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TYLER — Tyler Investigators have arrested David Ford, 21, Tyler, for the aggravated robbery that occurred on August 10. Authorities said Ford was located by police Wednesday after they received a tip on his location. Both suspects involved in that aggravated robbery are now in custody and booked into Smith County Jail.

The incident happened just after 5:00 at Shiloh Pines mobile home park. A woman was reportedly returning home when she was robbed by an armed man. That man reportedly fled the scene as a passenger in a light blue sedan. Authorities said a tip from a concerned citizen provided authorities with the suspect’s license plate, which allowed officials to identify the suspects. Tevin Dorsey was located at the Economy Inn on Mineola Highway Saturday and was taken into custody.

TYLER — A 41-year-old Tyler man has been convicted of drug trafficking charges. Bonifacio Nunez-Romero was found guilty by a jury on Aug. 15 of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking activity. The jury deliberated for an hour following a three day trial before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider.

According to information presented in court, up until September 2011, Nunez-Romero conspired with another person to acquire and distribute more than 50 grams of pure methamphetamine throughout the Tyler area. Evidence indicated that Nunez-Romero was distributing methamphetamine manufactured in Mexico and was also selling heroin. Nunez-Romero was in possession of firearms, a military flak jacket and body armor. Nunez-Romero faces a minimum of 15 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

EAST TEXAS — According to our news partner, KETK, well known and beloved Stephen F. Austin University professor, Dr. Archie McDonald, died on Thursday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 76 years old. McDonald had been a History professor for 48 years, as well as Director of the East Texas Historical Association. He was also the editor of the Historical Association’s Journal.

McDonald began working at SFA in 1964, and was still a professor there at the time of his death. He also served as the University’s Community Liaison, representing SFA to the public. According to the SFA website: McDonald also was the author/editor of more than 20 books on historical topics, and one book of humor titled “Helpful Cooking Hints for HouseHusbands of Uppity Women.” He was also a weekly commentator on National Public Radio, and wrote a well-received weekly column for the local newspaper, The Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel.

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison Thursday issued the following statement on the passing of McDonald: “Texas has lost one of our best historians. Archie’s knowledge of Texas history was unsurpassed. Living in Texas’ oldest town, Nacogdoches, and teaching at Stephen F. Austin University, he specialized in East Texas history and lore. His research was prodigious. He will be missed by all who knew him.”

TYLER — Smith County Sheriff’s Deputies are looking for a man who robbed a local convenience store, very early Thursday morning. Authorities tell KETK just after midnight a man armed with a pistol robbed the Food Fast on Highway 64 East. They say the suspected robber was wearing a black muscle shirt, gray pants and a black mask. If you have any information, please call the Smith County Sheriff’s Department.

SMITH COUNTY — The trial for an East Texas couple accused of scalding the feet of their 2-year-old granddaughter is set for September 24th in Smith County. Kenneth and Shelley Walker, Whitehouse, are each charged with 1st degree felony injury to a child. According to KETK, they face up to life in prison if convicted. Bridget Walker was severely burned on her feet and ankles when she was reportedly placed in a bath tub with scalding water back in February. Both grandparents were at the house at the time of the incident. The toddler was flown to Parkland Hospital and later placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.

TYLER — A vehicle catches fire Wednesday at a busy Tyler intersection. Police tell KETK a woman was turning onto West Front Street when her vehicle malfunctioned. She dodged several vehicles before crashing between the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and storage building at the Palace intersection. No one was hurt in the incident.

LONGVIEW — Two cases of human West Nile virus in Gregg County have been confirmed by state health department officials. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report the two cases are the first two in the county this year, but more could be confirmed in coming days. Health workers at Good Shepherd Medical Center have confirmed treating several patients for illnesses with West Nile-type symptoms and have sent tests to Texas State Health Department labs in Tyler for confirmation. “There have been West Nile tests done; we are looking at several right now. I know the state said they knew of at least six in Gregg County,” according to Cheryl Hebert, director of infection prevention at Good Shepherd Medical Center. Other cases of the West Nile virus have been reported in Van Zandt, Hendrson and Angelina Counties.

According to Environmental Health Supervisor Buck Farrar, “The chance of a normally healthy individual being bitten by an infected mosquito and developing the disease is still extremely small, but the virus is still a serious concern. So we encourage everyone to take some simple steps to help prevent mosquitos around your home.”

Here are some effective ways to avoid a mosquito bite:
• Get rid of any standing water near residence
• Remain indoors during the dusk and dawn hours
• Wear long pants and long sleeves when outside
• Use an effective mosquito repellant according to label directions

More information about West Nile Virus can be found on the City of Longview website, http://www.LongviewTexas.gov or by calling the Environmental Health Department at 903-237-1285.

