NEWS
Grand Jury issues new indictments on Ricky Howard
Ricky Howard
By BARBARA GREEN
An April 13 called session of the Montague County Grand Jury returned a pair of new indictments on Ricky Howard for two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of indecency with a child sexual contact and 34 counts of possession of child pornography.
The 56-year-old Nocona man was preparing for early release from state prison possibly in early summer on a five-year sentence for 11 counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. He pled guilty in that case in June 2016 during a bench trial before 97th District Judge Jack McGaughey.
Montague County law officers traveled to serve the indictments on Howard in prison Thursday afternoon. A bond of $950,000 was set and since he is currently in jail, a hold was placed on him.
District Attorney Casey Polhemus said that hold is now in effect and once he is paroled, Howard will be sent directly to the Montague County Jail, where he will appear in court on the indictments.
Read the full story in the weekend 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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