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CHS Class of 2003 Reunites
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The Clarendon Enterprise - Spreading the word since 1878.
The Wilson Cattle Company took top honors at the Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association’s annual Ranch Rodeo last Friday and Saturday during the 146th annual Saints’ Roost Celebration.
Wilson’s scores beat out 19 other local and regional ranch rodeo teams as working cowboys put their skills to the test. The team was made up of Cayce Lewis, Rodey Wilson, Ben Crockett, Jaylen Eldridge, and Cooper McClesky.
The Baca Ranch team finished second with Jake Baca, Jayton Baca, Zane Davis, Jacob Gudgell, and Taylor Burkett; and the Latigo Ranch team was third with Wesley Gudgell, Jacob Gudgell, Truston Gudgell, Levi Moleswroth, and Cody Mason.
The Top Hand for the rodeo was awarded to Jacob Gudgell, and the Top Horse award was won by Jody Padilla.
This year’s attendance for the three-day junior rodeo and ranch rodeo was 1,225, similar to the 1,222 who attended in 2022.
The Junior Ranch Rodeo was won by the Barnes Cattle Company team comprised of Degan Barnes, Kesler Barnes, Bonnar Barnes, Brooks Myers, and Reece Myers. The second place team was the 96 Ranch with Brooks Myers, Reece Myers, Zane McKee, Degan Barnes, and Rankin Proffitt; and the 77 Ranch team was third in the junior competition with Brooks Myers, Reece Myers, Caden Anderson, Chance Anderson, and Degan Barnes.
Top Hand winner for the Junior Ranch Rodeo was Chance Anderson, and Zane McKee rode the Top Horse.
Junior Calf, Donkey, and Steer Riding and Mutton Bustin’ were held all three nights. Overall, Mutton Bustin’ champion for the three nights was Emerson Martindale. Overall Calf Riding Champion was Bo Cobb, the Overall Donkey Rider was Chance Anderson, and Steer Riding champion was Colton Henson.
Nightly winners of the junior events were as follows:
June 29 – Calf Scramble – Carley Jones, Emma Howard, and Laney Shelton; Mutton
Bustin’ – Bix Bischel; Calf Riding – Will Berry, Donkey Riding – Colton Henson; and Steer Riding – Colton Henson.
June 30 – Calf Scramble – Dalton German, Luke Hardin, and Tristan Satterfield; Mutton Bustin’ –Ainslee Lewis; Calf Riding – Bo Cobb; Donkey Riding – Cason Bowers; and Steer Riding – no entries.
July 1 – Calf Scramble – Will Berry, Chole Martindale, Sterlin Stevenson; Mutton Bustin’ – Emerson Martindale; Calf Riding – Will Berry; Donkey Riding – Chance Anderson; and Steer Riding – Elise Bullock.
Clarendon is ready this week to welcome visitors to the Panhandle’s oldest celebration of American Independence. The 146th annual Saints’ Roost Celebration begins Thursday, June 29, and runs through Saturday, July 1.
The Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association gets the celebration started Thursday night with the Junior Ranch Rodeo, which opens at 7:30 p.m. Kids events open each night of the rodeo with a Calf Scramble for ages 0-12, and open Junior Donkey Riding, Calf and Mutton Bustin’, and Steer Riding. Following the kids’ events, ten junior ranch teams will compete for the best times and scores in Sorting, Doctoring, Trailer Loading, Calf Branding, and the Wild Steer Race.
On Friday, the celebration continues downtown at the Crossties Ministry Center with the Depression Luncheon at the from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. COEA opens the first night of its annual Ranch Rodeo Friday night at 7:30. After the kids’ events, ten ranch teams will compete in the Ranch Bronc Riding, Stray Gathering, Wild Cow Milking, and Team Branding. Live music by Seth Ward and dancing on the Slab will follow.
Saturday is the celebration’s biggest day with events on the square starting at 9 a.m. Ed Montana will return to provide live music and serve as master of ceremonies. The Arts & Craft Fair begins at 9 a.m.
The Liberty Electric Kids’ Bicycle & Tricycle Parade will begin at 9 a.m. with line-up at 8:30 at Third and Sully. Line up for the Herring Bank Parade will start at 9 a.m. at Prospect Park with the parade taking off at 10:00. The theme for this year’s parades is “Adventure Awaits.” Pre-registration was required to be considered for prizes in both parades, and the deadline passed June 28. Late comers can still join the parades but will not be eligible for prizes.
New from the Chamber of Commerce this year, Diversified Waste is sponsoring a Lawnmower Barrel Race at 11:30 a.m. near the grandstand. Sign-ups will be held at the Chamber booth. Entry is $10 and you must be 18 years or older. Prizes will be given for the best times to complete the race.
