Archives for April 2003

In the narrowest victory in history, Tommy Hill was crowned Donley County’s third Turkey King during the annual Turkey Strut Festival last Saturday, beating his nearest opponent by a margin of less than six bits.

Election officials counted the returns three times Saturday to prevent any calls for recounts and even double-checked their figures on Monday just to be sure.

In accordance with long-established tradition, deposed king Mutt Graham was on hand to crown his successor.

Hill’s final tally was $277.67, which set a new record for the most votes cast for a single candidate. Overall, $804.23 was put in the money jars of king candidates this year. That beats the record of $661.40 set way back during the controversial election of 2001.

His Highness was gracious in victory and pledged to devote himself to the betterment of the county.

“We support tourism, and that’s what this is all about,” King Hill said. “I’ll strut up and down Kearney Street if that’s what it takes to bring more tourists to Clarendon.”

Coming in second for the second year in a row was Nancy Davis with a total vote of $276.95. And bringing up the rear were the Osburns – Benny in third place with $65.36 and Annette in fourth place with $63.58 – and Mark White (the banker) in last place with a paltry $46.12.

King Hill’s campaign made a clean sweep of all competitions this year. His proxy – Trey Brown – beat all other candidates’ proxies in the Dairy Queen banana-spilt eating contest, diving face first into the treat and consuming it with gusto. Hill rewarded Brown with a second split that he also consumed with no signs of being sick.

Hill’s team in the mattress race also came in first as lead runner Brice Fletcher practically dragged Hill down one block of Kearney Street in 12 seconds flat.

Other activities were held throughout the day, although some evening festivities were called off due to windy weather.

Proceeds from the annual Turkey King election benefit the Donley County Tourism Council.

Donley County Commissioners last week approved three proposals totaling $65,569 for additional work on the 1890 courthouse.

The county authorized spending $14,200 for wooden window shades to be stained to match the trim in the courthouse and $1,369 to recreate four end pieces to complete the theatre-style seats in the district courtroom.

The most significant new work will be spending $50,000 to restore and repair stonework on the building. The focus of this will be on the main entrance to the building and on the stones in the worst condition on the east side of the building.

The court also agreed to set aside up to $6,000 to be used to refinish antique tables that were originally in the courthouse and voted in favor of getting estimates for installing a sprinkler system for the courthouse square.

Funds for all these expenditures will be taken from money which has been donated to the courthouse restoration project from private sources.

In other county business during the court’s regular meeting last Monday, commissioners approved Tax Assessor-Collector Wilma Lindley’s request to attend a conference in Houston this June. Expenses for this trip are to be reimbursed by the Texas Secretary of State.

The court accepted bids on tax delinquent property on three lots in Howardwick.

The county entered into a contract with Fixed Asset Management to help the county prepare an inventory for new GASB guidelines.

A request from County Clerk Fay Vargas to use records management money to purchase plat record binders and plastic envelopes was approved.

The county policy manual was updated regarding overtime compensation, and the court approved an agreement for the rental of two radar units for the DPS.

Three more defendants have accepted plea bargains as a result of drug-related indictments issued by the Donley County Grand Jury in January.

David Ray Tolbert was sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary by District Judge David McCoy last Monday as a result of a plea.

Timothy Don Lockeby and Joshua Lamar Allred received ten years probation after they agreed to help District Attorney Stuart Messer’s office prosecute the other defendants in the case.

Tolbert, Lockeby, and Lamar, along with Darrell Thomas, were indicted January 24 on the allegation that they had agreed to deliver methamphetamine to an inmate in the county jail. They were charged with the first degree felony of Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity.

Thomas accepted a plea last month and was also sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary.

Prosecution against another defendant is still pending in the case. Lauren Thomas had been charged as a juvenile since she was 16 at the time of the offense. Messer said she has since been certified as an adult and faces the same felony charge as the other defendants.

All five individuals allegedly engaged in organized criminal activity between October 1, 2002, and January 9, 2003, during which time seven deliveries of methamphetamine were made to an inmate in the Donley County Jail.

“This has been swift justice,” Messer said. “I appreciated the Donley County Sheriff’s Office and the good job they did with the investigation on this case.”

