Fort Bend Independent

FORT BEND

FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE.

wwwww.fbindependent.com.fbindependent.com

P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2010

VOL 3 No. 50 Phone: 281-980-6745

Seshadri KumarPublisher & Editor

10701 Corporate Drive, #282, Staff ord, TX 77477Mailing Address: P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, TX 77487

www.fbindependent.com281-980-6745

Fort Bend Independent, (USPS 025-572) is published every Wednesday (for a subscription rate of $20 per year) by Fort Bend Independent, LLC., 10701 Corporate Dr., #282, Stafford, Texas 77477. Periodicals Postage Paid at Stafford, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Fort Bend Independent, P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, Tx 77487.

Offi cial newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land

Birds of Fort BendNorthern Cardinal

The Northern Cardinal is not just associated with Christmas because of its beautiful red plumage and crest. Northern Cardinals don’t migrate . . . and live year round in a good portion of the United States (excluding the Rocky Mountains and some of the Northern Plains states). So the striking photos of Cardinals in the snow are not “photoshopped”. These birds come to feeders and love black oiled Sunfl ower seeds. They also enjoy the water sprinkler and birdbaths. Mostly seen in pairs, the mature female has the lovely red bill but gray feathers with red splotches that can make her appear burnt orange. These birds are ideally suited for back yards and enjoy feeders. 80 percent mate for life, but in the late winter early spring in woodsy areas, you may see Cardinals fl ocking with young birds and those randy 20 percent fi nding new mates. Visit http://traction.typepad.com/birds for more photos by Margaret Sloan.

Christmas arrived early at the Fort Bend County Women’s Center shelter. Around 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 9, the smell of turkey, stuffi ng, warm rolls, mashed potatoes and green beans wafted through the air as the women and children were treated to a catered Christmas dinner generously donated by Method-ist Sugar Land Hospital. Following dinner, the children were whisked away to the shelter’s Rainforest Room that had been converted into the latest boutique housing purses, clothes, per-fume, scarves, jewelry and more - all donated by Stars and Fort Bend Juniors Services League members. The children shopped the “Rainforest Boutique” for the perfect gifts for their moth-ers, and volunteers helped wrap the gifts complete with bows and smiles. One shelter resident commented that this would be the fi rst time she received a Christmas gift from her children. Due to fi nancial restraints, it had never been possible before. The children then began making various crafts to decorate their rooms and the shelter hallways when suddenly a “Ho! Ho! Ho!” was heard coming down the hall…

Clements High School Stars Dance Team (below) sold hun-dreds of poinsettia plants to help fund their competition season next semester, while spreading Holiday happiness around Sug-ar Land. Last Month, the team

By SESHADRI KUMARFort Bend ISD board of trust-

ees on Monday heard myriad proposals affecting elementary, middle and high school atten-dance zones toward equalizing the number of students in each campus and further refi ned them.

But, hundreds of parents from one end of the district to the other, with different agen-das fi lled the board room, the lobby and spilled into the park-ing lot.

A group of community members have come together to “save” Colony Bend El-ementary, while another group wants to preserve Willowridge High School.

Some others like those in Avalon, Telfair, New Territory, Chelsea Harbor, and Orchard Lake Estates want to keep their neighborhoods intact and don’t want their children to be moved to any new school campus.

Supporters of various groups wore specially-designed T-shirts to advocate their posi-tion.

As the board discussed how to “re-purpose” the underuti-lized school campuses during a workshop, board members took pains to explain that the idea was not to “close” a school, but to optimize its use to save costs due to the fi nancial crunch.

Board members have been receiving emails and letters

from agitated parents and some of them impugned the motives of the board of trustees.

One of them alleged that the administration upgraded the Colony Bend Elementary only to sell it.

The rumor seems to have started with an idea that the campus could be used to start a charter school.

The board and the admin-istration categorically denied that there was ever an idea to sell the Colony Bend campus to St. Laurence Catholic High School.

There was no such discus-sion in the past, present or (in

the future), Superintendent Tim Jenney said.

Some of the proposed ideas for “re-purposing” Colony Bend Elementary including consolidating special educa-tion classes, or Pre-K classes from other elementary cam-puses, adding district admin-istrative offi ces, or keeping the current elementary classes and bring a Grade 3 to 5 ‘Gifted and Talented’ program.

The administration has been asked to work out the cost implication of having a GT school within Colony Bend.

Re-zoning spawns ‘Don’t mess with my neighborhood school’ groups

See ZONE, Page 3

Clements Stars Dance Team spreads Holiday Happiness

Stars Dance Team members shown below are: Front row; Claire Perry, Kacey Eichen, Brea Moffett, Rasia Frederik, Lena Brown, Raquel Roulin, Katherine Arias, and Valerie Jalomo. Mid-dle row; Desha Dike, Lana Advincula, Michelle Kuo, Mercedes Garza, Megan Cross, Jessica Withrow, Isabelle Hwang, Anisha Mathur, and Kelsey Carpenter. Back row: Anuva Kachru, Kay-len Parker, Amanda Adams, Alexia Posey, Alyssa Murphy, Chloe Knight, Kelly Cheney, Christina Triggs, Kelsey Key, and Jessie Pople.

members contacted local busi-nesses and residents throughout the Sugar Land area to sell poin-settias and get as many orders as possible. Their efforts were met with great success evident by many of the plants all over town. The girls look forward to this fund raiser each year be-cause it helps Sugar Land dress for the Holiday Season, while also supplementing the team’s competition season expenses. Beginning early in 2011, the award winning FBISD Cle-ments Stars Dance Team will compete in four major events including Fort Bend District, Greater Houston, Regional, and National Levels. Star members are working hard to put their best foot forward. Directors, Ms. Waite, and Ms. Barth are very grateful to the community for all of the support, and wish everybody a happy holiday sea-son.

Page 2 • INDEPENDENT • DECEMBER 15, 2010

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Twice in the last two years, Methodist Sugar Land Hos-pital has expanded their op-erating rooms, and are now expanding again to meet the community’s demand. The hospital will open two new operating rooms in the Main Pavilion on December 6, in addition to the current twelve. This will bring the number of operating rooms in the new building to 14, which will greatly expand patient capac-ity.

“We’re trying to keep pace with the expansion in service lines and the number of new procedures the hospital is per-forming,” said Becky Cha-lupa, Associate Chief Nursing Offi cer. “This latest operating room expansion will allow us to handle a greater number of patients and provide more fl exibility in scheduling for our surgeons and patients.”

