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Archives for April 2025
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Clarendon, Hedley to review drought rules
Greenbelt enters Stage 4 of drought contingency plan
Clarendon and Hedley city councils will be reviewing and updating their policies next week in preparation for going into Stage 4 of their Drought Contingency Plans.
Greenbelt Municipal & Industrial Water Authority notified its members cities last week that the Greenbelt Board of Directors voted March 18 to go into the authority’s Drought Contingency Plan Stage 4.
In the letter to member cities, Greenbelt General Manager Bobbie Kidd said the trigger for entering Stage 4 is when the reservoir reaches an elevation of 2615 feet above sea level.
The lake was at 2614.67 at the time of the letter. As of Tuesday afternoon, Greenbelt was at 2614.55 feet above sea level.
“The Board and I have serious concerns about the availability of surface water from the reservoir without some really substantial rainfall this spring and summer,” Kidd wrote.
In order to come out of Stage 4, the lake will have to get above 2615 for a 30-day period.
The City of Childress activated its Stage 4 plan last week, and Greenbelt expects Crowell and Quanah will be responding soon as well.
Officials with Clarendon and Hedley said they were updating their plans with action to be taken by city councils during their April 11 regular meetings.
In addition to surface water from the Greenbelt Reservoir, the water authority utilizes several groundwater sources near the lake and also purchases groundwater from the City of Clarendon.
Greenbelt purchased 2,800 acres of groundwater rights in northern Donley County in 2017 and has begun an $18 million project to construct three water wells, well field piping, electrical distribution equipment, and a 12-mile transmission line to transport water to its existing water treatment plant.
The City of Howardwick is not affected by Greenbelt’s Drought Contingency. That city receives its water from local wells managed by Red River Water Authority.
Local jobless rate steady in February
Jobless claims in Donley County remained steady in February and were lower than the same period one year ago, according to information from the Texas Workforce Commission.
February’s local unemployment rate of 4.4 percent reflected a workforce of 1,511 with 66 people looking for work. That’s the same percentage as in January when 64 people were jobless out of a workforce of 1,453.
Looking back one year, the Donley County jobless rate in February 2024 was also 5.0 percent with 72 people looking for work.
Hall County’s unemployment rate for February was 5.1 percent with 58 people looking for work out of a workforce of 1,075. That’s up from 4.8 percent in January when 53 people were jobless and the workforce numbered 1,093
In the broader Panhandle region, the unemployment rose slightly to 3.4 percent in February 2025 from 3.3 percent in January, yet remains below Texas’ statewide average.
The Panhandle area labor force expanded by 6,256 people over the year, hitting 217,535 in February 2025, up from 211,279 in February 2024. Regional employment is up by 6,247 jobs, growing from 203,829 to 210,076, showing job seekers are landing roles.
The Texas labor market continued to achieve record highs for both jobs and the civilian labor force in February. The state added 20,100 positions over the month to reach a total of 14,254,200 nonfarm jobs. Texas added 182,300 jobs from February 2024 to February 2025.
TxDOT to replace FM 1260 bridge
The $6.6 million FM 1260 bridge replacement project in Donley County continues with the south bridge set for demo on Monday, April 7.
TxDOT says the contractor, C.E. Barker, LTD., will have an access road for local traffic during the project. Drivers are reminded to use caution when traveling through the work zone.
The estimated completion date of the project is March of 2026.
Open forum set for US 287 bridge work
TxDOT officials and contractors will be holding an open forum Tuesday, April 22, from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Mulkey Theatre regarding an upcoming project to replace the US 287 bridge over the drainage canal in downtown Clarendon.
The current bridge was constructed in the 1920s and work is expected to begin this summer to replace that structure.
City officials and local business owners are invited to come address questions and/or concerns with the Prime contractor and/or TxDOT.
Donley, Hall businesses eligible for SBA disaster loans
The US Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the availability of low interest federal disaster loans to small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Texas who sustained economic losses caused by the drought beginning Nov. 1, 2024.
