Greenville

Unless you happen to be on a bicycle, navigating around downtown Greenville may be more tricky than usual this weekend.

Finding a parking place may also be a challenge, due to two big scheduled events.

The Greenville City Council voted Tuesday to settle a federal lawsuit, filed by the owner of a local car wash which had been the source of hundreds of noise complaints last summer.

The city will pay Carlos Limones $30,000 under the settlement, reached late last month in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. In return, Limones will drop his claim there was a conspiracy on the part of city officials against his business along FM 1570 in Greenville.

Local law enforcement agencies are warning area residents of a telephone scam, where the victims are threatened with arrest if they don’t send the caller money via a pre-paid card.

Both the Greenville Police Department and the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office have received reports of the scam, which involves a fake warrant officer calling about missed jury duty.

The Greenville Electric Utility System intends to raise electric rates, in part to help pay for the local utility’s share of the Gibbons Creek power plant through the Texas Municipal Power Agency (TMPA).

“The TMPA plant has been an integral part of GEUS’ power supply mix for many years keeping our rates very competitive”, said GEUS General Manager Gary Singleton.

It would be the first such increase in electric rates in four years.

Hungry residents of the City of Greenville are getting closer to being able to buy a Whopper.

Construction is expected to begin soon on a new Burger King, which will be built on the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, 7401 Interstate 30.

A building permit had been issued for the restaurant as of last week. City of Greenville Building Official Steve Methven said signs of movement are expected on the project in the next week or so.

It is the latest in a series of restaurants building or expanding in Greenville this year.

It again looks like there will be a water park in Greenville next summer.

Officials with Splash Kingdom have announced construction on the company’s Greenville facility is expected to resume this week.

Construction of the infrastructure, road and utilities, is scheduled to begin,” said Splash Kingdom President and CEO Johnny Blevins of the plan to restart operations  at the site along the Interstate 30 service road.

A local man has been indicted on a charge of driving while intoxicated and causing a crash which injured three people in Commerce.

Willie Doss Jr., 44, of Greenville, remains in custody at the Hunt County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond on a charge of intoxication assault with a vehicle, with a second count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon regarding the incident in May.

The Hunt County grand jury issued the indictment Friday, as it began its six month term of serving the 354th District Court.

The City of Greenville is hoping for some good news this week, as a second set of bids are opened on the 2014 Street Improvement Program.

Only two bids were received last month, after the first time the current year’s effort was advertised, and both came in above the projected budget for the job.

The bids are due by 3 p.m. Tuesday, after which they will opened and evaluated by the city staff, before they are presented to the Greenville City Council for its consideration.

The Texan Theater is wanting its name up in lights ... lots of lights.

The historic theater in downtown Greenville, currently undergoing a major renovation effort, would be home to a big new electronic sign if city leaders vote this week to approve a change in the code or ordinances.

The Planning and Zoning Commission has scheduled a public hearing during Monday’s regular session — starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 2821 Washington Street — before voting on whether to recommend the change to the Greenville City Council.

According to the Greenville Herald-Banner, emergency personnel responded to a call at an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Stanford street around 3 p.m. Friday afternoon. A 44-year-old male was reportedly stabbed multiple times.

Shortly after the first call, police and medical services responded to a second, similar call of a man walking up to the Prime Stop store at the corner of Wesley and Stanford streets with multiple stab wounds, according to the Herald-Banner.

The Greenville Police Department evacuated the Greenville Wal-Mart late Thursday night due to a bomb threat, city officials said.

No injuries were reported, and a bomb sweep came back clean, according to city of Greenville Public Relations Liaison Autumn Barton. Barton said the decision to evacuate the building is one made by the Wal-Mart manager, not the Greenville Police Department.

Brad Powers was shopping at Wal-Mart when he was told to leave by a manager.

If - and everything about the Blacklands Corridor has an "if" in front of it - there is a new road between Greenville and Garland, there are quite a few places where it could go.

