Lufkin hit by tornado.

By Whitney Grunder -
LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - Severe storms ripped through parts of East Texas Wednesday evening. Some Lufkin neighborhoods sustained extensive damage from a possible tornado.

Among them is the Lufkin VFW, which is now gone. The damage comes right after 10,000 dollars worth of recent tile work. A check for the construction was written Wednesday, before the storm hit.

One resident living near Gipson Funeral Home on Chestnut Street even reported seeing caskets in his backyard.
Jakoia Grimes and her children were happy to have made it safely out of their Lufkin apartment, before their entire roof collapsed. "I looked up and I just saw the light from outside and I had my girls come and sit by the door, and within minutes the entire roof caved in," said Grimes, who is now staying with family members.
Jennifer Mays watched the tornado touch down right outside Stephens Court Apartments. She described it as "massive." She said, "I couldn't believe it was so powerful to the point that it just opened up my door."
Next door, owners sifted through what remained of their welding business, part of Lufkin for 25 years. Max's Welding Shop on Denman Avenue was completely destroyed.
Owners said they can't blame God for the severe weather, and that fortunately another shop behind the building stands untouched by the storm.

"I think we're going to be able to salvage some of our equipment. I think we're going to be alright," said co-owner Betty Purgahn.
Cheddars employees also witnessed a tornado touch down in the middle of the Olive Garden parking lot. "I heard a bunch of commotion and they were talking about the patio chairs were nearly about to hit some cars so we ran to try to help," said Cheddars employee Brad Barrow.

According to witnesses, other than damaging a few of the vehicles parked in the Olive Garden parking lot, the tornado did not affect any of the buildings. The Department of Public Safety reported that the tornado lifted back up, and did not cause any injuries.
Utility crews were also working to remedy power outages caused by toppled power poles. Thursday morning, thousands of residents were without power. An Oncor spokesperson said approximately 2,500 customers were without power in the Lufkin area.

So far no severe injuries have been reported.

Captured criminal claimed prison staff helped with escape

by KHOU.com Staff

Posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:50 AM

CONROE, Texas—The escaped prisoner who was the focus of a week-long manhunt told a local activist that he had help from the inside. Convicted child rapist Arcade Comeaux said the weapon he used to hijack guards was in his cell for at least three weeks.

Questions still surround the prison system that allowed Comeaux to dupe authorities for years. The supposedly partially-paralyzed man managed to walk away from the guards and right into controversy.
Authorities are asking two questions; why didn’t prison officials realize Comeaux was faking his medical condition, and where did he get the gun?
Local activist Quanell X said Comeaux told him he had help from the inside.

“He named that guard and he also named someone who is involved in medical who had been giving him medical assistance,” Quanell X said.

But prison officials said Comeaux has not shared that information with investigators so there are no arrests at this time.
“This feels like the inmate is running the asylum,” said a former TDCJ staff member who remembers Comeaux clearly.
“He would sit in the food. Of course it would dry and start smelling. He refused to shower, refused to clean himself, basically saying ‘I’m immobile, I need someone to do this for me.’”

The former staff member said Comeaux orchestrated a deliberate campaign of extortion, despite medical reports that he was able to care for himself. He said Comeaux manipulated the system to get health assistance and better housing.
A grand jury on Thursday will hear the case against the convicted sex offender who was captured in northeast Houston Monday morning.
Comeaux is now facing aggravated kidnapping and felony escape charges. He was in custody in the Montgomery County Jail Tuesday, awaiting his hearing. Comeaux, who is currently serving three life sentences, was found when a salesman saw him trying to hitchhike in front of a business on East Little York.

The salesman called HPD, who came and took Comeaux into custody without incident.
Investigators said Comeaux escaped during transport from a prison unit in Huntsville to one in Beaumont.
As the prison van passed through Conroe, investigators said Comeaux pulled out a gun, held two transport guards hostage, handcuffed them in the back of the van, drove the van to Baytown, took the guards’ weapons, put on one of their uniforms and escaped.

Officials launched an extensive manhunt, but Comeaux managed to elude them for seven days before he was captured.
He had been confined to a wheelchair since 1997 when a stroke purportedly left him partially paralyzed, but when he was taken into custody, Comeaux was walking.

He has been in and out of the Texas prison system for 30 years.
Comeaux was first sent to prison in 1979 on three 10-year sentences for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child and burglary of a building—all out of Harris County. He was paroled four years later.

