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Top students for the Class of 2003 were named last week at both Clarendon and Hedley High Schools. Valedictorians are Valerie Taylor and Lauren Hill, and Salutatorians are Lacey Anderberg and Lisle Rowland.

Valerie Taylor, daughter of John and Susanne Taylor, has been named Valedictorian of Clarendon High School with a GPA of 100.97.

Taylor has been involved in many extracurricular activities including Junior Historians for four years.  She has served as president of the local chapter.  She participated in National History Day all four years and submitted a first place paper at the State Junior Historian meet this year. 

Taylor has played the bassoon for the Bronco Band four years and qualified as an All-Region Band member for all four of those years.  She has also been a member of the Clarendon High School Science Bowl team.  She competed in UIL Literary Criticism, Journalism, and One Act Play while qualifying for regional and state competition and placing sixth in Literary Criticism at the State Meet.

Valerie has also received many honors.  She is a member of the Clarendon High School National Honor Society and has served as president of the local chapter.  She was also chosen to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference as a sophomore and has been named a National Merit Scholarship Commended Student.

Valerie’s outside of school activities include membership in the First Baptist Church Youth, and she has served in the Children’s Church Ministry as a volunteer.  Valerie has also been an office assistant at the Clarendon Family Medical Center.

Valerie plans to attend Texas Tech University, where she plans to major in English.

Lauren Hill is the Valedictorian of Hedley High School.  She is the daughter of Bryan and Debbie Hill.  She has attended Hedley School for the past 13 years.  She has been on the ‘A’ Honor Roll and is graduating with a 97.65 average.

Hill was active in basketball, tennis, track, cross-country, UIL Academics, Choir, BPA, FFA, and One Act Play.  She received awards of First Team All-State and Player of the Year in 1A basketball.  She was a three-year regional qualifier in tennis and track.  She competed in Number Sense, Calculator Applications, and Mathematics at regional for four years, and Mathematics one year at state. 

Hill is also involved with the youth group at church and enjoys playing the piano. 

Lauren plans to attend a four-year college, play basketball, and graduate with an accounting degree.

Lacey Anderberg, daughter of Jeff and Sandy Anderberg, has been named Salutatorian for Clarendon High School with a GPA of 100.26.  She has received a full tuition scholarship to Oklahoma Baptist University, where she will major in general studies.

Lacey has also been very involved in extracurricular activities.  She has played basketball for 4 years, been a band member for four years while qualifying for State Solo and Ensemble on the trombone, and has been a student council member for four years serving as secretary her junior year and vice president this year.  Lacey has also been involved in UIL literary events for four years while winning state in Editorial Writing and qualifying for regional Persuasive Speaking.

Lacey has been a member of the National Honor Society and has served as vice president of the local chapter this year.  She has also received the Wendy’s Heisman nomination and has been awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award.  In addition she received the Lady Bronco Fighting Heart award her junior year.

Lacey is a member for the Calvary Baptist Church youth group.

Lisle Michael Rowland is the Salutatorian for Hedley High School and is the son of Mike and Linda Rowland. He has attended Hedley School for ten years.

Rowland played varsity football for three years and took a year off to be mascot.  He is a member of the National Honor Society and the UIL Math and Science teams.   He has earned his Eagle Scout rank and has participated in FFA and 4-H. 

Rowland’s favorite high school memories are of Boy Scout Camp, skiing at Greenbelt Lake, and Math and Science trips to San Antonio. 

Lisle plans to attend West Texas A&M and pursue a career in Nutritional Science.

The High Ranking Boy for the Class of 2003 is Kevin Green.  Kevin is the son of Alex and Penny McAnear.  Kevin plans on attending Amarillo College and majoring in pre-pharmacy.  His GPA is 96.56.

Kevin’ activities at CHS include two years of football, one year of basketball, one year of tennis, one year of baseball, and one year of golf.  Kevin has been named to the Academic All District Team.  He has also been a member of the student council, Gifted & Talented, UIL Accounting, UIL Calculator, UIL Science, the Bronco Band, the Spanish Club, the Future Farmers of America, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Kevin has also been a very active volunteer in his community.  He has served as a cafeteria volunteer, helped in food drives, aided in the rodeo clean up, and has been an assistant T-ball coach.

Kevin’s awards include All-Region Band, Pantex Outstanding Math Student, CHS Top Business Student, CHS Top Chemistry Student, and CHS Top Spanish Student.

