News

A Clarendon man was sentenced when the district court heard pleas in six cases in Panhandle on September 13.

District Attorney Luke Inman, along with Assistant District Attorney Harley Caudle, prosecuted the cases for the State of Texas, with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.

Emzy Harris, 35, from Clarendon, was placed on eight years’ probation for the second degree felony offense of possession of failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. Harris was arrested by Donley County Chief Deputy Jay Longan on August 2 and pleaded to an information filed by the State on September 8.

Harris was also ordered to successfully complete 300 hours of community service, and pay a $500 fine, $400 in attorney fees, and $290 in court costs. If her probation is revoked, Harris faces up to 20 years in prison.

In other cases, Billy Jack Wayne, 26, from Bakersfield, Calif., was sentenced to 23 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the first degree felony offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer.

“This case involved the defendant running from our officers on I-40, then swerving at a Carson County Deputy to try and take him out of the chase,” said Inman. “For defendants like this, their only options are plead guilty for substantial pen time or take it to a jury.”

Wayne was finally arrested in Carson County by Chief Deputy J.C. Blackburn on June 21. Wayne was later indicted by the Carson County Grand Jury on August 18. Wayne was also ordered to pay $340 in court costs.

Angel Diaz Torres, 35, of Mexico, was sentenced to 16 years in prison and $340 in court costs after he pleaded guilty to the first-degree felony offense of possession of a controlled substance.

Allen Ray Thomas, 39, from Fritch, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the second-degree felony offense of burglary of a habitation.

Reyes Herrera, Jr., 44, from Wellington, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for the state jail felony offense of theft.

Austin Ensey, 41, from Borger, was sentenced to six years in prison for the third degree felony offense of evading arrest in a motor vehicle.

By Dana Wright, TPWD Wildlife Biologist

Hunters pursuing mule deer this fall in the Texas Panhandle should be aware that an antler restriction has been expanded and includes Donley County.

The antler restriction regulation in 28 counties prohibits the harvest of any mule deer buck with a main beam outside spread of less than 20 inches.

The restriction originally included seven counties: Briscoe, Childress, Cottle, Floyd, Hall, Motley and Lynn counties. It now includes an additional 21 counties: Andrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Dawson, Donley, Foard, Gaines, Hale, Hardeman, Hockley, Lamb, Lubbock, Martin, Parmer, Randall, Swisher, Terry, and Yoakum.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department expanded the regulation with the goal of improving buck age structure and sex ratios in these counties by reducing hunting pressure on younger bucks.

The antler restriction was tested in six experimental counties starting with the 2018 hunting season. Results from the experiment showed that prior to the experiment the area had a one buck/4.7 does, at the end of the experiment surveys indicated an improvement in sex ratios to one buck/2.9 does. Of the bucks brought to the check stations during the four-year experiment, 81 percent that were 4.5 years or older met the 20” outside beam spread.

In addition, a mule deer archery-only season was established in all counties with the antler restriction. The archery-only season opens October 1 and runs through November 4, with the general firearm season occurring November 19 through December 4.

More information about the antler restriction and FAQs can be found online at https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/muledeer/faqs.phtml

A Howardwick man remained hospitalized Monday following a shooting incident last Wednesday, September 7.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the man, whose name has not been released, will be facing a third degree felony charge of Deadly Conduct when he gets released from the hospital.

Blackburn said his office was called to Borger Street in Howardwick last Wednesday evening on a report that man possibly on drugs was hallucinating and shooting firearms in the direction of people’s residences.

When a deputy and the Department of Public Safety arrived, the man went inside his trailer house and fired several more rounds.

Sheriff Blackburn and two deputies entered the trailer armed with shotguns and a beanbag shotgun. The individual would not lay down his weapon, so he was shot with the bean bag gun, the sheriff said.

It was soon learned that he had been severely injured by the bean bag. The man was transported to Northwest Texas Hospital where he remained at press time.

Blackburn said the Texas Rangers are investigating the case at his request.

The City of Clarendon set a record when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributed monthly sales tax allocations to local governments last week.

City Administrator David Dockery said the September allocation pushed total sales tax revenues beyond the half a million dollars mark for the first time for a fiscal year, with receipts for fiscal year 2022 totaling more than $502,000.

The city’s fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30. Sales taxes reports are reported by the comptroller by the calendar year.

September’s allocation for Clarendon was actually down 7.32 percent at $37,878.59. The city’s calendar year total for 2022 is still up 5.1 percent at $377,491.81.

Hedley was up for the month 20.09 percent at $700.80 but is 14.5 percent down for 2022 at $8,613.03.

Howardwick was up 5.68 percent for the month and is 6.39 up for the year at $15,673.10.

Statewide, the comptroller delivered $1.04 billion in local sales tax allocations for September, 13.1 percent more than in September 2021. These allocations are based on sales made in July by businesses that report tax monthly.

The City of Clarendon is asking residents’ cooperation as work gets underway next week on the 2022 seal coat program.

City Hall requests that all obstructions – including vehicles and trailers – be moved off streets set to be worked on next week. Officials say that if a vehicle or other object is still in the roadway when work begins, it will be removed by wrecker at the owner’s expense.

Streets scheduled for seal coat work include:
East Fourth Street from South Carhart to US 70 South; South Carhart from US 287 to East Browning; Clarendon Ave from South Bugbee past Collinson; South Allen Street from West Fifth to West Third; South Bugbee from West Eighth to West Sixth; South Taylor from West Third to West Sixth; South Ellerbe from West Third to West Sixth; and North Jefferson from West White to West Dyer.

This project will take one to two days to complete and will start Tuesday, September 20, at 8:00 a.m.

One of the supporting characters from a 2021 “Thelma & Louise” style run from the law found himself back in front of the 100th Judicial District Court in Clarendon August 25.

Rueben Campos, 38, from Amarillo, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for the state jail felony offense of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

District Attorney Luke Inman, along with Assistant District Attorney Harley Caudle, prosecuted the case for the State of Texas, with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Inman said.  “The defendant couldn’t even keep his nose clean for 90 days on probation, so bad for him but good for the rest of the community.

Campos was arrested on May 21, 2021, by Donley County Deputy Brian Stevens. Another man and two women were arrested the same day, with them women attempting run from the law in a stolen car before running it off into a ravine south of Clarendon.

Campos was originally placed on probation on July 21, 2021.

The State filed a motion asking the Court to adjudicate Campos’ probation on October 19, 2021, alleging five violations of probation.

At the hearing on August 25, Campos admitted violating his probation conditions, and Messer sentenced him to the 16-month prison term.

“This guy wasn’t even one of our local undesirables,” said Caudle.  “He was an Amarillo criminal who drifted a little too far away from home to commit this crime.  Maybe he will remember to not come back to Donley County when he gets out.”

Campos was also ordered to pay the remaining $2,500 fine and $305 in court costs.