Six Of Seven College Station City Council Members Approve Extending The Contract Of The City Attorney

Burleson County’s Sheriff Provides More Information About The Early End To This Year’s Chilifest

Burleson County’s sheriff provides more information in his weekly report as to what went into the decision to cancel Saturday’s Chilifest music festival. Bill Rios said Friday’s rainfall of one inch followed a six inch downpour earlier in the week. While there were no issues getting into the festival grounds, Rios said five of the seven entries and exits were destroyed. The two exits that remained Friday night created long lines of vehicles attempting to leave. That resulted in festival goers deciding to start walking home. Rios said that forced all officers to move from the festival grounds to FM 60 to protect those walking home, which he described as a “tragedy waiting to happen”. The sheriff also said the mud was so bad that if there would have been a mass casualty on Saturday there would have been no way for emergency vehicles to enter and exit the festival grounds. Out of 35 arrests, 26 were for public intoxication because they could not find someone safe to turn over the individual to. Two of the 26 were also charged with assaulting officers and resisting arrest. 23 who were arrested were underage drinkers as young as 15. Rios says underage drinking has “got to be something that’s addressed by Chilifest and by us here also.” 12 arrests were minors in possession or consumption of alcohol, two were arrested for fighting, four received tickets for public urination. Click below to hear comments from Bill Rios from the Burleson County sheriff’s office Facebook page on April 14, 2026. Listen to “More information from Burleson County's sheriff about the early end of this year's Chilifest music festival” on Spreaker.

Library Proclamation Included A Book Donation

The week of April 19-25 is National Library Week. That was recognized at last week’s (April 9) College Station city council meeting with more than just a proclamation. The city of College Station’s chief of staff Ross Brady said books that were on a rolling cart that was next to those getting their photo with the mayor and the proclamation were being donated to the Friends of the Library by city employees. The 24th through the 26th is the Friends of the Library’s spring book sale at the Mounce library in downtown Bryan. Click below to hear Ross Brady’s comments at the April 9, 2026 College Station city council meeting.  

Maximum Punishment For Possessing Over 2,000 Items Of Child Pornography Involving More Than 800 Victims

A Brazos County district court judge gives the maximum punishment to a 27 year old man who was caught with over 2,000 pornographic videos and images of over 800 hundred children. Assistant Brazos County district attorney Jessica Escue says 27 year old Preston Ray Smith will serve three consecutive ten year prison sentences after he was caught with images and videos in his Dropbox account in March of 2020. The prosecutor said when Smith was arrested, state law gave Smith the possibility of getting probation or deferred adjudication, which would have meant serving no time. Online court records also show Smith was indicted on 50 additional counts of possessing child pornography. Escue said those charges had to be dismissed because state law at the time had a shorter statute of limitations. Escue told WTAW News that Smith was a student at Texas A&M at the time of his arrest. And Smith was also a children’s ministry intern at a church in a county bordering Brazos County. Click below to hear Jessica Escue’s visit with WTAW’s Bill Oliver. Listen to “Maximum punishment for possessing over 2,000 items of child pornography involving more than 800 victims” on Spreaker. News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office: On Monday, April 13, 2024, Judge John Brick sentenced Preston Smith to the maximum of 10 years in prison on three counts of Possession of Child Pornography. Judge Brick ordered that these sentences be served consecutively, making the total sentence 30 years in prison. In March of 2020, the Office for the Attorney General was notified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that child pornography was uploaded into a Dropbox account. An investigator with the Office for Attorney General linked this Dropbox account to the defendant. A search warrant was executed at Mr. Smith’s apartment, where his computers and digital devices were seized. Following the seizure of his items, Mr. Smith was interviewed by the investigator. During the interview, the Defendant admitted to seeking out child pornography. He further admitted to trading child pornography with others online. During the defendant’s punishment hearing, Judge John Brick heard from Ken Sikes with the Brazos County District Attorney’s Office regarding the contents of the defendant’s Dropbox account, where Mr. Smith possessed over 2,000 sexually deviant and explicit images and videos depicting child sexual abuse and child physical abuse. Mr. Sikes also testified to the history of the defendant’s Dropbox account, which reflected the fact that the defendant had been downloading child pornography since 2016. Judge John Brick also heard from the defense’s witnesses, including two expert witnesses who testified that the Defendant had Bipolar Disorder and, now that he was treated, he was low-risk to reoffend. At sentencing, Judge Brick cited his concerns for the safety of children in our community and the horrifying nature of the images and videos as the reason for the maximum sentence.