KTBB News, Weather, Talk

LONGVIEW – Longview police have arrested a Denison, Texas, man on a charge of online solicitation of a minor. In the Gregg County Jail under a $30,000 bond is Donnie Smith, 58. He spent his birthday in the jail Sunday following his arrest.

Longview police say Smith is accused of having an online communication for several months with a fictitious juvenile female. He is even accused of sending a webcam of his genitals in an attempt to set up a meeting. According to court records, he thought he was communicating with a 14 year old girl.

LONGVIEW –Longview Mayor Jay Dean is announcing a program designed to provide heat relief to area citizens in need. With triple-digit heat a norm this summer, Mayor Dean, along with partner agencies and private donors, is launching the “Mayor’s Beat the Heat Project.” This program is designed to provide window air conditioning units to residents around Longview who do not currently have air conditioning in their homes. “There are many residents out there that are suffering with this heat right now, and we just want to be able to help them get some relief,” says Mayor Jay Dean.

The Area Agency on Aging (AAA) will administer the in-take process. Residents in need should contact the Area Agency on Aging at 903-984-8641 or 800-442-8845. Preference will be given to elderly ages 60 and above and/or disabled residents that live in a Longview area zip code 75601, 75602, 75603, 75604, 75605, 75606, 75607 and 75608. As supply allows, other low income residents in the Longview area may also be considered. Only one unit will be given per household.

Several area agencies have partnered together to bring this project forward. The Hiway 80 Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and AMBUCS will work together with other volunteer groups to help distribute and install the air conditioning units.

Funding for the Mayor’s Beat the Heat Project has been provided entirely through private donations. At this time, Mayor Dean has secured pledges in the amount of $25,000 from various Longview businesses, organizations, and citizens. The money raised will be used to purchase 200 air conditioning units rated at 5,000 BTU from local home improvement stores.

“I understand we are not going to be able to solve the problem of heat relief for every needy citizen with this program this year,” says Mayor Jay Dean. “My hope and my expectation is that, next year, this program will be administered by our partner agencies. My idea was to just get the ball rolling for the future. We want to do what we can this year to help, but then hopefully see the community put a program in place that makes sense going forward.”

BROWNSVILLE (AP/Staff) – Researchers in Tyler are trying to overcome a language barrier to teach safety to Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishermen in America’s deadliest commercial fishery. With Vietnamese and Spanish the dominant languages among some Gulf shrimp fleets, researchers at UT Health Science Center at Tyler are developing outreach programs in fishermen’s native languages. The government-backed researchers are designing safety signs based on universal symbols and preparing to release an interactive CD in three languages on how to make mayday calls. The UTHSCT researchers have found that many fishermen wouldn’t use their radios to call for help because they didn’t speak enough English. A federal study shows 55 Gulf shrimping deaths between 2000 and 2009. 29 of them were fishermen who fell overboard.

Despite the researchers’ efforts, funding for their work may be cut. The national program under which the researchers operate is targeted for elimination in the President’s 2012 budget proposal.

LUFKIN — Lufkin’s newest city council member, Sarah Murray, said she will introduce an ordinance to keep people from selling animals from the roadside. The proposed ordinance, drafted by the city’s attorney, specifically states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, trade, barter, lease, rent, give away or display for a commercial purpose any live animal on a roadside, public right-of-way, commercial parking lot, or at an outdoor special sale, garage sale, swap meet, flea market, or similar event within the corporate limits of the City of Lufkin.” According to KETK and the Lufkin Daily News, the ordinance is restricted to domesticated animals, and does not include livestock.

Murray, a longtime animal rights activist, said she sees people selling animals in commercial parking lots and finds it appalling. “The animals that are brought to sell are from puppy mills,” said Murray, who represents Ward 6. “Sometimes these dogs are inbred. Another thing is they have no immunizations, no vaccinations, they are not spayed or neutered. I’m against euthanasia. My idea is if they’re not born, then they don’t have to die.”

Murray claims some of the dogs are selling for up to $500 and are not AKC (American Kennel Club) registered. Many of the animals could have diseases, such as parvo. “Parvo is deadly,” Murray said. “If it isn’t detected, the dog can give parvo to the rest of your animals, and they will all die.” Most importantly, she said the animals wait in inhumane conditions to be purchased. She said some don’t have enough shade or water to endure the East Texas heat or bitter cold temperatures of winter.

“It was freezing last year, and people had brought in birds in cages, and they were sitting out in the cold, cold weather,” Murray said. “To me it’s just unethical. These animals have no choice.” The side-of-the-road sale also encourages impulse buying, Murray said, which leads to more animals in the shelters, Humane Society or dumped in neighborhoods and on country roads.

LUFKIN — The man sentenced to 30 days in jail last week for resisting arrest in his Lufkin home was fighting police because he feared deportation to his native country of Honduras, according to a Lufkin Police offense report released Friday. That’s according to KETK and the Lufkin Daily News. Marco Sauceda, 30, who does not speak English, told a Spanish-speaking officer he stayed silent during the March 15, 2009, incident in spite of being pepper-sprayed and shot with a pepper ball gun because, as an illegal immigrant, he was afraid he would be deported. During the scuffle, Sauceda suffered a gash to the top of his head that required medical attention.

The jury of five men and one woman who found Sauceda guilty of resisting arrest Wednesday made its decision without knowledge of his immigration status due to a motion filed by Sauceda’s attorney, Ryan Deaton, and granted by County Court at Law No. 2 Judge Derek Flournoy on July 15, according to records from the trial. The motion, called a “motion in lemine,” claimed Sauceda’s alien status could have prejudiced the jury. “We could not go into that without the court’s permission at trial, whether he was legally in the country or not,” said Angelina County Attorney Ed Jones, who assisted in the prosecution of Sauceda’s case.

