Year in Review: The best videos of 2017

Published 12:24 pm Tuesday, January 9, 2018

By Cory McCoy, comccoy@tylerpaper.com

Visual storytelling allows reporters to create a powerful look at issues in their community. From spectacle to introspection, video helps the audience fully engage with a story.

Let’s take a look at some of the best videos of 2017 by the Tyler Paper staff:

The Smith County Fire Marshal’s Office determined the preliminary cause of an explosive fire at a welding company was accidental.

A storm system in April spawned tornadoes that killed four and left more than 50 injured in Van Zandt County.

No one knows exactly when the Sewer Cat moseyed into town. Some folks say she was dumped at John Tyler High School as a kitten. Others say maybe she’s always been there and we just weren’t looking hard enough. A few posit that one day she just crawled out of a storm drain.



“Get in here before you freeze!” Dwayne Collins exclaimed as he held the door open for a woman against the frigid November evening wind.

Clad in a crisp cowboy hat, red plaid shirt, dark wash blue jeans and polished brown boots, Collins made his way back to the outskirts of the dance floor, taking a few moments to watch his friends two-step under the twinkling string lights before joining in.

After the Van Zandt County tornadoes, former NFL superstar Deion Sanders traveled to Tyler to lead a shopping spree benefitting victims at Sam’s Wholesale Club. Sanders owns a home near Canton.

A five-part series explores the terror left behind in the wake of murderer Jerry “The Animal” McFadden. 

On a clear May 4, 1986 evening, Suzanne Harrison, 18, and her best friend, Gena Turner, 20, waved goodbye to their families, jumped in the car and headed out on an ill-fated ride around Lake Hawkins. That was the last time they would be seen alive.

Tyler attorney Don Kent faces Lewy Body Dementia diagnosis with curiosity and inspection.

When you sign up for a polar plunge in East Texas, you don’t actually expect the temperature to be below freezing. Unfortunately for attendees at Tyler Athletic and Swim Club, the temperature dropped to 25 degrees on New Year’s Day.

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