Former non-profit employee with thousands of porn images gets prison

  HOUSTON -- A Houston man who had more than 17,000 child pornography images and videos has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

A federal judge in Houston on Friday sentenced 64-year-old Christopher Clark Pollett. Pollett in November pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in a 2010 case.

Investigators say Pollett worked for Neighborhood Centers Inc. The nonprofit group deals with community development and after-school programs. Organization officials did not immediately comment Friday.

The FBI in June 2010 searched Pollett's home. Authorities say several computers, film reels, books and binders had thousands of images of children. About 17,000 digital images and 400 child porn videos were located.

Pollett must also pay $21,000 in restitution to three child victims and a $7,800 fine. Further details on the victims weren't released.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Payroll error overpays thousands of HISD employees

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some Houston ISD employees are being asked to pay back money from their own paychecks. The district is now trying to explain a payroll error it says overpaid thousands of workers over the last few years.

The employees are being notified this week. It's a very complicated accounting problem and the solution isn't an easy one either.

The notice went out to about 3,700 HISD employees and affects 12-month employees, which means most teachers are not affected.

The district says the problem dates back to the year 2000, when they converted to a new payroll system. As employees left or retired, they were being told they owed HISD.

"It's just not a good way to do business, so we're trying to clean all that up," HISD Spokesman Jason Spencer said.

Spencer admits the district didn't do a good job early on of informing employees and says they have an obligation to the taxpayers.

"We're attempting to reconcile that. We're going to all of our employees, we're letting them know how many days in advance they were paid for time that they did not work," Spencer said.

Employees will be given three repayment options: They may give back earned time off; have regular paycheck deductions for up to two years; or make a one-time payment back to the district.

Gayle Fallon with the Houston Federation of Teachers raises several questions about the memo, including the statute of limitations.

"You don't go back and tell an employee that you are going to pay us something from eight years ago. We're going to suggest to our members, tell them no, make them sue you," Fallon said.

While teachers in the union are not affected, she's concerned about the employees at the bottom of the pay scale who are.

"I'm very worried about the clerks and the secretaries. It won't sound like a lot of money to the public, it is a lot of money, every dollar counts," Fallon said.

This could be as much as four weeks pay for some employees. The district says once this is corrected, it will not happen again.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Thousands of trees re-planted in Houston

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Thousands of new trees are taking root in Houston in celebration of Arbor Day.

More than 1,000 volunteers put on their gardening gloves and picked up shovels to plant 25,000 oak, cypress and pine trees in four city parks as part of a massive effort to replace trees lost in the devastating drought.

"You couldn't see the highway and [the trees] muffled the sound a lot. Now, you can obviously see the highway," Vivian Chambers said.

Memorial Park was once densely forested, but it has drastically changed since last year's devastating drought forced crews to chop down about 11,000 trees.

"They've lost a lot of trees. This really, dramatically different than it used to [be]," Clayton Chambers said.

All across the city, thousands more dead trees had to go.

It was a sad sight for Clayton and Vivian Chambers, so they knew they had to help.

They joined hundreds of their fellow Houstonians on Saturday, digging holes and planting new trees. This Arbor Day event marks the biggest re-planting effort in the city's history.

The Chambers -- who also planted two trees in honor of loved ones -- realize it may take years, but they are holding out hope things will grow back to normal.

"Someday, we'll be able to ... tell our grandkids, 'We planted that tree you are sitting under, you know,'" Vivian Chambers said.

Volunteers hope the new trees will preserve the parks for future generations. Pipes are also being put in the ground for irrigation.

Eyewitness News anchor Gina Gaston emceed the event at Memorial Park. Trees were also planted at Hermann, MacGregor and Mason Parks. Those parks were hardest hit by the drought.

It's estimated that one in 10 trees in the Houston area will die within two years as a result of the recent drought, which could worsen the city's air quality and make Houston warmer, according to Trees for Houston.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Big Feast serves thousands at GRB

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Thousands of Houstonians celebrated the holiday together Saturday at the 33rd annual Christmas Eve Big Feast.

The City Wide Club of America prepared warm meals for more than 30,000 people at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Families in need also picked up food baskets, clothes, blankets and toys for children.

Organizers had been concerned they wouldn't have enough volunteers or donations, but the group tells us it had plenty of help and the event was a success.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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HFD gives away thousands of toys to needy kids

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Toys collected by the Houston Fire Department are going out to thousands of needy local children.

The toys are being given way at the New Light Christian Center in northeast Houston. The center began distributing toys at 8am Thursday morning and will continue doing so until they hand out every toy. The fire department told us firefighters are still picking up last minute donations for the giveaway.

HFD has received more than 30,000 donated toys and several generous monetary donations to buy toys this year.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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