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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Gary Wayne Painter | office=Sheriff of Midland County, Texas | term_start=January 1, 1985 | term_end=May 26, 2019 | pr..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Gary Wayne Painter
| office=[[Sheriff]] of [[Midland]] County, [[Texas]]
| term_start=January 1, 1985
| term_end=May 26, 2019
| predecessor=Dallas Smith
| successor=Richard Gillette (interim)
| birth_date =April 2, 1947
|birth_place=Amherst, Lamb County, Texas
| death_date=May 26, 2019 (aged 72)
| death_place= Midland, Texas
| death_cause=
| resting_place=Resthaven Cemetery in Midland
| nationality=[[United States|American]]
| party=[[Republican Party |Republican]]
| spouse=Patsy A. Oaks Painter
| children=Sandy P. Stewart<br>
Jennifer Lynn Painter<br>
Justin Wayne Painter<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Wayne and Ella Elizabeth "Beth" Pemberton Painter.
| residence=Midland, Texas
| alma_mater=Plainview (Texas) High School<br>
Draughons Practical Business College<br>
Sul Ross State University (Alpine, Texas)
| occupation=Law-enforcement officer<br>[[Business]]man
| religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
| branch=[[United States Marine Corps]]
| battles=[[Vietnam War]]: DMZ and Da Nang (two tours of duty)
| rank=[[Sergeant]]
| awards=National Defense Service Medal<br>
Vietnam Campaign Medal<br>
Vietnam Service Ribbon with six devices<br>
Presidential Unit Commendation<br>
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry<br>
|serviceyears=1966-1970
}}
'''Gary Wayne Painter''' (April 2, 1947 – May 26, 2019) was the [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[sheriff]] of [[Midland]] County, [[Texas]], a position that he held from January 1, 1985, until his sudden death in office midway in his ninth four-year term.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/gary-painter/garymidland|title=Gary W. Painter|accessdate=June 26, 2020}}</ref>
==Background==
Painter was born in [[rural]] Amherst in Lamb County near Littlefield, Texas, one of two children of Wayne Vearl Painter (1924-1991), and the former Ella Elizabeth "Beth" Pemberton (1925-2017). His sister, Jane P. Pennington of [[Amarillo]], Texas. He was reared on a [[cotton]] and grain farm in Edmonson in Hale County. north of [[Lubbock]]. In 1965, he graduated from Plainview High School in Plainview in Hale County.<ref name=findagrave>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/199464781/gary-wayne-painter|title=Gary Wayne Painter|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=June 26, 2020}}</ref> From 1965 to 1966, he attended in Lubbock Draughons Practical Business College,<ref name=painterbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.txdirectory.com/online/person/?id=14743|title=Gary Painter|publisher=txdirectory.com|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> since known as Daymar Institute.
On September 1, 1966, Painter enlisted in the [[United States Marine Corps]] and served two tours of duty in the former [[South Vietnam]]. He earned the National Defense Service Medal, the [Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and the United States Distinguished Service Medal. He was honorably discharged at the rank of [[sergeant]] on August 31, 1970, after exactly four years of service in the Marines.<ref name=painterbio/> Immediately after leaving the military, he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety as a highway patrol officer.