Neita Draper looks at part of the roof from a nearby garage which came to rest against her back porch today.   Enterprise Photo
A nice spring shower turned ugly for some Clarendon residents Wednesday when what is being described as a “small tornado” hit the southeast side of town.  

The storm was later officially classified as an F1 tornado with winds up to 80 mph.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the damage appeared to have been caused by a small funnel, despite assurances from the weather bureau just moments before that there was nothing to worry about.

Emergency personnel responded quickly to block of traffic around the storm’s path, and city crews worked to clear streets of tree limbs and debris.

No injuries were reported.  Blackburn said the damage reached from Barcus Street at Carhart to the 600 block of E. Second Street and mostly consisted of tree limbs.

A vacant house owned by Carl Draper in the 300 block of E. Montgomery Street seemed to have sustained the most damage. There a second story room and the front porch were ripped off. The roof of the garage was also torn apart.

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

Draper, whose double-wide trailer house next door also suffered damage to the roof and windows, said he had just made a sandwich about 12:30 p.m. when he looked out the front door and saw a small funnel drop down on Carhart Street between Barcus and Burkhead streets.

“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 out north of town.

Damage reports were still coming in at post time and included accounts of a mangled swing set, a warped trampoline which hovered at roof-height before being slammed onto the neighbor’s property, a small out building that was blown away or destroyed, roofs damaged, and fences knocked over.

A full report will be available in next week’s print edition of The Enterprise.

The third annual Donley County Turkey Strut is to be held Saturday, April 19, in Clarendon with activities planned through out the day.

The family fun event starts at 10 a.m. with a Pet Show and Contest at Millie B’s, where local critters can compete for the title of Best Pet in the County. Also from 10 a.m. to noon is a book signing featuring Delbert Trew and his friends at the Burton Memorial Library.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Suna AutoMall will host the Battle of the Area Chambers of Commerce Chili Cook-off. Chili tasting is free, and KLSR will have a live remote.

At noon, the Medical Center Nursing Home will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt and Hot Dog Lunch.

A free kite-flying contest will be held at Yankie’s RV Park at 2 p.m.

There will also be festivities up and down Kearney Street from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with booths featuring arts, crafts, and bake sales as well as glass blowing demonstrations, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and merchant sales.

Dairy Queen will host a 50s Party from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. with KEFH providing the golden oldies music. At 4 p.m. DQ will have a Banana Split Eating Contest for the top five Turkey King candidates.

Judge Jack Hall will defend his title as the Mattress Race Champion at 5 p.m. in the 300 block of S. Kearney, followed by the crowning of the third Donley County Turkey King, the Kids Turkey Strut Contest, and the Karaoke Street Dance.

VFW Bingo starts at 7 p.m. at the VFW Hall, and the Sandell Drive-In will have its feature at dusk.

For more information about the Strut, call 874-2421.

A new Equine Center will soon be built on the western edge of the Clarendon College campus following the letting of subcontractor bids totaling $937,256 last Tuesday.

The Board of Regents approved spending $655,153 for the 73,600 square foot off-white metal building with green trim which will house the main arena.

The building was intended to have included a classroom, office, restrooms, and concession area, but those elements were deleted from the project when the bids exceeded the initial estimates for the center. College officials say those items can be added later when funds are available.

Regents also approved a bid from WWW of Thomas, Okla., to build the indoor and outdoor arena and two round pens at a cost of $82,740.

A bid from MD Barns/Bowers Construction of Amarillo to build 84 horse stalls and a 36’x72’ barn near the new center for a price of $198,363 was also approved.

Construction on the project is expected to begin in just a matter of days and should be completed by the end of August.

The new CC Equine Center, which is funded entirely through donated money, will house new equine science and intermural rodeo programs designed to attract 65 to 80 new students to the Clarendon campus next fall.

The vault doors in the Donley County Courthouse are beginning to shine with new life as a Dallas conservator works to remove more than a century of dirt and grime from their surfaces.

Michael van Enter discussed his work on the doors with county officials, project architect Chris Hutson, Texas Historical Commission representative Lyman Labry, and Phoenix I project manager Stephen Dodge during a construction conference last Thursday. 

Van Enter and his crew have been working to remove coal soot residue and dirt to reveal hidden colors in the artwork on the doors. Original paint will be touched up only minimally. They are also bringing out colored bands along the top of the vault doorframes that may have been added in the 1930s based on the type of paint.

