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County approves budget for FY 22
Donley County Commissioners approved a $3.49 million budget for fiscal year 2022 during a called meeting on August 24.
Public hearings on the budget as well as the tax rate supporting it were held the same day prior to the approval.
The budget for the coming fiscal year is an increase of $394,999 over the 2021 budget, and Donley County Judge John Howard said the bulk of that increase of $250,000 for work on the 1890 Courthouse. County officials hope grant funds and insurance money will cover part of that figure.
“We can’t spend money that is not in the budget, so we have that figure in there in anticipation of getting additional funding,” Judge Howard said. “We like to pay as we go, and we do have some money set aside in the Courthouse Preservation Fund.”
The approved budget calls for transferring $125,000 out of the Courthouse Preservation Fund.
The courthouse was badly damaged when a waterline broke during a winter storm in February, and insurance is expected to cover a portion of that restoration work.
The county also hopes to get additional state funds through the Texas Historical Commission to address spalling on some of the sandstone on the exterior of the courthouse.
Howard said the new budget also includes a raise for county employees of 2.5 percent, totaling about $60,000 overall. Health insurance costs for the county are expected to increase by about seven percent as well.
“We’re trying to prepare for inflation and protect the gains we’ve made in county salaries,” Howard said.
On the revenue side, the county budget will be supported by an ad valorem tax rate of $0.612776 per $100 valuation, which is about 1.6 cents less than the current rate. Donley County will also receive $200,000 in the fifth of ten payments from the wind farm in the northern part of the county.
The budget carries over $285,000 in funds from the current year, and the remainder of revenues come from fines, fees, and service charges.
A grant to pay for a highway safety officer in the sheriff’s office has expired and no longer provides funds for that officer. The new budget covers the entire cost for that position, which the county says pays for itself.
Fiscal year 2022 will begin October 1, 2021, for Donley County.
Donley COVID-19 cases total 27 in August
A total of 27 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Donley County during the month of August, three times the 9 cases confirmed in July and almost seven times the total of four cases for June.
“Almost all of our new cases are people who are unvaccinated, and some have had COVID before,” said Donley County Judge John Howard, MD. “If you are unvaccinated, you are at risk of contracting the disease, spreading the disease, and, under the right circumstances, winding up in the hospital.”
Due to the Labor Day holiday, the number of active cases this week was not available from the Clarendon Family Medical Center, but the number of positive tests at the clinic rose by eight from last Tuesday to this Tuesday.
Total positive cases confirmed at the local clinic since the pandemic began last spring now stands at 413 with 1,713 total tests and 1300 negative tests. Again, these numbers only reflect tests conducted at the local clinic and do not include residents who test positive at facilities outside of Donley County.
Howard urges everyone to protect themselves from the virus, which he says can help people keep from catching and spreading the virus.
“My recommendation is that everyone get the vaccine,” Howard said. “It is readily available and free.”
The Moderna vaccine is available at no charge at the local clinic for everyone ages 18 and over. The Pfizer vaccine is available in Amarillo for children ages 12 and over.
According to the Texas Tribune this week, 29.6 percent of Donley County residents are vaccinated. That represents a total of 989 people, up from 938 as of August 3.
Seth “The Bull” Greer
Graveside services for Seth “The Bull” Greer, 22, were held Monday, September 6 at the Childress Cemetery with Trey Morgan officiating. Burial followed in Childress Cemetery under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home. There was a Celebration of Life held at the Mashburn Event Center.
Seth passed away Thursday, September 2, 2021, in Dallas. He was born December 23, 1998, to Jimmy Greer and Courtney Taylor. Seth began school in Clarendon and graduated from there in 2017. While in high school, he was an offensive lineman for the Clarendon Broncos and was selected and played in the Blue Grey All-American bowl football game. Seth also received a scholarship to play for WTAMU. He also qualified for state powerlifting for the Broncos. Seth was a friend to everyone and from all walks of life and his personality was just as big as he was. Seth loved to play his guitar and sing. His love for music was tremendous and he had an eclectic taste in music. With his love of music, he also enjoyed being a bouncer at the Iron Horse Pub in Wichita Falls and being able to listen to live bands. His latest passion came when he discovered the art of being a barber and graduated from barber school in February 2021. Seth had a huge collection of socks and shoes to match that larger than life attitude.
He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Dan Greer.
