Get that flu shot! Houston area flu cases spike!

THE CHRON: If you've been putting off your annual flu shot, don't delay any longer: Texas is already being hit hard this flu season.

Houston-area hospitals have seen a spike in the number of emergency room visits for flu-like symptoms, said Porfirio Villarreal, spokesman for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services. During the week of Nov. 18, about 1,580 visits to emergency rooms were attributed to flu-like illnesses, compared with just 249 visits during the same week last year, Villarreal said.

Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization or even death, the CDC says.

Every flu season is different, and even healthy people can get very sick from the disease and spread it to others. From 1976 to 2007, estimates of U.S. deaths each year due to flu ranged from 3,000 to 49,000.

"Flu is predictably unpredictable," said Dr. Gail Demmler-Harrison, pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Texas Children's Hospital and pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine. "There's no cause for alarm but cause for action. People should get themselves vaccinated so it doesn't get any worse."

National Influenza Vaccination Week, a campaign established in 2005 to counter the notion that December is too late to get a vaccination, ends Saturday. Once a vaccine is administered, it takes about two weeks to develop immunity.

Although the influenza season usually peaks in February, 48 states and Puerto Rico have reported cases, with rates rising quickly nationwide, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.

Along with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee are also reporting high levels of activity.

In Houston, Texas Children's Hospital has seen an early start to the season with 123 confirmed cases of Type A influenza and 32 cases of Type B, compared with just two Type A cases in the same span last year, Demmler-Harrison said.

Everyone who is at least 6 months old should get a flu vaccination, but the CDC says it's especially important for these groups:

» People at high risk of developing serious complications like pneumonia if they get the flu, including those with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and chronic lung disease.

» Pregnant women.

» People 65 years and older.

» People who live with or care for others who are at high risk of developing serious complications.

Shell plant releases hydrocarbons

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Shell Oil Co said a product storage tank emitted a release of hydrocarbons early on Thursday at the company's manufacturing site in Deer Park, Texas.

"Our emergency response personnel arrived on the scene and quickly stabilized the tank," company spokeswoman Kayla Macke said. The size of the release was not known.

The company said it does not expect any offsite impact from the incident.

The facility houses Shell's 327,000-barrels-per-day joint-venture refinery.

The Deer Park refinery is the 11th largest in the United States and is a 50/50 joint venture between Mexico's national oil company Pemex and Royal Dutch Shell Plc's U.S. unit Shell Oil Co, which operates the plant.

Woman points gun at kids in Deer Park ...

By Andrew Horansky / KHOU.com

Posted on October 12, 2012 at 9:46 AM

DEER PARK, Texas — A group of kids were recently greeted at a Deer Park home by a woman wielding a handgun.

From the outside, the Reyes’ appears to be inviting. There is a little league sign beside the front door.

“Any time you point a loaded handgun at somebody there is always a chance of somebody getting shot,” said Detective Jason Meredith, with the Deer Park Police Department.

It was the second time the kids had rung the bell at the home on Wynfield on a Saturday night and run off, in a juvenile prank known as “ding dong ditch.”

According to police, there were five boys between the ages of 9 and 14. The woman’s 14-year old daughter followed them to a park with a bat.

Mom was not far behind.

According to an affidavit, she allegedly told one of them he “was lucky she didn’t shoot his head off.” She allegedly told another if he ran “she would shoot him and beat up his parents.”

The boys said she had a gun in her hand. Police said there was no indication she was on any kind of substance.

Records show the woman is 39-year old Cherry Reyes, and she has been charged with the felony offense of aggravated assault.

Some neighbors said they feel better knowing that.

One unidentified woman said the boys rang her bell and ran too, but that they are good kids.

“I didn’t even worry about it,” she said. “Because I can look out and see them in the yard, I knew they were just playing around.”

Yet another neighbor believes homeowners can never be too careful.

“She could have been scared,” Scott Czerwonka said. “You have to look at all the situations.”

Police said Reyes followed one of the boys home to speak to his parents. They said she did not have a gun when she went.

Deer Park woman accused of beating her son - injuring him.

DEER PARK, TX (KTRK) -- A Deer Park mother is accused of causing serious bodily injury to her young son while beating him.

Court documents state on August 17 Melissa Nicole Gibbs punished her 10-year-old son for not doing the dishes by hitting him in the buttocks and upper thigh with a wooden paddle and spanking him with her hand. Police say the boy had extensive bruising to those areas, which was documented with photographs.

After the incident, the boy told two witnesses who took the photos and reported the alleged abuse. The boy told police the bruises were painful.

Investigators say Gibbs admitted that she hit the boy with a wood paddle and her hand and that the punishment was excessive.

Gibbs, 29, is charged with injury to a child.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Deer Park family talks of canine home invasion

KENS5 HOUSTON – For the second time in three weeks, a Deer Park family has been victimized by a canine home invasion.

The latest case happened Monday night in Deer Park. Darlene Trahan says she was cooking dinner with her 4-year-old grandson at her side when she heard a sound at the back door. Upon investigating, she says she found one of her neighbor’s pit bulls in her utility room.

It had come in through the doggie door.

"He was growling," said Trahan. "I shut the door and went back in the kitchen. I wasn’t going to deal with it."

