This Week

The honored dead of Donley County and of the nation were remembered this past weekend as local residents held Memorial Day ceremonies.

Citizens Cemetery and Rowe Cemetery were decorated with American flags and Confederate flags where appropriate.

The first official service of the weekend was held Saturday morning in the Rowe Cemetery near Hedley by the Adamson/Lane Post of the American Legion.

An impressive Roll Call was held for 192 veterans buried at Rowe with surviving family members answering “Here” for departed loved ones. Legionnaire Jack Moreman said his post will make the Roll Call an annual tradition.

On Monday, a small crowd gathered at Citizens Cemetery as Girl Scouts posted the colors, and the Hedley Choir sang patriotic songs. A poem was read, and “Taps” was played.

Approximately 480 veterans are buried in Citizens Cemetery. Still others are buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery and the Jericho Cemetery

The crowd then moved to the Donley County War Memorial on the Courthouse Square for a brief ceremony by the VFW Post.

Following the services, attendees placed American flags beside the names of loved ones in the sidewalk of the memorial.

Clarendon High School conferred diplomas on 54 students during graduation ceremonies held at the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Auditorium last Friday, May 25.

Josh Williams delivered the invocation for the ceremony, and Jared Hartman delivered the salutatory address. The Class Song, “Graduation,” was sung by Catrina Burrow. Nickless Devin gave the valedictory address.

Both Devin and Hartman were presented with awards for being the top two graduates of the Class of 2001.

CHS Principal Larry Jeffers announced scholarship winners in the class. The estimated value of all scholarships awarded to CHS graduates this year was placed at more than $200,000.

Jeffers presented awards to two outstanding members of the class. Sam Holton was named the recipient of the Fighting Heart Award, and Elizabeth Simmons received both the Best Girl Athlete and the Knorpp Cup award. Simmons was also recognized as the top female student in the class.

Clarendon Superintendent of Schools Monty Hysinger presented the diplomas, and the senior class led the audience in the singing of the “Alma Mater.” The benediction was given by Chris Johnsen.

Serving as the Honor Guard for this year’s commencement were Kelley Lemley, Clarie Rodriguez, Brian Thompson, and Greg Wootten. Ushers were Carrie Helms, Megan Roberts, Jeremy Ray, and Cody Watson.

Class sponsors this year were Diane Chamberlain, Lyndal R. Gillen, Kim Petrie, Dee Ann Sears, and Roger Hoeltzel.

Events for the Memorial Day weekend are shaping up with Donley County residents making preparations to honor America’s fallen soldiers.

Local Girl Scouts and members of the Adamson/Lane Post 287 of the American Legion will meet this Friday at 1 p.m. to place flags on the soldiers’ graves at Rowe Cemetery. On Saturday, Donley County Memorial Post 7782 of the VFW will be joining forces with Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops to decorate Citizens Cemetery. The flags will remain on the graves until 5 p.m. next Monday.

The first ceremony for this Memorial Day will be Saturday at the Rowe Cemetery near Hedley. The American Legion will begin that service at 10 a.m. The Girl Scouts will also participate in that ceremony.

On Monday, members of the Clarendon Lions Club will be setting out flags downtown. Later, services will be conducted at Citizens Cemetery beginning at 9:45 a.m.  The VFW will be participating, and members of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are expected to attend. The Hedley Choir will be performing as well.

Following the cemetery service, the attendees will travel to the Donley County War Memorial on the Courthouse Square where the VFW will conduct their usual service at approximately 10:30 a.m.

Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend these ceremonies and exercise their patriotism this Memorial Day.

Eighty-eight Clarendon High School athletes, cheerleaders, and managers were honored last Friday night during the annual All Sports Banquet in the Bairfield Activity Center.

“Reflections” was the theme of the event, which featured a PowerPoint slideshow of CHS students from the 2000-2001 sports seasons.

Senior Nathan Floyd was the recipient of the Clyde Wilson Fighting Heart Award, and senior Shannon Cooper was honored with the Lady Broncos Fighting Heart Award.

The Outstanding Bronco for 2000-2001 was senior Josh Williams. Senior Geri Butler took home the award for the Outstanding Lady Bronco.

Other individuals recognized included senior Colt Floyd (Football Offensive Player of the Year), senior Nickless Devin (Football Defensive Player of the Year), junior Kelley Lemley (Girls Basketball Offensive Player of the Year), Geri Butler (Girls Basketball Defensive Player of the Year), senior Sam Holton (Boys Basketball Defensive Player of the Year), Josh Williams (Boys Basketball Offensive Player of the year and Boys Track Athlete of the Year), junior April Bryley (Girls Track Athlete of the Year), junior Jeremy Ray (Baseball Defensive MVP), and sophomore Todd Hoeltzel (Baseball Offensive MVP).

Sophomore James Williams received a special award, which will be placed in the CHS trophy case. Williams set a school record in the shot put this season, throwing 57’ 3½” at the regional meet.

