Retirement party held for Sheriff Gary

A "Who's Who" of Grayson County showed up at the west courtroom of the old Grayson County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon to pay homage to the 20-year veteran Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary The reception was held to honor the man who has served in that capacity since 1996 as well as United States Marshall prior to that. Several individuals stood up and gave speeches about Sheriff Gary, but none were more impactful as was the one from his son, the Honorable Judge Brian Gary

"This story kept going through my mind." said Judge Gary. "The story goes - dad was going to a night class one night (in the 1960s at Louisiana Tech) and what does he see? He observed a few white guys were refusing to let a young black man to go to school He told me that never again would he allow something like that go on in his presence I also remember that dad became Marshall when I was about five years old One of the fondest memories I have is getting to know dad and some of his deputies But the one I remember most was Andy Williams, a big ol' black guy - huge Andy Williams was the first black man to ever be hired as a

Deputy Marshall in the Eastern District of Texas "

Judge Gary began to tell the audience that it was his father who hired Williams Not because he was black, but because he was qualified for the job and his father decided to give him an opportunity

"That sticks with me because it tells me about his ability to treat people fairly He won an award for hiring women and minorities This man doesn't need an award for that because he's done it his entire career He wasn't hiring women and minorities because some government program told him to do it He was doing it because that's the way he rolls He was a conservative person who was willing to take those types of risks back then "

Judge Gary then finished the story by explaining that Williams eventually fell in trouble and his father had to let him go

"So the lesson I took from that is currently what I do everyday now" said Judge Gary "Sometimes you just have to make tough decisions and you've got to do it anyway

Park

continued from page 1

Recently the city has contracted the services of grant writer Terri Wilson and the city has identified the 45 acres as an opportunity to create a city-owned park with ideas of walking trails, football field that could double as soccer field, bleachers, scoreboard, pavilion with a concession area and eventually a fishing pond

The city will be submitting for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Small Community Grant that is due on October 1 It is a $75,000 grant that requires matching funds The matching funds can come from inkind donations such as labor and materials In example, one Howe citizen has expressed interest in building a pavilion on the property The cost of that structure would go towards the $75,000 matching portion of the grant continued on page 5

The City of Howe will hold a public hearing on September 20 at 6 p m at 700 W Haning Street regarding the park

The grant is available in multiple phases and once the first phase is complete, they will be pushing towards phase two which also can be used with matching funds of donated materials and labor

The name of the park is planned to be the Casey and Dot Jones Memorial Park

City officials will be seeking out those who were interested in donating dirt work back in 2005 For those interested in donating labor and materials, contact Monte Walker at the Howe Development Alliance at 903-532-6080

Moments later, Honaker would pooch through a 22-yard field goal, his first of the year Howe led 31-7 with 2:41 left in the third quarter

On Bowie's next possession, they raced 91 yards and took 4:57 off of the clock before Jackrabbit running back Gary Mosely punched it in from the 2 yard line

The two point conversion failed and the score was 31-13 with 9:40 left in the game

Howe would start their next drive at their own 29 yard line but a quick Wall would fumble giving Bowie the ball at the Howe 32 yard line at the 9:20 mark Jackrabbit quarterback Hutto took a shot and came out of the game to be replaced by Dustin VanWey

The Bowie offense sputtered and turned the ball over on downs which gave Howe the ball back in nearly the same position they fumbled at their own 31 yard line

The 'Dogs put together one final drive to cap off the evening which ended on Matthews' second rushing touchdown of the night

The 2-yarder capped off the 69yard drive and gave Howe the 3813 final score

Howe moves to 1-1 on the season and have now scored 52 points on the season and given up 55 Howe will play Muenster next Friday night for homecoming The Hornets are 2-0 having beaten Valley View, 51-0 and Pilot Point, 35-12 Muenster is coming off of a 13-2 record where they were one game away from the state title game getting beat by Bremond in the semi-final round

Stats

Passing: Mason Riggs, 1-1-0-22

Rushing: Jaden Matthews 25-136, Brent Masters 14-106, Tyler Grisham 11-44, Dylan Moreau 6-32, Andrew Griffin 3-12, Cooper Akins 2-9, Brandon Wall 2-8

Receiving: Ty Harvey 1-22

Team Offense: Rushing 347, Passing 22 Total 359

Team Defense: Rushing 79, Passing 69. Total 148 because it's the right thing to do and let the consequences be what they may That's what my dad taught me "

The reception began with a briefing from Clyde Seidman listing the accomplishments of Sheriff Gary and presented a flag previously flown over the State Capitol on behalf of Representative Larry Phillips

"May God bless you and your family and may God bless Texas and the people that you served with distinction and honor" Seibman proclaimed

Grayson County Judge Bill Magers stated that he wouldn't be standing in the room without Sheriff Gary.

"What the taxpayers of Grayson County don't know is how much money this man has saved them over the years " said Judge Magers "With the jail at the airport and the county jail renovations, this guy has done to save taxpayers dollars than anyone I know"

Magers went on to state that when Sheriff Gary ran for office one more time in 2012 he made a great sacrifice

"Our county would not be in the great shape it's in today if he had not stepped forward one more time and answered the bell one more time with this community" said Magers

Justice of the Peace, Rita Noel then told the story that while at the sheriff's office, they always had donuts and Sheriff Gary's favorite was coconut

"One day I ate it and I had to write a Dear Sheriff letter" explained Noel "Even in my letter I told him that I would pack my stuff "

Noel then presented Sheriff Gary with two coconut donuts

Grayson County District A Joe Brown said that Sheriff made him feel welcome as man sitting in a big office the first day that I walked o exactly sure what I was doi point, I shook his hand and want to do what I can for y hope you'll help me ' He's b friend to me He gave me creditability He could hav at a young man and said, 'I forgotten more about law th ever know' But he didn't that kind of man He's a ma integrity"

Sheriff Gary was also thank several others including a f Sheriff's Deputy and a form Marshall

In Sheriff Gary fashion, he addressed the audience and mostly about his family, in them one-by-one He also his administrative staff and deputies, investigators and