Step Up for Kids
Helping out
CJH students compete in GEAR contest
Clarendon Junior High GT students are participating in the GEAR (Get Excited About Robotics) program.
The GEAR program is coordinated by Texas Tech University School of Engineering. Students are given a series of tasks related to robotics and medicine. Their challenge is to build a robot and program it to complete as many tasks as possible in a two-minute time period.
The mission of the GEAR program is to provide an exciting hands-on LEGO robotics challenge to elementary and middle school students with the goal of increasing interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines and improving retention of engineering undergraduate students at Texas Tech. More than 30 schools on the South Plains are participating in the program.
Clarendon is one of two Panhandle schools participating in the program.
Students participated in a Practice Run Event at the Texas Tech Recreational Center on March 23, 2013. Their actual competition day is April 20. The team is led by CJH science teacher Kamy Whatley.
5K to honor Jones’ memory
‘Don’t Take a Chance…’
Runners and walkers will crowd the JA Ranch Road this Saturday to raise awareness about child abuse during the first Chance Mark Jones Memorial 5K Walk/Run.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 180 people had registered for the event. Some of those just want to be supporters of the effort, but organizers believe about 160 people will actually participate in the event, which is coinciding with Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The race will start and end at the Community Fellowship Church and will run along the scenic JA Ranch Road. Sign-ins start at 7 a.m., and the start time is 8 a.m. Participants who have already registered are encouraged to pick up their race packets on Friday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Best Western Red River Inn.
In addition to local participants, the event has drawn numerous runners and walkers from all over the Texas Panhandle and other parts of the state. Participants are registered from as far off as Burkburnett, and sponsorships have come in from as far as San Antonio. Sponsorships are still being accepted to support the race, and proceeds will go towards a playground project that can be enjoyed by all the children of Donley County.
The Clarendon Lions Club is hosting the event in conjunction with the Donley County Child Welfare Board. The race is intended to bring the community together to honor the life of four-year-old Chance Mark Jones, who died on January 5, 2011, after two weeks of abuse by his biological father in a rural home near Clarendon. Jones would have celebrated his seventh birthday on April 11.
Those interested in running or walking in the 5K (a little more than three miles) can sign up the day of the event, but T-shirt supplies are extremely limited. Registrations may also be picked up in person at the Clarendon Visitor Center located at the Mulkey Theatre, 110 S. Kearney.
For information, contact Lion Chandra Eggemeyer at tourism@cityofclarendontx.com or by calling 806.874.2421 or 325.234.3401.
Enterprise honored for raising abuse awareness
Raising awareness about child abuse and coverage of the prosecution of those responsible for the death four-year-old Chance Mark Jones earned The Clarendon Enterprise recognition by the Panhandle Press Association last Saturday, April 6.
The Enterprise was presented with the Ken Towery Community Service Award during the 103rd annual PPA Convention in Amarillo.
“We are humbled and honored to receive this award,” said Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack. “There are some news events that we wish we never had to cover, and certainly the senseless death of a child tops that list. As a community, we must never forget what happened to Chance Mark Jones; and as a paper we will not relent in our effort to make people more aware that child abuse does exist and that we should do everything we can to stop it.”
The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kenneth Towery, who wanted to honor papers who serve their community and who presented PPA with more than $13,000 from himself and other donors to fund the award. Two papers are recognized each year – one small weekly and one large weekly, semi-weekly, or small daily paper – and each paper receives a check for $250.
The Enterprise has donated its award winnings to the Clarendon Lions Club for its project that will purchase playground equipment in Chance’s memory. A memorial 5K Walk/Run is being held this Saturday as a fundraiser for the Lions Club project.
The other community service winner this year was the Moore County News-Press in Dumas for its efforts to raise awareness about bullying.
Also at this year’s annual PPA Better Newspaper Contest, the Enterprise received top honors in its division, earning the General Excellence award along with ten first place plaques in the categories of Headline Writing, Advertising Initiative, Front Page Layout, Spot News Photos (by Roger and Ashlee Estlack), Society & Lifestyles, Feature Stories (by Ashlyn Tubbs and Roger Estlack), Special Sections, Editorials (on the proposed Ten Commandments marker, the role of newspapers defending freedom, and the tone of city politics), Serious Columns (by Roger Estlack), and Best Website.
The Enterprise also picked up third place plaques for Serious Columns (by Fred Gray), News Writing, and Sports Coverage (by Sandy Anderberg and Fred Gray).
