This Week

By Mary Beth Nelson

W.K Hardin and Claudine Todd have been named as Clarendon’s Pioneer Man and Woman of the Year for 2001.

W.K, born September 17, 1909, in Hardin County, Tennessee, moved to Donley County in 1922 with his parents, Watt and Lola Hardin, one brother, Hall, and three sisters, Ruth Cearley, Mary K. Todd, and Annie Marie Estes. Another brother, Homer, was born to the family after their move from Tennessee.

Settling in Sunny View community, six miles east of Clarendon, the Hardins continued farming, a lifelong occupation to which W.K. has been happily dedicated. He grins as he mentions the family’s first car, a Model T with curtains for windows.

“In the summertime, we’d take the curtains off,” recollects our Pioneer Man of the Year.

In 1940, W.K. entered an Army one-year training program. After Pearl Harbor’s 1941 bombing, he spent 36 months in Europe and North Africa serving as wench operator in 591st Engineer Boat Regiment. After his World War II service discharge in 1945, he returned to the farm.

June 10, 1947, W.K. married Maxine Ellis, daughter of former Clarendon Doctor T.H. Ellis and Elizabeth Dyer Ellis. After a Colorado Springs honeymoon where the prestigious Broadmoor Hotel charged $23.00 a day (meals included), W.K. and Maxine established residence at 902 West 3rd Street where they currently reside. They attend Clarendon’s Episcopal Church and have parented five children – David, Cheryl, Shauna, Brent, and Kelli.

This hard-working gentleman continued to farm for 50 years. Is he still active? To answer that question, one has only to drive by his home to see an immense, flourishing garden and well-kept lawn on lovely, spacious grounds to which he tends, himself. Spending only three or four days in a hospital during his entire life, he remains healthy and enjoys staying busy with his accomplishments. While discussing his eagerness and obvious zest for daily work, W.K. remarked, “When I die, I want to have my shoes on.”

W.K and Maxine are both avid readers. His reading preference extends from National Geographic and numerous other magazines to authors, Louis L’Lamour and John Grisham.

Through the years, W.K Hardin has supported the Clarendon community and is proud to be one of its citizens. He sums it up best in his statement, “Clarendon is the best little town in the country.”

Claudine has always expressed a special pride in the Clarendon community of which she has been a loyal citizen most of her life.

Her earlier years were spent in Comanche County, her birthplace on January 24, 1911. At age 13, she moved to Brice, Texas, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. D.T. Smallwood, and two sisters, Frankie McAnear and Mamie Cross.

Claudine was never a stranger to farm life. Having cut stalks and plowed, she relates, “I helped my daddy with farm work every day. I really liked the horses.”

With a sparkle in her eye, she reminisces about Clarendon’s early days. Her fondness isn’t concealed when she mentions Perkins’ variety store, Piggly Wiggly, Taylor’s Hardware, Rathjen’s shoe store, Stocking’s Drug Store, Caraway’s Cafe, and Clifford’s Grocery store. She loved the Saturday afternoon visits with “everybody” on Clarendon’s “buzzing” main street, and munching popcorn while absorbed in a Tom Mix movie at Mulkey Theater. A few years later, she attended Clarendon High School and Clarendon College.

Through the years, our charming Pioneer Woman of the Year and husband, Bill Todd, whom she married in August 1935, has vividly and constantly supported Clarendon’s growth.

One of the most invaluable contributions anyone can make to their community was made by Claudine Todd during her 41 year teaching career. Parents, students, and professional people will always remember her matchless encouragement and concern for Clarendon’s children.  When they realized she had something valuable to offer them, respect, desire, and possibility to succeed usually became more dominant in their lives. Her priceless, lasting contribution of touching so many lives in a positive way is irreplaceable.

Clarendon folks and Claudine share a mutual respect for our community. “Donley County has been good to me, and is made up of the best of people. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

Congratulations to W.K. and Claudine as Pioneers of the Year.

Donley County officials filed papers Friday saying they broke no laws and did not abuse their discretion when they set Constable Jimmy Swinney’s salary last December.

