Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office recognizes 2022 Employees of the Year

(Seguin) -- The Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office is recognizing its top Employees of the Year. Guadalupe County Sheriff Arnold Zwicke says each year, sheriff's employees nominate and vote for their fellow collegues honoring them with various titles.

This year's honorees include 2022 Deputy of the Year Jeff Casias; 2022 Supervisor of the Year Lt. Zachary McBride; Support Staff of the Year, Angelica Garza; Investigator of the Year, Elaine Reamer; Telecommunicator of the Year, Tyra Schoeder; Detention Officer of the Year, Michael Brink; Detention Supervisor of the Year, Sgt. Abraham Haiyasoso; Detention Support Staff of the Year, Bob Gonzales and Chris Moore.

Zwicke says this year's pool of honorees is a true representation of all the hardworking and dedicated men and women who serve the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office.

"This is who came out on top this year. There's a lot of competition, a lot of good nominations and the selection committee came up with this group," said Zwicke.

Again topping this year’s list of recognized individuals was the recipient of this year's 2022 Sheriff's Award. Zwicke says his award this year went to the department's Animal Control Division.

"That group of guys in animal control work hard. We are working with commissioners’ court to get them more staff but they go the extra mile, answer a lot of calls.

Either they are your best friend or your enemy depending on the outcome of your call. Not fair to them but that's the way it is. But I watch these guys each and every day -- the amount of calls that they handle, the way they handle these calls and serving the public was my reason for this year nominating the Animal Control Division," said Zwicke.

Zwicke says this annual recognition isn’t taken lightly and speaks volumes for those receiving the respective award.

"I don't want a popularity contest because then I'd never run... just kidding but no seriously, I think the fellow employees recognize their hard work and dedication of going the extra mile to make things happen here at the sheriff's office and I'm very fortunate to have that type of employees here," said Zwicke.

The honors were presented to the employees in December.

Author to share her book on living with depression this Saturday

(Seguin) – A South Texas author will be traveling to Seguin to share her own personal journey with depression.

Debra Atlas will be hosting a presentation and booking signing for her latest book “You Aren’t Depression’s Victim” on Saturday at Pecantown Books & Brews.

Atlas, whose work until now have been environmental publications, says this book is no doubt a step outside her wheelhouse.

“I did not plan for this to be a book. I didn’t start writing it as a book. That came much much later.

I had chronic fatigue back in 96-97 and when people are seriously ill or have depression, it throws them deep into... Book, pg. 3 as an outlet for children to experience the outdoors. It’s a natural extension of the district’s mission and the outdoor learning center if we provide and work towards an offer for that property,” said Hoffmann.

Solc, continued.

Hoffmann adds that both outdoor and agricultural programming would be considered for the property should a deal be made. If you recall, the construction of a new

Book, continued.

“...it and so I was trying to figure out what was going on because remember I hadn’t been diagnosed yet and so I started throwing some things and thoughts into the computer and over years, I continued to do that and it was only about ‘threeish’ years ago when I took a look at all I had and I went ‘oh my, God! It is so much.’ That’s when I decided it should be a book,” said Atlas.

Atlas says the book is rooted in her own personal journey – a journey she says can be comparable to others.

“It’s my story. As far as I can track it back, I’ve had depression since the age of two and there were many lessons learned along the way and it was a rough and bumpy road because I wasn’t diagnosed with depression until I was 45. You know, people with depression are often masters of disguise and I was one because when I was growing up, it was not popular or acceptable to talk about depression. Nobody know like one in four adults have been hit with some form of depression since COVID hit. One in three women have suffered from depression at some point in their life and teenagers especially since COVID have been really slammed with depression and they are not out of it yet. I’ve talked to some teenagers at book signings. It’s still very hard for them. So, all those reasons are reasons for people to come out, to begin to see how they can support people, or how they can support themselves or friends. did it so you had to hide it. So, there was all of that and then all of the challenges along the way. So, this book is not only my road and the lessons that I learned but it’s also a book about hope,” said Atlas.

Ag building was included and approved in the $131 million bond election that passed in early November.

“Essentially, that vision would extend the current outdoor learning center’s vision -- really to keep it for educational programming and outdoor agricultural education programming and we would pledge to do that if a deal were to be made in the future,” said Hoffmann.

Any agreed deal would have to come back to the school board for final approval.

Not only does Atlas want to share the pages of her book on Saturday, but will be lending an ear to those who have their own stories to share.

“I would say that there are some statistics that people should

Depression is genetic so if even if someone doesn’t have it, it could be in their family. So, there’s lots of questions people have that they may not know who to ask and having been there, I have some answers. The book has more answers, and I can point people to resources or at least a direction,” said Atlas.

The book signing will be held at the local downtown bookstore from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.