KTBB News, Weather, Talk

TYLER — Tyler Police are looking for a suspect accused of stabbing a woman. It happened around 8:20 Friday morning at Moore Grocery Lofts on Broadway. According to police the woman’s son told dispatchers that his mother had been stabbed. The victim has been identified by a family member as Victoria Massey, 40, a secretary for Judge Quincy Beavers. Massey was taken to East Texas Medical Center and is listed critical condition. Neighbors of Massey told KETK, police are looking for a man named George Terry. It is unknown what the connection is between Terry and this incident. He’s described as a black male last seen wearing a red shirt.

Anyone with information about the suspect involved in this crime are urged to contact the Tyler Police Department, at 903-531-1000, or Crimestoppers, at 903-597-CUFF. (903-597-2833)

LUFKIN — A group of thieves made off worth $2500 worth of electronics from a Lufkin store by hiding it in a leaf blower box. Lufkin Police tell KETK, the items were stolen from Conn’s department store on the 3000 block of South John Redditt Drive June 13. Security video shows three men and one woman entered the store separately, but worked together to steal the merchandise.

Three suspects distracted employees, while one man removed a leaf blower from the packaging and loaded the empty box down with several iPod Touches, as well as Sony and Samsung tablets. The thief then checked out as if buying box carrying a leaf blower, getting away with thousands of dollars worth of electronics. Police are still looking for the thieves.

TYLER – An electrical problem is said to be the cause of a Smith County fire. It occurred just before 5:00 yesterday afternoon at the FedEx building on the Loop 323 extension just northeast of Tyler. The fire was contained to one room and no injuries were reported.

PALESTINE – An Anderson County woman has been arrested, accused of providing alcohol to minors at a birthday party. She is also accused of attacking a woman who picked up her daughter at the party. Taken into custody was Rosharon Lummus, 38, of Palestine. The incident is said to have occurred at Lummus’ home on County Road 2150, southwest of Palestine. Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor said Lummus is being held in the county jail in lieu of bonds totaling $80,000.

LAKEPORT – A mobile home in Gregg County has been leveled by fire. The mobile home, four miles south of Lakeport, and a pickup, were destroyed by the blaze around 7:00 Thursday morning. The resident, Robert English, was not injured. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

LONGVIEW — Police in Longview want to remind citizens of the dangers of leaving children and animals alone in vehicles, whether the vehicle’s engine is running or not. Every year, as temperatures rise, Longview police respond to numerous calls of children and pets locked inside a vehicle. Summer heat can bring temperatures inside a vehicle soaring to over 100 degrees in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, children can also be left in vehicles because they are forgotten in their car seats. Children also get into vehicles to play and cannot get out, resulting in tragic outcomes. Animals are also often left in vehicles when the owner runs errands or goes into a store to pick up a few things.

Last week, Longview police arrested Caron Carson Ford, 34, of Marshall. Police say she left her small child in an unlocked vehicle with the motor running for approximately 30 minutes while she shopped inside the Longview Mall.

TYLER — The Tyler City Council is mulling over the results of a new water rate study that proposes a 2% water rate increase and a 7% wastewater rate hike. Greg Morgan is the city’s director of utilities and public works. He tells KETK the city has a history of long-range water planning. According to Morgan, “The five-year studies that we’re doing are just part of that proactive long-range planning that we do.” The study concluded that Tyler’s water rates are currently among the lowest in the state.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Louie Gohmert of Tyler expresses anger over the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act. Gohmert joined others in saying Americans were told the individual mandate would not be a tax. Gohmert spoke at a Tea Party Patriots press conference following the ruling. Among his remarks: “If America doesn’t wake up and replace all of those who lied to them to get this bill passed, then shame on us.” You can go to http://www.gohmert.house.gov to see the press conference video in full.

LUFKIN — Two copper thieves are under arrest after accidentally dialing 911 early Wednesday morning. Shortly after midnight, Lufkin authorities were sent to the area of Daniel McCall Drive and College Drive to a possible theft in-progress after dispatchers received a 911 call from one of the thieves. According to KETK, the dispatcher told authorities it appeared they called on accident and two men were talking about the theft.

Officials said they were able to figure out the suspects’ general location before the bandits left the scene. When officers arrived, they found and stopped Kevin D. Williamson, 32,(pictured) and Charles A. Williamson, 30, near the intersection of College Drive and South John Redditt Drive.

Inside the vehicle, authorities found aluminum and copper wire stolen from a construction site near the intersection of Daniel McCall Drive and College Drive. Both alleged burglars were booked into the Angelina County Jail on theft of material.

