Voters in the Nocona General Hospital District sent one incumbent home and overwhelmingly brought two newcomers to the hospital board of directors in the May 2 election.
There were 1,439 ballots cast with a 17.88% turnout from the district’s 3,832 registered voters. Three seats were on the ballot.
Shawn Patton received 37.32% with 537 votes. Patton has more than 30 years experience in emergency room/trauma/manager services in all levels.
Steve Bates received 33.70% of the vote with 485 votes. He is chief operating officer at Gainesville Glass Company and co-owner 8 Hip Pocket.
Charles May, with 24 years on the board, was the only incumbent returned with 213 votes. Ron Brown, the other incumbent, received 204 votes. The the board includes Ken Koontz, vice president, Krystal Ferguson and Chris Keck. Their terms run through May 2027.

Atmos Energy has E. Montague St. closed between Mason St. & Lindsey St. for gas line repair.

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A crew from Scarborough Engineering was working on control termination wiring in the control room of the Bowie Substation last week. They were integrating additional equipment including the new transformer. Once everything is connected it will go through a testing phase. The transformer project has been stalled during the past year awaiting the arrival of various parts. (News photo by Barbara Green