His parole was revoked and he returned to prison in 1984 to serve a 20-year sentence on a new charge of indecency with a child out of Harris County. He was paroled in 1991 but was in and out of prison for parole violations until 1996.
In June 1998, he was given a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault in Brazos County.
Comeaux was given two extra life sentences after he was convicted of stabbing his wife and another person in 1999. That attack occurred in the Jester III Unit in Fort Bend County when his wife came to visit him. The other person stabbed was a man who tried to stop the attack.

Still, those at the top want to correct the miscommunication between the workers inside prison walls.

“If you are in charge of a prison, and you see there is a disputes between medical’s and correction’s, come to us and ask for laws that would eliminate the controversy, ”said John Whitmire, chairman of the senate criminal justice committee. He is calling for a full investigation of prison and medical staff.

WATCH KHOU VIDEO REPORT HERE

Christmas tree causes East County home fire

This East County mobile home suffered heavy heat and smoke damage from a fire that started near a natural Christmas tree Monday afternoon. The mother and child escaped injury.
Updated: 12.08.09
NEW CANEY – A natural Christmas tree was deemed the cause of a fire Monday afternoon at an East Montgomery County home.

New Caney, Splendora and Porter firefighters responded to a fire at 22195 Betty Lane in the White Oaks Estates subdivision at 1:15 p.m., according to the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire in quick fashion but not before smoke and heat damaged much of the mobile home and its contents.

A 29-year-old mother and her 19-month-old child were not injured, County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams said.

Fire Marshal’s Investigator Roland Morgan determined the fire started in the homeowner’s Christmas tree, which had been in place for a few days. Although these types of fires are not common, they can be deadly under the right conditions, Williams said.

“We have a lot of seasonal fires due to the holiday decorations, and the cold weather conditions,” he said. “We were real fortunate this fire occurred during the day, so no one was injured. It could have been much worse if they had been asleep at night.”

Williams said there were no smoke detectors in the home.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 250 home fires annually that started with Christmas trees per year from 2003-07. Those fires caused an average of 14 deaths, 26 injuries and $13.8 million in direct property damage annually.

On average, one in every 18 reported fires that started with a Christmas tree resulted in death, according to

News Alert: Comeaux now on most wanted list

(CNN) -- A Texas inmate in a wheelchair, who escaped on foot from two armed guards as he was being transferred between prisons, is now on the U.S. Marshals' list of the 15 most-wanted fugitives.
Arcade Comeaux Jr., 49, "produced a weapon and fired upon two correctional officers, took them hostage and forced them to drive to Baytown, Texas," the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.
He then put the officers in the back of the van and took their weapons and one of their uniforms, the statement said.

Comeaux was serving three life sentences for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He escaped Monday during transport from Huntsville, Texas, to Stiles, Texas.
The 6-foot, 200-pound man was shackled and in a wheelchair, "which he had claimed was needed for mobility," Michelle Lyons, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, said in a statement.

About 45 minutes into the trip, as they were driving through Conroe, 40 minutes north of Houston, the prisoner pulled out a pistol and ordered the guards to drive south to Baytown, east of Houston.
He fired once, but hit no one during the escape about 9 a.m., officials said.
Law enforcement officers found the unharmed officers an hour later.

Comeaux was being transferred so he could be near John Sealy Hospital in Galveston for treatment of the supposed paralysis he had suffered during a reported stroke, officials said.

At least $16,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to Comeaux's rearrest and a task force of more than 100 investigators is searching for him, focusing on the Houston area, where he grew up and has family.
His escape has led the man who oversees Texas' criminal justice system to call for a shakeup of the prison system.
"I just think enough's enough," said Sen. John Whitmire, the Texas Democrat from Houston who is chairman of the state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee.

"We need a complete shakeup of the leadership of our prison system and/or an outside review by third parties," he told CNN by phone Wednesday. "We just can't have security breaches of this nature."
Whitmire said the guards had failed to pat down Comeaux while he was in his wheelchair and before they began the trip.
"Sure enough, he has a firearm," he said. "The question is, are there others (in the prison system)? I think you have to assume that there are until you find out differently."

So far this year, more than 900 cell phones have been confiscated from the 112 locations that house the state's 158,000 prisoners. "It's pretty rampant," he said.

