News

Hedley will host its 82nd annual Cotton Festival this weekend with activities starting Friday night.

A chili supper will be held at the Lioness Club starting at 5 p.m. and barbecue sandwiches at the Lions Den with chips and drinks. Johnny Woodard will provide music, and everyone is invited to come, stay, and visit.

The Hedley One Act Play student will also have their annual Bingo games starting Friday from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Hedley Senior Citizens Building.

The Hedley Volunteer Fire Department will get the day started Saturday with a breakfast fundraiser from 7:00 to 9:30 a.m. or until the food runs out. The breakfast will be at the Hedley Senior Citizens building and will cost $9 per person.

The firefighters will also be holding a 50/50 raffle that day. Tickets are available from any firefighter or at Country Bloomers in Clarendon.

The Hedley Senior Citizens will be having a raffle for a Henry Golden Boy .22 rifle and a Henry Lever Action .410. Tickets will be for sale in front of the senior citizens building. The One Act Play Bingo and silent auction will continue from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Cotton Festival Kiddie Parade will be held at 11 a.m., and the Festival Parade will be at 1 p.m. For parade entries, contact Mark C. White at 806-277-0412.

The third annual Wicked Fast Poker Run will take off from the Big Red Barn at 2:30 p.m. Barbecue will be available there at noon with check-in beginning at 1:00 p.m. The cost is $25 per person and proceeds benefit the Rowe Cemetery Association. Call Stephanie Wilkinson at 806-930-1252 for more information on the poker run.

The senior citizens will serve hamburgers and chips at noon for lunch, and barbecue sandwiches will also be available again in the Lions Den. All drawings for the festival will be held at 6 p.m. at the Lions Den.

The festival will close out with a community dance Saturday night behind City Hall with a DJ providing music.

A Clarendon businessman and former city council member is out on bail this week, facing a charge of assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Jesus Hernandez was arrested Monday, October 2, and charged with Indecent Assault, a Class A Misdemeanor.

Blackburn said the alleged assault occurred on September 23, and Hernandez was arrested following an investigation into the report.

Hernandez turned himself in, and Justice of the Peace Sarah Hatley arraigned him October 2 and set his bond at $5,000. He was released on bail the same day.

Hernandez has been in the local restaurant business for about 26 years. That business has been closed for more than two weeks now with no signs of reopening. Hernandez also served as a Clarendon city alderman from 2011 to 2013.

Vehicles ranging from cars and trucks to motorcycles and more are signing up for this Saturday’s second Kinetic Hot Rods to Harleys Fun Run hosted by the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce.

The 100-mile scenic ride starts and ends at the Saints’ Roost Museum with participants making several stops along the way in Hedley, McLean, and Lake McClellan to build their hand of cards and see who the lucky winner is in the end.

Registration starts at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast. The Fun Run starts at 9:15 a.m. with lunch at noon and awards at 1:00 p.m. Vendor booths will be available at the museum during the fun run.

Entry is $25 per vehicle, and proceeds benefit Christ’ Kids and the “Toys for Joy” toy drive in Donley County, a project of the Clarendon Lions Club.

“Toys for Joy” will buy a toy for every elementary student in Clarendon and Hedley schools this Christmas.

Early registration is encouraged at clarendontx.com/funrun. Participants can either pay online, at the Clarendon Visitor Center, or in person the day of the event.

For more information, call the Clarendon Visitor Center at 806-874-2421 or Bob Weiss at 806-205-0270.

The Kinetic Hot Rods to Harleys Fun Run is sponsored by Kinetic, REFZ, Budweiser, Country Bloomers Flowers & Gifts, Floyd’s Automotive, Ace Pest Control, Shelton & Shelton Attorney’s Sonic Drive-In, JoBob’s Services, Finch Ranch Helicopter, Greenbelt Water Authority, Newhouse Farms, Donley County State Bank, Knorpp Insurance, and Texas Dodge.

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.”