Archives for June 2006

The City of Clarendon posted another gain in sales tax receipts when Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn released figures for May last Friday.

The city’s sales tax allocation grew 6.85 percent to a total of $22,286.18, which is up from $20,857.12 in May 2005. Clarendon is now 8.15 percent ahead for the year to date.

Hedley also saw an increase with an allocation of $632.90, which was a 61.15 percent increase from the same time last year.

Howardwick’s rebate dropped slightly by 0.79 percent to a total of $925.49, but that city is also still ahead for the year to date by a margin of 3.76 percent.

Strayhorn said the state received $1.54 billion in sales tax revenue in May, up 5.8 percent, compared to May 2005. 

State sales tax collections in May and local sales tax allocations in June represent sales that occurred in April and were reported to the Comptroller in May.

Bargain shoppers will be in for a treat during the first “Trash to Treasures” citywide garage sale to be held in Clarendon and nearby communities this Saturday, June 17.

Forty-four individual garage sales are scheduled to be held. A complete description of each sale is printed in this week’s Big E Classifieds here, and a map of the sales is on the last page of this week’s Enterprise or available online by buying a single digital copy for $1 by clicking here.

The Clarendon Enterprise and A Fine Feathered Nest, Inc., have teamed up to sponsor “Trash To Treasures,” which was the idea of Ashlee Estlack and Chriss Clifford.

The organizers had hoped to get 15 sales the first year, but were happy to have more than 20 by last Tuesday. That number doubled by last Friday’s deadline as sales steadily lined up one after the other.

“This is truly amazing for a first time event,” Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack said. “Claude has been having its citywide garage sale for several years, and we understand they had 43 sales this year. We had hoped to catch them in a year or two but never expected to do so the first year.”

The sale was intended to just be in the City of Clarendon, but demand led the Enterprise and A Fine Feathered Nest to agree to expand the event to other locations in Donley County to include sales on the south side of Greenbelt Lake, in rural areas, and in Hedley and Howardwick.

“We have some local merchants participating also,” Estlack said. “We hope to attract several people from out of town to shop at the sales and to patronize our local businesses. We’re also happy to see some non-profit organizations taking advantage of the opportunity that ‘Trash to Treasures’ presents.”

“Trash to Treasures” is being promoted in several area newspapers and with airtime on KEFH and KLSR radio.

Clifford sees 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 sale, and Clifford also has long-range plans for classes on giving lamps, furniture, and other things new lives.

An appearance by more than 30 concerned citizens sparked a lengthy discussion about salaries and other issues when the Donley Appraisal District Board met in regular session Monday night.

Brad Dalton spoke for the group, which calls itself the Donley County Concerned Citizens, and went through a list of questions for the board to answer.

“We’re not here to fuss and fight,” Dalton said. “We’re just here to ask questions.”

Board Chairman Dan Hall and Chief Appraiser Paula Lowrie answered some of the questions on the spot and said other information – such as data on delinquent taxes, collection rates, etc. – can be compiled and made available.

Dalton then read a statement requesting a timely reply to the group’s questions and requested that any citizen be able to come to the appraisal office “with a question or complaint without fearing a confrontation or retaliation” and that the board give “impartial and unbiased review” and fair resolution to any complaint.

The citizens then left the building, and the board continued with its agenda, which included work on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2007.

Board member Jerry Gage said he thought the board should have a basis for setting salaries, which was one of the items of inquiry of the Concerned Citizens.

“They came here with questions, and they deserve answers,” Gage said.

“These are the people who pay the taxes, and we need to address their concerns,” board member Johnny Floyd said.

Board member Wayne Hardin recommended a three percent increase in salaries based on past raises and in an attempt to keep up with cost of living increases. Floyd and board member Anthony Knowles said raises should be based on whether a person is doing a good job.

“Then obviously they are because we get audited by the state every year and get good reports,” Hardin said.

The board agreed to put a three percent salary increase in the proposed budget and to meet in August before their next regular meeting in September to discuss salaries further.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed the issues presented by the Concerned Citizens again.

“Complaints about tax rates or personal property taxes should be directed to these other boards,” Gage said, referring to the nine taxing entities in Donley County. “No one in this office should have to defend themselves over things outside their control.”

Other board members noted that the appraisal district only sets the value of property and collects taxes levied by other boards.

The board also agreed that questions presented at the meeting were matters of open record and directed Lowrie to prepare answers to the questions to be made available to the media.

There will be no rockets’ red glare or bombs bursting in air during the Fourth July in Donley County this year… not without a hefty fine anyway.

County commissioners banned the sale and use of all fireworks during their regular meeting Monday. Continuing dry conditions and the ever-present threat of wildfires were cited as the reasons for the ban.

“It’s worse now than it was when we had the big fires (in January and March),” said Commissioner Ernest Johnston. “We don’t have the high winds we had then, but we sure have the fuel.”

The county did not, however, reinstate the burn ban. Campfires and outdoor grilling are legal.

County Judge Jack Hall said the commissioners’ court initially wasn’t going to ban all fireworks.

“We first just talked about bottle rockets and things that went into the air, but we felt that wouldn’t be sufficient,” Hall said.

While the ban will just put a damper on the fun of most folks, local fireworks vendors will feel a financial pinch.

Jesus Name Apostolic Church has been selling fireworks for more than 12 years, and the small congregation depends on the sales to see them through the year.

“That’s our only fundraiser,” said Pastor Calvin Burrow. “Now we will just do without.”

To make matters worse, the church has already purchased its fireworks for the year and now must find some other outlet for the merchandise.

“We probably should have waited, but it was the only time I had off (to get the fireworks),” Burrow said. “We’re looking for someone to take them, but I suspect it’s going to be this way all over the Panhandle. All we can do now is pray for rain.”

