Going Green
This Week
Who will wear the crown?
William Tate Tucker
William Tate Tucker, 41, died Friday, October 1, 2010, in Amarillo.
Memorial services were held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, October 5, 2010, in the First
Assembly of God in Stinnett with Rev. Dennis Richardson, officiating.
Services were held at 2 p.m., Tuesday, October 5, 2010, in Robertson Funeral Directors Saints Roost Chapel in Clarendon with Robert Smith, officiating.
Interment was held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon. Services were under the arrangement of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Will was born April 2, 1969, in Guymon, Oklahoma to Thomas Norwood and Elaine Poovey Tucker. He grew up in Stinnett and graduated from Stinnett High School in 1987.
He also served in the US Army from 1987 to 1995 where he earned many medals and badges including the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Nationl Defense Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer’s Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar, & the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Grenade Bar.
While serving our country in the Army, Will enjoyed survival training, rapelling, parachuting, and orienteering.
He was studying Wind Energy at Amarillo College at the time of his death. He loved hunting and was a Methodist.
He was preceded in death by his father; his maternal grandparents, James Tate and Flora Mae Poovey; and his paternal grandparents, William and Ruth Tucker.
Survivors include his mother, Elaine Poovey of Stinnett; a son, Kolten Tate Tucker of Borger; his wife, Angelique Poire of Amarillo; a stepson, Trevor Poire of Amarillo; and many other family members.
The family request memorials be sent to The Arc House of Amarillo.
Working hard to stay open
But that is still not enough.
They are working in a 105-year-old building that is falling apart, and their only hope to continue their service is to build another building before it is too late.
“It’s going to fall down,” said Kathy Spier, bookkeeper for the Senior Citizens Center. “There is absolutely no other place in town we could serve the elderly if something happens to this building.”
According to Spier, the Senior Citizens Building might not make it through this winter.
“Right now as it stands, if we get a heavy snowstorm our roof may cave in,” she said.
The building, which is one of the first built in Hedley, has fallen six inches on the south side, has a condemned second story, and has no central heating or air.
“The wall furnace we use just doesn’t keep us warm enough during the winter,” Spier said. “And we just now got our evaporative cooler to work. We went through the summer without any air conditioner.”
It is also not handicap accessible.
“We’ve had elderly people that have fallen trying to get up the high steps,” Spier said. “And our restrooms aren’t handicap accessible either, so they aren’t able to use them.”
Spier said that they received permission to use five lots across Main Street from their current center to build a new building from scratch.
“The new building will definitely be handicap accessible, energy efficient (which our current building is not), have central air-conditioning, a good dining room, two handicap restrooms, and doors wide enough for wheelchairs,” Spier said. “It could also be used as a community center for showers, school programs, reunions and birthday parties.”
The total estimated cost of this project is around $200,000.
“We have to have everything from the ground up, which includes concrete, electricity, plumbing, and we will probably need some new equipment, like freezers,” Spier said. “We will use as much as we can, but there will have to be some new stuff.”
The center feeds around 60 people a day, and delivers to about 20 homebound people.
Since they cannot legally ask anyone over the age of 60 to pay for a meal, they request a donation of three dollars. But they rarely receive it.
“There are a lot of elderly people that can’t even pay that, but they need the food,” Spier said. “This whole area is under the poverty level. For some of the homebound people, that is their one meal for the entire day.”
Spier said that many people believe that the state pays for the center’s food expenses and the employee’s salaries, but she said that is “far from the truth.”
“It costs us about $5.90 to make a meal, and the state reimburses us less than half the cost of that,” she said. “The center spends between $3,000-$5,000 a month for food. And this is not like New York and California. We can’t have $10 plates.”
In many cases, the money they manage to save up has to go towards bills.
“For the last five or six years we’ve been saving up for the other building, but at one time we didn’t even have enough money to pay the bills,” Spier said.
“Our savings are very little because we have to use most of it for food and utility expenses. So we don’t have a lot saved up, but we’re still working on it.”
Spier said state money seems to ignore small towns like Hedley.
“It’s like all the money that is out there is geared toward large towns,” she said. “It seems like they think small rural areas don’t matter, so they try to help the masses. But our little elderly people are just as important, and we need help just as much as the big towns.”
The center received a good response from an article about their predicament in the Amarillo Globe-News back in August.
