The UIL District Champions at the 8th grade awards ceremony on the last day of school! Way to #GO2 Bulldogs!!

For crop producers, rain can be both a blessing and a curse.
During a drought, like the one we had in 2011, farmers in Panhandle were praying for rain.
But lately, most local farmers have been praying for just the opposite. They want the rain to stop.
“This is probably one of toughest years producers have faced,” said Kristy Slough, agriculture agent for the Hutchinson County Texas A&M Agrilife Extension in Stinnett. “I talked to one (producer) and he said he hasn’t seen anything like this since 1978.”
Slough said the ground is too wet for farmers who haven’t planted yet to get in. And producers who have already planted are having a tough time as well.
“Early planted stuff like corn and is not doing well,” she said. “They are showing signs of too much water.”
Slough said a lot of the seeds in the ground have rotted from an excess of moisture and the corn is experiencing nitrogen leeching.
“There’s no growth at all. It’s almost like the corn is drowning itself. That is not the case everywhere, but that is overwhelming sentiment right now. Some producers were able to plant last weekend, but it was a very short window.”
Milo and wheat producers also have been impacted.
“The weather has been tough on wheat producers,” Slough said. “”The storms that brought hail have hurt the wheat yield and the lack of heat is delaying a lot of the wheat maturity.”
What needs to happen is for the weather to dry out, she said, meaning not only less rain, but less humidity as well.
“When you get cool, muggy days like today (Thursday), you’re not getting any evaporation,” Slough said. “We need the sun, and a nice breeze would be beneficial.”
She said the ground is so saturated that one producer said that right now the only difference between getting a quarter inch of rain versus two inches is the runoff. Regardless of whether it’s a little or lot, the ground is too saturated to absorb anymore.
“It’s like in your personal garden,” she said. “You can’t plant in slushy mud. You want it to be moist but slushy mud is difficult.”
Slough said that by May 15 last year, most producers were already done planting.
“But (this year) it’s almost mid June and we have some producers who don’t even have a seed in the ground.”
The USDA said Thursday that at this time last year, 90 percent of the corn crop in the nation’s 18 biggest corn-producing states had been planted. This year, just 67 percent of corn is in the ground.
Another issue, Slough said, is the soil.
w“We have a clay soil type and it takes two or three days for it to get dry enough for a tractor to get on it to plant,” she said.
Though it has been rainy throughout the Panhandle in recent weeks, Slough said the northernmost counties have been affected the most.
“There is wa strip that has probably had close to 20 inches since May 1st,” she said. “That’s more than the annual rainfall period.”
Slouwgh said that “pretty wide strip” starts around north of Pringle, moves north to Morse, then into Hansford County to Spearman and then into Ochiltree County.
The News-Herald contacted the National Weather Service in Amarillo to see if there might soon be relief to these relentless days of rain. A meteorologist said no such luck is in the seven-day forecast.
Slough said there are some insurance programs out there for producers who have planted their crops.
“But some assistance programs don’t even cover costs,” she said. “It is a very trying time for agriculture right now.”

By SARAH HARRIS
Staff Writer

Kiwanis International is comprised of members who strive to help others in their community.
The president of the Borger Kiwanis Club, John Edgington, said, “Each local club looks at their community and decides what we need to do to help our community. We come up with service projects to try to fulfill those needs. We focus on the needs of children. We also try to have fun. It’s fellowship and networking.”
The Borger Kiwanis Club was founded June 5, 1954. Members are 18 and older. There are Kiwanis clubs for children as well, but Borger does not have a club for children yet.
The Borger Kiwanis Club conducts service projects such as the bring up grades (BUG) program at Spring Creek School as well as distributing copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence to all high school seniors. Kiwanis donates to organizations such as the livestock show and has an annual pancake breakfast as its fundraiser.
Edgington says that Kiwanis is “a vehicle to get you places. If someone wants to get something done in the community, he can come to Kiwanis Club, become a member, say he wants to head up a project, and the club gets behind him and makes it happen.”
Kiwanis welcomes new members, and one way they are going about doing this is parenting training classes. The classes will take place the first Monday of every month, beginning July 1, with the exception of September, when the class will be the following week due to the Labor Day holiday.
The first six months of presentations have been scheduled, and they will take place at the First Methodist Church in Borger from 6:30 to 8 p.m. There will be activities for children as well. The first class, which will take place on July 1, is all about how to save your child’s life. Topics discussed will include infant/child CPR, childhood emergencies, as well as the most common dangers children face and how to avoid them.
In August, Veronica Flowers from Borger CareNet Pregnancy Center will speak on how and when to talk to your child about sex. September’s presenter will be Jim Taylor, who conducts training for CASA, who will speak about deescalation, which refers to transitioning from emotions to logic so issues can be addressed.
Kiwanis meets the first Tuesday of every month. During the fall, winter and spring, it meets in the gallery room that is next to the cafeteria at Frank Phillips College, and during the summer months it meets at Holy Smoke Barbecue in Borger.
Kiwanis is open to the public. For more information, call 886-4584 or visit their Facebook page, or visit kiwanis.org.

Who am I?

By James F. Burns
I’ve been to the moon. I’ve been burned. But more often I’m honored. I’m your American flag.
With 13 stars for colonies clamoring for freedom, I was first flown at Fort Stanwix in New York in 1777 and then carried into battle for the first time at Brandywine in Pennsylvania. By war’s end, I was saluted as the emblem of a sovereign nation, new and free. I’m your American flag.
But challenges lay ahead. With 15 stars and 15 stripes, I survived shock and shell at Fort McHenry in 1814. With the aid of rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air, I was spied from afar at dawn’s early light by a patriot poet. I was then celebrated in sight and song by a fledgling nation. I’m your American flag.
A half century later and with 33 stars and 13 stripes, I was saddened to see our nation divided. Our brothers’ blood was spilled in battle north and south. But by war’s end, Lincoln’s iconic words would prevail at Gettysburg— a unique nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. But that pledge was yet to be fully fulfilled.
I survived mustard gas and ghastly death in European trenches in World War I and, 48 stars strong, was hoisted by six soldiers on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima in World War II. I’m proud to be your American flag.
I was carried into battle over frozen turf in Korea, waved more proudly at home with civil rights and women’s rights rising, and was saluted by a little boy as the horse-drawn caisson with his father’s casket passed by on the streets of our nation’s capital. It was the best of times and the worst of times, but through it all, I was your American flag.
I lost sons and daughters in the rice paddies and hellish jungles of Vietnam, saw some succumb to Agent Orange, and witnessed renewed conflict about taking me, your American flag, to faraway lands like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. When and where war should be waged remains a troubling issue.
When our nation celebrated its bicentennial in 1976, I was there. When people parade on the Fourth of July and other occasions, I generally lead the parade. As I pass by, children along the parade route stand at attention and proudly salute me while their parents or a grandmother behind them might have a tear rolling down their cheek in memory of a loved one who served in uniform but didn’t make it back home.
Often I’m inconspicuous, standing silently in the corner of a meeting room or classroom — though far fewer nowadays. I’ve fallen from favor for some incensed by actions our government takes. But I suffer in silence when abused or defiled since I represent all of our rights, including protesting and speaking our minds.
Though I spend most of my time here at home, I represent us around the globe at various foreign outposts, including military bases, embassies, and consulates. And those row upon row of crosses above the cliffs of Normandy and elsewhere where we left our honored dead are often decorated with my colors of red, white, and blue. I’m proud to be your American flag.
But most of all, I represent the American spirit, the indomitable demand and yearning for freedom, excellence, and opportunity. I am not the flag of a ruling regime or royal family. I am the American flag, representing rights emanating from a higher and transcendent authority honored on our coinage.
Look up to me as you salute or stand at attention. Pledge yourself to fulfill lofty goals symbolized by my heavenly blue field for 50 stars. With red for valor and zeal and white for purity and hope, look up and salute with pride what the patriot poet hailed as a worthy star-spangled banner. May it wave forever over the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I am your American flag.

James F. Burns is a retired professor at the University of Florida.

