Opinions

Last week was not your regular edition of The Clarendon Enterprise. It never is when we change our press time to fit an election. It discombobulates our schedule, the lives of those who print our paper, and, of course, the weekly routine of readers like you.

It’s somewhat stressful for those of us on the production side of this venture, and stress sometimes brings forth a feeling of second-guessing of career choices. Certainly twiddling my thumbs at the Courthouse Annex for six hours waiting on election results was not what I was looking forward to when I studied journalism at Texas Tech. It is, however, part of the job from time to time.

But then something happens to make you reflect on the real reason for doing the job, and you remember there is more to it than just the occasional tediousness. In the case of the Enterprise, that “something” came in the form of a visit from Larry Lemmons, who chose this newspaper as the topic of one of his “In the Panhandle Spirit” series on Channel 7.

Larry wanted to focus on the Panhandle’s first newspaper and how it continues to serve the community in this day and age. There were several benefits Larry’s to story, not the least of which was that we had to clean up the office before he came. It was good publicity for the paper and our printer, but more importantly it was good for Clarendon because it showcased our rich history. It’s easy to overlook it when you’re right in the midst of it every day, but sometimes it’s good to step back and look at what we have here.

Every newspaper we publish is a continuation of a tradition that began 136 years ago, and that’s a legacy that we feel sure will continue long after our present crew takes up eternal residence in the peacefulness of Citizens Cemetery. Your humble editor feels like he’s been here forever after more than 18 years, but that’s not even half of the 45 years my great uncle, George Wayne Estlack, spent working at this paper.

We’re no different than many other folks in Donley County. Cowboys on the JA Ranch carry on traditions that date back to the 1870s. Educators at Clarendon ISD follow in the footsteps of early teachers from the 1880s, and Clarendon College continues its tradition as the Panhandle’s first college since 1898.

Each Sunday, pastors and parishioners fill churches established by pioneers, medical personnel follow in the footsteps of the Panhandle’s first doctor, Jerome Stocking, and county officials work in a historic Courthouse where the cornerstone bears the name of the legendary Charles Goodnight.

One of our cover stories features Robertson Funeral Directors, a business that can trace its origins to the 1890s and currently has three generations of one family working under one roof.

The Clarendon Masonic Lodge, the Lions Club, the Pathfinders, the Chamber of Commerce, and Fire Department are all some of the oldest of their types of organizations in this part of the state and their members continue on trails blazed many decades ago.

All around we can look and see where history has unfolded, and we marvel at what may come our way. The newspaper business alone has changed remarkably since we rebranded ourselves as the Enterprise in 1996. What will this venture look like in 2026 or 2036? Indeed, what will Clarendon look like at its bicentennial in 2078?

Many of us won’t be here to see what happens, but each step we take, each paper we publish is another link in our continuing story together. Donley County has an amazing story, and we’re happy to tell it… as it develops.

 

Meanwhile…

Setting aside the sentimental reflections, we really do not enjoy being kept up until the wee hours without good cause. Last week’s Republican Primary was one such circumstance where many people were kept out late and away from the comfort of their homes and the warmth of their beds for no good reason.

The competitive election was great. The lukewarm turnout – about 38 percent – was disappointing. But the wait… oh, my Lord, the wait… was just exhausting.

The polls closed last Tuesday at 7 p.m. Election officials could have been tabulating early votes all day but reportedly didn’t start until about 11 a.m. There were also other variables that could have allowed a quicker hand count of election day ballots. Instead we waited and waited. At 10:52 p.m., spirits soared for a moment when some election officials emerged from behind closed doors… to sharpen a handful of pencils. It would be another two hours before all the votes were tabulated, and another hour and a quarter after that before the paper could be sent to press.

All of this delay could be avoided. Donley County has machines that can count ballots in a fraction of the time humans can. So here’s a message for the Donley County Republican Party: For the love of Ronald Wilson Reagan, stop being so tight and use the blasted machines. You’ve got the money, and the time of your election officials, of your candidates, of the people in the clerk’s office, and of all the rest of us are worth something and it ought not be wasted.

