Feb. 17, 2011 - A Leonard native with a heart for children was recently awarded a state-wide honor for her investigative efforts with the Collin County Criminal District Attorney's Crimes Against Children Division. Marletta Scribner - who has deep roots in Leonard, starting with her birth at Dr. Davis' office - was awarded the C.L. "Chuck" Dennis Memorial Award - otherwise known as the Investigator of the Year Award - by the Texas District and County Attorney's Association (TDCAA) recently. The award is presented to one investigator out of 750 at the TDCAA Investigator School, held in February each year. Scribner will enjoy her 30th anniversary with Collin County this year in July.

When Scribner says she was born and raised in Leonard, she means quite literally. After being born in Dr. Davis' office, she attended school in Leonard for 12 years and graduated from LHS in 1973. In 1977, she started her law enforcement career with the Fannin County Sheriff's Office. She graduated as salutatorian of her class at the Texoma Regional Police Academy and then moved to the Warrant Division of the Collin County Sheriff's Office.

After her move to Collin County, she moved from legal secretary, to bailiff, to criminal investigator, where she has served as a felony investigator in each Collin County district court and in her current role in the Crimes Against Children Division for five years.

"I have a passion for this work," Scribner stated. "I wish we could stop these offenses from occurring, but that is impossible. So, our team approach is to make sure the children are better leaving the system than they were when they came in."

In addition to her paying job, she advocates for children each year on National Adoption Day and quarterly for her office's Kids in Court Program. Her grown children, Clint Scribner and Brandi Roberson Scribner - who are also both LHS graduates - and grandsons are also following in her footsteps and volunteer with her on National Adoption Day. She has also sponsored a coat drive to collect new coats, gloves and caps for the Collin County Children's Advocacy Center.

"It is my honor to serve the families and children of this community and provide them with the best I have to offer," she stated. "I am part of a strong support team that includes prosecutors, my partner Kenny Newton, the secretaries, law enforcement and the professionals at the Children's Advocacy Center and Children's Medical Center."

Her family - including her five wonderful grandsons Luke, Levi and Jackson Scribner, Christian Norton and Kye Roberson and siblings and nieces and nephews (some of which still live in Leonard) - celebrated her honorable award with her but she maintains her real trophies are the pictures, drawings and thank you cards on her office door and walls from the children she's worked with.