NEWS
Lawyer blames BISD board for suicide
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
A civil rights attorney reportedly representing the late Justin Kuecher gave the Bowie Independent School District Trustees a scathing rebuke accusing the district of actions that led to the “suicide” of Kuecher last week at his home.
C.J Grisham, an attorney from Temple, spoke to the board during public comments on Aug. 26, following a pair of public hearing meetings on the budget and tax rate and just as the board was going into a virtual training meeting. Board President Jacky Betts allowed him to speak with a five-minute time limit noting his topic was abuse of public office.
In an Aug. 18 meeting the board voted to pursue criminal charges against Kuecher who allegedly illegally recorded conversations with district staff without their knowledge or permission. Following an executive session with the district attorney the board voted to move forward with filing a charge related to unlawful interception by electronic device. Trustees Jeff Jackson and Angie Christmas abstained from the vote.
Bowie Police received a personal complaint from administrative secretary Kelli Ragsdale on Aug. 8, as she said Kuecher used a cell phone to record parties who were unaware they were being recorded. Kuecher had been filling out paperwork to run for place three on the board.
run for place three on the board and had his phone on recording the process, when he had to go outside to his vehicle to get his driver’s license. Police reported Kuecher then posted the recordings on social media.
Lt. Bob Blackburn of the Bowie Police Department said this type of offense is a second degree felony. He said a warrant had been obtained for the case, but Kuecher had not yet been arrested.
Jack Lawson, chief deputy with the Montague County sheriff’s office, said that office received a call about the death on Aug. 21 after someone in the family found Kuecher’s body at his home in the Sunset area. Lawson said the preliminary cause of death appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but the investigation is still pending.
Grisham said he mostly focuses on first and second amendment issues, but he represents Justin Kuecher, whom he says the board voted to have charged with “a fake and bogus crime.”
“I am not sure what it was, what I do know is you guys have blood on your hands. My client, Justin, is dead, he committed suicide because he was facing a bogus felony charge from this board,” said Grisham.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
August 25 – Montague County, TX will be under an ELEVATED FIRE THREAT and EXTREME HEAT WARNING today. Please be careful!
Air quality is poor across the area as large grass fires are being found in Wise and Jack County. The smell of smoke and ash are in the air.
Posted around 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 21 – The Montague County Sheriff’s Office is currently evacuating residences in the path of the wildfire in the 1800 block area of Starkey Road. If told you need to leave, please do so immediately. If you don’t live in the area, please stay out of the area to give responders room to work. (Information from the Emergency Communications Team for Montague County)
According to Saint Jo VFD – 11:30 (update) A brush truck and a tender has been requested by every department in the county to the scene of a large grass fire on Starkey Road, which is closed at this time.
Saint Jo Fire Department is assisting Nocona Rural Fire Department on a grass fire on Starkey Road near the Starkey Cemetery. Please avoid the area.
Companies on scene:
Saint Jo: Brush-341, Brush-241, Tender-141
Nocona Rural: Chief-131, Brush-231, Brush, 531, Tender-131.
Nocona City: Chief-130, Brush-130
Montague: Brush-151
Members of the Bowie City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on Aug. 25 to finalize the budget and conduct a public hearing on a proposed tax rate.
The ordinances adopting both the 2026-27 budget and the 2026 tax rate are on the agenda for action. The public hearing on the tax rate presents a rate of .5750 cents per $100 in property value, which is slightly higher than the 2025 rate that is .5430.
The new rate is projected to generate $2,990,998, compared to $2,703,176 from last year’s rate. This is the first significant change in the rate since 2019, when it was .5445 cents. The next year it went to .5447 cents, where it stayed until 2023, when it went to .5430 cents, through 2025.
A bid will be awarded for the Rock and Pillar Street drainage project. Wall Contractors will be recommended by the city engineer and staff review. The bid came in about $1.3 million, which was lower than the estimated $2 million. It is expected to straighten the channel and get this intersection reopened for traffic after more than a year of closure to collapse of a portion of the pavement on the street.
The council will consider stop signs regulating traffic flow around the Kingdom Ridge Subdivision next to the elementary school.
In the city manager’s report Bert Cunningham will provide information on the hazard mitigation plan, the 2025-26 audit preparation and the bid for the Rock and Pillar project.
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