News

If you have a loved one who has a heart attack today—or a stroke, or a wreck on iceslickened roads—you should worry about where they are going to go for the medical care they will need. It is a problem.

Voters who want to cast their ballots early have today and tomorrow to complete that task. Early voting continues through the end of the business day, Friday at Hemphill County Courthouse 400 Main Street, Room 204. The polling station will be open until 7 pm this evening (Thursday) and will not close due to adverse weather conditions, according to District Clerk Lisa Johnson.

This 300’-tall radio tower succumbed to a heavy coat of ice and the wind from the top of the caprock, and collapsed yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) at a time when it might be needed most. Before it toppled, the tower facilitated emergency communications between the Hemphill County Sheriff’s Office, Hemphill County EMS and the Canadian Fire Department. Fire Chief Scott Brewster, who provided this photo, said he wasn’t sure how emergency responders would communicate without it, but said it would likely take months to build a new tower, and didn’t even speculate about the cost involved.

Both Xcel Energy Inc. and North Plain Electric Cooperative are reporting power outages affecting area customers since late yesterday when winter storms brought a combination of snow, ice, and sleet to most of the Panhandle area.

A spike in rural infections last week pushed the nation to a new peak in COVID-19 cases. Rural counties had a record 17,818 new infections on Friday, Oct.

A one-vehicle accident involving an overturned bull wagon closed both east- and west-bound traffic on US 60 between the 60/83 Y and Miami around 3:30 am Friday morning. Traffic was diverted for several hours while crews tried to extricate the animals, both dead and alive, in order to clear the highway. US 60 remained closed between CR 3 and FM 3367, near the Roberts/Hemphill County line until 2:45 pm Saturday afternoon. According to one responder, the extrication of livestock from the overturned trailer was so complicated that none of the cattle could be saved. While cleanup was underway, law enforcement detoured traffic from Canadian onto CR 3 south, to CR W, and then west to FM 3367 and north back to US 60. Traffic from Miami was being detoured south on FM 3367 to CR W, east to CR 3, then north back to US 60. No further details were available as lines to Pampa’s DPS office were down Wednesday.

In last month’s meeting, council members learned that a recently discovered error in the city’s billing process had resulted in a failure to bill most commercial accounts for sewer service over the last eight months. The price tag: approximately $116,000 in lost revenue.

City Manager Joe Jarosek advised the council Monday evening that the owners of the Canadian Apartments property located at 203 Birch were served with foreclosure notice, and that their failure to respond has created a judgment by default.

Hemphill County Hospital District reported 17 new positive COVID-19 tests in this county in the last seven days, from Oct. 15-21, and 12 positives in out-of-county residents. As a result of Wednesday’s new cases, the total overall numbers were 52 active cases for Hemphill County and 21 out-of-county active cases. HCH’s Laboratory Department performed the tests included in these numbers. Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, the Hospital District announced six additional positive cases of COVID-19 (four Hemphill County residents and two residents outside Hemphill County.) Additionally four COVID patients were hospitalized at HCH, two admitted to the hospital Tuesday.