Strolling through the streets of Bowie, Texas, with a sense of nostalgia thick in the air, my laugh echoes as I reminisce with Brandon Earp, the town’s former mayor. Our conversation is a rich tapestry of memories woven with tales from Brandon's humble beginnings to his rise as a prominent law firm owner and cherished family man. As we unpack the storybook of his life, it becomes clear that the stepping stones of his past are not just personal triumphs but also cornerstones of our community.
This episode is more than a mere reflection; it's a deep exploration into the heart of civic duty and the rewards of public service. Brandon pulls back the curtain on his mayoral tenure, sharing both the triumphs and trials of managing a multi-million-dollar budget and the sometimes-comical intricacies of local governance. His journey from the classroom to the courtroom, and eventually to the city hall, is littered with anecdotes that reveal the fulfilling, albeit complex, nature of serving one's hometown. The conversation invites you to celebrate the spirit of involvement, from the planning commission to the Lions Club, and the profound insights gained by those who step into roles of leadership.
As we wrap up, the focus shifts to the current pulse of Bowie—its steadfast community spirit and the challenges of preserving small-town charm amid change. We debate whether the issues we face today are echoes of the past or new hurdles to overcome, all while acknowledging the fresh faces and ideas invigorating our town. Join us on this heartfelt journey, and perhaps you’ll be inspired to craft your own chapter in the story of Bowie, Texas.
Music by: Kim Cantwell
Bowie Mural: Located at Creative Cakes
Connect w/Aaron: www.aarondegler.com
Strolling through the streets of Bowie, Texas, with a sense of nostalgia thick in the air, my laugh echoes as I reminisce with Brandon Earp, the town’s former mayor. Our conversation is a rich tapestry of memories woven with tales from Brandon's humble beginnings to his rise as a prominent law firm owner and cherished family man. As we unpack the storybook of his life, it becomes clear that the stepping stones of his past are not just personal triumphs but also cornerstones of our community.
This episode is more than a mere reflection; it's a deep exploration into the heart of civic duty and the rewards of public service. Brandon pulls back the curtain on his mayoral tenure, sharing both the triumphs and trials of managing a multi-million-dollar budget and the sometimes-comical intricacies of local governance. His journey from the classroom to the courtroom, and eventually to the city hall, is littered with anecdotes that reveal the fulfilling, albeit complex, nature of serving one's hometown. The conversation invites you to celebrate the spirit of involvement, from the planning commission to the Lions Club, and the profound insights gained by those who step into roles of leadership.
As we wrap up, the focus shifts to the current pulse of Bowie—its steadfast community spirit and the challenges of preserving small-town charm amid change. We debate whether the issues we face today are echoes of the past or new hurdles to overcome, all while acknowledging the fresh faces and ideas invigorating our town. Join us on this heartfelt journey, and perhaps you’ll be inspired to craft your own chapter in the story of Bowie, Texas.
Music by: Kim Cantwell
Bowie Mural: Located at Creative Cakes
Connect w/Aaron: www.aarondegler.com
What happened to my hometown.
Speaker 2:It seems so different when I look around. It's funny how things have changed since I was young.
Speaker 1:What I wouldn't give to go way back and take a long look into my past. I remember this town the way that it used to be. Welcome to my hometown, our little town on the map and home to the world's largest Jim Bowie Knife. To show you around our beautiful town is our tour guide, erin Degler. Erin has a love for road trips, taking the opportunity to stop along the way in small towns across the US, just like our very own Bowie, texas. Spend a little time with Erin each week as he takes you around Bowie, sharing the value of the small businesses, the organizations, the history and, of course, the people that make up my hometown. After this podcast is over, make sure you give it a like, a share, and please subscribe and review this podcast. I would now like to introduce to you your tour guide for today in my hometown, erin Degler.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to my hometown. Thanks for taking the time to join me today. Please welcome my guest today. He is a Texas A&M graduate of Texas Westland University Law School. He's a former city council member, our former mayor. He has a husband, a father. He's the owner of the ARP law firm and he is a friend of mine for a long time. Please welcome Mr Brandon.
Speaker 4:Arp, thank you for having me Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3:You're welcome. We've been trying to get together for a while and we finally got together. So we're just going to kind of chat today about been here 23 years. It's almost 24 now, yeah, so a lot's going on in those that time. So we're going to kind of take it back to when you're little. Okay, we're going to take it way back to four years old. You're not going to age me, are you?
Speaker 2:We'll talk about that Because you're right there with me.
Speaker 3:But they can do the math then yeah, that's right. So, four years old, you're living in Bowie, and then your parents get down in the Aljo edition on Zahara or not Rabern Street.
Speaker 4:Excuse me, not Zahara. But yeah the house is still there, I drive by it and I think about that, and then your parents get divorced. When I was four, of course I don't remember that, but I knew you know that's when it happened and mom and I moved to the Metroplex.
Speaker 4:At that point I lived in I think we started out in maybe Hearst and we lived in Ulyss for a little while and then Bedford and then ended up in Colleyville for high school Well, I guess part of junior high and high school and then that's where you ended up.
Speaker 3:Graduating was Colleyville.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well great on great on high school. They didn't have a Colleyville high school at that time. Now they do. But yeah, graduated from there in 93. So I just aged myself.
Speaker 3:And it's probably a little smaller school then Quite a bit, although still big.
Speaker 4:I mean we were 5A, I think we had 2,200 students, something like that, but still it was the only school that covered Great Vining in Colleyville. Now they've got two schools that are bigger than that, so you know things have changed a little bit and during your high school years you met a lady.
