Archives for November 2003

The fate of the legacies of Harold and Olive Bugbee is in the hands of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, and a large group of people gathered in the Bairfield Activity Center last Tuesday to speak out on the subject.

At stake is a 358-acre ranch northwest of Clarendon; a vast collection of art, furniture, and personal property belonging to Harold Dow Bugbee – one of the greatest Western artists of the 20th century; and a historic home virtually unchanged since its construction.

Bugbee, whose works are in collections everywhere from local homes and businesses to the Smithsonian Institution, died in 1963 and left everything to his widow, Olive Vandruff Bugbee, and to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) in Canyon.

Mrs. Bugbee – an acclaimed artist in her own right whose patrons included President Lyndon Johnson and Governor Dolph Briscoe – carefully maintained her husband’s estate, kept detailed records on everything, and then also bequeathed all her belongings to the PPHM when she died in January of this year.

Now, the board of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, which owns the PPHM’s collection and oversees its programs, is faced with a decision of what to do with the Bugbees’ estate, which PPHM Director Walt Davis says is valued at just over $1 million.

Davis says Mrs. Bugbee’s will allows the Society to retain or dispose of her property as it shall deem advisable at its sole discretion; but at last week’s meeting, people spoke up for keeping that property intact and for preserving it for future generations.

Seth Davidson, president of the Panhandle Tourism Marketing Council, urged the Society to take its time to consider all the options.

“Take a moment – a year, two years – to decide the proper course,” Davidson said. “Olive Bugbee died. Olive Bugbee left this bequest to the museum. She intended this to be conserved and stewarded for as long as human beings conserve things.”

Davidson framed his remarks in the large context of the future of the PPHM itself and said that the museum must find new constituents and that the Bugbee Ranch offers it a unique opportunity to do just that by offering visitors art, history, culture, and wildlife. In his view, a properly developed Bugbee Ranch would help capture the attention of nature and heritage tourists and point them in the direction of the “big museum” in Canyon.

Representatives from the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department also addressed the meeting and spoke of cost sharing and easement programs which could assist the PPHM in improving the ranch for the purposes of habitat restoration, nature conservancy, and outdoor classroom possibilities at little or no cost to the museum.

“I see all of these parts just waiting to be put together into a beautiful thing,” said TPWD’s Gene Miller. “It just gets richer and richer. Let us help you.”

Don Robinson also spoke and offered his assistance to the Society.

“I knew Olive Bugbee better than most anybody,” said Robinson, who has leased part of the ranch for agricultural purposes for many years. “We would do her a great injustice not to carry on as she had done. She used to say to me, ‘Do what you want to, but don’t change anything.’”

Robinson said it was clear to him that Mrs. Bugbee “was going to walk out of that house with it the exact same way it was when she walked into it.”

Jerry Woodard, a member of the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation Board, also urged the Society to deliberate carefully regarding the future of the Bugbee property.

“This was a partnership,” Woodard said. “It was not just Olive Bugbee; it was Harold Bugbee also.”

Woodard said he felt the future of the Bugbee property shouldn’t be in question since it was obvious what the couple’s wishes were.

“It was already set up,” he said. “These people didn’t only preserve these physical assets, they also set up the funds to take care of it.”

The Society board met last Thursday, and Davis reports that action on the Bugbee estate has been tabled until the board’s next meeting on December 11. In the meantime, museum personnel are compiling a list of funding opportunities mentioned at last week’s Clarendon meeting and are seeking funding sources to undertake a feasibility regarding the property.

“There are two decisions to be made,” Davis said. “First, comes the decision on doing a feasibility study. Then comes the decision on what do we do with the Bugbee house.”

Davis said he couldn’t speak for the society board, but he believes the board is two months away from deciding on the feasibility study and potentially “multiple months” away on deciding the fate of the property.

In the meantime, the PPHM continues to catalogue and appraise the Bugbee bequest. The most valuable items from the estate have been moved to Canyon, and a security system has been installed at the ranch.

Howardwick firefighters will have better equipment and better protection following the approval of a federal grant last week.

The City of Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department was one of 11 Texas communities to receive funding under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) “2003 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.”

The grant for $7,398 will be used to purchase breathing equipment, including six air packs, six spare air tanks, a three-bottle cascade system (to allow small air tanks to be filled from bigger ones), and PASS II monitors, which sound an alarm if a firefighter goes down.

