Polk County News - Breakout

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Onalaska Greater Lions Club supported the local community at the health fair Thursday at the Onalaska High School. November is diabetes month in Lions Clubs and they celebrated by giving free screenings. They also had eye screenings and a display for the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville for children with special needs. COURTESY PHOTO

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By Emily Banks Wooten
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Chad HoltonChad Holton, manager of the Trinity River Authority’s Lake Livingston Project, was the guest speaker for the quarterly membership luncheon of the Livingston-Polk County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday at Cho-Yeh Camp & Conference Center.

“I really feel blessed working for TRA. It’s like a family. Working at the dam has its benefits. I looked out the window this morning and saw four bald eagles eating a fish,” Holton said.

“The Trinity River Basin is the largest watershed that’s entirely in the State of Texas. It is nearly 18,000 square miles and there are 24 reservoirs that are in the watershed,” Holton said, adding, “Pretty much half the State of Texas relies on the reservoir for water.

“Lake Livingston is funded by the City of Houston and TRA. Back in the 50s there was a drought and the City of Houston realized they needed more surface water. It was completed in 1971 and at the time of completion there were 83,000 surface acres, 450 miles of shoreline and 1,750,000 acre-feet. It is operated by TRA and the City of Houston pays 70% of the operating cost,” Holton said.

“The dam is capable of pushing 350,000 cubic feet per second (CFS). The most we’ve ever let out of the dam was 110,600 CFS and that was on Aug. 28, 2017 following Hurricane Harvey and the lake level was 133.64 feet above mean sea level (MSL). We try to keep the reservoir at 131.00 feet above MSL,” Holton said.

“Lake Livingston is a water conservation reservoir for the safe storage of water, providing daily water to 2 million Southeast Texans, with no flood control or storage capabilities. We manage the outflow in order to service river flows,” he said.

“As for our other responsibilities, we have a permit department that monitors all septic systems along the shoreline, and water quality, we operate five sewer treatment plants and perform routine monitoring,” Holton said.

“In 2015 we started construction of the hydropower project which has three eight-megawatt turbines. It took seven years to complete before coming onboard but it does not affect the lake level,” Holton said.

“The past three years we’ve been working on gate rehabilitation, repainting, replacing the seals and bringing the gates up to today’s standards. This is the second time it’s been repainted. You have to install stop logs to be able to paint both sides of the gates. There’s sandblasting but we have a containment system so all that stuff that’s blown off doesn’t contaminate the air. We’re adding structural support. We’ve done six and have six left to do. We hope to be done by summer of 2025,” Holton said.

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Numerous county departments participated in a pumpkin decorating contest at the Polk County Judicial Center Monday in what is hoped will become an annual tradition. Those showing up for jury duty were able to cast votes for their favorite pumpkin. Shown here are two of the contenders – one submitted by the Polk County Court at Law and one submitted by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Courtesy photos

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STOCK PHOTO

By Emily Banks Wooten
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Despite some hardships, the Polk County Jail recently received confirmation from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards that the most recent limited compliance review, conducted in September, demonstrated that the facility remains in compliance with Texas minimum jail standards.

Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons and those that operate the jail, Captain Lawrence Dawson and Lieutenant Matthew Brown, were quick to attribute the successful compliance review to the jail staff and the tenacity with which they do their jobs.

“Passing the compliance review this time around was a big deal because we’re working so short-handed. We’re down 13 jailers and three transport officers,” Lyons said. “The staff has been working really hard. Some coming on their days off. Some working over. The captain and lieutenant have been having to come in and work.”

Citing the strenuous jail standards that must be met, Lyons explained that he is required to have one officer for every 48 inmates. Typically, there is one in control, one in the kitchen and one in booking, although the preference would be to have two in booking. On Thursday, there were 203 inmates in the local jail which requires five jailers, in addition to the three already mentioned.

Lyons said this limited compliance review occurs annually, and an audit, or inspection, occurs every two years.

“This is not just a state issue. This is a national issue,” Lyons said, adding that agencies across the nation are all understaffed. He said he recently attended a mental health conference and learned that Harris County is about 170 jailers short.

When asked if he attributed the shortage to insufficient pay, he said pay always plays a factor but that the overwhelming issue is the ongoing mental health epidemic.

“Your jails and correctional facilities have become mental health facilities. The average age of the applicant pool is 18-25 and 90% of them are female. These inmates are in jail because there is nowhere for them to go. They are violent, they have episodes, they have psychoses,” Lyons said. “Our jailers are in there dealing with this, saying, ‘This isn’t what I signed on for.’”

Chief Deputy Andy Lowrie concurred.

“The state took away the beds needed for mental health. This is a crisis the state needs to take back over and throw money at,” Lowrie said.

“They’re putting more money into outpatient care and that’s great, but some of these people need to be hospitalized,” Lyons said.

“We have four or five right now waiting on beds. There is one that needs help and jail’s not the place for her to get help,” Brown said.

“Locally, we have the Burke Center, but by their protocol, they can’t come into the jail and provide counseling, so we contracted with Serenity House. They come in and counsel and prescribe meds. It’s getting better,” Lyons said.

“They’ve also recently started group sessions,” Brown added.

“These things are helping, but it’s always elevated,” Lyons said.

“I’m so proud of the entire staff of the Polk County Jail, who were working short-staffed, or they were working over and on their days off to maintain the safety and security of the facility and those entrusted to us,” Lyons said. “The folks in the jail have worked hard. They’ve worked their butts off.”

Dawson agreed.

“That’s the hard work of my staff. We really want to recognize our staff and their perseverance,” he said.

To illustrate the perseverance the staff has exhibited, Dawson relayed a quote he recently heard in a training class. The gist of it was that the person breaking the law is the problem. The arresting officer deals with the problem at the time of arrest and the courts deal with the problem once or twice a month, but the jailers deal with the problem 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

While the commission found the local jail to be compliant, there were a few areas where suggestions were made regarding improvements. These suggestions concerned staff signatures to medication, training and exercise logs, as well as emergency generator logs.

“It’s quite involved. We’ve been hanging in there for the last couple years,” Brown said.

The sheriff agreed. “Even with all the adversities they’re facing, they’re still holding the bar and getting things done.”

In other recent activity, the sheriff was pleased to recognize his new chief deputy, Andy Lowrie, who came on board following the retirement of Rickie Childers, the former chief deputy. Lowrie’s in his 29th year in law enforcement, with the bulk of that having been right here in Polk County.

As for the future, the sheriff said he has been thinking outside the box and that starting in January, his department will begin working with the criminal justice students at Livingston High School and will also begin a work program for students that includes a mock jail academy, although the students will have to be 18 before they are eligible for hire at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.