Sheldon Snyder of Clift Land Brokers recognized as part of RLI’s APEX Producers Club

Amarillo, TX – Sheldon Snyder, ALC of Clift Land Brokers has been recog- nized as a part of the 2022 APEX Pro- ducers Club by the REALTORS® Land Institute as a part of the RLI APEX Pro- duction Awards Program, sponsored by The Land Report. Snyder was recognized by RLI CEO Aubrie Kobernus as well as The Land Report’s Co-founders Eddie Lee Rider Jr. and Eric O’Keefe at a spe- cial awards ceremony on Tuesday, March 7, during RLI’s 2023 National Land Con- ference (NLC23) in Denver, CO.

New playground equipment approved by city council

The Dalhart City Council voted to approve a contract with Playgrounds Etc. for brand new playground equipment at Veteran’s Memorial Park on 7th Street and Rock Island Avenue at the council’s regular semi-monthly meeting on Mon- day March 13. The project is scheduled to be completed by mid-summer. “The City of Dalhart is excited to update our park equipment and to offer our kids more recreational opportunities,” said Mayor Justin Moore.

Braely Heiser wins trophy at Houston Livestock Show

Dalhart’s Braely Heiser was awarded first place in Class 3, Black Cross Medium Weight, at the Junior Market Steer Show at the 2023 Houston Livestock Show.

Walk-off completes comeback for Wolves

Kevin Rios jumps up to celebrate after scoring the winning run against Gruver. Rios was driven home by a walk-off double by Kyler Read as the Wolves came back from a doubledigit deficit for the win. Details about the game, and more photos, are on page 6 of this edition of the Dalhart Texan.

Bond issue town hall meeting Monday March 20

By Bill Kelly
The Dalhart Texan

The Dalhart Independent School District (DISD) will host a town hall meeting to present information about the upcoming bond election this coming Monday, March 20. The meeting will be held at the Community Room at the Rahll Campus of Frank Phillips College in Dalhart, and will begin at 7 p.m. The DISD is advertising the meeting as a chance for those in the community to learn how the bond would impact students, teachers, parents and the community overall.

The DISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously last month to accept the recommendation of the District’s Facility Committee to call for a $50 million bond package for the May 6 election. The committee studied a district-wide facility assessment and district financial information and toured all campuses. Over more than a year, members met to assess and prioritize critical areas of focus; the consensus was to recommend that Dalhart ISD call a bond for the following:

Construction of a new intermediate campus to be designed to accommodate grades three through five initially while allowing for additions to accommodate PK through fifth grade at some point in the future

Renovations to the current elementary and middle school (junior high) campuses

District-wide HVAC replacement and upgrades

Renovations to the baseball/softball complex

The district has also set up a special Facebook page for the bond issue. The name of the page is “DISD Go FORward- Bond 2023.” Information about the bond issue, along with announcements about informational meeting such as the one on March 20, is being posted on the page.

Election Day is set for Saturday, May 6, and early voting runs from April 24 through May 2. The election for the bond issue will coincide with election for the open slots on the DISD Board of Trustees and with the election for the Dalhart City Council, which will also be held May 6.

DVFD responds to old church building fire

The old New Light Baptist Church building at the intersection of 1st Street and Elm caught fire during the evening of Monday March 13. The building was unoccupied. The Dalhart Volunteer Fire Department responded with seven units, and the Hartley Fire Department also responded, as did the Dalhart Police Department and both the Dallam County Sheriff’s Office and Hartley County Sheriff’s Office.

Vehicle overturned during collision

Two vehicles collided near the intersection of U.S. Highway 54 and Dodson Street on Thursday March 9. One person had to be extricated, but no major injuries were reported. The Dalhart Police Depart- ment, Dallam County Sheriff’s Office, Dalhart AMR, Hartley County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Transporta- tion and Dalhart Volunteer Fire Department responded to the accident.

Channing One-Act Play advances to Bi-District

Channing High School’s One-Act Play competed in the district contest last week, and qualified to advance to the Bi-District round of competition. Five of Channing’s actors also received awards. Blair Dahl was named Best Performer, Gracie Thompson and Ha- zelie Brooks were named to the All-Star Cast, and Skyler White and Jetli Gonzalaz were named Honorable Mention All-Star Cast.

Water conservation essay winners announced

(Editor’s Note: This photo was originally published in the March 10 edition of the Dalhart Texan, but with an incorrect caption, so we are publishing it again.) The Hartley Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) recently announced the district winners of the essays for the 45th Texas Conservation Awards Program. Students can enter an essay in the contest, and the dis- trict judges the essays and picks a first, second and third place essay. The top two essays are sent to the state for judging, which will pick winners for the area contest and then those essays enter the state contest. A winner from that contest will go to the state con- vention. The theme for the essays this year was “One Water.” Yatzmary Luna, an eighth grade student at Hartley Junior High, won first place. Blaine Dahl, a sixth grader from Channing placed second, and Hartley sixth graders Joritsa Portillo and Harli Newman tied for third place for the Hartley district this year. Back row l-r: Hartley SWCD board members David Spinhirne, Kent Gordon and John Frantz and field representative Ricky Johnson. Front row l-r: Yatzmary Luna, Joritsa Portillo, Harli Newman and Blaine Dahl. Not pictured are Hartley SWCD Chairman Carol Lathem and vice chairman Randy Lenz.

