Gainesville Daily Register
Published: December 31, 2008 11:38 am
Year end review
Staff report
The year 2008 marked some progress as Cooke County commissioners began preparations for courthouse renovations.
A Jan. 17 Register story pointed out that Virgil Hess — then Precinct 4 commissioner who also coordinated efforts to restore the exterior of the Cooke County Courthouse in recent years — announced that money for an interior renovation has been confirmed.
Reporter Andy Hogue wrote that Hess said $4,085,904 was confirmed by the Texas Historical Commission to complete the restoration of the 1910 building, the centerpiece of downtown Gainesville.
“This puts us up to complete the rest of the courthouse,” Hess said during the meeting.
He said the county was eligible for $6 million. The county will have to match 15 percent of the total cost of the project.
“But anytime we can get money back from the state, I’m for it,” he said.
It was also a year in which law-enforcement officers investigated several murders including the February homicide of graphic designer George Stephenson.
Police served a capital murder arrest warrant on a suspect in Dallas as an autopsy was being conducted on Stephenson's body in early January.
Stephenson, 69, was found in a North Dixon Street house belonging to a former Gainesville resident.
He had been missing for several days according to information from the Dallas Police Department.
Stephenson lived in Dallas’ Oak Lawn neighborhood. According to a friend, he was making repairs to a family home on North Dixon Street in Gainesville, where the body was found.
Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Dorthy Lewis ordered a capital murder warrant for suspect Robert Lester Canaga of Dallas, who was in the custody of the Dallas Police Department Jan. 8.
Judge Dorthy Lewis did not say how or if Canaga or Stephenson knew each other.
Dallas police say Stephenson knew Canaga, and the two men apparently traveled to Cooke County, where authorities in Gainesville discovered Stephenson's body after Dallas police asked that they check his residence there and were unable to find Stephenson.
Designer Lucy Haverkamp was shocked and saddened by the news of Stephenson's murder.
"My heart sank,” she said. “I just loved him. He will certainly be missed.”
Another Cooke County resident was also the victim of a homicide.
A Feb. 18 Register story noted that Patrick William Fleitman, 26, was found dead that Saturday afternoon lying in the front yard near his home at 1880 County Road 320 outside Era.
A passerby saw Fleitman’s body and notified the sheriff’s department.
Sheriff Mike Compton said when a deputy arrived at Fleitman’s rented house, it was obvious the victim was deceased.
The deputy called an investigator and Judge John Roane who ordered Fleitman’s body sent to a Dallas forsenic facility for autopsy.
“The autopsy determined that it was a homicide,” Compton noted.
The year also saw a change of leadership at the Gainesville Police Department when interim chief Steven Fleming took the oath of office in March.
Fleming had served as interim chief for nearly eight months when city manager Barry Sullivan named him as the new chief of police.
City Manager Barry Sullivan announced for the first time publicly that Fleming was hired during a workshop at a city council meeting.
The announcement met applause from Council members and surprise from Fleming, who was asked to show up in uniform but given no other clues.
Fleming is a veteran of GPD who has served the department for more than 17 years.
In a March 20 Register story, he said the chief's job was the culmination of a life-long dream of his.
“I know I can do a good job and give something back to the city,” Fleming said in a March 19 interview.
Fleming replaced Carl Dunlap, who retired Aug. 31, 2007. Dunlap spent 27 years with the police department.
“I’ve been impressed with the way he’s ran the department in the two months I’ve been here,” Sullivan of Fleming.
As to why it took seven and a half months to hire a police chief, Sullivan, who was hired by the City Council in December, said it was his duty to hire the police chief and wanted time to evaluate Fleming before looking for other candidates.
“I feel that he had to perform for me for three months, instead of 30 minutes or an hour during an interview,” Sullivan said. “So with that, I feel I could see his true work ethic.”
He said the police department would eliminate a captain position in an effort to streamline city services, reducing the number of captains to three, but with no employee losing his or her job.
Fleming, 39, said he started out at the GPD as his first job under Dunlap, and worked his way through the ranks. He can even remember the date of his hire — Feb. 4, 1991.
He was trained at the Arlington Police Academy and was mentored by Dunlap and several tenured officers over the years.
