KTBB News, Weather, Talk

TYLER — Here’s a quick look at other work planned in the Tyler District of the Texas Department of Transportation.

SMITH COUNTY — Construction crews on Tuesday afternoon are scheduled to temporarily close part of Farm Road 2767 east of Farm Road 757 for a culvert replacement. The closure is scheduled to be lifted by 5:00pm on Friday. While the closure is in effect, local traffic only will be allowed on Farm Road 2767 between Farm Road 757 and County Road 372, and between State Highway 31 in Gregg County and Smith County Road 239. No traffic will be allowed to cross between SCR 372 and SCR 239. Crews are scheduled to be at work in this location 24 hours per day during the closure to limit the amount of time the roadway is closed. The work is the first phase of a larger construction project designed to widen and resurface the roadway between Farm Road 850 near Tyler and State Highway 31 near Country Tavern in Gregg County. FM 2767 runs roughly parallel and north of SH 31, from East Loop 323 in Tyler and SH 31 near Country Tavern in Gregg County.

TYLER — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue pavement repairs on State Highway 110 in Tyler between West Loop 323 and U.S. Highway 69 (Gentry Parkway). Once that work is complete, crews are scheduled to perform similar work in various locations on the westbound lanes of Interstate Highway 20 between U.S. Highway 69 in Lindale and State Highway 110 south of Van. Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each location while the work is in progress. Motorists are encouraged to be prepared to reduce speed and merge in and around the work zones.

GREGG COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue building a left-turn bay on NB US 259/SH 31 for traffic turning onto Post Oak Road, which is located between the US 259 Kilgore Bypass and Interstate 20. The project is scheduled to take several weeks to complete. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress. Motorists exiting the northbound end of the US 259 Kilgore Bypass will need to merge right once they have transitioned onto US 259/SH 31 to avoid the closure.

RUSK COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue base and pavement repairs in various locations on State Highway 149 between State Highway 43 in Tatum and the Gregg County Line. Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each location while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic in two-lane areas.

VAN ZABDT COUNTY– Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue resurfacing operations on State Highway 19 north of Canton between Interstate Highway 20 and U.S. Highway 80, and on Farm Road 1995 between State Highway 110 and FarmRoad 773. Construction crews are also scheduled to be at work making deep pavement repairs in various locations on IH 20 in between Kaufman and Smith counties. Their work will require some overnight lane closures.Motorists are encouraged to be prepared to reduce speed and merge in and around the work zones.

HENDERSON COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to perform resurfacing operations on Farm Road 315 between Farm Road 314 and U.S, Highway 175 in Poynor. Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each location while the work is in progress, flaggers will control traffic.

ANDERSON COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue resurfacing and shoulder operations on Farm Road 320 between West Loop 256 in Palestine and Farm Road 645. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

WOOD COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue resurfacing operations on Farm Road 2088 between Farm Road 312 in Oak Grove and the Upshur County Line. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic in two-lane areas.

CHEROKEE COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to perform resurfacing operations in various locations on U.S. Highway 84 east of Rusk. Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each location while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

LONGVIEW – A fire at a Gregg County RV park has left a man dead. He is identified as Richard Andrew Hillman, 58, of Longview. The fire was reported just after 5:00 Saturday morning on Farm Road 2011 between Longview and Kilgore. Two campers were destroyed by the fire. The camper where the fire is thought to have started is where the victim was found. Officials are awaiting autopsy results. The fire appears to be accidental.

LUFKIN – The former manager of a Dollar King store in Lufkin has pleaded guilty to improperly photographing his employees in the store’s restroom. Nathan Scott Kesler, 36, of Livingston, will be sentenced following a pre-sentence investigation. A sentencing date has not been set.

Kesler is alleged by police to have put his cell phone on a bathroom cabinet of the business in a position to photograph the toilet using a spy camera application. The two store employees were photographed in the restroom when the application, which uses motion detection, took the photos.

The two women employees who are said to have been photographed by Kesler, have filed a civil suit against him and Dollar King, LLC.

TYLER— The Tyler school district is looking to the future. Over the next ten years, TISD anticipates 2,500 students. To meet the demands school officials are talking about building two new high schools. They would be built on the existing sites of Robert E Lee and John Tyler. Currently between the two sites, 31 portable buildings are on use on the two campuses.

Future plans also include a new Rice Elementary, which would be built on a new site and a new Dixie Elementary to be built on the existing site. There is also talk of an ‘Advanced Technology and Career Center’ at a new location that will be shared between the two high schools.

The discussion of the districts needs also include creating 4 middle schools and 4 intermediate schools.

