Spencer and Lacy Hanes An account has been set up at Canadian InterBank for the benefit of Spencer and Lacy Hanes, whose fourth baby was born in Amarillo last Monday and flown that night to a hospital in Dallas/Fort Worth, where he underwent surgery at Cook Children’s Medical Center. They will be there for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer.

THE WAR IN UKRAINE is providing some of the most disturbing TV images ever broadcast. We watch in shock and horror as the Russian forces continue their brutal, unprovoked destruction of towns, villages, apartment houses, and hospitals. The random destruction of infrastructure and killing of civilians trying to escape has evoked outrage from western democracies and the world at large. The most barbaric strategy the Russians employ is the siege. Cutting off a community’s power, heat, food, water, and medicine is an ancient and inhumane way to win.

An early-morning fire last Sunday in rural Hemphill County destroyed a hay barn and the livestock that were inside, sheltering from below-freezing temperatures. It was a tragic reminder that fire will always be a threat here in the droughtprone Texas Panhandle—one made even more dramatic because it occurred on the fifth anniversary of the terrible wildfires of March 6, 2017, a date whose significance few in this community need any help remembering.

The annual Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) took place virtually again this year for students all over the state of Texas, with judging taking place in Amarillo on Saturday, Feb. 26. Fifteen CHS students submitted their art for consideration. In all, 11 students received the highest mark for points, and qualified for medals. Of those, three students qualified for the state VASE competition.