“He (Dunlap) gave me the job. He saw the potential in me,” he said.
He said he misses being on patrol and interacting with Gainesville residents. Though he was born in Kerrville and raised in Chillcothe, a small town between Vernon and Quannah, he said he considers Gainesville home.
The year was also one of political struggles, at least one surprise resignation and victories for some Cooke County candidates.
Some city and other elections throughout Cooke County were uncontested while the community college races and many others are opposed for the May 10 election.
For the North Central Texas Community College District board of regents, in place 1 incumbent Lynn Williams faced Ken Arterbury; in Place 3, Patsy Wilson and Mike Morrison faced off; and in Place 5 Karla Metzler and Stephen Harlow appeared on the ballot alongside each other.
David Flusche ran unopposed for Place 4.
Williams, who was finishing an unexpired term left by the death of Ken King in Place 1, and said he became impressed with the college and wishes to continue into a full term.
“I’ve really had a good time learning about the college,” he said. "My children went to college there and my grandchildren ... we’ve got a great opportunity there, and I’ve been impressed with the faculty and staff of the college. They’re doing some long-range planning and I think there’s some good things in store for the college.”
Arterbury said he noticed some instability on the board.
“I’m running because I think the board out here needs some more stability to it, and I think I can bring some assets to the table, especially with all the construction going on,” he said.
In Place 3, Wilson and Morrison were contending for Troy Idom’s current chair. Idom did not file for re-election.
Wilson, an alumna of the college, said she is “enjoying my second retirement” with NCTC, having served as the librarian for many years, and who came back for another year after she retired the first time.
“I’m running because I’m one of those people who would not have been able to get an education without Cooke County Junior College,” Wilson said, noting that she was a recipient of the Mary Josephine Cox Scholarship.
“A wise man once told me ‘Don’t forget where you came from,’” she continued.
In place 5, Stephen Harlow, who farms land about a mile south of the Cooke County Campus, faced Karla Metzler, a business owner and former president of the North Texas Medical Center Board of Directors.
Regent Dr. Milton Dickson did not file for re-election.
Kay Lunnon, Gainesville city secretary, said no opponents filed for City Council by the filing deadline. Candidates included: Ward 3, Charles Draper (i); Ward 5, Ray Nichols; and Ward 6, Vince Rippy (i).
Ward 5 Councilman Woodrow “Woody” Williams did not file for re-election.
Municipal Judge is also on the ballot and incumbent Chris Cypert ran unopposed.
Other local candidates filing for office included:
Gainesville ISD Board of Trustees — Place 1, Roy Brewer, Reynaldo Lizalde and Carl Mims; Place 2, Tommy Moore and Raymond Root; Place 3, Will Presson. Place 3 Trustee Zach Nichols did not refile.
The days before the April 8 election were tense as supporters of incumbent district attorney Cindy Stormer and challenger Janice Warder slugged it out in the press.
Warder, a former Dallas judge, finally won in a landslide victory against the incumbent in the runoff election for the office.
In the Republican Primary Runoff election, with all precincts reporting challenger Janice Warder gathered 2,058 votes compared to incumbent DA Cindy Stormer’s 981 — 68 percent to 32 percent.
“It’s been a long haul,” a jubilant Warder said around 8 p.m. Tuesday, “and now the healing process can begin.”
Warder and Stormer were the top two placers in a three-way race March 4. Though Warder was ahead, with neither candidate gaining a majority a runoff election was called.
A third candidate for DA, Chris Fostel, endorsed Warder recently.
Warder, in an interview the morning after the election said about half of those who voted in the primary in the DA’s race showed up for the runoff.
“The turnout in the runoff was, to me, extremely surprising,” she said. “To see about 50 percent of the people come back in a runoff, to me, is just to me unheard of ... it just shows the interest of the people in this county.”
Fully 5,786 people voted in the Cooke County Republican Primary on March 4 — 1,771 of which were early votes. Unofficial results show that 3,046 people voted in the Republican runoff, 1,180 of which were early runoff votes.
Stormer, in an e-mail statement, offered her well-wishes to Warder.
