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The Clarendon Aquatic Center will hold a late-night Bronco Splash this Friday, August 19, following the football scrimmage with Childress. The center will be open from 8 p.m. to midnight, and the price of admission will be lowered to just $2 per person for that event.
The excitement is building the second annual “That Senior Thang” prepares to hit Clarendon this Saturday evening, August 20, 2022, with activities, food, and fun for people of all ages.
With proceeds benefiting the Donley County Senior Citizens Center, organizers have lined up live music, free games, food vendors, competitions, a country store, Chicken Drop Bingo, a 50/50 raffle, and more to have something to do for people of all ages.
“I’m very excited,” DCSC Director Denise Bertrand said. “Our volunteers are coming in, we have a lot of items coming to our country store, and our 50/50 raffle is up to $4,500, which means we’ll give away more than $2,250!”
Bertrand says the event features new competitions, new sponsors, new games for little children, and added things in the concession stand.
“We have school athletes coming to help, the COEA is bringing in tables for us, the Lions Club will be volunteering, and the college cross country team is helping also,” Bertrand said.
Saturday’s fundraiser starts with the sale of barbecue chicken halves at noon. No advance orders are being taken for the chicken, Bertrand says. It will simply be a “first come, first served” sale with pick up and go. Chicken halves are $6 each.
The “Thang” itself will start at 5:00 p.m. and run until 9 o’clock in the streets on the corner of Gorst and 4th.
Competitions will include water balloon volleyball, balloon blast, watermelon seed spitting, wheelchair races, jalapeno eating, red Solo cup stacking, and Texas skis.
Among the free activities will be corn hole, ladder ball, horseshoes, football toss, duck pond, sand dig, and a roping dummy.
Concessions will be available with barbecue beef sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, homemade ice cream, and watermelon.
The entire community is invited and encouraged to attend and participate in That Senior Thang. Keep up with “That Senior Thang” at Facebook.com/DonleyCountySeniorCitizens.
For more Senior Thang information, contact Denise Bertrand at 806-874-2665.
Clarendon College Regents will consider a $10.2 million budget for fiscal year 2023 following a public hearing this Thursday, August 18.
CC President Tex Buckhaults says the proposed budget is slightly higher than the current $9.95 million budget and is supported by a proposed tax rate of $0.252535, which will generate about $57,000 in new revenue.
The college tax levy in Donley County is expected to collect about $705,000. The remainder of the budget is funded by the state, student tuition and fees, and other sources.
The new tax money raised in Donley County will go into physical improvements on the Clarendon campus, Buckhaults said.
The new budget includes a three percent raise for most college employees and a $1 per hour raise for any employees not making at least $15 per hour. The new budget does not raise tuition or fees since regents already approved raise those revenue items earlier this year.
In other recent college news, the CC Board of Regents met June 24 for a regular meeting. Among the agenda items at that meeting, the board evaluated the performance of the board itself and of President Buckhaults. Following his evaluation, the president’s contract was extended through June 2024.
In July, Brittney Word was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board of regents, and the board heard a presentation from Gordian regarding development of a master plan for campus improvements.
Buckhaults said regents approved a three-year agreement totaling $68,000 with the company to help prioritize needed campus improvements. The company would also help the college develop funding solutions or financing for those improvements.
Regents also accepted a bid on atheletic insurance at a savings of about $17,000 over last year.
Local taxing units continue to announce public hearings for their tax rates and budgets for the coming fiscal year.
Among the public notices in this week’s Enterprise, the City of Clarendon will hold a hearing on tax increase with a proposed rate of $0.607285 per $100 valuation. The hearing will be September 8 at 6:30 p.m.
Clarendon CISD will also hold a public meeting August 29 at 6:30 p.m. on its proposed budget and a possible tax rate of $0.9901.
Previously advertised hearings included the county, the city, the appraisal district, and the college district.
Donley County is holding public hearings on its tax rate and its proposed budget on Monday, August 29, at 1 p.m. in the Courthouse. The county is proposing a tax rate of $0.595644 per $100 valuation.
The City of Clarendon will hold a public hearing on its proposed budget for the coming year on Thursday, August 25, at 7 p.m.
The Donley County Appraisal District will take public comments on its proposed budget August 24 at 7 p.m.
Clarendon College Regents will meet for a hearing on its proposed tax rate of $0.252535 on August 18 at 5:45 p.m. and will also have a budget hearing on August 18 at 5:30 p.m.
Read more about these hearings in the Public Notices throughout the Enterprise. The public is invited and encouraged to attend these meetings.
The Donley County Community Fund is now accepting applications from qualified non-profit organizations for up to $1,500 grant to be awarded this fall.
Those eligible to apply for the grants include local governments, schools, and non-profit organizations holding a 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service. All grant applicants must be from Donley County.
Grant applications for any amount up to $1,500 must be received by Friday, September 30, at 5 p.m., and the grant recipient will be selected in October.
To receive a grant application and determine your organization’s eligibility to apply, contact Jacob Fangman 806-206-5737 or jacobfangman@yahoo.com. Applications are available from Fangman at Herring Bank or at the Clarendon Visitor Center.
The Donley County Community Fund is an affiliate fund of the Amarillo Area Foundation (AAF) with the focus of building an Endowed Legacy for the entire county for the benefit of future generations.
Donley County Commissioners are proposing a $4.37 million budget for fiscal year 2023, an increase of about $880,441 compared to the current budget, but a large portion of that increase will not come from local tax dollars.
