NEWS
Big crowd talks ER, hospital in Bowie

By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
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.
NEWS
Food truck permit rule draws conflict

Bowie City Councilors heard complaints about the recently approved food truck ordinance during last week’s meeting and were updated on damage from recent flash flooding.
Mayor Gaylynn Burris also presented a proclamation for Emergency Medical Services Week, as members of the local EMS team were presented with the proclamation.
In his city manager’s report, Bert Cunningham said there were numerous problems with excessive rainfall during the last few weeks, with the most significant at Rock and Pillar where the rusted washed out culverts have been deteriorating for several years. Portions of Rock have collapsed near that intersection closing part of the street.
Another less traveled street had a sinkhole which the city crews have repaired, and two crews have been out trying to fill potholes and make street repairs as they can.
Cunningham told the council they have to figure out a way to pay for the new culverts on Rock and Pillar, and he has been meeting with a pair of engineering companies to get some preliminary estimates that are close to $1,000,000. He also has been talking with the city’s financial advisor to discuss options for financing repairs.
Read the full story in the May 22 Bowie News.
Photo – Mayor Gaylynn Burris presented a proclamation from the City of Bowie for National EMS Recognition Week. Several members of the Bowie EMS team were present: Daniel Fogle, Enrique Roman, Fire Chief Doug Page, Chad Gerlach, Marco Sandoval and Luke Waltersheid. (Courtesy photo)
NEWS
Single-vehicle crash kills Seymour woman

A 30-year-old female from Seymour was killed in a one-vehicle crash south of Bowie on U.S. 81 on May 17.
The accident occurred at 9:20 a.m. as local emergency personnel were called to the scene. Staff of the Department of Public Safety report the deceased driver is Faye Penner who was driving a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado.
A preliminary investigation revealed the vehicle was traveling south on the U.S. 81 service road attempting to merge onto the main highway. The report states Fenner was driving at an unsafe speed and traveled off the roadway to the right. The driver took faulty evasive action and overcorrected to the left.
The pickup traveled back across U.S. 81, went into the bar ditch and collided into a concrete bridge pillar.
Two vehicles were involved in a separate major accident that happened on May 16 on State Highway 59 involving a semi-truck and a pickup at 4:56 p.m.
The DPS report states Bradley Henscheid II, 26, Muenster, was driving a 2016 Freightliner towing a trailer south on State Highway 59 near Haney Road.
The second vehicle was a pickup driving by Gage Ice, 17, Saint Jo, who was traveling behind the large truck.
Henscheid was attempting to make a right turn. Ice was reportedly distracted and when he looked up saw the semi-truck’s brake lights.
The pickup driver took faulty evasive action and veered onto the right improved shoulder to avoid hitting the back of the semi’s trailer. Ice’s pickup then struck the Freightliner as it turned right.
Neither of the drivers were injured.
NEWS
Water board meeting breaks down into screaming match

By BARBARA GREEN editor@bowienewsonline.com
Tuesday night ’ s meeting of the Lake Amon Carter Water Supply Corporation disintegrated into yelling and name-calling leading to no resolution on providing water to a developer asking for service.
With two items on the agenda the meeting lasted only one hour and ended abruptly as Chairman John Halbrook stood up while a board member was arguing with audience members exclaiming, “We’re done here folks.”
In a late April meeting, subdivision developer Daniel Deweber and two of his residents came to the board asking why they were being denied water when the nearly 30 lots are located within the corporation’s service area. Questions also arose about the board allegedly violating open records and open meeting’s laws by not allowing people to attend some of their meetings or posting meetings.
Board members have told Deweber he needs to file a new non-standard application based on their information from the Public Utilities Commission and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Deweber counters the PUC has indicated he is a qualified applicant and does not have to file again. There also is a dispute whether he has to apply under The new tariff that was adopted in May 2024 or the previous one in place when he originally applied. Deweber said he has been told by thePUC staff not to reapply as he as the original
tariff applies.
Read the full story in the May 15 Bowie News.
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