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TYLER — Robert E. Lee’s Mike Owens has resigned his duties at Head Football Coach and Campus Athletic Director. Owens is retiring with the hope of reapplying for the job on August 1st. The practice, commonly as retire/rehire, will take effect June 30th. Owens told KTBB Sports that “I fully intend to reapply for the job.” He insists that there has been no deal made with the people at TISD guaranteeing him the position. He also says if he is not rehired he will seek to continue coaching elsewhere. Owens has been the head man at REL since 1996 and won a state championship with the Red Raiders in 2004.

TYLER — Tyler property crime investigators make a significant haul using the off road Yamaha Rhino Police Vehicle to search the median and roadside areas of Highway 69 South to search for stolen property. That follows the recent arrest of an Orange, Texas, man on suspicion of numerous auto burglaries. Investigators searched a 10 mile stretch of the highway on Wednesday and recovered various items that belonged to victims in auto burglaries that occurred this past Sunday in Tyler. Investigators recovered eight purses, two billfolds, two identification cards, numerous credit cards, and one passport. Police say a witness observed a suspect later identified as Brian Linscomb discarding stolen items out his vehicle window as he was leaving Tyler. Investigators advise they will notify the victims if their property was recovered as soon as possible.

Linscomb is suspected in numerous auto burglaries in East Texas, Southeast Texas, and Louisiana; he was arrested Sunday 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 Linscomb, 44. 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.

TYLER — TISD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Randy Reid is announcing several changes that will take place for the 2011-12 school year. These changes are being made as part of reorganizational efforts that will save the district over $275,000 in central staffing. Several positions shall be either eliminated or have pay grade reductions as a part of this process. Some of the key changes include:

• Executive Director for Secondary Schools Debbie Kelly has announced her retirement effective June 30. Mrs. Kelly is completing her 34th year in public education and her 2nd year in Tyler ISD. District officials say they wish her the best in her retirement.
• Jeff Collum will move from his current role of Executive Director for Student Services into the role of Executive Director for Secondary Schools. His current position will be reduced to the level of Director and posted for hire immediately. This move, combined with the elimination of the Executive Director of Instructional Support, will bring the number of Executive Directors in the district down to five from the current total of seven.
• Angela Jenkins, Director of Communications, will be moving into a new role as the Coordinator of TISD Television and Video Production. Officials say this move will fulfill a great need throughout the district by enhancing the district’s programming and communication capabilities, as well as providing an even greater level of transparency and community awareness. Additionally, Ms. Jenkins will be promoting student involvement in district-wide communication efforts through career and technology coursework. Her current position of Director of Communications will be posted for hire immediately.
• To absorb some of the duties and better serve the students of Tyler ISD, officials say, they will post one new position. The Director of Guidance and Counseling will be posted for hire immediately.

“We feel these changes will not only be an efficient way of operating the district, but also will provide an effective way of serving our students, staff and community members,” said Dr. Reid. The changes will take effect beginning July 1, 2011.

JACKSONVILLE — Officials are continuing to investigate a large brawl at a Jacksonville park, caught on tape with a cell phone camera and posted on the Internet. The video showing students from both Jacksonville and New Summerfield has been pulled from YouTube. Detective Javier Guerra says authorities are investigating a possible case of retaliation regarding one of the teens in the video. “This could be also related to gang violence because one of the people in the video that I recognized happens to be one of our local gang members,” Guerra said.

Guerra added that accountability is important, remarking, “Take care of your children. Learn what they do. Talk to them, communicate with them. Don’t take them for granted. Just because they have a Game Boy or a PlayStation doesn’t mean that they’re gonna raise themselves. The parents have to be involved, that’s the bottom line.” Guerra says no one has pressed charges as of yet, so he’s hoping a good talking to will prevent any more fights.

LUFKIN — The Angelina County Sheriff’s Office follows up on a shooting Wednesday near Lufkin off FM 1475. According to the victim’s cousin, two men pulled up in a black truck, fought with the victim, shot him and then left. Angelina County Investigator Bart Riley has identified the shooting victim as James Durham Jr. Durham was taken by ambulance to Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin and is reportedly in stable condition. The Angelina County Sheriff’s Office said they do have a person of interest in custody. Earlier this year, Durham allegedly burned his mother’s home down with a meth lab.

HARRISON COUNTY — A Hallsville woman was jailed Wednesday, after authorities said she assault her mother and put her two children in danger. Amanda Gail Walker, 30, was arrested Tuesday morning at the Wingate Hotel in the 400 block of Loop 281, after officers were dispatched to the hotel for a reported assault, according to police reports. Police said Walker was found in a hotel room with her two children, and was arrested after a “brief struggle.”

