KTBB News, Weather, Talk

TYLER – District Chief Michael Frost is being promoted to Assistant Fire Chief of the Tyler Fire Department. Frost will be responsible for planning budgets, grants and emergency management training and drills. Fire Chief David Coble will promote Chief Frost at a ceremony at 3:30pm on February 13 at the Tyler Rose Garden Center – Rose Room. Continue reading New Tyler Assistant Fire Chief

TYLER – Tyler’s Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic School has its first president. Bishop Joseph E. Strickland announced last month a new President-Principal administrative structure would be instituted at the school. Bishop Strickland has now announced Father Anthony McLaughlin is the school’s first president. The President-Principal model of leadership is currently the most common form of administration for Catholic secondary schools in the U.S. The President is the chief administrator for the school, who, among other things, appoints the Principal to manage day-to-day school operations and oversee academics, athletics, fine arts and faculty. Father McLaughlin, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Tyler in 1997.

WHITE OAK – A pedestrian hit by a car in White Oak last week has died. Ivan Rincon-Ramos, 34, was hit around 6:00 last Friday night as he was crossing U.S. Highway 80 at Lake Harris Road. His two young sons ran into the path of a car driven by Christopher Michael of Malakoff. When Michael served to miss the boys, he hit their father. The dad died in the hospital Monday morning. The accident remains under investigation. It’s not known if any charges will be filed.

LONGVIEW – The Longview police are asking the public to help identify a suspect in a theft case. The department has posted on its Face Book page the picture of a man suspected in a theft case at Sears on McCann Road. If you have information about the man in the photo, please contact Det. Gabe Downs 903-237-1168 or Gregg County Crime stoppers at 903-236-7867 or greggcountycrimestoppers.org and reference case #16-15762.

HOLLYWOOD (AP) – Matthew McConaughey says it’s time for Hollywood to “embrace and shake hands” with the fact that Donald Trump is president. The Oscar winner, formerly from Longview, tells the BBC that Trump’s rise to power is “as divisive of an inauguration” as there has ever been. When asked by interviewer Andrew Marr if Hollywood’s elite should give Trump a break, McConaughey replied, “They don’t have a choice now, he’s our president.” McConaughey is promoting his new film, “Gold,” in which he plays a businessman who discovers the precious metal in the jungles of Indonesia.

TYLER – The East Texas State Fair is starting to look for a new location. They have just under ten years to find it. The city hired a firm to come up with a concept of what the Rose Garden Center will look like in 20 years. The plans, which were unveiled at an open house Tuesday night, showed no fairgrounds. Park of East Texas President John Sykes told KETK, the fair still has 9 years on its contract to use its current location on West Front Street and after that it will have to relocate. Some time ago, the fair bought 250 acres of land west of Tyler, between State Highway 31 and U.S. Highway 64 off the Loop. But Sykes said they are not set in stone that the location will be the fair’s new home. Another open house on the city’s Strategic Historic Preservation Plan will be held on Thursday, February 9th, at 4:00pm, at The Foundry Coffee House at 202 South Broadway.

MARSHALL – The body of a man reported missing late last month has been found in Harrison County. The body is that of Anthony Redell Green, 55, of DeSoto. His body was found in Marshall around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon. A sheriff’s deputy operating a drone found the body in a remote pasture near the intersection of Marshall-Leigh Road and John Sanders Road. An autopsy was ordered in an effort to determine the cause of death.

PALESTINE – The city has been receiving complaints about the water’s color and odor. But the city says it is safe to drink. Palestine’s Communications and Best Practices officer, Nate Smith, says the problem has been caused by the long period of the previous rain event Palestine experienced. Smith says normal rain events stir up the water at the city’s intake area. The water is then pumped to the treatment plant where it is treated and the odor is removed along with the discoloration that it causes. But, with extended rain events, it overwhelms the plant and normal and even extra efforts to control these unusual conditions are not as effective. Smith reassures residents the water remains within state guidelines set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The city’s water treatment crews have been working to flush water lines wherever residents have complained about the water to help with the issues. The discoloration and odors should be gone within a week.

