NEWS
Abatement process turns upside down; owner jailed on Dallas warrant
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
The ongoing saga of the damaged historic building on the Montague County Courthouse Square continues to twist and turn as the “new owner” reportedly turned back the deed to the “previous owner,” who was arrested Tuesday in front of the building on an unrelated warrant.
For months the commissioners have been trying to get something done about the shell of a building that remains after a pickup truck crashed into it back in August.
The owner has failed to secure or abate the building hazard and the Texas Department of Transportation has put up barricades to block one lane of traffic in case of falling debris or a collapse.
Unable to get the abatement process served properly to the owner and then a new owner who said he gave the property back to Chancellor, the whole thing flipped upside down this week.
On the afternoon of March 19 while leaving the courthouse for lunch, District Attorney Investigator Chris Hamilton and Justice of the Peace Kevin Benton saw a man who in front of the damaged building tearing off the posted paper notices and throwing them on the ground.
Building owner Mark Chancellor had gotten through the chainlink fence county officials had put up on Feb. 25 to secure the building prior to its previously scheduled demolition.
Benton said they did not know him and when they ran his truck license plate, it confirmed he was the owner so they began to drive away. However, a dispatcher from the county jail called back to tell them the vehicle’s owner had a Dallas County warrant for a complaint of indecency with a child.
Chancellor, 32, Nocona, was taken to the county jail by Constable Stefanie Horton and booked on the third-degree felony. Bond was set at $25,000 and he was released on March 20.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
NEWS
Medical needs community meeting on Nov. 19
The second community meeting on needs for an emergency room or hospital in Bowie is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the Bowie Community Center.
This is the second meeting to discuss these needs following the closure of the Faith Community Health Center emergency room on Oct. 6, just shy of a year of operation. More than 200 people attended that first meeting, where discussion centered on the creation of a taxing district to support any sort of medical facility.
Citizens in the Bowie area are encouraged to attend and take part in these discussions.
NEWS
Bowie Council members to take oath of office
The Bowie City Council has moved its Nov. 18 meeting to 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 where three new council members will take the oath of office.
Councilors include Laura Sproles, precinct two, Brandon Walker, precinct one and Laramie Truax, precinct two. After the votes are canvassed and the oaths given, a mayor pro tem will be selected.
The new members will jump right into training as City Attorney Courtney Goodman-Morris provides an orientation and discussion of duties for council members.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his monthly report on the following topics: Nelson Street, which opened last Thursday, update on the sewer line replacement project, substation transformer placement and information on medical companies.
A closed executive session on the Laura McCarn vs. City of Bowie lawsuit is scheduled. The suit arose in November 2022 when the city broached selling some 25 acres it owns on Lake Amon G. Carter, originally part of the land purchased for the 500-acre Bowie Reservoir completed in 1985.
McCarn challenges the ownership of the property stating it should revert to the original owners since it was not used for the lake.
This 24.35 acre tract is located at the end of Indian Trail Road surrounded by the lake and the Silver Lakes Ranch subdivision.
NEWS
Council celebrates reopening of Nelson by moving the barricades
One of Bowie’s major thoroughfares, Nelson Street, was reopened Thursday after one busy block has been closed since August 2021 when a section of the street failed.
Construction finally came to an end on Thursday when the street, including the Nelson and Mill intersection were reopened. Mayor Gaylynn Burris, City Manager Bert Cunningham, Councilors TJay McEwen and Stephanie Post, Engineer Mike Tibbetts and Public Works Director Stony Lowrance met at the site Thursday morning and removed the barricades. It only took a few minutes for vehicles to start arriving and drivers were excited to go through on the new roadway.
This section of Bowie has endured flooding and drainage problems for many years and in the summer of 2023 the city council finally bit the bullet and sought bids for the repair work expected to top $3 million. In August 2021 a one block section of Nelson was closed when a large sinkhole appeared on the north side of the street. Traffic had to be diverted including all the school traffic flowing from the nearby junior high and intermediate.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Top photo – (Left) Mike Tibbetts, engineer with Hayter Engineering, talks with Bowie City Manager Bert Cunningham as they look over the massive drainage project on Nelson Street.
-
NEWS2 years ago
2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 year ago
Suspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years ago
SO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years ago
Wreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS1 year ago
Murder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years ago
Bowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS2 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint