KTBB News, Weather, Talk

TYLER – A Tyler jury begins the punishment phase of the trial of the man it convicted for robbing a pizza delivery man. The jury in state district court deliberated around ten hours before finding Victorino Betancourt, 26, guilty. He was accused of robbing and threatening to kill the victim.

MOUNT PLEASANT – The Occupational Safety Health Administration is investigating the death of a Pilgrim’s Pride employee. It happened around 1:00 Wednesday morning at the company’s protein conversion plant in Mount Pleasant. Pilgrim’s Pride spokesman Gary Rhodes said night supervisor Jimmy Bynum was pinned under the back wheels of a truck that was backing into the protein conversion bay. Bynum, a 25 year employee with Pilgrim’s Pride, was first rushed to Titus Regional Hospital. He was the flown to Tyler’s East Texas Medical Center, where he died.

TYLER — The Tyler City Council Wednesday received a presentation on the outcomes of the Spring 2011 Neighborhood Empowerment Works (NEW) Program. Officials say the NEW Program is designed to enhance the quality of life for residents through the concentrated delivery of services and programs provided by the City. Working in partnership with the neighborhoods, the City’s goal is to raise awareness of code and zoning ordinances, provide information on accessing City services and promote clean and safe neighborhoods.

During the 11th NEW Program, officials say, City of Tyler Departments came together and made many improvements to a neighborhood in City Council District Two. The boundaries of the neighborhood selected as the 11th NEW were Walton Road east to Walker Street, south to Foster Street, west to Barnes Street, southwest to Old Noonday Road, south to Luther Street, west to S.E. Palmer Highway (Highway 155) and northeast to Walton Road.

Officials say the NEW program enhances the quality of life for Tyler residents – one neighborhood at a time – by concentrating City services in a specific area for four weeks. Various City departments use information gathered from the neighborhood meeting, as well as an examination of the area, to identify services that could make an immediate impact on the neighborhood.

Outcomes from the 11th NEW program include:
· 24 junk vehicles were tagged for removal;
· 92 lots with high vegetation were mowed;
· 31 trashed lots were cleaned;
· 1,844 square feet of street base repairs were performed;
· Three and one-half miles of right-of-way were mowed;
· Six street signs were replaced;
· Five street lights were repaired;
· Three and one-half miles of streets were swept;
· 2,200 feet of sewer main were cleaned and inspected;
· The Tyler Police Department issued 35 written warnings and made eight arrests. They supplied a total of 92 man hours;
· The Solid Waste Department removed 738.5 yards of solid waste; and,
· Trees were trimmed and 194 cubic yards of waste removed.

“Since its inception, the NEW program has been an important tool to stop neighborhood decline in its tracks,” said City Council Member Donald Sanders. “By involving the neighbors and leveraging City services, the program has proven to be successful in encouraging reinvestment in Tyler’s older neighborhoods. Get rid of the grime…get rid of the crime.” The next NEW program will begin this spring and will be held in District Four.

KILGORE — Kilgore’s City Council votes down a controversial bill. According to KETK, it is still legal to text and drive there. The council voted Tuesday night not to place a ban on texting while driving in the city. Officials discussed a similar proposal earlier this year, but they wanted to see if the Texas Legislature would pass a statewide ban instead.

TYLER — In the Tyler City Council meeting Wednesday morning, officials passed the One-Half Cent Sales Tax proposal for the 2011-2012 budget year, which allows money for capital improvements to the city. The project will expand 220 projects over the next 10 years, including road and airport construction.

The council also passed a proposal awarding $1,711,000 to construct Fire Station 5 in Tyler. The station should be open by next summer. According to city press materials, “In September 2009, the City Council authorized the purchase of a parcel of land on Bennett Street from the Tyler Economic Development Council for the new Fire Station 5. Moving Station 5 from its current location at the corner of Frankston Highway and Walton Road will enhance the Tyler Fire Department’s access to surrounding areas and will result in more uniform response times.”

LUFKIN — Three women have been named as co-conspirators in a federal indictment against accused Moffett methamphetamine cook David Dunman, including a Lufkin woman who appeared on national talk shows four years ago to recount the details of the night her cousin was murdered and she was attacked.

