The Clarendon Enterprsie is preparing questionnaires for our local city, college, and school board candidates and will print the results in the April 29 edition. If you have suggested questions for the candidates, let us know by e-mailing us or by posting a comment on this article. This is your chance to get involved.
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CC Wind Energy Program
Climbing 262 feet into the air isn’t something many people want to do, but some Clarendon College students have tried it and hope to make a career of it.
Now in its second year, Wind Energy is becoming a popular vocational program at CC, and it would be hard to find students more enthusiastic about their course of study than those who recently climbed a wind turbine in Sweetwater.
“You’ll know when you go up there if that’s what you want to do,” said student Larry Lawley of Pampa. “I’ll do it for 40 or 50 years, and they will have to force me to retire.”
Noberto Alonzo, also of Pampa, had never been on to a wind farm before traveling to Sweetwater as part of the Special Topics in Wind class.
“It was amazing,” Alonzo said. “It makes you feel good about what you’re doing.”
The students first attended a job hazard assessment meeting and went through all the safety precautions before getting inside the tower and climbing 30 feet to a hatch that allows access further up. From there they climbed two sets of 70-foot ladders straight up to reach the “saddle room” which leads to the nacelle on top of the tower.
“I wasn’t prepared for how big that area was,” said Dan Fish of Alanreed. “You can have six or seven people in there plus all the gears, the brakes, the turbine, and more.”
At that point technicians check the wind speed outside. A consistent speed of 12 meters per second prohibits a man from getting outside. On that day, the speed was close but acceptable, so out they climbed on to the top of a giant wind turbine.
“It was breathtaking,” Fish said. “You feel like you’re on top of the world.”
Gary Kuhl, who teaches AC/DC circuitry for the wind energy program, said about half the potential students at Sweetwater’s Texas State Technical College get eliminated because they can’t make the climb, which is a requirement for admission there. At Clarendon, climbing is a voluntary class since CC doesn’t own a tower.
The students’ climb took between an hour and an hour and a half because of the size of the group. But they say in a real world setting, the climb would only take about 20 minutes.
Workers are harnessed during the duration of the climb, and there must be a minimum of two people to make a climb and an additional person must be on the ground.
Once on top of the tower, an instructor showed the students how they could work on the equipment and even how to communicate with the manufacturers of the equipment in Germany.
“One of the things they emphasized was: “Downtime is money,” said student Terrance Fike of McLean. “That turbine was generating two megawatts of power, and they had to shut it down so we could climb.”
All the students agreed that they are looking forward to the next time they get to climb and are excited about the prospects of working on wind towers for a living.
CC now has 96 wind energy majors, according to Dean of Instruction, Dr. Debra Kuhl. The college offers a one-year certificate program and a two-year degree program with classes being held in Clarendon, Pampa, and Childress. Six students are expected to be the first to graduate from the program this year with associate’s degrees.
Donny Cagle, who holds a master’s degree from West Texas A&M University, is an instructor and the program coordinator. The college is currently seeking two additional wind instructors and is looking for grants and donations to help purchase equipment for the program.
For more information about the Wind Energy Program, contact Clarendon College at 874-3571 or visit the college website at www.clarendoncollege.edu.
Duct tape tux turns heads at CHS prom
It all started with a duct tape wallet.
From there, Clarendon High School senior Jadon Thornton decided to create himself an entire tuxedo out of duct tape, qualifying him for a chance to win a $3,000 scholarship through the “Stuck at Prom” contest sponsored by Duck brand duct tape.
“I’ve been planning to do it since I was a freshman when I found the scholarship by typing ‘weird scholarships’ in on Google,” Thornton said. “Honestly, I didn’t think I would do it, but making duct tape wallets motivated me.”
Thornton said the tux was constructed with 16 rolls of duct tape, which cost him about $86. He also made a vest, tie, and hat.
“I didn’t wear the hat because it made me look like Willy Wonka,” Thornton said.
According to Thornton, Charlie Smith from the Clarendon Outpost helped him build his sticky tux. They worked on it a week before prom five hours a night, and it was not completed until 3 p.m. the day of prom.
“My friend Jeff Powell, and I tried making one at first, but it was a disaster,” Thornton said. “There would have been absolutely no chances of it getting done if Charlie wouldn’t have
helped.”
Smith worked for four summers at the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival making handmade costumes, so he was up to the challenge.