By TIM HOWSARE
Editor

Early reports on Tuesday night's storm indicate there was little damage in Borger, despite hail stones as large as two inches in diameter and possible wind gusts of 86 mph.
The city's tornado sirens went off shortly before 8 p.m. and cellphone alerts went off simultaneously urging people to take shelter.
The most serious damage reported was a roof blown off a former business on Union Street in the Keeler Heights area of Borger.
Assistant Borger Police Chief Brandon Strope said, “There were decent amounts of reports of hail damage, even some of our vehicles were damaged.”
Strope said the Borger police responded to several calls of alarms going off at residences and business, which he said is common during big storms. He added that Skellytown had golf-ball size hail.
Strope said there may have been at least one vehicle accident, but it was outside city limits.
Jason Whisler, emergency management coordinator for the city of Borger, said the official wind speed during the storm at the Hutchinson County Airport was 63 mph.
Whisler said on Wednesday he saw windows broken out from the hail and downed trees.
“That surprised me because a lot of them looked like green, healthy trees,” he said.
Whisler said there was an unofficial report of a hail stone between the size of a baseball and a softball on social media.
Along Highway 207 en route to Panhandle, storm watchers, including the News-Herald editor, parked along the highway to take photos and videos of the storm.
Gazing west across the prairie, storm watchers witnessed a stunning panoramic view of the supercell as the sun set underneath the clouds.
The storm that passed through Borger around 8 p.m. merged with a second storm in Pampa, where large hail stones also were reported.
“Pampa got the largest hail with three-inch stones,” said Aaron Ward, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Amarillo. “All the reports from Pampa said it was pretty brief.”
After the two storms merged into one, it moved southeast where it affected McLean in Gray County and affected Wellington in Collingsworth County, Ward said.
Sixty mph gusts were reported in Groom, which is in Carson County, Ward said.
Ward said that on Wednesday afternoon the NWS was surveying the region to determine whether there were touchdowns of tornadoes or just strong standing winds.
“There was a home resident in Borger who recorded 86 mile wind gusts and that seems in line with some of damage that was reported there,” he said.
Ward said a few spotters in the Kingsmill area near Pampa reported a possible touchdown.
Ward confirmed the storm that hit Borger had consistent rotation that produced a wall cloud, which he said can be a precursor to a touchdown.

By TIM HOWSARE
Editor

A benefit cook off is being held this Saturday, June 22, for Braelee Whitmire, a 4-year-old girl from Borger who is having surgeries in New York City on Wednesday for scoliosis and chiari malformation.
Scoliosis, a common condition, is a sideways curvature of the spine. Chiari malformation is a rare condition in which the brain tissue extends into the spinal canal. It occurs when part of the skull is abnormally small or misshapen, pressing on the brain and forcing it downward.
Braelee’s mother, Lacy, said her daughter was diagnosed when she was 2.
She said the surgery is not a guarantee, but that they are hopeful it is going to work.
The Whitmire family is expected to be in NYC for three weeks, and Braelee’s surgery and time away from home will be costly.
To help defray costs, David Hunt, who heads Neighbors Helping Neighbors, is hosting the cook off on his property in Carson County three miles south of US 60 on County Road L near Panhandle.
The cookout will be held at the 7H Arena, which Hunt said is a rodeo arena on his 12 acres of property.
Hunt said he first started doing the benefits to help individuals and families like the Whitmores since 2007.
“They started off as rodeos and have progressed to cook offs,” he said.
Hunt said he heard about Braelee through one of the long-time participants in the cook offs.
“We coordinated with the mother are were able to put this together,” he said.
The cook off is open to the public for $8 a plate. To-go plates are available.
The cost to enter the two-man cook off is $100 with grills starting around 6 p.m. Friday after the meat is inspected. Categories include pork spare ribs, pork butt pulled and street tacos (cooks choice of ingredients). Turn in times on Saturday are 11 a.m. for ribs, noon for pulled pork and 1 p.m. for tacos.
There also is a kids cook off (12 and under) on Friday for a $20 entry fee. Cheeseburger turn in is 7 p.m. and cook’s choice turn in is 8 p.m. Judging will follow.
Concession stands are available.
For more information, call David Hunt at 806-681-2493 or Heath Hunt at 806-236-9911.
If you wish to help the Whitmire family but cannot participate in or attend the cook off, call Lacy Whitmire at 806-395-1892.