Painter and his wife, the former Patsy A. Oaks (born 1949), had five children.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/patsy-painter/patsyapainter?valid=true&|title=Patsy A. Painter|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=June 26, 2020}}</ref> A son, Justin Wayne Painter of Splendora in Montgomery County, Texas,<ref name=findagrave/> served in the [[United States Air Force]]. A daughter, Jennifer Lynn Painter, is a public safety dispatcher with the City of Midland. Painter was a [[Southern Baptist]] and a member and the president from 2003 to 2004 of Lions International.<ref name=painterbio/>
==Career==
In September 1970, immediately after leaving the military, he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety as a highway patrol officer. He then became a highway patrol officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. He also worked with the sheriff's offices in Culberson and Presidio counties in southwestern Texas. In Alpine, Texas, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in police administration from Sul Ross State University, named for Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross (1838-1898), the 19th [[governor]] of Texas. Painter worked too for the Midland Police Department until 1982, when he joined the Midland County sheriff's office. There he was assigned to the detention division and became a criminal investigator and a patrol lieutenant.<ref name=findagrave/>
In 1984, he ran for sheriff Painter but almost missed being placed on the Republican primary ballot in May 1984. As he filed his completed paperwork of candidacy, county party chairman William Toler Shaner (1931-1999), the officer in charge of accepting the material, had left early, closed the office, and was at an [[oil]] field site some 170 miles from Midland. Though Painter got the material to Shaner, with the filing fee, by 8 p.m. on the night of the Friday deadline, his papers were declared invalid because they were not filed by 5 p.m. Painter went to court to get on the ballot; the judge decreed that Painter met all ballot qualifications; the absence of the party chairman made the 5 p.m. deadline impossible to uphold.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/texas/supreme-court/1984/c-2862-0.html|title=Painter v. Shaner (1984)|publisher=law.justia.com|date=April 4, 1984|accessdate=June 25, 2020}}</ref>
In the 2008 Republican [[primary]] election, Painter scored 90.29 percent of the ballots cast over fellow Republican Joe D. Lozano, Sr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrt.com/top_stories/article_2b37f396-c3d0-5abd-9d0c-5bf802d77a4e.html#ixzz3DX5pJuDB|title=Midland County Sheriff Painter leads off filings for election to public office|publisher='The Midland Reporter-Telegram''|author=Kathleen Thurber|date=November 28, 2011|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> Lozano had run against Painter in the 2000 [[general election]] as an [[Independent voter|Independent]] and polled 18 percent of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrt.com/import/article_c8174c54-899a-56cf-ba31-8dd74c9b0375.html|title=Midlanders begin casting early ballots for November 5 election|date=October 21, 2002|publisher=''Midland Reporter-Telegram''|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref>
Other opponents who tried to derail Painter on alleged grounds of too much concentration on the war on drugs, ignoring the needs of Midland County, confiscation of drug money, and too many out-of-county arrest ventures were defeated time after time. Painter even managed to sink the re-nomination of a county judge and fellow Republican, Charles Wallis "Bro" Seltzer (born 1948), a Midland oil and [[natural gas]] attorney and reserve Air Force officer.<ref name=lawwestofpecos>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasobserver.org/185-the-law-west-of-the-pecos-for-sixteen-years-gary-painter-has-been-the-states-most-flamboyant-drug-warrior-is-his-star-beginning-to-dim/|title=The Law West of the Pecos|author=Nate Blakeslee|date=December 10, 1999|publisher=''The Texas Observer''|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref>
A sheriff in Texas is a peace officer who enforces state criminal laws and is responsible for the county jail, bail bonds, civil process, and court security. In some smaller counties, he is also the tax collector.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.co.midland.tx.us/departments/so/admin/Pages/History-of-the-Sheriffs-Office.aspx|title=History of the Office of Sheriff|publisher=co.midland.tx.us|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> Sheriff Painter started the first still-functioning multi-jurisdictional [[narcotics]] task force in West Texas. He organized the Midland County Sheriff's Office Crisis Intervention Unit and worked to establish the Permian Basin Peace Officers Association, and was one of the founders of the organization "STAR," or Sheriffs of Texas Agreed Response,<ref name=painterbio/> a tactical unit of deputies from some sixty counties organized like a "national guard." STAR was born amid the April 1997 standoff in Fort Davis, Texas, vis]], where Richard Lance "Rick" McLaren (born c. 1953), a leader of the right-wing militia group called the "Republic of Texas," held two of his neighbors hostage for several days in a trailer park in the Davis Mountains before he agreed to surrender to state troopers.<ref name=lawwestofpecos/>
