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March 24, 2017 - The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Southwestern De Soto Parish in northwestern Louisiana, Northwestern Sabine Parish in northwestern Louisiana, and Eastern Shelby County in eastern Texas until 1015 PM CDT.
At 938 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Patroon, or 12 miles southeast of Center, moving northeast at 50 mph.
HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.
Locations impacted include Mansfield, Logansport, Patroon, Shelbyville, Neuville, Huxley, South Mansfield, Keachi, Grand Cane, Longstreet, Stanley, Hurstown and Jordans Store.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS
Remain alert for a possible tornado! Tornadoes can develop quickly from severe thunderstorms. If you spot a tornado go at once into the
basement or small central room in a sturdy structure.
For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building.
A tornado watch remains in effect until 3AM CDT for northwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas.
March 24, 2017 - Tornado Watch 82 in in effect until 3am March 25, 2017 for the following counties: Angelina, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby.
Strong to severe thunderstorms will move east across the area. Although damaging wind gusts main threat, tornadoes and large hail also possible. Brief but very heavy rainfall and frequent deadly lighting strikes can be expected as well.
March 24, 2017 - (Photos Submitted) - Fire claimed a house on Upper Arcadia Road Thursday, March 23, 2017 and the Center Fire Department responded to extinguish the flames.
According to the Center Fire Department (CFD), at 5:40pm firemen responded to the scene at 566 CR 1435 to the home owned by Charles Paxton who had been doing some construction to the residence with the intent of moving in at a later date.
For an unknown reason, the house ignited into flames and quickly became fully involved. The CFD delivered a couple of loads of water to the scene using their tanker truck and used a grass truck to prevent further spread of a grass fire which developed as a result of the house fire.
The firemen went back in service at the fire station at 9:20pm.
March 24, 2017 - An incident occurred Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at the Shelby County Courthouse resulted in one courtroom being locked as a precaution and not the whole courthouse.
Christopher Jamar Cartwright of Shelbyville was scheduled to appear in the 123rd Judicial District Court of Judge LeAnn Kay Rafferty Wednesday morning. Upon entering the courthouse, he was instructed by Shelby County Deputy Danny Brown to empty items in his pockets before passing through the metal detector and being allowed to go upstairs to the District courtroom which is standard procedure.
Cartwright displayed an agitated behavior and was speaking loudly to Deputy Brown drawing the attention of others in the building. One employee who was traveling upstairs to the courtroom of Rafferty did instruct Courthouse Security, Bailiff Officer Walter Shofner, of the situation occurring downstairs between Deputy Brown and Cartwright.
Officer Shofner then proceeded downstairs with two additional deputies in the courtroom to assess the situation and before they arrived, Cartwright left the building.
According to Officer Shofner, he was later informed Judge Rafferty's courtroom was locked after the deputies left to go downstairs. However, the courthouse was not locked-down. Officer Shofner said, "We came to see what was going on and he left, got in the car and left. [He] left real fast, he was mad I guess. He was later stopped by some other departments for some other reasons, not because of what happened here."
Cartwright was arrested by the Center Police Department Sergeant Ricky King at 12:39pm on March 22, 2017 and he was transferred to the Shelby County Jail on March 23, 2017 for possession of a controlled substance.
Cartwright was to appear in court Wednesday morning for three indictments filed February 1, 2017 in the Judicial District Court of Shelby County.
Due to Cartwright not appearing in court Wednesday morning, three orders were filed forfeiting Cartwright's bonds and capias issued for arrest with a bond preset at $30,000 with a hearing required for each of the three indictments.
Two indictments were for Obstruction or Retaliation, third degree felony, alleging on February 26, 2016 Cartwright threatened to harm Trooper Dustin Ramos, as a public servant. The third indictment was for Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence, third degree felony, alleging on February 26, 2016 Cartwright during the arrest of an individual intentionally concealed or removed items from the vehicle with intent to impair its availability as possible evidence.
The courthouse was open the entire day other than vehicle registration being closed for hardware updates.
Judge Rafferty is on the Commissioners' Court Agenda for Monday, March 27 to address the Court about security issues.
Severe Weather Approaching SWEPCO Service Area TODAY, 3-24-17: Check out our new Outage Map
March 24, 2017 - Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) upgraded its online outage map late last year to an interactive map with detailed information about individual outages without logging into a SWEPCO account.
View the map at SWEPCO.com/OutageMap on your desktop, smartphone or tablet.
The new map provides information about every outage, rather than just summary information when more than 100 customers are out in a particular parish or county, as the previous map showed.
