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Nearly 20 years ago with Downtown Howe looking like a ghost town, M.E. Curtis convinced the city council to place a “hotel” in the historic business district which would leave the zoning as a commercial district.  The “hotel” then became “apartments” where tenants pay by the week.  Marie Curtis, representing her husband, told the Howe City Council on Tuesday night that because of the commercial zoning of “hotel”, it will cost them $500 more per year for insurance and requested to change the zoning to multi-family.  She also told the council that they plan to add additional units to the north side of the complex.

Councilwoman Debbie Lowery stated that she had phone calls from citizens that opposed making Howe’s commercial historic downtown district a multi-family zone.  Councilman Bill French said that he was concerned that changing the zoning to multi-family would affect what type of businesses could be in the downtown area.

“The downtown area does not make as much money now as it did when there was an upholstery shop that was paying taxes, a beauty shop that was paying taxes, and a hardware store that was paying taxes.” said Marie Curtis to the council.  “It looks good, but you don’t get as much revenue.”

With the recent upgrades and renovation of the buildings that housed the former beauty shop and hardware store, the taxable value of each building increased by over $30,000 each.  The renovation to the building that housed the upholstery shop increased the taxable value by nearly $30,000 according to the Grayson County Appraisal District.

The council unanimously denied the zoning change and the “hotel/apartments” will remain as is.  Any additions to the property will have to be approved by the city as a standard hotel.

(full story in Monday’s Howe Enterprise)

On Monday night, Howe’s Planning and Zoning board approved M.E. and Marie Curtis’ application to change Howe’s “hotel” from a commercial zone to a multi-family zone.  Marie Curtis told the council that her and her husband plan to add additional apartments to the newly renovated downtown area.

Notices were sent out to nearby owners to accept or protest the change of the zoning, of which two came back in favor and two came back in protest.

The decision is now up to the city council for final approval to accept or deny the zone change.  The public city council meeting is tonight at 6 pm at the Howe Community Center located at 700 W. Haning St.

The council, by keeping the with the commercial zoning would have the “hotel” remain in its current state but would keep the downtown commercial district in tact.  By re-zoning the property to multi-family would open the door for more additions and more multi-family units to be built in downtown in the future.

 

Constance “Connie” Marion Bowen McClure passed from her earthly home into God’s perfect eternity on January 16, 2016 at the age of 92.  She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Lt. Col. John Boyce McClure U.S. Army (retired), and parents, Florence Virginia Busby Bowen and Elmer Lewis Bowen. Connie is lovingly remembered by her children Anthony McClure, Carol Keller (Robert), Priscilla Barnes (Bill), Melissa Evans (Bill), ten grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren.

Mrs. McClure was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on May 11, 1923. Her family moved to Anderson, South Carolina when she was a child. She attended Anderson College while still in high school and after graduation, married and began her life as an Army wife.  Always the one for doing for others, she was the perfect wife, mother, grandmother great-grandmother and friend.  She cherished her many friends from around the world and those she saw day to day.  Time with family was special and she took interest in all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s activities and accomplishments.

Connie, formerly of Dallas, Howe and McKinney, worked as a secretary for many years at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas Independent School District and Pediatric Associates of Dallas.  Additionally she was involved in many service and social organizations including Newcomers’ Club of Dallas, Kiwanians, Military Officers Wives’ Club, XYZ, Red Hat and she was a lifetime member of PTA.  Connie loved to travel and the military took the family to many assignments throughout Europe and Japan as well as the United States.  Connie and John continued their love of travel in retirement visiting Greece, the Holy Lands, the Panama Canal, Spain, the Caribbean, as well as numerous adventures across the States.  Known for her energy, thoughtfulness, compassion and sweet Southern style, “Gam” will be missed by all that knew and loved her.

“All you need is love.  It has been true for me. I didn’t have beauty, fame, success or other things like that but I did have the love of family and friends that made me what I was and sustained me when things were rough. Please continue to apply that love to each other.  And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” (unknown)

Connie’s Celebration of Life service will be held at Restland Wildwood Chapel in Dallas on Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 3:00 pm with family visitation preceding the service and beginning at 2:00 pm.  If desired, memorials may be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association of Dallas, 3001 Knox Street, Suite 200, Dallas, TX 75205 or Grace Hospice, 730 Ave. F, Plano, TX  75074.

