News

Mark Suna has big city origins, but the future owner of Chamberlain Motor Company – to be re-named Suna AutoMall – says he is ready for life in the small town.

“The town has been wonderful,” Suna said. “The banks here – the Herring National Bank and the Community Bank – have rallied around to make this sale possible. The hospitality given to me as an outsider has been wonderful.”

The New York City native says he wants to get involved in civic activities and work to make the town grow, and he wants Suna AutoMall to help lead the way.

“I’m not treating it as my dealership,” he said. “I’m treating it as a part of Clarendon.”

Suna says he wants to open the dealership for civic events and plans to hold either monthly or bi-monthly activities to bring people out to enjoy his facility whether they buy a car or not.

While the look of the dealership may change, other things will stay the same at the dealership. Suna says he’s keeping all the current employees, and folks who purchased cars from Chamberlain’s can still get quality service for their vehicles. And Suna AutoMall will still be a full-line General Motors dealer, although it will no long sell Oldsmobiles since GM is discontinuing that line of cars.

A GM Boutique will be added to sell GM branded merchandise.

Suna also plans on adding to the employee roster as he triples the inventory of cars and works to achieve his goal of selling 70 or more new cars per month.

“Our motto will be ‘No one walks away from Suna AutoMall; they drive away,’” he said. “Whatever it takes to earn people’s business is what we’ll do.”

Suna has had a varied career. Born and raised in New York, he studied psychology and became a university lecturer. He later hosted a radio talk show and worked as a motivational speaker. He left New York and lived in Louisville, Kentucky, for 24 years before moving to Dallas 3½ years ago where a friend taught him the ropes of the auto industry.

He was looking for a dealership of his own when Trey Chamberlain offered him the opportunity.

“When I came to Clarendon and saw the town and saw the dealership, from a spiritual standpoint I knew this was the dealership for me,” he said.

Suna says Chamberlain made the dealership available at a good price when he could have gotten more money from someone else. But Chamberlain wanted to sell to someone who would make Clarendon his home.

“That says something about the previous owner and his commitment to the community,” Suna said. “Now I want to make him proud.”

The Donley County Tourism Council will host the second annual Donley County Spring Turkey Strut Festival in Clarendon April 19-21.

The Turkey King contest is already up and running at Duckwall’s, and raffle tickets are being sold for a $300 gift certificate to the local merchant of the winner’s choice.

Activities include a Poker Run at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 19, ending on Kearney St. with a Harley show. Saturday, April 20, will have bird and wildlife tours at the Finch Ranch, Coyote Ridge, and the James Pinkney Rodgers Bird Sanctuary.

Other activities include an arts and crafts show, live entertainment, a kids carnival, and the Turkey Cook-off. KEFH will have a live broadcast at 3 p.m., and the Turkey King will be crowned at 5 p.m. A mattress race will be held along with the kids Strut and Gobble Contest. KLSR will hold a street dance until 10 p.m.

Sunday activities include a Cowboy Church service and country breakfast at the Bittercreek Ranch, and the craft show will continue that afternoon.

For more information about the Donley County Turkey Strut, contact Dee Dee Autry at 874-3889.

Cable television subscribers in Clarendon were surprised last week to find two local channels no longer under local control, but the cable company says it will provide a new channel for the community.

Channel 11, operated by local radio station KEFH-FM, and Channel 8, operated by the First Baptist Church, were unexpectedly taken over by Classic Cable. Representatives of the radio station and the church were both upset by the move.

“They [Classic Cable] told us they wanted to take over Channel 11 about a month ago,” said KEFH general manager Ken Meinhart. “Then they just cut us off last Thursday.”

KEFH owner Patrick Robertson said his station had operated Channel 11 for six years without being charged and now Classic wants them to pay $200 a month for use of the channel.

“It’s just a break even deal as it is,” Robertson said.

First Baptist Church pastor Truman Ledbetter did not know how long his church had been broadcasting services and Christian programming over Channel 8 but said it was for at least 10 years. The church also aired services for the Calvary Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church for an annual fee.

