Tag Archives: Randall County

local news, media news

Political wish comes true!

For more than 20 years my wife and lived in a community that was dominated politically by one party.

I refer to Randall County, Texas, where Democratic candidates for local office had become almost an extinct species. All the incumbents ran unopposed every two years. Including — more or less — our member of Congress. I didn’t object too mightily then, as I thought our county government and our legislative offices were occupied by fine individuals. I became friends with two Republican lawmakers, Four Price and John Smithee, both of Amarillo. Price represented the county north of us but we attended the same church.

I did lament the lack of political competition in Randall County. I used my blog and the newspaper where I worked at the time to vent my frustration.

Well, I’m here to tell you that dreams do come true. We ended up moving to Collin County, just north of Dallas, in 2018. Our granddaughter had come into this world, so we needed to be closer to her. We got a bonus for our bargain, in that we moved into a highly competitive region of the state. Dallas County has become a Democratic bastion of sorts. The result has been lots of competitive races featuring serious candidates from both major political parties. The same can be said of Collin County.

Voters like me now have choices to make. Who is the more serious candidate? Who adheres more to my thinking? I had to put my noggin to work before I cast my vote when early voting became available. It’s all a good thing.

Now I get to wait till the end of ballot-counting next week. I hope it turns out the way I want it.

local news

Oh, for the good old days …

A former member of Congress once told me a story that I want to share with you today because it reminds me of the days when Congress spent time actually governing and ignored the insults the other side would toss at them.

The ex-rep is Larry Combest, a Lubbock Republican and a man of high principle. Combest once represented the southern half of Amarillo, the part of the city that sat within the Randall County area of the Texas Panhandle.

Combest once served as an aide to Sen. John Tower, a Republican who once was slated to become defense secretary during the George H.W. Bush administration; his nomination got derailed over some persnal conduct issues. According to Combest, Tower had friends across the aisle, one of whom was Sen. Hubert Humphrey, a Minnesota Democrat. Tower and Humphrey would engage in ferocious floor debates over this or that public policy. Both men were adamant in their beliefs. They would raise their voices to each other.

Then, at the end of a day of stern debate, Sens. Tower and Humphrey would walk across the Senate floor, shake hands and often embrace as they walked through the doors of the chamber. Combest said the men were friends and never let harsh words spoken on the Senate floor sully their friendship.

I can cite many examples of bipartisan friendships in the Senate: Democrat Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Republican Bob Dole of Kansas; Democrat George McGovern of South Dakota and Republican Barry Goldwater of Arizona; Republican John McCain of Arizona and Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. I need to add that Combest once told me his best friend in the House was a Democrat, fellow West Texan Charles Stenholm of Abilene. All of these men were fierce advocates of their points of view. They all maintained close friendships with their friends on the other side.

I want a return to that level of collegiality. These days we hear criticism that cuts deeply. It makes me wonder whether there is a relationship between the way lawmakers treated each other then and what we have today … which happens to be a Senate where nothing gets done.

Coincidence? I think not!

legal news

Finally … a jury summons!

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Nearly six years into my Collin County, Texas, residency and I finally — finally! I am telling you — received a jury summons.

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I want to be selected to serve on a trial jury.

I came close once to getting selected for a trial jury. It occurred in Amarillo back in the late 1990s. I got the summons, reported for duty, then got herded into a jury pool waiting room where we cooled our jets for most of the day.

Then the judge who managed the jury selection, 47th District Judge David Gleason, excused us. I must have been the only juror wannabe who expressed disappointment at that moment.

You see, I long have been fascinated by the criminal justice system. I have wanted to serve on a jury since the time I first became eligible, which I guess was when I turned 21 years of age.

I never received a jury summons when I lived in Oregon. I have received several of them since moving to Texas in the spring of 1984. Except for the near-selection in Randall County, my other summonses ended with a “don’t report” order, meaning the court system didn’t need me that day.

I suppose I could seek an exemption based on my age; I am 75 years old now and I do not have to report. I won’t do that. I want to serve on a jury.

