KTBB News, Weather, Talk

PALESTINE – Palestine’s burn ban has been lifted. The temporary burn ban was instituted October 25th to coincide with the burn ban in effect in Anderson County. Now that Anderson County’s burn ban has been lifted, Palestine has followed suit. Palestine residents will be allowed to burn if they obtain a permit at one of the three Palestine Fire Stations.

AUSTIN – Tyler is running ahead of the state when it comes to home sales. When compared to the same quarter last year, Tyler home sales increased 3.3% to 847 single-family home sales. The median price increased 8.5% to $189,900. The figures are contained in the 2017-Q3 Texas Quarterly Housing Report. Statewide, it is a different story. Texas home sales volume decreased 0.3% to 91,401 home sales. Vicki Fullerton, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, says the slight drop in Texas home sales is because of the impact of Hurricane Harvey. The Texas home sales decline on quarterly basis is for the first time since 2012. The median price of a home in the state, however, increased 5.6% from the prior year to $225,000.

RUSK COUNTY – One person has been killed and two injured in a one vehicle accident in Rusk County. The crash occurred Friday morning on Farm Road 2011, near County Road 2116, south east of Lake Cherokee. The Department of Public Safety reports a driver was passing another vehicle when he lost control of the car on the wet road. The car left the road and hit a tree. A passenger in the car was killed and the driver, and another passenger, were taken to a Longview hospital for treatment. Their names have not been released.

ATHENS – Henderson County authorities are continuing their probe into the deaths of two young girls. The mother of the seven and five year old girls, 29 year old Sarah Nicole Henderson, of Mabank, is charged with one count of capital murder. A second capital murder charge is pending. She remains in Henderson County Jail under suicide watch. Her bond is $2 million. Sheriff Botie Hillhouse said, during an interview with investigators, she confessed to shooting the girls. Investigators say the mother had planned the girls’ deaths weeks in advance. Continue reading Investigation Continues in Murders of Henderson County Children

QUITMAN — Former Wood County Sheriff James Brown was arrested Wednesday. According to KETK, he has been charged with two counts of official oppression and one count of official abuse of official capacity. Last month, a federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight people against Brown and others in the department. It alleges one of the plaintiffs had a gun pointed at his head and the other had a serious injury. The plaintiffs are seeking actual punitive damages.

VAN ZANDT COUNTY — Officials in Van Zandt County are asking for the public’s help in locating a missing teen. LeeAnn Brown, 17, was last seen on Wednesday night between 09:00-09:30. She was seen leaving her residence on VZCR 1314 in a tan single cab Chevy truck with a tool box in the bed. LeeAnn has brownish blonde hair with blue tips. If you have seen or know the location of LeeAnn, please contact local law enforcement.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Illinois – Sears is announcing it planned to close dozens more Sears and Kmart stores around the country. To close in late January of next year will be 45 Kmart and 18 Sears stores. One of the Sears stores that will be shuttered is on Medford Drive in Lufkin. For years, Sears and Kmart have been losing billions of dollars and closing stores. The parent company, Sears Holdings, hasn’t turned a profit since 2010.

TYLER – A Smith County man is going to federal prison for drug trafficking. Stacey Godsey, 45, of Tyler, was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison. He pleaded guilty back in July to conspiracy to import anabolic steroids. According to federal prosecutors, from 2014 to 2016, Godsey and Joseph Shay Burton, 39, also of Tyler, purchased anabolic steroids through the internet from suppliers located in China. The men are said to have converted them from powder to liquid dosage units in the kitchen and garage of Godsey’s home. Once converted into liquid, the steroids were sold and distributed to steroid users in Tyler and elsewhere. When law enforcement officers searched residences belonging to the men in the spring of last year, more than 60,000 dosage units of anabolic steroids were found at Godsey’s residence. More than 6,000 dosage units were found at Burton’s residence. Burton pleaded guilty in July of this year and is awaiting sentencing.

LONGVIEW — A pedestrian was found Thursday morning who had been struck and killed by a hit and run driver in Longview Wednesday night. Killed in the accident on Gilmer Road shortly after 8:45 Wednesday night was Joe Arthur Lee, 63. Investigators say he was hit by a GMC or Chevrolet pickup. a video shows the vehicle traveling north bound. Gilmer Road from West Fairmont Street to Jenny Street was closed for a while as investigators pieced together what happened. If you can provide any information about the accident, you are asked to contact Officer Mike Grisham at the Longview Police Department.

