City Manager Joe Jarosek reported this week that Bryer’s Paving of Amarillo, the contractor for this year’s street sealcoating project, had begun staging equipment and supplies here this week, in preparation for an anticipated Thursday, July 15 start date. The $85,330 project to lay 32,000 square yards of sealcoating within the city should be completed in two days. Residents with homes in the impacted areas (see map at left) should be notified by the contractor in advance that they will be working in their neighborhood.

Construction began last week on a new 300-foot guy-wired public safety communications tower south of Canadian near the Y intersection of US 60 and 83. The old tower was felled by a late October 2020 ice storm. As specified in Hemphill County’s call for bids on this project, this tower is required to withstand a minimum wind load of 90 mph, a three-second wind gust without ice, and a 30-mph wind load with 0.75 inches of radial ice. The tower supports emergency communications between the Hemphill County Sheriff’s Office, EMS, and the Canadian Fire Department. Amarillo’s CommTech LLC is erecting the tower at a cost of $107,373. The cost of tower replacement will be borne, in part, by the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission and, in part, by the county’s insurance provider. Judge George Briant said he hoped the tower would be back in service by the end of this month.

“If you didn’t spend the 4th of July in Canadian, Texas, I’m sorry about your luck,” declared Marsha Jo Morehead Pool, of Gun Barrel City, last Sunday after an idyllic weekend of rodeo viewing, parading, turtle racing, watermelon feasting, and catching up with family and friends.

There’s just nothing quite like a rain-soaked arena and an eager throng of junior-sized mutton busters to get the rodeo crowd cheering, and Friday night’s show was certainly no exception. There was no shortage of volunteers ready to test their skills, despite the somewhat questionable mix of mud and...well, green slime...that promised to soften the inevitable fall. Most of the contestants even seemed to enjoy the experience, though several boots were buried beneath the surface—some unlikely to be found again—in their long, victorious slog back to the safety of the exit gate and waiting parents. We’re guessing many of them bathed that evening under a water hydrant at the rodeo grounds before loading up to head home... but we’re only guessing. PHOTOS BY LAURIE EZZELL BROWN