Speaker 3:I did how old were you? I was 15. 15. And she was 15? Yep.
Speaker 4:Ms Fox's English class in 10th grade.
Speaker 3:So did you go up to her, did she?
Speaker 4:Actually it's a funny story, I guess I'll tell it. We were in Ms Fox's English class first day of school and I played football. So freshman year sophomore year.
Speaker 4:Sophomore year I played football and I was always good at breaking stuff and football and I had broken a finger. I can't even remember which one it was, but I had it in one of those little finger splints you know those little metal finger splints and I laid it up on the front of the desk like you know, kind of like you'd grab the edge of the desk. And in those desks, you know, you probably had the same ones. They had those plastic chairs and when you sat down, if you leaned back any at all, the chair would bend. Well, trisha sat down right in front of me because at that time and that's a long story too our names were similarly spelled. Now I'm EARP, which I always have been, but at that time I was ARP, which is a long story too. But anyway, she leans back, smashes my finger I mean the broken.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it was the one laying up there.
Speaker 4:My other fingers were like out of the way but smashes my finger and I was smitten.
Speaker 2:I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 4:It took us a while to get together. We didn't start dating until February of that year but you know I'm a little slow in the uptake, I guess but we started dating in February of 19,.
Speaker 3:that would have been 1991 and been together ever since and coming up on February, because you got married on, we got married on.
Speaker 2:Valentine's Day.
Speaker 4:February 14th this year will be 26 years. We've been married, dated for seven years before we ever got married. So it's been a long it has. Yeah, she's no longer than about anybody. They're my parents.
Speaker 3:And so that's unusual seven years of dating Because I'm sure there was a lot of goals that both of you wanted to accomplish during that time. A lot of times it's. We guess we may be going to college, we'll still get married, and all that. So after college, you decided to go to Texas A&M. Had that always been the plan For me?
Speaker 4:it had been, I guess, about my sophomore years, when I decided I was going to go to Texas A&M. Tricia was not and did not go to Texas A&M. She actually had planned on going to what's now Texas State. Back then it was Southwest Texas State, but that's where she wanted to go and she had a friend that was going with her and they off, they went. When we graduated and I went off to Texas A&M After about a year and a half, you know it realized that she was spending more time at Texas A&M or me driving to Southwest Texas, and it just didn't make a whole lot of sense. By that point we knew we were going to get married.
Speaker 4:So you know, and so she transferred to Texas A&M and honestly, she's more Aggie than I am. I mean by far. Her blood is much more maroon than mine ever would be. And you joined the Corcadets. I did. I was in the Corcadets for four years and company E1 and then finished in company D1. So brigade staff and did the whole core thing. It was fun. I really enjoyed it. It was hard, I mean, but you know it was well worth it.
Speaker 3:So and was that the plan to go on the Corcadets when you went to A&M? Had that always kind of been the plan?
Speaker 4:Yeah, originally the plan was to go in the Corcadets. I had an Army ROTC scholarship. I was going to go be you know who and be in the army and do all that and getting married, you know, or the idea that I was going to get married kind of changed my outlook on things and my plans changed a little bit, and so, instead of going into the you know the active duty Army, I ended up joining the National Guard instead and did that for a while.
Speaker 3:And so, and did you, of course, always want to be a lawyer?
Speaker 2:No, not at all.
Speaker 4:We've had this conversation before Like yeah, you know to do it for a live audience, I could have hate to do that.
Speaker 4:No, not at all. In fact, if you had told me going into college that I would end up going to law school once I graduated, I would have probably had to do that. I would have probably laughed in your face. What was your initial major? I started out as a civil engineering major and lasted about five weeks before I changed it, and I changed it to wildlife and fishery sciences. It's right over there, and that's what I actually graduated with was wildlife and fishery sciences.
Speaker 4:I kind of had this idea that I might either be a biologist or a game warden or something like that, and those dreams did not pan out. That's a long story too, but they at that time, being a game warden was there weren't very many slots available, I don't know what you call them. The chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife or whatever His daughter, was one of my classmates and we were having dinner one night and he pretty much just looked at me and said forget it, don't even. Don't think that applying to the Game Warden Academy is a future you're going to have, just because it's so challenging.
Speaker 4:Just because it was, there was just no openings at the time Game wardens at least from what I understand kind of come in in kind of like waves, you know there'll be a bunch of them and then there'll be a gap where there's none, not very many, retiring, and then some will retire, you know, and I was just in one of those troughs at the time but there wasn't any and he just basically said no. So you know, to make the long story short, I decided I was going to be a research biologist. I am fascinated by this is a little much but large ungulates which would be like caribou deer to some extent. But I've hunted deer my whole life, so it's they're not. I don't find them that interesting anymore. But the things that I've not been able to see I've never seen the caribou in the wild. I've never seen. You know. I've seen moose now, but at that time I'd never seen a moose before, you know. So that kind of fascinated me. So I decided I was gonna go that route.
Speaker 4:So I dug in pretty hard towards the end of my junior and senior year in wildlife and really enjoyed it. I love the people. The people were fantastic. Love to all my classmates. My professors were great. In fact my daughter and I were just talking about wildlife classes last night that I had.
Speaker 4:But but yeah, and so what happened was I was gonna do the research biology thing and Started looking into that and took the GRE to get ready to go to grad school, because you pretty much to be a research Biologist, you pretty much have to go to grad school, you've at least got to get a master's degree and you probably need to be thinking about going on your PhD and at least at that time I don't know if that's still the same, but so I started looking at that and one day I was sitting in a buddy in mine's room and I just commented to him how sure he seemed of his future.