“I am excited to continue to increase my surgical time in Methodist Sugar Land Hospital’s operating rooms as they are state-of-the-art which allows me to perform ground-breaking procedures,” says John Boon, M.D., urologist on staff at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, and the fi rst in

Fort Bend County to perform a robotic nephrectomy sur-gery, with Henry Pham, M.D.

In the last couple of years, Methodist Sugar Land Hos-pital physicians and operat-ing room staff have success-fully performed services once only available in the medical center – abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, fi rst an-gioplasty with stents, awake craniotomy, brain surgery, carotid artery stenting, gastric LAP-BAND® surgery & lap-aroscopic sleeve gastrectomy, open heart surgery, minimally invasive aortic valve replace-ment, minimally invasive coronary artery bypass graft surgery, MRI-guided biopsy, robotic surgery, single-punc-ture laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, urinary bladder re-construction, video-assisted esophagomyotomy, video-as-sisted thoracoscopic surgery and 3T Breast MRI.

Each of these procedures was performed for the fi rst time in Fort Bend County at Methodist Sugar Land Hos-pital.

“Our operating room staff and physicians should be commended for their innova-tion and dedication to Lead-

ing Medicine at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital,” adds Chalupa.

Ali Mahmood, M.D., col-orectal surgeon on staff at Methodist Sugar Land Hos-pital adds, “I am looking for-ward to having more OR time in Methodist Sugar Land Hos-pital’s state-of-the-art operat-ing rooms and providing our patients with services close to home at a hospital that is known for excellence.”

Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, operating rooms expand

John Boon, M.D.; Guillermo Ponce de Leon, M.D.; Timothy Sitter, M.D.; Margaret Con-dit, M.D.; Sundara Kulkarni, M.D. and Ali Mahmood, M.D.

DECEMBER 15, 2010 • INDEPENDENT • Page 3

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News

WINTER MINI-TERMand SPRING SEMESTER 2011

REGISTRATION

WHARTON • SUGAR LAND • RICHMOND • BAY CITY EL CAMPO • PALACIOS

wcjc.edu1-800-561-WCJC

WCJC is an E.O.E. institution.

Winter Mini-Term begins December 20(Register November 1 through December 16)

Spring semester classes begin January 18, 2011(Register November 1 through January 16)

By BARBARA FULENWIDERMissouri City Council

members at their Dec. 6 meet-ing authorized City Manager Frank Simpson to negotiate and execute an agreement for the second phase of the design of the city’s new community center and pro shop on Quail Valley Golf Course and they got a follow-up report on a property in disrepair in their town.

Last May council members authorized Freese and Nich-ols, Inc. (FNI) to design phase one of the two buildings. In doing so designers worked with city staff and residents to develop a facility program and schematic design, which includes what residents said they want.

During Phase II FNI will develop full construction doc-uments and provide construc-tion administration services to protect the city’s interest. They will provide complete architectural, landscape ar-chitectural, engineering and specialty discipline for the project.

The community center will include a new conference cen-

ter, provide a catering facility, 37th hole grill, golf clubhouse and full service pro shop as well as golf cart repair and storage. The structure will be the centerpiece of the commu-nity and a recreational retreat for citizens.

Background information to city council, from Scott R. Elmer, P.E. director of public works, said, “It is imperative that the design be a balance of useable areas, amenities and durable materials to not only create an impressive environ-ment but be smart with spend-ing resources. It is FNI’s goal to focus” the spending where it best serves public spaces rather than staff or utilitarian spaces.

The building will be built of stucco, stone and brick and have a tile roof to “create a California Spanish style that resembles the resort/country club style atmosphere and will solidify an architectural theme for the community.”

Key elements of the com-munity and recreation center are an outdoor plaza area, parking areas, landscaping and intersection upgrades. Other

key elements in the design is acoustical design for all the community and food service spaces, audio visual design for the community center and event venue spaces and tech-nological design that includes wireless Internet, specialized audio and visual systems and infrastructure and equipment that enhance this type of event spaces and venues.

The price for FNI’s services is $609,000, which is 15 per-cent less than the original pro-posal of $701,230. The Phase II design should be completed by April 2011, and construc-tion is expected to start some-time in the summer.

In other council business the property in disrepair at 2219 Long Barrel Lane is being repaired per the city’s mandate and the work is ex-pected to be completed within the 120 days council allowed the owners to correct the defi -ciencies.

On Aug. 17, 2009 the struc-ture was declared substandard and the property owners were given 225 days to bring the house into compliance with city code or demolish it.

Council and the city have continued to work with the owners so as of Nov. 6 this year, the owner’s husband, Treachor Sandles, and Doris Washington, a profession-al engineer, met with Lalo Flores, building offi cial.

They agreed that the work will include re-wiring the en-tire house, a plumbing riser diagram for any new water lines installed, a new A/C duct system, furnace and compressor on plans, energy report submitted with plans and the structural items to be repaired.

Flores reported that consid-erable work has been done on the chimney and that when he talked to Washington she said she’s completed 85 percent of the plans and all will be done in the next two weeks so the owner can then apply for a building permit.

Flores told council, “I think they’re on the right track right now. They’ll go out for bids on the subcontractors who will be doing the work.”

No action on the agenda item was necessary and none was taken.

Final design for Missouri City community center & pro shop begins

The board also heard that consolidation of Colony Bend Elementary with two other neighboring campuses will save over $1 million in staff-ing costs.

Closing of Lakeview Ele-mentary is “more complicat-ed” as it would involve mov-ing students from six or seven other campuses, according to the administration.

During discussions on middle school campuses in-volving Baines in Sienna, Missouri City Middle School, Quail Valley Middle School and Christa McAuliffe Mid-dle School, Trustee Marilynn Glover vented her frustration over accusations that the dis-trict is moving children based on race.

“It is a bunch of BS to say that we are doing it based on race. We are not penalizing people based on ethnicity,” Glover said.

Trustee Laurie Caldwell said “We have a desire to make every campus as strong as possible. I would not hesi-tate to send my children to any school in FBISD.”

The administration pro-

posed the idea of establishing a full-fl edged technical edu-cation center, where students will have a whole day pro-gram, instead of visiting the campus for a few hours from another campus, as far away as Bush High School.

