Over the past few years I have been given the opportunity to work in many different towns and cities. In 2010, I was placed in Mumbai, India a city home to more than 25million residents. India was packed to the max, always someone yelling,always someone beating around making loud noise. Being in Mumbai I realized the meaning to the saying sometimes used for busy cities “this city never sleeps”. That saying was very much true, alive and well in Mumbai. Fast forward to today, I have been working in West Texas since Mid-September and have worked around a small town called Mentone, Texas in Loving County. My main purpose in Mentone is to stop at the only place to get food at for 40 miles in either direction.
The other day my company needed me to file a police report due to a missing piece of equipment. I reported to the Loving County Sheriffs office in Mentone to deal with this missing piece of equipment. I realized the town was small but I didn’t realize how small. As I spoke with the sheriff I questioned him about Loving county and the town of Mentone. “Sheriff, how many people live in Mentone?” I asked Sheriff Hopper. Hopper an older gentleman on the brink of retirement following the month of December replied “Ahhh well I believe in the town of Mentone I think the population is 18”. We continued talking and Hopper informed me that Loving County covers 640 square miles of Texas with a total county population of 82. Following my talk with Sheriff Hopper I conducted my own research and found that Loving County is also the richest county in Texas out of 252 counties. Sheriff Hopper could have easily bragged and been proud to be the richest county in Texas but he chose to speak on the people of the county and of the town.
Myself and Sheriff Hopper talked for quite a few minutes, he didn’t seem to want to let me leave his office and continued talking every chance I tried to leave ( I mean population 18, can’t blame the guy). Sheriff Hopper was happy to see a new face in his town showing much interest and took great pride in such a small area. After talking for a good bit I shook Hoppers hand and wished him a happy retirement as I went on my way.