East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

ATHENS — An interim Henderson County sheriff will have to be appointed to assume the duties of the department’s top position with the retirement of Ronny Brownlow.

Brownlow has submitted his retirement which, according to those in the department, is to be effective July 31.

Lt. Pat McWilliams said the move was not unexpected, but something Brownlow has given considerable thought.

“He’s been talking about it for quite awhile and he wanted to wait until the jail was finished, but that could be a couple of months so he decided to do it now,” he said.

Henderson County Judge David Holstein has called a special meeting for 10:30 Friday morning at the Henderson County Courthouse to appoint a sheriff.

Democrat Bill Casey and Republican Ray Nutt are scheduled to face off in the November election, and the winner of that race will be the elected sheriff.

Holstein said he received notice from Brownlow late last week and it was time to act.

“It is up to the commissioners’ court to decide what actions to take, but the court has to act to get a sheriff in office that can assume the duties before Aug 1st,” he said.

Holstein said the sheriff requested that Chief Deputy Mark Jordan assume the rest of the unexpired term.

Jordan has served the department for 24 years in a variety of roles and will be retiring Dec 31, 2008.

Holstein said no decisions had been made, but he did not believe Casey or Nutt would be considered for the unexpired term due to the appearance of tainting an election process.

“In my mind, neither one of the candidates in the election would be a candidate for the commissioners court to appoint as an interim sheriff,” he said. “The people have not spoken and they will speak in November. To appoint one of the candidates could prove to be too advantageous.”

McWilliams said Brownlow and his wife are out of town on vacation and would not likely be back for several weeks.

“We’re all at that point in our careers where it’s time to hang them up and let the younger guys take over the reins,” he said.

Henderson County Sheriff Ronny Brownlow
(Henderson County Web Site image)