KTBB News, Weather, Talk

LONGVIEW � A big announcement is anticipated when LeTourneau University holds its fall convocation today. It will begin at this morning at 10:50 in the S. E. Belcher Jr. Chapel and Performance Center. A school news release says President Dr. Dale A. Lunsford will make a major announcement with national implications during his welcome of incoming students. He will also share his annual State of the University report with students, faculty and staff, expanding on the university’s new initiatives and programs for this coming year.

TYLER — Wednesday offers another chance for Tylerites to weigh in on the city’s 2010-2011 budget. One of three remaining opportunities for public input on the budget is set for at 9 a.m. at City Hall. Citizens can also make their voices heard at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, and Wednesday, Sept. 22; the 22nd is the date scheduled for final budget adoption. The proposed budget calls for maintaining the existing �effective tax rate,� which is essentially the tax rate calculated to generate the same amount of revenue that was received in the last fiscal year. The effective rate is 20.8 cents per $100 valuation. You can go to http://www.cityoftyler.org for more information.

CANTON — Van Zandt County authorities follow up after a bomb is found in a mailbox. On Tuesday the Van Zandt County Sheriff�s Office was dispatched to VZCR #4404 on a report of a bomb being placed in a mailbox. Upon arrival a deputy advised that he observed a long pipe like object which was wrapped in black electrical tape and appeared to have a fuse on one end. The Sheriff�s Office, with the help of the Ben Wheeler Fire Department and Van Zandt County Posse members, blocked off the road in an attempt to keep anyone from getting close to the device. The Garland Bomb Squad and ATF were notified of the situation. ATF Agents from Tyler arrived at the scene and were able to safely remove the explosive device and secure it for transport. ATF then removed the device to their facility for further investigation.

TYLER � First day enrollment numbers for Tyler ISD indicate a decrease in enrollment compared to first day numbers last school year. Total enrollment for the 2010-2011 school has started with 17,530 students compared to 17,559 on the first day in 2009. Officials say it is not unusual for first day numbers to fluctuate from year to year. �We anticipate enrollment going up in the coming weeks,� said Randy Reid, Superintendent of Schools.

LONGVIEW — A pair from Gladewater and one suspect from Longview were arrested Monday for theft of copper. The three were arrested near FM 1845 and Bacle Road after deputies responded to an in-progress theft call. �Monday morning, field deputies were dispatched to an oil field company storage yard off FM 1845 north of Longview after a theft in progress was reported,� Gregg County Sheriff’s Captain Mike Claxton said Tuesday. An employee of a local production company saw a man run from a cart loaded with stolen copper and called law enforcement.

�Two of the three were located and detained when deputies arrived, and the third was found south of the theft site after running into some woods while deputies were en-route,� Claxton said. Michael Dennis Harnden, 50, and Julia Loraine Dodd, 39, both of Gladewater; and Jeffrey Wayne Prichard, 62, of Longview, were charged by probable cause affidavits with one count of theft of copper, a 4th degree felony. Officials say the copper taken from the company was recovered at the arrest location. �Some damage was caused to several electrical transformers when this group removed the copper,� Claxton said. The cost of the damage has not been determined. On Tuesday, Harnden, Dodd, and Prichard were arraigned before Judge B.H. Jameson. Bond was set on each suspect at $10,000. All three remain in jail.

LONGVIEW (AP) – A Gregg County commissioner has resigned amid allegations that crews assigned to road and bridge duties did unapproved work at baseball fields and a school. Commissioner Bob Barbee of Kilgore resigned Monday. Barbee did not immediately return a message Tuesday to The Associated Press. The Longview News-Journal reported Tuesday that Barbee admitted having crews do unauthorized work at baseball fields in Kilgore and at Maude Laird Middle School. District Attorney Carl Dorrough says he received complaints from county employees. Dorrough met with Barbee after Monday’s commissioners court meeting. He says they discussed the allegations and Barbee resigned. Dorrough also says a county ice machine, at Barbee’s personal business, has been recovered. Dorrough did not immediately return a message Tuesday to AP.

TYLER — Everyone’s invited to come meet the Muslim Community of East Texas. There’s an open house and community dinner tonight at the East Texas Islamic Society Mosque at 10659 State Highway 64 East, across from the Oil Palace on the outskirts of Tyler. Organizers say it’s a chance to learn about the basics of Islam & the Ramadan holiday currently being celebrated. According to materials from the Islamic Society, People can “come ask questions they have always wanted to ask a Muslim. Come see how Muslims pray and worship. Come enjoy our Fast Breaking Dinner (Iftaar) and join us for some good ethnic food.”

