Tyler County News

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Special to the Booster

from the American Red Cross

Hurricanes are becoming more intense and more destructive as these storms bring increased rainfall and higher storm surges due to the worsening climate crisis. Of the 10 most costly weather disasters in U.S. history, eight are hurricanes.

These powerful storms not only cause problems for people in coastal areas but can also cause damage hundreds of miles inland. The American Red Cross is preparing to respond if necessary and urges everyone to get ready too.

Decide how to best protect your home from high winds and flooding. Plan how you will evacuate and how you will shelter safely at home. Take three important steps get a kit, make a plan and be informed. Learn more here.

Some people may need extra attention during an emergency. For them, planning ahead is crucial. And don’t forget your pets they depend on you for their safety.

STEPS FOR OLDER ADULTS

Understand how your medical, physical and cognitive needs may affect your ability to respond to an emergency.

Consider what you may need if the power goes out, you have to stay home for two weeks or more, or if you have to evacuate.

What help do you need and who can help you.

Identify helpers include family, friends, neighbors, caregivers and care providers to build your network of people who may be able to assist you or that you can assist.

Meet with your helpers to assess your needs and plan together.

If you require power to operate medical devices or keep medicines cold, make a back-up plan.

Keep at least 30 days of medications and extra items such as a cane or eyeglasses. Plan for your food needs if you follow a special diet.

Get batteries to back up devices that require power.

Keep an up-to-date list of medical information conditions, allergies, medications, prescription records, doctors and insurance cards.

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Mobility, hearing, learning, or seeing disabilities can create specific needs for individuals responding to an emergency.

Create a personal support network and make a plan after thinking about these topics:

Do you regularly need assistance with personal care? Do you use adaptive equipment to help you get dressed? Do you use a shower chair, tub-transfer bench or other similar equipment? Do you use special utensils that help you prepare or eat food independently?

How will you continue to use equipment that runs on electricity.? Do you have a safe back-up power supply and how long will it last?

Do you need a specially equipped vehicle or accessible transportation?

Do you need help leaving to your home or office? Can you reach and activate an alarm? Will you be able to evacuate independently? How will you call for help to leave the building?

Will you be able to care for your service animal during and after a disaster?

If you use a wheelchair, make exits from your home wheelchair accessible. If you use an electric wheelchair or scooter, have a manual wheelchair for back-up.

Know how to connect and start a back-up power supply for your essential medical equipment.

If you are vision impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, plan ahead for someone to convey essential emergency information to you if you are unable to use the TV or radio.

CREATE A PET EMERGENCY PLAN

The Red Cross encourages people to develop emergency preparedness plans for themselves and their pets. When possible, Red Cross shelter workers will do all they can to accommodate domesticated pets comfortably, however, depending on the situation, pets may need to be housed in a different location. Service animals that assist people with disabilities are allowed in Red Cross shelters.

Know which hotels and motels along your evacuation route will accept pets in an emergency. Call ahead for reservations if you know you may need to evacuate. Ask if no-pet policies could be waived in an emergency.

Know which friends, relatives, boarding facilities, animal shelters or veterinarians can care for your animals in an emergency. Prepare a list with phone numbers.

Include your pets in evacuation drills so that they become used to entering and traveling in their carriers calmly.

Make sure that your pet’s vaccinations are current and that all dogs and cats are wearing collars with securely fastened, have up-to-date identification.

Consider having your pet “microchipped” by your veterinarian.

Create a pet emergency kit place the following items in a sturdy, easy-to-carry container:

Sturdy leashes, harnesses and/or carriers to transport pets safely and ensure that they can’t escape.

Food, drinking water, bowls, cat litter/pan and a manual can opener if your pet eats canned food.

Medications and copies of medical records stored in a waterproof container.

A first aid kit.

Current photos of you with your pet(s) in case they get lost. Since many pets look alike, this will help to eliminate mistaken identity and confusion.

Information on feeding schedules, medical conditions, behavior problems, and the name and number of your veterinarian in case you have to foster or board your pets.

Pet beds and toys, if easily transportable.

MORE GOOD STEPS TO TAKE

Download the free Red Cross First Aid app so you’ll know what to do if emergency help is delayed and the free Emergency app for weather alerts, open Red Cross shelter locations and safety steps for different emergencies. Choose whether you want to view the content in English or Spanish with an easy-to-find language selector. Pet owners can download the Red Cross Pet First Aid app for more information on how to include pets in emergency preparedness plans and step-by-step instructions for first aid emergencies and more. Find these and all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

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By Chris Edwards
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AUSTIN – Last week, the organization Raise Your Hand Texas announced its list of the 100 legislators designated as “Public Education Champion Award” recipients. Both Senator Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) and Rep. Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin) were named to the list.

