Colt compete at District meet
CC contest attracts more than 1,800 participants
Jury finds Dickson not guilty of assault
A Donley County jury last Thursday acquitted 19-year-old Autray Dickson of first degree aggravated sexual assault of a child.
At the conclusion of the three-day jury trial, the jury found the Memphis man not guilty of the charged offense and the lesser included offense of indecency with a child.
District Attorney Luke Inman prosecuted the case for the State of Texas with the Honorable Stuart Messer presiding.
Dickson was arrested by Sheriff Butch Blackburn on May 11, 2010. Dickson was later indicted by the Donley County Grand Jury on October 27, 2010, on three counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child.
Dickson was represented by Earl Griffin from Childress at the jury trial.
“Twelve residents of Donley County took an oath to follow the law,” said Inman. “After hearing all the testimony and evidence, they found the Defendant not guilty. That’s why we have jury trials in this great state.”
According to court records, there are two other pending cases against Dickson for other first degree felony offenses of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Estlack to be honored by PPA Hall of Fame
A former local newspaper woman will be honored in this week when the Panhandle Press Association inducts two new members into its Hall of Fame. Ruby Dell Estlack, former co-owner of The Donley County Leader, will be honored alongside Doug McDonough of the Plainview Daily Herald.
The pair will be inducted when PPA holds its 101st annual convention in Amarillo this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The three-day convention begins Thursday, with an opening reception at the Ambassador Hotel. The Hall of Fame banquet will be held at the American Quarter Horse Museum following a reception at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Estlack worked for 38 years at The Donley County Leader in Clarendon, beginning shortly after she married George Wayne Estlack in 1936. They became the sole owners of the paper in 1958. During her career, she was very active with the PPA and attended many conventions. She and her late husband sold the paper in November 1974 to The Clarendon Press, but the Estlacks remained in the office supply and printing business into the mid-1990s.
McDonough has been involved with journalism in the Texas Panhandle for almost 40 years. He has been with the Plainview Daily Herald since 1976 and twice was president of the Panhandle Press Association and headed its Hall of Fame selection committee for several years.
Workshops and roundtable discussions will be held at the Ambassador Hotel throughout the day Friday, and the luncheon will feature a wind energy update.
The convention will close with its annual Better Newspaper Awards Brunch at the Ambassador Saturday morning.
For more information about the Panhandle Press Association, call Secretary Ashlee Estlack at 806-662-4687 or visit www.panhandlepublisher.com.
CC contest attracts more than 1,800 participants
Clarendon College hosted more than 1,800 FFA and 4-H members Saturday for its annual Invitational Judging Contests.
College officials say more than 2,200 students registered for the event, but some of them did not show up for the competitions. Clarendon and Hedley FFA teams competed as did Donley County 4-H members.
The Clarendon FFA livestock team of Jacob Pigg, Jayson Pigg, John Pigg, and Tres Hommel competed against 166 teams with 497 participants. Clarendon placed sixth overall. Jayson Pigg was 12th high individual, and John Pigg was 48th.
Earlier in the week, Clarendon FFA attended the Texas Tech contest March 31 at the Livestock Pavilion in Lubbock. This was the largest contest ever held at Tech. There were 200 teams and 628 participants. Clarendon tied for fifth and lost the tie-breaker and brought home the sixth place banner. Jayson Pigg was third high individual and received a plaque and a $250 scholarship.
On Friday, April 1, Clarendon competed at West Texas A&M where there were 198 teams and 615 participants. They placed tenth, and Jacob Pigg was 26th high individual, and John Pigg was 48th.
The CHS livestock team is preparing for the South Plains contest on Friday, April 8, in Levelland and the Area Qualifying contest at Tech on Saturday. The top 15 percent will qualify for the state contest on May 7 at Texas A&M University.
The Donley County 4-H participated in the livestock and horse judging contests at Clarendon College over the weekend with the following results:
Livestock – Jr. 4-H, 8th place – Team of Kati Adams (14th), Kyla O’Dell (32nd), and Trey Wright (28th). Sr. 4-H, 9th place – Team One of Austin Adams (47th), Jayson Pigg (11th), John Pigg (33rd), Jacob Pigg; and 15th Place – Team Two of Caden Farris (36th), Tres Hommel (54th), and Coltin Kingston (62nd). Coached by Leonard Haynes.