By Tom Watt for Sheriff of Grayson County

I hope this finds you enjoying a great start to 2016! It has definitely been an unusual week between Christmas and New Year’s Day in the race for Grayson County Sheriff. The big news is the resignation of David Russell from the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office due to, in his own words, a pending investigation.

As a 32-year law enforcement officer and retired Chief of Police, I know that effective law enforcement requires that the people trust those sworn to uphold the law and those sworn to uphold the law must live up to that trust. Integrity, transparency, wisdom and competence all play a part in establishing this trust. Secrecy, aborted investigations and veiled explanations destroy that trust. For example, when a high ranking official resigns pending an investigation, the public has an expectation to know what the complaint was, or at least what the complaint is about.

Early in my career as a law enforcement administrator I served as the Operations Commander at Sherman PD. My mentor, friend and supervisor, Chief Jerry Caylor, engrained in me the understanding that difficult situations arise in law enforcement all the time. The public will judge you not in regard to the difficult situation, but in how you handle the situation and whether it is handled openly and honestly. “It’s not when the bad thing happens, it’s how you respond when it does.” That has been proven to me many times throughout my career. The public wants and needs the chief law enforcement officer of the county to be a leader who can deal with stressful situations in an open, honest and transparent manner. After all, as public servants, we are doing the people’s business and the people have the right to know.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge the major contributions Sheriff Keith Gary has made to our county. He has served the citizens with pride, dignity and respect. Unfortunately, his leadership team has not. His leadership team failed to fulfill their duties to the citizens of Grayson County. His leadership team has simply not lived up to his high standards. We have all witnessed their failures in the recent past. Whether it be the theft of confiscated weapons by the supervisor responsible for overseeing them, the falsified training reports made to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, or the undisclosed investigation aborted by the recent resignation of Mr. Russell, it’s time for a reassessment of the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office leadership team. I will always respect Sheriff Gary, but we must recognize the shortcomings of his current administration for the good of the people of Grayson County.

I will continue to focus on my proven track record of integrity, experience and professionalism throughout the remainder of this campaign. I promise you I will never forget that my job as Sheriff is to protect and serve the people of Grayson County openly and honestly. If you would like to follow my campaign, please ‘like’ my page. Thank you for your support. I appreciate you.

Political Advertisement Paid for by Tom Watt, Treasurer Robert Brady, Denison, Texas. Tom Watt subscribes to the Code of Fair Campaign Practices. Privacy Policy Tom Watt for Sheriff P.O. Box 104 Sherman, TX 75091

The new Walmart Neighborhood Market in Sherman will open to the community Wednesday, Jan. 13, 7:30 a.m., bringing a broad assortment of fresh, affordable groceries at Walmart’s everyday low prices. Customers will also enjoy the convenience of on-site services such as a full pharmacy and fuel station and a free store pickup service providing an easy way to shop millions of products on Walmart.com. The new store will employ up to 95 full- and part-time associates.

“We are very excited to open a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the Sherman community,” said store manager George Wilthers. “Our associates are looking forward to serving our customers and the opportunity to provide a clean, fast and friendly shopping experience.”

The new store is located at located at 2210 N. FM 1417 and will create approximately 95 jobs for full- and part-time positions within the store. Applicants interested in careers at Walmart can apply at a store’s hiring kiosk or online at Walmartcareers.com. Store manager, GeorgeWilthers began his Walmart career in 1988 as an hourly associate at a store in Denison.

At Walmart, more than 75 percent of store management teams started as hourly associates. In 2014, 160,000 associates were promoted, and 40 percent of those promotions went to associates within the first year of their employment. Earlier this year Walmart announced it would be investing more than $1B in higher wages and training and other enhancements for its associates.

The store offers fresh produce and meat, pantry staples and a full line of groceries from leading brands.  In addition to organics and nutritious food choices, customers will also find a Grab-and-Go section with rotisserie chicken, standard deli sides, and bakery items including custom cakes.

The Neighborhood Market includes a pharmacy with a full range of products, immunizations and services and Walmart pharmacists ready to assist customers with product and prescription questions. Sherman residents can easily transfer prescriptions and order refills on the go with the Walmart mobile app. A drive thru pharmacy window makes prescription drop off and pick up quick and easy.