"I want the director to come forward and tell us what it's going to take" to solve the problem, he said.
John Moriarty, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said such lapses are highly unusual in the state's penal system. "We have no open gun investigations other than this one," he said. "The last one was several years ago."
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Brad Livingston, who has been in the job since 2005, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Snow forecast in Houston area !

On average, once every four years even Houston gets visited by the Snow Gods. Although, this could be the second year-in-a-row for Houston snow. And if snow does indeed fall this Friday as forecasted, it would be the earliest snowfall on record.

Fred Schmud of ImpactWeather said to the Houston Chronicle, “Most of our forecasting data is caught right in the middle, meaning any subtle change in the position of the upper level disturbance will have huge consequences on how much, if any, snow falls across the Greater Houston area."

Right now NOAA is predicting a 70% chance of snow on Friday.

Breaking the cycle of youth crime

In her nearly three years of handling juvenile cases, Montgomery County Judge Mary Ann Turner has seen a growing number of young people in trouble with the law because of behavior related to a mental health disorder.
Their crimes range from truancy and theft to more serious acts such as family violence and assault. The juveniles are placed in detention, but when they get out their problems often persist.
“I have detention docket three days a week,” said Turner, who presides over Court-at-law No. 4. “I can look out there, and I know half these kids. If you don't address the underlying cause of the behavior with kids at this age, you can release them, and they'll be back.”

To break that cycle, the county has launched a pilot program to get juveniles with mental health needs out of the criminal system and into an intensive program at home. The program matches the child and his family with a juvenile probation officer, a counselor and Tri-County Mental Health Mental Retardation case manager. The team provides treatment and counseling four times a week.

The program is part of a statewide effort to develop more community-based services in an effort to reduce the number of youth in Texas Youth Commission facilities.
State lawmakers this year approved $50 million over the next two years to support juvenile diversion programs. The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission appropriation also included a provision to address mental health needs.
Pressing need

All counties have been given an opportunity to receive a grant to create or expand existing programs.
Montgomery County is receiving $255,500, and will use about $50,000 to expand its at-home program. Harris and Fort Bend counties, which each have mental health programs similiar to Montgomery County, also have accepted grant money. Harris County will get $4.1 million, and Fort Bend will get $204,400.
So far, only 15 counties, including Brazoria County in the Houston area, have not submitted plans to receive funding, state officials said.

While not all grant money will be used to focus on mental health, there is a pressing need for such services statewide, particularly in rural and suburban areas, said juvenile justice officials. In 2008, about 32 percent of young people referred to the juvenile probation system had mental health needs, compared to 25 percent in 2005, according to state records.
“One of the things that's important to recognize is that as they move through the justice system, the prevalence is higher,” said Linda Brooke, director of external affairs for the juvenile probation commission. About 60 percent of juveniles in TYC facilities have mental health issues, which means their needs become more compounded, Brooke said.

Northeast Christian Academy celebrates a ‘Day in Rome’

By JENNIFER SUMMER


Northeast Christian Academy students had the chance to spend a “Day in Rome” where they learned about Roman culture. The program aligns with their Latin curriculum.

On Oct. 27, the students traveled to different stations where they learned the art of putting on a toga, viewed how the city of Rome was constructed, learned about the money of the day, watched a short skit on how the citizens lamented the death of Julius Caesar and several other topics covered by their Latin curriculum.

“We study the Cambridge Latin curriculum, the Minimus series, which is designed to give students exposure to the culture and learn Latin with ease,” Fayee Czarnik, Latin teacher, said.

Fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade students were the demonstrators that taught fellow classmates several different lessons they had learned this year.

The cafeteria of NCA was designed as a Roman marketplace and groups of students went to each booth to hear the story or lesson being taught at that specific section.

“In Minimus, they have several characters like a mouse and the family cat that children can relate to and it gives them a better understanding of the culture and Latin language,” Czarnik said. “We are excited to have the chance to bring a hands-on learning experience and a great opportunity to our students.”

Local warrants issued for TDCJ fugitive

By Jamie Nash
December 2, 2009

CONROE - The man at the center of an escape and manhunt that gained nationwide attention on Monday will be tried in Montgomery County, according to First Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant.

Arcade Joseph Comeaux, Jr. 49, who is serving a life sentence in TDC for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, was believed to be wheelchair bound. But during transport from Huntsville’s Estelle Unit to the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, Comeaux pulled out a gun and took control of his guards and the TDCJ van.

Comeaux is still at large as of this writing. Arrest warrants were issued locally for Comeaux on Tuesday.