Archives for April 2005

The Clarendon Enterprise received six first place plaques in the Panhandle Press Association’s 2004 Better Newspaper Contest during the PPA’s 95th annual convention Saturday in Amarillo.

The local paper garnered more first place honors than any other newspaper in the Division I category for weekly newspapers but narrowly lost the General Excellence award to The Canadian Record.

“We tip our hats to Laurie Ezzell Brown and her staff in Canadian for their well deserved win,” said publisher Roger Estlack. “They showed greater strength across the board than we did this year, placing in every category except one while we missed placing in three categories.

“Still, we’re very proud of our accomplishments this year, and we’ll work to keep improving the Enterprise.

“As always, it’s important to note that we couldn’t do it without our dedicated staff and the support of our readers and advertisers.”

The Enterprise received first place honors for Feature Photos by Ashlee Kidd-Estlack and Cheryl Johnson, Front Page Layout, News Writing by Ashlee Kidd-Estlack and Roger Estlack, Sports Photos by Roger Estlack, Humorous Column by Roger Estlack, and Editorials.

The paper also received second place awards for Headline Writing, Spot News Photos, Society Page, and Best Serious Column; a third place award for Advertising Initiative; and an Honorable Mention for Carrie Helms’ “Life Lesson’s” in the Serious Column category.

Judges said the Enterprise’s layout was “clean” and that it “jumps off the page.”

Enterprise news stories were praised for doing a “great job of relating facts to readers,” and its feature photos were noted for having “good composition.”

Roger Estlack’s columns about Blue Bell Ice Cream and about the rumors in advance of his actual engagement were called “witty” and “clearly the best.”

The society page was praised for its range of coverage.

The Plainview Daily Herald was the top paper in the Division II category for semi-weekly and daily newspapers.

In other convention news, three journalists were inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame, including the late Trenton Davis of the Amarillo Globe-News, Rollie Hyde of the Plainview Daily Herald, and Faye Plank of the Dalhart Daily Texan.

Attending this year’s convention and accepting the awards on the Enterprise’s behalf were publisher Roger Estlack and Web master Ashlee Kidd-Estlack.

AUSTIN – Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said last week that the state received $1.2 billion in sales tax revenue in March, a two percent increase compared to March 2004.

Local sales tax revenues also continue to grow across the state, and the City of Clarendon is on the plus side of the column for the first time this calendar year with a 14.88 percent increase for March and sales tax receipts of $17,082.49 up from $14,869.02.

The good news puts Clarendon just slightly ahead – by 0.63 percent for collections for the year to date.

Howardwick was also up slightly by 1.89 percent for an allocation of $799.33, but Hedley was down by more than 23 percent to $377.51.

Comptroller Strayhorn sent April sales tax allocations of $211.7 million to Texas cities, up 6.3 percent compared to April 2004. Calendar year-to-date, city sales tax allocations are running nearly 7 percent higher than last year.

AUSTIN – Mutual Energy SPP (ME SPP), has filed a request with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to reconcile fuel costs and increase fuel factors for electricity customers in the west Texas counties of Childress, Collingsworth, Donley, Hall, and Wheeler.

The request was filed because the existing fuel factors have not been met and currently do not meet the market price of natural gas used to generate electricity.  Consequently, ME SPP has requested permission to increase the fuel factors used in calculating the total electricity bill and to recover through a surcharge the approximately $1.6 million (including interest) in fuel costs not collected from January to December 2004.  

If the request to increase fuel factors is approved as requested, the new fuel factors would go into effect in June.  Residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would see their average monthly bill increase approximately $11.07, according to a public notice in this week’s Enterprise.

The beginning of the surcharge is timed to follow expiration in October of an existing $3.52 monthly surcharge from the last fuel reconciliation.  A second existing surcharge for $3.84 per month will expire in January 2006. That surcharge was for the final fuel reconciliation when the area was served by West Texas Utilities.

The expiration of the two existing surcharges will offset the proposed fuel factor change and proposed surcharge by approximately $7.36 for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.  

