By Mary Jane Farmer for the Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town

In the month of February, 2022, Van Alstyne Police received 1,153 Calls for Service, reported Police Lt. Steven Hayslip. Officers also completed 76 training hours and dispatchers received 42 hours of training.

Traffic accidents

March 5 Fatality — About 3 a.m., police were called to U.S. Highway 75 about a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. Hayslip said the victim, a Van Alstyne man, had gotten off the highway, onto the service road, just south of the Van Alstyne Parkway overpass. He was walking in the roadway and wearing dark clothing when an oncoming driver struck him. The victim died of his injuries. Hayslip said the driver showed no signs of intoxication and does not face charges.

February 27 — A head-on collision sent both drivers to area hospitals in serious condition. Hayslip said this happened after one car got off of U.S. 75 and drove east on County Line Road, where it collided with a vehicle on Henry Hynds Road, aka the service road. Both drivers were flown by air ambulance to be treated for their injuries. And both, Hayslip said, are still hospitalized.

One of those two drivers said, Hayslip reported, that he believed he was in pursuit by Anna police because of outstanding warrants against him. Actually, Hayslip added, Anna police were in pursuit, but of another car. The driver also stated he had been driving up to 80 mph when he thought he was being chased.

Hayslip said that the police will file a charge at large against the offending drive, and that charge would be aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Arrests

February 12 — Police were called to domestic assault in progress in a vehicle at U.S. Highway 75 and Van Alstyne Parkway. The victim, a Sherman woman, said that the suspect, also of Sherman, had left. After taking the report and beginning to search for the suspect, the victim left for her Sherman home. Once there, Hayslip said, she called and said that he was at her house and that the suspect had taken her phone while she was to call for help. Van Alstyne Police enlisted the aid of Sherman police, who went to the address and detained the suspect. Van Alstyne Police went to Sherman and made the arrest.

Jail records show the suspect is charged with assault/family violence impeding breathing and with interfering with an emergency call. Bail was set at a total of $6,500, which the suspect paid with surety bonds the following day.

February 15 — Hayslip said police were patrolling U.S. 75 when, at Farmington Road, they saw a speeding vehicle going southward. They driver, Fort Worth woman, did not stop immediately for their overhead lights and sirens, but a short while later, she did pull over. At first glance, police saw what turned out to be ½ pound of marijuana on the passenger side/front seat, and detained the driver. A probable-cause search uncovered more narcotics and a firearm as well.

The driver went to jail on charges of Unlawfully Carrying a Weapon, Possession of Marijuana between 4 ounces-5 pounds; Possession of Controlled Substance Penalty Group 2; Possession of Controlled Substance, Penalty Group 3; Possession of a Dangerous Drug; and Tampering with Physical Evidence with Intent.

Bail was set at a total of $25,000, which the suspect paid with surety bonds for her Feb. 16 release.

February 23 — Another assault inside a resident also resulted in the arrest of the suspect. Haylsip said that, in this report, the suspect, a Van Alstyne man, is accused of hitting a female resident in the head twice. She sustained visual injuries, he added.

The suspect went to jail on a charge of Assault Causing Bodily Injury/Family Violence, with bail set at a total of $3,000. The suspect paid that with a surety bond and went free later that same day.

February 23 — Someone called police to a house in the 1300 block of East Jefferson. Officers were told, upon arrival, that the suspect had assaulted his boyfriend. While the boyfriend was leaving, the suspect picked up a chair and threw it on the victim. The victim showed signs of the assault with a bloody mouth and some missing teeth.

Police arrested the suspect on charges of Assault Causing Bodily Injury/Family Violence, and also warrants in place charging him with Driving While License Invalid and Riding Not Secured by Seat Belt.

Bail on the warrant arrests were set at $443.90, which the suspect paid those fines, and of $3,000 on the assault charge. He paid that with a surety bond to which an emergency protective order attached to it. He was released on February 26, but then went back to Grayson County Jail on March 1 for violation of the protective order.

Hayslip said that all officers knew about the protective order. They spotted a vehicle being driven without a front license plate and made a traffic stop. The officer also recognized the vehicle which both the suspect and the victim occupied.

They took the suspect back to jail that night on a charge of Violation of Protective Order. The Bail of $2,500 was paid, this time with another surety bond and he went free on March 2.

Hayslip said the Protective Order is still in place against the suspect.

