Archives for September 2004

An ambulance bill sent to a Clarendon volunteer fireman raised the hackles of city aldermen during their regular meeting last Tuesday.

Fireman Jason Christopher was treated for smoke inhalation while fighting the July 9, 2004, blaze that destroyed the home of George and Dixie Howard, according to City Administrator Sean Pate. Christopher was transported to Amarillo, was treated and released, and was back at his regular job as a city employee the next day, Pate said.

Christopher has since received a bill from the Associated Ambulance Authority for $1,214. Of that, Christopher’s health insurance through the city paid $521, leaving him with a balance of $693.

Pate said he had spoken with Donley County Hospital District Administrator Alan Graham about the bill but had been able to get the bill reduced or forgiven.

Alderman Michael Tibbets said that it did not appear the hospital district was working with the city on the issue.

Alderman Janice Knorpp also criticized the authority for the amount of the bill.

“As far as I’m concerned, charging $8.25 per mile is ridiculous,” she said.

Alderman Tommy Hill, who also volunteers for the ambulance service, urged his fellow board members not to take any action on the issue until authority director Anita Aaron, who had been out of town, could look at the issue.

In the meantime, the aldermen agreed that the bill, whether it was right or not, should appropriately be sent to the city and not to an individual fireman. They therefore directed Pate to send a letter to the Associated Ambulance Authority requesting the bill be reissued in the city’s name.

As of Tuesday morning, Pate said the issue was not resolved.

In other business, Wesley Smith addressed the board and expressed his desire to put a “stationary doublewide” on property currently owned by Gary Hunt in the west part of town. Alderman took no action since the item wasn’t on the agenda.

Depository bids were reviewed from Herring National Bank and the Donley County State Bank. Herring has been the city’s depository for the last six years.

“I think we need to rotate this business for the benefit of a small community,” Tibbets said, noting that the two bids were very close.

Alderman Tommy Hill disagreed and said, “I think we were elected to do the best with the taxpayers’ money, and Herring National Bank’s offer is a little better deal.”

Aldermen selected Herring on 3-1-1 vote (Tibbets opposed, Knorpp abstained).

The budgets of the city and the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation were approved as presented, and the board considered Ordinance 143, which governs building permits in the city. The board will consider changing permit fees at its next meeting September 28.

The National Newspaper Association recognized The Clarendon Enterprise as a national award winner during the NNA’s 118th Annual Convention and Trade Show in Denver, Colo., last Saturday.

The Enterprise received a second place plaque in the association’s 2004 Better Newspaper Contest for Best Special Issue among newspapers with circulations under 3,000 for its 125th Anniversary Edition, which was published June 5, 2003.

“This is a very prestigious honor for our newspaper,” said Publisher Roger Estlack. “To be recognized on a national level is rare for a paper our size, a first, as far as we know, for any Clarendon paper.”

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., presented the awards during the “Toast to the Winners” reception at Denver’s Adam’s Mark Hotel. Ashlee Kidd and Roger Estlack attended the convention to represent the Enterprise.

The NNA contest is the only national competition recognizing the best in community journalism.

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 first place from the West Texas Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. The edition was also 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.

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.

Fourteen wagons will be rolling into Clarendon this Saturday for the tenth annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff at the Saints’ Roost Museum.

The event unofficially begins Friday night with the dinner with the Chuckwagon cooks open only to paid members of the Museum with reservations.

Gates for the cookoff will then officially open at 7:30 a.m. Saturday with breakfast and lunch concessions provided by Boy Scout Troop 433.

The tradeshow starts at 10 a.m., and Museum tours will be available throughout the day with exhibits by Kenneth Wyatt Galleries, Jim and Vanelle Stevenson, Cowboy Fudge by Jim Rentfro, Clarendon Assembly of God, Tina Hagler’s Hot Sauces, Boyd Baxter, Hedley Senior Citizens Center, Hedley Lioness Club, James and Cecilia Rowe, Steve Cook and the International Commission, Iron Buckboard Silver, Custom Cuts, and Stained Glass by Bridget & Jennie.