My reporting time is about a month away. I am going to hope for the best and hope they need me to do my duty as a citizen. Hey, it’s the least I can do.

local news, national news

Move over, Paul Revere!

A supporter of this blog has informed many of my critics that I am now traipsing through some mighty tall cotton.

I need offer a quick-and-clean thank you to this fellow, who I have known for nearly 30 years, dating to when I arrived in the Texas Panhandle to take over as editorial page editor of the Amarillo Globe-News.

My friend, a former Randall County judge, has been chiding a critic over the tone he takes in chastising my arguments opposing Donald J. Trump’s choices to join his newly elected administration. He told the critic that “John Kanelis is a modern-day Paul Revere,” while berating him as a “disgrace to our country as you aid and abet the unhinged fool known as Donald Trump.”

See what I mean about the tall cotton reference?

I am not going to accept the Paul Revere reference. That is my friend’s opinion, to which he — and my critic — are entitled. However, my friend is a lawyer, which means he knows the language quite well. He’s a smart guy. I do not know my critic beyond what he says frequently while commenting on my blog; I just know him as an ardent Trump supporter … meanwhile, I am not.

There you go. Step aside, Paul Revere. You have company … I suppose.

local news

Appreciating town squares

I grew up in a large city, Portland, Ore., which has exploded into a major metro complex over the years.

My experience with smaller communities, thus, was related to brief visits to nearby suburban towns or those that dot the landscape along, say, the Willamette Valley south of Portland.

I didn’t have much of an appreciation for the value of town squares … until I moved away from Portland in 1984. My family and I relocated to Beaumont, Texas, where I was able to pursue my career in print journalism.

East Texas is where I became acquainted with town squares, the places where county courthouses are located. They are places with mom-and-pop stores around the square. Where people congregate for coffee, an adult beverage, to just exchange some idle gossip. The sight of some old guys playing dominoes on the square in Hemphill, Texas, in Sabine County, has stuck with me for more than three decades.

I learned of the value of town squares to those communities. My wife and I moved later to the Texas Panhandle, where I saw even more evidence of how town squares give communities their identity.

These are worth mentioning because I just finished writing a story for KETR.org, the website affiliated with the public radio station at Texas A&M-Commerce. I won’t divulge what’s in the story, because I don’t want to scoop myself … or my bosses at the radio station.

I do, though, want to hail the virtues of town squares, which is the subject of the story I have written. The Texas Historical Preservation Commission doles out money to counties that ask for grants to help them pay for the restoration of courthouses that sit in the middle of these town squares.

The commission claims great economic success as a result of the grants it provides. I saw evidence of it today in a Northeast Texas community I visited in doing research for the story I have just completed.

There are other examples, some of which I have seen up close. Others’ stories are told by the officials and residents who live in those towns.

I like telling the story of the renovation of the 1909 courthouse in Canyon, Texas. The exterior of the building was spruced up and made to look as the builders intended when they erected it at the turn of the 20th century. The interior, though, is vacant, empty, nothing going on in there. Randall County had moved most of its operation out of the town square to a site on the other side of town.

However … and this is the point I want to stress, which is that the town square in Canyon has thrived anyway, despite any real activity inside the 1909 courthouse structure. Businesses have filled once-empty storefronts. It’s a happenin’ place, man!

That is the kind of story I am hearing throughout North Texas as I continue to cover the courthouse restoration issue for KETR-FM radio.

Counties have a resource available at the Historical Preservation Commission that they can use. It’s not exactly free money, but the return on that investment is, well, priceless.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Ernie would be proud

Dang! I regret not snapping a picture of a building in Amarillo that is the subject of this blog. That would be the Ernie Houdashell Randall County Annex.

You see, it is Houdashell’s name that gives me reason to comment. I am delighted to have seen the building with the late Randall County judge’s name on it. My bride and I made a quick trip to the Panhandle and we took a moment to gaze at Ernie’s name on the annex.