In a news release from the organization, its executive director Dr. Michelle Smith said the award “honors that steadfast commitment to the legislators’ local community when making decisions at our Texas Capitol.”

Smith cited the legislators named to the list as being steadfastly opposed to school vouchers, which have been a hot topic throughout the 88th Legislature, and a priority of Gov. Greg Abbott.

While attempts to create a voucher program were unsuccessful, with both Nichols and Ashby voting against various legislation, including an education savings account program that spawned in the Senate, Abbott has said that in one of the upcoming special sessions, “education freedom” will be the focus.

Smith said that in Texas, public education leaders, as well as legislators, are continually fighting “political forces and well-funded out-of-state organizations from across the United States that want to reshape public education with little or no accountability and transparency.”

“These 100 legislators are doing the most for their communities and public schools,” said Smith.

School voucher legislation has failed in the past in the state legislature. Polling from the Charles Butt Foundation shows that a majority (89%) of Texans polled are satisfied with the quality of public schools in Texas, while 82% of those polled said they would keep their child/children in their current public school, if given other options. Fifty-four percent, the poll showed, also oppose school vouchers.

Raise Your Hand Texas, according to its website, is a non-partisan, non-profit organization, committed to supporting public policy solutions that invest in the state’s public school student population, and advocates for innovation and autonomy toward the goal of college and workforce readiness.

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By Chris Edwards
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EAST TEXAS – Days with triple-digit-plus highs have been the norm for most of the summer, and the National Weather Service issued, on Sunday, a weeklong excessive heat warning.

Such factors likely have many folks in the area wondering if relief is anywhere in sight. One glimmer of hope could be found in The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which released its 2023-24 winter forecast this week.

According to the Almanac’s website, predictions show Texas to be unusually cold and stormy this year in the wintertime.

The extended winter forecast published to the Almanac website stated “The BRRR is back,” and that “[w]inter weather is making a comeback,” following a warm winter anomaly last year, nationwide.

In its overview of the country’s different regions, the Almanac predicted that Texans “will need to bundle up, as unseasonably cold weather is forecast throughout January and February, with a possible major winter storm in mid-January.”

The Almanac states that its forecasts are based on a mathematical and astronomical formula. Reportedly, the publication’s methodology is a closely guarded secret, and Almanac forecasters have denied using any satellites or weather-tracking equipment, but the formula, a secret, was created by an astronomer/mathematician in 1918.

Although the winter season officially begins on Thursday, Dec. 21, the meteorological winter season begins the first day of December. The Almanac predicts that along with unseasonably cold Texas winter weather, neighboring states, such as New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas, will receive plentiful snowfall, and in some areas, possible blizzard conditions.

Last winter’s predictions from the Almanac called for a chilly season with normal precipitation in most of Texas.

The Texas Department of Emergency Management did report statewide below-freezing conditions in late December of 2022.

The Almanac’s summation of the season states that indications of an El Nino (an abnormally high-water temperature off the Pacific Coast of South America) will be brewing in the latter half of the year, and last until the winter of 2024. This could mean that cold temperatures could occur nationwide, with snow, sleet and ice.

At present, there is a rare La Nina pattern, which sees warmer and drier weather, and the NOAA Climate Prediction Center gives the odds of continuation of this pattern at 62-66% through the early winer.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been in publication annually since 1792, making it the oldest continuously published periodical in the country. It is published every September, and features a variety of information, including forecasts, planting charts, recipes, feature stories and folklore.

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By Chris Edwards
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TOWN BLUFF – A Hardin County man was arrested last week on multiple charges in Town Bluff.

According to Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford, deputies with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office were patrolling in Town Bluff late Friday afternoon along FM 92 south, and during a traffic stop, a man who the officers knew to be wanted on multiple felony offenses, jumped out of the back door of the vehicle they had stopped.

Billy Gene Stephens, a 48-year-old Silsbee man, began to run down a road toward the dam spillway at Town Bluff. He was apprehended by the officers after a pursuit. After the arrest, the deputies located a crystal-like substance with the consistency of methamphetamine in the pocket of Stephens’ pants, along with marijuana.

Stephens was booked into the Tyler County Jail and charged with a variety of offenses, including the meth possession charge; evading arrest or detention on foot. He had several warrants on charges ranging from abandoning or endangering a child; evading arrest or detention and a no bond warrant for his third driving while intoxicated arrest out of Jasper County.

Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace Jim Moore set Stephens’s bond at $90,500.