The second annual Saints’ Roost Gun & Knife Show will again accompany the Cookoff from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The gun show is located inside the Community Center, and admission is free with a cookoff ticket or $3 at the door.

Back on the museum grounds, Patrick Robertson and KEFH-FM will provide music beginning at 11 a.m.

Live entertainment follows with afternoon performances scheduled by Audrey Brown of Clarendon, the Saints’ Roost Jamboree Band, music by Katie Askew of Clarendon, Robert Shelton of Clarendon, Delbert Trew of Alanreed, cowboy poet Oscar Auker of Clarendon, Dusty Michele Armstrong of White Deer, Gary Alan Bruce of Clarendon, Donna Sheppard of Clarendon and Booker, Payton Kane of Dodson, and the National Anthem performed by Bill Houston of Clarendon.

The Chuckwagon meal will be served at 5 p.m. with a menu of chicken fried steak, potatoes, beans, and cobbler.

At 6:30, the museum will raffle off a pair of James Owens Handmade Boots, followed by the presentation of the cookoff awards.

Admission to the all-day event is free. Tickets for the authentic Chuckwagon supper are $10 each and can be purchased in advance at Henson’s in Clarendon by calling 806/874-3517. Boot tickets are also available at Henson’s or from any museum board member.

On Sunday morning, cowboy church will be held under the tent at the museum with preaching by Shannon Hall of Loco, Okla.

All proceeds from the cookoff and the gun show will benefit the Saints’ Roost Museum’s continuing efforts to preserve the history of Donley County.

The tenth annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff is sponsored in part by the Texas Yes! program.

Texas Yes! is a new initiative from the Texas Department of Agriculture designed to spotlight rural Texas and promote rural Texas tourism. Make your getaway!

For more information on Texas Yes! call (866) 4TEX-YES or visit www.TexasYes.org.

Clarendon College this month has posted its highest fall enrollment in the last 15 years – and possibly the highest in the history of the institution.

CC President Myles Shelton released information Monday showing the total headcount for the current semester as 1,033 – approximately seven percent above last fall’s total and a 32.1 percent increase since 1998.

“We’re very pleased with the numbers,” Shelton said. “We think we still have room to grow on this campus and in Pampa and Childress, and we’re going to work toward that end.”

The total includes 402 students attending the home campus, 239 at the CC Pampa Center, and the remainder enrolled at classes held throughout the college’s service area and enrolled in distance learning or online classes.

Shelton said the boost in enrollment was attributable to several things including the new residence hall offering more places for students to live from outside the area, better local enrollment from the surrounding area, and the availability of programs that more students are interested in.

“It’s a combination of these things,” Shelton said. “We have several good quality programs and not just one or two programs carrying all the weight. It’s everybody working together and good recruiting.”

The enrollment figure counts students in academic and vocational classes and does not include continuing education classes.

Shelton said he is certain the college is at its highest point since the mid-1980s and is confident that the number is the highest in school history but said his staff would have to dig out records from the 1960s to be sure of that.

Despite the increase, Clarendon College remains one of the two smallest community colleges in the state. Ranger College was the smallest last year, and CC was second. Shelton said Ranger had not yet posted its enrollment numbers for fall 2004.

Enrollment this semester and next spring will be used by the Legislature in determining appropriations for the next biennium.

Despite a slightly higher enrollment, CC’s sources are preliminarily predicting a five percent cut in state funding.

“Obviously we’re going to lobby for that not to happen,” Shelton said.

In other college news, the CC Board of Regents met in regular session last Thursday and set the tax rate for the coming year at $0.2065 per $100 valuation, up from $0.1987 last year. The difference will amount to $3.98 on a $50,000 piece of property.

Regents also adopted the catalog, policy manual, and student handbook for the current academic year and accepted a bid on lot 27 in Carroll Creek Acres in Howardwick as presented by the appraisal district.

Personnel at the Pampa Center was the subject discussed in closed session.

Regents also approved hiring two academic advisors/recruiters – Jaylene Watkins in Clarendon and Lindsey Been at the Pampa Center.