KTBB News, Weather, Talk

TYLER — No lights, no decorations, no trick-or-treaters this Halloween for sex offenders. Officials tell KETK they will be checking on the nearly ninety sex offenders in Smith County to make sure they’re staying indoors, and away from the public and, they say this year, like in years past, they don’t expect any problems, but there is always a need to be cautious. Robert Gray with the Intensive Supervision Unit in Smith County says “We’ll be going by there doing checks and we’ll be going by their houses to make sure they are at home because they’re also to be at there house as well during that time and make sure they’re not answering the door for other than police and emergency.”

MOUNT ENTERPRISE – A one vehicle accident in Rusk County has left one person dead. The wreck, just before 8:45 Sunday night, killed Matthew Karl Tompkins, 43 of Mount Enterprise. The accident occurred on Farm Road 95, about four miles northeast of Mount Enterprise. According to the Department of Public Safety, Tompkins car drifted off the road to the right and he overcorrected and hit a tree.

LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department has released the year-end statistics for the recently concluded Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (S.T.E.P.) that ran from October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. Off-duty Officers working on the grant program put in a total of 1,142 hours of additional traffic enforcement in the City. During this period Officers issued 3,468 traffic citations and made 78 arrests during the year. The breakdown of citations and arrests were:
*Speeding citations: 2,227
*Adult Seatbelt citations: 597
*Child Seatbelt/Safety Seat citations: 34
*Other citations: 610
*DWI arrests: 32
*Other arrests: 46

In the category of other arrests, S.T.E.P. Officers made on-view arrests for charges including Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Minor in Possession of Alcohol and a variety of other misdemeanor charges. Officers also served a total of 98 outstanding arrest warrants.

The Comprehensive Selective Traffic Enforcement Program is funded by a grant awarded to the Police Department by the Texas Department of Transportation, using federal funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The program supplements traffic enforcement efforts of the Department by utilizing off-duty officers, working overtime, to conduct traffic enforcement without the interruption created by other duties that must be handled by on-duty officers. The STEP officers are able to focus solely on traffic enforcement, targeting the offenses of speeding, DWI, and seatbelt and child restraint violations. Although the program focuses on those offenses, all traffic offenses witnessed by the officer are also enforced.

LONGVIEW – A Henderson man was jailed in Longview, accused of beating and stabbing his common law wife. Placed in the Gregg County Jail under bonds totaling $40,000 was Ronnie Alan Montalbano, 29. The woman was taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center Sunday where she told officers Montalbano had stabbed her in the shoulder with a pair of needle nose pliers. He is also said to have punched her in the face and stomped on her head. She also received bruises and abrasions which she said she got when she jumped from his moving vehicle.

LONGVIEW – A person reported standing naked in a Longview street has been taken into custody. Arrested Sunday afternoon was Sandra Lois Smith, 57. Police describe her as a local transient.

Arriving officers said they found the woman fully clothed and blocking traffic in the 3100 block of 4th Street. Officers told her she was free to leave as long as she stopped walking in the middle of the road. However she walked onto the north bound lane of 4th street, causing cars to stop. She was escorted from the street, but continued to walk back into traffic. It was then she was arrested. At her arraignment Monday morning, a mental health evaluation was ordered.

WILLS POINT — After a month-long investigation, authorities in Van Zandt County make a methamphetamine bust. This past Friday, the Sheriff’s Office along with the Wills Point Police Department and the Constable of Precinct #3 executed a search warrant on VZCR #3825 in Wills Point. An undisclosed amount of methamphetamines was recovered. Kimberly Dawn Marshall, 25, was arrested, placed into custody, and booked into the Van Zandt County Justice Center. Marshall was charged with manufacturing and delivery, and her bond was set at $10,000.

NACOGDOCHES — The Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s office is following up on its discovery of a large amount of stolen vehicles and property last week. KETK reports that law officers executed search warrants Monday at two more locations where stolen property was located. Several more vehicles, trailers, and ATVs have been recovered. Sheriff’s officials reported their initial find Friday at a residence in Briar Forest subdivision. On that day, authorities reported that vehicles and ATVs that were stolen from Panola, Rusk, and Shelby Counties had been recovered.

EAST TEXAS — Here’s an update on mobile disaster recovery centers available in the coming days to survivors of the recent East Texas wildfires:

Smith County
Bethel Baptist Church
13108 Highway 64 East
Tyler, TX 75707
Monday, Oct. 31
1 pm – 6 pm
Tuesday, Nov. 1 and Wednesday, Nov. 2
9 am – 6 pm
Closes Wednesday, Nov. 2

Henderson County
Emergency Operations Center Building
622 S. Prairieville Street
Athens, TX 75751
Monday, Oct. 24
1 pm – 6 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 25, and Wednesday, Oct. 26
9 am – 6 pm
Closes Wednesday, Oct. 26

Marion County
Jefferson Visitor Center
305 East Austin Street
Jefferson, TX 75657
Monday, Oct. 24, through Friday, Oct. 28
9 am – 6 pm
Closes Friday, Oct. 28

Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property. Disaster loans up to $2 million are available to businesses of all sizes and private, nonprofit organizations to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery, equipment, inventory and other business assets.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) up to $2 million are available to small businesses and most private, nonprofit organizations to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster, regardless of whether the business suffered any property damage. The maximum business disaster loan is $2 million for any combination of property damage and working capital.

