Archives for October 2003

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen adopted a $1.3 million municipal budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal year during a called session last Thursday.

The budget calls for increases in water, sewer, and sanitation fees, totaling $8.80 per month, and a three-cent per $100 valuation increase in the city’s ad valorem tax rate. The higher tax will cost the owner of a $50,000 home $15 per year.

The budget includes approximately $100,000 for street maintenance and improvements.

Mayor Tex Selvidge said the city had heard from the voters with regards to issuing debt to pay for street improvements, and he said the new budget reflects a “pay as you go” approach to street improvements.

Five citizens attended the public hearing on the budget and tax rate. Two ladies had questions concerning the streets.

Aleta Thompson said she wasn’t against street improvements but thought the city should address waterlines before taking on a paving project. Dianne Chisum asked about having city employees do the paving with city equipment. She also raised the issue of trying to collect some of the back taxes owed to the city and mentioned that property owners on the streets to be paved might be asked to help with that expense.

The board voted unanimously to adopt a tax rate of $0.48555 for the coming year. Alderman Michael Tibbets said he had been opposed to raising the tax rate during his three terms in office but said he voted for the increase this year to help keep the funding for the sheriff’s department.

Aldermen discussed the budget line by line. Tibbets questioned the budgeted amount for raises for municipal employees and sought assurances that there was no money for merit raises.

The board voted 3-1 in favor of the new budget with Tibbets voting “no.”

“It’s no secret that I was against the airport grant and against hiring a city administrator,” Tibbets said. “It would be hypocritical of me to vote for this budget which contains both of those things.”

In other city business, the Board of Aldermen met in regular session last Tuesday, September 23.

Bids for health insurance were reviewed, and the aldermen voted to stay with the city’s current provider, First Care, with a premium increase of nine percent.

Debra Hill from the Associated Ambulance Authority addressed the board concerning her efforts to purchase an Evacu-Splint – an inflatable full-body splint used to transport people with conditions, such as osteoporosis, which makes use of the customary stretcher painful.

Hill had previously addressed the board on September 9, and the city had voted to challenge the county to pay half the remaining cost of the device, but county commissioners did not go along.

Mayor Selvidge was disappointed in the county’s lack of action and entertained a motion to purchase the device with city funds. The board voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

Other donations for the Evacu-Splint were made by the Clarendon Lions Club, White’s Feed & Seed, Med-Link Services, and The Clarendon Enterprise.

Jarrett Atkinson and Colby Waters from the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission addressed the board regarding services offered by the commission and the expiration of PRPC’s contract with the city for consulting services. Mayor Selvidge presented Waters with a plaque for his service to the city over the last two years.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn presented the contract between the city and his department for law enforcement services for the sum of $130,000, and Mayor Selvidge signed the contract. Blackburn also addressed the board concerning his belief that a teen curfew is needed. This matter will be considered during an October meeting.

The board approved a letter of engagement with Gordon Maddox to do the municipal audit for the 2002-2003 year.

A contract with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to rent space on the city’s radio tower was reviewed and approved.

Ordinance No. 343, which sets sanitation charges, was discussed, and aldermen determined that the charges for sanitation services outside the city limits needs to be clarified. The issue will be brought up again at the October 14 meeting.

City Administrator Sean Pate reported work was progressing on the paving under the NRCS and ORCA grants. He said city crews had also been busy at the recycling center and doing patching on city streets.

The Stirrup Ranch of Southland, Texas, swept the awards during the ninth annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff last Saturday.

It was the Stirrup’s first appearance in the Clarendon cookoff, although the team has been competing for several years. The team placed in four out of five food categories Saturday, was third in the Best Wagon & Camp competition, and took first place in both the Overall Cooking and the Overall Wagon & Cooking categories.

The cookoff, which benefits the Saints’ Roost Museum, was hailed as a great success by museum board members. Tickets for the authentic Chuckwagon supper sold out by early Saturday morning. Just as last year, extra tickets were prepared and divided among the wagons along with additional food to meet the high demand.

Officials estimate more than 1,000 people attended the daylong event.

Breakfast and lunch concessions on the museum grounds were provided by Boy Scout Troop 433. A trade show was held throughout the day, and live entertainment was provided by local and area talent. Relatives of legendary cattleman and Chuckwagon inventor Charles Goodnight also were on hand for their annual family reunion.

For the first time, a Gun & Knife Show was held in conjunction with the cookoff. This activity was held at the Clarendon Community Center with concessions provided by the Clarendon College Bulldogs basketball team.

Justin Hagel and Oscar Auker provided cowboy poetry following the presentation of awards Saturday, and a cowboy church service closed the cookoff on Sunday morning.

Fourteen wagons competed in this year’s cookoff and served a menu of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, beans, and cobbler. Prizes totaling more than $3,000 were paid out to the winners.