Itinerary for Open House
o 6:00pm � 6:15pm � Arrival to Mosque
o 6:15pm �Intro to Islam/Q&A Session
o Sunset (7:56pm) � Break Fast
o 8:05pm � Enjoy the Food
o 8:30pm �Mosque Tour & Thank you for coming

All activities will take place at the Mosque. Organizers ask that no shorts or short skirts be worn in the Mosque.

TYLER — State Representative Leo Berman of Tyler makes an appearance on Fox News Tuesday morning to discuss his goal of ending birthright citizenship. 96 million dollars is the price tag to provide health care to the almost 2 million illegal immigrants in Texas. Each year, an additional 60,000 babies are born to illegals. Rep. Berman says, at the state level, he’s introducing a bill which will prohibit the state of Texas from issuing a birth certificate to the child of illegal aliens. He says that instead, they’ll be given a notice of birth with instructions to take it to their local consulate or embassy to receive a birth certificate from the country of their parents.

Berman says if the bill passes, a suit will likely be filed against the bill and he ultimately hopes the issue ends up in front of the Supreme Court. Berman stated that the 14th amendment does not guarantee automatic citizenship. He says it does not apply to foreigners as stated in the Constitution.

TYLER — If Smith County Commissioners want to move forward with the November jail bond election, this morning is their last chance to put it on the ballot. According to KETK, Commissioner Jeff War will give information about a 33 million dollar proposal. Commissioners will then decide if they want to put it on the ballot. The meeting starts at 9:30 this morning in the Smith County Commissioner’s Courtroom.

PALESTINE — A 34-year-old Tyler man was arrested Friday afternoon by Anderson County authorities and charged in the rape of a 19-year-old woman on the Neches River near the Lake Palestine dam. According to KETK, Paul Erwin Chamberlain II was arrested at a Tyler business around 2:30 Friday afternoon by an Anderson County sheriff�s Sgt. and a Smith County peace officer. As of late Friday afternoon, Chamberlain remained in the Anderson County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. Authorities have alleged that Chamberlain sexually assaulted a Smith County woman late Monday night/early Tuesday morning.

PAYNE SPRINGS — Investigators are trying to determine the cause of a fire that killed a young Henderson County girl. Dead at the scene Sunday morning was Kolbee Ann Moss, 10. Her body was found in her fire destroyed home at Cherokee Shores. Three other persons in the home when the fire broke out were able to flee unharmed. They were unable to get back into the home and rescue the young girl. Her body has been sent to a Dallas lab for autopsy.

LONGVIEW — A Gregg County woman has been arrested after being accused of allowing her three children to ride on top of her vehicle. Taken into custody was Elizabeth Iglesias, 27, of White Oak. She is being charged with three counts of child abandonment/endangerment. He bond was set at $20,000. Authorities say all three children were under 12 years of age.

TYLER — In just over two months, voters in the Tyler School District will decide the fate of a, $89.95 million school bond issue. School trustees Tuesday approved putting the issue on the November 2nd ballot.

The proposal calls for rebuilding Dixie and Rice elementary schools and building a new middle school off the Old Jacksonville Highway. The new middle school would be built on a 30 acre tract of land the district owns. If approved by voters, it would open in August of 2012.

At Tuesday�s meeting school officials announced approval of the bond proposal would not affect the district�s tax rate.

Also at Tuesday�s meeting, the school board approved the budget for 2010-2011. The $136,859,437 million is slightly higher than the current budget. The tax rate remains the same at $1.375 per $100 valuation. But not everyone supports the package. The citizen group Grassroots America – We the People is against it, in their words to the board, “because you have not made any real effort to cut spending, and you are balancing this budget with $5 million in federal stimulus funds you have applied for out of the State�s Rainy Day Fund.”

HOUSTON (AP) � A federal appeals court has upheld a jury’s verdict that actor-screenwriter Tyler Perry didn’t steal material for his 2005 movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

Two years ago, jurors in federal court in Marshall found actress and writer Donna West failed to support her copyright infringement claim.

West appealed the verdict. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday there was nothing improper in the way the trial was conducted.

West wrote a play titled “Fantasy of a Black Woman” that was performed three times in 1991 in Dallas. She claimed Perry could have seen the script when he presented his plays at the Dallas Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998.

Perry testified his screenplay was an original work. The $5 million film grossed more than $50 million.