News from July 2, 2009:
ron carr photo
Members of the Kendrick family gathered during the Kendrick Memorial golf tournament held Saturday and Sunday at Friona Draw Golf & Recreation Center. The tournament honored the late Pudge Kendrick who was a founding member of the country club. From left to right, Matthew and Tara Kendrick, Amanda and Phillip Shelton, Sally (Kendrick) Messenger holding Mallory Shelton, Deke Kendrick, Danny Kendrick, Jennifer Kendrick, Pam Kendrick holding Avery Kendrick daughter of Casey and Andy Kendrick. More photos from the golf tournament are available at frionaonline.com.
Two Weeks till cheeseburgers and channel 10
BY RON CARR
In about two weeks Friona will experience its annual fifteen minutes of fame.
Chamber of Commerce executive vice-president Chris Alexander and the Chamber board are in the midst of planning for the back-to-back events of the Saturday July 18 Cheeseburger Festival & Car Show followed by the Monday July 20 KVII Channel 10 visit to Friona.
All businesses, civic clubs, church groups, and individual vendors are invited to participate in either or both events, Alexander said.
For the Cheeseburger Cookoff vendors pay a $30 fee in advance for a booth. No meat vendors will be allowed but other food vendors are welcome to participate. Some examples of previous vendors are jewelry, t-shirts, toys, gift items, sno-cones, ice cream, roasted corn, etc.
All vendors are required to keep their goods G-rated and family friendly. Vendors are required to clean up around their sites before leaving the park. Vendor forms and entry blanks for the cook-off and car show are available at the Chamber of Commerce office at 621 Main St.
At the Cheeseburger Cook Off the Chamber will be selling a plastic bracelet for $6 good for a cheeseburger and bag of chips. The plastic bracelet will have four tabs, each one good for one-fourth of a cheeseburger from any of the cook-off teams. Burgers will be available to the public when the judging is completed, usually around noon.
In addition, the Noon Lions Club will be selling french fries for $2 and other vendors will sell drinks, candy, ice cream, sno-cones, fruit punch and more. There will also be music, a rock climbing wall, the inflatable jumping house, and other vendor booths.
Tables and chairs will be set up during the Cheeseburger Cook Off but it has not been decided about providing them during the Channel 10 evening. If you are coming out for the Monday evening, and the Chamber would like to see lots of folks there, you might want to bring along your folding chairs.
No fee is being charged for vendors at the July 20 Channel 10 event which will also center at city park. Times given are from 5-10:30 p.m. Set-up time will be from 4-5:15 p.m. Again, vendors need to keep items G-rated and family friendly. Food of any kind may be served during the evening. All vendors will need to clean up their area before leaving the park.
“We encourage any and all retail businesses to bring a table and tent and set up a ‘mini-store’ for the evening,” Alexander said. “We want booths of any kind and for everyone to have a great time and let’s make a good showing for Channel 10.”
If there are questions about either of these events contact the Chamber at 250-3491. Make plans now to come out and help Friona with its fifteen minutes of fame.
New hospital to have added features
Parmer Medical Center (PMC) is making final plans for the move into the new facility in August. In addition to several new clinical service lines delivered in a state-of-the-art healthcare setting, the new facility brings a highly patient-focused touch, with larger patient rooms, more patient-friendly lab and radiology areas, and numerous features designed to create a positive hospital experience for patients and their families.
One such feature is the addition of the walking path pictured above. Patients and/or their families will have easy access to this path as an added element to their routine recovery and physical therapy.
New clinical service lines immediately available in the new facility will include aquatic therapy and sleep laboratory studies. Upon relocating to the new facility, the PMC team will begin development of an endoscopy program and specialty clinic services, such as urology, cardiology, dermatology and other specialties for which there is a community need.
“This is your new state-of-the-art facility, and the PMC team is grateful for the opportunity to utilize it in serving the healthcare needs of Parmer County and the surrounding area,” said PMC spokesperson Heidi Eichenauer.
courtesy photo
This walking path will be one of several new services available at the new Parmer Medical Center hospital to assist patients with recovery and rehabilitation.
Town Talk II
The area received some nice rain Saturday night and predictions are for late evening rain every day this week. Amarillo received flooding rains late Saturday, enough to close I-40 for a while due to high water at the Washington Street underpass.
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Prairie Acres Nursing Home is celebrating Independence Day with a hamburger cookout Friday July 3 from 12-2 p.m. Sierra Sue, a recording artist from Clovis will be performing classic country music. Everyone is invited to attend says administrator Nikki Brister.
