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Billy R. Cain
Retired 3-Term Parker County
Sheriff (1976 to 1988)
Q: What do you do?
A: I’m retired so I spend my days
piddling around my shop and visiting
people. In the mornings I drink coffee
with some other retired people and
we discuss and solve the problems of
the world.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: I like anything by John Grisham.
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Lonesome Dove
Q: What kind of music are you into?
A: Country & Western
Q: What’s the most daring thing
you’ve ever done?
A: I’m gonna say that’s when we had
the shootout with Clarence Garner.
The Sheriff of Palo Pinto County
got shot in that and so did one of
the deputies. We had several law
enforcement agencies out there and
we brought him in. Later, he escaped
from the penitentiary.
It started in Palo Pinto and the Palo
Pinto County Sheriff’s Office chased
him to Parker County and there was a
stand-off that night. The next morning
he surrendered to my Chief Deputy
Scotty Teague.
Then there was when, with the help
of Mac Smith, the DA at the time,
we created the Drug Task Force. We
were pretty effective.
At one time, there was some
information that someone was
attempting to blow me up and to
blow up my house, but we arrested
that individual. Nobody got blown
up.
They (members of the drug
community) started a lot of bad
rumors about me. But dogs don’t bark
at parked cars, you know.
We (The Sheriff’s Department) were
always strapped for cash. When I left
office my entire budget, jail and all,
totaled $650,000. I think the sheriff’s
budget is now somewhere around
$14 million.
Q: What accomplishment are you
most proud of?
A: I’ve got good grandkids. As sheriff,
I feel like we did a good job. We
moved Parker County into the 20th
Century.
Q: How did you get into your field?
A: I was in the paint and body
business. When (Sheriff) John Young
took over, he told me, “Get a gun and
meet me at midnight.” So, I did. Larry
Fowler was with the Weatherford PD
at the time and he kind of took me
under his wing. After a while John
Young told me, “If you don’t quit
hanging around Larry Fowler, I’m
going to fire you.”
Q: What person would you most like
to have lunch with?
A: Captain Woodrow Call out of
Lonesome Dove.
Q: If someone asked you for your best
piece of advice, what would you say?
A: Treat people the way you’d like to
be treated — with respect.
Q. What’s your favorite hobby?
A: I fish in the summer time and play
golf as much as I can.
Q. What is the one thing that makes
you happy?
A: Right now, I’m really, really happy
with my life and my six grandkids.
Q: Who in your life has influ enced
you the most?
A: Sheriff John Young, Walter
Worthington and Roy Grogan.
Q: What would you most like to be
remembered for?
A: That I was a working sheriff.
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Diane Klancher
FEBRUARY 2016
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
Professional Engineer (That
means I’m licensed through
the state of Texas to practice
engineering.)
Q: What do you do?
A: Consulting engineer for oil and
gas.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: The Bible
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: City Slickers
Q: What is your favorite kind of
60
music?
A: Jazz, Classical, Led Zeppelin,
Bonnie Raitt … a lot of different stuff.
Q: What’s the most daring thing
you’ve ever done?
A: Swing on a rope from a production
platform to a crew boat in 8-foot
seas in the Gulf of Mexico. I was
young so it was a matter of priorities:
spend New Year’s Eve offshore on a
platform or in town at a party.
Q: What accomplishment are you
most proud of?
A: Being successful in what was once
a male-dominated field — petroleum
engineering — and having a 30-year
marriage and wonderful children.
Q: When you were a child, what did
you want to be when you grew up?
A: An architect. My mother told me