NEWS
Bowie News welcomes new sports editor
The Bowie News staff would like to introduce our readers to Brian Smith, the new Bowie News sports editor.
Smith began his duties this past week following the departure of Jordan Neal who spent eight years covering sports for the newspaper.
Smith is a veteran journalist in the business with 39 years covering news and all levels of sports. He comes to The Bowie News from the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette where since July 2014 he covered sports of three county schools, plus covering a city council and three school boards.
“The Bowie News is extremely fortunate to have Brian joining the staff. Being able to find a 30-year sports veteran is a rare find these days. I am excited to see what I know Brian will bring to the table,” said Publisher Michael Winter.
He was a staff writer for two years with the Weatherford Democrat covering sports and business news, and staff writer at the Daily News in Henderson. Smith also has worked at the Fort Hood Sentinel, Taylor Daily Press and the Orange County Register in California covering news, sports and other topics.
The 59-year-old carries a bachelor of science degree from Central Michigan University where he graduated in 1988. He remembers clearly when his career path began.
“It was a seventh grade career day at my school in suburban Detroit. A journalist came to speak and I was the only one really listening. It got me hook, line and sinker,” laughs Smith.
During college he covered lots of subjects for the newspaper, but during his senior year they were shorthanded in sports, so when the editor asked him to pitch in, he went to his first field hockey game. It was the beginning of a love affair with sports journalism.
“Someone asks what keeps me young and I have said it is the kids, their interest and their involvement keeps me enthusiastic,” he said.
The new sports editor and his wife Heather live in Weatherford where they have made their home for 13 years.
Married 22 years, Heather has been an educational diagnostician for the Arlington Independent School District the past 13 years and also is a former classroom teacher.
Smith has already jumped into getting ready for fall sports as the new school year starts visiting football and volleyball camps. When you see him on the sidelines say hello, email him at bnewssports@gmail.com or call him at 872-2247.
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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