Shelby County Today

February 1, 2022 - According to updated cumulative data from the Texas Department of State Health Service’s Covid-19 Dashboard, the number of infections in January 2022 soared for Shelby County to 976 new cases. Of the new cases reported during the month, 557 were new confirmed cases and 419 were new probable cases.

Reported January 2022 Numbers:
Total New Confirmed Cases - 557
Total New Probable Cases - 419
Total New Fatalities - 2

01/31/2022
Total Cases - 4,141
Confirmed Cases - 2,595
Probable Cases - 1,546
Fatalities - 117

12/31/2021
Total Cases - 3,165
Confirmed Cases - 2,038
Probable Cases - 1,127
Fatalities - 115

Over the past week, there has been 106 new cases reported.

January 31st Numbers: (Changes since Jan. 25, 1 week)
Confirmed Cases - 2,595 (71 new)
Probable Cases - 1,546 (35 new)
Fatalities - 117

January 25th Numbers:
Confirmed Cases - 2,524
Probable Cases - 1,511
Fatalities - 117

In retrospect to 2021 Covid-19 numbers for Shelby County, the whole year had 2,019 new cases. The case counts from the single month of January 2022 nearly reached half of the total cases from all last year. Comparatively, the newest and most contagious variant has not been as deadly as previous ones either because of the differences in how the variant affects the body or because of vaccines helping to lessen the severity of health problems after infection. January has had two new deaths from the virus.

January 31, 2022 - Property Taxes are due Monday, January 31st to the county tax assessor-collector, Debora Riley. If you wait until February 1st, a penalty and interest of 7% will be charged for unpaid tax bills. In March the penalty and interest increases to 9% and continues to increase an additional 2% each month.

The courthouse is open until 4:30pm Monday through Friday.

Texas Game Warden Austin Cryer assisted Louisiana Game Wardens J. Melton and H. Pearce in retreiving the boat which the man had been in just before falling into the lake.

January 29, 2022 - Law enforcement officials responded to the discovery of an apparent drowning incident Saturday, January 29, 2022 in East Hamilton Community at East Hamilton Boat Ramp.

At around 12-noon Texas Game Wardens and Louisiana Game Wardens were on scene assisted by the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and Constable Precinct 3.

According to Shelby County officials James (Tater) Cox, 71, of DeBerry was the man who was found at Toledo Bend. Marla Denby, Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace, pronounced Cox deceased at the scene and Watson & Sons Funeral Home transported him.

Cox had been fishing and Game Wardens were able to retrieve his boat, which although it was capsized, was secured to a stump out in the water.

January 28, 2022 - The Shelby County Commissioners spoke with Gary Adams, DRG Architects, about future work that is needed for the Shelby County Jail during their meeting on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

He suggested repairs be completed near a clean out at a main trunk line of the jail sewer system where he described a deep hole. Then the more daunting sounding task can begin of searching for other problem areas connecting to that line.

"There is four feeder lines that run into that line, we can get to two of them to see how bad they are, and once we establish whether this is going to be able to fix the problem in the jail, I say we fix that one, keep monitoring the rest of the plumbing and not do anything at this point in time," said Adams.

Adams suggested having a meeting with the plumber involved as a saw is going to be needed to cut six to eight feet of concrete out of the jail floor.

"We may have to bring in a vacuum truck, at this point we don't know," said Adams. "What we need to do is figure out what we're dealing with and we can't do that just with a camera."

The project is expected to displace 30 inmates and Adams suggested advanced planning regarding the inmates. Chief Ruth Gonzales informed the court there is a contract with Carthage for 20 inmates, and another jail may need to be located to hold the other 10 inmates.

"It's going to be a messy job, it's going to be something we want to do quick," said Adams. "I have no idea what kind of cost we're looking at, because of the difficulty of this job."

Adams also suggested the project be declared an emergency because of the uncertainty of what may be required.

It was suggested there be a meeting of the plumber and whatever additional contractors may be needed, City of Center, Sheriff's Department and whoever else may need to be included in the project.

"Let the public know, I mean the DPS and the city know, the jail is down if they don't have to bring nobody, don't bring them," said Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1. "Also, we might get some people out of jail that's in there."

Capt. Tanner Peace with the Sheriff's Department presented the commissioners with a proposal for grant funding from the Texas Governor's office for needed equipment in the amount of $243,000.

"We feel like we've done tremendously well in the past year with resources and personnel that we have," said Peace. "We've essentially been working under the philosophy of we have to manage where we are, not where we wish we were."

Peace said he has been researching the grant which is offered through the governor's office where they have set aside around $14 million for Texas counties. According to Peace, a major upgrade for the Sheriff's Department would be a mobile reporting in the patrol vehicles.

"This would allow our deputies to go out to a call and actually complete an incident report on scene," said Peace.

At this time, deputies can't begin to work on an incident report until after they've arrived at the Sheriff's Department. According to Peace, the system would allow the deputies to see where each other unit is located, and for the dispatchers to see their position.

"It will, essentially, double the amount of presence of deputies in the county," said Peace. "Right now we go to a call, and assuming that it's a fairly substantial call, we may have deputies at the office doing paperwork for two or three hours, and so that's two or three hours during a 10 to 12 hour shift that our county roads aren't being patrolled."

The Sheriff's Department reached out to Spillman Technologies and acquired a quote for laptops for the vehicles, mounting brackets, and contacted Verizon to provide cellular service hot spots for the computers. Two additional patrol units are included in the total being requested for the grant.

A motion carried to table approving the grant for a special meeting to be held Monday, January 31, 2022.

The commissioners recognized Continuing Education Transcript for Tax Assessor-Collector Debora Riley, for evidence of compliance with Texas Property Tax Code Sec 6.231(d).

The meeting was adjourned at 10:14am.

Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 
1. Pay weekly expenses.
2. Recognize and record completion of required continuing education certificate for Jennifer Fountain, County Clerk.
3. Recognize and record completion of required continuing education certificate for Allison Harbison, County Judge.
4. Adjourn.

Agenda items tabled during the meeting include:
1. Sheriff’s office to apply for a grant from the Office of the Governor.