NEWS
Bowie EMS offering plans to help department stabilize
By BARBARA GREEN
While pitching Bowie Emergency Medical Services to the Montague County Commissioner’s court two weeks ago, Bowie Mayor Pro Tem Scott Davis called stopping the out of city service a mistake the council would like to correct.
Pubic outcry or a “different view” of the financials may have prompted the city to get back into the county ambulance game, but it is going to take some major changes in the revenue stream to keep the operation stable. Ambulance operation has long been a money drain with average collections 25 to 27 percent of billings.
It was the first week of March when the city council voted to stop out-of-the-city limits ambulance calls. A letter was forwarded to the county informing them of the Oct. 1 effective date.
Then on May 16 the same council, minus former Mayor Larry Slack, sent a new letter asking to be considered for EMS service.
The request did not sit well with the commissioners who felt like Bowie put it in the position of searching for an EMS to serve the southern half of the county.
There also were expectations numerous companies would respond to the request for proposals, but the county received only two including one from Nocona General Hospital EMS and Sacred Cross in Denton. After much debate NGH pulled out and Bowie EMS was selected.
Mayor Pro Tem Scott Davis said the city staff has taken several steps to address budget issues within the fire/EMS department, which they believe will help stabilize the finances.
On the staffing side the department is operating two budgeted staff members short. Read the full story in the weekend News.
The Bowie City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on June 23.
The agenda includes both old and new business items.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his report on the 2026-27 budget process, bid opening for the Glenn Hills lift station on July 16 and the bid for Rock and Pillar repairs.
In new business a pair of planning and zoning committee recommendations for replats at 107 E. Nelson and 412 Green will be reviewed. An ordinance adopting an office of emergency management amending a present ordinance will be offered.
Old business will see the second reading of the pickleball court reservation fee ordinance and the ordinance prohibiting drilling and mining or the reopening of an abandoned well or mine in any public park in the city limits.
A HEAT ADVISORY will be in effect from noon until 9 p.m. today (Thursday). Please plan accordingly.
Hear Audio Alert:https://hrpow.us/oeFZANN
Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas has confirmed human skeletal remains were recovered on June 13 in the Sunset area, and they could possibly be those of a flight attendant believed to have been murdered almost a year ago in the Fort Worth.
The murder suspect, Dennis William Day, 66, admitted in June 2025 to strangling Rana Soluri, 47, an Envoy flight attendant who lived with Day during that last year. She was reported missing by a co-worker on June 11 and had not been seen or heard from since March 2025.
Day initially denied any involvement, but later admitted to the murder and indicated he dumped her body somewhere in the Montague County area. Lawmen have scoured the areas in questions in both Montague and Wise County, but found nothing.
Sheriff Thomas said on June 13 the SO received a call of possible skeletal remains in the Brushy Creek area north of Poss Dyer Lane on Farm-to-Market 1749. A deputy went to the scene and confirmed it was human remains.
Investigators responded and kept the scene secure overnight until staff from the University of North Texas Forensic Anthropology Center could arrive and made the recovery on June 14. A Texas Ranger and staff from the Fort Worth Police Department also were on scene.
“There is no determination made yet on how long it has been there,” said Thomas. “The anthropologist was pleased to recover most of the skeleton in these conditions. Heavy rains previously made the past searches difficult. We are working jointly with Fort Worth to make an identification and if it is the victim in their homicide.”
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