KTBB News, Weather, Talk

QUITMAN — Wood County authorities say an arrest has been made following a high-speed chase. According to KETK, deputies responded to a disturbance on CR 3876 in the Hainesville area Friday at approximately 2:00 a.m. While deputies were taking an assault report from the victims, the officers reported that shots had been fired in their direction. The officers say they gave chase after a man in a vehicle that fled the area at a high rate of speed. According to the sheriff’s department, the man fled the vehicle on foot, other officers were called — and at approximately 6:07 a.m., the man was taken into custody without further incident. 31-year-old David Clifton was booked into the Wood County Jail for assault. The sheriff’s office is looking into possible other charges that may be filed.

TYLER — Get the charcoal and brisket ready to grill out this weekend! KETK reports that the Smith County burn ban has been amended. Officials are now allowing wood or charcoal to be used, as long as the flame is contained and the grill is being watched. The ban is still in place for fireworks and other types of burning. You can use this link — http://www.smith-county.com/NewCountyIntranet/NewsEventsImages/Amended%20Burn%20Ban%20Order%20071511.pdf — to read the full amended official burn ban order.

JACKSONVILLE — One person has died in a Jacksonville accident that tied up traffic for a time Friday morning. According to KETK, 28-year-old Stephen Mathew Duecker of Flint reportedly crossed over Highway 79, hitting a tanker truck. Duecker was killed; the tanker driver suffered only minor injures. Authorities say the wreck happened just after 3:45 a.m.

TYLER — Police in Tyler say an alert resident helped them round up some burglary suspects. On Friday at 12:17 p.m. the Tyler Police Department was notified by a concerned neighbor who observed several males running from her neighbor’s carport in the 700 block of Hudson Street with assorted lawn equipment in their hands. The witness gave a detailed description of the suspect vehicle as it left the area. Officer Larry Christian spotted the suspect vehicle minutes later in the parking lot of K’s Food Mart at Vine and Glenwood. Officers say they located the stolen lawn equipment in the trunk of the vehicle and placed two suspects under arrest for Burglary of a Habitation.

The suspects arrested were identified as Ronald Joseph Williams and Demarkus Dewayne Osborn, both 21. Both suspects were transported to the Smith County Jail and booked in on a 2nd degree Felony. According to police, the suspect vehicle has been described by witnesses in similar types of thefts of lawn equipment in South Tyler recently, and investigators will be interviewing the suspects. A police department news release says, “This is a fine example of Community Policing in which neighbors were watching out for one another and reported information that allowed police to catch the criminals with the stolen property.”

TYLER — Some might call the phrase controversial, but Smith County commissioners could be the first to have the nation’s motto hanging in their courtroom. According to KETK, commissioners approved displaying the phrase “In God We Trust” in the room in the courthouse annex. East Texan Rosalie Howerton heard about a national campaign to that effect on conservative talk radio and decided to start the campaign in Smith County. Howerton hopes to get the saying in government buildings around East Texas, including Lindale, Whitehouse, and Troup as well.

MANGUM, Okla. (AP/Staff) – An FBI agent says a convicted killer who escaped an Oklahoma prison — allegedly with the help of the wife of the prison’s deputy warden — told him that she did not assist his escape. Agent Terry Lane testified Friday in the trial of Bobbi Parker on a charge that she helped Randolph Dial escape the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite in 1994. Parker’s husband was the prison’s deputy warden. Dial and Parker were found living at a chicken farm in Campti, Texas — in Shelby County — in April 2005. He said Parker had to be repeatedly reassured that Dial would not escape and that Dial said Parker had been his hostage. Defense attorneys say Parker was kidnapped and stayed with Dial after he threatened to harm her family if she left him.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) sounds off regarding the announcement by the United States Postal Service (USPS) of plans to close the Easton Post Office. In a statement released Friday, Gohmert said, “In another example of mid to upper-level mismanagement of the Postal Service, it has been announced that the Easton Post Office will be closing. As I have acknowledged, the USPS is obviously experiencing serious financial shortfalls. However, to close a location that facilitates the constitutionally permitted task of delivering mail ahead of cutting bureaucratic expenditures is the very backwards-thinking mismanagement that has led the USPS to its current status.

“The closure of the Easton Post Office is inappropriate and unnecessary, and I am making that known to both the regional and national mismanagers. In addition to the inconvenience this will be on our community, especially seniors and disabled, the City of Easton may experience financial backlash given that having a postal station available locally is a vital aspect to the success of businesses and individuals.

