White cowboy hats are the favored fashion accessory for Milam County Democratic Party sheriff’s candidates. Not only did they toss their hats into the political arena, all three men hit the 2008 campaign trail wearing the headgear traditional in the Lone Star State among personages on the right side of the law.
White hats portray an image of the good guys, says sheriff’s candidate Tommy Farr, an Alcoa employee from Rockdale who prefers black hats because he believes dark flatters silver hair, but donned a white hat for his sheriff’s campaign. Farr’s treasured keepsake is the white felt cowboy hat his grandfather, Wilburn Douglas, wore during his tenure as Killeen police chief in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
“Good guys wear white hats,” said David Greene, Milam County Precinct 1 constable and retired Texas Parks & Wildlife Department game warden of Cameron, who favors a billed cap when he is not campaigning for sheriff. “When I was a game warden, I wore a white hat, too. I think that is just the image. I haven’t known many sheriffs that don’t wear one.”
Milam County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Kouba, the first 2008 primary candidate to toss his white hat in the ring, said such dress is appropriately traditional for a Texas law officer.
Most of the former sheriffs from 1836 to the present wore white hats; thus, Milam County sheriff’s deputies’ uniforms include the traditional snow-white chapeau. Kouba ordinarily does not wear a Western hat because it messes up his hair, but the chief deputy posed for campaign photos in a white hat.
“You look at the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, any of your good guys all wear white hats,” Kouba said. “It’s a long-standing tradition that dates back to the Wild West days.”
Texas Rangers carry on the tradition of white hats “because they’re the good guys,” said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange in Austin. “The Ranger hats have been white for as long as anyone can remember.”
Hats associated with heroes who rode tall in the saddle may also show up in pale shades, such as light gray or cream. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers wear hats of a hue created exclusively for them called “Texas Tan,” Ms. Mange said.
Much respected Milam County sheriffs Carl Black and Leroy Broadus wore white Western headgear, as does current Sheriff Charlie West. White hats are commonplace among most Milam County law officers in various departments.
Though Greene, Farr and Kouba would not be caught on the campaign trail without their white hats, none of the sheriff’s candidates seriously believes their choice of headgear would influence the electorate. But, all three agreed a dark hat would present a negative image. The white hat is merely Texas tradition and not one they would care to hurl aside in this important campaign.
“I don’t think it will sway any votes,” Greene said. “People will look at the candidate.”
“I believe the voters that back me are voting for me as an individual and on my reputation,” Farr agreed. “I don’t think a hat has anything to do with it. It’s just an image. Most sheriffs out here wear white hats.”
“I don’t think it will sway voters,” Kouba asserted. “I hope the voters have enough confidence in me on my past and proven accomplishments - most of the time, I didn’t even have a hat on.”
Reminiscent of the television show McCloud - where a U.S. deputy marshal from New Mexico in full Western regalia pounded a New York City police beat - Kouba and another Milam County deputy literally stopped traffic in South Bend, Ind., when they arrived at the courthouse to pick up a prisoner.
“Both of us were wearing white hats, and we got looks,” Kouba said. “Some guy came up and asked us if we were actors in a movie. In the northern states, they wear a different hat, more like a Smokey the Bear or a Mountie hat.”
