Morgan Wheatly

The Christmas season will start in a big way in Clarendon this weekend with merchant sales, the lighting of the Courthouse, and the third annual Chili Challenge.

Local merchants are ready to help you find something for everyone on your Christmas list with their Black Friday and Small Business Saturday specials on November 27 and 28. Details on local sales were printed in the Holiday Gift Guide included in last week’s Clarendon Enterprise and now available at ClarendonLive.com.

Small Business Saturday began in 2010 when American Express founded it to help small businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year.

According to small business advocates, every $100 spent in locally-owned stores returns $68 to the local community through taxes, payrolls, and other expenditures. That same money spent in another town returns nothing to your local community.

Saturday’s highlight will be the second annual Courthouse Lighting Celebration, beginning at 5 p.m. with an appearance by Santa Claus and caroling featuring local children’s groups. The formal lighting will be at 6 p.m.

The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce invites everyone to visit local merchants following the Courthouse Lighting to close out Small Business Saturday and participate in the third annual Great Bowls of Fire Chili Challenge with a chance to win $250 in Clarendon Cash.

Chili Challenge ballots and a list of participating merchants will be available for $5 each from the Clarendon Visitor Center at Mulkey Theatre immediately following the Courthouse Lighting. Chili tasters then visit each of the participating merchants to sample the chili in their stores, have their ballot stamped, and cast vote for their favorite chili. The merchant with the most votes will get bragging rights and a handsome plaque, and the ballot of one lucky taster will receive $250 in Clarendon Cash from the Chamber.

Also on Saturday night, the VFW Ladies Auxiliary will hold a soup dinner at the Clarendon Lions Hall for $5 per person featuring homemade chicken noodle or potato soup and regular or jalapeno cornbread.

Shop at home this holiday season and remember the important role your local merchants play in keeping your community strong.

 

$1.2 million job will replace aging equipment and conserve energy

Clarendon College Regents last week approved a $1.2 million project to heat and cool the Bulldog Gym and upgrade other equipment around campus to result in a net energy savings.

During their regular meeting November 19, regents listened to the final report on a proposal from Trane that will replace heating and cooling systems in the Bairfield Activity Center, the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center, and the Courson Ranch Operations Center.

“Much of this equipment is original to the buildings,” said CC President Robert Riza. “Some of it is as much as 47 years old. Parts are not readily available and replacing it piecemeal is not as efficient as one big project.”

The project will also replace boilers in Vaughan and Phelan Halls and update control systems to allow resident hall students greater ability to adjust temperatures in their dorm rooms.

The centerpiece of the project will be air-conditioning and heating the Bulldog Gym, also known as the “Dawg House.” The 1968 gymnasium was not built with later summer/fall sports like volleyball in mind, and the lack of a good ventilation system creates sweltering conditions for student athletes and spectators alike.

Riza said air-conditioning the gym is good for the safety of student athletes and also will give the college the opportunity to utilize the gym for playoffs and ball camps.

Trane’s engineers estimate that even with adding the cost of cooling the gym, Clarendon College will net more than $30,000 in annual energy savings from upgrading HVAC and lighting systems on campus as well as adjusting some plumbing fixtures to be more efficient.

The project will start with upgrading exterior lighting fixtures, and work should begin on that phase before students return to class for the spring semester, Riza said. The remainder of the project should be completed before the start of the fall semester.

The college will utilize financing through Trane to pay for the project over ten years. Riza said the college’s existing budget line item for equipment replacement will cover the annual payment, and CC still has contingency funds if something unexpected breaks down.

“We know as soon as we do this, something we didn’t replace will fail,” Riza said jokingly.

The Riza administration has been working with Trane for several months on this proposal, and a committee appointed by the Board of Regents in October reviewed and prioritized plans prior to last week’s meeting.

“This is the start of getting a lot of our equipment updated,” Riza said. “It’s already in the budget, but this will allow us to get ahead and plan for the next phase of improvements.”

In other college business, the board approved bids on delinquent tax property as presented by the Donley Appraisal District and approved a motion to give the college district’s support to electing Edwin Campbell to the appraisal district board.

Regents also authorized spending $66,397 in grant funds to purchase nursing equipment and, in a separate agenda item, awarded a contract to RunBiz for the purchase and installation of 127 Dell computers for $110,529, a project that will replace about one-fourth of CC’s computers.

In personnel, the board ratified the hiring of Brent Childers to oversee the college’s new Industrial Maintenance program and the promotions of Tex Buckhaults as the Executive Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs and Daniel Trejo as the Director of Vocational Nursing starting in January.

 

A Hedley couple’s home suffered major damage last Wednesday, November 18, when a fire broke out in the master bedroom.

Emergency personnel were dispatched at 8:55 a.m. to the home of Jerry and Pat Farris in the 400 block of Line Avenue.

Hedley volunteer firemen knocked down the fire, and Clarendon firefighters also responded.

Clarendon Fire Chief Jeremy Powell said officials could not determine what started the fire and said fire damage was mostly in the master bedroom and a bathroom. The rest of the home suffered major smoke and heat damage, he said.

The Farrises were not home at the time of the blaze. Four Clarendon firemen entered the home to make sure it was not occupied.

The family did lose a dog, a cat, and a bird in the fire, Powell said.

 

The Clarendon Economic Development Corporation has purchased the former Clarendon Steakhouse building at the corner of US 287 and Kearney Street.

CEDC Executive Director Jack King said the deal was closed last week for a final price just over $30,000.

“It is not our intent to keep the building but rather to attract a business to go in there,” King said, noting the CEDC hopes to work with someone on a lease-purchase agreement.

The CEDC Board approved purchasing the building in October and this month approved a proposal from J. Ferg Roofing to replace the roof of the building for $34,820.

“We’re going to put a new roof on it to prevent any structural damage,” King said. “Then our intent would be to work with Texas Tech University to put the front back to something in keeping with the historic look of downtown.”

Earlier this month the CEDC contracted with the Texas Tech College of Architecture to perform digital scans of Clarendon’s central business district as the first step in creating a master plan for downtown.

King said he has conducted interviews with people potentially interested in placing a business at the location but no deal has been formally proposed or finalized.

“This location should not just be considered as a possible restaurant,” King said. “Any type of business could be located there.”

Mary and Bubba Ford family operated the Clarendon Steakhouse in the building for about 15 years. Before that, the Clifford family had a grocery store in the location for several decades.

King said this project is being funded by Clarendon’s half-cent economic development sales tax.

For more information or to inquire about the property, contact King in the Clarendon Visitor Center at 806-874-2421.