Courthouse trees topic of county talks
Donley County Commissioners met in regular session last Tuesday, October 10, with trees on the Courthouse Square being one topic of discussion.
The Courthouse Lighting Committee, with assistance from the county, recently removed five diseased trees from the square, and other trees are in need of attention as well.
County Judge John Howard said some trees are needing to be treated for beetles that are infesting them and all the trees are in need of professional trimming. There is also the possibility of a separate non-profit organization being established to help with the maintenance of the trees.
For now, the commissioners are looking into replacing the trees that were removed.
“This will be an ongoing conversation,” Howard told the Enterprise. “These old trees are important to the courthouse and to the community. We want to take care of them and plan for future generations’ enjoyment as well.”
In other county business, commissioners approved the annual contract for tax assessment and collection services with the Donley Appraisal District and nominated Lon Adams and Jacob Fangman to serve on the appraisal district board.
The court approved increasing the amount of Judge Howard’s bond from $5,000 to $100,000. This was necessary to comply with Senate Bill 40, which was passed by the 85th Legislature and pertains to judges handling probate cases. Howard said it was example of an unfunded mandated from Austin.
Sharon Braddock was re-appointed to represent Donley County on the board of the Texas Panhandle Centers for Behavioral & Developmental Health.
Commissioners approved Judge Pam Mason and Judge Denise Bertrand to attend Justice Court trainings in Austin and Lubbock respectively but denied a request to have Mason’s assistant attend a software seminar in Kerrville.
Walt Knorpp addressed the court to express his firm’s interest in making an offer on the county’s property and liability insurance coverage when it comes up next summer.
The court also approved Treasurer Wanda Smith to conduct her annual audit of the county jail’s commissary account.
City soon to be busy with big projects
A flurry of bid notices authorized by the City Council during their regular meeting last Thursday are harbingers of just how busy things will soon be around Clarendon.
The first notice calls for bids for renovations to City Hall to bring the municipal offices into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as required under the terms of USDA financing for upcoming water system improvements.
City Administrator David Dockery told aldermen this bid will be for the first of three phases of renovations and will include relocation of the after-hours payment box, removal and replacement of the handrails, changes to the handicapped ramping, and a bigger landing in front of the door. It will also include installation of a button to open the door to City Hall.
The cost of the Phase One ADA renovations will be about $25,000, Dockery said.
The USDA water infrastructure project itself is about six months behind schedule due to issues with surveying rights of way. Dockery told the council last week that the city’s engineer now says an additional $15,000 will be necessary to complete the certification of rights of way, but that money is available in a contingency line item in the USDA grant.
Mayor Sandy Skelton said the added expense was “frustrating” but said it was worth it to get the project moving forward.
“Otherwise we have another delay, and people still have red water,” the mayor said.
The city is also seeking bids for construction of a monofill near the Smiley Johnson Municipal Airport. A 100-foot by 300-foot site south of the airport hangers has been permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the purpose of disposing of condemned structures. Dockery said a 50-foot wide by 80-foot long will be dug 15 feet deep and the entire site will be fenced and gated.
The administrator said the site will only be used for disposing debris from demolished structures that are city-owned. In other words, a condemned property would have to be deeded over to the city before the structure could be disposed of at this site. Each disposed structure would be covered by one foot of dirt to prevent any debris from blowing away, and TCEQ will periodically monitor the site. The estimated cost for this is $10,000.
The monofill plan goes hand-in-hand with the city’s increased efforts on code compliance, and a third bid notice is another indication of City Hall’s work to clean up properties in Clarendon. Dockery said the city wants to receive bids for the contract demolition of condemned structures on a per square foot basis.
This plan would allow the city greater flexibility in demolishing structures after they have gone through the proper condemnation process. Dockery said the bid price would be good for one year and said the contractor and a city representative will measure structures and agree to a size before demolition.
In other city business, aldermen authorized purchase of a utility service truck for the public works department, and Dockery reported that a grant application to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department seeking $500,000 for the water recreation project has been submitted with a scoring response expected in March.
Dockery also reported on problems of pit bulls in the city. He said he had no problem with pit bulls in general, “but we have a lot of them and they are difficult to control.”
Arts Club seeking local musicians
Les Beaux Arts Club has issued an invitation for local musician who are interested in performing during next weekend’s annual Clarendon Arts Festival Saturday, October 28.
Two musicians have already agreed to perform, Micah Talley and Joel Louis.
Talley is the 14-year-old daughter of Lotte Talley and the late Billy Talley of Happy and the granddaughter of the late Haskell Talley of Clarendon. She is a freshman at Canyon High School where she is involved in the choir.
Joel Louis of Clarendon is well known to many local residents and is an amazingly talented to piano and keyboard player. In addition to other past performances, Louis regularly plays during the Whistle-Stop Trade Days and most recently was the first musical performer to play on the new stage of the Mulkey Theatre during the Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours event last week.
Other interested musicians are asked to call Chirss Cummins-Clifford at 806-206-6767 for more information about performing at the arts festival.