The North Central Texas Council of Government's Blacklands Corridor Feasibility Study is on schedule. By the end of this calendar year, the agency expects to have recommendations for the future of transportation infrastructure in the region between Greenville and the President George Bush Tollway in Garland. The study area includes parts of Collin, Dallas, Hunt and Rockwall Counties.

One person has been arrested in connection with a two-vehicle crash that injured three people last week.

According to a press release, Commerce Police Department responded to a call around 2 p.m. on May 7 of a two-vehicle crash in the area of Highway 24 and Highway 50. According to investigators, a vehicle traveling northbound on Highway 50 was struck from behind by another vehicle traveling at a high speed in the same direction. Alcohol is expected to have played a part in the crash.

A  Greenville man, sentenced to state prison earlier this year on a weapons charge, is scheduled to plead guilty today to multiple counts involving two different shootings in July 2013.

A hung jury was the result of a trial in February concerning Royce William Tawater, 27, on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of deadly conduct.

A retrial on the charges had been scheduled next week in the 354th District Court.

However, Tawater is now set to enter guilty pleas to the three remaining counts during a hearing in the court this morning.

A big crowd filled the Fletcher Warren Civic Center in Greenville Thursday night, for the latest public meeting concerning plans to address future transportation issues along the Blacklands Corridor between Greenville and the Dallas area.

This week, consumer finance website NerdWallet crunched some numbers from a study by the Martin Prosperity Institute and came up with a list of 126 "cities on the rise in Texas." Greenville was listed in the number nine spot.

Some of the factors contributing to the high rank, according to this post, were:

Commerce Police Department released the following statement on Feb. 15.

A Commerce man led officers in an extensive chase through Commerce, Texas A&M University-Commerce Campus, Hunt County roads and Greenville.

A shooting in Greenville on Jan. 15 resulted in two wounded victims and four arrests, according to the Greenville Police Department.

Around noon, officers responded to a call of a shooting in the 2500 block of Broadview Street in Greenville, police said. Once there, officers were told that a shooting had occurred and that once victim had been taken to Hunt Regional Hospital with an arm wound, officials said.

The Greenville Police Department was searching Wednesday evening for multiple suspects wanted in connection with an early morning armed robbery during which one man was shot and seriously wounded.

Jeffrey Day, Jr. remained in the intensive care unit in Parkland Hospital in Dallas Wednesday, after being transported by air ambulance following the incident.

A reward is being offered for information which results in the arrest of the suspects responsible for the attack.

Area residents wanting to dispose of their natural Christmas trees, and get some free beneficial mulch for their garden or landscaping in return, are in luck.

The local electric utility system is offering a free Christmas tree shredding event. GEUS is presenting the program between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday at the Fletcher Warren Civic Center in Greenville.

GEUS cannot except trees that are flocked, are artificial or which have any metal decorations or other ornaments still attached. The trees which will be dropped off will be turned into mulch.

The Greenville City Council could vote next month to enter into a formal agreement with developers behind a massive planned community just west of the city.

The council heard Tuesday from Alexa C. Knight and Matt Robinson with the Walton Development & Management about the proposal to establish a multi-use development, which has been on the drawing boards for the past few years.

If you are going to sell illegal narcotics, advertising it on Facebook is probably not the smartest move, because you never know who may be checking on your profile.

Three people learned that lesson the hard way Tuesday, after they were arrested by local law enforcement.

Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said a special operation was conducted by the Sheriff’s Office narcotics unit Tuesday afternoon, which resulted in the arrest of three individuals who were each charged with delivery of a dangerous drug.

The murder of a Greenville teenager in November 2012 was one of the most tragic stories of the year and continued to make local headlines well into 2013.

A memorial ceremony has been scheduled Saturday, the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Alicia Moore.

Moore was last seen getting off of a school bus at the intersection of Walnut and Bourland Streets in Greenville on Nov. 2, 2012. Her body was found four days later in Van Zandt County.

Paris Junior College president Dr. Pamela Anglin submitted her resignation at a special meeting of the college's Board of Regents at a special meeting on Oct. 18. Anglin's last day at the college will be Dec. 31, 2013.

"The last ten years I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful faculty and staff," Dr. Anglin said in a statement.