Hundreds of people stood, hands over their hearts, as the National Anthem was sung Thursday afternoon at the Mineola Civic Center. A few dozen yards behind the singer, the stark black silhouette of the Vietnam Memorial Wall stretched 360 feet across the grass. Many cried. Some stared. All stood in reverent awe.
The wall is a replica of the original wall which stands in Washington D.C. The same names are engraved on its surface. The same emotions are stirred when mothers and sons, nieces and brothers, grandchildren and surviving fellow soldiers walk to the wall and gently reach out to a name.
The wall arrived in Mineola on Wednesday. It opened for visitors Thursday afternoon and will remain open each day, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., through Sunday. The Mineola Detachment of the U.S. Marine Corp League organized the wall's visit. Thousands are expected to visit the memorial before it packs up and moves on.
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East Texans are waiting Tuesday evening for election results. In addition to 11 constitutional amendments, several communities have local elections on the ballot.
In Lindale, where the Lindale Independent School District has a $42 million bond package on the ballot, voting was reportedly extremely heavy, with people still waiting in line to vote 45 minutes after the polls officially closed.
In Precinct 1 in Van Zandt County, voters are deciding three local option elections which could allow alcohol sales.
KMOO will post election results as soon as they become available.
A car accident north of Grand Saline has left several people injured. The accident happened just before 5 p.m. Monday, around three miles north of the city on FM-17.
At least one person injured in the accident was taken from the scene by helicopter.
Grand Saline fire fighters responded to the scene.
Grand Saline police officers and FBI investigators are searching for a man who held up a bank in Grand Saline this morning.
Grand Saline Chief of Police Larry Compton said the man walked in to Mineola Community Bank around 10:45 this morning, showed the teller a semi-automatic hand gun and asked for cash.
Compton said the man took the money and left the bank on foot. Bank employees reported seeing the man go through the trees near the bank. Officers used dogs to rack the suspect, but lost the scent near Houston Street. Compton said that leads them to believe the man may have gotten into a car and left the area.
Thursday, members of the Trinity Mother Frances Heart Institute and invited cardiac patients celebrated three years of the Code STEMI program at Mother Frances Hospital.
Mother Frances was the first heart program in Tyler to implement Code STEMI (ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction), which is designed to minimize the time between emergency transport of an acute heart attack patient and a life-saving heart catheterization with balloon angioplasty. STEMI refers to the method for using an EKG device to diagnose an acute heart attack.
To best utilize the vital minutes during transport, Code STEMI was implemented at Mother Frances in February of 2006. Since that time, heart attack patients transported to Mother Frances Hospital have benefited from significant reductions in time between the onset of the cardiac event and the administration of lifesaving balloon angioplasty therapy.
Seattle Mariner's catcher and Mineola Native Adam Moore received the keys to the city Monday during the Mineola City Council meeting.
More than 80 friends, family and former classmates were on hand for the presentation. Mayor Bo Whitus called Moore a, "sterling example of an All American youth," and honored him for his hard work and dedication.
Moore played football, basketball and baseball while in Mineola and just recently was called up by the Mariners to play catcher in the major leagues.
The council hosted a reception for Moore following the presentation.
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What was to be a pleasant early morning drive turned to tragedy near Grand Saline Saturday morning. A minivan with a mother, two of her teenage daughters and a friend of one of the daughters, ran off US-80 and rolled several times.
When Grand Saline fire fighters arrived on the scene, they found three people still trapped in the vehicle. Mineola crews assisted at the scene, helping to free the victims. The boy and one of the girls was taken by helicopters to Tyler hospitals. The other girl was taken by ambulance to Tyler and the mother taken by ambulance to a hospital in Grand Saline.
Nearly thirty animals, including both dogs and cats, were rescued from a dilapidated mobile near Van on Friday. But it was not the first time the poor condition of the animals had been noticed by authorities.
More than a month ago, an SPCA investigator visited the property in question and, acting at the request of the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Department, began working with the owner to bring the site into compliance with Texas Health and Safety Code. When the investigator returned to follow up almost a month later, nothing on the compliance agreement had been met. The SPCA agreed with the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Department that the animals' conditions had deteriorated and that immediate action was needed.
After assessing the condition of each animal Friday morning, the animals were taken to the Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney, where they will be cared for until a custody hearing.