Horse Judging – Jr. 4-H, 6th Place – Team of Brandalyn Ellis (12th) and Kade Hunsaker (15th). Sr. 4-H, 3rd Place – Team of Kylie Phillips (8th), Annie Patten (10th), and Kolt Stevenson (11th).
On Friday, April 1, the 4-H Horse Judgers also competed at West Texas A&M with the following results:
Sr. Team, 3rd Place – Team of Kylie Phillips (13th), Chris Shults (19th), and Kolt Stevenson (7th). Jr. Team, 1st Place – Team of Shelby Baxter (21st), Brandalyn Ellis (10th), Alysse Simpson (2nd), and Kade Hunsaker (4th).
The junior and senior teams will be traveling to WTAMU for 4-H District Horse Judging this Friday, April 8. The Livestock District One Contest will be April 15 at WTAMU. The 4-H teams are coached by Jody Green.
Hedley FFA members also competed in Horse and Livestock contests in Clarendon and at WTAMU. Students participating included: Cheyenne Kosechata, Jake Owens, Austin Adams, Reid Copelin, Coltin Kingston, Kassie O’Dell, Caden Farris, Jacob Widener, Sierra Wheatly, and Bailey Wood.
Hitting 40 is beginning to take its toll
Turning 40 is turning out to be harder on your humble editor than it first appeared.
Despite some rather deceitful and sneaky tactics employed by my wife, family, and friends five months ago, the big 4-0 seemed like no big deal. It wasn’t that much different than 39 really or 38 for that matter.
A relative told me that, for him, 40 didn’t matter because it wasn’t until 50 that he really started to feel his age and began to think about life and death, etc. And I recalled my own father telling me that 50 was when he got his AARP card, so I figured old age was another good ten years down the road.
Oh sure, my hair was graying and thinning, but that, one family friend told me, was simply due to the fact that I now have a daughter. (Sorry, Ella.) He said, and his wife confirmed, that he only had a smidgen of gray in his beard when his own daughter was born, but within a couple of years it had gone almost completely white. This seemed to make sense to me, and I accepted it.
So all was well with my soul. But in the last couple of weeks things have changed. After building a new sandbox for my kids, I began to notice a sharp pain in my right knee that had never been there before. There is no obvious reason for it, but it now hurts like crazy when I kneel on it. Could it be age? No, I refused to accept that. I must have injured it or something.
But then on Saturday I began to experience what can only be described as the early onset of senility.
After a late night at the circus, an early morning to make sure the circus site was cleaned up properly, and a long day of yard work, we began to make preparations to enjoy cooking some burgers on the grill. I lit the grill and went inside to the kitchen where I put some tea in the microwave to brew and commenced to making hamburger patties.
Right away I noticed a slight strange odor but dismissed it as something from lunch that must have sloshed onto the microwave tray. But from across the house my wife yelled, “Is something burning?”
“No,” I replied, “I don’t think so.”
“Maybe you better check your grill,” she said.
Okay, so I went and stuck my head out the back door and asked my four-year-old, “Is the grill on fire, son?”
“Yes, it is!” he exclaimed.
Well, of course it wasn’t technically on fire. It was just smoking as barbecue grills typically do. So I went back inside the house, which by now reeked of something terrible. I returned to the kitchen to discover smoke in the microwave. To my great dismay and humiliation I had not put water in with the tea bag. I set it out, confessed my mental lapse to my wife (who laughed about it), and then went back outside to put the burgers on the grill.
I came back in just a minute or two later to find the house really stinking now, and Ashlee asking, “Are you sure that wasn’t on fire?”
Well, pretty sure. But I proceeded back to the kitchen to find it smoking up a storm, and then picked up the tea bag to discover a nice orange glow in the middle of it.
“Oh, crap!” I said as I tossed the malodorous tea bag out the front door, raised the
windows, and turned on the vent fan.
By then we both had massive headaches, the wife was nauseated, and enjoying burgers on the grill was a bust. It took about three or four hours before the house was tolerable again.
Later that night, as I was getting ready for bed, I suddenly realized I couldn’t remember whether I had taken my allergy medication just moments before. I found myself actually counting the pills in the bottle and thought, “My Lord, I’m going downhill fast.”