Outages are searchable by street address, city, zip code, and county or parish.
The map refreshes every 15 minutes to provide up-to-date information, including:
- The date and time the outage was first reported
- The estimated time when service will be restored
- The number of customers without service due to a specific incident
- The cause of the outage (when available)
- The total number of customers currently without service
Our improved map will be helpful in keeping you up to date, particularly in emergency situations.
There is a Help button on the lower left-hand side, where you can find a Q&A and a video tutorial to help you make the most of the map. Please take a moment to check out the new map.
March 22, 2017 - The Shelby County vehicle registration office located at the Shelby County Courthouse is closed Wednesday, March 22, 2017 for computer maintenance.
The office is scheduled to reopen Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 9am.
The property tax portion of the office remains open.
March 22, 2017 - State Highway 87 just south of the Shelbyville ISD bus barn was the scene of a single-vehicle crash, and sending the driver to the hospital.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety state Trooper Jimmy Faulkner, at 8am Kasandra Garduza, 23, of Center was southbound in a 2006 dark grey Ford Escape when she failed to maintain a single lane and left the roadway to the right.
Garduza lost control of the Ford as it struck a culvert and overturned coming to rest on its drivers side, facing north. Garduza was wearing her seatbelt when the crash occurred and the airbag did deploy.
When help arrived, she was exiting the vehicle and complaining of injuries.
ACE EMS was dispatched to the scene and transported Garduza to Nacogdoches Medical Center - Center Emergency Department for treatment of her injuries.
Garduza complained of a possible obstruction in her windshield, causing her to leave the road. She was issued citations for fail to maintain a single lane, and no driver’s license.
Assisting at the scene were Jamie Hagler, Constable Precinct 2, and a member of the U.S. Forest Service who provided medical attention until EMS arrived.
Assisting Trooper Faulkner with the crash investigation were Trooper Taylor Buster and Trooper Richard Hill.
March 21, 2017 - Officials with the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, Sabine National Forest, have advised a prescribed burn located in Compartment 13 & 14, 2,747 acres March 21, 2017. This area is located in Boles Field.
This area is located north of Farm Market Highway 2694. Winds are predicted from the Southwest at 6 – 10 mph.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Sabine Ranger District office (409-625-1940)
March 20, 2017 - A woman involved in a single-vehicle crash on State Highway 87 (SH 87) just south of FM 415 outside of Timpson has been flown by helicopter to a hospital in Shreveport.
First responders were dispatched to the crash scene just before 1:15pm Monday, March 20, 2017.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety State Trooper Keith Jones, a red and black Polaris Ranger XP side-by-side driven by Angie Snow, 40, of Timpson was southbound on SH 87 just south of FM 415. About 150 feet before a large culvert, the Polaris left the roadway to the right and then off the edge of the culvert where it flipped over, ejecting Snow.
Timpson Volunteer Fire Department (TVFD) directed traffic at the scene and assisted ACE EMS in moving Snow to an ambulance. It was determined a helicopter was necessary to transport Snow and one was requested. The TVFD shut down SH 87 to allow for the helicopter to land on the highway.
Life Air Rescue transported Snow from the scene to LSU Hospital in Shreveport for treatment of her injuries.
DPS Trooper Jones was assisted at the scene by Trooper Taylor Buster and Trooper Richard Hill.
The crash remains under investigation at this time.
March 15, 2017 - Emergency personnel responded to a two-vehicle crash on Tenaha Street (U.S. Highway 96 North) in Center Tuesday, March 14, 2017 when one vehicle was left blocking the roadway at around 3:30pm.
A 16-year-old minor female of Center was exiting the EZ Mart parking lot driving a white Jeep Cherokee when she failed to yield to a northbound white Honda driven by Clara Clary, 66.
As a result of the Jeep traveling into the roadway the Honda struck the area of the driver's side door of the Jeep causing major damage to the front of the Honda. The Honda remained in the roadway and the Jeep was able to be moved to a private driveway across the road.
Zack Warr, Constable Precinct 1, was first to arrive on scene and blocked traffic until Center Police officers arrived to investigate while Center Fire Department firemen directed traffic around the scene.
ACE EMS transported Clary from the scene with non life threatening injuries to Nacogdoches Medical Center - Center Emergency Department for treatment. The 16-year-old driver refused treatment from EMS and her vehicle was able to be driven from the scene.
The Honda was towed from the crash. No citations were issued at the crash.
Center Police Officer Andrew Williams investigated the crash assisted by Center Police Officer Chris King.
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