Speaker 4:You know, he knew what he was gonna do. We were I Believe that was a second semester of our junior year and he just he was gonna go to law school and he, you know, he wanted to be a District attorney and you know all that stuff and do criminal defense and or criminal prosecution, I'm sorry. And I just commented on how sure he seemed and he's like, yeah, yeah, and he said I'm taking the LSAT next week, the very next week, and he said and of course I was lamenting that I didn't know what I was gonna do or where I was gonna go.
Speaker 3:Blah, blah, blah and LSAT is for to get.
Speaker 4:LSAT is kind of like the SAT to get into college, but it's for law school. It's a very, very different test, but it you have to take it and you have to do well to get into the law schools that you want. But anyway, he said yeah, I'm taking it next week. I think it was like on Wednesday, and he was won't you take it with me? And I'm like you know, when you're 19, 20 years old you're like what up.
Speaker 4:So I called and was able to get a spot and Paid the the fee to get to it and went and took it and and I didn't you know Certainly didn't set the world on fire on my grade, but I did okay and I did okay enough to where it was like Realistic that I might could get into a law school and at that time my grades in college were decent, I mean.
Speaker 4:I weren't anything again to set the world on fire. But they were, were decent, and so I Went and met with our paraprofessional counselor at Texas A&M, who was she was phenomenal and.
Speaker 4:She looked at me. She said I can get you into law school won't be Harvard, but Okay. So I originally decided I was gonna do environmental law. And this is kind of getting to that booey thing is. You know, I, I, as I got to know that particular area of the law, I realized that to be an environmental lawyer you've pretty much got to work in one of the cities where policies are made.
Speaker 4:I mean you've got to work in DC or you know Seattle, la, big cities, and that's just not me. It's just not me and I knew it.
Speaker 3:Then I knew enough about myself, at least at that age, to know that wasn't me so just just by taking the test and talking to the, the counselor, for I mean you just think, okay, I'm gonna be a lawyer. Yeah, it was really that. I mean it was that easy.
Speaker 4:You know, I Guess in a way I had kind of always thought that way. Mm-hmm, I know not, not thought that way. That's not really accurate. I guess there was something in me that knew that being a lawyer might be a pretty neat job. You know, what I mean. I had talked with my mother about it and I and she had told me one time that she had had some interest in being a lawyer and Not that, not more, but it.
Speaker 4:Previously in her life and I guess that kind of stuck with me and you know and so yeah, took the test met with the paraprofessional counselor and off we went.
Speaker 4:I applied to eight law schools, got into all of them but one, and ended up taking the going to the law school. That was my what they call your backup school. You got to have a school that you know you'll get into, but but you'll you know it you'll take it if you can't get anywhere else. And that was one I ended up going to and I man, I tell you what it was. They did a great job at.
Speaker 4:Texas Wesley and I Enjoyed. I was there two and a half years. I got out of semester early and I enjoyed every minute of it. I really did law school was Hard but fun. You know, like the people, like the professors, just had a good experience.
Speaker 3:And so then, deciding that you didn't want to go into environmental law. Then you're in law school, and then what do you decide then? Hey, I want to be you know, I guess I'm.
Speaker 4:I'm very much a person who's like a jack-of-all-trades master of none. You know that kind of person. I like to piddle, I like to do different things. I get bored doing the same thing over and over and over. And so I pretty quickly decided I wanted to be a general practitioner. I wanted to do a little bit of everything. And you know, general practitioners don't do well in big cities. That's not how it works, and general practitioners generally are found in small towns. And I only knew one. My family is from the, I'm going to say, the Bowie area. Both sides of my family, when I was growing up, lived in Ringgold, and then when I, I should say, my dad lived out at the Old Bowie Lake so that'd be Stonberg, but and then my grandparents lived in Ringgold and we lived in the Metroplex, and so I mean, yeah, I only knew one small town. And so here I came, and I came up here and kind of surveyed the landscape and decided that I could possibly make a living here. And here I came.
Speaker 3:And then he started with a firm that that kind of extended out here, and then you know, god works wondrous things in strange ways, and that's really what happened.
Speaker 4:Trish and I actually came up here to kind of drive around and look at Bowie. She'd been here before. I mean, she'd been to my dad's house in Stonberg and passed through Bowie many times, so it wasn't like it was bringing her to someplace she's never been. But we came up here with a real eye. For, you know, can we do this? You know, and we were walking through a house, believe it or not, a house that was being built over over there.
Speaker 4:I can't even remember the name of the neighborhood, but anyway, it was Carla and John Swaffords, excuse me. At that time it was Carla and Dwayne Hamilton's house, and anyway they, while we were walking through this house that was being built, Carla came in into the house and of course I'm like, oh my gosh, I should be here, you know she was super graceful, super nice, and we got to talking and I told her what I was doing and that I was going to move up here.
Speaker 4:And she said well, you know it's interesting, I'm building a new, a new office for the title company and want the end. The office on the end of our building is going to be rented out by a law firm from Dallas. And of course I'm like great, you know, I'm trying to open my own thing and here I already have a competitor, you know, other than the lawyers who are already here a new competitor. And she said you know you ought to give them a call. And you know, being young and dumb and whatever I just did, one day.