“As the USPS attempts to attain solvency, USPS officials must learn to cut bureaucratic costs first before cutting the local facilities where postal consumers are so faithful and the delivery of mail is actually advanced. Far too often, hard-working postal workers must do their jobs under unnecessarily adverse circumstances created by the atrociously ill-advised decisions by higher level Postal management. The people of East Texas deserve better – so does the rest of the country.”

LONGVIEW — Longview police have arrested a third suspect in connection with the May robbery of a couple in a local park. Marqunis O’Neal Howard, 20, of Longview, was among three people who police say beat, pistol-whipped, and robbed a man and woman who were at Willow Park on May 5. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report that Howard was arrested Tuesday in the 300 block of West Cotton Street. He remained jailed at last report on $75,000 bond, charged with aggravated robbery. Also arrested in the case were 17-year-old Eunice Zavalla and 18-year-old Erica Pena, both charged with aggravated robbery. They have been released from jail on $50,000 bond.

According to court documents, Michael and Karen Gonzalez were sitting outside their car at Willow Park in the 300 block of East Birdsong Street when two women got out of a Chevy Impala and attacked Karen Gonzalez. When Michael Gonzalez tried to separate the women, a man at the park attacked him and hit him several times, reports show.

HENDERSON — One of Rusk County Crime Stoppers’ most-wanted fugitives surrendered Wednesday night after a resident reported knowing where she lived, officials said. Rusk County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Viki Penny said 33-year-old Amanda Gayle Jimerson of Hallsville turned herself in about 9 p.m. after authorities went to her home to arrest her on charges of tampering with physical evidence. According to KETK, Penny said deputies were tipped off to her whereabouts and had police check her home in the 500 block of Coleman Road in Hallsville. She said Jimerson didn’t answer the door when deputies arrived. Jimerson later turned herself in to Rusk County authorities and was released on $20,000 within an hour of being booked into the jail, Penny said.

BULLARD — Fire destroys a large workshop near Bullard, off Cherokee County Road 3408. Almost six acres were scorched by flames. Bullard’s fire chief tells KETK no one was inside at the time of the fire. A witness says he was working in the shop earlier and left for awhile — and when he came back it was in flames. He says the fire spread quickly to a nearby wooded area. No word on the cause of that fire.

SMITH COUNTY — Investigators are trying to figure out what caused a northwestern Smith County mobile home to go up in flames. It happened on the 9000 block of County Road 411. Officials tell KETK the home is a loss, but fortunately, no one was inside the home at the time of the fire.

SMITH COUNTY — The eastbound lane of Interstate 20 was temporarily shut down Thursday night after multiple wrecks. Officials with Smith County DPS tell KETK at least four wrecks occurred between mile markers 551 and 567. Officials say a majority of the wrecks were caused by slick roads.

TYLER — Tyler police are investigating an attempted robbery. Police were called around 4:00 Friday morning regarding an incident that had occurred about 3:30 a.m. in the 100 block of S. Bruck. The victim, a 62-year-old woman, was walking to work when a man approached her and attempted to take one of the bags she was carrying. The victim yelled for help, and the man fled in an unknown direction. The victim then ran away and fell causing, minor lacerations to her head and right arm. She was taken to Mother Frances Hospital and treated for the injuries.

The suspect was described as a black male, between 20 and 25 years of age, 6’01” tall, 130-150 lbs, dark complexion, wearing a black toboggan or “doo rag,” green and white polo shirt and dark blue jeans. Anyone with information concerning this incident is urged to contact the Tyler Police Department at (903)531-1000 or Smith County Crimestoppers at (903)597-2833.

TYLER – Two persons have been killed and two injured in a one vehicle accident in Smith County. It happened around 2:00 Thursday morning on State Highway 31, about six miles east of Tyler. Dead at the scene was Tiffany Ford, 21, and Yolanda Graham, 37, both of Houston. Injured, and in critical condition at Tyler’s East Texas Medical Center is Kwan Ford, 35, and Kadie Powell, 19, both of Tyler. According to State Trooper Matthew Johnson, none of them were wearing their seat belts. The Department of Public Safety report said a car driven by Ashton Ford of Tyler was east bound when it passed another vehicle. Ford then lost control of the car and it overturned.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01) held a press conference Wednesday urging Congress to adopt legislation that would ensure that military servicemen and women receive their pay in full, regardless of whether a budget deal can be reached. The two say there is no precedent as to what would be paid out of the federal government’s ongoing cash flow in the event the debt ceiling is not raised and the federal government’s borrowing is exhausted.

