Pushing ahead
Archives for August 2013
Callie Jo Stephens
Callie Jo Stephens, 83, died Tuesday, August 27, 2013, in Memphis, TX.
Graveside services will be held at 4:00 p.m. Friday, August 30, 2013, at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley with Rev. Anthony Knowles, officiating.
Burial will follow at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley
Arrangements are under the direction Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon
Callie Jo was born February 21, 1930, in Colgate, OK to Robert Creed and Callie Jane Elizabeth Eddings Baker. She married Clarence Omar Stephens on September 10, 1947, in Wellington and they moved from Pampa to Hedley in 1963. Callie Jo was a homemaker and loved her family dearly. She also loved to sew, cook, fish, and make jelly. After moving to the nursing home, she played harmonica for the residents. She was Baptist, and was a member of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Pampa for many years.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Clarence Stephens, on April 3, 1986; 5 brothers, Don Baker, Robert Baker, Hubert Baker, Paul Baker, and Leon Baker; 3 sisters, Mildred Beattie, Zora Stephens, and Lillie Ann Hook.
She is survived by her daughter, Clara Jo Calhoun and husband Gary, of Hedley; 2 sisters, Peggy Hook, Rosie Wright and husband Doug; 2 brothers, Ronnie Baker and wife Peggy, and Maxie Baker and wife Judy; 5 grandchildren, Stephanie Molloy and husband Mark of Amarillo, Calvin Holland and wife Leanne of Hedley, Scheli Moore and husband Michael of Canyon, Tanya Burton and husband Blain of Hedley, and Rhett Holland and wife Nora of Amarillo; 21 great grandchildren; and 3 great great-grandchildren.
Nadine Lillian Hastey
Nadine Lillian Hastey, 79, died Thursday, August 22, 2013, in Amarillo.
Services were held on Sunday, August 25, 2013, in Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon with Rev. Larry Capranica, Pastor, officiating. Burial followed at Flomot Cemetery in Flomot.
Arrangements were under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Nadine was born September 11, 1933, in Ada, Oklahoma to Floyd and Lillie Alma Clark Stone. She married Henry Hastey on September 15, 1950, in Turkey. She had been a resident of Plainview before moving to Donley County in 1966. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and a dedicated wife to Henry for 62 years. She was a homemaker and a charter member of the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband on November 17, 2012; a granddaughter, Dana Pollet; 3 brothers, Don, Marion, and Joe Stone; 2 sisters, Estelle Holman and Helen Height.
She is survived by 2 sons, Ronnie Mathew Hastey and wife Jeannie of Elkhart, Kansas, and Barry Hastey and wife Tammy of Weatherford, Oklahoma; 2 daughters, Ava Hastey of Austin, and Pat Allen and husband Steve of Amarillo; a brother, Clyde Stone of Plainview; a sister, Lucille Pickering of Pampa; 6 grandchildren; and 12 great grandchildren.
The family request memorials be sent to the Donley County Senior Citizens.
Sign our online guest book at www.RobertsonFuneral.com
Up in flames
McCary accepts plea agreement
A local man accused of enticing children into his van at the Clarendon ballpark last summer accepted a plea deal to a lesser charge late Tuesday, August 20.
Joe Brian McCary pled “no contest” to the Class C misdemeanor of Attempted Enticement of a Child after his defense attorney asked for a directed verdict part way through a jury trial.
County Attorney Landon Lambert represented the state and was seeking a verdict on a Class B misdemeanor of Enticement of a Child, which would have carried a a maximum 180 days in jail.
McCary reportedly lured three small girls into his van on Saturday, May 19, 2012, during a local little league game. The mother of one of the girls testified Tuesday that she became concerned when her son and daughter did not return quickly from going to the restroom. She went looking for them and found her son outside a white van and her daughter with two other girls inside the van on McCary’s lap. The woman said she immediately retrieved her kids and scolded them and told the other girls to get to their parents right away.
The daughter, who is now five years old, later testified that McCary had told her to come look at his flower stickers and gave her chewing gum.
McCary was arrested two days later.
After the state presented its case, defense attorney Earl Griffin moved for a directed verdict because he said the state had not proved in any way that McCary had interfered with the custody of the child, which the statute requires. He also cited case law of other cases – including one where a teen girl had been lured with alcohol to a hotel to have sex – where the issue of custody also prevented an Enticement conviction.
District Judge Stuart Messer, who was hearing the case for County Judge Jack Hall, announced that he was taking the defense motion under advisement, and the parties in the case then conferred outside the presence of the jury. The parties later returned, the jury was called back in, and Lambert announced the plea agreement.
Prior to the jury returning to the room, Judge Messer told the defendant his behavior was “despicable.”
In addition to paying a $200 fine and $67 in court costs, McCary agreed not to go near the victims’ homes and not to go on the grounds of the Clarendon Independent School District.
Two related cases against McCary stemming from the same incident were dismissed.