“Since the article came out, we’ve received $5,000 from the Jay O’Brien grant, and besides that we’ve received $2,500,” Spier said. “Besides the money, we’ve gotten a lot of encouragement and ideas as well.”
To make donations to the Hedley Senior Citizens Center, either call Kathy or Patsy Spier at 806-856-0143 or e-mail hedleysr@valornet.com.
“The people in this community are so supportive of the senior citizens,” volunteer Roger Hagar said. “They’ll always help and support us, and we owe a big thanks to them, as well as the people of Clarendon and Memphis.”
The center’s next fundraiser is October 9 at the Cotton Festival. They will raffle off a Judge pistol, as well as sell hamburgers.
“Please come out and support our Senior Citizens program,” Spier said. “We need all the help we can get.”
Pence out as interim
Clarendon’s interim city administrator was let go after three days on the job last week as officials continue the process of finding a permanent administrator as well as filling a vacancy on the Board of Aldermen.
Mayor Larry Hicks said he took action to end the employment of Joe Pence, who was contracted through the Texas First Group.
“My understanding is that we could end that relationship at any time,” Hicks told the Enterprise on Friday.
Pence started last Monday, attended the Board of Aldermen’s meeting on Tuesday, and was let go on Thursday.
During last Tuesday’s regular city meeting, Pence gave an overview of his impressions of the city and its operations and offered some guidance to the board’s search for a new administrator.
Also at that meeting, the board appointed former alderman Janice Knorpp to fill the vacancy that was created when Hicks was appointed as mayor two weeks ago in the wake of former mayor Chris Ford’s resignation. Other names mentioned to fill that seat were Doug Kidd and John Lockhart. The term expires in May.
When the board met in called session on Monday night, September 27, to interview city administrator candidates, Knorpp did not take the oath of office as expected and instead asked to speak with the board and mayor privately in closed session. After a few minutes, Knorpp left the meeting, and the board went into recess as the City Attorney was called in for a private meeting with Mayor Hicks and Alderman Ann Huey.
Knorpp later returned to the meeting as an observer when the board returned from recess to begin the interview process. She later told the Enterprise she will be sworn in next week.
The first candidate to be interviewed was Jeff Johnston, who is currently a Plans Analyst with the City of Lubbock’s Building Inspection Department. He has previously worked as a general contractor and as a history teacher. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Texas Tech University in Political Science and Pre-Law and a Master’s degree from Tech in Public Administration.
According to notes taken by the City Secretary during the open interview, Johnston and his wife both think Clarendon is a beautiful town with noticeable pride and history.
Johnston told the board he does not micromanage and does have a management style which holds that employees’ know their jobs and that his job is to offer guidance and assistance.
Johnston said he would deal with funding shortfalls by searching for grants and low-interest loans. When asked what he thought the city’s main priorities should be, he identified roads, code enforcement, and economic development. He also asked several questions about the operations of the city.
Aldermen will continue their interviews next Monday with David Dockery – City Administrator/Public Works Director of Johnson City – at 5:30 p.m. and K.M. Waterstreet – City Manager of Aransas Pass – at 7 p.m. The board will meet again next Tuesday to interview Lambert Little – City Administrator of Hico – at 5:30 and Mark C. White of Clarendon – Adult Probation Officer for the 100th Judicial District – at 7 p.m.
The public is welcome to attend the interviews.
City Secretary Machiel Covey said the board hopes to have a new city administrator named within two weeks of the interview process being completed.
CO Ranch wins 16th chuckwagon cookoff
Led by head cook Nickey O’Neal, the team had the first place beans and potatoes as well as first place in Overall Cooking on the way to racking up enough points to win the Best Overall award.
Officials with the Saints’ Roost Museum, which sponsors the event, were pleased with this year’s cookoff, but attendance was down this year. The museum sold 415 tickets to the cookoff and served 400 people.
“We had a lot of tickets that were not sold until that morning,” said museum board member Lindy Craft, who felt that there may have been too many things going on Saturday.
“There were three other events that just sort of popped up on the calendar two weeks before the cookoff,” Craft said. “We’re a small town, and we all need to work together if these events are going to be successful.”
The third annual Junior Cookoff the day before the big event drew seven contestants, who were paired with experienced wagon teams to prepare potatoes for the cooks’ dinner Friday night. Jayden Bressler from Happy won first place with his own recipe and was teamed with the Honey-Do Spoiler Cooking Team. Kade Hunsaker of Clarendon was second with the Bar H Dude Ranch Cooking Team, and Darcie Hunsaker of Clarendon was third with the Rising W Cooking Team.
