Archives for January 2008

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board gave a quick blessing to a request by Gray and Childress county residents seeking to institute a five-cent maintenance tax that would go to Clarendon College facilities.

CC President Bill Auvenshine said the board asked no questions about the proposal and approved the request on a voice vote that covered all the items on its “consent calendar.”

Gray and Childress county voters will consider the tax during May elections.

If approved by voters, the tax of five cents per $100 valuation could generate about $700,000 per year in Gray County and about $100,000 per year in Childress County. Funds raised by the tax could only be spent in the respective county to support the costs of CC’s educational centers in Pampa and Childress.

Clarendon aldermen last Tuesday agreed that they must be patient with a drop in city revenue while the Donley County Sheriff’s Department deals with a labor shortage.

The sheriff’s office is short one deputy. City officials had expressed concern early this month that a lack of traffic tickets was hurting revenue from the municipal court, and they asked Sheriff Butch Blackburn to come before the board of aldermen.

But during last week’s city meeting, aldermen were congenial to the sheriff.

“We have to work together,” Alderman Chris Ford said. “We just can’t get our feathers too much in a ruffle. We don’t have the money to start something ourselves.”

Blackburn agreed and said his office was doing the best it could while trying to find a qualified deputy to move to Clarendon.

Alderman Janice Knorpp asked if Blackburn and Chief Deputy Randy Bond could not “pick up the slack” during the day shift, which bristled the sheriff.

“I wish you’d just come sit (at my office) for day,” Blackburn said. “We’re not sitting there playing darts.”

Blackburn said he and Bond are usually busy with criminal cases, and he detailed one recent case where a suspect had to be hospitalized in Amarillo with a local officer on duty there around the clock. He also said that he usually has one deputy and sometimes two gone to district court during the day shift.

The board ultimately agreed with Ford’s position that the city should be patient while Blackburn looks for a new deputy.

In other city business, the board nominated Steve Carter to fill a vacancy on the Donley Appraisal District Board.

City Secretary Linda Smith said Fire Marshal Kelly Hill had talked to Lou Ann Gregory, the owner of the old pharmacy building at Second and Kearney, who said she would get the building’s windows repaired.

Smith also said Hill had reported talking to Landon Lambert about a propane tank at the old Jamz building at Third and Kearney. Lambert will have the tank removed.

Hoppy Eason doesn’t get a check for the work he does, but he believes the hours he puts in every week are well worth his time.

Eason is one of several volunteers for the Meals On Wheels program operated by the Donley County Senior Citizens Center. Along with two paid cooks and the salaried director of the center, they provide one hot meal a day – Monday through Friday – to between 35 and 40 residents of Clarendon.

Together they served 6,296 meals to folks who are homebound, shut in, or just have trouble getting around. Each of those meals costs about $7.03, and the program’s income comes nowhere near covering that cost. Another 40 people per day eat at the Senior Citizens Center.

The service was more than $22,000 in the red at the end of its last fiscal year. But, like the center, Meals On Wheels cannot be measured on the ledger sheet alone. You have to consider the human factor.

Eason began volunteering about two years ago. It became a way for the recent retiree to get to know his neighbors. But more than getting to know the locals, Eason formed lasting friendships and began to care deeply for those who counted on him to bring their one hot meal every Thursday.

“This is a joy to get to meet these people,” Eason said. “This is my payment. I’ve probably got the highest paid job in town.”

The cooks at the Senior Citizens Center show up about 7:30 a.m. to start preparing the day’s meal. Volunteers begin showing up by 9:00, and by about 10:45 the mini-van is loaded and ready to roll.

Eason’s sidekick is 27-year-old Derek Shields – the program’s youngest volunteer. Together the seemingly unlikely duo makes the rounds every Thursday while other volunteers are lined up to deliver the other four days of the week.

Shields said Eason recruited him about a year ago.

“He told me, ‘It’s always good to do something good for others,’” Shields said. “It’s really fun. You get to meet people you wouldn’t normally see out.”

But Eason says delivering meals and getting to know folks is only part of the job.

“It’s very important to check on these people because sometimes you’re the only person that comes that day,” he said. “I’m always really concerned about the ladies that can’t get around.”