TYLER — Houses are selling in Tyler. According to KETK, more than 300 were sold last month in the city. That’s an almost 16 percent jump from last year. The numbers were released by the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors. This is the biggest increase since 2005.

LUFKIN — Lufkin police arrested a Lufkin woman who was passed out in front of a bail bonds business. Around 8:15 Tuesday morning, officers were dispatched to the 2400 block of East Lufkin Avenue to reports of a woman asleep in front of a building. According to KETK, when authorities arrived, they found Vicki K. Garcia, 55, unconscious in front of the Bail America Bail Bond of Lufkin. Garcia was intoxicated and found to be in possession of dangerous drugs, Lunesta. The woman was charged with public intoxication and possession of a dangerous drug. Her bonds totaled $2,000.

LUFKIN — Crime Stoppers of Lufkin wants your help identifying three suspects involved in the theft of merchandise from a Lufkin-area department store. The Longview News-Journal and KETK reported, the store’s asset protection staff said three female suspects worked together to steal from the store enough items of clothing to fill a shopping cart. Security videos show that the black female suspects loaded a shopping with clothes and went to the store’s shoe department where they stuffed the merchandise into their large purses. The employees believe that the suspects drove a red, four-door, either a Chrysler Sebring or a Chrysler 200, and a silver, two-door Chevrolet Cobalt. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Lufkin at (936) 639-TIPS.

TYLER — Members of Tyler’s Apple Swim and Fitness arrived Tuesday to find the business closed. KETK-TV reports among the notices posted on the front door is one ordering all employees to vacate within three days…by foreclosure sale deed. The owner of the property is Zions First National Bank. Club members wanted to know what is going to happen to the money they paid for memberships. According to Apple’s web page, “as of August 13th, Apple has new owners. All memberships have been stopped and will receive a pro-rated refund over the next 3-4 weeks. Pool parties will be refunded immediately.”

The former manager of the club, Tara McSwain, 38, pleaded guilty earlier this month to two charges of prescription fraud. She is scheduled for sentencing at 9:00am on September 4th. According to a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, each charge carries a punishment range of two to ten years.

GILMER — A police chase has ended in a fatal accident in Upshur County. Killed in the crash was Robert Green, 40, of Cedar Hill. It all started around 10:45 Monday night on State Highway 155 near Big Sandy when sheriff’s deputies tried to stop Green’s car because he was not wearing a seat belt. When Green sped away, officers pursued him. A state trooper put out spikes on Highway 155 near Farm Road 2685, but Green ran over the spikes and did not stop. About a mile and a half later, his car slammed into one of the new Highway 155 overpass pillars at U.S. Highway 271 in Gilmer. Green was rushed to the East Texas Medical Center in Gilmer where he later died.

NACOGDOCHES — A motorcycle accident in Nacogdoches County has killed one person. Dead at the scene was Glenn David Whitmore Jr., 48, of Douglass. The Department of Public Safety reports Whitmore was passing a vehicle when he ran off the road and hit a culvert. He was not wearing a helmet. The accident occurred around 1:15 Tuesday afternoon on Farm Road 225 in western Nacogdoches County.

EAST TEXAS — Dry conditions continue to prompt action by local governments in East Texas. Monday, the commissioners courts in Anderson and Harrison Counties issued outdoor burn bans in unincorporated areas. Tuesday, the commissioners court in Van Zandt County approved a burn ban, effective immediately, that prohibits the outdoor burning of combustible materials. Officials say the order will be in effect in Van Zandt County until further notice.

TYLER — New information is presented by Stand Strong for Tyler, the group against alcohol propositions on the November ballot for the city and Justice Precinct 2. The city and Smith County recently cleared the way for elections on the measures by approving citizen petitions. But the Stand Strong group gave our news partner KETK documents that they say prove some of the petition signatures are invalid. They also say people moved out of the area and some signatures were forged. Local government officials have consistently said the petitions had the required number of legitimate signatures.

KILGORE — Kilgore City Manager Scott Sellers responds after the city’s entire cemetery department resigns. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, Sellers said the resignations caught him and public works director Seth Sorensen off guard. Sellers attributed the employees’ dissatisfaction to an unfortunate reaction to changes he said he was hired to make. Sellers has been on the job ten months, and he brought Sorenson in four months ago. Earlier, the workers said their department was merged with several others in the city. The workers say that means less time for them to maintain and care for the city’s three cemeteries, where they take pride in working. Cemetery supervisor David Bond says the philosophy of the new city leaders led to the resignations, though Bond says he holds “no ill will” towards either Sellers or Sorenson.

TYLER — Tyler’s sales tax revenues deposited for the month of August have grown 2.05% as compared to August 2011. According to the Texas Comptroller’s office, this has resulted in a 2.29% cumulative year-to-date increase. The reported revenue of $3,272,314.48 comprises $2,181,542.99 general sales tax revenue and $1,090,771.49 half-cent sales tax revenue. The figures represent receipts from June 2012 collections as there is a two-month lag before taxes are reported and remitted back to the City from the State.