Regents approve college budget
Clarendon College Regents adopted a $9.3 million budget following a public hearing last week.
The budget, which takes effect September 1, is only slightly higher than the current budget, CC Dean of Administrative Services Annette Ferguson said.
The budget anticipates state funding of nearly $3 million, income from student tuition and fees of $4.1 million, and other revenue from grants, contracts, and interest.
Ad valorem taxes from Donley County make up $417,500 of the college’s revenue, which is used for operations of the physical campus.
Regents adopted the effective tax rate for Donley County of $0.222732, which will bring in virtually the same revenue as last year. County commissioners in both Gray and Childress counties have ratified the five-cents per $100 valuation maintenance tax supporting those centers.
In other college business, it was reported that the college had received seven completed applications in the search to replace President Phil Shirley, who is retiring December 31. The priority deadline for applications was extended to September 1, and members of the presidential search committee have already begun looking at the applications.
Regents approved changes to the policy manual and the personnel and student handbooks for 2013-2014.
President Shirley reported the hiring of Fred Gray and Lisa Bilbrey as part time library assistants and tutors, and the board ratified those hirings.
College officials discussed long-range plans to replace CC’s fleet of buses and automobiles over the next seven years at an expected cost of more than $900,000. Regents approved earmarking a certificate of deposit with a balance of about $282,000 to be used for the purpose of vehicle replacement.
CC Vice President Ray Jaramillo reported that the college’s application to start a Registered Nursing program had been approved by the college’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools, and now is awaiting approval by the state board of nursing.
Jaramillo also reported that the LVN program will be back in Clarendon this fall and already has 13 students enrolled.
LDS missionaries visiting local area
Two smartly dressed young men going door to door in Clarendon, Hedley and surrounding towns aren’t selling encyclopedias or vacuum cleaners. They are simply on a mission, literally, to spread a message.
Elder Pack and Elder Romney represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and they are believed to be the first missionaries to bring the message of the Book of Mormon to this area.
“We came out here because we have a message about truth in God that has helped us and we believe can help others,” Elder Romney says.
LDS youth are encouraged to make a two-year missionary commitment, although it is not required by the church, according to Clarendon resident Daniel Burcham, a member of the LDS church. As a younger man, Burcham did his missionary work in Spain; but with the Iraq War underway, he was on the receiving end of anti-American feelings in Europe.
Romney and Pack’s experience in Clarendon over the past three weeks, by contrast, has been very welcoming, and they say most people they have met have been very nice.
Romney is 18 and calls Utah home, and Pack is 20 years old and from Washington state. They have to pay their own way during their mission and had to take a six-week training that included lessons in Spanish.
Burcham says the missionaries are only looking for people willing to listen and who want to find answers and truth through prayer.
“We’re not here to fight or contend theology,” Elder Pack said. “We’re here to help people increase their faith.”
It’s not typical for LDS missionaries to come to a rural town like Clarendon. Leaders of the church pray about where missionaries should take what they call the restored Gospel.
“We’ve been called here, and we believe Clarendon is ready for our message,” Romney says.
That message is that Christ has one church; but after His death and resurrection and the deaths of the apostles, many truths were lost. LDS members believe they have the truth as restored through a prophet, but Jesus remains at the center of their beliefs.
“We believe people should seek the truth for themselves,” Burcham said, “and we believe the best person to ask is God.”
The missionaries say their core beliefs are the same as other Christian denominations, but they want to help clear up any misconceptions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and answer questions.
“We’re here to help people learn more and increase their faith,” Romney said; and yes, he is very distantly related to the country’s most famous LDS member, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Burcham said the closest LDS congregations to Clarendon are in Childress, Pampa, and Amarillo.
Pack and Romney have course material and Books of Mormon with them that they freely share. Those interested in learning more about the LDS church are encouraged to look at www.mormon.org, and Burcham invites people to call him at (315) 882-3577.
County tax increase is called for
Donley County residents are being asked to pay a little more to support a $2.1 million budget for fiscal year 2014.
Commissioners have proposed raising the county’s total tax rate by a little more than three cents from $0.598656 to $0.632279 per $100 valuation. The total county tax levy on a $50,000 home would increase by about $16.8.
The total proposed budget for the coming year is on file with the county clerk’s office and is $74,862 above the current budget
The budget includes three percent raises for county employees and reflects increased health insurance premiums of about 5.3 percent.
The budget eliminates money for a currently unoccupied position in the Donley County Extension Office and shifts those funds to make the Extension secretary a full time position.
Other significant changes in the budget include reducing the outlay for expenses related to a capital murder trial (the Babcock case) from $50,000 to $30,000, increasing the county’s contingency fund from $8,000 to $18,000, and creating a $20,000 Preservation Maintenance Program for planned capital improvements to the Courthouse.