BEAUMONT — A 48-year-old Garrison woman has been sentenced for bank fraud. Terry Lynn Batson pleaded guilty on March 16 to bank fraud and was sentenced yesterday to 27 months in federal prison. Batson was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $154,634.64. According to information presented in court, from 2005 to 2011, Batson worked as a care giver for two elderly Nacogdoches County residents. On February 10, 2011, relatives of the two elderly residents contacted law enforcement authorities after reviewing bank accounts belonging to the two elderly residents and determining approximately $154,634.64 was missing. Batson admitted to writing checks out of the accounts to pay her personal debts and without permission from the account holders.

EAST TEXAS — One person has died in an early Thursday morning wreck in Panola County. According to KETK, the one-vehicle roll over happened just before 6:00 along Highway 59 at County Road 4215, between Tenaha and Carthage. No word on the name of the victim or the cause of the wreck.

TYLER — A Tyler Police Officer is injured while conducting a traffic stop. Late Wednesday night, Officer T.J. Goodpasture had a vehicle stopped along Highway 110 South when a teen driver heading southbound on 110 drove up on the scene. The juvenile driver is said to have swerved around the first patrol car, and then swerved back into the lane, striking the second patrol car. Goodpasture was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and was released from the hospital early Thursday morning. The Department of Public Safety is investigating the wreck.

ATLANTA – A suspect is in custody in connection with the Monday morning robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank in Atlanta Texas. Robin Marion Allen, 52, of Atlanta turned himself in to authorities on Wednesday. Earlier, a judge had issued a warrant for Allen’s arrest in the case.

The robbery occurred around 9:15 Monday morning at the Wells Fargo Bank on Main Street in Altanta. A man gave a teller a note demanding money, and then fled on foot. No injuries were reported.

TYLER — After a lengthy nationwide search, the City of Tyler has hired a new City Librarian. Mary Vernau, who is currently the Library Director at Altoona Public Library in Altoona, Wisconsin, will begin her new assignment on August 6. She succeeds Chris Albertson who retired at the end of last year. Albertson was Tyler’s longest serving librarian with over 30 years on the job.

The hiring process consisted of initial applications and a questionnaire, followed by a skype interview. After the field was narrowed down, candidates interviewed with a three-person panel consisting of City of Tyler leaders. The finalists then had an interview with City Manager Mark McDaniel.

“Mary was recommended unanimously before I interviewed her myself and checked references,” McDaniel said. “She appears to be a very good match for what we need to take the Library into the future in terms of practices, services, technology and outreach.”

Vernau graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Library Science, Magna Cum Laude, from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin and a Master of Arts in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a member of the American Library Association as well as the Wisconsin Library Association and she has more than 15 years of experience.

SMITH COUNTY — Department of Public Safety officials said “speed and distraction” were the likely causes of a fatal one-car crash which claimed the life of Windy Holland, 38, of Lindale. The wreck occurred one week ago today. According to KETK, the crash occurred on Texas Highway 110, north of Smith County Road 433, just after midnight. A DPS spokesperson said Holland’s car left the roadway and hit a culvert, “which vaulted her into the utility pole.” Holland was wearing a seatbelt, DPS officials said. The crash is still under investigation. After the vehicle hit the utility pole, power was cut off for area residents for a brief time until power company workers restored electricity.

SMITH COUNTY — The Texas Department of Transportation opens Segment 5 of Toll Road 49 to traffic today in time for the evening rush. As part of the opening, there are new traffic signals in effect at Toll 49 and State Highway 110 north of Whitehouse, and at Farm Road 2964 (Rhones Quarter). The segment connects with existing Toll 49 at Farm Road 756 (Paluxy Drive), which runs west to State Highway 155 (Frankston Highway), where Segment 3A is still under construction and expected to be open by the end of October. “It’s an exciting time for us, and for East Texas,” said TxDOT spokesman Larry Krantz. “We’re finally starting to realize the potential this project promised when we opened the first segment.”

Toll 49 opened its first segment, between U.S. Highway 69 and SH 155, in August 2006. Segment 2 extended the toll road to FM 756 in January 2008. Once segments 3A and 5 are open, Toll 49 will stretch approximately 16 miles between SH 31 west of Tyler and SH 110 southeast of Tyler, essentially from Chandler to Whitehouse. Electronic toll collection on Segment 5 will begin in August. “In the meantime,” Krantz added, “It’s free to drive on Toll 49 between SH 110 and FM 756 (Paluxy Drive). Once tolling begins, it will cost 25 cents with a TxTAG to drive the new segment.” Segment 3B of Toll 49, which will connect SH 31 west of Tyler and IH 20 near Hide-A-Way Lake, is scheduled to open by the end of 2013, according to the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority (NETRMA), which is overseeing its construction.

