Sales Tax Report

Judy Finney. That relationship led him to Christ and a baptism at the Howe Church of Christ a year later.

“Jimmy and Judy were fantastic neighbors and what has drawn me to the Howe church is the longtime residents of Howe,” said Alsbrook. “There are great people in every town, but for some reason, these people treated us as if we’ve always lived here. In certain communities, you have to be there fore a while and show you’re invested into the community. I never felt that here.”

Alsbrook, who grew up in The Colony, Texas and graduated high school there in 1991, were shown the small town way of life by the Hawkins family where Rod and Stephanie would always try and spend their money locally instead of going to Sherman.

“Growing up green and not really thinking about it as a consumer, I said, ‘why not just go to Sherman?’” But Rod would always tell me, ‘yes, we could, but this is my community and I want to at least give something back to it. They’ve given so much to me,’” said Alsbrook.

After graduating from The Colony, he attended East Texas State University for Music Education and finished everything except student teaching. After spending time in the public school system, he took a career switch to working in the finance department for the Frito Lay Company. Armed with a good job and a bride named Dana, they moved to Howe on the five acres on Mardell Lane. After he and his wife’s new relationship with Christ, he attended Freed-Hardeman University, a private Christian University, for two years. He then moved to Oklahoma where he preached for 11 years before coming back to Howe.

The transition from Soechting to Alsbrook has been an easy one according to the new minister. He says that is due to Soechting’s character. He says the expectations of the leadership from his is what he would expect it to be.

“Do your very best and be honest with God’s word. Do your very best in trying to help people mature. That has created a smooth transition,” said Alsbrook.

Not growing up religious, his first experience in the church was one where the Bible was opened and they just said what the Bible said and they tried to understand it.

“I found it different,” said Alsbrook. “I had friends growing up that were religious and I attended some of their congregations but due to my immaturity, I found it lacking. As I started looking for truth, I found what I was looking for in God’s word and God’s people.

Aaron and Dana Alsbrook have two (Continued on page 6)

Howe sales tax on pace for 10 percent increase in revenue over 2021

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced today he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $1.03 billion in local sales tax allocations for July, 15.3 percent more than in July 2021. These allocations are based on sales made in May by businesses that report tax monthly.

In Howe, the figure came to $41,627.64 which is an increase of the same period last year by 5.71 percent.

City

Sherman Denison aGainesville Celina Anna Melissa Van Alstyne Bonham Whitesboro Gunter Pottsboro Whitewright

Howe

Leonard Southmayd Collinsville Bells Tioga Tom Bean Oak Ridge Savoy Ector Dorchester

June 2022

$2,319,538.76 $811,237.51 $679,775.89 $611,829.49 $511,309.40 $472,187.75 $382,846.87 $237,465.86 $161,570.85 $140,382.81 $77,161.58 $52,379.61

$41,627.64

$39,831.88 $38,472.66 $36,392.42 $24,819.25 $23,631.65 $11,712.20 $9,651.34 $5,798.51 $2,002.54 $951.86 A quarter of that amount belongs to the Howe Community Development Foundation Corporation which totals $10,406.91.

City

Sherman Denison Gainesville Celina Anna Melissa Van Alstyne Bonham Whitesboro Gunter Pottsboro Whitewright

Howe

Leonard Southmayd Collinsville Bells Tioga Tom Bean Oak Ridge Savoy Ector Dorchester

Total 2022

$16,668,590.76 $5,968,029.49 $5,045,340.59 $4,083,667.07 $3,476,255.62 $3,468,445.55 $2,193,121.12 $1,613,983.50 $1,099,754.08 $1,043,589.28 $507,988.85 $336,892.24 $316,641.73 $266,818.27 $235,142.02 $232,653.05 $180,074.80 $159,302.79 $87,354.16 $70,148.85 $43,764.32 $19,868.18 $7,274.53

since Chris Garner left town. Haley was recently announced as AllTexomaland in baseball as the Bulldogs made the playoffs for the first time in four years. That honor put him in a distinct category of being named All-Texomaland in three different sports. But Haley, the 17-year-old who speaks wiser beyond years, says it’s an honor but winning is the most important thing to him.

“I just love to compete. I love sports and I love to get the opportunity to play so whenever I do something I’m going to do it to the best of my ability,” said Haley. “I’m going to do whatever I can do to help my team to win. If that comes with these awards, then that comes with these awards. I just want to win. That’s my goal at the end of the day.” Unfortunately, Howe has not done a lot of winning on the football field during his time behind center. Howe is 327 entering his senior season. But don't blame the quarterback during those three seasons, he leads all Howe passers in history in yards (4,005), completions (287), and completion percentage (54.6%). Only Mark Wheeler of the early 1980s can compare in completion percentage, but he threw 504 fewer passes than Haley. It’s a stacked schedule against much larger schools that has done a number on the Bulldogs. Howe had never allowed more than 365 yards per game on defense before the last two years in the “Little Big XII” of Mount Vernon, Mineola, Winnsboro, Commerce, Rains, Pottsboro, and Bonham. But in that inflated district, the Dogs allowed 436.67 and 463.90 per game, respectively.

But even against those odds, Howe had chances to win in 2021 with the opener against Callisburg where Howe took a lead into the fourth quarter but couldn't close it out. They had the same scenario against Commerce and at Rains. But the biggest gut punch was a last-second scheduled game with Weatherford Christian who brought two vans and four reserve players. They wore plain white uniforms with no helmet logo, no runthrough tunnel, no cheerleaders, no band, no fans, and ditched a Howe first half lead to come back and win 27-20 which put the Howe football program Austin Haley with the buzz-beater 3 -pointer at Gunter. Photo by

Michelle Carney.

maybe at the lowest rung ever. After the game, Haley told the reporter that the team didn’t know how to win.

“We just don’t have the mentality of winning,” he told Caroline Slawson after the loss to Weatherford Christian.

He says that the team let up at halftime after having a lead.

“It was like we were satisfied with that,” said Haley. “The year before, we weren’t even close to winning. People just let off the gas. The whole year we didn’t know how to close it out.”

But Haley says that the basketball season that saw them play and win tight games and sweep the back half of district and win a playoff game, coupled with the same type of output in baseball, has served as a steppingstone for this coming football season where they have learned how to win in big games.

“We, as a team, learned how to win that year, even when we didn’t have our best stuff,” said Haley.

Perhaps one could place an exact moment to the winning mentality and the winning culture taking form and that was in Gunter when Haley hit a 3pointer at the buzzer to give them the win and start them on a winning streak.

“We had a bulldog mentality that whole game that we were going to win that game,” said Haley. “We didn’t have our best stuff and we weren’t making our shots, but that’s a part of learning how to win. You’re not going to have your best stuff every game. At the end of the day, you have to stay confident in your abilities and that’s what I did.”

Haley has had a lot of head coaches in (Continued on page 6)