In other words, McAuliffe will be another high school campus, with a concentration of tech ed programs.

In this process, Marshall High School will absorb the students from Willowridge. Missouri City Middle School and Quail Valley Middle School will absorb the McAu-liffe students.

This will save an estimated $1.2 million a year in staffi ng costs.

Caldwell raised the point that if Colony Bend is saved with a GT program, people would demand a similar treat-ment for Willowridge.

Willowridge was slated to have academy programs and it got one, but the program has not yet succeeded.

In this context, the race fac-tor fi gured again when Glover said the reality is some parents do not want to send their chil-dren to Willowridge, even if academies are established there.

Also, the age of the build-ing is one of the reasons to move the students to the new-er Marshall High School.

But, supporters of Willow-ridge point to the history of the school and “preserve” it.

The estimated saving from the closure of Willowridge, built in 1979, is $2 million.

The idea of temporar-ily moving 8th graders from Baines Middle School in Si-enna Plantation to the new Ridgepoint High School or the plan to convert elemen-tary school campuses from K-5 to K-6 campuses did not fi nd much favor because of the huge costs involved in the transition.

Similarly, adding tempo-rary buildings worked out to be more expensive than trans-porting students from a dis-tant neighborhood.

The board will have more workshops next month and after the board picks a rez-oning plan, it will be open to public comments.

Jenney expected to have the plan for fi nal adoption in February. Earlier, he said in response to a question from the board: “I don’t think there will be any consensus on any model.”

ZoneFrom Page 1

A 34-year old Missouri City man who ran over a man who was confi ned to a wheelchair will spend ten years in prison for his crime.

A jury convicted James Arvis Polley of causing injury to a disabled person after de-

liberating less than two hours on Dec. 9. The 434th District Court Judge James Shoemake then sentenced Polley to ten years in prison.

According to prosecutor Jeff Strange, Polley got into an altercation with his neigh-

bor in the Quail Run subdivi-sion of Missouri City in April 2009.

Robert Brown, paralyzed below the waist and with only one leg, was confi ned to a wheelchair. During the argument, Polley returned to

his van that was parked on the street – with his twin 9 month old daughters inside.

He then backed up before pulling into Brown’s drive-way; striking him and his 73 year old mother, who suffered only a minor injury.

10 years for causing injury to man in wheel chair

Farha Ahmed recenlty an-nounced her intention to seek the offi ce of Sugar Land City Council District 4.

Active in the community through service on the Sugar Land Planning and Zoning Commission, First Colony Community Association, Child Advocates Advisory Council, Fort Bend County Judge Advisory Council, Sugar Land Exchange Club and many other community associations and committees, Farha Ahmed is also a mem-ber of the prestigious Texas Lyceum, a non-partisan lead-ership organization.

“I am a consensus builder and I want to develop creative, innovative ideas for promot-ing an invigorated business environment, improved mo-bility and increased safety,” she said.

“I love this city just like you do. It was 20 years ago when my husband and I chose Sugar Land as the place we wanted to live, work and raise our children. Giving back to the community has always been important to me and my family. Seeking to represent District 4 on the City Council is another way of giving back to the community that has been so good to us,” she said in a statement.

“Michael Schiff has been an outstanding City Council-man for District 4, but term limits will not allow him to run for re-election. I’d like to continue his dedication to public service by seeking that offi ce.

“As you know, our city of-fers many wonderful ameni-ties. This has contributed to the city’s rapid growth over

the past 20 years. Issues such as mobility and the economy are a priority. I’ve been fortu-nate to travel internationally extensively and I see the wis-dom in making Sugar Land a national and international des-tination for visitors and busi-nesses. One of my strengths is building consensus on issues and developing creative, in-novative ideas to promote an invigorated business environ-

ment. Additionally, I want to work with community lead-ers to fi nd the solutions to our mobility issues and keep our families safe.

“I am proud to have served the citizens for four years on the City’s Planning and Zon-ing Commission, represent-ing your interests on the First Colony Community Associa-tion and many other commit-tees and organizations.

There are many key issues that are unique to District 4. We have beautiful neighbor-hoods that we want to protect and improve their quality and value. We need a fi scally re-sponsible and vigilant repre-sentative in District 4. I hope you will agree I am the right candidate for our district and city. Together we can keep Sugar Land the City that we want it to be,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed

Farha Ahmed runs for Sugar Land Dist. 4

By THOMAS J. PARR, M.D.How many times have

you heard -- or said yourself -- “You need to drink your milk?” There are some things Mothers just know.

A proper balance between Vitamin D (the sunshine vi-tamin) and calcium is critical in managing or preventing a number of diseases from rick-ets to osteoporosis, and may also help prevent cancers, heart conditions, diabetes, neuropsychological condi-tions, and balance (related to falls). At this point, however, medical science is still work-ing to defi ne what that precise relationship is.

At the request of both the Canadian and American gov-ernments, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviewed more than 1,000 scientifi c studies, reports, and testimo-nies regarding the role of Vi-tamin D and of calcium for proper health.

Their conclusion, released on Nov. 30, 2010, is that the collective information from all this scientifi c data is mixed and inconclusive; however, a strong body of evidence does substantiate the importance of Vitamin D and calcium in promoting bone growth and maintenance.

At about the same time, The “British Medical Journal” reported a study from New Zealand indicating an ap-parent link between calcium supplement intake and a 30% increased in risk of heart at-tack in patients over 40 years of age.

This is an extremely high risk, but the study involved only 12,000 people from a relatively homogenous ethnic mix in a single geographic area. Most importantly, it did not include the use of Vitamin D supplements, and is incon-clusive in this regard.

This report has shown that not enough information is known about how calcium

alone affects the heart, and will now lead to more exten-sive research in the next few years.

Vitamin D is contained naturally in fatty fi sh (catfi sh, salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna), whole eggs, and meat (especially beef liver). Mushrooms and hemp are the only vegan natural food sources for Vitamin D.

In both the United States and Canada, milk, baby for-mula, cereal, and tofu are gen-erally fortifi ed with Vitamin D; however many other dairy products are not. Interesting-ly, Vitamin D is not required to be listed on nutritional food labels unless it has been forti-fi ed with Vitamin D.

Seeing a potential increase in rickets for exclusively breastfed infants, the Ameri-can Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reviewed its position on the supplemental Vitamin D, and in October, 2008, the AAP doubled its recommen-dation to 400 mg a day for breastfed infants.