“For the tux, we basically just cut newspaper in the pattern ofpants and sleeves and put it together as such,” Smith said.
“If he wouldn’t have called me only four days until prom, we could have gotten more detail in or maybe some vents in it somewhere.”
Thornton definitely regrets not adding vents to the tux.
“A lot of the first questions people asked me was if I was hot,” Thornton said. “It was so hot it was ridiculous. It was kind of like a sauna.”
Thorton will find out if he won the scholarship on or about July 27.
“I really hope Jadon wins,” Smith said. “If he does, that will be awesome.”
Court hears hands down sentences
The district court received two plea agreements Monday, April 12, in Clarendon, resulting in one conviction and one deferred adjudication.
Luke Inman, the 100th Judicial District Attorney, assisted by Greg Buckley, prosecuted the cases for the State of Texas, with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.
A total of $1,500 in fines were assessed as a result of the pleas that took place on April 12, 2010. In addition to the fines, the defendants were required to pay a total of $868 in court costs and $2,015 in restitution.
Gilbert Fernandez was convicted and sentenced to 14 months in the State Jail Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Fernandez originally pleaded guilty to the state jail felony offense of theft by check on January 20, 2009. The theft by check occurred on September 18, 2008.
On November 12, 2009, the State filed a motion to adjudicate alleging nine probation violations. Fernandez pleaded true to all of the State’s allegations. Fernandez is also required to pay a $500 fine to Donley County, $2,015.00 restitution, and $390 in court costs.
Derek Lee Thomas pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for a period of three years for the state jail felony offense of tampering with a witness.
Thomas pleaded guilty to a complaint and information filed by the State on April 12, 2010.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, Thomas is required to pay a $1,000 fine to Donley County, $478 in court costs, and successfully complete 100 hours of community service.
If Thomas violates his probation, he could be sentenced up to two years in the State Jail Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Post Office offers special cancellation
During 2010, the U.S. Postal Service will recognize all 52 counties in the Texas Plains Trail Region (TPTR) with a special pictorial cancellation.
The sixteenth Special Cancellation activity will take place the Clarendon Post Office on April 21, 2010. For the rest of the year, a Post Office in every TPTR county seat will be offering their
respective version of the design. The city, date and county will change each week.
The Texas Plains Trail is one of 10 such trails in the state, part of the Texas Heritage Trails Program, implemented by the Texas Historical Commission.
The following web site provides additional information on the Texas Plains Heritage Trails program – www.thc.state.tx.us & www.texasplainstrail.com.
People visiting the Clarendon, Post Office on Wednesday, April 21 may obtain the Clarendon, Donley, Texas Plains Trail Regional pictorial postmark in person at the temporary Post Office station established there.
Those who cannot be there that day but who wish to obtain the special pictorial postmark may submit a mail order request to: Clarendon, Texas Plains Trail Regional Pictorial Postmark, ATTN: Postmaster, PO Box 9998, Clarendon, TX 79226-9998.
Pictorial postmarks are available only for the date indicated, and requests must be postmarked no later than 30 days following the requested pictorial postmark date.
All requests must include a stamped envelope or postcard bearing at least the minimum First-Class Mail postage.
Items submitted for postmark may not include postage issued after the date of the requested postmark. Such items will be returned unserviced.
Customers wishing to obtain a postmark should affix stamps to any envelope or postcard of their choice, address the envelope or postcard to themselves or others, insert a card or postcard thickness in envelopes for sturdiness, and tuck in the flap. Place the envelope or postcard in a larger envelope and address listed above.
Customers can also send stamped envelopes and postcards without addresses for postmark, as long as they supply a larger envelope with adequate postage and their return address. After applying the pictorial postmark, the Postal Service will return the items, with or without address, under addressed protective cover.
Sawyer wins
Dan Sawyer narrowly defeated Joe Hall on Tuesday, April 13, in the run-off election for the Republican nomination for Donley County Precinct 4. The margin of victory was 68-64. More details to come.
Run-off vote is next week
Donley County’s Precinct 4 voters will return to the polls next Tuesday, April 13, to determine who will be the Republican nominee for county commissioner.
Dan Sawyer received the most votes in the three-man primary race on March 2 over Joe Hall and Bill Spier, but he did not receive more than 50 percent of the vote, prompting a run-off between Sawyer and Hall. The winner will face Democrat Brad Dalton this fall.
Any registered voter can vote in this run-off except those who voted in the March 2 Democratic Primary.
Voters across the county and state can choose between Rick Green or Deborah Lehrmann to be the Republican nominee for Justice Supreme Court, Place 3.
All precinct voting will be conducted at the County Annex from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 5-9 and from 7a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13.
Early voting began Monday continues through this Friday, April 9.
Local teens discuss the dangers of texting while driving
A surprising sharp noise suddenly cut through the vehicle interrupting the conversation between Clarendon High School junior Savannah Thackeray and her mother.
It was neither the sound of screeching tires nor the crunch of metal colliding. Rather it was the noise of her mother’s slapping hand, scolding another hand in the process of reaching for a cell phone.
As Thackeray’s mother Jennifer Haney drew her hand back, she looked at her husband in a scornful manner.
“You really shouldn’t text and drive,” Haney said.
Just minutes before this transaction took place, Thackeray informed her parents about a video she viewed that day at school warning students about the dangers of texting while driving. Those who saw the video learned a valuable lesson that one distraction while driving can cause serious devastation.
“After I saw the video, it made me think,” Thackeray said. “It was scary. I didn’t want to text and drive anymore, and I wanted my friends and family to stop too.”
The video told the story of an tragic accident that occurred in Utah in 2006. Nineteen-year-old Reggie Shaw was driving his SUV while text messaging his girlfriend when he crossed into the other lane and hit another car carrying two men, who were both rocket scientists. The scientists’ car slid into the oncoming lane where a pickup truck hauling a trailer crashed into it, killing the two men instantaneously.
“It kind of creeped me out,” CHS junior Dominique Brady said. “I would never want to do that to someone. I can’t imagine being responsible for the death of two people just for texting.”
But Utah is not the only state that is affected by texting and driving. Even in Clarendon there are drivers who dare to endanger lives by checking text messages.
“I see people texting while driving every day,” Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said. “Texting is very dangerous while driving because it takes too much attention away from the driver. It has been the cause of many wrecks.”
Out of 109 students surveyed, 75 admit to texting while driving. One of these drivers is senior Jill Luna.
“I started texting while driving probably about six months after I got my license,” Luna said. “It keeps me busy and awake when I’m on the road, usually on long drives like on the way to Amarillo or Dallas.”
Senior Lauren Shelton says her texting while driving makes her feel rebellious.
“My parents tell me every day to stop texting while driving, and they even threaten to take my car away if I don’t,” Shelton said. “But it’s almost just like a habit now. I don’t even think about it.”
Knowing there are people out there who choose to text behind the wheel has pedestrians like physics and chemistry teacher Bruce Howard practicing their “defensive driving.”
“Texting while driving is not very wise because it’s hard enough to drive as it is,” Mr. Howard said. “I’m always watching out to make sure what the other driver is doing.”
According to information found on www.KeeptheDrive.com, the number one cause of death among American teens is not drug overdose, violence or suicide, but vehicle crashes mainly due to distractions. Texting is the number one driving distraction among teens.
CHS Student Council members have recognized this fact and plan to dedicate a week solely to raise awareness of the distractions and conditions that can cause wrecks.
“One day will be for texting while driving, and the others will be covering speeding, driving while sleepy, drinking and driving, and driving with no seatbelt,” said Brandi Mays, student council president. “We hope that the students will begin to realize how serious some of these distractions can be. Hopefully, it will be eye opening.”
Junior Bradley Watson is one of 15 students who have confessed that texting has caused them to swerve to avoid hitting a vehicle.
“One time me and my friend Johnny were coming back to school from lunch, and we were by the Post Office when this woman stopped in front of me to turn,” Watson said. “I had to swerve to miss her because I was reading a text. That has actually happened to me twice.”
Of the 75 surveyed students who text and drive, 39 consider texting a distraction, while 36 disagree. Sheriff Blackburn says it is a major distraction to all those who text though, and has statistics to back it up.
“There have been studies that prove that texting while driving is as bad as driving while intoxicated,” Sheriff Blackburn said. “It impairs you that much.”
In Texas, it is currently only illegal for school bus drivers and those under 18 to talk or text on cell phones while driving. But there is a law waiting to be passed by legislation that will make texting illegal for all those who drive statewide.
Survey results reveal that out of 109 students, 56 think that texting while driving should be against the law, while 53 disagree.
“I think it should be because it’s so dangerous and causes many accidents,” junior Kelsey Thomas said. “People need to focus on the road when they’re driving, not texting.”
