Archives for June 2017

Donley County Commissioners authorized preservation work on 1890 courthouse and discussed several other agenda items during their regular meeting last Monday, June 12.

The county for some time has discussed work needing done on third floor windows, and at this meeting they took action, accepting a proposal from Bill Gamel of Amarillo.

County Judge John Howard said Gamel will remove and repair two windows for $700 each. Money for this maintenance work has been set aside in a preservation fund, and Howard said work should begin within a month’s time.

Commissioners also received an update on masonry repair needed on the courthouse. Randy Hughes with Mid-Continental Restoration will be visiting Clarendon in the near future to help with recommendations for spalling that is happening with sandstone on the building.

In other county business, the commissioners court approved the county’s interlocal agreement with the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission for 911 services. PRPC coordinates 911 in the top 26 counties of the Panhandle.

The court approved purchasing a new computer for the Extension office with Texas A&M paying half the cost but took no action on a request to purchase Microsoft Office for the clerk’s office.

Bids on tax delinquent properties at Howardwick were approved as presented.

Commissioners discussed a proposal to implement a video conference capability in the sheriff’s office for mental health evaluations, magistrations, and attorney-inmate conferences.

The court discussed preparations for the Saints’ Roost Celebration and efforts to prepare the square for those festivities.

Following a closed session with the county attorney, the court authorized him to write a letter to landowners near the junction of County Roads 1 and J regarding landowners’ obligations not to divert water onto county roads.

A request from Justice of the Peace Pam Mason for a full-time clerk was tabled since Mason could not be at last Monday’s meeting.

The county has also begun the process of preparing next year’s budget. Howard said the county is being told to anticipate as much as a ten percent or $30,000 increase in health insurance premiums.

Volunteers are being sought to help Donley County children who find themselves caught up in the court system due to neglect or abuse.

CASA of the High Plains currently has about 51 cases involving 118 kids in its eight-county service area with five of those cases being in Donley County, according to Executive Director Alissha Jefferies.

“We have an urgent need for at least two volunteers to help serve Donley County,” Jefferies said.

CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate, is a system by which a volunteer is appointed by a judge to provide factual information to the court on behalf of a child. CASA volunteers come from all walks of life and only handle one case at a time.

Jefferies said CASA is a state-funded non-profit, but it requires volunteers to be caseworkers in order for the advocate to develop the one-on-one relationship with the child necessary to effectively represent the kid’s interests.

“If we can’t recruit volunteers to help with our caseload, the state cuts our funding,” Jefferies said.

Kids referred to CASA have been removed from their homes for some reason, most often neglect or abuse resulting from one or both parents’ drug use.

“We are seeing a lot of severe neglect due to drugs right now,” said Lisa Blandford, CASA’s Program Director and supervisor for Donley County cases.

CASA volunteers meet with the child and other parties to prepare a report for the judge in each case. Often times these correspondences can be done through email.

“We don’t have a vested interest in the case other than what is best for the child,” Jefferies said. “That’s why its important for a volunteer to establish a relationship with the child.”

Time required by a volunteer can vary, but at least one hour of face to face time with the child is necessary per month. Volunteers can come from all walks of life from stay-at-home moms to retirees to parents working full time.

“When I started as a volunteer five years ago, I had a full time job and two kids,” Jefferies said.

Blandford also was working full time when she became a volunteer.

Currently, Donley County has four active volunteers – Medina Gribble, Debbie Hillis, Missy Kidd, and Irene Oatman.

CASA also offers other volunteer positions. Besides being an advocate, there are opportunities to accompany and support an advocate, and there is training and guidance available throughout the process.

For more information about becoming a CASA volunteer, call the Pampa office at 806-669-7638 or visit their website at www.casahp.org.

Despite some decent rain last week, the Texas Water Development Board’s weekly report Monday officially listed Donley County back in droughty conditions for the first time since April 2016.

The TWDB has listed the county as “abnormally dry” during the weeks ahead of Monday’s report.

“Last week brought us a reintroduction of drought conditions in West Texas with droughty splotches appearing between Shamrock and Clarendon, between Childress and Matador, west of Lubbock and West of San Angelo,” The TWDB report said. “The hot and dry season is nearly upon us so it will be interesting to see what summer brings us.”

Officials at Greenbelt Lake, however, said they have never officially come out of the Stage Two drought condition, although the lake did come up about a foot over the winter and has remained fairly steady since that time.

“About 4½ feet are needed to really come out of drought,” said Greenbelt General Manager Bobbie Kidd. “We’re dropping a little bit now and will probably lose three to four feet over the summer.”

Nevertheless, Kidd said conditions at Greenbelt have “improved drastically” since this time a year ago, and the lake is now standing at about 53 feet. Kidd also said recreation traffic to the lake has picked up.

TWBD’s report also offers some optimism, noting that NOAA drought outlook expects the local area will be removed from drought status by the end of September.

Clarendon ISD Trustees accepted the resignation of Athletic Director Gary Jack Monday night as he prepares to take a job at a bigger school.

“We’ve been offered positions in Callisburg, which is a 3A school by Gainesville,” Jack told the Enterprise this week.

Jack’s wife, Andrea, also resigned Monday night and will be working at Callisburg ISD as well, Jack said.