Budget hearings will be held September 13 and 19, and both the tax rate and the budget will be voted on by commissioners on September 23. The proposed county budget is available for public inspection at the County Clerk’s office in the Courthouse Annex and online www.co.donley.tx.us.
Opinion: Sharing nature and love with children
When you get down to the brass tacks, or bottom line, or whatever cliché you choose to use, life really has no value if it doesnWt contain love. Might as well be a grub worm.
I really can’t think of anything worse than not loving others and not being loved in return. Life without affection or human warmth has to be drab and dreary indeed. It’s been my experience that the absence of love often ensures depression, resentment of self, feelings of guilt, and fear and loathing; all adding up to an inexplicable sense of personal failure that taints every relationship and social situation. If you really want to destroy another person you only have to convince him that he is not acceptable in the eyes of God or his fellow man.
On the other hand, the presence of abundant love in its purest and most innocent form, the love that is showered upon us by children, for example, is heavenly. Sharing life with little people, and seeing the simplicity with which they often view the world, is cause for celebration and pure unadulterated joy.
Recently, my friend’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter have come to stay with her for a bit, while her daughter attends nursing school at Clarendon College. Therefore, her granddaughter Celeste needs a little attention from her grandmother and yours truly, while her parents are busy building their lives and careers.
So, for the past few months, I have become a part-time provider of good, wholesome attention, on an as-needed basis, primarily as the assistant to the grandmother. ‘Tis been an eye-opener for me, that’s for sure.
I’ve rediscovered that little people require an inordinate amount of close supervision, with copious amount of good, educational, and interesting learning opportunities thrown in so their development will not be unduly stunted.
So, what to do? Well, since Celeste spent her first three years in the Dallas-Fort Worth Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, where learning about nature and the world around us are limited by freeways, criminal abatement activities, and too many people, we have been going the extra mile (actually about 30 miles per nature trip) to introduce her to the wonders and magic of life in rural Texas.
There is much to love about Texas, particularly the wide open spaces of the rolling plains. Rural Texas residents do not simply come from earlier settlers of the high plains; they are more accurately portrayed as the decedents of early conquerors of the plains, which were fraught with many obstacles and threats to our budding civilization in the Texas panhandle. Our ancestors had to conquer this area, not simply settle it.
One result of our ancestors’ historical struggles to tame this land, is that most folks are tolerant of adults taking children on nature trips throughout Donley County to learn about this area. The kind folks at the JA Ranch have been particularly tolerant of our nature trips along the county roads crossing the ranch, and along Mulberry Creek.
In case you haven’t noticed there are some astounding animals living in the pastures along both sides of the JA Ranch road, whatever it is called.
After commencing our nature excursions at the Dairy Queen for soft-serve ice cream dipped in chocolate, we then head south on Koogle Street, which turns into the JA Ranch road as it curves west, then south. We then settle in for a sticky (melting ice cream cones) trip along the road until the pavement ends. Along the way we have seen some unusual wild animals, including: Oryx – magnificent long-horned African antelope; feisty wild burros who spend a large part of their day biting and kicking each other; big-antlered Elk, majestically strutting about, showing off their unusual head-wear; and fallow deer, from Eurasia, also sporting majestic antlers. Throw in a heard of zebras, along with a herd of either young long horns or Spanish fighting bulls, and you have a cornucopia of delightful fauna that can be viewed from the safety of the car. There are also plenty of mule and white tail deer, along with a group of wild turkeys high-stepping about the place like they own it.
After visually feasting on the wonderful diversity of wildlife scattered along the paved roadway, we then follow the county road as it crosses the JA Ranch. Along the way we have seen a herd of about 15 feral hogs, the ubiquitous road runner (chaparral bird), along with jack rabbits, coyotes, and a colorful selection of birds.
Meanwhile, Celeste remains calm and quiet as she takes in the wonders of nature and finds unbridled delight in repeating the names of the menagerie of mammals we are witnessing, as we slowly make our way through the rich reds and greens of the canyons and lands visible along the sides of the road to Mulberry Creek, the final destination of our little nature safari.
Upon arriving at Mulberry Creek, we commence a short walk along and in the creek, noting the population of native minnows that seem to scrape out a meager existence within the confines of the narrow and shallow creek flow. The sand in the creek gives us a clear witness to the many visitors to the creek by providing a clear record of their tracks; from deer, cattle, raccoons, assorted birds, and cougars.
Celeste has discovered, first hand, the quick sand, which holds on to our feet, making walking extremely hard and scary, as we sink to our thighs and waist in the “devil water,” a pool of profoundly deep quick sand. It only reluctantly legs go after a suitably long struggle to work our way to firmer, friendlier land.
When teaching our children about the wonders and beauty of nature, in an environment of shared love, life is at its best. The natural world is wonderful place to spend quality time with children. They come to see the beauty of Mother Nature while also gaining a healthy respect for the natural wonders that God has wrought. Children can help us feel incomparable love if we will only let them.
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