KTBB News, Weather, Talk

TYLER — We’re winding down to election day, May 14 — and another vote on a Smith County jail bond proposal. County Commissioner Jeff Warr appears on this week’s KTBB “Staff Meeting.” He’s spearheaded the current plan after several others failed. This time, Warr says, he made sure to find out what the community would support. He tells us, “I decided I would go out and start meeting with different civic groups, different organizations, different city councils and leaders in the community and get their input.” And Warr says there’s no organized opposition to the plan. He adds that the proposal is cost-effective and addresses safety, his own major concern. The cost is $35 million, and 384 beds would be added.

You can go to http://www.smith-county.com for more information or to submit questions. You can also go to http://www.ktbb.com/audio to access the “Staff Meeting” show online.

JACKSONVILLE –Lon Morris College employees were paid Friday despite fears that paychecks would not be distributed on time. Afton Barber, Lon Morris spokesperson, said a wire transfer was received by the college on Friday and allowed 167 employees to receive their bi-monthly paychecks. Lon Morris officials initially thought the wire transfer would be delayed. “The wire transfer has not yet arrived,” said Tommy Ferguson, vice president of business and administrative affairs, in an email to employees Thursday. “This means that payroll will be delayed again.” Employees’ pay for March 31 was delayed five business days. The college is having financial problems due to expenses related to expanding student enrollment from 350 to 1,000 over two years, adding new academic and sports programs, and cuts to the Texas Equalization Grant Program, Ferguson said in a previous interview. Ferguson did not release details about the wire transfer. “I’m not going to say because I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know where it came from.” Lon Morris aims to raise tuition by $750 this fall to help alleviate the problem, he said.

LONGVIEW — The Arizona-based company that operates Longview’s network of a dozen red light cameras has pocketed $1.6 million for nearly 30,000 violations logged in the four years since the system started. The city’s take? Not a dime. In fact, Longview owes the company more than $650,000. However, a clause in the city’s contract with Phoenix-based RedFlex Traffic Systems states the city will owe nothing when the contract expires. The contract also guarantees RedFlex all revenue from the cameras. “When you throw that $1.6 million out there that looks like a lot of money,” said Mayor Jay Dean. The city is one year away from its opportunity to re-negotiate its deal with RedFlex. In preparation, Dean said the city has requested the company’s accrued costs of equipment, installation, maintenance and personnel since the contract began.

LONGVIEW — Diagnostic Clinic of Longview on Friday afternoon dropped efforts to halt lease renewal and extension talks between Gregg County and Good Shepherd Medical Center. Earlier Friday, Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt said he had received the latest version of a proposed lease agreement between the county and Good Shepherd, and had reinstated a public hearing on the matter for Monday morning. “We’re going to proceed with the hearing, but there will not be any vote by the commissioners court on Monday,” Stoudt said. It is possible the public hearing on Good Shepherd’s proposal to have its lease extended could continue past Monday. “We want to give everyone a chance to be heard, and we’ll do that,” he said. Stoudt said he was pleased Diagnostic Clinic had ended its efforts to secure a restraining order, void the county’s current lease agreement with Good Shepherd and halt further negotiations.

TYLER — Road construction crews were hard at work on Earl Campbell Parkway on Friday, which will run from Highway 155 to the Loop 323 in Tyler. Originally an extension of New Sunnybrook Drive, the new road’s name was changed last year to Earl Campbell Parkway by city officials. Those looking to take advatage of the new road, officials say, don’t expect the road to be done anytime this year. They say the two year project may not look like much now, but in the fall of 2012 it will be a four lane highway connecting the two busy areas.

TYLER — The immigration raid on a Tyler restaurant has sent shockwaves through the Hispanic community. At a local community center they gathered to talk about what this stepped up enforcement will mean. They gathered in the Hillside Community Center today to ask questions and get information on the raid on the China King Restaurant Thursday. Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spent the day questioning employees, but there were no arrests.

“The fact that they did not arrest anybody showed me that they are being very humane about their process,” says Gilbert Urbina of the Hispanic American Association of East Texas. “They were there, probably, due to information that they received. They are very organized and they have a specific target that they want to get to.”

And if the suspected illegal has a family, the process gets more complicated, and expensive. So authorities take it step by step.
“If the consequences are that you’re being removed,” Urbina says, “and there’s no avenue of relief for you. Then you have to plan accordingly to possibly move your family back to your home country.”

Urbina told KETK, the fact that an ICE office was established here means not only that there is a problem with illegal labor, but also that enforcement is going to be stepped up.

TYLER — Tyler Police have released the identity of a man found dead Friday morning as Todd Jackson, 49, Dallas. Officers say they received a call around 6:00 reporting a man lying on a sidewalk at West Erwin and Bruck. The caller advised that the subject laying on the sidewalk was bleeding. Police responded to the scene and requested EMS. Jackson was declared dead at the scene. Authorities say the autopsy shows no foul play involved, but toxicology results are pending.

EAST TEXAS — At least two East Texas groups holdd events Saturday as tax season winds down. A Tax Day Tea Party, sponsored by We The People-Longview, was held on the Gregg County Courthouse Lawn. Guest speakers included radio talk show host, author, filmmaker, and singer/songwriter Mike Church; LouAnn Anderson with Americans for Prosperity; Dr. Keith A. Rothra, Professor of History and Political Science with LeTourneau University & Kilgore College; and Mike Schwartz, Co-Founder of We The People-Longview.

The Tyler Tea Party held a Tax Day TEA (taxed enough already) Rally from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on the downtown square. Featured Speakers included Neal Barton, Mike Church, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, Retired Judge Cynthia Kent, and local attorney Ken Good. Entertainment will be provided by American Idol finalist Krista Branch. Among the topics, overspending, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms – and yes, even the controversial birth certificate issue was mentioned. You can go to http://www.tylerteaparty.org for more information.

