Archives for June 2014

Celebration starts Thursday

June 29, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

The 137th annual Saints’ Roost Celebration will be held July 3, 4 and 5 this year.

July 3

Downtown merchant sales and a Depression Lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will start the celebration on Thursday, July 3.

The Clarendon Lions Club will dedicate and cut the ribbon on the new Chance Mark Jones Memorial Playground in Prospect Park at 11:30 a.m.

The Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association will hold its Junior Ranch Rodeo that evening beginning at 7 p.m. with a dance to follow. Kids events will precede all three nights of rodeo with mutton bustin’, calf rides, steer rides, and donkey rides.

July 4

The bulk of this year’s activities will take place on Friday, July 4, with the Craft Fair starting at 9 a.m. on the Courthouse Square. The Craft Fair is sponsored by the Donley County 4H, and booth space is $25. Booth space needs to be reserved by June 27 by calling 874-2141.

Also on the square July Fourth will be the Old Settler’s Reunion and Kids’ Tricycle and Bicycle Parade both starting at 10 a.m.

The kids’ parade will line up at Keith Floyd’s shop at Third and Sully.

The CHS Class of 1984 will be holding their 30th reunion during the celebration and enjoying barbecue together on the square.

Ed Montana will be handling the parade and celebration announcing and will also be performing live music during the festivities on the square.

The Shriners’ Barbecue begins at 11 a.m. Tickets are on sale now at the Enterprise for $10 each.

The Western Parade will begin at 2 p.m. with the Lions Club Cow Patty Bingo to follow.

The COEA’s Ranch Rodeo will be held on Friday and Saturday, July 4 and 5, at 7:30 p.m. with No Dry Country providing dance music on Friday, and the Matt Martindale Band playing on Saturday.

Box seating tickets are still available for all three nights of rodeo for $150. Contact Theresa Shelton for 654-2993 for information.

July 5

The annual Henson’s Turtle Race will be held on 3 p.m. on Saturday, and plans are in the works to introduce an adult division for the more experienced turtle jockeys. There is no charge to enter the kids’ race, but organizers are planning to have entry fees for adults, with the winner getting half the pot and also getting a choice of charities for the remaining money.

More celebration details will be printed as they become available. To add your event or activity to this listing, contact the Enterprise at 874-2259.

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

Hedley 2014 graduates, Kristen Liner, Bailey Wood, and Kyle Lindsey recently participated in MASH camp, sponsored by Panhandle AHEC/WTAMU. Medical Avenues to Services in Health (M*A*S*H) programs are designed to educate High School students about the possibility of pursuing a career in the health service field after they complete their education. M*A*S*H programs are highly interactive, informative and fun. Courtesy Photo / AHEC/WTAMU

https://www.clarendonlive.com/2014/06/16338/

Fire!

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

Local church to celebrate centennial

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

The Clarendon Church of Christ will celebrate its 100th anniversary this Sunday with a special service.

Members of the Church of Christ began worshipping in 1914 in Clarendon, Texas. The small number grew to 14 members in 1917 and worshipped in the T.M. Little home at the end of Carhart Street. This same year the group purchased a small wooden building near the present post office site. Members at that time were: Mr. & Mrs. T.M. Little, Mrs. Emma Little Saye, Mr. & Mrs. McGowan, Mr. Cooper, Mrs. Moffitt, Mr. & Mrs. Reed, Mr. & Mrs. John Watters, Mr. & Mrs. U.T Dever, and Mr. M.F. Roberson. Dee Smith and family later joined the group. G.W. Brewer was the first known minister in 1920.

A storm demolished the church building and the congregation was allowed to worship in the court house until a building was constructed at 3^rd Street & Carhart Street. More land was purchased throughout the years by the elders and the present building was constructed. The elders continued to purchase land and built a nice family center across the street.

The present congregation is very active in teaching through the World Bible School and in helping the Navajo nation teach their people the Bible.