Reggie Shaw’s accident that caused widespread devastation raised awareness of the dangers of texting while driving to both students and teachers.
“Drivers need to think about other people and the effect texting while driving could have on them,” Mr. Howard said. “Think of your passengers. I think it would be hard to live with if yourself if you ever killed or seriously injured someone. One mess up can change your life forever.”
Students are now spreading the word to their friends and loved ones to stop texting on the road before more lives are permanently changed or even taken away.
“I want to keep those who I care about safe,” Haney said. “If I have to, I will continue to slap hands of those who choose to text and drive.”
Jeffers returns as interim city administrator
The City of Clarendon is back under the direction a familiar leader following a called meeting of the Board of Aldermen last Thursday, April 1.
Mayor Chris Ford said Phyllis Jeffers with the Texas First Group will serve as the interim city administrator, a job she held here for three months in 2008. Ford said the search for a permanent city administrator will not begin right away.
“We’ve got the budget process coming up, and we’re probably going to wait until after the (May 8) election to discuss a search,” Ford said.
Jeffers had already been working part time at City Hall, helping to train two deputy city secretaries since the January retirement of former city secretary Linda Smith. Jeffers spent 23 years working with the City of Pampa, including holding the positions of City Secretary and Director of Human Resources and Community Services.
The board met with the city attorney in closed session for over an hour last Thursday before returning to open session and unanimously approving a motion to authorize the mayor to enter into an emergency agreement with Texas First Group to provide administrative and city secretary services.
The city administrator is also currently service as the city secretary, and Alderman Larry Hicks asked that it be placed on the board’s next agenda to discuss who will be trained for that job on a permanent basis.
Jeffers was Clarendon’s interim leader when former city administrator John Webb was hired in October 2008. Webb was let go by the board last month for what Mayor Ford has called “a lack of confidence in (Webb’s) ability to perform the duties of city administrator.”
A call this week to Webb’s residence in Borger had not been returned by press time.
Woman hospitalized after blaze
A Clarendon woman was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after an early morning fire broke out in her home Monday, March 29.
The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched at 6:05 a.m. to the home of Judy and Orsbain Perkins, located at 706 E. Second; and Donley County Deputy Sonny Morasco was first on the scene and helped get the residents to safety.
Judy Perkins and her sister, Ruby Hearn, were transported by to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo by Associated Ambulance Authority, where Hearn was treated and released. Mrs. Perkins was later flown to University Medical Center in Lubbock, and the family was hopeful she would be released Tuesday. Mr. Perkins was not injured.
First Assistant Chief Jeremy Powell said when firefighters arrived on the scene, fire was coming out of all windows and doors on the north side of the residence.
“The living area of the home was fully engulfed and beginning to vent through the roof of the residence,” Powell reported. “The kitchen area located in the center of the residence was involved with fire and heavy smoke.”
Powell said the bedroom area south of the kitchen was not involved with the fire but did receive heavy heat and smoke damage.
The fire was quickly brought under control, and firemen remained on scene until after 8 a.m. The residence sustained heavy fire and smoke damage.
CVFD responded to the blaze within seven minutes, and a total of 23 firemen and seven units responded.
City Fire Marshal Kelly Hill said late Tuesday that he and the state fire marshal’s office had investigated the fire, and Hill said the origin of the fire appears to have been in the living room and appears to have been electrical.
A fund for the Perkins has been established at the Donley County State Bank.
Both eastbound lanes of US 287 were closed for more than one hour while fire units occupied them during the fire. Some local residents may have temporarily been out of power as AEP/SWEPCO interrupted power to the residence for the firemen’s safety.
CVFD recognized the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, TxDOT, the Associated Ambulance Authority, and Anndria Newhouse with the Clarendon Firebelles for their assistance during this case. They also acknowledged George Hall and the Donley County VFW Post for serving a late breakfast to the firemen.
The city’s firemen have been very busy the last few days. Also on Monday, the department was called to the Clarendon Dairy Queen to investigate the smell of smoke, responded to a grass fire which got into a pile of lumber next to a workshop at Jim Shadle’s residence west of the city, and was dispatched to a residence on Collinson Street reporting the smell of natural gas.
Previously on March 26, the department responded to a residence in the area of 4th and Jackson where a discarded cigarette caught a trash can on fire; and on March 28, Clarendon and Hedley units responded to a grass fire call on the LOL Ranch on FM 2471 that was started by wind damage to a power pole.
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