This Week

A Clarendon High School student was arrested Wednesday, February 28, after he threatened to shoot a classmate, according to Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn.

Avyen Chance Allen, age 17, was charged with Terroristic Threat, a Class B misdemeanor, and was still in jail Thursday morning.

Blackburn said Allen and a female student were talking in class when he threatened to go get a gun and shoot the girl. She did not say anything to school officials, but called her mother to come get her, the sheriff said. After the mother learned what happened, she called the school, and Clarendon CISD officials contacted the sheriff immediately.

Blackburn happened to be on the elementary campus when the call came in, and went immediately to the high school to find the subject and learned that he had skipped his last period class. Allen was soon located and stopped for a traffic violation on North SH 70 by Deputy Brian Stevens while the sheriff was securing a warrant. Allen was then arrested and did not have a gun in his possession at the time, Blackburn said.

The sheriff praised the school for acting immediately when they learned of the threat.

“They did a good job,” he said.

Clarendon CISD Trustees approved asking voters for $11.7 million in bonds during a called meeting last Wednesday, February 14, with the funds going toward improving the football stadium, a new vocational ag building, new buses, and improved safety measures.

The measure on the May ballot will be in the form of three separate propositions, and voters can vote for or against any or all of them.

Proposition A will seek $1.8 million for safety and security upgrades and the school as well as two new buses.

Proposition B would fund $6.9 million in improvements at Bronco Stadium including accessibility improvements, new home and visitor bleachers, a new press box, and $3.3 to 3.5 million for a new field house, restrooms, and concession stand.

Proposition C would provide $3 million for a new vocational ag building.

School officials were originally considering a bond package of $13 million, but trustees scaled back after several citizens spoke out during open forum at the board meeting and during a bond discussion in the high school auditorium prior to the meeting.

The open discussion before the meeting drew about 30 citizens who came to listen to financial advisor John Blackmon explain the funding of the bonds and what tax rates would be necessary to fund certain levels of bonded indebtedness. The same figures were presented at two previous school board meetings.

No figure was readily available last Wednesday for the rate it would take to support a $11.7 million bond, but Blackmon had previously estimated an additional 30 cents per $100 valuation would be needed for a hypothetical $11.5 million bond.
Blackmon also went over the effects of the new $100,000 homestead exemption for school taxes.

Following the discussion, school officials and the public moved to the administration building when school trustees had waited over an hour to begin their called meeting. Five members of the public signed into open forum, all of whom thanked the board for their service.

Chancey Cruise encouraged the board to wait a year before putting the measure on the ballot, said additional taxes would make it harder to bring businesses to Clarendon, called a proposed $1.3 million artificial turf field “a horrible idea,” and said the school’s priorities should be focused on academics, particularly teachers’ salaries.

Corey Gaither also asked the board to wait a year and do their “due diligence” before committing to 30 years of debt.

Former school board member Johnny Floyd said he felt like the time was not right to ask for a bond given the state of the economy and the uncertainty surrounding the next national election. He focused on the ag building proposal, calling the ag program the worst in the last 15 years.

Jeff Robertson said sports was pushed in his school growing up, and he felt he had been passed just so he could play sports. He said, as a result, he was behind when he went to college. He encouraged the board to put the emphasis on education.

Roger Wade spoke and focused his opposition on the ag building.

Superintendent Jarod Bellar said he was not stuck on having a new turf field but said he definitely thinks Clarendon needs a new field house. He said having good facilities helps with recruiting employees. He felt like if you’re going to do a project, don’t do it halfway and said even if something isn’t a necessity now but will become a necessity, why not address it now. He agreed teachers need to be paid more, but he said there’s a war going on in Austin over that with Governor Abbott holding teachers’ pay hostage for vouchers.

The board then convened in closed session for just under an hour to consult with their bond attorney before returning to open session and approving a measure to put the slimmed down bond proposal on the May ballot.

Early voting in the 2024 Republican and Democratic primaries opened today with Donley County voters casting ballots at the Courthouse Annex.

New hours for early voting are giving voters more flexibility this year. The annex will be open for early voting from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Friday this week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 24, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 25. Next week, early voting hours will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday, February 26, through Friday, March 1.

Republican voters have several local races to decide. State Rep. Ken King is being challenged by Karen Post. In Precinct 1, Commissioner Mark White is being challenged by Del Essary; and in Precinct 3, Commissioner Neil Koetting is facing challenges from Sis Bond and Greg Wootten.

Local candidates running unopposed on the Republican ticket are US Rep. Ronny Jackson, District Judge Dale Rabe, Jr., District Attorney Luke Inman, County Attorney Landon Lambert, Sheriff Butch Blackburn, and County Tax Assessor/Collector Kristy Christopher. Bill Word is also unopposed for the county GOP chairman’s position.
Republicans also have 13 non-binding ballot propositions to consider.

There are no local races on the Democratic ticket this year.

This year’s primary election day will be Tuesday, March 5.