Category: Howe News Bulletin

One hundred years ago, the Howe High School Class of 1919 had six graduating seniors including one senior boy. Paul Patterson Shelley, son of Dr. J.L. Shelley served as the editor-in-chief of the yearbook which contained his autobiography where he describes his school days in Howe and the scenes of Ol’ Howe High a century ago.

In next week’s edition of the Howe Enterprise, we will compare and contrast the Howe High School Class of 1919 and the Howe High School Class of 2019. We’ll tell the story about the 1918-19 Howe football team, girls basketball team, and a heated junior-senior rivalry. We’ll also let you know “the rest of the story” about Paul Patterson Shelley and what he made of his life after HHS graduation 100 years ago.

The autobiography of Paul Patterson Shelley – from The Argus, 1919.

“On a certain cool October morning in ’76, there was a great deal of noise and confusion in the little house across the street, for a seven and one-half baby boy had been born to the young doctor and his wife.

But I don’t mean in the year 1876 – I am not so old as all that – but in the picturesque little village of Seventy-Six Falls in the Blue Grass region of old Kentucky.

The noise, they say, was caused by myself while the confusion was caused by the happy parents and relations, trying to find things with which to amuse me.

During the first few years of my life, nothing very interesting happened except the getting of a fine set of teeth of which in obtaining I had showed the family I possessed a fine and remarkable pair of lungs.

The first memorable event of my life was moving to Texas. The second my beginning school while at the age of seven. I left the realm of home to traverse the realm of unknown.

School life at first entertained me but soon I grew tired and longed for the time to be when I could sleep until after seven and play when it suited my fancy. But alas for me, this could not be, for I had entered a land from which I could not turn back – the land of life’s responsibilities.

At the age of twelve there came into my life the one girl (so I thought then), and I longed for the time to come when I could throw away school books and become a “cowboy” or a “soldier of fortune” and perform such deeds of chivalry that the ancient knights of Queen Elizabeth would blush for shame or perform such fetes of “Bronco busting” that Bill Cody would have knelt before me.

But none of these fanciful dreams came true, so I had to make the best of school life studying the hard geography and the multiplication table; and what could have done more to dampen the spirits of a would be hero.

But the great ambition, aim of my life, was to be a surgeon; and of course with much money and many friends. But my father says at the present rate of my progress I am more destined for the section gang and no money than for a medical career.

When I was thirteen and a freshie my ambition was to graduate with the highest possible honors. But after an encounter with my Latin grammar and partaking of a little Algebra all of the starch was taken out of me and left my ambition – to merely graduate. At last, however, I passed my Cerebus; freshman finals and awoke to find myself a sophomore. Three years yet to help in the hazing of all freshman; also to help edit the school magazine; which was a real honor for a sophomore. I soon found that thing that a sophomore was intended for was to play servants to the seniors. On account of my red hair, I had to perform many tasks. But even sophomore year finally crept into the past and at last, I had only one year to finish before I obtained the long wished, the time when I could be a senior and hold my head with an air of dignity and order the freshies around as I had once been ordered.

September 1918 a senior in the Howe High School. The long goal is at least reached only to find myself on a dizzy height where I was at a loss what to do. Also to find that my aim is not yet completed for there are nine months yet. Nine months of hard work and tiresome waiting between it and me. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth the struggle, the energy spent in obtaining it. Why not voice the old sentiment., “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die.”

To be continued in Monday’s publication…

The windows in the front door of Quick Check in Howe were broken at approximately 2:15 am Thursday morning where intruders penetrated the business and walked away with approximately 50-55 cartons of cigarettes according to the store manager.

The individuals were captured on security footage along with their vehicle that traveled northbound on N. Collins Freeway after the break-in.

The store, at 411 W. Haning Street, was closed at the time of the burglary and no one was injured or threatened.

The Howe Police Department were called to the scene early Thursday morning to begin an investigation.

HOWE, Texas – A Tuesday night call to 9-1-1 landed two Howe men in the Grayson County Jail on a variety of felony charges.

At approximately 9:30 p.m., a concerned citizen called 9-1-1 to report two men in a vehicle outside an apartment building yelling at residents and propositioning women. Officer Oscar Martinez responded and in the course of his investigation, he determined both men were intoxicated and he found open bottles of beer and a baggie of cocaine in their car.

Fredis Arano-Funez, 26, admitted the cocaine was his and he was arrested on that charge. Officer Martinez was speaking with the other man, 21-year-old Suyen Funes-Marquez, who became argumentative and verbally threatened to kill Officer Martinez. 

Funez-Marquez was arrested for Retaliation, an offense that occurs when an individual threatens to harm someone by an unlawful act in retaliation for or on account of the service or status of another as a public servant.

Both men were booked into the Grayson County Jail.

HOWE, Texas – The Howe Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a convicted sex offender who is wanted for Failure to Comply with Registration Requirements.

Michael Wade Lively, 33, a convicted sex offender, was living in Howe and did not register with the police department as required by law. 

Lively was convicted in Oklahoma in 2008 for Lewd Molestation of a Person under 16 years of Age and labeled a lifetime registrant, and he has been convicted twice since then in Oklahoma for not registering with local law enforcement. According to Oklahoma state officials, Lively has not registered with authorities since January 2017.  He was last seen Friday, May 3, in Sherman.