Life is often a matter of “hurry up and wait” with any number of subjects and in a wide array of circumstances. But in two issues currently before the Clarendon Board of Aldermen, city leaders need to both “hurry up” and “wait” but not at the same time.

Aldermen made good progress on an alcohol ordinance at last week’s regular meeting, and board members seemed to pretty well be in agreement when they adjourned. Now they are set to meet again next Tuesday to finalize the ordinance. As Clarendon Economic Development & Tourism Director Chandra Eggemeyer told the board, the sooner this is done, the sooner Clarendon will start seeing the benefit of last fall’s election.

To put it more simply, every day a local store can’t sell beer is a day they are losing money. City leaders need to forge ahead without delay next week, finish whatever rules they are going to adopt, and authorize City Hall to begin signing permit applications.

But on another issue – the pending street project, the city needs to take its time and act carefully. An alcohol ordinance can be amended in the future if needs to be, but street projects are long term investments. When done right – like our brick streets, they can serve the citizens for decades. When done wrong or hastily, citizens will likewise live with those decisions for a long time.

Any way you slice it, the street project has changed substantially from what former city administrator Lambert Little sold citizens when they voted. At that time there was no talk of narrowing streets, but now that’s what the plan calls for – reducing streets to 32 feet across mostly bordered by ribbons of concrete known as “rollover” curbs as opposed to full curb and gutter that we saw in the last project seven years ago.

Narrowing the streets is always done as a cost-saving measure, but city officials need to consider what that’s going to look like and exactly what the plan is. In the case of Third Street, the plan is to essentially ignore up to eight feet of currently paved street that will be behind the new rollover curb. People will still be able to park there, and the city will repave that area “later.” Unfortunately, “later” has a habit of never getting here.

In the last project, the city was going to go back and tie in cross streets like Allen, Sims, and others that were eliminated from the last plan to save money. That isn’t on the drawing board. We were also going to see Seventh and Fourth streets from Koogle going east paved. That isn’t being talked about. “Later” means “probably never.” If a future city council has an extra $50,000 to spend ten years from now, they aren’t likely to spend it behind a curb where someone is parking. Why not just keep the streets wider today and allow enough room to park on both sides of the street?

The city engineer admitted last week that he has never seen another city do what Clarendon is planning to do. We therefore have no idea what this is going to look like, but we can be sure that it won’t a proper street that might be seen in other communities.

Third Street in particular, again, is a major thoroughfare for local people and visitors to our city that connects downtown with Bronco Stadium and our beautiful college campus. When paved, it needs to be nothing less than professional and a source of pride.

The city also needs to think about timing. We’ve seen what a disaster occurred when the water and sewer project was going on during football season. It was a muddy, sloppy, embarrassing mess. And that will look like a walk in the park compared to what might happen if the street project isn’t finished before school starts.

City crews are intended to do all the dirt work for the curbing and all the base work for the streets. Our city workers have plenty to do without being tasked with staying ahead of a paving contractor, who could probably more efficiently do the job themselves. This isn’t to say our guys aren’t capable of doing base work. It’s simply pointing out that they already have fulltime jobs to do.

What thought, if any, has been given to how this project will impact activity around the ballparks this summer? What thought, if any, has been given to making sure this project is over and done with before school starts this fall so that we avoid the congestion and mess at Clarendon ISD that we’ve seen this school year?

And then there remains the idea of seal coating Clarendon Avenue and Regents Avenue on the college campus. How will the city time its work so that it doesn’t interfere with activities at the college this summer or, heaven help us, after classes start in the fall? All of Donley County pays taxes to Clarendon College to keep up maintenance on college property. The estimated $50,000 the city proposes to spend on the college campus is really and truly needed elsewhere to make sure that city streets are paved in the same professional manner that we see with the college streets.

The Board of Aldermen needs to takes its time on this. Ask the right questions. Get satisfactory answers, and above all, don’t be rushed. Clarendon will live with these streets for a long time. Let’s make sure we’re happy with what we’re getting and not just “poor boy” this deal for expediency and the sake of saving a buck.

