KTBB News, Weather, Talk

CANTON (AP) — The Texas Department of Public Safety says no alcohol was found in the blood of the driver of a car that veered into a pair of motorcycles on an East Texas highway, killing four motorcyclists. DPS Trooper Landon Corbett tells the Houston Chronicle that Jose Luis Pena of Rosharon had no alcohol in his system when the crash happened Sunday afternoon on two-lane Texas Highway 19, about four miles north of Canton.

Nevertheless, the 30-year-old Houston-area man remained in the Van Zandt County Jail in Canton late Tuesday, charged with four counts of criminally negligent homicide. Bonds totaled $2 million. Pena, his girlfriend and her 3-year-old son were returning to Rosharon after visiting relatives in East Texas when the crash happened. Each motorcycle was carrying a Dallas-area couple.

TYLER – Charges are pending against a man who kicked in a door to a Tyler home. The incident happened around 9:30 Tuesday night in the 200 lock of Savannah Drive. The 26 year old man told the residence of the house that he had been shot and was seeking help. EMS personnel, who examined the man, said he did have minor cuts and scrapes to one of his hands but he had not been shot. Investigating officers feel he had taken an unknown drug and was hallucinating. Charges are pending against the suspect.

AUSTIN – A Gregg County woman is one of two persons appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Named to the posts are Michelle Skyrme of Longview and James LaFavers of Amarillo. Their terms expire February 1, 2017. The board makes parole decisions for Texas prison inmates, determines conditions for parole and mandatory supervision, and makes recommendations on clemency matters to the governor.

Skyrme is executive administrative assistant for the Gregg County Health Department, and a former adult probation case clerk for Gregg County Community Supervision and Corrections. She is a member of the Texas Association of Local Health Officials, and a board member of the Gregg County Medical Reserve Corps and Sabine-Neches Resource Conservation and Development Board. She is also a past administrative program director at Sabine Valley Regional Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center, a past board member of the Gregg County Crime Stoppers, and a volunteer for the Longview-Gregg County Emergency Operations Center.

TYLER – A 42-year-old Flint man has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms violations in the Eastern District of Texas. Jerry Gilstrap pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of pure methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime Tuesday in Tyler before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith K. Guthrie.

According to information presented in court, on February 16, Gilstrap was found in possession of a Ruger LCP .380 semi-automatic pistol while in possession of 50 grams of pure methamphetamine which he intended to distribute in the Eastern District of Texas. Gilstrap was indicted by a federal grand jury a couple of months later and charged with federal drug and gun violations.

Gilstrap faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison for the narcotics charge and a consecutive 5-year sentence for the gun violation. A sentencing date has not been set.

GILMER — Upshur County officials have confirmed that a Big Sandy man is jailed on murder charges in connection with a Saturday afternoon shooting that left a 52-year-old woman dead. According to Lt. Freddie Fitzgerald, Glenn Wade Myers Jr., 54, remained jailed on bonds totaling $356,000, charged with murder and an outstanding Wood County warrant for driving while intoxicated.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched around 4:00 Saturday afternoon to the 1900 block of Nutmeg Road west of Gilmer in connection with a shooting. Fitzgerald said when deputies arrived at the home, Cindy Espinoza, a mother of two, was found dead with a single gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Lyle Potter, and an autopsy was ordered. Funeral services for Espinoza will be this afternoon at 2:00 at Croley Funeral Home in Gilmer.

TYLER — Authorities in Smith County release the after-action report from their most recent multi-agency No-Refusal DWI campaign, July 1st through July 4th. Total DWI arrests for the No-Refusal initiative for all agencies were 20. DPS had 9 DWI arrests, Tyler PD had 8, Bullard PD had 2, and Whitehouse PD had 1. The total number of search warrants for blood obtained was 4. DPS obtained 2 search warrants for blood, and Tyler PD obtained 2.

HAWKINS — Hawkins City officials are asking residents to voluntarily curtail water use. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, the move came after a 500,000-gallon water storage tank was shut down for repairs. Officials say the tank may be out of service for 52 days. “Any water uses that are not essential for health, safety and sanitary purposes should be voluntarily reduced,” officials said. Hawkins has one other storage tank that holds about 200,000 gallons of water and a tower that holds 250,000 gallons, but service may be strained due to the drought conditions, said Utility Operator Mike Mayberry.

LONGVIEW — In spite of a couple of recent high-profile deaths, the number of jail deaths in Gregg County during the past 10 years is about average when compared to other Texas county jails of similar size. KETK and the Longview News-Journal say according to an attorney general’s report, there have been 13 deaths in the Gregg County Jail in the past 10 years. This compares with an average of 12 inmates who have died during the past 10 years among six county jails comparable in size to Gregg County’s. The other jails are in Brazoria, Galveston, Jefferson, McLennan, Smith, and Williamson Counties.

Texas Commission on Jail Standards Director Adan Munoz said, “A huge number of inmates go through Texas county jails per month and per year,” Munoz said. “The number of deaths is small compared to the total number of inmates each jail sees. However, I know that to a family who has had a family member die in jail custody, only one matters. All jail deaths are unfortunate for us and the families, and each and every death matters to us.” In almost every case this past year in which a custodial death occurred, the investigation determined the death was not caused as a result of deliberate indifference by county jail officials, Munoz said.

