Archives for March 2003

Voters will go to the polls this Saturday to elect members for four local boards.

Clarendon Mayor Tex Selvidge is running unopposed for re-election, but seven people are vying for two positions on the Board of Aldermen. Incumbents Michael Tibbets and Bob Watson face challenges from Carl Draper, Allen Estlack, Bobbie Kidd, Ricky Rattan, and Jimmy Swinney. Voting will take place at Clarendon City Hall.

In Howardwick former alderman Nancy Davis will face Alderman Bobby Murdock for the mayoral position. Aldermen Dewey Linley and Mike Rowland also signed up to run for re-election. Polling will be held at the Howardwick City Hall.

The Hedley Independent School District will elect two members to the Board of Trustees. Incumbents Troy Monroe and Cary Don Neely will face LeAnn Marcum and Dan Bolin. Voters should go to the Hedley Lions Club to cast ballots.

Donley County voters will elect two members for the Hospital Board. Incumbent Nelson Christie and challenger Alan Fletcher are seeking the Place Two seat. Challenger Bill Holden will take on incumbent Andy Wheatley for the Place Three seat. Incumbent Don Thornberry is running unopposed for his Place One seat. Voters can cast ballots in these races at the Clarendon ISD Administration Building, Howardwick City Hall, or the Hedley Lions Club.

All polling places for Saturday’s elections open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

A new peanut processing plant being planned for Clarendon is expected to reduce operating costs and cut overall harvest times for local farmers while boosting the local economy.

The Clint Williams Company, a division of Texoma Peanut Company, this week announced its decision to build a new, full-scale buying point here. The $500,000 facility will employ 10 to 15 people during the harvest season and will be managed from the company’s facility in Quail.

“Everybody I’ve talked to is excited,” said Tony Maxwell, who manages the Quail plant. “It will give local producers a close place to do business.”

The savings should be significant for farmers in Donley County, who currently have no option but to haul their peanuts to either Quail or Memphis.

“It’s going to cut the travel time to processing,” said peanut producer Mike Newhouse. “Last season it cost $200 per truck load to go to Quail. In one day last year, we hauled 17 semi-truck loads from one field.”

The Clint Williams Company is in the final stages of purchasing 45 acres on the north end of Ayers Street just outside the city limits. The facility will only require 20 acres but will have room to expand. Construction is expected to start very soon and should be completed in time for this fall’s harvest.

The modern facility will be used to dry, handle, and grade peanuts on large semi-trailers using high capacity loading and unloading systems for maximum efficiency. Maxwell said the plant will produce some dust, mostly from traffic, but the company plans to gravel the yard to reduce the dust as much as possible.

Newhouse estimates there are about 20 farmers growing peanuts in Donley County and said there is a lot of excitement among his fellow producers.

“When we get into production season, it will speed up harvest because there will be more places to go with the peanuts,” he said.

The Quail facility processed over 6,000 tons of Donley County peanuts last year, Maxwell said, and the Clint Williams Company hopes to get a larger market share while encouraging more producers to switch to peanuts.

“This move is an effort to continue our strategic expansion plans to the newer, more efficient peanut growing areas in the southwest,” company president Alan Ortloff said. “The Texas Panhandle region has been a key growing area for our company for a number of years, and we continue to believe in its potential for growth.”

Maxwell says profits from producing peanuts have been better than producing cotton on a per acre basis recently.

“This probably won’t impact the number of producers locally very much because it’s just so expensive to switch crops,” Newhouse said, “but it might encourage some farmers north of here to switch. Of course, anything that comes into town like this helps the economy.”

The Clint Williams Company is based in Madill, Okla., and has been in operation since 1968. In addition to the Quail plant, which opened in 1989, the company currently operates eight other buying points.

“We’re proud to be coming to Clarendon, and the local people seem to be excited also,” Maxwell said. “It’s nice to be coming to a place where the people want you to be there.”

A tornado struck Clarendon without warning last Wednesday, startling several residents of the southeast side of town but causing no injuries and relatively minor damage.

“We got lucky, very lucky,” Sheriff Butch Blackburn said of the tornado, which was later classified as an F1.

Most local residents, including many living near the tornado’s path, had no idea anything had happened. The majority of the city received a good spring shower about noon, but the storm briefly became dangerous moments later.

The damage began near the intersection of Gorst and Barcus where the roof of an abandoned rest home was nearly peeled off and the roof of a nearby horse barn was partially removed, Blackburn said.

A vacant house owned by Carl Draper in the 300 block of E. Montgomery seemed to have sustained the most damage. There two second story rooms and the front porch were ripped off. The roof of the garage was also torn apart, and the garage door was left resting on Mrs. Draper’s car.

Draper said the house, which he had been remodeling, was twisted slightly. He plans to demolish it.

Draper, whose doublewide trailer house next door also suffered damage to the roof and windows, said he had just made lunch when he looked out the front door and saw a small funnel drop down near Carhart Street.

“It sounded just like a freight train,” Draper said.

He told his wife to hit the floor just as the storm passed through his block. He said the storm then picked up and dropped down again before picking up and heading north.

Some residents also said they saw a funnel; others said they saw only swirling trash and debris.

Blackburn said the path of the tornado extended some eight blocks to the 600 block of E. Second Street. Most of the damage was limited to tree limbs, fences, and loose items tossed about people’s yards. The electric meter boxes on two houses were pulled loose.

Other damage reports included accounts of a small out building on Montgomery Street that was blown away or destroyed, roofs damaged, and fences knocked over. Noble Watson reported a mangled swing set at his home on Fifth Street. He also was left with a warped trampoline, which he had seen hovering briefly at roof-height before it was slammed onto a neighbor’s property.

The sheriff and Chief Deputy Randy Bond were watching the storm at the time although officials at the weather bureau had assured Blackburn just moments before that there was nothing to worry about.

Following reports of a tornado on the ground, emergency personnel from the sheriff’s department, the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department, and the Associated Ambulance Authority responded quickly to check for injuries, block off traffic, and survey the damage.

Workmen from the City of Clarendon along with Donley County road hands worked diligently to help clean up the mess.

“The city workers and county workers really deserve a lot of credit,” Blackburn said. “They went right to work and had things pretty well cleaned up by that evening.”

This was the first time a tornado has struck inside the City of Clarendon since June 9, 1941, when an early morning twister ripped through the west side of town, killing one woman – Mrs. R.E. Drennan, wrecking several homes, severely damaging buildings on the high school campus, and flattening the east rock wall of Broncho Stadium.