Archives for July 2004

Clarendon College Regents approved purchases related to the institution’s new library when the board met July 15.

A bid from Check Point Systems was accepted in the amount of $12,750 to install security and theft detection equipment. Seven other proposals ranged from “no bid” to $40,000.

Regents also accepted a bid from Indeco, a Belton, Texas company, for new library furniture at a cost of $108,977.

Quotes for computers for the library were also considered, and regents awarded the bid to Dell in the amount of $49,994.10, which will be paid for by a grant from the Amarillo Area Foundation.

In other college business, the board accepted a bid for athletic insurance from Seymour Canter in the amount of $41,796, which is more than $8,600 lower than last year.

Regents discussed and endorsed the idea of creating a Hall of Fame for outstanding alumni and friends of the college. CC officials are still working on the details of how to set up this idea.

The board accepted resignations from Dean of Students Joel Zehr and from CC Pampa Center Advisor/Recruiter Jennifer Moore.

A letter was received from former CC board chairman Bright Newhouse commending the regents for naming the new library in honor of the late Vera Dial Dickey of Memphis.

Destination Donley County and the Donley County Extension Office are sponsoring Market Day Festival in Clarendon this Friday on the courthouse square. 

There will be a watermelon-spitting contest, watermelon-eating contest, watermelon-decorating contest where watermelons can be carved or decorated.  Awards will be given for the largest vegetable and fruit in various categories such as watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, squash, peppers, and tomatoes.  Entries for the vegetable contest are required by 3:30 p.m. Contests are open to all ages.

All the festivities will begin at 4:00 p.m. There will be various booths with food giveaways from local restaurants, groups selling various items, arts and crafts booths, a gun display booth, an antique car show, and a vegetable cook-off.

The vegetable cook-off is open to all who want to bring a vegetable dish to be judged.  Recipes need to be 100 percent vegetables (no meats).  Please bring in throwaway containers, or after judging is done you may remove your item.  They will not be responsible for containers.  No tasting will be done except for judging.  Best dish will be awarded a blue rosette ribbon.  Please bring your recipe along with your dish.

For more information, please contact Mary Ruth Bishop at 874-2141 or Linda Gray at 874-2009.

The total value of property in Donley County has increased 5.06 percent over last year, according to a report this week from the Donley Appraisal District.

The 2004 appraised value for property in the county’s jurisdiction totals nearly $160 million, an increase of $7.7 million over 2003 figures. The average home in Donley County is valued at $29,240.

Chief Appraiser Paula Lowrie said the appraisal district looks at all the known sales that have occurred in the last year and bases increased valuations on that information. Local taxing entities use the property valuations when setting their tax rates for the coming year.

Although some sources cite higher property valuations as a sign of a growing economy, many local residents don’t like seeing their valuation increase because it results in a higher property tax bill even if a taxing entity does not increase its tax rate.

This year more than twice as many property owners filed to appeal their valuations than the year before.

Lowrie said 98 people filed protests, and ten of those settled their disputes before the Appraisal Review Board met July 8-9.  Forty-nine of the remaining 88 presented their cases before the Board, and of those only nine were granted an adjustment.

Appraisal district officials say they can only go by the market prices set by real estate sales and follow the guidelines set by the state in setting valuations.

“Appraised values are still only 70 percent of what the sales actually were,” Lowrie said.

Valuations in all local taxing entities were up this year.

Property owners inside the City of Hedley experienced the smallest percentage increase, as property values in that city rose 3.16 percent from $5.98 million in 2003 to $6.17 million in 2004. But property in the in Hedley Independent School District had the biggest percentage increase with values rising 6.93 percent from $24 million last year to $25.7 million.

Valuations in the City of Clarendon are up 4.9 percent to $50.3 million, and property values in the City of Howardwick are up 5.99 percent to $13.7 million.  The average home in Clarendon is worth $33,340; and the average Howardwick residence is worth $23,240.

The average home in jurisdiction of the Clarendon Independent School District is valued at $30,674; and property values within the CISD increased 5.74 percent to a total of $123.2 million.

Valuations in the Clarendon College District and the Donley County Hospital District were similar to the county itself – about $160 million – with increases of 5.00 percent and 5.42 percent respectively. The difference being due to certain tax abatements given by those entities, Lowrie said.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen tabled a resident’s request to close the alley behind her house during their regular meeting last Tuesday.

Jewell Judd addressed the board and requested the official closing of the alley beside her house in Block 182B.

Judd said the alley was not open but that it was not officially closed either and said only one of her neighbors was using the alley. She said she wanted it closed because use of the alley was disturbing the gravel she had put in for her driveway.

