News

The 100th District Court heard six pleas resulting in convictions in cases ranging from Driving While Intoxicated to Assault on a Public Servant and Burglary when it met in Clarendon last Monday, January 24.

A total of $12,500 in fines was assessed as a result of the pleas that took place on January 24. In addition to the fines, the defendants were required to pay a total of $3,012 in court costs and $22,000 restitution.

District Attorney Luke Inman prosecuted the cases for the State of Texas with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.

John L. Louis was placed on probation for a period of five years for the third degree felony offense of assault on a public servant and driving while intoxicated 3rd or more. Louis was convicted and sentenced on both charges to ten years in the Institutional Division of the TDCJ, but the sentence was probated for a period of five years.

Louis was arrested in Donley County on November 3, 2010, by Deputy Mike Spier and was later indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on January 13, 2011, for aggravated assault against a public servant and driving while intoxicated.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Louis is required to pay a $2,000 fine to Donley County, and is also required to pay $941 in court costs, along with DWI requirements.

Joe Wayne Clark Jr. pleaded true to the allegations listed in the State’s Motion to Revoke Probation of Defendant. Clark was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in the State Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

On July 24, 2009, Clark originally pleaded guilty to the state jail felony offense of driving while intoxicated with a child passenger that occurred on June 23, 2009 in Donley County.

The State filed the motion to revoke on January 13, 2010, alleging four violations of community supervision.
Clark pleaded true to all violations contained in the State’s motion and was sentenced to 12 months in the TDCJ. Clark is also required to pay $565 in court costs to Donley County and a $1,500 fine.

David Andrew Vinson was placed on probation for a period of one year for the Class A Misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated. Vinson was convicted and sentenced to one year in the Donley County Jail, but the sentence was probated for a period of one year.

Vinson was arrested in Donley County on September 5, 2010, by Deputy Mike Spier and was later indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on October 27, 2010 for driving while intoxicated.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Vinson is required to pay a $1,000 fine to Donley County, and is also required to pay $558 in court costs, along with DWI requirements.

Michelle Lucia Nemoede AKA Shelly Nemoede was placed on probation for a period of one year for the Class A Misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated.

Nemoede was convicted and sentenced to one year in the Donley County Jail, but the sentence was probated for a period of two years.

Nemoede was arrested in Donley County on May 30, 2010, by DPS Trooper Joe Cannon and was later indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on June 28, 2010, for driving while intoxicated with a child passenger.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Nemoede is required to pay a $4,000 fine to Donley County, and is also required to pay $558 in court costs, along with DWI requirements.

Kyle Daniel Murray pleaded true to the allegations listed in the State’s Motion to Adjudicate Probation of Defendant.

Murray was convicted and sentenced to ten years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice but the sentence was probated for a period of ten years.

On August 19, 2009, Murray originally pleaded guilty to the second degree felony offense of burglary of a habitation that occurred on June 3, 2009, in Donley County.

The State filed the motion to adjudicate on October 28, 2009, alleging ten violations of community supervision.

Murray pleaded true to all violations contained in the State’s motion and was sentenced to ten years in the TDCJ but the sentence was probated for ten years.

Murray is also required to pay $390 in court costs to Donley County, a $4,000 fine, and $22,000 in restitution.

Bruce Ferguson , Executive Director for the Donley County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), has announced a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup March 14, 2011 through April 15, 2011. This is the second consecutive year that USDA has offered a general CRP signup.

“Financial incentives available through CRP afford farmers and ranchers a low risk opportunity to implement a variety of conservation practices that will benefit the environment in a number of ways,” said Ferguson.

“Over the past 25 years, CRP practices have improved water and air quality, increased wildlife habitat and prevented soil erosion,” he said.

Landowners enrolled in the CRP program receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland.

Land that is not currently enrolled in CRP can be offered during sign-up if all eligibility requirements are met.

CRP participants with contracts expiring this fall can make new contract offers during the signup period. Contracts awarded during this general signup will become effective October 1, 2011.

All CRP offers are evaluated and ranked using an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) that indicates the environmental benefits of enrolling land in CRP. There are five environmental factors that make up the EBI: wildlife, water, soil, air, enduring benefits and cost. Decisions will be made following the end of the sign-up period and after analyzing EBI data on all of the offers.

In addition to the general sign-up, the continuous CRP sign-up program will be ongoing.

For more information, please contact the Donley County FSA Office at 806-874-3561 or visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.

Exhibits, events, and supporting literature themed “Believe, Achieve, Succeed” are all a part of the Clarendon College Vera Dial Dickey Library’s way of celebrating African American History Month in February.

The celebration will begin next Monday, February 7, and culminate with guest speaker Claudia Stuart on February 24.

“We always try to honor heritage celebration months,” said Reagan Silva, CC Library Director. “This year we’re just taking it to another level.”

February 7-11 will celebrate “The Power of a Dream.”

An exhibit of the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the election of Barack Obama will be on display.
The videos “The Speeches of Martin Luther
King,” “Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Man and the Dream,” and “Biography: Barack Obama,” will also be shown each day.

“The Harlem Renaissance” will be celebrated February 14-18, featuring Cultural Revolution in Harlem and including playing “Harlem Speaks,” music and voices with accompanying PowerPoint presentations.

February 21-25 will celebrate “Milestones in Music.” A presentation on the birth of jazz will accompany this exhibit over contributions by African Americans to music in the United States.

“We get tons of students here in the library, but the community doesn’t come in as much,” Silva said. “We would like to invite the community to come celebrate achievements in African American History.”

Claudia Stuart will give her speech “Images of America-African Americans in Amarillo” on February 24 at 6 p.m. in the Bairfield Activity Center.