Callisburg has a high school enrollment of about 360, and the Wildcats school colors are maroon and white.

“I won’t have to get new clothes and everything with a ‘C’ on it still works,” Jack joked.

A hometown guy, Jack has led the Clarendon Broncos as athletic director and head football coach for 13 years. Now entering his 25th year in coaching, Jack looks forward to working in the same roles in Callisburg.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to come home and coach this long,” Jack said. “It’s been great. It’s been a dream for me, and I really enjoyed the success we’ve had.”

Jack thanked the school board, administration, and his coaching staff for all their support through the years.

“Everyone has always been very supportive, and we’ve had a great consistent coaching staff,” Jack said. “I’ll still bleed maroon and white, and I’ll always be a Bronco.”

Superintendent Mike Norrell said CISD appreciates the service the Jacks have given to the school over the years.

“We’re grateful to Coach Jack and Andrea for everything they’ve done for our kids,” Norrell said. “We wish them the very best. I know that in my time here, Coach Jack has guided kids through extremely difficult times and done an excellent job.”

Norrell said CISD posted Jack’s position Monday night and will begin interviewing as soon as possible. The school is also still looking for a head basketball coach after Brandt Lockhart resigned to move to the Dallas area.

Also during Monday’s school board meeting, trustees accepted resignations from Scott and Cindy Strobel as an assistant band director and teacher’s aide respectively. The Strobels have been in Clarendon for 12 years and announced on social media that they have taken positions at Bowie ISD.

In other school business, trustees authorized John Morrow to drill a water well and provide other related services at the ball fields and accepted bids on tax delinquent properties at Howardwick as presented.

No injuries were reported when a wind turbine caught fire near on the Salt Fork Wind Facility near Jericho last Wednesday, June 7.

Schuyler Baehman, a spokesperson for Southern Company, which operates Salt Fork, said the fire happened about 5:30 p.m.

“Employees at the plant contacted first responders, who responded to the incident,” Baehman told the Enterprise. “All plant personnel are safe and accounted for and there were no injuries.

Baehman also said that a small area of the plant has been taken offline as a preemptive safety measure as Southern investigates the cause of the fire.

Reporters on the scene that evening after the fire noted that the nacelle covering on the turbine was burned away and one of the three wind turbine blades was partially destroyed by the fire.

According to Enterprise files, the original Salt Fork Wind Facility consists of eighty-seven two Megawatt Vestas wind turbines. The turbines are spread across northwestern Donley and southwestern Gray counties.

Company officials did not comment on possible causes of the fire. An article in the online publication Wind Power Monthly says turbine nacelles contain flammable lubricants and oil and can have other flammable components. The article further states that fires can be started by electrical problems or mechanical overheating.

The City of Clarendon will hold a town hall meeting to discuss funding for two community projects following last Thursday’s regular city council meeting.

The town hall will be held Thursday, June 29, at the Bairfield Activity Center at 6:30 p.m. and will focus on the city’s proposed water recreation project and also discuss the Mulkey Theatre project.

City aldermen called for the public forum following recent actions by the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation Board and the Water Recreation Steering Committee.

During a called meeting on May 22, the CEDC Board voted unanimously to recommend borrowing money to finish the Mulkey project and to help fund the water recreation project. The loan would be paid for by the half-cent EDC sales tax that is already being collected. The EDC board also discussed the financing option again on June 5.

On June 6, the Water Recreation Steering Committee met and discussed the financing option and voted unanimously to recommend that the city council approve borrowing $500,000 for the pool project to be paid for with EDC sales tax funds.

City Administrator David Dockery said borrowing the money will move these projects forward but that the city wants residents to be informed and have a chance to comment on the plan.

“The city is committed to providing every opportunity for our citizens that we can afford,” Dockery said. “We also want to ensure that their voices are heard.”

If the city pursues the financing under consideration, the Mulkey project would likely be completed in 2018. Completion of the water recreation project would follow several months later after pending grant applications are determined.

In other city business last week, Alderman Larry Jeffers was reappointed as Clarendon’s Mayor Pro-Tem, and the council closed a platted but undeveloped street running through the site of the proposed new Allsup’s store.

A Saturday afternoon grassfire threatened several homes at Howardwick before being brought under control.

Fire Chief Will Jordan said the blaze appeared to have started from an abandoned campfire near Old Clarendon Point.

“It was a really strange deal,” Jordan said. “It looked like they were using construction scraps for the fire.”

Emergency personnel were paged to the fire shortly after 5 p.m. Three units and eight firemen from the Howardwick Fire Department responded, and the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department sent eight units and 15 men.

Jordan said it took five hours to fight the fire.

“Greenbelt Water Authority sent a maintainer and cut some nice fire breaks,” Jordan said. “Clarendon back burned, and we were able to control it then.”

The fire threatened to spread up Carroll Creek and into the Nacona Hills section of the community, Jordan said.

“We were preparing for evacuations if that had happened,” he said.

Jordan said his department has been working with Greenbelt to clean brush out of the creek bed. He also urges residents to take advantage of the city’s FireWise program through which trained volunteers will help identify fire hazards near homes in Howardwick, and he reminds people to be really careful with campfires.