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Friona Junior High Campus: New air conditioner units were hoisted to the roof of the band hall for installation. Window replacement is due to be finished at the end of July. Bathroom, corridor ceiling, waiting & entrance area remodels are scheduled to be completed by the middle of September.
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Sports and Cheerleading camps have been cancelled. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing school construction, the Friona ISD has decided to cancel all sports camps and cheerleading camps this summer.
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Congratulations to Tiffany Sandoval and Mirelly Armendariz for winning gold at FCCLA's 2020 Virtual National Leadership Conference last week!!! See photo on front page.
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It is amazing to see how technology has changed the voting process. In the old days just after the flood (Friona only got .02 inches), you went to the polling location, grabbed a pencil, filled in an oval, and left. Now you have touch screens, card readers, printable ballots, and a reusable stylus. What? Anyway, I did not recognize any of the names on my screen. I guess my polling location only had cable instead of dish. I kept looking for Ronny, or Josh, or NOTA!
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A correction to last week's sunset photo taken by Noah Rigler. Noah lives in Abernathy, not Plainview, and will be in 8th grade this year.
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A hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a game, or another achievement based on the number three. The term "hat trick" originated among cricket players in 19th-century England, according to the Oxford English Dictionary and other sources. A bowler was said to score a "hat trick" for taking "three wickets by three successive balls," the OED says. In modern sports it refers to scoring three runs, goals, touchdowns, etc. in a single game. Friona has now completed a hat trick. Combine the Covid-19 pandemic with a Level 3 extreme drought and triple-digit heatwave and you have yourself a hat trick.
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The "50 for 50" drawing will be held this year on Saturday, September 19th at the Friona Volunteer Fire Department. The drawing will take place at 1:00 p.m. and is open to the public. Entries need not be present to win, but you must be at least 21 years old to participate. Only the ticket purchaser can claim the winning gun, and the claim period is up to 6 weeks after the drawing. There will be a maximum of 1,000 tickets sold. Each ticket will be re-entered into the drawing after each selection. All State and Federal regulations and laws will apply. Winners are responsible for all sales taxes and transfer fees. If the gun listed becomes unavailable, one of equal value will be supplied. Winners will be contacted by email and/or phone by the information on the ticket. If contact information changes, it is the responsibility of the ticket holder to notify the Department. For more information you may contact Jim Taylor at (806) 265-7264, Randy McCasland at (580) 6491437 or John Taylor at (806) 265-7739. Tickets can be purchased from any member of the Friona Volunteer Fire Department.
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National Days
July 16 - Get to Know Your Customers Day
July 17 - World Emoji Day
July 18 - Sour Candy Day
July 19 - Ice Cream Day
July 20 - Moon Day
July 21 - Junk Food Day
July 22 - Hot Dog Day
New Primary School Campus: Crew members worked on concrete footings, grade beams, MEP rough-in, and slabs. Work is slightly behind schedule but the scheduled completion date for the new Primary School is not until July of 2021.
High School Campus: Workers replaced windows at the High School. The building will also get corridor ceiling, bathroom, and waiting & entrance area remodels. Work is scheduled to be completed by the middle of August. Work on the new band hall/storm shelter is also slightly behind schedule. Completion is set for the end of December of this year.
Tiffany Sandoval and Mirelly Armendariz
National FCCLA Gold
Public Policy Advocate - Level 3
The City Council met in regular session on Monday, July 13, 2020. A brief summary of the things discussed during the meeting. (1) The council is considering entering into a business associate agreement with Emergicon, LLC out of Dallas, Texas to handle the ambulance billing and collection. Currently, the city attorney has the contract and the council is waiting for the green light to move forward. (2) The council took action on appointing two new board members to serve on the Planning and Zoning Commission for two year terms. The new board members are Danny Campbell and Mayra Olmos. (3) The council took action to give the city manager approval to act as the city's authorized representative in all matters pertaining to the city's participation in the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM). In short, the city of Friona will receive $216,370 for a COVID-19 relief fund and the city manager will be authorized to distribute and record money spent from this fund. This action will solidify the council's support of this grant. (4) The council approved the city manager to solicit bids for the Friona Public Library Bookshop project. (5) The council approved the city manager to act as the authorized representative in all matters pertaining to the city's participation in the 2020 state, local, tribal, and territorial information sharing technical assistance program. In short, the city will apply for a grant through the Department of Justice that will help fund the police department mobile data terminal project which will replace all the current in-car computer systems. The amount of money requested will not exceed $40,000 and will not require a monetary match from the city.
