It looks like there's another Texas Panhandle sheriff in trouble. It's only been a year since Potter County Sheriff Michael Shumate was convicted of accepting bribes to award the jail commissary contract. He was sentenced to six months in jail and eight years of probation (which he is currently serving). Now it looks like the sheriff of neighboring Armstrong County may be in trouble.
Armstrong County is a thinly populated county located about 30 miles south and east of Amarillo. There are only about 2,148 people according to the 2000 census (about 2 people per square mile). The county seat is Claude (population 1,313).
The sheriff of Armstrong County for the last eight years has been J.R. Walker. Sometime in the last two weeks, he had an altercation with one of his deputies and wound up firing the deputy. The deputy says Sheriff Walker assaulted him during the altercation, and reported the assault to 47th District Attorney Randall Sims.
Since Sims prosecuting area includes Armstrong County, and asked 47th District Court Judge Hal Miner to appoint a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor is asking the Texas Rangers to investigate the charge.
An interesting sidelight to this is the fact that the convicted Potter County sheriff, Michael Shumate, served his jail time in Armstrong County.
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