If the surcharge request is approved as requested, residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would see their monthly bill increase approximately $11.50 beginning in November 2005 and continuing through December 2006.  

If the fuel factor increase and the surcharge are approved as requested, the price of electricity will increase from an average 10.9 cents per kilowatt-hour to an average price of 13.1 cents per kilowatt-hour.  Even at the increased price, customers will be paying prices comparable to those paid by customers of WTU Retail Energy. 

This is the second fuel factor adjustment that ME SPP has requested since January 2002. By comparison, WTU Retail Energy has increased its fuel factor four times during the same period of time.  

ME SPP serves the approximately 7,200 customers in the five west Texas counties because they are located in the Southwest Power Pool, which has not yet begun retail electric competition.  

ME SPP is a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP). AEP owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and is the nation’s largest electricity generator. 

AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.

Twenty of the state’s top dietitians and nutrition thought leaders experienced ranching from a personal level with a Clarendon flare in a first-of-its-kind program hosted by the Texas Beef Council March 23-25 in the Texas Panhandle. 

The three-day event included scientific sessions, chef demonstrations, and beef industry presentations that emphasized beef’s culinary and nutritional strengths. The beef checkoff hopes the dietitians will return home with new information to use in advising consumers about beef’s nutritional benefits as well as a renewed appreciation for individuals and families who produce beef on America’s ranches.  

“The beef industry is committed to providing a wholesome, nutritious food and to communicating accurate information about beef’s nutritional qualities and role in a healthful diet,” said Dr. Shalene McNeill, TBC’s senior nutrition communications manager.  “The Texas beef checkoff hosted this meeting to communicate this commitment to 20 of Texas’ top registered dietitian thought leaders.”

The meeting, titled “The Ranch:  An Insider’s View of the Beef Industry,” included visits to the historic JA Ranch at Clarendon. Jay O’Brien of Amarillo, managing partner in the JA’s cattle and ranch operations and vice chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, provided a backgrounder on the beef industry. 

The participants also visited Randall County Feedyard, a division of Friona Industries, located near Amarillo, and the Texas Cattle Feeders Association headquarters in Amarillo.  In addition, the participants interacted in seminars that discussed beef’s nutritional profile and examined emerging nutrition research.

Chef Richard Chamberlain of Dallas, co-author of a lean beef cookbook expected to be published this fall with the American Dietetic Association, demonstrated new ways of preparing healthful, nutrient-rich beef. 

The participants also enjoyed beef dinners prepared by chuck-wagon cook Tom Perini of Buffalo Gap and local culinary celebrity Becky McKinley in the homes of Texas Panhandle ranching families. McKinley is the daughter of Dr. Charles and Francis Deyhle of Clarendon.

TBC’s program is part of the Texas beef checkoff’s ongoing efforts to keep the state’s dietitians informed of changing nutritional information concerning beef.  This latest seminar will help the beef industry get its message across in multiple ways.

“The information the dietitians received will enhance their confidence in beef,” she said.  “This confidence will help them reinforce beef’s positive nutrition contributions to their peers, motivate them to recommend beef to their clients, and remind them to bring up beef’s benefits when they talk to media.”

Results from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills reading exams are in, and local administrators are pleased with the scores.

Hedley School Superintendent Bryan Hill said all ten of his school’s third-grade students tested passed the reading portion of the TAKS test.

“Our third grade did excellent,” Hill said.

According to Clarendon ISD Counselor John Taylor, 94 percent of the third graders tested met the standard.

“They’re strong scores,” Clarendon Elementary Principal Mike Word said. “We really think we’ll have 100 percent mastery by the second and third opportunities.”

Word said that those who did not pass the reading test the first time are receiving extra instruction.

“We’re offering them more opportunities in school to work on it,” he said.

The reading test was also conducted in the fifth grade.

Of those tested, 63 percent of Hedley’s fifth graders met the standard, and in Clarendon 86 percent met the standard.

