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Douglass Distributing and Lone Star Food Stores sent a press release to the Sherman Chamber of Commerce to educate the public on the current fuel shortage in the area.  They say the shortage is a result of a southern refinery shutting down temporarily during the storms of Hurricane Harvey.  In a written statement, Brad Douglass, CEO of Douglass Distributing said that he wanted everyone to know that they still have access to plenty of fuel .  The lines that our delivery trucks are waiting in are just much longer because of the refinery shut down.

“We want everyone to know that we still have access to plenty of fuel – the lines that our delivery trucks are waiting in are just much longer because of the refinery shut down,” said Brad Douglass in a release to the Sherman Chamber of Commerce.

Douglass says that there is not an outage.  There is fuel, but each delivery is just taking longer at the moment.

“We want to assure everyone that we have all of our delivery trucks out running 24 hours resupplying our local communities in Northeast Texas and South Eastern Oklahoma,” said Douglass.  “We ask all of our neighbors make fuel purchases as you normally would – the worst thing we can do as a community is all of us showing up at one time to get fuel.  This is creating an additional challenge for each delivery.   If the community reacts that way, we may cause the outage at an individual location.  We do not expect the shortage to last any longer than one week.”

On Wednesday morning, Grayson County Sheriff Tom Watt announced in a press conference that the Sheriff’s Office had been notified by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) that they are currently closed to inmate transfers from county jail facilities due to Hurricane Harvey’s impact.  Weekly Grayson County sends eight to 10 inmates per week to the TDCJ facilities.  This closure means that any inmates that were ordered to State Jail or TDCJ will remain that the county jail facilities until the TDCJ units reopen for transfers.

“As you can imagine here in Grayson County, if they (TDCJ) won’t accept them, we have to hold them,” said Sheriff Watt.  “This morning at 6:58 am, our numbers were 410 inmates.  We have a capacity of 440.”

Sheriff Watt has asked local law enforcement agencies throughout the county to try to refrain from bringing offenders to the county facility if other alternatives are available.  Captain Brian Ford, the jail administrator, explained a couple of the different options that the county is currently working on to maintain or reduce the number of inmates in the downtown detention facility.  Some of those plans currently include to house more inmates at the Low Risk Detention Center at the North Texas Regional Airport.  Another option if this is a long-term situation is to ask judges to offer Personal Recognizance bonds to nonviolent offenders, work with probation/parole to schedule hearings in a more timely fashion or adjustments to credit for time served.  A last resort was to house inmates in other facilities, which would cost the county $50 a day per inmate housed in another facility. 

“We manage our population as well as it can be done,” said Sheriff Watt.  “This is going to be a, I hope, a short-term impact on our county and all of our counties that are affected.  I just want all of our law enforcement to understand that if you don’t have to take somebody to our jail, I would prefer that you not. ”

Captain Brian Ford said that the facility currently has 15 to 20 individuals on parole waiting for hearings.  That could be expedited to try and get the individuals reinstated to the public.

“My commitment to this community is that we will not release any violent offenders.  That is not going to happen,” said Watt.  “What we’re looking for is someone who is not violent, but just has trouble making good decisions and someone who is less harm to our community.  Those are the kind of people that would be candidates for release.”

The sheriff also stated that sending inmates to other county facilities is not a good option due to the $50 per inmate the county would have to pay to another facility.  Also, the other jails in nearby counties are facing the same overcrowding situations due to the same notice from TDJC.

Several individuals and companies have contacted the Howe Enterprise to give information on how they are spearheading a relief effort so that people can help fellow Texans in the Greater Houston Area.

Freedom Charters will be setting up buses on the parking lot between Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A in Sherman on Saturday starting at 10 am.  For those that want to bring water, towels, or any other items of need, the buses will accept those items through Sunday and deliver them on Monday.

Also, John Suggs of Howe is organizing a local group to make the trip to Houston to help with labor.  His number is 254-540-9431 and he is in search of those willing to take their boats to the flooded areas.

At approximately 6:35 pm on Thursday evening, Howe Police officers responded to a report of a shooting on US Highway 75 near Hall Cemetery Road.  Upon arrival, officers found that a 21-year-old male named Tahbari Kevante Collins from Houston had sustained a gun shot wound. There were two other individuals in the vehicle. It appears the shots came from outside the vehicle while the vehicle was traveling south on the highway. The victim was transported to Wilson N Jones Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The incident is still under investigation with the assistance of the Texas Rangers.

Howe Police Chief Matt Whitworth, serving on his first day on the job as chief in Howe, told the Howe Enterprise that the HPD is investigating a shooting that occurred on southbound US Highway 75 at approximately 6:30 pm on Thursday evening.  Whitworth said that the Texas Rangers were called in to help with the investigation.

“At this time we’re in the beginning stages and it’s likely to be tomorrow before we give anymore more information on it,” said Whitworth.

Click here for photos of the scene