The average commute time for the Borger workforce is 15.7 minutes, according to a study just released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
With that average commute time, Borger ranks 19th in the state for shortest commute times.
The study compared commute times based on zip codes then ranked the 50 best commutes and 50 worst commutes.
Amarillo’s 79106 zip code closely followed Borger — which only has one zip code — with an average commute of 15.8 minutes.
The estimates come from the the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data.
Everyone hates sitting in traffic, so less time commuting means more time for work, family and fun, according to the survey.
Fort Hood’s 76544 zip code ranked No. 1 with a 10.6 minute commute.
So which Texas zip codes have the longest commutes?
If you guessed somewhere in or around the DFW Metroplex, you guessed correctly.
Dallas’ 75217 zip code ranked 49th with an average commute of 34.2 minutes, and Prosper — which perhaps not ironically is a “prosperous” suburb of the DFW Metroplex — ranked 50th at 34.3 minutes.
The Lone Star State’s capital, Austin, ranked 35th for its 78705 zip code. The average commute there is 16.6 minutes, which seems short if you’ve ever had the unpleasant experience of driving in downtown Austin during rush hour.
To see the complete rankings, visit unitedstateszipcodes.org. There are many other rankings on the web site, such as cheapest houses and rents, best income equity and highest percentage of post graduates.

For the first time ever, Golden Plains Community Hospital is holding a job fair to recruit nurses.
The job fair will be held for 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26. Nursing managers will be gathered in the hallway by the cafe and refreshments and snacks will be provided.
The event is for all nursing professionals, established and newly graduated, who want to serve their best in their profession. Attendees can fill out an application and receive an interview on the spot.
According to data provided by the hospital, Texas ranks No. 6 in staff with regard to the highest shortage of nurses.
In 2020, it is projected that Texas will have a shortage of 72,000 registered nurses. By 2022, the shortage nationwide is expected to rise to 1.1 million registered nurse.
There are a number of reasons for this trend.
Baby boomers, including nurses, are retiring. Nursing schools have limited seats per class and it is difficult to find instructors for RN programs.
Another factor is that the big cities tend to gobble up talent and leave the rural communities struggling to find talent.
For more information, email jennifer.harvey@goldenplains.org.
Golden Plains is located at 100 Medical Drive in Borger.

Brealee Whitmire, the 4-year-old girl who had surgery on June 19 in New York City, is back home in Borger, her mother, Lacy, told the News-Herald on Monday.
The Whitmires returned to Borger on Friday.
Braelee had surgery for scoliosis and chairi malformation.
“She was walking about the fourth day after surgery,” Lacy Whitmire said. “The only thing that’s bothering her is her neck is real stiff. She can’t turn her neck.”
Though Braelee is doing well in her recovery, she will need a lot of follow up to her surgery.
She will need to have an MRI every three months, her mother said.
“We are going back to New York in September,” Lacy said.
They also will be going to Dallas at the end of September, Lacy said.
Her mother said Braelee had a very large cyst that was causing her scoliosis.
“They want to shrink or get rid of it,” Lacy said.
While she’s wearing the cast, Brealee cannot bath or swim.
“We can only wash her hair and give her sponge baths,” Lacy said.
After the last cast is removed, Brealee will need to wear a back brace until she is 10.
Despite everything’s she has been through, Lacy said Brealee is doing well.
“She’s doing fine. There’s been no issues,” Lacy said.

SKELLYTOWN — As temperatures on Thursday approached the 100 degree mark, Skellytown residents enjoyed a free meal provided by the Skellytown Volunteer Fire Department. The heat didn’t seem to deter the fun, as residents gathered to eat and socialize in the SKVFD’s fire station at the center of town.
“We’ve been doing this every year for quite some time,” said Fire Chief Jacob Clifton. “We serve hot dogs and hamburgers and always run out.”
The SKVFD is a nonprofit with a roster of about 25 volunteers.
The department was called into action during the event to put out a small grass fire at Cabot Camp.
A fireworks show was put on at night on a concrete area next to the baseball field by the Soldiers for Christ motorcycle church. Also at the ballpark, residents were allowed to shoot off their own fireworks. As a firefighter, Clifton obviously is concerned about people accidentally starting fires with fireworks.
“It’s easier to handle if everybody is in one place instead of spread out over miles,” he said.
For the first time, the SKVFD had set up a fireworks stand to sell fireworks.
The department also had set up a concession stand and held a 50/50 raffle.
Soon after the fire trucks came back from the grass fire, one of the smaller trucks moved into a grassy area and the kids got to spray water on each other.