Additional research hope-fully will help us understand if the problem is more nursing mothers not having enough Vitamin D in their own sys-tems, Vitamin D just not being well included in the otherwise very nutritious breastmilk, in-fants not being in the sunlight during the day, or a combina-tion of all three.

The IOM did say that deter-mining proper “intake levels for Vitamin D is somewhat

complicated. Vitamin D levels in the body may come from not only Vitamin D in the diet but also from synthesis in the skin through sunlight exposure.” Your ability to get Vitamin D from sunlight is diminished the further north you are and by the darkness of your skin pigmentation, adding to the problem of setting National Vitamin D guidelines.

Currently, testing for Vita-min D levels in the blood is not frequently done, and the meaning of the test results vary from laboratory to labo-ratory. More consistent mea-surement standards need to be established.

As a result of its review, however, the IOM is now rec-ommending 500 mg of calci-um per day for children, ages 1-3, and 800 mg of calcium per day for ages 4-8. Adoles-cents need 1,300 mg of cal-cium each day to support their higher levels of bone growth.

The IOM also recommends 800 mg of calcium per day for women between the ages of 19 and 50 and for men up to age 71. After that, they need 1,000 mg of calcium daily.

Americans should avoid the thinking that more is bet-ter. Consult your doctor to be sure you are taking the proper amount of calcium and Vita-min D.

Kidney stones have been associated with too much sup-plemental calcium, and very high levels of Vitamin D can be associated with kidney and other body tissue damage.

Fortunately, just by start-ing each day with a bowl of cereal and milk, and taking a 30-minute walk during day-light hours, you are able to make important improve-ments in your overall health.

Dr. Thomas Parr, an ortho-pedic surgeon in Sugar Land, can be reached at 281-491-7111.Visit www.tomparrmd.net for more information.

By RUSSELL C. JONES Republicans continue to

disappoint. Fine, they get an agreement to avoid the expira-tion of the Bush tax cuts for two years. Of course, most savvy economists agree that a mere temporary extension of the tax cuts will have little effect on business investment decisions, since such decisions are made over a much lon-ger time period. But what do Democrats get in exchange?

1. $5 billion to continue the ethanol subsidy to Iowa farmers. (See this column two weeks ago, when even Al Gore admitted that the use of ethanol as an alternate to gaso-line was a mistake.)

2. Continue unemployment compensation for another twelve months. (See this col-umn of March 10, 2010, when the point was made that unem-ployment compensation dis-courages recipients from look-ing for a job.)

3. Increase the inheritance tax from the current 0% (yes, that is zero percent) to 35%.

4. Authorize another huge stimulus package which would not have been acceptable in any other circumstance.

Let’s put it this way: if Bill Clinton says that Democrats should go along with the tax plan, you can be sure that it is bad for Republicans.

And a great show of deceit by Democrats it was. Obama’s announcement of the compro-mise was couched in terms of Republicans “taking hostages” and forcing him to come to terms. “I have not been able to budge them...and in the mean-time, there are a whole bunch of people being hurt” by the political stalemate, according to Obama. Yeah, right!

Democrat leaders, includ-ing Pelosi and Schumer, com-plained that Obama had given away the store. Yet the truth is that the compromise was a net

win for Democrats.Forgive my cynicism.Charles Krauthammer gets

credit for being the fi rst con-servative commentator to rec-ognize the scam by Democrats. He understood that, despite a very weak post-election hand, Obama got the Republicans to offer to increase spending and cut taxes by $990 billion over two years. Two-thirds of that is above and beyond extension of the Bush tax cuts but includes such urgent national necessi-ties as windmill subsidies.

These are the same Repub-licans who spent 2010 running on limited government, reduc-ing debt, and eliminating ear-marks. This budget busting occurs less than a week after the president’s defi cit commis-sion had supposedly signaled a new national consensus of aus-terity and frugality.

Good grief! Who won the election? What was the man-date of the voters? Apparently no one in Washington can re-member that long ago.Cheering the Skeeters

Probably the most contro-versial topic to concern Sugar Land residents over the past decade has been the name of the new minor league team to play in the new ballpark on Highway 6. This column has discussed the name and the

secrecy surrounding its an-nouncement on several occa-sions. The only agreement to be reached is disagreement on the fi nal name.

Two weeks ago, Open-ing Day Partners announced the winner at a wild and cra-zy press conference held at Lakeview Auditorium. Over two hundred students partici-pated, whooping and hollering as each class was introduced. Former Astros’ coach Deacon Jones and Sugar Land’s may-or led the mayhem as another class of students was revealed wearing the team’s new logo shirts and caps. Most excited of all was the couple who sub-mitted the winning name and received lifetime season tick-ets for their efforts.

Some of the reaction to the name has been backhanded compliments, such as “Well, it was better than the other fi nal-ist names.” In other cases, the response was not that positive.

Here’s the real deal: a month from now, everyone will hear the name and know that the subject is Sugar Land baseball. Whether your favorite was the Imperials, the Gators, the Nutria, or the Feral Hogs, the “buzz” will be about the Skee-ters, the fans will “swarm” to the stadium, and everyone will know when the oppos-ing pitcher has had an “Off” night. When the home team knocks one out of the park, his “swat” will defi nitely have hit its mark.

The owners promise that the team will never be known as the Bloodsuckers.

On the day that this col-umn is published, the name of the new stadium will be an-nounced. Stay tuned.

Jones is a member of the Sug-ar Land City Council, having been fi rst elected in 2003. He owns a law fi rm and a title insur-ance company in Sugar Land.

By JANICE SCANLAN We had another Great Girls

Weekend. Last year friends I have known my entire life and their granddaughters made our fi rst holiday trip to Dickens on the Strand in Galveston. The girls range from 8 to 14 so you can imagine how lively they keep things being spontaneous and curious.

This year we went to San Antonio. For the two trips, none of the under 14 girls had been to either destination . . . and I love seeing places I love through newcomers’ eyes—and with young people, wow.

San Antonio was beautiful. The lights on the river, which have always been spectacular, have been upgraded with LED versions, but are still multi-col-ored and hanging over the river. They now twinkle.

The huge Christmas tree in front of the Alamo is in ice blue lights and a very striking con-trast.

And the Carolers on the barges were representing their churches, scout groups and other organizations with songs of joy, peace and hope. Friday night the River was busy . . . it was packed Saturday, but in a way that increased the holiday cheer, not your blood pressure.