KILGORE — A state environmental mandate gives Kilgore 315 days to put a waste-water review process in place to ensure industrial companies clean what they flush into the sewage treatment plant. That’s according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. City council members agreed Tuesday to comply with a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality enforcement order to put a pretreatment oversight system in place. The order came with a $3,980 fine for failing to ensure industrial plants remove oil and grease before bringing it to the wastewater treatment plant that discharges into Rabbit Creek.

“You cannot design a municipal (wastewater) treatment plant to treat anything and everything that comes to it,” Utilities Director David said, explaining the need to have industry clean its worst waste before putting it into the city sewer system. Hackley told council members the state agency first told Kilgore to enact such a program in 2003 but withdrew the requirement three years later. Regulators renewed the requirement on Kilgore after an environmental audit last summer, he added. “Basically, they are saying we should have been more proactive, not reactive,” Hackley said. The council agreed to pay the fine, and Hackley and Public Works Director Seth Sorenson said they would return with recommendations on how to implement, and staff, an oversight system.

GREGG COUNTY — Medical officials, along with a family friend, have confirmed that the man injured in a Longview motorcycle wreck has died. According to KETK, he has been identified as Les Ferguson, who had been a range master at the East Texas Police Academy since 1990. The wreck, involving a motorcycle and SUV, slowed traffic on Highway 31 in Gregg County at the Interstate 20 ramp. The wreck happened at about 8:00 Wednesday morning on the north side of Interstate Highway 20. Ferguson, he driver of the motorcycle, was taken to a Longview hospital. No one in the SUV was injured.

TYLER — Several persons have been injured and one person arrested following a Tyler hit and run accident. It happened shortly after 1:45 Wednesday morning outside the 13th Step Tattoo parlor, 2119 East Fifth Street. Officers said the suspect, Roderick Lattrete Brazzle, 33, Longview, went to the business to discuss a friend’s tattoo when he and the owner reportedly got into an argument in the parking lot.

The owner, identified as Herman Boles, 31, told Brazzle to leave. When Brazzle got into his Hummer he reportedly drove it towards Boles and two other people standing in front of the business. Brazzle struck three persons and ran into the front of the business causing property damage. Brandi Baker, 26, and Fransico Carrillo, 24 were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.

Police arrested Brazzle at Loop 323 and Highway 31 East a short time later and charged him with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked into the Smith County Jail with bond set at $120.000.

NACOGDOCHES — NACOGDOCHES COOUNTY — Two Nacogdoches County jailers were booked into the Nacogdoches County Jail Monday afternoon in connection to the death of inmate Edwinta Deckard.(pictured) An autopsy report stated she died from natural causes and dehydration. According to the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Elizabeth Ann Owens, 40, of Nacogdoches, and Danny Ray Russell, 35, of Douglass, are charged with criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony. The two posted a $4,000 bond each and were released less than an hour after being booked into the jail, according to the jail records.

ARP — The city of Arp was left without water Tuesday after it was turned off due to a major line break. City officials say the water line has been repaired; however, they say you should still boil the water before you drink it. According to KETK, the line break happened during sewer maintenance. Residents will be notified when it is safe to drink the water without boiling it. That could take several days.

TYLER – An assistant professor of health and kinesiology at The University of Texas at Tyler, Dr. Neil Dong, has been awarded nearly $385,000 from the National Institute of Health to examine fracture risks of the human spine. Effective July 1, Dong will collaborate with the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases on the three-year grant.

According to Dr. Dong, “This project is about using stochastically treated DXA [Dual-energy X-ray] images to improve the prediction of fracture risks of the human spine. This technique uses a simple, routinely acquired DXA scan to identify people at high risk of spine fractures based on the measurement of both bone mineral density and its
Distribution.” He plans to incorporate UT Tyler student research within the biomechanics laboratory for the project’s duration.

Dong holds a master of science in engineering mechanics from Tsinghua University in China and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. Among honors received, Dong earned presentation as well as science and technology achievement awards while in Beijing.

TYLER — Campers at Tyler State Park are facing danger from dead trees brought on by the drought. Campers reported over the weekend that branches were falling off the trees onto campsites and RVs and even onto some campers. Luckily, no one was hurt. But park superintendent Bill Smart tells KETK that the park is doing everything it can to take care of the problem. Smart says crews have started removing limbs. Park officials add that the falling limbs are a statewide concern. They hope to fix the problem before the Fourth of July weekend.

