University committee says fired tenured professor did not receive due process, should be reinstated
By Sara Garcia, Texan News Service
A former Tarleton State University professor accused of having child pornography on his computer was fired without due process and should be reinstated, a university committee has recommended.
In a report to Tarleton President Dennis McCabe, the Committee on Academic Freedom, Responsibility and Tenure recommended that the university “immediately rescind the termination” of Thomas Dougherty, a 42-year-old tenured associate professor of psychology. However, the committee added that the university did have “good cause” to start termination procedures against him.
Outgoing university president McCabe presided over period of rapid growth, change
Outgoing Tarleton President Dr. Dennis McCabe recently donned a hard hat to check on construction of the new campus dining hall.
Photos by Jeanne McEndree.
By Paul Navarro, Texan News Service
Outgoing Tarleton State University President Dennis McCabe summed up his 17 years at the institution with one word: students.
“It’s all about the students,” McCabe said during a recent interview in his small but well-appointed office.
Discussing his tenure and his vision for the university, McCabe encouraged campus growth. While he was president, enrollment increased by more than 3,000 students to almost 9,500 students. That growth has spurred a period of campus expansion.
Larry Joe Taylor's annual Texas Music Festival celebrates 20 years of good music, good times
This year's festival runs April 22 to 26
What began as a gathering of Stephenville musician Larry Joe Taylor and friends has evolved into one of Texas' largest music festivals. Photo courtesy Larry Joe Taylor
Thousands of fans swarmed around the main stage at the 2007 Larry Joe Taylor Music Festival and Chili Cookoff at Melody Mountain Ranch. Photo courtesy Larry Joe Taylor
By Sheila Bishop, Texan News Service
A gravel road outside of Stephenville leads to a simple country house where a man strums his guitar outside. In this gathering place for musicians, the hills are about to come alive with the sound of the music. The man behind it all, Larry Joe Taylor, emerges from the house wearing a salmon-colored shirt, jeans, work boots and a big smile.
To look at Taylor’s unassuming demeanor, you might not guess that he’s an influential force in Texas music. But for 20 years Taylor has been bringing musical friends and hometown comfort together at his annual Texas Music Festival and Chili Cookoff. This year’s event runs from April 22 to 26 at Melody Mountain Ranch on Farm Road 3025.
Trick rider performs thrilling stunts
for movies, rodeos and loves the action
By Paige Callaway, Texan News Service
As her horse takes off galloping around the arena near Weatherford, the blonde-haired woman flings herself off the side of 1,500 pounds of horsepower and hangs by one leg. Her hair and hands drag in the dirt while her head is only inches from the horses’ thundering hooves that leave a dusty trail.
But the smile says it all. It lights up her face and those faces of the people watching her as this stuntwoman puts in just another day at “the office.”
Weatherford bootmaker practices old-fashioned art, hand-crafting boots that never go out of style
Rod Patrick takes at least eight hours to make a boot. Photo by Robby Robinson
Patrick's boots feature exotic leathers and attention to detail. Photo by Robby Robinson
By Robby Robinson, Texan News Service
Making a boot by hand is a Western art that’s rapidly disappearing. But Weatherford bootmaker Rod Patrick still crafts fine boots the old-fashioned way -- one piece and one stitch at a time.
A Woman's Place Is in the Locker Room
Star-Telegram's NFL reporter scores big stories
Charean Williams broke into the male-dominated world of pro football journalism and became the first female sports journalist to vote in the pro Hall of Fame. Photo by Sheila Bishop
By Sheila Bishop, Texan News Service
Growing up in Beaumont, sportswriter Charean Williams was known as the Dallas Cowboys expert.
"I knew from the beginning that this was what I wanted to do,” she recalled. As a kid Williams wore her Cowboys jerseys and Roger Staubach was her hero.
“You know how you have that metal swing set, and you have the pipes that you could pop off?” Williams asked. She did just that and liked how sounds reverberated in her makeshift microphone. “I would do play-by-play commentaries,” Williams said.
She’s still covering the Cowboys, only now she has a bit more sophisticated equipment, including a computer. As the NFL sportswriter and columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Williams breaks the mold. Being a female NFL writer in an occupation dominated by men has taken her all over the country and the world, onto the field and into the locker room.
Tarleton’s Limar Wilson overcame childhood struggles to see his basketball career soar
Tarleton's Limar Wilson used basketball to escape from his family troubles. "Basketball was my drug," the communications major said. Photos by Nathan Bural
By Nathan Bural, Texan News Service
With time winding down and the Tarleton Texans trailing by two to West Texas A&M, Limar Wilson puts up a 3-point shot from the top of the key….
