Ben Estlack

The Clarendon Broncos were named the Area Champs in 2A Div II last week in Floydada at Tyler Stadium with a huge 56-14 blowout over the Seagraves Eagles.

Clarendon’s win put them in the Regional Quarter Final round going in with nine wins in a row after a tough pre-district schedule. The game will be played Friday, November 24, in Borger against the Gruver Greyhounds at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Once again, the Broncos were led by senior Lyric Smith who took over the quarterback duties mid-season after Harrison Howard suffered an injury. Smith was fourteen of nineteen passing for 251 yards and five passing touchdowns and one interception. Smith also carried the ball eleven times for 121 yards and three rushing touchdowns including a 45-yard romp through the defense for the Broncos’ fourth score of the game in the second quarter. Smith posted five tackles on defense and recovered a Seagraves fumble.

Mason Sims, Jaxan McAnear, and Quay Brown accounted for the other Bronco scores. Sims had seven catches for 132 yards and had three receiving TD’s. Sims’ longest catch from Smith was 69 yards. After their first score of the game, the Broncos worked it down to their own 15-yard line when Smith found McAnear for the second score of the game. Brown’s reception came in the third quarter to help put the Broncos up by 37 points.

Shane Hagood was on the receiving end of a Smith pass for 44 yards and he rushed for 28 yards for 62 total yards and Easton Frausto had three carries for 24 yards. The Broncos accumulated 414 total yards on offense.

Defensively, the Broncos were able to frustrate their opponent and hold them out of the endzone numerous times as they were only able to rack up 101 yards. Dalton Coles has intensified defensively since the season began. Coles led the way with nine tackles in the game and one forced fumble. Grant Haynes has played stronger with seven tackles on the night, and Jared Musick continues to play with consistency grabbing seven tackles and one QB sack. Anthony Ceniceros has stayed solid on the line and finished with four tackles, and McAnear and Ranger Drenth added three tackles each.
First year head coach Aaron Wampler feels the Broncos have worked really hard this season and has confidence they will continue.

“They’ve gotten more and more comfortable with what the offense is supposed to look like, what the defense is supposed to look like,” Wampler said. “Just the execution with that, finding ways to really expose what our opponents are trying to do to us and finding ways to get open offensively. They’ve worked really, really hard.”
Good luck in the Regional Quarter-final, Broncos!

Donley County officials learned more about the idea of creating four County Assistance Districts to help fund law enforcement services during a called meeting last Thursday, November 16.
Bob Bass of the Allison, Bass, & Magee law firm from Austin fielded questions about how such districts work and the steps involved in creating and funding the entities.

Representing the county at the meeting were Judge John Howard, Sheriff Butch Blackburn, Clerk Vicky Tunnell, Sharon Braddock, and Commissioners Mark White, Daniel Ford, and Dan Sawyer. Clarendon City Administrator Brian Barboza, Howardwick Alderman Johnny Floyd, and Howardwick City Secretary Sandra Childress also attended along with former Clarendon administrator David Dockery.

Bass said the creation of the districts would generate revenue for law enforcement that comes “mostly off the highway” from sales at gas stations and convenience stores by collecting sales taxes throughout the county.

Currently there is no sales tax collected in the unincorporated areas of the county. Clarendon has a 2.0 percent sales tax rate, Howardwick collects 1.25 percent, and Hedley collects 1.0 percent. Under state law, local sales taxes cannot exceed 2.0 percent.

Under the proposal a 2.0 percent sales tax would be imposed on the unincorporated areas of the county, Howardwick would be asked to allow an additional 0.75 percent sales tax to be collected in that city, Hedley would be asked to allow another 1.0 percent; and Clarendon would be asked to give-up 0.625 percent (five eighths of one percent) of the rate collected for its general revenue and allow that amount to re-imposed in the city by a new district.

There would be a total of four county assistance districts – one in each city and one covering the unincorporated areas of the county. The districts could be governed by elected boards, Bass said, but it is more common and cost-effective to allow the commissioners’ court to serve as the board of each district. The commissioners would then oversee the funds raised by the district, with the primary intent to be to fund the jail and law enforcement.

“We would have to give notice to the cities of our intent to pursue this,” Bass told commissioners, “and then they would give us notice of their desire to participate,”

The cities wishing to participate would then put the issue on their May ballots, and the county would put the creation of a district for the unincorporated areas on a ballot in May also.

The county assistance district idea came up earlier this year when the City of Clarendon sought to reduce funding it pays by contract to the Donley County Sheriff’s Office. The city has contracted with the county for law enforcement since 1981. The city’s previous contract with the county expired at the end of September and had been a three-year agreement with a built-in percentage increase each year. If the agreement had been renewed, the city would be obligated to about $170,000 in this fiscal year.

County officials say the cost of employing two deputies is about $180,000, and those two positions are the difference in having 24-hour police coverage. The entire budget for the sheriff’s office in the current budget is $442,658 and the jail is an additional $373,144.

Judge Howard and Sheriff Blackburn said Thursday the county had agreed to reduce the city’s obligation to $140,000 for a one-year contract with the understanding that the city would put the county assistance district on the ballot, but the city council rejected the new contract when it included language about putting the issue on the ballot and specifically when it mentioned the 0.625 percent sales tax.

Bass said his firm has helped with the creation of several county assistance districts, but he said asking cities to give up their revenue is difficult.

“We’ve rarely gotten a city to forego a portion of their sales tax,” Bass said. “Cities are reluctant to give up their revenue stream.”

Sales tax revenues have historically gone up over time, which make county assistance districts appealing as funding streams for law enforcement, but it also means cities don’t know exactly how much they are giving up over time.

