This Week

The first Terex S-17E Elevating Scraper was unveiled here last week with high expectations that the new machine may give Donley County’s economy a lift.

 The prototype scraper, which can move up to 17 cubic yards of dirt, was built by Clarendon Manufacturing and Terex Equipment Ltd. of Motherwell, Scotland. The local firm plans to build two more scrapers this year and 20 next year.

Company officials say they are currently negotiating a three-year contract with Terex, and they predict as many as 70 new jobs will be created over the course of the contract.

“One year ago, almost to the day, all we had was a purchase order.  Today [we have] a scraper,” said Clarendon General Manager Darrell Leffew. “That’s short work – from design to machine in just 12 months.”

A crowd of an estimated 200 people were on hand for the unveiling last Friday at the Courthouse Square. State Sen. Tom Haywood (R-Wichita Falls) and US Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) were featured speakers at the ceremony, and a representative from State Rep. Warren Chisum’s (R-Pampa) office was also present.

“I’m glad I got to be home on this exciting day,” Thornberry said.

People are continuing to leave rural areas, making it harder for state and national representatives to fight for rural and agricultural concerns, Thornberry said.

“The key to turning around this trend is creating jobs in rural areas.”

Thornberry said opportunities for jobs won’t come from Washington or Austin, but rather they will come from people like Darrell Leffew and from hard work.

Today’s global economy is nothing new for Clarendon, he said, noting past involvement from English and Scottish investors in the Texas Panhandle.

“Donley County has been in a global economy for a long time with its earliest ranches involved in partnerships with people in Great Britain.

“Today we can work together and be stronger than we would be separately.”

 
Darrell Leffew and J.E. Hancock look over the new Terex S-17E.

Enterprise Digital Photo.
 
Also present Friday was 95-year-old J.E. Hancock of Lubbock, who Clarendon’s operations director, Stan Leffew, called the “Father of the Elevating Scraper.” Hancock’s company designed and built elevating scrapers before selling out to Clark Equipment, which then built the machine for Terex for many years.

Darrell Leffew went to work for Hancock in 1962 and was employed by him for nearly ten years before founding Clarendon Manufacturing & Distributing Co., Inc.

To Hancock went the honor of the cutting the rope to unveil the S-17E as the crowd cheered and Harold Taylor of Friona played “Scotland the Brave” on the bagpipes in full Scottish attire.

Also speaking at Friday’s unveiling were Clarendon EDC President Trey Chamberlain and Clarendon Mayor Tex Selvidge.

Representing Terex were John Dudgeon of Terex Americas’ Tulsa office and Randall Orr from Houston.

Prior to Friday’s festivities, the S-17E underwent shake-down testing by moving approximately 10,000 cubic yards of dirt on the west edge of the Clarendon College campus. The newly leveled area is expected to be the future site for an equestrian and livestock center for the college.

The future holds more tests in store for the prototype over the next few weeks before Terex turns it over to a contractor for the an independent evaluation.

In the meantime, Stan Leffew says Clarendon Manufacturing will be ordering supplies this week for the next two scrapers, and the company is proceeding with plans to build a new plant.

Leffew said the company is in contract to buy property on north Hwy. 70 where the old drive-in theater is. The new facility would be 22,500 sq. ft. plus office space.

Clarendon Manufacturing currently has five employees in its shop, and Leffew said new workers will probably come from out of town.

“We’ll mostly likely be drawing on Clarendon College’s machinist program in Pampa and on Amarillo College’s welding program.”

All former Clarendon Bronchos (or Broncos if you prefer) are invited to an All-School Reunion during the homecoming weekend.

The reunion kicks off on Friday, September 22, with the pep rally at 2:30 p.m. in the Bronco Gym.  A Mexican pile-on supper will be held at the school cafeteria from 5 to 7 p.m., and supper tickets are available at the door for $5.50 each.

All the classes will meet in the Old Gym at 6:15 p.m. where they will walk to Broncho Stadium as a group. Tickets for the ball game are $3 each.  Following the homecoming game, there will be visiting and a dance at the Clarendon Community Center located on the rodeo grounds. The cost for the dance is $5 per person.

On Saturday, September 23, coffee and donuts will be served at JAMZ at 10 a.m.  Immediately following, the group will be taking a tour of the high school and the new gym.

Saturday evening, reunion goers can enjoy chicken fried steak at the Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff at 5 p.m. at the Saints’ Roost Museum. Admission to the all-day event is free.  Tickets for the chuckwagon supper are $10 each and are going fast. They may be purchased in advance from Henson’s.

