How East Texans can dispose of rotten food, debris after storm damage

LONGVIEW — More than a week later, East Texans are still recovering from severe storms. Some may wonder what to do with the debris in their yard or overflowing trashcans of food that went bad. Our news partner KETK checked in with the City of Longview and Upshur County to get some answers about post-storm cleanup.

Upshur County has four dumpster locations for people to throw out their rotten food. “Big Sandy, Ore City, Diana and one in Gilmer at the civic center,” said Nichols, Upshur County Emergency Management Coordinator. Those will be available for county residents until Wednesday, June 28. The City of Longview Sanitation and Recycling shared how they are working through the mess left behind. “Don’t panic, we are actually doing a city-wide sweep, we’re actually going down every street, one by one we will be cleaning up all of the debris from the trees that they put out.” The City of Longview is also taking the recycle bins to the landfill this week, they know many people needed to use them to throw away spoiled food.

Harrison County Sheriff’s Office warns against fake investigator scam

HARRISON COUNTY — According to our news partner KETK on June 26, Harrison County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a male identifying himself as Tyler Martin, an Investigator with Harrison County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office sent out a social media notification verifying that this information is false and Tyler Martin does not work for the Sheriff’s Office. The suspect is allegedly cloning the sheriff’s office phone number which is 903-923-4000. He is claimed to be informing individuals that they haven’t appeared to their civil court case that they were summoned for.

The sheriff’s office describes the scam on their Facebook: “In order for the individuals to not be placed in jail they have to deposit cash in a gas station “Bit K” Machine. Once all the cash has been deposited Martin will no longer contact you and you will not be able to contact him on the number he provides due to it being a false number.”

The sheriff’s office would like the public to know not to fall for these tactics and to stay safe. “Please be aware that this is a scam and the Sheriff’s Office will not direct you to do such thing,” said the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.

Longview drivers say bad fuel damaged vehicles

LONGVIEW — Two people reached out to our news partner KETK News to get help after they said they got bad gasoline at the Brake Time gas station on Judson Road in Longview across from Skinner’s. One said said it happened to him on May 18 and that it really messed up his car. Another person said it started after her May 3 trip to Brake Time, eventually having to pay more than $1,000 to get it fixed.

A complaint has been filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Agreement over the situation. So far there has been no response to the complaint. KETK News also tried reaching someone at the gas station’s headquarters in Houston several times and our requests were not returned. They told us the case is currently under investigation.

Hallsville creates ‘child safety zones’, limiting sex offenders

HALLSVILLE – According to our news partner KETK the Hallsville City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to create “child safety zones” which limit where certain registered sex offenders may live, enter or loiter. “City Ordinance 2023-03 – Sex Offender Restrictions” creates the “child safety zones” and also makes it illegal to rent to an applicable registered sex offender, according to the city.

Hallsville said the new ordinance applies specifically to “adult convicted offenders involving a child victim sex crime.”

“This ordinance serves to further protect our children and maintain these restrictions once the limitations end at the completion of the offender’s parole or probation. A big ‘Thank you’ to our City Council for taking up this measure of protection.”
The City of Hallsville

For more information visit the City of Hallsville online.

Linemen are still working through repairs in East Texas

LONGVIEW — Some East Texans have been without electricity for almost a week now. Power companies are still working through the extensive recovery process throughout several counties in East Texas. Adding that this recovery process, which started one week ago, has been extensive and widespread. “Most of the time you know you can go to one location and find 10-20 poles here we’ve been taken to 10-20 locations and find one pole. It’s been very widespread,” said Skeen. SWEPCO’s sister companies came out from Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Skeen estimated that there are still about 1,000 personnel on the ground.

Our news partner KETK spoke with Jimmy Skeen, a SWEPCO Base Camp Manager: “I tell people it took years to build the system, it’s destroyed in a matter of minutes.” He added that the linemen are grateful for the support and hospitality they’ve received from East Texans. “Everyone we’ve encountered has really been just super, I mean we have had the communities reach out wanting to know what they can do for us, which is amazing,” said Skeen.

Smith County Jail inmates helping to feed East Texans

TYLER – As you travel along Highway 155 South, a group of men can be found planting, harvesting and maintaining a garden. What you may not know is it’s run by Smith County Jail inmates to donate all their produce to the East Texas Food Bank. “They’re sitting in line at the jail, wanting to get out here and work,” said Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith. According to our news partner KETK they produce enough fruits and vegetables to fill about three to four truckloads a harvest. “That’ll be probably in excess of 160,000 pounds, so it’s a lot of meals for our neighbors here in East Texas,” said Cullinane.

Sheriff Larry Smith says it’s not just the inmates that help out. At times you can find community members and himself maintaining the crop.

Free meals, disaster relief being offered to Winnsboro community

WINNSBORO – Multiple services are being offered on Thursday to the Winnsboro community and the surrounding area according to the Winnsboro Fire Department. No proof of residency is required. You can view the entire list of disaster services are being offered to anyone who has been impacted by the storm by visiting our news partner KETK’s website here

16 grams of meth seized after police chase in East Texas

KILGORE – A man was arrested after leading police on a chase that resulted in the seizure of 16 grams of methamphetamine. According to our news partner KETK on Tuesday night, the Kilgore Police Department responded to a disturbance call and as they arrived, officials said they saw a man running from the scene leading police on a foot chase. According to the release, police witnessed the man “throw a package under some wood as he was trying to flee.” Police said they caught the man quickly and collected the bag which contained 16 grams of methamphetamine.

Edwin Mumphrey was identified as the suspect attempting to run from police and he was charged with a felony drug possession charge. “Edwin is known to us and his business has affected the city. We will make sure Edwin doesn’t continue to deal on the streets of Kilgore,” said the Kilgore Police Department.