The PPA was led this year by Canyon’s Amanda Rogers. She will continue on the PPA board as Immediate Past President with the following officers: Wanda Brooks of Dumas, President; Jeff Blackmon of Shamrock, Vice President; and Roger Estlack of Clarendon, Secretary/Treasurer, along with directors Ashlee Estlack of Clarendon, Debra Wells of Borger, ReDonn Woods of Pampa, Larry Thornton of Muleshoe, and Wayne Hodgin of Post.
Citizens speak up for HISD coach
By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise
Several citizens showed up to address the Hedley ISD Board of Trustees last Tuesday night, April 2, in the wake of the board voting not to renew the contract of Athletic Director and Coach Darrell Wallace.
Wallace, who is finishing his first year at Hedley, was reportedly blindsided when the board considered employee contracts at a March 19 meeting and voted not to accept the superintendent’s recommendation to renew his contract.
Minutes of the March 19 meeting have not been made available, but sources tell the Enterprise that three board members – Dana Bell, Ted Wright, and Mark Howard – voted to accept the recommendation to renew Wallace. But they were opposed by Karen Watt, Tonja Ruthardt, James Edward Potts, and Bonnie Brown.
Five citizens spoke up last week in Wallace’s defense during public comments, and one spoke against him.
Troy Monroe said he didn’t think the board had given Wallace enough time to turn things around, and Katherine Monroe said the issue was not just about Wallace but about the future of the school, the town, and the kids and she questioned the personal motives of the board.
Wallace himself presented four letters from area coaches attesting to his character and the work he has done at Hedley.
“I want to bring something positive to Hedley, and these letters show that I’ve done what you hired me to do,” Wallace told the board, reminding them that he was asked to focus on discipline when he was hired.
“We’ve lost one more game in football than last year and won two more in basketball,” he said. “So this isn’t about wins and losses as much as we would like it to be.”
Hedley teacher Linda Naylor said she objected to Wallace taking credit for all the good things happening in terms of discipline and said she had heard numerous complaints about the coach from parents. Most serious, she said, was an allegation of Wallace being angry and driving recklessly in a school bus following a game loss.
Superintendent Bill Sanders began to answer Naylor, noting that this complaint had never been brought to him, but board member James Edward Potts cut him off and said that the superintendent was not a member of the board and not allowed to speak.
Sanders then signed in as a member of the public and later called complaints against Wallace “phantom allegations.”
Hedley coach Garrett Baines gave an impassioned talk in support of Wallace, calling him a man of high moral character.
Enterprise reporter Fred Gray asked board members why they had voted to non-renew Wallace. Board member Karen Watt said the board had not voted to “non-renew” Wallace. Instead, she said, they were considering contracts for renewal, and when they came to Wallace’s, they simply voted three “for” and four “against.”
Gray then asked to see the minutes from the March 19 meeting, but he was told they had not been approved by the board.
Gray asked for the reason Wallace was not renewed. Board members responded that the discussion had been in closed session, and Potts said the reason was “nobody’s business.”
No action regarding Wallace was taken following the public comments. The board is scheduled to meet again next Tuesday, April 16.
Editorial: HISD should keep focus on town’s future
“May you live in interesting times” is how the old Chinese curse goes, and nothing better describes last week’s meeting of the Hedley School Board of Trustees than “interesting.”
Word had earlier in the day reached the Enterprise that Athletic Director Darrell Wallace had been “non-renewed” during the previous board meeting, but that in and of itself didn’t raise any red flags with us. Coaches are, after all, “non-renewed” all the time across Texas.
But then we asked for the minutes of the March meeting and learned they were “unavailable.” That got this newspaper’s interest, and it got the editor on the road for the next meeting.
Is Darrell Wallace a good man or a good coach? Never having met the man until last Tuesday, your humble editor can’t answer that question with any direct knowledge.
What this column can answer though is that the public and the press have a right to see the minutes of any of our local boards, and it doesn’t matter whether those minutes have been “approved” by said board or not. Once the board’s secretary puts pen to paper in taking the official minutes that becomes a public record subject to the Texas Public Information Act (also known as the Open Records Act).
The minutes were again asked for during the meeting, but our representative was not given those minutes. But more troubling than that was the attitude exhibited by some board members that the public and certainly the media was not entitled to know why Coach Wallace had been dismissed. Board member James Edwards Potts even went so far as to say that he didn’t “have much use for any of the Donley County media anyway.”
He’s entitled to his opinion, but we’re entitled to the minutes. And at press time, we still don’t have them.
We have, however, filed a formal Open Records request with the school, and we expect that they will be made available very soon.
The silly thing about the whole fiasco is that we don’t really expect to learn much from the minutes. All we wanted to know was the wording of the motion and the recorded vote of those in favor and against.
