News

Applications for the Community Angel Tree are now available at Keith Floyd’s Shop, 120 West 3rd, for children age 12 and under living in Donley County.

Applications must be completed and returned by Friday November 30. Late applications will not be accepted.

Donations in support of the Angel Tree Project can be made at Pilgrim Bank or mailed to PO Box 45.

As part of a national day known as GivingTuesday, the local Donley County Community Fund (DCCF) is participating in The Panhandle Gives campaign.

For nine days from November 23 through December 1, all funds raised locally will be increased through a match from the Amarillo Area Foundation.

“Participating in this campaign is an opportunity for our local fund balance to grow,” DCCF chair Jacob Fangman said.

The DCCF is a local board whose purpose is to raise money for a perpetuating fund while contributing a portion of the money to local organizations. Over the past four years, the DCCF has been able to give $5,000 to local charities while increasing its own fund balance.

So that the local DCCF can benefit from the match, anyone wishing to participate will need to give their donation by Monday, December 1, so that the final deposit can be made on GivingTuesday.

Contributions can be mailed to Donley County Community Fund, c/o Jacob Fangman, PO Box 906, Clarendon, TX 79226. Checks should be made out to The Panhandle Gives, with DonleyCCF written on the memo line.

Other board members are Shauna Herbert, Sherol Johnston, Diane Skelton, and Roger Estlack.

The Clarendon City Council declared three properties as public nuisances during their regular meeting last Thursday, November 12.

Following the recommendation of the code compliance officer, the council took action on 802 S. Faker, 222 S. Kearney, and 701 E. Fourth. Owners of those properties will now have a timeline to follow to bring those properties into compliance with local ordinances or the city can take further action.

In other city business, the council accepted a bid from Roy Williams to build a curb and sidewalk along Kearney Street at the new aquatic center for $7,539.

Quarterly reports for Hotel Occupancy Tax fund expenses for the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation and the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce were approved as presented, and the council approved re-appointing Roger Estlack and Chuck Robertson to the CEDC board for two-year terms.

Aldermen approved authorizing the public works department to buy a new fleet vehicle, and the council approved a list of old equipment as surplus available for auction.

The council also approved a request from Cheryl Johnson to abandon six feet of city right of way along South Jefferson Street.

In his report, City Administrator David Dockery discussed code compliance efforts, the aquatic center progress, clean up from the October ice storm, the USDA water project, and the new sanitation contract. M.C. Harris and Landford Henshaw were reported as new or reassigned employees.

Dockery also brought up doing a comprehensive plan for the city in the near future as way to guide the council and employees in the coming years.

COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Donley County and the Panhandle region with no immediate relief in sight.

The Clarendon Family Medical Center reported Tuesday afternoon that 30 active cases are under its care, which was up from 28 Monday and up from 19 one week ago.

Also as of Tuesday, the clinic has conducted 507 tests since the pandemic began with 133 cases confirmed as positive.

Donley County Judge John Howard, MD, said Tuesday that there are about five more active cases that he is aware of in the county, which would bring the overall active count up to at least 35. But Howard also discussed the difficulty in getting accurate case counts for local residents who test outside of Donley County.

The judge’s office received a state update last Wednesday, but the state then retracted the report on Friday, saying there had been data errors and that a new report would be issued that day. Then Howard later learned the state office was closed on Friday, and he still had no update as of Tuesday.

“If someone from Donley County tests positive in Amarillo, that case is first reported to Potter/Randall county officials, who then report it to the state regional office in Lubbock, who then are supposed to report it to the county and the state,” Howard said.

Howard expressed frustration with the state reporting system, not only for the time lag but also how the state is handling the results of rapid tests like those now being conducted at the local clinic. The state, Howard said, will not count a positive rapid test as a confirmed COVID-19 case unless it is backed up by the more invasive swab test.

“They will report those as ‘probable’ or ‘pending,’ but I assure you the only way you’re going to get a positive rapid test is if in fact you have COVID,” Howard said. The state’s online dashboard, therefore, will not show the same number of “confirmed” COVID cases in Donley County as reported in the Enterprise, and Howard also said the online dashboard of the Childress Regional Medical Center is “in no way official.”

Regarding the active cases in Donley County, Howard calls it a “rolling number,” noting patients who test positive for COVID-19 should come off the active list ten days after their test unless they are still showing symptoms.

“A lot of cases are going beyond ten days,” he said.

Howard also said the positivity rate for the local clinic in October was 34 percent and said three of his patients are currently hospitalized.

“From September 30 through November 5, we conducted 225 tests and had 77 positives,” he said. “We’ve had 22 positives in November alone. November 4 and 5, we performed 31 tests and had 13 positives.”

Donley County voters strongly backed Kristy Christopher as their choice for Tax Assessor Collector in the only contested county-wide race on last week’s General Election ballot.

Running as a Republican, Christopher received 968 compared to Democrat Tony Dale’s 158 votes. Write-in candidate Deedra Keen received 44 votes.
Christopher will succeed Linda Crump when her term expires at the end of this year.

On the presidential ballot, Donley voters preferred President Trump with 1,438 in favor of his re-election compared to 198 who preferred former vice president Joe Biden, who carried the national popular vote and appears to have enough electoral votes to be the next president. Mr. Trump is challenging those results in several states, however.

