News

Small crowds attended veterans programs in Hedley and Clarendon last weekend as America marked its first Veterans Day during a time of war in a generation.

The first service was held Saturday, November 10, at the Rowe Cemetery near Hedley with the Adamson Lane Post 287 of the American Legion in charge. Twenty-five people attended.

Raymond Hopper and M.O. Weatherly laid a wreath on the cemetery’s war memorial, the colors were posted, and Barbara Collins sang the national anthem.

Post Commander Jack Moreman spoke of the historical significance of the holiday, formerly known as Armistice Day, and related it to modern events.

“We’ve avoided war on this continent for over 100 years,” he said. “Then right before our eyes we saw what happened on September 11.”

Moreman said when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it took several months before the United States took action.

“Now, in two months, we’ve made somebody pay a price.”

The War on Terror will not be over quickly, the commander said; and he urged Americans to learn the virtue of patience.

The commander said he and VFW Quartermaster Bill Holden had spoken to students at Clarendon High School last week and were impressed because for the first time the kids were very attentive.

“I think they realize now they are not bulletproof,” he said.

Saturday’s ceremony was the first Veterans Day service to be held at the Rowe Cemetery.

On Sunday, November 11, approximately 30 people attended services at the Donley County War Memorial on the Courthouse Square with the Donley County Post 7782 in charge.

“It was difficult to plan this program this year because it fell on Sunday,” VFW Quartermaster Bill Holden said. “I’m just so happy that so many people turned out.”

Jim Cockerham addressed the crowd and shared something he had written to some friends of his.

“Let us cherish the good memories of our past and honor those who have gone before,” he said. “Let us also honor those who follow the same path we took, for we, of all people, know the trials they face.

“Let us show our appreciation and support [for these young people], for we know how lonely it is to be away from those we love and those things we are familiar with. Let us stand tall and be forever proud of who we are: Americans, Patriots, Warriors, and Brothers.”

The program was closed with the usual VFW ceremony of honoring fallen comrades, followed by those in attendance placing flags near the names of friends or loved ones in the stone walkway.

Shopping at home for the holidays is easy and affordable as local banks have again teamed up to provide 0% interest “Christmas Cash” loans this year.

Interested parties must make application for a loan up to $3,000 with any of the participating banks.  Once a Christmas Cash loan has been approved, the borrower will be issued specially printed Christmas Cash Dollars, which may be spent like US currency toward new purchases of products and services (excluding Lottery tickets, gasoline, and tobacco products) at all of the participating businesses.  Businesses display posters indicating they are participants of the promotion. 

There will be no exchange of U.S. currency to make change.  For example, if someone purchases items valued at $72.95 and gives the merchant $80.00 in Christmas Cash, the merchant can give them $7.05 in-store credit.  The customer may also pay $70.00 in Christmas Cash and the remaining $2.95 in U. S. currency. 

Christmas Cash Dollars are available in three denominations: $10, $20, and $50.  There are two signature lines, the same as there are on traveler’s checks. 

The borrower’s signature is placed on the signature line before they leave the bank, and then they must sign on the endorsement line when they spend the “Cash.” 

Christmas Cash must be spent at the participating merchants by December 31, 2001.  Unspent Christmas Cash may be applied toward your 0% loan at the bank through January 7, 2001. 

This cash may not be used as a regular monthly loan payment.  It can only be applied toward the principal amount due at the end of the Christmas Cash note. 

Christmas Cash notes are paid back in ten equal monthly installments.  After January 5, 2001, Christmas Cash becomes worthless. 

It’s amazing the variety of products Christmas Cash can purchase.  Some of the items purchased in years past include: replacement windows, vehicle repairs, groceries, furniture, entertainment equipment, cook-tops, dry cleaning for summer bedrolls, catered goodies, Christmas dinner, car stereos, special gift items, centerpieces, clothing, and much more. 

The Donley County State Bank, The Herring National Bank, and Community Bank will buy Christmas Cash from participating merchants at a rate of 95¢ for every $1.00.  Participating businesses are “interested in keeping your business here in Clarendon.”

