Archives for April 2014

The Clarendon Enterprise was presented with the Ken Towery Community Service Award during the 104th annual Panhandle Press Association Convention in Dumas last Saturday, April 5.

The Enterprise was recognized for its coverage of open meetings and open records issues last year involving the City of Clarendon and Hedley ISD.

“We are honored to receive this award,” said Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack. “Making sure that government operates in the sunshine is a commitment that every newspaper – and every citizen – should take seriously.”

The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kenneth Towery, who wanted to honor papers who serve their community.

Also at this year’s annual PPA Better Newspaper Contest, the Enterprise received three first place plaques during the PPA’s Better Newspaper Contest in the categories of Best Online Newspaper, Best Advertising Design, and Best News Photography for photos taken by Roger and Ashlee Estlack.

The paper received second place honors for Human Interest Photos by Roger Estlack, Kari Lindsey, and Matthew Martinez; for Feature Writing by Ashlee Estlack, Ashlyn Tubbs, and Roger Estlack; and for the Enterprise’s Society Page. The paper also received second place plaques for News Writing and Editorials.

Third place plaques were received by the Enterprise for Sports Photography by Kari Lindsey and Roger Estlack, Front Page Layout, and Special Sections.

The PPA was led this year by Dumas publisher Wanda Brooks. She will continue on the PPA board as Immediate Past President with the following officers: Jeff Blackmon of Shamrock, President; Ashlee Estlack of Clarendon, Vice President; and Roger Estlack of Clarendon, Secretary/Treasurer, along with directors, Tara Huff of Fritch, Tim Howsare of Pampa, Larry Thornton of Muleshoe, Joni Yara of Booker, and Amanda Rogers of Canyon.

The Clarendon Enterprise was presented with the Ken Towery Community Service Award during the 104th annual Panhandle Press Association Convention in Dumas last Saturday, April 5.
The Enterprise was recognized for its coverage of open meetings and open records issues last year involving the City of Clarendon and Hedley ISD.
“We are honored to receive this award,” said Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack. “Making sure that government operates in the sunshine is a commitment that every newspaper – and every citizen – should take seriously.”
The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kenneth Towery, who wanted to honor papers who serve their community.
Also at this year’s annual PPA Better Newspaper Contest, the Enterprise received three first place plaques during the PPA’s Better Newspaper Contest in the categories of Best Online Newspaper, Best Advertising Design, and Best News Photography for photos taken by Roger and Ashlee Estlack.
The paper received second place honors for Human Interest Photos by Roger Estlack, Kari Lindsey, and Matthew Martinez; for Feature Writing by Ashlee Estlack, Ashlyn Tubbs, and Roger Estlack; and for the Enterprise’s Society Page. The paper also received second place plaques for News Writing and Editorials.
Third place plaques were received by the Enterprise for Sports Photography by Kari Lindsey and Roger Estlack, Front Page Layout, and Special Sections.
The PPA was led this year by Dumas publisher Wanda Brooks. She will continue on the PPA board as Immediate Past President with the following officers: Jeff Blackmon of Shamrock, President; Ashlee Estlack of Clarendon, Vice President; and Roger Estlack of Clarendon, Secretary/Treasurer, along with directors, Tara Huff of Fritch, Tim Howsare of Pampa, Larry Thornton of Muleshoe, Joni Yara of Booker, and Amanda Rogers of Canyon.

Clarendon College will be hosting NASA Engineer Jerry Woodfill on Monday, April 14, for the motivational program “Failure is Not An Option.”

Woodfill has been employed with NASA in Houston for more than 48 years, and at the onset of the lunar landing program, he managed the spacecraft warning systems and was monitoring spacecraft Eagle’s descent when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon.

On April 13, 1970, Woodfill was monitoring Apollo 13’s warning system when the vehicle exploded. His system was the first alert of the life-threatening malfunction depicted in the Tom Hanks-Ron Howard movie “Apollo 13.”

For his role in the rescue of Apollo 13, Woodfill shared the Presidential Medal of Freedom as a member of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team. Presently, Woodfill is the Technical Managers’ Representative for NASA JSC’s Software, Robotics and Simulation Division.

