Archives for March 2013

The process of bringing groundwater to the Greenbelt Water Authority system is getting closer to reality this week as contractors began the process of laying pipe from Clarendon to the authority’s filter plant.

Greenbelt General Manager Bobbie Kidd said Monday that the five wells in north Clarendon have all been tied together, and workers were busy laying the main line on North Sully Street that will carry the city’s groundwater to the plant.

Most of the work on the wells has been completed, and the groundwater district is on board with the plan, Kidd said.

It has taken several months to bring the old wells back online since the city stopped using them in 1968, after relying on them for decades. At least one well is documented to have been dug in 1887, the same year Clarendon moved to its present location.

As part of the modern project, the wells were re-drilled and cased and tied together. Kidd said he expects to be pumping in three weeks or a month, and the groundwater will be blended with surface water from Lake Greenbelt in an effort to ease pressure on the reservoir, which has been hard hit by the ongoing drought and two summers of intense heat.

“It’s still only supplemental water,” Kidd said, noting that Greenbelt has plans to develop four additional wells on its property on Kelly Creek.

“We’ll have a public hearing about that in May at the groundwater district,” he said.

Greenbelt remains on the state’s “six-month watch list” where it has been since last summer, Kidd said, and the water authority is moving forward with plans to secure additional water rights for the future.

A $10 million application has been made to the Texas Water Development Board’s Revolving Fund to develop a project to bring water from the north, but Kidd said the authority won’t know the success of that application until late July of this year. In the meantime, Greenbelt is pursuing other funding sources for that project.

 Mark your calendars this Memorial Day Weekend for the Mulkey Block Party to be held Saturday, May 25, 2013.

The 1946 Mulkey Theatre will be the center of attention as the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation formally lights up the neon in a celebration of the completion of Phase One renovations to the theatre.

“Insufficient Funds” of Amarillo will set the mood for the evening, playing music from 6 to 9 p.m. and plans are being made for several fun activities to be held during the evening. Kids’ activities will be set up by 5 p.m. and local food booths will be available for $20 per space.

A classic car show and a Harley-Davidson show are also in the works, and folks will be encouraged to bring their lawn chairs to sit and enjoy the music and the celebration.

Interested business and organizations can also sign up now to sponsor Mulkey commemorative T-shirts for $50 per sponsor.

The next step to “Bring Back the Mulkey” will be to undertake interior renovations, but officials plan to have the theatre itself open during the Block Party for tours so folks can have a peek inside the building before work begins.

Watch the Enterprise for more information in the coming weeks. To sign up for booth space or T-shirt sponsorships or for more information, call the Clarendon Visitor Center inside the Mulkey Theatre at 806-874-2421.

Clarendon ISD Trustees reviewed a timeline that will lead to an election seeking an increase in the district’s property tax rate from $1.04 per $100 valuation to $1.17 when they met in regular session March 21.

 Although the board still has not taken any formal action on the subject, trustees are expected to propose the $1.17 tax rate at a called meeting on Monday, April 15, which will trigger the timeline, leading to a formal adoption of the tax rate on April 26 and causing a rollback election that will be held on Saturday, June 1.

 CISD officials say raising the tax rate above the $1.04 limit set by the state will help the district cope with reductions in state funding by bringing in about $350,000 in new revenue. If the $1.17 rate is proposed on April 15, the district will hold a public hearing on the rate on April 26 prior to adopting it.

 In other school business, the board accepted a bid on tax delinquent property in Howardwick, for $4,161, and listened to several administrative reports.

 After meeting in closed session for an hour and a half, the board accepted letters of resignation from two retiring teachers – Lyndal Gillen and Katherine Williams – and approved the superintendent’s recommendations to offer the following contracts:

 One-Year Term Contracts of Employment to the following professional support staff: Melody Hysinger, Sharon Elam, Ken Baxter, and Linde Shadle.

 One-Year Non Chapter 21 Contract of Employment to the following professional support staff: Michael Keough.

 One-Year Probationary Contracts of Employment: Mason Cargile and Leslie A. White.

 One-Year Term Contracts of Employment: Tyler Ball, Donna Black, Michael Cason, Shethelia Crump, Tashia Duncan, Jill Frausto, Medina Gribble, Carrie Hicks, Jamie Jeffers, Cheryl Koetting, Debby Lockhart, B.J. Owens, Jennifer Robinson, Melanie Shelton, Jayne Starnes, Jennifer Tubbs, Brandi Wann, Leslie S. White, Adelita Elam, Andrea Hall, Carrie Moss, Jenifer Pigg, Alix Snure, Scott Strobel, Kamy Whatley, Krista Graves, Don Hillis, Laura Hommel, Bruce Howard, Tina Lacey, Tammie Lewis, Terri Luna, Missy Reynolds, Dee Ann Sears, Diane Skelton, and Suzanne Taylor.

 Dual-Assignment One-Year Term Contracts: Kasey Bell, Johnny Nino, Brad Elam, Brandt Lockhart, Steve Reynolds, Shanna Shelton, and Molly Weatherred.

Three students “died” this week and a fourth was “arrested” and facing a long jail term when the Clarendon High School Student Council staged a mock accident for a “Shattered Dreams” program.

Classmates and teachers on Monday morning observed the aftermath of the imaginary accident in which group of drunk students ran their vehicle in to the back of another student who had not been partying. The innocent student driving the second car, portrayed by junior Darbe Woodard, had her arm severed, was partially ejected, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

One passenger of the first car, portrayed by senior Trajen Johnson, was “killed” on impact, and the other passenger, played by Rolland, was loaded into a waiting LifeStar helicopter but later “died.” Senior Elizabeth O’Rear played the drunk driver and was freed from her vehicle by emergency personnel and then “arrested” and charged with two counts of intoxicated manslaughter.

Student Council member Samantha Sanderson told the Clarendon Lions Club Tuesday that the program had been in the works since October and was intended to get students to think about how what they do can affect people.

“Hopefully it showed kids that your actions have consequences and that it might not only affect you but also other people,” she said.

All four student actors were then secluded from their families and friends for the rest of the day and overnight at the First Baptist Church to drive home the impact that they were now “gone” from the student body. Their parents wrote letters to them, and then they wrote letters back to their parents.

On Tuesday morning, Pastor Lance Wood then led a “memorial” service at the CHS Auditorium that featured a presentation of photos of the “lost” students. The four students then rejoined the student body, and Rolland read the letters from and to his parents.

“It was a very moving time,” Sanderson said.

Participating in the “Shattered Dreams” project were the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department, Associated Ambulance Authority, North West Texas Hospital’s LifeStar, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, Robertson Funeral Home, First Baptist Church, the high school and junior high student councils, the CHS FCCLA, the CHS Junior Historians, and the CHS National Honor Society.