Hutchison says Gohmert has led the effort in the House while she did likewise in the Senate in April, when lawmakers were looking at a continuing resolution and a possible government shutdown, to ensure that military families did not have to worry about a paycheck that would come late. Hutchison says the bill has 80 co-sponsors in the Senate. Gohmert remarked, “We need to make sure the military — people in harm’s way that are dodging bullets — never have to have it cross their minds that their paycheck may not come in.”

TYLER – One of the oldest bull elephants in North American Zoos has died at Tyler’s Caldwell Zoo. Zoo officials announced that Chico died last weekend. Chico, who was 46, had not shown any signs of illness prior to his death. A team of pathologists from Texas A&M University along with Caldwell Zoo veterinarians performed a necropsy and at this time the cause of death is undetermined pending further test results.

Chico arrived at Caldwell Zoo in 2003 from the San Diego Zoo to join our group of three female elephants. You can go to http://www.elephantconservation.org and make a donation in Chico’s memory to the International Elephant Foundation.

TYLER — Two Houston women have been killed and two people critically injured in a one-vehicle crash early Thursday morning in Smith County. DPS says it happened at 2:05 a.m. on State Highway 31, six miles east of Tyler. The car was driven by Ashton Ford of Tyler. The deceased are identified as Tiffany Ford, 21, and Yolanda Graham, 37, both pronounced dead at scene. Injured are Kwan Ford, 35, of Tyler, and Kadie Powell, 19, of Tyler. Both were listed in critical condition with blunt force trauma at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. Authorities say the car was eastbound when it passed another vehicle, lost control, ran off the road, and overturned. None of the victims was wearing a seat belt.

TYLER — State Representative Leo Berman of Tyler wants lawmakers to study some familiar topics, as well as a new one, before the next session. Berman replied to a letter from House Speaker Joe Straus requesting suggestions on topics for House committees to study during the interim.

Berman supports assertion of state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He points to a threat by the federal government to close airspace over Texas if colleague David Simpson’s pat-down bill had passed. Berman’s also continuing to support clampdowns on illegal aliens and Sharia law. He says, “At a minimum, all state department directors should be ordered to clear their files of illegal aliens. All employers should be required to use E-Verify and deny employment to illegal aliens.” Berman adds, “Last session, I sent three amendments to the Texas Senate to prohibit Texas courts from adjudicating cases using international law, which also includes Sharia law…We should continue looking into the need for such legislation.”

Additionally, Berman would like lawmakers to consider a requirement that missing or dead children be reported to authorities within one hour from discovery. That suggestion was spurred by the Casey Anthony case.

BULLARD — A mobile home in Bullard is heavily damaged. It was reported around 3:00 Thursday morning. Fire crews went to the 400 block of Eastdale Lane. A man who was inside the house at the time made it out OK. He says a smoke alarm in the house woke him up. Officials say they were able to put out the flames but only after most of the house had turned to rubble. No word yet on how that fire started.

HENDERSON — East Texas firefighters are working on a large fire in a wooded area south of Henderson on Farm Road 225. The Texas Forest Service says crews have taken control of the situation. They say the fire is contained, but crews will be on site monitoring the situation for the next five or six days. The Rusk County Office of Emergency Management says several East Texas Volunteer fire departments were called to contain the fire last night about 8:00. About 15 acres were burned, and the Forest Service says there was intense burning involved.

LUBBOCK — DPS arrested one of the 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders in Texas Thursday in Lubbock, just hours after his addition to the list was announced. Acting on a tip, Criminal Investigations Division agents found Ronald Dee House, 41, at a motel in Lubbock at 5:45pm. They say he was arrested without incident. Since the arrest was the result of a tip, a $1,000 cash reward will be paid to the individual who provided the information. Authorities say House, whose nickname is “Chicken Lips,” is a high-risk sex offender who had last been seen in Wills Point. He was wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and parole violations. He has family in both Van Zandt and Lubbock counties.

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville police arrest three people they believe stole copper. Authorities charged Carla Davis, 45, Michael Shea, 30 and Troy Smith, 48, for engaging in organized criminal activity along with other multiple charges. Police say they stopped their vehicle in the 500 block of North Jackson for a traffic violation and saw tools and copper wire in the truck.

TYLER — The teen accused of bringing a gun to the Smith County Juvenile Attention Center last July faces five years to life in prison. Corey Webb from Kansas City, who is now 17, has been transferred to adult court to stand trial August 1. Kansas City police asked Tyler police to apprehend the teen from a bus for outstanding warrants. Webb allegedly pulled a gun from his backpack and began firing at an officer inside the attention center.

