Crash landing
Brenda Joyce Graham
Brenda Joyce Graham, 63, of Claude died Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012.
Memorial services were at 2 p.m. Sunday in Church of Christ in Clarendon with Carroll Thomason officiating. Arrangements are by Cox Funeral Home, 4180 Canyon Drive.
Brenda was born March 21, 1949, in Memphis to Johnnie and Cleo Driver. She was raised in Lesley and graduated from Lakeview High School. She married Keith Graham on Feb. 19, 1966, in Memphis. Brenda worked at the Hall County ASCS office in Memphis for more than 10 years before going to work for the Texas Prison System at the Clements Unit in Amarillo as a corrections officer. She worked there for 20 years and was employed there at the time of her death.
Brenda was a hard working, honest and faithful woman to her Lord and family. She loved being with her family and took great joy in cooking for them. Most of all, she loved being Maw to her precious grandchildren. She will also be remembered for her willingness to help others, for her big heart and her laugh.
She was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Macelanie Joyce Graham; her parents; a brother, Floy Lee Driver; and a sister, Edith Houdashell.
Survivors include her husband, Keith Graham of Claude; a daughter, Leslie White and husband Bret of Clarendon; a son, Mark Graham and wife Cene’e of Amarillo; a brother, Lester Driver of Levelland; a sister, Betty Ann Hudgins of Burns Flat, Okla.; and four grandchildren, Maci, Brice, Skyler and Briss.
Betty Sue Thomas
Betty Sue Thomas, 83, died Saturday, December 15, 2012, in Amarillo, Texas.
Services were held Tuesday, December 18, 2012, in the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon with Rev. Larry Capranica and Pastor Lavon Thompson, officiating. Burial followed in Llano Cemetery in Amarillo. Arrangements were under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Betty was born December 17, 1928, in Vernon to Ralph and Masel McDuff. She married John Wesley “Wes” Thomas on December 15, 1950, in Plainview. She had been a longtime resident of Amarillo before moving to Clarendon in 1986. She had 3 hobbies/addictions horses, books, and chocolate. She also loved Snapple peach tea. She was a woman of faith and loved her family dearly. She had been involved with the Humane Society in Amarillo and was a member of the Donley County Senior Citizens and the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon.
She was preceded in death by her parents; and a son, Jim Travis Thomas.
She is survived by her husband, Wes Thomas of Clarendon; 2 sons, Lightin McDuff and wife Debbie Carey and John Thomas and wife Beckey of Amarillo; a daughter, Debra Reece and husband Ricky of Amarillo; a sister, Tommie Lu Privitt of Farmersville; 9 grandchildren, J.W. Thomas, Karlee Creek, Jacob Thomas, Dylan Reece, Matt Thomas, April Carey, Jessica Thomas, Jamie Ross, and Josh Arnett; 12 great grandchildren; and 1 great great grandchild.
The family request memorials be sent to Community Fellowship Church or the VFW both in Clarendon.
Tornados damage two areas
Two tornadoes touched down in Donley County last Friday, December 14, and made the record books not for their severity but for their rarity.
Clarendon Fire Chief Jeremy Powell said the weather service noted that the two twisters were the only ones recorded to have touched down in the month of December in the Amarillo area since 1950.
Weather officials categorized the tornadoes as EF-0 in strength with winds up to 80 mph.
Produced by a fast moving storm, the first twister touched down at 4:53 p.m. five miles southeast of Clarendon near the residence of Ernest Barbee. The storm blew half the shingles off the Barbee house, and ripped the doors and part of the roof off a barn. Outbuildings were flattened, but a nearby trampoline was unmoved.
The storm produced another twister five minutes later one mile north northwest of Lelia Lake near the home of Larry Helms. The tornado damaged trees and said irrigation pipe was tossed around.
Editorial: Little was a good man for our city
The Clarendon Board of Aldermen fired a good man last week. He wasn’t always popular, he wasn’t always right, but he was a good man, and our city is worse off without him.
Lambert Little came to Clarendon two years ago, and he inherited a mess. He did the best he could to work his way through that; and despite what you may hear on the street, he was making progress. No man – or woman – could solve all of this city’s problems in a year or two, but Lambert was trying to do what he could with what he was given.
Over the past several months I’ve heard a lot of scurrilous comments and baseless accusations about Lambert, many of those from people who haven’t spent much time with the man. People love to talk. There’s no doubt about that. But you’d be surprised about what you can learn if you take the time to get to know someone.
In my position, I strive to learn the facts. Not what the folks on Facebook or at the coffee shop claim to know, but the facts as they are. When I hear a rumor about the city or county or school, I pick up the phone or go by the appropriate administrative office and find out the facts.
