Tyler County News

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By Chris Edwards
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WOODVILLE – Less than a month after Woodville police officer Troy Costello returned home from the hospital, after being shot during an incident in September, he is reportedly making great progress.

According to Woodville Chief of Police Mike McCulley, Costello continues to improve “day to day while at home,” and can communicate by mouth, and is now able to drive.

McCulley added that Costello even recently helped with a show-and-tell program at a daycare where his child attends.

McCulley said that Costello is “in good spirits and is eager to recover to be able to return back to work.”

The timeline, according to his doctors, who are optimistic, that he will be able to return to work in six to eight weeks.

Costello was shot in the face during an incident on the morning of Sept. 17 in Woodville, in response to a call of a man causing a disturbance. The suspect, Reginald Owens, a 41-year-old Hemphill resident, was later found by multiple lawmen representing multiple agencies after a manhunt that lasted about an hour. He refused to follow commands, began to reach for his weapon and was shot and killed by deputies with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office.

Costello subsequently endured multiple surgeries and a hospital stay. When he returned home, he found a community united in support for him and his family, with blue ribbons tied around doors, utility poles and other displays of support made public.

Costello’s wife, Dr. Delynda Costello, made a statement on social media to give thanks for all of the support.

“We have been deeply humbled by the prayers, contributions, meals, and support. We truly cannot thank everyone enough, and really wanted to express our gratitude. It was also touching to see the blue ribbons around town, when we came back home.

I know Troy was deeply touched to see so much love and support for him,” she wrote.

Delynda added that Troy has had his stomach tube removed and he recently passed a swallow test, and has been able to eat on his own.

“I know that he is anxious to get completely healed, so that he can go back to serving the community,” she said.

McCulley said that the support from the citizens of the community has been great, and that Woodville PD has submitted an application to the 100 Club for assistance, which is being reviewed.

“The 100 Club representative advised me that most, if not all, of Officer Costello’s expenses and income adjustments will be taken care of,” McCulley said.

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AUSTIN — The Texas Comptroller’s office approved and paid out a record $344 million in unclaimed property during the past fiscal year, Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced recently.

The record in unclaimed property returns tops the $309 million returned to rightful property owners in fiscal 2022, and it is the fourth time in the last five fiscal years the Comptroller’s office has returned $300 million or more in unclaimed property.

“The $344 million represents almost 200,000 claims paid to their rightful owners, and the fact that my office has returned $2.6 billion to Texans since I became Comptroller is a testament to the hardworking folks in our Unclaimed Property Division,” Hegar said. “I encourage everyone to visit ClaimItTexas.gov to see if the state is holding their unclaimed property.”

The Unclaimed Property Division has returned more than $4 billion in unclaimed property to its rightful owners since Texas’ unclaimed property program began in 1962. The state is currently holding more than $8 billion in cash and other valuables through the program.

The $344 million in unclaimed property returned in fiscal 2023 includes forgotten utility deposits or other refunds, insurance proceeds, payroll checks, cashier’s checks, dividends, mineral royalties, dormant bank accounts and abandoned safe-deposit box contents. Businesses generally turn property over to the unclaimed property program after it has been considered dormant for one to five years.

There is generally no statute of limitations for unclaimed property the state holds, which means there’s no time limit for owners to file a claim; they can do so at any time.

For more information about the unclaimed property program, or to search for unclaimed property and begin the claims process, visit the Comptroller’s unclaimed property website, ClaimItTexas.gov, or call 800-321-2274 (CASH).

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By Chris Edwards
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Sidney McCollumWOODVILLE – A Tyler County man who was arrested out-of-state in August, while on the lam, was handed a life sentence last week.

Sidney Fletcher McCollum, a 55-year-old Warren man, was sentenced in the court of District Judge Delinda Gibbs-Walker. He was on the felony docket for multiple child rape charges, including aggravated sexual assault of a child; continuous sexual abuse of a child and sexual assault.

According to Tyler County’s District Attorney Lucas Babin, the investigation on McCollum, conducted by the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office, proved that he had a history of dating single mothers and abusing their young daughters.

McCollum, along with Amber Leann Carnley-McCollum, was arrested in August in in Sevierville, Tenn., during a traffic stop, after Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford had put out a wanted bulletin on asking for the public’s help in locating the duo.

Acording to Babin, although Amber McCollum was charged for participating in abuse of her child with Sidney McCollum, there were “potential weaknesses in the case,” which resulted in prosecutors dismissing her charges in exchange for a life sentence on Sidney. In addition to the life sentence, he also received sentences of 50 years and 20 years for two additional charges, which will run concurrently with the life sentence.

Babin said he believed justice was served. “It’s not every day you get a defendant to agree to a life sentence,” he said, “But I think he saw the handwriting on the wall.”

Babin thanked Weatherford, as well as TCSO investigator Chase Nalley, for their hard work on the case.

McCollum is currently in custody in Tyler County, awaiting transfer to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry database, McCollum has a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender with the county sheriff’s department in his county of residence, annually. His previous two convictions on indecency with a child charges stem from 1998, when he was sentenced to 10 years’ probation on the charges.