Editor's Commentary

It’s election time again, and voters will be casting their ballots Saturday to determine who will make decisions on their behalf for Clarendon CISD and the City of Clarendon.

Voters across Texas are also casting ballots on two proposed state constitutional amendments, which each promise to reduce your property taxes in some form or fashion. That’s a recurring theme of our state leaders – cut local property taxes. Your editor is all for lower taxes, but he’s also for educated children so that hopefully society will be run by people smarter than we are in a few years. Cuts in property taxes – although always accompanied by pie in the sky talk of the state helping out more – almost always ends up with our schools and local governments having their hands tied. And of course, cutting your tax rate is of little consequence if your appraised values eat up your savings, and our fearless leaders in Austin do nothing about that except perhaps encourage it.

But I digress. The point of this column was not to wax forlornly about our pitiful state “leaders” but to instead discuss the local issues on the city front.

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s election, change is coming to City Hall. Mayor Sandy Skelton has been pretty upfront that his days in office are coming to an end with the pending sale of his home and plans to move out of state. And then at the last city meeting, City Administrator David Dockery announced his intention to retire next April.

Dockery started in 2015 and has served Clarendon as its administrator longer than any other person. In fact, when Dockery retires next year, he will have served longer than the previous three administrators combined and four times longer than any one of them. There are several factors that have led to this longevity; most of which will be saved for discussion at a later date. But without a doubt, one of the biggest secrets to his success has been the presence of Mayor Skelton and the general support of the city council through the years.

There will be time for tributes later, but for this week, it is important that voters consider what has been accomplished since 2015 and that list is considerable.

For starters, the city’s water infrastructure is vastly improved thanks in part to long-range planning and studies that actually began while Lambert Little was city administrator from 2010-2012. Those early efforts led directly to the city successfully securing and carrying out a $4 million project largely funded by the US Department of Agriculture, which led to about five miles of new waterlines being installed and a new standpipe being erected on the east side of town. This took care of dirty or stained water that some citizens had been dealing with for years and also helped replace some of the oldest water lines in the city.

The USDA project had the unintended consequence of bringing to light the old City Hall’s shortcomings with regards to accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ultimately, city leaders decided to purchase and move into a new location on the Courthouse Square. The new City Hall provides employees with more space to work, is more accommodating, and provides a better venue for public meetings. It was a move that will serve Clarendon well for many years to come.

Some limited paving was accomplished in the last eight years and measures were taken to preserve and protect the city’s best streets. An election that would have paved most of the streets in town about 20 years ago failed at the time by 25 votes with the “Nays” most vocal about the need to replace old water lines before doing paving. It took some time, but now that’s been done. The city is now working on plans with an engineer to try again for another big project to pave streets. Time – and this election – will tell if Clarendon residents really want that kind of progress.

The professionalism exhibited by the current council and administration likely helped prompt the anonymous benefactor to offer half a million dollars towards building a city pool. It wasn’t offered for any other purpose, and city officials would have been fools to turn it down. Working together over six years, Skelton, Dockery, and the members of the city council helped raise money and ultimately saw the wisdom in committing public funds to close the gap at make the Clarendon Aquatic Center a reality.

Coupled with the final completion of renovations to the Mulkey Theatre, the aquatic center has helped bring new “quality of life” attractiveness to Clarendon and downtown in particular. Both of those features as well as downtown merchants will benefit from the city’s next big project – downtown revitalization. Grant funds will pay the largest part of new sidewalks and new lighting that will make our city prettier, more accessible, and more appealing.

All this has been done while our property tax rate has actually gone down quite a bit over the last eight years. The city has zero control over your appraisals, so talk to your state leaders if you’re upset about that. Yes, some utility charges have gone up; but on the whole, this city is much better off than it was in 2015. It’s in a better financial position, it’s planning for more improvements, and it’s better prepared for the future. Is everyone happy? No, but when has everyone ever been happy? A look at the big picture though shows Clarendon making progress. Our challenge is to keep that progress going.

The annual Clarendon Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet was a resounding success March 31; and if you weren’t there, you missed quite a party fitting of The Roaring 20s theme.

From the speak easy to the silent auction to the jazz / big band music of “Sticks & Tones,” the whole affair at the Bairfield Activity Center was the bee’s knees or possibly even the cat’s pajamas! Chamber officials had set the scene just right, decorating the place like it was something straight out of The Great Gatsby. The partygoers did not disappoint, getting into the spirit with appropriate attire. Daddys came in with their flappers all decked out in their glad rags. Former Howardwick mayor Greta Byars probably had the most authentic outfit – a lovely green dress that her mother wore back in the 1920s.

