We have Higher Love for Hannah – Vote Now
In an impromptu poll conducted by KSST staff and informal voting from our website visitors, “Higher Love” has been voted as her best performance so far. If you would like to vote for YOUR choice of Hannah’s best performance so far you can do so below.
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In case you need to refresh your memory, here are the links from her performances so far:
Rains County Man Guilty of Grandmother’s Murder
March 30, 2015 – Last week in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Rains County, Brandon Couch was found guilty in the 2012 murder of his grandmother, Mattie Couch, by a jury Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday was sentenced to 40 years in prison by Judge Paul Banner, the presiding judge and fourth judge assigned to the case.
Brandon Couch
According to a press release from the office of Rains County Attorney Robert F. Vititow, a jury was selected on Monday, March, 23, 2015, in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Rains County in Cause No. 5354, The State of Texas v. Brandon Couch, for the felony offense of Murder (of his grandmother, Mattie Couch). The offense occurred on November 14, 2012. The defendant and his grandmother were 33 and 78 years old, respectively, at the time. The Honorable Judge Paul Banner, the presiding judge, was the fourth judge assigned to the case. Katherine Ferguson of Greenville represented the defendant.
Rains County Attorney Robert Vititow began presenting the evidence Tuesday morning. The State and the defense closed their cases Wednesday afternoon, and after closing arguments, the jury returned a verdict of guilty.
The defendant elected to have the judge assess his punishment. The State and defense began punishment evidence Thursday morning. The defense put on evidence that the defendant had attempted to commit suicide approximately four years earlier and had metal fragments lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain from the gunshot which may have affected his ability to control his impulses, according to the defense expert. The State presented defendant’s prior convictions for drug use and assault of his father, as well as evidence that the defendant stabbed another person; the assaults and stabbing occurred before defendant’s attempted suicide (and brain injury). The State argued that the defense had no objective evidence and could not provide the Judge any authority to indicate that the murder was due to defendant’s brain injury and not due to the use of drugs and simply being plain mean.
The defendant faced a range of punishment of five to 99 years or life, and up to a $10,000 fine. After hearing the evidence, the judge determined Thursday afternoon that the appropriate punishment in this case was 40 years confinement in prison.
Vititow said, “although I believe the defendant should have received the maximum sentence of 99 years in prison, I always respect and abide by the fact finder’s verdict and assessment of punishment; that’s simply how the system works.”
The defendant and his grandmother lived together for a number of years. According to the testimony, neither the defendant’s mother nor his father, Gary Couch, would provide him a place to live so his grandmother let him live with her. The defendant had a drug problem.
Approximately one year before he shot his grandmother, he was on drugs and scared her. She attempted to call 911; he pulled the phone out of the wall and shook her. Although Mrs. Couch initially filed charges with the Sheriff’s office, she decided she didn’t want to prosecute her grandson and refused to answer calls from the County Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff or come to the door. The defendant was convicted of the misdemeanor offense of Assault, and served 180 days in the County jail for the offense. There was no evidence to indicate either that the defendant shot Mrs. Couch or that their relationship worsened because she filed charges on him.
Additional evidence during guilt stage of the trial showed there was no forced entry into the residence, and the victim was holding a glass in one hand and piece of pizza in the other when she was shot in the chest with 20 gauge Winchester birdshot sometime before 3:00 p.m.–indicating it was someone she knew. The defendant ran when he saw peace officers. He was caught and arrested later that night at 10:30 p.m. with a shotgun and some shotgun shells which were consistent with Winchester 20 gauge shells containing bird shot. One of his friends testified that “he [the defendant] told him he ‘thought his grandmother was sorry just before he pulled the trigger.'”
Vititow commended the court personnel and the citizens of Rains County who served as jurists for the excellent job they did. The jury obviously took their job very seriously. Law enforcement is a joint effort which includes the officers, the prosecutors staff, all of the court personnel and the citizens of Rains County who served as the jurists.
Como Man Arrested for Online Solicitation
It’s the same story. Another online solicitation arrest this weekend. This time, a Como man, Bart Co Hoppenreys, aged 27, was arrested for online solicitation. Hoppenreys thought he was meeting a 15-year old minor to engage in sex at a League Street address. Instead, he was introduced to Cory Weatherford, the arresting law enforcement officer.
Weatherford told ksstradio.com that both local and regional individuals have been and are being engaged in textual interaction. Not all interaction leads to an arrest. Weatherford said that the individual has to be actively pursuing the engaging of a minor for a case to materialize. He stated there is no shortage of individuals involved in this pursuit. “It is going on everywhere,” Weatherford said.
Retired Justice of the Peace Y’Vonne King set bail Monday morning.
Walker Denies Reversing Position on Immigration
by Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune – March 28, 2015
HOUSTON — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday emphatically denied he recently changed his position on illegal immigration, emphasizing that solving the problem does not involve a pathway to citizenship.