 Even the Imperial Congress is not immune to the snooping of government data gatherers.

CNN published a story over the weekend regarding a response the National Security Agency gave to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) inquiry as to whether the NSA was collecting so-called metadata on members of Congress. The answer would appear to be “yes.”

According to CNN, the agency stated: “Members of Congress have the same privacy protections as all US persons.” In other words, like all Americans in the current climate, members of Congress have no privacy despite guarantees written into the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

The revelation is ironic in that Congressmen and Senators are rarely treated like regular citizens, but it is disturbing to know that basically the NSA regards no one at all to be free from its prying eyes.

In the name of “security” America has already given up too many freedoms with no sign that they are coming back. And most of us had no idea how bad it had gotten until Edward Snowden blew the lid off the government’s surveillance of every man, woman, and child in this country as well as the spying even our closest allies around the world.

Snowden remains in exile in Russia, branded as a traitor by the government of the United States, and facing criminal charges. Given the embarrassment he caused, it’s kind of surprising that the government hasn’t “droned” Snowden yet, but perhaps that would make too much of a mess.

Last week, The New York Times and England’s Guardian both published editorials calling for a pardon for Snowden. And you can add The Clarendon Enterprise’s much lesser editorial clout to that list. Snowden doesn’t deserve prison time, he deserves a medal for having the guts to reveal what the dark forces inside our government have been up to.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who is a patriot in his own right and a vocal critic of the NSA domestic spying, didn’t go so far this weekend as to suggest a pardon for Snowden, but he did tell ABC News this weekend that any prison sentence for the man should be light. He even jokingly suggested that he should share a prison cell with National Intelligence Director James Clapper, Jr., who lied to Congress last summer and said the NSA was not collecting data on Americans.

“Maybe if they served in a prison cell together, we’d become further enlightened as a country as to what we should or shouldn’t do,” Paul said.

With the backing of powerful members in both parties, there is little chance that the NSA will be reined it. Its secret power, granted by a secret court is an anathema to everything the Founding Fathers envisioned for this country. But you would expect no less from a government with unchecked power.

Let’s get a move on

“When?” That’s the question that is on the lips of business owners and consumers in Clarendon two months after alcohol sales were legalized by Donley County voters.

The election has come and gone, but those interested in selling adult beverages are still waiting for the go-ahead from the City of Clarendon which hasn’t set up any rules on the subject. Four establishments have published notice of intent to apply for alcoholic beverage permits, and others are anxious to get moving.

Businesses have also already made investments getting prepared to sell alcohol. One convenience store has new coolers in place and ready, and another has repainted, rearranged, and even put up a sign with “cold beer” and “wine” above an aisle with empty shelves.

Officials say the city is not dragging its feet on this issue. The election was November 5; and after voters approved the measure the city was supposed to have met with representatives of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission on December 6. But a winter storm kept the TABC folks from Lubbock at home, and now they are coming to town this Friday. City aldermen will then discuss the issue – and possibly take some action – next Tuesday.

This paper favors free enterprise and encourages our city to adopt rules that will result in the maximum benefit of economic development. As they consider this issue, this column would encourage our aldermen to adopt rules that would put existing businesses on equal footing with each other and that would foster development along already established commercial corridors.

In other words, care should be taken not to adopt rules that would allow one convenience store to sell beer but deny that same right to another store. And likewise, our local restaurants should be allowed to start this new era on a level playing field. The simplest and fairest way to achieve this is to allow sales along US 287 and on Kearney Street between First and Fourth Streets.

Rules governing sales in other locations can be crafted later, and ordinances governing other issues pertaining to alcohol – prohibiting consumption in city parks, for instance – can be adopted later. But for the sake of our businesses, we need to get moving sooner rather than later. Every month this issue is delayed is a month that costs the city in terms of lost sales tax revenue and business activity. The time to act is now.