“Our sales tax revenues are continuing to grow at around two percent per month over last year’s revenues,” said City Manager Mark McDaniel (pictured). “We have budgeted for this level of growth through next fiscal year as we anticipate the economy to recover slowly from the recent downturn. We continue to hold the line on expenditures and focus on maintaining our service levels with fewer resources as we approach the end of our fiscal year.”

TYLER — As of Last Friday, the Upshur-Gregg County FSA office is closed to the public. Smith-Upshur-Gregg County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Chris Lynn said there are 125 FSA offices closing nationwide, including 15 county offices in Texas. FSA office consolidations are part of USDA’s Blueprint for Stronger Service.

The new headquarter office will be in Smith County. Officials say producers were given the opportunity to move their respective business records to a county of their choosing if a county other than the default headquarter location was more convenient. Producers who did not select an alternative headquarter county were automatically transferred to Smith County, the default headquarter county. The Smith-Upshur-Gregg County FSA office is located at 4209 Republic Drive in Tyler and can be reached by phone at 903 561-2050 X2.

GILMER — Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd has released the name of the man who died after being stabbed in the city of East Mountain on July 28. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, Byrd identified him as Billy Gene Stewart, 35, of Longview. A suspect in the stabbing, James Nathaniel Nash, 46, of East Mountain, who is pictured here, remains jailed on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but the matter will be presented to the county grand jury as a murder case, Byrd said.

The assault charge was filed before Stewart died in the emergency room at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, said authorities. He was stabbed in the chest with a knife in the back yard of a home on Farm-to-Market Road 3358 after a “verbal altercation” between people at “a planned gathering,” said East Mountain interim Police Chief Betty Davis. Byrd released Stewart’s name after Ms. Davis said she would not identify him because his family did not want his name released. She had said she arrested Nash at the scene near the First Baptist Church of Glenwood after authorities received a disturbance call at 3:30am July 28.

TYLER — As the College Station community and others respond to Monday’s shooting near Texas A&M, Tyler Junior College already had a program in place to address violence, and that effort continues this week. According to a news release, the TJC Campus Police is being assisted by the FBI in a planned “Active Shooter Training” today inside Louise H. and Joseph Z. Ornelas Residential Complex, Building B, on the TJC Main campus. Preparation for the training began with pre-training meetings at 8:30am. Live scenarios commenced at around 9:30. Training is expected to conclude during the noon hour. The training involves an active gunman and responding Campus Police officers.

TJC officials say active shooter training involves realistic scenarios and the use of simulated ammunition. The “simunition” training rounds are approved by the National Tactical Officers Association. The rounds sound similar to real bullets being fired but use crayon-like material to show where they land and can be washed away. Staff are responsible for cleaning the area after each training exercise. No students, faculty or staff will be involved in the training scenarios.

Campus Police have been assisted previously by FBI officers with presentations on active shooter scenarios and all current officers have received some level of training. However, this will be the first time for FBI officers to lead TJC Campus Police in active shooter training scenarios on campus. TJC Police Chief Randy Melton said the training was scheduled several months ago as part of the TJC Campus Police department’s regular professional development training and is not in response to Monday’s shooting in College Station. Melton said the FBI will not allow video or photography of the training.

GILMER — Jury selection continues in the case of an Ore City woman charged with murdering her husband. Upshur County D.A. Billy Byrd tells KETK the trial for Sharon Maxwell, 44, is set to begin next Monday. Maxwell was charged with murder of Gordon Maxwell, 46. She was indicted in the case last November.

He was found dead August 30th of last year after authorities responded to a vehicle fire at a home on State Highway 155, just north of the Ore City limits. Investigators found a body in the vehicle after the fire was extinguished. Officials, at the time, described the condition of the body as “suspicious in nature.” According to an autopsy issued by the Southwest Forensic Center in Dallas, Gordon Maxwell died from multiple gunshot wounds.

LINDALE — Taxpayers in the Lindale Independent School District will see no change to the current tax rate for the 2012-2013 school year. Monday night, trustees voted to keep the same tax rate as the previous year, while adopting a slightly lower general fund budget for the district. LISD’s total tax rate is the same as the 2011-2012 rate with a Maintenance and Operation (M/O) rate of $1.06 and an Interest and Sinking (I/S) rate of $0.395. LISD trustees did make changes to the district’s general fund budget for the upcoming school year. The adopted budget includes total revenue and expenditures of $26,137,101. The amount is $84,855 less than the 2011-2012 budget.

