Roger Estlack

This car, driven by Josh English, was trapped under the footbridge south of the Lions Hall last Thursday by a flash flood. English escaped unharmed according to Sheriff Butch Blackburn. A total of 9.25 inches fell on the city in a very short time.

Enterprise Photo
 
Heavy rain inundated the city of Clarendon last Thursday night, trapping one couple in a pickup and closing US 287 for several hours.

The official measurement in town was 9.25 inches.

According to information from the Donley County Sheriff’s Department, the National Weather Service warned local authorities of severe weather at 8:27 p.m. Heavy rain was reported four minutes later, and the flooding was recorded at 9:07.

The closest call was had by Vic Jeter and a female companion who were swept away by a torrent of water on Gorst Street. They were rescued by Sheriff Butch Blackburn and three other individuals.

Jeter’s wasn’t the only vehicle to be flooded, according to Blackburn. A white sports car driven by Josh English was swept away on Sixth Street near the City Park.

The sheriff said English managed to get out of his vehicle and escape before it floated downstream and crashed into a footbridge south of the Lions Hall.

Another vehicle, a Ford Explorer carrying two college students, was also stranded on Sixth Street near the City Park. The students managed to crawl on top of the vehicle to safety. An Army surplus six-by-six truck from the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was called into action to rescue the students, Blackburn said.

Law enforcement personnel also suffered their own automotive casualties. Deputy Jon Burrell’s patrol car was flooded and stalled near Third and Ellerbe streets, and DPS Trooper Tony Polito’s car also stalled nearby, Blackburn said.

The DPS car was reportedly still in working order this week, but the county car will likely be totaled out.

During the flooding, US 287 was closed early in the evening only to be reopened a short time later. But a second wave of water came through the city near midnight, prompting officials to close the highway again and divert traffic around Clarendon. The highway was not re-opened until 3:19 a.m. on Friday.

Several businesses and public buildings experienced leaking and minor water damage. The heaviest toll may have been taken on the city streets, where pavement was ripped up in some areas, and dirt streets were washed out. City Secretary Janice Barbee says City Hall has started the paperwork to apply for emergency funds.

Blackburn said the worst damage to a residence came at FM 1260 and County Road P. Water got up between three and four feet on the exterior walls of a home there, and as much as six inches got in the house, he said.

Greenbelt Water Authority reports the lake rose by 1.39 feet following the rain. The majority of that runoff came from Kelly Creek, which was still running two feet over the low water crossing on Friday.

Blackburn says he’s glad no one was hurt during Thursday’s flood, and he has a message for local citizens.

“When we have a heavy rain like that or when we blow the siren, please stay home and do not get out.”

He said people coming to look for a tornado or look at the floods creates more problems for his department to worry about.

“I probably offended some people last week by telling them to go home, and I’m sorry,” he said. “But that’s really the safest place.”

Thursday’s rain was the biggest since April 2, 1997, when 8.71 inches fell in one night. Following that flood, the city repaired diversion dams south and southwest of town and cleaned debris and vegetation from the main floodway.

Those flood structures were built in the 1920s and 1930s and today spare the downtown area from the devastating floods, which sometimes occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Clarendon’s Vic Jeter and a female passenger narrowly survived a watery disaster when the pickup they were in was was washed into the city’s major floodway downtown.

Jeter said he turned south onto Gorst off Third Street and proceeded toward Fourth Street about 9:30 p.m. last Thursday after seeing two vehicles go ahead of him.

That area is part of Clarendon’s main storm drainage system.

Jeter said he never saw the water hit his Ford pickup, but in a matter of seconds the cab was covered as water flowed over it. Jeter said his pickup was pushed backwards into a retaining wall by the water, then forced downstream before hanging up behind the First Christian Church.

“We couldn’t see anything because the water was rolling up over the windows,” Jeter said.

Jeter called 911 twice but could never hear the dispatcher’s response because of the roar of the water. He then tried calling Renee’s Diner where he knew some local officers were but again could hear nothing.

Both 911 calls were received by the Donley County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Bruce Burrell went down Fourth Street near the Senior Citizens Center but could not get to Jeter’s location from there. Sheriff Butch Blackburn arrived via Third Street.

Blackburn said he grabbed a lariat from his patrol truck and tossed it to the woman with Jeter. The sheriff, along with bystander Max Rippetoe, volunteer firefighter James Hinton, and one other person, pulled Jeter’s companion to safety. Then the sheriff threw the rope to Jeter.