This year’s participating merchants are: Accustom Scent Candles, Alexander’s Diner, Amigo’s Mexican Restauranté, B&R Thriftway, Chamberlain Motor Co., The Clarendon Enterprise, Clarendon Outpost, Cornell’s Country Store, Clarendon Veterinary Hospital, Country Bloomers Flowers & Gifts, Duckwall’s, Floyd’s Automotive Supply, Eads Furniture & Appliance, Every Nook & Cranny, Floyd’s Motor Co. & Body Shop, Greenbelt Cleaners, Guys & Dolls Salon, Henson’s, The Hitchin’ Post, J&W Lumber, Janie’s Beauty Shop, Mike’s Pharmacy, Kidd Texaco & Clarendon Auto Supply, Naturally Texas T’s, McKinney Motor Co., Poor Boy’s Antiques, Saye’s, The Shop, Thompson Upholstery, and White’s Feed & Seed.

This is the seventh year banks have participated in the Christmas Cash program. The idea of 0% loans up to $3,000 began in 1995 through the cooperation of the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce, the Clarendon Merchants Association, and local banks.

Work continues on the restoration of the 1890 Donley County Courthouse following a pre-construction conference hosted by the project contractor.

Dale Sellers, president and CEO of Phoenix 1 Restoration and Construction, Ltd., addressed sub-contractors and county officials Monday and gave an overview of the project.

Phoenix officials are looking to hire local people to help with the project and are encouraging their sub-contractors to do the same. Craftsmen may call Phoenix at 214/902-0011 or contact any of the subcontractors to apply to work on the project.

Hiring local help should insure that some of the money of the $3 million project gets pumped into the local economy. Phoenix had lunch catered by a local restaurant Monday prior to the conference.

Most of the subcontractors are from the Panhandle area, and Sellers said all of them are reputable, financially sound companies capable of carrying out the work. Electrical work is being done by Cherry Electric, Inc., of Childress, Scottco Mechanical Contractor, Inc., of Amarillo will handle the plumbing as well as the heating and air-conditioning work, and Richard Obenhaus of Lubbock is the carpentry subcontractor.

Dee Brown, Inc., of Garland will handle the new masonry work, particularly on the tower’s third story. Sellers said Dee Brown is one of the best stoneworking firms in the business and has been responsible for stonework on high-rises in Dallas.

The general contractor will handle other specialties, such as concrete restoration, paintings and finishings, and ornamental metals.

Phoenix 1 is currently involved in nine courthouse projects around the state; and Sellers said that although his company has a 12-month contract, he expects the Donley job to be completed in eight to nine months.

Safety and communication between the general and sub-contractors were the focus of Monday’s meeting. Sellers emphasized a team effort to complete the project quickly and economically.

Phoenix has a safety rating 70 percent better than the industry average. Safety meetings for employees will be held weekly. Drug and alcohol use will not be tolerated, and food and drink will not be allowed in the building to prevent damaging surfaces undergoing restoration. Smoking will be prohibited in the building.

The courthouse will be swept down daily to keep the building as clean and as safe as possible.

Phoenix employees will work eight days on for 10-hour days and then have six days off.

Items to be accomplished right away on the courthouse include removal of the remaining windows next week. Footings will be poured for the new tower this week.

Republican state senate candidate Craig Estes won the most votes in last week’s special election, but he will still face a runoff election next month because he did not receive more than 50 percent of the ballots cast.

Estes received 16,864 votes district-wide or 47.2 percent – more than twice the total of his nearest competitor, Democrat Greg Underwood, who garnered 8,286 votes or 23.2 percent.

In canvassing local returns Monday by the Donley County Commissioners’ Court, Estes picked up another 17 votes, bringing his county total to 153.

A date for the December runoff between Estes and Underwood was not set as of press time Tuesday. The winner will fill the vacant seat of the late Sen. Tom Haywood.

AUSTIN – Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander announced last week that she has sent $291.9 million in local sales tax revenue to Texas cities and counties.

November allocations are up 3.6 percent compared to November 2000. The allocations represent sales taxes collected in September by monthly filers and in July, August and September by quarterly filers.

Clarendon’s rebate of $27,477.78 is up more than 20 percent from the same period last year, and Hedley saw an increase of more than 10 percent to $919.24. Howardwick was down 21.5 percent to $1,095.15.

“These local sales tax figures confirm, even more strongly, what our state sales tax figures showed last week. The September 11 terrorist attacks reduced sales tax collections for a few days, but we bounced back,” Comptroller Rylander said.