It’s Christmas time again. A season of peace and joy and, too often, stress.

There is shopping to be done, school programs to attend, community events scheduled, family calendars to be juggled, and all of life’s usual craziness that seems to multiply from Thanksgiving to December 25.

At our office, this is the busiest time of year, which puts Ye Olde Editor on edge and Ye Young Staff on their toes. Then last Tuesday – right before press time – we found out that a major component at our printing plant had suffered a power surge that put everything on hold and ultimately delayed the Enterprise until Thursday of last week.

Use of the word “delay” is really just semantics in this case, however. Our paper for generations has been dated for Thursday even though it typically is distributed on Wednesday. Among other reasons, we keep it this way for situations such as these so that if we’re ever a day “late,” we’re actually right on time.

But when you’re in a weekly routine for years, a disruption like that discombobulates your entire week and your sense of time and place. Add to that, technical failures at home – a garage door opener on the fritz and a fridge taking its dying breaths – and all the typical stuff that goes on this time of year. It’s enough to make you just want to be done with Christmas.

But… then there are the things that really matter. At the top of the list, of course, would be the birth of our Savior and all the hope, joy, and love that this season is meant to convey. This is why we celebrate and ought to the focus of every day.

Looking at things through the eyes of a child helps put things into their proper perspective. The joy they get from just driving around looking at Christmas lights, the excitement they exhibit in the days leading up to Santa’s arrival, and all the wishes and dreams they talk about as December 25 gets closer and closer.

And then they can turn on a dime, put all the toys and “things” aside, and drive home what it’s all about. Like all kids, ours have a list of toys they hope to receive next week. But after their mother had shoulder surgery last week, Ben sat down by himself this weekend and wrote another letter to Santa. “I want my moms sholder to be fixed by December 24” so she can open presents, he wrote.

Never mind the train, the truck, and the “stuff.” Putting others above yourself is what we need to remember, and most importantly, we must all cherish the time we are given with our friends and families. We are not promised one more day, so we must take every opportunity we have to love each other, care for each other, and enjoy each other.

If you have your parents or grandparents, spend extra time with them… even if it’s just over the phone… because the time will come when you wish you could. Never take for granted your time with family.

May this season wrap you and your family in love, forgiveness, and joy and inspire you with a sense of charity to all. That is what Jesus taught us, and that is the greatest Christmas gift of all.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

 The Christmas spirit is alive in Clarendon with special programs and opportunities at every turn. Several organizations are doing their part to make this season brighter for those less fortunate, and local businesses are working hard to provide fun activities for local families while encouraging them to shop at home.

This holiday season there is reason to be optimistic about Clarendon and Donley County. If you look, you can see signs of progress and hints of good things to come. We have a city council that is working together in a positive manner; and while there may be an occasional disagreement on a particular issue, they seem to be unanimous in wanting to move our city forward.

We see signs of increased business activity in our community, and a report from the state comptroller that will be printed next week will show another month of dramatically increased sales tax revenues for Clarendon. We have welcomed new businesses to Kearney Street where, again, we see signs of improvement, most notably with the Mulkey Theatre lighting the way.

But one area that we still need to improve on is working together in our business community by furthering the revitalization of the Chamber of Commerce.

It is exciting to see a new event – the Clarendon Christmas Bazaar – being held this weekend, sponsored by the Chamber and organized by some of its newest board members. And it is exciting also to see the return of Late Night Shopping in downtown. These are great opportunities for local citizens and local businesses. But in your editor’s observation, coordination of the two events has been something of a problem because we have the Chamber doing one and the Merchants Association doing the other and sometimes there has been something lost in the communication between the two groups.

Which brings up the question of why do we have two groups that really should have the same goal? That goal, of course, being the promotion and fostering of commerce in our city. It would be for the good of the entire community for there to be one organization that all businesses could join and have everyone rowing in the same direction.

The logical outlet for such a movement would the Chamber of Commerce, but for such an idea to be successful though, the Chamber needs to further the revitalization it has been experiencing. This column has in the past called for certain reforms to be adopted by the Chamber, and some have been implemented. But for us to really get on the road to progress more needs to be done.

