Up in the air
Archives for October 2010
Art appreciation
Senior-itas
Aldermen tap Little as next administrator
Lambert Little was the unanimous choice as the next city administrator when the Clarendon Board of Aldermen met last Tuesday, Oct. 12.
Mayor Larry Hicks said he thinks Little will do a good job for the city and be able to save money due to his experience.
Aldermen praised Little’s experience, knowledge of municipal laws, and good sense of humor during their discussion, and the board approved a salary of $50,000 plus benefits.
In a telephone interview this week, Little told the Enterprise he is looking forward to coming to Clarendon.
“I’m excited, and I’m loading up the motor home right now so that I have a place to camp out for a while,” Little said.
Before starting a career of city management, Little served four terms on the city council in his hometown of Hamilton and then was mayor of that city for two terms. He then managed the cities of Mexia and Edna before going back to college to finish a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
After getting his degree, Little became the City of Hico’s first city administrator and held that position for five years.
“Hico is about two-thirds the size of Clarendon, but we did a lot in five years,” Little said. “We had about $3 million in public works improvements, and the state completed a $6 million highway project. Citizens saw dirt flying all the time.”
Little also helped organize Hico’s annual Texas Steak Cookoff, which brings as many as 5,000 people to the city.
He left Hico nine months ago and returned to his hometown where he and his twin brother have a landing strip and work on various airplane projects, but he says he’s ready to get back into city government.
“I’m looking forward to meeting with people in Clarendon,” Little said, noting that he intends to find out what is most important to the council and to the community before setting any goals for his time in Clarendon.
Little’s employment with the city begins November 1. At press time, city officials planned to have Little at City Hall on Wednesday, October 20, from 1 to 3 p.m. to meet with citizens and employees.
In other city business last week, the aldermen approved a resolution authorizing a grant application for the city’s recycling center, and the board elected Alderman Ann Huey to serve as the city’s mayor pro tem.
A Century of Living
Just ask Curtis Lee (C.L.) Benson. He knows the answer.
“Tend to your own business and stay focused,” he said. “There’s not too many of us out there.”
Benson celebrated his 100th birthday on October 7. His family and friends gave him a party on October 9, where he became one of the few who get the chance to blow out the candles in celebration of a century of life.
“I’m 64, and C.L. shows me there’s hope coming up to this end,” Benson’s caretaker and friend Diane Chisum said. “His mind is sharp, and he can do his laundry and his ironing on his own, as well as tell us what to do to keep us straight. He does quite well for his age.”
Benson’s long life began October 7, 1910, when he was born in Brice to Justus Lee Benson and Bertha Izella Hudson Benson.
He is the oldest of two siblings. His sister, Susie Kent, will be 99 in March.
“Yeah… I’m the oldest,” Benson said. “I’m the oldest, period.”
When Benson was 8, he moved to Clarendon and has lived here ever since.
“His parents moved them into a brick house on Sixth Street, and that’s where he grew up,” Chisum said. “He has lived on Sixth Street ever since then, just in different
houses.”
He attended school in Clarendon from first grade through college.
“I started first grade in the second floor of what now is the high school,” Benson said. “Mrs. Vaughn was my teacher, and now there’s a dorm named after her. When I was in sixth grade they moved all the primary and secondary levels out of that building and into the old saddlery by the park. Then for high school and college I returned to the current high school building. I went to Clarendon College for one year and studied engineering.”
Instead of playing the Wii or watching movies for fun, Benson and his childhood friends did other activities for entertainment.
“We would go skate on the Courthouse Square or go swimming at the YMCA,” he said. “The YMCA swimming pool was under the City Hall. It was open in the afternoon all week long except Sunday, because that’s when they drained it.”
They also discovered ways to get into trouble.
“We always hunted swimming holes,” Benson said. “We would find a pond on someone’s place and slip in. Of course they would always catch us and run us out.”
But it was not all fun and games. While growing up, Benson had many chores that are unnecessary today.
“Since I was the oldest, one of my jobs was to fire up the furnace every morning,” Benson said. “I would wake up early every morning and go out, chop the firewood and build the fire.”
He still remembers the day America won World War I.
“They blew the whistle to let everyone know it was the end of the war,” Benson said. “Everyone left school and went to [Kearney Street], and then the fun began. We all went to the courthouse square and celebrated way into the night. Most of the kids didn’t even get home until midnight.”
Benson also recalls when the Adair Hospital was running.
“Mrs. Adair built the hospital for the JA Ranch cowboys,” he said. “She wanted them to have a place to go if they ever got hurt.”
When he was older, he became a farmer with his brother Lloyd and grew many crops on the land in Brice they inherited from their father. They called themselves “The Benson Brothers.”
He retired in 1975. He still owns the land, but now he leases it out.
“All I ever knew was the farm,” Benson said. “We grew cotton, maize, a little wheat and even soybeans once. We tried peanuts, but the hogs rooted them out.”
Throughout the years, Benson has witnessed drastic innovations in the farming industry, from having field hands pick the cotton by hand to having cotton strippers and putting in his first irrigation system.
“One of the best things that happened was going from steel wheels on a tractor to rubber,” he said “That made farming a whole lot easier.”
According to Chisum, as a young farmer Benson was “the catch of the town.”
“All the girls wanted to go out with him,” she said.
He met his wife, Avis Lee McElvany at a party held by Willard and Francis Skelton.
“The whole point of the party was to get us together,” Benson said. “It was a frame up.”
He married Avis on December 24, 1941.
“For their honeymoon, they took a train to Dallas to see the football game,” Chisum said. “They loved to travel.”
They were married 40 years when she passed away in 1981.
They had two daughters together: Judith Lynn Cornell and Andrea Jill Finch.