This was the fi rst time I had been on the northern “river reach.”

I was not disappointed and

neither were the “girls.” The river now extends to the Mu-seum of Fine Arts in the old JAX brewery and to the Pearl Brewery as well. It is beautiful-ly landscaped and maintained as the original River Walk.

What is different is now San Antonio has incorporated its city into the River Walk, with more access to downtown parks, condos and new hotels along the way, and river taxis stop for passengers.

There is also one set of locks to raise or lower the boats, which were very effi cient and interest-ing. So was the bridge art.

And on Saturday with 60 and 70 degree weather . . . what a way to travel!

You can also walk even north beyond the “breweries.” While there aren’t bikers on the down-town River Walk, bike clubs were very active beyond . . .

there was even a “bike valet.” The Pearl Brewery contains a Farmers Market and the San An-tonio Culinary Institute, where chefs train.

This particular weekend there was a tamale tasting fes-tival . . . and you could vote for your favorite. Besides the meat and spinach tamales, there were sweet tamales of pumpkin and pecan as well as bananas for a few I saw.

No way to taste them all so we went to La Glorias which features Mexican street food. Warning, it is quite spicy. My shrimp and avocado Torta was delicious, but I needed two glasses of Limonada to tame the spicy Chipotle chili sauce.

Café des Artistes is also on the River Walk and at the Mu-seum of Fine Arts . . . I’ll try it next trip because I know John would enjoy all the changes to the River Walk.

Our hotel, The Emily Mor-gan, who was the Yellow Rose of Texas, appropriately sits next to the Alamo. It’s a 14 story beaux arts former offi ce build-ing built in the 20’s and 30’s. Gorgeous spire on top that was lighted like a jewel for the holi-days. I’d keep it year round.

Happy Holidays!

[email protected].

OpinionPage 4 • INDEPENDENT • DECEMBER 15, 2010

Seshadri KumarPublisher & Editor

Email: [email protected]

www.fbindependent.com

Scanlan

The View from Sugar Land

Jones

Parr

Musings: Great girls

Just about tax reform

Come and Experience the Diff erence!Come and Experience the Diff erence!

Salem International Salem International Christian CenterChristian Center14056 Southwest Fwy #118 14056 Southwest Fwy #118

(In the FedEx Bldg. in front of (In the FedEx Bldg. in front of Holiday Inn Express)Holiday Inn Express)

Sugar Land, TX 77478Sugar Land, TX 77478

www.salemic.orgwww.salemic.org

Services: Sunday

8:30 a.m.

Wednesday

7 p.m.

Vitamin D: From rickets to osteoporosis

To the Editor:A few weeks ago I attended

and spoke at a FBISD school board meeting about my bud-get concerns for the district and a comment that had been made by the superintendent regarding the inability of the district to fund any further operations budgets for new schools.

The implication being that we had plenty of money for building new campuses but not money to run them. I questioned the board about this asking if they don’t have money to operate new schools then why are they seeking to fund the “Global Science Mu-seum” at the central offi ce that will divert almost a million a year in operations costs from current campus needs.

No answer was forth-com-ing. Associated with this is talk by the superintendent of yet another bond election coming in 2011, which seems to run counter to his com-ments at that board meeting. Why would he say we have plenty of funding to build new schools, that we may not need, and then begin to work on proposing another bond debt election?

Currently FBISD ranks in the top 10 percent of the state for bond debt and it is this debt that has helped cause several of the last property tax rate increases (3) to service the debt load, with potentially another one coming this year along with more teacher cuts. He likes to point the fi nger at the state for this but the cur-rent state funding formula has been in place now for several decades.

As a matter of fact, the fi rst 3 ever record budget defi cits in our history have come un-der Mr. Jenney’s leadership since the ‘07 record bond debt election.

Can we afford more leader-ship like this or another un-needed bond?

Two weeks ago I contacted the board and Mr. Jenney to ask for the process on how I could seek an appointment to the bond steering commit-tee in order to represent these concerns.

After a long wait, I fi nally received a reply from one of his many assistants at the cen-tral offi ce.

Having followed the 2007 bond process and knowing several of the members who

served, I knew the informa-tion provided to me about the use of a “random type lotto” to assign community mem-bers is the same misleading information that was publi-cized leading up to the 2007 bond election.

Interestingly enough, key contractors, politicians, board members and pro-bond debt vendors were appointed to the last steering committee and not by some random chance.

I’m asking the press and other local media to please help shine the light on this process as it moves forward.

In the response I received from the superintendent, they claimed they had not begun the selection process but I know one board member and another newly elected state representative that claim to already have a spot on this “steering committee”.

With so much mismanage-ment of the current budget and debt problems with the district, can we afford not to keep a close eye on this pro-cess? Please help!

Joseph GarlandFBISD resident

School district needs a close watch

Quail Valley Quails is celebrating 40 years of friendship on Jan. 6 at 10 a.m. at the Quail Valley Grill for a social hour fol-lowed by a presentation by Diane Ware, Special Projects Man-ager & Historian for the Fort Bend Museum Association. She will be speaking about the Dew House, the Dew family who owned the land that became Quail Valley and how they helped found Missouri City.

For luncheon reservations contact Terry Colley via phone or email: 281-438-6234; [email protected].

Quail Valley Quails


News

CONSTABLE SALE

Under and by virtue of a Writ of Execution and / or Order of Sale issued on the 22ND

day of OCTOBER 2010 by the 400TH

DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #05-DCV-146282 in favor of the Plaintiff QUAIL BRIDGE COMMUNITY

IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiff , for the sum of $4,346.12+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 15TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests KNOX DEVELOPMENT LLC had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:LEGAL DESCRIPTION: THE WESTERLY PORTION OF LOT TWO (2) IN BLOCK THREE (3), OF QUAIL BRIDGE, SECTION TW0(2), AN ADDITION IN FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN VOLUME 25, PAGE 15, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS. (THE PROPERTY) ALSO KNOWN AS 5434 PARKRIDGE DRIVE, HOUSTON,

FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, 77053.

TERMS : Cash Sale to held at or about 10 a.m.

