Shelby County Today

April 14, 2023 - The Center Garden Club is on the inside of the Center downtown historic square on the Nacogdoches Street side with a variety of plants to sell for their annual plant sale. They will be there until 12 noon today, April 14, 2023.

A wide variety of plants are available, such as succulents, bromeliads, Kalanchoes, begonias, verbenas, stagleaf ferns, etc., as well many indigenous plants. All offered at VERY reasonable pricing.

Do come early while the plant selection is at its best; you are sure to find many of Nature’s delights that can be yours!

April 10, 2023 - The Tenaha Police Department has received a supply of Narcan to help in the event a citizen has been the victim of an overdose of an opioid, or in the event an officer has been exposed to such a substance while performing their duties.

Abigail Riley, BSN, RN, with Christus Health, was informed of the need and made the connection to be able to help bring Narcan to Tenaha.

“I was told that they needed some Narcan,” said Riley. “At Christus we have started a program where, since we’re not for profit, we’re still able to get government funding for Narcan where for law enforcement the funding has been really cut.”

Riley is able to order the Narcan, and through Christus, is able to provide Narcan to places in need. She delivers the supply, and then helps train the officers who would likely utilize it on how to identify signs and symptoms, as well as how to administer the lifesaving drug.

Tenaha’s location in Shelby County at an intersection of major U.S. highways, increases the likelihood of illegal substances traveling through, and therefore the need for Narcan should someone be exposed to an opioid.

“Especially here being on 59, I feel like this is probably a really important place to have some,” said Riley. “I think there is actually a shortage of Narcan currently and, so anyway we can help in the community that’s our goal.”

Illegal substances are constantly being addressed by law enforcement agencies, and with a higher prevalence of Fentanyl being reported nationwide, exposure is of great concern to officers.

“If they were to come across something and come across Fentanyl in the air and breathe it in they would need to be able to dose themselves,” said Riley.

Tenaha Police Chief Scott Burkhalter agrees the danger is constant to members of the community, and different forms of drugs are a major issue in Shelby County.

“People are OD’ing all the time, I’ve taken personally 10 calls since I’ve been here [at Tenaha PD] of possible OD,” said Chief Burkhalter. “EMS could be busy, or a little ways away, so this will be handy for that.”

There are several different delivery systems for Narcan, but the boxes that have been provided by Christus are delivered to the patient nasally. An added bonus of the Narcan, is there aren’t supposed to be any negative effects from the drug.

Riley explained how simple the Narcan nasal doses are to administer right out of the box, but they can be expensive for a law enforcement agency to budget at $100 a box, which could potentially go toward one incident. She said she has a soft spot for law enforcement officers with her brother also being an officer, and she likes the community aspect of helping to provide the Narcan where it’s needed most.

Riley helped describe how the Narcan works as an opiod antagonist and helps the patient to fight back against an addictive substance like Hydrocodone, Oxycontin, or Fentanyl.

“The opiod in that is going to bind to receptors and this knocks those opioids off the receptor and it’s going to bind to the receptor instead of the opioid,” said Riley. “The problem is, opioids usually have a longer life in your system than these, so you might have to do multiple doses depending on how much opioid you have in your system.”

As the symptoms of someone overdosing increase, the need for someone to receive a dose of Narcan becomes greater.
This article is copied from Shelby County Today without permission.
“When you’re overdosing on opioid typically you start having shallower breathing, lower heart-rate, you might pass out,” said Riley. “You might stop breathing completely, and so knocking those opioids of your receptors and getting this there is going to get you breathing, and hopefully it lasts for the EMS to get there, if not you have two in the box.”