TYLER — Tyler police are following up on a couple of car burglaries. The victims reported they were working out at Rose Rudman Park when someone broke into their vehicles by smashing out the back and side windows, taking several items. Police officials tell KETK it’s not the first time they’ve seen break-ins like this at the park. And the victims believe whoever’s responsible for the latest incidents may be responsible for others as well. Police reiterate their usual warning that while your car is unattended, you should make sure all items are hidden to prevent theft.

EAST TEXAS — Sales tax revenue numbers are in, and statewide numbers are up. But here in East Texas, the results are varied, according to KETK and the Texas Comptroller’s Office. The City of Henderson posted a large increase of 15.58%, but nearby Kilgore’s sales tax revenue is down more than 10% from 2011. Longview and Tyler also showed slight decreases when compared to the same time last year. Here are more detailed figures for the area’s two largest cities:

TYLER
Net Payment This Period: $2,623,769.39
Comparable Payment Prior Year: $2,634,914.82
% Change: -0.42%
2012 Payments To Date: $17,754,260.56
2011 Payments To Date: $17,543,141.26
% Change: 1.20%

LONGVIEW
Net Payment This Period: $2,297,133.13
Comparable Payment Prior Year: $2,327,216.89
% Change: -1.29%
2012 Payments To Date: $15,437,473.60
2011 Payments To Date: $15,575,819.46
% Change: -0.88%

Got to http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/allocsum/cities.html for a breakdown of figures across the state.

LONGVIEW — Crime rates in Longview are said to be the same as this time last year. According to KETK, in 2011, the city had more than 4,400 reported crimes for the year. So far in 2012, at the halfway point, Longview police have responded to more than 2,300 crimes, including two murders. In 2011, Longview police investigated four murders. Police say community involvement has helped cut down on the crime rate.

TYLER — A trial date has been set for Carmel Foster, the Tyler salon owner accused of injecting an unknown gel into a woman as part of a breast augmentation. According to KETK, Foster’s trial will take place July 9 in the Smith County 7th District Court. She’s charged with two counts of practicing medicine without a license. Foster owns the Queen Divas salon in Tyler, where the injections allegedly took place. She faces up to 10 years in prison as well as a $10,000 fine if she is convicted.

On February 19, Tyler Police were contacted by family members of a victim who stated that she had a breast augmentation (by injection) procedure performed on both her breasts on February 15, in Tyler. The victim, a Longview resident, was admitted into a hospital for severe chest pains. Tyler Investigators determined that the procedure was conducted for a fee in a back room of Queen Divas Hair Salon and Spa, located at 102 E. Martin Luther King Street, in Tyler. Investigators obtained a search warrant on the business to seek any evidence that may have been related to the case and evidence was seized by Crime Scene Investigators.

MINEOLA – The Texas Rangers are investigating a shooting in which a Wood County constable shot the gun from a suicidal man’s hand. The incident occurred Sunday afternoon on County Road 2445 north of Mineola. Authorities responded to the scene after suicidal threats were made at a residence. According to the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, after threats were made to fire at officers, Constable Ed Shadbolt fired a shot from about 30 yards, hitting the man’s hand and causing him to drop the gun. The man was first transported to East Texas Medical Center for treatment of his wound. He was later taken to the ETMC Behavioral Health unit for evaluation.

ATLANTA – An undisclosed amount of money has been taken in an East Texas Bank robbery. It occurred around 9:15 Monday morning at the Wells Fargo Bank on Main Street in Altanta. The man gave a teller a note demanding money, and then fled on foot. No injuries were reported. The suspect is described as a middle-aged white male wearing a dark shirt and an orange cap.

DALLAS (AP) — Former University of Houston basketball star Ted Luckenbill, who played in Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, has died of cancer at the age of 72. The Callaway-Allee funeral home in Crockett, Texas, where Luckenbill lived for 20 years, said he died Sunday in Dallas.

Luckenbill played for the Cougars from 1958-61. He averaged 16.6 points and 9.7 rebounds while helping Houston to its first two winning seasons under Guy Lewis. He ranks 26th on the school’s career scoring list with 1,195 points.

Drafted 15th overall by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1961, he played in only 87 NBA games before he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 23. His professional claim to fame came on March 2, 1962, when he grabbed two offensive rebounds in the final two minutes to help his teammate Chamberlain hit 100 points in the Warriors’ 169-147 victory over New York.

The funeral home said a private service was planned.