Morgan Wheatly

Three finalists were named by the Clarendon College Board of Regents in the search for CC’s next president last week.

Following a closed session at the board’s September 26 meeting, Regents named three candidates as finalists and on-campus interviews are being scheduled this month.

The candidates in alphabetical order are:

• Dr. Robert Riza, Vice President of Student Services at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas.

• Dr. Steve Rook, Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs at Rich Mountain Community College in Mena, Ark.

• Dr. Gary Stretcher, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lamar State College in Port Arthur, Texas. Stretcher was also a finalist for president of CC in 2010.

An independent search committee reviewed completed applications from 12 candidates and advanced four names to the board. Regents then unanimously narrowed that pool of candidates to three.

Individual interviews will be held on October 16, 17, and 18; and the public is invited to meet the candidates on those dates during receptions and public forums from 11 a.m. to noon at the Bairfield Activity Center.

Regents will announce the selection of the next CC president at their board meeting on October 24.

In other college business last week, Regents ratified the hiring of the following employees: part time cheerleading coach Andrea Leggett, part time golf coach Daniel Burcham, part time testing clerk Celeste Whitesides, bookstore manager Lauraine Paul, and director of student life Debra Lamb.

After weathering a severe West Texas storm, the J Bar D Ranch of Amarillo bested 15 other teams to win the 19th annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff last Saturday, September 28.

Officials with the Saints’ Roost Museum, which sponsors the event, said they fed about 600 people at the cookoff, compared to more than 700 people last year when 17 wagons competed.

The J Bar D, led by head cook Don Johnson, won the champion bean pot after earning the first place wagon and camp, fourth place overall cooking, first place potatoes, and fourth place bread.

The sixth annual Junior Cookoff the day before the big event drew 14 contestants, who were paired with experienced wagon teams to prepare potatoes for the cooks’ dinner Friday night. Darcie Hunsaker from Clarendon won first place and was teamed with the Wagon Rangers Team.

Ethan Babcock of Clarendon was second with the C4B Team, and Boe Boedeker from Lockney was third with the CO Ranch Team.

Following the Junior Cookoff, 160 people enjoyed a delicious steak dinner Friday night on the museum grounds, 40 less than the year before.

The invitation-only event was held exclusively for Chuckwagon teams and members of the Museum and their families. Immediately following the Friday evening meal, a terrible storm hit Clarendon, ripped several chuckwagon flies, and delayed the next day’s cookoff by one hour.

The trade show was held throughout the day Saturday, and live entertainment was provided. Museum tours were led by the Clarendon High School Junior Historians. Relatives of Chuckwagon inventor Charles Goodnight also were present for their annual reunion.

The 16 wagons served a menu of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, beans, and cobbler. Prizes totaling $3,250 were paid out to the winners.

Complete results were:

Overall Wagon & Cooking: 1) J Bar D Ranch of Amarillo.

Overall Cooking: 1) Rising W Chuckwagon of Happy, 2) HX Ranch of Lubbock, 3) Crosstimbers Ranch of Mustang, Okla., and 4) J Bar D.

Best Wagon & Camp: 1) J Bar D 2) C4B Chuckwagon of Amarillo 3) Grubelnik Ranch of Lubbock, and 4) Wagon Rangers of Amarillo.

Best Meat: 1) Cross Wagon of Vega, 2) HX Ranch, 3) Rising W, and 4) CO Ranch of Quanah.

Best Beans: 1) Grubelnik, 2) Crosstimbers, 3) Rising W, and 4) Solano Wagon Company of San Jon, New Mexico.

Best Potatoes: 1) J Bar D, 2) CO Ranch, 3) Solano, and 4) Crosstimbers.

Best Bread: 1) HX Ranch, 2) Rising W, 3) C4B, and 4) J Bar D.

Best Dessert: 1) T Half Circle of Silverton, 2) Rising W, 3) Cocklebur Camp of Odessa, and 4) Crosstimbers.

David Pace of Andrews, Texas, was the winner of the Kevin Johnson handmade spurs, and the Pearce Foundry West of Memphis again made the commemorative cast iron bean pot taken home by the cookoff winning team.

Clarendon Mayor Larry Hicks said today (Sept. 25) that the city will not be ratifying its 2014 tax rate until November.

A story in this week’s Enterprise reports that City Hall had posted agendas for nine called meetings beginning Thursday, September 26, in a continuing effort to get the necessary supermajority quorum to ratify its 2014 tax rate. But events changed as the paper went to press, and the mayor now says that the meetings remain posted but that he does not expect anyone to show up and he doesn’t plan to be there.

“It’s a useless action, and I’ve told (the appraisal district) to go on and run the tax roll without the city,” Hicks said.

With a no action by the Board of Aldermen, which has been non-functioning since three members resigned in June, the city’s tax rate defaults to the same 65 cents per $100 valuation which has been in place since 2008. The rate still must be ratified by four aldermen in order to take effect, City Hall says.

