The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, March 12, 2004 Page: 1 of 22
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Run-Offs
Required
In U.S., State
Rep. Races
By David Anderson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
CLIFTON — Tuesday’s Re-
publican Party Primary pre-
sented two run-offs in races
with direct implications to
Bosque County voters. Arlene
Wohlgemuth and Dot Snyder
will face off for the Repuolican
nod in the District 17 U.S. Rep-
resentative race to earn the
right to face incumbent Demo-
crat Chet Edwards in the No-
vember general election. Robb
Orr and Sam Walls are also in
a run-off to determine who will
run in November for the Dis-
trict 58 State Representative’s
post. The winner will face
Democrat Greg A. Kauffman in
the general election.
Wohlgemuth drew the most
votes in the Dist. 17 race, tally-
ing 15,625 (41.26 percent) to
Snyder’s 11,567 (30.54 percent).
Dave McIntyre finished third
and out of the run-off with
10,678 votes (28.2 percent).
In Bosque County, voters
preferred Wohlgemuth (574
votes, 57.68 percent). Snyder
• See RUNOFFS, Page 8
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Clifton, Texas 76634 VOL. 109, NO. 20 — FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2004
© 2004. The Clifton Record. All Rights Reserved
CHS Band Earns ‘Sweepstakes’ Honors
CLIFTON — The Clifton High
School Band traveled to Hamilton
Wednesday, March 3, to compete
in the University Interscholastic
League Region 7 (East Zone) Con-
cert and Sightreading Contest, the
third leg of the three-part compe-
tition during the school year. Re-
ceiving a First Division rating
from all three judges in each of the
two categories, the band also took
home a U1L Sweepstakes Award,
“The band was awarded a
Sweepstakes trophy after they
performed in the sightreading
room,” reported CHS Band Direc-
tor Keith Zuehlke.
The Sweepstakes Trophy came
Commissioners’
Races Set
For November
Christian,
Jones,
Woosley,
Ferguson
Prevail In
Christian Primaries
By David Anderson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
MERIDIAN — Two locally con-
tested races will be on the Bosque
County ballot | |
Hiesday, Nov. 2,
as two candi- :
dates each vie WEfe tfm
fora county com- H19EI '
missioners’ post. WoD
Republican can-
didate Kent Har VtlyVH
bison will square I
against
Democratic can ^
didate Bruce
Miller for the
Precinct 1 '•
commissioner's IMyPflNNI
post, while in- If,* i|fy
cumbent Itepub-
Smith will face JB
former commis- fVk fljf
sioner Gary tO
Arnold (Demo-
crat) in the race
for the Precinct Woosley
3 post. Harbison
defeated Nancy
Green 160-56 in
Tuesday’s
Democratic
Party Primary.
In the Republi- _ _
can Primary,
Miller edged out ^
Allen
Humphries 298- Ferguson
297, while Smith -
defeated challenger Randy Lane
173-157.
In other county Democratic Pri-
mary races, challenger David
Christian handily defeated incum-
bent Patricia Ferguson Coy —
1,690-621 -— to claim the nod for
county attorney. Christian will be
unopposed in the Nov. 3 general
election.
Incumbent Sheriff Charlie
• See COUNTY RACES, Page 8
GETTING THEIR PAWS ON LAND — BARK, Inc. President Don Knustrom (center) signs the paperwork
purchasing 12.09 acres of land from Davis Trucking Company. John Hastings, Jr., (right) owner of Bosque
Cen-Tex Title, Inc., donated his services to BARK for the closing that was held last Friday. Also on hand is
Clifton MdyOr W. Leon Smith (left). -Stall Photo By Nathan Diebenow
BARK, Inc. Purchases Property
— Development Of Master Plan Next —
By Nathan Diebenow
STAFF WRITER
CLIFTON — After a little more
than a year in existence, Bosque
Animal Rescue Kennels, Inc. has
purchased land from Davis Truck-
ing Company. Final papers were
signed last Friday.
Comprised of 12.09 acres on
which BARK will build its county-
wide animal shelter, the land is lo-
cated slightly more than a half
mile south of Clifton on State Hwv.