County Judge Jack Hall and Commissioners Don Hall and Bob Trout filed a motion for summary judgment in the recent lawsuit brought against them by Swinney. The motion filed with the 100th Judicial District Court claims the constable’s salary is not unreasonable as a matter of law.

The county’s two other commissioners also filed a separate motion for summary judgment. Ernest Johnston and Henry “Buster” Shields say they were not in office when the commissioners’ court set Swinney’s salary on December 28, 2000. Johnston and Shields took office January 1, 2001.

A hearing for the defendants’ motions has been set before District Judge David McCoy in the Hall County Courthouse in Memphis on July 23, 2001.

Swinney was elected last year as a write-in candidate for constable of Precincts 1&2, an office that had been vacant for 30 years. He filed suit on June 19 against the commissioners’ court, the county judge, and Donley County itself. 

Swinney’s petition asks the district court to command the county to set and pay him a reasonable salary. Previously he had sought a salary equal to the constable of Precincts 3&4, which is $17,146.95.

According to the papers filed by county officials on Friday, the commissioners’ court gathered information and sought advice from the county attorney, the county treasurer, and the Texas Association of Counties regarding a reasonable salary for Swinney. The court also gathered input from Precinct 1&2 Justice Jimmy Johnson and Sheriff-elect Butch Blackburn regarding the duties to be performed by the new constable.

The defendants say the commissioners’ court set Swinney’s salary at $3,170 based on the work he would be expected to do. The court used the following formula to set the salary: (1) $100 per month to serve an average of 14 notices or citations; (2) $20 per month to attend an average of one justice court jury trial lasting two hours; and (3) $10 per citation to compensate for any additional time based on serving 173 per year.

The defendants also claim that Swinney “has been overpaid” since he received $1,452.92 from January 1 to June 15 and, based on the commissioners’ formula, “actually earned only $667.50.” Their motion says Swinney has “served less than seven notices or citations per month since assuming office.”

The motion also claims that Constable Swinney’s salary amounts to $10 per hour while a deputy sheriff in Donley County earns $8.64 per hour.

The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) at Canyon is exhibiting Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H.D. Bugbee, which the Clarendon artist painted in the early 1950s. 

The exhibition will include Bugbee’s original thirteen murals for the Museum’s then-Indian Hall, plus three Indian dance murals he added to cycle later, and sketches and studies (some made in the 1920s) for the murals.  Much like Charles M. Russell, Bugbee’s idol-who depicted life on the northern Great Plains in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Bugbee portrayed historic and then-contemporary Southern Plains life, including cowboys, American Indians, and flora and fauna of the region.

At the suggestion of his cousin, cattleman T.S. Bugbee, Harold Dow Bugbee came to the Texas Panhandle from Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1914 with his parents.  He studied at Texas A&M College in 1917 and the Cumming School of Art in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1920.

Advised by cattlemen Frank Collinson and Charles Goodnight, Bugbee rendered the landscape and wildlife of the Texas Panhandle, as well as nostalgic paintings of Indians and cowboys.  Each fall, until the late 1930s, the artist traveled to Taos to paint with his fellow artists “Buck” Dunton, Frank Hoffman, Leon Gaspard, and Ralph Meyers, often packing into the mountains to paint with either Meyers or Dunton.

By the mid-1920s galleries in Denver, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York handled Bugbee’s work.  With the Depression and decreasing picture sales, in 1933 Bugbee turned to magazine illustration, a practice he maintained for some eighteen years.  He did pen and ink illustrations for Ranch Romances, Western Stories, Country Gentleman, and Field and Stream, among others.  Additionally, Bugbee also illustrated a number of significant books on Western history including J. Evetts Haley’s Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman, William N. Lewis’s Between Sun and Sod, and S. Omar Barkers’ Songs of the Saddleman and others.  He also continued to make easel paintings.

Under President Roosevelt’s New Deal, Bugbee painted the first of five murals for the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum’s Pioneer Hall in 1934.  He later painted additional murals for the Old Tascosa Room in the Herring Hotel; Amarillo Army Air Field (which now hangs at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum); and a set of murals on Native American life for the Museum.

