Juli Akin fought back tears as she told Texarkana, Texas, City Council members about the family home she would be forced to leave if the property is annexed into the city.

“We worked all our lives, planning to live our lives out there,” Akin said during a public hearing on the annexations. “I know every inch of that property, every inch of it. But we’re going to have to go. We just can’t afford it.”

Akin, her brother and their parents, Lonnie and Rozela Hawkins, have three homes at Jones Lane and Richmond Road. The family lives in an area of Bowie County that is develo...

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