The Clarendon Enterprise - Spreading the word since 1878.
The people of Clarendon once again are set to welcome visitors to their annual Saints’ Roost Celebration, and a full list of activities are set for this weekend.
Celebrating America’s independence is a tradition here that dates back to July 4, 1878, when Christian Colonists who settled Old Clarendon gathered for the ocassion. The festivities have changed some over the years, but people still return to Saints’ Roost every year for a good time and to get reacquainted with old friends.
The 133rd annual celebration will be held July 1-3 with the Fourth falling on Sunday this year.
Activities begin Thursday, July 1, with downtown merchant sales, an afternoon blood drive at Clarendon College, and a junior rodeo at the Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association’s arena followed by a dance on the slab.
The fun continues on Friday, July 2, with more sales downtown, a Depression Lunch at 11 a.m., and annual Henson’s Turtle Race will be held at 1:30. The first night of the COEA Ranch Rodeo at 7:30 p.m. Music for the dance that evening will be provided by the Buster Bledsoe Band.
Saturday will be the big day of activities with a Donkey roping at the arena and the Kids Bicycle Parade at 10:00 a.m. downtown. The 4H Craft Fair also begins at 10 a.m. on the Courthouse lawn with the Old Settlers Reunion at 10:30 and live entertainment during the day. Contact the Donley County Extension Office for craft fair booth space.
The Shriners’ Barbecue Lunch will start at 11 a.m., and tickets are on sale at Henson’s and the Enterprise..
The annual Western Parade will be at 2 p.m. followed by the Lions Club’s Cow Patty Bingo. The Ranch Rodeo will be held at 7:30, and Greg Allen will open for Tommy Gallegher at the dance.
The celebration will also feature a Trade Show each night at the rodeo, and Guy Ellis is the contact for booth space. COEA will also be hosting the traditional calf scramble and other kids’ events prior to the rodeo.
If you have other events going on during the celebration, please contact the Chamber of Commerce to get them on the official schedule.
The nine- to ten-year-old All Star baseball team will advance to the state tournament in Denver City, Texas, during July 10-15 after competing well in the District tournament last weekend.
The team consists of 14 players and is coached under manager Jeremy Hicks, Brad Elam, Cameron Word and Casey Cobb. They played on June 26 and 27 and lost to North Randall and Hereford but won to Canyon.
“I’m proud of the boys,” Hicks said. “This is a huge accomplishment for Clarendon’s baseball program to beat Canyon and compete well against schools so much bigger than us.”
The team consists of 14 boys all but one of whom is from Clarendon. They are Garrett Barnett of Panhandle along with Clarendon’s Joshua Cobb, Damarjae Cortez, Andy Davis, Noab Elam, Preston Elam, Ben Haney, Payton Hicks, Payton Havens, Kade Hunsaker, Nathan Shadle, Raylyn Shelton, and Colt Wood. Also on the team is Gavin Word, who did not play this past weekend but will be playing in Denver City.
The All Stars will compete in an eight double elimination tournament in the state competition. They are guaranteed two games, and if they win, they will advance to the regional tournament at the end of July.
“These boys are getting better every day. We want to keep it going as long as we can.”
A Hedley woman had her car stolen last Tuesday during a quick stop at a local convenience store.
Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Timber Lee Potts had filled her 1995 Cadillac with gas at Uncle Bob’s and then went in the store.
“A kid came in there and asked if they had a Western Union,” Potts said. “Tonja (Ruthardt) told him he would have to go to Lowe’s in Clarendon for that. He left, and when I went out about 20 minutes later, my car was gone.”
Potts said she didn’t immediately react because she thought Travis Ruthardt was playing a prank on her and had just hidden her car.
“By the time we called the sheriff, he probably had an hour head start,” Potts said of the subject.
Blackburn said the subject turned out to be Clint Stevens of Wichita Falls, who left his girlfriend’s 2005 Kia at Uncle Bob’s and inside was information that identified the subject as well as a picture of him.
“He took his keys, but he was out of gas,” Potts said.
The sheriff’s office put out an alert for the stolen vehicle, and two hours later the Armstrong County Sheriff’s Office found Potts’ vehicle behind a building in Claude and Stevens attempting to break into the building.
The car was recovered, and Steven was arrested on charges of Unauthorized Use of Motor Vehicle and Burglary of a Building. He was still in the Armstrong County Jail at press time.
Blackburn advises people not to leave their keys in their car even if they are just running into a store for a minute, and Potts agrees with him.
“You always think, ‘It will never happen to me.’ Well, it happened to me,” she said. “I just hope nobody leaves their keys in their car with their kids in it because it could sure not be a good thing.”
Stevens has a lengthy criminal history, including charges of burglary, robbery, and deadly conduct, Blackburn said.
When a representative of the Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation called Laban Tubbs, director of the Ranch & Feedlot Operations Program at Clarendon College, and told him that the Foundation wanted to give the program some financial help, Tubbs was excited.
He immediately began to think about things the program needed, such as a few supplies, a jacket sponsor for all the students and maybe some scholarship help. That’s when the Foundation representative told him that all that was fine, but they were talking about a significant grant, maybe $50,000. Then, Tubbs got really excited.
The Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation is the benevolent arm of the Working Ranch Cowboys Association, which is headquartered in Amarillo and produces the World Championship Ranch Rodeo each November in Amarillo. The Foundation has as its goal to provide assistance to ranch cowboys and their families in times of need.