A holdover provision in the Texas Constitution stipulates that a city councilperson who resigns or otherwise vacates their seat shall continue to serve in that capacity until their successor is elected or appointed. A called meeting on September 16 was canceled. Another called meeting Monday, September 23, was attended by Mayor Larry Hicks, Aldermen Will Thompson and Sandy Skelton, and resigned alderman Debbie Roberts, but the meeting was still one short of the necessary four aldermen.

Alderman Thompson said Monday night that “bad blood” made getting the needed supermajority quorum very difficult. Hicks said he spoke with Thompson and Skelton, who both agreed it was better to wait until November.

Donley Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Paula Lowrie said today that a combined tax notice for all other local entities will be mailed to property owners in early October. A separate notice for city taxes will be mailed in November after new members are elected to the board of aldermen.

 Family fun and old West heritage is in store this weekend when the 19th annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff is held on the grounds of the Saints’ Roost Museum.

Seventeen wagons are scheduled to compete for top prizes, and other activities include the dedication of an arrow sculpture marking the Museum’s location on the Quanah Parker Trail.

Several wagons will arrive early to host students from Clarendon, Hedley, and area schools for a day of learning about the chuckwagon and cooking the cowboy-way over an open fire.

Friday afternoon will also include the junior cookoff, which pairs kids, ages 8-17, with mentors on participating wagon teams to learn the ropes of cooking over an open fire. Junior cooks will be preparing a dish for Friday’s Chuckwagon cooks’ dinner. The recipe will be left to the discretion of the cooks and their mentors, and prizes will be given to the first, second, and third place winners that night.

The big day for the cookoff will be Saturday when the wagons square off to battle for top prizes.

The tradeshow starts at 10 a.m., and museum tours by the CHS Junior Historians will be available throughout the day. Local and area entertainers will also be performing.

The authentic wagons will serve at 1 p.m. with the traditional chicken fried steak dinner, and other activities include raffles for a pair of Kevin Johnson Handmade Spurs and a hay auction.

Admission is free. Tickets for the authentic Chuckwagon meal are $15 each and can be purchased in advance at Every Nook & Cranny or Donley County State Bank or by calling (806)874-3581.

The City of Clarendon will fog seal approximately 58 blocks of paved streets next week in an effort to protect those roads from water damage in the future.

The $40,000 project will focus on streets that were paved in the last ten years with 45 blocks on the west side of town and parts of 13 blocks on the east side.

The project will take two days, and the contractor will do about half the project each day, beginning Tuesday, October 1, and starting on the west side of town.

City officials are asking residents on the streets depicted on the adjacent map to move any parked vehicles off those roads next Tuesday and Wednesday so the project can be completed. Cars left on those streets may be towed.

Contractor G.W. James of Pampa says a fog seal is a mixture of 40 percent asphalt and 60 percent water that is sprayed on the pavement surface to seal cracks.

Although not as long-lasting as a traditional tar and gravel seal coat, this more economical measure will provide some protection for the streets to keep water from getting into the pavement.

The seal sprays on like water, but the water evaporates out of the mixture leaving the asphalt behind, James said.

The affected streets will be barricaded as they are sealed, and the mixture dries in about four hours, city officials say.

 Donley County Commissioners approved a $2.1 million budget for fiscal year 2014 during a called meeting Monday.

No members of the public showed up during an open hearing prior to the vote.

Commissioners unanimously approved setting the county’s total tax rate at $0.632279 per $100 valuation, which is an increase of a little more than three cents over the current rate.

Among the changes in this year’s budget is the creation of a $20,000 Preservation Maintenance Program for capital improvements to the Courthouse. County Judge Jack Hall briefly addressed items of concern regarding the 1890 building, which was the completely restored ten years ago. Hall said the county would need to replace a rusted electrical conduit in the Courthouse basement and also need to address moisture that is seeping through the south basement wall.

Commissioners were also expected to consider a tax abatement for Cielo Wind Power for a proposed wind farm in the northeastern part of the county. Cielo was not ready for this week’s meeting, county officials said, but they expect to be ready to appear before the court next month.

Clarendon High School graduate Lydia Howard, Class of 2013, will be inducted into the Clarendon High School Science Hall of Fame Friday, September 27, at 5:30 p.m. in room 106 of the high school.

Lydia had many accomplishments during her high school career, winning two overall district championships (one as a freshman), three district Chemistry championships, three district Biology championships, a district Physics championship, five overall championships from large invitational meets, a UIL Regional Chemistry championship, a TMSCA State Chemistry championship, and two top-ten finishes at the State UIL Academic Meet in Austin.

Lydia holds Clarendon school records in virtually every category of UIL Science competition in invitational, district, regional, and state meets. Lydia also excelled in UIL Literary competition, winning invitational and district meets and the state title in Headline Writing.

For her accomplishments she was a featured student in the Amarillo Globe-News “Spotlight on Academics” section of the paper.

Lydia is the daughter of Bruce and Gwynne Howard of Hedley and the granddaughter of Jim and Sammie Howard of Amarillo and Ila Jane Gale of Overland Park, Kansas. She is currently pursuing an education degree from Amarillo College. The public is welcome to attend the ceremony this Friday.