News

The Hemphill County Recreation Complex was a hive of activity this week as a public/private partnership of county employees and officials, and volunteers from local businesses, joined forces to give the popular duck ponds a proper grooming.

We spent a couple of hours last week catching up with County/District Clerk Lisa Johnson, who also serves as this county’s official voter registrar and is responsible for conducting countywide special and general elections, and for handling absentee voting. This year, Johnson’s task has grown to encompass the city council election. Originally scheduled for May 2, that election was postponed by gubernatorial executive order to safeguard the public during the coronavirus pandemic.

State Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian) got a good taste of the concerns he will likely hear voiced by residents of District 88 as he kicked off a his series of town hall meetings at the Hemphill County Exhibition Center last Wednesday, Sept. 28. He also voiced some of his own.

Canadian firefighters, and Hemphill County EMS and law enforcement were dispatched around 2:30 pm last Wednesday, Sept. 23, to a two-vehicle accident just north the US 60/83 intersection, south of town. The accident involved two semi-tractors—both traveling south.

It’s likely that flu viruses and the virus that causes COVID-19 will both spread this fall and winter. Healthcare systems could be overwhelmed treating both patients with flu and patients with COVID-19. This means getting a flu vaccine during 2020-21 is more important than ever.

Five Canadian men—all members of Canadian’s Church of Christ congregation— joined the relief efforts in Lake Charles, Louisiana, following last month’s devastation from Hurricane Laura. Winds of up to 150 mph caused widespread power outages and flooding, killing at least 10 people and causing about $25 billion in damage.

Canadian firefighters, and Hemphill County EMS and law enforcement were dispatched around 9 pm Monday evening to two-vehicle accident near the Y intersection of US 83 and SH 33 north of town. The accident involved a 2012 Toyota Sequoia, driven by Kathi Bagley of Pampa, which was headed north on US 83. Bagley attempted to make a left turn and struck the right side of a 2014 Kenworth semi-tractor which was also northbound on the inside lane of US 83. The collision ruptured the right fuel tank of the semi, which was driven by John Rausch of Altus, Oklahoma. No injuries were reported. Northbound traffic on US 60/83 was temporarily delayed while firefighters cleaned debris from the roadway, and hosed down the fuel that had spilled.