Day of Dirt and Damage
A helping hand
PIPs in action
USDA Emergency Farm Loans available
Applications for emergency farm loans for losses caused by drought, excessive heat, high winds, and wildfires are being accepted at the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office located in Clarendon, Farm Loan Manager Tonya Watson said today.
Donley and Armstrong Counties are just two of 131 counties in Texas recently designated by the Secretary of Agriculture as eligible for loans to cover part of actual production and/or physical losses resulting from the drought, excessive heat, high winds and wildfires.
Tonya Watson said farmers may be eligible for loans of up to 100 percent of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agricultural business, whichever is less. For farmers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest rate is 3.75 percent.
“As a general rule, a farmer must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss of crop production or suffered any physical loss to be eligible for an FSA emergency loan under this disaster designation”, Watson said. Producers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance program will have to consider proceeds received by producers as a result of the physical loss will have to be considered in determining their total loss.
“Applications for loans under this emergency designation will be accepted until September 04, 2012, but farmers should apply as soon as possible,” Watson said.
The FSA office in Clarendon is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Architect firm hired for Mulkey work
The Clarendon Economic Development Corporation hired an architect to lead the next steps of rehabilitating the Mulkey Theatre during a called meeting Monday night.
The CEDC Board approved a $5,900 proposal from Mason Rogers of Playa Design Studio in Amarillo for site investigation (measuring, documenting, and transferring to digital drawings) and the creation of schematic designs. Playa will also help facilitate developing a budget to move forward with the next phases of fundraising for the project.
Rogers said his work on the project would begin in three to four weeks.
In other CEDC business, the board listened to a proposal from Mayor Larry Hicks and City Administrator Lambert Little for the city and CEDC to work together to hire someone to head up tourism and economic development activities and provide assistance to the Chamber of Commerce. The board appointed Steve Hall to represent the CEDC in working with the city to pursue this goal.
Stop Piracy, Not Liberty
Two bills before Congress, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Americans already oppose SOPA and PIPA. Join them by signing Google’s online petition.
The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Tell Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.
Janie Butler Hill
Janie Butler Hill, 75, died Saturday, January 14, 2012, in Clarendon.
Services were held at 2 p.m. Monday, January 16, 2012, in Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon with Rev. Darrell Burton, Rev. Larry Capranica and Rev. Anthony Knowles, officiating.
Burial followed at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon. Services were under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Janie was born June 13, 1936, in Clarendon to Maclin Robert and Jackie Emerson Butler. She married Ralph Hill on February 29, 1952, in Clovis, New Mexico. She worked for many years as a grocery clerk for Clifford’s Grocery Store and Lowe’s Grocery Store.
She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother, a friend, a companion, and to anyone who crossed her path, she was an example of how we are to live in and move through this world. One would be hard pressed to recall a nasty word or a bad mood or even a dirty look.
In fact, it would be impossible to remember a moment when she was not full up with love, and hope, and forgiveness. Always ready with a smile and kind words, she lived everyday with acceptance and complete understanding for those she loved. And she loved everyone she knew-without condition.
Her heart was large enough to encompass the world and despite her short stature and her small voice, she held in her a quiet and unyielding strength of love that radiated in a blinding light from her heart and from her soul. We know that muscle can move walls but if the world and all of its people had in them her capacity for love, we could move mountains.
Among the list of survivors, one must also include her friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and anyone who, if only for a moment, was lucky enough to be in the presence of true Grace. 7
She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, James Carroll “Mush” Butler; and a grandson, Randy Joe Hill, Jr.
She is survived by her husband, Ralph Hill of Clarendon; 3 sons, Danny Hill and wife Debra of Clarendon, Randy Hill and wife Kay Lynn of Canyon, and Tommy Hill and wife Brenda of Clarendon; a daughter, Linda Hill of Clarendon; 9 grandchildren, Dakota Hill, Jadon Thornton, Jake Thornton, Jarad Lax, Gabe Hill and wife Amanda, Katy Miller and husband Matt, Jenny Baker and husband Justin, Courtney D‘Costa and husband Chris, and Lauren Shadle; and 11 great grandchildren.
She is also survived by her two special friends Bunny Owens and Cherrye Howard of Clarendon.
The family request memorials be sent to Donley County Sr. Citizens.