Aldermen tabled Judd’s request until they could look at the property.

In other city business, Linda Gray came before the board on behalf of the Destination Donley County tourism group to request funds from the Motel Bed Tax fund to help promote a Farmers Market on the Courthouse Square on July 30. The board agreed to provide $500 for this project.

Grant consulting was discussed, and Alderman Bobbie Kidd said he had spoken to grant consultant Kay Howard regarding disputed items the city is being required to pay related to the disaster grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s NRCS. Kidd said Howard told him that she was not the administrator for the NRCS portion of the grant and that she only administered the portion funded by the state’s Office of Rural Community Affairs, which provided the city’s match. Aldermen want to hear from Howard again personally.

The city’s Capitalization Policy was amended to increase the allotted leasehold improvements from $5,000 to $25,000 per the advice of the city’s auditor.

City Administrator Sean Pate reported increased income from the sale of recyclables with cardboard bringing $95 per ton and paper bringing $68 per ton. He also said he will get an estimate for a tower on which to mount the city’s new siren, and he discussed the possibility of adding law enforcement liability coverage to the city’s insurance at a cost of $500 per year.

Destination Donley County Tourism and the Donley County Extension Office are sponsoring Market Day Festival in Clarendon on July 30. 

There will be a watermelon-spitting contest, watermelon-eating contest, watermelon-decorating contest where watermelons can be carved or decorated.  Awards will be given for the largest vegetable and fruit in various categories such as watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, squash, peppers, and tomatoes. 

Entries for the vegetable contest are required by 3:30 p.m. Contests are open to all ages.

All the festivities will begin at 4:00 p.m. There will be various booths with food giveaways from local restaurants, groups selling various items, arts and crafts booths, a gun display booth, an antique car show, and a vegetable cook-off.

The vegetable cook-off is open to all who want to bring a vegetable dish to be judged.  Recipes need to be 100 percent vegetables (no meats).  Please bring in throwaway containers; or after judging is done, you may remove your item.  They will not be responsible for containers.  No tasting will be done except for judging.  Best dish will be awarded a blue rosette ribbon.  Please bring your recipe along with your dish.

Entry forms for booths are available in this edition.  Booth deadline is July 23, 2004. 

For more information, contact Mary Ruth Bishop at 874-2141 or Linda Gray at 874-2009.

The Clarendon Enterprise was named a winner in the National Newspaper Association’s 2004 Better Newspaper Contest by NNA officials in Columbia, Missouri, last week.

The Enterprise will receive a second place plaque for Best Special Issue among newspapers with circulations under 3,000 for its 125th Anniversary Edition, which was published last summer.

“As far as we know, no Clarendon paper has won an award on this level before,” said Publisher Roger Estlack. “We are very excited and very pleased to bring this kind of recognition to Donley County.”

NNA President Bob Sweeney, publisher and editor of Villager Newspapers in Denver, Colo., and John Stevenson, chairman of the NNA Better Newspaper Contest Committee and publisher of the Randolph Leader in Roanoke, Ala., announced and congratulated the contest winners.

These NNA contests are the only national competitions recognizing the best in community journalism. Winners will be recognized during the 118th Annual Convention and Trade Show, September 15-18, in Denver, Colo.

Three years of research went into preparing the Enterprise’s 20-page anniversary edition, which gave an extensive history of the Texas Panhandle’s first newspaper from its establishment as The Clarendon News on June 1, 1878. The issue covered all changes in ownership, documented mergers with other newspapers, and outlined the evolution of technology used by the local paper from the 19th to the 21st century.

The issue also included a timeline of major local news events and revealed never before published information about the founder of Clarendon and the newspaper, Rev. L.H. Carhart, and his family.

NNA judges praised the Enterprise’s entry for its “solid writing, photos, and layout,” noted that the photos tied in well with the stories, and also had positive comments about the collage which created the front cover.

The 125th Anniversary Edition has previously received first place from the Panhandle Press Association and was named Best of Show during this year’s Texas Press Association Mid-Winter Convention, beating out all other first place winners regardless of size or frequency.

On Saturday, the 125th Anniversary Edition also received first place from the West Texas Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.

There were more than 2,900 entries from 44 states and the District of Columbia in this year’s national BNC contest. Of those entries, there were more than 560 award winners.

The Greeley (Colo.) Tribune topped the list with the most BNC wins, garnering 28 awards. The Enterprise lost the first place Best Special Issue award to the Claremont Courier of Claremont, California.

Established in 1885, the National Newspaper Association is the voice of America’s community newspapers and the largest newspaper association in the country. The nation’s community newspapers inform, educate, and entertain 150 million readers every week.