EAST TEXAS — The Upshur County Sheriff’s Office has found skeletal remains near Lake O’ the Pines, officials said Thursday afternoon. Deputies received a call Wednesday night, saying there were possible human skeletal remains in the Camp Joy area. Deputies recovered the remains, but the investigation is ongoing. The remains were due to be sent off for a forensic analysis in Tyler or Dallas. Meanwhile, authorities say they are checking into active missing persons cases.

UPSHUR COUNTY — A Gregg County man who authorities said burglarized homes while pretending to be a law enforcement officer is arrested. 45-year-old Edward Charles Lee is being held in Upshur County Jail on bonds totaling $150,000 on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and impersonation of a public servant. He also is being held without bond on a federal detainer. The Upshur County Sheriff’s Office has recovered $30,000 to $50,000 worth of stolen property, including guns, jewelry and electronics, and is trying to return it to its owners.

Lee, who was arrested April 7, is a suspect in other burglaries in the area, Roberts said. On April 4, the sheriff’s office received two calls about home burglaries in the Indian Rock community. Later that day, a resident returned home and confronted a suspect in the house, who identified himself as a law enforcement officer, Roberts said. The homeowner wrote down information from the man’s vehicle, including the license plate, and turned it into the sheriff’s office, which started an investigation, Roberts said.

When Lee was arrested, he also had stolen badges and identification related to law enforcement on him, Roberts said. Jewelry found in his pockets had been stolen earlier that morning in Overton, Roberts said.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico is again threatening landowners with court action if they don’t sell TransCanada the rights it needs to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline route goes through eastern Smith County.

TransCanada was criticized last summer for mentioning eminent domain in letters to landowners. Company spokesman Terry Cunha says TransCanada has agreements with more than 80% of landowners along the six-state route and wants to be ready if the project is approved.

National Wildlife Federation spokesman Tony Iallonardo says TransCanada shouldn’t bully landowners before it secures U.S. State Department approval. The project is designed to carry oil from Canada across Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. TransCanada has also proposed connecting to the Bakken oil field in Montana and North Dakota.

TYLER — Tyler Junior College officials have dedicated a wing of the Louise H. and Joseph Z. Ornelas Residential Complex in memory of a former Apache Belles director. The Eva Saunders Wing was dedicated in honor of the woman who served as Belles’ director from 1963 to 1976. The wing is located on the Ornelas complex’s fourth floor, which is occupied by the entire Apache Belles line.

Private donations for the dedication were raised by fundraising chair and former Apache Belle Mary Boles Blitch, a member of the precision dance team from 1948 to 1950. All gifts were placed in the TJC Belle Heritage Endowment. “The quintessential ‘Steel Magnolia’, Eva Saunders guided the Apache Belles in all aspects of life, manners, dress, speech and community participation,” Blitch said. “With Eva’s impeccable appearance, soft voice and genteel manner, she molded many ‘country girls’ into presentable young ladies.

During Eva Saunders’ tenure, the Apache Belles were the only college dance drill team to perform during televised halftimes for the Dallas Cowboys; and through this exposure, the group gained a worldwide reputation for excellence.

The Al Gilliam Wing and Mildred Stringer Lounge are also located on the Apache Belles’ floor and named in memory of the Belles’ former choreographer and director, respectively.

TYLER — Police in Tyler say a man arrested for indecent exposure is a registered sex offender. Shortly after 9:00 yesterday morning, officers responded to the French Quarter at 4500 S. Broadway in reference to a suspicious person. Officers were advised that a man in a black older model Dodge Stratus was exposing himself. The complainant wrote down the license plate number that was displayed on the Stratus. Investigators were able to determine that the vehicle was registered to a sex offender. They confirmed that the registered sex offender’s files listed this vehicle as belonging to him. Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Daniel Michael Swed, 53, of Tyler. They located Swed at his place of employment, which was documented in his sex offender registration file. Swed’s alleged offense is a class B misdemeanor. His bond has been set at $15,000.

NACOGDOCHES — A six-month undercover drug investigation by the Nacogdoches Police Department has resulted in charges being filed against ten defendants. According to police reports, NPD began the arrests Wednesday morning. Officials say the investigation targeted street-level narcotics trafficking within the city. At last report, seven of the defendants had been arrested. The arrested suspects and charges are:

– Jerry D. Holcomb, age 44, of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance
– Bryant D. Gilyard, age 43 of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance (2 counts)
– Rodney Woodson, age 33 of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance
– Jerome R. Murchinson, age 23 of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance (2 counts)
– Jeffrey R. Gates, age 36 of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance (2 counts)
– Anthony D. Garner, Jr., age 21 of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance (2 counts)
– Maxie Deckard, 31 of Nacogdoches, Delivery of a Controlled Substance (2 counts)

Three suspects remained at large. All were wanted on charges of Delivery of a Controlled Substance:

– Mongo J. Fite, age 36 of Nacogdoches
– Trevosky Freeney, age 20 of Nacogdoches
– Kiara K. Raindle, age 21 of Nacogdoches

TYLER — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials left the scene of the China King restaurant on Broadway in Tyler Thursday afternoon after several hours of employee questioning. Employees say nobody was taken into ICE custody, and all employees complied with investigators. The restaurant was closed for the rest of the day. During the raid, ICE released a statement that said, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with U.S. Homeland Security are conducting an ongoing investigation, which the China King is a part of because it is ongoing. No further details can be released at this time.” Tyler police assisted in the raid.