News

By Tara Huff, The Eagle Press

Kimberly Snelgrooes, Jared Snelgrooes, Sherlie Joseph, and Kevenson Jean sat around the Snelgrooes kitchen table, each trying to process the looming uncertainty of Sherlie and Kevenson’s future. Sherlie and Kevenson’s lives have been built on a foundation of hope, hard work, and the promise of a better life in the United States. But with the arrival of a letter from Homeland Security, the rug was pulled out from beneath them. They now face an impossible choice: remain in the United States and risk being separated from the life they had built, or return to Haiti, where danger and uncertainty awaits.

Kevenson and his wife Sherlie came to the United States under the CHNV humanitarian parole program, a lifeline offered to people from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. For the past year and a half, they have worked tirelessly, each holding down two jobs, hoping to one day secure a better future. Kevenson graduated with his CDL from Clarendon College. Since receiving their work permits, Kevenson and Sherlie have paid US Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes. They will never be eligible for the benefits they are contributing to.

Kevenson, along with his two jobs, has gone to school and is now a truck driver. His goal is to go back to school for business administration. Sherlie continues to work hard and wants to attend Frank Phillips College to earn a nursing degree. They have their own housing and live modestly without relying on government assistance. It is a life they have worked hard to create, but now that life is on the brink of falling apart.

The news hit them hard. The CHNV parole program was being terminated. The Department of Homeland Security had announced that the program would come to an end, effective immediately, forcing those who had entered under the program to leave the United States or face deportation. United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is quoted to say she has found the program no longer “serve a significant public benefit, are not necessary to reduce levels of illegal immigration, … and are inconsistent with the Administration’s foreign policy goals.”

Kimberly has spent countless hours navigating the complex bureaucracy to help Kevenson and his family come to the United States. She said that now, the very country they had come to for safety and opportunity was telling them to leave.

“What are we going to do?” Kevenson asked, his voice tinged with disbelief. Two tickets alone will cost approximately $5,000, money this modest family does not have.

The idea of returning to Haiti was a terrifying prospect. Port-au-Prince, the capital, is under gang control. The airport there is closed, and even if they could fly into a different part of the country, they would have nowhere to go. The roads to their families’ homes are also under gang control, leaving them trapped with no safe place to seek refuge.

Sherlie’s voice broke the silence. “If we go back to Haiti, it’s like we’re being sent to die. Port-au-Prince is a war zone, and the rest of the country isn’t much better. I can’t even get to my mom’s house. The roads are controlled by the gangs. They’ll take us, and there’s nothing we can do.”
When asked what they would do after they arrived and how would they survive, Kevenson’s answer was bleak.

Kevenson shook his head. “You get off the plane, and you just don’t know what happens next. You turn left or right and hope for the best. But it’s not safe. We’ll be targets, easy prey. We’ve been to America. We’re marked now.”

None of them had prepared for this reality. They had worked hard to create a life in the United States, and now, it seems as though they have no choice but to go back to a country on the brink of collapse. The fear of what will happen when they get off the plane in Haiti is overwhelming.

Kimberly said, “The government is saying they don’t belong here anymore, but they have followed every rule. They have done everything right. They deserve to stay.”

“We can’t just give up,” Kimberly said, her voice steady but filled with resolve. “We’ll fight this for you, for your family, for everyone who’s in the same situation. We have to try.”

Kimberly pleaded, “We all heard the soundbites about illegal criminals infiltrating our country and how the next four years would be spent expelling them from our communities. But Kevenson and Sherlie are not criminals. They are not a drain on our community. So why are they being targeted? Please contact your U.S. congressional and senate representatives today. Call them, email them, write to them. In the Texas Panhandle, our congressman is Ronny Jackson, and our Senators are Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. Contact them today.”

Tara Huff is the Publisher and Editor of The Eagle Press, covering Fritch and all of Hutchinson County.

Clarendon CISD Athletic Director Aaron Wampler confirmed Friday afternoon that he is resigning and taking a new position at River Road ISD.

Wampler told the Enterprise that he and his family have mixed feelings about leaving Clarendon.

“We’re doing a lot of going back and forth from being excited about the future to being sad to leave here,” Wampler said.

Wampler said his hiring will be confirmed by the River Road school board on Monday and then he will start his duties there as athletic director and head football coach on Tuesday following a press conference.

Clarendon, Wampler said, has always been very welcoming to his family and he likes the solid people of the community.

“We have enjoyed our time here and have been very happy here,” he said. “This has been a very supportive community, and I appreciate the buy-in and the character and the hard work of the kids here.”

The move to River Road Wampler says comes after careful consideration about what was best for his family.