The 66-count federal indictment for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine names Dunman, along with Deanna Sunshine Turner, Crystal LeAnn Keisler and Jennifer Jon Holliday, who appeared on “The Montel Williams Show” and “I Survived” in 2007 to tell her survival story in the death of her cousin Ana Franklin. At the time of the attack, Holliday’s story drew national attention. Moved by accounts of an uninsured woman’s struggle to get medical care for her shattered arm in multiple newspaper articles, the president of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System provided Holliday with necessary care at no cost, according to a 2007 Houston Chronicle story.

The federal indictment claims Holliday and the three others conspired to purchase psuedoephedrine at East Texas area pharmacies from May 2007 to November 2010 with the intention of making meth. Narcotics investigators with the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office said in an interview last year that in the two years they had been watching Dunman, he had never sold directly to them or one of their informants. They believed Dunman had the multitude of women they observed coming in and out of his home moving the drug for him.

TYLER — It’s getting closer to the Aug. 2 deadline to increase the government’s debt limit, and plans pushed by a Republican and Democrat leader aren’t expected to get very far. Some Republicans say the $1 trillion in war-related savings in Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s plan are phony. And the same Republicans say the cuts in House Speaker John Boehner’s proposal don’t go far enough.

East Texas Congressman, Republican, Louie Gohmert spoke with KTBB Wednesday morning and said Congress has got to get more serious. He said the government spends around $10 billion, with $4 billion of that being borrowed. Gohmert says a real balanced budget amendment is needed that will prevent Congress from spending too much and make it live within it’s means the way every single state government is suppose to do. He said the bill that Harry Reid is proposing is even worse than the Boehner plan.

Gohmert added, “If the Senate could pass any bill, no matter what it is, the Reid Plan, the Gang of Six plan, anything, then the whole matter would be brought to a conference committee under house rules that has to meet publicly and we get a compromise worked out.”

The congressman insisted that there is not going to be any failure to pay Social Security. He said, “The money is there and there are Treasury notes to cover anything that does not.” Gohmert included the fact that Social Security is paid separately from all other indebtedness. He added that there is plenty of money to pay the debt as it comes due everyday, for some time.

TYLER – A contingent of law officers raided a Tyler body shop Tuesday morning and recovered close to $500,000 worth of suspected stolen property. The property was located in a warehouse district off WSW Loop 323, which had been under surveillance since investigators received information from several tipsters regarding suspicious activity in the area. The serial numbers and identifying information found on the suspected stolen items will be cross-referenced with those on police theft reports. At this time, there are several persons of interest identified and arrest warrants will be forthcoming.

The raid was the result of an ongoing, multi-agency investigation into a theft ring. Agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety, investigators from Smith, Anderson, Cherokee and Henderson Counties, the East Texas Auto Task Force and investigators from Arp, Whitehouse and Tyler Police Departments participated in the coordinated effort.

A property hearing to determine ownership of items recovered will be conducted in Smith County.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Losing money at the rate of $8 billion a year, the postal service is now considering closing more than one out of ten post offices, including a couple in East Texas. Over 3500 facilities are on the review list; those include the ones in Cuney, in Cherokee County, and Sacul, in Nacogdoches County. The government recently announced that the post office in Easton, which straddles the Gregg-Rusk County line, will be shutting its doors. The U.S. Mail has taken a huge hit financially as much of its first-class service has moved to the Internet. Along with closings, also being considered are doing away with Saturday deliveries and some method of reducing the $5.5 billion USPS puts into a retiree medical fund each year.

KILGORE — Nineteen students graduated Tuesday night from the Kilgore College Fire Academy No. 80. The evening marked the final class to graduate under the direction of Mike Earley, the originator of the KC Fire Academy in 1989. Earley, who has served 35 years with KC, will retire in August as Dean of Public Services – overseeing the Fire Academy, Police Academy, Workforce Development and Continuing Education divisions.