Each visit is unique in its own way. One person spends his time watching the RFD channel and updates Eason on the cattle prices. Another keeps him informed on her latest sewing projects, and one stop requires special attention to a pet cat before the meal can be delivered.

The people they serve greet them with a smile and genuinely appreciate what their neighbors are doing for them.

People generally like the food, which has to meet federal nutritional guidelines. Last Thursday, the menu consisted of roast beef with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, a roll, and a new item – fried green beans.

Munching on the new treat with a smile on her face, Joan Kidd praised the service that she and her husband, Bob, rely on.

“They are absolutely wonderful,” Kidd said. “I couldn’t do without them, and we sure don’t need to lose our center.”

Frankie McKinney also worries about the program’s finances.

“Everybody is as sweet as they can be,” McKinney says of the volunteers that come to his house. “They sure need some help though. I just wish I had some money I could give them, but I don’t. We need everybody to get behind them.”

There is no charge for the meal, but the suggested donation for a home delivered meal is the same as the meals at the Senior Citizens Center: $3 for folks age 60 and up and $5.50 for the kids under 60.

Eason said some people give their money to the deliverer each day, some pay the center by the month, and some just can’t pay.

Center Director Mary Shields has been on the job since October after a 12-year stint at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. She says the program receives more than $47,000 in federal funds from the Area Agency on Aging, and donations and meal payments bring in another $40,000.

Fundraisers, renting the center, and $5 per person annual dues help bring the total income to $96,285 in fiscal year 2007. Expenses, however, exceeded $118,000.

Despite the financial situation, the people behind Meals On Wheels are not pulling back from their mission. Instead, they are focused on broadening their impact. They plan to start delivering to folks in Howardwick in February.

Getting on the delivery list is relatively easy. Just give the Senior Citizens Center a call. A form must be filled out that is mostly for dietary guidelines, but they don’t have a policy of not serving anyone.

“We probably wouldn’t turn anyone away,” Mrs. Shields said. “We just might not get reimbursed for them.”

Mrs. Shields has outlined a plan to trim expenses by about $8,600 this fiscal year, but Eason says the program’s future depends on donations on either a monthly or yearly basis. He’s also been busy distributing forms encouraging people to commit any amount – large or small – to the center.

And there is always a need for volunteers.

“It would help so much if we could get some folks to volunteer just a couple of hours a day,” Eason said.

As Hoppy and Derek would tell you, it’s the best job in town.

For more information on how you can help the Meals On Wheels program or the Donley County Senior Citizens Center, call 874-2665.

Clarendon College officials are in Austin this week as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board considers whether to allow residents of Gray and Childress counties to vote on a new tax that would fund college facilities in those locations.

CC President Bill Auvenshine said the commissioners’ courts in both counties agreed to put a five-cent maintenance tax on the May ballot last August, but state officials must first approve the action.

“Ray (Jaramillo, CC Dean of Administrative Services) has already testified before the subcommittee on this issue,” Auvenshine said. “I and a member of our advisory board in Pampa will be in Austin Wednesday to answer any additional questions that may come up.”

If the coordinating board gives its consent, the path will be clear for voters to approve the tax in May.

Auvenshine said the maintenance tax would not affect residents of the Clarendon College District (which is all of Donley County), but that it could allow the college to reallocate funds now being spent in Pampa and Childress.

“Traditionally local communities have to provide the facilities for community colleges, and the state is supposed to pick up the remainder of the cost,” Auvenshine said. “These citizens (in Gray and Childress counties) want better facilities, but we don’t have the money for that.”

A tax of five cents per $100 valuation could generate about $700,000 per year in Gray County and about $100,000 per year in Childress County, Auvenshine said.

By law the tax could never exceed five cents, and all the money must be spent in those counties. Each county’s commissioners’ court would review the tax rate each year.

Auvenshine also said that, under the law, Gray and Childress counties would not receive any representation on the CC Board of Regents. CC would have an advisory board in each county.

“We are going to have to justify everything we do with that revenue. It’s their money,” he said. “It won’t affect local taxpayers in any way, and money we’re spending (in Childress and Pampa) now could be used to promote the college as a whole.”