Like the radio station, the church had free use of Channel 8, but Classic last week asked them to pay $25 per hour. Both the church and the radio station maintained their own equipment and fed their signals to the cable company.

Barry Harbison, a representative with Cable Network Advertisers – a division of Classic Cable, said the company is looking at all of its local lineups after coming through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He said he was in charge of looking at the local channels.

“The radio station [KEFH] was broadcasting its signal and selling advertising, and they weren’t paying anything for that,” Harbison said. “And the church had no agreement to broadcast.”

Harbison said Classic usually charges $50 an hour for local airtime but that the company had agreed to set a special rate of $25 per hour for churches.

“We do this in several cities, and it works well,” he said. “We have to charge something except for community service things.”

Classic intends to create one channel – probably Channel 8 – for use as a community channel where local people could advertise and local churches can air their services for a fee, he said.

“We’re not trying to get any churches off the air,” Harbison said. “We’re trying to accommodate the community.”

The topic of Classic Cable is reportedly being put on the city aldermen’s agenda for their next meeting on April 9. The company’s franchise agreement expired February 7, 2002, city officials said.

Mayor Tex Selvidge said he thought it would be a bad thing for the churches to be taken completely off the air for the community’s shut-ins and elderly people. But he did not think charging $25 for an hour of airtime was out of line on Classic’s part.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen took the first step toward hiring a city administrator last Tuesday when they voted 3-1 to reactivate the now dormant office.

Presiding in the absence of Mayor Tex Selvidge, Mayor Pro Tem Mac Stavenhagen opened discussion of the topic by telling the board that by ordinance the City of Clarendon is required to have an administrator.

Ordinance 201 was passed in 1964 and created the office of the city administrator and outlined the duties of that position. The office was filled for a time but has been vacant for decades.

Board consultant Colby Waters told aldermen that hiring an administrator for the city will be a lengthy process but said Clarendon should be able to attract good candidates for the job.

Alderman Michael Tibbets raised concerns about the chain of command after reading Ordinance 201.

“The role of the mayor is not defined,” Tibbets said.

Other board members interpreted the ordinance as saying the administrator would serve at the pleasure of the city council, of which the mayor is a member.

Alderman Bob Watson moved to reinstate the office, seconded by Alderman Billy Jack Land. Watson, Land, and Alderman Mark White voted “yes.” Tibbets voted “no.”

As explained at last Tuesday’s meeting, a city administrator would differ from a city manager in that hiring and firing powers would still reside with the Board of Aldermen under an administrator. Also, hiring a city manager would require changing the city’s form of government, a proposal which was defeated by popular vote several years ago.

In other city business, aldermen voted unanimously to solicit proposals for engineering services for the purpose of planning a new street improvement project. Advertisements will run in The Clarendon Enterprise and the Amarillo Globe-News. The proposals will be reviewed later this month.

The board consulted with City Attorney Jim Shelton and discussed a proposed new animal ordinance. The board agreed to set a $20 annual fee for animal land use permits and to charge $10 per animal per year. The board also agreed to have buffalo added to the list of livestock that would be prohibited in the city limits. The proposed ordinance will be re-drafted and brought back to the board.

Chamber of Commerce president Jim Blackerby asked the board to help lease a billboard near the intersection of SH 70 North and US 287 to promote community events this summer and fall. The chamber, the Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association, the Saints’ Roost Museum, and the Donley County Tourism Council had previously agreed to split the cost of the sign. The aldermen agreed to help with this project through using the Motel Bed Tax fund.

Waters addressed the board about a letter of deficiency received by the city from the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC) regarding the transfer station at the Recycling Center. The issues involved are related to the level of reporting by the city’s engineering firm. The board approved a letter responding to the TRNCC.

By Carrie Helms, Clarendon Enterprise

For six months, the local Dairy Queen and its employees endured meticulous inspections and earned high scores in all areas, including customer service, product quality, and cleanliness.

Last week, because of its excellent ratings, the store was awarded the first annual Sparkle Award.