Painter was honored by the 200 Club as "Officer of the Year" in 1988 and 1991. Recognized for his leadership abilities, He was a former president of the Sheriff’s Association of Texas, in which he held a lifetime membership. He also served on the Legislative and Technology committees of the Sheriff’s Association. He proposed legislation to strengthen law enforcement. He was also a former president of the regional Western States Sheriff’s Association. In 2016, Texas Governor [[Greg Abbott]] appointed Painter as a commissioner of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles after earlier serving for seven years on the Texas Commission on Jail Standards under appointment olf Abbott's predecessor, Governor [[Rick Perry]].<ref name=findagrave/>
===Law enforcement Innovations===
In 1990, after his first re-election, Painter pushed for construction of a new sheriff's office and detention facility, which relieved overcrowding at the then courthouse and spared the need to house surplus prisoners in other counties for a daily fee. He instituted many technological innovations, including the first, either locally or regionally:<br>
*Color video imaging machine for mugshots
*Digital radio system
*Automated fingerprint identification system
*Live scan computerized fingerprint scanning system
*In-car laptop computer mobile data system
*In-car video cameras
*[[Radar]] with [[laser]] technology.<ref name=painterbio/>
===Warnings about terrorism===
In 2014, Painter gained national attention when he spoke out against the danger of [[Islam]]ic [[Iraq]] and [[ISIS]] [[terrorism]] along the border between the United States and [[Mexico]]. Painter said that law-enforcement personnel received alerts of terrorist cells from Iraq and [[Syria]] entering through what he called the "wide open" border. "There is no control on the border, it's not shut off. There's places along the [[Rio Grande]] you can walk across, there's no water in it. I worked the border for eight years. I walked back and forth across the Rio Grande; ... Painter added.<ref name=terrorism>{{cite web|url=http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/09/15/texas-sheriff-reports-warn-of-isis-terrorist-cells-coming-across-the-border/|title=Texas Sheriff: Reports Warn of ISIS Terrorist Cells Coming Across the Border|publisher=[[CBS]]-TV in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]]|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref>
Painter continued:
<blockquote>
I think it'd be naive to say that ISIS is not here … We have found [[Muslim]] clothing ... [[Quran]] books that are lying on the side of the trail, so we know that there are Muslims that have come across and are being smuggled into the United States."<ref name=terrorism/> Painter vowed to uncover any terrorist cells: "If they show their ugly head in our area, we'll send them to hell. ... And I think the United States needs to get busy. And they need to bomb them, they need to take them out.'''<ref name=terrorism/></blockquote>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Painter, Gary}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Sheriffs]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]
| name=Gary Wayne Painter
| office=[[Sheriff]] of [[Midland]] County, [[Texas]]
| term_start=January 1, 1985
| term_end=May 26, 2019
| predecessor=Dallas Smith
| successor=Richard Gillette (interim)
| birth_date =April 2, 1947
|birth_place=Amherst, Lamb County, Texas
| death_date=May 26, 2019 (aged 72)
| death_place= Midland, Texas
| death_cause=
| resting_place=Resthaven Cemetery in Midland
| nationality=[[United States|American]]
| party=[[Republican Party |Republican]]
| spouse=Patsy A. Oaks Painter
| children=Sandy P. Stewart<br>
Jennifer Lynn Painter<br>
Justin Wayne Painter<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Wayne and Ella Elizabeth "Beth" Pemberton Painter.
| residence=Midland, Texas
| alma_mater=Plainview (Texas) High School<br>
Draughons Practical Business College<br>
Sul Ross State University (Alpine, Texas)
| occupation=Law-enforcement officer<br>[[Business]]man
| religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
| branch=[[United States Marine Corps]]
| battles=[[Vietnam War]]: DMZ and Da Nang (two tours of duty)
| rank=[[Sergeant]]
| awards=National Defense Service Medal<br>
Vietnam Campaign Medal<br>
Vietnam Service Ribbon with six devices<br>
Presidential Unit Commendation<br>
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry<br>
|serviceyears=1966-1970
}}
'''Gary Wayne Painter''' (April 2, 1947 – May 26, 2019) was the [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[sheriff]] of [[Midland]] County, [[Texas]], a position that he held from January 1, 1985, until his sudden death in office midway in his ninth four-year term.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/gary-painter/garymidland|title=Gary W. Painter|accessdate=June 26, 2020}}</ref>
==Background==
Painter was born in [[rural]] Amherst in Lamb County near Littlefield, Texas, one of two children of Wayne Vearl Painter (1924-1991), and the former Ella Elizabeth "Beth" Pemberton (1925-2017). His sister, Jane P. Pennington of [[Amarillo]], Texas. He was reared on a [[cotton]] and grain farm in Edmonson in Hale County. north of [[Lubbock]]. In 1965, he graduated from Plainview High School in Plainview in Hale County.<ref name=findagrave>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/199464781/gary-wayne-painter|title=Gary Wayne Painter|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=June 26, 2020}}</ref> From 1965 to 1966, he attended in Lubbock Draughons Practical Business College,<ref name=painterbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.txdirectory.com/online/person/?id=14743|title=Gary Painter|publisher=txdirectory.com|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> since known as Daymar Institute.
