Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, More Pretty Flowers / The Sheriff

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“Man, you’re full of s#@!”

Those are the first words I heard after giving a talk to a room full of cops, lawyers, judges, and non-profit executives.  Who was I, anyway?  What is this suit from the city doing coming into town telling my officers and my county what to do?  Yes, I must have been full of s#@!

Those words came from the elected sheriff of Fort Bend County, Milton Wright.  A very highly respected, even venerated, no-nonsense man surrounded by rough edges.  Not surprising, considering his pedigree.  Sheriff Wright spawned straight from a line of Texas Rangers, and became one himself very quickly after joining DPS in 1960.  He was nearly an old man now, but still full of vinegar with enough energy to whip and keep a very fast-growing county in line.

But those things are not what was most interesting about this man.  As a 23-year-old Ranger, he was assigned to serve as one of the greeters as President John F Kennedy arrived in Dallas for a campaign stop, then drive the third car behind the president in the motorcade that wound through downtown.  Yes, this was November 22, 1963, and he was one of the VIP drivers in the fateful motorcade when all hell broke loose in Dealey Plaza.

All police officers are taught to drive in adverse situations, but the Rangers know how to drive very, very well.  Wright had no trouble keeping up with the presidential limousine as it careened at up to 80 mph through the downtown streets, and he in fact arrived at Parkland Hospital just as it stopped at the ER.  Without missing a beat or even thinking, he ran up in time to cover the gore that once was Kennedy’s head with his coat, and helped load the already-dead president onto a waiting gurney.  It was thus that Milton Wright became a footnote in history.  But he did not talk at all about that terrible event, or his role in it, until after his retirement when he gave an interview to KHOU Channel 11 here in Houston.  In the meantime everyone that knew him knew not to ask.

But that is not the end of this story.  If you’ll remember, he said I was full of s#@!  This was during a short break between my talk and the focus groups, when those of like profession gathered in small groups to discuss what they were going to communicate to the Governor’s Office regarding the law enforcement needs of the county.  After receiving the sheriff’s assessment, I made certain that I would be at his table and among his top brass during this phase of the meeting.  By the time it was done I had held my own, and Milton Wright apologized in front of everyone for saying I was full of s#@!  We weren’t pals afterwards, but there was a grudging respect that I’m proud to have gained at the end of the day.