The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 3, 2011 Page: 1 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Montague County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Friends of the Nocona Public Library.
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ifiXt-
Possum ladies to
Cajins, Mardil Gras
loads of fun
... Page 1
Former Boot Co.
employes enjoy
'Show and Tell'
... Page 1
Nocona hosts
softball, baseball
tournaments
... Page 6
Whe J^otona iBetos
Copyright 2010
www.noconanews.net
Eight Pages
Commissioners reluctant--
BMH seeks
midweek vote
By Tracy R. Mesler
MONTAGUE - When
comes to calling an election
to let voters in the south half
of the county decide if they
want a tax-supported hospi-
tal district, the Montague
County Commissioners are
all in favor of the election.
But when it comes to call-
ing a special election, on a
Wednesday, barely two
weeks after the common,
local election date on
Saturday, May 14th, mem-
bers of the court are not so
enthusiastic.
And apparently after
learning that if they wait
until April 1 to hold the
required public hearing and
call the election would leave
only the Wednesday, June 1
option available, members of
the court have asked for a
special, called meeting
Friday to revisit the issue.
Representatives of Bowie
Memorial Hospital have for-
mally proposed that a tax-
support hospital district be
formed encompassing the
areas served by the Bowie
and Forestburg School
Districts.
The new political entity
would be similar to one
formed in the 1970s which
designated the taxable prop-
erty within in the Nocona
and Prairie Valley School
District boundaries for the
Nocona Flospital District.
County Judge Tommie
Sappington explained that
County Clerk Glenda
Henson had verified that the
252 signature petition had
more than the requisite 100
valid signatures of residents
of the proposed Bowie dis-
trict.
Monday's agenda item
was to simply set a time, date
and place for the requisite
public hearing. At that meet-
ing the commissioner's court
will set the date for the elec-
tion.
BMH consultant Ernie
Parisi, senior management
consultant with TORCH
Management Services,
explained while state law
would allow a maximum tax
rate of 75-cents per $100
evaluation; the petition and
—See "Hospital" Page 2
ois of color . . ,
i n
— Photo by Tracy Mesler
Saturday's first ever Mardi Gras parade brought loads of color to downtown Nocona as
the Chamber sponsored a parade and Cajun dinner.
D releases
sketch of
perpetrator
The Nocona Police
Department released an
artist' sketch of the suspect
in the Feb. 20th shooting of
Nocona Patrolman Josh
Braden.
Police Chief Kent
Holcomb said anyone with
information about who the
suspect might be should con-
tact the Nocona Police
Department at 825-3281.
Because the shooting
involved a Nocona patrol-
man, Texas Rangers and the
District Attorney's Office
are conducting the investiga-
tion.
At 11:40 p.m. Braden
stopped to question a suspect
— See "Sketch" Page 2
Respect and honor . . .
Fires. smoke trigger
Citizen awareness
— Photo by Tracy Mesler
While younger brother Billy Jack Hancock turns off the cutting torch used to heat the
iron, Joe Tom Hancock applies one of the family brands to the locally made casket for
their father, Tommy Louis Hancock, Meanwhile casket maker Jonathon Brown looks
on.
Library hosts Breneltwarmers
book signing or Larry Lemons
By Tracy R. Mesler
Situational awareness
(SA): involves being aware
of what is happening around
you to understand how infor-
mation, events, and your
own actions will impact you.
To say residents of
Montague County suffer
from situational awareness
when it comes to wildfires
and range fires may be an
understatement. After mas-
sive range fires destroyed
more than 100 homes and
took two lives in 2007 and
2009, residents have become
more cognizant of the dan-
gers involved.
Sunday evening all three
emergency services dispatch
centers in the county fielded
a number of phone calls ask-
ing a simple question:
"Where's the fire?"
The callers then learned
that the fires, plural, were
around Amarillo, Childress,
Altus, Big Spring and
Who dat? • . .
Midland. The gale force
winds were driving the
smoke horizontally hundreds
of miles rather than allowing
the heated air to rise.
Monday that situational
awareness took a bit more
personal touch when a half
dozen fire local fire depart-
ments were paged out to
respond to "controlled burns
that got out of control".
Nocona Rural, Nocona
Hills, Oak Shores and
Nocona Lake Estates were
all paged to attack a fire at
FM 2953 and Liberty Chapel
Road northeast of Lake
Nocona. There a prescribed
burn got out of control.
"If they have a prescribed
burn manager's license from
the state, they can burn even
during a Burn Ban,"
explained Montague County
Sheriff Paul Cunningham,
who spent 20 years of his
professional career as a
county fire marshal and fire
investigator.
"We can't keep them
from having a burn," he
admitted adding that certain
conditions have to be fol-
lowed: the burn manager has
to hold a license from the
state, they have to file a burn
plan with the county, they
have to have at the least a
specified minimum of fire
suppression equipment on
hand, the winds have to be
less than 20 miles per hour
and the humidity has to be at
least 25% when they start the
— See "Fires" Page 3
nMutd
Burn Ban In Effect
Nd outdoor burning
by order of
County Judge Tommie Sappington
Nocona artist, author,
vocalist and photographer
Larry G. Lemons has written
another book and patrons
will have an opportunity to
purchase an autographed
copy this evening.
The Nocona Public
Library, 10 Cooke St., will
host a book signing from
5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday,
March 3.
The book signing and
reception will commemorate
the recent release of Larry's
second book: "A
Benchwarmer remembers
(Bucking barrels, baseball,
Baptists, and rock 'n roll -
an autobiographical walk
down memory lane)"
If you have not already
purchased your advance
copy, a limited number of
books will be available in
person. They are also avail-
able from
www.lulu.com/lglemon-
sartist.
i'§ teammates
rally around her
V
.
AREA WEATHER
Feb. 16
Feb. 17
Feb. 18
Feb. 19
Feb. 20
Feb. 21
Feb. 22
77
77
82
79
76
77
53
52
57
55
55
60
46
29
24 Hour period ending at 7 a.m.
Offical recording site at Nocona Hills
Tot Rain 2011 1.97
Tot. February 1.37
Thru Feb 2010 4.75
Thru Feb 2009 0.91
Lifelong friends and
teammates of 2010 NHS
graduate Jordan Mathis are
sponsoring a 4 on 4 benefit
volleyball tournament to
help with medical expenses
as Jordan fights a form of
leukemia.
The daughter of Cherie
and Robert Mathis of
Nocona and a student at
Midwestern State, Jordan
was a member of the three
time regional qualifier Lady
Indians volleyball team. She
also played basketball and
Softball during high school.
Jordan was diagnosed
two weeks ago with Acute
Myelogenous Leukemia.
Jordan is currently under-
going seven days of
chemotherapy. She will then
take seven days off, and then
return to chemotherapy.
A bake sale will be held
this week.
The tournament will be
held March 19 at Nocona
Fligh School. More details,
entry fees and contact infor-
mation will be forthcoming
next week.
Jordan was a four year
varsity member of the Lady
Indians volleyball team
receiving Honorable
Mention as a sophomore,
second-team All-District
honors as a junior and first-
team honors as a senior. She
played basketball, softball,
powerlifting, and tennis and
was a cheerleader.
— Photo by Tracy Mesler
Dale Linn (seated) asks some of his fellow former Nocona Boot Company employees
"Who dat?" as they try to identify people in pictures at Saturday's Nocona Boot
Company "Show and Tell" held at the Tales 'N' Trails Museum.
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Mesler, Tracy R. & Mesler, Linda L. The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 3, 2011, newspaper, March 3, 2011; Nocona, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth439307/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Friends of the Nocona Public Library.