Dickey's formula for success Howe Youth Football signups online

Since the 2006-07 school year, Norman Dickey has put to use some of his spare time by keeping up with district standings in each major sport and computing them to a final total on how all of the schools perform over each year in those particular sports. Each year, one district school will sit at the top of the standings He calculates the girls sports as well as the boys We'll call this, "The Norman Dickey District Cup "

In order to explain how all of this works, we'll go back to 2006-07, With Howe finishing sixth in district in football, fifth in basketball, fifth in track and third in baseball, those ranking numbers totaled to 19 (6+5+5+3). That put them finishing fourth overall in the final standings Whitewright finished with eight points overall as they were first in football, first in basketball, second in track and fourth in baseball

Since that initial season, the Howe boys athletics have never finished first in the final district standings to receive the "Norman Dickey District Cup," however the girls athletes of Howe are a totally different story From 2006-07 through 2008-09, the Howe girls finished first each of those years. The strong track and basketball programs for the girls have kept them competitive with each district school by finishing in the top two for five straight years.

So what do these numbers look like recently? The Lady Bulldogs finished seventh in volleyball and their track fell to fifth However, as we all remember that they were really good in basketball and softball finishing second and tied for first in those categories, respectively. So that brought The Lady Bulldogs total to 15 1/2 points (when a tie occurs, Dickey gives each team equal share and that's where the 1/2 comes in to play).

The Pottsboro Lady Cardinals finished first overall with 11, 1/2 points They finished first in basketball and track which offset their poor showing in softball.

Howe's boys finished sixth this year with 20 overall points The Bulldogs finished third in football, third in basketball, eighth in track and sixth in baseball Howe was sitting pretty until the year changed to 2015.

Dickey says that these sports are chosen because of their ability to easily research. He is not undermining the value of other sports

This is what happens when an athletic director/math teacher retires

Howe Youth Football Commissioner Chris Campbell announced that those interested in signing up to play youth football this fall can now register at www.leaguelineup.com and searching for Howe Youth Football.

Registration is $90 for students entering Kindergarten through 6th grade.

Wortham continued from Page #6

The older Wortham got, the harder it was to get awoken at night by a fire call and then work a full day the following day.

When asked about what the major city projects that have stood out to him, he talked about the city adding a larger underground water storage tank on Young Street and gave the old one to Howe ISD which now rests at Bulldog Stadium He also talked about the additional water tower that was placed west of US 75 with ground storage, but he says the biggest project has been bringing the surface water from McKinney through Melissa, Anna and Van Alstyne for Howe to have access to for future development. All new developments will have the surface water instead of Howe's well water. All new developments will also have new piping to those new homes and businesses.

"The difference in surface water and well water is the taste " said Wortham "People from the metroplex coming this way have been drinking surface water already

Wortham's biggest headache over the years comes from the concrete water pipes in Western Hills

"If it's too dry it breaks If it's too wet, it moves around and breaks " said Wortham. "We are getting more plastic pipes in the ground now instead of the old steel."

A failure decades ago to spend the extra money to put valves around town now causes the city to turn all of the wells off during a leak instead of being able to isolate the older part of town

"The water has to run out on the ground until we get it fixed " said Wortham

Wortham was one of eight city employees in the public works department when he started 40 years ago

He was hired on to pick up trash and has worked his way to the top of the department by doing all of the things that a lot of people won't do. While some citizens will complain about being without water for an hour or two, no one will ever hear Wortham complain

He's picked up trash, wrestled pipes in the mud (day and night), captured about a thousand dogs, baked in the hot sun putting black top in pot holes, dipped water out of water meter buckets, and survived a couple of dozen city manager and mayor changes Congratulations David Wortham for your 40 years of dedication to your city