The store is approximately 41,000 square feet and offers a wide assortment of products to meet the needs of Sherman residents. Customers will find health and beauty aids, pet products and cleaning supplies. Shopping is more convenient than ever as Sherman residents can shop seven million items on Walmart.com, many of which can be shipped for free to any Walmart store through Walmart Pickup.

The 24-7 operation has a Facebook page located at www.facebook.com/walmart3521

 

On January 11, 2016, Kristan Renee Mayfield, 20, of Whitewright, pled guilty to one count of Manslaughter in the 59^th District Court.    Mayfield entered her plea without reaching agreement with the District Attorney’s office regarding her sentence.   Mayfield entered an “open” plea, choosing to allow District Judge Rayburn Nall to set her punishment in the case.   A sentencing hearing has been set for February 25, following the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the Grayson County Probation Office.   Manslaughter is a second degree felony, punishable by 2-20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

On September 23, 2014 at approximately 3:30 pm, the Whitewright Police Department responded to an apartment in the 1000 block of Hwy 160 in Whitewright to the report of an unresponsive infant child.   Upon arrival, Whitewright Lt. Beau Heistand observed that a 3-month-old child, Lillian Rose Lee, was deceased.    Heistand determined that the child had been in the care of her parents, Mayfield, then 18, and Charles Lee, 23.   The parents reported that they had found the child unresponsive in the crib after the parents had fallen asleep that day.   Heistand discovered that a plastic trash bag had been placed in the crib, and used to cover the mattress pad.

The body of the child was sent to the Southwester Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas, where the medical examiner determined that, while the cause of death was consistent with asphyxia, an official cause and manner of death could not be determined.

“We believe the baby died by asphyxiating because of the plastic bag left in the crib,” said Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown.   “Leaving a 3-month-old unattended with a plastic bag in a crib is incredibly reckless, and that is what manslaughter is – recklessly causing someone’s death.”

Following Mayfield’s guilty plea, Judge Rayburn Nall revoked her bond and she was taken into custody, where she will remain until she is sentence.   Mayfield had previously posted bond on the charges and had remained out of jail.  Criminal charges remain pending against Charles Lee, the child’s father, who has remained incarcerated in the Grayson County jail.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Matt Johnson.  Sherman attorney Ron Uselton represents Mayfield.

David Russell, who is running for Sheriff of Grayson County resigned his duties last week from the Sheriff’s Department.  Today, he made the following statement to his Facebook page about his decision to resign.

“I hope that all had a blessed Christmas and joyous New Year celebration. This holiday season is the time of year for us to step back reflect on the blessings received, as well as feel the excitement and eagerness for the new year to come. Much has happened for my campaign during this holiday season, and now that the Christmas lights and the eight tiny reindeer are back in the attic, I am focusing 100% of my time towards my campaign for the critical position of Grayson County Sheriff. As many of you know, on December 30th I resigned from the Grayson County Sheriffs Department, an institution that I hold in high esteem. While I was planning on taking a leave of absence at the turn of the new year to focus on my campaign, this plan was put on a fast track due to a heated disagreement over personal matters between myself and a close colleague of mine. It is important to note that disagreement took place while we both were taking vacation time and not performing any duty as employees of Grayson County. I was concerned this incident, although short and quickly rectified, would cast the Grayson County Sheriffs department in a negative light if there was ever to be an investigation into the matter. I made the decision to spare the department I have dedicated almost 13 years of my life to any negative light, especially due to a matter that was between two close friends and colleagues that had been resolved as quickly as it occurred. While looking at this incident by itself, it may seem rash behavior to just pack up and resign. It is essential to note that other factors preceded this incident such as a fellow deputy and supporter of another candidate for Sheriff shadowing my every move with their camera waiting to try to catch me in the act of campaigning while on duty, unsuccessfully I might add. The actions of this deputy helped kick my decision to resign into overdrive. I felt strongly that if my presence in the department as a candidate for the position of Sheriff was going to cause an ounce of distraction from the duty of the department to protect the people of Grayson County, then it was my obligation to step aside for the time being. I cannot stress how difficult of a decision this was to make, but I am convicted that it was the right thing to do for the people of Grayson County. As a lifelong servant of the public, I have always held the welfare of the people I have sworn to protect above my own. It is what I have always done, and as Sheriff of Grayson County this is what I will continue to do. I sincerely look forward to your continued support as we the people enjoy the freedom to exercise our rights to elect the best individuals to public position. May God bless Texas!”

