News

Several local businesses and organizations have this week announced postponements or changes in plans for the weeks ahead.

The Sandell Drive-In Theatre was planning to open for its 2020 season the first weekend in April but announced last week on its Facebook page that it would postpone that opening until further notice.

The Mulkey Theatre is continuing with its movie this week, but the theatre will limit the number of people admitted to the show to 40.

The Saints’ Roost Museum board met this week and decided to close the museum until March 31 out of concern for the health of its volunteers.

The parishioners of St. Mary’s Catholic Church have postponed their Fish Fry nights scheduled for March 27 and April 3. The church hopes to reschedule those events at a later date.

The Friends of the Library has postponed its Trivia Night that was scheduled Friday, March 27. The group plans to host this event in the future, but no date has been set yet.

Clarendon and Hedley schools have no plans to cancel school as of Tuesday, but are feeling the first impact of the COVID-19 virus with the cancelation of UIL competitions and the upcoming STAAR testing.

With both schools on spring break this week, superintendents said Monday they are taking a “wait and see” approach before extending the break or otherwise canceling classes.

Many schools around the state are already taking measures to suspend classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Clarendon Superintendent Jarod Bellar said no one in Region 16 had done so as of Monday.

“Right now we aren’t going to make a determination on that,” Bellar said about a possible school closure. “We’re here to educate kids and keep them safe, and there won’t be a break in that effort.”

Hedley Superintendent Garrett Bains said his school was also waiting on any determination to close the school.

“As of right now, we’re back to school on March 23,” Bains said. “We have zero cases [of COVID-19] in the Panhandle, and I want those days in our pocket for when we need them.”

Bains said he felt certain the virus would impact Region 16 schools in time.

“I bet we won’t make it to May,” he said. “It will touch every county eventually.”

Bellar said all UIL academic and athletic events have been suspended across the state effective March 13 and lasting until at least March 29.

Monday afternoon, the UIL also postponed all rehearsals, practices, and workouts conducted outside of the school day until March 29 as well.

Also on Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott waived STAAR testing requirements for this school year.

Bellar said the state is leaving promotions and end of course exams to the discretion of local schools, but that Clarendon will continue to work to make sure students are where they need to be.

Bains said his students may still take the test but that he had not yet made a determination on that.

“I think it’s worth looking at,” Bains said. “It’s an indicator, and we can tell if we’re moving forward the way we need to.”

Both Clarendon and Hedley schools say they are staying in close contact with the state and with Dr. John Howard locally. Hedley is going through a cleaning process while kids are on spring break, and Bellar said Clarendon School Nurse Debbie Thompson met with custodial staff before the break to talk about how the school can take extra precautions to combat the spread of germs.

Clarendon College is extending spring break, moving most classes online, and canceling spring sports in extraordinary measures to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

In an emergency meeting of the Board of Regents Thursday night, college officials discussed the pandemic in terms of the safety of students, staff, and the communities CC serves.

Interim President Tex Buckhaults said the meeting was prompted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which had asked colleges and universities to report their plans for dealing with the outbreak. Buckhaults then presented regents with options ranging from compressing the spring schedule and finishing the semester earlier to not allowing students to return from spring break.

Dr. John Howard addressed the board in his capacity as the Donley County Judge and Emergency Management Director as well as a medical doctor. Howard said there were 23 confirmed cases in Texas of COVID-19, commonly called the Coronavirus, as of Thursday with another 100 people being tested in the state. He said the number of confirmed cases would grow by next week, when Clarendon College will be off for spring break.

“The effort now is to mitigate the spread,” Howard said. “It is spreading now and spreads rapidly. This is a novel virus. There is no immunity.”

Howard said the local community is isolated in its rural setting from the virus that is mostly in metropolitan areas currently, but travelers will be bringing the disease to Clarendon on US 287. He and college officials also discussed that college students who do not currently have the virus may be exposed when they disperse for spring break and then return to campus.

Most people who get COVID-19 may not even know it, Howard said, but it is very dangerous to people with compromised health and threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system if the spread is not mitigated.

“Our concern is not that young people will get this and get sick,” he said. “Our concern is that young people will take it home to grandma on dialysis or uncle with COPD.”

The virus can incubate for two to 14 days before symptoms occur, Howard said, during which time, the person may spread the disease.

