Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

A Tomball woman was convicted of Intoxication Manslaughter by a Montgomery County jury, in a rare case involving legal prescription drugs.

Sherri Lorene Holloway, 31, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison following her conviction. The case stemmed from a crash on SH 105 in February of 2011, where Holloway crossed the center line, hitting a white Chevrolet van, killing its driver, Kenneth Buffington. Prosecutors said he was killed almost instantly, due to the force of the crash.

Holloway was seriously injured in the crash and sent by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Witnesses said Holloway’s vehicle was weaving erratically before the crash, even causing a tractor-trailer to have to leave the roadway to avoid her, so State Trooper Eric Lopez obtained a blood sample from Holloway at the hospital. He was also given a baggie with numerous pills that hospital staff found on her.

Lab results showed that Holloway had a combination of valium, soma and hydrocodone in her system at the time the sample was taken.

After hearing testimony from forensic experts and witnesses to the crash, jurors took less than 10 minutes to convict her of the crime.

During the punishment phase prosecutors were able to enter evidence of another crash involving Holloway, which injured Tomball police officers Cpt. Rick Grassi and Sgt. Rebecca Carlisle.

Prosecutors said that in May of 2010, Holloway hit theTomball police officers in a police vehicle on FM 2978, while they were on their way to a police funeral in Conroe. Both officers were injured in the crash. She was allegedly under the influence of the same drugs when that crash occurred.

The 12-year sentence means that Holloway must serve at least half of that before she is eligible for parole. She will be credited with time served already in the Montgomery County Jail, meaning she will possibly have to serve less than five years in state prison.

The Texas Ethics Committee has fined Texas legislator Allen Fletcher $6,500, after they said he failed to respond to a complaint alleging corporate contributions and improper reporting of contributions.

The nine page order runs through a host of allegations filed by members of the Texas Ethics Advisory Board, a Tea Party affiliated group which has filed several complaints against politicians of both political parties.

The order from the TEC states that Fletcher denied the allegations, but failed to respond to a list of written questions that the TEC sent him last April.

“Postal records show that the document was delivered to the respondent on May 1, 2012,” the TEC order states. “To date, the respondent has not submitted a response to the questions.”

The TEC stated that they could not find evidence that Fletcher willingly accepted corporate contributions. Other allegations that Fletcher did not properly disclose the amount of certain contributions were dismissed.

“Thirty of the contributions at issue did not come from a corporation or labor organization,” the document states. “For 11 contributions, the evidence was inconclusive as to the status of the contributor or the respondent’s knowledge of that status.”

The TEC document states that there was credible information that six contributions did not properly disclose the contributors full name and the full address or occupations of 12 contributors.

The main violation, according to documents, is Fletcher allegedly not responding to the TEC’s written questions, which is what caused the hefty fine.

William Elmer, a spokesperson for the Texas Ethics Advisory Board, said the group filed the complaints because it believes Fletcher had illegally used or accepted funds.

“Fletcher has turned on the Tomball Tea Party and reneged on his pledges of smaller government and immigration reform,” he said in a statement. “Fletcher now supports sanctuary city status for Tomball and supported the establishment of a day labor center there.”

Fletcher did not respond to an interview request before press time.

A Magnolia man is behind bars, after Montgomery County deputies say he hit a Pct. 4 Constable car while driving drunk.

Court records state that Jacob Tyler Sweeten, 20, was traveling at a high rate of speed on Crocket-Martin Road, in East Montgomery County, Sept. 30. Deputy Skero, with the Constable’s Office, was conducting a traffic stop on the side of the road, near a railroad crossing.

After flying over the railroad tracks, Sweeten then slammed into the back of the deputy’s patrol car, according to deputies.

Sweeten was suspected by police of being under the influence and was arrested. He refused a breath test, however deputies obtained a search warrant for a mandatory blood draw. He was booked into jail on charges of Driving While Intoxicated.

According to a report from the Montgomery County Police Reporter, Sweeten is a senior at The Woodlands High School and was arrested last May for the same offense, but charges were dismissed.

Several local teams put up valiant fights against favored opponents during their Friday night battles Sept. 28, but all of them came up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

Magnolia West    14

Montgomery       16

Magnolia West went into its battle with Montgomery looking to win its second straight contest against its Montgomery County neighbor.

The Bears broke through for a late touchdown to take the lead 16-14 and held on by halting a final Mustangs drive with an interception to seal the win.

