From the Austin American Statesman:

New prosecutor in Williamson County
By Isadora Vail | Monday, December 8, 2008, 04:23 PM

The Williamson County District Attorney�s office has hired Phillip Ray as its new felony prosecutor.

Ray, 35, began his new job today in State District Judge Burt Carnes� court. Ray takes the place of Phil Grant, who has accepted to serve as Montgomery County�s first assistant district attorney.

Ray graduated from Austin College in 1997 with a BA in philosophy and graduated from Texas Tech School of Law in 2000. He has been a prosecutor in Hood, Cook and Potter counties.

�Phillip brings strong trial skills to his newly-adopted community,� said Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/williamson/index.html

And good luck to Mr. Grant, who is moving East to Conroe, where he has gotten a promotion to first assistant with the newly-elected DA. To keep them separate, we have been calling them Amarillo Phil (the new one, he came from Potter County) and Conroe Phil. The nicknames are sticking.

How many assistants do you have now, John?

Welcome to Disneyland. I think you'll like the area. It is quite an adjustment after Amarillo.

We have 12 assistant DA's. This year we added a new position that covers civil law matters (asset forfeiture, bail bonds, etc.). What a difference from when I came here in 1989. Then, we were located in the old courthouse on the square with 4 assistant DA's. I had a chair and a folding table in the hallway because we had outgrown our space there.

I heard at the Elected DA conference last week that statewide we are adding about 100 new prosecutors a year in Texas. (Just this year we had over 60 newly elected prosecutors join the ranks!) That makes for a lot of growth, and I am grateful we have such an active association in TDCAA to keep those new people educated and working with each other. I also think that the free job posting service on the TDCAA website is the best thing on the internet. (By the way, we have an opening we recently posted. Over 300 views already on that posting, which was added yesterday. Where else but TDCAA could you get that kind of response?)

[This message was edited by JB on 12-09-08 at .]

Thanks Greg, Dan, and John. I'm thrilled to be down here.

[This message was edited by Philip D Ray on 12-09-08 at .]

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Welcome to Disneyland. I think you'll like the area. It is quite an adjustment after Amarillo.

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Ouch. If I weren't freezing my hindquarters off, I'd probably be offended. But I will concede that no one would mistake the Yellow City for Disneyland.

Scott, no offense intended. One of these days I'll make it to Amarillo. I really want to see Palo Duro Canyon. Fate has just never gotten me up that way.

And Williamson County is still not Austin, I mean, what with the no nudity thing and all...

I need to visit Amarillo as well. I hear the world's greatest prosecutor guitarist lives there.

No offense taken, Dan. And, while I love my current home, there isn't much of the Great State that I don't love (having lived in a number of its locales).

And, BTW, Greg, if you have a number for that prosecutor, please pass it along to me. I'd like to jam with him/her.

Congratulations, Phil. It's always nice to see a fellow 'Roo succeed.

-AP, Class of '95

Congrats on the new gig.

Um, why is your picture next to the "Man found guilty in stabbing case" article?

[This message was edited by David Newell on 12-10-08 at .]

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Originally posted by Scott Brumley:
And, BTW, Greg, if you have a number for that prosecutor, please pass it along to me. I'd like to jam with him/her.

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You're going to call yourself?

Amarillo is a lonely place, GG.

It is if you're a notorious blowhard like me.

And, lest I lose sight of the purpose of this thread, I would like to pass along my congratulations to Phillip, as well. He's a very able and sharp prosecutor. Our loss is WilCo's gain ... and I'm sure he'll adapt well to the no nudity thing. Actually, we have a similar rule here in the PoCo, but it's not a taste issue; it's a climatological one.

Mr. Ray recently expressed his appreciation for the warmer weather in Williamson County. Except for today, it's sort of like Camelot. You know, the rain may never fall til after sundown....