Archives for May 2006

Mark your calendars and get ready for a big citywide garage sale in Clarendon on Saturday, June 17.

The Clarendon Enterprise and A Fine Feathered Nest, Inc., have teamed up to sponsor “Trash To Treasures,” the first of what they hope will become an annual event to coincide with Father’s Day weekend.

“What better gift could a man get than more space in the garage?” said Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack. “Dozens of families have garage sales scattered throughout the year. The idea here is to coordinate those sales, have them on the same day, and try to draw the biggest possible crowds to the sales.”

The brainchild of A Fine Feathered Nest’s Chriss Clifford and the Enterprise’s Ashlee Estlack, “Trash To Treasures” is designed to help as many families as possible make their garage sales successful this year. The name of the event plays on the old adage that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

While your kids may have outgrown that old ten-speed bike, it may be just what someone else has been looking for. The exercise machine you were going to use to lose all that weight may be ripe for selling now that you’ve slimmed up – or given up. A look around almost any garage will yield something that would really be put to better use by someone else. Better to sell it and take the cash.

Clifford hopes to see widespread participation in “Trash To Treasures” as a way to encourage people to think about something before they toss it out. In fact, her company has its own line of products that are “Too Good To Be Threw.”

“I’m interested in the whole ecology of the idea and encouraging recycling of old items,” Clifford said. “I also want to see people find artful ways to put objects to new uses.”

Future “Trash To Treasurers” will coincide with A Fine Feathered Nest’s annual Too Good To Be Threw consignment sale, and Clifford also has long-range plans to offer classes on ways to give lamps, furniture, and other objects new lives.

Residents who wish to participate in this year’s “Trash To Treasures” are asked to come by the Enterprise office at 105 S. Kearney starting next Monday, May 8, to sign up for the promotion and to get all the benefits that goes with it.

For $20 each household will get an expanded advertisement in the Big-E Classifieds – up to 50 words – and the exclusive “Trash To Treasures” garage sale kit, which includes tips for holding a successful sale, price stickers, and two yard signs.

In addition, the Enterprise will print a city map the week of the event indicating the location of each sale and will promote the citywide garage sale throughout the region.

A Fine Feathered Nest and the Enterprise intend for “Trash To Treasures” to be something that not only will help residents earn more money at their garage and yard sales but will also bring people from out of town to Clarendon to spend the day visiting our neighborhoods and patronizing our local merchants and restaurants.

Local merchants are encouraged to plan special promotions or sidewalk sales to coincide with the event, and advertising space will be made available on the back of the “Trash To Treasures” map.

“Citywide garage sales have proven successful in other communities, and we believe Clarendon can benefit from the same kind of coordinated effort,” Ashlee Estlack said.

The deadline for joining the “Trash To Treasures” promotion will be Friday, June 9, at 5 p.m. For more information, call 874-2259.

Howardwick has been approved for a Texas Forest Service grant to get a new truck to replace the one that was lost battling the I-40 fire on March 12.

Fire Chief Robert Cole said his department was notified Friday that the state agency had given the go ahead for the $108,000 award. Ten percent of that must be matched by the city.

“We haven’t ordered the new truck yet, but it will be what we call a pump and roll truck that can do anything,” Cole said.

The chief said he estimates that more than $3,000 has been donated to the fund at Community Bank to help the city replace the truck.

The forest service has also given the department a 2.5-ton flatbed truck, courtesy of the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) equipment program, through which military equipment is loaned to qualifying departments at no cost for as long as the equipment is in use.

The FEPP program is just one of several aid programs available to volunteer fire departments to help them protect the communities they serve.

The forest service also provides local training in wildland firefighting and assists with applications for assistance.

Cole said Howardwick has submitted one of those applications, which, if approved, would provide $2,500 for equipment to outfit the truck obtained through the FEPP program.

Using a city Dumpster without permission could cost you $2,000 following last week’s regular meeting of the Clarendon Board of Aldermen.

The board approved Ordinance 361 on its second and final reading, making it a crime to dump garbage or waste materials in city trash bins for individuals and corporations who do not pay a monthly fee for that service.

City Secretary Linda Smith told the board that news of the issue had generated calls to City Hall from rural residents.

“We’ve had several people upset about it,” Smith said. “But when I explain that someone is paying for that Dumpster, then they understand.”

Joe Shadle, who works in the city’s sanitation department, cautioned the city about trying to extend its trash pick up service to county residents, noting the costs of fuel and time.

“You can’t service everybody in the county,” Shadle said.

The aldermen agreed with Shadle and said they would consider locating some central Dumpsters that county residents could use for a monthly fee.

Shadle also brought up another issue related to the city’s waste transfer station, asking why the city doesn’t charge the school, the college, or the Texas Department of Transportation when they bring in trailer loads of trash.

The aldermen indicated they were not aware of that policy, and the board agreed to take up the matter at their next meeting.

In response to a question from the Enterprise, the board said Ordinance 361 is not intended to apply to the recycling bins at the corner of First and Kearney. Everyone is welcome to use those bins for their recyclables.

In other business, the board ratified the employment of Stormy Mayberry and discussed finding someone to replace Alton Gaines, who has taken a job with the school.

The board also received updates from City Superintendent Jim Roberts and city engineer Che Shadle.

It will all be over soon.

Weather permitting, that is.

The 2005 Street Project, which was originally scheduled to be completed last November, should be finished next week, according to city engineer Che Shadle.

“If we get the weather we need, we should be through,” Shadle said.

But as the Enterprise was going to press Tuesday evening, the clouds opened up, dumping rain and hail on the city, and more was forecasted for this week.

On Tuesday morning, subcontractors were in town and shot the oil primer on Seventh Street and the cross streets of Leroy, Johns, Collinson, McLean, and Bond. Workers planned to shoot the remainder of the streets on Wednesday, and then the paving was scheduled to begin in earnest on Thursday.

“They’ll come in here and do all the streets at once, and it will take four or five days,” Shadle said.

Jordan Paving, which is the subcontractor for this part of the job under B&B Solvent, will put down one course of asphalt, lay one course of rock, roll it, and then repeat the process.

“It won’t take long, and people can drive on it just as soon as it goes down,” the engineer said.

Shadle’s firm, OJD Engineering, will monitor the paving as it is done.

The finished streets will be 30 feet wide inside the curbs, and the project covers the following streets: Third Street from Collinson to McLean, Fourth Street from Collinson to McLean, Sixth Street from Cottage to Koogle, Seventh Street from the western city limit to Koogle, Eighth Street from Leroy to Bugbee Avenue, Leroy Street from Fifth to Eighth, Johns Street from Sixth to approximately one-half block past Eighth, Collinson Street from Clarendon Avenue to Eighth Street, McLean Street from Clarendon Avenue to Eighth, and Bond Street from Sixth to Eighth.

The project, which had an original price tag of $974,485, is being paid for with some money the city had on hand raised from higher utility and service fee plus seven-year tax obligation notes for $800,000. Additionally, the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation has already pledged $150,000 to the project, and the CEDC board also intends to provide $30,000 each year to help the city pay the indebtedness.

Shadle says the contractor will be responsible for maintaining the streets for one year after the completion date; but after that, it will be up to the city to take care of them to  stand the test of time.