Archives for March 2018

Precinct 2 Commissioner Daniel Ford defeated challenger Randy Bond, 129 -113, and Precinct 3&4 Justice of the Peace Denise Bertrand lost her re-election bid to Pat White, 161-119, during the Donley County Republican Primary Tuesday night.

Ford and White do not face any opposition in the November General Election.

Also of local interest, Donley County Republicans were strongly in favor of keeping both State Sen. Kel Seliger and State Rep. Ken King representing them in Austin. Both men narrowly avoid run off-elections with each facing two challengers from their own party. Seliger has no Democratic opponent this fall, but King will have a challenger.

For complete coverage of the local primary, check out next week’s issue of The Clarendon Enterprise

Former Clarendon College basketball players Myrna Carney and Joan Crawford were recognized as President’s Ambassadors last Monday night for their continued support of CC.

Myrna Carney attended Clarendon College and played in 1957 and 1958 for the Comets, as the women’s basketball team was then known.

She went on to attend Northwestern Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, Michigan State University, and the University of Minnesota, and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from OU.

She worked in a number of roles at the University of Oklahoma for 42 years, and retired as the Assistant Dean at University College at OU in 2008. Ms. Carney holds a number of awards and honors including Outstanding Alumni from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Leedey High School, and she was inducted into the Dewey County Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2007.

Joan Crawford attended Clarendon College and played for the Comets basketball team in 1956 and 1957.
After leaving Clarendon College, Crawford attended Nashville Business College where she played on an AAU team. Over the next thirteen seasons, the Nashville team would win the National AAU Championship ten times, and Ms. Crawford was named to the All-America team in every year. In 1962, the Nashville team was especially dominant, winning every game in the post-season tournament by at least 14 points, and winning the championship game over Wayland 63–35. She would go on to win the MVP of the 1963 and 1964 AAU National Tournaments.

With the US National team, Ms. Crawford won the World Championship in 1957, and the 1959 and 1963 Pan American Games. The World Championship game was against the USSR, the first time the USA had faced the USSR in a major competition. The USA came into the final with a single loss to Czechoslovakia, while the USSR was undefeated. The USA team was down by three points at the half, but came back in the second half to win the championship 51–48. Ms. Crawford scored a game high 27 points in the championship game against Brazil.

Ms. Crawford has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Amateur Athletic Union Hall of Fame, and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Ms. Crawford was in attendance to accept the award, but Ms. Carney was unable to attend. Her sisters accepted the award on her behalf.

Scholarships have been created in each of these player’s names, and future students at Clarendon College will be the recipient of scholarships in their honor and will benefit from their graciousness and financial support for many years to come.

Howardwick City Hall is conducting business again, and several candidates will appear on a May ballot for every seat on the city council.

Alderman Eric Riddle, who resigned February 13, agreed to attend a called meeting of the Howardwick City Council last Thursday, March 1, in order to approve a limited number of important agenda items.

Riddle’s resignation, along with that of Alderman Mac Miller the same day and Alderman Shelly Williamson in December, had paralyzed the city by eliminating the possibility of the council having a quorum to meet. That situation was compounded February 15 when City Secretary Tammy Jordan also resigned and left the city without the needed two signatures to for paying bills.

Texas law provides that a public official, even after resigning, technically still holds their office until their replacement is in place, and thus Riddle was able to attend last week, along with Mayor Greta Byars and Aldermen Robert Brewster and Doc Holladay, in order to help the city get back on track.

The ten-minute meeting included just five action items, all of which were unanimously approved.
The council approved the appointment of Sandra Childress as the new city secretary and authorized her name to the Herring Bank signature cards.

Aldermen also voted to name Sam Grider as the presiding election judge and Tommie Duncan as the alternate judge for the regular and special city elections that will be held concurrently on May 5.

Current bills were approved to be paid, and the council also approved a motion that allows City Hall to pay “regular bills” that will come due through the May election.

Thursday’s meeting was held civilly and without interruption from those in attendance, which was a departure from city meetings in the last few months.

Following the meeting, Childress, who had organized a petition two weeks ago that led to Donley County calling a special election in May, thanked Riddle for his attendance and thanked citizens who signed the petition.

Meanwhile, filing for candidates for the special election called by the county for two aldermen’s seats expiring in 2019 closed on Friday with five candidates running for those positions. Brice Hawley, Vol Lindsey, James Wix, Johnny Floyd, and Mary Grady will compete for those two unexpired terms.

The same May 5 ballot will have three full aldermen’s terms open, and four people are running for those positions. Alderman Doc Holladay will be joined on the ballot by Marietta Baird, Kay Dye, and Debora Sharpton.

Childress said a town hall meeting featuring the eight city candidates as well as county officials is being considered for the last week of March, but a date is not finalized.