News

Tickets are on sale now for the seventh annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff to be held next Saturday, September 22, at the Saints’ Roost Museum.

Museum officials say 14 wagons are signed up to compete for top prizes, and the day will provide great family entertainment for all ages.

The gate opens at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast and lunch concessions provided by the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce. The tradeshow starts at 10 a.m., and museum tours will be available throughout the day.

Patrick Robertson and KEFH-FM will provide music beginning at noon. Live entertainment begins at 2 p.m., and performances are scheduled all day and include Dan Hall of Clarendon, Thut Creek and Cozy Parsons of the Red River Steakhouse in McLean, Katrina Burrow and David Strange of Clarendon, the Saints’ Roost Band, Christine Walls of Quitaque, and Gary Alan Bruce of Pampa.

The Chuckwagon meal will be served at 5 p.m. with a menu of chicken fried steak, potatoes, beans, and cobbler.

At 6:30, the museum will raffle off a pair of Jim Owens Handmade Boots, and the cookoff awards will be presented at 6:45.

The Clarendon College Theatre Department will present a melodrama, “He Ain’t Done Right By Nell,” at 7 p.m., and an open-air dance will follow with music provided by the Palo Duro Band of Amarillo.

Admission to the all-day event is free. Tickets for the authentic Chuckwagon supper are $10 each and can be purchased in advance at Henson’s in Clarendon by calling 806/874-3517. Boot tickets are also available at Henson’s or from any museum board member.

On Sunday morning, cowboy church will be held under the tent at the museum with preaching by Jimmy Burson of Silverton.

All proceeds will benefit the Saints’ Roost Museum’s continued operation and its ongoing effort to restore the historic Ft. Worth & Denver City Depot.

The Donley County Commissioners’ Court today decided to go forward with a proposed budget that will increase taxes seven percent and trim personnel in three offices.

The decision comes after a called meeting of the court on September 5, 2001, in which commissioners said they could not see a way to raise enough money to keep the positions funded. The Enterprise will have a complete report next week.

Last week, Donley County officials got their chance to respond to proposed cuts in their budgets during an August 30 called session of the commissioners’ court. Three officials sought to preserve their secretaries’ positions while Sheriff Butch Blackburn argued that personnel in his department deserve raises.

The proposed county budget for 2001-2002 called for the secretary in the Extension Office to be cut to half time. Church said his office is involved with agriculture and community development, 4-H programs, and consumer science programs. He said the Extension has been instrumental in providing crop demonstration plots, cotton variety and fertility trials, moisture monitoring for peanuts, a roundtable lecture series, the Don Taylor business development series, the July 4th Craft Fair, and nutritional programs at the senior citizens centers in Clarendon and Hedley.

The Extension Office saved local residents $115,000 in health screening fees over the last four years at the annual Health & Wealth Fair, he said. Church also pointed out there are 142 young people in 4-H and discussed the Walk Across Texas program his office sponsors.

“We can do all of those things because we have a fulltime secretary,” he said.

County FCA Agent Sue Church also said that the local secretary has been asked to train the Extension’s district secretary. Three other community members also spoke out in favor of the Extension’s secretary, praising her commitment and performance on the job.

Pct. 1&2 Justice of the Peace Jimmy Johnson echoed complaints aired recently by some county officials who did not approve of the commissioners’ handling of the proposed budget.

“I wish you had called us and told us the county was in a deficit,” he said. “What disturbs me is that my employee found out about the cuts before I had a chance to tell her.”

Johnson’s court clerk was also cut to part time status in the proposed budget.

Johnson outlined the responsibilities of his clerk and told the court that she exercises her duties with a professionalism of which Donley County should be proud. He also said that Pct. 3&4 Justice of the Peace Ann Kennedy in Hedley is a personal friend of his, but that there is no comparison between his court and hers. Johnson said his court is busier with items such as felony arraignments, bail hearings, and delinquent taxes due to his office being in the county seat.

