Archives for May 2012

Local parents are being reminded to be alert after three small children were reportedly lured into a van at the Clarendon ballpark Saturday morning.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said his office received a report that Joe Bryan McCary had been seen in a plumber’s van during the youth ballgames and that he had lured children into the van. The sheriff said parents retrieved the kids, and McCary left the area.

“This should show parents that they should know where their kids are at all times and who they are with,” Blackburn said. “Even in Clarendon, they are not safe.”

A warrant for McCary was obtained, and he was arrested Monday morning and charged with three counts of Enticing a Child, a Class A Misdemeanor which carries a maximum sentence of a year in county jail and a $2,000 fine.

McCary, age 48, was arraigned by County Judge Jack Hall and bond was set at $1,500 for each charge. He posted bond the same day.

Blackburn said the investigation is still underway in this case. McCary has a prior criminal history of drug related charges.

In related news, McCary’s stepmother, 64-year-old Emily McCary, was also arrested Monday on a third-degree felony charge of Tampering with a Witness after she was accused of harassing a victim’s family. Justice of the Peace Connie Haven’s set Mrs. McCary’s bond at $5,000, and she was released on bond the same day.

Following Saturday’s incident, the Clarendon Baseball Association released a memo to its coaches stressing the need to prioritize child safety at its ballgames. The memo urges parents to keep their children with them and keep an eye on them at all times.

“Parents should not bring their children to the field and turn them loose unsupervised,” the memo said. “Children should sit with parents at games. The potential for child safety problems can occur at any game or any time, regardless of the age or gender of the child. Clarendon is not immune from the problems other bigger cities have.”

The Capital Murder trial of Robert Babcock is scheduled to begin next week in Memphis with jury selection beginning on Wednesday, May 30.

District Attorney Luke Inman’s office said the state is not seeking the death penalty in the case. The maximum punishment range will be life in prison without parole.

The case is expected to last several days, and the court has calendared the trial until June 8.

Babcock is accused of beating his four-year-old son, Chance Mark Jones, who died on January 5, 2011.

In related news, Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Babcock’s mother, Gayle Edes, was briefly jailed again Monday morning, May 21, by the order of District Judge Stuart Messer after she failed to appear for a docket call of the district court in Clarendon. She was released shortly afterward, also on the judge’s order.

Edes is also facing a first degree felony charge of Injury to a Child by Omission because the state alleges that she, by omission, caused serious bodily injury to Jones by her failure to get medical attention for the boy.

The Greenbelt Water Authority Board of Directors last Thursday unanimously approved a contract with the City of Clarendon for the purchase of groundwater from the city.

Greenbelt General Manager Bobbie Kidd said the contract includes a price of 45 cents per thousand gallons that the authority will pay the city. The price will be renegotiated every three years.

“It’s a pretty simple contract, and it’s written in the city’s favor,” Kidd said. “Our board really didn’t have any problems with it.”

Greenbelt is still waiting on final submission of engineering report on the project to refurbish the city’s old water wells and build a pipeline to the Greenbelt filter plant.

“They’ve got preliminary numbers but are still waiting on some figures from the hydrologist,” he said.

Kidd said the contract now goes back to the city for its final approval. City Administrator Lambert Little said the board of aldermen will have a called meeting next Tuesday, May 29, to consider that.

The Adamson-Lane, Post 287 of The American Legion, Hedley, Texas will hold its annual Memorial Day service at the Rowe Cemetery, Monday morning May 28, 2012, at 10:00 that morning.

The Post members will place American Flags on the graves of 227 Veterans buried in the Rowe Cemetery. The Flags will be places on the graves on Friday May 25, 2012 and remain till the end of the day Monday. In Honor of those departed comrades that have served this Country.

The Memorial Day program will be conducted by members of the American Legion that will include the raising of the colors, the National Anthem, Pledge to the Flag and the ceremony honoring the missing in action and the prisoners of War still unaccounted for.

The Memorial Day address will be given by Troy Wilson, a member of Post 287, Troy graduated from Hedley High School, and married his high school sweetheart, and served in the U.S. Army as a medic. The Post adjutant will read the names of the 227 Veterans buried in the Rowe Cemetery. The program will be concluded with the laying of the memorial wreath and the playing of taps.