Following the Junior Cookoff, an estimated 135 people enjoyed a delicious steak dinner Friday night on the museum grounds. The invitation-only event was held exclusively for Chuckwagon teams and members of the Museum and their families.
The trade show was held throughout the day, and live entertainment was provided. Museum tours were led by the Clarendon High School Junior Historians. Relatives of Chuckwagon inventor Charles Goodnight also were present for their annual reunion.
Ten wagons served a menu of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, beans, and cobbler. Prizes totaling $3,250 were paid out to the winners.
Complete results were:
Overall Wagon & Cooking: 1) CO Ranch of Quanah.
Overall Cooking: 1) CO Ranch, 2) Rising W Chuckwagon of Happy, 3) Cross Wagon of Vega, and 4) T Half Circle of Silverton.
Best Wagon & Camp: 1) C4B Chuckwagon of Amarillo, 2) J Bar D Ranch of Amarillo, 3) T Half Circle, and 4) Honey-Do Spoiler of Pampa.
Best Meat: 1) Rising W, 2) Cross Wagon, 3) Honey-Do Spoiler, and 4) J Bar D.
Best Beans: 1) CO Ranch, 2) T Half Circle, 3) HX Ranch of Lubbock, and 4) Rising W.
Best Potatoes: 1) CO Ranch, 2) Rising W, 3) HX Ranch, and 4) T Half Circle.
Best Bread: 1) C4B, 2) Cross Wagon, 3) T Half Circle, and 4) Rising W.
Best Dessert: 1) Rising W, 2) CO Ranch, 3) C4B, and 4) Cross Wagon.
Wagon Judges this year were selected by the teams from among themselves, and Food Judges were under the direction of Tashia Duncan.
Wes Thomas was the winner of the Kevin Johnson merchandise, and George Hall won the James Owens Handmade Boots.
Broncos fly past Skyrockets, 49-20
The Broncos’ first six points came on the second play of the game when quarterback Johnny Gaines ran it in from 62 yards out and kicked the extra point.
The Broncos’ intensity proved to be Wellington’s downfall in the 49-20 massacre.
To add insult to injury, the Broncos forced two Rocket fumbles early that resulted in scores for Clarendon. Gaines threw a 17-yard strike to Bradley Watson and Mike Crump scored from 15 yards out to put the Broncos up 20-6 in the opening quarter of play.
“That was pretty fun to do that over there,” head coach Gary Jack said.
“We had some nice breaks early and we capitalized on them. We went at them hard; and by the third quarter, they didn’t know what hit them.
“It was a sweep all the way around last week against Wellington from third grade through high school.”
The Broncos racked 365 total yards in the win and the scoring was split between five different players. Watson and Gaines teamed up for another 15-yard TD in the second quarter with Gaines adding the two-point bonus to go up 28-6 at the break.
Clarendon picked up in the second half of play just as they had left it in the opening half when Jerami Johnson caught a Gaines pass on Wellington’s 35-yard line and ran it in for another Bronco score. In the Rockets’ next series, the Broncos forced a fumble that Gaines picked up for a 60-yard touchdown, which gave Clarendon a 42-6 lead. Wes Williams scored in the final period on a 14-yard run to round out the Broncos’ scoring.
“With just 11:50 left in the game, we were up 49-6,” Jack said. “It was a pretty convincing win for us, and they were in shock. The kids did and great job and responded well. Our coaching staff did a great job, too.”
Jerami Johnson played well according to Jack. He caught a touchdown pass and had several tackles on defense.
“Johnny had his normal good game,” Jack said.
“And Bradley Watson had a big game, too, and made some great catches in traffic.”
Jack said both lines played well and everyone did a great job in the win. But Johnson will be out for a few weeks with a leg injury.
“With Jerami being out, we’ll have to juggle some people around,” Jack said.
The Broncos will end their three-game road trip next Friday night when they go to Sunray.
Jack knows it will be a tough game.
“Sunray is a tough team, but we’ll have to guard from having a letdown after such a big win. It’s been awhile since we’ve beat Sunray. It will be a good game.”
The game with Sunray will be held Friday, October 1, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
CHS Homecoming will be October 8. The Broncos will take on the Gruver Greyhounds. Kickoff will be at 7:30.