Interest rates can be as low as 2.5% for homeowners and renters, 4% for businesses and 3% for private, nonprofit organizations, with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the U.S. Small Business Administration and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. SBA can also lend additional funds to homeowners and businesses to help with the cost of making improvements that protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from occurring in the future.

Applicants may also apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela — SBA’s secure Web site. Residents and business owners may obtain information on SBA disaster loans by calling SBA’s Customer Service Center toll-free at (800) 659-2955, visiting SBA’s Web site at http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance or contacting disastercustomerservice@sba.gov via e-mail. Individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may call (800) 877‑8339. The filing deadline to return applications for property damage has been extended to December 8, 2011. The deadline to return economic injury applications is June 6, 2012.

PALESTINE — According to the Anderson County Judge’s Office, Judge Robert Johnston has decided to temporarily drop the county’s burn ban. According to KETK, the judge felt that the amount of rain the county received in the last few days was enough to allow people to burn their trash. People are still cautioned to use common sense while burning.

CRAFT — Due to conditions which have occurred recently in the water system, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has required Craft-Turney Water Supply, south of Jacksonville to notify all the customers involved in the repair area to boil their water prior to consumption. According to KETK, the area included in this boil water notice is on FM 347 South, from Smith Wrecking Yard on both sides of FM 347 to and including County Roads 3101, 3103, 3145, 3147, 3148, 3159 — and from the intersection of FM 2138 and FM 347, south ½ mile down FM 2138 on the west side of the road.

Officials say to ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to consumption. The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil and then boiled for two minutes. In lieu of boiling, you may purchase bottled water or obtain water from some other suitable source. When it is no longer necessary to boil the water, water system officials will notify you. If you have questions regarding this matter you may contact Rhonda Briggs, Office Manager, at 903-586-9301.

NACOGDOCHES — When it comes right down to it, if people don’t conserve water now and a deluge of steady rain doesn’t hit Nacogdoches County soon, projections show that Lake Nacogdoches will be empty in less than a year. That’s according to KETK and the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel. “Not only are we running out of water, we’re using more water,” Nacogdoches City Engineer Steve Bartlett said. “We have had a 25 percent increase in a one-year study period in our sprinkler account.” Brad Randall, chief operator at the Nacogdoches Surface Water Treatment Plant, says the process of preparing water from the lake for consumption hasn’t changed, but the city is contemplating mandatory conservation regulations as the ongoing drought has worsened.

TYLER — Smith County sheriff hopeful Chris Green hung up his game warden badge over the weekend at his retirement party. According to KETK, Green served 16 years as Smith County’s game warden and 20 years in the state. Green says family, friends, and other wardens came in from all over Texas to see him off. Although he’s retiring as game warden, Green says it’s only the beginning of a new chapter in his life. He says, “You know, we’re having a good time tonight. It’s kind of a closing chapter to my career as a game warden…we’re off to bigger and better things.” Green announced his run for sheriff earlier in the year. He says he’s ready to serve the public in a larger capacity.

SMITH COUNTY — Halloween is just around the corner and the drought is putting a damper on those decorations. If you’re thinking of putting out jack-o-lanterns, think twice about using an actual candle to light it up. With the burn ban still in effect, Smith County Fire Marshal Jim Seaton says pumpkins are no exceptions. He confirmed that all outdoor burning of any combustible material is prohibited, which includes candles burning in pumpkins. Seaton suggests LED lights as an alternative.

LUFKIN — A Lufkin man with a blood alcohol concentration twice the legal limit was booked into the Angelina County Jail after crashing his truck into a pole Friday night. Witnesses at the scene of the accident in the 1900 block of East Denman Avenue said a man driving a silver Ford pickup truck hit the pole, then backed up and drove away. Because the truck sustained extensive damage from the crash, it broke down about 200 yards west of the accident.

The man, later identified as Miguel Garcia, 50, of Lufkin, ran into a nearby wooded area, according to witnesses. When police found him hiding in low-lying grass near the edge of a wooded area, they discovered he was intoxicated. After being transported to the jail, Garcia provided breath samples that indicated his blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit. He was booked on a charge of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of the accident.

LONGVIEW — A Longview teenager is in custody after a fatal hit and run. Ashley Nicole Lambert, 19, faces a charge of failure to stop and render aid, a third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She remained jailed on $10,000 bond. Police say, for more than a month, Lambert eluded police despite a grand jury indictment for the March 28th collision on Loop 281 that killed Harold Grady, 57, Farmersville. Authorities search for Lambert ended Oct. 17, when the 19-year-old motorist was arrested after what was at least her second wreck of the year. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Friday.