Morgan Wheatly

Clarendon College sophomore Brayden Hawkins was ranked 7th in the All-American Standings and has been named to the All-American Junior College Livestock Judging Team after 5th place finish at the Houston Livestock Show this weekend.

Each year roughly 300 freshmen start judging livestock in the college ranks, and as sophomores only 15 will are named to the All-American team, a ranking that takes into account both academics and judging success.

The award is fifteen years old and Brayden is only the 6th person in Clarendon College history to ever receive this honor.

Hawkins is the grandson of Glenda Hawkins of Clarendon and the late Jerry Hawkins.

The CC Sophomore Livestock judging team finished the Spring semester strong with a 9th place overall finish at the Houston Livestock Show.

This team has made the top ten at Phoenix, Denver, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and Houston, and the last time the College achieved this was five years ago. The team was also just 26 points away from winning the reasons contest.

Individually, Hawkins placed 5th overall and was in the top 10 in reasons; Annie Belden placed 2nd high in sheep and goats; and Kirsten Midkiff placed 14th overall in reasons.

Other members of sophomorelivestock judging team are Austin Browning, Quentin Quintana, Trey Tidwell, and Chris Johnson. The team is coached by Johnny Treichel and Curtis Wertman.

 

WASHINGTON – US Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) voted last week in support of a resolution, H. Res. 639, authorizing the Speaker to file a legal brief on behalf of the House of Representatives in support of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s 2014 executive actions on the deportation of some illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit was filed by the State of Texas and 25 other states and will be heard by the Supreme Court this summer. The resolution passed the House by a vote of 234-186.

“The importance of this lawsuit cannot be understated as it goes to the heart of the separation of powers in our constitutional system,” Thornberry said. “The Supreme Court should recognize that no president, whether Democrat or Republican, should have the power to circumvent Congress and undermine the rule of law.”

“This is very important. If we’re going to maintain the founding principle of being a self-governing people, if we’re going to maintain the founding principle of government by consent of the governed, the legislative branch of government needs to be the one writing the laws—not the executive branch,” said Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).

In a ruling last year, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the states in the lawsuit. The Court’s decision prevents the Obama Administration’s implementation of the executive actions while the matter makes its way through the legal system.

In the lawsuit, the Supreme Court asked whether the President’s executive amnesty violates his duties under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Thornberry said that is a question the House is uniquely qualified to answer, because under Article I, “all legislative Powers” are vested in Congress.

H. Res. 639 authorizes Speaker Ryan to file a brief on behalf of the whole House defending Congress’s Article I powers. The decision to file these briefs is usually made by the House’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, not the full body. This is the first time any speaker has done this.

Thornberry voted last year in support of H.R. 240, the “Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act,” which prevents any funds from being used to carry out the President’s executive actions that grant deferred action to nearly five million illegal immigrants. The bill passed Congress and was signed into law by the President.

 

Donley County Commissioners approved a tax abatement for a new wind farm Monday and received an update on the Salt Fork project already under construction.

During its regular meeting, the court consented to a ten-year one hundred percent tax abatement for what’s being called the Salt Fork II project, which is located adjacent to the west of the current project along the northwestern part of the county.

Cielo Wind Energy representative Steve Brewster said Salt Fork II will start by the end of 2016 in order to take full advantage of the federal production tax credit. This is the last year companies will be able to get 100 percent credit under that tax break as the law now stands.

Brewster said the 150 megawatt project that stretches into Carson and Armstrong counties will include a minimum of 23 megawatts of production in Donley County.

As a condition of the abatement, Donley County will receive payments in lieu of taxes amounting to the greater of $1,500 per megawatt or $75,000, annually for ten years. The first payment is expected in 2018.

Also on Monday, Vince Green of EDF Renewable Energy discussed the progress of the Salt Fork I project.

EDF purchased Salt Fork I from Cielo for development and has contracted with Blattner Energy to build the wind farm.

Construction is underway on 63 turbines in Donley County and 24 in Gray County, Green said. Foundation and ground work is being completed, and turbines are expected to start arriving this week with the goal of being in full production by the end of 2016.

The substation for the project and the operations and maintenance building are both located in Donley County. Additionally, Green said another 27 turbines are expected to be erected in this county in Phase Two of the Salt Fork I project (which is not the same as Salt Fork II).

Garland Power & Light has agreed to purchase 150 MW of power from Salt Fork I, and another 24 MW has been contracted to Salesforce.

The Salt Fork I project represents a $235 million investment. Green reported that 100 people are at work on the site. He said about 75 attended a hiring event in Pampa last year, and two were hired by Blattner.

Green also reported that $467,187 had been spent locally so far on the project for food, lodging, water, and caliche.