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Todd Bandy, 1978 Friona graduate, has been named head football coach at district rival Floydada. The Whirlwinds will visit Friona this year during district play bringing Coach Bandy back to his former home field.
Todd went to Lubbock Christian University after graduating. He played for LCU on their first football team. After two years at LCU, Todd got married and farmed for 10 years in the Friona area before returning to West Texas A&M in 1991 to obtain a degree and return to football.
He has coached in Texarkana, Muleshoe, Howe, Brady, and Whitewright before accepting the Floydada position. He was head coach at Brady four years and Whitewright two years. Todd’s brother Johnny is a coach at Plano West. Brother Clay is a resident of Friona. They are the sons of Patsy and Eugene Bandy.
Todd and his wife Lori have a daughter Chelsey who graduated from University of North Texas in May and a son, Levi, who graduated from WT in December and is a coach at Bonham Junior High in Amarillo. Chelsey plans to find a teaching position in the Amarillo area.
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Gary Johnson is leaving his maintenance position at Parmer Medical Center for a similar position at the Farwell Convalescent Center. He plans to continue as pastor of Grace Baptist Church here in Friona.
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Two good sources for Town Talk info are the post office and Facebook. It’s common for folks to visit at the post office. Saw Raye Jene London there last Friday. She said she and Jerry were hosting a family reunion over the weekend and it was the 25th year they have done so.
On Facebook I learned that Alice Allen, Ruidoso resident and daughter of Patsy and Delwin Allen, recently hob-knobbed with Mike Allen, owner of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, and Brian Urlacher, all-pro linebacker for the Chicago Bears. Photos of Alice with both men were posted. Alice is in sales for the Rainmaker Resort golf club community in Ruidoso. Always good to hear news about our young people and their life after Friona.
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Went to Stevens 5-Star in Hereford Friday evening for the unveiling of the 2010 Chevy Camaro. It was a big deal with sausage wraps furnished by the Stevens folks. At 6 p.m. they uncovered two Camaros to the oohs and aahs of the crowd, which included Daniel and Donna Mullins, Roger and Lynn Nelson, and several other Friona folks.
According to Stevens 5-Star salesman and Friona resident Glenn Reeve the last year the Camaro was built was 2002. Glenn said the dealership had pre-orders for 12 of the new Camaros. The two that were unveiled were already sold. How much are they? The one I saw was in the $34K+ range.
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Monday’s senior lunch had a good crowd. Mildred Mingus’ daughter Janet and a friend were visiting. It was Mildred’s final senior lunch as she is moving to Ennis to live with her daughter and son-in-law. The seniors are also saddened with the passing of Geneiva Riethmayer Stanley. She was a regular at the twice-weekly luncheons and will be missed.
It was also announced that over the weekend Valoris Osborn fell and broke her nose. She was in an Amarillo hospital Monday awaiting an MRI.
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The Kendrick Memorial golf tournament Saturday and Sunday drew a really nice group. There were 53 teams total. The Kendrick family was in attendance Saturday and gathered for a group photo. Hats off to tournament chairman Larry Johnston, board president Gary Renner, and a host of volunteers who helped with logistics.
Many players came from out-of-town and it is hoped that they will come back and bring their friends to play the course which is in excellent shape according to Saturday’s golfers. The golf course, now named Frio Draw Golf & Recreation Center, is an asset to Friona and the tournament, plus two more upcoming, should help increase the play and the revenue for the club. We have put up some tournament photos on our website frionaonline.com. Have a look.
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The summer drama workshop begins Monday July 6. Each year the productions are underwritten by donations from the community since the kids are charged only $25 tuition. Director Allison Johnston says they could still use help with donations. If you can help, send a donation in any amount payable to Friona Fine Arts and mail to 801 W. 5th St. in Friona. Public performances of the three productions will be on Saturday July 18 at the high school auditorium. More details later.
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Don’t forget the Friona State Bank watermelon feast tomorrow (Friday July 3) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. out on the bank lawn. Both banks will close for business at 4 p.m. Friday so if you are a late evening drive-thru customer better get there a little earlier Friday. The Cargill Friona plant will host its annual Safety Day Friday also. Game booths, vendors, hot dogs, cold water, music, and fun all to remind workers about safety. Hope you all have a great but most of all safe July 4 weekend. Thanks for reading the Star. Until then!
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