“This is the first year for the contest,” manager Karen Spruell said.  “We are so proud we were chosen.”

In addition to regular monthly inspections, the store was subject to surprise inspectors in disguise.

“We would have Mystery Shoppers who would come in like normal customers and judge us on service and cleanliness,” Spruell said.  “We never knew they had been there until we received a letter from the area inspector; one infraction and we could have been disqualified.”

The nation-wide contest is held among stores of the same owners. The Clarendon store earned some of the highest scores among more than twenty stores owned by Parrish Chapman.

“We were tied for first with stores in Corsicana, Dalhart, and Clayton, New Mexico,” Spruell said.

The winning stores received more than just another ordinary plaque and trophy.

“I received a $1,000 cash prize and a color TV,” Spruell said.  “Each crew member got a personalized plaque, $25 cash, and a letter of congratulations from Chapman, the owner.”

According to Spruell, the contest has already started over for the next year, and prizes are expected to include a new car for the manager.

“All of the hard work has finally paid off,” Spruell said.  “We hope we can continue to provide the best service possible.”

Hedley UIL academic teams were in district competition this past week, and the school will send eleven students to South Plains College in Levelland on April 19 for regionals.

For the second time in three years, the math and science teams swept all their events, winning district championships in Number Sense, Calculator Applications, Mathematics, and Science.

Stephen Howard, Dustin Knowles, and Lauren Hill came in first, second, and fifth to pace the Number Sense team to its first place victory.  Marissa Wells was alternate.

Lauren Hill, Treva Rowland, and Josh Collins placed first, second, and fourth for the Calculator Applications team.  Samuel Howard was the alternate and was 5th place individual. Lacey Wallendorff, Stephen Howard, and Treva Rowland were first, second, and fifth in Mathematics. 

Lora Llewellyn, Lacey Wallendorff, and Lisle Rowland came in first, third, and eighth in the Science.  Llewellyn also won medals as the top chemistry student and the top physics student in the district.

In all, the teams won ten of the 15 medals awarded in math and science competitions.

Rebekah Howard will travel to Levelland as the HHS’ representative in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, having won the overall second place medal. 

Other students who placed and won points for HHS included Aaron Bugg – fourth in Current Issues and Events; Cori Cantrell – fifth in Accounting; Josh Collins – fourth in Headline Writing; and Dustin Knowles – sixth in Headline Writing.

While candidates for county offices vie for public attention and several local boards are canceling their elections due to a lack of interest, one burning question is on the minds of Donley County voters… who will be the king?

Twelve candidates have been volunteered to run for the exalted throne of King Turkey as part of the second annual Donley County Turkey Strut Festival to be held here April 19-21. Voting started last week at Duckwall’s, and controversy may already be brewing. Election officials say one unnamed candidate demanded – without success – that their jar be removed from the voting place.

As of Tuesday morning, Methodist preacher James Ivey Edwards was the early leader with $6 in his jar. Insurance salesman Bright Newhouse was in second place with $2.50, and college dean Joel Zehr was in third place with $1.58. On Zehr’s tail feathers was high school principal Larry Jeffers with $1.17.

Other candidates scratching the surface were retired café owner Mutt Graham with 52 cents, Howardwick Alderman Nancy Davis with 48 cents, and Hedley School Superintendent Bryan Hill with 23 cents.

Five candidates had yet to get off the roost. Returning candidates Mayor Tex Selvidge and Clarendon Alderman Michael Tibbets were both posting goose eggs this week as were car dealer Jim Blackerby and retired professor Zell SoRelle. Housing Authority maintenance supervisor Larry Hicks, a member of the presiding Royal Family and uncle to last year’s king, was also searching for support in the polling.

Voting continues at Duckwall’s variety store. Support your favorite turkey by putting money in their jar. The bird with the most money wins, and the proceeds will benefit the Donley County Tourism Council.

The Turkey King will be crowned at 5 p.m. April 20 as part of the grand finale of the celebration. More details of the scheduled events will be printed next week. For information about the Turkey Strut Festival, contact Dee Dee Autry at 874-3889

Early voting by personal appearance starts next Monday in Democratic and Republican primary run-off elections.