LONGVIEW – Good Shepherd Health System announced Wednesday finalization of an agreement to become a part of CHRISTUS Health. The hospitals will now be known as Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center-Longview and Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center-Marshall. As part of the agreement, Good Shepherd Medical Associates will become part of the CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic. Those aren’t the only changes. Good Shepherd president and CEO Steve Altmiller will be leaving. He will be replaced by Todd Hancock. Hancock has been with CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health system since 2008, and most recently served as senior vice president and chief executive officer in the system’s Operations Division. Continue reading Good Shepherd Health System Move Finalized

LONGVIEW – The Texas Main Street Program of the Texas Historical Commission has recommended Longview and the Longview Main Street Program for National Accreditation to the National Main Street Center. The recommendation is based upon Longview Main Street’s Report of Progress submitted to the state office. This is part of its annual reporting requirement for Fiscal Year 2016. Texas currently has 89 designated Main Street programs, making it one of the largest in the country. The Texas program was one of the first state coordinating programs to be established in 1981. Since then, it has been a part of the Texas Historical Commission, the state agency for historic preservation. Year-end reinvestment statistics show cumulative reinvestment over this time from all programs that have participated at $3.38 billion, with the creation of more than 35,000 jobs and almost 5,000 small businesses.

TYLER – A man injured in a Tyler hit and run accident has died. Albert Daron, 82, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was injured in the wreck on January 16th. He died in a Tyler hospice on Tuesday. Daron was injured as he was crossing West Gentry Parkway near Jordan Street. There was vehicle debris in the road where Daron was found, indicating that he had been hit by a vehicle, which did not remain at the scene. Investigators have requested an autopsy to determine if his injuries are related to his death.

CHEROKEE COUNTY — The Cherokee County Sheriffs Department is investigating vandalism at a church a few miles west of Alto. According to KETK, it happened last weekend at Saint Thomas AME Church Sunday morning. “I saw this fire across campus there,” said Larry Jenkins, a deacon at St. Thomas. “I was wondering what was going on and I got out of the car and proceeded up to the door to unlock the door like I usually do and heard a noise.” Jenkins then discovered a water pipe had been busted and water was running out. When he entered the church, he saw broken glass on the floor and a large rock. Despite the damage church members were unfazed by the damage. “My thought is that whoever did it we pray for them and go on because we had good church Sunday morning after we found out everything that came down,” said Jenkins. Continue reading Local Church Vandalized

LONGVIEW — A Gladewater man is in the Gregg County Jail, charged with hitting a young girl with a stick. Justin Scott Zuniga-Garcia, 23, is charged with child/elderly/disabled person with intentional bodily injury. His bond is $15,000. A mother called sheriff’s deputies to her Ann Street home to report the suspect had hit her 9 year old daughter, causing several small abrasions on her leg. The incident is said to have occured as the suspect became upset with some children who were playing outside. The youngster told deputies the suspect told her if she told anyone about the incident, he would “beat up her daddy.”

LUFKIN – The Texas Forestry Association is announcing that Ron Hufford, Executive Director, will retire by the end of the year. Hufford has been the association’s executive director since January, 1984. During that time Hufford established Project Learning Tree and the Teacher Conservation Institute, and developed several councils under TFA’s umbrella to bring together the diversity of the forest industry. Before joining TFA, Hufford worked with Southern Forest Products Association based in New Orleans, Louisiana as Mid-Western Field Representative before being elevated to director of Field Services, and later named the Vice President of SFPA’s Forest Resources and Environmental Division. Continue reading Texas Forestry Official Retiring

PALESTINE – A man accused of a shooting at Palestine High School last February has been sentenced in state district court. Bobby Burrell, 63, of Teague, pleaded guilty last November to six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for each charge, which will be served concurrently. Burrell was accused of firing several shots at another Teague man, hitting him at least once in the upper arm. He was then accused of assaulting a 59 year old woman who was accompanying the victim, hitting her in the head with the handgun after the gun malfunctioned. The woman was his ex-wife. Several more shots were also fired in the parking lot and additional rounds hit a passenger vehicle with adults and children as they were driving in the lot. No one was injured in the vehicle. The male victim was taken to a Palestine hospital and was later taken to a Tyler Hospital for additional treatment.

TYLER – Smith County authorities report the arrest of a man accused of bilking 9 different complainants, including a church in Troup. Gary Lynn Garrett, 53, is said to have posed as a contractor doing concrete work. Investigators say he was paid over $37,000 for the work, which was never performed. He fled the area last June after he was named in an arrest warrant. Garrett was tracked to Tennessee where he is accused of running similar scams. Garrett has been arrested by Kentucky State Police and is awaiting extradition back to Smith County.

