News

The State Hwy. 70 bridge over the Salt Fork of the Red River is now open for traffic after severe damage necessitated emergency repairs to the bridge last week.

Donley County TxDOT Maintenance Supervisor Steve Smith ordered the bridge partially closed at 3:30 p.m. last Tuesday after he discovered one section of the northbound lane had dropped nearly two inches.

Inspection of the bridge, located below the Greenbelt Dam, revealed that three huge pieces of concrete were popped out of the fourth interior bent support from the north where it joined the I-beams of the bridge span. One beam on the east side of the bridge was actually twisted out of shape.

Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) say that a heavy load may have been what caused the damage and dropped that section 1 5/8”.

All truck traffic between US 287 and I-40 was immediately diverted through Hedley, but one lane of the bridge remained open to passenger vehicles.

Early Thursday morning, TxDOT crews began repairs to the bridge by driving new pylons 18 feet into the ground on the east and west side of the damaged section. The bridge was then lifted and set back down on its new support.

Traffic was diverted to a temporary road through the riverbed as repairs were made.

The bridge reopened late Friday afternoon, according to TxDOT spokeswoman Barbara Seal.

The Salt Fork bridge was constructed in 1954, Smith said. The south end washed out in 1957. It was rebuilt and then lengthened some time later.

The support that failed was originally the north end of the bridge but is now located near the center.

TxDOT officials say long-range plans call for the bridge to be replaced with earthen fill because the existence of the Greenbelt Reservoir makes the bridge “hydrologically unnecessary.”

With passage of the 2002 Farm Bill, farmers and ranchers now have an opportunity to install needed conservation practices on their property with assistance from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

EQIP was reauthorized when President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on May 13, 2002.  EQIP is part of the Conservation Provisions section within the new legislation. Although reauthorized, EQIP has undergone a facelift to simplify the administrative concurrence process and improve delivery of the program.

Producers who request EQIP assistance will be able to use program funds in the first year of the conservation contract.  Further the program increases total payment amounts to $450,000 per individual for the life of the new Farm Bill.  Changes also include elimination of both the Geographic Priority Areas (GPA’s) and “bidding down” process for cost share assistance.

The revised program emphasizes conservation practices relative to livestock production and eliminates animal unit caps on large confined livestock operations.

Of benefit to many producers is the cost share incentive for defined limited resource for beginning farmers and ranchers.  Qualified producers may be eligible for up to 90 percent cost share for needed conservation practices.  Final rules for qualified producers are pending.

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has administrative and technical responsibility for EQIP.  According to Tomas Dominguez, Acting State Conservationist for NRCS in Texas, “EQIP is a voluntary USDA conservation program for farmers and ranchers to treat soil, water, and related natural resource concerns on eligible land. Passage of the new Farm Bill represents not only an agency commitment to conservation, but an opportunity for landowners across Texas to install needed conservation on their lands.”

Interested landowners should contact their local representatives for NRCS located in their county USDA Service Center.  Applications for the 2002 funding period are being accepted through June 28, 2002.  Additional information is available on the USDA website at http://www.usda.gov/farmbill.

Clarendon Masonic Lodge #700 A.F.&A.M. will present several awards to longtime Masons this Sunday, June 23, at 3 p.m.

Most Worshipful Farris L. Benham, Past Grand Master of Masons in Texas, will present 50-year awards to Charles Samuel Lowry, Turner M. Caldwell, Jr., and Jimmy Lee Butler. Forty-year awards will also be presented to Roy Joe Bass, Lonnie Odell Cornell, Jimmy Lynn Garland, Harmon Goodman, Charles N. Penix, Billy M. Powell, Clyde I. Price, Jr., Delbert Wayne Robertson, Richard Duane Reynolds, and Edward Davis Sawyer.

The public is invited, and refreshments will be served afterward by Clarendon Order of the Eastern Star #6.

The public is also invited to attend the installation of officers for Clarendon Lodge #700 which will be held next Monday, June 24, at 6:30 p.m.

Several blocks of streets in Clarendon will be repaired thanks to a $350,000 disaster grant from the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA).

In an announcement last week, ORCA officials awarded the Texas Community Development Program (TCDP) Disaster Relief grant to the city for damages caused by flooding on May 3 and 4, 2001.

“The Office of Rural Community Affairs is pleased to be able to assist the citizens of Clarendon,” said ORCA Director Robert J. “Sam” Tessen. “It is just an example of Texans helping Texans.”

The new grant complements and provides matching funds for another one awarded to the city earlier this year by the federal government’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program.

