KTBB News, Weather, Talk

ATHENS — Officials in Henderson County are urging residents to be aware of what they term the clear and present fire dangers that have persisted throughout the county for more than a month. Fire Marshal Shane Renberg says the county has reported a series of recent wildfires, totaling 44 in the past week alone. According to our news partner KETK, there have been 153 within the county since June 1. The Texas Forest Service said Henderson County remains critically dry and that fires could very well continue into the coming week. The entire region has been affected by hot, dry conditions. Smith, Gregg, and Rusk Counties have issued burn bans within the past week, joining numerous other counties in East Texas.

TYLER – The Smith County District Attorney’s Office has released bodycam video in connection to a civil case against Curtis Traylor-Harris. According to our news partner KETK, Traylor-Harris is dealing with criminal charges as well as a civil lawsuit after being accused of stealing from residents while serving a writ of possession as Smith County Constable for Precinct 1. He was charged in November along with two others from his office, Derrick Holman and LaQuenda Banks, with theft and official oppression. Traylor-Harris was rearrested in May for a bond violation, records show. In June, a Smith County resident filed a lawsuit to remove Traylor-Harris from office, alleging that he chose to violate his oath of office on multiple occasions and could not fulfill his duties as constable since his peace officer’s license was suspended. Since then, a new constable was sworn in for Precinct 1, Ralph Caraway Jr. Continue reading DA’s office releases bodycam video of constable, deputies allegedly stealing from residence

TYLER – The Tyler Fire Marshal’s Office confirmed that two people died in a house fire on Phillips Street Friday morning. According to our news partner KETK, officials say one person killed was an individual who was initially unaccounted for. Firefighters confirmed a man and woman died in the fire and the man’s body has been sent for an autopsy. Tyler Fire was called at 3:37 a.m., and officials were able to get the fire under control within 45 minutes of the initial call. It was said by authorities that there was a delay in containing the fire due to the house’s multiple shingle roof and tin roof on top of that. The house, a short distance south of downtown, had been converted into apartments. Both victims lived in the same unit. Continue reading Two dead after Tyler house fire near downtown

TYLER — It’s not nearly as bad as a few months ago, but NET Health’s George Roberts says the current COVID landscape in his agency’s survey area is still cause for concern. Roberts calls the dashboard figures “just the tip of the iceberg,” since his agency can’t track at-home test results. He notes that “anecdotally,” he has talked to a number of people who have had COVID or have family members who have had the virus, so he says he knows the numbers are going up. The actual dashboard remains a mixed bag, but one item of note is a jump in Tyler hospital patients to 59. Roberts continues to urge vaccinations and staying home when you’re sick. He says the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants now make up about 62 percent of COVID cases in Texas. For more information on COVID-19 in East Texas, click here.

CANTON – A former Van Zandt County sergeant has been charged for deprivation of rights and is accused of unreasonably assaulting a pretrial detainee. That’s according to our news partner KETK. David Yager, who is representing himself in this case, is accused of punching a detainee “in the chest multiple times with a taser, which he activated in drive-stun mode, also known as dry-stun mode,” the court documents said. The documents accused Yager of tasing the detainee on Feb. 28, 2021 while they were restrained by a detention officer and secured in a restraint chair inside the Van Zandt County Jail. A notice of plea agreement has been entered in this case, and the court has given notice that this case is related to the charges against former officers Blake Snell and Steven Craig Shelton.

PALESTINE — Workforce Solutions East Texas (WSET) announces the relocation of its Palestine workforce center to its original location on East Murchison Street, one block from the Anderson County Courthouse and directly across the street from the Courthouse Annex. The Palestine workforce center is now open to the public, with business hours of Monday–Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Palestine and Anderson County are crucial to East Texas’ overall success,” said WSET Executive Director Doug Shryock in a prepared statement. “We’re thrilled to be in such a central location where we can provide necessary services to jobseekers and help businesses discover workers who will produce results daily.”

TYLER — Preliminary data for the Tyler Police Department shows that in 2021, there was a reduction in Part 1 crimes, which consist of violent crimes and property crimes, as well as a slight increase of crimes being reported. According to information from the police department, Part 1 offenses dropped more than 13% compared to 2020 data. There was also a drop of nearly five per cent for violent crime, with 489 reports for the year compared to 514 reported in 2020. The city of Tyler overall experienced a slight increase of about 1% in all reported crimes. In a prepared statement, Chief Jimmy Toler says, in part, “While we saw an increase of crimes being reported, I think that is a great sign of the trust and faith the Tyler community has in our officers.” Click here for a more complete rundown.

