SERVING WHERE IT MATTERS

Code Compliance a Complicated Issue and Necessary for the Community

By Joyce Godwin

Photo by Joyce Godwin. This is one example of litter in a field just off U.S. Highway 75 in Anna. The Code Compliance personnel for the city of Anna hope to help make a difference in the amount of litter in the area. Having a lot of wind adds to the frequency of litter.

Mike Wherland is a Code Compliance Officer for the city of Anna. While most might bring up the mental picture of a guy writing citations to homeowners, Wherland says that is not what his job is nor is it the way he does it.

Wherland works with Code Compliance Manager Kevin Martin and he says one of the biggest obstacles is the challenge to educate and inform Anna neighbors. “We want to ensure health and safety while improving the aesthetics and help keep Anna beautiful while cleaning up the area,” Wherland says. “We want to educate when we come into contact with people — we want to educate on the laws.”

Wherland said, “Anna has a pretty bad litter problem right now. It’s also a pretty windy area and that complicates the situation.” He believes a little time is what is needed to help Anna neighbors head off the litter problems and it is already getting better.

Wherland came to Anna from Midlothian with approximately five years of experience. “I had five different interviews for surrounding cities and was offered several but this is the one I chose,” he said. “The city of Anna code compliance was attractive to me. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of the small city while expanding.”

Wherland added that he is “grateful to be here working with a great team. Kevin [Martin] has been awesome to give me opportunities to grow in the department. I want to grow in the career and hope to eventually manage a department. Kevin has been a great mentor.”

He added that interfacing with other departments is necessary and the people in Anna are easy to work with. “We have a great team in the Neighborhood Services Department,” he said. “They have been really receptive to everything we are doing and that makes my job more enjoyable.”

Anna’s code compliance department is a two-man operation today but it is expected to grow as the city grows. Wherland says Martin is a pleasure to work with.

They are going to stay pretty busy with the job since it’s only the two of them. These two are now Anna’s health department after taking over the responsibilities from Collin County just this year.

Complaints may be made though phone or email and any adjustments will have a 10-day follow up.

Wherland may be reached by calling the city of Anna or by email at mwherland@ annatexas.gov.

“Serving Where It Matters” is a series in Anna Living Magazine to tell the stories of city of Anna personnel.

Mike Wherland

The Story of Claude Wayne and Jo – Lifetime of Love and Family

She was barely 15 years old when she climbed aboard the train in Wallis, a small town in southeast Texas. The destination was another tiny town, Morgan, in Bosque County, an all-day ride on the Chief. It was the day after Christmas, and Elva Joceille, known simply as Jo, was taking advantage of the time off from school to visit her grandparents.

Trips like this, or any kind of break from the hardscrabble life the Lewis family lived, were rare. Her dad worked as a section foreman for the Santa Fe, walking the tracks daily with his crew, replacing the worn ties. His job with the Santa Fe payed little, but it did provide a small, frame house, and free passage on the rails for the family, the only way Jo could afford the trip. Jo and her mom cooked, cleaned, washed, and took care of dad and four brothers. There was little time left for pleasantries, which made the trip to Morgan special.

The café in Morgan was small, with a counter and seating for about ten people. It also had a juke box, and that’s where Jo first saw a tall, lanky, dark-haired boy dropping nickels in the slot, playing Hank Williams’ tunes. Handsome and confident, Claude Wayne Webb was soon sitting in the booth next to Jo. He bought her a coke, asked her to dance, and was getting acquainted with this pretty little girl from outof-town. Of course he knew her grandparents. There were only 300 people in Morgan. A couple of hours of talking and Claude Wayne had Jo’s address and phone number. It would be a year before he would see her again.

Claude Wayne’s dad, Carl, owned the town pool hall. His mom, Helen, ran off to Ft. Worth when Claude Wayne was five, wary of the slim prospects Morgan presented and desirous of the bright lights of Cowtown. That left Claude Wayne to the care of his grandmother, but truth be known, he was left to run the streets of Morgan and was pretty much raised by the whole town. He was an adventurous boy, well-liked by all, handsome and talkative, and a good athlete. When he was ten, he and a friend saved their lunch money all week to buy a pint of moonshine, which they drank on the banks of Steele Creek that Friday night. By the time he reached his senior year at Morgan High, in a graduating class of six, he was 6’2” and known in every juke joint and honky-tonk in Hill, McClennan and Bosque counties. That’s when he saw Jo for the second time.

Yes, it had been a year. He had called her a couple of times, and she had written letters. Despite the fact they had only been together once, and then for only a few hours, they had a plan, a plan Jo’s dad, Estes, suspected when he refused to give her permission to return to Morgan. But Jo’s mom, Velma, persisted on Jo’s behalf, and once again she boarded the Chief for Morgan.

A day after her arrival, Jo’s cousin drove the young couple to Helen’s house in southeast Dallas County. A day later, with Helen and her friend, Francis, who had forged Estes’ signature on the wedding license, standing with them, Claude Wayne and Jo were married. He was eighteen and she was sixteen.

The young couple, unsophisticated to say the least, somehow eked out a living. They lived behind Helen’s house in a tiny apartment constructed out of used lumber and corrugated tin by Helen’s husband. Claude Wayne drove a delivery truck, and Jo rode the bus daily to downtown Dallas, where she was trained and licensed as a beautician. Two and a half years later, on a steaming hot July day, I was born. That was sixty-six years ago.

I know this tale seems fantastical, even more so than other yarns I’ve spun. But there’s no need for exaggeration because this is exactly how it happened. It’s probably why I love the writings of Larry McMurtry so much, because the story of Claude Wayne and Jo is part “Hud,” part “Last Picture Show,” and all true.

Two poor, uneducated kids from the country, with only a few hours together and less than twenty dollars between them escaped what looked like a certain, destitute fate to live an unexpected adventure, and even more unlikely, provide an even more adventurous life for my sister and me.

Yes, I’m embarking on my 67th time around the sun as I write this, but all I can think of this morning is the risk and sacrifice made by two kids from the most modest of circumstances that overcame the odds to forge a better life for themselves, and those that have come after. Mom passed two years ago, but dad is still plugging away, still overcoming the odds – he just spent a week in ICU but he’s fought back and he’ll be back behind the wheel of his Silverado soon.

It’s a legacy that seems impossible to live up to. Isaac Newton wrote in a 1675 letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

If I have seen further, and my kids will continue to see further, it’s because of a couple of giants named Claude Wayne and Jo.

UNCLE SPIDER calls North Texas home, but has traveled all over the world, seeking adventures that might make for a good story. He’s also one of the owner/ operators of the GARHOLE in Westminster. Stop by and see him there, or email him at spider@garhole.net.