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TYLER – An Anderson County man has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking Derrick Leon Barrett, 41, of Palestine, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine in Tyler in his appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love. According to information presented in court, up until April 2010, Barrett conspired with others to distribute more than 280 grams of crack cocaine throughout the East Texas area. Barrett was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 5, 2011 and charged with federal drug trafficking violations. Barrett faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison and up to Life at sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

TYLER — Information from the Texas Comptroller indicates that City of Tyler sales tax revenues deposited for the month of April have increased 1.8% compared to April 2010, resulting in a 3.23% cumulative year-to-date increase. Officials note that the current month increase was 2.89%; however, an out-of-period audit adjustment resulted in the 1.8% increase. The reported revenue of $2,437,669.36 comprises $1,625,112.91 general sales tax revenue and $812,556.45 half-cent sales tax revenue. The figures represent receipts from February 2011 collections as there is a two-month lag before taxes are reported and remitted back to the City from the State.

“A year ago at this time we were experiencing a 9.32% decrease in revenues,” said City Manager Mark McDaniel. “To be holding steady at a more than 3 percent increase for the year-to-date is very comforting.” The City is already into its 2011-2012 budget preparation cycle. Individual departments are preparing budgets that will be submitted by mid-April, and the budget review will take place in May and June; the final proposed budget will be presented to the City Council in August. “We are entering this budget process with a very conservative approach,” said McDaniel. “We anticipate our recovery from the economic downturn will be incremental. Therefore, we will make every effort to hold the line on expenditures and will be seeking innovative ways to cut costs while maintaining quality service delivery.”

TYLER (AP/Staff) – Police in Tyler say an armed woman disguised as a man broke into the wrong house trying to collect a debt and bound and gagged a mother and her three daughters before the family escaped through a window and ran for help. Officer Don Martin said the mother told police she was preparing her 8-year-old and 6-year-old twins for school Thursday morning when the woman entered the house with two knives and a stun gun while wearing a cap and a false moustache. Martin says one of the girls suffered a scratch on her back during the escape. He said the woman’s husband was at work. Martin said Maricela Aguilera Rodriguez, 51, of Tyler, is facing a burglary charge. She did not yet have an attorney.

Meanwhile, Tyler investigators say they’ve determined that Rodriguez was administratively deported back to Mexico in 2008. Rodriguez is also said to have an alias of Maricela Sides. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a hold on Rodriguez.

AUSTIN (AP) — A Texas Senate Republican leader who represents part of East Texas is stalling a vote to oust the chairman of the state Forensic Science Commission. That would allow Governor Rick Perry’s controversial choice to rule on a case that questions whether Texas executed a man based on faulty arson evidence. The panel is to consider its final report in the Cameron Todd Willingham case next week. GOP Sen. Bob Deuell, chairman of the nominations committee, told The Associated Press that he has been holding Williamson County prosecutor John Bradley’s doomed nomination without a Senate vote in part to allow him to preside over that meeting.

KILGORE — A father and son were arrested Tuesday after a “heated argument” over horses led to the father pointing a shotgun at his son’s head, officials said. Anthony Sanders, 27, and John Frederick Polk, 52, both of Kilgore, remained jailed at last report, each on $20,000 bond, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Gregg County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 2500 block of State Highway 31 in Kilgore about 6:00pm in response to a report of a family violence disturbance involving a gun.

According to arrest reports, Sanders told authorities he and his father got into a heated argument over horses that were being kept behind the residence. He told officers his father pointed a shotgun at his head during the argument and the two of them fought over the gun until it went off. Sanders told authorities he and his father kept fighting and he was cut on his hands by a knife. Polk told officers he went to get a gun from his house because Sanders said he was going to get a gun out of his truck. Polk denied having a pocket knife. Deputies found Polk’s shotgun in his residence and a .22 caliber rifle in Sander’s vehicle. No knife was found at the residence.

