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TYLER — Thirty Tyler school teachers were honored Tuesday night as campus teachers of the year. They were recognized at the district’s annual Teacher of the Year banquet at the Harvey Convention Center. From that group two were singled out as Tyler’s “Teachers of the Year.” Jones Elementary MST Academy fifth grade teacher Michelle Beas was named the 2011 Elementary Teacher of the Year. Hubbard Middle School MYP humanities teacher Cindy Nick was named the 2011 Secondary Teacher of the Year.

Beas believes teaching is a way of life. “It is my calling and passion”, said Beas. “It is a profession with so much responsibility, challenge, and joy. It has, and continues to be, so rewarding to watch students surpass my wildest expectations. Teaching for me is the ultimate celebration of life.”

Nick says her devotion to teaching began at a very young age and continues to be her passion and purpose today. “I am convinced that education is the key to understanding while understanding is instrumental in creating a world where people of all cultures can co-exist peacefully on this ever-shrinking planet,” said Nick when describing her philosophy of teaching. “In my opinion, teaching is an art that comes from the heart; it’s about inspiration, not simply motivation,”

Criteria for selection of both the campus Teachers of the Year and the District Teachers of the Year included, among other items: playing an active and useful role in their community, commitment to the teaching profession through continuous improvement, and lessons that creatively engage and inspire students to achieve high academic standards. Tyler’s top two teachers will now compete at the regional level this summer.

LONGVIEW – A Longview teen has been arrested following a stabbing at the Tropicana Apartments, 1224 South High Street. It was said to have occurred shortly after 2:15 Monday afternoon. Security officials at Good Shepherd Medical Center notified police about the stabbing victim. Steven Beecham was treated for a couple of stab wounds. He is in fair condition. After talking to witnesses, officers arrested Jerome Dobbins, 17. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and bond set at $25,000.

TYLER – A gas leak had traffic shut down on a portion of Gentry Parkway for a couple of hours last night. Contractors were digging under a sidewalk to replace a gas line when the gas started leaking. The gas leak stopped when CenterPoint Energy shut off the gas. Before the gas was cut off, the area of Gentry at Martin Luther King was closed to east bound traffic as well as Gentry at Glenwood for west bound traffic. After repairs had been made the area was reopened at 8:30 last night.

PLANO — A Paris, Texas podiatrist has pleaded guilty to federal health care fraud charges. William Goldman, 52, pleaded guilty yesterday in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Don Bush in Plano. Goldman faces up to two years in federal prison. He also faces forfeiture of $350,000.00, along with his podiatry license. A sentencing date has not been set. Federal prosecutors say Goldman submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid from 2003 to 2008 from surgeries he never performed. he was indicted by a federal grand jury in April of last year.

LONGVIEW – Longview police say because a couple’s drug-induced hallucinations put their 14-month-old child at risk, the two have been arrested. Taken into custody were Jason Wayne Beasley, 34, and his wife, Misty Ann Rhodes Beasley, 27. According to investigators, the father told a neighbor to call police because he believed someone had killed his child’s mother. Authorities say Beasley was hallucinating and had reportedly chased imaginary people with a knife and pistol, discharging the firearm in public. According to police, the couple said they had taken meth in the past few days. In a crib in a separate room was the couple’s 14-month old. The youngster had not been harmed, but authorities say there was no one at the residence who was able to care for the toddler.

LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department is encouraging citizens to participate in Operation Identification. Operation Identification (Operation ID) is a citizens’ burglary prevention program for use in homes and businesses. The Operation ID program involves marking property with an identifying number as a means of discouraging burglary and theft. It also provides police with a way to identify property should it be stolen and recovered. In communities where it has been properly implemented, police say, Operation ID has shown dramatic results in burglary reduction. Operation ID has also been instrumental in the recovery of citizens’ property and the arrest of suspects, according to police. Authorities say if a citizen’s property is marked properly and is stolen or found and turned in to the police department, then the likelihood of the citizen getting his or her property returned increases dramatically.

For more information on this program offered by the Longview Police Department you can contact Sgt. Chris Clark at [email protected] or (903)237-1155, or contact the Police Area Representative for your area. You can visit http://www.Longviewpolice.com for more information on this and a variety of other programs offered by the Police Department.

SMITH COUNTY — Several accidents in Smith County Monday send four people to the hospital, one by helicopter. It happened off I-20 near CR 353. Authorities say an 18-wheeler’s back tire began shaking, forcing the driver to lose control. The truck flipped and blocked the westbound lanes of the interstate. As traffic started to build, other trucks collided.

TYLER – Tyler police are looking for the lone gunman who robbed Rent Time at 3861 Highway 64 West. It happened shortly before 7:00 Monday night.

An employee told officers she was alone at the store when the suspect entered and began asking questions about some of the furniture. After a short conversation, the victim and suspect walked back toward the office area of the store. He then placed a pistol in the victim’s back and told her to give him all of the money.

Once the suspect had the money, he told the victim to enter the office, shut the door, and wait for him to leave. As she entered the office other employees arrived back at the store. The suspect fled out the front door while the other employees entered through the back door. The other employees did not see the suspect. No injuries were reported.

A search of the area turned up no trace of the suspect. He is described as a black male possibly wearing all black. He is about 6’3” tall and is thin and clean shaven. He was wearing sun glasses and a black baseball cap with “Sox” written on the front of it.

