NEWS
Early voting opens strong the first day with nearly 1,000 voters

Early voting opened strong in Montague County Monday with 6.89 percent or 918 people casting ballots.
Brandi Shipman, elections administrator, said things ran smoothly at the four early voting locations, and she was excited to see a strong start.
“We’ve had elections where we didn’t have that many people vote, so we expect to stay busy during early voting and we are prepared,” said Shipman.
Montague County has 13,324 registered voters going into the Nov. 8 general election.
While her crew of elections judges and staff were busy accepting voters, Shipman had to field an array of press calls for a vague reference in a Facebook posting to possible voting problems in Montague County. It ended up the post referred to voting in Arlington.
Read the full story in the mid-week News.
Pictured: Chris Hughes gets signed in at the early voting location in Montague where Judge Karen Applewhite checks his name in the electronic polling book. (Photo by Barbara Green)
NEWS
Volunteers make Thanksgiving merry with free community meals

There were 328 meals served at the community dinner including delivery, take-out and in-house. Coordinator Judy Broker thanked the volunteers and donors who provided nine hams and 15 turkeys along with the bakers of sides and desserts and those who delivered all the free meals. Pictured above volunteers fill meal plates for delivery to area residents.
NEWS
Drug cases dominate grand jury list

The staff of the 97th District Attorney’s office released the following indictments from the recent November session of the Montague County Grand Jury.
Christopher Lemon, 21, Montague, indicted for tampering or fabricating evidence from a Nov. 18, 2022 complaint, $15,000 bond.
Zacchaeus Jones, 31, Ennis, possession of a controlled substance 4-400 grams, July 25 complaint, $25,000 bond.
James Marley, 47, Bowie, failure to register as a sex offender, May 20 complaint, $15,000 bond.
Jose Ramirez-Oretega, 46, Holliday, driving while intoxicated third or more, Sept. 9 complaint, no bond stated, in custody.
Robert Watkins, 44, Bowie, possession of a controlled substance under one gram, June 9 complaint, $1,500 bond.
Terry Wages, 55, Bridgeport, two charges for prohibited substance and manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance 4-200 grams, Jan. 8 complaint, $50,000 in bonds.
A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
NEWS
Routine business for commissioners on Monday

By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Members of the Montague County Commissioners Court met for a brief agenda of business on Monday as the county moves into the final month of the year.
The date for the last December meeting was moved from Dec. 25 to Dec. 26 due to the Christmas holiday.
A joint resolution was accepted for the county to conduct the Democratic and Republican Party primaries on March 5, 2024 and the runoffs on May 28, 2024.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
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