News

City of Jacksboro adopted an ordinance to establish regulations and fees for excessive false fire alarm calls, an issue Jacksboro Fire Chief Jeremy Jennings said his department dealt with regularly.

Jennings said over the last several years, the Jacksboro Fire Department responded to an increased number of false fire alarm calls in the city. He said most activations were preventable, resulting from improper system maintenance, user error or lack of adequate building management practices. A few local businesses were repeat offenders.

The Jack County Sheriff’s Office completed an undercover narcotics investigation resulting in the arrest of two Chico residents and the recovery of approximately one quarter pound of methamphetamine. 

Kevin Allen Milam, 48 years old, of Chico, was arrested on Friday, Dec. 19 and booked into the Jack County Jail, charged with the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance penalty group 1, equal to four grams or more but less than 200 grams ($250,000 bond). 

Jacksboro Police Department will look to the neighboring Graham Police Department to field-train officers, part of the effort to train and certify a department rebuilding its force.

The Jacksboro City Council approved an interlocal agreement Monday, Dec. 8 between the city of Jacksboro and Graham to assist in providing fully trained and certified police officers for JPD. The Graham City Council previously approved the same interlocal agreement during its Thursday, Nov. 20 city council meeting.

The Jack County Constable’s Office will see its part-time officer moved into a full-time position after a split vote by the commissioners court.

The court made the decision Monday, Dec. 22 after Constable Clyde Watson said, given the amount of cases to be processed and served, his office needed more help in order to stay caught up.

“There’s a lot that goes on on the sidelines besides just serving papers,” Watson said. “And right now, with 30 hours a week, we’re not even keeping caught up on our papers.”

One of the Tigerettes basketball team’s brightest stars has chosen where she is going to continue her athletic career in college. Hayden Walker has committed to Oklahoma Christian University.

The announcement was made back in November and head coach Clayton Brown could not be more proud of what Walker has accomplished.

Brown said from the start that Walker’s goal was to play basketball at the next level after high school and that is exactly what she is accomplishing here.

Jacksboro Chamber of Commerce celebrated the return of the annual Tour of Homes event where the public is invited into four homes in the Jacksboro community to share a little bit of Christmas magic.

The chamber’s executive director Kylee Stokey said about 30 people signed up for the tour, five more than last year’s event. A total of four homes were featured on the tour that took place Thursday, Dec. 11, with locations stretching from several miles north of the city to the southwest.

Jacksboro Education Foundation celebrated its Foundation Nation—Jacksboro ISD staff members who elected to donate a portion of their paychecks to the foundation. Once a month the foundation delivers goodies to more than half of JISD employees who chose to support the school district and their students.

The foundation announced record-breaking success for GivingTuesday on Dec. 2, raising more than $40,200 to support educational opportunities at JISD.

The city of Jacksboro is facing three separate lawsuits from local property owners, claiming roadway construction along South Church and McCombs streets led to repeated instances of improperly diverted stormwater pooling on their property and causing substantial damages.

Furthermore, Jacksboro City Manager Mike Smith was also named as a defendant in each of the lawsuits, alleging he acted outside the legal scope of his employment to modify the roadway.

Only the race for Jack County Commissioner in precinct 2 remains contested after the filing period closed at end-of-day Monday, Dec. 8 for the March 2026 primary election, with all other local races seeing just one candidate each file for election.

Two Jacksboro seniors who worked hard to set themselves apart throughout their high school career have secured spots at two elite colleges and universities across the nation, both earning four-year, full ride scholarships.

JHS seniors Glyndon Rodriguez and Nicole Ouyang were QuestBridge applicants, competing with more than 25,000 other high school seniors to be chosen as two of 2,550 finalists to be matched with colleges and universities of their choice.