This Week

The Clarendon and Hedley school districts both received Exemplary ratings from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) when the state released its annual school ratings last week.

The Donley County schools were part of a statewide rise in test scores as Texas public schools shattered old performance records.

Accountability ratings for public schools are based on performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), dropout, and attendance rates. The four possible rankings are Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, and Unacceptable.

According to TEA, 1,291 schools and 167 school districts earned an exemplary rating from the state last Thursday, August 17. That is the highest number of campuses and districts to earn the state’s top rating in the eight-year history of the accountability system, Commissioner of Education Jim Nelson said.

Hedley Superintendent Bryan Hill credited his school’s success to a team effort – hard working teachers and staff, students who take school and the TAAS test seriously, parents who get involved in their children’s education, and a school board and community that really supports the education of its children.

The Hedley school stepped up a rank, improving from Acceptable in 1996 to Recognized in 1997 and 1998 to Exemplary in 1999.

“We are very pleased. We’re extremely proud of how well the students did,” Hill said. “Its even more gratifying considering the state in the past years raised the standard for schools to become Exemplary.”

Hill credited Principal Terry Stevens and the teachers for identifying those students who needed the most help and then working with those students on an individual basis, many times before or after the school day.

Scores for a school of Hedley’s size are given to the entire school rather than to individual campuses. Hedley students scored 94.0 percent on math, 95.1 percent on reading, and 94.9 percent on writing. HISD had an attendance rate of 97.9 percent and a dropout rate of 2.3 percent.

Clarendon Superintendent Monty Hysinger said his district-wide scores were 95.5 percent for math, 95 percent for reading, and 98.7 percent for writing. CISD had no dropouts and had an attendance rate of 97.2 percent.

The Clarendon School District as a whole was rated as Exemplary. Clarendon High School and Clarendon Jr. High were both rated Exemplary, and Clarendon Elementary was rated as Recognized.

Elementary Principal Mike Word said his campus fell just short of the Exemplary rating because it received a score of 88.5 percent for math in one subcategory – economically disadvantaged students. Overall the elementary school did well with a 91 percent in math, 92.1 percent in reading, and 100 percent in writing. The attendance rate was 97.2 percent.

“We’ve got a great group of teachers and a great group of kids,” Word said. “I think it will get better and better this coming year. I feel real good about it.”

This was the first time for the junior high campus to be rated Exemplary.

“We’ve always been real close,” said Principal Marvin Elam, “but we never got over the hump. This time we did. We’re real proud of our scores.”

Elam credited the school’s good teachers and cited teachers and students spending extra time to achieve the high scores.

CJH students scored 100 percent in math, 96.6 percent in reading, and 95.8 percent in writing. The campus had an attendance rate of 97.6 percent.

Clarendon High School was rated Exemplary for the second year in a row.

“We’ve got great teachers and great feeder programs coming from the elementary and junior high,” Principal Larry Jeffers said.

Jeffers echoed Hedley Superintendent Bryan Hill in saying, “The tests are getting progressively more difficult.”

CHS was rated 100 percent for all three test sections and had an attendance rate of 97.4 percent.

“We raised the bar this year making it harder for schools to win an acceptable rating from the state. Despite that, a record number of districts and campuses leapt over that hurdle and reached even higher levels to obtain the state’s two highest ratings, exemplary and recognized. We are so proud of these schools and the teachers, administrators and students who made this possible. We know it took hard work and a strong commitment to excellence from the entire school community,” Nelson said.

“Overall, students performed so well this year that the state as a whole narrowly missed achieving recognized status itself. It is no wonder that our Texas public schools are attracting attention from all over the country with this kind of performance,” Nelson said.

This year, 167 districts earned an Exemplary rating, 435 earned a Recognized rating, 434 earned the academically Acceptable label, and five earned an academically Unacceptable label. In 1999 in comparison, 122 districts earned the Exemplary rating, 383 earned the Recognized rating, 523 were academically Acceptable and seven were academically Unacceptable.  

Additional ratings information can be found at TEA’s website.

The new Terex S-17E Elevating Scraper, built here in Clarendon, will be publicly unveiled this Friday at 1 p.m. on the east side of the Courthouse Square.
 
US Rep. Mac Thornberry will be the featured speaker during Friday’s unveiling. Other elected officials will also be in attendance as will representatives from the Scotland company.

The S-17E prototype was produced by Terex Equipment Ltd. of Motherwell, Scotland, and Clarendon Manufacturing & Distributing Co., Inc. For three days last week, the prototype underwent testing on the west edge of the campus of Clarendon College, where it moved approximately 10,000 yards of dirt. The machine reportedly performed up to expectations and did its job extremely well.

The S-17E will compete head to head with similar models produced by Cat, company officials say.

The new scraper has a 17cu. yd. capacity and has several design advances for the elevating scraper market. The tractor section of the S-17E is manufactured in Scotland, and the elevating scraper section is built locally by Clarendon Manufacturing.

