Ben Estlack

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.

The Clarendon City Council approved its tax rate and budget for the coming fiscal year during its regular meeting last Thursday, September 15.

Aldermen adopted a tax rate of $0.610083, which is expected to bring in 3.56 percent more revenue to the city. The city budget was also unanimously passed by the council.

The council also considered the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation’s EDC budget and Hotel Occupancy Tax budget and the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce’s Hotel Occupancy Tax budget. Both were approved.

Publicity and Tourism Agreements with the Chamber and CEDC were considered and renewed for a two-year period. The Chamber receives 25 percent of the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue and the CEDC administers the other 75 percent.

An agreement for consultation services with David Dockery was approved. Dockery is retiring as City Administrator at the end of September but will stay on part time for a limited time as a consultant to help manage projects that are already underway.

The council considered upgrading handrails scheduled for the Downtown Revitalization Project. It’s possible that excess grant funds may be allowed to be used for the handrails. In the event that’s not approved, the city agreed to split the cost of the upgrades with the CEDC.

Paving bids were considered for work being done on the east side of town. Bryers Paving had the low big at just over $87,000. The next lowest bid was close to $113,000.

In public comments, Cindy Cockerham address the board about the health and safety hazard of an abandoned house on the southwest corner of Sims and Third street across from Bronco Stadium.

The Saints’ Roost Museum will hold its 29th annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff this Saturday, September 23, and its first Shindig Under The Stars on Friday, September 22.

Friday night’s Shindig will feature a dinner at 6:30 p.m. followed by DJ music and dancing at 8:30. Funds raised from this event will benefit the museum’s new Wheels of History building now under construction. The cost of the Shindig is $25. Call 806-874-2746 for information.

On Saturday a dozen chuckwagon teams will compete for top prizes and bragging rights. Tickets for the cookoff are still available at the Donley County State Bank and Every Nook & Cranny. Although admission is free, a $25 meal ticket is required to enjoy the authentic chuckwagon chicken fried steak dinner.

The tradeshow Saturday starts at 10 a.m. Local and area entertainers will also be performing. The authentic wagons will serve at 1 p.m. with the traditional chicken fried steak dinner, and other activities will include a hay auction and the Goodnight family reunion.