Three days later, the fate of the microwave is still up in the air. It was probably 30 minutes after the initial accident when I realized that smell was still wafting out of that beautiful, nearly new appliance. It smelled worse than any nasty ashtray ever thought about smelling. After a night on the front porch, it seemed fine. But five seconds of running and it was stinking up the kitchen again Sunday morning.
Internet solutions of nuking baking soda in water and lemons in water have helped somewhat, but the scent still lingers. A vinegar solution is now apparently our only hope, but we haven’t tried it yet. I’m giving it another night on the porch before we go that route.
In the meantime, we do have a backup. Mom’s old Amana RadarRange one of our many treasures in the basement. The thing is too heavy to carry to the kitchen, so I trudge up and down the stairs whenever we really need something warmed up quickly.
Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be helping my knee any.
Jim Stone
Jim Stone, 83, died March 30, 2011.
Memorial Services were held at Moore Funeral Home Chapel in Arlington on Monday, April 4.
James Harold was born on June 14, 1927, to Marshal and Fannie L. Seets Stone in Hedley. After graduating from Hedley High School, he joined the U.S. Navy. He took basic training in San Diego, CA. He was then transferred to the Seabees. He served with the 90th U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, serving in Okinawa, Japan.
After adjusting to civilian life, he went to work for Commercial Credit Company. After thirty-nine years in the financial business, he retired as Regional Credit Manager for Citi Corp. While rearing his boys, he taught Junior Training at Highland Baptist Church. At Parkview Baptist Church, he was Treasurer, taught Senior Boys, and went on Lay Witness Mission Trips. He also assisted in his sons’ Boy Scout Troops and baseball teams. He was a member of South Oaks Baptist Church, Arlington Masonic Lodge, and Past President of Arlington Citizens Police Academy Alumni. He was a loving husband, father, and doted on his grandchildren. He had many friends. He loved them all and was loved by all.
Jim is survived by his wife, Ardith Warren Stone and his three sons, Randall Warren Stone and wife, Maria, and grandson, Spenser Stone of Duncanville, TX. Mark Lance Stone and wife, Dawna of Richland Hills, TX and granddaughters, Jordan Stone Hinkle and husband, Randy of Savannah, TX, and Skylar Stone of Hollywood, CA. Kevin Kelly Stone of Bedford, TX. One sister, Lois Laird of Clarendon, TX, eight nieces and two nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Jim’s selection-Arlington Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni c/o Chaplain Harold Elliott, 620 W. Division Arlington, TX 76004.
William Timothy “Tim” Word
William Timothy “Tim” Word, 52, died Saturday, April 2, 2011, in Amarillo.
Services were held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, 2011, in the First Baptist Church in Clarendon with Rev. Lance Wood, Pastor, officiating. Interment was held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon alongside his beloved grandparents, Billie “Gandy” and Gertrude “Honey” Christal. Arrangements were under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Tim was born in Oakland, California on July 15, 1958, to Millard & Jan Word. He was a 1976 graduate of Canyon High School. Upon receiving his BBA in Accounting in 1981 from West Texas State University in Canyon, Tim’s career specialization became Oil and Gas Accounting – initially for Diamond Shamrock in Amarillo.
His work took him to Fort Worth, San Antonio, Tunis Tunisia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and most recently Houston, where he worked for the DEVON Corporation. He was a gifted and consummate professional; yet certainly enjoyed the pranks and fun-loving camaraderie of his valued co-workers. Tim was an incredible son, brother, father, and friend.
He was a joy to all who knew him and no words can adequately convey how deeply he was loved, nor how greatly he will be missed.
He was preceded in death by his father, Millard Word; and his stepson, Zachary Ty Word.
Survivors include his daughter, Tiffany Castillo and husband Ursulo of Dallas; his son, Tyler Word of Dallas; his step-daughter, Erin Word of Houston; his mother, Jan Word of Amarillo; two brothers, David Word and wife Lynne of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Mike Word and wife Susan of Clarendon; a sister, Kim Miller and husband David of Amarillo; his grandchildren, Andrew, Raelyn, and Avi Word; six nieces and nephews; and a host of friends.
In lieu of flowers the family request memorials be sent to your local chapter of the American Cancer Society or a favorite charity.
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