“The Spanish flu killed at least 20 million people in 1918,” Howard said. “That was influenza, and we don’t want to see that happen again.”

Following the unanimous decision of the board, Clarendon College students will be on spring break from March 16-27. Students living in the dorms will be told to take their personal belongings home with them. Students who have already left for spring break will be allowed to return for their possessions.

During the break, college faculty and personnel will work to move as many classes as possible online. Some vocational programs may be too hands-on to be moved to online. College personnel urged regents to make the decision to go online sooner rather than later due to the difficulty of moving a class online and training some faculty who have not taught online before.

The college also canceled all spring sporting events. Athletic Director Mark James told the board that baseball and softball students will retain a year of eligibility under the circumstances. Most other sports are finished for the year, although the college rodeo team still had events planned and the men’s basketball team was scheduled to make their first appearance in the NJCAA national tournament next week. Earlier in the day, the NJCAA had postponed that tournament due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

Other college related events that have been cancelled are spring graduation ceremonies in May and the spring invitational judging contest scheduled for April 4. The contest regularly doubles the population of Clarendon for the day it’s held. Judging coach Johnny Triechel, however, said restrictions at other universities and school districts may have caused Clarendon’s event to be called off anyway.

The Enterprise will have more information about CC’s decision and other local impacts of the COVID-19 virus in next week’s issue.

The Clarendon College Bulldogs will have to wait a few weeks to play in their first ever NJCAA national tournament after the association today postponed that event due to concerns about the COVID-19 virus.

CC was supposed to have played in the DI tournament next Wednesday, March 18.

In a statement, the NJCAA said it was postponing national championship events for the upcoming DI and DII men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. DIII men’s and women’s basketball championships, currently underway, will work with an expedited schedule that will conclude on Friday, March 13.

Originally scheduled to begin the week of March 16, the four upcoming national championship events – DI men, DI women, DII men, and DII women will aim for a tentative start date of Monday, April 20.

The DIII men’s and women’s national championships, currently underway, will cancel all consolation games and will move semifinal and championship games to Friday, March 13.

Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA President & CEO expressed his sentiments regarding the situation.

“Due to the concerns surrounding the safety and security of our student-athletes and those involved with Division I and Division II NJCAA championships, we are postponing the tournaments and maintaining a fluid mentality to see these tournaments take place with a tentative start date,” Parker said. “We have two main objectives in this situation – first and foremost is to protect the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, college personnel, and fans. Second is to make sure our student-athletes receive the national championship experience that they have worked so hard for.”

Start dates for each of the respective tournaments are tentative and the NJCAA will continue to follow all state and local mandates, restrictions, and regulations as it impacts its member institutions and national championship events.

A Clarendon College alumni is the number one saddle bronc rider in the world after winning The American in Arlington Sunday.

Wyatt Casper secured the Saddle Bronc Champion title on the horse, Get Smart, scoring 91.25 and claiming half of the The American’s $1 million prize in AT&T Stadium.

The day before, Casper secured his spot in the championship round with a 91.25-point ride on Onion Ring. His total winnings for The American came to $600,000.

CC’s rodeo program was also represented by sophomore Riggin Smith, the current college national champion. Smith made the final eight round but double grabbed and was bucked off, said CC rodeo coach Brett Franks.

“He did an outstanding job,” Franks said, noting that both Smith and Casper met his expectations.

“When you put in the work and have the desire, it’s doable,” Franks said, “and those two are the most devoted I’ve had come through here. Both have great futures.”

Although Franks has coached both young men, he takes no credit for their successes.

“They did it,” he said. “They got to be on the biggest stage in rodeo, and he [Casper] got the biggest payday in rodeo.”

The cowboys’ performance is also a huge boost for CC’s rodeo program. Smith rode with the Clarendon College logo on his back, and Franks said Tuesday he’s already had four recruits call him already.

“They saw it and want to be a part of it,” he said.

It’s much the same way that Smith was attracted to Clarendon because of the reputation that Casper made while he was riding for CC.

“When you have a dream and then visit a place where it’s been done, it seems more possible,” Franks said. “That’s good advertisement.”

With Casper’s finish and Smith’s performance, Franks expects to have 10 to 15 bronc riders at CC next fall, but he emphasizes that his program works hard at every event, not just saddle bronc riding.