Entries are also still being accepted for the festival’s Junior Art Exhibit. Junior art must be delivered to the Donley County Activity Center on the afternoons of Sunday, October 22, and Monday, October 23, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
For exhibit guidelines, contact Clifford at the above number.
Civics lesson
The Queen & Her Court
‘Two for the Road’ gets Emmy nominations
A Howardwick couple is riding high after picking up three Lone Star Emmy nominations for their self-produced television series, “Two for the Road.”
Dusty and Nikki Green got the news September 29 while filming an episode in the Big Bend area of Texas. They knew the regional Emmy nominations were going to be announced and were hopeful that they might be recognized, but spotty internet service in sparsely populated area was keeping them on edge. Then the emails from the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences started hitting their phones.
“We were just really blown away,” Dusty said.
“Two for the Road” follows the real-life adventures of the couple who made the decision in 2007 to quit their jobs, sell their possessions, and follow their dreams of a life of travel. The Greens themselves host, produce, edit and market the show, which is produced out of their home in Howardwick.
“It’s an incredible honor,” said Dusty. “To be recognized by academy members in this way, to be nominated at all especially for our very first season, is an extremely humbling and exciting surprise. We’re just thrilled.”
The awards will be presented at the 15th Annual Lone Star Emmy Awards ceremony November 11th at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio.
Ten years ago, the Greens started a simple blog – an online journal – called “Two for the Road” when they gave up their careers in Amarillo and started a grand adventure of traveling the globe. What began as a whim evolved into a web video series then a regional PBS television show and is now going nationwide.
Today, “Two for the Road” is available in 90 percent of America through PBS stations and the addition of the Create network in August. Combined, the show is available in about 100 million households, Dusty said.
“It’s crazy,” said Nikki. “We started the ‘Two for the Road’ travel blog when we hit the road back in 2007, really just to keep friends and family up to date on where we were and what we were doing. We’d write posts for the blog and share photos and create short videos about our travels. And over the years the blog sort of evolved into this idea for a TV show.”
The Greens took that idea – and a few episodes they produced themselves “on spec” – to Panhandle PBS, their local public television station in Amarillo, Texas, with the hopes of landing a spot on the station’s schedule. Panhandle PBS agreed not only to air the show locally, but to serve as the show’s presenting station to help promote Two for the Road to PBS stations across the country.
“Panhandle PBS was the first station to air ‘Two for the Road,’” said Kyle Arrant, Director of Station Operations and one the show’s original technical advisors. “It’s been awesome to see ‘Two for the Road’ launch onto the national scene. We love working with Nikki and Dusty and are really honored to be part of the history of the exciting series they continue to develop.”
“Panhandle PBS is proud to be partners with Dusty and Nikki Green,” said Kevin Ball, CEO of Panhandle PBS. “Their chemistry and adventurist personalities are exactly what public television media audiences want to experience. We are so proud to be part of the energy they create as they bring their experiences to all throughout the country”.
And bringing those experiences to viewers around the country is exactly what the Greens are now doing. Soon after its debut on Panhandle PBS, ‘Two for the Road” was accepted for national distribution throughout the public television system by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), which is the country’s second-largest distributor of independent public television programs. And in August 2017 the show was picked up by the Create TV channel, a national subchannel of PBS, which rocketed “Two for the Road” onto the national stage.
“‘Two for the Road’ has been a welcome addition to Create TV’s schedule since its premiere in August,” said Chris Funkhouser, VP of Exchange Programming and Multicast Services for American Public Television. “The series’ concept – a married couple embarking on worldwide adventures together – has resonated with Create viewers and is unique among our travel shows. We’re pleased to have it as part of the channel’s line-up and look forward to seeing more seasons.”
“It’s been an unbelievable amount of work,” Dusty said, “traveling, shooting and producing the show and getting it out there. But it’s incredibly gratifying to know not only that the show is growing so quickly, but also the response from people – from the viewing public – has been absolutely amazing.
“So many people across the country are connecting with the show, with our stories, and with us as just regular people following a dream. Everyone’s been so supportive, and we just keep getting amazing feedback from folks in every part of the country.”
And Nikki says being nominated for three Emmy awards is nothing short of a dream come true.
“We were really hopeful we’d get a nomination of course, but being our very first season – realistically, we honestly just didn’t expect it,” she said. “Especially when you think about all the amazing shows out there and all the super talented people behind them. So to get not just one, but three nominations, was beyond our wildest expectations.”
The Greens say they are planning to attend the awards ceremony in San Antonio in November, and are currently in the process of completing production on season two of “Two for the Road,” which will premiere on public television stations nationwide in January, and on Create TV in the following months.
“Season one was kind of our training season,” said Dusty. “We had eight episodes in season one, and we used them to really try to find our groove and figure out how exactly to make the show work with just the two of us doing it all. But I think we’ve really found our groove now with season two. It’ll be a full season of thirteen episodes, and it’s incredible stuff. We can’t wait to get it out there.”
In those upcoming thirteen episodes, Nikki says the Greens will highlight eight countries on four continents and include some of the world’s most spectacular destinations. But it’s not just the destinations themselves that continue to inspire them.