As usual, the table decorations were a point of conversation. MC Dusty Green and his wife gave honorable mention to the Enterprise table, decorated with 1920s front pages with Chamber-related headlines, but the Best Dressed Table was hands down the Saints’ Roost Museum with its authentic collection of 1920s hats. History, after all, is what the Museum is all about.
Despite all the glitz and glamour, the real stars of the show were the award winners – the men and women who were duly recognized for the outstanding service they have rendered to our community. Two big news stories from the last year loomed large in the honors presented – the construction of the Clarendon Aquatic Center and COVID-19.

There is no understating the impact the pandemic had on our community and the world. The Chamber banquet was canceled in 2021 because of the virus, and the most recent Omicron variant of the virus delayed this year’s banquet by more than a month.

Green opened the banquet by reading a breaking news item from the Enterprise’s Facebook page dated March 31, 2020, and noting that it was two years ago to the day that the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Donley County. “What a two years it’s been,” he said.

A lot can be said about the pandemic. In many ways, it highlighted some of the great shortfalls of humanity – rampant ignorance, apathy, and rudeness. But above all that, other people rose to the occasion to help their fellow man and woman, to care for those who were sick, and to spread facts that would help keep people safe and healthy. And to that end, it was no surprise that the Clarendon Family Medical Center would be named the Business of the Year.

Donley County was a statistical anomaly within a month of that March 31, 2020, headline, reporting more positive cases of the virus per capita than most of the state and indeed the US. Our community wasn’t really any more sick than other places; it was a simple matter of Dr. John Howard and the Clarendon Family Medical Center being very aggressive with testing for the disease with other communities were not. That pro-active approach was also seen as the clinic began researching and treating COVID-19 patients with great vigor. Our local clinic soon gained a reputation and drew many patients from the surrounding area for treatment. Not counting those from out of town, the clinic treated more than 900 local patients who tested positive for COVID-19.

In accepting the Business of the Year Award, Dr. Howard – a man perfectly positioned in this crisis as our county judge and local doctor – gave credit not only to his employees but also to the people of Donley County, who supported the clinic’s mission with donations of money, food, medicine, and more to help those suffering from the disease.

While Judge / Dr. Howard fought the pandemic on the medical and the governmental fronts, back at the clinic the ladies who would be named the Women of the Year were busier than they had ever been. Nurse Practitioner Kathryn Broussard and Physician’s Assistant Devah Pittman each saw about 1,000 more patients than they typically would in a year’s time. The recommendations and letters from patients were glowing for these women and rightly so.

In happier headlines, the new aquatic center led to two more awards. The Man of the Year was City Administrator David Dockery, who had many long hours and dedicating in overseeing the development and construction of the new facility. Working alongside Mayor Sandy Skelton, who was himself the recipient of the Saints’ Roost Award, Dockery deserves praise for bringing a new crown jewel to downtown Clarendon and fulfilling the dream of generations of local kids – a public swimming pool! Both men have dedicated themselves as community servants outside their city roles, but what they accomplished – meeting the half a million-dollar challenge of an anonymous donor and creating a great new venue for our city – was nothing short of historic for our community.

In all, the Chamber of Commerce deserves great credit for last week’s banquet. The event successfully did what the Chamber does best – put Clarendon in the best possible light and trumpet all that is good about our community.

Meanwhile…

In combing through the archives for the Enterprise’s Chamber table decorations, we came across this gem from January 21, 1926. You know the old saying, the more things change…. Read now the words of Editor Sam Braswell:

“Tonight, the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce is observing its annual banquet and get together meeting for the purpose of reviewing the work of the organization for the past year and to lay plans for the coming twelve months. … There will be citizens who will not attend the meeting and who have been saying, just as they will continue to say, that the chamber of commerce “isn’t doing anything,” that it isn’t worth anything to the town, and all that sort of talk. The News lays down this challenge – that not a man who talks that way has helped during the past twelve months to do anything in this line with the program of the body, they have paid very little or nothing, they have not tried to inform themselves as to its activities and they will not in 1926. Just look them over and see if they don’t fit all those items. The helpful citizen is the critic who works for the advancement of his town, who thinks of methods that could be improved, who says so, and keeps working whether or not his suggestions are adopted. That sort of man is a real citizen.”