Two people have died in the Gregg County Jail during the past six months. Amy Lynn Cowling, 33, was pronounced dead Dec. 29 after being found unresponsive in a separation cell. Micah Aaron Garner, 30, died June 6 after he was found unresponsive in a medical holding cell. Garner was in a medical holding cell and put on mandatory medical watch every 30 minutes because he was addicted to methadone and heroin, authorities said. Preliminary autopsy reports from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office showed Garner’s cause of death was undetermined, but indicated no trauma or foul play was suspected, jail officials said. Toxicology reports were ordered by the medical examiner’s office and are still pending. The investigation into Garner’s death also is pending.

Cowling’s death was ruled “probable” seizure due to withdrawal from methadone and Xanax, but the manner of death was ruled undetermined by a Gregg County justice of the peace. Jail officials have said Cowling was denied prescribed medication, which family members said was in her purse at the jail, because they were not on the jail’s approved medication list. In lieu of her prescribed medications, Cowling was given jail-approved medications and put on a regular watch schedule to ensure her condition was sound. A Houston lawmaker said Cowling’s death, and a reported high turnover rate at the Gregg County Jail, spurred a law that would require county jails to report their monthly personnel changes.

MARSHALL — The federal trial in Marshall against Pilgrim’s Pride is in recess until July 11th. According to KETK, Pilgrim’s is charged with violating the Packers and Stockers Act in order to manipulate the price of chicken. The court previously heard testimony from growers who claimed the company closed plants and ran them out of business. Pilgrim’s rebutted, saying they closed the plants due to bankruptcy.

LONGVIEW — Longview firefighters pushed back and quelled flames that were approaching two homes and a natural gas compression station mid-day Monday. The cause of the Independence Day fire that left no injuries, including a horse that was rescued from a corral that was burned, remains under investigation.

Longview Assistant Fire Marshal Joey Cowan said at the scene that nothing was immediately found to indicate fireworks as a cause. “We’d just like to encourage everyone to understand we are under a fire ban in Gregg County and to exercise extreme caution,” he said.

Three fire engines and a battalion truck were dispatched shortly before 2 p.m. Monday to Warren Street, which dead-ends into the Eastman Chemical Co., Texas Operations, gas unit. The site is barely outside the Longview city limits off South Eastman Road. The Gregg County Fire Marshall’s Office is investigating.

GLADEWATER — A Gladewater man has been ordered to jail because he has not relinquished a Gregg County property to its rightful heir. Judge Alfonso Charles held Earnest Lee Hoye in contempt of court Friday for hindering a Virginia man from taking ownership of his property in the Red Rock area of Gladewater and ordered him to spend 180 days in county jail, beginning July 15. Hoye missed the court hearing Friday because he was admitted into a local hospital with health complications, his attorney said.

In February, Charles ruled that David Green was the rightful heir of the property and ordered Hoye, the previous resident, to remove junk, a house and two mobile homes that were without utilities. When Green returned from Virginia on Monday, he found that Hoye’s daughter was living in the house; electricity had been installed in one mobile home, where drugs and drug paraphernalia was found; and junk remained, Green testified Friday.

Hoye’s attorney said he has suffered hardships in removing the junk, highlighted by his wife’s death from cancer in spring. Charles said he sympathized, but Hoye has used too many excuses in delaying court orders since Green filed suit against Hoye in 2007.

Charles also denied Clay’s motion for a new trial and signed documents stating any one on the property not authorized by Green would be deemed trespassers.

TYLER — A Tyler man has been arrested after reportedly holding his parents hostage at knife point. It started around 2:15 yesterday morning when Tyler Police received a call from a woman in Houston claiming her brother had their parent barricaded at their residence. Officers responded to 3210 Tulsa and took Gerald Hicks, 37, into custody after confirming with the victims that he did threatened to kill them with a large kitchen knife. The father sustained a non-life threatening cut to his hand during the incident. Hicks was booked into the Smith County Jail on two counts of aggravated assault.

CHAPEL HILL – A house in the Chapel Hill area has been damaged by fire. It was said to have been caused around 9:00 Monday night by a lightening strike. The house is located in the 10,000 block of Deer Creek. Damage was said to have been minimal and no injuries were reported.

ALTO — Vandals struck four Alto businesses late Thursday night, as the small community continues to deal with law and order issues after the entire Alto Police Department was shuttered on June 15 due to budget cuts. The latest events all happened within a three-block radius. A lock was cut off of a gate at a local construction company with one of the firm’s pickup trucks being stolen, according to Cherokee County sheriff James Campbell. The suspect then appeared to have tried to fill the vehicle with gasoline, but was not successful. Nearby, cold drinks were reported stolen from an Alto restaurant. Meanwhile, vandalism was reported at the Alto Public Library and at a feed store close by.

In both instances, doors to the respective buildings were kicked in, but nothing was reported missing at either location. Campbell indicated that due to the close proximity of the break-ins and of the vandalism, that it is his belief that the suspects could possibly be teenagers. He further indicated that it is not know if the truck theft is related to the other incidents. Within a 24-hour period around the aforementioned events in Alto, Cherokee County law enforcement officials were summoned to the community on seven different occasions.

Last Wednesday three men and one woman attempted to rob a bank located on North Marcus St. in downtown Alto.

TROUP — An attempted theft of copper wiring proved to be fatal for Chris Holman, 42. The Smith County Sheriff’s Department reports Holman was electrocuted around 10:00 Saturday morning while in the process of trying to steal copper wiring out of an electric line on a utility pole that sat about 50 feet off of County Road 2115 near Troup. Holman came into contact with the main line and died at the scene according to law enforcement officials. Holman’s 15-year-old daughter was with him at the time and was sent to Trinity Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler for evaluation.