Survivors include his mother Courtney Halsell and husband, Joshua of Matador; his father Jimmy Greer of Wichita Falls; his brother Skyler Greer and wife, Carley of Childress; sister Kassidy Taylor of Childress; sister Hadleigh Halsell of Matador; brother Taylor Halsell of Matador; special friend who he considered a brother Keandre Cortez and Landon Lambert, who he considered a big brother; grandparents Kerry and Jackie Taylor of Childress; grandmother Ricki Greer of Wichita Falls; grandparents Mark and Cheryl Halsell of Crowell; great grandmother Jane Taylor of Childress; great grandmother Betty Bruce of Lubbock; great grandparents Ray and Lucy Bennett of Euless, Texas; uncle Joe Greer and wife, Landie, of Wichita Falls; uncle Cory Taylor of Childress; uncle Cody Taylor and wife, Becky, of Guthrie; uncle Jake Halsell and wife, Tiffany of San Angelo; aunt Shannon Conley and husband, Jeffrey, of Quanah; aunt Allison Lopez and husband, Chris, of Crowell; great aunt Julie Bruce and Theresa Heflin of Lubbock; great aunt Anita Warzecha and husband, Larry, of Quanah; great uncle Gene Bruce and wife, Cheryl, of Estelline; great aunt Jill Wakefield and husband, James, of Memphis; great aunt Mary Risinger and husband, Vance, of Colorado Springs; nephew McCoy Greer; cousins Maison, Londan, Laila, Wyatt, Grace, Grant, Katelyn, Grayson, Roan, Dally Rae, Maverick and Sadie.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Childress Volunteer Fire Department, 315 Commerce, Childress, Texas, 79201; the Wichita Falls Barber Academy, 1108 8th Street, Wichita Falls, Texas, 76301; or the Plains Baptist Camp, 3001 Love Road, Floydada, Texas, 79235.
Jacqueline Joanne “Jaci” Mincey
Jacqueline Joanne “Jaci” Mincey, 74, of Clarendon died Monday, September 6, 2021, in Clarendon.
Memorial services will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 11, 2021, in the First Church of the Nazarene in Clarendon.
Cremation and arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Jaci was born February 20, 1947 in Mount Vernon, Illinois to Millis Lee and Mary Shields Cady. She had been a resident of Clarendon most of her adult life where she cleaned many houses and worked at Amigo’s. She loved her grandkids and lived for them.
She was preceded in death by her parents; 3 brothers, Jerry, Eugene, and Butch; and 3 sisters, Donna, Sally, and Roberta.
She survived by her son, Robbie Bullock and wife Zan of Clarendon; her daughters, Cathie Flud and husband Josh of Lubbock, Samantha Hinton of Clarendon, and Eileen Hood of Amarillo; her grandchildren, Christopher Jewett, Tonya Chronister, Brittany Davis, Krysta Hertzog, Bobbi Tancredi, Brian Davis, Karlee Adams, Zoe Adams, Roxie Adams, Makinzie Hinton, Kasie Hinton, and Lane Hinton; 7 great grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Sign the online guestbook at www.robertsonfuneral.com
Bright days ahead for old Texaco station
An old building that once pulled people off of US 287 will soon have new life and a new purpose for travelers to the area.
For the past few weeks, curious passers-by have noticed work being done at the old Petty Texaco service station at the corner of US 287 and Gorst Street. The lot is being cleaned. The weeds are being cleared. Old tires are being removed. And there’s activity inside the old building itself once again.
The building’s new owners Nikki and Dusty Green, Donley County residents and producers of the nationally-broadcast PBS travel show “Two for the Road,” have a vision that involves a restoration of the old building, a re-invention of the tourism model in the Panhandle, and what they hope will be an exciting new breath of life in historic downtown Clarendon.
For several months the Greens have been in talks with the station’s previous owners, longtime Clarendon residents Lester and Shirley Petty, who first bought the station back from the Texaco Corporation back in the late 1970s. The sale was finalized recently, and the Greens are already hard at work cleaning and converting the building into the Clarendon headquarters for their exciting new venture, a tour company called the Saints Roost Expedition Company.
“First and foremost this wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for Shirley and Lester’s help, their generosity, and quite frankly for their faith in us and in this project,” said Dusty. “And the best part of this entire process without a doubt has been getting to know Lester and Shirley, who are just the kindest, sweetest people. And we’re so happy to be able to call them great friends. We really hope to make them – and the rest of Clarendon – very proud with what we’re doing.”
The immediate plan, say the Greens, is to clean up the property and restore it as best they can to its original condition. As far as records indicate, the Texaco Type “EM” service station was originally built back in the late 1930s or early 1940s. And although its outward appearance has changed quite a bit from those old days – from layers of new paint added every so often to the addition of the metal awning that crowns the structure – the Greens say getting the building back to how it looked in its early days will be difficult but not impossible.
“It can be done, and we’re confident it will be done,” said Dusty. “And we’re confident that folks are going to be blown away once we get it back to its original 1940s and 1950s classic Texaco look. And it will definitely something that will catch the eye of everybody driving by.”
The company’s Clarendon operations will run out of the old Texaco, which will be named the Lester Petty Station. Lester had to close the station in the early 1990s, and since then the building has had a handful of tenants over the years and was used for a variety of purposes.