Donley and Hall counties are among the long list of Texas counties eligible for the SBA loans. Other counties include: Andrews, Aransas, Archer, Armstrong, Atascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Baylor, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Bowie, Brewster, Briscoe, Brooks, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Carson, Childress, Clay, Coleman, Collin, Collingsworth, Comal, Concho, Cooke, Coryell, Cottle, Crane, Crockett, Crosby, Culberson, DeWitt, Delta, Denton, Dickens, Dimmit, Duval, Ector, Edwards, El Paso, Falls, Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Foard, Franklin, Frio, Garza, Gillespie, Glasscock, Goliad, Gonzales, Gray, Grayson, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hardeman, Haskell, Hays, Hill, Hudspeth, Hunt, Irion, Jack, Jeff Davis, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kendall, Kent, Kerr, Kimble, King, Kinney, Kleberg, Knox, La Salle, Lamar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Limestone, Live Oak, Llano, Loving, Mason, Maverick, McCulloch, McLennan, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Midland, Milam, Mills, Montague, Morris, Motley, Nueces, Palo Pinto, Parker, Pecos, Presidio, Reagan, Real, Red River, Reeves, Refugio, Robertson, San Patricio, San Saba, Schleicher, Stephens, Stonewall, Sutton, Swisher, Terrell, Throckmorton, Titus, Travis, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Victoria, Ward, Washington, Webb, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, Williamson, Wilson, Winkler, Wise, Young and Zavala in Texas, as well as Doña Ana, Eddy, Lea and Otero counties in New Mexico, and Beckham, Bryan, Choctaw, Cotton, Harmon, Jackson, Jefferson, Love, Marshall, McCurtain and Tillman counties in Oklahoma.
Under this declaration, SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs with financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.
EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills not paid due to the disaster.
“Through a declaration by the US Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.625% for PNPs, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due, until 12 months after the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.
To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
Submit completed loan applications to SBA by November 25.
Senior Citizens hold show and tell
Mary’s Musings
By Mary Green
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I love a good story, and everyone and everything has one. The homeless man on the corner with the cardboard sign stating that he will work for food, the driver of that huge RV with decals and stickers from all over the country, the quiet lady who moved in down the street – they all have stories to tell if there were someone to listen to them.
Last Tuesday, a group of nice people met at the Donley County Senior Citizens Center to enjoy a good meal and simply share some stories from their lives.
Richard said he had a heart attack in 1989, but his story was about the tee shirt from Hooter’s restaurant that was covered with Marks-a-Lot well wishes for his recovery from the girls who worked there. A gift from his brother and his sons, finding it in a long-ago stored box brought back memories of a scary time and thoughts of thankfulness for the years since.
Ann showed a beautiful hand knit bolero style sweater that her grandmother had knitted for her to wear to the Clarendon High School Prom decades ago. Her two grandmothers conspired to make sure Ann was modestly attired. The bolero (a short, cropped jacket) has aged to an ivory color with perfect knitted stitches. Several people in the group knew the young man who was Ann’s date that night. Sweet memories.
Linda and Larry had items discovered after their parents had passed, including a 1914 US Patent for a self-turning tractor that Linda’s grandfather had designed. The patent included schematic, detailed illustrations of how the tractor’s mechanisms worked so that at the end of a row, it would automatically turn itself down the next row. The patent was sold, and it is unknown what has become of it since.
Linda showed her mother-in-law’s calendar book that showed the daily activities of a very active couple in their later years. Detailed, mundane events that showed how they progressed through life, interacted with others… and ate out a lot!
Charlene held up an 1800’s canning jar with an envelope sealed in it. It, along with other antiques, had been stolen from her home years before. She thought it was gone forever, when serendipity stepped in. She and Butch were visiting an antique collecting nephew in another town miles from their home. The nephew was showing off some of his latest finds when Charlene spotted the jar he had purchased from a local dealer. It was hers! Proof was in the pudding of the envelope sealed in the jar. It was a handwritten note, dated and signed by her great grandmother! What are the odds?