Loren G. Kelly, a 1969 graduate of Phillips High School, will soon publish a book that highlights much of the history of the now abandoned oil town called, “Black Gold, Roughnecks and Oil Town Tales.”
“I’m a story teller of my tribe, and my story is worth telling,” is how Kelly describes himself.
In a phone interview with the Borger News-Herald, Kelly said he expects the book will be out in mid August.
He is publishing it through Amazon, where readers will be able to purchase it print-on-demand.
Kelly will be attending the Phillips High School reunion this weekend, where he is bringing a proof copy of the book and order forms.
Kelly said he has been working on the book for about one year.
“This is something near and dear to my heart regarding growing up in Phillips,” he said. “This is a book people in the Panhandle can love. It’s a book about memories.”
And memories are all the former residents of Phillips have left, as the residents were ultimately evicted by the city’s primary employer, Phillips Petroleum.
In the eyes of many people, Phillips wouldn’t seem like a good place to grow up.
Kelly described over the phone “a monstrous refinery that spewed clouds of pollution and vented poisonous gas over roofs of company houses.”
But to Kelly and everyone who will be attending the reunion, there couldn’t have been a better place to grow up.
“We were living the dream but just didn’t know it,” he said.
“We lived in the same (company) houses. We were poor but just didn’t know,” he said.
Kelly said big oil companies need to be grateful to their blue-collars.
“Without oil workers covered in grease and grime there wouldn’t be any successful oil companies,” he said. “I wanted to immortalize those oil workers.”
Kelly said that over time all of the former residents will die out, so he wants their memories to live on.
“They bought the land from under the homeowners and evicted them. It was a terrible way for the town to end up,” he said. “We have a feeling of abandonment because we can never go home.”
Kelly now lives in Royse City near Dallas where he is retired from a 39-year career in criminal justice.
Kelly said that for 2 ½ years he worked as a probation officer in Hutchinson County.
He graduated from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Academy in 1987.
Along with his career in criminal justice, Kelly holds a degree in history from West Texas University, now WTAMU, and a teacher’s certificate.
Kelly retired from Dallas County following 26 years of service. He married Barbara in 1981 and they have four children, Shaun, Michael, James and Rachel, as well as 11 grandchildren. He and Barbara love to travel, having visited Ireland, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and Hawaii since retiring. Kelly is an active member of Community Baptist Church in Royse City. He is a member of the Royse City Cultural Arts Committee that oversees the C.F. Goodwin Public Library and the Zaner Robison Historical Museum. A writer and avid reader/researcher of history, Kelly is also a genealogist who enjoys researching family history.
Kelly said it was his humble beginnings in Phillips that made him successful in life.
He said the same holds true for many other PHS graduates.
“Phillips has produced doctors, lawyers and teachers,” he said. “We had the best teachers oil money could buy.”
Kelly said his book combines “prose and poetry with genealogy and history,” and added, “My editor said she has never quite seen a book like this.”
Following is an excerpt from the book’s epilogue:
As a Native Texan, I am proud to have grown up in the great state of Texas. But in my old age, I sometimes feel like there is something missing. Then I realize that something is my ancestors and my hometown of Phillips, Texas, now a ghost town. A town that once thrived on the high plains of the Texas Panhandle. Nothing left now but dirt after Phillips Petroleum tore down and dug up everything, including the grass. Several years ago I traveled to within a few yards of the Phillips refinery where Dad once worked and attempted access to the site of my former home, but a security guard turned me away at the front entrance as if I had never belonged. A feeling of sadness and abandonment washed over me. I couldn’t even go to my high school administration building, the only building left standing and now being used as offices by Phillips Petroleum.
Boom towns, wooden oil derricks and wildcat drillers are now gone. Pump jacks dotting the Panhandle prairie, like nodding donkeys, are all that remains of generations of my oil field family. Phillips was one of the last company towns from the historic early boom town years. An oil memorial ought to be erected at the former town site of Phillips, Texas, to commemorate those oil workers. If it wasn’t for the townspeople and the refinery workers living next door, Phillips Petroleum would not have been so successful in the oil industry.
Without oilmen covered in grime, grease and pitch black oil, there would be no multibillion-dollar oil companies. Phillips, Texas, was one of many legendary oil towns. The best thing about growing up in Phillips? I have a multitude of happy childhood memories to cherish. The most depressing part is that I can never go home again.
Kelly can be reached at 469-657-1809 or lorenkellyamomentintimebooks@gmail.com.

