Ben Estlack

The Mulkey Theatre will host its first live theatrical performance Sunday, October 15, with the musical comedy, “Boomtown.”

In the 1920s, wildcat oil strikes, overnight wealth and Prohibition gave rise to lawless new towns. The most notorious of these was the unruly city of Borger, Texas.

Presented by Texas Comedies, “Boomtown” is based on memoirs and trial transcripts and follows land promoter Ace Borger, who capitalized on oil strikes in the Texas Panhandle. With the notorious Two-Gun Dick Herwig installed as sheriff, the town is soon overrun with wild dancehalls, bootleg liquor joints, and gambling halls.

The “mostly true” story will be a first for the 1946 Mulkey Theatre since its reopening in 2019. In addition to movies, the Mulkey has hosted concerts, dances, reunions, conferences, town hall meetings, yoga classes, a game night, and mystery dinners. “Boomtown,” however, will be the theatre’s first theatrical performance.

Tickets for “Boomtown” are $20 each and are on sale now at MulkeyTheatre.com and at the Clarendon Visitor Center. Tickets may also be purchased by calling 806-874-2421.

Presented by Texas Comedies, who brought you the shows Bonnie & Clyde: A Musical Comedy, Prohibition, The Feud, and other “mostly-true” musical comedies. www.texascomedies.com

Dear Clarendon,

It has been my honor to serve you as City Administrator for the last eight plus years. I want to thank you all for the support given to the city and our team as we strived to improve the quality of life for our residents. The Mayor Aldermen I have been fortunate to work for are the most dedicated public servants any community could hope for. Their direction and leadership have resulted in bringing many improvements to your water system, wastewater infrastructure, streets, parks, pool, and downtown revitalization gained through grant opportunities and sound fiscal management. These vital long-erm improvements to our town are a testament to the monumental effort provided by your local elected officials.

While the leadership of the Mayor and Aldermen drive the car, it is the staff that is the engine that makes everything run. John Molder and the Public Works Department are seldom appreciated for the excellent work accomplished in some of the most undesirable conditions. Machiel Covey and the City Hall staff have worked diligently to provide courteous service and are always looking for ways to allow for more customer convenience while maintaining accurate and transparent accounting. Whether it is the library ladies, recycling attendants, or pool staff, I have been blessed to have been surrounded by and supported by a fabulous team.

Last but certainly most importantly, I would like to express my appreciation to the citizens of Clarendon, without you we would have no purpose. Clarendon is very fortunate to have hired Brain Barboza to fill this position and his passion for service and his knowledge of municipal government will not only continue the city’s efforts but will I’m sure will enhance them. Please stop by and introduce yourself to Mr. Barboza. Thank everyone very much.

David Dockery
Ex City Administrator
Golfer and fisherman

For more than 58 years, the Pantex Plant has manufactured high-explosive charges for every weapon in the nation’s nuclear stockpile. In all those years it had never pressed 1,000 parts in a single year, but Pantex exceeded that number in Fiscal Year 2023 to set a new record for the plant.

“During the Cold War era, the most parts pressed at Pantex was 152 in a month, and that was utilizing three presses,” said Lennon Mings, High Explosives (HE) pressing engineer. “Our team was able to accomplish this utilizing only one press.”

In 2016, Pantex took occupancy of the newly-built High Explosive Pressing Facility (HEPF), a building which allows HE inspection, machining, staging, and HE radiography to take place in a single modern facility.

Not surprisingly, the HEPF took a few years to ensure all of the state-of-the-art equipment worked as designed for start-up and safe operations.

In late May, a second press was finally repaired, and the HEPF pressing team was able to utilize both presses for the first time in more than 6 months. Due to their improvements and efficiencies, the HEPF team were able to press more parts per day – another record set by the team.

The HEPF team’s successes are directly linked to their efforts in productivity, safety, and quality.

Regular inspections of equipment and products ensure the state-of-the-art equipment is in safe working order.

“With the help of many organizations such as Maintenance and Facility Management, we’ve proven that the facility design and process drives efficiency, improves worker protection, and creates a quality product,” Jimmy Ramirez, HE Manufacturing pressing senior manager, said.

Now that the HEPF is fully operational and all presses are performing as designed, Pantex will be able to sustain the pressing production needs in order to provide HE parts with the appropriate lead time to support all Weapon Modernization Program production at Pantex and meet deliverables directly supporting global security for the nation.

“Meeting our FY 2023 deliverables to our Department of Defense customer in a safe and secure manner is of the highest priority and this achievement paves the way for us to meet these goals now and into the future,” said Jason Armstrong, Pantex NNSA Production Office Manager.

“HEPF has truly exceptional and dedicated people who take pride and ownership of the pressing operations,” Jimmy Ramirez said. “These changes and the dedicated team at the HEPF are what has allowed us to deliver as promised and will continue to set new record highs for pressing HE parts in the future.”

School officials and the Donley County Sheriff’s Office are reviewing what worked well and what needs improvement after a false alarm caused Clarendon CISD campuses to go on lockdown for about half an hour last Thursday, September 15.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the school acted appropriately even though ultimately it was determined there was no threat to the school or the students.

“In my opinion, they did exactly what that should have done with the information they had to start with,” Blackburn said.

CCISD administration was made aware of a perceived threat by a student at about 8:50 a.m. According to a statement by the school, the student had left campus, and all campuses were put on lockdown until law enforcement could arrive and ascertain the whereabouts of the student. Sheriff Blackburn found the student off campus, and the lockdown was lifted at 9:24.

Both the sheriff and Superintendent Jarod Bellar said that at no time was there ever a threat to the school, but the school acted on the side of caution to be sure. The sheriff’s investigation, which involved multiple witnesses and school security camera footage, revealed there was never a threat of any kind from the student.

“It was good in a way to have a real lockdown instead of a practice,” Blackburn said. “We can learn from mistakes.”

Bellar agreed and said the lockdown went well but that there are areas to be improved upon. The app used to implement the lockdown was triggered with a default “intruder” message, which Bellar said was not an accurate description of the reason for the lockdown but was the best of the default choices at the time.

The school is working to improve and customize the app, which is used to communicate on campus, and is also exploring other ways to communicate with the parents.

CCISD’s new safety officer had not started officially but responded Thursday with the sheriff’s office. The officer’s first day on the job was Monday of this week.

Both Bellar and Blackburn ask parents to remember that in the event of the lockdown to please not come to the campus. No one will be allowed in or out of the buildings, and the presence of more people will add to congestion and potentially present more safety issues.