Upshur County continues to recover from last weeks storms

GILMER — Storm recovery in Upshur County is ongoing according to our news partner KETK. Thousands are still without power, and trees are still down. The county is doing what they can to provide support to anyone who needs it. Some folks in Upshur County have gone days without power, meanwhile, temperatures are high and it’s humid. The county is providing support. “We’ve got places for folks to go, we’ve got plenty of water, plenty of ice, plenty of MRE’s,” said Nichols, of the Upshur County Emergency Management.

Upshur County is offering several cooling stations throughout the areas affected, it’s important to come inside to cool off and recharge. Adding that linemen are working extra hours to get everyone’s lights back on. “Just trying to get everybody back up as fast as they can,” said Nichols. A reminder to everyone to stay cool and hydrated through this summer weather. Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation said they have brought in more than 170 contract linemen and one of their main priorities is restoring as many outages as possible.

LeTourneau University houses over 250 SWEPCO linemen

LONGVIEW — LeTourneau University opened its doors and dorm rooms for over 250 linemen to rest overnight according to our news partner KETK. Workers would normally stay in hotels, but they are booked up due to local families not having power. “The other option is they sleep in a cot, in a truck or they sleep in a tent. Where else are we going to put them?” said Robinson. Afraid of the alternative, SWEPCO turned locally and the timing was perfect in coordination with the university. After their 16-hour shift in the scorching heat, every lineman can rest comfortably.

“Because of previous camps all of our spaces were full and so, since the storm happened right around the time then all of those campers left and left us with the availability to have five open dorms in the first place,” said Marty Lane, Director of Conference and Event Services at LeTourneau University. This is the first time in Lane’s 15 years at the university to do something like this.
Kindergarteners who are at a summer camp on campus left letters of thanks for the linemen’s hard work. “They realize and understand ‘Hey! There’s these workers doing this and that’s why we have air conditioning,’ so they’re getting it and understanding it,” said Lane.

SWEPCO said 100 more workers are on their way Wednesday night to continue working on the damaged areas.

Gregg County Judge hopes for full power restoration by Friday

GREGG COUNTY – Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt gave an update on power restoration as more than 40,000 people are still without power in East Texas. On Tuesday, Stoudt told KETK News they’re down to less than 15,000 outages from the high of around 60,000 on Friday morning. According to our news partner KETK Stoudt went on to thank the crews who are working to get the lights back on and said 3,000 SWEPCO employees had to be brought in from nearby states to help repair the historic damage.

“Probably in the 40 year history, we’ve never seen the infrastructure damage like it has been through this last storm. We’ve got poles that were just broken in half and big trees that had fallen over on transmission lines and it just takes a lot of personnel.” Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt

Stoudt added that the plan is to have all power restored no later than Friday.

Estimated outage repairs in Northeast Texas

SHREVEPORT – Power outages caused by Friday’s storms persist across East Texas as we move into the week. Our news partner KETK reports that crews are working extra shifts to restore service across the region. Click here to see the current SWEPCO estimates on when your power may return.

TDEM asks residents to report storm damage using iSTAT survey

TYLER – The Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) is hard at work across the state according to our news partner KETK, Chief of Texas Emergency Management Nim Kidd is out surveying damage and talking with storm victims. They have resources in place to speed up recovery efforts but right now, their biggest concern in our area is keeping the lights on.

“Chief Kidd wanted to make sure that he had an opportunity to see firsthand the extent of the damage. There’s always something to be said for having those first person interactions with local officials and with regional partners and with members of the community. It’s really important that the community knows that they have the support of the state of Texas,” said Wes Rapaport the communications officer for the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

TDEM officials are urging those impacted to survey their homes and to report all damages by using their iSTAT damage survey. They say the sooner that’s done, the faster you will get help.

Brookshire’s giving away food and ice on Sunday

TYLER – Brookshire Grocery Company said they are giving away a bags of ice to people with out power at several Brookshire’s stores across East Texas. They will start giving out bags of ice while supplies last at 8 a.m. at the following stores:
Brookshire’s in Winnsboro: 212 E Coke Rd., Brookshire’s in Hawkins: 1477 N Beulah St., Brookshire’s in Mt. Vernon: 306 Hwy 37 S and Brookshire’s in Jefferson: 404 E Broadway St.

According to our news partner KETK their Community Kitchen will be serving free hot meals starting at 11 a.m. while supplies last in the parking lot of their Mt. Vernon store.

“At Brookshire Grocery Company, we are focused on building greater communities by being there for our neighbors not only during times of celebration but also during times of need.”
Brookshire Grocery Company

Gov. Abbott issues disaster proclamation for East Texas counties

TYLER – Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a disaster for Franklin, Harrison, Marion, Upshur and Wood counties after East Texas was hit by severe weather this week according to our news partner KETK. Abbott’s proclamation was originally issued for Ochiltree and Cass counties but was later amended to say the following:

“WHEREAS, I, GREG ABBOTT, Governor of the State of Texas, issued a disaster proclamation on Friday, June 16, 2023, certifying the severe weather and tornadoes that began on June 14, 2023, and included severe storms, large hail, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, tornadoes, and hazardous wind gusts caused widespread and severe property damage, injury, or loss of life in Ochiltree and Cass counties; NOW, THEREFORE, in accordance with the authority vested in me by Section 4 18.014 of the Texas Government Code, I do hereby amend the aforementioned proclamation and declare a disaster in these additional counties: Franklin, Harrison, Marion, Upshur, and Wood counties.” Gov. Greg Abbott

This comes after several individual counties like Upshur, Marion and Morris counties had local disaster declarations issued by county judges.

Go Back