KILGORE – A wanted man was arrested in Kilgore on Wednesday after being chased by multiple officers, some who joined the chase after he ran past the police station according to our news partner KETK. “If you saw us running through the Chick-fil-A parking lot it wasn’t because we were hungry or needed to cool off with a strawberry shake,” Kilgore police said. “It was because were chasing a wanted fugitive.” According to officials, Donald “Danger” Godbey was spotted by patrol in the downtown area and fled from them. Godbey had already escaped from Kilgore officers the previous week. Continue reading Fugitive caught and arrested after chase through Kilgore

TYLER – A Tyler man has pleaded guilty to burglary of habitation after being charged for murder and burglary back in 2020, and has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. According to our news partner KETK, Robert Robertson, 23, is the third person of his three co-defendants to be convicted in the investigation to a shooting on Van Street in Tyler and has a plea hearing for his murder charge scheduled for next month. Robertson’s co-defendant’s Kevondus Brantley and Kobe Warthsaw have been convicted of murder for the 2020 shooting. Brantley pleaded to 15 years in prison, and Warthsaw was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Continue reading 3rd person convicted in 2020 Tyler shooting investigation

TYLER – AAA is reporting the largest weekly gas price decrease for the year in Texas. The statewide gas price average per gallon is $4.33, AAA said. That is .16 cents less than on this day last week and $1.52 more per gallon compared to this day last year. AAA said drivers in El Paso are paying the most on average at $4.44 per gallon. According to our news partner KETK in Longview, the average gas price today is $4.39, compared to $4.53 a week ago. In Tyler, average gas prices are down to $4.27 from $4.40 last week. Texarkana’s gas average is now $4.36 from $4.51 last week. The main factors behind the recent drop, according to the AAA, is that crude oil prices are dropping due to concerns about a decline in global demand later this year and increased supply regionally. July is typically one of the busiest months for road travel.

TYLER – A former Van Zandt County Chief Deputy pleaded guilty to deprivation of civil rights on Wednesday after being accused of unreasonably assaulting an arrestee according to our news partner KETK. Steven Craig Shelton was accused of depriving a person of their rights while acting under color of law in September 2021 after an incident in Wills Point. Wednesday in court, Shelton submitted a binding plea agreement. Federal Magistrate Judge John D. Love recommended that the plea agreement be accepted by the district judge. The binding plea agreement includes a 44-month imprisonment sentence, five-year supervised release, and requires Shelton to pay restitution to the victim and community in an amount yet to be decided. According to court documents, Shelton “used his forearm to twice strike [the person] in the face while [they] were handcuffed.” Continue reading Former Van Zandt County Chief Deputy pleads guilty to striking handcuffed arrestee

LONGVIEW – A sixth woman was arrested for injury to a child for events that took place while she was employed at a Longview ISD elementary school. According to our news partner KETK, Cynthia Talley, 56, was arrested on Wednesday and has been indicted for seven counts of causing bodily injury to a child. She has also been indicted for one count of unlawful restraint of a minor. Talley posted a combined bail of $20,000 for all eight of her charges, and was released the same day. All six of the women were indicted in late June after an investigation into the mistreatment of students at J.L. Everhart Elementary. Continue reading Sixth woman arrested in Longview ISD abuse investigation

TYLER — Fire officials said the fire at the Broadway Square Mall on Tuesday started as a dumpster fire outside Dillard’s. The dumpster was filled with cardboard boxes and trash. According to our news partner KETK, the fire was reported around 1:20. When firefighters first arrived they saw visible flames. The dumpster fire traveled to a section of the roof, but no major damages were reported. Officials said there was no organized evacuation, some people exited Dillard’s on their own.

SMITH COUNTY — A Smith County jury convicted Livingstone Zitha, 52, South Africa, for felony theft from a local church. Zitha was charged with scamming a Tyler area church into providing love offerings of several thousand dollars for his ministry. Smith County prosecutors resented evidence that Zitha claimed to pastor a 5000 member church in Johannesburg, South Africa and that he ran a large orphanage. According to Zitha’s promotional materials, a donation of $250 would allow his ministry to feed a child for one year. While Zitha was described as a captivating personality and dynamic preacher, none of the money he raised ever made it to any ministry. Continue reading Traveling evangelist guilty of scamming East Texas church