On September 1, 1966, Painter enlisted in the [[United States Marine Corps]] and served two tours of duty in the former [[South Vietnam]]. He earned the National Defense Service Medal, the [Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and the United States Distinguished Service Medal. He was honorably discharged at the rank of [[sergeant]] on August 31, 1970, after exactly four years of service in the Marines.<ref name=painterbio/> Immediately after leaving the military, he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety as a highway patrol officer.
Painter and his wife, the former Patsy A. Oaks (born 1949), had five children.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/patsy-painter/patsyapainter?valid=true&|title=Patsy A. Painter|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=June 26, 2020}}</ref> A son, Justin Wayne Painter of Splendora in Montgomery County, Texas,<ref name=findagrave/> served in the [[United States Air Force]]. A daughter, Jennifer Lynn Painter, is a public safety dispatcher with the City of Midland. Painter was a [[Southern Baptist]] and a member and the president from 2003 to 2004 of Lions International.<ref name=painterbio/>
==Career==
In September 1970, immediately after leaving the military, he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety as a highway patrol officer. He then became a highway patrol officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. He also worked with the sheriff's offices in Culberson and Presidio counties in southwestern Texas. In Alpine, Texas, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in police administration from Sul Ross State University, named for Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross (1838-1898), the 19th [[governor]] of Texas. Painter worked too for the Midland Police Department until 1982, when he joined the Midland County sheriff's office. There he was assigned to the detention division and became a criminal investigator and a patrol lieutenant.<ref name=findagrave/>
In 1984, he ran for sheriff Painter but almost missed being placed on the Republican primary ballot in May 1984. As he filed his completed paperwork of candidacy, county party chairman William Toler Shaner (1931-1999), the officer in charge of accepting the material, had left early, closed the office, and was at an [[oil]] field site some 170 miles from Midland. Though Painter got the material to Shaner, with the filing fee, by 8 p.m. on the night of the Friday deadline, his papers were declared invalid because they were not filed by 5 p.m. Painter went to court to get on the ballot; the judge decreed that Painter met all ballot qualifications; the absence of the party chairman made the 5 p.m. deadline impossible to uphold.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/texas/supreme-court/1984/c-2862-0.html|title=Painter v. Shaner (1984)|publisher=law.justia.com|date=April 4, 1984|accessdate=June 25, 2020}}</ref>
In the 2008 Republican [[primary]] election, Painter scored 90.29 percent of the ballots cast over fellow Republican Joe D. Lozano, Sr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrt.com/top_stories/article_2b37f396-c3d0-5abd-9d0c-5bf802d77a4e.html#ixzz3DX5pJuDB|title=Midland County Sheriff Painter leads off filings for election to public office|publisher='The Midland Reporter-Telegram''|author=Kathleen Thurber|date=November 28, 2011|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> Lozano had run against Painter in the 2000 [[general election]] as an [[Independent voter|Independent]] and polled 18 percent of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrt.com/import/article_c8174c54-899a-56cf-ba31-8dd74c9b0375.html|title=Midlanders begin casting early ballots for November 5 election|date=October 21, 2002|publisher=''Midland Reporter-Telegram''|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref>
Other opponents who tried to derail Painter on alleged grounds of too much concentration on the war on drugs, ignoring the needs of Midland County, confiscation of drug money, and too many out-of-county arrest ventures were defeated time after time. Painter even managed to sink the re-nomination of a county judge and fellow Republican, Charles Wallis "Bro" Seltzer (born 1948), a Midland oil and [[natural gas]] attorney and reserve Air Force officer.<ref name=lawwestofpecos>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasobserver.org/185-the-law-west-of-the-pecos-for-sixteen-years-gary-painter-has-been-the-states-most-flamboyant-drug-warrior-is-his-star-beginning-to-dim/|title=The Law West of the Pecos|author=Nate Blakeslee|date=December 10, 1999|publisher=''The Texas Observer''|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref>