Former Fritch City Manager Bobby Lamb Jr was issued a warrant from Swisher County on June 28. He is currently being held at the Hutchinson County Jail, where he cannot be bonded out at this time because he has been deemed a flight risk.
The warrant to revoke from Swisher County was for Exploitation of Child/Elderly/Disabled, stemming from his December 2015 arrest. That indictment states that Lamb intentionally exploited an elderly person for personal benefit, profit or gain. It states that Lamb illegally or improperly used the male victim's money for his own financial gain.
Lamb will first face charges in Hutchinson County and is scheduled for trial November 2019. Lamb was arrested Dec. 11, 2018, in Randall County and was transported to Hutchinson County on several charges.
On Feb. 28, 2018, Lamb was indicted by a Hutchinson County Grand Jury on charges of Third-Degree Felony, Misapplication Fiduciary property, greater than $20,000 less than $100,000. More charges came down on the over five-year investigation against Lamb. On Nov. 28, 2018, five more charges were added, misapplication of funds, illegal personal loans with city money, personal use of city credit card, multiple purchases of plan tickets for personal use and a nepotism charge.
The Hutchinson County indictment says that Lamb knowingly misapplied city money by transferring Fritch Economic Development Corp. funds to the city general account. He wrote or had checks written to transfer money out of the EDC account and put into the general account of the city. This was done with a check on Aug. 28, 2012, in the amount of $15,000, another check on Sept. 27, 2012 for $15,000 and then again on Jan. 30, 2013, in the amount of $25,000, totaling $55,000 taken from the EDC account.
The indictment also says that between May 1, 2013, and June 30, 2013, Lamb took a personal loan of more than $1,500 and less than $20,000 from taxpayer money. Between June 1, 2010, and June 30, 2013, it states that Lamb use the city credit card for personal charges to the tune of more than $1,500 but less than $20,000.
On or about Sept. 11, 2012, according to the indictment, Lamb used the city credit card to purchase airline tickets for his relatives, for a trip not related to city business valued more than $500 and less than $1,500. It also states that between Nov. 10, 2006, and Nov. 4, 2011, he violated the Texas Nepotism Law by hiring his wife, Shannon Lamb. This was valued at more than $20,000 but less than $100,000. The November 2018 indictment states that the combined values of property obtained were greater than $100,000 or more but less than $200,000 and were obtained by a continuing course of conduct.
The Eagle Press first reported of the financial troubles on June 7, 2013, and will continue to report on this continuing story.

Marisa Montoya, communications manager for the city of Borger, grew up in Amarillo. “Communication has always been a passion of mine,” Montoya says. “In high school, I was the editor of the yearbook and school newspaper. I created magazines and did a lot of things with communications journalism.”
Montoya is a 2018 graduate of West Texas A&M University, where she studied English literature as well as technical communication to gain a more formal grasp of communication concepts. When Montoya’s father saw an ad in a local paper describing the position, he thought it would be a good fit for her and convinced her to apply. Montoya applied, was hired, and began working for the city of Borger in November 2018.
In this position, Montoya writes press releases, manages social media and the city of Borger website, coordinates events and deals with all internal and external communication, along with creating all digital content.
Montoya works closely with the Make Borger Beautiful Committee, facilitating projects, as well as the Borger news advisory council. In all this, Montoya communicates the city council’s mission to the public.
Montoya loves the people she works with, saying, “It feels like family. I enjoy the community I work for; they have a passion behind what I do.”

Jamie Neumann, owner of the Neumann & Bailey gift and coffee shop on North Main Street, has a passion for Borger.
“I love Borger,” she said. “The people here are its greatest treasure.”
Neumann moved to Borger from Kansas with her dad in 1991.
She remembers a dress shop in the downtown, along with other clothing stores for both women and men.
“There weren't a whole lot of empty spaces back then,” she said of the downtown.
And then, it seemed, businesses started leaving the downtown.
But recently, Neumann said, there has a been “a breath of fresh air” as places in the downtown have started to fill up again.
“There is a sense of community that is coming back to Borger,” she said.
And it is that sense of community on which Neumann hopes to build.
In December 2018, the business owner organized a group called Project Build Borger, which Neumann describes as “a group of people from all different places of business who are banding together to help build Borger.”
Their motto, which appears on the front of black T-shirts on sale to raise money for the group, is “Bring Back the Boom.”
On the back of the T-shirt are the names of local businesses, organizations and individuals who support the group. Local illustrator Christine Burney did a design on the back of the shirt with images of an oil refinery and pump jacks.
According to its Facebook page, the group intends to “promote tourism, culture, and arts in Borger by organizing community events and activities that celebrate our unique history, create and preserve town traditions, and demonstrate a sense of community pride.”
Neumann said the group worked with the Downtown Merchants Association on the Hometown Christmas last December, in which there were horse and carriage rides, vendors, movies and a bell choir.
In the spring, Project Build Borger held a mixer at another downtown business called At the Ranch.
The group is now planning another mixer at Huber Park called At the Park. The event will be held from 7 to 9 on Thursday, July 25.
Planned activities include, horseshoes, volleyball and basketball.
Neumann said there also will be food trucks.
Neumann said that aside from the churches, there's not many places in Borger where people can network.
She said Project Build Borger is working to get nonprofit status. Right now there are seven board members and many volunteers.
Neumann said the group wants to be involved with this year's Hometown Christmas along with a New Year's event.
“The goal of Project Build Borger is to bring life back to Borger,” she said.
The group meets the first Tuesday of every month at 8 a.m. at Neumann & Baileys, 503 N. Main St.
To find out more about Project Build Borger, send a message on Facebook, email projectbuildborger@gmail.com call to 806-464-5200.

