What’s up
Thanks for visiting my website. The main photo at the top of the page is from the Sabine River, which is the subject of my first book. I'm the writer, and Jacob Croft Botter is the photographer.
Yes, we have a contract, and yes, we are full of ourselves. Publication date TBA ...
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Author Archives: wes
United in marriage and chili
Duo are first husband and wife to both win first place at world chili championship in Terlingua Linda Odom will give you her recipe, but you can’t cook her chili. Try anyway, and you’ll need floaters and dumps. It’s OK … Continue reading
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The ghost hunters
On a cool, damp night in Longview, paranormal investigator Misty Richardson says she will not fear the spirits she expects to encounter during research of a local burial ground. Continue reading
Constable selling a local legend
For sale: a 1978 Plymouth Salon. Avocado-green paint. Not appropriate for all drivers – especially no teenagers. “I don’t want to get ’em killed,” says the car’s owner, Hays County Constable James Kohler. Click here to read the story on … Continue reading
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Historic church adapts to serve changing population
On a winter day in 1886, at a farmhouse east of Kyle, 16 German settlers gathered to form a church. The body established by that long-ago meeting, now called Immanuel Baptist, celebrated its 125th anniversary this past Sunday. The church’s … Continue reading
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An afternoon at the market
At a farmers market in the Texas Hill Country, traders offer fresh produce, artisanal foods and more than a few stories. Click here to read the story in the Hays Free Press.
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A night in camp
A night in one of Longview’s homeless camps. Continue reading
Posted in Poverty, Showcase
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The ballad of Billy Ray
Whatever happened to Billy Ray Johnson? He used to be a familiar face around town: the middle-aged and mentally challenged black man who was always walking the back roads of Linden. On a September night in 2003, he was picked … Continue reading
Posted in News
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Anything goes in backyard wrestling
Heavy metal is pounding, and the people are ready for wrasslin’ when a man in a black lucha libre mask cuts the music and grabs the microphone. An afternoon of hardcore, backyard wrestling is about to begin. Continue reading
Posted in Sports
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Unicycle football is hell on wheel
This is a classic underdog story. A scrappy football team. No talent, all heart. Fighting for a chance at the playoffs. The competition? Only the most skillful team in the league. A squad so overconfident, its captain says things like … Continue reading
Posted in Features, Sports
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SXSW, fighting rednecks, and formulaic stories
At SXSW this week I met up with an old college friend and his adorable new hipster girlfriend. We’d been wandering around downtown Austin all night and were exhausted. Then we found ourselves at one of those cool new bars … Continue reading
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Killin’ n Grillin’
man, i’m proud of east texas. the tagline for this new tv show: “please kill responsibly”
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Writing fireworks
Whenever I try to use my words to change the world, the whole thing usually blows up in my face. Or worse, it just fizzles out, and I’m left holding the dud and mumbling some b.s. about best intentions. Reminds … Continue reading
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Sassman’s last stand
A confrontation between neighbors. Criminal charges and disappearing evidence. A road project in Uhland is the latest fuel for this small-town feud. Gordon Sassman’s heart was racing. His hands were shaking. He was so wound up, he hadn’t gotten an … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Features
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Postpartum remorse
When I’m writing a story, my only objective is to seek the truth, uncover it, and retell it as best I can. If I throw a few grenades along the way, so be it. I don’t worry much about the … Continue reading
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For grandma raising 13, this is ‘the worst time’
Yolanda Sanchez Perez, a hardworking grandma, lives with 13 of her grandkids on a muddy piece of land outside of town. The only bathtub on the property is in a worn-down travel trailer in the backyard. The trailer has no … Continue reading
Posted in Features, Poverty
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No more changes for Rebel mascot
The mustachioed mascot at Hays High School looks like he’s hopping mad. If so, he’s got his reasons. First, “Colonel Jack” lost his belt buckle bearing the Stars and Bars. Then the carpetbaggers commandeered his pistols, replacing them with a … Continue reading
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Auctioning off the past
On Saturday morning Dale Wheelis raised the bay door of a storage unit whose renters had fallen hopelessly behind on their payments. Till that moment, the contents of the unit had been open to nothing but speculation. Now more than … Continue reading
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At movie premiere, San Marcos smells the popcorn
A Friday night movie premiere in San Marcos, and the stars would be arriving at any minute. Gaggles of fans had positioned themselves along the red carpet, contending for the best views. It was a long red carpet, the kind … Continue reading
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Four days on the Sabine River
From our first trip down the Sabine River a couple of years ago … These videos were edited by Scott Brunner. I found them on his storage drive and stole them fair and square.
