Spearman, the town of 3,000 where the Howells raised their kids and built their plant nursery business, is a lot like Panhandle. Twenty miles south of the Oklahoma border, it's a quiet and conservative place whose skyline is dominated by the Equity Co-op's 16 grain elevators. A visit to Spearman sometimes brings tears to a newcomer's eyes, especially when wind carries the smell of the cattle feedlots from the town's south side. It's not a pleasant odor, but that's how money smells in the Texas Panhandle. Violent crime is almost nonexistent in a place like Spearman.
Parents have a pretty good idea where their kids are at all times.
Folks on the street wave. Everybody seems to know everyone else. Dairy Queen is a legitimate choice for dining out. Towns such as Spearman and Panhandle are living, breathing incarnations of Small Town, U.S.A., where weird things just don't happen. Imagine Brand's surprise when he opened Cynthia Howell's purse on the night of Nov. 16, 1995.