TYLER – In Tyler federal Court, a mother and son from Dallas have been sentenced for their roles in a synthetic drug conspiracy. Sharjeel Jeff Ali, 29, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. His mother, Nadia Farishta,54, was sentenced to 47 months in federal prison. They will also will forfeit over $250,000 in seized U. S. currency and bank accounts, and around 55 pounds of synthetic drugs, and drug paraphernalia. The United States will also take money judgments in the amount of $500,000 against the woman and her ex-husband, who was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison earlier this year. Also previously sentenced in the case were the woman’s daughter and son-in-law. Continue reading Two Sentenced in Tyler in Federal Drug Conspiracy

HARLETON – A two vehicle accident that left one person dead in Harrison County remains under investigation. Dead at the scene was Colleen Mansfield, 51, of Diana. The Department of Public Safety reports she crossed over to the other lane of traffic, on a curve, and collided with a pickup. The man driving the pickup was not injured. The accident occurred shortly after 6:45 Thursday morning on State Highway 154, about three miles east of Harleton.

TYLER – An accident at a Tyler intersection is causing a problem. A vehicle hit a utility pole at West 5th Street and South College Avenue. The intersection is currently controlled by stop signs and functioning as an all-way stop intersection until the signal is repaired. Drivers are urged to use caution at this intersection or use an alternate route.

TYLER – A Houston man has received a lengthy prison sentence for a Tyler murder. Jared Wilson, 32, had been convicted of the shooting death of Thomas Wilson of Lindale in July of last year. He was sentenced Thursday to life in prison. The altercation which led to the shooting took place in the parking lot of the Royal Inn Suites on West Northwest Loop 323. Police say the shooting stemmed from an argument between the two men over car keys belonging to Tom Wilson’s niece, who was the girlfriend to Jared Wilson. The suspect, who ran from the scene, was taken into custody near Anderson County after a state trooper located his vehicle.

AUSTIN – A state grant is coming to a Henderson County school system. The Texas Workforce Commission has awarded a $100,326 Jobs and Education for Texans grant to the Eustace Independent School District. The grant will help the school district purchase and install equipment to provide 192 students with training for careers in the welding profession. The purchased equipment will continue to support the welding program and future students enrolled with Eustace ISD.

LONGVIEW – Longview’s 9th homicide of the year is under investigation. The shooting death was reported shortly before midnight Wednesday on Thirteenth Street. A man was found dead in a carport at the residence. A second man was also shot. He is in the hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening injury. Names have not been released.

GREGG COUNTY — A Longview woman has been charged with drunken driving after police said she hit a pole after picking up her two 9-year-old children after school. Longview Police said Misty Dawn Green, 38, told them that she drank two beers in a Spring Hill ISD parking lot while waiting to pick up her children. According to KETK, after leaving the school, Green ran off the road and hit a pole on Brent Road near Thompson Road around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities said neither Green nor her children were seriously hurt. She was released from the Gregg County Jail on $7,500 bond.

LONGVIEW – Twin brothers from Gladewater are involved in child indecency cases in Longview. On Wednesday, a jury found Randal Chaise Harty, 35, guilty of indecency with a child by exposure. Harty, a registered sex offender, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. KETK reports he was caught masturbating in the vicinity of a child. Continue reading A Prison Term in a Child Exposure Case

LONGVIEW – An outdoor burn ban that has been in place in Gregg County has temporarily been lifted. It went into effect October 16th when the lack of rainfall placed the county in drought-like conditions. Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt temporarily lifted the ban on Wednesday. County commissioners will reconsider the ban at Monday morning’s meeting.

SHREVEPORT – A Longview doctor is free om bond following his arrest in Shreveport. The Shreveport times reports Dr. Richard A. Hamer was arrested October 28th during a prostitution sweep. He is currently free on a $1,000 bond. According to doctor.com, Hammer is a neurologist who opened his practice in Longview in 1995. He is affiliated with hospitals in Longview and Mount Pleasant. The operation, which was dubbed “Slick John,” resulted in the arrests of 57 people ranging in age from 19 to 66. The police told the paper that the operation also found a missing juvenile.

LONGVIEW – One person has been killed in a Longview accident. It happened around 10:30 Tuesday night on West Marshall Avenue just east of Spur 63. Dead at the scene was 36 year old Ronchey Lemond Thomas of Longview. Police reports say he was heading west at a high speed when he side swiped a car and then slid into a signal pole which hit the driver’s side of the car. Thomas, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle.

