Morgan Wheatly

The Last Stage to Matador left Clarendon on Friday after two days of fun and education at the Saints’ Roost Museum and is now making its way to Motley County.

The Journey, an original 1880 Butterfield Overland Stage, arrived in Clarendon via trailer on Wednesday, May 11, accompanied by its owners Rick and Beverly Hamby and a crowd of support staff, and representatives of Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.

Dozens of Clarendon Elementary students visited the stagecoach on Thursday where they sat in rapt attention as “Cowboy Rick” talked to them about a wide variety of topics including American history, modes of transportation, Indians, communication, and the importance of good character.

“This stage leaves tracks everywhere it goes,” Hamby told an interviewer last week. “We as people also leave tracks behind us, and we need to make sure they are good tracks.”

The ABC and CBS affiliates from Amarillo were also in Clarendon Thursday as the local students received pen pal letters from fourth and fifth graders in Missouri.

A film crew with CBS Sunday Morning and correspondent Luke Burbank also recorded the Journey’s visit here and followed the stage on the first leg of its trip. That segment will be aired nationally at a future date.

In addition to the television coverage, community newspapers in Texas and Missouri covered the Last Stage to Matador, and photographer Dennis Crider was also gathering material for a book about the Journey’s final trip.

Four horses were hitched to the Journey Friday morning, and the team pulled out of the gates of the museum as the driver cried, “Last stage to Matador!”

The stage took the backroads south of town, and then officially left Clarendon on the JA Road at about 10:30 a.m. on a 2½-hour journey to Mulberry Creek, where the crew camped that night.

The Journey will stop in Caprock Canyons State Park this week before making its arrival at the Matador Jail at high noon on Friday.

The 136-year-old stagecoach has retired twice in its history and has completed seven long-distance mail runs since Hamby revived it 15 years ago.

After returning to Missouri, the stage will then enter its third retirement on display at Silver Dollar City; but as Cowboy Rick told local students, there’s always hope that a young person will catch the spark to give the old stage a new life on the road at some future time.

 

Clarendon’s sales tax revenue posted a strong gain when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributed May allocations last week.

After several months of poor performance, the city’s sales tax check was up 15.25 percent at $42,149.89 for the month compared to $36,571.80 last May.

The May allocation is based on sales made in March by businesses that report tax monthly, and sales made in January, February and March by quarterly filers.

Clarendon is now less than one percent behind for the calendar year-to-date, down 0.75 percent at $158,010.73.

City officials are hoping for an even better showing for next month’s allocation which will reflect April sales and include traffic from the Clarendon College Invitational Judging Contest and the opening of the Whistle-Stop Trade Days.

Also of local interest, Hedley was up 4.44 percent for the month at $1,056.12 and up 17.79 percent for the year-to-date at $3,553.66, but numbers were still soft at Howardwick, coming down 13.28 percent at $969.47 for the month and down 1.21 percent at $5,413.87 for the year-to-date.

On the state level, Heger reported sales tax revenue in April totaled $2.38 billion, up 3 percent compared to April 2015.

“Growth in sales tax revenue was led by remittances from the retail trade and construction sectors,” Hegar said. “As expected, receipts from oil and gas-related sectors continued to fall due to the ongoing decline in drilling activity.”

 

Donley County Commissioners met in regular session last Monday, May 9, to consider several agenda items.

Commissioners okayed more than $5,000 for a new Linux server for the clerk’s office to strengthen cyber security.

County Judge John Howard said some counties have been hit by cyberattacks in which government data is encrypted and then held for ransom. The new server will add a layer of protect for the county.

The court also approved a new panic button system for the Precinct 3&4 Justice of the Peace office in Hedley to be compatible with the new digital system in use in other county offices.

Officials also heard a report from Justice of the Peace Denise Bertrand regarding electrical needs for lighting the west side of the courthouse square during the holidays. No action was taken, but the county will be consulting with an electrician.

The court approved $500 to sponsor the Saints’ Roost Museum’s chuckwagon cookoff and approve up to $100 for new flowers and planters at the courthouse.

Howard also updated the court on a state grant which would pay 50 percent of the cost for a new patrol vehicle and 100 percent of the cost to employee one officer to work the highways for one year. A decision on the grant will come this summer.

 

Donley County 4-H members were able to donate books for local school libraries recently thanks to a program by the state 4-H organization.

Texas 4-H Youth Development, the youth outreach component of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, joined with the California-based Molina Foundation to support youth literacy throughout Texas.

“The Molina Foundation’s mission is to reduce disparities in access to education and health opportunities,” said Dr. Toby Lepley, assistant state 4-H leader. “One of the most successful programs of the foundation is the book grant program to youth and families who may not have the resources to purchase reading books on their own.”

Lepley said through a partnership with the foundation, AgriLife Extension has received a grant for more than 31,000 children’s books. Donley County 4-H received books through the program and split the books between the Hedley ISD and Clarendon ISD libraries.

“The books are available now through the Texas A&M AgriLife Bookstore and are offered and shipped free to agency offices throughout the state,” he said. “There are a variety of authors and titles targeting preschool to early teenage readers.”

Lepley said the books have been organized into units, with each unit containing 100 or more books. About 300 units have been prepared for shipment with delivery to ordering counties already underway.

“AgriLife Extension offices in smaller counties have been allowed to order one unit with an option to order more units if any remain,” Lepley said. “Urban counties are being allowed to order up to six units and military installations with 4-H clubs can order up to seven.”

He said National 4-H has worked with the Molina Foundation in the past, and they are familiar with the 4-H program and distribution network.

“Both organizations are interested in youth development through literacy, and this partnership will allow more books to get into the hands of young people for reading, especially those young people whose families cannot afford to buy them.”

Lepley said book distribution will be accomplished through such activities as AgriLife Extension parenting programs, school reading programs, after-school programs, preschool and church programs, and to family doctor or pediatrician offices, military bases and youth centers.

“We will also use the books for the Fathers Reading Every Day, or FRED, programs and to support One Day 4-H projects statewide,” Lepley said. “We’ll also look for additional opportunities for distribution.”

FRED is an award-winning family literacy program encouraging greater parental involvement in children’s early literacy development, especially from fathers. One Day 4-H is an annual day of community service by 4-H members and clubs throughout the U.S. as a “thank you” to their communities for supporting the 4-H program.

To find out more about Texas 4-H, go to http://texas4-h.tamu.edu.