This Week

Hedley High students competed at the West Texas High School Comanche Invitational UIL Meet in Stinnett on Saturday.

Other schools that participated in the meet included Dalhart, Groom, Pampa, Clarendon, Dumas, Canadian, and West Texas High.

The Calculator Team led the way with a first place team finish. Lauren Hill placed first individually, and Samuel Howard came in second with Treva Rowland completing the championship team.

Lora Llewellyn received third place individually in the Science contest, and, with the help of Lisle and Treva Rowland, the team placed second overall.

The Current Events team also placed second led by Aaron Bugg’s fourth place finish. He was joined by Cassie Moore and Amber Solis.

Stephen Howard, Lauren Hill, and Marissa Wells placed second  as the Number Sense team, led by Howard’s second place and Hill’s fifth place individual placement.

The Mathematics team of Stephen Howard, Lacey Wallendorff, and Lora Llewellyn took third with Howard placing fourth and Wallendorff placing sixth individually.

Josh Collins represented Hedley in Headline Writing at the meet.

Jimmy Floyd of Canadian displays 5-cent movie coupons found in the office of the old Mulkey Theater.

Enterprise Digital Photo
 
The Clarendon Economic Development Corporation would acquire the Mulkey Theater if a deal now under discussion works out.

Salem Abraham of Canadian confirmed Tuesday morning that he and his partner, Bob Altman of Central Texas, are exploring the idea of donating the historic theater to the CEDC.

“I’m hopeful this will work out,” Abraham said. “I think it would be better to try to see it in the hands of someone who can do something with it.”

Abraham owns 49 percent of the theatre; Altman owns 51 percent. The two are awaiting the results of an appraisal of the building, which was conducted last week.

Members of the CEDC and the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce toured the Mulkey on Thursday.

“I’m really impressed with the shape it is in,” said CEDC Board Member Dee Dee Autry.

Autry said the idea for acquiring the theater started when the Donley County Tourism Council wanted to put lights on the Mulkey’s marquee during the Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration. Inquiries about that led to the discussion of the 1940s-era building being donated to the community in some way.

The CEDC board has not formally made a decision about what to do with the building, but Autry said she personally would like to see it restored for live entertainment or motion pictures with the old barber shop area being utilized as an office for the chamber and CEDC.

“I would love to see it done like Canadian’s [Palace] Theater,” Autry said.

Abraham and his wife restored the Canadian theatre and installed a state-of-the-art sound system. Today, it runs movies every night with a new movie on Friday and a matinee on Sunday.

Autry says the CEDC is looking into the possibility of grants to restore the building and has contacted the Texas Commission on the Arts for assistance.

It is hoped that revitalizing the Mulkey would spur activity on Kearney Street like it did in Canadian.

“On the block with the Palace four years ago, there was a bank, a dilapidated theatre, three vacant buildings, and a caliche parking lot,” Abraham said.

“Today all the buildings are full, and the parking lot has been paved and landscaped.”

Abraham says he sees the Mulkey as having the potential to be nicer than the 1909-era Palace because the local theater was fancier to start with.

Abraham warns restoring the theater will not be a small project, but he thinks it is more doable in the hands of something like the economic development corporation which can go after grants for the benefit of the community.

Autry said if the donation of the building works out, the first step will probably be to consult an architect to see what work needs to be done on it.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen agreed to help the Donley County Sheriff’s Department buy a new computer during its regular meeting January 8.

Mayor Tex Selvidge said the old computer in the sheriff’s office is a used PC donated to the department by a bank in Memphis. The county will put up $1,000 for a new PC, and the Probation Department of the 100th District Court will add another $1,000. The aldermen agreed to provide $500 for this purpose.

A building permit for the county courthouse project was discussed. Alderman Mac Stavenhagen agreed to talk to the county judge about this matter.

Plumbing inspections were discussed. Board consultant Colby Waters said the state is now requiring inspections to be done by a licensed plumbing inspector in cities with populations less than 5,000. Previous rules required this only of cities of more than 5,000 people. Waters told the board that no rules have yet been adopted governing these inspections. The board took no action.

A resolution was passed authorizing the city to apply for a grant that would benefit the bailing operations at the city’s Three Feathers Recycling Center.

The board discussed a citizen’s request to pave her driveway. The citizen had agreed to pay for the paving, but the city denied the request.

Librarian Carolyn Blackerby said the contractor will begin on the library renovation in about five weeks. The job should take four weeks to complete. The library will also be purchasing a new computer for the librarian.

Local phone customers were disconnected from making out of town calls for nearly eight hours last Wednesday after a farmer near Panhandle cut a fiber optic cable.

The disruption affected more than 10,000 Valor Telecom customers in Clarendon, Hedley, Panhandle, Lakeview, Memphis, Groom, Claude, Wellington, and Estelline.

Valor crews began repairing the cable at 3:30 p.m. and had service restored by 11 p.m.

Last October, more than 8,000 Valor customers were disconnected for more than three hours when a crew with the City of Panhandle also cut a fiber optic cable.

Donley County has gotten an extension for Emergency Grazing for certain Conservation Reserve Program acres.

The required payment reduction is 25 percent of the per acre annual rental payment rate times the number of acres actually grazed. This authorization is in effect from now until February 28, 2002.

Additional guidelines include:

• Temporary cover or dead litter crops are not eligible for this program.

• Only fields established to permanent cover will be eligible.

• You must contact FSA and NRCS before any grazing takes place.

• CRP may be leased to an eligible livestock producer located in an approved county.

• CRP participants must leave at least 25 percent of each field ungrazed for wildlife.

For more information, call 874-3561. This extension is for grazing only.