The first time it happened, the couple’s 11-year-old dachshund was attacked and required more than $1,000 in vet care.

The Trahans want something done about their neighbor’s pit bulls.

"The city says they can’t do nothing about it," said Mike Trahan. "Bureaucratic bull crap I guess."

Deer Park’s City Manager says the owner, Jason Colvin, has been fined $150. The city also deemed one of his dogs dangerous, requiring it to be restrained or in a secured enclosure. Colvin must now carry $100,000 in liability insurance.

After the first incident, Colvin defended his pets.

"They’re people dogs," said Colvin. "They’re friendly. "They’re going to go into your house."

Mike Trahan says if the pit bulls go into his house again, they’ll be dead dogs.

Deer Park teen charged with manslaughter speaks out ...

DEER PARK, TX (KTRK) -- A teenage mom accused of manslaughter in a car crash that killed her friend speaks out about the charges against her. She's being prosecuted now, more than a year after the crash, after what the Deer Park Police Department called an incomplete investigation.For the first time the suspect in the deadly Deer Park wreck is speaking publicly about that night, her own injuries and about the charges against her.

"Honestly, that night... I don't remember anything from that night," Taylar Braden said. "Literally almost nothing."

This is the Taylar Braden you likely don't know.

"I'm a single mother of a two and a half year old son," she said.

The candid 19-year-old is still recovering from her own injuries in the wreck 12 months ago that killed her 18-year-old friend Andreaka Bell and has her charged with manslaughter.

"Andreaka is gone. I can't even put it into words or even begin to describe how I feel," Taylar said. "Regardless of how the family feels toward me, I still pray that they'll come to peace with this, because it is hard. I can't even begin to explain how they feel, because I don't know."

Taylar says she sustained brain injuries that have left her with a poor memory. Prosecutors say she was drunk and behind the wheel after leaving a party with two friends. Now she's worried about going to jail for something she doesn't remember."I don't even know if what they're saying is even

 true," she said.

The case against her is somewhat unusual in that Deer Park police admittedly failed to investigate the wreck properly when it happened in August 2011. The community cried foul, saying that police didn't value Andreaka Bell's life.

Officer Thomas Goodwin resigned from the force after his superiors determined he never completed the initial investigation. Her family, who did not want to respond to our interview with Taylar, called for justice and wants Taylar behind bars.

"Taylar is being prosecuted and to some extent she is being persecuted by the community," said defense attorney Paul Houston LaValle. "People are hating on her. They're sending her death threats. This is a very remorseful, very scared, very spiritual person."

Taylar said, "I pray about it, that maybe it'll just get better, people will see my side and they'll understand more."

Taylar Braden tells us she has apologized to Andreaka Bell's family. The family tells us they're not interested in anything other than Taylar being punished. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years behind bars. But her attorney believes prosecutors will have a difficult time convincing a jury that Taylar is guilty of any wrongdoing.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Deer Park Teen charged with manslaughter

by Andrew Horansky/KHOU and Nikki Metzgar/KHOU.com

khou.com

Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:33 AM

Updated Friday, Aug 3 at 5:52 PM

DEER PARK, Texas—A Deer Park teenager has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly causing a crash that killed Andreaka Bell and injured another passenger almost one year ago.

Taylar Braden, 19, is accused of causing Bell’s death by driving her car at an excessive speed, failing to maintain proper lookout, failing to control the speed of her car, failing to maintain a single lane, consuming alcohol unlawfully and speeding above the posted speed.

The investigation into the accident fell apart when the Deer Park Police Department revealed it had failed to interview witnesses or to test Braden’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash.

The family of 18-year old Bell knew that without information from the scene, it would be difficult to file charges.

They launched an online petition to bring attention to their case, which finally went before a judge on Friday.

Prosecutors determined that there was enough evidence to move forward with manslaughter charges against Braden.

Investigators say that Braden drove her friends Bell and Ashley Broussard to a house party on August 13, 2011.

Bell stayed in the back seat of the car to sleep, Broussard said to police.

She also said that they played drinking games before Braden got involved in a fight with another male guest. Witnesses say that when Braden threw a beer at the man, the owner of the house asked everyone to leave.

That’s when Braden allegedly got into the driver seat, with Broussard on the passenger side and Bell still asleep in the back.

Broussard told police that Braden sped in order to catch up with the young man she had fought with earlier.

Braden lost control of the car, which flipped onto its roof, ejecting both Braden and Bell on the 4300 block of West Pasadena Boulevard.

They were flown to Memorial Hermann, where Bell later died.

Broussard suffered from fractures on both sides of her hips, compressed discs in her spine and cuts and bruises, according to court documents.

In an interview with police, Braden said that there were alcoholic beverages at the party and that she was the person driving the car, but that she did not remember if she drank anything.

Investigators reconstructed the scene of the accident and believe that Braden was driving at least 88 miles per hour where the speed limit was 40.

Braden’s mother denies that her daughter was drunk.

"I had two nurses minimal in that hospital, I asked ‘was there anything in her system?’" Cynthia Bienvenue said. "They said no."

She said that her daughter has two-year old son and is considering going back to school. If convicted, Braden could spend anywhere from 2 to 20 years in prison and pay up to a $20,000 fine.

The Deer Park officer in charge at the time of the investigation is no longer with the department