year while expenses amounted to well over $50,000. Recent attempts to sell memberships to the park for the upcoming season have failed.

“We started trying to offer memberships in December and so far have not sold a one,” Hommel said.

The park’s troubles got worse three weeks ago when someone  broke windows, kicked open a door, and stole several items. They also spilled or deliberately emptied out a container of muratic acid, which Hommel says caused a lot of damage in the concession stand before he discovered it.

“It’s ruined the floor; it’s destroying the particle board,” he said.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said this week his office has no leads in the Thunder Junction break-in.

“I suspect it’s drug related because they took items that could be easily pawned,” the sheriff said. “We would welcome any information anyone can give us.”

Meanwhile, Hommel is trying to figure out what to do with the park and the equipment left there. It might be possible to disassemble and sell the waterslides, but, as he puts it, “you can’t pull the concrete [pool] out of the ground.”

Sheriff Butch Blackburn says a report he gave to the Donley County Commissioners’ Court this month demonstrates that his office is even-handed as it enforces the law.

 “I think it definitely shows we’re not practicing racial profiling,” Blackburn said.

According to the report whites accounted for 89.6 percent of the drivers receiving traffic citations while black drivers received 10.4 percent, during calendar year 2002. The percentage of blacks arrested during last year was slightly higher at 15.1 percent as whites accounted for 84.9 percent.

For reporting purposes, all races other than black are considered white. The sheriff said he isn’t required to break races into smaller categories.

The statistics are similar to the state population break down during the last US Census in which black citizens accounted for approximately 12 percent of the Texas population.

Donley County’s population is 96.1 percent white (when all non-black races are considered white) and 3.9 percent black.  The City of Clarendon is 92.8 percent white (when all non-black races are considered white) and 7.2 percent black.

Blackburn said about 90 percent of traffic citations are written on drivers from outside Donley County, and he said he figures about 50 percent of arrests are people who are not from the local county.

This was the first year that local law enforcement agencies were required by the state to track the race of people receiving tickets and being arrested. With only one year of data, the sheriff said there isn’t enough information to see any trends.

Under the same law, which took effect last January, local law enforcement agencies were ordered to install video cameras in their patrol vehicles. Blackburn’s office met that goal in February.

“We’ve managed to do that at no cost to the local taxpayers,” Blackburn said. “I want to commend Chief Deputy Randy Bond and County Judge Jack Hall for doing the paper work and getting the grant done quickly.

“While a lot of areas are still trying to figure out if they will even qualify for a grant, we’ve already gotten our grant and gotten our cameras installed.”

State budget woes continued to be felt at Clarendon College last Thursday as the CC Board of Regents voted to increase tuition and fees to cope with anticipated funding cuts.

The board approved increases of $15 per semester hour for in-district or Donley County students, $16 for Texas students, and $20 for out of state students. That brings CC’s total tuition costs to $51, $66, and $81 in each respective category, which is not anticipated to harm the college’s competitiveness.

“We’re going up, but we’re still a lot cheaper than other colleges,” said CC President Myles Shelton.

Frank Phillips College in Borger will be charging up to $61 in district, $77 in state, and $94 out of state, Shelton said. He also noted that four-year institutions, such as Texas Tech University and West Texas A&M University, charge hundreds of dollars higher than Clarendon.

Regents also increased meal plan charges and dorm room charges each by $100 per semester.

“These increases go to offset anticipated cuts in state appropriations in the next budget cycle,” Shelton said.

CC is expecting to see a decrease in funding by 12.5 percent in the next state budget, which includes a forced seven percent cut that took effect last month and caused the loss of four jobs.

In addition to increasing tuition and fees, college officials are busy working to help bring in more money by increasing enrollment by introducing new programs such as softball, equine science, and rodeo. Shelton said CC’s recruiting goals for next fall are geared toward filling the new 80-bed residence hall now under construction on the south side of the Clarendon campus.

One group of students will see their fees decline significantly. Regents approved eliminating a $400 per semester transportation fee paid only by students in the Ranch & Feedlot Operations program and spread that cost over the entire student body.

“This was something that dated back over 15 years,” Shelton said. “The original idea was to buy vans to take the RFO class out in the field; we bought a new van every other year, and their oldest van would be four years old.”

When the RFO class replaced a van, the old van was moved into the CC motor pool for use by other programs. This had the effect of making the RFO program pay for the vans used by the entire college.

Regent Jim Blackerby said the practice was unfair, and Regent Jack Moreman raised concerns that the high fee could impact the RFO program’s competitiveness.

One dollar per semester of the approved tuition increase will be used to replace the transportation fee.

