Ward v. Bond
| Decision Date | 31 October 1928 |
| Docket Number | (No. 3152.) |
| Citation | 10 S.W.2d 590 |
| Parties | WARD et al. v. BOND et al. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from District Court, Cochran County; Homer L. Pharr, Judge.
Action by J. R. Ward and others against J. R. Bond and others. From a decree adverse to plaintiffs, they appeal. Affirmed.
Rob't A. Sowder, of Lubbock, for appellants.
Schenck & Triplett, of Lubbock, for appellees.
The appellant Ward, joined by numerous other resident property taxpayers and voters of Cochran county, filed this suit against J. R. Bond, county judge of said county, F. F. Rowland, Jim Robinson, P. L. Thacker, and E. V. Riley, county commissioners, alleging that Cochran county is duly organized with a population of about 1,200 people; that in 1926 the commissioners' court divided the county into four commissioners' precincts. The petition sets out the boundaries of said commissioners' precincts as described in the order of the commissioners' court, the field notes of said precincts showing that the county was so divided that the lines of each of the several precincts converged in the county courthouse in the town of Morton, the county seat.
It appears from the maps used in oral argument that Morton is about two miles west of the center of the northeast one-fourth of the county. According to the division then made, commissioners' precinct No. 1, in area, is about one-eighth of the county and irregular in shape, but lying mainly in the north-eastern corner of the county. Precinct No. 2 lies south of precinct No. 1 along the east side of the county with an L extension, including a small portion of the south part of the town plot of Morton, and in area is about one-sixth of the county. Precinct No. 4 lies principally in the northwest corner of the county, and in area is about one-fifth of the county. Precinct No. 3 comprises all of the territory lying in the southwestern part of the county, and includes a portion of the southeast one-fourth of the county, with an irregular extension which fixes its northeast corner at the courthouse in Morton, where it corners with each of the other precincts. The Santa Fé Railroad enters the county at about the center of its east line, and runs west through the county to the state line. According to the maps before us, the town of Whiteface, situated on the railroad, is in precinct No. 2 on the east line of the county. The town of Lehman, also on the railroad, and described as a shipping point for cattle, is near the center of the county in precinct No. 3.
About two years before the trial of this case, the town of Bledsoe was established on the railway at the eastern border of the county; the last two towns lying within precinct No. 3, as originally established.
The plaintiffs allege that each of the commissioners' precincts had a voting place in the town of Morton; that precinct No. 2 had another voting place at the town of Whiteface; that precinct 3 had voting places at the towns of Bledsoe and Lehman, and that precinct 4 had a voting box at the Neely-Ward school, about seven miles from the town of Morton; that at the general election in November, 1926, 80 votes were polled in commissioners' precinct No. 1, 42 votes in precinct No. 2, 111 votes in precinct No. 3, and 120 votes in precinct No. 4; that in the Democratic primary of 1928, 91 votes were polled in precinct No. 1, 48 votes in precinct No. 2, 121 votes in precinct No. 3, and 134 votes in precinct No. 4; that the average population of such commissioners' precincts is about 2½ persons to each vote polled at such elections; that precinct No. 1 contained 28½ miles of improved public roads, and that the remainder of the county had approximately 85 miles of such roads; that the northeastern part of the county is a well-settled farming community; that the south 12 miles of the county does not contain exceeding five farms, and the aggregate of said farms does not exceed 800 acres; that there are not exceeding 40 persons residing in the south 12 miles of the county, and that nine-tenths of the land therein is owned by not exceeding 15 owners, practically all of whom are nonresidents of the county; that on the 18th day of August, 1928, the said commissioners' court passed an order purporting to redistrict said county into commissioners' precincts. Maps before us show that the county was divided into four precincts by two lines running north and south and east and west through said county, said lines intersecting two or three miles northwest of the townsite of Lehman. The line running north and south runs about one mile east of the geographical center of the county, and the line running east and west, which contains two small jogs, runs about 2½ or 3 miles north of and parallel with the railroad. As stated, the railroad practically divides the county north and south into two equal areas. The result of the last redistricting is to divide the county into four commissioners' precincts, with precinct No. 1 including the town of Morton and comprising nearly all of the northeast one-fourth of the county. Precinct No. 2 comprises all the territory lying in the southeast one-fourth of the county; precinct No. 3 comprises the territory in the southwest corner of the county; and No. 4, in the northwest corner.
