back with warrants. When the
deputy searched the car, he found
a bag of coins and other items that
indicated that the driver had gotten
them illegally and the man couldn’t
account for why he had them.
“Larry couldn’t sleep, so he turned
on the scanner. He told me, ‘I heard
them with this old boy and I felt like
it was connected somehow to those
coin-operated machine burglaries.’
“Here he’d been doing this for
five decades, he’s in his ‘70s and
yet, the fire still burns inside of him.
He’s so consumed by this job that
when he can’t sleep, he listens to the
scanner. It’s a credit to him, that after
all these years, his job still drives
him. He’s the quintessential lawman.
You don’t find people out there
with that level of dedication to their
profession any more. To me, Larry is
one of a kind.”
Kindness Comes To Mind
“I have known Larry Fowler since
I was 18 years old,” said well-known
horsewoman Shelly Mowery. “I first
met him when I carried the flag in
the grand entry at the Northside
Coliseum rodeo and his daughter,
Dayna, sang the National Anthem.
He’s a brilliant lawman, but he
is also one of the kindest-hearted
people I know, especially when it
comes to children and animals.”
After working with Fowler for
years in various capacities, Parker
County’s District Attorney Don
Schnebly said, “I have always
admired the energy that Larry has
brought to every position in which he
has served. Since I have known Larry
he has served as chief deputy for
the sheriff’s department, a warden at
the Mineral Wells prison facility, an
investigator with our office and the
sheriff for the last 10 years. He has
taken each position to another level.
“I have always appreciated Larry’s
willingness to work with others to
accomplish common goals. We have
a great spirit of cooperation in law
enforcement within the county, and
Larry obviously is one of the main
reasons for that spirit of cooperation.
Our office knows that when
something needs to be done we can
count on the sheriff for help.”
Now retired, Texas Ranger Russ
Authier was stationed in Parker
County throughout his career as a
ranger and he worked closely with
Larry Fowler throughout most of it.
As chief deputy of the PCSO, he is
now Fowler’s second in command.
Authier will never forget the time
when he was meeting with an
investigator at the sheriff’s office and
Fowler, who was with the crime
commission at the time, walked in.
The two men had met a few times
and were acquaintances but not
really friends, not yet anyway.
“I was talking to this investigator
and Larry walked by,” Authier said.
“The investigator looked at me and
pointed at Larry and said, ‘See that
man there?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said,
‘That man can move mountains.’
I said, ’Yeah, yeah.’ It was just a
casual conversation, but soon after
that it came to fruition. Larry became
the chief deputy and I found that
what the deputy had said was true.
Yes, Larry can move mountains.
Throughout the 20 years I’ve come
to work with Larry, I found that ‘no’
is not in his vocabulary. I’ve also
found that, ‘That can’t be done,’ isn’t
something you’ll ever hear Larry
Fowler say.”
It’s that strongly positive attitude
that has enabled Fowler to make such
a huge difference in fighting crime in
Parker County.
“There is no doubt in my mind
that he has made this county
unequally safer,” Authier said. “He
has done more for this county than
most people will ever know. A lot of
people like to think that they have
made a difference — well, he has.
He’s hardworking and hard charging.
He isn’t here for fame or glory. He’s
just here to get the job done.”
_________________________
Update:
Since PCT interviewed Sheriff
Larry Fowler for his cover story a year
ago a few things have changed but
the most dramatic development is
that the sheriff has thrown his hat into
the ring to run for yet another term
chiefly because, “There’s still a lot of
work to be done in Parker County,”
Fowler said. “I still have the same
concerns today that I had 10 years
DECEMBER 2015 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
in many counties; because I have a
good relationship with Larry Fowler
and commissioners have a good
relationship with him, and we’re all
comfortable with who we are, we
never get into that because we all
have the same goal.
“Larry is the one that really makes
that work. Not every sheriff does
that. To me, his confidence in who
he is and his professionalism and the
fact that he is just a straight shooter
makes him just a great partner, and I
think the people of Parker County are
fortunate to have him.”
As Fowler’s first decade as sheriff
comes to a close, Parker Countians
talked to PCT about their sheriff.
“Larry Fowler has served our
community, our county, our state and
our country in extraordinary ways,”
Zan Prince said. “And, he continues
to serve Parker County as sheriff.”
“My husband and I sleep better
knowing that Larry Fowler is taking
care of Parker County,” Jamie
Bodiford Brinkley said. “I think this is
a better place because of him.”
One local lawyer weighed in.
“One of the most critical jobs
that any chief law enforcement
officer has is keeping the bad apples
weeded out of their staff,” Michael
Brinkley said. “Running a clean shop
is a real challenge for any chief law
enforcement officer, and he is the
best at it. It speaks very well of him
that he’s been able to do that so
effectively.”
This area’s current Texas Ranger,
Anthony Bradford, has known
Fowler since 1997 when he was a
DPS trooper and Fowler was a chief
deputy. What Bradford thinks of first
when the subject of the sheriff comes
up is Fowler’s dedication to his job.
“One morning I came in to
the office at 8 a.m. on a holiday.
Everybody was off and the office
was empty,” Bradford said. “But
there was Larry. He was up at the
office wearing a jumpsuit. He was
there in the CID room. I thought
something had happened because
the sheriff was there on a holiday,
dressed down. I said, ‘What are you
doing here?’ They’d been having a
rash of change machine burglaries.
A deputy had stopped a car at 3:30
in the morning and the driver came
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