All of this is still in the discussion stage. If the public approves of the plan, somewhere down the road a bond proposal would have to be presented to the public to finance the improvements.

TYLER – The dispute over a new Tyler restaurant has come to an end. El Chico Ranch and Toys “R” Us has been settled the lawsuit between the owners. Officials say the restaurant will now be called “Tyler Ranch.” Everything else, including the menus and the uniforms, will remain the same. A dispute arose between the two parties when the old El Chico was remodeled with plans to call it the Double D Ranch.

LONGVIEW – A Longview man has been arrested for domestic violence. Taken into custody was Christian Eduardo Reyes, 29. He remains in The Gregg County. No bond has been set.

Reyes is accused of grabbing a woman by her hair and dragging her into their house. He is then said to have beaten her arms and back with a metal pipe. Investigators say Reyes believed the woman, who has lived with him for around ten years and had three children with him, was cheating on him.

Besides the domestic violence charge, Reyes has an immigration hold on him.

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville police are investigating two robberies that occurred across town within a span of 10 minutes Tuesday night. In one of the robberies, two men robbed a clerk at Nu Time Truck Stop at gunpoint and made off with an estimated $5,000 in cash. One robber was allegedly wearing a Halloween mask and another had wrapped a woman’s scarf around his face to hide his identity. It happened around 10:00 at a convenience store on Frankston Street. According to police reports, the store clerk was locking the front door for the night and had a money bag in his hand. As he was locking the door, the two men approached him, one pointing a pistol to the clerk’s head and the other putting a rifle to his back.

The clerk complied, and the men took him back to the cash register where there was more money. They took the money and told the man to give him his cell phone and the money in his pockets. Then they grabbed a package of cigarettes and left the scene on foot.

Minutes prior to the Nu Time robbery, an officer responded to a call from the J N J Food Mart regarding a robbery. A store clerk said a black man wearing a ski mask entered the store and demanded all the cash from the register. When she started emptying the register, she noticed he was holding a pistol. He then demanded that she give him all the money in the store office. She told him there was no money in the office, but the man did not believe her and went to the office and kicked in the door.

The robber then told the clerk to give him all the money in the safe, but she told him she did not know the combination to the safe. Just as the man was threatening to kill her, a customer pulled into the parking lot of the convenience store. The man immediately left the store and approached the customer outside and demanded that he give him all his money. Once the man handed over his wallet, the robber fled the scene on foot. The amount of money stolen from J N J has not yet been determined.

LONGVIEW — The National Science Foundation has awarded $47, 055 to LeTourneau University mechanical engineering professor Matthew Green’s research under its Engineering Education program, designed to improve how students learn drawing-related concepts in engineering. Green will collaborate with Texas A&M University to development innovative learning systems. This project engages two universities with different educational missions to ensure that the results are widely applicable to other engineering schools. Green is also involved in another National Science Foundation funded project at LeTourneau University, to increase the quality, and scope, of student support structures available for recruitment, retention and career placement.

“We are pleased to have world-class engineers like Dr. Green at LeTourneau,” said Ron DeLap, LETU engineering dean. “Dr. Green’s work has the potential to open new pathways to engineering for under-represented segments of our society. LeTourneau’s
highly successful, student-focused engineering program continues to attract attention from the National Science Foundation and from major universities throughout the United States.”

Green’s engineering education research project builds from previous research on how computer-aided feedback to students improves how the students learn drawing-related concepts in engineering statics. By researching how to integrate rapid-feedback between instructor and student, this project will enable computer-assisted drawing tools to be utilized in introductory engineering statics courses to improve student learning.

The broader significance and importance of this project will be to overcome barriers for integrating effective software tools into critical, large enrollment engineering courses early in the curriculum. The needs of students who are typically under-represented in engineering are addressed in the research project. This project overlaps with NSF’s strategic goals of transforming the frontiers by enhancing research infrastructure and data access to broaden research capabilities as well as innovating for society by supporting the development of innovative learning systems.

TEXARKANA (AP) — The 6th District Court of Appeals in Texarkana has ordered a new trial for a Cass County man convicted of killing his wife. The Texarkana Gazette reports that the court on Wednesday granted David Len Moulton’s request for a new trial.

Moulton, 50, was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2010 of the 2004 death of Rebecca Moulton. Her body was found in a pond on the couple’s property in Atlanta, Texas. A cause of death could not be determined.

The appeals court agreed with arguments by defense attorney Jason Horton that the jury was given an improper instruction. The instruction said jurors could convict Moulton if they determined he asphyxiated his wife by unknown means.

