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In the spotlight
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Archives for July 2025
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New officers
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Sidewalk progress
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Remembering Tommy Hill
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H’wick hosting seventh Hoedown Saturday
The seventh annual Howardwick Hoedown will be held Saturday, July 19, in McMorries Memorial Park with fun for the entire family.
Food will be served starting at 11 a.m. and continue until it runs out, and dancing and music will continue throughout the day. Lunch will be $10 per person – pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, a drink, and a cupcake.
A Challenger 200EX will be raffled off at 4 p.m. Tickets for that are already sold out, according to Howardwick City Secretary Sandy Lynn Childress. A live on-site raffle, however, will offer many chances to win and will also be going on all day for those present.
“I’m going to have to be drawing winners about 11 times per hour to give all these away,” Childress said.
Tickets for the live raffle are $1 each or 25 chances for $20.
A Hoedown Showdown Poker Run with a cash payout will be held at 9 a.m. for golf carts, ATVs, and UTVs and the entire route will be in the City of Howardwick.
The fourth annual putting contest will also have a cash payout, and sign-ups will continue until 1 p.m.
A slip-n-slide and bounce house will be available for kids, and vendor booths will feature ice cream, cotton candy, artisan wares, and more.
Those attending the Hoedown should plan to bring their own seating and their own umbrellas or other shading if they desire.
Hoedown activities will wind down at 4 p.m.
CCISD names interim
Clarendon CISD Trustees approved hiring Rick Teran as interim school superintendent during their regular meeting last Monday, July 7, and could name their pick for the next fulltime superintendent as early as next week.
Teran has 42 years of experience in education and served as superintendent in Childress for eight years before retiring five years ago. He and his wife of 31 years currently live in Bushland, and the couple has three kids and five grandchildren with one on the way.
The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) is helping CCISD search for a new superintendent after Jarod Bellar retired from the position this month and took a new job in Kansas. TASB headhunter Rich Howard recruited Teron to fill in temporarily after the school’s first interim pick, Bryan Davis, was unable to take the position due to contractual obligations, Teran said.
Trustees narrowed their pool of superintendent applicants to three during last week’s meeting and began interviews with those finalists this week in called meetings on Monday and Tuesday. They will continue interviews next week and could announce a finalist either July 22 or 23, Teran said.
In keeping with the way most Texas school districts operate, Clarendon CISD is not releasing the names of the three finalists. Once they name a lone finalist, there will be a 21-day waiting period before that person can be officially hired by the district.
Teran said a new superintendent could be on the job in Clarendon as early as September 1.
In other school business last week, trustees voted 6-1 to Opt-Out of the Homeschool participation in all UIL activities. Those voting in favor were Taylor Shelton, Jeff Robertson, Donny Howard, Robin Ellis, Wayne Hardin, and Chrisi Tucek, and Mike Word opposed the motion. The vote prohibits homeschoolers living within the district from participating in UIL academics and athletics for CCISD.
The board also met in closed session for about 30 minutes before returning to open session to acknowledge the resignation of Lisa Grahn. The board also offered one-year contracts to Terri Luna, Aimee Lyles, Carrie Anne Torres, April Carroll, Izaiah Kelley, Laura Martinez, Aaron Smith, and Trevor Leeper.
Also during the school board’s regular June meeting, the trutees met in closed session for about 45 minutes before returning to open session and acknowledging the resignations of Alix Snure and Kalen Grahn and offering one-year contracts of employment to Roy Davis and Stan Caffey.
City council considers candidates for vacancy
The Clarendon City Council heard from eight citizens interested in filling the seat of the late Tommy Hill during their regular meeting last Thursday, July 10.
Last week, City Administrator Brian Barboza said 11 people had expressed an interest in the position. Those were Bob Weiss, Tonya Lindsey, Ashleigh Sherel, Christopher Topliff, Pharabie Shadle, former alderman Eulaine McIntosh, Cydney D’Costa, Ashlee Wortham, Jimmie Adams, Ralph Graves, and Christopher Woodcook.
Barboza said he thought some of those may have decided they were not interested in the position, but eight did attend and were invited to address the council. Those were Weiss, McIntosh, Graves, Lindsey, Topliff, Adams, Shadle, and D’Costa.
In public comments at the opening of the meeting, Howardwick Mayor Johnny Floyd urged the council to think about Hill when considering his replacement to appoint someone with vision and ambition for the city. Sara SoRelle also addressed the council and spoke in favor of former alderman McIntosh.
Aldermen wanted to take their time to review the qualifications and letters of those interested. The council was scheduled to meet in closed session to appoint someone to the Hill’s seat as the Enterprise was going to press Tuesday evening, July 15.
See Facebook.com/TheEnterprise and ClarendonLive.com for updates on action taken Tuesday.
In other city business last week, the council accepted the annual report of Clarendon Housing Authority Executive Director Tammy Christopher and approved the city’s quarterly investment report.
A proposal for a new vending contract for the Clarendon Aquatic Center was turned down with aldermen voting instead to do away with the vending machines and sell concessions directly.
The council also discussed the five dollar entrance fee for the aquatic center for people who are not swimming. The fee has been a source of a few complaints, but some aldermen felt it was still a revenue stream for the aquatic center and that those not swimming are still enjoying chair and using other facilities at the center. Aldermen Ashlee Estlack, Tom Thompson, and Chelsi Shadle voted to leave the charge unchanged with Alderman Brittney Wolfe voting no.
The council was scheduled to conduct the annual evaluation of City Secretary Machiel Covey, but with three of four current aldermen having been in office for only two months, the council voted to delegate Covey’s evaluation to the city administrator. The council will then review Covey’s evaluation.
Clarendon sets July sales tax record
The City of Clarendon set another monthly record for sales tax revenue when Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock distributed July allocations last week.
Clarendon brought in $45,167.47 for the month, which was 10.27 percent higher than the same period one year ago. The allocation broke the previous local July record of $40,989 set in 2021. Clarendon’s calendar year-to-date revenue is now $317,333.73, an increase of 8.22 percent compared to this time last year.
The city has set monthly records for sales tax revenue in five of the first seven months for 2025. Annual sales tax revenues have grown year over year since 2018.
Howardwick was up 10.42 percent this month with an allocation of $1,186.02 and is up 26.99 percent for the year-to-date at $10,793,64.
Hedley dipped 32.15 percent with an allocation of $804.65, but the city’s year-to-date figure remains up 14.05 percent at $9,243.37.
Statewide, Hancock sent $1.2 billion in local sales tax allocations for July, 4.5 percent more than in July 2024.
These allocations are based on sales made in May by businesses that report tax monthly.
Salsa competition winners
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History Makers
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