MT. SELMAN – A man wanted in Smith County for a probation violation is now wanted in Cherokee County for aggravated robbery. Shane Ryan Kirkland, 20, of Arp, is accused of pulling a knife in the Hot Spot convenience store and demanding money, cigarettes, and K-2. The incident happened Tuesday afternoon. A contingent of law officers, aided by dogs, were unable to locate Kirkland. Authorities warn that he should be considered armed and dangerous.

FORT WORTH (AP) — A kindergarten teacher, a screenwriter and a Formula One race car designer are among 77 people competing in the Van Cliburn Foundation’s Sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. The event is for those 35 and older who don’t earn their living teaching or playing the piano, although many are classically trained pianists. Cliburn Foundation officials announced Wednesday the competition will be the last week of May at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. The event is an offshoot of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, now held every four years in the pianist’s hometown of Fort Worth. He grew up in Kilgore. Cliburn isn’t a judge at either competition but presents awards. The acclaimed pianist gained prominence after winning the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958.

TYLER — The City of Tyler Water Department has closed Centennial Drive from Kit Carson to Elm Tree Circle because of sink holes. Officials say crews are assessing the situation and do not currently have an anticipated reopening time. The underlying cause of the sink holes is unknown at this time, according to officials.

TYLER – A Gregg County man has pleaded guilty to child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas. Kelly Brian Quinn, 44, of Longview, a former professor at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall. He pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors during an appearance Wednesday in Tyler before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith K. Guthrie. Quinn faces up to 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

According to prosecutors, on April 19, 2010, a search warrant was executed on Quinn’s home, and his personal computer was seized. A forensic examination of the seized computer was conducted and found to contain 14 videos and approximately 1,600 images of child pornography. According to authorities, some of the images depicted prepubescent minors under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and some of the images are considered sadistic or masochistic.

PALESTINE (AP/Staff) – About 50 people protest the recent removal of the Confederate flag from an East Texas town’s courthouse. Fourth-grader William Peeler said Wednesday he doesn’t pledge allegiance to the American flag because “under that flag, the Yankees killed southerners.” Last week Anderson County commissioners narrowly voted to fly the original Confederate flag to commemorate Confederate History Month in April. It’s not the more recognized “rebel flag,” but opponents say it represents the South’s support for slavery, a key issue during the Civil War. On Monday night, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans decided to take down the flag themselves — just as Palestine city leaders were calling for its removal.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Marc Robinson doesn’t understand why people wanted the flag removed. He says, “We were just trying to honor those brave Confederate soldiers, those brave veterans who served Anderson County many years ago.” Robinson adds this had nothing to do with supporting slavery — and points out that the Confederate First National flag flies over the San Jacinto monument all year long.

Many would like use the issue to begin a dialogue over racial understanding. To blacks in Anderson County, flying the Dixie flag on a public building not only represents slavery — but in more recent times, it had become a symbol of those in Texas who resisted the civil rights movement. Author and Fort Worth Star Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders says, “That’s when they started flying those flags over courthouse lawns and statehouses, because it was a defiance of what was going on in the country” with integration. Sanders pointed to the cry, “Segregation now, and segregation forever.” He says the disagreement also comes just weeks after the legislature paid tribute to blacks who had been gunned down in Anderson County in 1910.

CANTON — Two are taken into custody in Van Zandt County on drug charges. At approximately 6:15pm on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office and the Wills Point Police Department executed a search warrant at 702 County Road 3805. Deputies recovered a quantity of suspected methamphetamines, two guns, and cash. Also recovered were a suspected stolen trailer and various power tools. Arrested at the scene were Raymond Ybarra, 60, and Thomas Wayne Jacobs, 39, both of Wills Point. Ybarra has been charged with manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, less than 200 grams. His bond has been set at $50,000. Jacobs has been charged with possession of a controlled substance, less than one gram. His bond is $10,000.

TYLER — The Tyler City Council received a presentation Wednesday from the consulting law firm of Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP on its initial assessment of the required redistricting of single member Council districts. “The American system of representative government is based on the theory of one person – one vote, where each person’s vote in a district counts the same as another person’s vote in a similar district,” explained City Attorney Gary Landers. “The City of Tyler last redistricted in 2000; since that time, there has been a sizable increase in the total population of the city, requiring the City to again redistrict.”