The Shriners barbecue will start at about 11 a.m. Meal tickets are $20 each and are available on the square or in advance at the Enterprise. The Lions Club’s Cow Patty Bingo will follow the barbecue, and parade winners will be announced about 1 p.m.
The Henson’s Turtle Race will take place at 1:30 p.m. After the turtle races, the Chamber of Commerce will announce the winners of its new “Best of Donley County” competitions with first, second, and third place ribbons being awarded for the best jellies, jams, baked goods, and quilts. Drop-off for the “Best Of” contest is at the Enterprise on Thursday, June 29, from noon to 5:30 p.m. with judging on Friday.
The COEA will close out the 2023 celebration with the second night of the Ranch Rodeo, starting with kids’ events at 7:30, followed by ten more ranch teams in competition. Luke Koepke & The Bad Habits will perform at the Slab for everyone to dance the night away.
For more information about the celebration, call 806-874-2421.
Agricultural producers who have not yet completed their crop acreage reports after spring planting should make an appointment with the Donley County Farm Service Agency (FSA) before the applicable deadline.
Acreage reports for Donley County are due July 17, 2023, for Cotton, Corn, Peanuts, and Native and Improved Grasses.
“In order to comply with USDA program eligibility requirements, all producers must file an accurate crop acreage report by the applicable deadline,” said Leasha Hobbs, FSA’s County Executive Director in Donley County. “Our FSA staff is available to assist producers in completing acreage reports, including providing maps.”
An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch and its intended uses. Filing an accurate and timely acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage, can prevent the loss of benefits.
To file a crop acreage report, producers need to provide:
Crop and crop type or variety; Intended use of the crop; Number of acres of the crop; Map with approximate boundaries for the crop; Planting date(s); Planting pattern, when applicable; Producer shares; Irrigation practice(s); Acreage prevented from planting, when applicable; and Other information as required.
The following exceptions apply to acreage reporting dates:
If the crop has not been planted by the acreage reporting date, then the acreage must be reported no later than 15 calendar days after planting is completed.
If a producer acquires additional acreage after the acreage reporting date, then the acreage must be reported no later than 30 calendar days after purchase or acquiring the lease. Appropriate documentation must be provided to the county office.
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy holders should note that the acreage reporting date for NAP-covered crops is the earlier of the dates listed above or 15 calendar days before grazing or harvesting of the crop begins.
Producers should also report crop acreage they intended to plant, but due to natural disaster, were unable to because of a natural disaster.
Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and USDA’s Risk Management Agency.
FSA offers continuous certification for perennial forage. This means after perennial forage is reported once and the producer elects continuous certification, the certification remains in effect until a change is made. Check with FSA at the local USDA Service Center for more information on continuous certification.
Producers can access their FSA farm records, maps and common land units through the farmers.gov portal. Through a new mapping feature, producers can import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture planting boundaries. This allows producers to view, save, print and label their own maps for acreage reporting purposes. To access mapping features and other helpful on-line tools, producers need level 2 eAuth access linked to their Business Partner customer record. Visit farmers.gov/account to learn how to create a farmers.gov account.
In addition to mapping tools, a farmers.gov account offers a variety of self-service opportunities for FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) customers, including managing FSA farm loans and NRCS conservation contracts.
Video tutorials, including how to use mapping tools, are available on the farmers.gov YouTube channel. Learn more about a farmers.gov account.
For more information, contact the Donley County FSA office at 806-874-3561.
There is still time to enter the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce’s new “Best of Donley County” competition for the judging of jellies, jams, baked goods, and quilts for this year’s Saints’ Roost Celebration.
Drop-off is at the Enterprise on Thursday, June 29, from noon to 5:30 p.m. with judging occurring on Friday, June 30. Winners will be announced Saturday, July 1, from the bandstand on the courthouse square immediately following the turtle races (around 2:30 p.m.).
See ClarendonTx.com/blueribbon for more information.
The Clarendon Country Club will host a 4th of July Scramble next Tuesday, and Tee Time is 1:00 p.m.
Entry fees are $15 per person, non-member green fees are $12, and carts are $12. Bring your own four- or five-person team with no more than two “A” players. If you don’t have a team, you can be put on one.
Call the Pro Shop for more information at 806-874-2166.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m always reminded of that phrase when we delve into the archives to prepare our annual Pioneer Edition of The Donley County Leader and discover that our problems today are nothing new.
With the downtown revitalization effort under full steam, it was natural to look back at the last time Clarendon undertook a major renovation of the central business district, which was way back in 1920.