“The association was started years ago with the intent of furthering our Western heritage and helping the working cowboy on the ranch,” said Sam Daube, president of the Foundation.
“Now, we’re able to make a bigger impact with this grant to the Ranch & Feedlot Operations program. They are educating kids to work on a ranch, and by making a grant to that program we are able to help a lot of people.”
Daube says that the grant is a matching grant, and in order for the program to receive all of it, CC must raise another $50,000.
The Ranch & Feedlot Operations program is a work force educational program that is structured to help young people get an introduction into the ranching and feedlot industries.
“Clarendon College was seeing a lot of rural kids who weren’t going to college but needed some sort of education to help them get started with their lives and their careers,” said Jason Green, an instructor with the program. “We start out with basic animal health, basic nutrition, basic feeds and feeding, marketing, anything that you would probably learn while working for an operation for a year or two.
“Probably 80 percent of the students coming into this program have what you would call a cowboy background,” Green said. “They grew up on a ranch, and they know that working on a ranch is what they’re going to do the rest of their lives. Some of them already have jobs. Sometimes the ranches pay their tuitions so they will come here and learn something and then go back to the ranch and go to work.”
To complete the Ranch & Feedlot Operation program takes two semesters. However, Clarendon College also offers an RFO Associate Degree, where the student takes math, English and science courses in addition to the agriculture courses taken in the RFO program. The student graduates with an associate degree after two years of course work, and this provides a good basic program for a student who wants to transfer to a major university and obtain a bachelors degree.
Green said that each student pays, in addition to his tuition, a professional services fee that goes toward artificial insemination schools, training clinics and things like that. He says that they always run short of funds for those services before the end of the year, and they plan to use part of the WRCF grant to supplement that.
“There are also lots of travel expenses,” Green said. “We have two vans that hold 14 passengers each, and this year we went 6,500 miles. So we can use some help on those expenses, and we’re also going to use some of the money to help boost our scholarship fund. We give 13 scholarships a year, and we need some help in that area right now, too.”
Danny Lee Morgan, 62, died Saturday, June 26, 2010, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Services were held at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 28, 2010, in Hedley United Methodist Church with Rev. Anthony Knowles, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Estelline, and Rev. Ervin Emmert, Pastor, officiating. Burial followed at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley. Services were under the arrangement of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Danny was born February 12, 1948, in Memphis to Homer Lee and Betty Jo Spear Morgan. He was a 1966 graduate of Hedley High School and a 1968 graduate from Clarendon College. He also served in the US Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg. He had been a resident of Oklahoma City for 36 years and was an employee of the Store Club. He loved to play golf, fish, and hunt. He was a Methodist.
He was preceded in death by his father, Homer Lee “Sam” Morgan.
Survivors include his mother, Betty Jo Morgan, of Hedley; a sister, Rhonda Shaw and husband Randy of Hedley; a nephew, Ben Shaw; a niece, LaRae Alexander and husband Justin; and many special friends.
The family will be at 203 Short St. in Hedley.
The family requests that memorials be to the Rowe Cemetery Association, Box 185, Hedley, TX 79237.
Ninety year old golfer Dan Ashford recently shot his age at Clarendon Country Club. His round of 90 in the weekly men’s game was witnessed by Butch Schollenbarger and Jeff Walker.
Steve Jarnagin won the men’s play day with a net 67, and Todd Curry was second with a 68.
Ashford’s gross score of 90 turned into a net score of 70 with his handicap and earned him a third place finish.
Sandy Anderberg won low gross in the women’s day on Thursday with a 79, and Sherol Johnston was second low gross with an 87. Ruth Jackson won low net with a 64 and Mary Ann Sawyer, Bonnie Crofford, and Gayle Rogers tied for second low net with a 69.
Five teams competed in the Friday night nine-hole scramble, and two teams tied for the top spot, which ended in a tie after a three-putt playoff. The team of Norm Hagood, Gene Rogers, Chirs Moore, Sherol Johnston, and Gary Roye tied with the team of Chris Linquist, Steve Hall, Jesse Lincycomb, and Jeff Henson. The other three teams came in at six, five, and three under par.
There will be an 18-hole scramble Sunday, July 4, beginning at 2:00 p.m. You may call the Pro Shop to enter. The pool are grill are open each day and the dining room is open every Friday night and Sunday at noon.
David Harrell Lane, 74, died Saturday, June 19, 2010, in Panhandle.
Graveside services were held at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 21, 2010, in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon with Rev. Lowell Hall, Pastor of the Faith Baptist Church of Cushing, Oklahoma, officiating. Interment was held in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon. Services were under the arrangement of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
David was born November 4, 1935, in Dublin to J.B. and Marie Durham Lane. He married Betty Martin on May 26, 1956, in Lubbock. He had been a longtime resident of Clarendon and was a farmer, plumber, and electrician. He was a Baptist.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Betty Lane of Clarendon; a son, David Martin Lane and wife Carol of Clarendon; four sisters, Eva Turner and Carol Hall both of Clarendon, Joan Roehr of Silverton, and Anna Hall of Cushing, Oklahoma; two grandchildren, David Tyler Lane and Dane Michael Lane and wife Terry Lynn; a great granddaughter, Madison Lane; and several nieces and nephews.
The family will be at 1008 Bugbee in Clarendon.
The family requests that memorials be to the Citizens Cemetery Association, PO Box 983, Clarendon, Texas 79226.
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