Jack County Sheriff’s Posse looking for community support

The Jack County Sheriff’s Posse has been an important asset to the Jack County Sheriff’s Office by aiding in missing person searches in recent weeks, but now they need the community’s support to keep them going.

Member Ace Lowrance said it is his understanding that the Jack County organization was one of the first of its kind when it began in 1954.

“We were organized to help the sheriff’s department,” Lowrance said. “At the drop of the hat, he calls, he knows that he has got at least four to five, six people to come right then. It’s just like the volunteer fire department, we’re called to do that and that’s what we do.”

The posse recently helped in searches which helped bring home a missing Bryson juvenile and locate the body of a missing Vineyard man.

“They are priceless, whenever that gentleman went missing there was a lot of territory to have covered,” Sheriff Tom Spurlock said. “If we would have to done that by foot, it would have taken awhile. One phone call to Gary Don (Overton) and it was on. (…) They do something that we just can’t do.”

On top of the support to the sheriff’s office the posse provides, they also help put on an annual June rodeo. However, the future of the rodeo is something which could be in peril the next few years.

Lowrance said rain which has fallen during the rodeo the last three years has forced the posse to cut back to a two-day rodeo this year because they cannot afford the usual three-day rodeo.

“Putting on a show like that is very expensive, you’re looking at somewhere between $18 and $20,000,” Lowrance said. “That’s hard to do each year especially when you got 50 people in the stands. We’re counting on our ticket sales.”

Posse Member RD Owen said if they have a good turnout at the rodeo it allows for the posse to pass it forward. He said it allows them to make donations to the fire department, the library, Meals on Wheels and help purchase equipment for the JCSO work program.

“We just need the support of the community, they don’t know how important they are to us,” Lowrance said. “Without them it’s not going to be good, we can’t have it anymore because we can’t afford it.”

An individual who wants join or make a donation to the posse should contact a member who can inform them of the requirements to do so.

The organization can be contacted by phone at 940-567-5461 or on their website www.jcsparena.com.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Feb. 12, edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.