News from May 17, 2012
School board election results
Andy Montana, Mitchell Smiley, and Antonio Rocha were elected to terms on the FISD Board of Trustees in the May 12 election.
Since there were three seats available on the board, voters had the choice of casting three votes for one candidate. The results of the cumulative voting were obvious as newcomer Rocha received 336 votes, with the nearest candidate, Montana, received 140 votes. Smiley received 124 votes. Incumbent candidate Brent Loflin received 123 votes, the lowest total of the four, and gives up his seat by a narrow one vote margin.
Montana and Smiley were incumbents re-elected. A total of 240 people voted, 148 early voters and 92 voters in the Saturday election.
Council awards water pipelines bid, considers treatment plant expansion
The Friona city council met in regular session Monday May 14. All members were present. Mayor J.B. Douglas presided. City attorney Slater Elza and new council member Greg Lewellen were also present. This was councilwoman Cheryl Weatherly’s last meeting. Greg Lewellen will be sworn in as a council member this week.
Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC) representative Shane Brown addressed the council on the progress of the 911 dispatch move to the Sheriff’s office in Farwell. Brown is manager of PRPC radio communications. The new microwave system will be installed at no cost to the city or the county. The council authorized Mayor Douglas to review and sign the user agreement.
Council voted no to a proposed Atmos Energy rate increase, approved a variance at 1203 Main St. for Michael Bautista to put a trailer house, and approved a permit for a May 26 sidewalk sale at Pancho’s on Hwy 60.
Grant money has been received and plans are underway for replacing water lines in parts of east Friona considered low to moderate income areas. The low bid of $229,080 was submitted by Scott Wampler Construction of Canyon. After a series of planning meetings, the project should begin in the next few months.
The council heard a lengthy presentation from Kyle Schniederjan of Brandt Engineering regarding an upcoming $1 million improvement project at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The city has purchased land adjoining the treatment plant for expansion and in order to comply with state permit modifications.
The next meeting of the Friona city council will be Monday June 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the council chambers, 619 Main St. All council meetings are open to the public.
Town Talk II
Everybody is smiling this week. The area received 1.17” of rain Sunday and Monday, with greater amounts in some sections of the county. As a result, the burn ban has been lifted until May 29. Residents are urged to still use caution when burning outdoors.
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Early voting is underway for the May 29 primary election. Vote by personal appearance at the County Clerk’s office in Farwell during business hours. An early vote day will be held in Friona Wednesday May 23 at the Friona State Bank during bank hours.
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Long time residents Dub and Virginia Cleveland are moving to Mesquite in June. We wish them well. They are having a moving sale (40 years worth of stuff) Friday and Saturday, May 18-19, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1207 W. 6th St. See the ad in the classifieds.
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Happy 31st anniversary to Kim and Mitchell Smiley this week and 35th anniversary for Dr. Felipe and Dita Jubay. Congratulations to FHS seniors Weston Wyly and Rachel Dickson for being named among the “Scholar Athletes of the Year” by the Amarillo Globe News. Also kudos to FHS and WTA&M grad Pedro Ramos for attaining his US citizenship recently. And Miguel Soto was given the Sousa Award as top band musician at last Thursday’s band concert.
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The annual Dimmitt city-wide garage sale will be held Saturday June 2. Starts at 8 a.m. Maps will be available and food vendors on the courthouse square.
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Stopped by the high school automotive/technology building Tuesday morning to visit with Mitchell Terry’s welding students about their star project. The students built, cutout, and welded 30 stars, which will be hung and lighted along Main St. during the Christmas holidays. The project was suggested by the Chamber of Commerce to replace the red banners used the past several years. There is a photos of the students and their stars on the front page. Good job Mr. Terry and students.
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Mary Ford told me Saturday her daughter Leeann Conklin and family were moving from Brock to Bushland. Son-in-law Britt is a veterinarian specializing in horses and will be in veterinary medicine sales. Be a lot closer for Mary and Kenny to visit the grandkids.
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Brayden Pope, son of Charlie and Britny, has returned home after a concussion scare last week. He was back in school Monday. Charlie said Brayden had to go back to the neurologist in a few weeks but further participation in football and basketball was definitely out. He might be allowed to play baseball though. Brayden is a freshman at FHS.
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Top graduates at Friona Junior High this school year were: 1st Josue Ojeda, 2nd Jasmine D. Rodriguez, and 3rd (tie) Josh Barnett and Keagan Kerby. Good luck to all the 8th graders as they anticipate being freshmen in the fall.
