Category: Howe News Bulletin

Jeff Stanley, a Howe High School Graduate was appointed mayor back in April 2009 and has run unopposed each consecutive term since. On Tuesday night at the regular Howe City Council meeting, Stanley resigned from the position of mayor effective immediately citing that he no longer has the time necessary to fulfill the duties.

Upon the city council’s approval, Stanley recommended that the position of mayor be acted upon in favor of Bill French, a longtime council member. The council voted in favor of French with all in favor besides French who abstained.

“I’ve put stipulations on myself that if I could not continue to do the job or did not have the time for the job, that I would step down. That time has come,” said Stanley in open forum at the council meeting. “Over the years, I’ve had to back off of a lot of the jobs that I do and don’t spend as much time at City Hall and I’ve had to step off of boards. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but it’s time.”

Stanley went on to say that he had talked with French several times over the past year about setting this plan in place.

“We’ve never set a date, but I called him up last week and said, ‘it’s time – if the council would agree,'” said Stanley. “I think it’s time for somebody new.”

Stanley is the longest-tenured mayor in the City of Howe history behind W.P. Thompson, who was voted mayor of Howe for at least nineteen consecutive terms spanning from 1913-1949.

French is a 26-year resident of Howe and has served on the Howe City Council for several consecutive terms and on two separate occasions dating back as early as the 1990s.

KCBD in Lubbock, Texas has reported that former Texas District 364 and Lubbock County Court Judge Brad Underwood, known during his days in Howe as “Steve” died at the age of 65 on Sunday, Oct. 13.

Underwood, a graduate of Howe High School in 1972, North Texas State, Midwestern State and the Texas Tech School of Law, retired from retired as judge of the 364th District Court in 2014 after his appointment in 1989. Prior to that, he was the Judge of the Lubbock County Court at Law No. 2 from 1986 to 1989.

He was the first judge of the 364th District court and after leaving that position he went on to work as a senior judge.

He started his career in 1979 as a law clerk for the Criminal District Attorney’s Office and from 1980 to 1986 served as Lubbock’s assistant criminal district attorney.

He was a past president of the Lubbock County Bar Association and a former member of the Texas Supreme Court Task Force on Foster Care. He was also a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Lubbock County Bar Association.

Underwood worked as a member and director of the Lubbock County Young Lawyers Association and former Director of the Lubbock County Bar Association. He was also a member of the Lubbock Lions Club since 1989.

Underwood also received awards for his charitable work including the One Who Cares Award by KCBD NewsChannel 11 and the Get Involved Award by the Volunteer Center of Lubbock. He also received the Lubbock County Bar Association President’s Commendation for his work on the Bar Association newsletter, the Law Notes.

He is survived by his wife Phyllis, mother Alma, daughter Courtney and granddaughter Lilly, son Jared, brother Tim and wife Mari, and sister Tina and husband Scott.

(Information in this article by KCBD-11 of Lubbock).

On October 8th, 2019, the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office received an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle through the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) program.

This vehicle will be used by the GCSO Special Response Team. It will provide protection for officers during Special Response Operations to protect the officers and the public from dangerous situations. Some of these types of situations include barricaded person, high-risk warrant, active shooter, and retrieving injured officers if needed. It also can be used in high water rescue operations and natural disasters. This vehicle is being provided to the GCSO at no cost to Grayson County. It has a market value of $500,000

The effects of Howe (2-4; 1-1) being the fifth smallest 3A-Division I school reared its ugly head Friday night at Bulldog Stadium as Rains (3-3; 1-1), one of the largest schools with an enrollment advantage of 134 students (roughly 34 more junior and senior boys), romped their way to a 55-28 win over Howe who had eight players starting on both sides of the ball whereas the Wildcats had nine players getting refreshed each time the ball flipped sides.

Emory Rains quarterback Luke Sheppard was too much for the Bulldogs to handle Friday night as he accounted for five touchdowns which included four rushing and one passing. The junior signal-caller also rushed for 125 yards on 20 carries while throwing for 105 on 13 attempts. Their read-pass-option style of offense allowed for Sheppard to also hand the ball off to fellow back Mason Songer who rushed for 149 yards on 16 carries. Rains totaled 506 total yards on offense which ranks for eighth-most Howe’s allowed in recorded history and the fourth most ever at Bulldog Stadium. It’s the first time the Dogs have allowed over 500 yards in a game since Van Alstyne racked up 566 at Bulldog Stadium in 2017.

On the other side of the ball, Howe continued to rack up impressive offensive numbers with 201 yards on the ground and 215 through the air. Jalen Thornton has been the Bulldogs workhorse for the first six games and Friday night he carried the ball 24 times for 177 yards and a touchdown. Freshman quarterback Austin Haley also played well as he went 13-of-24 passing for 215 yards and one touchdown. The touchdown pass gives him 10 on the season and career. He ties Brian Freese for ninth all-time. Freese had 553 passing attempts compared to Haley’s 86.