Stuart is an award-winning poet with several books of poetry, including: My Private Stock, Expressions, All Along Life’s Journey, Living Out Loud, and African Americans in Amarillo.

CC recently acquired Stuart’s newest book, African Americans in Amarillo. Copies of it will be for sale after her speech.

Clarendon College and other Texas community colleges were shocked last Wednesday when a budget proposal from the Texas House of Representatives cut $767 million from their funding and eliminated state support entirely for four colleges, including Frank Phillips at Borger.

But new CC President Phil Shirley urged people not to panic in the light of the news and said a lot will change before the final budget is approved.

“There is a lot of saber rattling going on right now [in Austin],” Shirley told the CC Board of Regents at its regular meeting Thursday. “There will be terrible recommendations, but I don’t think the state will close anyone.”

By Monday, the Texas Senate had proposed a budget which still cuts community colleges’ funding but restores state support of Frank Phillips as well as Odessa, Ranger, and Brazosport.

“I hear that there are severe cuts [in the Senate proposal], but they are across the board,” Shirley told the Enterprise Tuesday.

Shirley said lawmakers need to stop “scare tactics” and stop talking about cutting health insurance funds for community colleges. He also said the state needs to let local colleges decide where to cut their budgets, and he said the Legislature needs to consider more than just cutting funds.

“It’s time to tap that Rainy Day Fund and look at other avenues to raise money,” Shirley said.

In other college business last week, CC Regents approved naming two new workforce education buildings at the Pampa Center in honor of former president Bill Auvenshine and Pampa Center Foundation member Don Lane. A dedication for those buildings will be held on March 24.

The board approved the purchase of EMT and nursing training equipment for the Pampa Center totaling almost $130,000 and paid for by the Pampa Economic Development Corporation.

Shirley also reported to the board that Tex Selvidge is working part time as a recruiter for the college and said Scarlet Estlack had been named Interim Dean of Instruction.

Dean of Students Tex Buckhaults gave preliminary enrollment figures for the spring, which showed a third straight year of record growth. Final numbers will be released after the 12th class day.

Cities in Donley County received welcome news of higher revenues this month when Texas Comptroller Susan Combs released information about January sales tax allotments.

The City of City of Clarendon received $24,395.73 for the month, which is up 18.34 percent from the same period one year ago.

Howardwick’s allotment grew 46.9 percent to $1,283.88; and Hedley’s revenue climbed 67.77 percent for an allotment of $582.24

Combs said across the state local tax revenues $453.2 million are up 11.9 percent compared to January 2010.

“This marks the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year improvement in sales tax revenues, with increases posted across the board,” Combs said.

“There were increases in the oil and natural gas and manufacturing sectors reflecting recovering business spending. Sales tax in the retail trade and restaurant sectors were also up. We forecast growth in sales tax revenue for the current fiscal year as well as the next two fiscal years.”

State sales tax revenue in December was $1.81 billion, up 9.4 percent compared to December 2009.

Texas cities received January sales tax allocations of $302.6 million, up 10.3 percent compared to January 2010. In addition, $18.9 million will go to 175 special purpose taxing districts around the state, up 16.8 percent compared to last January.
December state sales tax collections and January allocations to local governments represent sales that occurred in November.

The Comptroller’s next sales tax allocation will be made on Friday, February 11.
For details of January sales tax payments, locate the Monthly Sales Tax Allocation Comparison Summary Reports on the Comptroller’s Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/allocsum/compsum.html.

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives last week voted to repeal the new health care law, taking the initial step toward rolling back the massive overhaul.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon), who sponsored the repeal bill, voted in favor of the measure, which is a straight repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and all health care and tax provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

“This law is bad for our businesses, for our patients and doctors, and for the country. It’s already negatively affected care and costs. People continue to want it repealed, and tonight, the House took the first major step toward meeting that expectation,” said Thornberry.

The health care law is an issue that he hears about often, from both local businesses as well as concerned residents of the 13th District, Thornberry said. Recent polls indicate support for repeal of the bill remains strong. Large and small business groups across the country have been voicing support for the repeal, citing the bill’s impact on companies and the overall economy.

In a letter delivered to the House last Wednesday, a coalition representing the country’s largest small business associations, including the Associated Builders and Contractors, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Restaurant Association, the Printing Industries of America, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warn that the health care law impedes hiring and growth. The letter outlines the groups’ support for repeal of the new health care law. Additionally, a recent study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the nation’s largest small business association, found that an employer mandate alone could lead to the elimination of 1.6 million jobs between 2009 and 2014, with 66 percent of those coming from small businesses.

The Speaker of the House John Boehner and the Republican majority have scheduled a vote for Thursday to instruct the committees to begin working on replacement reform bills. These alternative proposals contain a number of options, including creating lower health care premiums through increased competition and choice; providing access to affordable health care for people with pre-existing conditions; providing greater Medicaid flexibility for states; eliminating waste in the health care system; and banning federal funding for abortions.

Last Tuesday, Thornberry introduced two pieces of health care reform legislation aimed at increasing access to affordable health care coverage. The first, H.R. 315, the Health Care Paperwork Reduction and Fraud Prevention Act, standardizes and simplifies billing practices while protecting patient privacy. Studies show upwards of 21 to 31 percent of all the money spent on health care in the U.S. is spent on paperwork and regulations.

The second bill, H.R. 314, the Medical Liability Procedural Reform Act, encourages states to establish health courts to decrease frivolous medical lawsuits and ensure access to the doctor of a patient’s choice.

“My view is that we need reform. But Congress has a better chance of getting it right and of maintaining the trust of the American people if it takes reform in bite-sized chunks, starting with one or two reforms and building on them. These two bills represent solid first steps toward better care at lower costs to everyone,” Thornberry said.