Attempts to reach Deaton for comment on his client’s immigration status Friday afternoon were not successful. With credit for time served, Sauceda is now a free man, as no immigration hold was placed on him Wednesday when he booked in and out of the Angelina County jail, according to jail records.

LONGVIEW — Bond was set at $100,000 Sunday for a Longview man authorities determined was wanted on a murder warrant in Europe after he was jailed in connection with an assault Saturday in Longview. Donald Adkins, 44, was arrested around 7:00 Saturday in Broughton Park on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Justice of the Peace Arthur Fort said Sunday that Adkins had given a false name during booking, but jail personnel were able to determine his identity and discover the foreign warrant. Fort said he was not certain which country issued the warrant, or details of that charge. The local charge stemmed from an attack that left another man with two knife wounds, one to the eye, the other in the chest.

WINONA – A one vehicle accident in northern Smith County has left one person dead. Killed in the crash shortly after 11:15 Friday night was George Douglas Nolan, 40, of Tyler, a former member of the Winona Volunteer Fire Department.. The Department of Public Safety says his car left the road and hit a tree and then burst into flames. The wreck occurred on County Road 334, a couple of miles north of Tyler. What caused the crash remains under investigation, however firemen on the scene said that Nolan had a cell phone in his hand.

LONGVIEW — East George Richey Road, located east of Gilmer Road, opened to traffic Monday. The 3,500 foot extension project was funded equally by Gregg County and the City of Longview. The total project cost was approximately $1.96 million. This project was constructed by Knife River of Bryan, Texas.

WHITEHOUSE — The Future Farmers of America has selected its new state president Peyton Gilbert, 18, of Whitehouse. After winning several local awards in high school, he figured it was time to run for statewide office. Over the next year, he’ll be traveling all over Texas to teach students about agricultural education and awareness. Afterwards, Gilbert plans to attend a four-year university in Texas before heading off to law school.

LUFKIN — A Lufkin man and woman were arrested Wednesday night for reportedly breaking into vehicles in the parking lot of Pilgrim’s Pride. Georgia Ann Taylor, 44, and Walter Allen Starnader, 46, were reportedly caught in the parking lot with stolen items from two vehicles, according to a Lufkin Police report. They were charged with burglary of a vehicle. Starnader received an additional charge of possession of drug paraphernalia for 0.1 grams of marijuana in his possession. They were arrested and taken to the Angelina County Jail

EAST TEXAS — The Better Business Bureau has alerted East Texans of a scam aimed at local hotels to get credit card information from guests over the phone. The calls are typically made in the middle of the night from a person claiming to be a hotel employee. The caller says the hotel computer has crashed and asks the guest for credit card information. The caller may also offer a discount on the room for the inconvenience.

EAST TEXAS — A 29-year-old Rusk man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for threatening President Barack Obama. Robert Lee Berkley Jr. was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison on July 12 by U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis. Berkley, who was imprisoned in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice center in Rusk, wrote a letter June 16, 2010, saying he planned to travel to Washington to kill Obama and his family after he was released from prison. Berkley confirmed his plan during at least two interviews with law enforcement officers. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 23.

ALTO — Fourteen days after the Alto City Council sent its police force on a six-month furlough in June, the Wall Street Journal got wind of the story and ran an article entitled “The Day the Law Left Town.” The next day, Forbes and the Business Insider caught onto the story. By July 7, Alto had attracted the attention of the CBS News Morning Show. A cursory Google search of “Alto Texas police” yields ten of eleven first-page results about the potential for increased crime rates in Alto since the council furloughed the police force. The national coverage of the issue has left some Alto citizens perplexed and some outraged.

The Corner Market convenient store, robbed at gunpoint July 19, was one of the latest locations hit in Alto. Minister Frederick Shaw said he thinks coverage doesn’t help the crime situation. According to Sheriff Campbell, several towns in East Texas have disbanded their police forces before. “Several times before New Summerfield, Wells and Cuney have furloughed their police forces. Though this is the largest town to do away with their police department that I can remember.”

The Cherokee County sheriff’s department tries to keep a patrol car in the area at all times, yet some citizens are concerned the national coverage will cause an influx of crime from out-of-town offenders. Sheriff Campbell said national coverage has not yet greatly increased the number of crimes committed by outsiders. He said most of the crimes committed in Alto are done by locals.

TYLER — The Tyler Police Department’s non-emergency telephone lines have now been restored and are fully functioning once again. The department began experiencing telephone problems around 7:00 Saturday night. All 911 calls to the Tyler Police Department were being routed through the Smith County 911 Center. Officials said the department is still received all emergency 911 calls and there was no delay in response times for emergency calls for service.

HENDERSON — Henderson ISD trustees froze teacher pay and took actions on a construction model to move them one step closer to a November bond election. Director of Human Resources Stacey Sullivan said Thursday the 2010-11 salary schedule will be in effect for teachers in the 2011-12 academic year, as approved by the school board Wednesday night. “The schedule reflects no increase in salary whatsoever,” Sullivan said. Trustees also selected a construction method for a possible November bond election. The school board chose the construction manager at-risk model, which calls for a construction manager to complete the project within a guaranteed maximum price. Trustees also selected Claycomb Associates as the architect firm to represent the district on the bond.