MARSHALL – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a forgery suspect, and they are asking for the public’s help in identifying him. The checks, which were stolen in Harrison County, are said to have been passed at a Longview pawn shop. The suspect is said to be about 6 feet tall with reddish hair and beard. If you have any information about the suspect, you are asked to contact the Harrison County Criminal Investigations Division at 903-923-4000.

TYLER – Tyler firemen have put out what become a two alarm fire at the Grove Restaurant on the Old Jacksonville Highway. It was reported shortly after 9:30 Tuesday morning. Arriving firefighters reported smoke and flames visible from the roof of the building. Six engines and one ladder company, along with a district chief and an investigator responded to the scene. Investigators say the fire started in a vent pipe coming from a barbecue smoker within the building. The majority of the fire was contained within the pipe. However, a rubber seal at the roof line ignited due to heat transfer. The attic area of the building was clear, with no reported structural damage. There were no injuries reported, and the restaurant and other buildings on the property remained open.

SMITH COUNTY — One driver has been arrested after a chase through Tyler early this morning. According to KETK, Tyler Police and Smith County Sheriff’s Deputies were involved after a Tyler officers attempted a traffic stop. Authorities eventually set out spikes which blew out a tire and stopped the chase around the area of Commerce Road and Loop 323 in Tyler. John Anson Williams, 34, Tyler, was booked into the Smith County Jail on charges of evading arrest, possession, fake license plate and registration and parole violation.

SMITH COUNTY – A third person has now been arrested in connection with an armed robbery that turned deadly early Saturday morning. It occurred at the Conoco gas station on North Northeast Loop 323. Sheriff Larry Smith announced Monday night that Kedarius Hayes Oliver, 23, has now been charged in the case. Previously arrested were Lamarcus Hannah, 32 and Demeon Mosley, 26. During the robbery store employee Billy Stacks, 62, was shot. He later died at a Tyler Hospital. According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, early Saturday morning, a masked man came into the station. Security footage shows the man jumping over the counter and pointing a gun at Stacks. Deputies said Stacks was shot twice during a struggle between the two. Continue reading Three Suspects Arrested in Fatal Smith County Robbery

WASHINGTON – The president signed an executive order Friday that suspends all immigration for citizens of seven countries for 90 days. They are Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya. Tyler Congressman Louie Gohmert says he supports the president’s actions. Gohmert said the Obama Administration had failed to adequately protect us. But he said President Trump took a first step and utilized the tools that both the constitution and congress have long granted Presidents. Gohmert said, while many opponents of the president will claim that the order is illegal and even unconstitutional, those claims ignore longstanding constitutional precedents and statutory grants of authority used by other presidents, even Obama. He said the basis for the pause is the lack of credible information against which to check the identity of a person from those countries claiming refugee status. Continue reading Gohmert is Behind the President’s Immigration Order

NACOGDOCHES – Authorities have recovered the body of a man who drowned Saturday in Lake Scoggins, a private lake in Nacogdoches County. The body of Pernell Tutt, 52, of Nacogdoches, was recovered around 10:00 Sunday morning. Tutt and his 83 year old mother Cora were fishing when their flat bottom boat hit a stump, and the woman fell from the boat. The man jumped in the lake to rescue his mother and was able to swim with her to a stump. He tied her hands to the stump to keep her from drowning, but he drowned swimming back to the boat. An 18 year old, who heard the woman screaming, swam to the boat and used it to rescue her.

SMITH COUNTY — The Smith County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the overnight robbery of a game room. According to KETK, the robbery occurred at the Lucky Road Game Room, 3407 North Northeast Loop 323. Details concerning the robbery are unknown.

LONGVIEW — A sitting state appeals court judge who mocked participants in the global women’s marches has gone silent as complaints to the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct roll in from around the state. According to the Longview News-Journal, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct does not acknowledge when it receives complaints about judges. The only exception is when a rare public reprimand is issued. But complaints about 6th Court of Appeals Judge Bailey Moseley’s Facebook post describing the marches as “a million fat women” are drawing formal objections from Longview and beyond. The leader of Democratic Women of East Texas, whose members joined the Women’s March on Austin, said she and four or five other members filed formal complaints. Moseley, of Marshall, had deleted the Facebook comment by Monday afternoon. The judge’s entire Facebook profile was taken down shortly after that. Moseley has not responded to requests seeking comment, including one sent Friday. He has not issued a public statement, either.