“I gear toward making professionals and not everyone will make that,” he said. “I want to make a well-rounded person… someone who will be a great employee or a great boss. What it takes to be a professional is the same thing it takes to be a good employee or a good citizen.”

Franks said Clarendon College is unique because it’s small.

“The people in this community support us well, and that’s a big part of what it takes to make our kids good people.”

The parishioners of St. Mary’s Catholic Church are cooking this season and invite everyone to come join them. On Friday nights during Lent they will hold Fish Fries from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in their Parish Hall located on the corner of Montgomery and McLelland.

Dates for those upcoming fish fries are March 13 and 27 and April 3.

The fish fries are an all-you-can-eat meal of deep fried fish, french fries, handmade hushpuppies, cole slaw, beans, dessert, and a drink. Dine in or carry out for the same price. Adults are $12, children $5 and preschoolers eat free. College students can eat for $10 with a student ID. All proceeds go to the Parish Building Fund.

The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce will hold its next Business After Hours and its first Totally Locally $500 drawing of 2020 at Cornell’s Country Store Thursday, March 12.

The come-and-go event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and will provide Chamber members and prospective members an opportunity to learn more about what’s happening in the local business community. Refreshments will be served. The first ten attendees of the After Hours will get a free Mulkey movie pass.

In addition to learning more about what’s happening at Cornell’s, one of the highlights of the March After Hours will be the Chamber’s Totally Locally drawing. Shoppers can sign up for the drawing with 14 local businesses, and one lucky person will win $500 in Clarendon Cash at the After Hours.

Participating Totally Locally merchants include A Fine Feathered Nest, Broken Road Liqour Store, Clarendon Outpost, Country Bloomers, Every Nook & Cranny, Floyd’s Automotive, Henson’s, J&W Lumber, Mike’s Pharmacy, Saye’s Tack Store, Speed’s Tire Unlimited, Studio E Creative, and Turquoise & Rust.

“Totally Locally encourages you to step through the door of that shop you go past every day,” the Chamber says. “Most of all though it’s about people who care about what they do, what they grow, what they make, and ultimately the people they sell it to. It’s about buying, playing, working, and living Totally Locally.”

Donley County Precinct 3 Republicans chose a new county commissioner Tuesday, favoring challenger Neil Koetting over incumbent Andy Wheatly, 104-79.

The position was the only competitive local race on the Super Tuesday ballots. Koetting faces no Democratic challenger in the fall and will take over as commissioner in January when Wheatly’s term ends.

Also of local interest Tuesday, local Republicans favored keeping District Attorney Luke Inman on the job over his competitor, Bryan Denham, 597-126. Inman was also leading district wide.

In the 15-person race for the Republican nomination for the District 13 congressional seat, Josh Winegarner was the favorite of Donley County voters with 395 votes and Ronny Jackson was second with 184. Winegarner led district wide but did not have enough votes to avoid  a runoff with Jackson.

Local Democrats favored Greg Sagan to be their congressional candidate, but Sagan was running second district wide to Gus Trujillo with Timothy Gassaway coming in third. Sagan and Trujillo will face a runoff election.

Local and statewide Republicans heavily favored nominating Donald Trump for president again, although 35 local Republicans voted against the president in the primary.

Donley County Democrats would prefer to see Joe Biden as their presidential nominee with Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg also picking up some local support.

For more election coverage, see next week’s Enterprise.

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

Halfway between Amarillo and Childress along US Highway 287 in the Texas Panhandle are two billboards representing the Clarendon College rodeo team.
One reads: “Home of Wyatt Casper, 2016 National Champion Saddle Bronc Rider.”
The other: “Home of Riggin Smith, 2019 National Champion Saddle Bronc Rider.”

In a town of around 2,000 people, Clarendon College has an enrollment of about 1,100 students and two national champion bronc busters. They arrived at the small school in the small Texas town from small communities of their own – Smith from the hamlet of Winterset, Iowa, which is more than twice as big as Clarendon, and Casper from Balko, Okla., a burg of around 600 people.