“I am very grateful to my supporters and volunteers for the hard work and time they have put into this campaign. And I am also very grateful to all the good citizens of Cooke County that came to the polls to vote in this one race. The District Attorney’s office will continue working hard to ensure the safety of the citizens of Cooke County for the remainder of my term,” Stormer said. “Obviously, I wish Janice Warder well and will assist her to ensure a smooth transition in January. She will have the benefit of what we accomplish during my term, that is, a marked decrease both in the number and age of pending cases and in the number of cases being referred by the police for prosecution.”
The Cooke County Democratic Party also hosted a runoff election, but for Texas Railroad Commissioner.
Those who voted in the Cooke County Democratic Party primary, which had at the top of the ballot presidential contenders Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton among others, were not allowed to voted in the Republican runoff.
Janice Warder took the office of District Attorney (D.A.) a little sooner than anticipated after former Cooke County District Attorney Cindy Stormer resigned in mid-October.
An Oct. 16 Register story stated that the resignation left many in the courthouse surprised.
Cooke County Judge Bill Freeman said he did not know if Stormer told anyone in the county she planned to leave office before her term expired December 31.
“I don’t know that she made contact with anybody local. I had no idea,” Freeman said.
“Her resignation went to the governor’s office yesterday and is effective immediately,” he added.
Freeman explained that the district attorney is a state office and all appointments to state office are enacted through the governor.
“If there is no appointment made, Janice Warder is the heir apparent. Once that ballot is canvassed and certified, she would become D.A. immediately because of the vacancy,” he said. “They need a district attorney as soon as possible,” he said. “And the state doesn’t like vacancies in the office.”
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Warder said she knew nothing about Stormer’s decision to leave office until an official with the D.A.’s office advised her to contact the Governor’s office, she said.
Warder won a landslide victory over Stormer in an April runoff election for Cooke County’s District Attorney after she and Stormer were the top two finishers in a three-way race March 4. Warder ended up with more votes than Stormer, but neither candidate managed to gain a majority.
“I have talked to the Governor’s office, and they asked that I fill out an application for an appointment,” Warder said.
Janice Warder was officially sworn in as the new Cooke County District Attorney, at 4:45 p.m. Oct. 23 by District Judge Janelle Haverkamp in the Cooke County Courthouse.
Warder replaced former District Attorney Cindy Stormer who resigned from office on Oct. 14.
Warder won in a landslide victory over Stormer during an April runoff election for Cooke County’s District Attorney.
Warder’s first act of duty after taking the oath, was to terminate First Assistant District Attorney Martin Peterson. However, Warder said the decision had already been made well in advance and that Peterson had been notified over a month ago.
The year will also be remembered as one during which a some veterans received some posthumous recognition.
A May 14 Register story detailed the workday in which a group of people, including some Cooke County Eagle Scouts placed bronze markers on 23 veteran’s graves in Fairview Cemetery.
Lindsay High School student and Eagle Scout candidate Benjamin Zimmerer headed up the bronze memorial project.
Many in the community thought that was a shame that dozens of bronze markers had been requested by families and were awaiting placement at the cemetery.e and paused for a moment at the grave.
Stopping at each marker, a group of young women recited the Pledge of Allegiance and read a short version of Taps.
"Day is done, gone the sun,
From the Hills from the lake, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest. God is nigh."
It also a year for plea bargains for some accused of serious crimes including murder.
Both Ginger and Wendel Cravens plead guilty to first degree murder in the death of 69-year-old Cooke County resident Charlie Skinner.
Cravens' formal plea bargain was set for May 20.
About 20 friends and family of Charlie Skinner were also in the courtroom to hear the terms of the plea bargain.
When Haverkamp asked assistant district attorney Martin Peterson if he was in contact with Skinner’s family prior to offering Cravens the plea bargain, some family members shook their heads.
Afterwards, several chose to make victim impact statements. They directed their remarks to Cravens who, at times, looked at the floor but otherwise remained impassive.
Several, including Skinner’s daughter, sobbed openly as she told Cravens how much she misses her father.
A motorist discovered Skinner’s body on a secluded section of County Road 133 in the early hours of June 9, 2007.
He died of a gunshot wound.