GREGG COUNTY — Arrest warrants for 25-year-old Davadius Thomas of Longview for Capital Murder and Aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon along with several traffic warrants have been served by Longview Police Detectives. Thomas has been booked into the Gregg County Jail with bonds totaling approximately $1.25 million. On July 1 around 11:50p.m., Longview Police were dispatched to a home on Queens Court in reference to a welfare check. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered a male subject identified as 30-year-old Kenny McFarland Jr, who had sustained an apparent gunshot wound. McFarland was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

TYLER – The Texas Veterans Land Board is encouraging the community to help make an East Texas veteran’s upcoming birthday extra special. Archie Thomas will be turning 100-years-old on July 13. According to our news partner KETK, he is a World War II veteran after serving as an Army Sgt. said VLB Chairman George P. Bush. “I would truly enjoy receiving 100 birthday cards for my 100th birthday,” said Thomas. He currently lives at the Watkins-Logan Texas State Veterans Home in Tyler. The veteran was born in Hearne, Texas and served in the Army Air Corps from Sept. 1942 until July 1945. When Thomas was 22-years-old, his aircraft was shot down in Germany in April of 1944. Thomas survived the crash, but nine other service members on his crew did not. Continue reading East Texas veteran who received Purple Heart award, asks for birthday cards

MARSHALL — Marshall police seek leads in a fatal shooting. In a news release, police say a caller reported shortly after midnight Tuesday that someone had been shot in a home on Carter Street near the Spring Street intersection and was being taken to a hospital. Martie Person, 22, of Marshall, was pronounced dead at the hospital after sustaining a single gunshot wound. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Marshall Police Department at 903-935-4575. If you have information but want to remain anonymous you may call the Marshall/Harrison County Crimestoppers at 903-935-9969 or use the P3 mobile app.

TYLER — The Smith County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to issue a burn ban for the County. According to a news release, Fire Marshal Jay Brooks said although some southern portions of the county recently received rainfall, many areas did not receive any, and drought and fire conditions are continuing to deteriorate. Brooks said forecasts are calling for temperatures in the triple digits for the next 10 days. The ban is in effect for 90 days, unless conditions improve and the Commissioners Court approves terminating the order early. Brooks said the area would need to see a “period of sustained rainfall” for that to occur. Fireworks, fire pits, and any form of outdoor burning are prohibited, but there are some exceptions. A violation of the burn ban is a Class C Misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $500. Click here for more information.

LAKE CHEROKEE — A Longview man who was fishing for catfish ended up hooking something far bigger — not to mention more dangerous. It was a huge alligator snapping turtle. Justin Broomhall and his fiancee’s father were fishing at Lake Cherokee on Father’s Day when he felt something tug on his line. “That’s when everything went crazy,” the 25-year-old says. For the next 20 minutes, the two men fought the mysterious bait taker until they were finally able to reel it close enough to see what Broomhall had hooked: a 160-pound alligator snapping turtle. Knowing that alligator snapping turtles are an endangered species, Broomhall removed the hook from the giant creature’s mouth and let it go. But he says he looks forward to hopefully seeing him again near that same cove.

TYLER – A Palestine man arrested for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death admitted his involvement to a confidential informant, according to court documents. According to our news partner KETK, Christian Martinez, 28, was arrested June 29 in connection to the tractor trailer smuggling incident in San Antonio that resulted in 53 fatalities, and it was revealed soon after the incident that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tyler had an active investigation into Martinez. Through HSI Tyler and Palestine Police, an informant was identified, who told investigators that “Martinez said the driver was unaware the air conditioning unit stopped working and was the reason why the individuals died,” the criminal complaint said. Martinez’s preliminary and detention hearing is set for July 18 in San Antonio.

TYLER — TxDOT will be busy with another round of construction and maintenance work in the Tyler District this week. In Smith County, Tyler Maintenance will have a shoulder up crew on FM 2089. A second crew will be on FM 1253 just before FM 1805 performing bridge work. Flaggers will be controlling traffic at both locations. In Gregg County, Longview Maintenance will be overlaying on FM 449 east and westbound, from FM 2751 to the Harrison County line. Expect delays. Traffic will be controlled by flaggers and a pilot car. Click here for a full rundown of roadwork around the district.

ATHENS — In an effort to recruit more police officers, the Athens City Council recently approved an increase in salaries for the police department — including a substantial hike for new officers. According to our news partner KETK, the city says the department currently has nine openings as it has reportedly been short-staffed for years due to a statewide lack of recruits. Officials also said this hasn’t been caused by a lack of effort, because they have resorted to many measures to recruit — but the shortage has persisted nonetheless. The new pay scale would increase a beginning officer’s starting salary from $46,654 per year to $59,528, with smaller increases depending on rank for officers currently with the department to help retain them.

