Shelby County Today

April 22, 2015 - The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) attempted to stop a driver for a speeding violation on Monday, April 20, 2015 in Tenaha; however, the driver instead sped up and tried to evade the officer.

According to Texas DPS State Trooper Jade LaVergne, at 10:20pm she was traveling U.S. Highway 59 through Tenaha heading toward Timpson when a black 2013 Ford Expedition passed by exceeding the speed limit.

Trooper LaVergne turned on the Expedition attempting to pull the vehicle over with lights and sirens when the driver accelerated and turned down South Center Street (Spur 157). The pursuit began and Trooper LaVergne, with Tenaha City Marshal Jimmy Wagstaff providing back up, followed the Expedition onto U.S. Highway 96 heading south toward Center at a high rate of speed, topping out at around 100mph.

The pursuit continued down County Road 4360 off U.S. 96 and then onto County Road 4293 where the vehicle left the roadway to the left colliding with a tree. The driver escaped the vehicle and ran. Center Police officers and Shelby County Sheriff's Deputies, and DPS State Troopers from Panola County assisted in searching the scene for the suspect.

It was discovered the vehicle was stolen out of Carthage and a passenger remained in the vehicle. During interview, the passenger told authorities he had been hitchhiking when the driver picked him up. He did not know the driver's identity, and only identified him as wearing a white shirt.

Once it was determined the passenger had nothing to do with the theft, he was released at the scene. According to the Panola County Sheriff's Department, the Expedition was stolen on or about April 12th or 13th from the Yellow Dog area on County Road 455.

 April 22, 2015 - Heavy rains on Saturday, April 18, 2015 contributed to a single-vehicle crash on State Highway 7.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety State Trooper Dustin Ramos, at 8am the Center Fire Department and ACE EMS were dispatched to a rollover on State Highway 7 East just west of CR 1656 in front of the Center Municipal Airport. The vehicle had come to rest upside down in a ditch filled with running water and the driver was reported to have been trapped.

Upon arrival, the driver had been removed from the vehicle by Cameron Copeland, of Watson & Sons, who was just across the street from the crash scene.

Justin Garrett, 22, of San Augustine was traveling eastbound in a white Lincoln Aviator when due to the high water on the roadway the Lincoln hydroplaned and landed upside down in the ditch on the westbound side.

Garrett was cited for unsafe speed and refused treatment from EMS.

April 21, 2015 - A Shelby County family is without a home following the total destruction of their residence due to fire early Tuesday morning.

County Road 4293 was the scene of the house fire at the Jerry Lawhorn residence on April 21, 2015 at 4:12am to which the Tenaha Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched and Center Fire Department to provide support. When the firemen arrived at the scene, the house was engulfed in flames.

In addition to the home, three vehicles owned by the Lawhorns surrounding the home were on fire as well. According to authorities, when the fire was first discovered a dog within the home was barking and caused the residents to awaken to the sound of popping from the electrical breaker box of the house. The residents were then able to exit the home.

The firemen were able to prevent the further spread of fire to neighboring houses located close by, but were not able to save the home as the fire had progressed too far. While working to put out the fire the firemen discovered the dog, which had alerted the residents to the fire, had perished in the house.

At this time the cause of the fire is unknown, but suspected to be electrical in nature, and the Lawhorn family is in great need of any assistance as they have lost all of their belongings.

Both departments returned to their stations at 6:30am.

April 17, 2015 - Commissioners, County Judge, law enforcement, and members of the community attended a public hearing in the community room of the Shelby County Courthouse on Thursday, April 16, 2015 concerning trash and public nuisances in unincorporated areas of the county.

The prompting for the public meeting being held was because of the number of calls fielded by County Officials concerning trash and public nuisances. Shelby County Judge Allison Harbison explained, "We are aware of the (trash) problem and are very concerned about the problem."

Harbison opened the meeting up inviting the members of the audience who signed to speak to address the commissioners. First to speak was Donnis Adams who addressed health issues he says he has had as the result of dead chickens being dumped on his road. Adams said, "I was diagnosed with Avian TB (tuberculosis) from my neighbor dumping his dead chicken carcasses. If you go out by my driveway right now, I just mowed my yard, there is a pile of white chicken feathers right beside my drive. Now, I want to make sure anything you guys may do does encompass dead animals being dumped in the county." Adams listed health issues he states he now has because of Avian TB which included glaucoma and deteriorated vision leading to blindness in one eye, a hole in his lung the size of a golf ball, hearing problems which he said are the results of the treatments he has undergone to try and kill the Avian TB. He continued to speak about the dumped dead carcasses stating, "It's dangerous to you and it's litter."