Bugbee exhibited at the Tri-State Fair at Amarillo annually, the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial Exposition in 1936, the Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition in Dallas in 1937, and in the annual West Texas art exhibitions at Fort Worth.  He also had numerous solo exhibitions in Texas, including 1930 venues at Amarillo and Clarendon, and exhibited at Taos.  In 1952 Bugbee became the first Curator of Art at PPHM, a position he held until his death. Over 250 Bugbee works – drawings, paintings, and sculpture – are part of the Society’s art collection.

The exhibition will run through September 15, 2001, in the Harrington Exhibit Gallery, and reproductions of Bugbee’s work will be available in the Museum Store.

Five years ago, folks in Clarendon felt like they were in an Internet no man’s land, forced to pay long distance charges to hook up to most service providers. Then Extended Local Calling opened up the phone lines to Amarillo and Pampa, bringing the digital world affordably within our grasp.

Now in 2001, we again find ourselves on the communications frontier as broadband Internet services have not yet found their way to our humble hamlet. As a result, local Internet users are stuck hopelessly in the digital slow lane – poking along at a pathetic 56k bps when all the planets are aligned properly and at 28k or less the rest of the time.

Cable Internet is unknown here. Digital Subscriber Line service (DSL) is also no where to be seen. But hope springs eternal. There is a possibility of attracting a high speed, wireless Internet service to come to town, but to do so we need your help.

An Amarillo-based company wants to know how many folks in Clarendon would be interested in their service. If you think you might be one of those people, then please pick up the phone and call the Enterprise at 874-2259 or e-mail us at Clar1701@aol.com.  We’ll give you all the details.

Constable Jimmy Swinney filed a lawsuit in district court last Tuesday, June 19, over the salary set for him by Donley County.

According to documents in the county clerk’s office, the petition names as defendants County Judge Jack Hall; commissioners Don Hall, Ernest Johnston, Henry C. “Buster” Shields, and Bob Trout; and Donley County.

Constable Swinney would not comment on the case. His attorney, Chuck Hester of Canyon, would only say that they expect 100th District Judge David McCoy to recuse himself from the case. Hester said that would be the normal procedure in a case such as Swinney’s to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

County Attorney Pro Tem Kaye Messer said she sees no reason for Judge McCoy to recuse himself and said she would oppose any attempt to have him do so.

Messer met with the commissioners’ court Tuesday and discussed the case in closed session. At press time she said she was preparing the county’s response.

The petition filed by Swinney’s attorneys says the constable’s salary “is unlawful and such conduct is arbitrary and unreasonable on the part of Defendants and constitutes an abuse of discretion.”

Swinney filed as a write-in candidate for constable of Precincts 1&2 on September 7, 2000, and was elected without opposition with 52 votes during the November 7 election, according to published reports. The office had been vacant since 1969.

In December, the county set Swinney’s salary at $3,170. County officials at the time said they based the salary on the number of warrants and citations Swinney would serve for Justice of the Peace Jimmy Johnson. They also said Swinney’s services to police Precincts 1&2 would not be needed based on comments by then Sheriff-elect Butch Blackburn.

The salary for the constable in Precincts 3&4 is $17,146.95.

Messer said Swinney’s attorneys sent a letter of demand to the county this spring seeking a salary equal to the Precinct 3&4 constable’s. The county did not respond to that letter.

A June 19 opinion obtained by Donley County from Texas Attorney General John Cornyn says constables’ salaries are within the discretion of the commissioners’ court but subject to judicial review.

The opinion says a court ruling found that Uvalde County could not limit a constable’s salary because, among other things, the constable knew there was no salary set for the office or the constable’s law enforcement services were not necessary.

The Attorney General also said salaries of constables may differ if the circumstances in each precinct reasonably required different salaries.

“I’m very comfortable with the county’s position,” Messer said.

Swinney’s petition asks the court to command the county set and pay a reasonable salary for his term. The petition also seeks back pay with pre-judgment interest, attorney fees, and punitive damages.

Deputy Kelly Hill with Shekima Johnson and her daughter Aunestie.

