NEWS
Big crowd talks ER, hospital in Bowie
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
About 200 people filled the Bowie Community Center Wednesday night for a town hall meeting about the need for a hospital or emergency room in Bowie.
This session was organized after the unexpected Oct. 6 closure of the Faith Community Emergency Room in Bowie just two weeks shy of the one-year anniversary of its opening.
Bowie was without a local hospital since early 2020 when Central Hospital closed after just a few years of operation. Central purchased the Bowie Memorial Hospital property after BMH closed its doors on Nov. 16, 2015 after nearly 50 years of operation.
Wednesday’s meeting was filled with a variety of citizens including many seniors, families and local business people. Melody Gillespie served as moderator for the meeting, assisted by Jennifer Tellef and Robert Ragsdale.
Bowie City Manager Bert Cunningham also participated in the discussion, but noted he was there as a citizen supporting the pursuit of a hospital or ER, and the city could not be involved.
Gillespie, a local realtor and chairman of the county Republican Party, explained this is a grassroots movement and she anticipates possibly three meetings to determine the desire to pursue the creation of a taxing hospital district to support a medical care center. A tentative meeting is set for Nov. 19 with details coming later.
“This is a meeting to hear from you. I have a few rental properties and understand the concern about taxes. We are faced with a dilemma. This isn’t just about Bowie. I don’t live in the city limits, but it is about a lot of people in this area,” said Gillespie.
The moderator added she knew very little about a hospital district when she was asked to do this, but she began researching and found it is an entity run by the people in its boundaries through an elected board.
Cunningham, who helped organize this meeting, thanked the large group for coming out. Looking back to 1966 when the original hospital authority was formed and BMH was built it operated successfully for many years, but he said changes in federal government funding and reimbursements changed the way hospitals were able to operate.
“We could berate those operations or the ones that followed, but it won’t serve a good purpose. I believe we need to form a hospital district, we need to be in control of our own destiny. We need to be able to enact taxes. You can’t run a hospital in this country without a subsidy or tax,” explained Cunningham.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Three people were transported to the hospital and one treated at the scene after this accident on Tuesday evening on State Highway 59 North.
The Department of Public Safety reported the crash occurred at Hwy. 59 near mile marker 22 at 4:49 p.m.
A 2003 Ford SUV driven by a 16-year-old minor from Dallas was traveling north on Hwy. 59 and a 2019 Ford F250 towing a trailer driven by Filadelfo Monzo, 60, Blue Mount, was traveling south.
The report states while traveling up a hillcrest, the SUV failed to drive in a single lane and drove onto the southbound shoulder. The driver overcorrected back to the northbound shoulder and again into the southbound lane of travel. The SUV struck the truck head on. The accident investigation is ongoing.
The driver of the SUV, plus the passengers that included a nine-year-old and 14-year-old, both from Dallas, were all transported to Nocona General Hospital with non-incapacitating injuries. The minors names were not released by the DPS. A passenger in the truck was treated on scene, but not transported. The driver was not injured.
As the final day of early voting came to an end Friday Montague County voters had a record-breaking turnout topping 51% of registered voters through Thursday.
Nov. 5 is expected to be one of the biggest elections in years, so many may be avoiding election day crowds. Voters should be prepared for longer lines on the busy election day.
Elections Administrator Ginger Wall said as of Friday morning everything has run pretty smoothly with 8,072 voters casting early ballots through Thursday. There are 15,654 registered voters in the county.
Early voting ended on Friday and Wall said she was expecting it could hit 80% total turnout. When asked if she had any reminders for voters on election day, Wall said do not wear political shirts, hats or other items that support a candidate or issue.
“Anything like that is considered electioneering and it is illegal by law within 100 feet of the polling location. The clerks asked one man to go turn his T-shirt inside out and he refused and got mad. This is just a friendly reminder we are just following the rules,” said Wall.
Election day voting will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the following locations: Montague County Annex Community Room, 11339 State Hwy. 59N, Montague; Bowie Senior Citizen Center, 501 Pelham St; Bowie Public Library, 301 Walnut St.; Nocona H.J. Justin Building, 102 Clay St.: Tales ‘N’ Trails Museum, 1522 E. U.S. Hwy. 82; Saint Jo Civic Center, 101 E Boggess St.; Forestburg Community Center, 16617 FM 455; Sunset City Hall, 119 FM 1749; Ringgold Fire Hall, 17832 N. U.S. Hwy. 81 and Valley View Baptist Church, 6159 FM 103, Spanish Fort.
To see a sample ballot visit the county website at co.montague.tx.us, click the elections tab. Remember Montague County has county-wide voting where voters can cast their ballots at any of the precinct locations.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
The 97th District Attorney’s investigator is working closely with the Nocona Police Department looking into a possible murder charge for a Richie Romine who entered the Nocona Senior Citizens Center earlier this month threatening robbery for the folks there to play bingo.
That murder charge could be made in the death of Carla Kay Hodges Carter, 64, Nocona, who experienced what police believe was a cardiac event. Carter died Oct. 16 at United Regional Hospital in Wichita Falls.
The robbery occurred at the monthly bingo game at The Carpenter Shop, 400 Boston in Nocona where about 24 people gathered to enjoy a fun evening. About 8:30 on Oct. 8, Romine, 35, reportedly entered the center and told the group to hand over their money or he was going to kill them.
Investigator Wes Wallace confirmed the district attorney’s staff is working with local police on this case which has an abundance of information to review as there were statements obtained from 23 people, along with forensic evidence. A specific cause of death for Carter also is being examined.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Top photo – Bingo players wait as police investigated the aggravated robbery at the Nocona Senior Center on Oct. 8.
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