DPS troopers will increase patrols during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in an effort to make holiday travel safer on Texas roads.
PRESS RELEASE, Dec. 22, 2008 -- DPS troopers will increase patrols during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in an effort to make holiday travel safer on Texas roads.
Of special concern, is drinking and driving during the holidays. Troopers also will focus on speeders and seat belt violators. All available troopers will be on patrol from Wednesday, December 24 through Sunday, December 28, and again on Wednesday, December 31 and Thursday, January 1.
During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays last year, DPS troopers issued a total of 28,000 citations and 14,000 warnings, including 919 DWI arrests, 19,612 speeding tickets and 3,379 safety restraint violations. DPS statistics suggest tickets and drunken driving arrests by troopers double during holiday enforcement periods.
“The best present you can give to yourself and your loved ones is to make sure you arrive safely at your holiday destination—most traffic deaths are preventable,” said interim DPS Director Stanley E. Clark. “We feel our efforts, in conjunction with increased enforcement from other agencies, will make the holidays just a little bit safer. DPS prefers voluntary compliance, but we write citations and arrest drunk drivers to save lives.”
DPS offers the following advice as gifts to the traveling public:
* Drive with courtesy; it’s contagious. Remember, it’s the holidays!!!
* Slow down—especially in bad weather, construction areas and heavy traffic.
* Don’t drink and drive; get a designated driver.
* Buckle up everyone in the vehicle.
* Keep cell phone chatter to a minimum, and avoid texting.
* Avoid drowsy driving.
* Make sure your vehicle is properly maintained.
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Erika Camacho has been found and returned. Her boyfriend remains wanted and at large.
See the full BeyondMissing update.
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Texas Comptroller Susan Combs takes the measure of online financial reporting by counties, and finds Upshur to be one among many counties not posting all of it's records on the web.
Texas counties are not legally required to post financial records online. Under the "Open Records" law, county financial information is available to the public, in paper form, upon request. Some counties go a step further though, and post the information online, making the information far easier for the public to access.
That open approach is known as transparency, and it makes it easy for citizens to examine documents, question decisions, root out inefficiencies and hold officials accountable for the way tax dollars are spent.
Texas Transparency Check-up is a website launched by the Comptroller earlier this year to gauge just how open and user friendly each county in Texas is.
The site looks online for a county's budget, financial report and check register.
According to the site, 109 counties currently post no records online, and only 3, (Collin, Grayson and Tarrant) post all three record sets. Upshur posts it's budgets and financial reports, joining the majority of counties that post some records, but not check registries.
Another website, Texas Budget Source, tracks the financial postings of the state's Independent School Districts. Like counties, online posting is not a legal requirement for school districts.
While fairly comprehensive, the site is in error in several regards:
- It reports in error that Harmony does not post it's check registries.
- It reports in error that Union Grove does not post check registries. The ISD posts budgets, financial reports and check registries in it's "Board Book" Agenda Packets.
A search of that site for Upshur County ISD's reveals that our local school districts can, for the most part, be judged fairly transparent.
Union Grove ISD leads the pack, posting all three record sets. Ore City and Harmony follow by posting their budget and monthly check registers.
Union Hill post only it's budget. New Diana has a budget site, but the posting is outdated.
No financial records could be found on either Gilmer or Big Sandy's website.
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An Amber Alert was issued today for Erika Camacho, a Hispanic female teenager reportedly abducted in Selma, TX by her boyfriend, Ricardo Mora.
Photo's of the girl or her boyfriend were not immediately available, but descriptions of both are posted in this article, as well as the Beyond Missing website.
MISSING
Name: Erika Camacho
Last Seen: December 24, 2008 - 7:25 PM
Last Location: Selma, Bexar County, TX
Date of birth: August 13, 1993
Height: 5' 3"
Hair Color: Brown
Weight: 100 lbs.
Eye Color: Brown
Gender: Female
Race: Hispanic
victim last seen wearing a white t-shirt denim capri pants and flip flop sandals victim has a slender build and has a light skin complexion. was abducted forcibly by boyfriend
SUSPECT
Ricardo Alvarado Mora
White Male
DOB: 02/24/85
Hair: black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'-4"
Weight: 140#
Mole above left eyebrow
Last seen wearing blue sweatshirt and blue jeans and tennis shoes
Was seen in a blue 2000 Chevy Silverado 1500 extended cab pickup
Tx Lic Plates 89LPF4
veh has been located and is now in police custody
If you have any information on this child contact:
Agency: selma police department
24 Hr. Phone # : (210) 653-0033
24 Hr. FAX # :(210) 657-7449
Alternate Phone # : (210) 651-5368
City / State: Selma, TX
Zip Code: 78154
Email: kosborn@ci.selma.tx.us Emergency # : 911
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John Tiger, arrested Oct. 25th for Online Solicitation of a Minor Under 14, was released on bond Monday.
Upshur Sheriff's Department jail and bond records indicate Aba Bail Bonds of Gilmer posted the $100,000 bond on Tigers behalf.
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Battling failing heating and cooling equipment, and faced with a lack of funding for repairs, the White Oak ISD entered into a contract finance agreement that uses future energy savings to pay for efficiency upgrades.