“They ultimately need to go to the country of origin and then get in line just like anybody else would,” Walker, a likely presidential candidate, told reporters here during a news conference with Gov. Greg Abbott.
Walker said multiple reports indicating he had flip-flopped on the issue were not true. The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and CNN each reported late this week that he recently told a private audience in New Hampshire that he supported a pathway to citizenship. The remarks, which Walker’s team disputed, seemed at odds with his previous public statements on what to do with the roughly 11 million people in the country unlawfully.
“The bottom line is what I’ve said just now is what I’ve said repeatedly, whether it’s in New Hampshire or anywhere else, and that is I don’t believe in amnesty in the sense of citizenship,” Walker told reporters Saturday.
Walker denied he discussed any options for citizenship during the meeting in New Hampshire.
“I made it clear that for me, if somebody wants to be a citizen, they need to go back to their country of origin, get in line, no preferential treatment,” Walker said. “In terms of what to do beyond that, again, that’s something we got to work with Congress on.”
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/28/walker-denies-reversing-position-illegal-immigrati/.
“Updated” Que Brittain
Memorial Services for Que Brittain, 68, will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at Cross Timbers Community Church in Argyle. Brittain died Sunday following a battle with cancer. Brittain, who grew up in Sulphur Springs, was a high school star athlete at Sulphur Springs High School and went on to be a three-year starter at offensive guard for SMU in the late ’60s. His athletic prowess turned to coaching and he became a state title winning coach.
Brittain graduated Sulphur Springs High School in 1965. An All-State offensive lineman, he was inducted into the SSHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.
Brittain not only trained athletes to play the game but influenced some of the top coaches in the Dallas area including Joey Florence, who recently retired at Denton Ryan,Denton’s Kevin Atkinson, and Argyles’ Todd Rodgers. Others influenced include Cody Vanderford, Bob Bounds, Bart Helsley, and Derick Robertson.
As a head coach Brittain’s record was 122-79-4. At the time of his death, he was working with one of his former assistants, Mike Burt at Joshua. Brittain had resigned at Flower Mound Marcas, where he led the school to the 5-A, Division II state final in 1995 (a loss then) and won the state title in 1997 in 2000. In his 15 years there, he tansformed the program using a high powered offense invigorated by a string of helpful assistants. His coaching career found him at Euless Trinity under John Reddell, in McKinney with Ron Poe, and in Lewisville.
In an interview with KSST Radio, Wildcat Head Coach Greg Owens paid tribute to Brittain’s coaching prowess.
Kid’s Kingdom’s Dangerous Neighbor
Kids love Kid’s Kingdom. Adults love it too. It is safe and well maintained.
However a stones throw from the jewel of Buford park are the remains of the City Pool. Re-bar, child sized slabs of concrete, shards of pipe, and electrical wire surround a pit that now collects water. There are plenty of rocks and debris to throw into the water, children are drawn to the site. The piles of concrete and rubble make for a challenging climb.
Except for one section of orange construction fence on the east side of the pit, nothing would prevent a toddler from walking into the water. Monday morning, city crews began pumping the water out of the pit according to City Manager Marc Maxwell. Maxwell states that the pit will be filled with clean dirt and the rubble hauled away.
Until demolition work completes, or a complete fence is erected, it is recommended that parents should keep a watchful eye on their children.
Next Phase for Hannah
As the knockout rounds come to a close Monday night on “The Voice”, we will finally see which of the 20 contestants that will be headed to the Live Playoff Rounds. Local favorite, Hannah Kirby, has secured her spot BACK on Team Blake but everyone is anxious to see who will be left standing on all of the teams as they head to Live Rounds. When the Live Playoff Rounds start, viewers will finally get the chance to start voting and save their favorite two artists from each team. This will really be the time for anyone who is a Fan’ah Hannah to post, share, tweet, text and get the word out to anyone and everyone to support Sulphur Springs’ own Hannah Kirby. She has impressed all of the judges so far, being stolen by Pharrell and then stolen back by Blake Shelton, but it will be America voting each week that will keep her advancing. Keep checking back with KSSTradio.com for updated info.
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In case you need to refresh your memory, here are the links from her performances so far:
Bright Star Baseball Begins Monday
Bright Star Baseball, the special needs league for boys and girls from ages 5 to 18, will open their spring season Monday at 6 p.m. at Bronson Field in Buford Park in Sulphur Springs. Games will be played every Monday through May 4 weather permitting. Each player is assigned a buddy to assist them. Parents get the opportunity to sit back and relax and watch their son or daughter play baseball.
Wildcat Baseball 4-0 in District
With a runner on second, the last Hallsville batter hit a line drive that went right at centerfielder Ethan Phillips. He caught it and the Wildcats squeezed by the Bobcats, 3-2 at Eagle Stadium Friday night. Ben Brooks got the pitching win. Tyler Follis got the last two outs for a save and drove in two runs with a big single. Larry Pryor scored the winning run on a wild pitch. The Wildcats, 4-0 in district play, travel to Pine Tree Tuesday night.
