NEWS
Child predator wanted in California captured follow FLOCK alert
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
The Flock Safety System, being used on a 90-day trial by the Montague County Sheriff’s office, alerted officers to a stolen vehicle out of California, but it lead to the arrest of a wanted child sexual abuse suspect.
Last month Sheriff Marshall Thomas asked the commissioner’s court for approval to test out the system that accesses a database of cameras across the country that monitor traffic. During this trial the SO can access the cameras around Wichita County, used by those departments.
On May 28, Deputy Daniel Carter saw an alert for a stolen vehicle from California that was seen on U.S. Highway 287 and Farm-to-Market Road 369 in Wichita County and later on Fisher Road. Carter monitored the alerts and went to Hwy. 287 to watch for the possibly stolen vehicle.
Thomas explained Carter followed up with the California jurisdiction where the car was reported stolen, but then found Garnald Emarson Nickings, 59, Patterson, CA, had multiple warrants for sexual abuse of a child.
It appeared the warrants had not yet been entered into the national database. Carter also got a description of the man.
During his patrol Carter saw the suspect vehicle and saw it stop at Sunset Gas and Grill. The deputy called for backup with Investigator Ryan Blackburn arriving.
Nickings was arrested on the following warrants: Aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault of a victim under the age of 14, sexual abuse of a child continual sexual abuse, aggravated sexual assault of a child 10 years or older and aggravated sexual assault of child 10 years or younger.
Bonds totaled $500,000 and he remains in the county jail awaiting pick-up by California authorities.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Attention voters:
Elections Administrator Ginger Wall reminds voters that electioneering is illegal within 100 feet of a polling location, and that includes the wearing of hats or T-shirts showing candidate or issue support. The election teams have run into a few instances where they had to ask the voter to remove the item or for a shirt turn it inside out to come into the polling location.
Wall said while it can anger the citizen, her team is following the law.
As expected early voting across the nation is hitting record numbers, and Montague County is no exception with 37% of the county’s nearly 16,000 registered voters casting ballots during the first week of early voting.
The early voting process will continue through Nov. 1.
Montague County Elections Administrator Ginger Wall said Monday there have been 5,929 ballots cast as the judges and clerks keep busy with a steady stream of voters. There are a total of 15,654 registered voters in the county.
Early voting will take place Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., courthouse annex location only.
Voting will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 28-Nov. 1 at the Bowie senior center, Nocona Justin Building and Saint Jo Civic Center.
Read more on this story in the mid-week Bowie News.
If you have concerns about emergency medical care and other health care in Bowie, make plans to attend a public meeting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 30 in the Bowie Community Center.
Citizens are invited to discuss ideas on what can be done to initiate a process for another hospital or emergency room in Bowie. As of Oct. 6, Bowie was once more without emergency medical care as the Faith Community Health System closed its emergency room operating just two weeks shy of its one-year anniversary.
Bowie has been without a local hospital or ER since early 2020 when Central Hospital closed. It had operated only a few years, coming in after Bowie Memorial Hospital closed on Nov. 16, 2015.
There will be a moderator and an agenda for discussion. While the meeting is an opportunity to explore all ideas related to this issue, the creation of a taxing hospital district will be discussed and is considered the only way to sustain and subsidize either a hospital or ER.
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