A public hearing on the budget and on the tax rate to support that budget will be August 29 at 1:00 p.m.
The proposed budget includes more than $636,000 in ARPA (federal COVID relief) funds with most of that money being directed toward courthouse repairs and other government services. Donley County Judge John Howard said the county is budgeting with the possibility of receiving a large preservation grant from the state. The county officials were notified recently that their application for additional courthouse restoration funds from the state had been turned down, but Howard there may still be a chance of getting some partial funding.
Regardless of whether the county receives a grant, the judge says officials will proceed with soliciting bids to repair windows in the 1890 courthouse at an expected cost of more than $100,000.
New this coming fiscal year, Howard says county employees will be required to cover 20 percent of their health insurance premiums. To ease the transition to that, most county employees will see their salaries increase by $2,400 in the new budget.
The 2023 budget is supported by a proposed total tax rate of $0.595644 per $100 valuation, which is almost two cents lower than the current tax rate. The proposed tax rate brings in about $32,334 more in property taxes than last year.
Two new items in the budget are $500 to support Snack Pak 4 Kids and $1,000 to support the Tralee Crisis Center.
The budget also includes $85,000 to match grant funds that would purchase and install emergency generators at the Donley County Senior Citizens Center, the Donley County Activity Center, and the Red Cross emergency shelter at the First United Methodist Church. Funds are also available to make improvements to the former tax appraisal building for the sheriff’s office to use as a training location and to improve the Precinct 3 barn in Hedley.
The county will receive its sixth of ten annual payments from the wind farm in the next fiscal year, an amount of $200,000.
A copy of the proposed budget will be on file at the county clerk’s office August 15 and be vailable on the county website.
Commissioners formally proposed the budget and the tax rate during their regular meeting Monday, August 8.
The Donley County Senior Citizens will hold its second “That Senior Thang” on Saturday, August 20, at the corner of Gorst and Fourth from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
There will be a full concessions and a County Store full of home baked goodies. The free street games will range from pull-the-rubber-duck and sidewalk chalk art to football toss, cornhole, and horseshoes.
For the more adventurous player, there will be Cup Stacking, Jalapeno Eating, Watermelon Seed Spitting and Wheelchair Races. Put your team of four together and compete at Water Balloon Volleyball, Texas Skis or the new Balloon Blast.
The Mulkey Theatre will present “The Shindig,” an evening of dinner, music, and dancing on Saturday evening, September 4, at 6 p.m.
Live music will be provided by the Caliche Dust Band, and dinner will be included in the price of admission.
Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door and are available at MulkeyTheatre.com or at the Clarendon Visitor Center.
The Texas Press Association recognized The Clarendon Enterprise as the best small paper in the state Saturday, July 30, during the TPA Summer Convention in San Marcos.
The Enterprise earned the Sweepstakes Award in Division 9 of the 2020-21 Better Newspaper Contest, winning two first place plaques and placing in seven other categories to gather enough points to win the overall division.
“We are extremely pleased to have our work recognized by our peers and are proud to bring this recognition to our community,” publisher Roger Estlack said. “We are very blessed to have a super talented team and equally fortunate to have great support from our readers and advertisers.”
Photos by Kari Lindsey earned first place in Feature Photography with judges noting that Lindsey’s pictures “draw in the reader to find out more.”
The Enterprise also picked up first place in Page Design.
The Clarendon Welcome Guide was recognized with second place, and Roger Estlack received second place for Feature Writing with judges calling his work “consistently well done.”
Benjamin Estlack’s “Cub Reporter” won third place in the state Column Writing contest with judges remarking, “This youngster has a promising writing career ahead of him.”
Elaina Estlack was also third place with her Sports Photos from the 2021 playoff basketball games.
The paper was awarded third place for General Excellence, with judges preferring the Enterprise for “great writing and layout.”
Fourth place awards also went to Advertising designed by Tara Allred and Ashlee Estlack and Sports Coverage by Sandy Anderberg.
The Enterprise was first in the Sweepstakes count among weekly newspapers of similar circulation followed by the Springtown Epigraph, second; the Gladewater Mirror, third; and the Flatonia Argus, fourth.
Eighty newspapers submitted 850 entries in the statewide contest. Entries were judged by the West Virginia Press Association
It was an unsettling scene at Clarendon CISD. Outside were about a dozen vehicles from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Inside were a dozen or more armed people with live rounds being fired.
Fortunately, this was just a training exercise the week of July 18. Everyone present was either a law enforcement officer or an official observer, and the live rounds were soap bullets – non-lethal but still attention-getting if they strike someone.
The Solo Officer Response Deployment (SORD) training course taught by the DPS is designed to equip a single off-duty officer in plain clothes with the skills and mindset on how to neutralize an active shooter in a variety of settings, including a school, according to DPS spokesperson Sgt. Cindy Barkley.
Officers were trained in both classroom work and active scenarios, including live-fire range scenarios. Observers included District Judge Stuart Messer, Justices of the Peace Pat White and Sarah Hatley, and Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack.
Everyone present during the training donned protective gear and were able to experience some simulation of the stress associated with an active shooter situation.
Upon completion of the SORD training, law enforcement officers receive 16 hours of Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) credit as well as a certificate.
To date, the DPS has completed three courses at Clarendon ISD which included officers from DPS and the Armstrong County Sheriff’s Office, Barkley reported.
The courses were taught by DPS officers who have been certified to teach Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) through Texas State University.
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