State cancels plan to send sex offenders to Maud

[PUBLISHER'S NOTE: A story will appear in our midweek edition (Feb. 25) of the Atlanta Citizens Journal detailing plans to utilized the vacant restitution center in Maud. The facility is located just over a mile from the local school district and just yards from several homes in the immediate area. Quotes included in that article were obtained the day of our press time. We were informed late Monday that plans had changed and that the state had decided not to pursue plans to house sex offenders at that location. This is our follow up to this original story. We thank our local officials, including Catherine Betts for their diligence and cooperation in this matter to be sure our readers are informed on this important issue.] 

By Bobby Horn Jr.

Journal Staff

A plan to utilize a facility near Maud to treat those who have been convicted of sex-related crimes, which has come under fire from West Bowie County residents, has been cancelled.

Catherine Betts, with the Cass County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD) also known as Adult Probation, said that she was contacted late Feb. 23 and told by the State of Texas that they will not use the facility.

A meeting planned at the facility on March 1 has been cancelled, Betts said.

Betts attributes the state’s reversal to a concerted efforts by local citizens who organized a petition drive, took the issue to their own county officials and who publicized their outrage through social media.

A Feb. 23, a group of citizens appeared before the Bowie County Commissioners Court, asking their held in stopping the plan.

The controversy surrounded the North East Texas Intervention Center, located at 4538 CR 1202 North in Maud. The center was formerly known as the North East Texas Restitution Center.

Local residents had questioned security at the facility, noting that it is less than a mile-and-a-half away from a school and next door to several residences. Fears from residents were also expressed that the facility’s residents would be “allowed to work, shop in our stores, attend our churches and eat at our café” as one person wrote on the Facebook site “Open Meeting For Violent Sex Offenders Civil Commitment Program.”

Fighting the state plan, opponents of the program began circulating petitions in Maud and New Boston, entitled “Petition to Prohibit Convicted Sex Offenders in the TDC Civil Commitment Program from locating in Bowie County, Texas”.