Shelby County Today

December 31, 2021 - The City of Center Public Water System, PWS #2100001, will be conducting water system maintenance beginning January 1, 2022, and lasting until January 31, 2022. The system will be switching to free chlorine as its main disinfection.

This maintenance which is not a requirement, but is the recommended course of action set by the TCEQ/EPA for the accumulation of disinfection byproducts.

This is a routine maintenance procedure performed to help reduce unstable water conditions in our system and insure the highest quality of water being delivered to our customers.

During this maintenance period you may notice an odor or slight discoloration, but the safety of the water will not be affected. City maintenance crews and the Fire Department will also be aggressively flushing hydrants throughout the City’s distribution system.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact our Public Works Department at 936-598-5241.

January 5, 2021 - Hurst Street in Center was the scene of a major two-vehicle collision Wednesday, January 5, 2022, at the entrance to McDonalds and Walmart.

Following the collision, both vehicles were left disabled and off the roadway one in a ditch and the other on a hill.

According to Center Police Officer Brian Wright, at 9:58am a white 2014 Ford Fusion driven by Deryl Bishop, 94, of Joaquin was northbound on Hurst Street preparing to turn left from the median into the Walmart parking lot entrance.

As Bishop attempted to turn into the entrance to the parking lot, the Fusion traveled in front of a maroon 2003 GMC Yukon driven by Fidencia Deleon-Dominguez, 54, of Center that was southbound in the inside lane. The Yukon collided with the passenger side of the Ford and pushed it off the roadway to the right where the Yukon came to rest in a ditch and the Ford came to rest at the top of a hill just beyond the ditch.

Bishop was transported by ambulance to Nacogdoches Medical Center - Shelby Emergency Department for treatment of possible injury.

Deleon-Dominguez and two 2-year-old passengers were transported by ambulance to Nacogdoches Medical Center - Shelby Emergency Department for medical evaluation.

No citations were issued at the time of the crash and both vehicles were towed from the scene.

According to TxDOT crash data, there have been 31 crashes at the location of the incident since 2016.

In May 2021, TxDOT Commissioners approved projects in Shelby County which included the installation of a traffic light at this same intersection. Construction on this project doesn't appear to have yet begun.

Related article:
TxDOT Projects Include Four in Shelby County; Hurst St. at Foster Traffic Signal

January 4, 2021 - The Center Fire Department fought a house fire Sunday, January 2, 2021 at a residence off CR 3012 located behind some chicken houses at 11:09am.

Neighbors to the property saw smoke emanating from the residence. They banged on the doors and walls of the house to try and alert the owner of the home there was a fire; however, no one was home.

They called 911 and the Center Fire Department responded. Upon arrival, the fire was fully involved. Fire personnel donned SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) to provide oxygen so they could fight the fire more closely without inhaling large amounts of smoke.

As the fire fighters worked at putting out the flames and sought out hot spots around the home, the property owners arrived and were visibly shocked and horrified to find their home engulfed in flames.

Fire personnel were able to move a van that was parked beside the house away from the fire and assisted the property owner in moving a Bronco away from the front of the house.

According to the fire department, the fire appeared to have started in the middle of the house.

The owners indicated there were two pets within the home during the fire; however, the fire was too far along for them to have been saved. The fire fighters were able to extinguish the fire and prevent further spread to other buildings on the property. The fire department confirmed the house was a total loss.

The fire personnel returned to service at 3:40pm.

Updated 4:28pm: The Texas DSHS Covid-19 Dashboard updated at 2:50pm today and the number of active cases increased to 157. The dashboard gave the following disclaimer as to why the data hasn't been updated since December 30th.

"The case counts for Dec. 31 – Jan. 4 include backlogged lab reports from last week (12/27 – 12/31). Due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 lab tests, the system that processes electronic lab reports and identifies new cases was running slower for three days last week. DSHS identified ways to streamline the algorithm that identifies new cases, which dramatically improved the system’s processing speed. The system will finish processing all lab reports older than one day on Tuesday, Jan. 4."

01/03/2022
Confirmed Cases - 1,827
Probable Cases - 1,332
Fatalities - 114
Active Cases (Estimated) - 157
Recovered (Estimated) - 2,889

January 03, 2022 - The Texas DSHS Covid-19 Dashboard reported 87 active cases on Thursday, December 30, 2021. From the day after Christmas to December 30, there have been 36 new cases reported.

DSHS hasn't updated the Covid-19 dashboard since December 30. The Shelby County numbers for the year 2021 are from January 1, 2021 to December 30, 2021. In total (confirmed cases and probable cases), there were 2,014 new cases of Covid-19 reported. There were 74 new deaths reported which is equal to a new death every 4.9 days. *The deadliest months of 2021 were February, August, and September which were all double digits. The lowest number of reported cases were in November (31 cases) and March (33 cases).

In the month of December, the DSHS dashboard reported 117 new cases, 1 new death, and 39 new recoveries.

Reported 2021 Covid Numbers:
Total New Confirmed Cases - 1,116
Total New Probable Cases - 898
Total New Fatalities - 74
Total New Recovered (Estimated) - 1,909

Reported December 2021 Numbers:
Total New Confirmed Cases - 72
Total New Probable Cases - 45
Total New Fatalities - 1
Total New Recovered (Estimated) - 39

12/30/2021
Confirmed Cases - 1,764
Probable Cases - 1,313
Fatalities - 114
Active Cases (Estimated) - 87
Recovered (Estimated) - 2,877

11/30/2021
Confirmed Cases - 1,692
Probable Cases - 1,268
Fatalities - 113
Active Cases (Estimated) - 9
Recovered (Estimated) - 2,838

12/31/2020
Confirmed Cases - 648
Probable Cases - 415
Fatalities - 40
Active Cases (Estimated) - 55
Recovered (Estimated) - 968

* Corrected information on January 11, 2022