6A Wood County Monitor • Thursday, March 5, 2020

ObituariesSOPHIA MAE COURTNEY

1930-2020Sophia Mae Courtney, 89, of Tyler

passed away on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020 at her home. She was born on March 23, 1930 in Nemo to Thomas Vaughn and Bertha Prescher Vaughn.

Mrs. Courtney was a longtime member of Sand Springs Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her parents; hus-band, John L. Courtney; brothers, Floyd, Alvin, Richard and Leroy Vaughn; sis-

ters, Audrey Cabaniss and Mary Webb Thomas. She is survived by her son, Gary Holt and wife Lisa of

Southlake; daughters, Linda Vass and husband Don of Ty-ler, Deborah Ezzell and husband Larry of Tyler, and Sandra Dexheimer of Tyler; step-daughter, Wendy Walkoe and hus-band Paul of Vista, Calif.; 14 grandchildren; 22 great-grand-children; and eight great-great-grandchildren.

Visitation was held on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 from 10-11 a.m. at Beaty Funeral Home in Mineola. Funeral followed at 11 a.m. at the funeral home with Rev. Jim Parker conducting. Interment was at Roselawn Memorial Garden in Mineola.

JAMES REID

The Lord welcomed James Reid, 78, of Golden into his kingdom on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020 following a lengthy bat-tle with cancer. He left behind his wife, Beth; his daughter, Angie; and his son, David. James spent his career as a gener-al contractor and was an active member of his community. He served as a deacon at Golden Baptist Church. His legacy will live on in the hearts of his friends and family, and he will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will be held for James at Sand Springs Baptist Church, 3208 Co Rd 2330, Mineola on Saturday, March 7, 2020, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, a memorial may be made to Golden Baptist Church or Hospice of East Texas.

DONALD A. GRIFFITH 1957-2020

Donald A. Griffith, 62, of Mineola, passed away on Sun-day, March 1, 2020 in Tyler. He was born on May 26, 1957 to the late Granville Griffith and Helen Griffith. He was a retired heavy equipment operator for the state of Texas and was a member of Trinity Fellowship in Lindale and New Hope Baptist Church in Mineola.

He is survived by his brother, Gordon Griffith of Dallas. Graveside service was held on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at

Cedars Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Mineola at 10 a.m., Bro. Ben Steen conducting.

THOMAS “TOM” RICHARD SMITH,1952-2020

Thomas “Tom” Richard Smith, 67, re-turned to his heavenly home on Feb. 16, 2020 after a valiant battle with cancer. His devotion to his family and his firm belief in Jesus supported him in his struggle and ultimately gave him peace.

Tom was born to the late Thomas Eu-gene “Gene” Smith and Virginia Smith, in Schenectady, N.Y. on April 19, 1952. He spent most of his childhood in Dallas

and was active in the Boy Scouts where he earned his Eagle Scout Award. He graduated from high school in Houston and went on to study accounting at North Texas and became a CPA.

Tom was blessed with a loving family. He married Melissa Hogan Smith on March 5, 1976 in Dallas and they had two children, Brad Smith of Helena, Mont. and Katie Smith Bal-lard of Lucas.

Tom was a caretaker and problem-solver at heart. He was intelligent and detail-oriented, kind and soft-spoken, and always had time to answer a question or solve a problem, no matter how small. He is dearly missed by his loved ones, who celebrate the fact that he is at peace with his Creator.

Tom is survived by his wife, Melissa; his son, Brad and wife Shauna; his daughter, Katie and husband Eric; his grandchildren, Ethan, Adyson and Owen; his mother, Vir-ginia Smith; his brother, Tim Smith and wife Linda; his sister, Lori Whittaker and husband Ken; his sister, Leanne D’Aloisio and husband Paul; as well as many nieces, neph-ews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

A visitation was held at Lowe Funeral Home in Quit-man on Thursday, Feb. 20 from 6-8 p.m. A celebration of his life was held in the Chapel at Lowe Funeral Home on Friday, Feb. 21 at 11 a.m. officiated by Vern Herschberger. Interment was at the Con-cord Cemetery in Mineola following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks to support the Hainesville Vol-unteer Fire Department – an organization for which Tom had great respect.

Wood CountySERVICE DIRECTORY

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Nic WatkinsLicensed Agent

Last Puzzle Solution

S-1469

T H A R R I T E A S H E C H E F K A I M O B I C A N T A L S T Y N E L A N I E R N O T H R E E A F I R S T T H E O L D S E A L E S O S S I G N O F O F A R T C O A T I M E L V I N B E L L I S T E F A N I E R A I N S O I L A N D G A S A I N T N O W E D S I T A L A K A S G A G P S Y T I M S I N A M A N E W E

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR COMMERCIAL SURFACE TREATMENT, DISPOSAL AND RECYCLING FACILITY PERMIT Pure Oilfield Waste MGMT, Inc., c/o Larry E. Carlisle, 1108 Pagedale Drive, Cedar Park, TX 78613-5810 is in the process of filing an application with the Railroad Commission of Texas for a COMMERCIAL SURFACE TREATMENT, DISPOSAL AND RECYCLING FACILITY PERMIT.

