City hires new talent to revitalize Marlin

Marlin city officials have hired several new employees over the last few weeks. 

City officials swore in Judge Morris L. Overstreet as the city’s Municipal Court Judge, the previous municipal court judge resigned in early January 2021. 

Overstreet was born and raised in Amarillo. He attended Carver High School and later graduated from Amarillo High School in 1968. He would later graduate from Angelo State University in San Angelo with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with minors in Chemistry and Biology. He then graduated from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1975 and was licensed to practice law in the same year. 

He then returned to Amarillo to practice law and raise his family. He has served as general counsel to the Texas State Baptist Convention, and municipal judge for the City of Prairie View. 

Overstreet’s legal career includes being the First Assistant District Attorney of the 47th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, private practice, elected judge of the Potter County Court at Law Number 1. 

Overstreet is the first African-American elected to a statewide office in the history of the State of Texas. 

He was twice elected to serve on the state’s highest criminal appellate court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, from 1990 to 1998. As a member of the Court, he authored over 500 opinions. He also served as the distinguished professor of law at his alma mater, Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston. 

He completed his funeral services education in June 2017 from Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service in Houston. Overstreet stated mission was to restore fairness and equal justice for all the people who come before the city’s municipal court. 

Also on Feb. 9 the city introduced two new additions to the city’s workforce. The city’s first ever Tourism Director, Bryan LeMeilleur. 

He grew up in a certified Texas ghost town - Morris Ranch. In his youth he was involved in 4-H and music. After graduating from Fredericksburg High, he attended South Plains College, earning an Associate’s of Applied Science. He moved to San Marcos to attend Texas State University. 

After completing a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, he returned to the Hill Country and worked for the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce. Encouraged by his work with KACC, he decided to further his education and pursue studies in Masters of Public Administration at Texas State University. 

During his graduate degree he married his wife Raquelle, and they have a son named Greyson, who came along while in graduate school, too. 

He is combining his knack for gab and love of people, as well as his rural upbringing, coming to Marlin and promoting the city’s natural resources and its people seemed like a natural fit. His hobbies include playing guitar, dabbling in small electronic circuits, collecting manual typewriters, gardening, occasionally photography and metal detecting, reading books printed on paper, fishing, and hunting. 

Marlin’s other addition to the city’s new hire line up is Code Enforcement/Animal Control Officer William Hunt. 

Hunt earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University, he holds public educators’ certifications in Special Education EC-12, Trade and Industrial 8-12, and TCOLE Basic Peace Officer. Hunt brings a spectrum of background experience in law enforcement and parole, as well as a background in electric and construction. He is a retired peace officer and a native of the Falls County area. 

He said he looks forward to the challenge of getting the stray animal population within the city under control, through public education, volunteerism programs, and any other available resources. 

 

The Marlin Democrat

251 Live Oak St
Marlin, TX 76661
Phone: (254) 883-2554
Fax:(254) 883-6553