In addition to restructuring the Chamber’s member benefits and dues structures, the primary reform needs to be to the Chamber board itself. This is not to slight any current board member, but we need the dues-paying members of the Chamber to take a stake in the organization and get more involved with its leadership. The organization has not had a full board for more than a year, and board members are only supposed to serve three years before stepping aside.

The Chamber has been fortunate to attract some energetic new members, but again more people need to get involved in the process. The most needed reform is that we need to have an actual election of board members. The Chamber, this month, needs to put forth a slate of board nominees (which can include current board members), accept other nominations from its members, and then mail ballots to the members or hold a general membership meeting. Once the new board is elected, officers should be elected from the board.

In this way the Chamber will best represent its members, and a member-driven organization led by local business people can effectively lead efforts to promote commerce in Clarendon and Donley County.

A wise man, the late Dr. Charles Deyhle, told your editor more than once that there is nothing that people of Clarendon cannot accomplish if they would work together, and he’s right. So too it is with our businesses if they worked together toward common goals under the unified umbrella of a reformed Chamber of Commerce. We all want the same thing – a vibrant downtown, successful businesses across our community, and growth for Donley County. Let’s join together to make those goals reality.

 Continuing a tradition, our family has again set the goal of getting as much of our Christmas shopping done right here at home this Friday and Saturday.

Now certainly, there may be an item or two that we just can’t get here or we order online, but our intention is to make 90 percent or more of our purchases from local merchants – the men and women who support our community and our newspaper.

The Enterprise has always supported the “shop at home” theme and encourages people to “be loyal and buy local” whenever it is possible. And likewise, our local merchants have always gone out of their way to try to make shopping Clarendon attractive and fun.

It’s easy really. From Christmas Cash to Late Night Shopping and with Black Friday and Small Business Saturday our merchants are doing all they can to earn your business and have prepared some really nice sales and promotions. Next month’s Christmas Bazaar hosted by the Chamber of Commerce also promises a fun-filled way to buy at home.

Why spend the money on gas, the time on the road, and the Tylenol on the big city headaches when you can come to downtown Clarendon this weekend and park right in front of your favorite store, be greeted by the business man or woman who knows your first name, and find great gifts for great prices? Stay home and be pleasantly surprised by the selections, the savings, and the service that you can get right here in Clarendon.

Your local merchants are the ones who pay taxes here to support your city, county, college, school, and ambulance service. They are the ones who pony up every time a kid comes in raising money for the third or fourth “worthy cause” this week, and then when they go to the grocery store, they will dig into their pocket and find money for the cookies or pies at the bake sale of the week.

The money we spend in Amarillo pretty much stays in Amarillo. It doesn’t come home, it doesn’t keep the lights on in our school, and it doesn’t keep our senior citizens centers running.

This is not to say it’s bad to shop in Amarillo, but rather it is to say that we need to think about our purchases. It makes a difference when you shop at home. It is simple economics, and it is common sense. The more you spend in Donley County, the more our local businesses can put right back into the local economy.

We all win when we shop at home.

To all of you with our heartfelt thanks…

We would like to take this time to thank those of you who make this newspaper possible and therefore keep food on our table and shoes on my kids. (The kids are eating more and going through clothes faster, so we’re perhaps more thankful for you all as time goes by.)

As always my wife, Ashlee, deserves a huge thanks for all she does to keep me going and for all the behind the scenes things she does for this newspaper. She’s a part-time writer, part-time editor, part-time photographer, and full-time thinker and sounding board. Then in her free time she works full time at the college and does a great job as the mother of two wonderful kids.

Our staff deserves special recognition also. Tara Hogan and Morgan Wheatly keep things humming while juggling their busy college schedules, and our honorary staff member – Fred Gray – fills in wherever needed, keeps us laughing, and does a great job of keeping the Enterprise the talk of the town.