Howe had a great chance of getting on the board first as Rains gambled on a fourth-and-short at their own 39 yard line and came up short thanks to a great defensive play by Matthew Bearden and Jackson Adkins who combined to turn away Sheppard on a run up the middle. But Howe’s offense also stalled on a fourth-and-four at the Rains 18 when Wildcat end Bobby Dell tipped Haley’s pass.

Rains was then able to put the game’s first points on the board on a 3-play, 81-yard drive that ended on a 62-yard Songer touchdown. Rains led 7-0 after the Andrew Balthrop PAT at the 7:04 mark in the first.

After a Howe punt, the Bulldogs got their 17th takeaway of the season when a bad snap to Sheppard caused him to scramble backward for it. Hunter Brussow knocked the ball away allowing Bearden to pick it up and run it to the Rains 36 yard line. From there, Howe capitalized when Haley threw a dart to Kolby Windon who hauled it in at the five and raced in. That tied the game at 7-7 with :46 left in the first quarter after Kevin Flores’ PAT.

Rains took no time to answer right back as they took four plays to travel 50 yards and scored on a 31-yard run by Sheppard. With 11:09 left in the second, Rains led 14-7.

The Bulldogs took the ball at their own 22 to start the next drive. A pump fake by Haley got Rains cornerback Colt Rivera to turn his hips allowing Windon to gain separation for a 56-yard gainer to the 4 yard line. From there Brandon Williams did the rest where he broke several tackles on his way for a 4-yard score to tie the game at 14-14 with 8:48 left in the second.

Rains again took no time to score, going 6 plays, 50 yards seeing Songer plunge over from the 3 yard line. Rains led 21-14 with 7:11 left before half.

Howe was unable to keep pace on the next possession and was forced to punt. It was the last time Howe was truly in the game. Rains extended their lead to 28-14 when Sheppard raced 62 yards to end a 4-play, 80-yard drive.

After another Howe punt, Sheppard caught Howe napping when he turned away from the heavy run load and short pass load to throw one deep to Antonio Villegas who hauled it in for a 51-yard touchdown. That gave Rains a 35-14 advantage with 1:43 left before the half.

The first play of the second half saw the snap go over Sheppard’s head where Arturo Lowder recovered it to give Howe the ball at the Rains 31. On the second play, Thornton knifed through the line for a 31-yard score to bring the Dogs within 14 at 35-21.

Both teams traded punts before Sheppard again used his running ability to score a 1-yard touchdown to end a 6-play, 59-yard drive and give Rains a 42-21 lead with 4:02 left in the third.

As the game began to stall, Sheppard would add another rushing touchdown from the 2 yard line to increase the Wildcat lead to 48-21 with 7:38 remaining in the game.

Howe had a punt blocked which led to an easy Wildcat score when Drake Hurley scored on a 12-yard jet sweep to make it 55-21.

Howe took home the final score of the game on a 36-yard run by Williams with 2:08 left. The Bulldogs nearly scored on the final play of the game as Haley threw a deep bomb to Windon that went through his fingertips in the endzone.

Howe will travel to Pottsboro (6-0; 2-0) next Friday where they currently have a 9-game losing streak dating back to a 20-13 win back in 2010. Howe hasn’t won at Pottsboro since 1988.

In the early morning hours of Friday, September 27 the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a robbery of an individual located off of Lovers Leap Road in Van Alstyne, Texas. A female was followed home from work and robbed at gunpoint. This investigation has led to two people in custody. The Sheriff’s Office says there is no danger to the community. This is a very large spread out investigation involving multiple agencies and is still ongoing. The Sheriff’s Office cannot release any further information at this time due to the pending investigation.

If you have any questions please contact Sgt. Cheairs or Lt. Wester at 903-813-4200 ext 2235 or 903- 813-4200 ext 2216.

The Sheriff’s Office would like to remind everyone to be aware of your surroundings and call law enforcement if you see suspicious behavior.

Yesterday afternoon (Sept. 25, 2019), the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit received a call from a Confidential Informant, who stated they were at a local motel in Sherman, Texas. There were people in the room who were in possession of methamphetamine and stolen weapons. Investigators began conducting surveillance of a Maroon Ford F150 the suspects were in, and when it left, they continued surveillance. A traffic stop was conducted soon after.

Four juveniles and one adult male were identified inside the vehicle. Multiple weapons were observed, and each individual was removed from the vehicle and searched. Sherman PD was on scene to assist. A search of the vehicle was conducted and seven guns were located: along with 4.8 g of methamphetamine.

All parties were transported to the courthouse for interviews. During the interviews, parties confessed to a burglary of a habitation in Tom Bean that had not been reported yet. During the interviews Investigators were given information where 4 more stolen weapons were located and those were also recovered by the Investigators, all of this property was returned to the owner. Three additional weapons remain missing but Investigators are conducting more interviews to get those recovered. The investigation is still ongoing at this time. The adult is currently in Grayson County Jail, but their name cannot be released at this time. The juveniles were released to their guardians. When the investigation is complete all information on this case will be submitted to the Grayson County District Attorney’s Office to determine the appropriate charges.

• 

• 

•