6.
With the acquisition of land out
of the way, focus will now be di-
rected at developing the property.
Preliminary plans have called
for the complex to consist of not
only an animal shelter, but to com-
bine the shelter with recreational
attributes that are geared toward
families, to keep interest in the fa-
cility fresh and encourage the pub-
lic to get involved.
“We were told early-on by spe-
cialists that often animal shelters
are built but later abandoned be-
cause over time people lose inter
est,” said Clifton Mayor W. Leon
Smith who, with the approval of
the Clifton City Council, pursued
a method of addressing the city's
animal control problems, thereby
North Bosque EMS Facing
Closure Due To Financial Woes
MERIDIAN - Officials of North
Bosque Emergency Medical Ser-
vices recently issued a warning
that if financial relief is not ob-
tained immediately, thq service is
likely to close at any time. The ser-
vice is one of two operating ambu-
lances in Bosque County.
Begun as a volunteer service,
the organization began paying at-
tendants in 2003 as mandated by
the Texas Department of Health.
At that time, volunteer providers
had dwindled, and ample coverage
was in danger without paying am-
bulance attendants. At the same
time, changes in accounting pro-
cedures were made in hopes of
realizing more funding through
payments for services.
However, that increased funding
has not materialized enough to off-
set the rising expenses of the ser-
vice, which is currently losing an
estimated $10,000 per month.
If North Bosque EMS ceases
operations, approximately 625
miles of the county will be left with-
out primary ambulance coverage.
ProMed Ambulance Service,
based in Clifton, covers some 365
miles of Bosque County, but is un-
Monday Deadline Looms For Candidates
To File For School Board, Council Elections
By David Anderson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
CLIFTON — Candidates have
until Monday, March 15, to file for
a place on the ballot in elections
to be held by the City of Clifton and
the Clifton Independent School
District. Two seats are up for
grabs on the CISD Board of Trust-
ees, with three positions available
on the Clifton City Council. Simi-
lar positions are available at cities
and school districts across the
county.
Three two-year aldermen posts
will be on the City of Clifton ballot
in May, currently held by Aider-
men David Anderson, James Cor-
pier, and Kelly Ross. Only Corpier,
68, retired, and Ross, 44, the min-
ister of music at First Baptist
Church of Clifton, had filed as can-
didates as of earlier this week.
Two three-year trustee posi-
tions currently held by Clifton ISD
Board President John Erickson
and Secretary Larry Musselman
will expire in May. Musselman, 49,
• See LOCAL ELECTIONS, Page 4
der contract with the City of Clif-
ton and the City of Valley Mills to
provide primary ambulance care
for those communities. Without
adding more ambulances, Pro
Med likely could not pick up the
area North Bosque EMS would be
vacating.
Members of North Bosque
EMS’ Board of Directors recently
issued a public appeal for dona-
tions to keep the service in opera-
tion until other measures to
obtain funding could be enacted.
One such source of funding being
sought is through area water pro-
viders. The board is asking those
providers to either implement a $2
per-meter per-month surcharge,
or ask for voluntary donations in
that amount from their subscrib-
ers.
Bosque County Judge Cole
Word and entities across the
county have been working for
over a year to formulate long-
range plans for ambulance cover-
• See AMBULANCE, Page 2
Tickets Now On Sale For First-Ever
Meridian Chuckwagon Cook-Off
Meridian — Tickets are now
available to the first-ever
Chuckwagon Cookoff to be held on
the Bosque Bottoms in Meridian
Friday through Sunday, March 19-
21. A limited number of tickets are
available for $10 each that include
gate admission and meal tickets
for the Chuckwagon Lunch on Sat-
urday. The event is sponsored by
the National Championship Bar-
becue Cookoff Committee.
The weekend will kick off Friday
evening, March 19, with wagon
due to the band's First Division
ratings in marching, concert, and
sightreading. Last October, the
Clifton High School Marching
ifand earned straight Division I
ratings in October at the UIL Re
gion 7 East Zone Marching Band
• See SWEEPSTAKES. Page 2
County Prepared For Mirant’s
Failure To Pay Property Taxes
By David Anderson ,
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
CLIFTON - Although the
county stands to see $400,000 less
in revenue due to the failure of
Mirant Energy to pay its property
taxes due, county officials do not
expect services to be impacted
drastically.