Southside Baptist Church, 1010 Tyler St., has announced the arrival of a new pastor, Grady Burkhalter. Burkhalter and his family hale from Temple Baptist Church in Dumas. Burkhalter and his wife, Leslie, have three children, Addison, 8, Gracie, 10, and Straton, 14.
The Burkhalters reside in Dumas, where Grady he is the owner/operator of Burkhalter Truck and
Auto Repair.
The new pastor said his goal in life is to serve Jesus Christ and to lead others to their salvation through Jesus Christ.
The membership of Southside Baptist Church invites everyone to hear Burkhalter preach the word of God and become a born-again Christian and have eternal life in Heaven.
Burkhalter is planning the first Southside Baptist Church motorcycle run to be held Aug. 11. Services will begin at 11 a.m. with visiting Pastor Allen Hatch.
There will be finger foods after the service and the motorcycle run will follow shortly afterward.
When the motorcyclists return, there will be a barbecue, other food and games.
Then at 6:30 p.m., there will be a second service with Hatch officiating.
For more information about the motorcycle run, call 806-274-8816.

Two suspects were arrested in Borger on Thursday after the Borger Police Department received information about an alleged aggravated robbery that occurred at an eight-liner style casino in Pampa. Another suspect, Gatlin Ray Taylor, 24, remained at-large as of press time.
BPD officers located the vehicle, a small red car, on Highway 152 and Florida Street around 10 a.m., said Capt. Brandon Strope of the BPD.
A citizen said she heard on her police scanner than while the pursuit was on Cedar Street it had exceeded 70 mph.
A traffic stop was conducted at the Allsup's convenience store on Florida Street.
The vehicle then fled and a short pursuit followed, Strope said. The pursuit ended in the 1100 block of Lindsey Street where two men fled on foot.
A woman, identified as Autumn Nichole Combs, 19, stayed in the vehicle and was detained.
One suspect, Jonathan Arturo Duran, 27, walked back to officers and turned himself in.
Duran has outstanding warrants for aggravated robbery and for a terroristic threat to a family member from BPD.
Earlier at 9:30 a.m., the Pampa Police Department received a call from a local establishment in the 900 block of West 23rd Street. The caller reported that a male subject stole a money bag from inside the business.
It was unknown initially if it was a robbery or a theft, according to a press release from the city of Pampa. PPD arrived at the scene and gathered information from the complainant. 
The complainant described a male subject who grabbed a money bag from her hands and fled the store.  Officers were able to gather information that the suspect may have got into a red car and fled the scene, possibly with other subjects. 
Evidence from the offense in Pampa was recovered from that scene. 
PPD investigators will be filing a charge of misdemeanor theft against Duran for the offense in Pampa.  Additional charges from PPD may follow involving the other suspects as the investigation progresses. No one was injured in the theft and no weapon was used, according to the press release from Pampa. 

