Looking for a good ribeye

By Kenny Mitchell

kenny@westbowiepost.com

A chance visitor at the office last week spurred a conversation with an old friend and it was nice to just sit and talk for a few minutes with someone else who truly cares about the community of Bowie County.

People are so busy these days just trying to keep paddling that it is a rare thing to have a few minutes in the still to just sit and talk, but it was definitely a surprise pleasure for yours truly when my buddy Tommy Crouch came by for a few minutes.

It was a fairly deep conversation for a couple of old country boys like us, and it left me with a lot of thoughts bouncing around in the ol’ noggin’ and a few questions to pose to all of you.

Our conversation centered around change. Change can be a good thing, and it can also be hard. And change is often what we need the most.

When people talk about change, it is often about changing our leaders in government. Whether it be on the national level, or the local, one way to impact real change is to change those who call the shots. We are a government by the people and for the people, so when our elected leaders aren’t listening to the people, we have the ability to get new leaders.

The problem with that these days is there is a pretty shallow pool of people to choose from when it comes to those willing to step up and be a leader. We have become a society filled with followers, not leaders. Even worse, we have so many in our world who want to criticize and rail on those who are in a position of leadership, while they hide behind a keyboard on social media.

Tommy and I spoke about all kinds of changes. With all of the info flying around about data centers, water concerns, and a mixed bag of other things, the question of whether we need some changes in local leadership are valid.

Here in Bowie County, we have had the benefit of having a really good county judge for several years in Bobby Howell. He has done well for the people he was elected to serve. In January, a new judge will step in, and I believe, in fact, I know Josh Davis will continue that trend.

As far as county leaders and city leaders around the area, perhaps there are some changes that need to be made. My thoughts on that are to sit back and see how they handle the issues that are at the forefront these days.

Personally, while data centers seem to be at the front of the line, I believe protecting our water, both on the surface and under the ground, should be a top concern. If we sit back and let folks take our water, whether it be Marvin Nichols Reservoir or a water starved cooling tower, water is going to be like liquid gold in our very near future, even more than now.

Now, let me say this about my friend Tommy, and is family.

There has been a lot said recently about our prized FSJ going up for sale on the real estate market. This has definitely been a subject for keyboard warriors, and I am going to share my opinion about that here.

Anybody that believes Tommy and Ashley, along with Ted and Suzanne, have not earned a break from the 16-hour days, day after day, week after week, year after year, then you are quite simply ill informed. Unless you are one that does what they do and have done it for the 40 plus years that they have, then you just don’t know.

As one who has devoted himself to his chosen craft for years, at often the expense of missing things with family, there is no doubt to me that all of those folks at the Junction have served our community diligently for decades, and if anybody around here deserves a chance to step back, take a break, and enjoy life for a change.

Now, let me say, I will definitely miss a perfectly fired ribeye from Tommy’s grill, or maybe the amazing goodness of rattlesnake pasta, there are other places to get a good steak. Who knows, maybe the new owners will make an even better one. (nah, not likely)

Regardless, change is inevitable. We can do all we can to help the changes that come to our advantage, and we can work to make lemonade out of them all. That is always up to us.