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Bingo hall owner robbed at his home
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
TOOL–The victim of a Father’s Day robbery at his home is still trying to recover his sense of safety and confidence about unlocking his front door. Police have no leads in the case, but are hoping that a CrimeStopper’s reward will loosen someone’s tongue about the incident.
This is the second time this has happened to Tom Shelton, the owner of the Bingo Hall in Seven Points. The first time (2006), the robber was very apologetic about having to rob him, but this time, his assailant was particularly violent and abusive, threatening to kill him the entire time.
Shelton agreed to talk to The Monitor with the hope that someone will have seen the ring he is known for wearing every day and may help him find out what has become of it.
Shelton started wearing it all the time after he let the insurance lapse on it two years ago because the cost was so high, he said.
“I thought I could keep it from getting stolen,” he said.
Now, the 46-year-old is just very happy to still be alive.
The robbery occurred late at night on June 19. He had dined with his niece, who he reared from childhood. Though she treated him to a Father’s Day dinner, she ended up asking him for some cash to help her make a purchase of a $500 purse she had her eye on. Shelton said he ended up giving her $400 as she said she had a coupon worth a hundred against the purchase.
They finished dinner and parted. Shelton returned to the bingo hall to oversee the closing. He arrived at his home near Tool at 11:30 p.m.
He had just locked his car, unlocked his front door and was just about to get the door closed again when a man a little taller than Shelton’s five feet 11 inches pushed the door open and yelled at him to shut off the alarm. As soon as the alarm started to voice that it had been disarmed, the assailant pushed Shelton away from the control panel.
Shelton said the man was of slim build, seemed young, spoke with many profanities and was wearing a ski mask, long sleeves, black rubber gloves, pants and shoes. The man shoved a gun in his face and shouted, “It better be off. It better be off.” Then he demanded Shelton give up his jewelry.
The ring of particular value held three diamonds, one having once belonged to his grandmother and a second one belonging to his mother. Two of them were two karats each and the third was three karats. Then he demanded money.
“I emptied my wallet and gave him about $420,” Shelton said. “But he kept saying, ‘that’s not enough.’”
The assailant started yelling at him, “Where is your money? Where is your gold chains?”
Shelton was knocked to the ground and dragged by the neck of his shirt down the hallway to his bedroom door. Someone else Shelton couldn’t see removed his glasses, taped his eyes with duct tape and wrapped his wrists together with more tape, while pressing a knee into his back.
“I felt a third person walk past me into the second bedroom,” while the first assailant was tearing apart Shelton’s bedroom, he said.
When a ransacking of the bedroom yielded nothing of value, the violent assailant came back into the hallway and kicked Shelton in the ribs, while yelling at him and stomping on his hands.
Then he asked, “Where’s your pistol?” Shelton told him where to find it and he came back with it and stomped on his hands again, putting the gun at the base of his skull.
“‘I’m going to blow your f___ head off with your gun on Father’s Day,’ he said. ‘Where is your money? Where is your gold chains?’ ”
Shelton said he told him they were in a jewelry box on the dresser in the closet. However, the robber didn’t find it.
Shelton said he was in a panic at this time, fearing for his life. He said he felt a soft tap on the back of the neck and heard a voice that seemed disguised, whisper to him to “hush.”
“I felt one of them knew me and was being gentle with me,” Shelton said.
Then he was hit hard on the back of the head and he saw stars as the robbers left.
“I thought I had been shot,” Shelton said.
Some of the tape had torn where the assailant had trod on his hands and he was able to get one hand loose from the tape and lifted part of the tape off his eyes. He felt for a wound but there was no blood. He crawled into his bedroom and kicked the door closed. Everything that had been on his desk was on the floor, including a pair of scissors, which he used to free himself of the tape and called 9-1-1. It was around 11:46 p.m. when he made the call, he said.
“It seemed like a lifetime, but the whole thing was probably around 10 minutes,” Shelton said.
The robber hadn’t found his jewelry box because it had gotten thrown from the dresser and other stuff from the closet piled on top of it. Also left untouched were two boxed sets of gold-plated state quarters on the bed that had been gathered from the second bedroom and inadvertently left behind.
“The Tool Police responded within three minutes of my call,” Shelton said. About a half hour later, an investigator from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office arrived, but couldn’t find any concrete clues.
Shelton’s injuries were treated.
The robbery has changed many things about Shelton’s routines, and he has beefed up his security systems with lights and surveillance equipment.
“No one should be afraid to go home,” he said, but his homecoming remains an exercise in courage.
If anyone has any information about the robbery or has seen Shelton’s ring, please call investigator Kendel Wellman at (903) 675-5128, or to remain anonymous, call CrimeStoppers at (800) 545-8477.

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Gun Barrel City preps for July Fest
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY–All 70 vendor spaces have been sold out in anticipation of the July Fest in Gun Barrel City set for Saturday, July 2 at the 40 acres behind the firehouse, across of the ETMC Emergency Center.
The all-day event begins with a carnival atmosphere under Lonestar Amusements and ends with a fireworks display and performance by Texas Country band No Justice.
The fun starts at 9 a.m. Lonestar Amusements is setting up four attractions, each unique and exciting for kids of all ages. Kids will thrill to the inflatable bounce house and the Spiderman Slide, a full three stories tall.
In addition, an inflated covered obstacle course will challenge older kids to compete or work in teams to navigate the course, and lastly there is the rare Quadjump.
This attraction allows participants to take flight and soar into the air from a trampoline, while attached to a bungy-cord. The 4 in 1 Quadjump, also called a Power Jump, Bungy Jump or Eurobungy, will take your breath away! Leap as high as 25 feet in the air, while doing flips or whatever you want – two bungy cords guide you safely back to the trampoline each time. Then jump up and fly again and try something new!
Overwhelming fun for all ages. Four jumpers can try it all at once.
Lonestar Amusements is offering an all-day bracelet at a cost of $15 for unlimited enjoyment, or the quadjump can be experienced for $5 a pop, and other inflatables at $2 a time.
In between time, little ones can also take turns at pony rides, getting their faces painted or play carnival-styled games of skill.
In keeping with the carnival atmosphere, foods of nearly every description will be available, from deep-fried Twinkies and Snicker bars to traditional funnel cakes, popcorn, cotton candy, Churros, lemonade and much, much more.