LONGVIEW — Three East Texas members of the white supremacist prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas have been sentenced in the 2011 kidnapping and death of a fellow gang member from Longview. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report Brian Thomas Green, 45, of Mount Pleasant; Kalvin Kyle McCown, 44, of Longview; and Travis Lee Hill, 28, of Ore City were given prison sentences without parole for their roles in the murder of Kenneth Earl Ayres, 48. Ayres’s last known address was Longview, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Oklahoma reported. Continue reading Three Aryan Brotherhood Members Sentenced in Killing

NOONDAY — The Smith County Tax Office branch in Noonday has added services to residents living in the southern portion of Smith County. Moving the tax office branch from Bullard to the Precinct 2 JP/Constable Office in Noonday in April allowed the tax office the opportunity to expand its services to residents, Smith County Tax Assessor-Collector Gary Barber said. A second employee has been added so residents can now pay their property taxes at that branch. Auto registration needs are also handled there. The Noonday tax office, U.S. Highway 155 South, is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

LONGVIEW — A Longview man who was arrested after reportedly running from police is now being held in connection with a pizza restaurant robbery. According to KETK, police responded Friday night to reports of a robbery at Little Caesar’s Pizza. They say Earnest McNeary had reached into his waistband for what employees thought was a gun, demanded money, and then left the store. Police say they found marijuana on him as well.

BRYAN — The trial got underway Wednesday morning in Bryan for William Mitchell Hudson, charged with the brutal murder of six people at an Anderson County campsite. Hudson is accused of murdering Kade Johnson, 6; Karl Johnson, 76; Hannah Johnson, 40; Thomas Kamp, 46; Nathan Kamp, 23; and Austin Kamp, 21, at a Tennessee Colony campsite in November 2015. According to KETK and the Palestine Herald-Press, Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell will seek the death penalty. Continue reading Trial Begins in Campsite Murders

CHAPEL HILL — Chapel Hill ISD Superintendent Dr. Donni Cook announces her retirement, which will be effective June 30th, 2018. She’s been with Chapel Hill for 26 years and is in her 8th year as the district’s superintendent. The search is now on for her replacement.

HARRISON COUNTY — A predawn crash closed westbound lanes on I-20 near Hallsville for nearly 13 hours before the lanes were reopened around 4:00 Tuesday afternoon. Troopers responded around 3:10 Tuesday morning to the two-vehicle crash in Harrison County near the 603 mile marker. Preliminary crash investigation shows that the driver of a truck-tractor semi-trailer lost control and overturned the truck and trailer, blocking the roadway. Another truck-tractor semi-trailer traveling westbound was unable to avoid colliding with the overturned vehicle. Both drivers were taken to Good Shepherd in Marshall, conditions unknown.

WASHINGTON (AP/STAFF) — Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas has become the latest Republican House member to announce his retirement. Hensarling, who chairs the powerful Financial Services Committee, tells fellow Republicans in an email Tuesday that as his term as chairman comes to an end, it’s the right time to leave Congress and spend more time with his teenage kids. He writes that although he will not be running for re-election, there are 14 months left in his term to continue the fight for the causes for which he remains passionate. Hensarling has served the 5th congressional district since 2003.The district covers Anderson, Cherokee, Henderson, Kaufman, and Van Zandt counties.

TYLER – Don’t be surprised if you see a Tyler policeman with a beard in November, even though beards have not been allowed. Police Chief Jimmy Toler has authorized all sworn officers, who wish to support the United Way with a minimum donation of $25.00, to wear a groomed beard, with restrictions, for the month of November only. The department is not a stranger to donating to the United Way. The department received the Community Champion Award given by United Way for the past nine years in a row. Employees of the police department have given over $62,000 over the past three years.

AUSTIN – The Texas Water Development Board has approved financial assistance for the Craft-Turney Water Supply Corporation in Cherokee County. The $1,625,000 will be used to finance planning, acquisition, design, and construction costs associated with a water system improvement project. Improvements to the system include a new water well, two high-service pumps at a new pump station, and a new 100,000-gallon ground storage tank.

ATHENS – A traffic stop in Athens has led to the arrest of four persons on a variety of charges. Sheriff’s deputies tried to stop the car for driving recklessly, but it fled. When it finally stopped, the driver, Levi Gad Lebleu, 36, of Athens, fled. He was chased down by a deputy while another deputy detained three passengers in the car. Also arrested were Anthony Michael Lebleu, 37, of Athens, Sara Irene Peasner, 26, of Athens and Derek Lee Payton, 27, of Athens.