Clarendon’s operations director, Stan Leffew, says two more units are scheduled for this year, and Terex is looking at six for next year. The local firm hopes to land a contract to produce 50 of the new scrapers for Terex.

As a result of the partnership with the Scottish firm, Clarendon Manufacturing is projecting up to 70 new jobs to be created in the coming year, along with the construction of a new manufacturing facility. The resulting economic impact will not only benefit the residents of Clarendon and Donley County but also surrounding communities.

Officials with Clarendon Manufacturing say they are happy to be in a position to draw attention to the tremendous assets available in this area.

“We are pleased to be working in partnership with Terex in developing the new line of Terex Elevating Scrapers,” said general manager Darrell Leffew.

Terex Equipment has been a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment since the early 1900s. The company originally manufactured equipment under the Euclid name before becoming a division of General Motors in the 1960s. In the 60s and 70s, the Hancock Division of Clark Equipment in Lubbock  built Terex’s elevating scrapers. Terex has not had an elevating scraper in its equipment line since the early 1980s.

Since 1971, Clarendon Manufacturing has been building tow-style elevating scrapers for the agricultural market. The general manager of Clarendon Manufacturing, Darrell Leffew, has been remanufacturing and converting the Hancock, Michigan, Clark, and Terex machines for use as agricultural equipment for almost 30 years.

For more information, contact Darrell Leffew at 806-874-3584.

Less than a month after West Texas Utilities closed its local office, the electric company has announced it is seeking to raise its rates.

According to a press release, skyrocketing natural gas prices have forced American Electric Power’s West Texas Utilities (AEP-WTU) to file a request with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to recover through a surcharge approximately $19.6 million in uncollected fuel costs and interest from retail customers. 

At the same time, WTU requested permission to increase fuel factors used to calculate the fuel charge portion of customer bills in order to recover a projected increase of $42.6 million in fuel costs that will be incurred to provide electric service in the future.

“The price of natural gas used to generate electricity at AEP-WTU’s power plants has increased nearly 100 percent from January through August,” said David Carpenter, AEP director of Texas regulatory services.  “Since 60 percent of the electricity produced by AEP-WTU is generated using natural gas as a boiler fuel, these price increases have a tremendous impact on our cost of producing electricity.

“Fuel costs are an expense that AEP-WTU must pay to fuel suppliers,” Carpenter continued.  “It’s important to remember that AEP-WTU does not earn any profit or return on fuel costs.  In the past when fuel costs have declined, AEP-WTU made refunds to customers.”

Investor-owned electric utilities in Texas, like AEP-WTU, are required by the PUCT to use fuel factors based on cost estimates to collect the projected cost of fuel used to generate electricity at their power plants.  When actual costs of fuel significantly exceeds that which customers are paying in their monthly bills, PUCT rules require the utility to request permission to surcharge the additional amount. 

When the actual costs of fuel are significantly lower than what customers are paying in fuel charges, the electric utility is required to issue a refund.  And when the fuel costs are anticipated to change from their current levels for an extended period of time, the electric utility must request permission to adjust the monthly fuel factors used to determine the fuel charge portion of customers’ bills.

Without the increase in fixed fuel factors, AEP-WTU projects that it would under-recover fuel and purchased power costs by approximately $42.6 million for the period from October 2000 through September 2001.  Consequently, AEP-WTU is requesting permission to adjust the fuel factors used to calculate the fuel charge portion of customer bills.

Since fuel under-recoveries and interest already have totaled approximately $19 million for the period from August 1999 through June 2000, AEP-WTU also has requested permission to implement a new fuel surcharge in November to collect the under-recovered balance through June 30, 2000.

The surcharges are designed to collect the under-recoveries as of June 30, 2000, plus approximately $600,000 in interest costs incurred over the collection period.

If approved as requested, the new fuel factors would go into effect in October, and the new surcharge would go into effect in November.  The new fuel factor and surcharge would increase bills for typical residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month by $20.53 per month for the period from November 2000 through April 2001, with the fuel factor equaling $8.69 and the surcharge equaling $11.84 of that amount.

Persons with questions can contact AEP-WTU at 1-888-226-3523 (English) or 1-888-216-3505 (Español) during normal business hours.

Persons wishing to express their comments concerning the petition should contact the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Office of Customer Protection, PO Box 13326, Austin, Texas 78711-3326, or call 1-888-782-8477.

The death of a Howardwick man that first fueled speculations of murder was ruled a suicide last week.

Roger Howerton of 2200 Carroll Creek Acres in Howardwick was found dead in his home last Tuesday afternoon, August 15, by Chief Deputy Butch Blackburn.

Howerton’s father had not heard from his son for about a week and contacted the Donley County Sheriff’s Office. Blackburn entered the home on a welfare check, and the man was later officially pronounced dead by Justice of the Peace Jimmy Johnson.