The company's failure to pay its
taxes — approximately seven per-
cent of the county 's $5,563,222 fis-
cal budget — was anticipated, and
county officials planned ahead for
such a scenario. County Judge
Cole Word said the county's finan-
cial officers were aware of the pos-
sible shortfall and had prepared
accordingly.
Although a seven-percent loss in
the county’s revenues could have
been significant, the governmen-
tal entity was not hit nearly as hard
as Clifton Independent School Dis-
trict. Mirant owes Clifton ISD an
estimated $2 million in property
taxes, about 40 percent of the
district’s $5 million in tax revenues
budgeted for the current school
year.
Mirant, which filed voluntary
petitions for reorganization under
Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Code in July 2003, owns and oper-
ated a 538-megawatt electrical
generating plant is located about
one mile south of Whitney Dam on
• See COURT, Page 2
forming a committee that, over
time, has evolved into BARK.
“With the inclusion of recreational
facilities that are not currently
available in the county, we felt that
energy and interest would be con-
tinuous.”
After initial meetings, the group
of volunteers that started the or-
ganization decided that the prob-
lem with stray animals is not only
a municipal type of problem, but
extends to the county as a whole
and, according to Smith, “is really
a problem statewide.”
With its animal shelter / recre-
• See BARK, Page 2 ,
and campsite judging. Gates open
to the public at 9 a.m. Saturday,
March 20, and live entertainment
will light up the stage starting, at
10 a.m. Saturday gate admission is
$5 per person.
• See COOKOFF, Page 2
SURVEYING THE DAMAGE — Building owner Jerry Godby looks
over the damage caused by a 20-30 minute storm last Thursday,
March 3, in Clifton. The metal roof, one of the walls, and the garage
doors were ripped off the structure with three people in it. No one
Was SeriOUSly hurt. - Staft Photo By Nathan Diebenow
Storm Blasts County
Family Escapes
Falling Building
By Nathan Diebenow
STAFF WRITER
CLIFTON—An intense thun-
derstorm that lasted for about
25 minutes ripped through
Bosque County last Thursday
afternoon and caused signifi-
cant damage to trees, signs,
buildings, and automobiles.
The most striking instance of
damage to a structure in Clifton
occurred to one owned by Jerry
Godby on Hwy. 6. The metal roof
of the commercial building was
blown open like a sardine can;
the southern wall was blown
out; and the garage doors were
twisted open.
Three people, Daisy Waters ,
47, her brother Albert Wells, 55,
and son Derek Waters, 18, were
caught inside the metal shell
during most of the storm. The
Waters were getting ready for
the grand opening of their re-
sale business, D and D Varity
Shop, on Monday.
The night prior to the storm,
they had unloaded most of the
merchandise in the smaller of
the two buildings. On Thursday,
before travelling to Meridian to
register a car and during the trip
back to Clifton, they failed to
hear the weather report.
“We just thought it was a regu-
lar storm. I didn’t think nothing
else,” said Daisy Waters.
Five to 10 minutes after their
arrival, the wind howled like a
train, she said, then within sec-
onds while trying to figure out
what to do, “the walls were mov-
ing in and out like they were
breathing.”
“We didn’t know where to turn
to when we were in there,” said
Waters. “I was in the corner
where the most damage was in
the front. I ran towards the back
when the roof started to peel off
like a can opener.”
The loud noise continued. Wa-
ters said that she saw the roof
folding over itself. The south
wall buckled and tore off the top
part of the wall. Wreckage was
thrown quite a few yards from
the building
“We tried to get through the
back door, but the wind wouldn’t
let us open the door,” she said.
Waters was standing near the
electric box along the southern
wall before the wall gave way.
When electricity started to spark
from the box, the three family
• See STORM, Page 3
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, March 12, 2004, newspaper, March 12, 2004; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth789019/m1/1/?q=technical+manual: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.