Kevin is a member of the First United Methodist Church and its youth group.

Bobbie Kidd and Michael Tibbets were sworn in as members of the Clarendon Board of Aldermen Monday night after a ballot recount confirmed them as victors of the May 3 election. Meanwhile, Mayor Tex Selvidge says he’ll take the blame for any confusion about irregularities in the election.

Candidates Bob Watson and Allen Estlack filed a petition for a recount last Wednesday after the election produced a one-vote difference between three of seven candidates running for two places on the board. Kidd had gotten 125 votes, but Tibbets had received 81 votes, Watson 80, and Estlack 79.

When the votes were recounted Friday, Watson lost two votes, but Tibbets’ and Estlack’s totals remained unchanged. Mayor Tex Selvidge, who was unopposed, also lost one vote in the recount, as did candidate Carl Draper.

Other issues were also brought to light last week.

City officials discovered Wednesday that two people who voted on May 3 apparently were not registered for the municipal election. Those votes may have been lawful if those individuals are in fact living inside the city, but that question remained unanswered.

Mayor Selvidge has requested the Donley County Tax Assessor/Collector’s office to provide City Hall with a list of only city voters for next year’s election rather than the countywide list provided now. He also says state officials tell him its up to the candidates to protest the election results.

“If anybody wants to protest, then there is a process they can go through,” Selvidge said.

According to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, a losing candidate would have to file suit in district court to change the outcome. The district judge could compel any voters who cast invalid ballots to reveal who they voted for, or he could void the election entirely. Neither Estlack nor Watson have expressed any plans to take this step.

In another issue, questions were raised after Friday’s recount because city officials didn’t give 18 hours advance notice of the recount to the candidates before the fact. Mayor Selvidge announced the city would hold a second recount but called that off when he discovered Saturday that the ballots had been left unsecured.

“I wanted to do what was right,” he said, “but I felt I would be more wrong if we recounted an unsecured vote. If there’s any blame it falls on me. I’m the one in charge.”

AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Agriculture announced this week that cotton producers in the 22 counties of the Northern Rolling Plains Boll Weevil Eradication Zone have voted by almost a 10-to-1 margin to continue a boll weevil eradication program. 

Final results were 904 voting “for” and 94 voting “against” continuing an eradication program.

TDA mailed 2,028 ballots to cotton producers in the zone who were eligible to vote in the referendum.  A total of 998 ballots were postmarked by the April 21 deadline and counted.

Cotton producers also elected John Inman of Childress County to represent the Northern Rolling Plains Zone on the statewide board of directors for the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, Inc. 

Inman is a cotton producer who has farmed in Childress County since 1980.

Growers in the Northern Rolling Plains Zone initially approved a boll weevil eradication program in April 1999 and a maximum assessment of $15 per planted row acre for irrigated cotton and $10 per planted row acre for dryland cotton to fund it.  With producers voting to continue the program, the current assessment rates were not affected.

The Northern Rolling Plains Boll Weevil Eradication Zone consists of approximately 350,000 acres in 22 counties: Childress, Clay, Collingsworth, Cottle, Donley, Foard, Gray, Hall, Hardeman, Kent, King, Motley, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, and portions of Archer, Armstrong, Briscoe, Crosby, Dickens, Floyd and Garza.

A Donley County felon will spend 16 years in the state penitentiary following action by the district court last week.

Michael Neal Royal was sentenced by District Judge David McCoy on a motion filed by District Attorney Stuart Messer to adjudicate the guilt of the defendant.

Royal had been placed on 10 years deferred adjudication on October 7, 1999, in two first degree felony cases of Aggravated Assault on a Peace Officer. He has since violated two conditions of his probation, which brought him before the court.

“I want to commend the work of the probation department for keeping a close watch on their probationers in helping to keep our communities and families safe,” Messer said.

Many times the State will agree to allow a defendant to go on probation, knowing that if the defendant violates probation he will face serious consequences.

Royal was represented by attorney Seldon Hale.

Only one vote separated three of the seven candidates running for two positions on the Clarendon Board of Aldermen when local elections were held Saturday.

Former alderman Bobbie Kidd was easily returned to office with 125 votes, but incumbent Alderman Michael Tibbets pulled out a one-vote victory over fellow incumbent Bob Watson, 81 to 80. Candidate Allen Estlack was fourth with 79.