COVID-19 results: As of Monday, July 13, 2020 Parmer County has recorded 242 positive cases, 170 recoveries and 8 deaths. Currently, there are 72 positive COVID cases that are under quarantine requirements. We know there are more positive cases that will be reported. There is a time delay from the time people are tested, to getting results back, to the State calling the County Judge with those results. Out of 44 counties in our Health Region, Parmer County stands 7th for highest number of positive COVID-19 cases. Listed in order of total positive cases is Lubbock County, Potter, Randall, Moore, Hale, Deaf Smith, and Parmer County. As we continue to fight this disease, it's important that we continue to wash hands frequently, wear a mask in public places, social distance in public places, and if you are sick…stay at home.
It's budgeting time for the city. City Manager Lee Davila is busy planning the city's budget for next fiscal year (2020-2021). Have you ever wondered where all of the money comes from that creates revenue for the city to operate? Listed below are the main areas that generate revenue for the city's General Fund.
City of Friona
Budget Revenue sources:
• 30% Property Taxes
• 18% Ambulance Billing
• 12% Sales Taxes
• 10% Franchise Taxes
• 30% Everything Else
Currently, the city is doing very well with respect to revenue and expenses. We are on target to finish this year strong and under budget. The city will pay off another bond in February 2021 which will leave one bond remaining to be paid off in 2022. Once these bonds are paid off, the city will be in a financially stable position. It will be great to get our debt behind us.
In the month of June, the city pumped 28,027,400 gallons of water and sold 22,433,000 gallons of water collecting $101,445.69 on 1460 accounts. The month of July will be another month of high water usage. Pray for rain!!!
Texas Panhandle:
6,150 cases, 103 deaths
5,235 recoveries
Armstrong County: 3
Briscoe County: 7
Carson County: 7
Castro County: 99
Childress County: 7
Collingsworth County: 6
Cottle County: 4
Dallam County: 100
Deaf Smith County: 355
Donley County: 27
Gray County: 121
Hall County: 2
Hansford County: 31
Hartley County: 44
Hemphill County: 15
Hutchinson County: 70
Lipscomb County: 11
Moore County: 897
Motley County: 1
Ochiltree County: 53
Oldham County: 4
Parmer County: 215
Potter County: 3,008
Randall County: 971
Roberts County: 4
Sherman County: 30
Swisher County: 38
Wheeler County: 20
Eastern New Mexico:
286 cases, 2 deaths
Curry County: 199
Quay County: 7
Roosevelt County: 72
Union County: 8
Oklahoma Panhandle:
1,030 cases,
6 deaths,
1,015 recoveries
Beaver County: 32
Cimarron County: 1
Texas County: 997
Texas:
211,000 cases
2,715 deaths
108,000 recoveries
United States:
3,050,000 cases
133,000 deaths
921,000 recoveries
Worldwide:
11,800,000 cases
544,000 deaths
6,420,000 recoveries
Health Protocols for Voters and Elections (English)
County Disaster Declaration (English)
March 16 FISD Letter (English) (Spanish)
March 31 FISD Letter (English) (Spanish)
Letter from City Manager (English) (Spanish)
Friona Community Helpline (English)
2-1-1 Texas Social Services Hotline (English)
Share The Facts about COVID-19 (English) (Spanish)
What You Need To Know (English) (Spanish)
What To Do If You Are Sick (English) (Spanish)
County Clerk PSA (English)
Chamber of Commerce Letter to Businesses (English)
FISD Emergency Resolution (English)
Covid Risk Chart (English)
