Former Malone mayor dies

The city of Malone lost an icon of the community Monday in the death of 87-year-old Dwiot Herring Sr.
A two-term mayor in the 1950s, Herring was at the helm when the first water system was installed in town, and was in large part responsible for making it happen. He also oversaw other lasting improvements to Malone.
He kept a scrapbook of the city’s progress through the years, and remained one of Malone’s biggest supporters, even after he laid down the mayor’s gavel.
He had several businesses over time, and friends say he could always be counted on for sound advice.
Ben Hall, a former mayor himself, sought Herring’s counsel more than once.
“His heart was in Malone, that I know,” Hall said. “He was a man that I looked up to, and I’m heartbroken to know that he has passed on. I loved him very much. When I was the mayor, if I had a problem I tried to seek his advice and he tried to keep me straight on whatever was going on.”
Hall said Herring was modest to a fault.
“He was sort of like a hero to me. I told him that several times, and he’d just laugh and say ‘Oh, I don’t know about that.’ But he was. He was a good man, a nice guy, and I don’t know of anyone who didn’t like and respect him,” Hall said. “He was on the quiet side, I’d say, the kind of person who just did his job and went on about his business, but he was always willing to talk with you if he was needed. Many times we sat on his back porch and talked. That’s where I got most of my advice from him.”
Herring’s influence extended outside his beloved town, as well. Back in the late 1950s, he helped convince Troy University to set up a branch campus in nearby Dothan, Ala., for instance.