“He hit me with it the first rattle out of the box,” Jeter said.

Blackburn always carries a lariat with him but says his skills with it are limited.

“I’ve never been a very good roper,” the sheriff said. “There was somebody helping me that night.”

Jeter said he never knew when the men started pulling on the rope. One instance he was in the truck, and the next he was in the water with his feet pointing straight downstream as the torrent tried to carry him off. Blackburn and the others dug in and pulled the man to safety.

“There were three people in that truck,” Jeter says of his rescue. “Me, her, and God.”

Apathy was the word of the day last Saturday as the City of Clarendon and the Hedley Independent School District held local elections.

A grand total of 119 people voted in the city election. Only 63 cast ballots in the Hedley CISD.

In Clarendon, five candidates were vying for two seats on the Board of Alderman. Former Collingsworth County Judge Bob Watson and incumbent Alderman Michael Tibbets were the voters’ top picks with 91 and 79 votes respectively.

Other candidates for alderman were Bill Holden, 22; Jim Wright, 17; and Carl Draper, 15.

Mayor Tex Selvidge was running unopposed and received 95 votes.

City winners will be sworn in at the next regular board meeting on May 22.

In Hedley, four candidates sought three positions on the school board.

Top candidates were Jan Farris with 45 votes, Jason Sargent with 38, and Mark Montgomery with 37.

Longtime board member Carole Ward lost her re-election bid by one vote. Thirty-six voters checked her name on their ballots.

The Hedley trustees were also sworn in Tuesday night.

Turnout percentages were not available at press time as officials with neither the city nor the Hedley schools could say how many people were registered to vote within their boundaries.

Cheryl Johnson, Clarendon Enterprise

The faculty and administration of Hedley CISD are proud to announce the top two students of the 2001 Senior Class.

This year’s high school valedictorian is Lana Wallendorf with an average of 97.667.

Lana is the daughter of Mike and Lori Wallendorff of Hedley. She was active in basketball, golf, Pep Club, Spanish Club, NHS, BPA, Yearbook, and One-Act-Play.

Lana successfully competed in UIL Science and Math on the district, regional, and state levels as she was a member of the 2000 Texas State 1A Championship Science Team. In addition, Lana has competed successfully on the regional, state, and national levels in BPA Accounting and Banking and Finance.

She is the current NHS President and was awarded by the Donley County Chamber of Commerce the Hedley Young Woman of the Year.

Over the years, she has received Honor H’s in biology, chemistry, social studies, physics and math. She is a recurring member of the A Honor Roll. This year, Lana was voted Most Dependable, Most Spirited, and Most Likely to Succeed.

Lana plans to study medicine and become a family physician.

Rachel Bennett, daughter of Travis and Tonja Ruthardt of Lelia Lake, is the salutatorian with an average of 94.364.

Rachel has participated in basketball, Pep Club, Cheerleading, golf, Track, Spanish Club, One-Act Play, HHS Choir, Yearbook Staff and Business Professionals of America.

Rachel was an officer for the HHS National Honor Society, competed on the regional level in UIL Accounting, and on the state level in BPA accounting.

She has been on the AB and A Honor Roll numerous times in addition to attaining Perfect Attendance awards.

She has plans to attend West Texas State University where she will study pre-med.

The HHS Class of 2001 will have their commencement on Friday, May 25, at 8:00 p.m. in the Owl Gym.

Christmas has come early for the local city-county library this year thanks to the estate of Mary Stocking McConnell.

The Gabie Betts Burton Memorial Library has received a check from that estate in the amount of $97,500.

Librarian Carolyn Blackerby says the library has been a beneficiary of Mrs. McConnell’s estate in the past, receiving smaller amounts from interest on a trust. The generous sum received in April is a partial termination distribution of the estate, according to a letter from a Bank of America representative.

The bank is reportedly in the process of completing the administration of the estate, and a smaller, final payment will be made to the library at a later date.

The money comes with no apparent strings attached other than it must be used for the library; and while there are several pressing needs, Blackerby has zeroed in on a project she hopes to see undertaken completed.

“We plan to use the money as seed money for a grant to remodel the second floor of the library,” she said.

Currently the upstairs area is unfinished. Part of it is used for storage and mechanical purposes, but most is underutilized space.

