NEWS
Petition seeks to remove DA from office
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
A petition was filed mid-week with the 97th District Clerk seeking the removal of 97th District Attorney Casey Hall for “incompetency or official misconduct.”
The document was filed by Tim Cole, former DA and longtime area attorney, on July 17. Texas law allows any resident of the county where the allegations occurred to file such a petition on any elected official.
As of Friday noon, no judge had been assigned and Hall had not been served notice of the filing per the district court.
A recent example of this type of petition occurred in Clay County in January 2023 after Sheriff Jeff Lyde was arrested on charges of official oppression. Former District Judge Frank Douthitt filed that petition and the state was represented by Hall and the Clay County attorney Seth Slagle.
Casey Hall, DA for the three-county 97th District since 2016, was arrested on July 8 on a grand jury indictment for theft of property $2,500 to $30,000, a state jail felony. She was released on a $5,000 bond. The allegations stem from misappropriation of state grant funds with the investigation conducted by the Texas Attorney General’s staff.
Removal action
The removal action is directed to David Evans, judge of the 8th administrative judicial region, which has jurisdiction in this case. It seeks to have the officer removed for incompetency or official misconduct, acts or omissions while in the performance of her duties as the district attorney.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
The 2026 certified property values for Montague County were released to the 16 taxing entities for which it sets values and for Montague County the total numbers were up 3.591%.
With the arrival of these numbers, the taxing entities can begin serious work on creating their budgets and proposed tax rates. Last year the Montague County Tax Appraisal District had to create two sets of values pending the November homestead election so they were happy things were back to just one set.
Certified values are based on property sales made as of Jan. 1, 2026. Chief Appraiser Kim Haralson said the values held up well during the protest hearings, and while minerals went down some there were a lot of new properties added.
New taxable property totaled $87,505,775 for 1,208 properties. Haralson said people appear to be setting up manufactured homes on some of the two-acre tract subdivision and other subdivisions are seeing people start to build houses.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
It is going to be a tough budget season for the Bowie City Council as it works through a draft budget proposal that tries to figure out how to pay for major projects and maintain present operations for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
As per the city charter, City Manager Bert Cunningham presented the budget proposal to the council on July 14, emphasizing without the final certified property values, as well as the final health insurance rates, it truly is a draft. The city staff also await the final bid numbers for the Rock and Pillar drainage project hovering around $2 million with plans to fund it through the budget.
A budget workshop was scheduled for 6 p.m. on July 27 with a public hearing to follow on Aug. 11.
Cunningham said the certified figures may become available by the end of the week, but that is uncertain. Two months ago the city’s preliminary values were up $70,530,035 from the 2025 final values, however, usually the certified values fluctuate slightly from the preliminary numbers, which totaled $497,939,568.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
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