Author: Howe Enterprise

Howe’s own Garrett Fulenchek has been traded from the Atlanta Braves to the Tampa Bay Rays in a deal tonight.  Fulenchek gave up three runs on three hits today in 1.2 innings.  He walked four and struck out one.  The Braves received the Rays’ 73rd and 103rd slots, valued at a total of $494,200, according to Baseball America. The deal gives Atlanta more to spend on international players before facing penalties.

“I want to thank the Braves organization for giving me the opportunity.” said Fulenchek.  “I also want to thank the Rays for giving me a chance to continue my career.  I’m looking forward to pitching in Arlington.”

His agent Craig Rose stated that this is a positive move for Fulenchek.  He says the Rays wanted him in the draft last year so they have traded their international picks for him. The Braves have moved a lot of players at the major league level for prospects, which has created a surplus in the farm system.

“He can move faster in the Rays’ system and they have a stellar track record on developing pitchers in house.” said Rose.

Fulenchek is already ranked 10th on the prospect list in the Rays’ organization.

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, 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.

The history of Howe restaurants that start closing at different times has been a precursor to an eventual closing, however, Abby’s Restaurant owner Lillian Avila says that’s far from the case with their new summer hours. Abby’s is now closed at 3pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and have removed their dinner hours from those nights.

“I thought about it, but at the same time most people understand that I’m constantly changing things.” said Avila. “I’m constantly doing things differently. I don’t do the same things all the time.”

Avila, who opened Abby’s Restaurant in April of 2014 has become the anchor of the renewed spirit of downtown Howe. This is not the first time that this has happened.

“When I was in Pilot Point, downtown was dead. The buildings were collapsing. It was just terrible.” said Avila. “Now you look at it and it’s beautiful. We were the first ones bringing people in to downtown Pilot Point when they were getting started.”

Avila says that the new hours are for the summer only because Mondays and Wednesday evenings have slowed down severely. Closing on those slow nights will allow her to have more flexibility with the payroll and waitstaff. She says that she’ll re-evaluate a good time to open back up on those two evenings when people get back into their routines a few weeks after school starts.

Having two nights off a week also gives her time to spend with her family, which includes a junior daughter in high school. Her normal workday is 7am to 9pm in which she’s done for the past 10 years.

“I’m used to the work.” said Avila. “The third week of being at home on those nights, I felt tired because my body is not used to resting.”

Avila’s oldest child has already graduated and out of the house, but the 16-year-old is very active in extracurricular performances at McKinney ISD.

“Time is going to fly and I want to spend time with her a little bit.” said Avila. “She’s going to the Rose Bowl this year (for a performance). After she graduates, I’ll have all the free time to work.

Abby’s Restaurant is known for the chicken fried steak and general home style cooking. The restaurant has been the economic driver for downtown for the past 16 months. During lunch hours, there’s hardly a place to park in downtown. This also has an effect on other downtown businesses that see foot traffic from patrons that haven’t been seen in the historic district in quite some while. The Howe Mercantile has mirrored Abby’s hours due to the amount of traffic.

It’s that time of year where we prepare to celebrate the birth of our great country and Texoma is filled with many opportunities to get your pyromania fix. Lights on the Lake at Pecan Grove Park in Sherman will kick off the festive weekend on Thursday, July 2 with a festival starting at 5:30. The annual Sherman event attracts around 5,000 annually and kids can enjoy themselves with bounce houses while adults can enjoy the food vendors.

Denison’s July 4 Fireworks Extravaganza will take place a Munson Stadium at Forest Park. The free event also pulls a large audience from all over the area. Howe has chosen to be the region’s finale by closing out the show on Sunday night (which is not kind to a Monday morning publication). Last year, Howe Fire Department’s fireworks show lasted 47 minutes which had music accompanied by New Beginning Fellowship. Just as a year ago, HFD plans to have live music, hot dogs, hamburgers, dunking booths and vendors to create a festive atmosphere to celebrate Independence Day.

Other area firework shows include Cedar Mills Marina on July 4 from 7-10:30. Tanglewood will have their annual fireworks show on Sunday, July 5.

Photos of the 2014 Howe Fireworks Festival

David Wortham comes from a family who served for and worked for the City of Howe. Wortham’s mother Marilee was the city secretary for a number of years and his father, Dug Wortham, was the mayor of Howe in the 1960’s. Taking a job with the city in 1975, just after graduation from Howe High School, David Wortham has had hands-on experience with every street and pipe in Howe. In July, he will celebrate 40 years with the city.

“Back then, you couldn’t hardly find a job.” said Wortham. “I went and lived with my aunt in Duncanville for a little bit. Mother was the city secretary and said they had someone quit and was looking for someone. I said, I’ll go back to Howe and go to work until I find something better. I haven’t found nothing better yet.”

Wortham started on the trash service crew in 1975. He worked on that crew until Howe started contracting out the trash service. At that time, he moved into the water side of public works and says that part of the job has changed drastically over the years.

“Getting the drive-by meters changed everything.” said Wortham. “With all of this rain we’ve had, it would’ve taken a week to read meters because you’d have to pump out the water (from the meter boxes).”

The drive-by meters allow for Wortham to set up his laptop in his vehicle and simply drive by the location and a signal is sent from the meter.

Wortham says that he should be able to keep going another five years or so. “In five years, I’ll be almost 65 and I think that I ought to still be in good enough health if we want to travel and do stuff, we can do that.” said Wortham.

Wortham and his wife Jerri will celebrate 30 years of marriage on July 20. They have two sons.