Williams had previously broken the school record at the regional qualifiers’ meet with a throw of 55’5”. That was good enough to break Mickey McGuire’s CHS record of 54’11¾” set in 1970.

Athletic Director and head football coach Roger Hoeltzel was recognized for his commitment to the Broncos, and Kelley Lemley gave a tearful farewell to Lady Bronco Coach Steve Schmidt, who will be moving to Pampa.

Jeremy Ray, Brian Thompson and Kelley Lemley served as Masters of Ceremonies during the banquet.

This year’s event was sponsored by the Bronco Parents with Sandy Anderberg serving as president and Terri Floyd serving as secretary/treasurer.

The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its annual relief station for weary travelers during this Memorial Day weekend.

The station will be open at the rest area at US 287 and SH 70 north Friday from 4 p.m. to midnight and Monday from 2 p.m. to midnight.

Cookies and coffee will be served, and the Chamber will be selling chances for a trip to the National Finals Rodeo to be given away during the Clarendon Ranch Rodeo on July 7.

AUSTIN – Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander last week delivered $297 million in monthly sales tax payments to Texas cities and counties.

Local cities all received a significant boost over last year. Clarendon’s rebate of $29.276.18 represented a 14.28 percent increase over the same period last year. Hedley was up 47.53 percent to $1,232.31, and Howardwick’s rebate increased 12.14 percent to $838.95.

Clarendon is 1.33 percent behind, and Howardwick is 9.91 percent down for the year. Hedley is 15.38 percent ahead for the year.

May sales tax rebates represent taxes collected in March and reported in April.

For details of May sales tax allocations to individual cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose districts, locate the Monthly Sales and Use Tax Allocation Comparison Summary Report on the Comptroller’s  website.

Sue Church, County FCS AGent

May 15th marked the eighth week and final day of the annual Walk Across Texas campaign for health conscious residents of Donley County. 

Fifteen teams participated during the event of which four reached the established goal of walking to South Padre Island which is 736 miles from Clarendon. They were Community Walkers (1302 total miles, captain Derlene Graham), Herring National Bank Buckaroos (999 miles, captain Gayle Edes), St. Mary’s (923.1 miles, captain Denise Bertrand), and Texas Trotters (777 miles, captain Lana Topper). Within shouting distance of South Padre was the Clarendon College team “Who Let the Dawgs Out” led by Wanda Smith (720.8 miles). Close behind was Stan’s Stinkers (captain Stan Leffew) who walked 698.4 miles. 

Other teams giving it their best shot were: A Family Affair (captain Tammy Christopher); Clarendon Jr. High, Elementary I and II (captain Tiffany Shadle); Coach Schmidt and the Senior Has Beens (captain Coach Schmidt); Donley County State Bank Loaners (captain Bobbie Thornberry); HNB Busy B’s (captain Suzanne Taylor); The Big “Kahunas” (captain Cindy Shelton); and Weight Water Walkers (captain Annette Osburn). 

For the mileages reported to date, all teams walked a total of 9,024 miles. With 120 walkers registered, it averaged out to approximately 9.4 miles/walker/week. 

Community Bank Walkers garnered the traveling T-shirt for the fourth straight week. Their team averaged 162.75 miles each week.

Our appreciation goes to B&R Thriftway for allowing the Walk Across Texas map to be displayed for eight plus weeks in the store and to The Clarendon Enterprise for publishing weekly results. Each team captain is also to be commended for encouraging his/her teammates and reporting the team’s results in a timely manner.

Hopefully each walker will strive to maintain the nine-plus miles per week and encourage a friend or family member to join in. The investment requires a no-cost, 4-times-a-week commitment with the rewards being many. We appreciate each walker who participated this spring, and we’ll look forward to having you involved in the program again next year.

Teachers at Hedley ISD will soon be enjoying the benefits of new computers thanks to a $48,801 grant from the state Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF).

The TIF grant will pay for 35 new computers, a file server, and a network that will link all teacher computers with the administration office and with each other, district officials say.

A local match will bring the total price tag of the project to a little more than $53,000.

“We’re proud of this grant,” said HISD Principal Terry Stevens. “It will help us out a lot. It will nearly double the computer capacity on our campus.”

Currently, the Hedley school system doesn’t have an intercom or a local e-mail network, Stevens said. The new technology will create room-to-room e-mail capability to ease communication throughout the campus.

Current computers on teachers’ desks will be available for student use for Internet-assisted research, and computers currently in the administration offices will be added to the school’s computer labs.

School officials believe this added capacity will benefit their students by giving them more access and greater opportunities to work with computers.

“They have to know how to do those things on the computer, or they will be lost when they get to college,” Stevens said. “So much research is done on the Internet now.”

The new network will also allow teachers to report their grades to the office via computer, which will eliminate a lot of paperwork. It’s something other school districts have been doing for a while.

“We’re finally getting caught up to everybody else,” Stevens said.