Shekima Johnson of Clarendon didn’t think there was any big hurry when she woke up having contractions in the early morning hours of June 6. But just minutes later she delivered her baby into the waiting hands of Donley County Deputy Kelly Hill.

When the contractions started, Johnson’s sister, Lakeva, asked her if she wanted to the call the ambulance. Johnson said “no,” went into the bathroom, then came out and told her sister to make the call.

Hill was patrolling around the Clarendon Public Schools when the dispatcher called that a woman was in labor. Beating the ambulance to Johnson’s apartment, Hill was met by her sister who by that time had seen the baby’s head.

“She told me, ‘You’ve got to get in there!’” Hill said. “I told her the ambulance was on its way, and she said, ‘You just get in there; I’ll watch for the ambulance!’”

Hill arrived on the scene at 4:18 a.m.  Aunestie Alexandria Johnson was born at 4:20.

The deputy had never delivered a baby before, but he has witnessed several births while making runs on ambulances and in hospitals.

“I didn’t do much, although she did try to quit on me when the baby was halfway out,” Hill said. “I told her, ‘You can’t quit now; You’ve got to keep pushing.’”

Hill cleared the baby’s airway and stimulated it to take its first breath. About two minutes later the ambulance crew showed up with an OB kit, and Hill helped paramedic Debra Hill cut and clamp cord.

“I thank him a lot,” Johnson said. “We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know anything about clearing the airway. He saved my baby’s life.”

Aunestie – pronounced “honesty” – was 21” long and weighed 6 lbs, 6¾ oz. and is in perfect health. She missed her expected arrival date of June 10 by just four days.

Johnson has three other children – two girls and a boy ages two to four. She was in labor with the first two for 12 hours and for six hours with the third. This time she says it only took 20 minutes.

The siblings were staying with their grandmother at the time of the birth, but Johnson’s nieces and nephews, ages six to eight, were present for the delivery.

“It was a big excitement for them,” she said.

Hill, who has been a fulltime deputy for two years and had been a reserve deputy for 17 years, says he’s just glad everyone is healthy.

“Anytime a child is born, it’s an act of God’s nature,” he said. “I was just there.”

Johnson disagrees with his modesty.

“You helped out a lot, and I appreciate it,” she told him. “She would have died if you hadn’t been there.”

Both mother and baby were examined at a hospital and released the next day. They are resting at home and grateful for Hill’s assistance.

Plans are set for Clarendon’s 123rd annual Saints’ Roost Celebration to be held next week, and actor Barry Corbin will lead this year’s parade on Saturday, July 7.

Corbin, who has numerous motion picture and television appearances to his credit, had a regular role on the long-running series Northern Exposure and played the part of Roscoe in the Lonesome Dove mini-series. He grew up in Lamesa, Texas, attended high school in Lubbock, and went to college at Texas Tech University.

Corbin also is a star of stage performances, including the one-man show “Charlie Goodnight’s Last Night,” which he co-wrote with Andy Wilkinson.

This year’s celebration features all the old favorite features, including the Shriners Barbecue, the Depression Lunch, Henson’s Turtle Race, and the Arts & Crafts Fair. A few changes have occurred in this year’s celebration, but there will still be plenty of activities for young and old to enjoy during the three-day celebration.

The celebration begins on Wednesday, July 4, in downtown Clarendon with the Bicycle Parade at 10:00 a.m. Kids can clip the registration form from last week’s Enterprise and mail it to the Chamber of Commerce, or they can sign-up the day of the parade at Eads Furniture & Appliance or the Chamber of Commerce Office. Line up will begin at 9:15 a.m. by the Post Office.

The fun continues on the Fourth at Thunder Junction with the Clarendon Tourism Council. They will serve sloppy joes and ice cream beginning at 1:00 p.m. while everyone enjoys the water slide, go carts, and miniature golf. Kids can pop their own fireworks from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. in a designated area at Thunder Junction. Parental supervision is required. 

The Donley County Horse Club will get Friday started with their Stick Horse Rodeo. The rodeo will be held in the vacant lot across from the Post Office from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. The rodeo is a fun event for all children nine and under. There will be an entry fee of 50¢ per event.