Another concerned citizen spoke and also addressed an issue they are having with their neighbor who has farm animals. According to the concerned citizen, the neighbor is disposing of the guts of animals being slaughtered right next to the their property and at times on their property. Photographs were presented to Commissioner Jimmy Lout since it was occurring in his precinct.

Buren Lowe was the last concerned citizen to speak, "Its embarrassing to say that it seems like our county has become so trashy. It's heartbreaking to go down some of our back roads and see the amount of trash that is throwed out." Lowe suggested the county instigate some kind of program which would encourage people to not throw out trash much like the Texas litter campaign - Don't Mess With Texas. "We don't have any place in Shelby County for people to dispose of their goods. I commend the commissioners for being on board again about the recycling program which is a great asset to recycle some of our waste; its really great. I would love to see Shelby County have a landfill that would afford the people of Shelby County [a place] to take their goods because we've got to dispose of them somewhere, there's really no place to dump them," expressed Lowe. He finished saying, "It's just really, really embarrassing being a Shelby County person to drive down our roads and see how bad it looks."

Commissioner Precinct 2 Jimmy Lout spoke about the dumpsters being available; however, the dumpsters don't allow tires or household trash. Sheriff Willis Blackwell said, "That's mainly what we run into on the road is household garbage. That's were the problem is; they don't have anywhere to go with them black sacks coming out of the kitchen." Chief Deputy Shad Sparks expounded on the procedure the Sheriff's Department has when trash dumping is reported, which included, after the investigation reveals to whom the trash belongs, is to give them an opportunity first to pick it up. He said they often find that many of the people dumping don't have the funds to afford monthly trash pickup which means they are also not going to be able to afford a ticket for dumping either. Sparks said, "If they don't pick it up or they are repeat offenders, we write them a dumping ticket. If they can't pay for it, they get an FTA (Failure to Appear) and they go to jail."

The discussion of using prisoners to clean up on work detail was brought up and Sheriff Blackwell answered, "There has to be a certified peace officer to take those prisoners out of that jail and go somewhere with them, so it's not a question of whether a jailer could take them out and work them, we can't. It has to be a certified peace officer with them." Sparks added saying "We would love to have a work detail, that's not an issue with us, everybody is just short-handed right now." It was mentioned that cleaning up the roadways has been used for community service time for people who couldn't pay citations off or for teenagers who had gotten in trouble as a learning lesson or as a deterrent.

There were a number of citizens from Huxley who were unable to attend the meeting. Harbison said, "In the last three and a half months, the ones that I have heard the most about are close to Toledo Bend or on Toledo Bend... I have three or four different things (letters with photographs) here from the same community and I've done some research on it and I have a paper that was prepared by the legal council of the Texas Association of Counties and there are actually laws on the books already that covers public nuisance. It defines the public nuisance and everything that we've talked about today is classified in this as a public nuisance."

"I think that we probably just need to start an abatement program to utilize the laws that are already in the health and safety code. One of the laws says that it's a public nuisance if they're keeping, storing or accumulating rubbish including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves, furniture, tires, cans on the premises in a neighborhood or within 300 feet of a public street for 10 days or more," stated Harbison. She continued, "There are laws already there and I think we should look at enforcing them. I think turning a blind eye to them is not the best way to do it. I just want to let the public know I empathize with their problems and that I really do want to work towards a solution."

Harbison spoke on behalf of the commissioners' court saying, "We really don't want to have a law that impedes anybody from doing anything on their private property because you bought that property and you paid for that property."

The way the law works would be a citizen would file a complaint with the commissioners and they would decided during commissioners' court if it is in fact a public nuisance. If it is approved to be a nuisance, the court would send out a notice giving the property owner a time period to clean it up. If the property owner fails to comply, they can be fined. In the long run the county could hire someone to clean it up and a lien could be placed by the county against the person's property. It would be a civil case.

"I'm not for telling anybody what to do on their property, but if you're living 300 feet of a public road, if it's dead carcasses by your property that is impeding your well being and your health, I think it's our duty to look into this and to do what we can to help the community. I may be dead wrong but I don't think it's infringing on anybody's private rights if the laws that are already on the books are enforced," stated Judge Harbison.

Take pride in your community and help keep it beautiful. Lowe suggested a new slogan - "Don't Trash Shelby County"

•     Educate all your family and friends about littering and how bad it is.
•     If you see a litterbug, you can report it on the Don't Mess With Texas and Texas will send the litterer a Don’t mess with Texas litterbag along with a letter reminding them to keep their trash off of our roads.
•     Form a community service group to help with picking up litter.
•     Foster respect for a clean city among school children, visitors to parks, patrons of fast-food, and smokers.