RUBEN DAVIS, CONSTABLEFort Bend County Precinct By: Lieutenant G. Majors #73Deputy Constable

CONSTABLE SALE

Under and by virtue of a Writ of Execution and / or Order of Sale issued on the 19TH


DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #06-DCV-151562 in favor of the Plaintiff QUAIL BRIDGE COMMUNITY

IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiff , for the sum of $6,549.72+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 15TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests KNOX DEVELOPEMENT LLC had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:LEGAL DESCRIPTION: THE WESTERLY PORTION OF LOT TWO (2) IN BLOCK THREE (3), OF QUAIL BRIDGE, SECTION TW0(2), AN ADDITION IN FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN VOLUME 25, PAGE 15, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS. (THE PROPERTY) ALSO KNOWN AS 5436 PARKRIDGE DRIVE, HOUSTON,

FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, 77053.

TERMS : Cash Sale to held at or about 10 a.m.


CONSTABLE SALE



DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #10-DCV-178652 in favor of the Plaintiff SIENNA PLANTATION

RESIDENTIAL ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiff , for the sum of $7345.46+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 22ND day of OCTOBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests AVATEY SHABAZZ AND

TERSHARA SHABAZZ had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT TWENTY

SEVEN (27) , BLOCK ONE(1), OF SIENNA

VILLAGE OF ANDERSON SPRINGS,

SECTION ONE-A, AN ADDITION IN FORT

BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, ACCORDING TO

THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF RECORDED

IN PLAT NO. 20040029, OF THE PLAT

RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS.

5711 HORSESHOE FALLS, MISSOURI CITY,

TEXAS 77459.

Terms: Cash Sale to held at or about 10 a.m.


CONSTABLE SALE



DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #06-DCV-148939

in favor of the Plaintiff HUNTER’S GLEN,

SECTION IV ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff , for the sum of $3,729.95+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same.

I have levied on the 1ST day of DECEMBER,

2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests REGINAL B.

WOODS AND CLARISSA E. WOODS had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 10, BLOCK

3, HUNTER’S GLEN, SECTION IV, AN

ADDITION IN FORT BEND COUNTY,

TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT

THEREOF RECORDED IN VOLUME 22,

PAGE 26, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF FORT

BEND COUNTY, TEXAS AS MODIFIED

BY ANY SUPPLEMENTS THERETO OR

REPLATS THEREOF. 2503 DOVERGLEN

DRIVE, MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS, 77459-

6890.



CONSTABLE SALE



DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #07-DCV-155960 in favor of the Plaintiff SIENNA PLANTATION

RESIDENTIAL ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiff , for the sum of $5,645.83+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 22ND day of OCTOBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests SANDRA L. BOSWELL had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:

LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 44, BLOCK 3,

SIENNA VILLAGE OF AN DERSON SPRINGS,

SECTION FOUR-A, AN ADDITION IN FORT



IN PLAT NO. 20040085, OF THE PLAT

RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY,

TEXAS. 7518 BLUE GAP, MISSOURI CITY,

TEXAS, 77459-6890.



NOTICE OF CONSTABLE SALENOTICE OF LEVY

Under and by virtue of a Writ of Execution and/ or Order of Sale issued on the 29TH day of AUGUST 2010 by the 240TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT Court of FORT DENT COUNTY, TEXAS in cause #09-DCV-173117 in favor of the Plaintiff ROYAL LAKES ESTATES HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff , for the sum of $4,090.88 +++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 6TH day of OCTOBER 2010 and will off er for sale on the 2ND day of NOVEMBER, 2010 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests and claims which the said Defendant(s) - KENDALL ROEHE AND ELIZABETH ROEHE had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and liens affi xed thereto. All sales are fi nal.PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: LOT FOURTEEN (14), IN BLOCK FIVE (5) OF ROYAL LAKES ESTATES SUBDIVISION SECTION 2, A SUBDIVISION IN FORT BEND COUNTY TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF, RECORDED AT CLERK’S FILE NO. 2000061741 AND SLIDE 2020B IN THE MAP OR PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS.

ADJUDGED/ MARKET VALUE: $408,480.00

Terms: Cash. Sale to held at or about 10 a.m.

ROB COOK, CONSTABLEFort Bend County Precinct 3Deputy Juan Diaz, #1306

NOTICE OF CONSTABLE SALE

NOTICE OF LEVY


day of NOVEMBER 2010 by the 434TH

JUDICIAL DISTRICT Court of FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #09-DCV-174857

in favor of the Plaintiff BRADFORD VILLAGE

HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiff , for the sum of $3,241.28 +++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 19TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests IBRAHIM NYEI had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and

liens affi xed there to. All sales are fi nal.

LEGAL DESCRIPTION: PROPERTY

DESCRIPTION: LOT 1, IN BLOCK

FOUR (4), OF BRADFORD VILLAGE, A

SUBDIVISION OF FORT BEND COUNTY,

TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR

PLAT THEREOF RECORDED AT SLIDE NO.

2528A, IN THE MAP OR PLAT RECORDS

OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS.

MARKET VALUE: $141,790.00

Terms: Cash, Cashier’s Check or Money Order; Sale to held at or about 10 a.m.



NOTICE OF LEVY




in favor of the Plaintiff COLONY LAKE

ESTATE HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATION,

INC., Plaintiff , for the sum of $2,289.69

+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the

19TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY

2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests ALBERT C. KHAN

had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and



DESCRIPTION: LOT 18, IN BLOCK 4, OF

COLONY LAKES ESTATE SUBDIVISION,

SECTION 1, A SUBDIVISION OF FORT



AT SLIDE 2452/B,& 2453/A IN THE MAP

OR PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND

COUNTY, TEXAS.





NOTICE OF LEVYUnder and by virtue of a Writ of Execution and / or Order of Sale issued on the 22ND day of NOVEMBER 2010 by the 434TH DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #10-DCV-179146 in favor of the Plaintiff FORT BEND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT & ET AL, Plaintiff , for the sum of $7,404.30+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 6TH day of DECEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests RASHARD LEWIS had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and liens affi xed there to. All sales are fi nal.LEGAL DESCRIPTION: PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: TRACT 1: GEO: 8110090050530907/ CPC: R314959/ LOT FIFTY-THREE (53) IN BLOCK FIVE (5), OF TWIN OAKS VILLAGE, SECTION NINE (9), AN ADDITION IN FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN SLIDE NO. 1527/A& B OF THE PLAT NO. 20040035 OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS.