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The Friona city swimming pool will open June 1st. Hours and costs later.
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The next Friona blood drive is Thursday May 24 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Calvary Baptist Church fellowship hall. Sometimes folks show up and can’t donate because of low iron. Here is a hint: do not drink iced tea 24-hours before you plan to donate. Also, good sources of iron are beef, lamb, liver, clams, oysters, beans, ham, pork, fish, chicken, and turkey. The Noon Lions will provide French fries and corn dogs to donors. For more blood drive information see the ad in this Star.
This blood drive will be in honor of Abe Lane. Abe has required over 20 units of blood and continues to need blood as tests warrant.
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Summer time change for the grief and bereavement support group. The monthly group will meet Tuesday, May 22 at 5 p.m. at the Bluebonnet Home Health & Hospice office, 304 East 11th. For more information call 247-0057. This group meets the 4th Tuesday of each month.
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The Parmer County Historical Commission meeting tonight (Thursday May 17) will be at the Parmer Heritage Museum at 7 p.m. This is a change from Farwell. Meetings are open to the public.
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Is this symbol, #, now called a hashtag? If you are a twitter follower it is. Us older folks still call it the pound sign. I’ve tried to figure out twitter. You have to sign-up then follow people who write mostly dumb stuff in 142 characters. Famous people get in trouble if they twitter wrong. Heard last night that Donald Trump has more than a million ‘followers’ on Twitter. I’ve never been real interested in following people. I really don’t need to know what “the Donald” thinks about life or politics. He needs to start paying his fair share though, so says Mr. Obama. Tweet, tweet.
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Friona graduate Mark Blankenship was elected to the Lubbock ISD school board in Saturday’s elections. Mark was on the school board after being appointed to fill an unexpired term, but this time was officially elected. Way to go Mark.
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Friona volunteer firemen had a “chilling” experience last Thursday. They had just had their weekly fire meeting. It was raining when about 9 p.m. they were called to an 18-wheeler that had slid into a ditch and overturned 3-miles west of Friona on Hwy 60. The Affiliated Foods truck was loaded with frozen food headed to El Paso. No injuries but the food had to be loaded into another truck. The firemen brought their portable floodlights to the scene and worked until about 3 a.m. transferring the frozen stuff. Another reason to thank our local volunteers.
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The 2012 Chieftain football schedule reflects our realignment back into a 6-team district. The opening game will be August 31 with Stratford at Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo. Game time is 4:30 p.m. September 7 is an open date and September 14 is homecoming vs. River Road. Then at Idalou, Roosevelt here, and at Dalhart. District starts October 12 here vs. Muleshoe, at Childress, Bushland here, at Littlefield, and Dimmitt here November 9.
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The fundraiser auction for the high school varsity basketball teams to attend camp has been rescheduled to Thursday May 31 at the high school cafeteria. Opens at 5:30 p.m. and auction starts at 6 p.m. Mark your calendar.
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The Friona Noon Lions sliced, cooked, and salted 400 pounds of potatoes into world famous French fries for the FHS all-sports banquet Tuesday at the junior high cafeteria. We had our fry rig set up behind the cafeteria and shuttled trays of fries through the back door. Charlie Pope and Rick White and Trent Hill of Cargill cooked the beef medallions and the booster club decorated the room then cleaned up afterwards. Junior high 8th grade students, under the strict supervision of Alan Monroe and Becky Jones, served the food and kept tea glasses full. Thanks again to all the volunteers that step up to make these events successful.
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Friona High School principal Dr. Chris Morrow, took a bold and unusual step to end the All-Sports banquet Tuesday evening. Dr. Morrow said two coaches had resigned “because they did not feel welcome in Friona any longer.” He said, and rightfully so, that Coach Victor Soliz and Coach Mike Herbert were good men and had been good leaders and examples to the students. He thanked them for their years in Friona and gave each man an envelope as a “token of appreciation.” Do not know what was in the envelope. It was a positive end to a nice evening. Thank you Dr. Chris Morrow.
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Saturday, May 19, the Cargill Cares crew will be at Reeve Lake for their annual clean-up from about 8 a.m. to noon. Jon Surman told me they would be cooking fajitas for the workers mid-morning so you know I will drop by with my camera. Lot of stuff going on the next week or so. Better get busy. Until then!
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