Angelina College Status Discussed by Crockett City Council
“I Smell a Rat”
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Towards the end of the public forum portion of the Crockett City Council meeting, held on Monday, Dec. 4, Councilman Darrell Jones questioned what was happening with Angelina College. As previously reported in The Messenger, Angelina College had announced plans to close the Crockett campus at the end of the fall semester
Jones informed those in the council chambers – as of Dec. 3 – Angelina College had not provided the city or the Crockett Economic and Industrial Development Corporation (CEIDC) with written notice of their intent to leave.
The councilman said he had reached out to the President of Angelina College but had not received a response “… but he certainly has time for Mr. (Terry) Myers, the Crockett ISD superintendent. I want to know what’s going on. Me, I smell a rat because I think he (Myers) is trying to get them (Angelina) to come out there (to the former state school facility now owned by CISD).”
As the meeting continued, Crockett Police Lt. Clayton Smith was asked about the ongoing arson investigations brought about during the summer after several structures had purposefully been set ablaze.
“We received a lab report on a piece of evidence we submitted from one of the homes where an attempted act of arson happened. The lab has recovered DNA from that and put it in the CODIS system,” Smith said.
CODIS is the acronym for the Combined DNA Index System and is the generic term used to describe the FBI’s program of support for criminal justice DNA databases as well as the software used to run these databases, according to the FBI website.
“Anyone who has ever been entered into it or had their DNA entered into – we should get a hit on that. We have not gotten a hit on that. I spoke to the lab late last week and they said they would notify us as soon as they got a hit,” he said.
Smith said the police department was currently working on other DNA samples to be sent into the lab for comparison purposes.
In other matters brought before the council:
- Crockett Police Lt. Clayton Smith reported the police department received 338 calls for service during the month of November which resulted in 38 arrests. There were 31 traffic citations issued and 99 police reports filed.
- Crockett Fire Chief Jason Frizzell reported the fire department responded to 44 calls during the month of November. Twenty-five of the calls were in the city limits while 19 were in the county. There was one structure fire in the county.
- An ordinance pertaining to specific use permits for mobile homes was approved.
- The minutes of previous meetings were approved.
- An amendment to the treated water supply contract between the city and the Houston County Water Control and Improvement District Number One was approved.
- Jacque Fleming was appointed and Karen Clark was re-appointed to the Crockett Public Library Board.
- Gerald Barkley and Collin Castleberry were appointed to the CEIDC Board of Directors.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].