The annual Depression Lunch will begin at 11:00 a.m. inside the Main Street Ministry. The First Baptist Church will help serve the beans and cornbread for a low price. They will also be selling drinks and delicious desserts.

The annual Rodeo has changed this year to a Ranch Rodeo. The competition begins at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night at the rodeo ground with 24 different teams from ranches around the area.

Local teams include Cook Ranch, O’Brien Ranch, Finch Ranch, Running H Ranch, Matthews/Darsey Ranch, High Card Ranch, Sombrero Cattle Company, Spring Creek Ranch, Hall Ranch, JA Ranch, 3H Cattle Company, I Bar Ranch, Bar W Ranch, Spade Ranch, and the RO Ranch.

Ranch rodeo events will include Bronc Riding, Wild Cow Milking, Calf Branding, Team Doctoring, Team Sortin’, and the Open Wild Mare Race.

A junior calf and steer riding contest for kids ages 4-12 will be held each night along with the calf scramble for kids ages 12 and under. A free $200 beef certificate will be drawn each night. On Saturday night the drawing for the National Finals Rodeo/Las Vegas trip and the custom spurs by Wade Brannon will be held.

The rodeo dance will begin at 10:00 p.m. at the Panhandle’s largest open-air dance floor at the Rodeo Grounds with Young Country Friday and Saturday night. The dance concludes at 2:00 a.m.

The celebration gets in full swing on Saturday morning with the VFW breakfast at 7:00 a.m. at the VFW Hall. The RHAA Ranch Horse Competition begins at 8:00 a.m. at the rodeo grounds. The event is sponsored by McLean Feedyard and Clarendon Outdoor Entertainment Association.

The annual fair on the courthouse square has been moved to the City Park due to construction beginning on the Donley County Courthouse. The relocation lends itself to the new “Art in the Park” designation.

The fair begins at 10:00 a.m. and will wrap up at 4:00 p.m. If you would like to be a part of the action by exhibiting at the fair, contact the Donley County Extension Office at 874-2141 to reserve a space.

The Old Settler’s Reunion will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the City Park. The Shriners will begin serving a delicious barbecue lunch at 11:00 a.m. The annual Lions Club Cow Patty Bingo will be held at 1:30 p.m. also in the park.

The line up for the parade will begin at noon two blocks west of the City Park. The parade route will be from the baseball fields on Seventh Street to Kearney, then up Kearney to Third Street, west to Jefferson, and then back to the ball fields. Deadline for the parade entry forms is Friday, July 29. For more information on the parade, call 874-2421 or 874-3412.

Henson’s annual Turtle Race will be at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Sign-up your turtle at the store from now until the race day. After the kids race their turtles, the VFW will raffle their shotgun.

The Texas Press Association recognized The Clarendon Enterprise for its community service efforts during the TPA’s 122nd annual Summer Convention last Saturday in El Paso.

The local newspaper won the Community Service Award in the weekly division based on its coverage of the restoration of the 1890 Donley County Courthouse.

The contest was judged by the New Mexico Press Association. Other winners for community service were The Madisonville Meteor (second), the Westlake Picayune (third), and the Hansford County Reporter-Statesmen (fourth).

“We were very pleased to receive this award,” said publisher Roger Estlack. “Our paper remains dedicated to seeing the courthouse restored to its former glory, and we want to thank County Judge Jack Hall and the commissioners for their dedication to this project and for working with us to communicate the news to local citizens.”

Previously, the Enterprise has been recognized by Preservation Texas and the Panhandle Press Association for its work on the courthouse project.

The local paper was also recognized in four categories in Division 8 of the TPA’s Better Newspaper Contest. The Enterprise received second place in Advertising and fourth place in Feature Writing, News Writing, and General Excellence.

Division 8 includes papers with circulations between 1,201 and 2,000. Last year, the Enterprise competed in Division 9 for papers with circulations of 1,200 or less.

“As our paper grows, the competition gets stiffer,” Estlack said. “We’ll just have to kick it up a notch to keep bringing home the state awards.”

More than 180 newspapers submitted 1,078 entries in this year’s Better Newspaper Contest. The top newspaper in Division 8 was the Benbrook Star.