“The building needs a lot of love, for sure,” said Nikki. “But it’s actually in remarkably good condition for being so old. And in the process of cleaning we actually came across a series of original Texaco blueprints of the building from the 40s and 50s which are still in incredibly good condition. So we certainly hope they’ll help as we move forward, and give us a road map of sorts to follow with the restoration.”
The Greens say they hope to work through the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation’s Historic Facade Grant Program to help cover some of the expenses. They are currently taking bids for the project and plan to present their case to the CEDC in September.
“We want not only do this the right way but do it in a way that benefits the community as a whole,” Dusty said. “We want this to be a place the folks in this community can be proud of and really enjoy.”
The Greens say they hope the old station will serve as much more than their tour company headquarters. There will be a retail component, and they aim to convert the large, spacious lot surrounding the structure into a community gathering area, complete with picnic tables, fire pits and games, and spaces for food trucks, outdoor music, special events and more. Following in the footsteps of other successful projects like the renovated Mulkey Theater and the new city aquatic center, they hope the project will be yet another catalyst in the effort to revitalize Clarendon’s historic downtown area.
As far as the kinds of tours they’ll be offering through the Saints Roost Expedition Company, the Greens have been working over the better part of the last year with area businesses, landowners and government agencies to develop a variety of intimate, small-group tours that will highlight the area’s rich history, abundant wildlife and beautiful landscapes. The Greens say many of their tours will be innovative and unlike anything ever offered in our region, and are based on many of the incredible tours they themselves have taken while filming their television show around the world.
“We’ve been to some fifty plus countries around the world and worked with a countless number of excellent tour companies, guides and organizations.” said Dusty. “And over those many years we’ve studied them, learned from them, and developed an appreciation for and a knowledge of how a world-class tour company operates. And we want to apply what we’ve learned on our tours around the world to the tours we plan on offering here. So there’s a tremendous amount of work and planning involved but we feel great about the direction we’re heading. We think folks are going to love it.”
In addition to the Clarendon office, the Greens hope to establish a similar but separate company headquarters down the road in Quitaque to better serve the thousands of travelers who come through that city every month to visit Caprock Canyons State Park.
The Greens are in the process of finalizing a contract with Texas Parks and Wildlife to allow them to run tours, activities and other events in the park itself. Dusty says their talks with park and state officials have gone very well and they expect that contract to be finalized in the next couple of weeks.
“We hope to begin running some ‘soft’ tours here in the next couple of months, and we’ll certainly be offering spots on these tours to local folks to help us smooth out all the kinks. They’re going to be a lot of fun. And by next spring we hope to be fully open and running at full capacity. Of course COVID might have something to say about that too. But we’ve got all our fingers crossed.”
But what does this new venture mean for the future of their Lone Star Emmy-nominated travel show? Only good things, say the Greens, who in the midst of building this new company are also in the pre-production process of season five of Two for the Road. They aren’t certain at this point when production will actually begin or when the new season will air – thanks mostly to uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and their ability to travel again safely – but the show will definitely go on, they say.
“It sounds strange to say but the Saints Roost Expedition Company has been the silver lining of COVID for us,” said Nikki. “We’ve had the idea for this company for several years now, but just haven’t had the time to really invest in it because of all our traveling with the TV show. COVID changed all that. Since we haven’t been able to travel, we’ve been able to spend our time and resources on making this new dream a reality. So it’s worked out really well in that sense, and it’s incredibly exciting to see it all finally coming together.”
Cornell to perform at Mulkey Sept. 5
Clarendon native Zach Cornell is carving out his place in the music business and is ready to entertain folks in his hometown this weekend.
Cornell will be performing at the Mulkey Theatre this Sunday, September 5, at 6 p.m. and is looking forward to playing a venue he’s only heard about growing up.
“I never thought there would be a place like that to perform in Clarendon,” he said.
Cornell said his father, Bill Cornell, used to tell him about going to the movies at the Mulkey when he grew up, but the singer only ever saw it closed during his lifetime.
“I knew they were working on it and had opened it,” he said. “I just think it’s a cool thing for folks like me who have just seen it shut down before. I can’t wait to see inside.”
Just like the Mulkey found new life in recent years, Cornell himself has found a new calling as a singer/songwriter – a far cry from what he thought his career path would be after graduating Clarendon High School in 2014.
He started playing guitar when he was 12 or 13, he said.
“My sister had a guitar but wouldn’t let me touch it, and that just made me want to play it more,” Cornell said.
In high school, he played with the youth group at the First Baptist Church on Wednesday nights and took two or three lessons with Billy Boone, who was the youth leader at the First United Methodist Church at the time.
But it wasn’t until he went to college that Cornell really began to get serious about music and spend a lot more time practicing.
Studying marketing at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Cornell said he would spend his free time in his dorm room practicing his playing and songwriting, encouraged by a few friends who shared a love for the same kind of music.