The United States Constitution requires that each district within a city must have approximately equal population. Preliminary results from the 2010 Census indicate that the population of Tyler is 96,900, an increase of 15.84 percent from the 2000 Census. The distribution of that growth has not been evenly dispersed resulting in an uneven number of residents in some of the City’s single member districts. Given Tyler’s current population, each district should have 16,150 residents or be within 10 percent of that figure. To achieve this equity, district boundary lines must be adjusted to rebalance the populations in the districts.

In addition to the one voter – one vote rule, cities in Texas must be aware of the federal Voting Rights Act requirements that govern the redistricting process. To ensure redistricting obligations are met, the City of Tyler, along with Smith County and Tyler Independent School District, has contracted with the law firm of Bickerstaff and Heath to assist with the redistricting process.

“Redistricting is a complex process and there are several issues that must be kept in mind,” said Landers. “The consultants have decades of experience in this area and will guide the City through the process to ensure we meet all of our obligations. For example, we must gain approval from the U.S. Department of Justice for the new district boundaries before they are implemented in an election. Also, we have to ensure that the districting changes do not have a retrogressive effect on protected minority voters in specific districts; we have to ensure that these segments of the population are not worse off under the new system.”

Officials say the City, County, and school district have all contracted with Bickerstaff and Heath Law Firm for the redistricting process to increase coordination and cooperation. According to city officials, it is anticipated that this coordination will assist voters in the future.

In their first presentation to the Tyler City Council, the consultants presented recommendations that outline a set of redistricting criteria and guidelines that will serve as the framework to guide the City in the consideration of districting plans, assist the City in its efforts to comply with federal and state laws that apply in the process, and provide the City a means to evaluate and measure the proposed plans.

Redistricting criteria include:
* Adopting districts of relatively equal size;
* Ensuring the districts have identifiable boundaries;
* Maintaining communities of interest and neighborhoods;
* Using whole voting precincts;
* Basing the plan on existing districts;
* Drawing districts that are compact and contiguous;
* Keeping incumbents in their districts; and,
* Tailoring the plan to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

The redistricting process is expected to be implemented by the end of November 2011. Public hearings will likely be held in May or June, assessment will be completed in July and adoption of the final plan will occur in August. The plan will then be submitted to the Department of Justice in September.

TYLER — Local economic trends are continuing to improve, according to information presented at the annual luncheon of the Tyler Economic Development Council. President/CEO Tom Mullins says examples include growth in the area’s population, workforce, and tax base. Among other things, he adds, that means more prospect activity. Mullins says, “We’ll be announcing a new project here in a couple of weeks that’ll be creating some new jobs; we have a very promising prospect that’s got Tyler on the short list.” Guest speaker was former State Senator and Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff, who talked about politics and the economy.

TYLER — Police in Tyler say a citizen tip has led to an arrest. On Tuesday, Tyler-Smith County Crimestoppers received a tip on Demoria Edwards, 20, indicating that he had fled to Dallas. Edwards was wanted by the Tyler Police Department for aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first degree felony. The arrest warrant was issued on February 24 by Judge Randall Rogers. Bond was set at $100,000. On Wednesday, the United States Marshal’s Service in Dallas was notified of this information and given an address where Edwards might be found. Federal marshals located Edwards at 3043 Marjorie Avenue, Dallas, Wednesday morning and took him into custody.

JEFFERSON (AP) – The hospitalized owner of about 140 starving dogs seized in Northeast Texas could face charges over the neglected animals. The Marshall News-Messenger reported Wednesday that the animals have been rescued, by the Humane Society of Marion County, from property near Jefferson. Humane Society leader Caroline Wedding says some animals were in cages, while others were left to roam the woods. She says the dogs are being treated for flea infestations, skin diseases, infected eyes and starvation. Officials say owner, a 64-year-old man whose name has not been released, had been away from the property since last month after being admitted to a hospital in Shreveport, La. Some of his relatives contacted animal rescue authorities, who began seizing the dogs last Friday.