Houdashell died recently of complications brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. His passing saddens me to this day. He and I became acquainted shortly after my arrival in the Texas Panhandle in early 1995 when he was district director for state Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo. Houdashell gravitated to the county judgeship not long afterward.

He worked hard to acquire the site of a former store on Western Street and build a county annex in south Amarillo. The county seat is in Canyon, but the bulk of the business in the county occurs at its annex, which formerly was stuffed into a tiny structure on Georgia Street.

Houdashell wanted county employees to operate in a modern and spacious venue and wanted the public they served to avail themselves of all the services the county offers.

He fought, cajoled and negotiated a deal for the county to build the annex. Then he died. The county then rewarded Houdashell’s memory by putting his name on the shiny new courthouse annex.

Oh, one more thing. The old annex structure has been repurposed into the Texas Panhandle War Memorial Center, next to the memorial honoring all the individuals from the Panhandle who gave their lives in conflicts dating back to the Spanish-American War. Houdashell worked to acquire an Air Force F-100 fighter jet, an Army UH-1 Huey helicopter (similar to one on which Houdashell served while deployed during the Vietnam War) and a piece of the battleship USS Arizona that was sunk in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Again, he did that all of that because of his eternal love of the county he served with distinction and honor.

I will miss my friend forever and then some. Randall County has done well by inscribing Ernie Houdashell’s name on the county annex.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

County honors former judge … bravo!

Randall County’s courthouse annex owes its existence to many individuals, but one of them stands out … as in he really stands taller than the others.

The county has performed a remarkable act of honor in putting the late Ernie Houdashell’s name on the building. Houdashell, who became a dear friend of mine after I left daily journalism in Amarillo nearly a decade ago, worked hard to swing the deal that enabled the county to build a government office building that serves the bulk of the county’s population.

Houdashell, who served as county judge for 18 years, died in November 2020 of complications from the COVID-19 virus. The Commissioners Court elevated a commissioner, Christy Dyer, to the judgeship. Dyer, who is running for election this year, presided over a ceremony at the annex that resulted in its now carrying Ernie Houdashell’s name.

I cannot even begin to express adequately my pleasure at learning that the county has taken this important step.

Eighty percent of Randall County’s population resides in south Amarillo; those residents pay the vast majority of the tax revenue that funds county government, even though the county seat is in Canyon.

That vast majority of the county population formerly renewed its car registration, paid its property tax bill and did its business with the county in a cramped structure on South Georgia Street. Houdashell laid eyes on a former department store site on Western Street and negotiated seemingly forever for the county to aquire that property. He did not quit. He didn’t surrender.

The county secured the funds to remodel, refurbish and renovate the Western site and opened the new annex a couple of years ago. It is spacious. modern and well-appointed. The county was able to bring many of its services under a single roof, creating a level of efficiency it didn’t have prior to the construction of the new site.

Ernie Houdashell made it happen!

Randall County honors annex after former judge (yahoo.com)

According to Yahoo News: “He was a mentor, my friend, and an inspiration,” Dyer said. “Randall County was so blessed to have him at the helm. He leaves big shoes to fill. I work very hard and every day, I think about him and what would be his thoughts on if we were taking the right step forward for Randall County.”

Ernie Houdashell would be proud. Of that I am absolutely certain.

Well done, Randall County.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Town presents spectacular image

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas — I got a major surprise early this afternoon as I arrived in this Hopkins County community on a story assignment for KETR-FM radio.

It was the appearance of what I consider to be one of the most spectacular small-town squares I ever have seen.

Sulphur Springs is a town of about 16,000 or so residents. It is the Hopkins County seat. I visited for a time with County Judge Robert Newsom about the impact that Cooper Lake is having on the county. What we didn’t connect was how the city and the county have combined to create a gleaming downtown district that is utterly brimming with activity, with color and personality.

The highlight of what I saw involved the massive veterans memorial in the middle of the city square.

The city has erected a memorial with specific exhibits remembering and honoring those who served — and died — in battle in virtually all the conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries. I was drawn — quite naturally — to the Vietnam War segment of the memorial.

