Explosion at M-G Feed Heard from Miles
The Colorado County Citizen
• On Monday, Dec. 28 the M-G feed mill located on I-10 outside Weimar experienced an explosion that was heard from miles away. A witness also reported seeing smoke and a flame but couldn’t identify where it originated. Fortunately, there was more sound than fire. According to Mark Kloesel, CEO of M-G, an overheated bearing in one of the elevator legs sparked and the dust particles ignited in the stack. This caused the loud “cannon-like” boom and the fireball. Everyone was evacuated safely from the building. According to Weimar Fire Chief David Brandt, the fire department conducted a sweep of the entire area and determined where the incident occurred. Water lines were run up the tower and the overheated bearing was cooled down. This was done by running a water hose from the fire hydrant on the main road, connecting to a stand-pipe on the side of the tower and the water was pressurized by a fire truck up to the firefighters on the elevator tower. There were no injuries and no major damage reported.
• Members of the Western Rice Belt Conference Committee rallied together to donate 11,000 pounds of rice when their annual conference decided to go virtual in January due to the pandemic. The Western Rice Belt Conference Committee is a program area committee of the Wharton, Matagorda, and Colorado County offices of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. The donation was made to the Central Texas Food Bank to be distributed to struggling families in the 21 counties it serves. By working with Riviana Foods, the committee was able to utilize rice, farmers, and producers from just two hours south of Austin, ensuring a quick turnaround and local recipients of the donation.
Burleson County Tribune
• One person was killed in a two-vehicle crash in Washington County on Sunday afternoon. Around 5:55 p.m. a 1998 Harley Davidson was traveling eastbound on Highway 105, near FM 912. That is when a 2003 Ford F-105 attempted to turn west onto 105 from FM 912. Two riders on the Harley were ejected, with the driver, 36-year-old John Travis Winn of Somerville, pronounced deceased at the scene. The passenger, 31-year-old Kathryn Jordan Winn of Somerville, was taken to St. Joseph in Bryan in critical condition. A secondary crash occurred when a 2005 Ford F-150 traveling eastbound on 105 struck the at-rest body of the rider of the Harley. The two passengers in the Ford, identified as 64-year-old Stanley Rose of Washington and a 17-yearold juvenile female of Washington, were not injured. The crash is under investigation.
• Officials in Burleson County are confirming a Texas A&M football player was arrested in Burleson County on Tuesday, Dec. 22. Freshman offensive lineman Chris Morris was arrested and head coach Jimbo Fisher is aware of the situation. The Burleson County Sheriff’s Office says Morris was charged with evading arrest with a motor vehicle and reckless driving. The arrest report says Morris, a native of West Memphis, Arkansas, was in a Dodge Challenger and was stopped in the morning on Highway 21 at CR 327 north of Giddings. The Sheriff’s office says he posted a $6,500 bond and was released. The A&M Athletic Department says Morris was not at practice last week and did not travel with the team to Miami for the Orange Bowl against North Carolina.
Yoakum Herald-Times
•Yoakum police are asking for the public’s help in finding those responsible for a late-night shooting that occurred at a Yoakum residence on Dec. 19 at about 11:15 p.m. Yoakum Police Chief Karl Van Slooten reported that the drive-by shooting took place in the 400 block of Ross St. Several shots were fired at a residence there and no one was injured. Although Van Slooten offered no indication that the shooting might be related but several nearby homes were part of a citywide drug bust that took place the day before.
•A multiagency narcotics investigation ended with drug raids at several Yoakum residences, the arrest of 10 people, and the seizure of thousands of dollars worth of illegal narcotics and other contraband. Officers with the Yoakum Police Department, Cuero Police Department, DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office, Lavaca County Sheriff’s Office, La Vernia Police Department, Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Public Safety took part in the raids which served search warrants to four home within the Yoakum city limits on Dec. 18. Three of those houses were identified as Lavaca County residences and a fourth residence was in DeWitt County. All 10 individuals who were arrested were served with arrest warrants for delivery of a controlled substance. Among the contraband seized were two pounds of methamphetamine, 1 ½ pounds of marijuana, almost half a gram of cocaine, and numerous prescription narcotic pills, along with a Ruger pistol and roughly $1,600 in cash. This is part of a lengthy, ongoing narcotics investigation and more arrests are pending.