“You’re really lucky somebody in the 1930s didn’t decide to put an Art Deco design over these doors,” van Enter said.

The doors were manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio, by the Mosler & Bahmann Company and carry an order date of January 1883. They were apparently then kept in storage until sold for use in the local courthouse in 1890.

Artwork on the doors was likely done by indentured servants, van Enter said. Three of the doors depict landscape scenes, but a fourth door stands out for its sailboat scene, which van Enter says is in the Impressionist style and was very advanced for the time period.

“They must have had at least one artist that was more in tune with what was happening in Europe at the time,” he said. “A Polish or Czech painter was probably responsible for some of the work. Three of the doors were definitely done by the same hand.”

Trim work on the doors is painted with gold and bronze dust covered by shellac. Decorative elements on the backsides of the doors are made with ground glass covered by shellac, which gives a luminescent quality to the accents.

Van Enter’s team first vacuums the dust from the door, washes them with an alkalizing solution, then a neutralizing solution. A solvent wash is then used, followed by another round of alkalizing and neutralizing.

One door in the office formerly used by the county ag agent was badly stained at some point when someone sprayed an ammonia-based cleanser on it. A cocktail of chemicals, which included some strong alcohols, was used by van Enter to lift the stain and reveal the beautiful artwork hidden beneath.

The conservation work on the vault doors is part of the overall restoration of the 1890 building, which county officials say is coming along at a brisk pace. Scaffolding around the exterior of the building is expected to come down some time next week.

For more project information, go to www.ClarendonOnline.com and click on the courthouse icon.

The Panhandle Press Association inducted former local publisher Lewis Henry Carhart into the PPA Hall of Fame during the association’s 93rd annual convention in Amarillo last Friday.

Carhart was recognized for his role as being the first editor in the Texas Panhandle and for establishing the territory’s first newspaper, which today is known as The Clarendon Enterprise.

Born in New York in 1833, Carhart was a Northern Methodist Episcopal minister in Sherman, Texas, when he became interested in developing land in West Texas in 1877. In the spring of 1878, he led a group of Christian colonists to a site at the juncture of Carroll Creek and the Salt Fork of the Red River where he established Clarendon and named it in honor of his wife Clara. At the time, only Mobeetie and Tascosa existed as towns in the Panhandle, and neither one had a newspaper.

Carhart became the first editor in the Panhandle when he established, The Clarendon News, on June 1, 1878.  Dedicating its purpose to the “promotion and upbuilding of Northwestern Texas,” Carhart established the News as a six-column, four-page newspaper. Carhart served the paper as its editor and business manager and was assisted by James H. Parks, who served as the local editor while Carhart continued to travel to gather supplies and settlers for the colony.

With very few businesses in the new colony, early advertisers were mostly from Wisconsin and Ohio, and most of the early “news” articles were designed to promote the ideal location of the colony and to encourage even more settlement of the area. News items were gathered in Clarendon, Carhart contributed articles and sermons, and the content was then shipped to Carhart’s cousin, Dr. John Wesley Carhart in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for printing. The issues were then shipped back to Sherman, Texas, and freighted from there to Clarendon.

In 1880, Carhart assisted his cousin’s son, Ed Carhart, in setting up the area’s first printing press in Clarendon and worked with him for some time before turning the entire business over to him.

In February 1888, L.H. Carhart helped organize the territory’s first regional press association. The Panhandle Editorial Association made Carhart an honorary member for his role as the “first editor of the Panhandle region.” He addressed the opening of the first convention in Canadian and was named to serve on the Permanent Organization committee. By the close of the convention, Carhart was appointed to the Executive committee to represent Donley County.

Carhart later moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and eventually migrated to California where he died in a Union soldiers’ home in 1922. 

Despite going through many changes of ownership as well as name changes, Carhart’s creation has endured and has been published continuously since 1878.

Carhart joins former local publishers J.C. Estlack and G.W. Estlack in the PPA’s Hall of Fame. Other area newspapermen inducted this year were Garet von Netzer of the Amarillo Globe-News, David Rasco of the Amarillo Globe-News, and Danny Andrews of the Plainview Daily Herald.