When officers were escorting her out of the hotel, a hotel clerk saw a small bag with a clear substance fall from Walker’s clothing and gave it to police. The substance was later identified as methamphetamine. Authorities said the two children told officers they had tasted the drug because they thought it was candy. The 11- and 9-year-old children were taken to an area hospital, where one of them tested positive for meth. Police also said the assault victim, who was holding a clump of her hair when officers arrived, told authorities that Walker assaulted her by pulling her hair.

Walker remained jailed Wednesday on bonds totaling $6,000, charged with assault causing bodily injury, possession of a controlled substance and criminal child negligence. She also had an outstanding Harrison County warrant for driving while intoxicated.

TYLER – Two men wanted in a Tyler murder six years ago appeared at their arraignment Wednesday. Bryante Denard Gee, 27, and Terrance Wideman, 24, appeared Wednesday before State District Judge Jack Skeen. Neither men entered a plea and their bond was set at $1,000,000.

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.

ELKHART – Anderson County investigators are trying to determine how a fight started that left one person dead and one injured. It happened Monday night on County Road 182 south of Elkhart. Stabbed was Johnny Weaver, 48, of Palestine. He died at Palestine Regional Medical Center Monday night. Also stabbed was Charles Carroll, 49, of Palestine. He was released from Tyler’s East Texas Medical Center after being treated for a head wound. Investigators believe both men had been drinking prior to the fight. So far, no charges have been filed while authorities try to piece the puzzle together.

JEFFERSON – Marion County authorities feel that what they thought was a self-defense case was actually murder. Arrested on a murder charge was Troy Long, 49. He is accused of the shooting death of Donte Mitchell, 24, his daughter’s estranged boyfriend. He died from a gunshot wound to the neck. The shooting occurred Sunday night on County Road 3222. Long was arraigned on the murder charge Wednesday morning, and his bond was set at $275,000.

TYLER – A John Tyler High School student has been arrested following an altercation with an assistant principal. It happened on the school campus around 11:30 Wednesday morning. According to investigators, the incident started when the student wouldn’t follow the assistant principal’s directions. The student has been charged with assault on a public servant and resisting arrest. No injuries were reported.

MARSHALL – An Upshur County man has been sentenced to federal prison for firearms violations. Scott Randall Terry, 39, of Gilmer, pleaded guilty last November to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced in Marshall Wednesday to 71 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Federal prosecutors say on May 24, 2010, Terry was found to be in possession of a sawed off shotgun with an obliterated serial number. Further investigation revealed Terry was a convicted felon and prohibited by federal law from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition. Terry was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 2007 in Upshur County.

AUSTIN (AP) — A fight to keep state money from going to abortions could end a key health care program serving low-income women in Texas. The Women’s Health Program is set to expire in December, and the Republican state senator sponsoring legislation to renew it wants to bar Planned Parenthood and abortion affiliates from the plan.

Senator Bob Deuell, whose district includes part of Smith County, can’t get the bill to the senate floor for a vote because Democrats have balked at a provision that dissolves the program if abortion affiliates sue to regain entrance. Planned Parenthood has informed Deuell that it plans to sue if the legislation passes. The agency says 120,000 Texas women will lose access to health care without the program.

The bill is part of a larger fight led by conservative lawmakers to defund Planned Parenthood.

LONGVIEW — Convicted of drop-kicking a 74-year-old Wal-Mart greeter, a Gladewater man learns his punishment. Royce Wayne Young, 47, will spend the next 14 years behind bars. Last September, Young kicked the older man at a Wal-Mart in Longview, sending him to the hospital. Young pleaded guilty to injury to an elderly individual and possession of a controlled substance.

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville Police say a Cherokee County man was arrested early Saturday morning for impersonating a police officer. Officers say Kyle Sipes was driving a minivan, attempting to pull people over by flashing his lights. Sipes reportedly managed to pull someone over, and that’s when police say he forced the victim to get out of the vehicle and onto the ground.

Sipes was allegedly threatening to shoot the victim. Police searched Sipes’ van, but found no weapon — only a police scanner and a lot of .22 caliber BB gun pellets. Sipes, 24, has a criminal past also in Wood County, where authorities say he’s violated his probation. Sipes sits in the Cherokee County Jail with two counts of impersonating a public servant, a third degree felony; two counts of a terroristic threat, a class A misdemeanor; and now one count of criminal mischief, which is a class B misdemeanor, for allegedly becoming violent in his jail cell and tearing up beds. His bonds in Wood and Cherokee Counties total $120,000.

SMITH COUNTY — The Department of Public Safety says traffic on I-20 is back up and running after a brief back-up. Around 7:00, an 18-wheeler caught fire close to mile marker 578, near Joy-Wright Mountain Road. One lane was blocked in the eastbound direction while fire crews extinguished the blaze.