The justice said his office is not a revenue producer for the county on its own. He said his court produces revenue through tickets written by law enforcement agencies by being timely in handling its business.

“[My clerk] has been with me almost five years,” he said. “It takes a long time to educate a court clerk to handle that type of business.”

Tax Assessor/Collector Wilma Lindley also had her deputy’s position cut to half time. She agreed with Johnson.

“I felt like [the court] should have called me in and talked about it,” she said.

Lindley said the only people who don’t use her office are the ones that don’t own vehicles.

“Some days we’re swamped,” she said. “Some days we don’t have very many people, but I feel like I should have the fulltime help because I need my vacation.”

Sheriff Blackburn had no cuts in his personnel, but the proposed budget also had no pay raises for his deputies and dispatchers like he had sought.

“I know we’re broke; we have been broke for 100 years,” Blackburn said. “I wouldn’t ask for my people a raise if we weren’t paying our own way.”

The sheriff pointed to the increased number of traffic tickets his department has issued since he took office in January, noting that it has dramatically increased county revenues.

“Already this year, we’ve written over 300 traffic tickets,” the sheriff said. “That’s a total of $98,210.25 if they were all paid. What has been collected is $52,817.45. I don’t believe y’all were getting that under the previous administration.”

Blackburn said he is the fourth lowest paid sheriff in the state and said the county is asking his deputies to work for “welfare wages.”

Blackburn earns a salary of $20,834.88. His deputies earn $18,680.58 annually, and dispatcher/jailers earn only $6.97 per hour.

The sheriff said average pay for counties this size is approximately $27,000 per year. He realized Donley County couldn’t meet the average, but said it should do better.

“We’re putting these [deputies] out here on the highway, they’re going on calls that not very many people want to go on, and the reason they’re doing that is because they want to. They’re not doing it for the pay. We need to at least pay them a wage where they don’t qualify for food stamps.

“If you want to save money, we can send these rented radar units back and forget about the $52,000 we’ve already collected.”

For their part, members of the commissioners’ court said they did not question the job any department was doing, but that the county only has so much money. The court also pointed to a health insurance benefit that the county provides to its employees – the premiums for which have increased from $60,000 annually in 1998-99 to $120,000 in 2000-01 and is expected to cost $157,000 in the coming year.

County Clerk Fay Vargas said the health insurance provides excellent coverage, but other county officials questioned the high cost of insuring family members under the program.

After returning from a lunch recess, the court spent the afternoon looking for ways to restore the secretaries to fulltime in the proposed budget. Commissioners considered raising taxes to just under the legal rollback limit and also looked at hiring a fifth deputy whose job would primarily be traffic control.

As the afternoon progressed, the court was discussing across the board pay raises for most employees that might be paid for by higher taxes and increased revenue from traffic control. Attention focused on a four percent raise, and Sheriff Blackburn said that a four percent raise “on not very much is not very much” and still pushed for higher raises in his department. Blackburn told commissioners he would settle for a four percent raise for his dispatchers but wanted to increase deputy salaries to $20,000 annually with the chief deputy getting an additional $1,000.

Commissioners recessed for dinner and reconvened after 8 p.m., and at that time commissioners began discussing having two departments share a secretary and not having such a big tax increase.

Commissioner Donnie Hall told the sheriff, “You’re not going to get what you want.”

Blackburn responded that his office did not want to take on the added burden of a fifth deputy if it meant just a “Mickey Mouse” four percent raise.

Judge Jack Hall told the commissioners he thought the court should take more time to consider the budget and not rush to any decisions. Commissioners met again Wednesday afternoon and agreed to make the cuts as proposed.

A final vote on the 2001-2002 budget will be taken on September 19 at 1:30 p.m.

