News

SHREVEPORT, La – Extreme summer temperatures of 100 degrees and above and high humidity across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas again last week sent usage of electricity by customers of AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) to another new all-time high level.

A new peak customer demand was established last Wednesday, August 11, 2010, with a record 4,993 megawatt (MW) load on the SWEPCO system, breaking the old mark of 4,990 MWs set just the week before on August 4, 2010, when the Shreveport temperature was 101 degrees.

The old record prior to this summer had been set on August 4, 2008, with a 4,950 MW load.

A megawatt is a million watts, or enough energy to supply power to about 750 homes.

AMARILLO – Entries are being enlisted for the 2010 Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Companies Tri-State Fair & Rodeo Parade to be held Saturday, September 18 at 10am in downtown Amarillo.

The parade is a great beginning to the exciting Tri-State Fair & Rodeo held annually each September.
“food, family, fun!” is the theme for the 86th Annual Parade, according to Walt Kelley, Parade Chairman. “Everyone loves a parade and we look forward each year to the joy that our parade brings the citizens of Amarillo and the surrounding areas,” said Kelley.

“This year the parade would like to honor organizations that have been in existence for 100 years. If you know of an organization or club that is celebrating their 100th anniversary encourage them contact the fair office,” said Kelley. “We will honor these groups as our Grand Marshals.”

Parade entries are due Friday, August 27, by 5 p.m. Entry information as well as an application can be found on the Tri-State Fair & Rodeo website www.tristatefair.com under entertainment-parade. However, no entry will be turned away. So get your group together and get your form sent into the fair office.

Prize money for the top three floats best representing the theme are as follows: 1st place-$400, 2nd place-$300 and 3rd place-$200. All awards will be passed out at 5 p.m. at the Coca-Cola Family Stage at the Tri-
State Fairgrounds on September 18th.

The Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Companies Tri-State Fair & Rodeo is set for September 17-25, 2010.

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen will hold the line on property taxes and are not planning to increase utility fees according to the city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011.

Aldermen are planning to keep the city’s ad valorem tax rate at the current $0.65 per $100 valuation to support this budget. Fees for city services are also unchanged. The city expects to generate $296,617 in property taxes, but due to lower property valuations, that is about $10,520 less in total expected tax revenue, Covey said.

Aldermen could have adopted an effective tax rate of $0.673 to bring in the same revenue as last year, but they have chosen not to do that.

“I think the citizens would appreciate us not raising taxes,” Alderman Larry Hicks said during last Tuesday’s regular board meeting.

The bottom line of the $1.77 million budget is not much different from the current budget, according to city officials. City Secretary Machiel Covey said aldermen have planned for a three percent salary increase for city employees.

The proposed budget has no money specified for seal coating streets, but it does maintain the current budget’s $14,000 line item for asphalt, which Covey said is used for patching streets.

A budget hearing and a tax rate hearing will be held next Tuesday, August 24, at 5:30 p.m. in Burton Memorial Library.

In other city business, aldermen discussed the process of selecting the city’s next administrator when they met August 10.

The board allowed Mayor Chris Ford to gather more information about bringing in another interim administrator since Phyllis Jeffers stepped down from that position August 6.

Several board members expressed concerns with the cost of having a temporary administrator, which amounts to $45 per hour plus travel, lodging, and meal expenses.

Alderman Ann Huey, addressing the board via speakerphone, said she believed the city needs another interim at least three days a week to take care of business until a permanent administrator is hired.

In the search for a fulltime administrator, Mayor Ford reported the city had received more than a dozen applications. He asked each alderman to review those applications at City Hall on their own time during a two week period and select their top three or four candidates. The list will then be narrowed and brought back to the board at its next meeting.

A double car accident that occurred August 13 on County Road X at the JA Ranch caused local mail carrier Beverly Burrow to be airlifted to Northwest Texas Hospital.

Department of Public Safety Trooper Kellan Roberts said Nathan Gribble and passenger Ian Williams were traveling down the dirt road in a Ford pickup pulling a trailer, and Burrow was in a Chevy pickup. At approximately 8:05 a.m., both vehicles came around the curve at the same time, side-swapped, and hit the side of each other.

Burrow was taken to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, and family members posted on Facebook that she sustained a broken arm below the left shoulder, a deep cut on one leg, and bruises to one kidney and her liver.

Gribble and Williams were unharmed, and no citations were issued.

Responding to this accident were DPS, Donley County Sheriff’s Office, Associated Ambulance Authority, and Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department.

Clarendon Elementary received high marks in the state’s accountability system this year.

Clarendon Elementary received an Exemplary rating for the second year in a row. Clarendon Junior High went down from Recognized last year to Academically Acceptable this year, and Clarendon High was once again rated Academically Acceptable.

The ratings are partly based on Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills (TAKS) scores.

“As far as a district, we are very pleased with our scores,” CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said. “We just barely missed the Recognized rating, and we have made improvements across the district.”

On the TAKS across the district, Clarendon had 95 percent of students pass the reading/English language arts portion of the test, up from 94 percent last year; 96 percent in writing, up from 94 percent; 95 percent in social studies, up from 90 percent; 82 percent in math, up from 75 percent; and 92 percent in science, up from 85 percent.

“Overall, we made really good gains across the district,” Hysinger said. “We made some improvements in mathematics, but we still feel like we need work in that area. We know what our targets are for next year, and we’re ready to hit the ground running.”

Clarendon TAKS results for Clarendon Elementary are as follows – reading 98 percent, up from 97 percent last year; writing 100 percent, up from 97 percent; mathematics 92 percent, up from 86 percent; and science 100 percent, up from 94 percent.

“We’re very proud of our scores,” Elementary principal Mike Word said. “We continue to have great scores each year due to our teachers and staff. It’s not just our third, fourth and fifth grade teachers who are preparing our students. It begins with Preschool teachers, and having a strong academic start.”

Clarendon Jr. High results– reading/English language arts 88 percent, down from 90 percent last year; writing 91 percent, same as last year; social studies 92 percent, up from 88 percent; mathematics 71 percent, down from 75 percent; and science 82 percent, down from 93 percent.

Clarendon High School results– reading/English language arts 97 percent, up from 94 percent last year; social studies 96 percent, up from 90 percent; mathematics 82 percent, up from 65 percent; and science 93 percent, up from 77 percent.

“We’ve made drastic improvement over past years,” CHS Principal Larry Jeffers said. “Our teachers and students did a great job raising scores. Our math scores increased by 17 percent, and our science scored were up by 16 percent.”

The CISD district rating was affected by the High School’s completion rate, which should be at 80 percent instead of 75 percent.

“According to TAKS scores, the high school would be rated higher, but our completion rate suffers due to kids that drop out or move off once the year has started,” Jeffers said.

Hedley Independent School District maintained its rating of Academically Recognized for the third year in a row.

Across the district, Hedley had 98 percent of students pass the reading/English language arts portion, up from 95 last year; 100 percent in writing, same as last year; 91 percent in social studies, up from 83 percent; 76 percent in mathematics, down from 78 percent; and 74 percent in science, up from 67 percent last year.

“The scores are never as high as we want them to be, but we’re happy that we raised scores in every subject except for math,” HISD Superintendent Eric Hough said.