“We were fortunate to get these grants,” said City Superintendent Jim Roberts. “They came along about the same time, and we were able to tie the two together.”

Under the TCDP grant, portions of four city streets will be improved. Those areas include two blocks of McClelland Street between Fifth and Montgomery, three blocks of Hawley Street from Fourth to Barcus, and three blocks of Wood Avenue from McClelland to Jackson.

The grant also will pave and improve 1,300 feet of Thurman Avenue. That thoroughfare is a major drainage way for the eastern edge of the city. The EWP funds will address the first 150 feet south of US 287, and the TCDP grant will extend that work.

The EWP program funds will also be used for silt removal, slope protection, channel clearing, and debris removal. The remainder of the TCDP grant will be used to address mitigation measures needed to protect the low-lying areas within the city that flood each time a storm occurs.

Bids for the local projects should be let later this month, and Roberts says the work will be completed this summer.

“Small cities like Clarendon are particularly hard-hit by disasters, such as the 2001 flood, which stretch their resources and leave lingering economic consequences,” Sen. Craig Estes said. “These funds will help prevent flooding in the future.”

“The new Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) was designed specifically to look after the interests of small communities who need assistance, such as Clarendon,” said Rep. Warren Chisum. “It’s good to see our government stepping in to give them the help they need.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the funding source for this program.

For more information about ORCA, call toll free in Texas: 800-544-2042 or visit the agency’s Web site at www.orca.state.tx.us

Plans are set for Clarendon’s 124th annual Saints’ Roost Celebration to be held Thursday, July 4, through Saturday, July 6.

This year’s celebration features all the old favorite features, including the Shriners Barbecue, the Depression Lunch, Henson’s Turtle Race, and the Arts & Crafts Fair. A few changes have occurred in this year’s celebration, but there will still be plenty of activities for young and old to enjoy during the three-day celebration.

The celebration begins on the Fourth at City Park with the Arts and Crafts Fair. The fair begins at 10:00 a.m. and will wrap up at 4:00 p.m. If you would like to be a part of the action by exhibiting at the fair, contact the Donley County Extension Office at 874-2141 to reserve a space.

The Old Settler’s Reunion will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the City Park. The Shriners will begin serving a delicious barbecue lunch at 11:00 a.m. The annual Lions Club Cow Patty Bingo will be held at 1:30 p.m. also in the park.

The Bicycle/Tricycle Parade will be held right before the big parade at 2:00.  Kids will check in at 1:15 at City Park and will line up at 1:45 on Kearney Street beside the park.  Kids 12 years old and younger will ride for only one block by the park so they can enjoy the rest of the parade.  Bicycle and tricycle entries will be judged for best in each age division.  Motorized entries will not be judged.  Registration forms will be available in next week’s Enterprise and may be dropped off or mailed to the Chamber of Commerce office.  Entries are due July 1, 2002.

The annual Fourth of July Celebration Parade will kick off at 2:00. The line up for the parade will begin at noon two blocks west of the City Park. The parade route will be from the baseball fields on Seventh Street to Kearney, then up Kearney to Third Street, west to Jefferson, and then back to the ball fields. Registration forms will be available in next week’s Enterprise and may be dropped off at Eads Furniture or the Chamber of Commerce office.  Entries can also be mailed to the Chamber of Commerce.  Entries are due June 28, 2002. For more information on the parade, call 874-2421 or 874-3412.

The Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association will sponsor a Jackpot Bullriding contest at the Rodeo Grounds Thursday evening beginning at 7:30 p.m.  Entries for the contest will be taken July 1 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Call 806-668-4458 to enter.

A junior calf and steer riding contest for kids ages 4-12 will be held each night along with the calf scramble for kids ages 12 and under. A free $200 beef certificate will be drawn each night.

The annual Calf Scramble and Wild Mare Race will also be held each night of the rodeo. Prizes will be awarded in the calf scramble for kids ages 12 and under.

KEFH Radio will host a free dance on the slab at the rodeo grounds on Thursday beginning at 8 p.m.

The fun continues on Friday, July 5, with the Donley County Horse Club Stick Horse Rodeo. The rodeo will be held in the vacant lot across from the Post Office beginning at 10:00 a.m. The rodeo is a fun event for all children nine and under. There will be a small entry fee for each event.  This is a fund-raiser for the Horse Club, and all fees will help support their activities.

The annual Depression Lunch will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Friday inside the Main Street Ministry. The First Baptist Church will help serve the beans and cornbread for a low price. They will also be selling drinks and delicious desserts.

Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association and McLean Feedyard will present the annual Ranch Rodeo beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night at the rodeo ground with 20 different teams from ranches around the area.