“It’s never a matter of looking to leave but always looking at what’s best for the future of our family,” Wampler said. “River Road values athletics a lot, they have top notch facilities, and a great future for their athletic program.”

Wampler started at Clarendon in th spring of 2023 after the departure of then athletic director Clint Conkin. Prior to that, Wampler had spent six years at Caprock High School followed by three years at Boys Ranch.

Mary’s Musings

By Mary Green

I love a good story, and everyone and everything has one. The homeless man on the corner with the cardboard sign stating that he will work for food, the driver of that huge RV with decals and stickers from all over the country, the quiet lady who moved in down the street – they all have stories to tell if there were someone to listen to them.

Last Tuesday, a group of nice people met at the Donley County Senior Citizens Center to enjoy a good meal and simply share some stories from their lives.

Richard said he had a heart attack in 1989, but his story was about the tee shirt from Hooter’s restaurant that was covered with Marks-a-Lot well wishes for his recovery from the girls who worked there. A gift from his brother and his sons, finding it in a long-ago stored box brought back memories of a scary time and thoughts of thankfulness for the years since.

Ann showed a beautiful hand knit bolero style sweater that her grandmother had knitted for her to wear to the Clarendon High School Prom decades ago. Her two grandmothers conspired to make sure Ann was modestly attired. The bolero (a short, cropped jacket) has aged to an ivory color with perfect knitted stitches. Several people in the group knew the young man who was Ann’s date that night. Sweet memories.

Linda and Larry had items discovered after their parents had passed, including a 1914 US Patent for a self-turning tractor that Linda’s grandfather had designed. The patent included schematic, detailed illustrations of how the tractor’s mechanisms worked so that at the end of a row, it would automatically turn itself down the next row. The patent was sold, and it is unknown what has become of it since.

Linda showed her mother-in-law’s calendar book that showed the daily activities of a very active couple in their later years. Detailed, mundane events that showed how they progressed through life, interacted with others… and ate out a lot!

Charlene held up an 1800’s canning jar with an envelope sealed in it. It, along with other antiques, had been stolen from her home years before. She thought it was gone forever, when serendipity stepped in. She and Butch were visiting an antique collecting nephew in another town miles from their home. The nephew was showing off some of his latest finds when Charlene spotted the jar he had purchased from a local dealer. It was hers! Proof was in the pudding of the envelope sealed in the jar. It was a handwritten note, dated and signed by her great grandmother! What are the odds?

Ever the storyteller as well as a poet, Butch read from a book of his published poems. The poem told of the agony of a youth growing up on a farm where work was never ending and his father, a farmer with stoic discipline, instilled this work ethic on a then, unappreciative teen. Oh, how he would love to work alongside his father again!

Paula had me biting my lips in worry for her great granddaughter! She displayed an empty bag of frozen blueberries and told how those blueberries led to a harrowing few days after the child devoured nearly the entire bag, capped off with M&Ms. Torn between snickering at that outcome and then cringing at the symptoms that came on later, we all felt great relief when the true culprit behind the little girl’s painful ailment was revealed. Ask Paula.

San played stand-up comedian very well. He told a few stories that brought much laughter and then explained how Parkinson’s sometimes affects his thought to word process. But it was not evident this evening.

Jean brought some examples of her beautiful mosaic works of art. She explained the process she follows, starting with a wooden shape and filling it with colorful glass, ceramic, and jeweled remains of former items. Broken ceramic songbirds perch again and sing to jeweled fields of glass and mirrors and miscellaneous found objects. She uses grout to keep them in place. There was a beautifully done cross that would grace any wall, as well as a fun, but happy pig. When she was working, Jean saw an example of this kind of art and taught herself after she retired.

Patty showed us a treasured old candy tin from the 1930s. Her dad had wooed her mother and his future mother-in-law with a tin of sweets. Inside the tin were actual parts from the 1930s automobile (Sorry, I forgot the year) that he drove at that time. There was the car’s ash tray that had been bolted to the door and the actual hood ornament! Remember when they were prized and unique?

Denise and Roy and Mary all shared things from their pasts. Denise wore and passed around the yellow, but not genuine, sapphire ring that her sister thought she wanted until she found out it wasn’t valuable, Roy showed two toys that many of us had played with back in the day, and Mary talked about losing on Jeopardy.

There were a few moist eyes in the crowd as Jerry spoke of the recovery of a grandchild, and Sam reminded us how important our time together is. Sharing little pieces of our lives lets us get to know one another and care for one another.

Many years ago, I believe it was on Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone or, maybe, One Step Beyond, a group of scientists had found a way to hear the sounds in inanimate objects. They took a lava stone and listened to the eruption of Vesuvius. Just think if rocks could talk!