ADJUDGED/ MARKET VALUE:

$148,090.00 TRACT 1



LEGAL NOTICEINVITATION TO BIDDERS

Sealed Bids will be received in the Of-fi ce of Gilbert D. Jalomo, Jr., County Purchasing Agent, Fort Bend County, Rosenberg Annex, 4520 Reading Road, Suite A, Rosenberg, TX 77471 for the fol-lowing until WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2010 at 1:30 P.M. (CST). All bids will then be publicly opened and read in the Offi ce of the Purchasing Agent, Rosenberg Annex, 4520 Reading Road, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Bids received af-ter the specifi ed time will be returned unopened.BID 11-025 – AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS INTEGRATION PROJECT FOR FORT BEND COUNTY JUSTICE CENTERA pre-bid conference will be conducted on Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 3:00PM (CST). The pre-bid conference will be held at the Offi ce of the Director of Facilities Management and Planning, 1517 Eugene Heimann Circle #500, Richmond, Texas 77469. All vendors are encouraged to attend.Unit pricing is required; payment will be by check after products/services are rendered. Bonds are required.Fort Bend County reserves the right to reject any or all bids.Signed:Gilbert D. Jalomo, Jr., Purchasing Agent Fort Bend County, Richmond, Texas

Ragtime, the Musical, is an epic tale of a young America played out in song and dance. It paints a nostalgic portrait of life at the turn of the twentieth century.

The musical melds three distinct stories that poignant-ly illustrate history’s timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and preju-dice, hope and despair, and

love and hate. Ragtime plays the Austin High School Audi-torium on Jan 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29. Showtime is 7 p.m. all nights.

The production features Blake McCardell as Coalhouse Walker Jr., Mimi Ijir as Sarah, Laura Norby as Mother, Jor-dan Moore as Father, Justin Green as Tateh, Marika Kara-stamatis as Emma Goldman,

and Zhenya Andryeyeva as Evelyn Nesbit.

According to Mark Booher, Ragtime is a classic American story that puts into a powerful musical form the great forces of American culture, the gran-deur of the American spirit, and the epic scale of the hu-man struggle.

For ticket information, call 281 634-2071.

Texas Children’s Hospital announced that the outpatient clinic building is open at its new West Campus, I-10 and Barker Cypress, and that the pediatric emergency center and hospital services are on target to open in spring 2011.

“We are excited to begin offering outpatient services at West Campus as the fi rst step in providing expanded access to the unsurpassed care of Texas Children’s Hospital,” said Michelle Riley-Brown, vice president of Texas Chil-dren’s Hospital West Cam-pus.

“As we celebrate this fi rst milestone, we also look for-ward to spring 2011, when we will open our pediatric emer-gency center and hospital ser-vices.”

The newly built 220,809-square-foot outpa-tient clinic building at West Campus offers the most cur-rent diagnostic and treatment services in a cheerful, family-focused and welcoming envi-ronment.

The facility is designed to provide a comprehensive ar-ray of specialized pediatric services delivered by a dedi-cated team of board-certifi ed pediatric specialists and ex-perts including nurses, reha-bilitation specialists and child life specialists.

To ensure the smoothest possible opening experience for patient families, Riley-Brown noted that the outpa-tient clinic facility is opening in two phases.

As of today, the fi rst and second fl oors of the build-ing are open, which includes outpatient treatment areas for physical/occupational therapy and speech therapy; diabetes/endocrine; and gastroenterol-ogy and nutrition practices.

Texas Children’s Hos-pital West Campus opened additional outpatient clinic practices Dec. 7, said Riley-Brown. These include: audi-ology, cardiology, neurology, ophthalmology, otolaryngol-ogy, orthopedic surgery, pe-diatric surgery, pulmonary medicine and urology.

In spring 2011, the hema-tology/ oncology clinic will open, increasing the number of outpatient clinics at the fa-cility to eleven.

Outpatient services for-merly provided at Texas Chil-dren’s West Houston Health Center will be offered at the new West Campus facility.

“Texas Children’s has been a part of this community for many years and launching the West Campus outpatient clin-ic is our promise to continue providing quality, convenient care to West Houston and the

surrounding areas for many years to come,” added Riley-Brown.

Those families who have been patients at Texas Chil-dren’s main campus or at one of its health center locations will recognize many familiar faces, noted Riley-Brown, since all the pediatric special-ists at its West Campus outpa-tient clinics have previously practiced at one or more of Texas Children’s locations.

In addition to the specialty clinics, the building houses the campus’ primary care pe-diatric practice, TCPA – Town & Country @ West Campus, which is open and accepting appointments in its new, more spacious location. The prac-tice relocated from 909 Frost-wood Dr., Houston, 77024.

In spring 2011 West Cam-pus will open a 12-bed pedi-atric emergency center, 48 in-patient rooms, three operating rooms, a special procedures suite, advanced diagnostic imaging services including MRI and CT scans, and a neurophysiology sleep labo-ratory.

For more information about Texas Children’s Hos-pital West Campus and ser-vices available at the outpa-tient clinic facility, visit www.westcampus.texaschildrens.org.

Fort Bend County’s 2011 Lincoln-Reagan Dinner will be held on Friday, January 28, 2011 at the Texas Safari in Richmond.

This year’s event features Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush from 2000 - 2007 and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2004 - 2007. He is an author, whose latest book is entitled “Courage and Consequence.” Rove is also a Fox News Contributor, and a columnist for both the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek.

The Republican Party of Fort Bend County will again host the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. The purpose of the event is to maximize the money available to elect conservative Republicans in Fort Bend

County.Chairman Rick Miller

states, “Our Republican Party of Fort Bend County is very excited about this great event and having Karl Rove with us. We expect a capacity turnout following the General Election in 2010 to meet and hear not only Karl, but also many of our State offi cials and all of our County and local offi cials.

“The proceeds from this event will fund our Party’s activities and will provide resources to directly support our candidates in the General Election in 2012. This will be a grand evening to spend with the Republican family of Fort Bend County!”

The evening includes VIP and general receptions, dinner, patriotic music and a live

and silent auction. Seating is allotted on a first come, first served basis and table sponsorships are currently being taken.

All proceeds from the event will be used to fund Party activities for the sole purpose of electing Republicans and to growing the Republican Party in this area.

In order for your name to be listed as a sponsor in the commemorative program, your check must be received by January 10, 2011.