City Secretary Linda Smith said Monday afternoon that Alderman Watson is considering asking for a recount of Saturday’s vote. He has until May 8 to make that decision and would have to pay fees totaling about $55 – win or lose – if he makes the request.

Only 212 Clarendon citizens cast ballots this year, down from 257 last year. Mayor Tex Selvidge, running unopposed, received 162 votes. Other candidates for aldermen were Carl Draper, 15; Ricky Rattan, 13; and Jimmy Swinney, 6.

Razor thin elections were also the order of the day elsewhere in the county.

In Howardwick, former alderman Nancy Davis was elected mayor by a five-vote margin over Alderman Bobby Murdock. The final count was 66 to 61.

Aldermen Dewey Linley and Mike Rowland were running unopposed and received 89 and 108 votes. A total of 127 people cast ballots in Howardwick, more than double the 62 who voted last year.

In the election for the Place Two seat on the Donley County Hospital District Board of Directors, challenger Alan Fletcher squeezed out a six-vote win against incumbent Nelson Christie, 215 to 209.

Incumbent Andy Wheatley handedly defeated challenger Bill Holden, 293 to 105, for the Place Three seat, and Don Thornberry was unopposed and garnered 340 votes for his Place One seat.

A total of 436 people voted in the hospital district election. That represents only 17.4 percent of the registered voters in Donley County.

The Hedley School Board race was the only election without close finishes. Ninety-nine people turned out to reelect Cary Don Neely and Troy Monroe with 70 and 65 votes. Challengers Dan Bollin and LeAnn Marcum netted 38 and 15 votes respectively.

In the narrowest victory in history, Tommy Hill was crowned Donley County’s third Turkey King during the annual Turkey Strut Festival last Saturday, beating his nearest opponent by a margin of less than six bits.

Election officials counted the returns three times Saturday to prevent any calls for recounts and even double-checked their figures on Monday just to be sure.

In accordance with long-established tradition, deposed king Mutt Graham was on hand to crown his successor.

Hill’s final tally was $277.67, which set a new record for the most votes cast for a single candidate. Overall, $804.23 was put in the money jars of king candidates this year. That beats the record of $661.40 set way back during the controversial election of 2001.

His Highness was gracious in victory and pledged to devote himself to the betterment of the county.

“We support tourism, and that’s what this is all about,” King Hill said. “I’ll strut up and down Kearney Street if that’s what it takes to bring more tourists to Clarendon.”

Coming in second for the second year in a row was Nancy Davis with a total vote of $276.95. And bringing up the rear were the Osburns – Benny in third place with $65.36 and Annette in fourth place with $63.58 – and Mark White (the banker) in last place with a paltry $46.12.

King Hill’s campaign made a clean sweep of all competitions this year. His proxy – Trey Brown – beat all other candidates’ proxies in the Dairy Queen banana-spilt eating contest, diving face first into the treat and consuming it with gusto. Hill rewarded Brown with a second split that he also consumed with no signs of being sick.

Hill’s team in the mattress race also came in first as lead runner Brice Fletcher practically dragged Hill down one block of Kearney Street in 12 seconds flat.

Other activities were held throughout the day, although some evening festivities were called off due to windy weather.

Proceeds from the annual Turkey King election benefit the Donley County Tourism Council.

Donley County Commissioners last week approved three proposals totaling $65,569 for additional work on the 1890 courthouse.

The county authorized spending $14,200 for wooden window shades to be stained to match the trim in the courthouse and $1,369 to recreate four end pieces to complete the theatre-style seats in the district courtroom.

The most significant new work will be spending $50,000 to restore and repair stonework on the building. The focus of this will be on the main entrance to the building and on the stones in the worst condition on the east side of the building.

The court also agreed to set aside up to $6,000 to be used to refinish antique tables that were originally in the courthouse and voted in favor of getting estimates for installing a sprinkler system for the courthouse square.

Funds for all these expenditures will be taken from money which has been donated to the courthouse restoration project from private sources.

In other county business during the court’s regular meeting last Monday, commissioners approved Tax Assessor-Collector Wilma Lindley’s request to attend a conference in Houston this June. Expenses for this trip are to be reimbursed by the Texas Secretary of State.

The court accepted bids on tax delinquent property on three lots in Howardwick.

The county entered into a contract with Fixed Asset Management to help the county prepare an inventory for new GASB guidelines.