Local teams include O’Brien Ranch, Finch/Thornberry Ranch, Matthews/Darsey Ranch, Hall Ranch, JA Ranch, 3H Cattle Company, Bar W Ranch, Peace Pipe Ranch, Rafter S Ranch, and the RO Ranch.

Ranch rodeo events will include Bronc Riding, Wild Cow Milking, Calf Branding, Team Doctoring, and Team Sortin’.

The rodeo dance will begin at 9:00 p.m. at the Panhandle’s largest open-air dance floor at the Rodeo Grounds with Santa Fe Band on Friday and Tommy Alverson on Saturday night.

The RHAA Ranch Horse Competition begins at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning at the rodeo grounds. The event is sponsored by McLean Feedyard and the Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association.

Henson’s annual Turtle Race will be at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Sign up your turtle at the store from now until the race day.

Construction will begin soon to replace six bridges in Collingsworth and Donley counties.

The bridges to be replaced in Donley County are Carroll Creek on Country Road I and Buck Creek on County Road K.

Four of the bridges are located in Collingsworth County.  They are: Sand Creek Bridge on Farm to Market 338, Crow Creek Bridge and Elm Creek Bridge on County Road 210 and Draw Creek Bridge on County Road K.

The Texas Department of Transportation hosted a pre-construction meeting on May 22, 2002, to discuss construction efforts to replace these six bridges with the contractors, Austin Bridge and Road, Inc. of Dallas.

Construction on the $2.3 million project started June 3, 2002, and has an estimated August 2003 completion date.  The first phase will begin at the Sand Creek Bridge location on FM 338 in Collingsworth County.  An advisory speed of 40 miles per hour will be in effect on this first project with a detour around the construction area for local traffic.  After completion, construction efforts will then move to Crow and Elm Creek on County Road 210, and then continue to the other bridge locations when completed.  Detours will be built around each bridge for access to the local traffic.

For more information, call Tracy Cain, Area Engineer, 806-447-5137 or Barbara Seal, TxDOT Public Information Officer (940) 937-7145.

Donley County Judge Jack Hall and Deputy Clerk Jason Bailey probe the depths of a large brick structure found west of the courthouse last week as workers were digging a trench for a new gas line.

The dome-shaped formation just inches beneath the surface was approximately eight feet across with an interior diameter of about six feet and an estimated depth of four to five feet. Project Architect Chris Hutson called for the find to be excavated this week and ordered the gas line to be re-routed around the structure. Present thinking is that it was probably an old septic tank.

The State Hwy. 70 bridge over the Salt Fork of the Red River was partially closed about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday after part of the structure was damaged.

Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) say that a heavy load may have been what caused one of the main support pylons to be damaged. Three huge pieces of concrete were popped out of the pylon where it joins the I-beams of the bridge span. One beam on the east side of the bridge was actually twisted out of shape.

One lane of the bridge dropped 1 5/8” when the support was damaged.

All truck traffic between US 287 and I-40 is being diverted through Hedley. All passenger vehicles are still allowed to cross the bridge, located just below Greenbelt Dam, but only one lane is open.

TxDOT crews are on the scene and Donley County TxDOT Maintenance Supervisor Steve Smith says they will begin early Thursday to make repairs to the bridge. At that time all traffic will be diverted to a new temporary road through the riverbed.

The bridge should be reopened by this weekend, Smith said.

Clean up continues this week at the site of a May 28 head-on collision between two Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) trains near Clarendon.

Officials still don’t know what happened to cause an eastbound coal train to be on the same stretch of single track as a westbound freight or intermodal train.

“That information isn’t known yet,” said BNSF spokesman Joe Faust. “The National Transportation Safety Board will make that final determination.”

Faust said it is very uncommon for trains to run head-on like they did last week.

The 116-car coal train weighed 15,843 tons, and the 77-car intermodal train weighed 5,546 tons. Faust said it’s not yet known how fast the trains were going but that they would not have been going more than 49 mph.

The coal train originated in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and was en route to Oklaunion, Texas. The intermodal train was traveling from Atlanta, Georgia, to California. No hazardous materials were carried on the train, sources say.

All four locomotives, 22 coal cars, and three stacked cars derailed in the accident.

Galen D. Shelby of Lubbock was the engineer of the coal train and was killed. He was 61 years old.

Three other crewmembers, 57-year-old Bruce Patterson, 51-year-old Ronald Gordon, and 34-year-old Rodney Torres were injured in the accident and were improving this week, BNSF officials said. Patterson was trapped under a coal car and was freed by rescue personnel and citizens.

