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King meets with local constituents
State Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian) gave a recap of the last legislative session and listened to the concerns of Donley County residents during a stop in Clarendon last Thursday, October 10.
Speaking at the Clarendon College Bairfield Activity Center, Rep. King said his most important job at this point is the redistricting that will follow the 2020 US Census.
“Currently you need a population of about 160,000 to make a state house district,” King said. “That will change to 200,000. One rural East Texas district, and one rural West District will be lost.”
King doesn’t thing his district will be eliminated, but he emphasized the importance of redistricting to the people of this area.
King highlighted accomplishments of the last Legislature, which he said were a balanced budget and public education reforms that gave more money to teachers and more money to address the mental health of students.
“There’s never enough money in public education, but House Bill 3 was a good start,” King said.
Another highlight, King said, was Melissa’s Law, which improves the sentencing statute for sexual predators. King said the bill was authored by a district attorney here in House District 88. A bill that also came from this area was HB 2604, which expanded some grant opportunities for volunteer fire departments.
“The best legislation is always that which is brought up by a constituent, so please continue to participate,” King said.
Looking ahead to the 2021 legislative session, King said the state sales tax would be on the table. Adding a penny to the sales levy would do more for public education than anything else the state could do, he said.
King also hopes to look at health insurance options for retired teachers in the next session and consider appraisal reform to treat poorer rural counties differently than richer urban counties.
Clarendon ISD Interim Superintendent Mike Jackson thanked King for his support in getting a 13th check for retired teachers but urged him to support a cost of living increase for those retirees.
Clarendon College President Robert Riza thanked the representative for his dedication and his availability work for the interests of community colleges. King noted that, while there are a lot of lawyers and insurance salesmen serving as legislators, he is the only one who works in the oil and gas business.
Donley County Judge John Howard asked King about the possibility of economically disadvantaged counties being able to keep a higher percentage of fines that go to the state.
King, referring to his earlier remarks, encouraged the judge to put a formal proposal together that could be carried as a bill in the next session.
“I’d much rather work on your agenda than mine,” King said.
Junior firefighter
Copelin, operate the hose used to put out fires. HHS Yearbook / Carl Thornton
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C Bar C wins 25th annual cookoff
The C Bar C Ranch team from Hartley was the overall champion of the 25th annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff last Saturday, September 28, at the Saints’ Roost Museum.
Twelve wagons prepared food for 600 people for the sell-out event, and the C Bar C placed in three out of five food judging categories and placed third in Overall Cooking and third in Wagon & Camp to take home the custom cutting board designed by Clarendon artist Jack Craft.
The 12th annual Junior Cookoff the day before the big event drew six contestants, who were paired with experienced wagon teams to prepare potatoes for the cooks’ dinner Friday night. Haylin Bivens from Clarendon won first place and was teamed with the DT Wagon from Watertown, South Dakota.
McKenna Williams of Clarendon was second, working with the Honey-Do-Spoiler of Pampa; and Addy Havens was third and worked with the Crosstimber Ranch of Mustang, Okla.
Other junior participants included Haughton Bivens, Henry Bivens, and Chelsea Wright, all of Clarendon. The Junior Cookoff is sponsored each year by the American Chuckwagon Association.
Following the Junior Cookoff, 160 people enjoyed a delicious steak dinner Friday night on the museum grounds, compared to 165 the year before.
The invitation-only event was held exclusively for Chuckwagon teams and members of the Saints’ Roost Museum and their families as well as members of the Goodnight family.
The trade show was held throughout the day Saturday, and live entertainment was provided. Relatives of Chuckwagon inventor Charles Goodnight also were present for their annual reunion.
Competing wagons served a menu of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, beans, and cobbler. Wagons came from as far as Tennessee and South Dakota to attend this year’s cookoff.
Prizes totaling $3,250 were paid out to the winners. Complete results were:
Overall Wagon & Cooking: 1) C Bar C Ranch.
Overall Cooking: 1) Camp Cookie of Germantown, Tenn., 2) Cross Wagon, 3) C Bar C, and 4) J Bar D Ranch of Amarillo.
Best Wagon & Camp: 1) DT Wagon of Watertown, South Dakota, 2) J Bar D, 3) C Bar C, and 4) Crosstimber Ranch of Mustang, Okla.
Best Meat: 1) J Bar D, 2) Double Nichols of Amarillo, 3) C Bar C, and 4) Camp Cookie.
Best Beans: 1) Cross Wagon, 2) Camp Cookie, 3) Crosstimber, and 4) Cocklebur Camp of Odessa.
Best Potatoes: 1) Camp Cookie, 2) Cross Wagon, 3) Crosstimber, and 4) J Bar D.
Best Bread: 1) Honey-Do-Spoiler of Pampa, 2) Cross, 3) J Bar D, and 4) C Bar C.
Best Dessert: 1) Palo Duro Cowboy Church of Canyon, 2) C Bar C, 3) C4B Chuckwagon of
Amarillo, and 4) Honey-Do-Spoiler.
Following the chuckwagon cookoff, the Saints’ Roost Museum and the Mulkey Theatre hosted Red Steagall and his band. Steagall was the featured entertainment at the first cookoff in 1995. This year more than 200 people bought tickets to see Steagall perform on the Mulkey stage.
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