Published: May 14, 2009 02:12 pm      

Commissioners consider judge candidate applicants

Editor’s note: This is part one of several parts

Thirteen applicants have turned in their resumes for the Cooke County Judge position. Although it is uncertain when commissioners will make their decision as to who the next judge will be, the interviewing process began Monday at 10 a.m.

The Gainesville Daily Register is currently in the process of interviewing the candidates too, in order to give community members a chance to get to know the next possible judge.

Each candidate has been asked to give a brief description of their work qualifications and why they decided to run for Cooke County Judge.



Sheila Cox

Sheila Cox describes herself as a hometown girl who attended elementary and high school in Sadler. She attended McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., and later came back to Cooke County in 1992. She and her husband, Bill Cox, currently live in the southeast part of Cooke County, between Lake Ray Roberts and Lake Kiowa.

Cox has both taught high school and has 20 years of real estate experience.

“In both of those fields, I received national recognition for outstanding service,” she said.

Recipient of a national award, Cox said she was named one of the outstanding secondary educators of America. While she does not sell real estate at this time, Cox is still a licensed realtor and is an inductee into the Merrill Lynch Leading Edge Society.

As to why she decided to apply for the county judge position, Cox said the same work ethics and experience that enabled her to achieve those accomplishments, would be brought into her service to the people of Cooke County if appointed as their Cooke County Judge.

“I have such a passion for Cooke County and the people who live here,” said Cox. “I am very much driven to represent the best interests of all the citizens as I have done through my efforts on the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee.”



Jason Brinkley

Jason Brinkley, 26, is the youngest applicant for Cooke County Judge.

He resides in the Mt. Springs area, east of Valley View, where he was born and raised. Brinkley graduated from Valley View High School in 2001 and attended Texas A&M University in College Station from 2001 to 2005. In 2005, he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

Following his graduation, Brinkley attended law school at Oklahoma City University School of Law from 2005 to 2008 and graduated in May 2008 with a Juris Doctor.

Licensed to practice law in November 2008, he started his own law firm, Brinkley & Webster, PLLC, shortly thereafter. The primary practice area for the firm, said Brinkley, is Denton and surrounding counties.

Brinkley said he feels he is the best candidate, because he can bring a fresh outlook to Commissioners Court.

“ I applied for the job because I feel that I can offer a new and fresh perspective, and believe that I can use my skills to help the county find reasonable solutions to the issues facing our county in the years to come,” said Brinkley.



John Roane

Judge John Roane has been appointed to the Justice of the Peace, precinct 4, since August 1997. Born and raised in Gainesville, Roane graduated from North Texas State University (now known as UNT) with an industrial arts Bachelor of Science.

However prior to that, Roane also attended Cooke County Junior College (now known as NCTC) and Valley View High School.

After college graduation, Roane went to pilot training where he received his commission in the U.S. Airforce.

During his 20 year career in the Airforce, Roane was a pilot training instructor in Del Rio at Laughline Airforce Base. He was stationed to Shaw Airforce Base in South Carolina and transitioned to the RF-4C, an aircraft course, for two and a half years.

From there, he went to Kaden Air Base in Okinawa, the Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, the Bergstrom Airforce Base in Austin and the Osan Air Base in South Korea. After being sent back to Bergstrom, Roane said he retired as a major in 1989 and went on to work five years at Texas Instruments in Lewisville as a supervisor while he put together his cattle herd.

In 2008, Roane said he retired from ranching. Currently, besides serving as judge for Justice of the Peace, he also teaches for the Justice Court Training Center.

Roane said he desires to become the next Cooke County Judge due to his love of Cooke County.

“Cooke County is my home,” said Roane. “There’s where I began and that’s where I’ll end. Everything near and dear to me has to do with Cooke County. That’s where we always came back to during my dad’s military career and mine as well.”

Cooke County is also the home to Roane’s son and his family and is the place where he met the love of his life, Gail, also born and raised in Gainesville.

“I just want to make sure that I leave Cooke County as good as I found it when I started.”



Whitten Williams

Whitten Williams has both a BA and MA in history and educational administration from New Mexico Highlands University. He also has two additional years of course work from the University of North Texas in history and administration and higher education.

In 1968, he came to Gainesville and worked at NCTC for 28 years. During the time, he began as an instructor teaching history and became a division director. For 17 years, he was the dean of instruction at the college and the dean of administrative services for 7 years.

Williams said he also served as interim president for the university on two separate occasions during the selection of a new president.

“I have extensive experience as a builder and as dean of instruction, I had responsibility in constructing the budget for the operation of the college,” said Williams.

Williams also assisted the president of the university with presenting the budget to the board of trustees and represented NCTC in legislative matters in Austin.

“As dean of administrative services, I was in charge of federal programs, administration federal programs, personnel and was directly responsible of maintenance, renovation and construction of new facilities,” he said.

Currently retired, Williams said he would embrace the challenge of being the Cooke County Judge, if appointed.

“It’s a job that’s challenging and I am sure that I have the credentials, having a lot of experience in budgeting, maintenance plans and personnel,” he said. “I have a reputation of being able to get the most for the money expended and frankly, I’m not a good retiree. I need to be working.”

To read more bios from Cooke County Judge applicants, see Friday’s edition of the Gainesville Daily Register.