Surrounded by family and friends, Friday was a special night for your editor. I was humbled and honored to be nominated and subsequently elected to the Panhandle Press Hall of Fame earlier this year and then finally installed last week.

This accomplishment, like most, is not an honor for me alone. The credit truly goes to my late parents, my wife and family, our dedicated staff members both present and past, and to our readers and advertisers – without whom nothing is possible.

It’s a recognition I never really expected given my great respect for those who have been installed before me. The initial honorees more than 25 years ago were men and women who were legends in the Panhandle Press – giants like Ben Ezzell, Harold Hudson, Morris Higley, and others whom I never was fortunate enough to know. But I certainly heard about them, and they cast a long shadow on the papers in Canadian, Perryton, Childress, and all across the Panhandle.

After I joined the ranks of area journalists, I did get to meet and work with a great many people who joined the Hall of Fame over the years. Don Nelson, Bill Ellis, Garet Von Netzer, Jeane Bartlett, Laurie Ezzell Brown, and so many others. I won’t try to name all of them but suffice it to say that there have been several who have been mentors to myself and others. It is their shoulders that we stand on as community newspaper men and women across this region as we try to serve our readers and advertisers.

That service is an awesome and rewarding task that we gladly undertake week in and week out as we seek to bring you news and information that you can trust. It’s an obligation that we take seriously, and one that we enjoy. We do not do it alone, however. A community newspaper is nothing without the support of the community.

In the simplest terms, we rely on all of you – for news tips, for photos, for advertisements, for subscriptions, and for encouragement. While our staff does the heavy lifting of designing and producing the paper, we also rely on our freelancers and columnists. The Enterprise would truly not have the same character without the contributions of Kari Lindsey, Sandy Anderberg, and other parents and teachers who take photos for us on a weekly basis.

We are still grappling with the loss of the late Peggy Cockerham – who gave us more than 18 years of dedicated service with her ‘Wick’s Picks column. We have always placed in the awards contest for Society & Lifestyles page based largely on her contribution to anchor page four.

Working with our local officials to keep the community informed has also been a great privilege. When COVID-19 hit, it was a combined effort on the part of several to make sure the people of Donley County knew what was happening.

Likewise, when the Broncos made their journey to state – both last year and this year – it was not just our staff that helped cover that event. It was the support of the community that drove us to do it and made it possible for us to do it.

Nothing can discount how fortunate we are to have an excellent staff. Tara Allred is an amazing woman, and I can’t even begin to enumerate what she does for us. Ashlee Estlack – our Contributing Editor – does so much behind the scenes to keep us motivated, on task, up to speed on innovations, and so much more. And of course, Ben and Ella, his columns and her photos give us hope for a continued future for this newspaper.

How fortunate can this paper be to have the talent and support of so many? How fortunate and am I that I get to lead this institution for a brief time in its long and storied history. Thank you, all.

The Clarendon College Board of Regents delivered a disappointing vote last week by agreeing to end the contract of President Robert Riza.

What that action will cost the college is not yet known. Lawyers will now get involved, no doubt. The monetary cost may pale in comparison to what the college’s reputation will suffer after its shoddy treatment of a president who has brought growth in enrollment and elevated the college’s standing in the eyes of decision-makers at the state capitol.

No cause was given by the board in their discussion, but it’s been no secret that Riza and certain board members have clashed over the last three years. Despite his successes, certain folks felt they knew better how to run things and made it a point of nit-picking not just Riza’s work but also that of his staff.

Whether it’s something as simple as typing board minutes or as important as a financial report and whoever is doing them, college employees’ don’t seem to be able to get the job done to certain board members’ satisfaction. That was on display again last week.

For more than a year now, Riza has endured the board meetings alone after telling his administrators they no longer had to attend just to suffer monthly abuse. Still the college lost four of its vice presidents in the last two years.

The college also has drawn the attention of its accrediting agency in the last year. One regent even mentioned worrying about putting the college at further risk as a reason for needing to take action on Riza’s contract.

The ironic thing is that the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools – Commission on Colleges is not looking at Clarendon College because of any action taken by Dr. Robert Riza. SACS-COC has its attention on Clarendon because of the past actions of the board.

In fact, the head of the organization has already visited the college last summer to address the board directly on the proper way to behave as board members. The lesson was apparently lost. Furthermore, there has been no action by the board to deal with the specific issues that led to SACS-COC getting involved.

