Archives for April 2012

The Clarendon FFA Livestock Judging Team competed this past weekend at the South Plains judging contest in Levelland and the Texas Tech Area Qualifier at Lubbock.

Friday at Levelland the team judged 9 placing classes and 3 sets of questions. They placed 10th overall and John Pigg was 8th high individual at the contest.

The contest on Saturday at Texas Tech was the qualifier to advance to state for Area I and Area II. There were 92 total teams and 335 total individuals participating. Clarendon FFA placed first overall at the contest which results in them being first at Tech, first in Area I and first in District.

John Pigg was 3rd high individual, Tylee Williams 7th high individual, Jacob Pigg was 8th high individual, and Jayson Pigg was 12th high individual of the contest. This win qualifies the team to go to the State FFA Livestock Judging contest at Texas A&M on May 5.

The fate of a 104-year-old bridge near City Park will not be decided until later this year, according to information presented Monday night, April 16, in Childress.

The Seventh Street bridge was closed by the state in December 2008, and both bridges are scheduled to be replaced under a TxDOT program next year.

TxDOT says it will hold public hearings later this year to determine what local citizens would like done with the bridge at the park. One option that has been discussed is relocating the bridge for use as a pedestrian bridge.

TxDOT says replacement of the Seventh Street bridge will cost $250,000, not including any work to repurpose the existing bridge, and replacing the Rosenfield Street bridge will cost $230,000.

Other transportation projects planned in Donley County this year include overlaying Hwy. 70 from Howardwick to Interstate 40 and reconditioning some of the driving lanes on US 287 in Clarendon.

TxDOT will also let a contract for overlaying the southbound lanes of US 287 from the Armstrong County line to the west city limits of Clarendon next spring.

Donley County Commissioners took no action on a request to put a Ten Commandments marker on the Courthouse Lawn when they met in regular session last Wednesday.

In discussion on the matter, commissioners indicated that they had not received information that they requested from those wanting the marker and said they were not going to rush to make a decision.

Two members of the court expressed concerns about the proposed monument.

“It is not proper on the courthouse square,” Commissioner Dan Sawyer said. “Let them put it on main street or somewhere else.”

Commissioner Donnie Hall said he felt the court needed more input but also worried about future requests.

“You will set a precedent if you approve this,” he said.

Commissioner Andy Wheatly said he was not opposed to the marker and that he was “tired of the trail” that the country is on, and Commissioner Mark White said he felt like the county needed to take its time on the issue.

Judge Jack Hall agreed with White and said the count did not need to “rush into” a decision and that the issue “needs plenty of time and consideration.”

In other county business, commissioners heard from rural resident Johnny Cooper regarding an effort by Burlington Northern Santa Fe to close a railroad crossing near his home near Ashtola. Cooper said he stands to lose property value and business when people can’t bring their horse trailers to his place. He said the railway has agreed to improve a nearby county road, but he asked the county to provide a cost estimate for that work. The court took no formal action on the matter.

The court also heard from Greenbelt Water Authority Board member Gary Campbell, representing the City of Clarendon, who asked the county to support an application for Community Development Block Grant funds that could provide $300,000 to develop the city water wells for use by Greenbelt. Commissioners agreed to support the grant application as long as the county bears no financial obligation and is not responsible for any of the accounting associated with the grant application.

Sales tax revenue for the City of Clarendon fell more than 50 percent when State Comptroller Susan Combs made her April allocations last Friday, but the drop is due to accounting errors by both the city and the state and not a reflection of the local economy.

City Hall received $11,011.40 for the month, which is a drop of 50.35 percent compared to the $22,181.70 during the same period in 2011.

But city officials say the comptroller’s office actually withheld $12,853 from this month’s payment to the city because of an overpayment to the city by the state earlier this year. The city’s annual audit revealed an overpayment to the state in sales taxes on sanitation services, but state officials said Tuesday that the comptroller’s office had refunded too much money to the city when it returned about $54,000 earlier this year.

Clarendon’s actual sales tax revenue for this period should have been $23,864, which would have been an increase of about 7.6 percent over the same time last year.

With the state’s deduction of funds, however, Clarendon’s year-to-date sales tax collections dropped 11.06 percent to $97,200.28.

Also in Donley County, Hedley’s sales tax revenue for the month was also down 20.61 percent to $321.66, bringing that city down 25.22 percent for the year at $1,651.25. Howardwick, which increased its sales tax rate in October, posted increased collections of 27.8 percent at $1,274.35 for the month and was up 17.43 percent on the year at $5,016.22.

Statewide, Combs announced that sales tax revenue in March was $1.87 billion, up 16.9 percent compared to March 2011.

“The latest sales tax revenue numbers mark a continuation of recent trends we have seen in sales tax receipts,” Combs said. “Strong collections continued in oil and gas-related sectors, while growth in revenue from the retail sector and restaurants also accelerated.”

Combs will send April local sales tax allocations totaling $488.7 million to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts, up 17 percent compared to April 2011.

The sales tax figures represent monthly sales made in February and reported to the comptroller’s office in March.

