This Week

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen met in regular session June 27, 2000, at 7 p.m.

The issue of the municipal airport was taken up again. The city has been trying to reach an agreement with hanger owners regarding the lease of space at the airport.

At the previous city meeting, several current and former pilots and hanger owners had said they felt as though the city was asking them to shoulder the entire operating cost of the airport.

Last week, Alderman B.J. Land said he recognized the importance of the airport to the city but recalled that a bond election to build the airport had failed in the 1960s.

“I’m reluctant to spend taxpayer dollars on it when they voted it down,” Land said.

Alderman Bobbie Kidd responded by saying, “That was 30 years ago. You’ve got a whole new set of voters now.”

Kidd said the city has been spending tax dollars on the airport for 30 years and compared not doing so to charging for the use of the City Park.

“You might as well put a quarter slot on the swing set,” Kidd said.

The board approved a motion to look up the history of the subject for review and discussion with the renters and to place the matter on the next agenda. The motion carried.

In other city business, the board voted to remove Alderman Kent Womack from office.

City regulations allow for an alderman who misses three meetings to be removed from the board. Womack had not attended a meeting since March 28, 2000.

The board approved a motion by Land, seconded by Alderman Mac Stavenhagen, to appoint Michael Tibbets to fill the remainder of Womack’s term, which will expire next May.

The Mason and Hanger agreement was discussed, and the board voted to stay with the original agreement. Mason and Hanger has a lightning detector at the city airport.

The utility ordinance was discussed and adopted. The ordinance sets the current fees for water, sewer, and sanitation charges. No changes were made to the schedule of fees.

Librarian Carolyn Blackerby reported on the technology grant that was awarded to Clarendon ISD. The library will be getting some new equipment under the school’s grant.

“I’d like to commend the participants of the grant writing team for the hours they put in and the work they did for the benefit of  the community,” said Mayor Tex Selvidge.

Engineering firm proposals were reviewed for the application for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs program. The board selected McKae Engineering to do the work.

Bob Hoggard is glad that he stopped by to say “hello” when the Chamber of Commerce held its roadside refreshment stand during Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks to that stop, he won a new pickup truck from Chamberlain Motor Company in a drawing held at the Clarendon rodeo Monday, July 3.

Chamber Executive Director Judy Burlin persuaded Hoggard to buy a $20 chance on the truck, but he said he never thought he would win.

“I just thought it was a waste of money, but that it was probably for a good cause,” Hoggard said via telephone Monday night.

Hoggard grew up in Hedley and lived and worked in Donley County for most of his life. He now works for a power company in Suisun City, Calif.

Chamber President Alan Graham says 1,103 tickets were sold for the truck give-away, and he expressed the chamber’s appreciation for the community’s support of the fundraiser.

WASHINGTON, DC – US Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) voted last week for a prescription drug coverage plan that, he says, will modernize Medicare without forcing seniors to join a one-size-fits-all government bureaucracy.  The measure passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 217-214.

The bill is called The Medicare Rx 2000 Act.  Modeled after the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (which is the health care plan for all federal employees), the bill will give seniors the option of either staying with their current health care plan or choosing a prescription drug plan that better fits their needs. 

Under this plan, seniors who choose prescription drug coverage will receive a prescription drug card that can be used at a local pharmacy, through the mail, or even over the Internet.  Wherever they choose to buy their prescriptions, they will receive a discount.

According to Thornberry, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the plan will reduce seniors’ drug costs by a s much as 25 percent. 

Just as important, he added, it will do this in a way that gives seniors the option to choose the type of health coverage that best suits them, rather than force them into a one-size-fits-all government bureaucracy – which, he pointed out, is what some of the other plans being discussed would do. 

Thornberry is a member of the House Budget Committee.  In this role, he helped write the budget approved earlier this year, which set aside $40 billion for the kind of prescription drug benefit plan that was approved.

In addition to his efforts in this area, Thornberry has also been working with other members of the Rural Health Care Coalition (on which he serves as a member) to provide rural hospitals with relief from the Medicare cutbacks which have occurred over the past few years.

Several new activities have been added to this year’s Saints’ Roost Celebration which will be held June 30 through July 4.

Cowboy Church will be held on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. with special guest Bunk Skelton of Cowboy Ministry in White Face, Texas.  They will have Cowboy Gospel Music for the service.  The church will be held outdoors weather permitting at the rodeo grounds.  In case of inclement weather, the service will be held indoors.

The Clarendon Merchants will hold Western Days on Monday, July 3, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the empty lot east of the Post Office.

Events such as Hat Judging, for ages 12 through adult; Dummy Steer roping, for ages seven and up; Stick Horse Barrel Races, ages two through six; and Stick Horse Bronc Riding, ages two through six will be held throughout the day.  Kids participating in the Stick Horse events are asked to bring their own horses.  Prizes will be awarded to the winners in each event.

There will also be other games, bike decorations, face painting, and concessions.  Willard Skelton will be story telling in the Burton Memorial Library, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

A free street dance will also be held Monday, 8:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. at the Courthouse Square.  The dance is sponsored by the Saints’ Roost Museum, Donley County Extension Service, Donley County Senior Citizen Dance Club, and Clarendon Chamber of Commerce.  Bingo will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lions Hall sponsored by the Saints’ Roost Museum. 

These new events have been added to the roster of yearly favorites including the Saints’ Roost Celebration Rodeo which will be held on Friday, Saturday, and Monday beginning at 7:30 p.m.; the Fair on the Square, Shriner Barbecue, and Western Parade on Saturday; and the Bicycle Parade, Depression Lunch, and Turtle Race on Tuesday. 

