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After seven months of training in everything from water rescue and state-federal law to alligator handling, the 41 cadets of the 55th Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden class have closed one chapter of their lives and begun a new one with their graduation Tuesday as state game wardens.

The new game wardens will report for duty at stations spanning the state from East Texas to El Paso. Game wardens’ duties include responding to natural disasters and conducting public outreach on a variety of topics in addition to enforcing hunting and fishing laws and water safety regulations.

"Basically, game wardens are the primary law enforcement off the pavement in Texas," said Major Danny Shaw, director of training at the academy. "We do a lot more for the people of Texas than enforcing game and fish laws."

This class of cadets is the second to be trained in the new Texas Game Warden Training Center in rural Hamilton County. Located on a 220-acre tract donated by the Police Assistance League of Texas, the $20 million training center project has so far seen completion of an administration building, education hall-armory, dining hall and fitness center. The second phase will include a firing range, a water rescue facility, emergency vehicle operations course, refitting of instructor quarters and cadet cabins and helicopter landing pad.

These 41 cadets will bring to 532 the number of men and women who are carrying on a tradition of service to Texas that game wardens started in 1895.

The new game wardens will be stationed in:

Archer County – Richard Key

Brewster County – Daniel Kessler and Matt Kiel

Brown County – Matt Marek

Cameron County – David Lewis

Collin County – Joshua Ross

Concho County – Brad Clark

Dallas County – Jaime Sanchez

El Paso County – Hallie Dacy and Ken Zuber

Falls County – Brandon Rose

Gaines/Andrews Counties – Trey Sparkman

Gonzalez County – Ben Bailey

Hardin County – Wil Nicholson

Hidalgo County – Harry Rakosky

Hudspeth County – Cody Pokorney and Tyler Reed

Kinney County – Dayton Isaacs

Liberty County – Adam Broll

Lubbock County – Chelsea Estrada and Shannon Kruse

Maverick County – David Thorne

Moore/Sherman Counties – Ryan Hunter

Orange County – Phillip LeDoux

Presidio County – Andrew Banda and Bryan Newman

Robertson County – Charles Westerman

Sabine County – Sam Smith

Schleicher County – Christopher Frey

Starr County – Brandon West

Tarrant County – Patricia O’Neill and David Vannoy

Val Verde County – Crystal Hoppe and Isaac Ruiz

Webb County – Calvin Christian and Mark Nelson

Wichita County – Steven Cantu

Zapata County – Shane Bailey, Jake Mort and Jerry Norris

On the net:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/warden/

How to be a Game Warden in 6 Easy Months:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URG-LS5C-Qc&feature=related