Riza leaving won’t fix that. An interim president won’t fix that. A new president won’t fix that. The culture – and membership – of the board will have to change for things to really improve. As long as two board members know better than any professional how to run the college and a majority of the board listens to those members, it will be hard for any president or administration to flourish and move forward.

The regents are scheduled to meet again this week to talk more about Riza’s contract, the hiring of an interim leader, and the search for a new president. They need to find some time at a future meeting to take a long hard look at the role they themselves have played in things getting where they are today. That may be a tough conversation to have though when those responsible probably don’t believe they’ve done anything wrong and the two regents most likely to tell them otherwise have already resigned.

Whoever follows Robert Riza will have a tough time. How do you keep enrollment at record highs, keep providing amazing opportunities for area students, maintain the college’s reputation for student success, and keep the same level of engagement in Austin to ensure that the voice of one of the smallest colleges in the state isn’t swallowed up by much larger institutions? And can you do it while being micromanaged at home?

Dr. Riza somehow managed to do all that before that board started tearing things apart. He put together an incredibly talented administrative team, and together they did great things. He deserved better than what he got last week. Clarendon College deserved better than what he got.

Clarendon lost a man who was one of a kind Saturday when Paul Bivens was called to his great reward.

Our community was shocked, just as his family was, by his sudden passing; and as much as our hearts go out to his wife and family, we each probably selfishly thought of our own personal loss in his untimely death.

If you knew Paul Bivens, he most likely made an impression on you. He was a great man… a role model in business and in life. He was a friend to many, including myself, and a great servant of his church and his community.

My own relationship with Paul began not long after he and Elmonette moved to town in 1976. They were my family’s pharmacists, picking up those duties from Richard Tunnell. I don’t know how many school supplies, Hallmark Christmas ornaments, and prescriptions we picked up from the drug store downtown, but it was considerable and enough that the Bivens and their staff always seemed like extended family members.

The Bivens’ boys were not exactly the same age as my brother and I but close enough that our time in school and Boy Scouts overlapped, and our birth years were staggered just right so that blue jeans could be passed down between our families.
But I think it wasn’t until junior high or high school that I really got to know Paul better, especially his sense of humor and his laugh. Oh, how we will miss that laugh! They started a little place called “Salads & Such” in the back of the drug store, and I would frequent that establishment for lunch with my Dad as I worked with him in the summers. There, around a few tables pulled together, I got to sit with the businessmen of the day and listen to them joke and visit. It was sort of like going to an informal Lions Club but without any fund raisers… except for the high-low game they played to determine who paid for lunch.

Paul and Elmonette were always close family friends; and when I returned from college to take over the newspaper, I knew I could count on their support. In fact, I always felt that I could count on Paul’s support for anything, not just business. We didn’t necessarily agree on every issue, but he supported me in the same way a parent supports the best interests of his child. Having friends like that, when you lose your own parents, makes it a little easier to know that there are still people who care for you and your family.

In my experience, if Paul saw a need, he tried to take care of it. Whether that was his service in Lions Club, on the board of aldermen, with the Salvation Army, or on boards at church, he tried to do his part to serve his fellow man. That’s just part of who he was.

Immediately after his passing Saturday, a friend of mine said, “Did you know that Paul did this?” and told me of an act of charity that he had done. “No,” I replied. “I didn’t know that. But it doesn’t surprise me.”

Alan Jackson sings about “the little man who built this town.” Paul Bivens was one of those men… a small business man who, with his wife and family, helped make Clarendon what it is.

When I talk to people in other communities about where I’m from, they invariably know Clarendon for our college and our lake and sometimes an influential restaurant from days gone by – Mrs. Bromley’s or Sam Hill’s. But many times they also know Clarendon for something else… The Clarendon Outpost… a place you can get anything you need and find a clean bathroom.

When Paul and Bill Stavenhagen moved off main street and opened the Outpost in 1996, I’m not sure anyone fully realized the impact that business would have on the traveling public. And to this day it continues to pull people off US 287 and entice them to spend some money in Clarendon. And does anyone really know how many young people have gotten their first job at the Outpost?

Paul Bivens will be missed. He’s missed already. We will miss his generosity, his quick wit, his sarcasm, his honesty, his integrity, and his friendship. He leaves behind a family more than capable of carrying on his legacy, but there will never be another man like him. We give thanks for having shared our time on earth with him. We are richer for having had him in our lives, and our community is a better place because of him.

Rest well, my friend.