Some local voters preferred other candidates for president with Libertarian Jo Jorgensen getting 11 votes and one vote going to Howie Hawkins.
Republican Ronny Jackson was the strong favorite across District 13 to succeed US Rep. Mac Thornberry, who is retiring when his term expires in January.

Jackson received 1,419 votes locally compared to 178 for Democrat Gus Trujillo and 29 for Libertarian Jack Westbrook.

Several local candidates were unopposed in this year’s general election. Those returns include County Attorney Landon Lambert 1,423, Sheriff Butch Blackburn 1,436, Precinct One Commissioner Mark White 340, Precinct 3 Commissioner-elect Neil Koetting 344, Precinct 3&4 Constable Doug Wright 644, District Judge Stuart Messer 1,444, and District Attorney Luke Inman 1,407.

Local voters had their say in elections for Clarendon College, the Clarendon CISD, and the City of Howardwick last Tuesday, which were held alongside the General Election.

In Howardwick, incumbents Mary Grady and Marietta Baird were returned to the city council with 103 and 86 votes respectively. Terry Barnes was also elected with 100 votes. Other candidates were Jada Murray 78, Shelly Chavira 37, and Jeremy Kindle 13.

In the Clarendon College and CCISD elections, results became confused following election night after the Enterprise reported totals from the Donley County Clerk’s Office. College and school officials later discovered discrepancies in the vote tallies from the clerk’s office, which were later clarified. The discrepancies did not change the outcome of either election.

In the election for three positions on the CC Board of Regents, President Tex Buckhaults reported Guy Ellis was the top vote earner with 821 and was followed by incumbents Carey Wann 445 and Darlene Spier 438. Also running were Debbie Thompson 429 and Chris Matthews 366. The board was meeting to canvass and certify those numbers as the Enterprise went to press Tuesday.

At Clarendon CISD where two positions were available on the Board of Trustees, two new faces will join the board. Kyle Davis had the most votes with 555 followed by Chrisi Tucek at 546. Reneé Mott also ran and received 520. Superintendent Jarod Bellar says the school board will meet Saturday to canvass and certify those results.

A budget shortfall, COVID-19 issues, and the powers of the governor will all be topics for next year’s Legislative session, according to State Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo).

Seliger held a virtual town hall meeting for Donley County residents via Zoom on Monday, November 2.

“I miss our face to face town halls, and will still do them if people ask me to,” Seliger said.

The senator began his remarks with an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on Texas and the number of cases in the Amarillo area, where the hospitalization rate topped 28 percent this week and the state has sent additional resources.

“This thing is bad and is going to get worse,” Seliger said.

He said he was not optimistic that a vaccine would be ready soon and suggested that people need to follow the published guidelines for masks and other health precautions.

“I had the virus, and it was no fun,” Seliger said, noting that he still has not regained his stamina.

COVID-19 precautions will be seen at the Legislature, Seliger said, in the form of Plexiglass dividers in meeting rooms and a limited number of staff being allowed on the senate floor. Officials are also considering ways to allow people to testify virtually or in limited timeframes on important legislation.

The senate will work hard not to spread the disease, but Seliger was confident that his office will “make it happen” if constituents want to come see their senator in person, even if that means meeting under a tree on the Capitol grounds.

Seliger said the state is forecasting a $4 billion budget shortfall. He is open to using a portion of the state’s Rainy Day Fund, which currently has between $8 and $9 billion, he said. But he also said the fund shouldn’t be used for ongoing expenses and needs to keep a healthy reserve for the future.

The senator said Texans should expect to see cuts across the board in most areas, but he said he doesn’t want to see any cuts to higher education and particularly area community colleges.

Seliger said he expects to see bills designed to limit the power of the governor during emergencies after actions that Gov. Abbott took during COVID-19, although he points out that most people don’t have any problem with the governor having those powers during hurricanes.

“I don’t think he was right all the time,” Seliger said.

Local control will also be a topic that comes up again in the next session. He pointed to efforts in the City of Austin to cut police funding and said he was opposed to the state stepping into that situation.

“I think it would be wrong for the state to try to take control of the Austin police,” the senator said. “The citizens there will only take so much of that [cutting the police].”

Seliger ran afoul of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in the last legislative session by standing with local governments on a variety of issues, particularly the ability for local boards to set taxes. He told the Enterprise his relationship with Patrick today is “very business-like and that’s all,” but he took pride in the fact that Patrick has told people “Seliger is the only vote I don’t control.”

“I don’t work for him,” Seliger said. “I work for the people of this district.”

The senator said local officials need to band together to tell politicians that if they follow the “Empower Texans model” – the far right lobbying group – then they are going to have a tough time getting elected.

“Teachers helped get me elected in the last primary, and that was noticed in Austin,” he said.

Seliger also is in favor of setting aside accountability ratings again this year, saying that teachers and administrators have enough to deal with right now.

He noted that many schools still want to give the STAAR test for the information they can receive from it but said schools should not be graded on the test this year.

Following the 2020 US Census, redistricting will also be a top priority for Seliger and the senate in the next session. District 31 will have to be enlarged by about 130,000 people, and that will see it expand down through Childress and further south most likely, he said. It currently starts in the Permian Basin and runs north to take in the Panhandle.

Seliger said the Legislature must set new boundaries by June of next year or a five-person committee will take over the job and that committee will have no representation from West Texas.

Going forward, Seliger said he wants to encourage residents to contact him at any time if they have issues that need his attention.