Archives for March 2007

An exploratory committee will investigate the possibility of selling the Medical Center Nursing Home following a called meeting of the Donley County Hospital Board last Tuesday.

District officials say there is no urgency in the move and that they only want to look at options for the future of the facility.

“We are not in financial trouble,” Administrator Vicky Robertson said Monday. “We are solvent. Both Medical Center Nursing Home and the Associated Ambulance Authority are making money and will be for a few years.”

But beyond that time things begin to look less certain as expenses continue to rise and income remains stable. District officials think the time to sell may be while the home is in a good position.

“We’d like to see someone who could buy (the nursing home), expand it, and keep the staff at current or higher levels,” said board president Alan Fletcher. “And we want someone who will keep it at the standards we’ve come to expect.”

Fletcher and Robertson both agreed that any potential buyer would also have to be someone with proven financial stability and that the priority must be to keep the facility’s doors open.

“There is no way we want to lose 50 jobs in Clarendon and have 53 residents with no place to go,” Fletcher said.

The nursing home, which is changing its name to Saints’ Roost Manor, has done well this fiscal year, Robertson said. But budget figures for 2007-2008 indicate a deficit in the neighborhood of $56,000.

“Like we said last year in our town hall meeting, there will come a time when expenses will exceed revenues,” she said.

The problems for the nursing home remain the same as a year ago. Texas ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in terms of funding for Medicaid beds in nursing homes, half of the hospital district’s property tax revenue goes toward bonded indebtedness, and a large number of MCNH residents only need assisted living type services and therefore receive the lowest Medicaid reimbursement.

The district also faces challenges from government regulations that change any time and almost always cost money to comply with. A one dollar increase in the minimum wage, for example, could cost the nursing home $40,000 a year when they have to raise salaries to stay competitive.

“We have to stay well above the minimum wage to keep competent staff,” Robertson said.

The district has paid off the notes for constructing the ambulance building and the Community Services Building, but it still owes $1.3 million for the last renovation of the nursing home.

Officials say their options appear to be to expand the nursing home by ten beds or build an assisted living center – either of which would cost about $1 million, raise taxes substantially, or sell the nursing home so the hospital district can focus entirely on indigent care and the ambulance service.

“I think the choice is coming for taxpayers: is it the nursing home or the ambulance service?” Fletcher said. “What benefits the most people?”

Fletcher said the ambulance service will be more expensive in the future because of the recent shift from a volunteer service to a paid service.

“We’ve grown the ambulance service to the point where volunteers can’t do it all,” he said. “We need six full time employees over there.”

The committee investigating the possibility of selling the home includes Robertson and Fletcher and board members Don Thornberry and Mark C. White. There is no timetable for the committee to complete its work, Fletcher said.

“We just want the public to be aware of what’s going on,” he said.

Two local boards will have competitive elections this year as candidates lined up during the last week of filing.

With Monday’s deadline for a place on the ballot passed, the City of Clarendon and the Hedley Independent School District will definitely hold elections this May.

Clarendon Mayor Mark White will face a challenge from Lauraine Paul, and four people have signed up to run for the two open positions on the Board of Aldermen. They are Bobby Woodard, Ann Huey, Claude DeBord, and Terry Noble.

Incumbent Aldermen Bobbie Kidd and Michael Tibbets did not file for reelection.

Two incumbents on the Hedley School Board – Marlee Sharp and Abby O’Neal – are seeking reelection. They will be joined on the ballot by James Lollar, Kelly Patton, James Edward Potts, and Mary Jon Hicks. Four positions are available on the board.

Four other local boards have not generated enough candidates to hold elections this year.

Gene Rogers was the only candidate to file for office in Howardwick. Rogers filed papers to run for city alderman. The terms of Howardwick Mayor Marvin Elam and Aldermen Pat Butler (serving for Bill Barton) and Bobby Murdock will expire this year.