Of the 20 Texas cities that receive the greatest amount of sales tax revenue, only six saw declines: Dallas, Austin, El Paso, Irving, Amarillo, and Round Rock.

Two computers were stolen last week when a person or persons unknown broke into the Saints’ Roost Museum.

Donley County Chief Deputy Randy Bond says authorities believe the break in occurred Saturday evening. Museum officials noticed signs of mischief Sunday and realized the computers were gone Monday.

Bond says the culprits entered the old Adair Hospital building through a window on the southeast side, rumpled the covers on a bed, and exited with the computer equipment through a back door.

A Dell computer tower and a scanner were taken from the desk in the foyer, and an entire Dell computer system – except for the speakers – was taken from the board room. A digital camera was also taken. Bond said the estimated value of the computers is $1,000 each.

The computers are the property of the Clarendon Independent School District and were purchased with grant money early this year. School officials provided authorities with serial numbers for the stolen equipment.

No damage was done to the museum itself, and the museum’s collection remains intact. Museum board members took steps Monday afternoon to enhance the security of the windows on the building.

Voters in Donley County chose Craig Estes to be their next State Senator in Tuesday’s special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Tom Haywood.

Estes, a Republican from Wichita Falls, was leading his five other opponents across District 30 by 49.5 percent of the vote, according to reports at press time. Local voters chose him by a margin of 136 to 95 for his nearest competitor, Democrat Greg Underwood.

Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, Estes and Underwood will face each other in a runoff election to be held next month.

Turnout was low for Tuesday’s polling with only 340 people – or 13.2 percent of registered voters – casting ballots locally.

Voters also considered 19 amendments to the Texas Constitution on Tuesday, and Donley County citizens favored all but two of them. Propositions 2 and 14 failed locally.

Statewide results showed all propositions passing at press time on Tuesday night. Complete local results will be published next week.

Local results on the constitutional amendment were as follows: 

Prop. 1. To give up the state’s claim to a parcel of land in Bastrop County: 219 Yes, 94 No.

Prop. 2. To authorize bonds for road construction in border communities: 157 Yes, 166, No.

Prop. 3. To exempt raw cocoa and green coffee in Harris County from property tax: 170 Yes, 146 No.

Prop. 4. To extend the two-year term of the Fire Fighter’s Pension Commissioner to four years: 240 Yes, 85 No.

Prop. 5. To allow cities to donate outdated fire equipment to underdeveloped nations: 218 Yes, 110 No.

Prop. 6. To require the Texas governor to call a special legislative session to appoint presidential electors when an election outcome is uncertain: 174 Yes, 153 No.

Prop. 7. To authorize bonds for veterans’ housing loans and cemeteries: 230 Yes, 96 No.

Prop. 8. To authorize bonds for construction and repairs at 11 state agencies: 175 Yes, 146 No.

Prop. 9. To permit lawmakers to cancel a special election to fill a legislative vacancy when there is only one qualified candidate: 235 Yes, 92 No.

Prop. 10. To broaden exemptions on personal property used for manufacturing stored in the state temporarily: 214 Yes, 107 No.

Prop. 11. To allow teachers to be paid to serve in local government positions: 208 Yes, 117 No.

Prop. 12. To permit clean up of duplicative or obsolete language in the state constitution: 226 Yes, 99 No.

Prop. 13. To permit school districts to donate property for historic preservation: 255 Yes, 74 No.

Prop. 14. To allow property tax exemption on travel trailers to promote tourism: 151 Yes,  177 No.

Prop. 15. To create a fund to authorize grants and loans for transportation projects: 192 Yes, 141 No.

Prop. 16. To allow a home improvement lien on a manufactured home to be refinanced and rolled into a real property lien under certain conditions: 197 Yes, 122 No.

Prop. 17. To give the Legislature authority to settle land-title disputes when the question is based on inaccurate surveys relating to the Permanent School Fund: 201 Yes, 121

Prop. 18. To lock all court fees into a consolidation and standardization program created by the Legislature: 253 Yes, 70 No.

Prop. 19. To authorize bonds for loans to repair, expand, and improve water facilities: 202 Yes, 123 No.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen met in called session Friday morning at City Hall to consider new personnel policies.