Our contributors – Sandy Anderberg, Kari Lindsey, Matthew Martinez, Peggy Cockerham, Kathy Spier, and Bob Watson – are our extra hands and help us cover a whole range of subjects that we couldn’t get done without them. We thank each of them for their parts in making this a paper that does its best to cover all of Donley County.

And of course we have a host of volunteers who provide us occasional photos and articles. We can’t mention them all here because we would surely leave one out, but Suzanne Taylor, Alice Cobb, and Melody Hysinger are examples of friends and readers who help us cover the news when we can’t be there. It is these folks who truly put the “community” in our community newspaper.

And last but certainly not least, we salute our readers and advertisers. Without them, there is no Enterprise, and from the bottom of our hearts we thank them for their continued to trust, faith, and support. We will continue to do everything we can to be deserving of all of you who have made it possible for this paper to deliver the news as it has for more than 135 years.

Thank you all very much. We are proud to serve Donley County, and we hope that you continue to enjoy our weekly endeavors.

Clarendon lost one of its saints last week. Tommie Saye – our Scoutmaster, our mentor, our friend – passed away Friday morning, and left a hole in our lives.

Ten years ago, this paper published a feature story on Tommie and his contribution to Boy Scouts. In an accompanying editorial, I wrote about Tommie’s influence on me as a young man… as one of the many scouts who he helped guide along the path to Eagle.

But in the days following his death, I’ve found myself not thinking so much about what he taught me 25 years ago as much as what he has taught me in just the last few years and even the last few months.

Some of my earliest memories are of riding in my parents’ station wagon to some district or council scout meeting with Mom and Dad and Tom and Lucy Saye. As I got older, Tommie was a man I admired and looked up to… just like hundreds of other boys did. And for me, especially after the passing of my own grandparents, I always thought of him as another grandfather.

When my parents passed away, Tommie was still there and often offered me words of advice and encouragement. We would talk about this or that. He would give me his words of wisdom and usually summed it up with, “And son, that’s just kind of part of it.”

Death, too, is kind of part of it… part of life. The part that we’re left to deal with and wonder what we can do to take what a man like Tommie taught us and hand it down to the next generation.

A little over a year ago, I got cornered in the grocery store and persuaded to take on the role of Cub Master for Pack 437 and to lead a group of Cub Scouts even though my own son wasn’t old enough at the time to join. When Mr. Saye found out, his attitude was one of “it’s about time,” but he had known that I would end up in that role eventually.

And then he did what he did best. He taught me. He put that hand on my shoulder; and in the space of less than ten minutes, he told me everything I needed to know to lead this group of Scouts. He had already showed me by example; but with just a few words, he prepared me for the next few years. That was Tommie.

His record of achievement and involvement always focuses on Scouting. He is, after all, a legend in the Golden Spread Council. Our troop is rarely mentioned without Tommie’s name coming up. Is there another troop in a town our size that can claim an equal number of Eagle Scouts (more than 80), God & Country recipients, or Texas Medal awardees? I don’t think so. I doubt there is a town our size that can touch Troop 433 in just one of those categories much less all three.

But Tommie also has been involved in so much more – the church, the Chamber, the merchants, Girl Scouts, Meals on Wheels, and more. He even got into politics, serving on the Clarendon College Board of Regents, where he told me that he just did what he thought was right and didn’t care what other people thought about it. And he served his country, too. He was a Marine, and he was rightly proud of that service in World War II.

He also loved his family and they adored him, and, as it was stated at the funeral, they selflessly shared Tommie with all of us. How many times was he away from home for a scout meeting or a camp out? We probably can never know, but they let him go, and we thank them for it.

How do you measure the life of a man like Tommie Saye? How can you ever know the influence that such a man has had on not just this community but on other communities who have benefited from the leadership of boys that Tommie helped turn into men?

Men like Tommie leave a lasting legacy that will not be soon forgotten. He has taught us all well. And now we must honor that by paying it forward and making sure the next generation of boys… and girls… know the values that Tommie Saye held dear.

God bless you, Mr. Saye. We will never forget you.