TYLER — For the month of July, Tyler Animal Services is partnering with CASA for Kids of East Texas to donate school supplies for foster children. All dog and cat adoption fees will be waived when a backpack with at least six listed supplies is brought to the Tyler Animal Shelter on Chandler Hwy. Donatable items include solid color backpacks without wheels, crayons (Crayola brand only), folders (pockets and/or brads, solid colors), index cards, manila paper, notebooks, and more. Click this link for the full list and additional information.

TYLER — This July, the City of Tyler is celebrating Parks and Recreation Month by acknowledging how Tyler is stronger and more vibrant and resilient because of its Parks and Recreation Department, according to a news release. To commemorate the month, the community is invited to share their experiences, memories, and stories about the city’s parks using the hashtag #RiseUpJuly on social media. You can follow @TylerParksandRec on Facebook to see daily highlights, news, and stories from the community. Director of Parks and Recreation Leanne Robinette says, “Parks help promote health and wellness, equity, and conservation while increasing the value of homes, and most of all creating a strong sense of community,” as quoted in the release. Click here for further details.

LONGVIEW — The City of Longview’s annual Fireworks and Freedom Celebration will be held this evening at the Longview Convention Complex. According to the city website, activities include a free concert and “the biggest fireworks show in East Texas!” The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m. This year, country musician Drake White and East Texan Hayden McBride will perform on the live music stage. You’re asked to bring a chair for the performance. The fireworks and parking are also free. Food and beverages will be available for purchase from vendors during the event. Click here to learn more.

PALESTINE — Palestine police arrested a suspect early Saturday morning after he allegedly shot and killed a man in Palestine. According to our news partner KETK, investigators answered a call on North Jackson Street where they found the victim with multiple gunshot wounds outside of a residence. He was taken to a local hospital where he died later. Detectives identified the suspect as 40-year-old Julio Castillo-Machado of Palestine. They say the victim, who has not been named, and the suspect knew each other and have had an ongoing feud. Castillo is in the Anderson County jail on a murder charge, with a bond set at $800,000.

LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department says it needs the public’s assistance identifying the suspect responsible for an aggravated robbery. On Friday around 1:25 p.m., officers responded to Kay’s Jewelers in Longview Mall in reference to a robbery that had just occurred. Upon arriva, officers spoke to an employee, who said that a male and female posed as customers by walking up to the jewelry counter and began looking at jewelry. The male then reached into his pocket, produced a can of pepper spray, and sprayed the employee. The male and female ran out of a nearby store with an undisclosed amount of jewelry. Continue reading Police search for suspects in aggravated robbery

TYLER — With the 4th of July here, Tyler police are issuing an advisory to keep the holiday enjoyable — and safe. They’re eyeballing the Lindsey Park fireworks show and associated traffic control, celebratory gunfire within the city limits, and discharging of fireworks within the city limits. The gates opened at 2 p.m. for Monday’s 4th of July celebration and fireworks show at Lindsey Park. The fireworks show will start around 9:15 p.m. Parking for the event will be on the north side of Spur 364 by the soccer fields. You’re asked to be aware that Spur 364 will be closed to all traffic at 8:4 5 p.m. between Loop 323 and Greenbriar Rd. After the fireworks show all eastbound traffic on Spur 364 will have to turn right onto Loop 323. Continue reading Tyler police issue July 4 advisory

TYLER — In the wake of in incident at a Smith County trail ride that left five people wounded by gunfire, East Texas officials say they’re moving forward with efforts to help make such events safer in the future. Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith led a news conference on the topic Friday. Going forward, officials say the Fire Marshal’s Office will be the original entity involved in this process. That pertains to the inspection of the event location to ensure it complies with rules and regulations such as making sure any food vendor is permitted by NET Health and that there are bathroom facilities available such as portable toilets. Continue reading Officials follow up on trail ride shooting

HENDERSON – During a traffic stop Thursday afternoon on Highway 259 in Henderson, police say they uncovered over $450,000 believed to have come from criminal activity. According to our news partner KETK, the officers are working on a joint task force with Mt. Enterprise Marshal John Randolph. During the stop, they noted several behaviors and travel plans that officials said are consistent with criminal activity. The officers say they made the find after receiving consent to search the car by both occupants. The U.S. currency was seized pending a seizure forfeiture hearing. The case is still under investigation, according to Henderson police.