JEFFERSON – Marion County authorities are investigating the shooting death of a Jefferson man. It happened around 11:30 Sunday night in the eastern part of the county, off County Road 3222. Found dead on the front porch of a home was Donte Mitchell, 24. He had been hit by a shotgun blast to the neck. Officers say the shooting may have been done by the father of Mitchell’s estranged girlfriend and the shooting may have been in self defense. The investigation is continuing.

LONGVIEW — Police in Longview are seeking leads after a woman’s purse holding a treasured memento was stolen. On Tuesday, May 3, around 11:07 a.m., the local woman’s purse was snatched while she was walking toward the front of a store located in the 3600 Block of McCann Road. The victim told police she had just locked her car and put her keys in her pocket. She had her purse over her shoulder and was walking with the aid of a cane to the front of the store.

A white, newer model Ford truck, with some blue scratches or markings of some kind on the driver’s side door drove by her. The victim also stated it had a very loud exhaust on it. She noticed three younger looking Hispanic males in the vehicle. She said that two of them got out of the truck and walked up to her. One grabbed her and pulled her towards the truck, while the other wrestled her purse off her arm. She said that when they got her purse they ran back to the truck and shouted, “Good luck” to her. The truck was last seen heading North on McCann Road from the store parking lot. The victim said two of the suspects were wearing white t-shirts and blue jeans. The driver of the truck was wearing a plaid shirt and had a goatee. She also said one of the suspects had a tattoo on his face.

Although she had cash and debit cards in her wallet, the victim stated that the most important thing to her, and the one thing she wants back desperately, is the printed obituary she had from her husband’s funeral. She has carried it in her purse for many years since his death. If you have any information regarding this crime or any other crime, you are encouraged to contact the Longview Police Department at http://www.Longviewpolice.com or (903)237-1199. Information may also be reported anonymously by contacting Gregg County Crime Stoppers at http://www.greggcountycrimestoppers.com or 903-236-STOP.

TYLER — Authorities have arrested two men wanted in connection with a Tyler murder six years ago — one of whom was also wanted in a shooting six days ago. Surrendering to Longview authorities Monday afternoon were Terrance Wideman, 24, of Jacksonville and Bryante Denard Gee, 27, of Chapel Hill.

Investigators say Wideman was allegedly the a getaway driver in the homicide of Christopher Horn, 19. Horn was shot in the parking lot of Kureshe’s Mart at 1118 West Gentry Parkway the evening of April 7, 2005. Detectives say they also confirmed that Gee was the shooter in the incident.

Wideman was also said to have been involved in an incident in which gunfire erupted in the parking lot of Broadway Square Mall around 6:45 p.m. on May 11th. That aggravated assault case is still under investigation. It was during the investigation of that shooting that detectives were able to secure evidence implicating Wideman and Gee in the Horn murder. Both have been charged with first degree murder. Bond was set at $1,000,000 each by Judge Christi Kennedy.

HENDERSON — A Rusk County shooting has led to the arrest of Timothy Scarborough, 30, of Henderson. Monday morning around 1:00, Sheriff Danny R. Pirtle and Rusk County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigators responded to a call of a gunshot victim on County Road 462. The victim suffered gunshot wounds to the lower torso and was taken by helicopter to a local hospital for emergency surgery. The victim remains in the hospital and is currently in ICU. Scarborough was charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, a second degree felony that carries up to twenty years in prison. Scarborough’s bond remains jailed on $20,000 bond. The investigation continues, and authorities say more information will be released as it become available.

TYLER — A suspect in numerous auto burglaries in East Texas, Southeast Texas, and Louisiana is in custody after being arrested in Lufkin. On Sunday, Tyler police responded to over 30 auto burglaries that occurred during daytime hours in the city of Tyler. The suspect was later identified as Brian Ruston Linscomb, 44, of Orange, Texas. He’s suspected of breaking into vehicles at Willowbrook Country Club, Bergfeld Park, Faulkner Park, Rose Rudman Park, Woodcreek Center, Broadway Square Mall, Children’s Park, Tyler Tennis and Swim, and Tyler Internal Medicine.

A witness followed Linscomb’s vehicle down 69 South towards Mixon. Law enforcement authorities were notified of the information on Linscomb’s vehicle and determined that he was wanted out of Orange, Texas, for felony auto burglary, with a $100,000 bond. Linscomb was spotted in Lufkin Sunday night and was taken into custody by authorities. Linscomb is a suspect in over 92 cases of auto burglary in Louisiana. Tyler investigators are checking into the incidents that occurred Sunday in Tyler, and charges are pending.

SMITH COUNTY — Smith County Fire Officials say there have been at least two major wrecks on I-20 near Highway 271 within 150 yards of each other. Troopers say both westbound lanes on I-20 are blocked and traffic is being rerouted. The first wreck involved a semi that rolled over. The other two were pin-ins. A KETK photographer reports 4 people have been taken to local hospitals. Two of the people injured are in serious condition; one was airlifted by helicopter. Drivers should avoid this area until further notice.

LUFKIN – A Lufkin man has been killed in a one vehicle accident in Lufkin. The wreck on first street occurred around 3:00 on Sunday morning. Dead at the scene was Patrick Steven Scott, 22. Police reports indicate his car was southbound at a high speed when he lost control and rolled the vehicle. Scott was partially ejected from the car.