(From Monday’s Howe Enterprise)

Okay, so Howe isn’t quite the dramatic Charles Dickens story of London and Paris, however, he might even be impressed with the differences of this one city from just a few years ago to the one in which we find of current state. Two years ago this month, we had the worst football facilities, a defunct downtown commercial district and one of our most historic landmarks in complete disarray.

Before we can get to 2013, we have to go back in time to 2007. That’s when some mismanagement of city funds by prior city leaders coupled with the ramifications of expected growth of the mid-2000’s housing boom that soon followed by the housing crisis strapped Howe with an enormous water and budget crisis. Tough decisions had to be made by new Mayor Jeff Stanley and new City Administrator Joe Shephard. They weren’t faced with righting the ship, they were faced with keeping it above water. The move to raise water bills was something that the city was not interested in doing, but had to do in order to fix the financial atrocity.

Those moves led Howe to make it through those desperate times during the depths of the economic cesspool that the country found itself in. It hit Howe at the absolute worst time. Had the housing crisis not happened, Summit Hill would have over 120 homes already on the ground and that is just phase one of five that will expand to the south of the current property. But the crisis did happen and houses were not being built in Howe and Summit Hill began to look like a leftover Hollywood movie set that everyone forgot about.

But lets fast forward to 2013 because it seems like so much has changed with our city since then. In April, My Estrella Mexican Restaurant opened under new ownership in Downtown Howe. The restaurant left six downtown units vacant. Howe landed Salvage Junky in September to go along with M&M’s Hardware, Designer Cuts and Clinton Upholsery. That, my friends, were the only downtown businesses. Before My Estrella, seven of the nine downtown units were vacant. About the time My Estrella settled in, Howe ISD was in the process of hiring a young energetic athletic director/head football coach/salesman. I included salesman in that because it may be his best professional feature and that is saying a lot based upon his recent accomplishments in his other official titles. The man I’m referring to is Zack Hudson. The first glimpse of the new coach was seen in a video compiled by the H-Association (athletic alumni) where he busts through the doors and signals a new era has begun. Yes, a new football era began, but also the ability of Hudson to talk the Howe ISD Board of Trustees and Superintendent Kevin Wilson to scrap a five year plan to renovate the athletic facilities and do it in one year was not only impressive, but on a different planet from other athletic directors who had been in Howe over the past 21 years prior to Hudson. In January of 2014, a plan was finalized to raze the old rugged, decrepit eyesore of a field house at Bulldog Stadium in preparation of a new field house to take its place. But wait, there’s more. Not only will it be just another building thrown up in its place, it will be an exact matching duplicate of the extension of the old field house that was erected in 1989 under then athletic director Jim Fryar. The plan was to not only replace a field house with a usable structure, but to do it with an aesthetic uniformed appeal that is not common for this city that has been known to do everything the cheapest way possible, regardless of appearance. In March, the old field house came down with a giant slug from Coach Steve Simmons with help from machinery.

That same month, March of 2014, saw a city regain its hometown news for the first time since 1997. The Howe Enterprise changed to more of a regional publication and changed the name to The Texoma Enterprise, which evenually stopped print publication in 2010 to go strictly online. The popularity from Howe citizens never regained the steam it once had from the 1960s through the mid-1990s. Without the local coverage dedicated to Howe and only Howe, things began to get lost and eventually the city’s news information primarily came from an arrow sign at the four-way stop in front of the bank.

With an agreement in place for Monte Walker to purchase The Howe Enterprise from Dale and Lana Rideout, it once again gave Howe their own news and their own opportunities for their own businesses to advertise to their own people. During those years of not having a dedicated news source for our school and our community, it hurt local commerce and restaurants and businesses would come and go and Howe got the reputation in the 2000s of being a great place to kill a business. But just as the old field house was knocked to it’s knees, two other businesses opened in downtown. Abby’s Restaurant and Don’s Smokehouse opened in April of 2014 to leave only three downtown units needing a tenant.