“We’re proud of our kids’ efforts,” Clarendon ISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger. “We continue to stay above state averages, and we’re expecting great things in the other tests.”

Hill said the kids in Hedley are tired from all their hard work.

“We appreciate the hard work of the teachers and students,” he said.

Statewide passing rates on the third grade reading exam reached 89 percent this spring, and in fifth grade they reached 75 percent.

The final portions of the TAKS testing will take place April 27, 28, and 29.

Last year, the met standard for TAKS was 2 SEM (standard errors of measurement), but this year the standard was just 1 SEM.

If the 2005 state passing standards had been in place in 2004, 88 percent of the third-grade students and 73 percent of the fifth-grade students would have passed the reading test last year.

According to a press release from the Texas education agency, third-grade students must pass the reading exam to be promoted to fourth grade; and fifth-grade students, for the first time this year, must pass the reading and math exams to be promoted to sixth grade.

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 will soon help itself to Donley County tax dollars as local officials grapple with a federal edict that requires new voting machines in every polling place.

“This is just another unfunded mandate from the federal government that has very little to do with life in rural America,” County Judge Jack Hall said.

Passed after the election snafus that plagued Florida in 2000, HAVA requires all counties to have one accessible voting machine, also known as a Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machine, in each polling place by January 1, 2006.

Donley County has ten voting boxes, and County Clerk Fay Vargas said DREs are expected to cost $5,500 each in addition to the cost for software, setup, and special apparatuses for the blind.

“The only state-certified price I have is $96,000 plus a $6,000 per year maintenance contract,” Vargas said.

Currently, Donley County spends about $5,500 to conduct an election with paper ballots.

The county expects to get up to $30,000 in federal assistance to pay for the machines, but the balance of the cost and the ongoing expense must be borne by local taxpayers.

“I keep hearing that we’re going to get more money, but I don’t see it coming,” Vargas said.

Vargas and Hall agree that the idea behind the law – to make it easier for the disabled to vote – is good, but they both think that one machine at the Courthouse Annex should suffice for the entire county. Vargas said the government should allow a variance for small counties, and Hall said having a DRE in each polling place is too much of a burden on local taxpayers.

But with no variance available and no more federal funds in sight, county officials are doing what they can to keep the cost down and are taking steps to consolidate voting locations from ten down to six.

A public hearing will be held April 21 at 6 p.m. in the District Courtroom to get input on the proposal, which consolidates Box 103 at Martin Baptist Church with Box 101 at the Bairfield Activity Center, Box 301 at the Clarendon Community Center and Box 302 at Lelia Lake with Box 303 at the Hedley Lions Hall, and Box 402 at the McClellan residence with Box 401 at Community Bank.

Boxes 201 at the Courthouse and 102 at Howardwick City Hall would be left unchanged.

County officials will also hold a demonstration of a DRE in the District Courtroom next Tuesday at 2 p.m.

A toddler crashed his mother’s van into the side of the Clarendon Elementary School building Monday morning.

One witness reported seeing the youngster behind the wheel as he veered across Fifth Street from Linda Judd’s daycare, jumped the curb, missed a house, and ran into the wall of a second grade classroom.

The witness said she thought she was seeing an elderly citizen who was drifting off the road but was surprised to realize it was just a little kid. She stopped her own vehicle and rushed to the scene to find the boy very pale and gripping the steering wheel.

Donley County Chief Deputy Randy Bond said the mother, Andrea Shelly, was taking her kids into the daycare when apparently the youngster knocked the car into gear and it rolled off. Bond said the woman had left the scene by the time he got there. She was later cited for leaving the scene of an accident.

Shelly couldn’t be reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, but co-workers of hers said the boy was unharmed, and they think the boy is about two or three. Bond said the boy was at most four years old.

School Superintendent Monty Hysinger said the incident startled the teacher, aide, and students who were in the room but caused no damage to the building other than some scuffed bricks.

“Fortunately no one was hurt,” Hysinger said. “This is just a good reason for kids to be strapped into safety seats.”