Iola Meet the Candidates

IOLA- Grimes County residents had a chance to hear from candidates at the Iola Community Center, Thursday, Feb. 13. The candidates included those from two contested races, for the office of Grimes County Sheriff and Grimes County Commissioner Pct. 1.

Grimes County Sheriff

Both candidates for Grimes County Sheriff spoke about experience. Current Sheriff, Don Sowell, stated he is currently in his fifth term as Sheriff and has served Grimes County for a little over 21 years. He has been in law enforcement for 50 years beginning his career in the Air Force serving four years as a security police officer. Sowell served Harris County before being appointed by Grimes County Commissioner’s Court to serve as sheriff in September 1998.

Sowell said he enjoys history and is proud that the position of Sheriff and Constable are not appointed positions but are positions elected by the voters. As Sheriff, he said the duties are many and varied and consist of being the keeper of the jail, protector of the courthouse and conservator of the peace.

One of the accomplishments Sowell said he is most proud of is passing the yearly jail inspection every year during his 21-year tenure in office. He said if a jail doesn’t pass their inspection then they can potentially be shut down.

Sowell expressed that he would like to see better treatment for mental health patients. “The bad thing about our jail like many across the state, it’s a dumping ground for mental health patients unfortunately,” said Sowell. “Our size jail, we don’t have the luxury of a doctor on staff like some places do. We have a nurse, we have contact with MHMR and we try to get the inmates out by working with district judges, district attorneys, county attorneys and others to make sure they go to a facility if they need to.” Sowell serves on the MHMR board.

Sowell was asked how he is preparing the deputies to deal with the rising mental health issues within the community before the inmates arrive at the jail. “It’s mandated that police officers take mental health training and in-service training is paramount,” said Sowell. Sowell stated he has been serving on the MHMR board for the Brazos Valley since 2001 and he is a very strong proponent for mental health issues. “Like I said of the jail, I don’t like it being a dumping ground for people who are mentally challenged. If they are mentally challenged, they need to be somewhere else.”

Sowell said mental health crisis intervention is a constant goal of his. “You’re going to make mistakes,” explained Sowell. “You’re dealing with human beings.” Sowell said it’s learning to ask the right questions. He is ashamed to say it, but there have been two inmates that hung themselves at the jail during his tenure but neither showed signs of mental illness. “It weighs on the Sheriff and jailers to have that happen because what did you miss.” Sowell said many people know someone or of someone that has committed suicide. “Many times, you ask yourself what red flag I missed; especially if it’s a close friend of yours or a family member,” said Sowell.

Travis Higginbotham, candidate for sheriff, cited his experience as the reason he would make a good sheriff. Higginbotham stated he has 23 years of experience in law enforcement and has been involved in many cases during his tenure with Grimes County.

In 1994 Higginbotham began working for Grimes County under then Sheriff Bill Foster. He served in the jail division before being promoted to patrol deputy in 1997. He said at that time there was usually only one deputy patrolling the county.

While working under Sowell, Higginbotham was promoted to Chief Investigator in 1998. In 2000 Sowell promoted Higginbotham again, this time to Captain of Operations in which he oversaw the jail, dispatch, patrol and the investigation division.

Higginbotham was asked if he was running for sheriff because he disliked Sowell or because he thought he could do a better job? “I want everybody to know that I love Don Sowell,” replied Higginbotham. “This isn’t anything against Sowell. Honestly, I thought Don was going to retire after this term, is what I was told. That is why I started the process of running but I do not dislike Don.”

Higginbotham said they both have the training but it’s time for change. “I think that he’s [Sowell] had it for 21-years and he’s already gotten accustomed to it. We’ve all had our training.” Higginbotham said he thinks that new ideas and bringing in stronger patrol deputies to patrol our community is needed.

Higginbotham said there is an influx of drugs within the county and he wants to help utilize the resources of additional agencies to combat the drugs in the county. When asked what drugs are in the county, Higginbotham said during his employment with Grimes County crack-cocaine and meth were two of the dangerous drugs that were most prolific within the county.

Commissioner Pct. 1

This is another contested race in Grimes County that is of interest to Iola residents since they are included in the area this commissioner will serve.

Current commissioner Chad Mallett has been a lifelong resident of Iola and is an Iola High School graduate. Mallet graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M.

Mallett is a licensed professional engineer with extensive experience in designing subdivisions, roads and drainage systems. During his term Mallett said he has helped the county accomplish many things including setting up a salary structure, establishing two drainage crews to help clean the ditches in the county to increase the flow of water so that less money is spent adding rock to repair roadways and more money is utilized to pave roads.

Mallett said he also helped get the new justice center project passed that will increase efficiency for the court system as well as centralize county offices. Mallett said the new justice center will also provide a safer place for the county since inmates won’t need to be transported to court.

Mallett stated CHI St. Joseph has added another response unit to serve Highway 20 in Carlos and the Keith community as well as a little further south. Mallett said he and Commissioner Barbara Walker have been working closely and are liaisons for EMS.

Candidate for Commissioner Pct. 1, Randall Griffin plans to utilize his experience as a Grimes County Road and Bridge mechanic and assistant chief of the Iola Volunteer Fire Department to help assist the county. Griffin has six grandchildren and one son that attends Iola ISD.

One community member asked how he plans to make the roads stronger? “We need to use different materials, a different style base and hot mix asphalt in certain areas instead of the seal coating especially where you have heavy truck traffic. The roads will last a lot longer,” explained Griffin.

Griffin said as commissioner he wants to get the funding back to fire departments that were cut. “We have to have funding to keep the trucks up, that’s for sure,” said Griffin.

Judges

Iola residents were also introduced to two new judges that will replace Judge Donald Kraemer of the 12th Judicial District and Judge Albert McCaig Jr. of the 506th District Court that have aged out and are not eligible for re-election.

David Moorman is from Huntsville and explained that District Judges handle all the felony cases in Grimes County, all the serious lawsuits with significant monetary damages and land title cases.

“It’s going to be nice with the new justice center to where you can have both judges here at once,” stated Moorman. “The original courthouse is very nice and very neat but sometimes it’s not the best place to have a case tried if you have hearing problems. I look forward to serving y’all.”

George Chaney is a 1983 graduate of Katy High School where he grew up. He said his dad’s accounting firm as well as the family farm was in Hempstead and they would bring their cattle to the auction lot in Navasota. He also remembered a time Navasota and Katy played each other in football.

“It’s been so refreshing to come back here because you people kind of resonate with me,” said Chaney. “I really like the attitude the people have in this community.”

Chaney has practiced as an attorney for 27 years and has been a solo practitioner since 2005.

Others speaking at the forum included Grimes County District Attorney Andria Bender, Grimes County Tax Assessor-Collector Mary Ann Waters, Grimes County Constable Pct. 1 Dale Schaper and Grimes County Republican Chair Susan Patrick. View the full video on the Navasota Examiner Face-book page.