The facility will accept, temporarily store, treat, process and dispose of various Non-Hazardous, Exempt, Oil and Gas Waste generated by Exploration and Production Operations during the exploration, development, or production of oil and gas resources regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). Fluid wastes will be disposed of at the onsite commercial disposal well permitted to dispose of non-hazardous oil and gas waste by injection into a porous formation not productive of oil and gas. Solid wastes will be disposed in one of three existing salt caverns. No solid wastes will be permanently stored on the surface tract. Typical wastes to be accepted and managed at the facility include, but are not limited to: water based drilling fluids and associated cuttings; basic sediment and water; produced formation water; fracturing flowback fluids and associated solids; crude oil and/or condensate contaminated fluids and solids; and other Non-Hazardous, Exempt liquids and solids from which crude oil, condensate or other petroleum substances that may be separated and recovered in an effort to conserve our states natural resources.

The proposed commercial surface treatment, disposal and recycling site is located 1.66 miles South/Southeast of Hainesville, TX, in the W.H. Patton Survey, Abstract No. 467, Wood County, TX. The proposed site is located on real property owned by Pure Oilfield Waste MGMT, Inc.

Affected persons may protest this application. Protests must be in writing and must be received by the 15th day after the last date of publication of this notice. The last date of this publication of this notice is expected to be March 12, 2020.

Protests must be sent to: Technical Permitting Section, Oil and Gas Division, Railroad Commission of Texas, P.O. Box 12967, Austin, TX 78711 (Telephone 512-463-3840).

NOTICE TO CREDITORSNotice is hereby given that original Letters Testamentary

for the Estate of Ernest Ellsworth Howe, Deceased, were issued on February 24, 2020, in Cause No. 13,642, pending in the County Court of Wood County, Texas, to: MICHAEL DAVID HOWE and JEANNIE HOWE HUMPHREY.

All persons having claims against this Estate which is currently being administered are required to present them to the undersigned within the time and in the manner prescribed by law.

c/o: KYLE G. WAGGONER Attorney at Law PO Box 1152 Mineola, TX 75773

John Phillip Forrester, in early November 2015 as the Forresters and five others at-tempted to access a disputed oil lease on Brown’s proper-ty north of Quitman.

The lawsuit claimed Brown and his deputies en-gaged in a campaign of “ha-rassment, intimidation and abuse” against Forrester, who was attempting to gain access to an oil well lease so he could recover millions of dollars worth of equip-ment stranded in the mud. The suit claimed a litany of misconduct on the part of Brown and his men that culminated the morning of Nov. 2, 2015.

The lawsuit alleged the following: The two For-resters and five associates set out for the oil lease and opened a gate to a road lead-ing to the well. Jerry Boone, who owned land adjacent to Brown’s, began yelling and screaming profanities at the party. Boone went to his trailer and returned with a 9mm pistol, which he pointed at Forrester. Boone ultimately fired his gun, striking the elder Forrester in the lower leg. Boone then stood over him with the gun pointed at the elder Forrest-er’s head. In an attempt to distract him, the younger Forrester shouted at Boone, who turned and fired at the younger Forrester, hitting him in the back. No one was arrested at that time.

Later in November 2015, Brown and others put up barriers across the road to

the oil well, the suit alleged. In December 2015, Forrester alleged, someone sabotaged an oil flow line from the well, diverting it from stor-age tanks to a nearby pond.

The lawsuit sought an un-specified amount for actual damages, pain and suffer-ing, mental anguish, medi-cal care, as well as exempla-ry and punitive damages.

Meanwhile, the defen-dants sought dismissal of the case through summa-ry judgment. Brown filed a countersuit, which alleged the Forresters attempted to “bully their way across property owned by Brown and others that was never within the boundaries of the old mineral lease and through which the Forrest-ers had no right of access.”

When met with opposi-tion, the younger Forrest-er prosecuted a civil suit against Brown and the property owners which was ultimately terminated in fa-vor of Brown. Nevertheless, the Forresters continued to claim rights under an ex-pired lease and to trespass onto Brown’s land.

The counteraction sought actual and exemplary dam-ages for malicious prosecu-tion, a declaration that the lease in question was termi-nated before being acquired by Forrester and that the Forresters have no right, ti-tle or interest in the lease, a declaration that the Forrest-ers have no right to enter Brown’s property, and attor-ney and court fees.

All pending criminal charges against Brown and Tucker stemming from the incident were dismissed Feb. 7 in the 402nd District Court.

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