City seeking nominations for statewide business award

Dalhart, TX – The City of Dalhart is seeking local businesses to be nominated for the Texas Treasure Business Award. Awarded by the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Treasure Business Award recognizes independent, for-profit businesses with over 50 years of service. The honor is intended to attract awareness for the business and the important role they have played in the community for over half a century.

If you own, are employed by, or know of a business in Dalhart that has served the area for more than 50 years please consider nominating the business for this prestigious honor. To nominate a business, please contact Bryce Jones, Community Development Manager for the City of Dalhart, at CDM@dalharttx.gov or by phone at 806-244-5511 ext. 3216 before April 1.

Kade Crosby to play for Buffaloes

Members of the Dalhart Golden Wolves’ football team pose for a photo with teammate Kade Crosby after he signed to play football for WT. An interview with Crosby is on page 6 of this edition of the Dalhart Texan.

Hartley One-Act Play advances to Bi-District

The Hartley High School One-Act Play competed at district earlier this week and qualified to move on to the Bi-District competition. Five members of the cast also won individual honors. Best Performer was Danielle Sybesma, Perla Contreras and Arecely Arzabala were named to the All-Star Cast and Daisy Guzman and Aratzell Goytia were named Honorable Mention All-Star Cast.

First bills of the session move out of committee

By Richard Lee
Senate Media Services

The Senate State Affairs Committee approved a number of bills this week, the first to be voted out of committee on the Senate side in 2023. The state constitution prevents the Senate from taking up and considering any legislation in the first 60 days of a given session, save those tagged as emergency items by the governor. That doesn’t mean members can’t consider and vote on bills in committee, however, and on Monday the State Affairs Committee approved one of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s top priorities in the form of Senate Bill 2. Committee chair and bill author Senator Bryan Hughes of Mineola presented a bill that would revert the penalty for illegal voting back to a felony and would clarify the threshold of proof required for conviction for that offense.

Dalhart Elementary celebrates Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

Several Dalhart High students spent the morning of Thursday March 2 reading to students at Dalhart Elementary to celebrate the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss, with some of the students dressing as the Cat in the Hat and as Things 1 and 2. More photos from the event are on page 10 of this edition of the Dalhart Texan.

Rahll Activity Center receives signage

The Rahll Activity Center officially opened a little over a month ago, but the outside sign for the Bill Kelly | Dalhart Texan center had yet to arrive at that time. It is now up, and the heating and a/c units for the basketball/ volleyball court at the center have also been in the process of being installed recently.

Texline packs gym to support Tornadoes

Although the result wasn’t what they wanted, it seemed like the entire town of Texline was in Vega on the evening of Monday February 27 as they played Nazareth in the Class 1A Regional Quarterfinals. It was standing-room only in the gym, as Nazareth’s fans also filled their side of the gym and fans lined the rails as well. The Texline student section was dressed either in black or as ESPN announcers for the game. Details of the game and photos are on pages 6 and 7 of this edition of the Dalhart Texan.

Chamber honors Terri Hein as 2023 Citizen of the Year

By Bill Kelly
The Dalhart Texan

The Dalhart Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual Gala last Saturday, February 25 in the Rita Blanca Coliseum. The theme for this year’s Gala was “Soaring With Pride Since 1901.”

Senate panel considers rural hospital shortage

By Richard Lee
Senate Media Services

The industry group that represents rural hospitals says that recent state and federal reforms have stopped the epidemic of hospital closures in rural counties but there still remain pockets of the state without access to healthcare services. Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee completed its first round of public hearings on the budget with a marathon session of public testimony. Initially scheduled for the week that Austin was closed down due to a severe ice storm, witnesses weren’t deterred by the delay as hundreds showed up to offer testimony. Among these was John Henderson, the CEO and president of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, who told members that recent changes to Medicaid reimbursement rates have stopped the rash of hospital closings.

Payton Ralston places second in San Antonio

Payton Ralston placed second in the lightweight Yorkshire class at the San Antonio Livestock Show last week. She ended up bringing in $250,000 at the sale, with multiple individuals, businesses and organizations donating to that total after the tragedy of a couple of weeks ago. The news of the good-hearted effort quickly spread all over social media late last week, including a video of the sale.

Chamber celebrates “Soaring with pride since 1901” at annual Gala

By Bill Kelly
The Dalhart Texan

The Dalhart Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual gala on Saturday February 25 at the Rita Blanca Coliseum, with a theme of “Soaring with pride since 1901.” The gala was a huge success, actually selling out of tickets as a large crowd celebrated the past year.