Clarendon College is responsible for the higher education needs of eight counties – Donley, Gray, Childress, Hall, Briscoe, Collingsworth, Armstrong, and Wheeler. Taxes paid by Donley County residents are used to maintain facilities in Clarendon but barely cover the utilities at the campus.

Auvenshine said the maintenance tax would give Childress and Gray counties the chance to boost educational opportunities for their residents.

“It gives them an opportunity to have a hometown college – Clarendon College in their hometown, and no other college can do that,” he said.

Medical Center Nursing Home Administrator Vicky Robertson turned in her resignation during a called session of the Donley County Hospital Board last Friday.

Robertson said she has accepted a new position in Amarillo, and her resignation will take effect in 30 days.

Board Chairman Alan Fletcher said the district accepted Robertson’s resignation with regret.

“She took advantage of the best opportunity for her, and we just wish her the best,” Fletcher said.

Robertson agreed to continue to serve the district as administrator for 30 to 60 days to fill in and ease the transition for a new administrator. She will also serve as a consultant for both the new administrator and the director of nurses, and will work one weekend a month as the weekend RN at MCNH.

The change will not affect the transfer of ownership of the nursing home to Community Care Management, which is expected to finalize with completion of a construction project at the facility in March.

“My resignation from Medical Center Nursing Home has nothing to do with the sale of the nursing home,” Robertson said in a prepared statement. “It does have to do with an excellent career opportunity for me and my family.”

Robertson went on to say that she is in support of the sale of the nursing home and believes the new owners will have the best interests of the residents and staff at heart.

“Yes, there will be some changes; but one thing is certain in life, there is always change,” she said.

Robertson also expressed her intention to run for the hospital board this May.

Fletcher said the district is already working with Community Care Management to find Robertson’s replacement and has already identified a possible candidate for the job.

By Roger Estlack & Anndria Kidd, Clarendon Enterprise

Local fire departments had their hands full last week as two Hedley families lost their homes in separate fires, and a third blaze damaged a home in Howardwick.

Firefighters were dispatched at 8:02 a.m. last Wednesday to the Tim McMellian home at 308 Railroad St. in Hedley. City Secretary Randy Shaw said the McMellian fire was electrical and appeared to have started in the washroom.

Mr. McMellian was not home at the time of the blaze, and the four remaining family members got out of the house safely, Shaw said.

The Hedley Fire Department was assisted by firefighters from Clarendon and Memphis, and it took two hours to contain the blaze, according to Clarendon First Assistant Chief Jeremy Powell.

The Donley County Constable and Sheriff’s Offices, the Associated Ambulance Authority, TxDOT, and the DPS also responded to the fire.

The two-story home was a Hedley landmark and was originally built by Worley Nippert in 1911 as the Nippert Hotel. Wednesday’s fire completely destroyed the home.

A second fire in Hedley struck the Patricia Ramirez home in the 500 block of Bailey St. about 9:33 Thursday night.

Shaw said ten people were living at the address where a trailer house was attached to the main home. The fire apparently started near a wood burning stove in the trailer.

The trailer house was a total loss, but the fire did not damage the main house, Shaw said.

The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department assisted Hedley firefighters with the blaze; and the Donley County Constable and Sheriff’s Offices and the Associated Ambulance Authority also responded.

People interested in contributing to the relief of the McMellian or Ramirez families are asked to call Patsy Spier at the Hedley Senior Citizens 856-0143 or Rhonda Shaw at the City Hall 856-5241.

A third structure fire occurred in Howardwick Saturday afternoon at a house on Dixie Street.

Howardwick Fire Chief Jeff Cook said faulty single-wall ventilation from a wood burning stove caused the fire, which was reported at 3:41.

Powell said damage was limited to the garage and attic of the structure. The house was not being used as a residence.

Cook said the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was training when the fire was reported, and he commended the Clarendon firemen for doing “an excellent job.”
Clarendon firemen also assisted with a fourth structure fire last week, this one in Collingsworth County. Powell said a January 13 blaze destroyed a home in Quail. Clarendon and Hedley assisted firemen from Wellington and Quail with that fire.