An autopsy was performed on August 16 in Lubbock, and a preliminary report gave the cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Blackburn said the 40-year-old man had probably been dead for six or seven days before being found.

Sheriff Jimmy Thompson and Texas Ranger Gary Henderson assisted with the investigation.

Looking for some good barbecue?  Come on over to St. Mary’s Parish in Clarendon at the corner of Montgomery and McClelland to take part in the third annual St. Mary’s Day Celebration on Sunday, September 10. 

The meal will be from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and tickets will be $6 for adults and $3.50 for children.  In addition to the meal, there will be entertainment, a country store, and quilt raffle. 

St. Mary’s Day originated three years ago as an event to recognize the history of the parish and to serve as a fundraiser for a much needed parish hall. 

Parish members continue to be dedicated to building the parish hall and encourage the support of families in the area to attend the barbecue meal on September 10.

For more information about St. Mary’s Day or to acquire tickets, contact Dorothy Harvey at 874-5097 or Leon Church at 874-2926.  Hope to see you there!

The Donley County Commissioners’ Court approved the issuance of $550,000 in tax notes this week to provide matching funds for the restoration of the 1890 courthouse.

The notes issued during Monday’s regular session of the court will be paid off in 2007 and will be funded through ad valorem taxes. The first payment will be August 1, 2001.

All three local banks are participating in the county’s financing. The Donley County State Bank and the Community Bank will each hold $175,000 of the debt, and the Herring National Bank will carry $200,000.

The interest rate on the notes is 6¼ percent, and the notes can be called at any time. In other words, the county can pay the notes off ahead of time if it has the money.

Ken Smith of Southwest Securities set up the tax note offering for the county.

“I think you’ve got an excellent deal from the local banks,” Smith said. “They’ve been real good to you, especially Jerry Woodard [at Herring].”

County Judge Jack Hall said the court appreciates the help from the local banks.

“The commissioners and I are grateful for their support,” he said. “We think it’s a good reflection of the local support for this project.”

Smith said that 6¼ percent was a very good interest rate and that it would have been more difficult to make the notes callable if the county had gone through a public offering.

The money can be placed in an interest bearing account while the county waits for bills to come in on the restoration project, Smith said. Interest earned on the money must be used on the project itself or to pay on the notes.

Earlier this year Donley County was awarded $2.9 million from the Texas Historical Committee to completely restore and refurbish the county courthouse. Money from the tax notes issued this week will be used for the county’s 15 percent match and for other expenses related to the project.

Built in 1890, the Donley County Courthouse is the oldest functioning courthouse in the Texas Panhandle and is one of the most unique structures of its kind in the State of Texas.

Also in Monday’s session of the court, the commissioners considered a contract with Sun City Analytical, Inc., of El Paso for the abatement of asbestos, lead paint, and bat guano from the courthouse.

Sun City’s proposal would have cost the county $23,656. Following a telephone conversation with the court however, Sun City lowered their price by more than $2,300. The commissioners agreed to a contract in the amount of $21,521.

For more information on the restoration of the Donley County Courthouse, click here.

Clarendon High School will field a baseball team next spring following a vote by the school board last week.

The decision came in a unanimous vote of Clarendon CISD Trustees in their regular meeting Thursday, August 10.

School officials had been studying the possibility of adding baseball for sometime, according to CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger. The enthusiasm of the Athletic Director Roger Hoeltzel and the coaching staff helped finalize the deal, he said.

“The athletic director said we could do it with our existing staff and on a shoestring budget,” Hysinger said. “And we have a group of students who really want to play.”

One of Clarendon’s newest coaches, Danny Brittain, will lead the Broncos onto the baseball diamond with the assistance of Coach Hoeltzel. Brittain was the head baseball coach for three years in Aspermont and was named coach of the year there. Hoeltzel played baseball in college, Hysinger said.

“I took this job with the hope that Clarendon would start baseball,” Coach Brittain said, noting he was glad it happened in his first year here.

“We have a lot of enthusiastic kids,” he said. “At least 18 kids may come out for the team.”

School officials say they plan to play their games at McClellan Field near City Park.

The Broncos will have a very small district this year, facing only Wellington and West Texas High at Stinnett, and should be a shoe-in for the playoffs since three teams advance from the district level.

Hysinger said the school plans to talk with female athletes to determine if there is any interest in forming a Lady Bronco softball team.

Meanwhile, the Broncos will start working out the first of February and will likely play their first game toward the end of that month, Brittain said.

School officials say they do not know when the last time was that CHS fielded a baseball team. Yearbooks in the school library don’t show baseball teams during the 1950s or 1940s, and no yearbooks are on file for the 1930s.

Clarendon High did however have a baseball team in the 1910s and mid 1920s. (Oddly, in 1926, the baseball team was called the Roosters while other teams were known by the more common nickname, the Bronchos.)