Speaker 4:I just called them and said hey, and and I guess I was a little arrogant, a little prideful, I don't know but I just said, look, I'm moving up there, I'm going to do this and we can either compete or we can help each other. And from that I got a job. They hired me to open the buoy office for their, for their office, and, you know, promise me all kinds of things that are going to come up here and blah, blah, blah, blah. And you know, none of that panned out. But nevertheless I got to open an office and here we went. So, yeah, that was originally. I worked for Stone and Bruce PC Warner stone and Dan Bruce, yeah, and that wasn't very long a year, year and a half, A few years.
Speaker 4:No, it was let's see, I started in May of 2000 and we broke in July of 2001. So it went just a little over a year, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And when we're sitting in your office now, that's just about, as they might say, a stone's throw away from really, I can see it through the window. Yeah, so we just kind of moved over yeah.
Speaker 4:For 23 years I've been. I've been right here on this street, on Walnut Street. So yeah, it's. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it right.
Speaker 3:So and and through those years living in buoy, you had the opportunity to serve on different organizations on the city council as mayor. What, how was your experience as mayor? What are some things that you learned.
Speaker 4:I tell you most people who've served on city council might think I'm crazy, but I enjoyed every bit of it. I mean, there were things about it that you're just like come on, you know people call you on a Sunday or I ain't get my trash Well, you know it's Sunday, but but I mean, for the most part I enjoyed it. It was a challenge.
Speaker 4:I don't probably most people have never been through the budget process for it for a city. You know, like buoy, at that time we had about a $16 million budget. I think it's even higher now. But I mean that was a lot of work to put that together and come up with a way where we could, you know, spend, spend that money and do so in a way that delivers services and experiences and things to our citizens and not just blow it. I mean, you know it's fun to have a shiny, new, you know firetruck or police car or or, or you know something like that, but that's not always what's needed and what's best, you know best serves the people at the time. Unfortunately, you can't do everything. The budget's not big enough to do that, and that's where it becomes challenging, because you want to, you know, I think if, as a public servant, you want to give them everything you know, and you can't in some time.
Speaker 4:Sometimes, in certain circumstances, you can't give them anything and that's that's hard. So but I enjoyed it. I had great councilmen, I really did, I serve with some good people and they all, I mean we all kind of meshed and clicked and it was fun.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 4:I. You know it's funny, I talking about the people. I didn't expect it to be that way. When I first got elected mayor, I looked at who that was on the council at the time and I thought this is going to be a painful you know, wasn't at all, was not at all. Everybody was great, we got along, great we did. We worked well together. Not a lot of in fighting it just it just went well. We had a good city city manager at that time.
Speaker 4:It was James Cantwell at that time and James just ran everything smooth. So you know, I'm sure there are people who do disagree with me, but during my time that's what I saw.
Speaker 3:So, as you're on the city council, you know what's the thought process of I want to run for mayor. Oh gosh. I don't know. Or they're just like I'll give it a shot. Yeah, I'll take the test. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 4:Next week. Okay, yeah, I got on. I actually was originally appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission and I did that for about a year, I believe, and that was fascinating. See, I love real estate, I love real estate law, I love real estate development, I love just if it has to do with dirt and buildings, I love it you know.
Speaker 4:And so Planning and Zoning was just great. I mean, you know you're thinking at that time we were doing the comprehensive zoning map for the city and that was super interesting. You know, to look at a full, you know full scale map of the city and say, okay, we're going to have this area be this and this, you know that was pretty cool. But you know, you do Planning and Zoning for a little bit and you realize that there's another layer or another level that you know you can take that thing that you've been doing and kind of be more impactful.
Speaker 4:And an opportunity came to serve on the city council and I put my application in, was appointed and serve on the city council for I'd be lying, I think two years Don't quote me, but should have brought my resume in here but serve on the city council two years. And then at that time EO Martin was the mayor and EO had had some tough, some tough things go on when he was mayor and I just talked to him one day or at city hall and said, hey, you know, if you're going to run again, then you know I don't know that I'm going to do anything, but if not, I plan to run. And he said, well, I don't know that I'm going to or not. And I said, well, I need to know. Nothing ever happened and finally, I just told him that I'm running.
Speaker 4:And he said well then, I'm not, and that's how that worked out, and I didn't have an opponent. So you know, you can always win those battles. But it was a good experience, it was an excellent experience. I wouldn't take for it.
Speaker 3:So is that a challenge to be mayor and run your practice at the same time.
Speaker 4:Not really. I mean you can do it. I mean it definitely makes for a full day some days especially on council nights. You know we've had council meetings at least when I was there that ran till after midnight you know, and that makes for a long day.
Speaker 4:But no, I mean I never really had that much of an issue. It kind of all works together. You know, you do have one issue and that is conflicts of interest. As an attorney you have to really watch that and as mayor you tend to create them. So there were some times when I had to, you know, kind of step out of cases or or turn down cases because of that.
Speaker 3:So that's probably a little challenging, I mean, especially when you're business and you're trying to make money and have to I mean, I like you.
Speaker 4:You asked me a minute ago. You said was it a good experience? It was I really I have no, there's nothing. I look back on from that time and think, man, I wish I had done it differently. Or anything. You know, I guess maybe the only thing would have been I would have liked to serve longer you know I did only serve one term and then we moved outside the city limits and that was all I could do.
Speaker 4:But you know, but that's really it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, I you know. Definitely challenging, definitely very interesting. Oh Lord, I learned a lot during that time.
Speaker 3:It was just things I never knew and there's no other way to know, and it's different from being a citizen versus going through all those budget meetings and zoning Light years.