A request from County Clerk Fay Vargas to use records management money to purchase plat record binders and plastic envelopes was approved.

The county policy manual was updated regarding overtime compensation, and the court approved an agreement for the rental of two radar units for the DPS.

Three more defendants have accepted plea bargains as a result of drug-related indictments issued by the Donley County Grand Jury in January.

David Ray Tolbert was sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary by District Judge David McCoy last Monday as a result of a plea.

Timothy Don Lockeby and Joshua Lamar Allred received ten years probation after they agreed to help District Attorney Stuart Messer’s office prosecute the other defendants in the case.

Tolbert, Lockeby, and Lamar, along with Darrell Thomas, were indicted January 24 on the allegation that they had agreed to deliver methamphetamine to an inmate in the county jail. They were charged with the first degree felony of Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity.

Thomas accepted a plea last month and was also sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary.

Prosecution against another defendant is still pending in the case. Lauren Thomas had been charged as a juvenile since she was 16 at the time of the offense. Messer said she has since been certified as an adult and faces the same felony charge as the other defendants.

All five individuals allegedly engaged in organized criminal activity between October 1, 2002, and January 9, 2003, during which time seven deliveries of methamphetamine were made to an inmate in the Donley County Jail.

“This has been swift justice,” Messer said. “I appreciated the Donley County Sheriff’s Office and the good job they did with the investigation on this case.”

Neita Draper looks at part of the roof from a nearby garage which came to rest against her back porch today.   Enterprise Photo
A nice spring shower turned ugly for some Clarendon residents Wednesday when what is being described as a “small tornado” hit the southeast side of town.  

The storm was later officially classified as an F1 tornado with winds up to 80 mph.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the damage appeared to have been caused by a small funnel, despite assurances from the weather bureau just moments before that there was nothing to worry about.

Emergency personnel responded quickly to block of traffic around the storm’s path, and city crews worked to clear streets of tree limbs and debris.

No injuries were reported.  Blackburn said the damage reached from Barcus Street at Carhart to the 600 block of E. Second Street and mostly consisted of tree limbs.

A vacant house owned by Carl Draper in the 300 block of E. Montgomery Street seemed to have sustained the most damage. There a second story room and the front porch were ripped off. The roof of the garage was also torn apart.

Some residents said they saw a funnel, others said they saw only swirling trash and debris.

Draper, whose double-wide trailer house next door also suffered damage to the roof and windows, said he had just made a sandwich about 12:30 p.m. when he looked out the front door and saw a small funnel drop down on Carhart Street between Barcus and Burkhead streets.

“It sounded just like a freight train,” Draper said.

He told his wife to hit the floor just as the storm passed through his block. He said the storm then picked up and dropped down again before picking up and heading out north of town.

Damage reports were still coming in at post time and included accounts of a mangled swing set, a warped trampoline which hovered at roof-height before being slammed onto the neighbor’s property, a small out building that was blown away or destroyed, roofs damaged, and fences knocked over.

A full report will be available in next week’s print edition of The Enterprise.

The third annual Donley County Turkey Strut is to be held Saturday, April 19, in Clarendon with activities planned through out the day.

The family fun event starts at 10 a.m. with a Pet Show and Contest at Millie B’s, where local critters can compete for the title of Best Pet in the County. Also from 10 a.m. to noon is a book signing featuring Delbert Trew and his friends at the Burton Memorial Library.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Suna AutoMall will host the Battle of the Area Chambers of Commerce Chili Cook-off. Chili tasting is free, and KLSR will have a live remote.

At noon, the Medical Center Nursing Home will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt and Hot Dog Lunch.

A free kite-flying contest will be held at Yankie’s RV Park at 2 p.m.

There will also be festivities up and down Kearney Street from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with booths featuring arts, crafts, and bake sales as well as glass blowing demonstrations, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and merchant sales.

Dairy Queen will host a 50s Party from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. with KEFH providing the golden oldies music. At 4 p.m. DQ will have a Banana Split Eating Contest for the top five Turkey King candidates.

Judge Jack Hall will defend his title as the Mattress Race Champion at 5 p.m. in the 300 block of S. Kearney, followed by the crowning of the third Donley County Turkey King, the Kids Turkey Strut Contest, and the Karaoke Street Dance.

VFW Bingo starts at 7 p.m. at the VFW Hall, and the Sandell Drive-In will have its feature at dusk.

For more information about the Strut, call 874-2421.