“The library should be for everyone in the community,” she said, “and we want to make sure it is just that way.”

Blackerby envisions the upstairs being used for meeting rooms, a literacy training area, periodical archives, and genealogy research. Access to the approximately 2,750 square foot second floor would be made easier by the installation of an elevator.

No plans have been carved in stone yet, but Blackerby has already contacted an elevator company for an estimate and plans to consult an architect regarding the feasibility of the project.

A portion of the estate’s gift may also be used to update the library’s reference material, she said.

Over the last year and a half, the Burton Library, which is jointly operated by the City of Clarendon and Donley County, has come to be utilized more and more by local people.

“Our traffic has doubled,” says Blackerby. “We started at 30 to 40 people a day. Now, it’s not unusual to have nearly 100 people daily.”

In addition to traditional research and reading, the Burton Library has become a popular meeting place for various groups – most notably the Donley County Tourism Council – and has enjoyed an up tick of activity thanks to the availability of Internet access. Many travelers stop to use the library to check their e-mail.

The surge in daily visitors has necessitated the addition of another full time employee. Recently city aldermen and county commissioners approved increasing Sabrina Burrow’s hours, moving her from part time to full time as of this week.

The Burton Memorial Library is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The City of Clarendon unveiled plans for a new solid waste transfer station during a public hearing prior to last Tuesday’s board of aldermen meeting.

The station will be built in front of the city’s Three Feathers Recycling Center on W. North Front Street near the grain elevator, and construction will be partially funded by a grant from the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC).

When the job is completed, citizens will be able to back their cars or trucks up a slope to dump trash, tree limbs, or recyclables into one of five roll-off boxes.

City Superintendent Jim Roberts says the facility will be open seven days a week for the convenience of local citizens.

The concept of a transfer station pre-dates 1995 when the Three Feathers center was opened, and the design of the station will be based on a similar facility Alderman Billy Jack Land visited near Possum Kingdom a couple of years ago.

Mayor Tex Selvidge believes the station will be a benefit to the city.

“Now [citizens] have to dump their trash on the ground if they can’t lift it high enough to get it in the box,” he said. “This will be a lot easier; they can just drive straight in there and drop it in. It will also help keep that whole area cleaner and neater.”

The $52,800 PRPC grant will cover the cost of concrete bays for two roll-off boxes and a movable metal gatehouse. The city will provide an in-kind match by doing all the dirt work for the project. Final total cost estimates are not yet available pending completion of designs by the city’s engineering firm.

While the grant only covers two bays, the city plans to build five because it will be more economical to do the whole project at once, city officials say. City Hall has been putting money back to pay for the remainder of the project.

The city estimates it will save at least $182.50 per month in trash dumping costs. No decisions have been made regarding fees for using the new facility.

Roberts says city workers will begin the dirt work soon. Under the terms of the grant, the project must be completed by August 31, 2001.

No adverse comments were made during the public hearing, and the plans were approved.

In other city business, representatives of Planned Parenthood addressed the board of aldermen during their regular meeting. The local office closed last week, and efforts are being made to re-open it in September.

Planned Parenthood officials say they provide reproductive health services to uninsured people, and the majority of patients of the local office were poor, married, working women. The local office was opened in 1972, but the agency’s budget has not been increased in the last ten years. Representatives say finding a facility that would house their office at no rent or with free utilities would help make up their budget shortfall.

The board voiced support for Planned Parenthood. No action was taken at last week’s meeting.

The board also heard from directors of the Audie L. Murphy Rural Preservation Foundation, which is based in Memphis. The newly formed foundation hopes to preserve the rural way of life and plans to raise money that could be granted to homegrown projects primarily in Donley and Hall counties.

 Alton Gaines and Jay Gage addressed the board regarding the desire of Mrs. L.B. Matheson to donate her property on N. Jefferson St. for use as a park. Playground equipment is already on the property, and a new community organization has begun improvements to the area.

Water meters and water valves were discussed. The board voted to have Roberts and City Secretary Janice Barbee get together and write an ordinance requiring a valve be placed on the customer’s side of the meter when new meters are requested and new taps put in. The cost will be borne by the consumer.

A resolution was passed to authorize the fire chief to represent the volunteer fire department in applying for a grant to purchase ten sets of bunker gear and ten air packs for the firefighters.