The game was a defensive struggle the entire night, as Magnolia West was able to hold Montgomery to less than 100 yards of offense, while taking a 7-0 halftime lead.

Montgomery broke through with a quick 72-yard drive to open up the second half, tying the score at 7-7.

The Bears then took a 10-7 lead on their next possession, before the Mustangs were able to answer.

With the Bears driving to ice the game, Magnolia West’s defense forced a fumble and recovered it, giving the Mustangs hope.

Quarterback Troy Logan found receiver Zeke Bronson in the back corner of the end zone, giving Magnolia West a 14-10 lead with just more than three minutes to play.

The Bears clawed it out in the end, however, scoring the go ahead touchdown with a little more than one minute in the game.

The loss dropped the Mustangs to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in district play.

Waller   41

Willis     42

Heartbreak.

That is the one word to describe Waller’s recent 42-41 loss to Willis, Sept. 28, as a last second field goal was declared no good because time had expired.

After the Wildkats first score, the Bulldogs raced downfield in their quest to answer, as  Colten Frisby had a catch and run of 74-yards to set up a scoring play from quarterback Rhett Loewe to Elijah Morrow from five yards out. Denny Garcia made the extra point to tie the game.

On the following kick off, the Wildkats returned it 100 yards for the score, promptly taking the lead again at 14-7. The Bulldogs responded by marching the ball down the field to score with 36 seconds left in the first quarter, as Rhett Loewe connected with Elijah Morrow on a 16-yard pass.

The defense held on the next possession and the offense quickly got to work. With only 9:47 left in the second quarter, Rhett Loewe hit Jacob Thompson on a beautiful pass in the corner of the end zone to go up 21-14.

Willis proceeded to score on their next two possessions and took the lead 28-21.

The Bulldogs came back with 2:02 left in the quarter and Colten Frisby scored on a 17-yard run up the middle to even the score at 28.

The second half fireworks started quickly as Willis kicked an on-side kick and recovered it. Willis went on to score and the next two Waller possessions were stopped by interceptions. The Wildkats were able to covert one of those turnovers into scores and took a 42-28 lead.

The Bulldog defense shut down any more offensive threats for the remainder of the game.

Waller began its comeback attempt with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Loewe to Morrow, cutting the lead to 42-35.

The fourth quarter was played hard by both defenses, but with a minute-and-a-half remaining to play, the Bulldog offense punched one through, as Loewe connected with Desmin Merrell on a nine yard fade route for the touchdown. Waller went for two, but came up short.

Then the craziness began.

The following on-side kick was executed to perfection, as Race Mellman was able to keep the ball from going out of bounds and Josh Cunningham recovered the ball.

With under a minute to play and no time-outs, the Bulldogs were able to advance the ball inside the 20-yard line. The field goal unit raced to get on the field and Denny Garcia drilled the ball down the middle of the posts. Unfortunately, the ball was not snapped before the time had run off the clock.

Waller hosted Montgomery in district play Oct. 5. Results were not available as of press time.

Tomball                      20

Ft. Bend Marshall    58

The Tomball Cougars are still searching for their first victory of the season and it looked promising, until a horrible second quarter sealed the deal for Ft. Bend Marshall.

The Cougars raced to a 14-0 lead in the games first five minutes, as Xavier Powell ran 55 yards for a touchdown, while three minutes later quarterback Drew Reynolds found Mitch Carlile for a 34-yard strike.

Then the nightmare began as Marshall rolled off 44 straight points, before Reynolds was able to connect with Dmitri Scott for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the half.

The scoring wasn’t over as Marshall was able to drive 64 yards with those precious few seconds remaining to take a 51-20 lead into the locker room.

Marshall would score one more time in the game, providing the final 58-20 score.

Powell led all Tomball rushers with 78 yards on 13 carries, while Reynolds was 7-12 passing, with the two touchdown tosses.

Hewitt is a 2-year-old male chihuahua. He was found with five other small dogs by the Hewlett Packard building near SH 249. An employee had seen them hanging out for a few days and thought they were probably dumped there. He is such a sweet, friendly, loving little guy that weighs about six pounds. All he wants is to be with people and he loves attention. He would make a wonderful lap dog because that's where he wants to be. He would be happy with a family without small kids. He is also good with other dogs and keeps his cage clean. Hewitt will be waiting to smother you with love and kisses. For more information about Hewitt contact Abandoned Animal Rescue at 281-290-0121 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . For more information about AAR visit www.aartomball.org.