Ben Estlack

A Fort Worth man was booked into the Donley County Jail early Tuesday morning after he stole a Childress Police Department car.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said his office was alerted shortly before 4 a.m. by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office that the stolen vehicle was headed to Clarendon. Blackburn said the suspect had stolen the patrol car from Allsup’s in Childress while the officer driving the vehicle was inside the store.

Donley County Deputy Danny Lance spotted the stolen patrol car coming through Hedley. Deputy Sonny Morasco stopped eastbound US 287 traffic in Clarendon while Deputy Kelly Hill set spikes in the construction zone near Kearney Street. After the suspect hit the spikes, Sheriff Blackburn stopped him.

Johnathan David Ramos, age 30, of Fort Worth, was charged with Evading Arrest in Motor Vehicle with a Deadly Weapon. At press time Tuesday, he was awaiting arraignment on the Donley County charge as well as additional charges out of Childress.

The Clarendon City Council took no action on a draft ordinance calling for a moratorium on data centers and other large scale businesses last Thursday, June 11, but directed the city administrator to contact neighboring cities for suggestions to improve local zoning and codes.

There is no known data center planned for Donley County at this time, but residents showed up to voice their opposition to any future data centers being built.

Jerri Hinton, Linda Naylor, and Chris Topliff all signed in for public comment in opposition to the developments.

City Administrator Brian Barboza told council members the language they had before them that night was for discussion and had not been looked at by any attorney. Council members said they felt the city passing a moratorium would not do much more than “make us feel good” because any data center would be constructed outside of the city limits and therefore not subject to any city zoning or regulation.

“I think there are things we can do and should look at, like RV parks and setback limits,” Alderman Ashlee Estlack said.
Mayor Jacob Fangman agreed and said the city should focus on the things it can address.

Council members said things like large trucks driving on residential streets, bulk water sales, RV parks regulations, and building codes were things the city can consider to be ready if a data center was to try to come to Donley County.

Alderman Brittany Sanne said the city needs to hire a code enforcement officer and be ready if a development comes to Donley County.

In other city business, the council approved an interlocal agreement with the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission to lead the search for a new city administrator with Barboza leaving July 17 for another job.

Aldermen discussed salary range for the new administrator and other possible benefits, and a PRPC representative said the hiring process will likely take six to eight months. Aldermen will meet in called session next week to discuss hiring an interim administrator.

A 30-year street maintenance and improvement plan was on the agenda for last week, but the city engineers were still working on the plan. The council did, however, meet with a Government Capital representative to learn about ways to finance large scale street projects.

The council also met for over an hour in closed session to perform the annual evaluation of the city secretary, but no action was taken when the council returned to open session.

Clarendon College officials had to back away from a plan to pay for a new distance learning server after Gov. Greg Abbott froze college tuition and fees last month.

CC President Tex Buckhaults said replacing the server will cost more than $50,000 and the college planned to raise its distance education fee by $1 per hour.

The day after CC approved the increase, Buckhaults said the governor blocked it, and it will now have to be repealed.

“I directed all public institutions of higher education in Texas to freeze undergraduate tuition and fees. Higher education must be attainable for Texas students and families,” said Governor Abbott.

“Access to affordable, high-quality education is essential to ensure Texans learn the skills needed to secure family-sustaining jobs and meet the demands of a growing workforce.”

Tuition and fees will remain frozen through the 2026-27 academic year for all two-year and four-year institutions, including both general academic and health-related institutions.

Since 2023, Governor Abbott has directed tuition and fees in Texas to be frozen at all public intuitions of higher education. Just this past session, the State of Texas made historic investments in higher education and increased student financial aid funding by $328 million to improve access to state financial aid programs for eligible students across Texas.

A Clarendon man remains in jail facing multiple charges after he resisted arrest last week.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said his office was called about 5:25 a.m. on June 5 to respond to a domestic situation in which P.J. Owens, age 37, was allegedly assaulting a woman. Owens was already on felony probation for previously assaulting the woman.

When Blackburn and Deputy Sonny Marasco arrived to arrest Owens, the man resisted and was wrestled to the ground after being tazed.

Owens was arraigned Justice of the Peace Sarah Hatley on four counts of Assault on a Peace Officer with bond set at $40,000 for each count and on one count of Assault Causing Bodily Injury to a Family Member with bond set at $3,000.

Owens was still in custody Tuesday as the Enterprise went to press.

The City of Howardwick is being blocked from raising property taxes this year after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxon claimed the city is not in compliance with Senate Bill 1851.

Paxton’s office announced on May 14 it was sending letters to Howardwick and 129 other cities notifying them that they are prohibited from raising ad valorem taxes above the no-new-revenue tax rate after Paxton investigated more than 1,000 Texas cities.

Howardwick City Secretary Sandy Childress says the city had already complied with the law by furnishing its annual audits and was surprised and frustrated by Paxton’s action.

“I have been contacting the attorney general’s office every day to find out why they did this and what we have to do become compliant, and they have not responded at all,” Childress said.

During the 2025 legislative session, SB 1851 was passed and then enacted into law. This law bars cities from raising property taxes above the no-new-revenue rate if they do not meet Texas’s financial statement audit and transparency requirements. Now, Paxton has notified 130 cities that they are subject to the enforcement provisions and penalties established under SB 1851 and may not adopt property tax increases above the no-new-revenue rate.

The Attorney General’s office says it will continue to take additional action and make further determinations as more cities are found to be out-of-compliance with audit requirements.

“I will not allow cities to unlawfully raise taxes on hardworking Texans. That is why I took aggressive action against over 130 Texas cities to hold them accountable and ensure they comply with state law,” Paxton said in a press release. “Cities cannot fail to abide by state audit requirements without consequences. My office will continue to aggressively enforce Texas law to protect taxpayers across the state.”

Childress still says she hasn’t been told what the city did wrong or how to fix it, and she may be in for a long wait. According to the Texas Tribune, the City of Odessa received a similar letter late last year. As of May 7, the Tribune reported, “In the seven months since issuing the first order, Paxton has not responded to the city [of Odessa] – not to documents nor letters.”

Childress said Howardwick doesn’t typically raise taxes but she doesn’t like the AG’s action.

“We don’t even have the option to raise taxes now if we needed to,” she said. “They should let us take care of our own business.”