County Judge John Howard asked Green to supply a more detailed breakdown of the local spending, noting that sales tax revenue for the City of Clarendon has not reflected an increase in local spending. Commissioner Dan Sawyer also said he doesn’t see construction people in Clarendon and reminded Green that the project is supposed to produce some full time employees.

Green said the full time positions are in the total project and said that construction workers are likely going to Groom most often for meals and groceries since its closer to the job site. But he said he would get a more detailed report on local spending to the county.

Green also reported that EDF has sub-graded the roads near the project and placed a two-inch caliche cap on 71,000 feet out of 124,000 feet of roads in the project.

When the first phase of the Salt Fork I project is completed, it will be comprised of 87 V100 (unit capacity of 2.0 MW) wind turbines supplied by Vestas.

The amount of power generated will be equivalent to avoiding more than 510,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually, according to an EDF press release. This is equivalent to the emissions of 107,000 passenger vehicles driven over the course of one year.

After months of weak performance, Clarendon’s sales tax revenue edged up this month when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar delivered local sales tax allocations last week.

Clarendon’s allocation rose 1.31 percent to $25,132.06 compared to $25,462.93 for the same period one year ago.

The city remains behind for the calendar year-to-date, down 5.55 percent at $91,163.15.

Clarendon’s sales tax revenue has been down for 10 of the last 14 months.

For calendar year 2015, Clarendon was down 2.24 percent, and the city was also down 3.21 percent for calendar 2014.

For this year-to-date, Memphis is down 4.72 percent, Wellington is down 0.63 percent, Claude is up 9.33 percent, and Childress is up 5.7 percent.

Hedley continued to make gains with growth this period of 12.03 percent from $364.55 one year ago to $408.55 this month. That city is now up 35.75 percent for the year-to-date at $2,170.15.

Howardwick slipped 9.42 percent for the month at $1,276.91 but remains up 15.39 percent for the year at $1,276.91.

Local sales tax allocations across the state totaled $585.6 million, 0.7 percent less than in March 2015. These allocations are based on sales made in January by businesses that report tax monthly.

“Energy-centric cities, such as Odessa, Midland, Corpus Christi and Houston, continued to see decreases in sales tax allocations,” Hegar said. “Other areas of the state helped to somewhat offset those losses, as cities such as Austin and Dallas saw moderate increases in allocations.”

Hegar reported earlier this month that the state’s share of sales tax revenue for the month totaled $2.3 billion, down 6.8 percent compared to one year ago.

“Last month’s decrease in sales tax collections as compared to February 2015 was expected with the continued contraction in both the manufacturing and oil industries,” Hegar said.

“It should be pointed out that in the coming months we expect comparisons to last year’s collections to be more favorable, because collections in the last half of fiscal 2015 didn’t grow as fast the first half.”

Total sales tax revenue for the state for the three months ending in February 2016 is down 4 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Sales tax revenue is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 56 percent of all tax collections.

 

A business on US 287 has a new look thanks in part to a grant from the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation.

A Fine Feathered Nest, Inc., located at 311 E. Second received $2,000 last week as the 22nd award from the CEDC’s Façade Grant Program.

“The program certainly helped because it was expensive,” said co-owner Chriss Clifford. “It helped us go further than what we were going to do.”

Improvements at the business included new concrete at the building’s entrance, a new canvas awning with custom signage, new paint, and new accent lighting on the storefront.

“We got the light fixtures during the first Trash To Treasures garage sale several years ago,” Clifford said. “They are actually old 1940s radio speakers that have been repurposed.”

A Fine Feathered Nest started in 2004. Clifford and her sister, Theresa Shelton, run a full service interior design firm, providing kitchen and bathroom remodeling, home furnishings, window treatments, and unique lighting solutions.

As part of their storefront remodeling, Clifford and Shelton will soon be opening their store as a retail shop for home décor items that are handmade by area artisans.

Last month, the CEDC awarded $442.50 to Every Nook & Cranny for painting and work to improve its storefront on Kearney Street.

Since the Façade Grant Program began in 2008, the CEDC has awarded $27,839.54 to property owners in Clarendon. The Façade Grant Program provides 50-50 matching grants, up to a maximum of $2,000 per project, for improvements done to storefronts.

The program grants awards to eligible properties located in the city’s entire Central Business District and on the US 287 corridor.

Projects eligible for consideration could be anything from a coat of paint to new signage to sidewalk improvements to a complete rehabilitation of a storefront. Property owners interested in Façade Grant funds must get approval before beginning their projects.

For more information or to apply for a grant, stop by the Clarendon Visitor Center.