Speaker 4:I, I, I would challenge anybody who has any interest in politics to get involved with your city, because it's it's the ground level of something that's so big. I mean you know, when you look at you know we're in a presidential election year or about to be and you look at that. And when I look at it, I look at it a little differently because I've seen what it takes just to do the bottom run.
Speaker 4:I can't imagine what it takes to do that, but you've learned so much about how, how all that works you know, I, I enjoy I shouldn't say I enjoy, I get a kick out of, I guess, people's complaints about the city, because you read the complaints and it's like you don't even know what, what the city does. You know, you don't know that, you know we don't have anything to do with some of these things. You know, and then in some things we have a lot to do with it. But you know, I think you need to educate yourself and you need to. If you have any interest at all, you need to put yourself out there and I just appreciate people who do, because I think they're going to become better citizens by being, you know, put in that place, even if you serve one term or half a term.
Speaker 4:I think, if you serve one year, which is half a term, you would learn more than than you would ever know in a lifetime of just being an average citizen.
Speaker 3:I really do, and it's learning and giving back to your community all at the same time, absolutely, absolutely, and with with giving back your you've been in several different organizations. What value do you see being in those organizations?
Speaker 4:Well, you know, originally you get when you're opening up a law practice or any business you know you get, oh gosh, you need to be in this organization or that organization to network with other people, and I think that's that is absolutely true. You know, being in in all the organizations that I've been in over the years has introduced me to people that I would probably not ever know without that you know, but that networking.
Speaker 4:After a few months of that you realize that that's really not why you're there and you start to see the good that those organizations do and it starts to, hey, this is silly I guess, but it kind of gets in your heart you know, it kind of gets in there and stirs things around and you start to see that that most of these people, at least to some extent, have the good of the community, the good of other people in mind, and the good that they do I mean in some cases is invaluable. I spent when I spent six years, I think five or six years in Lions Club. Love that organization, it was great. Spent like 20 years, or very close to, in Rotary love that too. It just got to the point where I couldn't make meetings like you're supposed to and you know, doing Lions in Rotary together became really untenable. I just couldn't do. Do both of them, yeah, but they do so much different stuff that I you know.
Speaker 4:Just the other day I noticed over here at the bank that the Lions Club was standing out there taking donations and you know, I had a buck on me and threw it in there and I just I mean, as I'm driving off, I think to myself you know what a great deal that they're doing to stand out here in the cold and be willing to do that, you know, to raise money for, in that case it's for the blind.
Speaker 4:They collect old eyeglasses and things like that and they have the camp for the blind and all that. So I don't know. I just think that's great, and I mean Rotary. We did all kinds of projects when I was in there, everything from the dictionaries that we give to all the I believe it's third graders or, yeah, fifth graders one of the two I can't remember but from that to you know, we did the dancing the stars thing to raise money for scholarships. I mean gosh, we did so many things you know, shoes.
Speaker 4:We gave shoes to people who couldn't afford them. That kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:And the if you notice it's the repeating theme is get involved, whether it's city politics, whether it's volunteering, whether it's in your organizations, to make a difference in our community.
Speaker 4:We have to get involved, absolutely, you can sit on your couch and watch it happen, or you can get out in it, and you know, I think when you get out in it and get your hands dirty that you'll learn more and become a better person.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 4:I mean that's so multifaceted, but I mean it just is I mean you know how do you learn the best lessons?
Speaker 4:the hardest way you know which is how do you learn not to hold the nail a certain way by smashing your finger? You know, and that's what getting involved is is getting out there and getting dirty and doing the things, getting in the trenches with the people and doing the things that are required for our city, and in the process, you know, you open your mind to learning new things, you open your heart to other people, the plight of other people and the good that you can do, and it's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:Because you do learn by doing. You know that example of a nail. You can't tell somebody you know how to do it and not hit their hand until they hit it. That's right, then go. Oh, that's not the right way, never forget. That's right and then, and when we do get involved, it helps citizens have a little grace when it comes to city government and those organizations.
Speaker 1:Amen To say okay.
Speaker 3:I don't you know they're doing the best they can, or I don't know all the details, yeah, yeah, what are some of the successes that you've enjoyed having a practice in?
Speaker 4:in Buoy. I mean every day is a success. If you want to know the truth. Every day that I'm then able to continue to do this is a success. I mean, you know, god made me not to to be me before me, I should say be, for be for him.
Speaker 4:And you know, as long as I get to continue to do what I do and do it in such a way that it brings glory and honor to God, that's a success. Now, if you're talking about accolades and awards and that kind of stuff, I mean there are those and those are great. I mean I've got a little deal sitting over there that where people that remember Susan Campbell, our Main Street Director, when we redid this office, she gave me an award for, you know, for design on the bill. As you know, stuff like that's fun. But I don't know, I mean, gosh, being mayor was an award in and of itself. You know I was the president of the Chamber of Commerce and that was. That was interesting and a lot of fun. Got my little knife plaque, you know If you're in.
Speaker 4:Bowie and you don't have a knife plaque. You need to get involved because that is one of the coolest.
Speaker 3:How do you get involved more I?
Speaker 2:can't believe that Aaron Degler doesn't have a knife plaque. How do you get involved with it? We'll remedy that.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, that knife plaque is cool. It's funny thing that the Rotary Club, bowie Rotary Club, gives away so.