A sheriff in Texas is a peace officer who enforces state criminal laws and is responsible for the county jail, bail bonds, civil process, and court security. In some smaller counties, he is also the tax collector.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.co.midland.tx.us/departments/so/admin/Pages/History-of-the-Sheriffs-Office.aspx|title=History of the Office of Sheriff|publisher=co.midland.tx.us|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref> Sheriff Painter started the first still-functioning multi-jurisdictional [[narcotics]] task force in West Texas. He organized the Midland County Sheriff's Office Crisis Intervention Unit and worked to establish the Permian Basin Peace Officers Association, and was one of the founders of the organization "STAR," or Sheriffs of Texas Agreed Response,<ref name=painterbio/> a tactical unit of deputies from some sixty counties organized like a "national guard." STAR was born amid the April 1997 standoff in Fort Davis, Texas, vis]], where Richard Lance "Rick" McLaren (born c. 1953), a leader of the right-wing militia group called the "Republic of Texas," held two of his neighbors hostage for several days in a trailer park in the Davis Mountains before he agreed to surrender to state troopers.<ref name=lawwestofpecos/>
Painter was honored by the 200 Club as "Officer of the Year" in 1988 and 1991. Recognized for his leadership abilities, He was a former president of the Sheriff’s Association of Texas, in which he held a lifetime membership. He also served on the Legislative and Technology committees of the Sheriff’s Association. He proposed legislation to strengthen law enforcement. He was also a former president of the regional Western States Sheriff’s Association. In 2016, Texas Governor [[Greg Abbott]] appointed Painter as a commissioner of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles after earlier serving for seven years on the Texas Commission on Jail Standards under appointment olf Abbott's predecessor, Governor [[Rick Perry]].<ref name=findagrave/>
===Law enforcement Innovations===
In 1990, after his first re-election, Painter pushed for construction of a new sheriff's office and detention facility, which relieved overcrowding at the then courthouse and spared the need to house surplus prisoners in other counties for a daily fee. He instituted many technological innovations, including the first, either locally or regionally:<br>
*Color video imaging machine for mugshots
*Digital radio system
*Automated fingerprint identification system
*Live scan computerized fingerprint scanning system
*In-car laptop computer mobile data system
*In-car video cameras
*[[Radar]] with [[laser]] technology.<ref name=painterbio/>
===Warnings about terrorism===
In 2014, Painter gained national attention when he spoke out against the danger of [[Islam]]ic [[Iraq]] and [[ISIS]] [[terrorism]] along the border between the United States and [[Mexico]]. Painter said that law-enforcement personnel received alerts of terrorist cells from Iraq and [[Syria]] entering through what he called the "wide open" border. "There is no control on the border, it's not shut off. There's places along the [[Rio Grande]] you can walk across, there's no water in it. I worked the border for eight years. I walked back and forth across the Rio Grande; ... Painter added.<ref name=terrorism>{{cite web|url=http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/09/15/texas-sheriff-reports-warn-of-isis-terrorist-cells-coming-across-the-border/|title=Texas Sheriff: Reports Warn of ISIS Terrorist Cells Coming Across the Border|publisher=[[CBS]]-TV in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]]|accessdate=September 17, 2014}}</ref>
Painter continued:
<blockquote>
I think it'd be naive to say that ISIS is not here … We have found [[Muslim]] clothing ... [[Quran]] books that are lying on the side of the trail, so we know that there are Muslims that have come across and are being smuggled into the United States."<ref name=terrorism/> Painter vowed to uncover any terrorist cells: "If they show their ugly head in our area, we'll send them to hell. ... And I think the United States needs to get busy. And they need to bomb them, they need to take them out.'''<ref name=terrorism/></blockquote>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Painter, Gary}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Sheriffs]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]