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Lipnik’s advice for writers
“Hell, I could take you through it step by step, explain why your story stinks, but I won’t insult your intelligence. Well all right, first of all: This is a wrestling picture; the audience wants to see action, drama, wrestling, … Continue reading
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An intrusion at the Battle of Sabine Pass
Another passage that I cut from the manuscript. The guy who hopped out of the car was fortyish and not wearing a shirt. In fact, he was not wearing much of anything — only shorts, sandals, and wrap-around sunglasses. A … Continue reading
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Squirrel fur in the squirrel stew
For your reading pleasure, a passage that wasn’t good enough for my book. (I have been cutting mercilessly, especially the parts that are about me more than they’re about the river). – Wes I had deluded myself into thinking that … Continue reading
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The cemetery
This cemetery is on a dirt road at the county line, not far from my home. I’ve been going there for years. Don’t ask me why. Earlier this afternoon, I came across the marker for a girl (bottom photo) who … Continue reading
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Two words that worry me
1. Longueur — a tedious passage in a book or other work 2. Bathos — an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous I’ve been self-editing my manuscript before … Continue reading
Wild and wonderful Whites
I’m not sure I want to recommend this movie, riddled as I am with liberal guilt. A lot of my own stories have toed the line between the celebration of white trash culture and the exploitation of it. But there’s … Continue reading
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Chris Davis: ‘I’ve fixed what I needed to fix’
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Chris Davis saunters into the home team dugout a couple of hours before the first pitch. No need for introductions. The pride of Longview, Davis is tall and muscled up, with blue eyes, gelled hair and … Continue reading
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Deliverance, pig squeals and so much more
It’s a shame that our collective memory of Deliverance has been distilled into a single punch line. You know, that hillbilly rape scene. A couple of rednecks sodomize this poor slob whose biggest mistake had been to climb into a … Continue reading
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Me and John Graves and the Sabine River
Sometimes, in the pursuit of a story, a writer becomes as creepy and obsessed as a stalker. During research for my latest project, I think I might have crossed into that dark side. No, I’m pretty sure I did. I … Continue reading
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Texas’ literary heirs
Who will be the heirs of Larry McMurtry and John Graves? That’s the question in one of today’s DMN editorials (h/t Elliott). My hunch? Nobody. Lone Star pride still runs high, but it’s more of an abstract, sentimental feeling that … Continue reading
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Cow College
The old ways just won’t cut it in a modern beef operation, according to professors at Texas A&M University. That can be a hard message to swallow for some Texans who yearn to work with cattle. Maybe retirement age is … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture
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Friday night meltdown
A funny thing happened during the local football game last night. Not so much funny haha, though. Picture bright stadium lights under a crescent moon. Bleachers decked in hometown red and blue. The green expanse of the gridiron. Electricity in … Continue reading
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Wide-open road vs. the pine curtain
The open road = freedom. Heading west in Texas, the interstate freeway undulates through cedar-studded hills that eventually flatline into high desert. You can see for miles. You suddenly get what people mean about wide-open spaces, because you feel free … Continue reading
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It’s a snake-eat-snake world
I recently returned from a road trip through West Texas. Business, not pleasure — my first big magazine assignment. The idea was to hang out with four rural veterinarians in four days, to glean anecdotes for an article about, well, … Continue reading
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Gazing at my plump, stately navel
So I’m blogging now. Do people still do that? Write narcissistic, unedited scraps of essay and memoir, baring their naked selves before the anonymous travelers of the ’Net? I’m blogging so I can take an occasional break from the book … Continue reading
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Selling roses to Longview’s drunks
If a man and woman are out on the town — they’re two-stepping, they’re having fun — one thing is all but certain: before night’s end, the rose lady will find them. And when she does, the man better have … Continue reading
Living through Facebook
The gods of social networking say I should reconnect with Greg Thompson. It has been months since anyone has written to him. Facebook wants to give him a nudge, a word or two to draw him back into the fold. … Continue reading
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Unleashed dogs not bicyclist’s best friend
My latest scheme to not get any fatter is to ride a bike. Dogs think this is a terrible idea. Normally I wouldn’t give two rips about the opinion of some mangy cur, but I live out in the country … Continue reading
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Neches River trip
I paddled the Neches the other afternoon to compare it to my own favorite river, the Sabine. Read the story in the July edition of County Line Magazine.
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Comfort food and mounted critters
From the June edition of County Line Magazine Some things just go together: Burgers and fries, bacon and eggs, comfort food and mounted critters. A Gladewater greasy spoon has discovered the winning combination. The Silver Spur Cafe on U.S. 80 … Continue reading
Old rides, new life
BETTIE — Edsel Green parked his tractor beside the only traffic light in town and polished his beauty for the ride to come. Rebuilt from hood to hitch, every bearing and seal, the red International was not pulling a disk … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Features
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A home-grown Thanksgiving turkey
The domesticated turkey has only one obligation in this life, but it’s a big one, and there’s no getting around it. The bird in my backyard had to die, and it was my job to off her. Like a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture
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‘I probably would have died with them’
Two sisters-in-law slipped into ponchos on Wednesday morning and waded through the ashes of a small frame home in Kilgore. As they worked toward the back bedroom, Sherry Ritchie and Joanie Cummings filled trash bags with smoke-stained clothes they believed … Continue reading
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Can Longview’s race “monster” be solved?
In midst of LISD attendance zone debate, race relations still riddle Continue reading
Emu on the run
A wayward emu is on the loose in northwestern Harrison County after spooking a rancher’s livestock for the past couple of weeks. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors
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On the road with Wes and Scott
Vicious alligators! Death-defying ziplines! Salty buildings! Check out our six-part series of day trips around East Texas — no luggage required. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors
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Cicada song
Tiny nymphs hide among the trees of East Texas. But as they grow older, the midsummer night beckons. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors, Science
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Let’s commercialize high school sports
Pat Collins is a salty old coach, a booster backslapper, a guy whose powers of persuasion can open wallets around town. He wants the best for his kids, and he knows how to get it. For proof, just look at … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Education
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‘He’s given hero a different meaning’
LAKEPORT — Hundreds of East Texans stood in silent tribute Saturday as a Tatum family grieved over the flag-draped casket of a fallen loved one. Relatives and supporters gathered at the East Texas Regional Airport to meet the body of … Continue reading
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Longview Transit riders as varied as the routes
We spent a recent weekday getting to know a few of the passengers who use Longview Transit every day. They are elderly people, working poor people, homeless folks and others who occupy a range of life situations. Continue reading