After a four-day, nearly-none stop investigation, Cooke County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Cravens and his wife Ginger charging them both with capital murder in connection with Skinner’s death.
Ginger Cravens also pleaded to first degree murder and received a lengthy prison term.
In other crime news, friends and family of Jesus "Chuy" Camacho received some good news in August when police chief Steven Fleming announced that the fugitive wanted for the June 2006 murder was in custody in Mexico. Raymundo Delgado Espino was detained in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
He was remanded to the custody of the Federal Investigative Agency and scheduled to be taken to Mexico City pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant issued in February of 2008.
The U.S. Marshal’s Service Wanted Task Force in Tucson, Arizona learned Espino’s location on Monday and coordinated efforts to apprehend him with the Sonora Mexico State Investigative Police and the Federal Investigative Agency.
Police say he will eventually be transported to Mexico City for extradition proceedings.
Espino was indicted for Camacho’s murder in April, 2007.
Camacho was shot once in the head as he drove his pickup truck down a Gainesville street.
His truck went off the street and crashed into Pecan Creek where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The year was also a time for festive annual events including the June 6, Texas Chapter of the Antique Airplane Association fly-in.
Attending the annual fly-in at Gainesville Municipal Airport is like visiting a museum in which the historic exhibits are alive with sound, color and motion.
Visitors can walk amongst hundreds of antique airplanes, take photos of people and aircraft and talk with pilots about flying.
The fly-in was set for the weekend of June 13 through June 15 at the airport
Members of the Texas Chapter of the Antique Airplane Association explained right away that a fly-in is not an aerial exhibition.
“This is not an airshow,” Terry Wallace of the Texas Chapter of the AAA said in a telephone interview from Canada Wednesday afternoon. “This is an event that is open to the public. It’s a chance to walk around and actually see the airplanes.”
July marked recognition for a Cooke County veteran forgotten by most until a small group of dedicated people including radio personality Tom Carson caught wind of the tale of the young Gainesville serviceman who was killed over 100 years ago and buried without a headstone.
Before the ceremony Saturday — which was also Flag Day — most who made their way to the cemetery said they wanted to see that Smith finally got recognition for giving his life for his country.
Smith is thought to be the first Cooke County war casualty of the 20th century.
He died in 1904 in the Philippines — apparently the victim of fundamentalist Muslim fighters.
Many had a hand in procuring the marker for Smith including local members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, businessman Tom Carson and other service organizations.
Carson said in a November interview he learned the story of Clyde Smith while doing some casual research for another newspaper story.
He was reading old copies of the Gainesville Hesparian —a weekly Gainesville newspaper published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
An item in the April 1, 1905 edition of the newspaper caught his attention. The small article stated that the body of Clyde Smith was to arrive in Gainesville for burial.
It went on to say Smith was reared in Gainesville and died during the Spanish American War.
“His record in his company was the highest and by his brave death he paid a tribute to his county which is in itself a eulogy,” a Hesperian reporter wrote.
Months of research followed during which Carson and others decided Smith deserved both a headstone and to have his story told.
He contacted the VFW who helped arrange for the stone to be purchased, engraved and placed in Fairview Cemetery.
During the dedication ceremony, Carson said he doesn’t know why Smith’s grave went unmarked, but he has an idea.
“At that time (when Smith was killed) a headstone was not set as he was fighting in a war few of us knew anything about,” Carson told the small crowd.
He said at first organizers planned to hold the event in Fairview’s pavilion. They changed their minds just before the ceremony.
“I think it’s fitting that we step out here where Clyde Smith has rested all those years,” he said.
A color guard from VFW Post No. 1922 posted the colors before the ceremony.
Cooke County 4-Her Jill Walker provided the invocation.
Ken McColly, incoming commander for VFW Post No. 1922 led the pledge of allegiance.
Eagle Scout candidate Benjamin Zimmerer spoke through fellow scout Jay Porter who read Zimmerer’s account about a project Zimmerer directed to get bronze markers placed on the graves of Cooke County veterans.
Zimmerer and some other local youths including a group of Cooke County 4-Hers and Boy Scouts, made the concrete blocks to which the bronze markers were attached.
The students then traveled to various cemeteries, placing the markers on veterans’ graves.