“We’re expecting that our students and the community will really benefit from this,” CC Dean of Students Tex Buckhaults said.

Mr. Woodfill’s auto-biographical program emphasizes his NASA experience and highlights his personal accounts of overcoming fear, frustration, and failure.  He will demonstrate the ultimate good that comes from perseverance.

Students and community members will have two opportunities to hear Mr. Woodfill speak on April 14.  He will first speak at 9 AM and then again at 10:30 AM in the Harned Sisters Auditorium on the Clarendon College campus.

There are more questions than answers this morning as the bodies of two people recovered from a house fire yesterday in Bryan, Texas, are said to be those of former Clarendon residents Noel Devin and her father Thomas “Mac” Devin.

KBTX-TV’s Michael Oder reports that one arrest has been made in the case and has the latest information posted here: http://bit.ly/1gHBtoo.

The Enterprise will bring you more information on this tragic story as it becomes available.

Garbage rates in the City of Clarendon will be going up eight percent as the city tries to keep up with rising costs of the service, and water rates may be going up soon also.

At their regular meeting last Tuesday, the Board of Aldermen approved the trash increase, which City Hall says will amount to about $1.39 per month for most residential customers.

The city must haul its garbage to the Memphis landfill. The City of Memphis has raised its landfill rates, and local officials also point to rising costs of labor and transportation. The city hopes to at least break even with this increase.

The increase will take effect April 1, 2014. The city last increased trash rates in 2012.

City leaders also began consideration of raising and restructuring water rates last week.

Greenbelt Water Authority General Manager Bobbie Kidd told aldermen that the wholesale cost the city pays for water has gone up several times since Clarendon last adjusted rates in 2009. And, Kidd said, at that point the city did not raise rates but only lowered the base usage from 5,000 gallons to 2,000 gallons.

Drought restrictions are also hurting the city because customers use less water, which impacts the city’s bottom line.

“Conservation is going to cause drastic changes in water rates,” Kidd told city leaders. “You have the same costs, but you have less product to sell.”

City Hall was going to propose an across-the-board water rate increase; but after visiting with Kidd, city leaders asked City Secretary Machiel Covey to put together a proposal for a tiered rate structure where the biggest water users would pay a greater cost.

Alderman Will Thompson said the tiered structure is common around the state, and city leaders said they wanted to avoid raising water rates on those who use very little water.

City leaders will also consider implementing some type of small commercial rate for businesses that use less than 1,000 gallons per month.

The water rate issue will be considered again on the city’s April 7 agenda.

In other city business, aldermen canceled their May election and declared the following unopposed candidates for the board as elected: John Lockhart and Aldermen Larry Jeffers and Beverly Burrow.

The board also approved making Librarian Jerri Ann Shields a part time employee with no city benefits temporarily at her request as she deals with a family health issue, and the board received an update on the bid process for a new city trash truck.

 An Arizona man lost his life east of Clarendon in a one-vehicle accident Saturday afternoon, March 29.

Department of Public Safety Trooper Kelly Hill said 28-year-old Brian Dyson was eastbound on US 287 just more than a mile from the city when the 2001 ¾-ton Chevrolet pickup he was driving went off the road. Dyson was towing a Chevy S-10 pickup at the time.

Dyson travelled into the center median and apparently steered to the left to avoid trees and then the pickup began to roll multiple times. Hill said the investigation believes Dyson was ejected from the vehicle during the first roll.

A passenger, 29-year-old Virginia Hillyer, was partially ejected and was able to climb free of the vehicle when it came to rest blocking both westbound lanes of US 287. The S-10 pickup landed north of the westbound lanes.

Moments earlier, Trooper Hill had just passed Dyson’s pickup as Hill came into Clarendon from the east. Donley County Deputy Sonny Morasco, traveling behind Hill, came up on the accident right after it occurred.

Donley County Justice of the Peace Denise Bertrand pronounced Dyson dead at the scene at 5:18 p.m.

Hillyer was airlifted to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo where she was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Hillyer told officers that a crosswind caused the accident. Dyson’s mother also told DPS that she had talked to him earlier and he had said he was tired of driving in the wind.

Neither Dyson nor Hillyer were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident.