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Federal disaster aid available for local producers
Agriculture producers in Donley County may be eligible for federal disaster emergency loans following a designation announced last week.
This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans.
Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.
Ninety-two counties eligible due to excessive heat that occurred from May 1 through September 30, 2022, including Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Gray, and Childress. Donley and Hall counties are eligible as designated contiguous counties.
The application Deadline is September 13, 2023. To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, contact the local USDA Service Center.
Pantex accepting classroom STEM grant applications
To kick off Engineers Week, which is held annually during the last week in February, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) announced Monday that it is once again sponsoring five $1,000 grants for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in classrooms across the Texas Panhandle.
The goal of the grants, designated for grades K–12, is to foster advancement of STEM activities in the classroom and to help develop Pantex’s future workforce. CNS manages and operates Pantex and the Y-12 National Security Complex in East Tennessee.
This is the second year that Pantex has offered STEM classroom grants to Amarillo and the top 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle, including Donley County.
Projects receiving grants in 2022 included robotics focusing on coding and development, the creation of hovercrafts, SNAP educational circuit kits to study curriculum topics, creating computer-controlled items with specific functions coded into the system, and even the start-up of a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) lab to explore STEAM careers. These projects create individual and team engagements, sparking imagination, creative thinking and the exploration of career opportunities for their futures.
Grant application information is available on the Pantex website. Applications will be accepted through March 20, 2023. Educators who are immediate family members of Pantex employees are not eligible to apply for or receive a grant.
Pantex staff will evaluate the grant applications and make recommendations for grant allocations. Once a final decision is made, five grants of $1,000 each will be made payable to the individual school and will be dispersed to the teacher or administrator in accordance with school protocol.
Grants will be awarded in April, and all funds must be spent by July 31, 2023.
Pantex dedicates new Flexible Support Facility
Representatives from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) joined leaders from Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC at Pantex on February 16 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the site’s new Flexible Support Facility (FSF).
“The completion of the Flexible Support Facility is a significant step toward continuing to modernize Pantex as we fulfill the workload increases at the site over the next several years,” said Pantex Site Manager Colby Yeary.
The 14,400 square-foot building broke ground in September 2020 and achieved beneficial occupancy on February 3, 2023. The FSF will provide support for the nuclear security mission at Pantex. Housing approximately 90 personnel, the new facility helps accommodate part of the general staffing growth occurring at the site.
The new facility will house project and maintenance teams, increasing direct communication among those support organizations who help ensure facility availability across the site.
The design of the FSF is based on a Standardized Acquisition and Recapitalization (STAR) design that was previously used at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The STAR initiative is aimed at reducing costs and accelerating construction of small office and light laboratory facilities through the use of standard, scalable building designs. Pantex is the first NNSA site to complete a project reusing a STAR design from another site, and the approach is being evaluated for applications across the nuclear security enterprise to achieve cost and schedule efficiencies with each subsequent build. The design used for the FSF is currently being leveraged for two additional projects at the NNSS.
“The project management team was able to overcome challenges with construction during the pandemic and supply-chain issues by monitoring schedule progress, anticipating potential bottlenecks, and implementing solutions to keep the project moving forward,” said Todd Clark, CNS Infrastructure Program Manager. “The lessons learned from this project will help us to gain future efficiencies for project execution, building construction as well as other projects planned for the site.”
Pantex plans to utilize this same design to construct additional mission enabling buildings that further support the ability to deliver the site’s national security mission, including a change house for employees to use for donning work-related clothing and an additional office facility.
Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC operates the Pantex Plant, located near Amarillo and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tenn., under a single contract for the US National Nuclear Security Administration. Pantex and Y-12 are key facilities in the US Nuclear Security Enterprise, and CNS performs its work with a focus on performance excellence and the imperatives of safety, security, zero defects and delivery as promised.
Conkin taking AD position at Slaton ISD
Athletic Director Clint Conkin is leaving Clarendon CISD after six years to take a job in Slaton.
“I got a job offer I couldn’t turn down,” Conkin told the Enterprise Tuesday. “I’ve accepted the position of athletic director and head football coach.”
Conkin said he hates to leave Clarendon but the new position is a at a bigger school with more money and will help him as he prepares for retirement.
“I’m getting older,” he said laughing.
Leaving is difficult, the coach said, after all the relationships that have been built with the community, parents, and especially the kids.
“You watch them grow up, and they become almost part of your family,” he said.
Conkin’s wife, head girls basketball coach Korey Conkin, will stay in Clarendon for another year, he said, as the couple’s oldest daughter will be a senior next year and wants to finish at Clarendon High School.
Slaton wanted to Conkin to start next week, but he’s promised Clarendon officials that he will be sticking around and going back and forth through basketball season.
“I’m going to do what I can to help them get a new person in here and not leave them in a bind,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do scheduling gyms and things (during playoffs).”
Clarendon Superintendent Jarod Bellar said he sorry to see Conkin leave but he understands.
“I really hate to see him go,” Bellar said. “I’ve enjoyed working with him, but that’s just the nature of the business. We’re going to miss him for sure. He’s done a great job.”
Bellar said Conkin helped him get the athletic director’s position posted on online sites and said he has already began receiving interest from potential applicants.
Junior high student facing charges over alleged assault
A Clarendon Junior High student will face charges after being accused of attacking another student in a bathroom at the school last week, leaving the victim with a broken jaw.
Other students are also expected to face charges in connection to the case as officials believe the boy was lured into the bathroom for the purpose of being attacked.
The attack, which was videoed and subsequently shared on social media Friday, sparked outrage from the community. The video shows the victim, confirmed by officials to be 13 years old, apparently unexpectedly assaulted in the junior high boys’ restroom by being struck in the face and knocked to the ground.
County Attorney Landon Lambert said his office learned about the incident Friday afternoon and said the Donley County Sheriff’s Office did a great job securing witness statements and preparing the report, and the youth appeared before County Judge John Howard Monday for a hearing.
Lambert said his office was seeking juvenile detention for the 14-year-old suspect for a period of ten-business days during which time authorities could better evaluate the case. The judge did not grant the county attorney’s request and instead released the youth into the care of his mother with a requirement that he have 24-hour supervision, Lambert said.
The court action led to more anger on social media as some felt the youth was not being punished, but Lambert says that is not the case.
“This is just the beginning,” Lambert said. “It is absolutely not the end; this was just the first step. If he does anything else we can detain him. He should not be in public without his parent.”
Lambert said it’s important for people to understand that the juvenile justice system is set up to be rehabilitative more than punitive, but he said the young man “is absolutely facing charges.”
The county attorney also said three to five other youth are believed to have been involved with the attack.
“It was a complete setup,” Lambert said, noting that parents and the public need to be aware of “the law of parties” in Texas.
“Any person who helps set up a victim is just as culpable as the person who attacks the person,” Lambert said. “Every kid that had any part of this will feel something from the county attorney’s office. I promise that’s coming.”
Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the juvenile probation department and the county attorney’s office took quick action when his office turned the case over to them.
“Landon did excellent work,” Blackburn said. “It’s no little feat getting all that in order, and he had done by noon Monday. I have no doubt that the court will adjudicate that boy.”
Blackburn also said that the kids involved in the case, including the alleged attacker, have been very forthcoming about what happened and said school officials have also been very cooperative. He is frustrated by social media, however, and he would like the public to give officials a rest from what they read online.
“What you read on Facebook is probably not 100 percent of the story,” Blackburn said. “Facebook is not where you need to get your information.”
Clarendon School Superintendent Jarod Bellar could not comment on the case specifically, but he echoed Blackburn’s comments, saying he would like the public to understand there is a process that has to be followed.
“There’s due process whether people like it or not,” Bellar said. “We’re in a world of instant gratification, but that’s not how things work.”
Bellar said the school has a responsibility to look after the best interests of everyone involved and of all students.
“I wish people would just give us some time to do a complete investigation,” Bellar said. “They need to allow Mrs. Pigg (the junior high principal) to go through the process.”
City releases two administrator candidates
The Clarendon City Council released two candidates from its search for the next city administrator during last Thursday’s council meeting.
Brian Barboza – City Administrator at Knox City and Vance Lipsey – former Town Manager at Lake City, Colorado, were both personally interviewed by the council February 2 but have now been removed from consideration.
