{"id":322376,"date":"2015-01-02T16:20:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T22:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/?p=322376"},"modified":"2015-01-05T02:13:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T08:13:09","slug":"rusk-county-commissioner-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=322376","title":{"rendered":"Rusk County Commissioner Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2015\/01\/mike-pepper.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2015\/01\/mike-pepper-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"mike-pepper\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-322388\" \/><\/a>HENDERSON \u2013 Rusk County officials and the community are mourning the death of a beloved commissioner who died Friday. Pct. 2 Commissioner Mike Pepper died Friday in a Tyler-area hospital after struggling with a blood disorder in the past year, County Judge Joel Hale said. \u201cHe was a great guy. He was a great friend. He was somebody we all depended on. He would help anybody with anything,\u201d Hale said. \u201cWords can\u2019t express how much we are going to miss him.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Pepper, a farmer and rancher by trade, first sought the Pct. 2 seat in 2006 when Gerald Green decided not to seek re-election. After winning the Republican primary and subsequent general election, Pepper was sworn into office Jan. 2, 2007.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommissioner Pepper was a dedicated public servant and a strong supporter of Rusk County law enforcement,\u201d District Attorney Micheal Jimerson said in a statement. \u201cRusk County has lost a powerful, understanding giant of a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hale said Pepper, who attended Longview High School, was instrumental in many projects in the county.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Hale said, Pepper \u2014 along with volunteers and the Church Hill Water Supply \u2014 played a key role in providing water service to a rural area of the county outside of Henderson that had previously relied on inconsistent well water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe that, in 21st century America, there are still some people who don\u2019t have access to a clean, dependable water supply,\u201d Pepper said in March 2012 about the project. \u201cIt\u2019s taken a long time to get this going, and we\u2019re not done yet, but we\u2019re definitely moving slowly in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The project concluded in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Pepper also played a key role in the county opening a new facility to house stray or abandoned equines until they could be adopted or transported.<\/p>\n<p>When Henderson ISD wanted to get rid of its former Montgomery campus, Hale said Pepper assisted with the process through the county\u2019s interlocal agreement with the school district. Pepper, a self-employed contractor, also helped with roads surrounding Tatum ISD property in his precinct and assisted Pct. 4 Commissioner Harold Howell with the demolition of an old gym at Laneville ISD.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis experience in construction made him invaluable, and his attitude of always being available to help. &#8230; He will be greatly missed,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n<p>Pepper and his wife, Tammy, lived in Tatum. He had four children.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral services are pending with Crawford A. Crim Funeral Home in Henderson.<\/p>\n<p>Story Courtesy of Longview News Journal &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.news-journal.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.news-journal.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HENDERSON \u2013 Rusk County officials and the community are mourning the death of a beloved commissioner who died Friday. Pct. 2 Commissioner Mike Pepper died Friday in a Tyler-area hospital after struggling with a blood disorder in the past year, County Judge Joel Hale said. \u201cHe was a great guy. He was a great friend. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=322376\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Rusk County Commissioner Dies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-14 05:27:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322376"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322390,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322376\/revisions\/322390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}