(The story of the veterans’ marker project was detailed in past Register stories.)
Other speakers and participants included Don Pettigrew — a Marine and founding member of the Medal of Honor Host City program.
Pettigrew said the event was about remembrance.
“It took us a long time to get here today...Now, everyone can tell others about the young serviceman who is buried in Gainesville... Today, we remember those who gave their last full measure in service to their country. It is the responsibility of every generation to remember those honored dead,” he said.
Gainesville may also be saying goodbye to an institiution.
For the first time in 22 years, the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce Rodeo will not be held at the Gainesville Riding Club's arena, reporter Natalia Jones wrote recently.
In fact, Chamber of Commerce President John Broyles said the rodeo may not take place at all.
Due to discrepancies over the lease contract with the Gainesville Riding Club, members of the chamber board finally agreed not to enter into a new contract with the organization.
Originally the chamber has paid $3,000 to lease the arena for the annual event. However this year, that lease was raised to $5,000. The riding club also wanted to sponsor a calf scramble each night of the rodeo and to have a scoop race.
"The difference in the lease agreement that we had last year is that last year's was simply a lease agreement," said Broyles. "The only stipulation was that we would take down the signs we put up for advertisers at the end of the rodeo, so we presented a contract to the riding club with that stipulation in there."
The problem the members of the board had with the newly proposed lease agreement, explained Broyles, was that they felt the riding club wanted to have control over the chamber's event.
"The chamber only wants to lease the riding club arena so we can hold the chamber rodeo," said Broyles. "We're not interested in entering into a partnership with the riding club and that's really what this all boils down to."
Broyles added that the chamber also paid for insurance and maintenance of the arena in order to lease for the rodeo.
However, Gainesville Riding Club 1st Lieutenant Jimbo Love said the reason why the club wanted to sponsor the calf scramble and scoop race, was to help the chamber rodeo become "bigger and better," not to control the event.
"We had been asked before to help them to improve their rodeo and attendance, so I told them most people who come to a rodeo don't know many people on the arena floor," said Love. "I've been going to rodeos all my life, and if there's one thing I know it's that if you get people down on the rodeo floor that local people can connect with, like with the calf scramble, then not only will the parents come to the rodeo but also the grandparents and people they know."
For both organizations, the event was a huge fundraiser. Last year, Broyles said the chamber made $30,000 from the rodeo, $10,000 of which came from advertising signs placed around the arena.
A major issue, and perhaps the final straw for the chamber board, was new restrictions the riding club tried to enforce on the signs this year, said Broyles.
In a revised agreement, the riding club stated that any signs the riding club had up were not to be covered by advertisers for the chamber rodeo. This was to include signs above the entrance gate and announcer stand, which Broyles said was prime real estate and generated 1/3 of the chamber's profit during last year's rodeo.
"They removed all of that from us," said Broyles. "It's just not a very wise decision for us to enter into something like that and I can't understand why they would want to deny us the ability to make money at our rodeo since it is our biggest fundraiser and by far their biggest source of income."
While Love said the lease agreement generally did produce a half of what the riding club makes throughout the year, the riding club felt it was unfair to lose its own advertising sales due to the chamber rodeo.
"We made the restrictions for the simple fact that we've had other people approach us to buy those signs," said Love. "But we never could get people to buy signs for us because they weren't allowed to be up during the chamber rodeo and that cost us some revenue. The chamber started leaving some of the signs up year round so we couldn't put up our own and that's not really fair for us since the chamber rodeo is only one month throughout the year."
Love admitted he was discouraged that the two groups could not "get on the same page" and is sad that there won't be a rodeo this year, but he said the riding club's future will not be affected by the falling out.
"Of course we didn't want to lose the revenue from the chamber rodeo, but we'll survive," said Love. "It's not going to be devastating for us. We have other events planned during the year and we've just been getting bigger and better throughout the year so we'll just fill that month in with some other event."
As for the future of the chamber rodeo, Broyles said he would still like to hold the event but fears there is not enough time to find a suitable location.
"I can't see us having a rodeo this year and it's very sad," said Broyles. It's a shame that after 22 years of community involvement from the businesses who have wanted to support the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, to the citizens who have helped out with the event each year, that we're getting denied this annual event that has become a fixture in the community."