“Avis Lee was the homemaker,” Chisum said. “She stayed home with the kids while C.L. went to work every day at the farm.”
Now, Benson has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“You should’ve seen how happy he was when his great-grandchildren came to his birthday party,” Chisum said. “You can really tell how much he loves them.”
According to Chisum, Benson was completely independent until last May when he fractured his hip. Now, he requires around the clock care.
But he still continues to amaze her with his good health.
“He’s on very little medication for his age,” Chisum said. “His diabetes came about two years ago, and we have that under control. His longevity of life is golden raisins soaked in gin. It keeps him from having arthritis, and it works.”
Chisum said that Benson is a “fabulous” person, and she enjoys the time she spends with him.
“C.L. is my hero,” she said. “He is truly a huge inspiration to me.”
Arts Club to host festival Oct. 23-24
The second annual Clarendon Arts Festival will be held this Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24, at the Donley County Activity Center one mile north of Clarendon.
The Festival’s “Preferred Buyers” will be honored guests during a sneak peek and reception this Thursday, October 21, from 6 to 9 p.m., and area students are invited to attend the Festival’s “Fine Arts Day” on Friday. Students can attend the show with guided tours and receive exposure to a lecture series offered by professional artists from 9 a.m. and ending at 1 p.m. To schedule your group, please contact Terry Askew by email: lesbeauxartsclub@gmail.com.
Students are also encouraged to enter the Junior Art Exhibit. This exhibit will be an opportunity for area students to participate in a Juried event. Contact Chriss Clifford at 806.874.1767 for additional information.
The Festival, which will feature some of the most talented artists in the region with works in several media, will be Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., and local 4H and FFA members along with the Junior Livestock Association will hold an enchilada lunch Sunday.
Live performing artists scheduled to perform his weekend include: Paula Johnson, Mike Graham, Valorie Ashcraft, the Saints’ Roost Band, Voice of Victory, Tim & Becky McCaughy, Katie Askew, the Old Timers Band, and Danny Mullins & Talented Group – Steve Bass, Cozy Parson, and Tye Thompson.
The festival is sponsored by Les Beaux Arts Club, which was formed in 1927. The Festival’s purpose is to provide an avenue through which persons of all ages and cultures can experience the study and cultivation of an appreciation of the arts.
CC to host presidential finalists
The search for the next president of Clarendon College will take center stage next week, October 25-29, as the five finalists for the position will be on campus to meet the public.
The schedule is as follows:
Dr. Steven Hilterbrand, currently Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at Baton Rouge Community College in Louisiana – Monday at 11 a.m. – Bairfield Activity Center.
Dr. Gary Stretcher, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lamar State College in Port Arthur, – Wednesday at 11 a.m. – BAC.
Dr. David Smith, President of Brewton-Parker College in Mt. Vernon, Georgia, – 11 a.m. Thursday – Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center.
Dr. Phil E. Shirley, President of Southeast Arkansas College in Pine Bluff, Ark., – BAC at 9 a.m Thursday.
Dr. Roger Stacy, Immediate Past President of Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Okla., – Friday – BAC at 9 a.m.
Candidates will be interviewed in closed session by the Board of Regents, and regents will meet on Nov. 4 to make their final decision.
Star photo of the week
Shiso Spicey!
Former athletes back in action
One more chance for gridiron glory is what more than 80 former Donley County athletes will be looking for when they suit up for alumni football games this weekend.
It will be a multi-generational blast from the past when some “old” Clarendon Broncos and Hedley Owls take the field here and in Lefors.
The games organized by Alumni Football USA aim to reunite former high school rivals in an unforgettable full contact football game, while raising money for their former schools.
Clarendon alumni will face their traditional highway rival, the Memphis Cyclones, in Broncho Stadium this Sunday at 2 p.m. Hedley’s old Owls will be on the road, playing Lefors there at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
The Clarendon Bronco lineup includes: Timothy Richard Anderson, Jason Archuleta, Dalton Askew, Tré Brown, Chris Brown, Chris Bruce, Michael Bruce, LaDez Captain, Billy Ceniceros, Patrick Childs, Wesley Christopher, James Christopher, Corey Fields, Nathan Floyd, Colt Floyd, Scott Fowler, Stephen Fowler, Brent Gaines, Jeff Hearn, Jesus Hernandez, Joel Horn, Jeremy Howard, Steve Jaramillo, Nathan Judd, Nathan Lowrie, Shanon Martin, Danny McCampbell, Brandon Moody, Lorenzo Moore, Chuck Robertson, Morgan Robinson, Jesus Rodriguez, Timothy Sanchez, Randy Sanchez, Michael Shadle, Brad Shadle, Josey Shadle, Jeremy Shelley, Oren Shields, Cael Shields, Judge Smith, Clemmie Smith, Ronnie Tabor, Robert Taylor, Chris Taylor, Dee Thompson, Chase Thornberry, Jadon Thornton, Jeremy Utsey, John Vaught, Glenn Weatherton, Glenn “Curly” Weatherton, Quentin West, San West, Ty White, Josh Williams, Danzel Wilson, and Dylan Wright.
The Hedley Owl roster includes: Justin Alexander, Brayden Bennett, Kale Brandon, Eleazar Centeno, Jason Conatser, Justin Dillman, Kenneth Dishong, Rodney Ellerbrook, Derek Evans, Chris Fobbs, Jonathan Giffin, Aaron Harper, Johnny Hoggatt, Jared Holt, T.J. Ivy, Russell King, Jordan King, Scotty Morquecho, J.P. Myers, Dylan Pettit, Isaias Ramirez, Keenan Shields, Jared Sims, Josh Talley, Josh Talley, Dustin Thomas, Evan Thompson, and Will Verstuyft.
All Clarendon and Hedley fans are encouraged to get out and cheer these old guys to victory one more time!
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