Complete results are as follows:

Overall Wagon & Cooking: 1st – Stirrup Ranch of Southland, 2nd – Adamah Ranch of Amarillo, 3rd – Break-Away Wagon of Stamford, and 4th – C Bar C Ranch of Hartley.

Overall Cooking: 1st – Stirrup Ranch, 2nd – C Bar C Ranch, 3rd – Adamah Ranch, and 4th – JA Ranch of Clarendon.

Best Wagon Camp: 1st – Adamah Ranch, 2nd – Break-Away Wagon, 3rd – Stirrup Ranch, and 4th – Noble Ranch of Wayland.

Best Meat: 1st – Double Diamond Ranch of Silverton, 2nd – C Bar C Ranch, 3rd – Noble Ranch, and 4th – Break-Away Wagon.

Best Beans: 1st – Stirrup Ranch, 2nd – Adamah Ranch, 3rd – JL Cattle Company of Abilene, and 4th – Ericksdahl Cattle Company of Stamford.

Best Dessert: 1st – JA Ranch, 2nd – JL Cattle Company, 3rd – Stirrup Ranch, and 4th – Break-Away Wagon.

Best Bread: 1st – Adamah Ranch, 2nd – C Bar C Ranch, 3rd – Stirrup Ranch, and 4th – JA Ranch.

Best Potatoes: 1st – High Card Ranch of Clarendon, 2nd – Noble Ranch, 3rd – Stirrup Ranch, and 4th – JL Cattle Company.

Wagon Judges this year were Shirley Creacy, Billy D. Bowman, and Greg Henley. Food Judges under the direction of Virginia Patten were Lyta Darsey, Jerry Gage, Mike Butts, Jewell Houston, Jerri Ann Shields, Eddy Eads, Jesus Hernandez, Susie Shields, Bruce Ferguson, and Melinda McAnear.

Among the other winners during Saturday’s activities was Charla Crump of Clarendon, who won a pair of James Owens handmade boots.

By Cheryl Johnson, Clarendon Enterprise

Hedley will celebrate its 52nd annual Cotton Festival next weekend, October 10-11.

The celebration, sponsored by the Hedley Lions Club, begins next Friday with the Hedley Lioness Club’s Chili & Stew Supper at the Lioness Hall at 5 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2.50 for children. They will also sell tickets for a queen size hand-made quilt.  Wes Thomas and the Saints’ Roost Band will perform at 7:00 p.m.

On Saturday, the Rowe Cemetery Bake Sale will be from 9 a.m.  to 1 p.m. at Hedley City Hall.  Proceeds go to the cemetery upkeep fund.

The Tractor Show and Car Show begin at 10 a.m. on Main Street. The National Honor Society at Hedley High School will have a cakewalk at that same time. KEFH 99.3 FM will provide street entertainment all day.

The Lions Club will serve barbecue at 11:30 a.m. at the Lions Hall.  The barbecue ticket is good for drawings for a bale of cotton, Moremaker knife, and more.  Drawings will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Lions Hall.  You must be present to win.

The Kiddie Parade starts at 1:30 p.m. with the Community Parade following at 2:00 p.m.

The Hedley School Reunion will be at 3 p.m. at the school.  Students, teachers, and anyone associated with the Hedley School are invited. 

Bingo will be held all day by the HHS Sophomore Class.  Hamburgers and a gift shop by the Hedley Senior Citizens along with many other activities will also be held all day. 

For more information, contact Anthony Knowles at 856-5246.

A new $500,000 peanut processing facility came online last week with producers bringing in the first loads from the 2003 harvest.

Greenbelt Peanuts, which is owned by the Clint Williams Company, began operations Thursday at its 45-acre location at the end of Ayers Street just outside the northeast city limits of Clarendon. Landon Shields brought the first crop to the Clarendon facility.

The new facility is used to dry, handle, and grade peanuts on large semi-trailers using high capacity loading and unloading systems.

 “We will be running a 24-hour crew, and we hope to be unloading a semi load every 20 minutes,” said Tony Maxwell, who manages the Greenbelt plant and its sister plant in Quail.

As peanuts come in, they are weighed, moved to a shaker that sifts out most of the dirt, and then put into one of Greenbelt’s 28 modified semi-trailers, which are then connected to one of 20 forced-air dryers. The amount of time needed to dry each load will depend on the condition of the peanuts and the weather.

“These 20 dryers will run all the time,” Maxwell said. “They are newer and quieter than the ones at Quail.”

After the peanuts are dried, they are moved to another part of the facility where probes take 15 samples from each load. A USDA official oversees this part of the operation as the peanuts are graded and a price is fixed to them.

Greenbelt is expected to employ 10 to 15 people during the harvest season and will be managed from the company’s facility in Quail.

Farmers in Donley County should see significant savings by the availability of the Clarendon facility. Previously they had no option but to haul their peanuts to either Quail or Memphis. Producers were losing travel time and having to pay some $200 per truckload to go to Quail.

It’s too early to know much about the 2003 harvest, but Maxwell says, “We’re looking at an average or slightly better than average season.”

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