The present minister is Christ Moore. Elders are Donald White, Gene Denney, William Thompson and Carol Duncan. Deacons serving at this time are Earl Shields, Jim Stevenson, Jackie Bell, Audie Watson, Bob Watson, Carlton Turvaville, and David McAnear.

The congregation invites all friends and past members to attend a special Homecoming celebration Sunday, June 29, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. Tom Harguess, the local minister from July 1980 to the summer of 1983, will deliver the sermon. A delicious meal will be provided for all guests following the morning service.

Pick up next week’s Pioneer Edition of The Donley County Leader inside the Enterprise for more history of the Clarendon Church of Christ.

Enterprise receives recognition

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

The Clarendon Enterprise placed second in the hunt for top honors during the 2013 Better Newspaper Contest hosted by the Texas Press Association.

Contest winners were announced last Saturday during the TPA Summer Convention in Corpus Christi, and the Enterprise finished behind The Red Oak Record for the Division 10 Sweepstakes Award.

The Enterprise received a first place plaque for General Excellence and second place honors for Column Writing and for Advertising with ads for Country Bloomers, the Chance Mark Jones 5K, and the Mulkey Block Party.

Sports Photos by Roger Estlack and Kari Lindsey received third place, and the Enterprise received fourth place honors for Editorials and News Photos.

This year 159 newspapers submitted 1,566 entries in the contest. The contest is broken down into 10 divisions in which newspapers compete against papers of similar circulation size.

CC Regents travel to Pampa for June meeting

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

Clarendon College Regents took their show on the road last Thursday, June 19, holding their regular board meeting in Pampa.

Several Gray County dignitaries were on hand for the meeting, including County Judge Richard Peet, Pampa ISD Board President Lee Porter, Pampa ISD Superintendent David Young, and members of the Clarendon College Pampa Center Foundation.

Going through their agenda, Regents approved a $60 per hour flat rate tuition for courses offered in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice unit in Pampa. CC will be offering classes there this summer during the next academic year.

The board approved a purchase of a welding simulator from Lincoln Electric in Lubbock for $24,000. The simulator consists of a welding mask with a 3D display inside so that the student “sees” an image of what they are working on.

The board acknowledged the resignations of Annette Ferguson, Raymond Jaramillo, Aaron Lopez, and Raquel Hawkins and approved the new hires of Kelly McDonough and Cannon Roberts to teach English and Catheryn Bailey as an RN instructor.

The board also acknowledged the reassignment of Becky Green as the Associate Dean of Enrollment Services to coordinate admissions, recruiting, testing, and financial aid in an effort to streamline the enrollment process for students. Green will work under Vice President of Student Services Tex Buckhaults.

David Hall was also reassigned as the college’s Associate Dean of Career, Technical, and Continuing Education under the Vice President of Instruction, Dr. Roger Schustereit.

Regents approved updated signature cards at Herring Bank and the National Bank of Commerce to include Buckhaults, Schustereit, and Alice Cobb and updating the college’s investment committee to include Dr. Robert Riza, Alice Cobb, and Ashlee Estlack.

In his president’s report, Riza said CC is in discussions with Amarillo ISD to offer cosmetology classes for dual credit in four high schools in Amarillo.

Riza also updated the board on the college’s new Registered Nursing program, which started this week with 20 students.

CC launches RN program

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

The first LVN to ADN bridge cohort at Clarendon College started classes Monday morning in Pampa. Dr. Robert Riza, president of CC, welcomed the students and shared his excitement about this being the first class in the new ADN program at CC.

Clarendon College’s first class of students working on their Associate of Nursing Degree. CC Photo / Ashlee Estlack

Twenty students from all around the Panhandle make up this first cohort. After successful completion of their courses next summer, these students will sit for the RN exam.

A traditional ADN – Associate Degree in Nursing – cohort will start in the fall. For more information, interested students are asked to call Jackie Sublett in the Nursing Department at 806-665-8801.

NSA spying on Americans must cease

June 25, 2014 by Morgan Wheatly Leave a Comment

Finally, our inept Congress has done a little something to reign-in the outrageous spying on Americans by the NSA. Granted, it wasn’t much, but at least it was a start. We need to insure that it continues.

