Ben Estlack

Every Hedley volunteer firefighter will soon have new, up-to-date protective gear for the first time thanks to a $45,000 donation last Friday from the 100 Club of the Texas Panhandle.

The donation will pay for structural and/or wildland firefighting gear for all Hedley Volunteer Fire Department firefighters. The department has relied on hand-me-down equipment for years and has struggled to keep its firefighters properly outfitted.

“We are very grateful to the 100 Club for this generous donation to help our fire department,” Hedley Fire Chief Clayton Beagle said.

The 100 Club said the donation followed a long-standing request from the Hedley department.

“Being a tiny community, it’s hard to raise the money needed for a large expense,” the organization said. “They were patient and grateful for any amount we could help with.”

The 100 Club typically provides equipment assistance during emergency situations, such as major wildfires. The organization noted the toll recent fires have taken on first responders, including the largest wildfire in Texas history in 2024 and more than 20 wildfires in the Texas Panhandle in May alone.

 

The organization said Hedley firefighters deserved the equipment needed to do their jobs safely.

“We are so thankful for the work they do every day to serve and protect us and our communities and wanted them to have what they need to do it safely,” the 100 Club said.

Friday’s check presentation included Phyl Nickum Golden, one of the 100 Club’s first board members, and Randall Curtis, a lifetime member and retired first responder. Curtis was accompanied by Rocket, his retired bomb dog and the 100 Club’s first canine member. Ace, Golden’s dog, recently became the organization’s second canine member.

A fire that destroyed the home of a Clarendon woman last Tuesday, August 25, has been ruled an accident according to the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department.

Firefighters were paged out at 1:54 p.m. to 1113 W. Third where they found the home actively burning. Second Assistant Chuck Robertson said the fire started in a garage or shed adjacent to the west side of the house and a strong hot wind was blowing the blaze into the main home.

The homeowner, Beth Johnston, was unharmed in the fire. Robertson said Johnston was in the den in the southwest part of the house when she saw the fire on the back porch and escaped out the east door of the house.

The fire burned across the porch and into the den and kitchen and up into the second floor.

Robertson said the smoke and heat damage was sustained throughout the home, which was not insured.

With mutual aid called in from Howardwick and Hedley, firefighters were able to stop the fire within about 30 minutes, Robertson said. The house, however, is a total loss, he said.

Robertson said CVFD believes the origin of the fire was electrical in the garage next to the house. He said the wiring in the main house had been replaced, but the wiring in the garage had not been updated.

Roger Estlack, 

The Clarendon Enterprise

The first day of class set a high bar for the Clarendon College Ranch & Feedlot Operations program when it hosted the new chief of the National Conservation Resource Service (NRCS) as the first guest speaker of the semester Monday.

Colton L. Buckley was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump in May as the youngest person ever to lead the 91-year-old organization. At 32, Buckley brings with him an impressive resume and a desire to provide service to America’s ag producers.

Buckley was in Lubbock earlier in the day to speak at the Agricultural Water Sustainability Summit, but the chief made time to come to Clarendon’s RFO program for a simple reason.

“The people in this room are more important than any bureaucrat,” Buckley told the class. “You are the next generation of agriculture leaders.”

As part of the US Department of Agriculture, NRCS is the largest private land conservation agency in the world, Buckley said, and his focus is serving producers wherever they are and regardless of politics.

“We don’t look at what congressional district you’re in, and we don’t care if you’re in a red or blue state,” Buckley said. “My job is to get help to producers.”

The chief has refocused the agency, changing its motto from “Helping people help the land” to “Keeping working lands in working hands.” The agency focuses on protecting natural resources for future generations through voluntary programs and expertise in the field, and for Buckley it’s a personal mission as well.

The Gatesville, Texas, native was a teenager when the ranch operation his grandfather spent a lifetime building began running out of water.

“I watched as my grandfather had to face the choice of losing the herd or losing the house,” Buckley said. “I was 15 when I slapped my hand on the back of that cattle trailer.”

That early lesson in the importance of conservation led Buckley, at age 19, to become the campaign manager for Sid Miller when he successfully ran for Texas Agricultural Commissioner in 2014. He worked for Miller in the Texas Department of Agriculture and later became the chief of staff at NRCS before being named associate chief of the agency prior to taking the top job.

In addition to renewing NRCS’s focus, Buckley is working to modernize the agency’s programs and rebuild its staff after personnel reductions in 2025. The agency offers 168 programs, and more than 90 of them were out of date and past their five-year statutorily mandated review period. 

On staffing, Buckley said NRCS lost 24 percent of its employees to government efficiency cuts and 90 percent of those were people who worked directly with producers.

 “I’ve got more money to help landowners, but I’ve got to have human staff to do that,” he told students. “I’m picking folks who come off farms and ranches who face what you face and what your folks face.”

Programs focused exclusively on “green” goals have been canceled, and non-profits that work with NRCS are having to prove they are helping people, Buckley said.

The new chief has championed the concept of “one farmer, one file” to streamline paperwork between NRCS and its sister agencies – the Farm Service Agency and the Risk Management Agency. 

He’s also working on updating technology in agency offices to improve service delivery and so employees can certify field reports on tablets.

“We had 50 percent of field offices unable to get on the computer 50 percent of the time because the network and computers were out of date,” Buckley said.

Buckley took several questions from students about specific policies, and he encouraged them to talk to their representatives.

“It is so important that when you hear of policy changes that will affect you, that you engage with your elected officials from city councils and county commissioners to members of Congress and even members of the executive.” 

Buckley also had advice for RFO students on which college course to take to be successful and encouraged them to take traditional classes after finishing the ranch operations program at CC.

“Speech and communications are the most important classes you can take as part of a liberal arts education,” he said. “You’re going to have to talk to people – in marriage, interviewing for a job, asking for a raise, everything.”

He also said communication and hard work can lead to success.

“You may not always be the best dressed, best looking, or smartest person in the room,” he said, “but you can be the one that works the hardest and has the most integrity.”

The chief told students that his story is proof anyone can accomplish great things. 

“I grew up in a trailer house. My father was an abusive alcoholic, and my mother was a drug addict,” Buckley said. “Now I’m the chief of the world’s largest natural resource agency with a $10 billion budget, and I was hand-picked for this job by the man who sleeps in the White House.”