NEWS
Firefighters make a pitch for upgraded radio system
By BARBARA GREEN
Several costly budget proposals including a plan to resolve ongoing radio repeater problems for all the county fire departments were debated by the Montague County Commissioner’s Court this week.
Monday’s session included awards and recognition, but the court also tackled financial issues for the next budget year, while awaiting the arrival of final certified property values and projections for revenue.
Randall Preuninger, chief of the Bowie Rural Volunteer Fire Department, talked with the court representing a committee from the county firefighters association.
Richard Self, local radio technician, said they have come up with a proposal for a simulcast system to replace the repeater system with an ethernet wireless system. It has an estimated cost of $160,000, but Preuninger said they expect it would come in slightly cheaper.
Sheriff Paul Cunningham and Saint Jo Superintendent Larry Smith also discussed the state of a School Resource Officer program with the MCSO. Read the full story in the mid-week News.
(Left) Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham and Saint Jo ISD Superintendent Larry Smith discuss a school resource officer program with the county commissioners on Monday. (Photo by Barbara Green)
Pictured – (Left) Randall Preuninger, fire chief of the Bowie Rural Volunteer Fire Department, and Richard Self, local radio technician, talks with the Montague County Commissioners Court Monday about radio upgrade options to resolve communication problems with the fire departments across the county. (News photo by Barbara Green)
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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