It was a sad year for many in the county who lost loved ones including members of the commissioner's court who lost a colleague.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Virgil Hess, died July 29 from complications arising from his struggle with cancer and was replaced with his wife Judy.
She said she agreed to accept Freeman’s appointment, with a swearing-in scheduled to take place Aug. 25.
In an interview, Judy Hess said she believed she could effectively oversee road maintenance and other duties of Precinct No. 4, at least through the next election.
Hess served until the next uniform election date, which was Nov. 4. The executive committees of both political parties in Cooke County were expected to meet and appoint nominees. Independents, Freeman said, had to file by petition to appear on the ballot.
As in previous years, 2008 had its share of natural disasters.
The Sept. 15 edition of the Register contained a story about local residents helping Hurricane Ike refugees.
Restoring power to residents in hurricane-ravaged parts of Texas was the focus of an effort by 1,100 North Texas area Oncor employees.
“The 1,100 (workers) I’m with are deployed from East Texas down to Lufkin,” said Sabrina Taylor, a spokesman for Oncor. “We are restoring power on the Oncor system. As of 2 a.m. we still have around 58,000 without power on the Oncor system in the Eastern Region area. Here in Tyler, where I am, as of 2 a.m. we had a little over 7,000 without power.”
An ABC news Web site stated that at least 2 million customers were still without power and thousands are stranded in their homes or in shelters across the Gulf Coast.
Taylor said she spoke with officials including two US Congressman about the power restoration efforts which began several days before Ike hit the South Texas area.
“We had originally opened a storm restoration district in Paris, but as the storm blew through that wasn’t needed, so we moved the Texoma crews from the Paris area down to the Jacksonville area. We had all our personnel just standing by. We had conference calls four times a day,” she said.
The company believes only two local houses — one in Sherman and one in Gainesville — suffered power outages due to the storm.
“We believe the outages were wind-related. The wind seemed to come in bursts as the bands passed by,” she said.
Ike was apparently a widespread force. Taylor said her mother and brother in Tulsa, Okla. reported feeling the effects of Ike.
“They had tropical storm force winds in Tulsa,” she said. “When it hit the Texoma area it was still a tropical depression.”
Oncor workers were facing two challenges.
It isn’t easy to work with systems that are a little different than the ones the workers are accustomed to, Taylor said.
Trees are another factor.
“What we’re running into as far as East Texas is the trees. We’ve had a lot of broken trees, trees that have fallen on power lines. We’re having to do a lot of tree trimming before we can begin work,” she said.
Taylor said crews are expected to finish in the Tyler area by tonight.
“They’re expecting it could be another three days before we have all the power restored in the (East Texas area). Then we’ll find out if they’re going to move us to Jacksonville or Nacogdoches,” she said.
Taylor said she also wants to remind residents to phone their electric power provider when there is a power outage.
“Don’t assume that someone else will report the problem. The sooner it’s reported the faster we can fix it,” she said.
Galveston and Houston were not the only cities effected by the storm.
Ike cut a path into the country’s midsection taking at least 28 lives and flooding parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kansas, according to an ABC News Web site.
The hurricane hit Saturday morning with 100 mph winds and deposited 16 inches of rain on the Texas coast.
Gainesville minister Mark Dennison was in the Galveston area Thursday and Friday.
Denison said he is a storm chaser and as a former resident of the area, he was particularly concerned with how the residents would fair.
“I was there before the eye came in,” he noted.
One of his friends, Steve Long, a school counselor who lives within 25 miles of the coast told him schools were shut down indefinitely in the Galveston and South Houston area.
In a telephone interview that morning, Long said he and his older son stayed behind in the family’s house while his younger children and his wife evacuated to a relative’s home in Centerville.
“Right now we’re cleaning up the neighborhood, covering roofs with tarps and cutting limbs that might be twisted and fallen,” he said.
Long said the damage didn’t surprise him.
“I saw trees coming down on power lines, homes split in half by trees,” he said.
Long’s home was safe, he reported.
“No trees or debris fell on the house and the roof is in good shape, but some water was driven in,” he said.