As such, I have had cause to go visit with Lambert in his office to find out the facts on different issues. I’ve also visited with him in my position with the Clarendon Economic Development Board and as a citizen. Lambert and I have not always agreed on everything, and, in fact, strongly disagreed about some things. But at the end of the day, we parted on friendly terms.
After the terrible way he was let go 12 days before Christmas, I think it is important for you to know what kind of city administrator you did have and some of the things that he accomplished while he was here. I write this knowing full well that I probably will forget something, but here it goes in no particular order.
Lambert got this city to set goals. This is huge, as he would say, because it hadn’t really be done before. The board met in a called session one Saturday (I believe it was in 2010) and talked about what they wanted for Clarendon and how they were going to get there. I was the only member of the public to attend the meeting, and it was truly a high point for our Board of Aldermen. After a list of short and long term goals were set, Lambert started trying to make them happen.
He hired a code compliance officer to try to improve our city by cleaning it up and making people aware of the rules that we are to live by. The first one didn’t work out, he was let go, and a new one was hired amidst some controversy. But regardless, last week the board was presented with an impressive list of activities that the code officer and the municipal court has undertaken in the last month. Things are moving, and we are beginning to see the results of that.
Early on Lambert thought the city needed a new professional look, so he commissioned my wife, Ashlee, to design a new city logo at no cost to the city. The board adopted the logo, and it has come into common use now. Most people may not realize the significance of that, but branding and marketing is an important part of growing a community. Lambert knew that, and he understood that image and perception is a reality in a many people’s minds.
Along those same lines, Lambert conceived the idea of combining the city’s tourism efforts and the EDC’s work by creating a new position. The city and EDC boards embraced the idea, and Lambert led the search that resulted in Chandra Eggemeyer being hired this year to head up a new tourism and economic development office that is housed in the old Mulkey barbershop.
Lambert worked on a grant that got us a new (to us) trash truck, and he worked every day to try to find ways to spend the city’s money wisely.
He undertook a paving project on Fourth Street that was universally declared a flop, but the citizens still trusted him enough to approve a bond election for $700,000 to take on a new street paving project. That was later doubled when the board approved adding another $700,000 worth of water and sewer improvements to the project.
The city has had cordial relations with the Donley County Sheriff’s Office under Little, which is something that was soured by the previous administrator.
Responding to complaints about brown water, Little, with the board’s permission, contracted an engineer to study the city’s water system and make recommendations for improvements over the long term. The final report of that $25,000 investment isn’t even done yet, but it should show the way forward to address the problems that so many citizens have had for years.
Lambert was involved in our community like no other city administrator has been. He joined the Lions Club and volunteered for a vacant third vice president’s position and was to be our Boss Lion next summer. In fact, he volunteered every chance he got, putting out flags when other members couldn’t and providing programs for our weekly meetings.
Lambert, above all, was a gentleman, and those are in short supply these days. He was the type who would remove his hat when he met a lady, and he was always pleasant to be around. And with 20 years of municipal experience, he was a bargain for his salary of $50,000 plus benefits.
There is more that Lambert did, but I’m short on space. Suffice it to say, that I believe he was just hitting his stride in Clarendon, and if we could have only held on to him, we could have accomplished many great things.
But now we are set back… again.
Clarendon Aldermen terminate Little
City Administrator Lambert Little was terminated on a 3-1 vote by the Clarendon Board of Aldermen last Thursday, December 13.
Following a heated discussion between aldermen that elicited shouts and comments from the more than 20 citizens in attendance, Alderman Tommy Hill made the motion to terminate Little’s employment immediately and to compensate him for accumulated sick leave and vacation time. Alderman Jesus Hernandez seconded the motion, and Alderman Abby Patten joined in voting for the measure. Alderman Will Thompson voted in opposition.
Little then stood up, shook each alderman’s hand, boxed up his office, and left City Hall as the meeting continued.
Mayor Larry Hicks gave a statement to the Enterprise this week regarding the firing.
“I’m really sorry that it happened, but we are moving on and getting our feet on the ground,” Hicks said. “We will see that things get done, and the door is open if citizens want to come talk to us.”
It was standing room only at last week’s meeting as approximately 23 members of the public attended, including two former mayors and two former city aldermen.
Three people addressed the board prior to the meeting, including Joe Hall, former mayor Tex Selvidge, and Walt Knorpp.
Hall spoke out against micromanaging and in-fighting among the members of the board, and said Clarendon needs a city administrator.
“We hired this man. You hired this man. Let the man do his job,” Hall said.
Selvidge, who served as mayor longer than anyone in the city’s history, gave a lecture to the board based on his experience, including his time serving with Alderman Patten’s grandmother, the late Shirley Clifford, who he said was one of the best aldermen and mayors that Clarendon ever had.