Local law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, Texas Department of Transportation employees, and citizens responded to the emergency. Personnel also responded from area towns.

Fire Departments from Hedley, Howardwick, Memphis, Groom, McLean, Panhandle, Pampa, Claude, White Deer, Wellington, and the Texas Forest Service in Canyon all rushed to the scene. John Morrow Drilling also helped carry water for the fire departments.

Department of Public Safety Troopers from the area were called in, and officers also responded from Armstrong County and Gray County sheriffs’ departments and assisted with controlling access to the scene. One Gray County deputy was made available to cover any other possible calls in Donley County.

Two vehicles from the local Associated Ambulance Authority transported train wreck victims, and the third was dispatched on an unrelated Code 3 call, leaving Donley County without an ambulance. EMS crews from Groom, Memphis, Claude, Amarillo, and McLean were dispatched to be on standby at the accident scene and to cover any other local calls.

The Donley County Sheriff’s Office requested part of the EMS help. The remainder was dispatched independently by the Amarillo Communications Center at Northwest Texas Hospital, which was monitoring the situation in Donley County via radio.

Westbound traffic on US 287 was diverted to one of the eastbound lanes for most of the day. Crews worked round the clock to reopen the railway. It was officially reopened at 5:45 a.m. the next day, and the first train came through shortly before 6 a.m.

A railroad crewman asked volunteers not to leave him behind as they worked diligently to save his life after the train he was on collided head-on with another last Tuesday.

The heroism of those local volunteers and officials has gained widespread attention and has local citizens giving thanks for the kind of people who live in Donley County.

“The firemen, lawmen, EMS, TxDOT employees, and citizens displayed extreme heroism as they worked to rescue the train wreck victims,” DPS Trooper Chad Simpson said.

Joe Neal Shadle, who drives a trash truck for the City of Clarendon, was one of the people early on the scene of the accident two miles west of Clarendon. He was stopped at the railroad crossing on FM 3257 as the eastbound coal train went by.

“I waved at those guys out of habit,” Shadle said.

Seconds later Shadle heard a “boom” and said the ground around him shook.

“I saw the ball of fire, and I knew there had to be people hurt.”

Shadle said he radioed the sheriff’s office and went to offer his assistance. He found other citizens on the scene and one railroad crewman – Bruce Patterson of Amarillo – trapped underneath a car.

“That man asked us not to leave him, and I said ‘We’re not gonna leave you,’” Shadle said.

Despite being surrounded by tons of coal, diesel fuel, and the burning wreckage of the locomotives, the volunteers rescued Patterson and carried him to safety.

“We got him out,” Shadle said. “It took a lot of people.”

One of those people was Dan Sawyer, who volunteers with the Associated Ambulance Authority. With others’ help, he dug Patterson free and said the ground was like trying to dig through concrete.

“I would dig and then crawl in the hole with a flashlight to try to see what position his leg was in,” Sawyer said. “After we got three feet under him, I could see his boot and knew which way to go.”

Sawyer said Mother Nature was a big help to the rescue effort. A light breeze from the northwest kept the smoke away from the rescuers, and rainfall earlier that week kept the fire from spreading from the engines. The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department also battled to keep the fire contained and away from the trapped man.

“We did what were trained to do, and our experience paid off,” Sawyer said.

Associated Ambulance Authority Director Belinda Montana and Shane Ashcraft were on the first ambulance to the scene. They could see the billowing smoke as they left the ambulance service’s facility on Hwy. 70, but nothing prepared them for what they saw on the scene.

“The initial shock was overwhelming, but after that we were okay,” Montana said. “In my eight years of experience, I have never seen anything like that, and I hope I never do again.”

She and Ashcraft found one of the railroad crewmen, who told them how many people were involved; then Jeff and Heather King directed them to Patterson’s location.

Ashcraft worked with the one crewman, preparing him for transport, as Montana joined in the effort to rescue Patterson.

“It went very, very well,” she said. “I never felt like our lives were in any danger until right at the end when [Department of Public Safety] Sgt. Richard Gribble became concerned and told us to hurry.”

Montana said Gribble was worried because diesel fuel was starting to stream into the area where they were located.

Among other volunteers who have been identified were Kyle Hill, Alan Fletcher, James Thomas, Mike Ritchie, Cal Thomas, Tommy Hill, Dee Thompson, and Jim Thorton. But there were other citizens and volunteers who helped, including unidentified truck drivers.

“You’ll never be able to name everyone who helped,” Shadle said. “I was just there, but there were others who helped and still others who were ready to relieve us.”