Speaker 4:so Rotary has what's called a district governor and a district governor is a individual who's in charge I haven't say in charge, but he's kind of the organizational leader of multiple clubs the district, our district, and I don't even remember the number, like 5790 or something like that, but the district covers. I think he had something like 40 or 50 clubs that he was in charge of, you know. And when I say that it's not like he's there running the meetings, but he or she were there, you know, making sure that everybody had what they needed to run their club. And one of the things that they do is every year those district governors make a point to go to one meeting of every club in their district. So it's so funny because every single one of them in the 20 years I was in Rotary, inevitably they said the best thing about coming to the Bowie Rotary Club is that we get the knife plaque and everybody looks forward to it because the Bowie Rotary will give them a plaque with a knife on it a Bowie knife so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 4:So yeah, I've got two of those suckers. I got one for Chamber of Commerce and I got one for the being, you know, on City Council and Mayor.
Speaker 2:So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 4:But I don't know. I mean there's been other things. You know I've had the blessing of being involved in different organizations, not just locally but statewide. I got to be on the general practice solo and small firm section of the State Bar of Texas, which is a section of State Bar lawyers who specialize in general practice. You know, a lot of them are solo practitioners, like I am. Some of them are small firms.
Speaker 4:We believe the definition of that for that organization was like five lawyers or less or something, or maybe it's 10, I don't remember, but anyway got to be involved in that and stayed on that for several years, for probably five or six years, and got elected the chairman of that organization. That was pretty neat. Gosh, talking about Rotary District Governor, I got to be the assistant district governor, so I had. I had four clubs or three clubs, I can't remember now, but that's been back in like 2011 or 12. And that was kind of fun because I got to go about once a month to the other clubs and see how they worked and get to eat their food and not have to pay for it, which was cool.
Speaker 2:Free meal? Yeah, free meal.
Speaker 4:But that was neat. I mean that was a neat experience, but I don't know. I mean awards are nice, but really the thing is, is just the feeling you get from serving whatever that way is.
Speaker 3:And then challenge. I mean success is always great, but I think sometimes we learn from the challenges that are given to us Absolutely, and sometimes the failures, because I think they're the greatest lesson, the greatest way to learn lessons. What are some challenges that you have faced, you know, in business or just in the community? Just because we've all, I think, in businesses, we've all faced those challenges.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, I mean you know, from a general perspective, I mean, making payroll is always a challenge. I mean and you know, every person who's ever been in business knows that.
Speaker 4:You know, keeping the lights on paying the phone bill. You know all those things. I remember I was meeting with another person who has a small business here in town when I'd first started and you know I don't want to say I was crying, but I was probably close to it and I was lamenting that you know, oh my gosh, how am I going to survive? How are we going to do this? How are we going to raise, you know, get married and raise a family. And it wasn't my wife I was talking to, I was literally talking to another business person and you know they told me they said if you can make it five years, then you'll be fine. And I remember that. I've never forgotten that and they're right. And I think I was reading a post the other day on Facebook by a local business owner and she said you know, you got to realize there's so much more to owning your own business.
Speaker 4:And that's huge. And she was talking about some of the challenges. And it's funny, I mean, even though her business is entirely different than mine.
Speaker 2:I mean entirely different.
Speaker 4:We face the same challenges. So I think Bowie itself is a challenge and I think that anybody who's ever moved here would agree with that Bowie. When I first moved here, bowie was a lot more closed in than it is now. A lot more. You kind of had to have I don't want to say a name, but you kind of had to fit in with the group the. You know I don't think that's the same so much anymore and I think that's a good thing. I think our city is much more welcoming in that sense. But I also think that part of that is being willing to get out there and mingle and get to know those people and I think if you're willing to do that, then it opens itself up a lot easier too. You know I'm a lawyer, so what I do is I you know argue cases and you know stuff like that. So every day is a challenge in some senses.
Speaker 3:But have you seen the community change over those 23 years of, I guess, needs? You know of issues that people face? Do you find that they get more challenging, as through the years, or Really in the heart of it, in a small town? Or the challenge is really this the same?
Speaker 4:Gosh, that's a good question, you know. Part of me wants to go. Oh yeah, they've grown, you know. But then there's a huge part of me that thinks that nothing really ever changes. You know, it's just different. You know when I first moved to buoy, that would have been the year 2000.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm and we were coming off of kind of I like to call it the 90s pop. There was a. There was a time in the late 90s and I wasn't here, so I just I've heard about it, but it seemed like there was a lot more civic pride. There was a lot of people trying to do, move and shake, do some things, you know, and we were coming off of that when I moved here and we went through a period of time when, when it was the doldrums, if you will, you know, then oil came back and we got another pop, you know, and then we went back to the doldrum, you know, and I hate that. That's kind of the pattern that we tend to go through, but I think that you know. As far as the challenges, I think we still face most of the same ones, which is, you know, giving our kids something to do.
Speaker 4:You know, Keeping our kids engaged and and and keeping our citizens in general engaged, and and I don't mean like recreational activities I think boogey's got pretty strong recreational activities but I think we we lack some of the Things that keep people in town. We tend to scatter on Friday nights and that's you know, unless it's football.
Speaker 4:Yeah that's right. But you know, I think that if that's a problem that we've had and we still, I think we still have that problem. I think it's getting better and I think it will get better. But you know, growth is hard. We're a long way from the Metroplex. People don't think it but we are.
