Stocky, cheerful W. O. Hodges, 45, was sheriff of Denton County , Texas for only four years, but he died last week a famous man. Before taking office, Hodges was just an ordinary sort of fellow; he grew up in a little cow town named Aubrey, spent a year at Texas Christian University, got a Depression job as a cop in the county seat, went to war as a coast guardsman, came home and started running for sheriff. He made it the second time out.Seven days ...

Crouching in a verdant pasture in the early summer sun, Eduardo Sousa plucks a few blades of grass and extends them toward a flock of geese. "Hello, my darlings," he coos. "Hello, hello, hello." It is the Spanish farmer's first visit to the Stone Barns Center, a farm and education center dedicated to sustainable agriculture in Pocantico Hills, some 30 miles north of New York City, and Sousa is impressed with what he sees. "If I ...