TYLER — Two biomedical researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler have received an $870,000, two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to help develop a new treatment for serious lung diseases. UTHSCT Vice President for Research Steven Idell, MD, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Andrey Komissarov, Ph.D., are co-principal investigators of the grant. They are exploring how to use clot-busting drugs to prevent scarring around and inside the lungs. The UTHSCT scientists are one of just 19 research teams around the nation to receive a CADET grant for lung disease research. CADET stands for Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics.

TYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler has named Dr. Randall Powell the new vice president for business affairs, President Rodney H. Mabry announced. Powell succeeds Dr. Gregg Lassen, who accepted a vice presidential position at Lamar University in February. Powell, whose appointment begins Sept. 1, was selected in an exhaustive national search that culminated with four finalists from Texas, Mississippi and New York. He comes to UT Tyler after serving Sam Houston State University as its associate vice president for budget and operations and interim vice president for finance and operations.

“He has great experience in academic business affairs, working at various institutions ranging from Tulane and SMU, to his current position. Dr. Powell looks forward to the new challenge of helping UT Tyler reach its goal of becoming the best public university in the state and beyond,” President Mabry said.

TYLER – A Gregg County woman has pleaded guilty to social security fraud charges. Gaylynne Gale, 63, of Longview, pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft of government property charges in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Chad Everingham. Gale faces up to 10 years in federal prison at sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

According to the indictment, which was handed up last September, from February 2004 until June 2010, Gale intentionally concealed her living arrangements with her ex-husband in order to receive more than $47,000 from the Social Security Administration in the form of Social Security Supplemental Security Income payments. Her misrepresentation also caused a significant loss to the Texas Medicaid Program.

TYLER — A Dallas man has been sentenced to federal prison for distributing cocaine in East Texas. Guillermo Fernando Rojo, 26, pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced Wednesday to 150 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis. Rojo was also ordered to forfeiture of $50,000. Federal prosecutors say up until July 9, 2010, Rojo conspired with others to distribute more than 15 kilograms of cocaine throughout East Texas.

TYLER – A federal grand jury in Tyler has returned multiple indictments charging a variety of persons with separate federal crimes in East Texas.

Raymond Leo Lemaire, Jr., 60, of Whitehouse, was indicted on charges of failure to register as a sex offender. If convicted, he faces up to 10years in federal prison. According to the indictment, Lemaire was allegedly previously convicted of an offense requiring sex offender registration in Vermont, and then moved to Whitehouse in June of last year, without updating his registration.

Brian Douglas Brown, 58, of Wills Point, Texas, was indicted on charges of enticement of a minor. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison. According to the indictment, from June 10, 2011 to July 1, 2011, Brown allegedly used a computer to communicate with a minor in an attempt to engage in sexual activity. This case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Longview Police Department.

Jose Refugio Torres-Regalado, 46, of Mexico, was indicted for being a criminal alien present in the United States after having been previously deported. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. According to the indictment, Torres-Regalado is alleged to have reentered the United States following deportation in 2007 and 2008 after a Texas conviction for aggravated assault of a child in Hamilton, Texas. On May 17, 2011, Torres-Regalado was arrested at his residence in Winnsboro.

TEXARKANA (AP) — A Florida man is in police custody after officers found him sleeping in a Texarkana, Texas, creek. Texarkana police say Ihab El Mahmoud is jailed on three charges of assaulting a police officer. Bond is set at $60,000.

Police Officer Ed Emilia tells The Texarkana Gazette that a man and his mother saw what appeared to be a body in Swampoodle Creek on the edge of downtown Tuesday afternoon. Police summoned to the scene investigated and found the man sleeping. Emilia says that when the officers awakened him and tried to help him up, the man became combative and started punching before he was subdued.

MANGUM, OKLA. (AP) — A defense attorney for a former warden’s wife accused of helping a convicted killer escape is attempting to poke holes in the prosecution’s evidence. Lawyer Garvin Isaacs represents Bobbi Parker, who is accused of aiding Oklahoma State Reformatory inmate Randolph Dial’s escape from the Greer County prison in August 1994. The couple was later found in Texas on a Shelby County Chicken Ranch. Isaacs cross-examined Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Williams on Wednesday about how evidence was handled in the case. Isaacs alleges that Dial kidnapped, beat and repeatedly raped Parker. Williams says hair that was found on masking tape inside Parker’s van following her disappearance was never tested to see if the hair belonged to her or if Dial’s fingerprints were on it. Williams said no attempt was made to look for skin cells on the tape.