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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.

LUFKIN — Investigators need your help to identify the female suspect shown in the accompanying image. According to KETK, Lufkin police and Crimestoppers say the suspect used a stolen credit card at a Lufkin Mall business only minutes after the card was stolen from the dressing room of another Mall business. The victim briefly left her purse unattended in a dressing room while she went back to the clothes rack for a different size. When the victim went to the cash register to make her purchase, she realized that someone had stolen her wallet from within her purse.

The victim immediately reported the theft to Lufkin Police Department and to her credit card issuer, but the card had already been used to make four purchases. Authorities say the suspect shown here spent $79 at GNC in Lufkin Mall, and then the card was used for two purchases, totaling $186, at Rue21 in Lufkin and to purchase $43 in fuel from TexasStar Gas station in Lufkin.

Based upon the video, the suspect is a heavy-set or pregnant, middle-aged female with dark, shoulder length hair, a band-style tattoo above her right ankle, a tattoo on her right upper arm, and a tattoo in the web of her right hand. At the time of this crime, the suspect wore a dark-colored, short-sleeve shirt, light-colored shorts, and flip flops. If you can identify this suspect, or if you can provide information concerning this crime, call Crime Stoppers at (936) 639-TIPS. You never have to give your name, and Crime Stoppers may pay a cash reward of up to $2,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

CANTON (AP/Staff) – A man has been jailed on four counts of criminally negligent homicide after his car swerved into oncoming traffic near Canton Sunday afternoon, killing four people on motorcycles. Luis Pena, 31, of Rosharon is being held on $2 million bail in the Van Zandt County jail. Two of the dead were identified as Bruce Melvin Bricker, 51, and his wife, Shannon Rhenee Bricker, 40, both of Highland Village, who were riding one motorcycle. Steve Austin Claterbaugh, 53, of Rowlett and girlfriend Kathleen Dolores Smith, 52, of Wylie, who were on another motorcycle, also died. The accident happened around 2:00 Sunday afternoon on State Highway 19, about four miles north of Interstate Highway 20.

TYLER — Smith County Road 1125, also known as Greenbriar Road, will be closed for bridge replacement at half a mile south of Spur 364 and one mile north of County Road 1140 starting today. The road will be closed for approximately three months. The closure will not affect any residents but will require traffic to detour. Motorists should use this designated detour route until construction is complete: Traveling south, turn west on Spur 364 to County Road 1139, turn south to County Road 1140, and then turn east back to County Road 1125. Traveling north, turn west on County Road 1140 to County Road 1139, turn north to Spur 364, turn east to get back to County Road 1125.

TYLER — The Tyler Police Department requests that drivers be aware of route changes for the 4th of July celebration at Lindsey Park on Spur 364. Beginning at 8:30pm, Spur 364 at Loop 323 will be closed to all eastbound traffic. At the same time, the right lane of the southbound traffic on Loop 323 near Spur 364 will be closed. Officers are asking any resident who lives off Spur 364 between Loop 323 and Greenbriar Road who needs to get home during this time to present his or her driver’s license showing proof of residency to the officers stationed at this location. Officers will allow residents only to proceed westbound on Spur 364.

At the completion of the program, the two left turn lanes eastbound on Highway 31 at Loop 323 will be closed. Traffic will not be allowed to turn left, north, onto Loop 323 from the eastbound lanes of Highway 31. Police ask that you please be aware of officers in the roadway directing traffic. The Tyler Police Department reminds everyone that alcohol, smoking, and fireworks are prohibited in all City of Tyler parks, except for specifically permitted fireworks displays such as the one at Lindsey Park.

TYLER — Tyler Police responded to a reported aggravated robbery and kidnapping. It was reported shortly before 2:00 Monday morning. Officers say a Hispanic man told them his 17-year-old son had been kidnapped and that two suspects were holding the teen at a gas station in North Tyler. He says he made a payment to the suspects but they demanded more money.

A description of the suspect’s vehicle led to the arrest of Trevon Jones-Harris (pictured) and Mioshea Tilley, both 18 and from Tyler. They’ve been charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated kidnapping. A 19-year-old Hispanic teen was found in the car with the other kidnapped teen. Police say Trevon and Tilly reportedly jumped the two teens at an apartment complex at knife and gun point during an attempted drug transaction.

TYLER — Here’s a quick look at events and work planned in the Tyler District of the Texas Department of Transportation.

TYLER — The Texas Department of Transportation’s annual preventative maintenance program, known as District-Wide Seal Coat, is scheduled to begin work Tuesday on Farm Road 756 (Paluxy Drive) between South Loop 323 in Tyler and Farm Road 346 near Whitehouse. Following the work on FM 756, crews are scheduled to seal U.S. Highway 69 (West Gentry Parkway and Glenwood Boulevard) between North Loop 323 and West Erwin Street on Wednesday, and State Highway 110 (Van Highway) between East Loop 323 and Farm Road 3271 on Thursday before moving into Van Zandt County.

Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each seal coat location while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic in two-lane areas. Motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes if possible to avoid delays. Loose gravel may be present for several days following seal coat application.

Also, TxDOT contractor Reynolds & Kay, Ltd., of Tyler, is scheduled to begin nighttime resurfacing work on Tyler’s WSW Loop 323 between State Highway 155 and New Copeland Road on Tuesday night. Crews have been making repairs to storm-drain inlets and access areas in the past few weeks in preparation for the work. Once the night work begins, crews will be closing lanes between 8:00pm and 5:00am each night except for Fridays and Saturdays. The work is scheduled to take approximately two months to complete.

Finally this week in Smith County, TxDOT maintenance crews are scheduled to begin work to replace a culvert pipe and build a right-turn lane at the intersection of County Road 229 (Big Oak Bay Road) and State Highway 64 east, just east of Farm Road 3226.
The work will require some lane closures on SH 64 and on SCR 229 while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

GREGG COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to perform base and pavement repairs in various locations on State Highway 300 (Glimer Road) between Hawkins Parkway and Farm Road 1844, including work in the SH 300/Hawkins Parkway intersection on Tuesday and Wednesday. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes if possible to avoid the work in the Hawkins Parkway intersection.

WOOD COUNTY — The Texas Department of Transportation’s annual preventative maintenance program known as “District-Wide Seal Coat” is scheduled to start work in Wood County as early as Wednesday, July 13, weather permitting. Crews are scheduled to apply a seal coat to FM 49 between US 69 in Mineola and FM 14, FM 778 between FM 49 and US 80, and on US 80 between FM 778 and the Upshur County Line. Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each location while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic in two lane areas. Loose gravel may be present for several days following a seal coat application. Motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes if possible to avoid delays.

VAN ZANDT COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to perform base and pavement repairs on State Highway 64 between Interstate Highway 20 and State Highway 19 in Canton. A second crew is scheduled to perform pavement repairs in various locations on Farm Road 857 between U.S. Highway 80 in Grand Saline and Farm Road 1253. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

Also in Van Zandt County, beginning Tuesday, July 5, the Union Pacific Railroad is scheduled to replace ties on its overpass on US 80 near Fruitvale. The work will be conducted over the next two months with various daytime lane closures possible while the work is in progress. Motorists are encouraged to be prepared to reduce speed and merge in and around the work zone.

Finally, District-Wide Seal Coat operations are scheduled to resume in the county as early as Friday, July 8 on State Highway 19 south of Canton between Farm Road 858 and the Henderson County line and then on Saturday on State Highway 198 just south of State Highway 243 in Canton. Crews are also scheduled to seal Farm Road 47 between State Highway 243 and State Highway 198 and Farm Road 751 northwest of Wills Point between the Hunt County Line and Farm Road 47.

Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each seal coat location while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic in two-lane areas. Motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes if possible to avoid delays. Loose gravel may be present for several days following seal coat application.

ANDERSON COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue pavement repairs on Farm Road 1990 between State Highway 294 and U.S. Highway 79 in Palestine. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

HENDERSON COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to perform resurfacing operations on Farm Road 2709 between State Highway 19 north of Athens and Farm Road 316 in Eustace, followed later in the week by the same work on Ranch Road 2970 between Farm Road 753 and the end of state maintenance. Daytime lane closures will be in effect in each location while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

RUSK COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to continue resurfacing operations on Farm Road 839 between U.S. Highway 79 southeast of Henderson and Farm Road 1798 in McKnight. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

CHEROKEE COUNTY — Texas Department of Transportation maintenance crews this week are scheduled to perform base and pavement repairs on U.S. Highway 84 between Reklaw and Farm Road 2753 in Rusk County. Daytime lane closures will be in effect while the work is in progress, and flaggers will control traffic.

Also in Cherokee County, nighttime resurfacing work planned for U.S. Highway 69 in Jacksonville has been postponed until crews can complete the work on State Highway 322 in Gregg County.

TYLER – One person has been arrested for making a false alarm at the Tyler airport. Around 2:30 Sunday afternoon, officers working the Wings Over Tyler Airshow were contacted about a suspicious person inside Skyline Café. It’s inside the Old Terminal Building. Officers were told a black male approached the counter and handed a piece of paper to an employee when he made a food order. On the piece of paper were comments that made reference to having a gun and wanting money.

Upon realizing what was written on the piece of paper, the man said a co-worker had given it to him and must be playing a joke on him. No weapon was observed and no money was given to the man. While he was eating, officers approached the man.

The note was located and officers soon contacted Kimberly Denise Clark, 47, of Tyler. Officers determined Clark wrote the note, gave it to the man and asked him to pass it along when he ordered his food. It is not believed the man was aware of the note’s contents when he gave it to the Skyline Café employee with his food order.

Officers arrested Clark for false alarm or report, a class A misdemeanor. She was then transported her to the Smith County Jail.