Ever the storyteller as well as a poet, Butch read from a book of his published poems. The poem told of the agony of a youth growing up on a farm where work was never ending and his father, a farmer with stoic discipline, instilled this work ethic on a then, unappreciative teen. Oh, how he would love to work alongside his father again!
Paula had me biting my lips in worry for her great granddaughter! She displayed an empty bag of frozen blueberries and told how those blueberries led to a harrowing few days after the child devoured nearly the entire bag, capped off with M&Ms. Torn between snickering at that outcome and then cringing at the symptoms that came on later, we all felt great relief when the true culprit behind the little girl’s painful ailment was revealed. Ask Paula.
San played stand-up comedian very well. He told a few stories that brought much laughter and then explained how Parkinson’s sometimes affects his thought to word process. But it was not evident this evening.
Jean brought some examples of her beautiful mosaic works of art. She explained the process she follows, starting with a wooden shape and filling it with colorful glass, ceramic, and jeweled remains of former items. Broken ceramic songbirds perch again and sing to jeweled fields of glass and mirrors and miscellaneous found objects. She uses grout to keep them in place. There was a beautifully done cross that would grace any wall, as well as a fun, but happy pig. When she was working, Jean saw an example of this kind of art and taught herself after she retired.
Patty showed us a treasured old candy tin from the 1930s. Her dad had wooed her mother and his future mother-in-law with a tin of sweets. Inside the tin were actual parts from the 1930s automobile (Sorry, I forgot the year) that he drove at that time. There was the car’s ash tray that had been bolted to the door and the actual hood ornament! Remember when they were prized and unique?
Denise and Roy and Mary all shared things from their pasts. Denise wore and passed around the yellow, but not genuine, sapphire ring that her sister thought she wanted until she found out it wasn’t valuable, Roy showed two toys that many of us had played with back in the day, and Mary talked about losing on Jeopardy.
There were a few moist eyes in the crowd as Jerry spoke of the recovery of a grandchild, and Sam reminded us how important our time together is. Sharing little pieces of our lives lets us get to know one another and care for one another.
Many years ago, I believe it was on Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone or, maybe, One Step Beyond, a group of scientists had found a way to hear the sounds in inanimate objects. They took a lava stone and listened to the eruption of Vesuvius. Just think if rocks could talk!
Ottie Frances Dollins
Ottie Frances Dollins, 85, of Washington, Iowa passed away on March 26, 2025, in Clarendon.
Funeral services were held on Monday, March 31, 2025, at Robertson Saints Roost Chapel with Rev. Anthony Knowles officiating. Burial followed at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon.
Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Ottie was born on September 28, 1939, in Memphis to Robert and Mary Helen (Bland) Williams. She was raised in Clarendon and had five sisters. Ottie married the love of her life, Donald Adams, in November of 1957. They moved to Amarillo in the 60’s before settling in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for 40 years. Ottie worked as an apartment manager during this time. In the early 2000’s, she moved to Oklahoma to help care for her sister until her sister passed. She then moved back to her hometown of Clarendon to live close to family for the next 11 years. Since 2021, Ottie has lived with both of her daughters spending time in Rockwall, TX and most recently, Washington, IA.
Ottie loved crossword puzzles, reading, and playing games. She enjoyed listening to music and dancing. Ottie was strong in her Christian faith and loved the Lord. She was a member of the First Assembly of God church in Clarendon. Ottie’s favorite thing above all was spending time with her grandchildren. She made sure to spend one on one time with each of them.
She is preceded in death by her parents; and four sisters, Marie Skaggs, Sandra Latham, Susan Neighbors, and Carolyn Williams.
She is survived by her two daughters, Donna Fordham of Washington, Iowa, and Diana Adams of Tyler, Texas; sister, Rose Smith and husband Curtis of Clarendon; four grandchildren, Karla Bell of Marina, California, Marcia Foster of Rockwall, Texas, Keith Harper of Washington, Iowa, and Elissa Quinn and husband Lloyd of Pittsburg, Texas; nine great-grandchildren; several nieces; and one nephew.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Ottie Dollins to the National Kidney Foundation of Texas at 5429 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250, Dallas, TX 75240 or at www.kidney.org.
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