For a time listing of these and other activities held in conjunction with the Saints’ Roost Celebration, please see Qué Pasa

The Clarendon Enterprise brought home the Sweepstakes Award from the Texas Press Association’s 2000 Better Newspaper Contest this past Saturday in Arlington.

This is believed to be the first time a Donley County newspaper has won the top award from the TPA.

“We’ve won four first place plaques in the last two years from the state convention,” said publisher Roger Estlack. “This year we had two first place wins, and we placed in nearly every category that we entered.”

Points are awarded for every first, second, third, and fourth place win to determine which newspaper wins the Sweepstakes Award.

Judges from the Nebraska Press Association awarded first place to the local paper in the General Excellence category, which judges the entire paper as one entry.

“In all the entries in this division, I could not find one that stood out until I came to this last one, the Enterprise,” the judge said. “Your front page attracted attention immediately. It seems to give the readers a package they will look forward to.”

The Enterprise also took first place honors in Page Design with the judge saying, “This paper is a pleasure to read.”

The paper received second place certificates in the categories of News Writing, Photography, Feature Writing, and Advertising.

In regards to the News Writing, the judge said, “I liked that you could give us a story and not need 20 or 30 inches of info. You sorted out pertinent info, gave it to the reader, and got out.”

The paper was also awarded a fourth place certificate for Editorials.

This year 199 newspapers submitted 1,423 entries to the TPA contest. The awards were announced during the 121st annual TPA Summer Convention.

The Enterprise competed in Division 9 for weekly newspapers with circulations of 1,200 or less.

“If the current trend holds, we’ll be competing in a different division next year,” Estlack said. “We’ve seen an increase in circulation over the last six or eight months that will move us into Division 8.”

Division 8 covers newspapers with circulations of 1,201 to 2,000.

Willard Skelton and Ethelyn Grady have been named the 2000 Pioneer Man and Woman of the Year by the Clarendon-Donley County Chamber of Commerce.

Skelton was born here in 1916 and has lived his whole life in Clarendon. He was a traveling salesman for about 30 years.

Grady, age 79, was born northeast of Clarendon. She was a teacher and student counselor at Clarendon ISD for many years before working 13 years as a dispatcher at the Donley County Sheriff’s Office.

Both of these pioneers were featured earlier this year as part of “Donley County Remembers” – a series of senior interviews appearing in The Clarendon Enterprise.

Skelton and Grady will be honored during the Saints’ Roost Celebration this weekend.

A new grant will expand technology education beyond the classrooms of Clarendon ISD and across generations.

The Texas Education Agency awarded $674,698 to the school district last Tuesday from the 2000 Technology Integration in Education (TIE) initiative, a state program funded through the federal Technology Literacy Challenge Fund.

The 100 percent grant will provide funds to purchase multimedia computer equipment and software for the school, the Saints’ Roost Museum, and the Burton Memorial and to provide training for teachers.

“Teaching an Old Town New Tricks” is the title given to CISD’s program, which will integrate new technology into the curriculum from kindergarten through high school. The school hopes to prepare local students and citizens for the future while also using computers to preserve local history.

CISD Technology Coordinator Marva Thomas said she was “elated, exhilarated, and overwhelmed” about receiving the grant.

Thomas, along with high school business teacher Melody Hysinger and former junior high English teacher Helen Estlack, prepared the district’s grant application. The CISD Technology Planning Committee also provided input.

The bulk of the work on the grant was done recently, but the project has its roots in a technology needs assessment survey taken by the district in 1997.

“We had about 90 to 100 man hours go into writing this grant,” Thomas said. “Now we have a year to get everything organized, spent, and done.”

The grant will allow CISD to address the needs of the entire community through partnerships with the museum and the city/county library. Training for teachers and collaborative partners will be done through Clarendon College, Thomas said.

The effort to make computer technology available to older citizens in Donley County will center in the Burton Memorial Library and the Clarendon High School Library, each of which will receive new equipment under the grant.

When the program is up and running, the school library will be open two nights a week for use by participants in an adult literacy program and by students preparing to take the GED test or other similar examinations.

The Burton Library will provide space for citizens and students to study local genealogy and will receive two new computers with genealogy software and a new printer under the grant.

“We are so thrilled,” said city/county librarian Carolyn Blackerby. “We’ve been keeping our computers together with Band-Aids.”

Blackerby said the new computers will be used to supplement the old ones and will ease overcrowding on the computers by the staff. She also feels the school’s program is pulling the community together.

“It’s helping everybody work together,” she said.

Museum officials were also excited about the school’s grant, which will fund two new computers, two printers, a scanner, and a digital camera for that organization.

“We’re very happy,” said Judi Synek, vice president of the museum. “The museum’s computers were hit by Y2K and have been useless.”

Synek said the museum will use the new machines to properly catalogue its collection and could make the computers available, too, for genealogy purposes.

Altogether the state awarded $33 million in federal funds to 25 school districts and educational consortiums for technology-based projects. Clarendon was the smallest district to receive funding, and the local project was the only one funded in the entire Panhandle region.

There were more than 160 grant applications from across the state. The state awarded priority to applicants that addressed the state’s Public Access Initiative.

The TIE initiative grants address the recommendations in the State Board of Education’s Long-Range Plan for Technology, 1996-2010, in three areas: teaching and learning, educator preparation, and development and administrative and support services.

More information regarding TIE awards and future grant opportunities can be found on the TEA Web site at www.tea.state.tx.us, under Technology.