The result of this division is to create four commissioners' precincts practically equal in area, with a small excess in favor of precincts 2 and 3. The plaintiff alleges that as redistricted precinct No. 1 will have 225 votes and a population of 600 with 60½ miles of improved public roads; that precinct No. 2 will have a voting strength of 44 and a population of 100; that precinct No. 3 will have a voting strength of 75 and a population of 185, and precinct No. 4, a voting strength of 50 and a population of 125; that if the precincts are permitted to stand, as designated by the last order of the commissioners' court, until the November election, a voting population of 169 will elect three commissioners, and a voting population of 600 will only elect one commissioner; that a majority of the residents of the county will be represented by only two commissioners, and will be deprived of their right to locally govern themselves, and that approximately two-fifths of the people, through three commissioners, will govern the whole county; that the 60 miles of road in precinct No. 1 will not be kept in a passable condition for the reason that it would be allowed only one-fourth of the road fund of the county, while each of the other precincts using a similar amount, with less than one-half of the road mileage, will use three-fourths of the road fund.
It is further alleged that the order dividing the county in commissioners' precincts abolished the town of Lehman as a voting place; that such town has a population of 25 people, with 16 other voters residing in the vicinity of said town, who have been accustomed to vote there; that said order makes the town of Whiteface, situated on the extreme eastern border of the county, the voting box for precinct No. 2 and that said voters who have heretofore voted at Lehman will have to travel an average of 12 miles to Whiteface, over insufficient roads, to exercise their right of suffrage; that all of precinct No. 2, except the settlements at Lehman and Whiteface, is made up of large ranches of 10,000 acres and upwards: that said precinct now has 21 miles of improved public roads, and needs no further roads, but will be entitled to one-fourth of the entire road fund of the county; that precinct No. 2, under the late order above mentioned, contains less than 20 miles of improved roads, and the same conditions exist with reference thereto as exist in precinct No. 2; that plaintiffs Harris, Taylor, Reed, Jones, and Smith are and have been residents of precinct No. 1, as heretofore and now exists; that plaintiffs Kenyon, Caldwell, and W. S. Jones, who have heretofore resided in precinct No. 4, will, if the redistricting order is sustained, become residents of precinct No. 1; that plaintiffs Ward and Morrow, who have heretofore resided in precinct No. 2, will also become residents of precinct No. 1; and plaintiffs O'Pry and Holt will be changed from precinct No. 3 to precinct No. 2, and will have to travel 13 miles in order to vote at the Whiteface box, over insufficient roads, which will practically deprive them of their right to vote.
It is further alleged that the county judge and each of the four commissioners were candidates for re-election at the July primaries, and were all defeated for their several offices, except Commissioner Riley, whose opponent, plaintiff Kenyon, received a plurality of the votes cast in said precinct; that the change in the precinct lines and boundaries was fraudulently done in order that at the general election in November the said commissioners or persons controlled by them will have charge of the commissioners' court and the affairs of the county, and that by the proposed change in precinct lines, the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
43 32 v. Moore 8212 1475
...State ex rel. Dowlen v. Rigsby, 17 Tex.Civ.App. 171, 43 S.W. 271, holding approved, 91 Tex. 351, 43 S.W. 1101 (1897); Ward v. Bond, 10 S.W.2d 590 (Tex.Ct.Civ.App. 1928). The State Supreme Court later appeared to reverse this stand in approving a lower court decision that the State Constitut......
-
Avery v. Midland County, A--11272
...are four cases in which the Courts of Civil Appeals have done so: Lewis v. Harris, 48 S.W.2d 730 (Tex.Civ.App.1932, writ ref.); Ward v. Bond, 10 S.W.2d 590 (Tex.Civ.App.1928, no writ hist.); Williams v. Woods, 162 S.W. 1031 (Tex.Civ.App.1914, no writ hist.); Dubose v. Woods, 162 S.W. 3 (Tex......
-
Gumfory v. Hansford County Com'rs Court
...of judicial review. The Commissioners Court in its brief relies on Bexar County v. Hatley, 136 Tex. 354, 150 S.W.2d 980 (1941); Ward v. Bond, 10 S.W.2d 590 (Tex.Civ.App. Amarillo 1928, no writ); and Garcia v. State, 290 S.W.2d 555 (Tex.Civ.App. San Antonio 1956, writ ref'd n. r. e.) to supp......
-
Meredith v. Sharp, 6684
...in creating such an additional Justice Court, and in the holdings in Lewis v. Harris, Tex.Civ.App., 48 S.W.2d 730, and Ward v. Bond, Tex.Civ.App., 10 S.W.2d 590, 594, which dealt with the discretionary powers of a Commissioners' Court as related to the latter clause of Sec. 18, supra, in al......