KTBB News, Weather, Talk

HELENA, MONT. (AP) – Lewis and Clark County officials say a church camp counselor from Texas drowned while trying to swim behind a waterfall in a west-central Montana river. Coroner Mickey Nelson said Chandler “Jimmy” Brazell, 19, of Tyler, drowned Sunday evening in the Dearborn River about 17 miles southwest of Augusta. Nelson says the force of the waterfall pushed Brazell under water and he did not resurface for five or six minutes. Emergency responders were unable to revive him. Brazell had recently returned from a six-month trip as a counselor in China. He had currently been working at a church program conducted by the Diamond Bar X Ranch and was swimming with other counselors when he drowned. Nelson called Brazell’s death a tragic accident.

TYLER — Authorities are investigating the death of a 25-year-old Tyler man. Tyler Police say they were called to the 1200 block of Wall Avenue around 2:00 Tuesday morning on a report of a suspicious person. Officers were directed by a white female to the residence where Christopher Hebert was found unresponsive. Officers performed CPR before he was taken East Texas Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The Major Crimes Unit responded to the scene due to the suspicious nature of the incident. Hebert’s body has been sent for autopsy.

KILGORE — Authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that also involved injuries to two law officers in Kilgore. According to the Kilgore Police Department, just before 7:45 Monday morning, they were called to the 1200 block of East North Street to reports of a kidnapping. Officer DeeAnn Brown, 47, made first contact with the suspect. During this time, authorities say, the suspect attacked Brown, stabbing her. Officials say Sergeant David Trucker, 54, tried to intervene, but was also stabbed by the suspect. One of the officers then shot and killed their attacker; Authorities say it’s unclear who took the shot.

Kilgore police were not able to confirm that the man who died is Jamal Joseph Freeman, 19, as stated by the great aunt of the victim. Freeman was described as being mentally unstable. Both officers were taken to a local hospital with minor stab wounds. The Texas Rangers and Gregg County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident.

ATHENS – A one vehicle accident in Henderson County has killed one person. Dead at the scene Monday afternoon was Johnnie Ruth Mullins, 79, of Athens. The Department of Public Safety says Mullins’ vehicle veered off the road, overturned and hit a culvert. The accident happened on State Highway 19, about seven miles north of Athens.

NACOGDOCHES – Searchers have located the body of a man who drowned in Lake Nacogdoches. It happened around 6:00 Monday evening in the east park area of the lake. His body was recovered several hours later. When he first started screaming, witnesses say they thought he was playing. He then disappeared. Authorities have not released his name, only saying he is a 30 year old Hispanic male who is thought to have recently moved to the area.

NACOGDOCHES — The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents has voted unanimously to name the Early Childhood Research Center in honor of Dr. Janice Pattillo. The Arp native is retiring after 42 years of service to the university. The 120,000-square-foot facility opened in July 2009 and comprises the nationally accredited Early Childhood Laboratory, “exemplary” rated University Charter School and award-winning Department of Elementary Education. The picture from Stephen F. Austin shows Dr. Pattillo and Steve McCarty, vice chair of the SFA Board of Regents.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek, a Quitman, Texas native, has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 61-year-old actress was honored Monday with star number 2,443 on Hollywood Boulevard. Spacek is known for her role as the troubled teen in “Carrie” and she won an Academy Award for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn in the 1981 movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Her latest movie, “The Help,” comes out later this month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — East Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert casts a “no” vote on the debt limit compromise that the House ended up passing Monday. Gohmert told KTBB, “We promised that we would give three days to examine any bill,” and he says that hasn’t happened. He added, “The cuts aren’t here. The cuts are as a result of being less than the amount of automatic increases.” Gohmert says the compromise counts on the Bush tax cuts going away, and there are huge increases. He also says according to the compromise, if Congress doesn’t vote for cuts down the road, then hundreds of billions will be cut out of defense. According to Gohmert, “That’s playing Russian roulette with our own security. I can’t be part of that.” Gohmert adds that if people read the bill, “they would see and understand the problems I’ve got with it.”

LONGVIEW – Longview police have identified the victim of a Sunday morning crash as Jayden Galvan, 1. He was buckled in a car seat in the back seat of a car that hit two parked vehicles and a building. It happened shortly before 2:45 Sunday morning in the 3500 block of West Loop 281. The infant was in a car driven by Maritza Renteria, 20. Investigators are trying to determine why the car left the roadway. Renteria was issued a citation for unsafe speed.

