Clarendon,
i t . i
Donley County, Texas Thursday, July 19, 1973 2 Sections
iti t l
16 Pages
i i i i iiii1|
Volume II, No. 10
• • , :
Youth Choir sets
Clarendon concert
The Youth Choir of the First Baptist Church of Baldwin
Park California, will be in concev..cknesday, July 25,
at 7:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church here in Clarendon.
The choir, made up of 18 girls and 12 boys from Junior
High to college age, will be giving an hour of sacred and
gospel music, and sharing their testimonies of faith in Jesus
Christ. They are touring Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Oklahoma and Nevada.
Baldwin Park is a city of around 50,000, some 20 miles
east of Los Angeles, and Is made up of all racial hack-
grounds.
The group is called "The Young Ambassadors." They
were formed in 1972, and have performed for churches
and civic groups in the Los Angeles area.
Through the youth director Arthur Martin, the choir was
named "Christian Goodwill Ambassadors from the State of
California" for 1973 by Gov. Ronald Reagan. The group
is touring not only to sing, but to teach in mission Vacation
Bible Schools.
The young people have been working hard to raise money
not only for their expensesonthetour, but to help the church
purchase the used Greyhound bus they will be traveling in,
which is fully equLpped for long trips.
The choir is under direction of Paul D. Bandy of North
Hollywood, California, who is a native of Missouri, Davis
Harrell, pastor of the church, will accompany the choir on
tour. He is a native of Texas, and has pastored churches
in Texas and Oklahoma beforJ moving to California in 1968.
All-Stars lose, 6-3
The Clazenclon Little League All-Stars dropped thelr game
Monday night in Pampa, losing to a powerful Carson County
All-Star team, 6-3.
The Senior League All-Stars will play Carson County in
Groom at 7:00 p.m. Friday night.
I
li|ll I I
Kindergarten offered
Kindergarten will be offered by the Clarendon Public
Schools to all five year olds who will have reached their
fifth birthday on or before September 1st.
The kindergarten class will be housed in a regular class-
room in tile school with the children attending a half-day
session. The class will meet for a half-day in the morning
only, unless there are too many five year olds in one class.
In that case there could be a morning and an afternoon
class with the students divided into two equal classes.
Each student would attend only one session.
Thursday night the School Board employed Mrs. Wanda
Cornell to teach the kindergarten class. Mrs. Cornell for-
merly taught in her own private kindergarten.
The public school is required by the state to provide a
kindergarten program, but no child is obligated or re-
quired to enroll unless the parents so desire.
The kindergarten age children will enroll at the same time
as all elementary students and will attend their first class
August 21st. The parents may permit their children to
eat in the cafeteria if they wish. They will be charged the
same rate as the other elementary grades.
If any other information is desired parents may contact
Mr. Stina Cain, elementary principal or Jeff Walker, super-
intendent of schools.
CC announces ttew programs
Clarendon College will open in the fall with a vocational-
technical program that matches any in the Panhandle.
The program w!ll offer varlousvocationalprograms which
will fit a student for an immediate job when he graduates
from Clarendon College.
An outstanding array of well-qualified teachers has been
obtained for the new courses. These high-caliber teachers
add to the high caliber of the courses.
So that every citizen might know what new courses vill
be offered in the voational-technical field, and what teach-
ers will be teaching the new courses, The C larendon Press,
as a public service, includes in this week's editions a copy
of the August Bulldog Banner.
Caprock Roundup starts today
Claude to celebrate
by LEE ANN PALMER
It's rodeo, dance and queen contest time for Armstrong
County folks once moreI The 42nd annual Caprock Round-
Up will kick-off today July 19th and run through the 21st.
The celebration also beasts of an Old Settlers reunion,
free barbeque and street parade.
The schedule of events begins with a rodeo Thursday night,
followed by a dance at the American Legion Hall. The dan-
ces and rodeos will be conductedoneachof the three nights.
At 9:00 a.m. Saturday participants in the Old Settlers Re-
union may register on the courthouse lawn. In charge of the
registration will be Mrs. Viola Loweryand Mrs. Oliver Aus-
tin. The oldest manandwoman attending and the two travel-
ing the farthest distanceswiU be recognized.Onthe east side
9f the courthouse the free barbeque will be offered buffet
style . The Lion's Club and several area citizens are re-
sponsible for the feast.