Speaker 4:And ours a long way, and most people aren't willing to drive that far to go to work, and so we we don't get the, we don't get the same growth and things that like, for instance, decatur does, and just because they're so much closer. And so We've definitely experienced some of that, and you know, I mean anybody who lives here can feel that but but it's not been the quick Growth that we've seen from other other towns around us. I guess so. But as far as the challenges that people have here, I think that they are largely the same. I mean, I think that they've changed, but changed in such a way that, that's, the challenges are still the same.
Speaker 3:They're just, you know, different in the sense of their size or or how many people are involved, those kind of things, yeah, and because those things in our community we do have those that, and I think sometimes we expect a big difference in our town, mm-hmm, but it really is the same that it was, yeah, 25 years ago. Mm-hmm, some, they just look different. Mm-hmm, our town is the same. It just kind of looks different, mm-hmm, there's just kind of you know I have adventure to say that our town looks.
Speaker 4:You know you go back to 1894 when boo was founded. I believe that's right. I'll probably get in trouble now, but I think that's pretty close. You know you go back, then I bet our town doesn't look that much different.
Speaker 1:I mean it.
Speaker 4:I should say it looks different, but the issues that we face then are probably similar to the issues we face now you know, I mean bringing in industry, bringing in recreational opportunities, jobs, you know I mean anything, utility costs, I mean all those things are issues that we've always faced and, no matter what, you always will face them. You know you can just do better and I think we've. I think we've done better in the years. I mean you know we've, we've hired some good people and we've, you know, move people around and done some things that have made a difference.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we have made a difference. We are growing. I think sometimes people don't recognize that, and and if they don't, then they need to get involved.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's exactly it Getting involved. You'll see those things you know, and you're not always right. I'm gonna throw Randy West a bone here. Randy was on the Still may be on the parks board back when I was mayor, and back when I was mayor they wanted to build a the Help me at the recreational center that's down there by the community center. Yeah, I couldn't think of work, but they wanted to build that and I was adamantly against building it right there and I was adamantly.
Speaker 4:Yep and I was adamantly against the concept that they came up with and, and you know, I was just flat wrong and I'm glad to see what they did and how they did it and that's a great facility and that's one of those things. Like you said, that that we've improved the city because of that, so it also improves the rodeo grounds. When they did that too, you know, that's that's been a good thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, gave our community a place to go, a place to hold events. It was just really yeah. So what was? What was the reasoning for being against it?
Speaker 4:Oh, I Other, it was just aesthetics. I didn't like where it was. I didn't like I didn't like. I didn't like where it was, I didn't like what they were going to build. I just, it was just aesthetics is all it was. But luckily I was wrong.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it happens and then Then your mayor was over because you moved. But you still stay involved in the community.
Speaker 3:You have a business in the community. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so what makes it about because you're still part of the community? I think sometimes people think, well, if you don't live here, it can't be your hometown, and we have you know. People will say, well, I'm an outsider and I hope that is changing. I think that is changing that and I've never kind of understood that, why you would treat an outsider different. Um, because sometimes they come with better ideas and new, new things. Yeah, absolutely. What makes you call buoy my hometown?
Speaker 4:Well, it just is. I mean, I was born here, I wasn't born. I hate to say that I wasn't born here, but we lived here when I was born.
Speaker 2:Is that fair? Yeah, I mean I was born when we saw falls. But you know, yeah, they didn't. You want to borrow the buoy, my water?
Speaker 4:No, I don't even know if they're delivering babies at the time, but nevertheless, I mean, it was my hometown when I grew up and you know I just took a what a 20 21 year hiatus to get here and get back here.
Speaker 4:So, um, I don't know. I mean, I think buoy's got a lot going for it. I really do. I think that I think there's some obstacles and some roadblocks that stand in the way, but we're moving those and it just takes time, you know. And I'd like to say, oh, there's this one thing that, boom, it's going to start. And it's not that way it's. It's a gradual process of of improvement and, and you know what we think is improvement today, they're not going to think it's improvement 15 years from now you know and and you've got to always be willing to kind of Move with the tide as it comes in and goes out.
Speaker 4:But I think buoy's got a lot going for it and I think the people, um, I think we're starting to develop more civic pride and that kind of thing. Yeah, I think that's been here. I mean I, but I think, just like a lot of things, it's kind of ebbed and flowed as well. So, and I see it so, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:Well, and it does in a small town that ebbs and flows and we hope that as it ebbs and flows, it takes that. You know it goes up you know, the civic pride, everything involvement. You know it may have its lows, but the lows are even higher than they were before. Yeah, um.
Speaker 4:I tell you, you know, you ask me what? What makes it my hometown? Honestly, I've been and this is a weird way to say this, but it's welcoming. There are times when you don't feel that way, but Overall the people here are welcoming they, they, they. I guess maybe as a whole sometimes it doesn't feel that way, but individually I've always felt like people are very, you know, welcome to our town. Welcome, you know, welcome to our organization, our group, our city, you know all those things.
Speaker 4:I think that we largely like that because we live in the south. I think that's a lot of it. I think being a Texan and, you know, being in a town named after one of the quintessential Texans is, you know, pretty cool. So, yeah, I why do I call it my hometown? Because it is, and and it's been an honor to live here. I've been blessed and my family's been blessed, blessed by so many people. I mean, you know, you may know this, but my kids and my wife all go to school in Decatur. My wife works at Victory Christian Academy as a teacher and so my kids go there too.
Speaker 4:And I originally thought this will be the end of Bowie for me. I'll be the guy stuck up in town while they're down there, and that has not been the case. Bowie has is so much ingrained in you and the, the people. I kind of look at it like we've got two, two big families. You've got the Bowie family and the Decatur family in the sense of you know who we go and hang out with and do things with, and I think being part of a church has helped that a lot. You know, being able to stay with a group of people and grow with you still attend church in Bowie and yeah, we're first Baptist church members and have been for the whole time and it stayed that way.