Kathleen Yankie is also affected by the ban but fortunately had not placed her order for this year.

“It’s for the good of the county, but I know the kids will be disappointed,” said Yankie, who has been selling fireworks for 28 years. “There’s nothing we can do about it, so I guess we’ll live with it.”

Chief Deputy Randy Bond says the Donley County Sheriff’s Department will back the commissioners and will enforce as rigidly as it did the burn ban.

“Our concern is for the county,” Bond said. “The grass is dry, and we’re trying to prevent anymore fires.”

Anyone who violates the fireworks ban will face a Class C misdemeanor and could get a $250 fine.

In other county business this week, the court received a plaque from Life Scout McCullough Roach, who is working on his Eagle Scout rank. The plaque lists the names of all past Eagle Scouts from Clarendon and will be hung in the Courthouse.

Commissioners heard from Landon Lambert, who is the only candidate for the office of county attorney in this year’s election. He asked to be seated now as county attorney and to be paid with a state supplement salary and also said that County Attorney Pro-tem Kaye Messer could be left on the county’s payroll. Commissioners took no action on Lambert’s request.

Dr. John Howard was named as the Public Health Authority.

The court also approved a right of way easement for Valor Telecom on CR 18 south of FM 1260 and approved an agreement for two computers from Cyber Medics through a Texas Election Administration Management System grant.

Services were held Tuesday for a longtime Clarendon merchant who had called this community his home and supported it his entire life.

John Thomas “Jack” Clifford died here Friday, June 2, 2006. He was 70 years old.

Services were at 10:00 a.m. on June 6, 2006, in the First Baptist Church in Clarendon with Rev. Terry Tamplen of Midland and Rev. Tom Garmon, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Clarendon, officiating. Burial was in Citizens Cemetery, and services were under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors, Inc.

Mr. Clifford was born January 22, 1935, in Clarendon to Dewey M. and Walter E. Clifford, the second of three boys. He attended Clarendon High School, graduating in 1953, followed by Clarendon College where he met his future wife, Shirley McAbee. They married March 28, 1954, in Hereford. Jack served in the US Army in 1958 and 1959.

Mr. Clifford and his wife returned to Clarendon in 1959 and went into the family grocery business. He continued in the grocery business and pursued other business opportunities in the community until his retirement in 1998.

The Clifford family opened their grocery store in 1914, and Mr. Clifford reflected during a 1998 interview for the Enterprise on the store’s relationship with the community and the values he and his family took from the store upon its closing.

“I’ve appreciated the friendships and the business over the years,” Mr. Clifford said. “I’ve had a good run….”

He said The Grocery Store taught him the value of hard work and was proud that that work ethic had been passed down to his children.

“They learned to work,” he said. “You can’t say I didn’t have any kids who didn’t know how to work.”

His greatest joy and pride rested with his children and grandchildren. He was also very proud of his many loyal friends and customers he had acquired during his many years of living and working in Clarendon.

Mr. Clifford was a member of the First Baptist Church in Clarendon; and he valued faith, loyalty, honesty, and integrity above all other traits. He was an avid supporter of Clarendon and thought it is the greatest place in the world to live.

Mr. Clifford was preceded in death by his wife Shirley, his parents, and a brother, Bob Clifford.

Survivors include his daughter, Virginia Ann Patten and husband Briton of Clarendon; two sons, John Walter Clifford of Fort Worth, and Benjamin Paul Clifford of Little Rock, Ark.; two granddaughters, Abigail Michelle Patten and Annie Marie Patten of Clarendon; two grandsons, John Ray Clifford of Lubbock and Robert James Clifford of Dallas; a brother, Fred Clifford and wife Connie of Clarendon and two sisters-in-law, Carol Cary of Leoti, Kan., and Jean Clifford of Quinlan.

The family requests memorials to be to the church of your choice in Clarendon or to Citizens Cemetery Association, PO Box 983, Clarendon, TX 79226 or to the developing Clarendon Girls Softball League, c/o Stan Shelton, 4603 CR 3, Clarendon, TX 79226.

HOUSTON – The Texas Foundation for the Arts announced last week that the final episode of its three-part series titled The Golden Age of Texas Courthouses – featuring the 1890 Donley County Courthouse – will premiere on KUHT-TV HoustonPBS Ch. 8 on Thursday, June 29 at 7:00 p.m. and will be rebroadcast on Saturday, July 1 at 7:00 p.m.

Produced by Houston-based Texas Foundation for the Arts in association with Sunset Productions, Vol. 3 of The Golden Age of Texas Courthouses continues its cinematic journey into the history of Texas’ restored Victorian era county courthouses.

Donley County’s Romanesque Revival style courthouse is featured in the new 60-minute piece, which showcases historic courthouses built between the 1850s and 1910s. A camera crew visited from Houston to interview Donley County Judge Jack Hall and Donley County Historical Commission member Jean Stavenhagen, who talked about the history of the building and the recent restoration. Both appear in the finished program.

Scenes include exterior and interior views of the courthouse as well as archive photos. It is the only Panhandle-area courthouse featured in the program.

Other county courthouses featured in the program include Denton, Wise, Parker, Grimes, Caldwell, Fort Bend, Lampasas, Wharton, Fayette and Navarro.

Texas has more historic courthouses than any other state and one of the largest collections of Victorian architecture in the country. A total of 102 Texas courthouses are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, 111 are Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks and 91 are State Archeological Landmarks.

Vol. 3 was underwritten by the Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation and Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP.

After airing on HoustonPBS, the film will be made available to all PBS stations in Texas. The program is available for purchase at www.houstonpbs.org or by calling HoustonPBS at 1-800-364-8200.