Miss Armstrong County will be crowned on the city square's
east side at 2:00 p.m. Saturday. Emcee for the contest will
be KGNC's farm and ranch editor Royce Bodlford. The 21
young ladies will be Judged by three Amarillo officials on
ihelr general poise, personality and beauty. The girls and
their sponsors are Brenda Brady, Ballards Texaco; Terrl
Tyler, Bob's 66; Debble Goodin, Burrow Brothers; Cathy
Holllngsworth, LeTemp's; Tracy Brady, Malden Club; Gall
Haynes, Jaycees; Bobble Moore, Jaycee-ettes; Cheryl Johns-
ton, Tri-State Grocery; Sandra Goodln, Pale Duro Conval-
escent Home; Debbie Jones, Roping Club; Debby Goodln,
Fairvlew Club; Deann Bagwell, Chic Beauty Lounge; Nancy
Stephenson, Stewart Insurance; Elizabeth Goodln, Thomas
Auto; Karen Gunter, Finley Dress Shop; Donna Record,
Claude Pharmacy; Debby Thompson, Joe's Texaco; Marlene
Brunson, Lions Club; Vickle Black, Mayas Exxon; and Llnda
Loveday, Smith's Flowers.
market as a reference, you can count on many arts, crafts,
antiques and unique collections to be on hand.
Here's your last warniugl Don't dare miss the Caprock
Round Up this year. There's some sort of event going on
for all agesl See you in Claude this weekend.
Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. the street parade will begin.
Prize money of $2, $3 and $5 will be awarded to the best
bicycle decorations. The parade's theme will be "honoring
the pioneers."
A flea market willbe heldon Sattrday morning at the M-
thews building Just north of the courthouse. Using last year's
Tax complaints heard
The board of equalization for the Clarendon school, college
and hospital districts met Monday to hear complaints from
residents who objected to their tax valuations.
About 50 persons met with theboard. Most were residents
of Sherwood Shores, all objecting to higher valuations. Most
valuations were raised, it was explained, because they were
on the books at figures much too low.
Supt. Jeff Walker explained that the Sherwood Shores val-
uations have been quite a problem. Some lot sales were not
turned in when they were sold, he said, and others were
turned in with no value placed on them.
Some residents argued that their lot was given to them
free of charge, and that all they paid was a maintenance
charge, and thus, there was no value since the lot was
given at no actual cost. This promotion was offered by
Sherwood Shores as a sales technique.
Other Sherwood residents simply objected to the valua-
tions which were placed on their property, claiming that
they were too high.
Walker also reported that many people appearing before
the board objected to paying taxes because the hospital is
closed. He said they reasoned that they should pay no taxes
to the hospital district, since there is no hospital service
given in return.
"This is a bad situation for the schools," Walker said.
"People tend to blame us for the hospital situation because
we collect the taxes, andwehave nothing to do with its prob-
lems."
I ili ill i
VIRGINIA CLIFFORD, daugte f Mr. and Mrs. Jack
Clifford, and Athena ]ell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bob
Bell, receive a first-place trophy for winning the Buckaroo
Division in the July 4 Parade, sponsored by the Chamber
of Commerce. Chamber president Dave Croslln presents
the trophy. (Press Photo by Will Lowe)
Feedlot opening
set next week
The Douley County Feed Lots, Inc., located two miles we
of Hedley Just southofHighw.xy 287, will have its grand open-
ing on Saturday, July 28.
A dedication will be held after noon Saturday, and a barbe-
clue and dance is scheduled Saturday evening. The barbeque
is free and open to the public.
State Rep, Phil Cates will be the featured speaker for the
opening. Other poltticans, both state and natlonM, will also
be on the program.
The Donley County Feed Lots is not a new feedlot, but its
recent expansion has been so enormous that the owners
want to celebrate the opening of the new facilities. Recent
expansion has given the feedlot a capacity to handle 2.3,000
head of cattle.
A new, ultra-modern feedbatchplant has recently been put
into operation. The batch plant uses a computer to mix the
feed rations for the feeder cattle. The structure, which
cost in excess of $600,000 to build, towers high over the
large feedlot.
(Cont'd. on Page 8)
The hospital----could it be a bad dream?
If you walk up and down main street in Clarendon, you A citizens group went farther. They filed a suit that went settlement to the lewsults, and he did. In March, he nego- keep them in court, still is searching for doctors.
can't help but overhear the main topic of conversation in
Clarendon -- the hospital.
If you walk into a care to drink a cup of coffee or eat a
meal, you'll hear it again -- the hospital.
There's no doubt what the biggest concern of every citi-
zen in Donley County seems to be -- the hospital.
Donley County citizens are concerned about their hospital
because it isn't open. They're concerned about that pre-
cious tax dollar they spen every year for naught. They
spend that tax dollar for a hospital, but they donJt have a
hospital.
These citizens can look at the unrealistic budget which
has been presented for the coming year, a budget which
Calls for an open hospital in a situation which shows
ao hope for such. They see the hospital district in the big-
gest financial mess of any tax agency. They see the pos-
sibility of a tax increase, but no hospital. And they see
little hope of having a hospital in the next year -- or two--
or maybe three.