As a youngster, growing up in Howe, he went from having his father as the mayor to having his father die suddenly at the young age of 43. Dug Wortham was elected mayor in April of 1967 by a landslide vote of 194 to 7 over E.B. (Smokey) Christopher. He replaced C.C. Jones, who did not seek re-election. He was re-elected in 1969 by defeating Joe King 131-65. Wortham was recognized by the Howe Chamber for his long-range economic growth plans. Under his leadership as mayor came the Dairy Queen, the opening of US 75, new Church of Christ building on Collins Freeway, new High School on Beatrice Street, new Enco gas station on Collins Freeway, new joint sewer contract with Sherman, new housing in Western Hills, new Bethel Baptist Church, doubled the city sales tax income, and negotiated a deal to bring Magni-Fab to Howe. He may have opposed a mobile home development pushed by City Manager George Barnes, which might have played a factor in Wortham’s decision not to seek re-election in April of 1971. He died 13 months later.

“He had stomach problems.” said Wortham. “Mother told me that when he was 16 years-old, they laid him open and had all of his intestince out because they were twisted up. After a couple of days, they untwisted and they put them back in and sewed him back up.”

After Dug Wortham’s death, that left his mother Marilee as a single mother to Carla, David and Scott. It also left one of Howe’s biggest civic leaders gone.

Three years later, David Wortham graduated from Howe High School and his story with the City of Howe started. Just like his father, he has been an ambassador to the city, but by starting on the trash truck and working to the head of the public works division.

Most citizens are quick to complain when the water is shut off in their homes, but few are willing to jump in a muddy ditch and try and patch a hole in an old steel pipe as Wortham has countless times in his 40 years.

Wortham was also a member of the Howe Volunteer Fire Department for over 30 years. “I stopped once because both of my boys were in Boy Scouts.” said Wortham. “When they both got out (Jerry) Campbell asked me to come back so I did for about five years or longer.”

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.

Kendall Nelms just graduated from Howe High School and one of the first things she’s doing is spending time in Richardson this week in competition for the coveted Miss Texas crown.

Nelms began competing in pageants at the age of 12 just to help her get over her severe introverted personality. “My first pageant was in a mall and there were only three in my division and I was so scared out of my mind.” said Nelms. “I had glitter eye-liner and I looked like someone out of the 80’s because we didn’t know anything. But it was so much fun.”

In that pageant, Nelms spoke in front of people for the first time and she realized that she survived the experience and actually had fun. It took Nelms a couple of months before she won her first pageant, which was at a state fair competition.

Nelms entered her fourth preliminary competition earlier this year and competed for Miss Lake Worth against 12 competitors. When she was named Miss Lake Worth, that qualified her for the Miss Texas competition which is taking place now.

The Miss Texas contestants checked into the Eisemann Center in Richardson on Saturday morning and immediately had a fashion show and gala. After those events, the contestants are completely sequestered with their phones taken away.

“I don’t get any contact.” said Nelms in a Friday interview. “Our parents aren’t allowed to talk to us except for visitation which is after each competition. We don’t have our phones from 6 am to 11 pm and we’re completely cut off from everyone.”

This schedule will take place until Sunday. On Tuesday, Nelms will interview, which is a 10 minute process where judges ask the contestants anything from political questions to current affairs. After that interview, she’ll get two minutes with her parents before doing the swimsuit and evening gown performances. Wednesday is the talent portion of the contest which Nelms is a talented flute player. On Thursday, Nelms will face the on-stage questions.

“You have to really know yourself.” said Nelms. “You have to know what you think and have an opinion. They don’t care what your opinion is, you just need to be able to defend your opinion.”

With media today, everything is scrutinized so Nelms wants to make sure and avoid the moments of losing train of thought.

“You just can’t allow yourself to get scared.” said Nelms. “One time I fell on stage and it was an awesome face-plant. When my family gets together, my dad will play it on a loop.”

The cost of the pageant life can add up, but it has also paid off for Nelms who has received over $2,000 in scholarships from pageants.

“It’s not cheap, but you get so much out of it.” said Nelms. “I have great interview skills now. I have a job because I can interview well and I can now talk in front of thousands of people. So it is expensive and it offsets the scholarships, but it gives you so much more.”

Nelms says that her favorite part of the pageant is the interview.  “It’s the only part that you can control what they think about you.” said Nelms. “Everything else is based on how you look and present yourself. But in the interview, you get to actually have a conversation with them. I love talking to people.”

This confident girl used to hide behind her mom and cry at school because she was so afraid to talk to people. My how far this little girl from Howe has come.

Nelms wants to be a surgical nurse, but first wants to be Miss Texas and then Miss America.

Nelms will soon be attending Midwestern State University and plans to take the first year off from pageants. She has taken a year off from pageants before, but returned this year.

“I just want to get into the groove of college, but I do want to come back because my goal is to be Miss America.” said Nelms.

She is the daughter of Robin and Kenneth Nelms and is the youngest child to siblings Layne and Brice. Her brother Brice suffers from Dysautonomia, which is a type of neuropathy affecting the nerves that carry information from the brain and spinal cord to the heart, bladder, intestines, sweat glands, pupils, and blood vessels. Kendall Nelms’ platform for her bid to become Miss Texas is based on Dysautonomia.

“When I go to programs, I always talk about him and how this has affected our family.” said Nelms, who has volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House.

Whether Nelms is crowned Miss Texas this week or not, the achievement of having the opportunity is overwhelmingly rare. She may wear a Miss Lake Worth banner when she walks on the stage, but this town really knows what city she represents.

Howe Texas’ own Garrett Fulenchek made his 2015 debut on Saturday for the Danville Braves, which is an advanced rookie league.  A few in-person photos were taken by Howe class of 1992 graduate, Todd White.

A full recap of the outing will be found in Monday’s Howe Enterprise.