Speaker 4:You know, the funniest thing was is that we live in Sunset, or actually we don't even live there, we live south of Sunset and my son, you know, is in college and he plays on the football team and the football team has the name of the you know the athlete, their position and then their hometown and he goes to school that you know there's people from all over the country and when he first got on that team I was interested to see what his his byline.
Speaker 4:I guess you'd say said, and I was pleased to see that it said Bowie, texas, not Sunset. Texas, you know because Bowie is what where we made you know where we've been impacted the most.
Speaker 3:So and hopefully been impactful mm-hmm and that's a great word to be impacted. But be impactful. You know, my, my hope is for my hometown, the podcast, that and has always been. As I talk to business owners, I talk to people that if you ever watch Field of Dreams at the end James Earl Jones is talking about that they'll pull up light and it shows all the lights. You know, coming up to the baseball field and they won't know why they're there, but they're hand over the money because it feels like home. And that's what I think about when people come in our community, just like you were talking, that they come in, they don't know really why they're here, but they feel like they belong and they fit in it's amazing and this is a blessing that I get as an attorney it is amazing to me the number of people who have moved here from other places, whether it be California.
Speaker 4:I get a lot of California people that have moved in and, and you know, we always say don't.
Speaker 4:You know, don't California, our Texas, but they're not there they're coming in there, they're putting the boots on in the hat and becoming more Texan than we are, you know. But I meet people from all over, people who moved from Metroplex, people moved from the East Coast. It's a blessing to me to meet that many people right here at this table so many. And it inevitably very rarely do I hear anybody say gosh, I wish I hadn't done this.
Speaker 4:Mostly what I hear is people say we're so happy to be here, we're so, we love it here, we like this or we like that about this community, you know, and that's pretty cool you know, it's just really neat to hear that from from people and see the the way that that impacts our community, you know, and I think that we should be welcoming to new people because, like you said earlier, that's new ideas, that's new new money, that's new, you know, new impact.
Speaker 4:I mean each person makes an impact. You know it's Christmas, it's Christmas season and I mean watch, it's a wonderful life. I mean that's all about the impact that you make as an individual. You know what would life be like without you. It's amazing what you know it would be.
Speaker 3:It'd be totally different to be impactful. But though we have to get involved.
Speaker 4:We have to go out and meet our neighbor and see those that maybe aren't our neighbor but you know they become our neighbor that's right and and make a difference sit on the front porch always, always, read how we don't have front porches anymore. You know, maybe they're just virtual now so.
Speaker 3:So maybe every now and then somebody will drive by the law firm here and see you out on the front porch and give them away.
Speaker 4:I don't have one of our sheets in here, but one of the things we have on our sheet is you know, how did you hear about us? You know and the best, or when you you see people say you know, heard about you from so-and-so or another client or something like that. But every now and again you'll see, I just drove by you know it's like wow.
Speaker 2:Okay, I don't think I sit on the front porch here very often, but nevertheless, you know and when you, when you open a practice law firm, it's called hanging your signs that's right hanging your shingle, hanging your shingle, hanging your shingle.
Speaker 4:So they drove by and saw your shingle and you and pull in my shingles in a big metal frame out front. But yeah, you know, and I mean there's, there's been quite a few of those you know over the years. So yeah, I mean it's get involved get out there. I mean that's one of the ways that you sit on your front porch is is being involved, you know, meeting people and opening yourself up to conversations and new ideas and things like that and then how can people that maybe aren't driving by, how can they connect?
Speaker 4:I mean website oh yeah, I mean we've got a website that's under construction right now. Just we've had multiple iterations over 23 years, but we've got a new one. Silver bullet web services down here is putting it together, and so hopefully after the first year we should have something new out there. But you can still go to the old one. It's wwwerplawcom. Earplawcom and then of course you know we're on Facebook, isn't everybody you know?
Speaker 4:mm-hmm or just call us. I mean, most effective way to get in touch with us is just give us a call you know, and then we can schedule an appointment or phone meeting or whatever the case may be, mm-hmm, or the need may be, I guess and continue to drive by your office on Wallinetry because you might see Brandon out there, that's right.
Speaker 3:Look for the shingle and then you can pull on the top that's right yeah well, cost you a pull in top that's right just like it's free. So but thank you, brandon, for joining me on my own. I appreciate it, appreciate your service, appreciate you helping and being involved in our community and and being impactful in our community. I try to be you are impactful with each person you come in contact with and you, we all are.
Speaker 4:Yeah and it could be good or it can be bad, mm-hmm. I just encourage courage people to be impactful in a good way mm-hmm that's what God would want us to do, and and and what we should want to do, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So yeah, absolutely thanks for having me. I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 4:I I was a little nervous, honestly but I, it was like you said, it's just a conversation yeah, just as talking now you know my heart a little bit more yeah, I know when they can stop by.
Speaker 3:So thank you, brandon, and thank you to each of you for joining me today, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in my hometown thank you for listening to today's podcast.
Speaker 1:If you would like to connect with Aaron, you can do so by going to Aaron deglercom or find him on social media as Aaron degler on Instagram, facebook and YouTube. Once again, we greatly appreciate you tuning in. If you have enjoyed this show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcast. We greatly appreciate that effort and we will see you around in my hometown.