Renteria and a passenger, Heriberto Galvan, 20, were transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Two other passengers, Nicholas Delgado, 12, and Desral Barriere Jr., 20, were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

TYLER — Tyler police investigators say they have determined that an alleged victim was not sexually assaulted as she reported to police early Monday morning. According to a police statement, investigators continue to look into the details surrounding this case and its validity. The woman told officers the incident happened around 3:30 at an apartment complex at 4411 Kinsey Dr. Officers say the victim, a 30 year old woman, said she was attacked by an unknown black male in the parking lot. She claims the suspect sexually assaulted her then fled the area. The woman was transported to East Texas Medical Center for treatment. The suspect was said to be around 30, about 5’10”, medium build, wearing a blue Mavericks shirt and black denim shorts.

KILGORE — Authorities are investigating a fatal shooting that also involved injuries to two law officers in Kilgore. KETK reports that according to the Kilgore Police Department, at around 7:40 a.m. police were called to the 1200 block of East North Street to reports of a kidnapping. Officer DeeAnn Brown, 47, made first contact with the suspect. During this time, authorities say, the suspect attacked Brown, stabbing her. Officials say Sergeant David Trucker, 54, tried to intervene, but was also stabbed by the suspect. One of the officers then shot and killed their attacker; Authorities say it’s unclear who took the shot.

Kilgore police were not able to confirm that the man who died is 19-year old Jamal Joseph Freeman, as stated by the great aunt of the victim. Both officers were taken to a local hospital with minor stab wounds. The Texas Rangers and Gregg County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident.

LUFKIN — Lufkin police continue to investigate a Sunday morning accident. According to KETK, officers say Robert Myers was driving down Abney Avenue headed toward North First Street when he veered into oncoming traffic. Myers then sideswiped a car and hit the side of a house. The driver of the other car is okay, and no one in the home was injured. Myers was taken to a local hospital. No word yet on his condition.

TYLER (AP) – Authorities say a man sought over the November death of his girlfriend’s year-old son has been arraigned in Tyler. Bond was set yesterday morning for Simon Lopez at $2 million. He remains in the Smith County Jail on a capital murder charge. Lopez was captured Thursday in Queretaro, Mexico.

Police say Lopez was watching Jeremy Silva of Tyler while the child’s mother worked, then called one of her relatives to say the boy wasn’t breathing. Investigators say Lopez left the boy with the relative and fled. Autopsy results show the toddler died from blunt force trauma. Dallas police last December tried to arrest a man, believed to be Lopez, at a hotel but he ran away.

TYLER — KTBB’s Paul Gleiser sat down with conservative Texas Republican, Tom Leppert, who is in the running for running for the U.S. Senate. The former Dallas Mayor says anyone who’s worked in business know that you have to be honest and in Washington, nobody’s being honest. He asks, “At what point do we solve the problem? Do we continue marching down the same road where the spending is not addressed and the debt continues to go up?”

The former Dallas Mayor says he has a business background which not many politicians have. He says he has been in the public sector with a private life. He says he’s run businesses in a variety of industries, and in order to run a business, you have to be honest. The hopeful said nobody is being honest in Washington. Lemmert added, “there’s not enough folks that have a real sense of how to cut dollars and how to create jobs, in Washington, the senate or the administration.” He said more people are needed with that background.

Leppert said he brings a business expertise and says, most importantly, he doesn’t want to be a professional politician. He said he wants to address the issues and go on with his life.

TYLER — Tyler Mayor Barbara Bass has issued a proclamation calling for Saturday, August 6, to be a day of prayer and fasting. That’s in conjunction with “The Response U.S.A.,” Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally in Houston that day. The event will be simulcast at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler. Green Acres Pastor Dr. David Dykes invites everyone to the church’s new Crosswalk Conference Center for the viewing.

Visiting with our news partner KETK, Dykes said America is “a nation in crisis, and it’s not just a debt crisis or a political crisis, it’s really a moral crisis and a spiritual crisis, and prayer is the answer to that.” He adds that Christians don’t always know how to deal with the problems the country is facing, “but every single day, Christians can pray, and that is the one thing, really, that brings Christians together of all different denominational stripes.” The Houston event and the Tyler simulcast are set for Saturday from 10:00am till 5:00pm. You can contact the church for more information.