That leaves Fred Ventresco – Town Administrator at Pine Tops, North Carolina, as the last remaining candidate, but city officials say he has not been named as a finalist for the job. Instead, the council last week approved up to $500 in travel and accommodation expenses for Ventresco to visit Clarendon later this month for a face to face meeting.
Aldermen conducted a virtual interview with Ventresco on January 26.
In other city business last week, the council approved a resolutions calling for an election on May 6 to elect the mayor and two aldermen and also to reauthorize the one-quarter percent sales tax for street maintenance and repairs. A resolution was also approved to have the city election conducted by the Donley County Clerk’s office in conjunction with the hospital district and the school district.
A PanComm radio tower lease agreement for emergency communications was approved.
The council accepted the low bid of $406,924 for a CDBG grant project to replace a sewer lift station.
The figure is over budget, however, so officials will value engineer the project to get it back into budget.
The city also renewed its agreement with the City of Pampa as an alternate location for animal control services.
Filing deadline Friday
Candidates continue to sign up for local offices as the deadline to sign up approaches this Friday, February 17.
Howardwick Mayor Tony Clemishire and Aldermen Johnny Floyd and Jada Murray are all running again.
Hedley incumbent Aldermen Trisha Chambless, Alicia Hanes, and Jennifer Floyd have also filed paperwork to seek reelection.
Clarendon Mayor Jacob Fangman and Alderman Eulaine McIntosh have filed for re-election. Alderman Terri Floyd had not filed at press time but told the Enterprise she will be a candidate for re-election.
At Clarendon ISD, incumbent Chrisi Tucek and challenger Mike Word have filed to run for the two open spots on the Board of Trustees.
Rose Lemley, Jeff Robertson, and Melinda McAnear has filed to run again for their Place 1, 2, and 3 positions on the Donley County Hospital District Board of Directors.
Hedley ISD has two full three-year terms and one unexpired term up this year, and incumbents Troy Monroe and Shauna Herbert have filed for reelection to her full term.
All local boards are elected at-large, but hospital board candidates must file for a specific place on the board. Candidate applications are available from the administrative offices of each entity. Applications for the City of Clarendon positions are also available at cityofclarendontx.com.
Elections are scheduled to be held Saturday, May 6, 2023.
City sales tax hits new February high
Comptroller Glenn Hegar Distributes $1.3 Billion in Monthly Sales Tax Revenue to Local Governments
Clarendon bucked a two-month decline in sales tax revenues and set a new record when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar delivered February allocations last week.
The city brought in $52,610.48 for the month, an increase of 7.02 percent over the same period in 2021 and an all-time high for February sales tax revenue. Clarendon now has received $90,252.04 for the calendar year to date, up 3.23 percent compared to one year ago.
Hedley’s sales tax revenue increased 55.39 percent to $1,836.40 for the month. Hedley’s year-to-date total is now $2,660.97, up 33.81 percent.
Howardwick was also up with an allocation of $2,142.63 for February, up 22.98 percent and pushing that city’s year-to-date figure up 19.54 percent from a year ago at $3,355.04.
Statewide, Hegar sent $1.3 billion in local sales tax allocations for February, 9.3 percent more than in February 2022.
These allocations are based on sales made in December by businesses that report tax monthly; October, November and December sales by quarterly filers; and 2022 sales by businesses that report tax annually.
CVFD responds to two fires Saturday
The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was called to a blaze in the southeast part of town late Saturday night for a structure fire.
Fireman Chuck Robertson said the department was paged out at 11:10 p.m. to a storage building that was on fire in the alley between Third and Fourth Streets off of Hartzell Street.
Four firemen and two trucks responded to the fire and stayed on the scene until about 12:45 a.m.
The danger of fire spreading through heavily wooded area presented a threat to other nearby structures, but the fire was contained to the immediate area. The contents of the building were destroyed, he said, and the cause of the fire was not known at press time.
Also on last Saturday, the CVFD was called to a structure fire on North Sully Street, north of the county barn. First Assistant Chief Glen Wright said three firemen responded to the afternoon call. Old tires were found to be burning in an old block building well house. Wright said the fire was extinguished quickly with no real damage to the structure.
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