The Sandell Drive-In is one of three Texas drive-in theatres featured in the current edition of Fiscal Notes, which is published by Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s office.

The article, entitled “Driving Texas,” discusses the comeback of theatres around the state. The number of drive-ins open in the Lone Star State peaked at 388 in 1954 – one year before Gary Barnhill built the Sandell and named it for his daughters, Sandra and Adele.  The Sandell closed 30 years later, and by 1998, the total number of Texas drive-ins had dropped to 18.

Current theatre owner John Morrow is interviewed in the article. He re-opened the theatre last summer and is running it every weekend with the help of volunteers for the benefit of the community.

To read the entire article, visit the comptroller’s Web site at www.window.state.tx.us.

It’s Turkey Strut Festival time again, and candidates have come out of the underbrush to be Donley County’s third Turkey King.

Jars are in place at Duckwall’s, and all local citizens, neighbors, travelers, and illegal aliens can vote for their favorite candidate with a donation of cash or change.

Twenty candidates are all vying for attention as the race enters the ten-day primary period. On March 31, the field will be narrowed to the top five candidates with the winner announced on April 19.

This year’s candidates are: Mark C. White (the banker), Mark White (the monument guy), Nancy Davis, Bobbie Thornberry, Annette Osburn, Joe Stewart, Guy Ellis, Benny Osburn, Billy Woods, Doc Holladay, Richard Gribble, Eddy Eads, Earl Hartman, Mike Word, Joel Zehr, Mark Suna, Linda Thornton, Tommy Hill, and Coach Kenneth Housden.

An estimated 8,000 Valor Telecom customers in the local region lost their long distance and 911 services Friday.

Customers in the Clarendon, Hedley, Lakeview, Memphis, Estelline, Wellington, Claude, Groom, and Panhandle exchanges were affected.

A Valor press release blamed the outage on fiber optic line being cut by a resident about 12:30 p.m. on the Groom highway 19 miles from Panhandle.

Repairing the line took approximately six hours, the release said.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen authorized OJD Engineering to proceed with a master plan for a proposed street paving project when they met last Tuesday.

Engineer Che Shadle presented the proposal, which calls for OJD to perform a field survey to locate intersections, right-of-way information, and drainage patterns.

This work is considered a necessary first step to insure the proper sequence of design and construction in any large-scale paving program.

“If we’re going to do this, we want to do it the right way,” Shadle said

According to the agreement, the cost of the master plan will not exceed $12,000.

In other business during the city’s regular meeting, bids for a new skid loader were opened and discussed. The board voted to accept a bid from Yellowhouse Machinery for a John Deere 250 for $21,665. The machine will be paid for with a grant obtained through the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission.

The city’s recycling Dumpsters across from the post office were discussed, and aldermen voted to move the Dumpsters to First Street just east of Kearney Street. The change will take effect April 1, 2003.

Compensation for drainage and easement work to be done on Thurman Avenue was discussed. In exchange for the easements, the city agreed to pay for approximately 130 feet of fencing on Jimmy Thompson’s property and pay for some manure to be spread on property belonging to Mike Johnson.

A proposed Jake Brake Ordinance was discussed. The board approved a motion to draft an ordinance prohibiting the use of engine brakes within the city.

Board consultant Colby Waters spoke concerning the position of city administrator. The board will meet in a called session March 20 to look over the applications.

Candidates for local offices came out of the woodwork before the filing deadline passed last Wednesday.

The City of Clarendon now has seven citizens running for two positions on the Board of Aldermen. Incumbents Bob Watson and Michael Tibbets will face Carl Draper, Allen Estlack, Bobbie Kidd, Ricky Rattan, and Jimmy Swinney. Mayor Tex Selvidge drew no opponent in his re-election bid.

In Howardwick where no candidates at all had signed up earlier last week, former alderman Nancy Davis filed to run for mayor, and Alderman Bobby Murdock resigned his current position to run against her. Aldermen Dewey Linley and Mike Rowland also signed up to run for re-election.

Contested races have also developed for two positions on the Hedley School Board where incumbents Troy Monroe and Cary Don Neely will face LeAnn Marcum and Dan Bolin.

Don Thornberry drew no opposition in his re-election bid for Place One on the Donley County Hospital Board, but incumbent Nelson Christie at Place Two and incumbent Andy Wheatley at Place Three face challenges from Alan Fletcher and Bill Holden respectively.

Pending any write-in candidacies, the City of Hedley and the Clarendon Independent School District will not have competitive elections this year. All incumbents filed for re-election on those boards.

The election for local offices will be held Saturday, May 3, 2003.