East Texas Business

A Texarkana man pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a federal court in Texarkana to trafficking counterfeit goods.

Leslie Ray White, 58, was charged with possessing about 1,900 counterfeited compact discs at the Great American Outlet Mall in Texarkana, court records show.

Law enforcement agents executed a search warrant on March 1, 2007, at the mall operated by White and seized the discs. The value of the items was estimated at $28,000.

White agreed to pay restitution of $28,000. He could receive up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Brent Boyd, a UPS driver in Palestine, will hit the 1 million-mile mark in the delivery truck he has been driving since 1987, the company announced.

The milestone is expected to take place today.

Boyd, 51, began working for UPS in Lufkin and transferred to Palestine in 1989 where he drives about a 220-mile route each workday.

It is extremely rare for package vans to reach 1 million miles, UPS said in a prepared statement.

Oncor on Wednesday sent crews to Louisiana to help Central Louisiana Electric Company restore power following Hurricane Gustav.

CLECO serves 273,000 consumers in central and southeastern Louisiana. Oncor worked with CLECO following Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

Approximately 200 Oncor employees and contractors will help, the Dallas-based company announced.

Oncor operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas.

XTO Energy Inc. of Fort Worth completed its $4.2 billion merger of privately-held Hunt Petroleum Corp. into a wholly-owned subsidiary for approximately. The transaction included about $2.6 billion and 23.5 million shares of XTO common stock.

"We have now closed our purchase of this legacy franchise of quality long-lived properties. As we have stated, these assets substantially overlap XTO's positions in our Eastern Region and our team already recognizes tremendous upside potential for development," stated Bob R. Simpson, chairman and CEO.

XTO is engaged in acquisition, exploitation and development of oil and natural gas properties.

Evacuees from Hurricane Gustav enrolled in any state food stamp program can use their Electronic Benefits Card in Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service have issued September food stamp benefits to ensure that Louisiana residents evacuating have benefits on their EBT cards.

Louisiana food stamp clients who have problems with an EBT card may call 1-888-524-3578.