Lively is a white male who stands 6’ tall and weighs approximately 180 pounds. He has thinning brown hair and blue eyes, and usually has a beard or goatee. He has several tattoos: the name ‘Georgina Fuersen’ on his chest, a heart on his left upper arm, a dragon on his right shoulder, a cheetah on his right forearm, flames on both forearms, and the words ‘hard hands’ on either his hands or wrists. Lively has ties to Denison and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

There is no reason to believe Lively acted inappropriately with any Howe residents.

Anyone with information on Lively’s whereabouts is asked to call Howe Police Sergeant Keith Milks at 903-532-9971, or if they see Lively, call 9-1-1 immediately.

On Sunday, May 5 at 4:48 pm, Howe Police Officer Brandon Ozuna stopped a vehicle on northbound U.S. Highway 75 at Haning Street for a traffic violation and found that the 25-year-old driver, of Dallas, was wanted on outstanding Dallas County warrants for Theft of Property > $2,500 and Evading Arrest with a Motor Vehicle.  Ozuna arrested him and then spoke with the other occupants of the vehicle.  While doing so, Ozuna smelled the odor of Marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.   A subsequent search revealed a useable amount of Marijuana.  The 24-year-old passenger, also of Dallas, was arrested for Possession of Marijuana < 2 Oz.

Expectations for Howe’s Annual Founders Day Festival have never been higher. The event that starts at 2 pm on Saturday will see a record number of vendors that will be set up all over the two-block area of downtown stretching from O’Connell Street to Davis Street. Vendors will not only be on the sides of Haning Street downtown, but also in the middle of the street. All in all, nearly 80 spaces will be filled with those selling all kinds of items from jewelry to funnel cakes. Two bands will provide entertainment during the event’s entirety and kids will have bounce houses, and a kid train to keep them occupied.

This year’s event will feature a Summit Gardens BBQ dinner (to be held at FBC Howe), silent auction (held at Summit Gardens), and live auction (at the EDC/Chamber office). Also, there will be a 6U Ferguson Field Founders Day Classic game between two Howe teams. Former Howe Youth Baseball Commissioner Ray Bledsoe will be recognized before the game for his contributions to Ferguson Field 48 years ago.

But for the fifth consecutive year, the Founders Day Festival will actually kick off tonight with the Howe Area Chamber of Commerce’s Howe Hall of Honor and Awards Celebration at 6:30 pm. Donna Jarma, Bobby Sollis, Marion Allison, and Lowell Thompson will be enshrined into the illustrious Hall of Honor just after the chamber announces awards such as the Norma J. Citizen of the Year, the Business of the Year, and the Volunteer Organization of the Year. That event will take place in the Howe EDC/Chamber office at 101 E. Haning St. and tickets are $15.

On Saturday night at 7:30 in the same location, the Summit Gardens organization will hold their final live auction with Clint Catching serving as auctioneer. The chamber wants to thank all of the sponsors that are helping make this a great looking Founders Day Weekend. Torque Plumbing and The Girls Next Door have sponsored the main stage area where the bands will perform. Baker A/C & Heating is the sponsor for the 65′ inflatable obstacle for the kids. Sandy Setliff of JP & Associates is the sponsor for the bounce house for the kids. Star Auto Body of Howe is the sponsor for the Interurban Kid Train that will run the same route as in year’s past. Advantage Business Machines has once again sponsored the lawnmower race, but a location for the race has yet to be determined due to large amounts of vendors.

The Founders Day Festival sprung its roots from the 1986 Texas Sesquicentennial celebration. First held on May 10, 1986, and organized by the Sesquicentennial Committee headed by Jim Utley, the celebration featured a parade, horseshoe tournament, a one-mile run, a 5-mile run, and egg toss, a tobacco spitting contest, bubble gum blowing contest, cow chip throwing contest, and a beard contest.

Since then, Howe’s Founders Day has been a staple each May, but there were a few years that it was canceled due to either weather or to not enough interest. But since 2014, the event has grown each year and has been the largest attended to date. This weekend the streets will be full of people.

Schedule of events:

Friday at 6:30 pm – Howe Hall of Honor and Chamber Awards

12 pm – Haning Street is blocked off and vendors begin set up

2 pm – Founders Day Festival Begins. Bent Creek begins playing on the to Torque Plumbing and The Girls Next Door Stage.

Summit Gardens silent auction begins at Summit Gardens

Star Auto Body Interurban Kid Train begins route

3 pm – 6U Howe Baseball players parade through downtown from Ferguson Field and back.

3:30 pm – Festivities begin at Ferguson Field recognizing former Howe Youth Baseball Commissioner and former Mayor Ray Bledoe. Hall of Honor inductee Donna Jarma will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

4 pm – Founders Day Ferguson Classic begins.

4:30 pm – Limbo contest in front of the Torque Plumbing and The Girls Next Door Stage.

5:20 pm – Lawnmower race to begin at Ferguson Field (sponsored by Advantage Business Machines).

5:30 pm – Summit Gardens (Save the Church) BBQ dinner begins at FBC Howe’s Fellowship Hall.

5:30 pm – Montecito begins playing on the Torque Plumbing and The Girls Next Door Stage.

7:00 pm – The Star Auto Body Interurban Kid Train shuts down.

7:00 pm – Summit Gardens silent auction ends

7:30 pm – Summit Gardens live auction begins at the EDC/Chamber office downtown.