The quick response of deputies in Donley and Gray counties led to the arrest of a man suspected of assaulting a woman last week.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said a 31-year-old Farmington, New Mexico, woman told Gray County Deputy Jim McDonald that a truck driver had attempted to sexually assault her in his vehicle. Donley County Chief Deputy Randy Bond was dispatched to the mile marker 124, the Clarendon exit on Interstate 40, where he met McDonald and the complainant.

According to Blackburn, the truck driver picked up the woman in Amarillo and pulled off on the access road inside Donley County. The man reportedly held a knife to the woman’s throat while he tore her clothes and attempted to assault her. The woman managed to get away, and the trucker drove off.

Deputy McDonald saw the woman running along the highway and stopped to help her.

The woman gave the deputies a detailed description of the assailant and his truck, which was put out to area law enforcement agencies. The truck was later stopped by the Beckham County Sheriff’s Department in Oklahoma.

The driver was held by Oklahoma authorities until Sheriff Blackburn arrived Friday and arrested him. Michael Lyn Smith, age 39, of Cleveland, Georgia, was charged with aggravated assault and returned to Clarendon where he was arraigned by Justice of the Peace Jimmy Johnson. At presstime he was still incarcerated in the Donley County Jail.

“I would like to thank the Gray County Sheriff’s Office and Deputy Jim McDonald,” Blackburn said. “If not for the prompt response of Deputy McDonald and [Donley County] Deputy Randy Bond, we could not have caught this guy. He would have just been gone.”

Blackburn said the subject denies the woman’s charges but has a lengthy criminal history.

Hedley Public Schools will soon be embarking on a $1 million new building following receipt of a grant recently.

Superintendent Bryan Hill said the Hedley Independent School District was notified of the grant during the first week of August by the Texas Education Agency.

The new facility will be located on the current school grounds, west of the Owl Gym and south of the main school building. After completion, the main entrance to the school will face west instead of south as it now does.

Plans call for four new classrooms and a combination multipurpose library/auditorium area. One of the new classrooms will be a lecture hall, and the multipurpose room will include computers, which will be wired to the Internet and accessible by community members.

The new facility will nearly double the space of the main school building, Hill said. The building will be of a metal frame construction with a metal roof and a masonry veneer exterior similar to the Bronco Gym in Clarendon, he said.

Architect Steven Butler of Canyon is currently drawing plans for the project. School officials hope to have the job completed sometime early in the 2002-2003 school year.

Hill said HISD originally applied for the TEA Instructional Facilities Allotment grant in 1999 and has been reapplying every year. The grant will cover approximately 83 percent of the cost of the new building. The remainder of the cost will be picked up by HISD taxpayers with 15-year bonds.

In November 1999, school district voters approved issuance of bonds to cover the district’s match by a margin of 96-30. The condition of the vote was that the bonds would not be issued until the school was awarded the grant.

“Community support has been overwhelming,” Hill said.

While other area rural schools are facing declining enrollments, the Hedley school has been on the upswing. Hill said 115 kids attended Hedley ten years ago. That number is now 189, growing steadily for the last seven years.

The school attracts approximately 50 transfer students from Clarendon, Memphis, and Wellington, Hill said.

More improvements may be in store for HISD’s physical plant. Hill said the district is currently working on a grant application that would renovate the roof of the main building and update the facility to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen announced their intentions to begin tax abatement processes on two businesses during their regular meeting last Tuesday.

Applications were presented by the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation on behalf of Bayou Medical Ltd. (Dr. John Howard and family), which plans to build a new clinic south of the Medical Center Nursing Home, and Bill Cornell, who is building a new feed and farm supply store at Second and Orpe Streets.

Clarendon EDC Director Helen Parker spoke to the board concerning tax abatement policies and guidelines. The board made changes to the guidelines and accepted them. Aldermen also voted to amend Ordinance 323 to change the identification of Industrial Reinvestment Zone #1.