Once I took my eyes off the veterans memorial, I scanned the surrounding businesses and was struck by the absence — at least what I could see of it — of any empty store fronts.

Newsom told me about the courthouse, which the county renovated through a historic preservation grant that is a popular method of financing that counties have used for the past two decades or so. I mentioned to him how Randall County in the Panhandle acquired a grant to fix up the exterior of its 1909 courthouse building, but then left the interior of it empty. It is unused. Newsom couldn’t believe it. It’s true, I told him. The exterior looks fantastic and it has drawn many new businesses to the square in downtown Canyon.

Newsom said with emphasis that Hopkins County intended to make full use of its courthouse — which was built in the 1890s — when it was done. “It’s expensive to maintain,” he said, adding that it is worth the expense. Indeed, the Hopkins County Courthouse is a beautiful structure … that fits right in with what Sulphur Springs has done to its downtown district.

Readers of this blog perhaps know of my love for vibrant downtown districts. I have written about it many times here and when I worked for newspapers in Beaumont and Amarillo.

Man, oh man! Sulphur Springs has hit a grand slam home run with its downtown district.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

County to honor late Judge Houdashell … yes!

As my dear old dad would say, “I’ll be dipped in sesame seeds.”

I just found out that the late Randall County (Texas) Judge Ernie Houdashell is going to be honored for his work as a devoted public servant for the county he loved with all his heart.

The county commissioners court has decided to put Ernie Houdashell’s name on the county annex building on Western Street in southern Amarillo. It will be called the “Ernie Houdashell Randall County Annex.”

To which I offer a heartfelt cheer and congratulations.

I had written a blog item just the other day lamenting the absence of Houdashell’s name on any structure nearly a year after he died of COVID-19 related complications. It turns out that county commissioners had been working on honoring the county judge’s memory for the past few months.

They are working at this time on completing the signage that will be displayed on the front of the annex.

The annex was a huge accomplishment for Judge Houdashell, who wanted to give county employees working in the annex more room than what they had in their old quarters on South Georgia Street. He wheeled and dealt to acquire an abandoned store on South Western, which the county then renovated and turned into a shiny new office complex which could handle the volume of work required at the annex; indeed, nearly 80 percent of the county’s work occurs at the annex, even though the county seat is in Canyon.

This news makes me happy. It is satisfying in the extreme to know that Ernie Houdashell’s dedication to Randall County will be honored in perpetuity in this fashion.

Well done, Randall County.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Why not honor this good man?

A return to Amarillo — our first since the death of a good friend of mine — brought to mind something that I noticed is missing from a couple of prominent edifices around town.

It is the name of Ernie Houdashell, the late Randall County judge who in my humble view needs to be honored by having his name highly visible to anyone visiting a prominent public place.

What might that include? Two places come immediately to mind.

One of them is the Randall County Annex on Western Street. The other is the Texas Panhandle War Memorial next to where the Annex used to be located.

Why these two sites? For starters, they both have Houdashell’s fingerprints all over them.

Ernie Houdashell recognized the need to relocate the Annex from its cozy little site on South Georgia Street. He worked out a deal for the county to acquire the site that it would renovate and turn into a spacious office complex.

As for the Texas Panhandle War Memorial, I want to point out three attractions that Houdashell worked long and hard to bring to the site: the F-100 jet fighter; the UH-1 Huey helicopter (similar to one that Houdashell served on during the Vietnam War); and the piece of USS Arizona, the battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor.

I’ll admit some bias here. Houdashell was a dear friend. He and I were able to develop our professional relationship into a strong personal friendship after I no longer worked as a journalist for the Amarillo Globe-News. I saw how hard he worked as a passionate advocate for Randall County.

Ernie Houdashell loved serving as county judge, just as he loved working for state Rep. John Smithee and former Congressman Beau Boulter.

This is just a suggestion, but my sincere hope is that the county that Ernie Houdashell loved and served with honor can reciprocate by honoring his memory in a tangible fashion.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com