Donley County citizens see a big, costly, hopeless mess at
Medical Center. And actions of the past several months
point to little more than the same mess to continue.
When Medical Center, a $600,000 facility financed entire-
ly by local money and without help of federal grants, was
COmpleted, it had lawsuits standing over its future with
little hope for Immediate opening. Before the structure was
completed early in 1972, the hospital board had disputes
With the county's only doctor, Dr. George W. Smith. These
disputes grew so violent that the board filed a lawsuit
against Smith, seeking to remove him from Adair Clinic,
and to keep him from serving as administrator of the new
facility.
so Tar as to ask the court to enjoin Smith from practicing at
Medical Center hospital at all.
Smith then in turn filed counter suits against the dis-
trict and the citizens, claiming that the district had
broken a contract with him, and making other charges
against these citizens.
When Medical Center opened, these lawsuits were stand-
lng in the way of a normal opening.The lawsuits prohibited,
for all practical purposes, the county's only doctor from
practicing at the facility, and there wasn't any way to open
the hospital.
The board finally took a step in the right direction, so they
thought. They hired a pathologist from Chicago to open the
hospital. It dldnPt matter that he hadn't practiced general
medicine for years. He was a doctor.
This doctor made a gallant effort to carry out his chores,
but soon he and the administrator got Into a fuss and the
board chose to send the doctor on hisway. After two months
of having the hospital open, it closed and things were back
in the same order.
The board continued their searchfordoctors, but it seem-
ed no qualified doctor wanted to come to town until the law-
suits were settled. And the board showed no wllUngness to
settle.
At tilts time, a court action put four appointed members
on the board to replace four members whose terms had
expired. And these four members began searching for
avenues to settle the suits.
Bright Newhouse, who was elected president of the board
talked to several doctors, and they all sang the same tune:
"When the lawsuits are settled, call us back."
Newhouse was given authority by the beard to seek a
ttated a settlement to all lawsuits. The board voted G-2
to accept the settlement, Dr. Smith agreed to the settle-
ment, and the citizens group agreed to the settlement.
Judge Robert Montgomery took these agreements, and
made them into a Judgment, ending the lawsuits once, but
not for all.
Soon afterwards, a group of citizens filed a motion to
set the settlement aside, due to a technicality in the terms
of the settlement. With no opposition at the time, the Judge
set the Judgments aside, and the lawsuits were out in the
open again.
Attorneys for Smith filed a motion to re-instate the Judg-
ments. After hearings and mu-h consideration, Montgomery
ruled that the Judgment was legal, and he put the judg-
ment back into effect, ending the lawsuits once again.
But the hospital board, which had changed hands once
again, threw a stumbling block into the picture again. They
would appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals.
Judge Montgomery Isn't likely to grant another trial,
since hes already gone over the ease carefully and has
made his decision.
This places the district in a position for an appeal.
A spokesman for the Court of Clvtl Appeals told The
Press that an appeal would take at least 18 months, maybe
two years. And the hospital district's attorney told the
board that it would take about $3,000 in bond to appeal, not
counting mounting attorney fees.
But the hospital board apparently couldn't care less how
long the hospital stays closed. Or how much money they
spend. Or whether the bills get paid for Medical Center,
The hospital district, with no visible intentions of trying
to settle the lawsuits, and every visible sign of trying to
They interviewed two doctors from Amarillo recently,
and spent hours telling them that the lawsuits will not af-
fect them if they come to Clarendon to practice. The doc-
tors listened attentively, then returned to Amarillo.
These same doctors told an associate that they have no
plans of moving to Clarendon unless the lawsuits are set-
tled.
And that's the case with most any doctor worth his salt.
A doctor isn't about to step into a mess like this when he
can go most any place in the nation to practice.
But the present board can't seem to realize that they
need to clean up the mess before seeking doctors.
Board president Delbert Robertson recently told The
Press:
"We might settle with Dr. Smith if we had guarantee that
we could get some doctors."
A member of a committee in this area which has beer/
searching for doctors for years told The Press recently,
"You'll never get doctors until you settle those lawsuitsJ'
And that fact seems to have proven out.
The situation boils down to bne thing: It's unlikely that
Medical Center Hospital will ever open until all lawsuits
are settled. The present hospital boarc is throwing a road
block in the way of opening the hospital, because they re-
fuse to settle the suit.
If the board chooses to take the case to the Court of Civil
Appeals, and they indicate they will, it isuniikely that Med-
ical Center Hospital will open within the next two years.
And the district continues to go deeper and deeper into
debt. And taxpayers continue to dig deeper and deeper into
their pockets to pay for a hospital they can't use.
The whole story sounds like a bad dream, llopefully, the
dreamers will wake up someday.
i