Common opioid drugs which officers and citizens may come into contact include:

• Morphine: MSir, Avinza, Kadian, MS Contin, Oramorph SR, Embeda
• Oxymorphone: Opana IR, Opana ER
• Fentanyl; Actiq, Duragesic, Mylan
• Methadone: Dolophine, Methadose
• Hydromorphone: Dilaudid, Exalgo
• Meperidine: Demerol, Mepergan
• Buprenorphine: Suboxone, Subutex, Zubsolv, Bunavail, Butrans
• Sufentanil: Dsuvia
• Tramadol: Ultram, Ultram ER, Ultracet
• Codeine, Tylenol #3 and #4, Tylenol with Codeine, TyCo
• Hydrocodone: Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet, Norco, Compounded SR, Zohydro
• Propoxyphene: Darvon, Darvocet
• Tapentaol: Nucynta
• Oxycodone: OxyIR, Percocet, Tylox, OxyContin, Roxicodone, Percodan
• Heroin

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April 5, 2023 - VFW Post 8904 Veterans and Auxiliary members honored those veterans who served in Somalia during a ceremony held March 31, 2023.

The program was opened with a prayer led by Kenneth Ramsey, Post Chaplain, and the ceremony was led by Larry Hume, Post Quartermaster.

A moment of silence was observed for those nine Army veterans who were killed when two helicopters recently collided in Kentucky.

Post Quartermaster Larry Hume stated, "Americans consider themselves to be a compassionate people, and the United States military has a long tradition of humanitarian relief operations both within and outside the continental United States, but never has this humanitarian impulse proven more dangerous to follow than in 1992 when the United States intervened to arrest famine in the midst of an ongoing civil war in the East African country of Somalia."

Hume continued, “Ultimately hundreds of thousands were saved from starvation, but unintended involvement in Somalian civil strife cost the lives of 30 American soldiers, four Marines, and eight Air Force personnel during the years of 1992 to 1994. The American military had established the conditions for peace in the midst of a famine and civil war but unlike later in Bosnia, the factions were not exhausted from the fighting and were not yet willing to stop killing each other and anyone caught in the middle. There was no peace to keep and the United States withdrew all military combat troops in March of 1994.

“The American G.I. had as always done their best under difficult circumstances to perform a complex, and often confusing mission, but the best military in the world can only lay the foundation for peace; they cannot create peace itself."

In honor of the Veterans who served in Somalia, Post member Sean Martin placed the the memorial wreath. Taps was then sounded as presented by Past Post Commander Gene Hutto in honor of those lost in Somalia and those who served and survived, but have since passed.

Pictured above are (from left): John Michael Burns, Board President; Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1; Marlene Hernandez, SCCAC staff; Allison Harbison, Shelby County Judge; Denise Merriman, SCCAC Executive Director; Collin Mathews, SCCAC Board member; Jimmy Lout, Commissioner Precinct 2; Anabel Emmons, SCCAC Board member; Stevie Smith, Commissioner Precinct 2; Veronica Berry, Juvenile Probation Officer; and Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4.

April 5, 2023 - The Shelby County Commissioners designated April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month during their meeting held Wednesday, April 5, 2023.

Before approving the proclamation Allison Harbison, Shelby County Judge, read it aloud as follows:

“Whereas, during the month of April 2023 Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center will observe National Child Abuse Prevention Month to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect and create strong communities to support the strengthening and healing of abused children and their non-offending family members, and

“Whereas, each year multiple Shelby County Children are confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect and it’s prevention is a count-wide responsibility, and

“Whereas, Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center serves abused and neglected children, as well as their non-offending family members each year, and

“Whereas, it is important to remember that children are our future, and we must nurture and protect them and provide a safe environment in which they will grow and prosper.

“Now, therefore be it resolved that the Commissioners Court of the County of Shelby hereby recognizes and proclaims April 2023 to be Child Abuse Prevention Month in Shelby County, Texas and urges all citizens to work together to help significantly reduce child abuse and neglect in our community.”

Denise Merriman, Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center Executive Director, shared some of the statistics from the past year involving children they have served.

“I think our families served was about 250, and then that includes about 150 new victims,” said Merriman. “That’s pretty consistent what we see year to year.”

She further elaborated on the continuing issue in Shelby County and an exciting and hopeful thing she says CACTX who most of their grants come through is shifting focus to try and end child sexual abuse.

“We’re just hopeful in that effort it’s going to make a huge dent in the number of cases we see,” said Merriman. “I think that’s always been, I think in the back of everyone’s mind, ‘Can we end this? Can we do something to stop it? What are we doing on the prevention side?’ Instead of just the detection and treatment.”