Despite a not-so-picture-perfect childhood, Limar Wilson’s basketball game has gone from the parks of Orlando, Fla., through the Division 1 road of Minnesota, to find success in the Lone Star Conference at Tarleton State University.
A.P. Stands for "A Plus" on the Court
Avery Patterson bounced around, then found a winning home at Tarleton
Patterson makes the finger roll look easy. Photo by Nathan Bural
By Nathan Bural, Texan News Service
In basketball circles, great players are known only by their initials: A.I. for Allen Iverson, K.G. for Kevin Garnett and M.J. for Michael Jordan.
Around the halls of Tarleton State University, there’s a new set of initial -- A.P.
Avery Patterson has gone from playing ball at Iowa Western Junior College to St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., then found himself as a captain and catalyst for Tarleton’s basketball team as it advanced to the South Central Regional Championship for a chance to go to the Division II Basketball Elite Eight. But the team fell in the final seconds to Central Oklahoma.
Cody Gill Band strikes a chord
Photo courtesy of Cody Gill Band
By Gaston McDorman, Texan News Service
Texas country music is a statewide phenomenon that’s been growing in stature the past several years. The genre is a subtle blend of other sounds such as outlaw country, Southern rock and alt-country.
Stephenville has become a haven for Texas country music. Every weekend a band will roll into town to play for an eager crowd at City Limits or Bostocks. One such band that has turned into a town favorite is the Cody Gill Band.
Stephenville Mortician Serves Up
Cheesecake on Calendar for a Good Cause
Brad Masters, also known as "Mr. February," tries to interest two women in his, um, desserts in the 2008 Men of Mortuaries calendar. Photo courtesy Men of Mortuaries
By Jessica Horton, Texan News Service
This year the nation’s funeral directors came together to do something they usually don’t get a chance to do -- save lives. One of them, Brad Masters, a Stephenville resident, got that opportunity when he posed for a 2008 calendar called “Men of Mortuaries.”
Top Chefs Go Wild for Feral Hog Meat
Hog trapper Kim Rife and the scales he uses to weigh feral hogs for Frontier Meats. Photo by Rebecca Hoeffner
By Rebecca Hoeffner, Texan News Service
Wild hogs have a nasty reputation for destroying property and even posing a danger to people. Now instead of shooting feral hogs running rampant all over Texas, landowners can make a profit from them as more and more top chefs go wild over wild hog meat.
One in an occasional travel series highlighting the state’s special places
Drink in Dublin’s history -- along with
A statue of Dublin Dr Pepper's longtime plant manager, Bill Kloster, offering a soft drink to a little girl stands outside the entrance of the world's longest operating Dr Pepper plant. Photo by Kathryn Jones
By Crystal Gibson, Texan News Service
If you’re looking for a relaxing day trip or peaceful weekend getaway, the town of Dublin exudes small-town charm. With museums and quaint downtown shops within walking distance, you can put on your comfortable shoes and leisurely stroll through history.
Rural Renaissance man
Hamilton artist’s works range from
leather to paint, bronze to jewelry
Artist Bill Chappell works on an oil painting in his Hamilton studio-gallery. Photo by Jessica Horton
By D’Leesa Keys, Texan News Service
Will Rogers, the cowboy humorist famous for his folksy sayings, might have described Bill Chappell as a man who never met a medium he didn’t like.
Chappell, a Western artist with a studio and gallery off the town square in Hamilton, draws, paints, makes jewelry, produces vivid bronze busts and sculptures and carves images -- including a life-size portrait of Will Rogers -- in leather.
Hamilton rancher returns buffalo to
Texas culture – and dinner tables
Ronny Wenzel, shown with some of his bison memorabilia, promotes bison as a heart-healthy protein alternative to beef. Photo by Dan Malone
By Ashlee Watson, Texan News Service
Ronny Wenzel wears a lot of different hats. The 70-year-old has worked as an insurance salesman, former owner of Dutchman’s Hidden Valley – a sprawling store along U.S. Highway 281 in Hamilton that has become a favorite stop for passersby for 28 years – and, most recently, a bison rancher.
He changes hats, literally, as he talks about his bison operation. For the last 11 years, Wenzel has raised bison on his ranch near Hamilton. He sells the meat at Wenzel LoneStar Meat Co. off the courthouse square in downtown Hamilton.
