Commissioners OK deal to provide inmate housing for four cities

NEW BOSTON, Texas— Bowie County will be joining Texarkana, Texas, in applying for $27,997 in state Justice Assistance Grant funds.

Bowie County Commissioners agreed Monday to join the Texas side in applying for the grant money—40 percent ($11,199) of which will go to the county if received. The money will be used to buy new bar lights to replace older bar lights on four sheriff’s office vehicles at a cost of $7,328, said Bowie County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Neal.

Neal added that the sheriff’s office also plans to buy two Special Weapons & Tactical Team combat vests worth $3,780.

Besides approving the grant application, commissioners reapproved an annual agreement with four cities—DeKalb, Hooks, Nash and Wake Village— to provide Class C misdemeanor inmate housing for those towns.

In other business, commissioners approved the resale of six different pieces of property recently acquired by the Bowie Central Appraisal District—collectively worth $12,500.

Commissioners also approved an application the Texas side is submitting to the Texas Commission on the Arts, which if approved by the state will allow Texarkana’s Art & Historic District to be designated a culturally significant district.

Bowie County Judge James Carlow said that should the district receive the state’s cultural designation, it would make the city more eligible for grant money, which could be used to pursue economic development as well as historical building preservation and rehabilitation.