T.M. “Red” Caldwell, JR
T.M. “Red” Caldwell, JR, 89, died September 23, 2010, in Amarillo.
A memorial service was held on Monday, September 27, at Polk Street United Methodist Church at 11:00 a.m. with Rev. Lane Boyd and Rev. Marty Hamrick officiating. A private family burial was held at Llano Cemetery. Arrangements were by Schooler Funeral Home.
Mr. Caldwell was born on May 1, 1921, in Amarillo, Texas, to parents, Turner M. and Mary Greathouse Caldwell.
He was a graduate of Amarillo High School and attended Amarillo College.
T.M. Caldwell, Jr. joined the Navy in 1942. He graduated with his cadet wings from Corpus Christi Naval Air Station as Ensign in December, 1942. After further training in the Grumman “Avenger” TBF torpedo bomber, he was deployed from San Diego to the Pacific Theatre in April of 1944. He flew numerous missions from Henderson Field on Quadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
He then joined Torpedo Bomber Squadron VT – 23 aboard the USS Princeton, an Independence class aircraft carrier. He flew multiple missions in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns, including the first strike on Truk. Red attained the rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade and was awarded the Air Medal with two gold stars and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
He returned stateside in April of 1944 and married the love of his life, Genevieve Britt, on May 4, 1944, on the Britt Ranch east of Wheeler. His final assignment was as instructor at Kingsville NAS where he was honorably discharged in 1945.
Red and Genevieve moved to Amarillo in 1946, where he entered the saddle making business. The family moved to Clarendon in 1949 where he continued in that business for several years.
Some of his meticulously made saddles are still in use. He later served as the local agent for Continental Oil Company before joining Chamberlain Motor Company in 1964.
He served as inventory control manager until his retirement in 1993. Red and Genevieve moved to Amarillo in 1997.
Red volunteered for many years at Harrington Cancer Center. After moving to Amarillo, he and Genevieve delivered Meals on Wheels until 2008.
Red was a motorcycle enthusiast for 30 years and then an avid skeet shooter until he became disabled. Red was very knowledgeable about many things and a real pleasure to visit with always.
Red and Genevieve were always very active members of the church and the community, providing time and support for numerous civic and charitable organizations.
They loved traveling and did so worldwide, seeing many interesting and beautiful places over the years of their marriage. They also loved spending time with members of their family.
Mr. Caldwell was preceded in death by his parents.
Red is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Genevieve; his daughter, Louise Caldwell Nahon and husband Michael C. of New York City; his son, Dr. Turner M. Caldwell III of Amarillo; and his grandchildren, Dorothy G. Caldwell and husband David E. Abeyta of Austin, and Margaret C. “Maggie” Caldwell and fiancé John M. Savage, Jr. of Austin.
Red was a true gentleman in every sense of the word and he will be greatly missed by his family, his friends, and his community.
The family suggests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made to one of the
following organizations or a charity of your choice: the American Cancer Society, 3915 Bell St., Amarillo, TX 79109; Meals On Wheels of Amarillo, 219 Southwest 7th Avenue, Amarillo, Texas 79101; or Polk Street United Methodist Church, 1401 S Polk St., Amarillo, TX 79101-4227.
George Don Hillis, Sr.
George Don Hillis, Sr., 80, died Sunday, September 26, 2010, in Clarendon.
Graveside services were held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, September 28, 2010, in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon with Rev. Lloyd Stice, Pastor of the First United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial was held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon. Services were under the arrangement of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Mr. Hillis was born December 15, 1929, in Memphis to George Dewey and Loyd Foreman Hillis. He married Rue Zell Ryan on March 2, 1957, in Clovis, New Mexico. He had been a resident of Lesley and Hall County before moving to Clarendon 43 years ago. He was a farmer, animal lover, and a member of the First United Methodist Church in Clarendon.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and a sister.
Survivors include his wife, Rue Zell Hillis of Clarendon; two sons, George Don Hillis, Jr., of Clarendon and Monty Ryan Reed of Moore, Okla.; a daughter, Trudy Smith of Austin; two brothers, Edward Hillis of Rupert, Idaho, and Tommie Hillis of North Carolina; four grandchildren; and six great grandchildren.
The family will be at 4644 FM 1260 North in Clarendon.
The family requests that memorials be to Citizens Cemetery Association or the First United Methodist Church in Clarendon.
Touchdown!
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