Incumbents Marvin Thompson and James Shelton filed for reelection to the Clarendon School Board and are joined by Robin Ellis. Incumbent Reneé Betts did not file to run again.

Gaye Lollar and Collene Owens joined incumbent Bruce Howard in filing for the three positions open on the Hedley Board of Aldermen.

All incumbents on the Donley County Hospital Board have also filed for reelection. Don Thornberry, Alan Fletcher, and Melinda McAnear are all seeking to serve again.

Write-in candidates can still sign up through next Monday.

The elections will be held Saturday, May 12.

Pager tones sounded, and fire engine sirens blared in Howardwick Monday evening to mark the first anniversary of an accident that injured two of that city’s firemen and ultimately resulted in the death of a third.

On March 12, 2006, the three firemen were battling the I-40 wildfire that burned 350,000 acres in an area 20 miles wide and 55 miles long in Donley, Gray, Wheeler, and Collingsworth counties over a period of several days. But at 6:59 p.m., their fire truck overturned while moving along a ravine ledge on a fresh cut firebreak.

“Twenty brave volunteers and five units from the City of Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call of duty when the largest wildfire in Texas history swept across Donley County,” fireman Walt Rice recalled during Monday’s memorial service. “Only 17 of those brave volunteers and four units returned to the station.

Firemen Joey Garcia, Jeff Cook, and James McMorries were on that ill-fated truck. Clarendon Firebelles Chandra Holman and Rhonda Howell rushed to their sides and rendered critical assistance until they could be transported to Amarillo for treatment.

McMorries suffered multiple injuries and passed away on April 9.

Garcia and Cook spent months recovering from their injuries, and both men finally returned to work in December.

Cook’s wife, Lee Ann, said the Howardwick community is closer now than it was a year ago.

“We have a bond in our department that is unbreakable,” she said. “Tanis (McMorries) has joined our department and is right in the middle of us. The community is stronger, and we’re working hand in hand with Clarendon and Hedley.”

The days leading up to Monday’s anniversary were tough for Cook and the other families.

“I was nervous, scared, and thankful that we had some rain,” she said. “In fact, I talked to Tanis today, and she said that James had sent us this rain so we would not have to be in that mess again.”

In the year since the accident, the city has received new firefighting equipment, and Jeff Cook has become the department’s chief. One truck carries the names of the injured firemen, and the newest truck is nicknamed “Bad Boy” and reminds the department of McMorries.

“It is our pride and joy,” Rice said, “because it shines just as bright as the quick smile that we all remember on the face of James.”

Monday’s service included the lowering of City Hall’s flag to half-staff, scripture readings, and special music. Karen Rice read “The Firefighters’ Prayer,” and Milton Brown read “Cowboy in a Hardhat.” The flag was then returned to full-staff, and the ceremony was closed with a prayer by Bobby Murdock and the singing of “Amazing Grace,” led by Dianna Knight.

Orin Lee Hill, 82, died Wednesday, March 7, 2007, in Amarillo.

Services were held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, 2007, in the First Baptist Church in Clarendon with Keith Martin and Derwin Comer, officiating.  Burial was held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon.  Services were under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors, Inc., of Clarendon.

Mr. Hill was born in Pilot Point, Texas, on November 8, 1924, to Olen and Nola Lowrance Hill.  He married Gwen Martin on June 27, 1944, at Carlsbad, California.  He served in the first Marine Corps in World War II.  He had been a resident of Clarendon and Donley County since 1946.  He was a hardworking and dedicated family man.  He was a member of the Martin Baptist Church.

Mr. Hill was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Nolen Hill; and a sister, Nita Fancher.

Survivors include his wife, Gwen Hill of Clarendon; 2 daughters, Karen Lewis of Amarillo and Donna Butler of Canyon; one foster daughter, DeAnn Wilson of Canyon; 2 brothers, Ralph Hill of Clarendon, and Ross Hill of Amarillo; 7 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be to Odyssey Hospice of Amarillo.