TYLER — Today, from around 7:00 to10:00am, the southbound lane on Old Bullard Road, behind the mall, will be closed and traffic diverted to the turn lane to accommodate equipment that will be cleaning out the drainage channel. Additionally today, from about 7:00am to 2:00pm, the westbound lanes of Shiloh Road at Donnybrook, will be closed and traffic diverted to the turn lane to accommodate equipment that will be removing a large pine tree. Drivers are urged to use extreme caution while workers are present and anyone utilizing these roads is encouraged to temporarily seek alternate routes.

TYLER — Chairman Jeff Austin III submitted his resignation to the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority to accept an appointment to the Texas Transportation Commission. The commission oversees the Texas Department of Transportation.

In February 2005, Governor Rick Perry appointed Austin as Chairman of the newly formed North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority (NET RMA). During his tenure as Chairman, he was responsible for expanding the NET RMA from the forming Counties of Gregg and Smith, to include 12 northeast Texas counties making the NET RMA the first and only RMA to expand in the state. Mr. Austin helped guide the NET RMA by developing the regional concept of a “bottoms up approach” in meeting the transportation
needs in the northeast Texas region. The NET RMA is responsible for the Toll 49 system which includes the portions of Toll 49 that are currently open and under construction by TxDOT but also the proposed expansion that includes the Lindale Relief Route and an outer loop around the north portion of Longview with connection to Marshall. Toll 49 Segment 3B is currently under construction and on its completion, the NET RMA will take ownership of the entire system due to Mr. Austin’s leadership.

Linda Thomas, will be interim Chair until Governor Perry appoints a new Chair. Thomas is a General Partner at Butter Ryan Partners, Ltd., and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority (NET RMA).

Thomas earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin. A resident of Longview, she has served as a Board Member on the East Texas Communities Foundation, Kilgore College Foundation and the Liberal Art Council University of Texas at Austin. She has severed on the Development Councils of University of Texas at Tyler and Longview University Center, UT Health Science Center, Good Shepherd Medical Center Foundation, and the East Texas Area Boy Scouts of America Foundation. Ms. Thomas is Past President of the Longview Rotary Club, Greater Longview United Way, and Longview Economic Development Corporation. She served as Past President for the Junior League of Longview, and as Vice Chair and Board Member of the Trustees for Good Shepherd Medical Center.

NACOGDOCHES — Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s officials have discovered a large amount of stolen vehicles and property at a residence in Briar Forest subdivision. According to KETK, authorities have been attempting to secure a search warrant that would allow them to look inside the residence. So far, vehicles and ATVs that were stolen from Panola, Rusk and Shelby Counties have been recovered.

CANTON — Authorities in Van Zandt County say they’ve apprehended a suspect in a skid loader theft. On Wednesday at approximately 3:00 p.m. the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office was notified that a flatbed trailer containing a Caterpillar skid loader was possibly stolen and traveling west on Interstate 20 in Van Zandt County. Deputies located the vehicle traveling west on IH-20 and initiated a stop at mile marker 516 (FM 47).

Upon investigation, it was determined that the Caterpillar skid loader and trailer were confirmed to be stolen out of Orange County, Florida. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Tony Demetro, 34, of Apopka, Florida. Demetro was taken into custody and charged with theft greater than $20,000 and less than $100,000, a third degree felony. The suspect has been released on a $50,000 bond. The estimated value of the skid loader and trailer is in excess of $25,000.

CANTON — A concerned Van Zandt County citizen reported a new scam sweeping across the country coming from the Dominican Republic. The citizen received a telephone call from a person who identified himself as her grandson, which she does not have, so he changed it to her nephew. This so-called relative said he went to South America with a church group and was arrested. He said the American Embassy got him released from the jail, but needed a check for $2,500 to clear up the situation. He said the American Embassy would reimburse her the money. The citizen did not fall for the scam and the subject then hung up.

Authorities say these scammers may be using the Internet to access personal information on the citizens they call. Van Zandt County Sheriff R. P. “Pat” Burnett asks that all the citizens of Van Zandt County be aware of these types of telephone calls and that they do not give out personal information over the telephone and never send money or checks to anyone without verifying who they say they are.

TYLER — The renovation of a local hospital will bring more jobs to the area. Texas Spine and Joint Hospital broke ground on a $2 million renovation project. CEO, Tony Wall, said the expansion will bring in around 70 new jobs to Tyler but overall, the hospital’s ripple effect through the community will bring in close to 300 new jobs. Wall said there’s more of a demand of services in this area and they’re simply meeting the needs of the residents.