Today, a state grant is helping the city replace sidewalks and install new ornamental light posts in the 100 block of South Kearney Street. The project will be great when it’s finished, but it will involve some inconvenience. And of course, there have been and will be some nay-sayers, griping, and project delays. Our current project was slow out of the gate from the bid process and is weeks behind schedule, but, as it turns out, that’s nothing new. In fact, one might say we’re following tradition.
In 1920, the world was still reeling from the end of World War I and the pandemic of Spanish Flu. There were supply chain issues, labor shortages, and other problems that caused the installation to go less than smoothly. The city had already cut down the historic trees lining Kearney Street to make way for the brick paving. The edge of the paving had to be pulled up to lay the electric cable for the new streetlights, which was popularly called a White Way system in those days.
As materials slowly came in, there was even one news article that reported a local body shop had to shorten the cast iron lamp posts and reweld them. No other explanation was given, but I’m sure some city official and the project supervisor were pulling their hair out.
True to form, some citizens started laying it on the city officials pretty hard, and in November, The Clarendon News reported that, having had enough of the complaints, the mayor, most of the city commission, and the city secretary all resigned, leaving one lone city commissioner to run the city and see the project through to its completion in February of 1921.
When it was done, the City Beautiful – as we called Clarendon in those days – had one of the best White Way systems in the territory with 22 brilliant 250-Watt lamps lighting downtown. The system served our city for a long time, lighting the way for pedestrians and motorists alike before eventually being replaced by modern streetlights.
Clarendon’s new system will take longer than it did in 1920, but it’s more extensive and more complicated thanks to government regulations. People cared little about how high steps or curbs were 100 years ago. Today’s sidewalks, installed with state funds, must meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is a challenge when every threshold is at a different elevation and slopes can’t exceed more than a quarter inch per foot. Our new sidewalks, will have shorter steps to make it easier for people of all ages to ascend and descend, ramping in the center of each block for better access for those with disabilities, and better lighting to provide more security while enhancing the overall appearance of downtown.
The work in the 100 block will be followed, hopefully, with successive grants to perform matching projects in the 200 and 300 blocks of Kearney, and ultimately make our main street the best it’s ever been.
Also 100 years ago, the city got a new telephone switchboard to greatly expand the communications available in Clarendon. It apparently took some cajoling by city leaders to get the phone company off high center to get that project done. Interestingly, the phone company today is installing fiber internet infrastructure all over town to improve our communications for the modern era… but only after they got some prodding months ago from city officials. History repeating itself.
We hope you enjoy our Pioneer Edition, and we wish you all a safe and happy Fourth of July!
This weekend our nation takes time to celebrate the signing of our Declaration of Independence and the God-given freedoms we took ownership of in 1776. It was our Founders’ view that we are all Created Equal and that we are all entitled to certain inalienable rights, chief among them Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Once the United States was founded, however, the enjoyment of those rights was not immediately extended to everyone. It would be years before blacks and women would enjoy the full rights of citizenship.
Today, we like to think we are more enlightened. But are we? Take a look at the bevy of laws passed in the last year aimed at one segment of society or the current popularity of marginalizing or demonizing people just for the sin of being different.
Freedom is a great thing to celebrate. But it means nothing if it does not apply to everyone. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness is for everyone. As Emma Lazarus said: “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
Last week, my friend Cutter Seay and I went on the trip we won for the Washington DC Summer Program.
We started our trip on Father’s Day by flying to Washington, DC. Once we arrived, we got acquainted with our Close Up Foundation leaders and our workshop groups. The workshops are the groups with whom we did mock debates and political discussions.
Over the next couple of days, Cutter and I saw just about every monument, with my favorite being the Jefferson Memorial.
In addition to seeing the monuments, we also got to visit with staff members of our US Representative, Ronny Jackson, and our US Senator, John Cornyn. After meeting with the staff members, we were given gallery passes to the House of Representatives and the Senate to see Congress in action.
That evening when we returned to the hotel, we began by having a debate over concealed carry permits. After the debate, the moderators chose two representatives from either side of the argument to be members of the mock Congress. I was selected as the committee chairman of the concealed carry legislation. My group decided to amend the bill and pass the bill with a unanimous vote.
The next day was our final day in DC, and we got to spend the day in the city. We finished the evening with a dance. We returned home Friday morning.
I’m so happy that we had the opportunity to go on this trip and wish I could go again. I would like to thank former Congressman Mac Thornberry, Superintendent Jarrod Bellar, and the selection committee for making this program happen for us.
On a separate note, this upcoming Sunday is my sister Ella’s 15th birthday, and I would like to wish her a happy birthday. Love you, sis.
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