What do you get when you mix kids with ranching and Bible study? The answer: The Canadian Cowboy Church Bible Ranch Rodeo Camp.
It is quite possible that the camp, now in its fifth year, is the only one of its kind.
But first one needs to understand the difference between Bible ranch rodeo camp and Bible rodeo camp.
Shannon Vinson, an adult volunteer who has been involved with the camp from “Day One,” said that rodeo camp includes actual rodeo events — bull riding, barrel racing, etc., — whereas ranch camp is closer to the day-to-day work on an actual ranch.
The Canadian Cowboy Church, located on Highway 152, between Borger and Skellytown, is a bit like a small ranch itself, with corrals for horses and livestock. You have to watch where you step as you walk through the parking lot.
Outdoor activities for the ranch camp include roping, cattle handling, branding, sorting, mugging (treating cattle) and tying.
“This is stuff you do everyday on a ranch,” he said. “I’ve taught tons of rodeo Bible camps across the country and this is the only ranch camp I know of.”
Vinson’s father, Billy Paul, is the pastor, and his mother, Tavia, is also a volunteer.
Tavia Vinson said there are 81 kids attending this year, which is the highest number they’ve ever had.
Out of that number, only about 12 are members of the cowboy church , Vinson said.
“They come from everywhere,” she said. “Stinnett, Amarillo. In the past years some have come from as far away as Colorado.”
In the real estate business, they say location is everything.
And for the annual ranch camp, the church’s location, a stone’s throw from Graced Land East, turned out to be a big plus.
The church uses Graced Land’s activity center, where the children are fed all of their meals and sleep in the dorms.
The camp began on Wednesday and will end Saturday.
The cost is $100 per child “which includes everything,” Tavia Vinson said.
Along with all the daily ranching activities, there are praise and worship services and devotionals every night, Tavia Vinson said.
She said kids are divided uwp into teams with names like King Ranch, the Matadors and the Pitchforks.
Asked what he likes about teaching the camp, Shannon Vinson said, “I like to see the kids succeed in the events and be successful with their walk with the Lord.”

The Hutchinson County Historical Museum is hosting a program on quilt preservation by Betty Blankenship at 1 p.m., Saturday, July 20. The program will be held at Borger City Hall, 600 N. Main St.
Immediately following the program, the museum will be open to the public and all quilters are invited to show off their work during the museum’s first Quilt Show & Tell.
Addison Killough, museum administrator, said Blankenship is a longtime quilter.
“She is an expert. For people who have quilts, this program is something of value,” Killough said. “Betty has done a lot of programs for us over but this is the first time she has talked about quilt preservation.”
The HCHM is located at 618 N. Main St.
If you plan to attend, RSVP Killough at akillough@hutchinsoncnty.com or call 806-273-0130.

Sharing Hope Ministry, a nonprofit in Amarillo, was founded in 1999 by a group of women from Paramount Christian Church, now known as Hillside Christian Church, who were praying about an outreach opportunity.
"Not long after they began praying,” special projects coordinator, Stevi Larson, says, “they received a request from a woman, who was in the Randall County jail, for a Life recovery Bible. Not really knowing what God had planned for them, they went ahead and fulfilled the request.” Later, the woman was transferred to a state facility, and those who were incarcerated with her inquired as to whom she received the Bible from. In 1999, Sharing Hope Ministry gave Bibles to two women, and the the following year, the ministry gave 2000 Bibles. The Life Recovery Bible, which is the New Living Translation (NLT), contains healing and recovery devotionals as well as the twelve steps from Alcoholics Anonymous.
Sharing Hope Ministry continues to grow, distributing Life Recovery Bibles to women in the Potter and Randall County jails, women’s prisons in all fifty states, and rehab facilities. In addition to the Life Recovery Bible distribution, there are Bible studies and prayer correspondence. In 2011, Sharing Hope Ministry opened Patsy’s Place transitional Home in Amarillo for women who have been released from prison who either do not have anywhere to go or do not want to return to the same environment that led to their incarceration. Patsy’s Place is a one-year Christ-based transitional home. As part of the program, women participate in cognitive thinking and financial skills classes, Bible studies, as well as mentorship and a financial coach. Then, after four months, the women can begin actively seeking to obtain employment and saving for a car. “They learn everything they need to be a self-sufficient adult,” Larson says.
A group of volunteers, called Patsy’s Pearls, coordinate events for those in Patsy’s Place, such as graduations, birthday parties and Thanksgiving dinner. The center for advancement opened in 2017, which includes a food pantry, clothing closet, and educational programs. Larson says, "Awareness is always a good thing. For people to know that we’re here and what we’re doing is super important. Anyone can have a friend or family member who struggles with addiction, goes through a bad time, and ends up in prison. So, to be able to have that awareness through the communities in the Panhandle shows these families that we’re here to help.”
For more information about Sharing Hope Ministry, call 806-358-7803 or visit sharinghopeministry.org