Local agriculture leaders readily were concerned when Mike Conaway was elected in 2004 to serve as U.S. representative for Texas District 11, which includes Dawson County. Conaway’s background had almost nothing to do with cotton or agriculture. He was a Certified Public Accountant from Midland whose main ties were to the oil and ‘ gas industry. And as this area’s new voice in Washington, D.C., Conaway would be replacing the highly-respected Charlie Stenholm, a farmer from Stamford who had served 13 terms in Congress. “We were all worried about having an oil and gas man,” recalls O’Donnell-area farmer Travis Mires, a former officer ...