February 26 — Police smelled the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside a motor vehicle after stopping it on a traffic violation. They then conducted a probable-cause search and found three ounces of marijuana inside it. The suspect, a resident of Durant, Okla., was incarcerated on a charge of Possession of Marijuana between 2-4 ounces. Bail of $2,500 was set, and as of March 10, the suspect remains in Grayson County Jail.

March 2 — A McKinney man went to jail on a charge of Evading Arrest/Detention with a Vehicle with bail set at $5,000.  Hayslip said that police clocked a car going 98 mph and got behind it with their lights and sirens on to get it stopped. That was near the Farmington Road overpass. As the car kept going toward Anna, that city’s police department assisted in helping stop it. Eight and one-half miles later, the driver pulled over. He posted his bail of $5,000 later the same day.

March 3  — Police were sent to U.S. 75 about a reported reckless driver. They found the described vehicle and watched as it moved in and out of lanes, Hayslip said, and the officers made a traffic stop. The driver smelled of alcohol and spoke with slurred speech and so the officers conducted a driving test, and then jailed the Denison woman on a charge of Driving While Intoxicated. She posted bail of $1,500 in surety bonds on March 4.

March 5 — A traffic stop on U.S. 75 resulted in the arrest of a Wylie man on a charge of Possession of Marijuana between 4-25 ounces. As the officers spoke with the driver, a Wylie, Texas, man, they smelled marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. They got the driver out and conducted a probable-cause search and discovered the marijuana, plus several items of drug paraphernalia. At the jail, bail was set at $5,000, which the suspect paid with a surety bond on March 7.

Report from Howe Police Department, with Mary Jane Farmer also contributing. For Scene In Town, Van Alstyne News. Names are not given until/unless a suspect is indicted.

Howe Police Chief Carl Hudman reported that\ they booked a 21-year-old Howe woman into the Grayson County Jail on a number of charges for her role in the theft of a marked Howe Police patrol vehicle Friday morning (March 4, 2022)

At about 9:20 a.m., an investigator with the Texas Office of the Attorney General called Howe police to request assistance with a woman in her care who was experiencing a metal health crisis. The Howe officer met with the investigator at the Dollar General store on L.B. Kirby Avenue in Howe. The investigator said she was transporting the woman from Howe to an area hospital for evaluation when the woman became combative and delusional.

The Howe police officer and a local constable detained the woman and sat her in the rear seat of the officer’s patrol vehicle, a 2018 Dodge Charger. The woman was able to maneuver her handcuffs to the front of her body, climb through a narrow window in the partition separating the front and rear seats of the patrol vehicle, and drive away.

The suspect drove north on U.S. Highway 75 and eventually drove onto the highway’s east service road. The vehicle became disabled when the woman ran over a number of curbs, which destroyed the Charger’s four tires, and it came to a stop on the east service road of the highway several blocks north of FM 1417.

Officers from surrounding agencies responded to the call and detained the suspect until Howe officers arrived and arrested her on charges of Escape from Custody, Evading Arrest with a Motor Vehicle, and Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle. She was booked into the Grayson County Jail. As of press time, no bond had been set for her release.

No other vehicles were damaged during the woman’s flight and she admitted to officers that she had recently used methamphetamine, Hudman said.

By Mary Jane Farmer for the Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town

UPDATE, The voting polls (at Grayson College) will be open from 7. a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 7.

Local voters will be urged to return to the polls in April or May to not only decide on the proposed City Charter, but also to select Van Alstyne City Council members for the upcoming term.

Van Alstyne ISD’s Lawanna Merriman said that there will not be an election for the VAISD School Board, as no one filed to challenge the incumbent board members, Place 1 (Kurt Himmelreich) or Place 2, (Beau Williams), and that both incumbents filed to remain on the Board.

There are three seats coming open on the City Council, Places 1, 2, and 3. And three challengers for two of those seats. Confusing? Well, here’s more information.

Place #1 is currently held by Council Member Ryan Neal who is returning to the Council unopposed.

Place #2 is currently held by Council Member Marla Butler, who is being challenged by Ryan Laing, who served on the City Charter Committee, as did Neal, Butler, and Dawsey.

Place #3 is currently held by Council Member Bruce Dawsey, who is running for County Judge and so not also for his seat on the City Council. Asking for the chair are former City Council Member Robert Jaska, and Dusty Williams, President of the Van Alstyne Historical Society.