The KC Fire Academy is accredited by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection and the State Firemen and Fire Marshal’s Association and approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The academy offers certification schools for NFPA 1001 Basic Structural Firefighter I and II certification, the Texas Volunteer certification, Fire Inspector and Fire and Arson Investigation courses. It is also a designated institution by the Canadian Province of British Columbia.

The following candidates, listed by hometown, are part of KC Fire Academy No. 80:
Campbell River, B.C. Canada: Neil Blasky
Chandler: Brandon Walker
Gladewater: Joseph Bernard
Henderson: Matthew Morris
Longview: Coy Adams, Lance T. Harrod and Taylor Latus
Mineola: Jacob Ledkins and Logan Ledkins
Mt. Enterprise: Justin A. Royer
Mississauga Ontario, Canada: Ryan J.J. Rocha
Osoyoos B.C., Canada: Wyatt Thompson
Palestine: Michael Chance Wesson
Rothesay New Brunswick, Canada: Jonathan Stanley
Salmon Arm B.C., Canada: Brenden Bradley Ramsay
Surrey, B.C., Canada: Jeffery Kyle Allan
Vernon B.C., Canada: Colin Fitzgerald
Whitehouse: Alan D. Miller
Wills Point: Taelor Brewer

GREELEY, COLO. (AP) — A voluntary recall of thousands of pounds of ready-to-eat chicken has been expanded over concerns that the meat could be contaminated with bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Pilgrim’s Pride on Tuesday announced the recall now includes about 7,000 pounds of Pilgrim’s Pride Brand Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Nuggets that were shipped to dozens of Dollar General stores in the following states: West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

The recall began last week over fears that more than five tons of ready-to-eat chicken was potentially tainted by Listeria monocytogenes. The Center for Disease Control classifies listeriosis as a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune systems.

Pilgrim’s says it is not aware of any reported illnesses.

KILGORE — Authorities seek a suspect in a Gregg County aggravated robbery. On Tuesday at about 5:00 a.m., Gregg County Deputies responded to the EZ Mart, 4402 FM 349 outside Kilgore. The clerk reported that a man entered the store and demanded money. The suspect was described as a black male in his mid to late twenties, approximately 5’2” to 5’6”, 160 to 180 pounds. He was wearing a light color gray or blue ball cap, red t-shirt, long khaki cargo shorts, and black and white tennis shoes. The suspect displayed a small silver colored knife. There were no injuries, and an undisclosed amount of cash was taken. There is no vehicle information available at this time. Contact the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office at (903) 237-2506 with any information.

TYLER — East Texas lakes are taking on a whole new look from our ongoing drought. Lake levels are driving people away — ending a popular summer pastime for many. New sandbars and exposed stumps are potential hazards on the water now. East Texas stands 12 inches behind on rainfall this year. Most boaters can’t even get their craft in or out of the water at area lakes. Smith County game wardens tell KETK they’ve seen 90 percent less activity on area lakes. If the drought continues, some boat ramps into Lake Tyler will close. Boats that are 20 feet or larger are having the biggest difficulties. Anglers and boaters with smaller flat-bottom craft say they’re not having any problems.

TYLER — Smith County has received the Texas Association of Counties 2010 Safety Award for its record of involvement and commitment to safety in the workplace, as well as for controlling workers’ compensation claims. The Award was presented in Commissioners Court Tuesday, during a regular meeting. To qualify for the Texas Association of Counties Safety Awards, a county must have a safety program rated in the top 15 percent of approximately 300 governmental entities that collectively self-insure their workers’ compensation through the Association’s Risk Management Pool. Smith was one of only 23 counties honored with a 2010 award. “We are honored and excited to receive this award from the Texas Association of Counties,” County Judge Joel Baker said.

TYLER — Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith says a man suspected of stealing copper from numerous churches in East Texas is now in custody. He says video from one of the churches showed a suspect’s car and Monday, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery called in a report of a suspect stealing bronze markers. Deputies arrested 25-year-old Bryson Jamar Anthony of Kilgore. Smith says Anthony eventually confessed to 13 thefts of air conditioning units to obtain copper. Anthony was booked into the Smith County Jail on numerous charges with bond set at $390,000. The sheriff says other counties where Anthony is suspected of copper theft will be given opportunities to question Anthony.