Former city administrator David Dockery noted that Clarendon’s sales tax collection with a 2.0 percent rate grew from about $230,000 in 2015 to about $500,000 in the last fiscal year.

The 0.625 percent rate the city would be asked to cede to a new district is estimated to be what would have generated $140,000 in the last fiscal year, Bass said. The 2.0 percent rate that would be sought for the unincorporated areas is expected to generate about $30,000, and Bass said the projected revenues from Hedley and Howardwick “could not be calculated.”

The comptroller reported in February that Howardwick’s 1.25 percent sales tax generated $3,3355.04 for calendar year 2022. Hedley’s 1.0 percent sales tax brought in $2,142.63 for the same period.

Bass said if one city does not agree to the county assistance district plan, it could possibly cause the entire plan to fail.

County officials say Clarendon can choose to continue with an annual contract each year instead of creating a new district, but they can’t continue to provide the same level of service for less than about $180,000. Other municipalities can also contract with the sheriff’s office. Cities can also choose to fund their own law enforcement agencies, but that option would be more costly than contracting with the county and would open the cities up to new areas of liability.

If the county assistance districts were approved and revenues exceeded what was needed to supplement the sheriff’s office and jail, they funds could be used for fire protection, emergency medical services, emergency management, maintenance of roads, economic development, tourism promotion, libraries, parks, museums, and other things. All of which cities can do with sales tax revenues.

Bass said the county is under no obligation to provide law enforcement for cities without an agreement to do so, and Howard said the assistance districts would have everyone in the county paying the same rate of sales tax and provide a steady revenue stream for the county sheriff’s office, which would still also be supported with ad valorem taxes from the county as well.

County officials will plan informational meetings for each proposed district, and Judge Howard anticipates the county will likely meet before its next regular meeting to give notice to the cities of its desire to pursue the districts.

The Donley County AgriLife Extension hosted fifth grade students from six area schools last Tuesday, October 31, for their 20th Ag Literacy Day.

A total of 138 students from Clarendon, Hedley, Memphis, Claude, Silverton, and Valley attended the event with 29 high school students helping from Clarendon, Memphis, and Silverton.

County Agent Leonard Haynes said the students learned about agriculture from ten separate stations covering the following topics: beef cattle, small grain production, small animal livestock, rainfall effects / soil conservation, groundwater conservation, peanut production, cotton production, tractor PTO safety, stream bed formation, and Texas outdoor and game laws.

“Our overall goal is to educate kids as we have more kids away from farms who think everything originates at the grocery store,” Haynes said. “We show them that from the time they woke up today, agriculture touches their lives from clothes to deodorant to brushing their teeth. So many things come from ag byproducts.”

Demonstrations at the stations included how a cotton gin works, the effects of soil erosion, how flowing water affects topography, how small grains are milled for food, where different cuts of meat come from, and more.

Haynes said the program started as a shared activity between the Donley and Hall county extension services, but now invites schools from other areas to participate.

In addition to the ten stations students rotated through, all students were presented with a powerline and farm safety demonstration from Greenbelt Electric Cooperative, and the Southwest Mobile Dairy also presented a live milking demonstration to highlight where milk and milk byproducts come from.

A new downtown restaurant will hold its grand opening next week after several months of construction and remodeling.

REFZ Sports Bar & Grill, located at US 287 and Kearney Street, will open its doors to the public on Wednesday, November 1, and owner Ricardo Santillan is just as ready as the community is.

“It’s been hard and definitely a lot of work,” Santillan said, “but it’s also been very exciting watching the process of taking a building where there was nothing and what it has turned into.”

For eight months, Santillan has overseen a complete overhaul of the former Clarendon Steakhouse building, remodeling the front end, ripping out and installing a new kitchen, remodeling bathrooms, and more. With the final pieces going into place this week, Santillan is planning an invitation-only “soft opening” only in the next few days to make sure everything is ready for Wednesday.

REFZ has hired 24 people and plans to be open seven days a week. Its hours will be Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Happy hour will be everyday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., and weekday $8 lunch specials will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In addition to a full and varied menu, REFZ will have a full bar, including mixed drinks; 16 big screen TVs showing all kinds of sports; and seating for 136 people.

Santillan currently has five of his new hires from Clarendon working at his first REFZ location in Guymon, Okla., which has been in business for six years.

“We want everyone to come enjoy themselves here as place of entertainment,” Santillan said. “Come with your family and hang out and have a good time.”

The process of bringing a restaurant to downtown has been a long one. The Clarendon Economic Development Corporation first purchased the building in 2015 after it was heavily damaged by an automobile and has made significant investments in the building since that time to make it attractive as a potential restaurant. Discussions with Santillan began in November 2022 with an agreement reached in February 2023 and construction starting the following month.

“It’s been great working with the CEDC,” Santillan said. “Those guys helped me all along the way. They have been gracious and supportive of me, and I’ve been thankful for that. I could not have done this project without the CEDC, and it’s one of the main reasons I decided to do it.”

CEDC President Brandon Frausto is also very happy to see the REFZ project come to fruition.

“We are excited to have REFZ be a part of our community,” Frausto said. “This has been a goal of the CEDC for quite some time. I hope this helps build momentum as we move toward our vision for the future of Clarendon.”

Santillan is also looking to the future.

“It’s going to work,” Santillan said. “It’s taken a lot of time, energy, and investment by all of us (Santillan’s business and the CEDC), but we’re doing it for the town as well. We both saw a need for the town, and now we hope everyone comes and enjoys it.”