According to Van Alstyne City Secretary Jennifer Gould, early voting will be at the Grayson College South Campus from 8 a.m.–5 p.m. April 25-29, and from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. May 2-3. May 7 is the final election day and polls will also be open that date from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

A printed copy of the proposed City Charter will be mailed to all registered voters in early April. This Charter, if approved, will change the city from its current General Law status to Home Rule status, add a 6^th chair at the City Council table, and provide for several other changes to city government.

So far, no word on any “Meet the Candidates” forums being held.

Anyone wanting to read that proposed Charter in advance can do so Online at the this (Click here) link.  https://cityofvanalstyne.us/draft-city-charter-available/

And those early voting dates and times are on the Van Alstyne City Calendar here on SceneInTown.com

The Van Alstyne City Charter Commission, February 10. (Names, not in order) at the bottom of this article.)

Story and photo by Mary Jane Farmer, Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town

Texas cities are divided by population into two types of government — General Law for those cities and towns with fewer than 5,000 residents, and Home Rule for those who have more than 5,000 inhabitants. But the change doesn’t happen automatically. First, there is the development of a Home Rule Charter and then the approval of that Charter by the city’s electorate.

Van Alstyne has been declared a town of 5,000 population, and city leaders have now stepped up to the plate and begun the process of possibly making it a Home Rule city.

The National League of Cities defines a Home Rule Charter as being “comparable to the Constitution of the United States or a state’s constitution, therefore, the most important legal document of any city.”

The process began in 2021 when the City Council appointed a Charter Commission, which then began work in October with the Council Members being joined by 10 interested and willing-to-serve volunteers, joined by two consultants, the city attorney, and the city secretary. They met monthly, and with each meeting following a definite agenda designed to let them address every aspect of the proposed City Charter. And, officials said, each meeting was open to the public.

• Oct. 14 — Commission kickoff, election of its officers, and a charter process overview;
• Oct. 21 — Form of government, mayor and city council sizes and terms of office, and the members were given a representation model of a city charter;
• Nov. 11 — Council qualifications and compensation, powers and responsibilities of the council, the mayor, and council-appointed officers;
• Nov. 18 — Qualifications of city boards and commissions, duties, qualifications, term and compensation of the city manager;
• Dec. 9 — City budget and financial matters, planning & zoning, and direct democracy measures including initiative, petition, and recall;
• Jan. 27 — Various housekeeping matters and draft review of the charter to that point;
• Feb. 10 — Final draft of charter and the commission’s approval.

A typical City Charter includes the form of government, powers of the municipality, selection and responsibilities of the mayor and city council; city manager appointment, responsibilities and removal; defines the city departments, the financial administration; and the Planning & Zoning Commission.

This proposed City Charter, in its final form, went to the Council at a special called meeting Thursday night (Feb. 10), who, after hearing no one speak at the called public hearing, approved the charter as finalized. At that meeting, the Council also ordered a May 7, 2022, special election for the consideration of the proposed City Charter. If approved, it will go into effect immediately, according to its Chapter 15.

If the proposed City Charter doesn’t pass the May 7 vote, it will be two years before another one can be presented to the votes, a consultant explained.

The registered voters of Van Alstyne will receive a copy of the proposed charter, to be mailed a month before the election.

Charter proposals, finalized when/if the electorate approves it at the May 7 election, includes, among other changes, the addition of one City Council member for a total of six Council members, with 3-year terms, and provides the timeline to make that change. It also gives the seated mayor the right to vote, whereas now he/she only votes in case of a tie.

Also, the Charter determines that Van Alstyne will have a Council/Manager form of government. There are other changes in hiring, appointing, duties, and compensation of department heads, as well.

The Commission appointed Mayor Jim Atchison as its chairman. He was joined by Council Members Ryan Neal, Marla Butler, Bruce Dawsey, Lee Thomas, and Katrina Arsenault; and also by Commission volunteers Dusty Wells, Robert Jaska, Griff Servati, Jim DuBois, Mike Drynan, Steve DeLuna, Christy Allen Wilson, Larry Cooper, Bob Hendricks, and alternate Ryan Laing. Consultants were David Eisenlohr of Baker Tilly LLP and Mike Conduff of the Elm Group. City Attorney is David Ritter. The city staff involved were Lane Jones, City Manager, and Jennifer Gould, City Secretary.