What we did learn came from the behavior of the board itself where there seems to be a pretty strong split between the trustees themselves and a lot of animosity from at least one board member toward the superintendent.
And of course there was also several very unhappy residents who voiced their support for their coach and their concern about the state of the board.
For a town like Hedley, the school is the community in a very real sense, and the trustees need to take heed that they are not there to serve just their own interests but the long-term interest of Hedley’s very identity.
Interesting times indeed.
Lady Broncos clean up on Booker
By Sandy Anderberg
The Lady Broncos made a big statement in their quest for post-season play Friday at Booker, defeating them 7-4 and earning a key district win. Head coach Gary Jack was pleased with the win especially after a heartbreaking loss to Follett earlier in the week.
“Jency Burton did a great job pitching and hitting for us,” Jack said. “Taylor Gaines had the big hit of the game with an inside the park home run. It was a tough game with tough wind conditions at 30 mph.”
Also doing a good job at the plate was Maci White, Skyler White, Audrey Shelton, and Haley Ferguson. Shelton was also behind the plate catching for Burton.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Broncos fell to Follett 0-13. Follett was able to get the early advantage on the ladies in the first inning of play. After holding them to no runs in the next two, the ladies allowed their opponent to open the game up in the fourth.
“We never got anything going and their pitcher was just too good that day,” Jack said.
The Lady Broncos are currently 9-3 on the year and 5-2 in District play. They will take on Claude at home on Saturday, April 13, at 2:00 p.m.
Broncos come up one run short
By Sandy Anderberg
The Broncos had things rolling in their match up with a state-ranked team, but were unable to get their bats going at a crucial time in their 5-6 loss to Booker last week.
“(We) missed a golden opportunity to beat the #8 ranked team in the state and move into a tie for first place,” coach Brad Elam said. “We had the lead until the third inning and needed a couple of crucial hits to retake the lead but were unable to get them.”
According to Elam, the Broncos scored all five of their runs in the first four innings and failed to get anybody across the plate in the last three. Despite the loss, the Broncos played hard and several players ended the game with decent stats.
Dusty Rice reached base all three times including an RBI double and scored one run. Dillon Nickell reached base twice with one RBI and two scored runs. Ryan Isbell had an RBI, and Diego Santos and Chance McAnear each scored runs.
“We are just not getting the big hits when we need them, and we are making too many errors,” Elam said. “We made six costly errors that resulted in most of their runs. (But) Adam Topper pitched another excellent game.”
The Broncos defeated Follett 5-4 earlier in the week with Rice getting the win.
The Broncos will take on Claude at home on Saturday, April 13, at noon and travel to Shamrock on Tuesday, April 16, at 4:00 p.m.
Lady Broncos fair well at District meet
By Sandy Anderberg
Audrey Shelton, Sarah Luttrell, Jentry Shadle, and Amanda Powell all claimed a first place finish in their respective events in the District track meet held in Panhandle last week.
The Lady Bronco team finished second behind Panhandle with 137 total points. Shelton claimed gold twice in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs with a time of 12:37.17 in the 3200 and a time of 5:45.12 in the 1600.
Luttrell topped the field in the 100-meter dash with a finals time of 13.34, and Shadle took the top honor in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.90. Powell bested everyone in the 300-meter hurdles to claim first at 48.45. The Lady Bronco 800-meter relay ran second to Panhandle with a time of 1:55.05.
Members of the relay are Glory Bryley, Amelia Weatherton, Luttrell, and Deborah Howard. The top four finishers in each event earned the right to advance to the Area Meet to be held Friday, April 12, in Panhandle.
Individual results: shot put: McKayla Cartwright 2nd 34’3 ¾”, Karlee Adams 9th 23’11 ¼”; discus: Cartwright 2nd 93’3”, Adams 10th 53’; high jump: Powell 2nd 4’6”; long jump: Luttrell 16’9 ½”; triple jump: Howard 5th 30’6”; 800-meter dash: Samantha Sanderson 7th; 300-hurdles: Shadle 6th 56.48; 100-meter hurdles: Powell 2nd 17.45, Emberli Holland 7th 20.41; 100-meter dash: Weatherton 3rd 13.72, Bryley 4th 13.81; 400-meter dash: Abby Johnson 3rd 1:07.52, Sanderson 6th 1:10.00; 200-meter dash: Luttrell 3rd 26.99, Johnson 4th 28.95, Bryley 6th 28.46; JV: Maria Urfels 3200 14:12.01 and 1600 22.99.
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