Hospital District Administrator Alan Graham presented a request to have the cul-de-sac in front of the Medical Center Nursing Home designated as Medical Center Drive and to have physical addresses assigned to current and future buildings there. The hospital district will continue to maintain the cul-de-sac. The designation is for 911 and delivery purposes. The city granted the request with odd numbers on the south and even on the north to stay in keeping with city street addresses.

In other city business, the order of the code of criminal procedure for the Municipal Court was approved, and the library policy and procedure manual was tabled for review. Alderman Bob Watson was appointed to the Panhandle Emergency Medical Service Advisory Board, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s rental contract on the city radio tower was renewed.

Aldermen met for nearly an hour in closed session to discuss pending litigation relating to the animal and livestock ordinance. No action was taken.

Donley County finally received significant relief from a long dry period last week as rains quenched the area’s thirst, but the welcome moisture was not without consequences.

Official measurements in Clarendon totaled 2.59 inches from Thursday through Sunday morning. Greenbelt Lake’s level came up by six inches following the rain. The precipitation brought the year to date total in Clarendon to 21.91 inches.

Hail on Thursday damaged 300 to 400 acres of crops near the Armstrong County line, according to County Extension Agent Leon Church. Some damage was also reported near Lelia Lake and Hedley.

Cotton was the hardest crop hit, Church said. Some hay and watermelons were also hailed on, but the agent thought most crops will still go to harvest. Hail in Clarendon mostly knocked leaves from the trees.

Winds at Clarendon ISD knocked over the top two-thirds of one of the light poles at Bronco Stadium about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The steel pole snapped electric lines and disrupted power in the city for half an hour.

CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said school officials had heard the pole on the southwest side of the stadium squeaking earlier, and one employee discovered weakened welds on the structure. The school had called in local welder Wondell Luttrell to make repairs, and he was on the scene, preparing to go to work on the pole when the rain started.

The pole fell on top of the south wall of the stadium but did not damage the historic rock wall. At presstime, school officials said a crane was scheduled to set the pole back up Tuesday.

Electric service was also briefly disrupted last Thursday when cross arms snapped on a transmission line near Jericho about 4 p.m., according to Steve Teichelman AEP-West Texas Utilities Supervisor of Distribution Services in Childress.

Power was again cut about 7:30 p.m. when a second set of cross arms broke on an AEP-WTU transmission line outside of Memphis. At 8:20 p.m. the Donley County Sheriff’s Office recorded lights out in Memphis, Hedley, Lelia Lake, Clarendon, Howardwick, and Jericho.

Teichelman said crews were brought in from Childress and Shamrock to make repairs. Electric service was restored at 12:33 a.m. Friday. Approximately 2,000 customers were affected by the outages, AEP-WTU spokesman Linda Caton said.

The cause of the broken cross arms was wind and weathering, Teichelman said. Two service poles were also replaced later near Lelia Lake.

Following the storm on Thursday, Amarillo media reported a tornado had been sighted near Clarendon. Sheriff Butch Blackburn disputes that and says the storm did produce down draft winds that may have looked like a tornado, but local authorities spotted no rotation in the storm.

Despite the moisture, a countywide burn ban remains in effect.

Donley County Commissioners answered criticism of their proposed 2001-2002 budget Monday.

During a called meeting, members of the commissioners’ court emphasized that the current budget is “proposed” and is not yet final.

County Judge Jack Hall expressed his belief that the person who told County Agent Leon Church at a community function that his budget had been cut should come forward. Hall said he felt like that person had spoken out of turn since the budget had not been finalized.

“My name’s in the paper; that guy’s name ought to be in the paper too,” the judge said.

Commissioner Donnie Hall expressed concern that the public had been given the impression that it was a member of the commissioners’ court who had put the word on the street regarding budget cuts. The proposed budget was put together during a series of open meetings, but commissioners agreed that none of them ever went out into town to discuss the matter.

Commissioners will take up the budget again during a hearing Thursday in the Courthouse Annex.

In other county business, the court approved preparing an application for funding to assist homeowners in Donley County with repairing damage from flooding in May.