White Oak will spend more than $1.8 million dollars replacing and upgrading boilers, chillers and ventilation fans in nine district buildings totaling over 410,000 square feet. They will also update classroom and gym lighting. The whole system will be controlled and monitored by an energy management system to ensure comfort and efficiency.
Rather than entering into loans or issuing bonds, the ISD will pay for the upgrades from the energy savings they generate.
Known as Energy Performance Contracting, the deal works like this: The ISD entered into an agreement with a private energy service company (ESCO). The ESCO evaluate energy-saving opportunities and then recommend a package of improvements to be paid for through energy savings.
The ESCO guarantees that savings will meet or exceed annual payments on the upgrades, usually over a 7 - 10 year term. If the projected savings aren't realized, the ESCO pays the difference, not the ISD.
The upgrades at the district include a mixed bag of energy saving improvements. Two new boilers, and two new chillers will be installed, along with eight new circulating pumps.
Contractors will retrofit 10 existing air-handlers, and install CO2 and humidity sensors to automatically adjust building ventilation. New high efficiency lighting fixtures will be installed in classrooms and gyms, lowering utility costs and improving visibility.
Texas State Energy Conservation Office list the following Performance Contracting guidelines on it's website:
Energy Performance Contracting is a construction method that allows a facility to complete energy-saving improvements within an existing budget by financing them with money saved through reduced utility expenditures. Facilities make no up-front investments and instead finance projects through guaranteed annual energy savings.
To enter into a guaranteed energy savings performance contract (ESPC), a state agency must notify SECO of their intent, issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), and select a performance contractor, usually an energy service company (ESCO). After identifying eligible projects, the contractor designs and installs the needed improvements. The agency pays for the financed project out of savings realized by the improvements. By law, the contractor must guarantee that the savings will always be at least equal to the payments for the cost of the improvements. Current Texas law also enables institutions of higher education, state agencies, public school districts, and local governments to enter into energy service performance contracts (ESPC).
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Sheriff Anthony Betterton reports that 177 calls for service were reported to the UPSHUR COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE between the dates of 12-15-08 and 12-21-08
Sheriff Betterton also reports that 48 people were booked into the Upshur County Jail on a variety of charges which include Driving while license suspended, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Child Support, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Parole Violation, Evading Arrest, DWI, Permitting Unlicensed person to drive, Possession of Dangerous Drugs, Theft, Burglary of a Habitation, Possession of Marijuana, Theft by Check, Interfer with emergency call, Terroristic Threats, Stolen Vehicle, Harassment, Injury to a Child or Elderly and traffic. There were also 69 people released from the Upshur county jail.
Thefts 11
Assault 15
Burglary 8
Criminal Mischief 7
Disturbance 11
Traffic 37
Suspicious Vehicle/Person 12
Civil Matters 2
Assist other agency 17
Drug cases 5
Unwanted Guest 4
Deaths 0
Shots Fired 2
Juvenile 3
Harassment 2
Other 41
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Texas Department of Insurance moves to force liquidation of Austin Indemnity. Upshur residents holding policies are advised to contact their carrier or the TDI for more information.
AUSTIN - The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has filed a petition for the liquidation of Austin Indemnity Lloyds Insurance Company (Austin Indemnity). The company sold homeowners and personal auto coverage in Texas.
On July 1, 2008, Austin Indemnity sent out non-renewal notices to all of its homeowners insurance policyholders, and the company stopped taking new applications for auto insurance on August 16, 2008. In September company officials signed a hazardous financial condition order, which allowed TDI staff to more closely monitor the company’s operations.
While TDI was working with Austin Indemnity to develop an orderly withdrawal from the market, Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast. The financial impact of the storm was too much for Austin Indemnity to continue its monitored withdrawal and forced TDI to take the additional action of ordering liquidation.
Management for Austin Indemnity has consented to receivership, and the entry of a liquidation order. In accordance with the Texas Insurance Code, policies will be canceled 30 days after the date of the liquidation order. The liquidation order is expected to be entered on December 29, 2008, and policies will then terminate effective January 28, 2009. Austin Indemnity, working with TDI staff, is sending notices to affected policyholders advising them of this situation, and providing them with resources to obtain replacement coverage.
In June 2008, Austin Indemnity entered into an agreement with one of its largest agents through which policyholders were extended an offer to purchase a renewal homeowners insurance policy with a new carrier upon the expiration of the term of their Austin Indemnity policy. Policyholders will receive a notice of an offer from this agent to obtain replacement coverage upon the termination of their Austin Indemnity policy . Policyholders should contact their insurance agents immediately to secure the replacement coverage of their choice.
TDI staff has been briefing the Texas Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association (TPCIGA) on the status of Austin Indemnity since the hazardous financial condition order was issued in September. TPCIGA is a non-profit association of all insurers licensed to sell property and casualty insurance in Texas. It exists to provide limited protection to Texas policyholders and claimants in the event of the insolvency of an insurer licensed in Texas. TPCIGA has assessed Austin Indemnity’s information systems and claims data in preparation for assuming its responsibilities to facilitate the transition to liquidation.
For more information, email mailto:PIO@tdi.state.tx.us
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