Democrats will select Ron Kirk or Victor Morales for the US Senate candidacy.

Republicans will be deciding between Elizabeth Ray and Dale Wainwright for the State Supreme Court Place 2 candidacy, Tom Price and Tim Taft for the Court of Criminal Appeals Place 1 candidacy, David Richards and Paul Womack for the Court of Criminal Appeals Place 2 candidacy, and Cathy Cochran and Guy Williams for the Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3 candidacy.

Early voting in the County Clerk’s office continues through April 5. The election run-off will be held Tuesday, April 9.

Clarendon College regents approved issuing $2.5 million in revenue bonds to build a new residence hall when they met last Thursday.

The 20-year notes will be paid for with fees paid by students who live on campus. No fee increases are expected in relation to the bonds. Payments will begin on the note with the 2002-03 school year.

Part of the bonds will be used to refinance an estimated $380,000 of existing debt remaining from a 1990 issuance.

CC President Myles Shelton said the college was able to receive an interest rate low enough that the existing bonds could be called in and still come out ahead.

The configuration and site of the $2.1 million dormitory has not been finalized. The new facility will provide housing for 80 students and should open in the fall of 2003.

In other action from last week’s board meeting, administrative contracts were renewed for the following people: Jewel Austin, Jackie Boyd, Tex Buckhaults, Linda Frye, Marian Giesecke, Sharon Hannon, Greg Henry, Joe Kyle Reeve, Myles Shelton, Darlene Spier, Will Thompson, and Joel Zehr.

Clarendon and Donley County are getting an assist from state and federal authorities in repairing flood damage from last spring and preventing similar damage in the future.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency of the US Department of Agriculture, and the state’s Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) will be providing funding for repairs and improvements to two county bridges and at several sites within the city limits.

Repairs estimated at $547,000 will be made on bridges over Mulberry and Troublesome Creeks on the JA Ranch Road. County Judge Jack Hall said the work will primarily consist of rebuilding and strengthening the embankments at the ends of the bridges.

The first of five sites in the city is located on Gorst Street south of the Fourth Street intersection. Site A, as it is referred to, will see more than 430 square yards of asphalt paving and 225’ of concrete footing in an effort to stop erosion and to assist storm waters into the city’s existing main drainage channel.

Site B is located north of McClelland Field where storm waters leave City Park and cross Sixth Street. A small section of that street will be rebuilt, repaved, and strengthened with concrete footings. Also, silt deposits will be removed from the creekbed north of Sixth Street.

Site C work consists of cleaning out the city storm channel from First Street north to Clarendon Lake. Trees and debris will be removed from 20 feet on either side of the channel until it nears the lake where 50 feet will be cleared on each side. Also a large logjam will be removed from the channel where sand, tree limbs, railroad ties, and even some city dumpsters have been washed away and piled up over successive storms. The cleanup should allow water running through the channel to run freely into the lake and prevent it from backing up into the city.

Site D is located in the alleyway between McClelland and Carhart streets. Storm water from as far south as Cooke Street (near the museum grounds) washes down through this corridor as it makes its way to the storm channel. Plans call for silt and trees to be removed from the alley, which will then be paved and curbed. A low bridge on Carhart Street will still restrict water, but officials say the improvements should carry a 5-year flood with no problem. A 10-year flood would still backup, however.

There has been some discussion about paving the streets connected to the alleyway in order to alleviate sand deposits in the alley, but that work was not in the plans presented to city officials Monday.

Site E is a reworking of Thurman Avenue near the eastern city limit from US 287 south to the end of the road. A 20-foot road would be built 1400’ long with a wide drainage ditch running down the west side of the road. At least 150’ of Thurman will be paved where waters from adjacent land drains across it. Some debris and trees will be removed from the area, and erosion protections will be put in place.

NRCS officials say they hope to let bids on these projects in May with work to start in June. Completion is expected this October. The federal government will handle all the bidding, contracts, and oversight of the projects.