This is Howardwick’s third successful FEMA grant in a row, and each was written by the department’s own Theresa Zeyen.

Howardwick Fire Chief Joe Zeyen said his 12-member department was very pleasantly surprised to be approved for the FEMA grant since they had been funded the previous two years.

“We were kind of shocked because we figured this would be a shot in the dark – you know, twice kissed, once ignored,” he said. “But it turned out to be a blessing.”

Last year, Howardwick received funding for new radios, and the year before that FEMA funded the purchase of a pumper truck.

Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response Michael D. Brownsaid  FEMA is awarding 242 grants throughout the United States in the twenty-first round of a program that will ultimately total approximately 7,000 awards worth $750 million.

“In California we have seen the benefits of the suppression efforts made by the nation’s firefighters, and it underscores the importance of putting fire grant funds directly into the communities,” Brown said. “President Bush, Homeland Security, and FEMA are committed to the prevention of all fires as we are to providing preparedness to local firefighters with the critical financial support they need.”

This twenty-first round of grants provides over $14 million to help local fire departments. To date, over 5,400 fire departments have received over $380 million to support their role as first responders in the communities they serve.

Other Texas communities receiving funding in this round were Avery, Orange, Matador, El Paso, Brazos, Wall, Dripping Springs, Beasley, Glenn Heights, and Hutto.

An Amarillo man remained in the Donley County Jail this week on charges related to a sexual assault in Howardwick.

The Donley County Sheriff’s Department received a call at 10 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, of a possible rape in progress at a residence on Janny Drive. Sheriff Butch Blackburn said officers arrived and were told by a person from that residence that a man was beating and raping a woman inside. They entered and found an unconscious 48-year-old female.

The woman was transported to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, where she was treated for sexual assault and released that night, Blackburn said.

Joel Dean Lester, age 42, was arrested at the scene for sexual assault, a second degree felony. He was arraigned by Donley County Judge Jack Hall last Tuesday and indicted by the Grand Jury last Friday. He remains in custody with bond set at $50,000.

Blackburn said three Amarillo residents had come to Howardwick for the weekend. When one member of the party began assaulting another member of the party, the third person ran to a neighbor’s house to call the authorities.

The sheriff also said that alcohol was a contributing factor to the crime.

More than 50 people braved a chilly wind and cloudy skies at Rowe Cemetery near Hedley Monday morning as a native son of Donley County returned to honor the sacrifices of America’s fighting men and women.

Randall County Judge Ernie Houdashell delivered the keynote address for the morning.

“This cemetery is full of veterans and friends who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam,” said Houdashell, who is a native of Hedley.

The judge recognized Hedley’s Johnny Hoggatt, who has served in the War on Terror, and said that the fight for freedom will always continue.

“We’re engaged in a different type of war today,” Houdashell said. “It was something that most of us couldn’t understand would happen here until 9-11.”

He spoke of freedom being worth fighting for and recalled his own service to America.

“In 1966, I took with me the clothes on my back and a Bible when I joined the Army,” he said. “I also took a value system with me from Hedley, and it has stayed with me.”

Houdashell closed by reciting a narrative he wrote in 1991 entitled “Don’t Weep For Me,” which discusses the sacrifices of the American soldier over the centuries.

“Being a true American means believing in freedom at all costs and accepting the fact that freedom is never free,” he read. “A true American will never believe that freedom can never be taken away. A true American is a person that will preserve freedom at all costs, anywhere, anytime.”

Monday’s ceremony was hosted by the Adamson-Lane Post 287 of the American Legion. Post Commander Jack Moreman welcomed those in attendance and said that approximately 200 flags had been placed on the graves of veterans this year.

Connie DeBord gave the invocation, and J.D. Skaggs and Doyle Messer posted the colors. Tommie Saye led the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Hedley School Choir sang the National Anthem as well as two patriotic melodies. The service was closed with the playing of “Taps.”

Shopping at home for the holidays is easy and affordable as local banks have again teamed up to provide 0% interest “Christmas Cash” loans this year.

Interested parties must make application for a loan up to $3,000 with any of the participating local banks.

The annual program has proven popular with many consumers and is seen as way to encourage folks to shop at home with hometown merchants and to keep our local economy strong.