Meanwhile, the field house took shape over the summer along with a new scoreboard and a new press box replaced the old and outdated 1981 originally placed structure just in time for the season’s start. As a matter of fact, the entire athletic facility at Bulldog Stadium was completely renovated with new gravel parking and construction on a brand new softball field.

The school was doing its job to recreate a new atmosphere and eliminated one of the three major complaints from citizens. The athletic facility was now something to be proud of. And it would be impossible to imagine that happening without the key hiring of Hudson and the leadership of Superintendent Kevin Wilson.

Speaking of Hudson and Howe ISD, they hired an assistant football coach by the name of Dale West, who installed a throwback offense that propelled them to the area championship for the first time in 24 years. Offensive team and individual records were broken and the football program which had been, as a whole, mediocre at best for the past 15 years started getting attention from their city. A good team with good facilities was a far cry from 2013.

Before the season, the Bulldogs’ Victory Light, which was a tradition started in 1977, was taken down off of the old press box and hung downtown at the four-way stop on a building that had just been purchased. The light that serves as an inspiration and a community-wide apathy killer was now front-and-center for all to see.

M&M’s hardware closed shop in September of 2014 and construction began a few months later to house the Howe Development Alliance, which Walker had been hired to oversee. Walker recruited individuals to upstart the chamber of commerce and instituted a Howe mural downtown that stated “Shop Local.”

In 2015, Advantage Business Machines relocated from 200 S. Denny to the old Chisum building which left only two vacant units in downtown. The sale of the Stockton buildings from O.B. Powers to Georgia Caraway meant that at some point every downtown building would be occupied in 2015. This coming with seven of the nine open units and a ghost town just 17 months prior.

The long-time downtown merchant, Clinton Upholstery was moved out of downtown by the new owner but relocated and found a new home just down the street on Haning. Howe Mercantile opened for business in April of 2015, Salvage Junky relocated to 200 S. Denny which opened up space for Texas Home Emporium.

It was a year of change. It was a year of somewhat turbulence at times due to change, but when all was said and done, the city had taken care of part two of the equation. Downtown was no longer in shambles and every unit was full and open for business. No longer an eyesore, but it was something to be proud of and just as the new stadium facilities sparked winning ways, it also happened in downtown. The city’s investment in their economic development plan paid off as 2015 was the largest increase in sales tax revenue in Howe history.  The $308,000 in revenue was the most Howe has ever seen and the 12.44 percent increase has Howe ranked 256 of over 1152 cities in Texas in that category and had by far the biggest jump of any city along the US 75 corridor from Denison to Dallas.

Bulldog Stadium facilities had been completed thanks to Howe ISD. Downtown Howe had been completed thanks to the City of Howe. And the third issue and complaint of the citizens was the old First Christian Church. And this task would be monumental because there would be no involvement from the city or the school. It was left up to the community. But with the improvements to the other areas and the victory light shining bright on 10 of 12 tries lately, the citizens’ apathy meter, which was at an all-time high during the recession, were now willing to do something about it.

Great Days of Service kick-started the project and cleaned up brush around the perimeter. Jean Norman presented enough money from the defunct Howe Historical Society to fix the foundation on the building.

Roger Brown and Clyde Hepner painted the top of the building with their own time and materials. The Collins Family had left enough money to get the facade recovered with new siding. Georgia Caraway contributed new windows to replace the broken ones. Finally, a live auction and barbecue dinner was planned as a community-wide fundraiser for the old structure. This is where the transformation and a culmination of a city truly spoke loud and clear that something is different here. Something special has taken place here. The fundraiser brought in over $25,000 which included a $10,505 donation from another local group that cared about Howe. The church is no longer an eyesore and the community is responsible for that.

To make a great community, it takes a partnership. A school, a city, and the citizens. All three of those elements played huge roles in the last two years to knock out what probably was the top three complaints about our city in 2013.

Howe has gone from shanty town to victory town in two short years. The citizens, who once would rather complain about the situation rather volunteer for solution are now gathering in herds for the good of the community. The apathy meter in this little town on the hilltop is the lowest, one would presume, in at least 25 years.

“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.