Board consultant Colby Waters presented a draft of the new guidelines to the aldermen and addressed their importance to the city.

“These procedures are important to the city to have an equitable employment area,” Waters said. “It gives both the city and the employees guidelines and limitations.”

The new policy manual would outline the responsibilities of each city employee and provide them with a job description. It also places limitations on employees as far as what is acceptable in the workplace.

“If people are being asked to do things that aren’t in the guidelines, it gives them protection,” Waters said.

The manual also addresses uses of city property, employee safety, discipline, employee compensation and advancement, as well as firing of employees among other things.

Most of Friday’s meeting was devoted to issues of sick leave and holidays. The aldermen discussed how much of each an employee will be allowed to accumulate over his career and how to be fair to employees who have already devoted many years of service to the city.

No action was taken Friday, and the board will take up the matter again at a future meeting as they continue to seek a solution that is equitable to employees and protects the interests of the city and its taxpayers.

Waters urged the board not to do anything to unnecessarily “rock the boat.”

Mayor Tex Selvidge said he was against making any changes in the city’s polices just for the sake of change.

“If it’s going to make things better though, it’s worth it,” Selvidge said.

As an internal city policy, the board of aldermen can adopt and revise the employee guidelines at any time.

Waters is an employee of the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission. Clarendon aldermen contracted with the PRPC in August to revise the city’s personnel and procedures manual. Under another PRPC contract, Waters provides support services and advice to the board.

Waters is also working under a third contract which calls for the codification of city ordinances. That job would review and organize city laws dating back to 1901 – some of which are outdated, nullified, or inapplicable today.

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to more than 2,634,000 residents of Texas will increase 2.6 percent next year, according to Amarillo SS office manager Ruth Wilson.

“Today’s news tells us that inflation continues to be low, which is certainly good news for the elderly and disabled,” said Ms. Wilson. “Inflation is one of the biggest challenges for people living on a fixed income.”

The 2.6 percent increase will begin with benefits that Social Security beneficiaries will receive in January 2002, a press release said. Increased payments for SSI recipients will begin on December 31, 2001.

Wilson said the increase will be important for the area economy.

Average monthly benefits for retirees will rise from $852 to $874, and the maximum federal SSI monthly payment to an individual will rise from $531 to $545. For a couple, the maximum SSI payment will rise from $796 to $817.

“The annual cost of living adjustment is one of the most critically important features of the Social Security program. For the elderly, it guarantees that their foundation of retirement income will remain strong for as long as they live.”

A total of 969 people received Social Security benefits in Donley County in December 2000. Eighty-two others received SSI funds. Benefits to local people totaled $711,000 that month.

Currently, monthly benefits paid to Texas residents amount to over $2 billion annually.

The change also affects the payroll tax rates. Effective next January, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax will increase from $80,400 to $84,900.  The maximum yearly Social Security tax paid by employees and employers will increase by $279 each. For the self-employed, it will rise by $558.

AUSTIN – Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander last week said the September 11 terrorist attacks reduced sales tax collections by a total $42 million, a rebound from the initial $100 million-plus dip.

“The state took an initial body blow of $113 million immediately after the attacks, but we bounced back,” Rylander said. “Texans are a defiant, confident, and resilient bunch. I continue to believe it is highly unlikely that there will be a recession in Texas.”

Rylander said consumer confidence, which was slipping before the September 11 tragedy, continued to slide nationally and in Texas; but the local slip was not as steep. Between August and October nationally, consumer confidence slid 25 percent; but during the same time in Texas, consumer confidence slipped 21 percent.

The Comptroller said she does not believe the September economic snapshot will affect her biennial revenue estimate.

“One month is not a trend,” she said. “I fully expect our economy to recover in the latter months of next year.”

State sales tax collections for September of this year totaled $1.15 billion, down just one percent from the same time last year.

Texas communities will learn the effects of the terrorist attacks on their local revenue next week, when the Comptroller makes regular monthly sales tax allocations on November 9.

Rylander also said she will be transferring $686 million from the natural gas severance tax into the state’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing that balance up to $882 million.

Wall Street cited the growing Rainy Day Fund in giving the state a high financial rating. That, in turn, will save Texans $55 million this year.