Sign our online guestbook at www.RobertsonFuneral.com
Reader Opinion: America on a path to destruction
Dear Editor,
Did you see the ad on TV “The End of America” or the current one, “Crisis 12.com”? These ads are run by Martin Weiss, who has been in a research business the past 40 years. His business has to do with the investment of money. He has predicted the problems of Fannie and Freddie, the housing market, as well as the demise of Lehman Brothers.
He is now talking about the end of America and a crisis event that will cause it. That event is reached when our government can no longer borrow money, because Americans and other countries like China don’t want to buy our bonds, to provide about half of the money Washington pays for every bill or benefit that becomes due. That includes Social Security, veterans’ benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, and salaries of government employees, including the pay of our federal elected representatives. His motive in running these ads is to entice people to sign up for his monthly recommendations and concerns.
Let’s look at the “Hope and Change” we were told about in 2008 by our current president. Since that time, consider the following: The price of regular gasoline the day Obama become president was just $1.79 on average in our country. Today, it’s $3.59, a 100.6 percent increase, twice as much.
Long term unemployment soared 146 percent during the first 32 months of his time in office. American citizens living in poverty have risen from 39.8 million to 43.6 million people. The number of unemployed blacks has resin from 12.6 percent at the beginning of Obama’s term to 15.8 percent in his first 32 months in office. That’s a 25.4 percent increase. The biggest concern is the fact that our national debt is up 43.3 percent from $10.627 trillion to $15.278 trillion. Our country is going broke, and Obama is asking for another loan.
The Weiss presentation on his ad is simply saying when no one will loan Washington money, everything stops when it comes to Washington paying its bills. While our friend Mac Thornberry and most Republicans talk about cutting government spending and the size of government, Harry Reid and the Democrat senators don’t even want to talk about it. If this article makes sense to you, make sure you remember to vote in November
Tom Stauder, Clarendon
p.s. I just received a letter from Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Ariz. He as well as another sheriff, and the governor of Arizona are being sued by Obama, [Attorney General] Eric Holder, and the ACLU for doing their job, trying to enforce federal and state laws. This stuff has to stop.
Pit bull attacks Clarendon man
A Clarendon man is counting himself lucky this week after he was attacked by a neighbor’s pit bull dog Sunday.
Bobbie Kidd says he was picking up trash in the alley behind his house with two of his grandchildren the morning of January 15, and his neighbor, S.J. Johnson , was also taking his trash out. Kidd said his granddaughter ran up to Johnson and he also started in Johnson’s direction when the dog owned by a second neighbor, Steven Bento, hit him from behind.
“I had seen that dog earlier tugging on his chain,” Kidd said. “He was probably loose for a little while because I hadn’t heard him, and he would always go crazy when someone was outside.”
The dog bit Kidd’s leg, tearing his pants, and then let go. He hollered for his grandkids to get to the house, and he and Johnson followed them to make sure they got inside okay.
“I don’t know how he didn’t knock me down. If it had been one the kids, it would have been really bad.”
Kidd said he called 911, which dispatched a deputy, animal control, and an ambulance. EMS personnel cleaned the wounds, and Kidd went to an emergency room by car to have the wound checked.
The dog was killed later this week, and the head was sent off for rabies testing. It had not had its shots.
Kidd said he had complained about the dog to the city in the past and, while the city is making progress in some areas, the dog situation is very bad.
“It could have gotten one of the kids and that’s exactly what’s going to happen in this town if we don’t watch out,” Kidd said. “You should be able to walk down the street and not worry about getting attacked by a dog.”
City Animal Control Officer Jason Christopher said he expects to have the test results from the dog this week, and he said the city is going to crack down the dog problem and strictly enforce the local requirement for a dog tag and the state law that dogs be vaccinated for rabies.
“This isn’t a city deal, this is state law,” Christopher said.
Pit bulls are a particular problem for the city, accounting for more than 50 percent of the reported dog calls, Christopher said. Over the weekend a local woman reported a neighbor’s pit bull killed her cat, and Christopher said there was another case of a pit bull killing two cats.
“We’re going to have to see about restricting pit bulls in the city,” he said.
City Administrator Lambert Little said the Board of Aldermen will consider that issue at a called meeting next week.
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