Tyler County News

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By Chris Edwards
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Jama WiseWOODVILLE – A suspect in a shooting that occurred on Tuesday, July 4, was taken into custody the same day, according to Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford.

According to Weatherford, deputies with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported shooting that occurred at a scene along County Road 4470 (MLK), at approximately 5:44 p.m. on Tuesday. The deputies were told that the victim had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the neck, face, torso and buttocks, according to Weatherford.

When the deputies arrived, they were able to locate and take Jama Dalee Wise, a 46-year-old Hillister resident, into custody without incident.

Weatherford said a crime scene was established around the area before search warrants were executed on the residence and on a vehicle.

“During a search of the crime scene, deputies and investigators were able to recover physical evidence along with multiple witness statements,” Weatherford said.

Wise was booked into the Tyler County Jail where he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and according to Weatherford, is awaiting magistration.

The name of the victim has not been released at this time.

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By Jayme Lozano Carverand Pooja Salhotra
The Texas Tribune

Texas will receive more than $3.3 billion in federal money — the most of any state — to help expand broadband availability statewide, the Biden administration announced Monday.

The money will be distributed from the $42.45 billion in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program as part of President Joe Biden’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The funds aim to connect more than 8.5 million households and small businesses nationwide — and nearly 2.8 million of those households without broadband are in Texas. Each state received at least $107 million.

Separately, the BEAD program includes more than $14 billion in funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which makes broadband service more affordable for eligible households nationwide (and can be applied for now), $2 billion for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, and $2 billion for the Department of Agriculture’s Reconnect Program that provides loans and grants to build broadband infrastructure in eligible rural areas.

Texas and the other states can submit initial funding proposals from July 1 through Dec. 27. After the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approves proposals, which will occur on a rolling basis, states and territories will be able to access at least 20% of their funds. The Texas Broadband Development Office will allocate the funds, which will go to where the state and federal broadband maps indicate service is needed. However, service providers and local officials have disputed the accuracy of those maps.

The Biden administration has compared its investment in broadband to the 1936 Rural Electrification Act, which offered low-cost loans to help bring electricity to rural areas.

“Whether it’s connecting people to the digital economy, manufacturing fiber optic cable in America, or creating good paying jobs building internet infrastructure in the states, the investments we’re announcing will increase our competitiveness and spur economic growth across the country for years to come,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement Monday.

The $3.3 billion federal allotment will boost investments made by Texas lawmakers during this year’s legislative session. House Bill 9, filed by State Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, allocates $1.5 billion to expand internet availability in the state. Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 9 into law this month, and Texans will vote on the final approval of the funds in November.

“The Legislature had the forethought to put up $1.5 billion this session toward further broadband deployment and to leverage the full potential of the federal funding set aside for the state,” said A.J. Rodriguez, executive vice president of Texas 2036, a data-based think tank. “This is one of many crucial down payments they made this session. It targets Texas’ rural communities and underserved pockets of our urban areas so that those Texans can fully participate in the 21st century digital economy.”

Ashby said the state has never been in a better position to increase connectivity, with billions of dollars in store to improve broadband and telecommunications infrastructure.

“I’m very pleased the state of Texas stands to receive more federal grant funding for broadband deployment than any other state,” Ashby told the Tribune. “By awarding Texas with over $3.3 billion, the NTIA has reaffirmed our long-standing belief that there is an urgent need to deliver reliable high-speed internet to the people of Texas.”

In a statement released Monday, the Texas Cable Association applauded the funding announcement, saying the investment will play a big role in closing the state’s digital divide.

“We look forward to working with state leaders to ensure unserved and underserved communities are prioritized for connectivity and that strong guardrails are established to protect these investments from wasteful abuse,” the association said in their statement.

According to a statement, the Biden administration expects that all states and territories will now have the resources to connect everyone in the country by 2030.

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STOCK PHOTO

By Chris Edwards
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TOWN BLUFF – A traffic stop along FM 92 in Town Bluff last Thursday afternoon resulted in a pair of arrests after the discovery of drugs and a warrant.

According to Pct. 3 Constable Tony Reynolds, he was patrolling the area and observed a vehicle with “multiple violations.” The driver, 49-year-old Troy Lee Bohler, of Woodville, had no driver license, no proof of insurance “and multiple other vehicle violations,” Reynolds said. Christopher Allen Bohler, a 47-year-old Woodville resident, was the other occupant of the vehicle, and Reynolds said he had an active warrant out of Tyler County for possession of a controlled substance.

Reynolds searched the vehicle and discovered a clear plastic bag containing a crystalline substance, which field-tested positive for methamphetamine, along with two glass pipes, both of which had a white residue in them.

“Christopher Bohler admitted that the substance I found in the vehicle belonged to him and he identified it as meth,” Reynolds said.

Both men were taken into custody and transported to the Tyler County Jail. Troy Bohler was charged with no driver license and Christopher Bohler was charged with the active warrant and felony possession of a controlled substance.

Troy Bohler was released, while Christopher Bohler is still in custody.

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A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aerial photo showing Dam B after drawdown. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

By Chris Edwards
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DAM B – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced last week that it will commit a near-complete drawdown of B.A. Steinhagen Lake for needed repairs.

The repairs, according to the USACE (Fort Worth District Water Management), must be done to the Robert D. Willis Powerhouse. The drawdown began on Monday, and the target elevation is 58 feet above mean sea level (msl) by Monday, July 17. The lake’s normal elevation is 82.5 feet above msl. According to the timetable provided by the Army Corps of Engineers, the lake level should be back at its normal elevation by early August.

Although the schedule calls for the lake to begin filling up by July 26, the “rate of rise will depend on inflow from the Neches River, Sam Rayburn Dam releases on the Angelina River through hydropower

generation, and what the downstream flow requirements are at that time,” according to a statement from the USACE.

The drawdown will eliminate access to the lake, as all of the boat ramps will be dry. The USACE estimated the repair work to take from three to 10 days, all depending on the conditions at the site and the weather.

A statement from USACE noted that “every effort will be made to return the lake to a usable elevation as quickly as possible.”

All of the public access to the east end day use area, the Town Bluff Dam spillway, fishing platforms at the powerhouse and the east side of the floodgates will be closed.

Another factor in the returning levels of the lake are water requirements from the Lower Neches Valley Authority, which will partially dictate the Town Bluff dam’s release rate.

According to USACE, the public access should be restored in time for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The last time Steinhagen was drained for repair work was in the summer of 2019, when repairs were made to the spillway.