Clarendon citizens will have an opportunity to learn more about the proposal to let Greenbelt Water Authority have access to city-owned water wells next Tuesday, April 17, during a public meeting.

The gathering at the Bairfield Activity Center will serve to inform the public about the project as well as discuss the history of the Greenbelt Water Authority, the current drought contingency plans, underground aquifers, surface water supplies, and short- and long-term water solutions.

City Administrator Lambert Little says he knows citizens have concerns about the city’s water supply and he feels a public meeting would be an opportunity for everyone to ask questions.

“I have heard so many rumors about ‘giving our water away,’ but this is an opportunity to get out of the Stage 4 drought contingency and generate some revenue for the city,” Little said.

Little said using Clarendon’s wells is the “cheapest, quickest, and easiest long-term solution that can be done in the short term.”

Attending the meeting will be Little, Mayor Larry Hicks, Greenbelt Board Member Gary Campbell, and Greenbelt General Manager Bobbie Kidd. The public is encouraged to attend.

Greenbelt Water Authority has been studying and testing two wells formerly used by the city; and during this week’s city meeting, the Board of Aldermen discussed a possible contract with the water authority regarding the wells. Little would likely include provisions to make the wells available to Greenbelt, allow the authority access to city rights of way, and propose a price for the water.

All expenses to develop and maintain the wells would be on Greenbelt’s shoulders, Little said.

Campbell, who represents Clarendon on the Greenbelt Board, says he has had a lot of feedback about the proposal, and he also hopes people will attend the meeting.

“If anyone has questions, I sure hope they will come,” Campbell said. “I will stay as long as they want and try to answer all of their questions.”

By Sandy Anderberg

The Bronco golf team made a good showing in the District golf tournament held at Stoney Ridge in Childress on Thursday, April 5.

Zach Watson made a good showing finishing eighth and had a good chance to move on, but according to coach Gary Jack, Watson struggled with the his putting.

“He played very well, but struggled on the green. He is just a freshman, so he has more chances to advance. He is golfing really well and will do better in the next few years.”

Jack was also complimentary of the team who finished behind Memphis and Quanah. Members of the team are Caleb Mitchell, Corey Barker, Nathan Dziedzic, Dillon Nickell, and Watson.

The Hedley Science team, consisting of Iago Alvarez, Austin Adams, Sierra Shelp, Luz Lizararo, Kassie O’Dell, and Raul Carrillo, placed 1^st with the Iago, one of our foreign exchange students, placing1^st high in Individual and 1^st in Chemistry. Kassie placed 2^nd high Individual and 2^nd in Biology, and Luz placed 7^th overall. Iago commented on the contest. “The Science Contest was really challenging for us, but we succeeded on, thanks to all of the hard work during practice. We feel thrilled and excited about going to regional next week. Overall, it was an awesome experience!” Raul had this to say about science, “We practiced long and hard, but we were still anxious, anticipated our scores. However, in the end, the hours of practice paid off, and Hedley was victorious.”

The Social Studies team placed 1^st, also. The team members were David Bell, 3^rd high Individual, Austin Adams, 4^th high Individual, Kristen Liner, and Patricia Valles. David summed up the Social Studies competition this way, “The test was very challenging, but we preserved and brought home the win!”

Cassie Pickle competed in Accounting and received 3^rd place.

The Current Events team consisted of Kristen Liner, Patricia Valles, Laura Ketzer, and Austin Adams; this team placed 4^th.

Cassie Pickle came home with a 1^st place medal in Math. We are very proud of all of our student competitors and wish them much lick in the upcoming competitions.

By Tangela Copelin

The Hedley Owl and Lady Owls won the 2012 District Tennis Meet held in Lubbock on March 29 and 30.

In the boys’ doubles division, Kyle Lindsey and Denver Chambless made it to the semi-finals and beat Jayton for the 3rd place title. Bryan and Brandon Evans lost in the second round to Petersburg.

In the girls’ doubles, Patricia Valles and Laura Ketzer played the first place team and lost. C.J. Ritchie and Kadee Riggs beat several teams to end up playing Paducah for first. They lost but will still advance to regionals.

In the mixed doubles teams, Nicco Bennett and Bailey Wood played several teams before meeting up with the other Hedley doubles team of Austin and Kati Adams. The two teams played hard with the Adams’ team winning first place. This caused Bennet and Wood to have a playback game for second. They won and both mixed doubles teams advanced to regionals.

In the girls’ single division, Becca Butler lost to Patton Springs. And in the boys division, Tanner Chambless played several matches but ended up losing to Ben Ramsey of Valley.

Iago Alvarez played several matches and ended up also being beaten by Valley but still won second place and will advance to regionals.

Patrice Wood coaches the girls, and Buddy Isabel coaches the boys. Both coaches have commented on the hard work and dedication it has taken for these young people to advance.

Coach Buddy stated, “I am so proud of the effort and hard work these young people have put out this season. I have seen them working on something late every evening and seeing them advance to regionals shows the effort and hard work they have put into it.”

Regionals will be held in Levelland at South Plains College on April 18 and 19.