Once a Christmas Cash loan has been approved, the borrower will be issued specially printed Christmas Cash Dollars, which may be spent like US currency toward new purchases of products and services (excluding Lottery tickets, gasoline, and tobacco products) at all of the participating businesses. Businesses display posters indicating they are participants of the promotion.

There will be no exchange of US currency to make change. For example, if someone purchases items valued at $72.95 and gives the merchant $80.00 in Christmas Cash, the merchant can give them $7.05 in-store credit. The customer may also pay $70.00 in Christmas Cash and the remaining $2.95 in US currency.

Christmas Cash Dollars are available in three denominations: $10, $20, and $50. There are two signature lines, the same as there are on traveler’s checks.

The borrower’s signature is placed on the signature line before they leave the bank, and then they must sign on the endorsement line when they spend the “Cash.”

Christmas Cash must be spent at the participating merchants by December 31, 2003. Unspent Christmas Cash may be applied toward your 0% loan at the bank through January 7, 2004.

This cash may not be used as a regular monthly loan payment. It can only be applied toward the principal amount due at the end of the Christmas Cash note. Christmas Cash notes are paid back in ten equal monthly installments.

After January 7, 2004, Christmas Cash becomes worthless.

It’s amazing the variety of products Christmas Cash can purchase. Some of the items purchased in years past included: replacement windows, vehicle repairs, groceries, furniture, entertainment equipment, cook-tops, dry cleaning for summer bedrolls, catered goodies, Christmas dinner, car stereos, special gift items, centerpieces, clothing, and much more.

The Donley County State Bank, The Herring National Bank, and Community Bank will buy Christmas Cash from participating merchants at a rate of 95¢ for every $1.00. Participating businesses are “interested in keeping your business here in Clarendon.”

This year’s participating merchants are: Amigo’s Mexican Restauranté, Bar H Dude Ranch, B&R Thriftway, The Clarendon Enterprise, Clarendon Outpost, Clarendon Veterinary Hospital & Supply, Cornell’s Country Store, Country Bloomers Flowers & Gifts, Don Stone Signs, Duckwall’s, Eads Furniture & Appliance, Every Nook & Cranny, Floyd’s Automotive, Floyd’s Motor Company & Body Shop, Henson’s, Hitchin’ Post, J&W Lumber, Kidd’s Texaco & Clarendon Auto Supply, McKinney Motor Co., Mike’s Pharmacy, Millie B’s,  S&V’s This and That, Saye’s, The Shop, “Sam Hill” Pit BBQ, Signs Plus, Suna AutoMall, Thompson Upholstery, 287 Tire and Tube, and White’s Feed & Seed.

This is the ninth year banks have participated in the Christmas Cash program. The idea of 0% loans up to $3,000 began in 1995 through the cooperation of the Clarendon Merchants Association and all the local banks.

Clarendon residents will soon be paying higher rates for city services following last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting.

Ordinance 347 was approved by a 2-1 vote and raises water rates by $2 per month, sanitation charges by $1.80 per month, and sewer rates by $5 per month.

Aldermen Tommy Hill and Bobbie Kidd voted for the fee increases. Alderman Michael Tibbets voted against the measure.

Alderman Janice Knorpp was absent, and Alderman Mark White was presiding as mayor pro-tem in place of Mayor Tex Selvidge, who was ill.

Tibbets again restated his opposition to the rate increases. He said he had been against accepting the airport grant and against hiring a city administrator and had therefore voted against the budget, which contained both of those items.

Earlier last month, other city aldermen reacted with surprise when Tibbets voted against the rate increases, in light of what they saw as his expressed support for the increases during the budget writing process.

In other city business, aldermen approved an ordinance designating as a reinvestment zone the property on which a new motel being built at US 287 and SH 70 North. The action clears the way for local governments to consider a property tax abatement for that business.

The board voted to cast all the city’s votes for the appraisal district board of directors for Alderman Tibbets. The city does not expect their candidate to be elected since the Clarendon school district and the county have the most votes. Tibbets abstained.

Former mayor Steve Smith and resident Darrell Leffew presented individual proposals for street paving. Both men want to be put in charge of the paving, using city crews and city equipment. Both say some used equipment would have to be purchased for their proposals to work, and both men want to employ the same person to run the maintainer.

The main difference between the proposals is that Smith would have the city crew build the curbs and gutters, and Leffew would like to see that portion of the work subcontracted.

The board tabled both proposals until the entire board could review the ideas.