Weird weather of another kind rolled into Cooke County in early March.
Reporter Pamela Robinson wrote that a huge snowfall on March 6 brought a panoramic wonderland of snow. Cooke County saw approximately eight inches of snow, an event that had not happened for a long time. People were out building snowmen and enjoying the winter wonderland.
The storm also brought slick roads and sent hundreds of cars off the roads.
Cooke County Emergency Management Coordinator Ray Fletcher said that several Callisburg school buses slid into ditches while trying to get the kids home early and out of the weather.
The Gainesville schools sent students home early and the Cooke County courthouse closed.
The storm was forecast to last much longer and drop more snow than it did. By late the next morning, things were pretty clear and driving conditions were not hazardous.
Crime was on the minds of many after a series of identity theft incidents were reported.
The incidents are unofficially linked to the use of debit cards at a Gainesville restaurant.
Cpt. Kevin Phillips said the police department continues to investigate the incidents as cases of identity theft.
The Nov. 3 election brought changes to Cooke County.
Writer Natalia Jones summarized the election in a Nov. 4 recap.
Although the majority of the nation chose Senator Barack Obama for president in last night’s election, it is clear that the residents of Cooke County favor Republican candidates, Jones wrote.
In total, 15, 116 Cooke County residents voted during the Nov. 4 General Election for 2008.
In the presidential election, John McCain received 78.9 percent of the vote, while Barack Obama received 20.3 percent.
For U.S. Representative, District 26, Congressman Michael Burgess, Republican incumbent, led with 73.9 percent while his opponent and Gainesville local, Ken Leach, Democrat, received 22.9 percent of the vote.
In response to his victory, Burgess said he was very pleased to win and excited about the voter turn out.
“It feels very good and I think our district was probably the second largest turnout in Texas which is pretty impressive,” said Burgess.
However, Burgess said he is fully aware that he has a lot of work ahead of him during the next term.
“This is not an easy time for our country,” said Burgess. “We left some unfinished business when we left town before the the election, like the Columbia Free Trade Agreement, that we now need to do something about and not let linger.”
Key issues Burgess said he intends to focus on are transportation, health programs (which will expire March of this year) and Medicare (which will expire December of next year).
Democratic nominee Ken Leach released the following statement after his loss Tuesday night.
“I lost but America won,” said Leach.
Republican incumbent Mike Compton won in a landslide victory for Cooke County Sheriff against Democratic candidate Ben Thurman, 72.5 percent to 27.5 percent. Compton has been the Cooke County Sheriff for the past 12 years.
In the closest race for Cooke County, Republican candidate Leon Klement won 56.5 percent to Democratic candidate Ed Johnson with 43.5 percent for County Commissioner, Precinct No. 4.
Republican candidate Dick Roth pulled another landslide victory for Precinct No. 4 Constable with 74.1 percent of the vote against Democratic candidate Royce Martin, with 25.9 percent.
Reporter Delania Trigg covered the Republican watch party.
She wrote that most of the guests who turned out for the event already knew what the outcome of the election would be.
As Barak Obama drew closer to becoming the 44th President of the United States, the mood grew somber among the Republicans who reserved the entire Hubcaps Wing and Sports Bar for their party.
Guests could watch the election results on several large televisions in the dining area and bar, but most seemed content to sit quietly and talk politics.
Some, like Cooke County resident Ruth Maddox, said they were just glad the election is finally over.
“This (campaign) has been going on for two years,” Maddox said. “I’m excited to be watching the election results.”
Emily McNamara — Maddox’s granddaughter — is a 20-something voter who said watch parties are a tradition in her family.
“Mom used to be an election judge, and she used to bring me to the parties afterward,” McNamara said.
She said her first lasting memory of an election night is the 1992 presidential election when Bill Clinton beat out incumbent President George Bush.
Besides her grandparents, Bill and Ruth Maddox, McNamara’s mother, Monica Lamb was also on hand.
“We represent three generations of voters,” Lamb noted.
Tricia Williford, an election official for Precinct 20, said she was impressed by the number of voters who cast ballots in the election she said evoked a lot of emotion.
“People cared very deeply about this election. I am so appreciative of the good voter response,” Williford said.