Hedley math teacher Jon Leggitt prepared the grant application for Hedley.

“I give him lots of credit of doing the legwork on this,” Stevens said. “He did a wonderful job. I think it took him three months, and much of it was on his own time.”

Since its creation by the 74th Legislature in 1995, TIF has awarded approximately $592 million in grants to its four constituent groups – public schools, libraries, institutions of higher education, and public, non-profit healthcare facilities.

 The agency receives approximately $150 million per year in revenues from telecommunications assessments to disburse over a ten-year period.

Clarendon High School is proud to announce the 2001 Honor Students are Nickless Devin, Jared Hartman, and Elizabeth Simmons.

Nickless Devin, son of Dr. and Mrs. Mac Devin, has been named Clarendon High School Valedictorian and is graduating with a GPA of 99.53.  He has been involved in many activities while a student at CHS.  Nickless has been a huddle leader for the local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for four years, a Student Council member and officer for four years, a member of Junior Historians for three years and served as vice president for two years, a Spanish Club member for four years, a member of the award winning Bronco Band while being named to All Region Band in 1999 and 2001 along with a Division I Ensemble in 2001, and he was also a member of the Sonrise Youth Choir for three years.  He was honored by his class and elected class officer his junior and senior years.  Nickless was also very active and successful in UIL academic contests.  He was a four-year participant in Ready Writing, Literary Criticism, and Headline writing.  He qualified for regional in Ready Writing and Literary Criticism and was a state qualifier in Current Issues and Events this past spring.  Nickless was also a member of the National Honor Society.

While at CHS, Nickless remained active in the sports program.  Nickless played football for four years and lettered three of those years.  He was selected as All District center, linebacker, and guard.  He was awarded Academic All-State honors in the fall of 2000.  Nickless also was a four-year participant and two-year letterman on the golf team, played tennis for two years, and was a power lifter for two years.

Nickless has also garnered many awards during his career at CHS.  He has received a National Merit Commended Scholar Scholarship, was a finalist in the Dallas Cowboys/Gene and Jerry Jones Family-Dallas Morning News All-State-Scholar-Athlete team, was elected Clarendon Chamber of Commerce Young Man of the Year in 2000, was a member of the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program at Johnson Space Center, a Civil War Scholar at the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute, a United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar Participant, a United States Air Force Academy Summer Scientific Seminar Participant, a Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Representative, and a member of the Cambridge College Programme in Cambridge England.

Nickless has also been involved in returning his time to the community.  He has served as Den Chief of the Cub Scouts, was awarded the Outstanding Project of the Year for his Junior Historian Adopt-A-Building program, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout with both the Bronze and Gold Palms.  In cooperation with Josh McDowell Ministries’ Operation Carelift, he also helped collect and provide care packages containing school supplies to be sent to Russian orphanages. He assisted in collecting food baskets for needy families in the Clarendon area, worked with Mission Friends at the Clarendon First Baptist Church, and volunteered to help clean the Saints Roost Museum building and grounds.

Jared Hartman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Hartman, is the Salutatorian for Clarendon High School with a GPA of 96.16.  Jared has been very active in extracurricular events while at CHS.  He has been a member of the Clarendon FFA for three years, serving as vice- president.  Jared has also been a state qualifier in the Range and Pasture contest for the last two years.  As a member of the Junior Historians, Jared advanced to National History Day State Competition.  He was a Student Council member and a sophomore class president.  Jared was also active in Bronco football and golf.  As a CHS band member, Jared was named 1st chair All Region Band his junior year.  Jared has also given back to his community through his coaching of a Little Dribblers team.

Elizabeth Simmons, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jem Simmons, is the High Ranking Girl for Clarendon High School with a GPA of 95.59.  Elizabeth has been the recipient of many honors during her four years at CHS.  She has been the National Honor Society secretary, served as Senior class vice president, has been a Student Council representative for two years, a member of the French Club, and was voted NHS Likely to Succeed and Most Studious.  She has also been involved in UIL academics for four years.  She participated in Calculator and Number Sense, and was the district champion and regional qualifier in Persuasive Speaking.

Elizabeth has been actively involved in extracurricular activities.  She has played basketball three years, ran track 1 year, and was a member of the regional qualifying golf team in 2000, a member of the CHS band and an All-Region Band member in 2001 and a State Ensemble qualifier in 1999. 

Elizabeth has been named All District 2nd baseman in softball and has competed at Junior Olympics in shooting sports where she placed 3rd, 2nd, and 4th respectively.  She has returned some of her athletic ability to the community by coaching a Little League team for 6 years.

Ms. Simmons has also received several awards during her time at Clarendon High School.  She has been awarded the local DAR Good Citizen Award, the Wendy’s High School Heisman, was nominated for The Dallas Morning News All-State Scholar-Athlete Team, has been a recipient of TEA’s Celebration of Excellence award, was named the top business student, and has received honor C’s in English II, Algebra II, World History, English III, and United States History.