Four homeowners had sought assistance under the program, but only two qualified. A grant for $19,200 on one home and $17,200 on another will make those repairs through the 2001 Home Disaster Relief Program.

The Panhandle Regional Planning Commission is assisting with this program.

Clarendon aldermen approved the concept of remodeling the Burton Memorial Library during a called meeting last Monday, August 20.

Architect Tim White of Amarillo discussed the proposed project at the library. The plan calls for renovating storage space, dead space, and an unused bathroom to create an enlarged meeting area at the rear of the building.

The project is expected to cost about $50,000 and will be paid for from money donated to the library by the estate of Mary Stocking McConnell.

An earlier plan to remodel the unfinished second floor of the library has been discarded due to concerns about accessibility and additional operating costs.

The current plan will make slight modifications to the existing stairwell to prevent heating and cooling from being lost into the upper floor.

Aldermen also approved White as the architect for the project.

The policy and procedure manual for the library was also discussed. Librarian Carolyn Blackerby and Alderman Smiley Johnson were appointed to work together on the manual and report back at the next board meeting.

In other city business, the board met in executive session and afterward reassigned City Clerk Linda Smith to the position of assistant city secretary in training with a salary increase.

The proposed budget for 2001-2002 was reviewed and changes made. The board approved a motion to set pay raises for city employees at two, three, and four percent based on a job evaluation chart.

Jean Stavenhagen, Donley County Historical Commission

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) has recognized the Rowe Cemetery in Hedley as a significant part of Texas history by awarding it an Official Texas Historical Marker.

The designation honors Rowe Cemetery as an important and educational part of local history.

A dedication ceremony to commemorate the event will be  at 10 a.m. on September 8 at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley. The ceremony will consist of the presentation of the flags by the American Legion, songs by the Hedley School Choir, a short reading of the history of Rowe Cemetery, followed by a reading of the marker inscription and the official unveiling.

“It is vital that as we move forward, we do not forget our past.  The Texas Historical Marker will provide an awareness in the community and the county of our fascinating history,” said County Judge Jack Hall.

A subject qualifies for a marker if two basic criteria are met: historical significance and age.

“The Official Texas Historical Marker program helps bring attention to community treasures and the importance of their preservation,” said Larry Oaks, executive director of the THC. 

“Awareness and education are among the best ways to guarantee the preservation of our state’s history. This designation is a tool that will increase public awareness of important cultural resources,” Oaks said.

The THC reviews more than 200 marker applications each year.

The public in cordially invited to attend the dedication. Some seating will be provided, but everyone is encouraged to bring a chair.

The first annual Panhandle Fall Art Roundup, a Western and wildlife juried fine art show, will be held November 3-4 at the Bairfield Building at Clarendon College.

The show will coincide with the opening of deer season to accommodate the many out of town and out of state hunters who are avid collectors.

The Donley County Tourism Council is announcing and organizing the event.

The show is open to Panhandle resident artists looking to promote and sell their art. The show is limited to wildlife and Western art in most medias – oil, acrylic, watercolor, and sculpture.

The roundup will be juried with cash prizes for Best of Show, First Place Wildlife, and First Place Western. In addition, numerous prize purchases are guaranteed.

 A well-known Fort Worth judge with full art credentials is going to choose the award winners on Saturday, November 3. A reservation only reception at the historic Lowe House will follow. Nationally recognized artist James Ivey Edwards and local activist Weldon Sears will co-chair the event.

Accredited artists and sponsors have been personally contacted. 

“The Panhandle Fall Art Roundup offers area artists a forum to display their talent,” said project chairman Edwards. This show provides an outlet for talented artists and a wonderful free art exhibit for art lovers alike.

The Donley County Tourism Council encourages artists to contact Dee Dee Autry at 806-874-3889 or Carolina Selvidge at 806-874-2670. Space is limited so it is recommended to contact the council soon for further information.