Republican Ken Arterbury said the outcome of the election troubles him.
“The United States is fixing to be in a heap of trouble,” he observed. “And the politicians have made promises they will not be able to keep. No matter who is president, we will need a strong person to lead both houses.”
Most of the guests at the watch party agreed that Republicans should be in a rebuilding mode.
“I think the Republicans are going to have to be very vigilant. I think the liberalism in the federal government is going to force the Republican party to return to Reagan’s conservative philosophies. We’ve got away from a lot of that. McCain really did not embody Reagan’s conservative philosophy and therefore, he did not garner enough enthusiasm from the Republican base,” said Gainesville City Councilman Vince Rippy.
Like others at last night’s event, Rippy said the election may be a proving ground for vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
“We’ll see whether Sarah Palin has a national political future or not,” he said.
Pat Peale of the Cooke County Republican Womens Organization missed last night’s watch party.
She was in Colorado as part of the “Mighty Strike Force” working for the John McCain effort.
In a telephone interview this morning, Peale said she is not pleased with the results of Tuesday’s presidential election.
“For us (the strike force) it is disappointing,” Peale said. “We’ve been in Colorado three weeks, sending out e-mails, talking to people and making phone calls — working wherever we were needed.”
She said she’s glad Leon Klement won a seat on the Cooke County Commissioner’s Court, but concerned about her party.
“The Republican party is strong here in Cooke County. Now we have to rebuild at the state and national levels,” she said.
She said the job won’t be easy.
“We have our work cut out for us. We lost all of Dallas County and Tarrant County,” she said.
She also said she’s happy Senator John Cornyn and Congressman Michael Burgess retained their seats in the Senate and House respectively.
Peale said the party is ready to adapt to whatever the future brings.
“We’ve rebuilt before and learned from our mistakes. We’ll come back to fight another day,” she said.
The watch party wasn’t all melancholy.
Hubcabs employees helped guests get into the patriotic spirit by decorating the bar and dining areas with flags and colorful balloons.
Employees Christina Odom, Charity Cavitt and Kim Kelley wrapped their boss, Tina Ewing’s, white Chevy Trailblazer in red, white and blue crepe paper and painted election slogans on the windshields.
“We’re just having fun during the election,” Cavitt said.
It was a tough year for businesses including some local retailers such as the Gainesville Factory Shops.
The Gainesville Outlet Mall was purchased on Oct. 6 by Viewpoint Bank for $5 million during an auction on the Cooke County Courthouse steps.
A foreclosure sale, the bank was met by no opposing bids. Viewpoint Bank was the lender to the former company, Canyon Creek Development located in Oregon, who owned the mall.
A few days after the sale, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counselor for Viewpoint Bank, Lennie Nicholson, said the bank intends to keep the property until it can find an appropriate buyer.
"We're looking for somebody who is well known in the retail and marketing industry to buy the property," said Nicholson, "but folks in the area shouldn't see any difference in the day-to-day operations of the mall."
Until then, Nicholson said the property will be managed by a Plano-based retail management company.
"We've got a pretty good relationship with a well-known retail management company in town and they are going to help us with the management and marketing of it," said Nicholson.
The Gainesville Daily Register could not reach Nicholson because he is currently out of town, but Gainesville Outlet Mall General Manager Michele Shuflin did confirm that the bank still owns the mall.
Although the future of the outlet mall is still unclear, Mayor Glenn Loch (as previously reported) said he is trying to remain optimistic in the future of the mall and hopes Viewpoint Bank has someone in mind who has an interest in buying the property.
"It's very important to the city of Gainesville," said Loch. "Not only does it provide quite a bit of sales tax for our city, but it brings people to the area. It's a good draw for us and I don't want to see it shut down."
Finally, Gainesville High School students recently ended their first semester at the district’s new facility.
“My number one thing is the new high school,” Superintendent Bill Gravitt said in an August interview. “We will be able to do some things here that we haven’t been able to do in the past.”
He said he is thrilled that students will be able to hone their production skills in the facility’s new television and radio studio and excel in both academic and occupational training courses.
Reporters Pamela Robinson, Natalia Jones and Delania Trigg contributed to this report.