“I always enjoyed playing and singing, but I never thought I could make a career of it, until some friends got me to try some open mic nights and then book some gigs,” he said.
After graduating college in 2018, he took his marketing degree and entered the workforce.
“I got a sales job and made it two weeks,” he said, “and then I went back to singing.”
Cornell prefers traditional country music with a blend of what he calls Americana songs that cross genres, taking inspiration from storytellers like Tom T. Hall and Jim Croce. Hall, who died last week, had a particularly strong influence on the young artist.
“He told a story like nobody else,” Cornell said. “Funny or serious – he could do it like he was talking to you like you’re right in the room. He had a level of songwriting that people like me will spend their whole life trying to get to.”
After he married, his wife Liberty encouraged him to move to Nashville to pursue his passion.
“She said, ‘I’m a nurse; I can work anywhere,” Cornell remembers. “So we moved to Nashville right before COVID hit.”
The music business is hard, Cornell said, but Nashville has been good to his family. He’s gotten to work with Jack Gavin, a former drummer for Charlie Daniels’ band, who has served as a mentor to him.
It’s a great time to be an independent artist in the music business, Cornell said.
“No body is telling you what you can say or what songs you have to sing, and you don’t have to say everything in three minutes,” he said.
He recorded his first studio-produced album, “Devil’s Been Working,” in January 2020, but the pandemic delayed its release until November. The music on the album is all written either by Cornell or he and his wife together, and he says it’s been well received and opened a lot of doors for him.
“It’s gotten me into a lot of places and really shows the sound we’re going for,” he said. “It’s a good foundation to go off of.”
“Devil’s Been Working” is available on Apple Music and “anywhere you can stream music really,” Cornell said.
Cornell said he now plays gigs in Nashville five days a week and then does road trips about once a month. This week he’s performing in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Thursday before coming to Texas where he will play The Woodlands on Friday and Fort Worth on Saturday before coming home Sunday.
“I’m just excited to come home and pick a little bit,” Cornell said.
Tickets for Sunday evening’s performance are $10 each and can be purchased at the door or in advance at MulkeyTheatre.com. The acoustic concert will be BYOB (no glass containers), and concessions will be available.
First Saturday activities set this weekend
“First Saturday Clarendon, Texas” continues in this weekend with country music superstars at the Sandell Drive-In, the Donley County Farmers Market, Whistle-Stop Trade Days, movies and a live concert at the Mulkey Theatre, and more fun activities and shopping.
September 4 marks the fourth month of the “First Saturday” promotion.
The Labor Day weekend starts with another blockbuster on-screen concert at the Sandell Drive-In Thursday night, September 2. See our front page story in this Enterprise for more information and how to get tickets.
This Saturday people can enjoy the food trucks, live music, and fun of the Whistle-Stop, and shop all the fresh produce, baked goods, and other items at the new Donley County Farm 2 Table market at Cornell’s Country Store.
The Mulkey Theatre will screen The Suicide Squad at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night and then host Clarendon native Zach Cornell in concert on Sunday at 6 p.m.
Tickets to movies and events at the theatre are available at the door and online at MulkeyTheatre.com.
Shoppers can also enjoy several local merchants this weekend. The new marketing campaign to pool resources and centralize support behind a once-a-month weekend of activities, trade days, shopping and fun in Clarendon and Donley County.
Businesses, organizations, and anyone else planning an event are encouraged to consider having it on the weekend of the First Saturday of each month to take maximum advantage of the community’s advertising dollars in the area.
First Saturday events are being sought for October to go along with trade days and other local events. First Saturday in October will also see the return of the Lions Clubs members from across the Panhandle as they bring their fall cabinet meeting back to the Mulkey Theatre.
If you know of something happening on the first weekend of each month, it can easily be added to the promotion mix by calling or texting 806-662-4687, emailing [email protected], visiting the “First Saturday, Clarendon Texas” Facebook page, or by filling out the contact form at ClarendonTX.com/FirstSaturday.
Owls blow out Chillicothe
The Hedley Owls opened their 2021 football season with a big win over Chillicothe at Memorial Field, 45-0.
Josh Booth threw for 106 yards and four touchdowns. Cody Bond caught two passes to gain 51 yards and scored one touchdown. Hayden Alston also caught two, running 58 yards total and finding the endzone twice; and Saul Carreon caught a pass for a four-yard gain and one touchdown.
Izaik Weatherred rushed for 55 yards on four carries and scored once. Nick Clark carried five time, totaling 50 yards and racking up two touchdowns. Also rushing for the Owls were Braden Bond with 44 yards on three carries and Isaiah Torres with five yards on three carries.
This Friday the Owls will be on the road for a hoot-out with the Silverton Owls. Game time will be 7:30 p.m.
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