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Fugitive, drugs flushed from hotel room
Suspect climbs out window with bag containing semi-auto pistol, weed & meth
Monitor Staff Reports
GUN BARREL CITY–A Kemp man was arrested and charged in an ongoing narcotics investigation Tuesday.
Damon Lance Ward, 32, was already wanted on a felony indictment for Assault Family Violence, when a narcotics team moved on his suspected location at the American Inn & Suites at 2916 W. Main St. in Gun Barrel City.
Based on a tip, officers believed Ward to be there and armed with a handgun.
When Henderson County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Bryan Tower and Deputy Greg Hill attempted to make contact with persons inside the hotel room, more deputies stationed behind the building saw Ward climbing out of a window and heading into the woods.
According to a press release, Ward was carrying a medium-sized bag.
Gun Barrel City police officers were called in to assist in creating a perimeter.
Deputies Jonathan Halbert and Hill located Ward hiding in the woods and positively identified him before taking him into custody.
Inside the bag, they found quantities of suspected marijuana, methamphetamine and a scale and packaging supplies used in the distribution of narcotics. Also found was a semiautomatic pistol.
Ward was transported to the Henderson County Detention Center and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance less than 4 grams and the original felony assault warrant.
He was released March 7 on bonds totaling $40,000.
Three other persons were identified in the room and were released after a search of the room.

Regional communication center to serve entire county
By Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office
Special to the Monitor
KAUFMAN–The newly proposed Regional Emergency Communication Center and Emergency Operations Center for Kaufman will provide emergency police, fire and ambulance dispatch to every city in the county, with the exception of Forney which has its own modern facility.
In today’s economy, state, regional and local government agencies face a pressing need to provide exceptional citizen services in an effective and efficient manner, all the while working under constant resource constraints.
To meet these challenges, public agencies are constantly trying to increase productivity and efficiency at lower costs.
While city governments and counties are faced with the need to do more with less, public safety still remains a priority.
“The need for public support is vitally important as this project proceeds,” Sheriff David A. Byrnes said.
Byrnes expects the Center to serve the county for the next 25 years.
The Federal Communication Commission will require every public safety element to convert existing systems to what is referred to as “narrow-band” by midnight Dec. 31. The penalty for not meeting the deadline is to face fines up to $21,000 per day.
The FCC will also require upgraded digital emergency communications technology by 2018.
This is a huge, unavoidable expense for local municipalities and the county to take on individually.
Currently, emergency communications within the county are fragmented to say the least. Police radios do not easily connect with firefighter radios, and most law enforcement personnel radios cannot talk to other law enforcement personnel radios in neighboring jurisdictions.
This makes coordination difficult and results in longer emergency response time, when timely action is most necessary.
Once the regionalized emergency communication center is activated, citizens will see a significant drop in emergency response times.
By its nature, the center will present a more coordinated, focused effort when emergency responders from multiple counties and jurisdictions are required.
The new communications center will provide professional public safety communications to each agency as they work together to preserve and improve the quality of life for Kaufman County citizens.
This will be accomplished through the prompt, efficient, and accurate collection and dissemination of information.
“We need a robust infrastructure that can handle multiple kinds of disasters,” Kaufman Counties Emergency Management coordinator Steve Howie said.
“That is clearly not feasible with multiple independent dispatch centers.”
“This is an excellent move where every nickel counts,” he added.
Both supporters and critics of the plan, agree the dawn of a new era is approaching.
“This will be an effective tool to make our county more efficient and affordable,” Howie said.
“We will get a state-of-the-art facility with state-of-the-art equipment and emergency medical dispatch personnel that the smaller municipalities in our county would never be able to afford individually,” county judge Bruce Wood said.
“The quality of service the new center will provide cannot be realized without a combined effort between county and local municipalities,” he added.
The automotive industry realized many years ago it is not cost-effective to have an automobile manufacturing plant everywhere to sell cars.
You build a centralized, commonly tooled and staffed manufacturing plant in one location that meets the needs of dealers all over the country.
From a very simple perspective, this is the approach of a regional communications center. We construct, equip, staff and operate one facility that services the needs of public safety throughout the entire county, at the same level of quality, capability and effectiveness.
Pooling resources will not only save money for the various communities who would otherwise have to duplicate the expensive facility, equipment and staffing requirements for emergency communications, but will build asset awareness and comprehensive response to public safety situations alone. This will vastly improve our effectiveness in Kaufman County.
“Consolidation of expensive government services is now a new trend and it is certainly a smart trend in these lean times,” Terrell Police Department Chief Jody Lay stated.
“More importantly though, it produces more effective allocation of public safety resources.”
“Being more effective is what we must continue to focus on in this County,” Lay added.
“I am very excited about the many possibilities that could come from this proposed project and look forward to doing my part to make it happen for our citizens.”
“Every community in Kaufman County is facing serious issues regarding the updating of their existing systems, and unless we take a proactive stance in solving the problem ahead of us, we will be short changing the citizens of Kaufman,” Kaufman City Mayor William Fortner said.
The idea of a new regionalized communications center will not only be a prudent move for the citizens of Kaufman, but will be good for every city within Kaufman County.
“Rather than duplicate expense and systems in the various cities, it makes good business sense to consolidate this government service. This will significantly enhance public safety for all citizens in the County.”