News

In the Sept. 15 meeting of the Hemphill County Hospital Board, the directors approved a $19.9 million budget and the effective tax rate for fiscal year 2021, and instituted daily rate increases for both Mesa View Assisted Living and the new Mesa View Senior Living.

County commissioners concluded their fiscal year 2020-21 planning process Monday morning with a quick review of final amendments to the proposed $8.16 million budget, followed by a required public hearing—which elicited no public comment—and a unanimous vote to adopt it.

In the first hearings since the COVID shutdown in last spring, six cases were adjudicated in Hemphill County Court last week. County Attorney Kyle Miller reported that the following cases were heard on Tuesday and Friday.

Members of the Ramp family and their guests rose to the challenge of the Lyman’s Wagon Train Battle Heritage Foundation on Saturday, Sept. 12, dedicating the day to a search for artifacts from the 1874 battle to document a “lost” section of the Military Trail on ground belonging to Patty Walker, part of the original H.M. Ramp ranch.

Ten members of Canadian’s Volunteer Fire Department walked a total of 15,000 steps in full gear at Wildcat Stadium last Friday, Sept. 11, in a fitting tribute to the firefighters who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11.

This week, the Hemphill County Hospital District announced that it had received results for four additional positive cases of COVID-19— one local resident, and three residents outside of this county, all test results that were returned yesterday. These are the first new cases reported in the last week, and bring the total lab-tested coronavirus case count to 73 inside the county, and 37 outside.

The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged many families into financial distress, and federal stimulus payments are an important way for people to feed their families and keep paying rent. But as of June, an estimated 12 million eligible Americans—over 1 million of them in Texas—had not received their $1,200 federal stimulus payments, known as “economic impact payments.” While the Internal Revenue Service reports some recent progress on people receiving their payments, the number of unclaimed checks is still quite large.

The first phase of utility-line relocation on US 60/83 will likely begin around the middle of next week, City Manager Joe Jarosek reported Tuesday. Amarillo Utility Contractors will perform the utility-line relocation work.