Last Thursday night, the US House of Representatives voted 293 – 123 to

pass an amendment to a Department of Defense appropriations bill that would cut off all funds for two of the agency’s most insidious activities: Firstly, using the myriad provisions of the Foreign Service Intelligence Surveillance Act to perform searches of the mass communications data that is collected from all Americans, and secondly, asking hardware manufacturers and software developers to install backdoors into their products designed to give the agency access to their users’ communications. On that second item, the amendment specifically forbids funding for any agency attempt “to mandate or request that a person or company redesign its product or service to facilitate electronic surveillance.”

This amendment represents a response against the nefarious behavior revealed from the leaks of Edward Snowden, which have shown that the NSA subverted cryptography standards, redirected hardware shipments to plant NSA bugs in products, and created other ways to gather raw, bulk communication data from companies like Google, Facebook, AT&T, Microsoft, Apple, ad nauseam. These companies, unfortunately, are not our friends. They knowingly cooperate with the NSA.

Of course, this amendment and bill must pass the senate (home of our Texas Senator from Canada, eh) if anything is to be done. Hopefully, the House vote sends a message that there is now the political will to do something about the abusive spying on Americans by the NSA. The point is that these spying programs need money in order to survive, and we can cut off that funding if they continue their dastardly ways.

The bill also represents a remarkable shift from the useless Freedom bill, intended to curb NSA mass surveillance, which passed the House last month in a paltry effort that disappointed privacy adherents. The members of the house only paid lip service to the American people, and passed a Freedom bill that was an absolute joke. Actually, the contrast between the Freedom bill and this bill is a result of political procedure: Most of the weakening of the original Freedom bill occurred in the Judiciary and Intelligence committees. However, as an amendment to an appropriations bill, last week’s defunding legislation was able to escape the intense lobbying that was present in the aforementioned committees. It did not have to go through the Intelligence Committee, which is basically a puppet of the intelligence community.

Actually, that powerless surveillance reform bill may have inspired Thursday night’s vote by not going far enough to please House members seeking to curtail the NSA’s spying on Americans. Due to the diluting of that bill’s anti-spying provisions in committee, many House members never had the opportunity to show their wish to drastically limit the NSA’s overzealous spying activities.

So, what does this all really mean? Even if the amendment actually becomes law, which is iffy at best, it still wouldn’t end all federally mandated backdoors in hardware and software. For example, it will have no effect of the FBI, which drastically limits its effectiveness.

However, the passage of the amendment still signals a welcome shift in the political landscape, thanks primarily to Snowden’s spying disclosures. Last year, for example, a similar amendment was put to the vote and it fell seven votes short of passing. The lopsided vote this year illustrates that reigning in the NSA has become a popular political cause that crosses party lines. There is now a sense, at least in the House, that if you’re not doing something about this issue, it could result in unpleasant political repercussions, like losing your seat.

Now, it is up to the Senate to pass similar legislation. If they don’t act satisfactorily on this legislation, then we need to hold them accountable by voting them out of office. In the immortal words of Ben Franklin, “Those who are willing to sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.” I’m not willing to benignly accept a situation in which the federal government is allowed to listen to all my phone conversations, read my emails, or view my other internet communications, whatever the form they may take.

Who knows, perhaps someday I may have a brilliant thought. If so, I would like to keep ownership of it. Or, perhaps an ex-wife or two decides to mistakenly take me to task for some obviously exaggerated transgression that I may have committed in the past. If so, I don’t want the government or anyone else to shed undue light on it. In short, I want my personal life kept personal. Perhaps even more importantly, I want the personal lives of others to also be kept personal.

Meanwhile, we all owe Edward Snowden a healthy portion of gratitude. His revealing the reality of the spying on Americans by our own government can only make our democracy stronger. After all, over the years, many Americans have given their lives defending our liberty and freedom. Let’s do all we can to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain.