Morgan Wheatly

A divided Clarendon Board of Aldermen threw the brakes on a proposed tax increase for city property owners and eliminated an expansion of health benefits for city employees last week following two contentious public hearings held earlier.

City officials were meeting again as the Enterprise went to press Tuesday night where they were expected to formally adopt the budget for fiscal year 2013 and maintain the current ad valorem tax rate of 65 cents per $100 valuation. Visit www.ClarendonLive.com for the latest information.

In a budget workshop on September 20, Mayor Larry Hicks told the board it was time to make their final decisions about the tax rate and the budget so city officials could draft the final document that was to be considered this week.

Aldermen had left a similar workshop two nights earlier with what seemed to be a consensus to set the tax rate at 67 cents, which was five cents below what City Administrator Lambert Little had asked for and two cents lower than the 69 cents that the board had finally proposed last month on a 3-2 vote with Aldermen Terry Noble, Abby Patten, and Will Thompson in favor and Aldermen Tommy Hill and Jesus Hernandez against.

At the September 20 meeting, Hicks asked each alderman to air their concerns or thoughts on the tax rate or the budget. Noble said he was fine with what they had before them, but Hernandez said he wanted a 65-cent tax rate.

Hill argued against raising taxes because of economic hard times locally and around the world, and Thompson said he feared not raising taxes would throw the city back into a situation it found itself in a few years ago where it was having to dip into reserves to make its payroll. Patten said raising taxes was hard for her because she had heard from many people against it.

Without taking a formal action, the mayor asked for a show of hands about the tax rate. Thompson and Noble supported the 67-cent rate while Hill, Hernandez, and Patten favored keeping the rate at 65 cents.

A similar pattern emerged regarding expanding employee health benefits to include dental and vision insurance. The proposed budget did not include raises for city employee wages or salaries but did include a $6,000 line item that would have provided dental and vision benefits.

Hill said he didn’t think that mattered to the employees, Thompson said he thought the employees were the city’s best asset and should be taken care of and that it did matter to them, and Patten said the city had stated employees would not be given a raise and yet the expansion of benefits is a raise.

Hicks again asked for a show of hands. Thompson and Noble supported adding the dental and vision benefit while Hill, Hernandez, and Patten opposed the plan.

With no other points of contention in the budget at that time, the aldermen adjourned and were to meet September 25 to adopt the 65-cent tax rate and the budget, which calls for a increase in trash and sewer rates of about five percent.

Two Donley County criminal cases were resolved when the 100th District Court met in Panhandle September 20, and additional local cases were heard in Childress on September 17.

In Panhandle, District Attorney Luke Inman, assisted by Scott Sherwood, prosecuted the cases for the State of Texas with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.

Larry Mario Jaramillo was placed on probation for a period of ten years for the first degree felony offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Jaramillo pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for the offense.

Jaramillo, 38-year-old resident of Lelia Lake, was arrested in Donley County for the offense that took place April 1, 2012 and was indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on June 27, 2012. The sexual assault investigation was conducted by Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Jaramillo is required to pay a $5,000 fine to Donley County, and is also required to pay $689 in court costs, and complete 100 hours of community service. If Jaramillo violates probation, he could face up to 99 years or life in TDCJ.

Nicholas Ryan Clubb was placed on probation for a period of five years for the second degree felony offense of burglary of a habitation. Clubb pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for the offense.

Clubb, 27-year-old resident of Hedley, was arrested in Donley County for the offense that took place March 9, 2012 and was indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on June 27, 2012. The burglary cases were investigated by the Donley Chief Deputy Randy Bond, and was assisted by James Palmateer from the Memphis Police Department.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Clubb is required to pay a $4,000 fine to Donley County, and is also required to pay $473 in court costs, and complete 100 hours of community service. If Clubb violates probation, he could face up to 20 years in TDCJ.

The court met in Childress September 17 with Inman prosecuting and Messer presiding.

Harley Renee Echols was placed on probation for a period of four years for two felony offenses, both of which included burglaries. Echols pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for the offenses.

Echols, 19-year-old resident of Hedley, committed the first felony offense of burglary of a building, a state jail felony offense, on June 21, 2012. The second felony offense occurred on June 30, 2012, which was a second degree burglary of a habitation.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn and Deputy Jay Longan conducted the burglary investigations.

Echols pleaded guilty to a complaint and information filed by the State on September 14, 2012.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Echols is required to pay a $4,000 fine to Donley County, required to pay $946 in court costs, $250 restitution, and complete 300 hours of community service. If Echols violates probation, she could face up to 20 years in the Institutional Division of the TDCJ.

Danielle Sandifer Moffitt (a.k.a. Patricia Danielle Sandefur) was placed on probation for a period of three years for the state jail felony offense of forgery. Moffitt pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for the offense.

Moffitt, a resident of Clarendon, was arrested in Donley County for the offense that took place August 15, 2012. Moffitt pleaded guilty to information filed by the State on September 17, 2012.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Moffitt is required to pay a $2,500 fine to Donley County, $473 in court costs, $3,950.65 in restitution, and complete 100 hours of community service. If Moffitt violates probation, she could face up to two years in the State Jail Division of TDCJ.

Armando Romero was placed on probation for a period of three years for the state jail felony offense of possession of marihuana. Romero pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for the offense.

Romero, was arrested in Hall County for the offense that took place June 30, 2011. Romero pleaded guilty to an information filed by the State on October 27, 2011.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Romero is required to pay a $2,500 fine to Hall County, $376 in court costs, $140 in restitution, and complete 100 hours of community service. If Romero violates probation, he could face up to two years in the State Jail Division of TDCJ.

A new bar has been set after the 18th annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff attracted a huge crowd of participants and attendees last Saturday, and last year’s winning cookoff team left again with the bean pot.

Officials with the Saints’ Roost Museum, which sponsors the event, said Monday they fed more than 700 people, which is among the highest – if not the highest – in the cookoff’s history. By comparison, the museum fed 550 last year. The number of wagons was also up with 18 registered and 17 showing up to compete at the event.

“As far as I recall this is the best we’ve ever done,” said Museum Board Member Lindy Craft. “We had a lot of people from out of town, particularly Amarillo and Pampa, and we had a bigger trade show.”

Craft said the museum had only 90 tickets still available when the gates opened, and those were gone quickly. The event coinciding with Clarendon High School’s homecoming this year was also a plus as several class reunions were being held in town.

The C Bar C Ranch Team from Hartley gave a repeat of their 2011 performance by winning the cookoff for a second year in a row. Led by head cook Sue Cunningham, the team had the first place dessert as well as first place in Overall Cooking on the way to racking up enough points to win the Best Overall award.

The fifth annual Junior Cookoff the day before the big event drew eleven contestants, who were paired with experienced wagon teams to prepare potatoes for the cooks’ dinner Friday night. Darci Hunsaker from Clarendon won first place and was teamed with the JL Cattle Cooking Team. Emily Johnson of Clarendon was second with the T-Half Circle Cooking Team, and Hannah Hommel of Clarendon was third with the Palo Duro Cowboy Church Team.

Following the Junior Cookoff, 200 people enjoyed a delicious steak dinner Friday night on the museum grounds, 30 more than the year before. The invitation-only event was held exclusively for Chuckwagon teams and members of the Museum and their families.

The trade show was held throughout the day, 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 seventeen 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) C Bar C Ranch of Hartley.

Overall Cooking: 1) C Bar C, 2) JL Cattle Co. of Abilene, 3) Cross Wagon of Vega, and 4) the T Half Circle Wagon of Silverton.

Best Wagon & Camp: 1) C4B Chuckwagon of Amarillo, TIE 2) Wagon Rangers of Amarillo, TIE 2) Quarter Circle KC of Lockney, and 4) C Bar C Ranch of Hartley.

Best Meat: 1) C4B, 2) JL Cattle, 3) Rafter B, and 4) Cross Wagon.

Best Beans: 1) T Half Circle, 2) JL Cattle, 3) Cross Wagon, and 4) C Bar C.

Best Potatoes: 1) Cross Wagon, 2) C Bar C, 3) Rising W Wagon of Happy, and 4) HX Ranch of Lubbock.

Best Bread: 1) Cross Wagon, 2) JL Cattle, 3) C4B, and 4) Cross Wagon.

Best Dessert: 1) C Bar C, 2) C4B, 3) Wagon Rangers, and 4) HX Ranch.

Kendall Harris of Wellington 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.

The Donley County Sheriff’s Department is investigating three break-ins that occurred at local businesses early Tuesday morning, September 25.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn says West Texas Gas was broken into about midnight and WootWick’s PitStop and Country Bloomers Flower Shop were also hit.

At West Texas Gas and the flower shop, the crooks broke out a glass door and took the cash registers from the businesses. At WootWicks, a glass door was shattered, but nothing was found to be missing.

The sheriff said the crimes took place before 3 a.m. and were discovered when Amarillo Globe-News carrier Ruby Calloway saw one of the broken doors.

Blackburn urged all local businesses to leave their cash drawers open to show crooks that there is no money inside, and he asked anyone with information about these crimes to call his office at 874-3531.