VFW Post 7782 will be conducting a Memorial Day Ceremony on May 28^th at 11:00 a.m, located at the Donley County Veterans Memorial in Clarendon. Post Commander Nathan Floyd will be speaking.

 

Early Voting ends Friday, May 25, in the Republican Primary, and Election Day will be Tuesday, May 29.

Local voters can cast early ballots at the Donley County Courthouse Annex for several candidates, including those seeking to represent Donley County in the State House of Representatives – Rep. Jim Landtroop, former Rep. Gary Walker, Mac Smith, and Ken King.

Candidates seeking to represent Donley County in the State Senate are Sen. Kel Seliger and Randy Rives, and Congressman Mac Thornberry is being challenged in the primary by Pamela Lea Barlow.

Check your voter’s registration card for your proper polling place the day of the election. Polling will be conducted at the following locations: Precinct 101 – Bairfield Activity Center; Precinct 102 – Howardwick City Hall; Precinct 201 – Courthouse Commissioners’ Courtroom; Precinct 301 – Assembly of God Church; and Precinct 401 – Church of Christ Family Life Center.

TSgt. Ben Vorheis, son of Mary Vorheis, who is stationed at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan with a Combat Search and Rescue team, sent a special American flag to the library that was flown on one of their missions.

Along with the flag is a framed document stating that it is presented to Burton Memorial Library in appreciation for support and caring for our military troops involved in “Operation Enduring Freedom.”

Friends of the library sent recordable story books to a unit in Afghanistan so that the military members could record their own voices as they read the story to their children at home. The military members then sent the books to their sons and daughters who are anxiously waiting for Daddy and Mommy to come home to them.

This shipment is just one of the many that have been sent overseas to the troops by Friends of the Library members and patrons who put items in the Troop Box at the Library.

If you would like to contribute items to be sent overseas, stop by and get a list of the items needed by the men and women serving there and in Iraq.

Clarendon College recognized Martha Smith, Scott Cone, and Joyse Gammage for their achievements at spring commencement on Friday, May 4

Martha Smith of Clarendon received the Walter B. Knorpp Outstanding Academic Achievement award.

Selected by the faculty, a student is chosen for the Knorpp Award on the basis of overall academic excellence, grades earned, scholastic papers and/or projects completed, and other indicators of scholastic achievement.

Smith has worked at Clarendon College for 12 years and in 2009 went back to school to earn an Associate in Science degree. She was named the Clarendon College Employee of the Year in 2005 and has been a co-sponsor of the international student organization at Clarendon College. She performed in the college play “Kiss or Make-up” in 2006 and is a member of the Clarendon Community Choir and the worship committee at First United Methodist Church in Clarendon.

Smith’s favorite pastime is gardening and caring for plants, and she volunteers each year to beautify the campus with the flowers that greet students and visitors at the academic center each day. She is a second mom for many students at the college and, along with her husband, is one of the biggest Bulldog and Lady Bulldog fans in town.

Smith’s name will be engraved on the Walter B. Knorpp Outstanding Academic Achievement trophy that is permanently displayed in the Vera Dial Dickey Library as tribute to her academic performance at Clarendon College.

Scott Cone of Glenwood, New South Wales, was named the Top Honor Graduate at the CC spring commencement.

The Top Honor Graduate is selected each April based on guidelines of overall grade point average and outstanding academic achievement.

Cone came to Clarendon College from Australia to further his education and improve his baseball skills. He is a member of the Clarendon College Bulldog Baseball team and graduated with an Associate in Science degree.

He will be transferring to West Texas A&M University in Canyon this fall to major in Biology.

Joyse Gammage of Pampa received the Outstanding Graduate award at the CC spring commencement.

The Outstanding Student honor awards not only academic achievement, but also leadership, integrity, and character. In order to receive this award, the student must be voted on by the full-time faculty. The Outstanding Student Award originated in 1965 with the Clarendon Jaycees. Upon the disbanding of the Jaycees, Clarendon College took upon itself the continuation of the tradition into the present.

Gammage is an Amarillo native who now lives in Pampa with her husband and 4 daughters. She has a family, works as a veterinary technician at a Pampa vet clinic and attended Clarendon College. Prior to attending CC, she attended Palo Duro High School.

Looking past CC, Gammage plans to attend West Texas A&M University in the fall with future plans of attending the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M where she hopes to achieve her childhood dream by earning a Doctorate in Veterinary Science.