Cowles ‘Pete’ Horton died this week.

Among other things he served as alderman for the City of Batesville.

Word on the street at the time was that Horton’s neighborhood in the Gordon Drive and Broad Street area of Batesville suffered with an animal control problem—loose dogs to be more specific.

According to local lore, after receiving no acceptable response and even less action from the “powers that were” at the time, Horton led a guerilla-style “task force” that lured the population of loose dogs into a strategically parked van baited with meat scraps.

Word had it that those dogs went for a long ride and became country dogs, never again to return to Gordon Drive.

As the story goes, the neighbors were impressed and told Horton if he could solve a loose dog problem that befuddled local government for years, maybe he should run for office.

And he did. And he won. And he served the city of Batesville and his ward one four-year term. But that time in public office pales in comparison with the contribution that Horton made to Batesville, the surrounding communities and the State of Mississippi.

It was the early fall of the year when the gas pump at the school bus barn on Eureka Road caught fire. The fire spread to the tank and all of Batesville’s volunteer firefighters were there spraying water on the tank keeping it cool.

But the legs of the tank gave way to the heat and as the gasoline spilled it was the largest explosion this reporter has witnessed before or since.

All the firemen survived but several were injured and at least one old-timer decided it was time to retire.

That was shortly after Pete Horton was elected to serve as the volunteers’ chief, a position he would hold from 1979-1982. That day was the day that Pete Horton decided BFD could no longer just show up and spray water. That was the day that firemen realized there was a lot to learn and Fire Chief Pete Horton led the way.

During his term as alderman, his emphasis was on firefighter training—an emphasis which is carried on by the Batesville board to this day, according to current Chief Tim Taylor.

Since that time Batesville’s Fire Department has steadily made improvements to both their knowledge, training and equipment. The local department became the center for firefighter education within the county and region, with Horton becoming qualified to teach many of the classes.

As small town and rural fire departments began to spring up throughout the county they would also  benefit from the training offered that began when Horton was associated with the city as alderman and fire chief.

“Pete has supported the Mississippi Fire Academy and is one our most talented instructors used by the Academy,” then executive director William Warren stated in a letter commending Horton in 1996. “Thank you for your assistance and you will always be an Associate Instructor for the Academy.”

Current fire chief Tim Taylor said of Horton, “Pete had a good outlook—always gave 100 percent.”

Managing an all- volunteer unit, he always instilled, “What’s best for the department, not what’s best for you,” Taylor stated and noted that Horton’s emphasis on training when he was an alderman has, “Fortunately carried on.”

While an alderman Horton insisted on sending firemen to training and Taylor said, “Our board always supported that training and continues to do so.”

Hopefully when we leave this life most of us will have made life better for our survivors.
Horton left this life having made life better for a whole lot of us. His survivors should be proud.
Befittingly, honorary pallbearers were Batesville firefighters.