For those who don’t want chuckwagon cuisine, a steak dinner will be held at the Bar H Dude Ranch at 6 p.m.  Tickets for this dinner are also $10 each.  It is important to RSVP, especially if you plan on attending Saturday night.

The reunion will conclude with Cowboy Church at the museum at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Letters have gone out to several classes regarding the reunion; but if you know of anyone who has not received a letter or attended but didn’t graduate from CHS please pass this information on to them. 

For more information, contact Janie Finch at 806-874-2682, Pat White at 806-874-9908, or Reneé Betts at 806-874-3913.

Valor Telecom to begin offering local phone service September 1

IRVING – On September 1, 2000, Valor Telecom will assume operational control of over 325,000 local phone lines in areas of Texas currently served by Verizon (formerly GTE), including Clarendon and Hedley.

“Valor Telecom is proud to serve Texas,” said Anne K. Bingaman, chairman and chief executive officer of Valor Telecom.  “With our corporate headquarters located in Irving, and one of our customer service centers located in Texarkana, we look forward to bringing a strong and lasting business presence to all the communities we will serve.”

On September 1, all customer records and pending orders will transfer to Valor Telecom.  In the first 15 days of transfer, temporary systems will be used while transferred records and service orders are loaded into new automated systems and re-tested.  Current phone service will not be affected by the transition.

To handle new service orders and the backlog of pending orders, Valor Telecom has hired additional personnel, installed new systems, and worked closely with government and regulatory officials and community leaders to prepare for the transfer of lines.  During September and October, Valor Telecom may receive a high volume of calls, and customers may experience delays in placing new orders.  However, any delays will be temporary during this transition period.

With respect to customer billing, phone rates will not change, but the Valor Telecom phone bill has been reformatted.  Therefore, some of the charges and fees may appear in a different section.  Furthermore, the transfer of lines to Valor Telecom will not affect customers’ current long distance and Internet services.  Customers who have selected Verizon as their long distance and/or Internet provider will begin receiving a separate bill for those services.  Valor Telecom officials said that the company will soon offer long-distance service so that customers can have the convenience of receiving one bill for local and long distance services.

Valor Telecom is mailing information, including customer service and repair phone numbers, to its business and residential customers in Texas.  Beginning September 1, 2000, if customers have questions about their local phone service, they should all Valor Telecom toll-free at 1-877-520-5220.

Valor Telecom’s business presence in the state includes its corporate headquarters located in Irving, Texas, where it employs approximately 175, and two operating divisions. The company has also established a customer service and repair center in Texarkana, Texas, with approximately 125 employees.  In addition, Verizon employees in these Texas exchanges will become employees of Valor Telecom.

With the Texas access lien acquisition, Valor Telecom will own and operate 540,000 business and residential local access lines, making it one of the largest independent phone service providers in the United States based on access lines.  The company launched operations of 120,000 local access lines in Oklahoma July 1 and will begin operating 95,000 local access lines in New Mexico on September 1.

Valor Telecom is a privately held company with operating subsidiaries in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.  Valor Telecom owns and operates primarily rural local access lines in the Southwest United States.  Valor Telecom’s major investors include: Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, Vestar Capital, Citicorp Venture Capital, and a group of twelve Hispanic investors.  Valor Telecom’s corporate headquarters are located in Irving.

For more information, visit Valor’s website.

Donley County Sheriff Jimmy Thompson has issued a stern warning following a crank call to the home of a local dispatcher.

Dispatcher Cheryl Phillips received the phone call last Thursday, August 24, shortly before 11 p.m. from a woman who claimed her house was on fire and her child was burning.

“The woman was hysterical,” Phillips said. “She was screaming that the house was on fire that he was on fire. She kept saying, ‘He set him and the house on fire!’”

Phillips said she told the woman to call 911, but the woman said she had to get the child out of the fire.

The off duty dispatcher tried to get as much information as possible from the woman, then called the sheriff’s office.

“Several things didn’t add up, but you just never know,” she said.

Two deputies, one ambulance crew, and three units from the Clarendon Fire Department were dispatched to try and find the reported house fire. A unit from the Howardwick Fire Department and several volunteer paramedics also assisted in the search.

No fire was found, and the call was determined to be a hoax.

Sheriff Thompson said if caught the perpetrator will be responsible for all expenses of the county’s emergency personnel during the search. If that amount is more than $1,500, it will be a state jail offense.

A crank call also was received at the KEFH-FM radio station Thursday night, but it’s not known for sure whether the two are related.

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.