Gary

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While the family lived in Corpus Christi, he earned a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice from Texas A&M, then completed another bachelor's degree as a Chemical Dependency Counselor through a distance learning program from the University of New York

"I liked law enforcement so much that I decided to stay in the field I became a Federal Probation officer, but had to be stationed in Corpus Christi, where the vacancy was and we lived there for three years I wanted to get back into the Eastern District because of the ties I had in the area. In 1980, I applied for the exact same position in Sherman and they selected me to open the new office "

He lived in Grayson County for a little while, while wife Uva and children stayed behind Brian was going to be a junior, in 11th grade and BeBe was an 8th grader

He used the time alone to search for the best school district in Grayson, visited several and ultimately chose Howe He continued as Federal Probation Officer for the next eight years

The Republicans had the Presidency Senator Phil Gramm and Gary had become friends He applied for the Marshal job again, went to Washington, DC to meet with Gramm, who had been a professor at A&M before he was elected. Keith Gary asked how A&M was going to do that year in football Then Gramm said, "I hate to rush you off, but I have a committee meeting and I really need to go. I appreciate you flying up here We'll get around to looking at this as soon as we can So stay alert and we'll get back with you " They walked to the door of the office Gramm reached over and took him by the elbow and said, "You know what? With your background, there's no need to interview anybody else As far as I'm concerned, you'll be our Marshal." So he went back to the Marshal job in Tyler and spent eight years doing that

By then it was 1994 and he decided to retire and return to Grayson County Gary and wife Uva tried to buy a lot in Howe, but couldn't find one and finally found a builder for a house in Sherman He was approached about being Sheriff of the County, ran for Sheriff and was the first Republican to be elected

Brian went to San Angelo State University, then TCU for his MBA Gary was sitting at his desk one day in Tyler as a Federal Marshall and Brian called saying he'd been accepted into Baylor Law School. Brian married Cheryl and they have three children Now Brian is District Judge in the 397th district, he enjoys his job and is a good student of the law. BeBe went to Southwestern Baptist in Missouri and met her husband, Scott They have two children, live in Denton, where Scott works at a law firm One of the things that Sheriff Gary is proudest of, is his grandson Jake, who is planning his second mission trip to Trinidad, where he helped a young man accept Jesus as Savior, last summer

As Sheriff, he is most proud of the fact that the jail has 97 jailers now and every position is filled and 200 additional beds have been built. For the last 96 beds, they didn't have to pass a bond issue to make additional room Not a penny is owed because they found innovative ways to add beds. Gary says he wishes we didn't have to lock people up, but there are people who are dangerous to society that have to be corralled. Grayson County jail now has 480 beds for those accused or convicted of a crime

"Eye in the Sky" is a control room in the women's section of the jail, which was built in 2012, where one female officer can monitor the prisoners with 16 cameras, instead of requiring three or four officers, which would cost the county more in salaries. Two female officers are in the "pit" with the women at all times They are staffed properly and he gives credit to the Commissioner's Court for that. They've been very good to him and the county There are five officers per shift covering four shifts

For example, there could be an offense that has occurred on Lake Texoma and the only car available to go, is east of Van Alstyne It might take 30 minutes for an officer to reach them with the lights and sirens on A city cop in Grayson can get anywhere in their city in five to seven minutes. Grayson County deputies have 934 square miles to cover with five working per shift

The officers are required to take 40 hours of Continuing Education every other year Grayson County goes beyond that by providing more for their workers, believing that one can never have too much training

Sheriff Gary would have liked to have more man power However, the Commissioner's Court has been very good about salaries over the last couple of years. "We don't compete with big cities Those in law enforcement who live in Sherman, may work in Dallas, Plano, Frisco. They would love to work in Sherman, but there aren't many positions available Many Grayson County deputies have offduty jobs to make additional income, such as providing security at ball games or events That means we have to do a better job with the folks we have, that they are being continually re-educated, that we try to get that salary up "

The low point in his career was when five violent inmates escaped from Grayson County jail The leadership team is constantly reaccessing the security in the jail, so that type of incident will never happen again He believes it is a much better agency now

When he worked as a U.S. Marshal during the 1970s, the biggest concern was bank robberies in small towns because the criminals could be gone before anyone law enforcement knew the continued on Page #15