“Y’all have a right to disagree,” Selvidge said. “Everyone of you have your own opinion, but when that vote is taken, dadgumit, let it be. And if the city administrator… if you can’t lead us, then maybe it’s time for you to look for another job. If you aldermen, if you can’t lead us, then maybe it’s time for you to get off and find someone who can.”
Selvidge said everyone is in this together and then warned the board not to appoint someone with an agenda to former alderman Terry Noble’s vacant position. He told everyone to vote their hearts, but when the majority has decided, to let it go and move on.
Walt Knorpp said he represented a group of businessmen who realized they had become remiss in attending the meetings of the city, the school, the college, and other boards, and he said those businessmen committed themselves to attending more of the local meetings.
“Each of these entities and the decisions they make will have an impact on the city as a whole and on each of our businesses whether it be directly or indirectly,” he said.
Knorpp then urged and requested the board to consider Clarendon native Sandy Skelton for Noble’s former position.
As the meeting progressed, the board took up appointing someone for the vacant seat, and Aldermen Thompson moved to appoint Skelton, but the motion failed for a lack of a second. The board then voted 3-1 to table consideration of this matter until the next meeting.
The board then began consideration of Little’s employment status with the city. Little was on a 90-day probation with the city following his annual evaluation by the board in October. Alderman Hill moved to go into executive session on this topic, but Little said he was comfortable staying in open session.
Discussion was opened by Hill who said the day to day operations were not being done “lawfully, efficiently, effectively, and ethically.”
Mayor Hicks stopped Hill and asked the alderman if he was saying that Little had broken laws. Hill recalled a time when bids were opened prior to the board meeting, but the mayor said the rules were followed.
Hill said he believed the law requires bids to be opened in front of the council and called for the city secretary to get the municipal law book, but he could not find the particular passage in the law book.
Hicks said in his time with the housing authority it was common for bids to be opened outside the presence of the housing authority board as long as the bid was not opened before the specified time.
“But that’s totally different,” Hill said. “That’s government money, and this is city… this is taxpayers’ money.”
Then Hill said to “forget the law part” and began criticizing Little for not getting out of the office more and also for using his personal laptop computer in his city office. Thompson interjected that he didn’t see the problem with that if he was using the laptop for city business because he (Thompson) uses his personal tablet computer for college business. Hill said Little was communicating with colleagues on the laptop, and Thompson said the administrator communicates with colleagues on city business and he was probably taking the laptop home and doing city work at home.
“William, you don’t see what’s going on,” Hill said to Thompson.
“I will admit I don’t tailgate the city employees or post myself at the local store to watch them go in and out of the City Barn,” Thompson said.
Patten then opened a line of discussion regarding comments in the community that people around town don’t want the city micromanaged but things aren’t being tended to. She also complained about comments made on Facebook, which prompted the mayor to say that she “needed to get some thicker skin.”
Patten responded, “Oh, I’m not the one who went to an alderman’s parents, but I’m the one who needs thicker skin?”
She then said that citizens concerns weren’t being addressed and particularly noted the elevator installed on the front of City Hall. Patten also questioned whether Little, under the city ordinances, could delegate his authority to hire and fire. Little said he felt like he did have that authority.
“I’m the boss,” Little said. “If I want to do that, that’s what I’m going to do. It’s a personnel issue, and that’s my deal.”
At one point in the discussion, the mayor asked for a show of hands from those in attendance who were in support of Little, and the majority raised their hands.
Hill said he keeps hearing that the board is micromanaging and said Little was the one micromanaging. The mayor responded that Little’s job is to manage. Hill then said if every citizen knew what was going on, “they would have a heart attack, but all they know is what they read in the paper.”
Patten said she agreed the city needs an administrator but that the city needs more communication and less riff raff between citizens.
Little then asked if he wasn’t the right man for the job, to let him go.
“Please just terminate me and put me out of my misery,” Little said, and Hill made the motion to do so.
The firing prompted outbursts from the public, and former alderman Ann Huey was recognized to speak by the mayor over the objections of Alderman Hill.
“I feel very strongly about what just happened,” Huey said. “It is a repeat of what we’ve already gone through. Who are we going to get in here to run this city? We have lost three city administrators because of this man (Hill) and the people he has complained to and who have supported him. It is disgraceful.”
In other city business, the board approved an agreement for tax collection services with the Donley County Appraisal District, approved a corrected contract with the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation to manage the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax funds, approved the CEDC’s budget for those tax funds, authorized implementation of an emergency notification system through the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, approved revisions to the employee policy manual, and canceled the next regular meeting scheduled for December 25.
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