“If our travels have shown us anything, it’s that the world is a beautiful, beautiful place full of really, really great people,” Nikki said. “You see and hear so many negative things about the world these days, and we hope to show people through our travels and experiences that the world really is a wonderful place.”
Cotton Festival begins Friday
A Donley County tradition continues this weekend as Hedley hosts the 66th annual Cotton Festival on Friday and Saturday, October 13 and 14.
The Hedley Lioness Club will get things going Friday with a Chili & Stew Supper at 5 p.m. The club will also be selling chances on a quilt.
Hedley’s One Act Play will host Bingo on Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the Senior Citizens building. See their ad inside this week’s Enterprise for more information on the great prizes they have lined up, including three trips to Red River, a big screen TV, and more.
Also Friday night, a Hootenanny will be held at the Lions Den featuring Johnnie and C.W. Woodard.
Saturday’s events begin with the Hedley Fire Department’s Pancake Breakfast from 6 to 9 a.m. The Rowe Cemetery Association will hold a bake sale at Moffitt Hardware, and a car show will start on Main Street at 10 a.m.
At 11:30, the Lions Club will host a catered BBQ dinner, and the Senior Citizens will be serving hamburgers.
The Kiddie Parade will be held at 1:30 p.m., followed by the Community Parade at 2 o’clock. The Adamson-Lane Post of the American Legion will serve as the honor guard with Jim and Jean Taylor being the Parade Marshals.
Leading the parade entries will be Vietnam veteran Doug Smith of Panhandle with his handmade Texas Panhandle War Memorial Field of Honor. The mobile tribute features the a cross with the name, rank, branch of service, and home county of the 145 men from the Panhandle that were killed in Vietnam. Smith spent more than 60 hours to cut out the crosses as well as gathering and painting the information on them.
After the parade, the School Reunion is at the school at 3:00 p.m.
The festival will close out with entertainment and drawings at the Lions Den starting at 6 p.m., including a drawing for a bale of cotton donated by Donley County Gin and K. Huddleston Sales.
Keep King, Seliger working in Austin
Donley County’s State Senator Kel Seliger and State Representative Ken King have announced their plans to run for re-election to their respective offices, and for Texas’ sake, we hope they win.
There is probably no realistic chance for a Democrat to win the districts represented by Seliger and King. Their biggest hurdle will be fending off challenges from within their own parties.
King is being opposed by Perryton insurance salesman Jason Huddleston, and Seliger is facing Midland attorney Mike Canon and Amarillo restauranteur Victor Leal.
According to published reports, Huddleston has said King is among legislators who “run as conservatives but govern as liberals.” Canon previously ran against Seliger in 2014 and was narrowly defeated despite negative remarks that political action committees made about the senator on the Midland candidate’s behalf. Leal wants to take tough stance on property tax reform and says there is a “moral obligation” to provide public funds for private schools, and his biggest “policy” announcement so far is that he won’t be airing any more NFL games in his Mexican food restaurants.
God help Texas if people like Victor Leal unseat men like King and Seliger.
Common sense – and even common decency – were in short supply in Austin during the legislative sessions this year as flame-breathing social-religious conservatives tried to take Texas’ already conservative government and push it full tilt to the hard right. With Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushing an ultra-conservative agenda in the Senate and very little leadership from the governor, the only thing keeping Texas focused on remaining a pro-business, pro-local control state was House Speaker Joe Straus and some sane individuals like King and Seliger.
Seliger said it best during a recent town hall in Clarendon in describing the legislative session as one “where people came out of the closet and said they didn’t really like local government.” The senator was referring to a slew of proposals that would curtail the authority of local cities, counties, and schools.
Republicans have for years held that decisions are best left to local authorities. But now, powerful ultra-conservatives no longer subscribe to that theory if local authorities enact policies that don’t fit their strict world-view.
If your city chooses to ban plastic grocery bags or install red light cameras, shouldn’t that be up to your local citizens through your elected officials? The “local control” answer would be “yes.” But today’s big government Republicans say “no.”
Likewise, if your city or county need to raise taxes by five percent to fund let’s say street improvements, emergency medical needs, or law enforcement, that also should be up to your local elected officials, but again people like Dan Patrick and busybodies like Sen. Paul Bettencourt say “no.”
Kel Seliger stood up for local control, and that is going to haunt him in the upcoming election. Common sense West Texans need to rally round him because he is the guy who votes for his district instead of just voting for what the party bosses and the lobbyist tell him to.
If Victor Leal is really worried about his property taxes, then he needs to run for county commissioner or city council… not the state senate. If he really thinks the state has a “moral obligation” to pay for his kids’ private school, then he has no business running for an office that shapes the policy of public education… which has been a cornerstone of Texas since the days of the Republic.
And if Mr. Huddleston thinks Ken King is a liberal, then we sure as heck don’t want to see his idea of a conservative.
We may not agree with all the positions taken by Mr. Seliger or Mr. King, and that’s fine. Because when the chips were down, they stood for the Panhandle and not the special interests. Let us hope that their constituents keep their wits about them as they go to the polls next spring.
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