“I am pleased with the budget that our administrative team and school board developed and adopted,” Lindale ISD Superintendent Stan Surratt said. “We hope that unknown factors like future expenses related to such things as electricity usage, fuel, food and other variables will not drastically increase so that we can meet our budget goals. Our staff does a wonderful job of being conservative and helping control cost for the district. This year’s budget process was a tough one. Our total revenue was cut again by the government. Last school year LISD received a reduction of almost $1.7 million in state revenue funds and during the 2012-2013 school year, LISD will receive about $700,000 less in federal funds.”

Several costs included in last year’s budget were eliminated for 2012-2013. Those costs included the purchase of a school bus, district phone system, and one-time technology purchases. Reductions were also made to the maintenance and renovation budgets. “This is a very tight budget because of the large reduction that LISD has received over the last two years,” Surratt said. “We did delay some large expenditures hoping that there will be improved funding from the state in the near future.”

CANTON — Dry conditions continue to prompt action by local governments in East Texas. The Commissioners Court of Van Zandt County established an order Tuesday morning, effective immediately, that prohibits the outdoor burning of combustible materials. Officials say the order will be in effect until further notice.

HENDERSON — A man has been arrested after he was found to be in possession of several small bags of methamphetamine.According to KETK, cops discovered David Allen Crouch, 42, of Willis, Texas, asleep behind the wheel of his car Friday, with the engine still running. When police found out that he had two active warrants for his arrest, they attempted to take him into custody, but he ran away. Eventually Crouch was caught and arrested. Police discovered two clear bags of what they believed to be meth. They also found syringes and scales in his possession as well.

TYLER — It’s back to school time and TISD has a new face. Interim Superintendent, Gary Mooring, is taking the place of former superintendent, Randy Reid, who’s accepted a position in Keller. Mooring spoke with KTBB about upcoming changes, including bus routes. He says a new system is in place to help cut down on the amount of time a student spends on the bus. He also says it will save the district money. Mooring said letters will be sent to parents concerning pick-up locations. There’s information listed at http://www.tylerisd.org which is the TISD web page.

JACKSONVILLE — Lon Morris College is still a virtually empty place in Jacksonville, but life will be coming back in just a couple of weeks. Dean of Students Dave Hubbard tells KETK, they will be having on-campus classes in the fall. “The normal core curriculum of classes will be offered, we’re very excited about that,” Hubbard said. Some of the furloughed faculty will be coming back to teach. They will be paid. Hubbard himself will be teaching Sociology and Student Success. He says they already have some students from last year registered…along with some new freshmen. And they’re getting a deal on tuition.

“Gone down to about $4,000 for the year. Scholarships…some, many are still available through the United Methodist Church, Pastors awards, things of that nature,” Hubbard said. As far as the rough summer they’ve had, Hubbard says they are thankful for volunteer groups like Loving Lon Morris that have helped them out during the crisis. “It’s not just from Jacksonville, it’s around the county, around the region. We’ve had volunteers coming in from as far away as from Houston to do volunteer work. And we couldn’t have made it without them, we’re very appreciative of that,” Hubbard said. Classes begin at Lon Morris on August 29th. So, how are the returning professors getting paid? The restructuring firm tells KETK, it’s through general funds…a combination of financing from their bank, aid and endowment income.

PALESTINE — Anderson County is among the latest in the area to institute a burn ban. County commissioners approved the 90 day burn ban at Monday’s meeting. The ban went into effect Monday afternoon at 3:00. It will remain in force until 3:00pm November 12th, unless it is lifted earlier. The dry conditions in the county caused the commissioners to take action. The burn ban prohibits outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Anderson County. Violators of the ban will be cited by law officers.

KILGORE — The city of Kilgore’s entire cemetery department resigns. All three workers turned in their resignations last week. They tell KETK their department was merged with several others in the city. The workers say that means less time for them to maintain and care for the city’s three cemeteries, where they take pride in working. Cemetery supervisor David Bond says the philosophy of new city leaders led to the resignations. City Manager Scott Sellers was unavailable for comment.

TYLER — The intersection of Fourth and Donnybrook in Tyler began functioning normally Monday afternoon after police earlier reported a traffic hazard there. The signal department worked for much of the day on the traffic lights after they became inoperable due to a motor vehicle accident. Some of the traffic lanes in the vicinity had to be shut down while the repairs were made.

LONGVIEW — A Longview woman has been jailed following an accident that injured five persons. It happened around 11:45 Sunday morning in the 1100 block of Lorin Lane. Witnesses told officers that LaKeisha Nicole Brown had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend. They said Brown got into her Suburban and drove it into the carport where 5 people were sitting at a table playing dominoes. Brown’s vehicle struck all 5 persons, including her boyfriend. Brown then struck a mailbox, knocking the mailbox into the street

Investigators say Brown fled the scene prior to the police arriving. They were able to locate Brown later in the 900 Block of South Fifteenth Street and she was arrested on 4 charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of aggravated assault family violence. She was transported to the Gregg County Jail without incident.