They’ve made names for themselves everywhere they’ve gone, and this coming weekend will test their skills on one of the biggest national stages available at The American, a two-day rodeo that will pay out more than $2 million Saturday and Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“It’s one of the biggest rodeos of the year, and only 16 guys get to go to it in bronc riding,” said Casper, who worked his way through a series of qualifying events and last week’s semifinals to advance into the final field. “It’s a shot at a million dollars. Winning the semifinals out of 50 guys is a big deal, too.”

Yes, it was. At The American semifinals, the 50 qualifiers each rode one horse. The top 10 advanced to Sunday’s short go-round, and only the top six earned the right to compete at “Jerry Jones World” in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. There were 10 contestants per event that were invited based on how they finished the 2019 season; the rest of the field advanced through the qualifiers.

Because of that, Casper and Smith are in line to win at least a share of the $1 million side pot. In The American’s inaugural year, bareback rider Richmond Champion won the bareback riding title and was the only qualifier to win his event. He left Arlington with $1.1 million – $1 million for being the qualifying winner, and $100,000 for winning the event.

Last year, three athletes split the $1 million side pot. Each earned $433,000. All of it is life-changing money, and it’s the dream of every qualifier that has earned the right to compete in just a few days.

“This is really a big opportunity that God has blessed me with,” Smith said. “If I could win a million dollars or part of it, it would mean some financial stability for me and allow me to help my family out. I don’t really worry about too much, but you wouldn’t have to worry about money for a while.”

Sometimes it’s nice to just dream, but there’s more to it for the men from Clarendon. Rodeo is how they plan to make the bulk of their livings, and riding for money like that is an added benefit. This is actually Casper’s second qualification to The American; he also earned a spot in the 2016 field, just four months before he earned his national title at the College National Finals Rodeo.

Since then, he’s been hot on the rodeo trail. Now living in Pampa, Texas, Casper is the No. 1 man in the PRCA world standings with $66,645 – an incredible amount given that it’s just the first week of March, and there are seven more months remaining in the ProRodeo season. He owns a lead of more than $20,000 over the No. 2 man.

“I think having a few years’ experience helps a lot going into this situation,” Casper said. “It’s still a big deal, but I see these fellas every weekend. It’s going to be hard to beat them, but that’s the way it is every week. You’ve got to do the best you can on the horse you’ve got. You can only focus on what you can do and not worry about anything else.”

Some of that comes through experience, some through education. That’s why he leans on his experiences at Clarendon College.

“With two of us from there going to The American, hopefully it gets some more recruits for the college and makes the rodeo program a little tougher,” he said.

“They’ve done awfully good in the last year winning the region and being tough enough to finish as the third best team in the nation.”

That’s the way Smith sees it, too. He chose Clarendon based on the original billboard, which was erected shortly after Casper won his crown. As a 2017 high school graduate, Smith noticed the giant sign upon is recruiting visit and decided to try to add another to the college’s program.

“I think having Wyatt and I make The American just verifies that if you want to be a bronc rider, Clarendon is the place to go to college,” Smith said. Coach “Bret (Franks) is so good at working with everybody, and he’s really good at teaching just about anybody.”

That’s part of why the Clarendon men won the Southwest Region title a year ago and finished third at the college finals. It’s why the Bulldogs continue to reload year after year.

It’s also why Casper is in line to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo this season and why he and Smith have a chance to make a big payday at The American.

“I’d say this is the best I’ve ever ridden,” Casper said. “I’ve ridden 100 percent of the horses I’ve attempted this year and was over 80 points on 25 of them. You’ve got to stay on them to get a score.

“I’m really wanting to go into the NFR in the top five at least and come out of there the world champion. I believe it’s going to take at least $105,000 to make the finals.”

He’s well on his way, and earning big bucks in Arlington this next weekend could make a big difference for either Casper or Smith to reach some lofty goals they’ve set for themselves.

“My goals for the year are along the same lines as trying to make the NFR, trying to win the (PRCA) Rookie of the Year,” Smith said. “One of the things I like most is riding bucking horses, and I like getting on the best ones. If you keep doing well, you’re going to go places where the horses are better. That gives you the best shot.”

It all adds up to brilliant athletes riding for the pride of Clarendon College, and they’re doing so for a chance at a million bucks at The American.

“This is huge for our program and our school,” Franks said. “We have one of the smallest colleges in the nation, and we’re getting two kids to represent us on a worldwide stage.”