If you have any questions, contact Mandi Bronsell at 281-282-7476 or via email at [email protected] or Rick Miller at 281-494-7471 or via email at [email protected]

Karl Rove to speak at Fort Bend County’s 2011 Lincoln-Reagan Dinner

Ragtime comes to Austin High

Outpatient facility opens at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus

Students take part in the University of Houston-Victoria School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony, held Saturday at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy following UHV’s fall commencement ceremonies in which 400 students received degrees. Students graduating from the Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing, the Registered Nurse to BSN, and the Master of Science in Nursing programs had special pins placed on their outfi ts. Steve Brockman-Weber, chief nursing offi cer and chief operating offi cer at Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, was guest speaker.

Fort Bend’s Riverstone re-cently received a C.A.R.E.S. Award from the Houston chapter of the Community As-sociations Institute.

The award recognizes Riv-erstone’s efforts in hosting special events in the com-munity planned by an on-site lifestyle director. After start-ing work at the beginning of the year, Riverstone lifestyle director Melanie Rushé devel-oped an active events calen-dar, which ranges from on-site fi tness classes to large-scale events that are open to the general public. Response has been strong.

“This year has been amaz-ing,” said Rushé. “And what a difference a few months can make. We had only a handful of residents at our fi rst event, but more than 1,000 at Octo-ber’s Trail of Treats festival. In

light of increasingly strong re-sponse, we have planned even more activities and events for next year.”

With a membership com-prising community association volunteers, community man-agers and association service providers, the Community As-sociations Institute works to assist community associations in promoting harmony, com-munity and responsible lead-ership. The C.A.R.E.S. Award is given quarterly to recognize excellence in several catego-ries: special events, beauti-fi cation, neighborhood proj-ects, conservation and helping hands. For more information, visit www.caihouston.org.

Riverstone is ranked fi fth among the 10 top-selling Hous-ton communities by housing consultant Metrostudy,

Riverstone receives award for vibrant resident lifestyle

AUTOMOBILE: Buick RegalPage 6 • INDEPENDENT • DECEMBER 15, 2010

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

December 15, 2010

LOCATION/DATE: The City Council of the City of Missouri City will hold a public

hearing on Monday, January 3, 2010, at the City Council Chambers – 2nd

Floor, City Hall Building, 1522 Texas Parkway (FM-2234), Missouri City, Texas

at 7:00 p.m.

PURPOSE: To receive comments for or against a request by Ismail Urfi of N &

N Associates on behalf of A-S 91 Fort Bend Parkway – Hwy 6, L.P. and Kroger,

Texas, L.P. to amend Planned Development District #62 (Ordinance O-09-26)

to allow for deviations to the City’s Zoning Ordinance for the development of

a Popeye’s Restaurant.

SITE LOCATION: The subject site is located southeast of the intersection of

State Highway 6 and Vicksburg Boulevard, southwest of the intersection of

State Highway 6 and the Fort Bend Toll Road, and east of the Oakwick Forest

Estates Residential Subdivision.

SITE LEGAL DESCRIPTION: The subject site can be described as being all of the

Fort Bend Town Center subdivision as recorded in Instrument No. 20080015

of the Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas; and all of the Fort Bend Town

Center Reserve “A” Replat as recorded in Instrument No. 20090064 of the

Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas; as well as Public Access and Utility

Easement No. 2 as recorded in Fort Bend County Clerk File No. 2007024530

of the Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas; and Public Access and Utility

Easement No. 3 as recorded in Fort Bend County Clerk File No. 2007024530 of

the Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Additional information and a map of the

subject site are available for review at City Hall, Missouri City, Texas on

Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You may call 281-403-

8600 or email the Planning Department at [email protected]

for further information.

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

Sealed bids in triplicate, one (1) original and two (2) copies, addressed to the City of Sugar Land, Texas, will be received until 11:00 o’clock a.m., Thursday, Decem-

ber 30, 2010, for:

PARKS LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE

Sealed bids shall be appropriately marked as follows:

BID NO. 2011-08 PARKS LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE

BIDDER NAME, ADDRESS, AND DUE DATE

Bidder shall sign and date the bid. Bids that are not signed and dated will

be rejected.

Signed and sealed bids shall be delivered to the City Secretary Offi ce, on or before 11:00 o’clock a.m., Thursday, December 30, 2010 , City of Sugar Land City Hall, Suite 122, 2700 Town Center Boulevard North, Sugar Land, Texas, 77479. All bids received after the appointed time shall be returned to bidder unopened. Notice of the award of contract shall be given by the City within thirty (30) days following the date for the opening of bids.

The City reserves the right to revise or amend the specifi cations prior to the date set for opening of bids. Such revisions or amendments, if any, will be announced by addenda or addendum to the specifi cations. Copies of such addenda so is-sued will be furnished to all prospective bidders and may or may not aff ect the bid opening date.

The City of Sugar Land reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive informalities in bids received. The award will be made to the lowest responsible bidder.

A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting for all interested parties will be held on 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 22, 2010, City Hall, Brazos Room Numbers 154 and 155, 2700 Town Center Boulevard North, Sugar Land, Texas, 77479.

ITB documents may be secured from City of Sugar Land City Secretary Offi ce, 2700 Town Center Boulevard North, Suite 122, Sugar Land, Texas, 77479, or by register-ing on https://www.bidsync.com. Registration is free. All bid documents, amend-ments and other information relating to the bid will be posted at this site.

For questions regarding this bid, please contact Jason Poscovsky, Contract Admin-istrator, Telephone (281) 275-2302 or email [email protected].

Glenda Gundermann, TRMC, CMC, AAECity Secretary

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

December 15, 2010

LOCATION/DATE: The City Council of the City of Missouri City will hold a public

hearing on Monday, January 3, 2010, at the City Council Chambers – 2nd

Floor, City Hall Building, 1522 Texas Parkway (FM-2234), Missouri City, Texas

at 7:00 p.m.

PURPOSE: To receive comments for or against a request by Ismail Urfi of N &

N Associates on behalf of A-S 91 Fort Bend Parkway – Hwy 6, L.P. and Kroger,

Texas, L.P. to amend Planned Development District #62 (Ordinance O-09-26)

to allow for deviations to the City’s Zoning Ordinance for the development of

a Popeye’s Restaurant.

SITE LOCATION: The subject site is located southeast of the intersection of

State Highway 6 and Vicksburg Boulevard, southwest of the intersection of

State Highway 6 and the Fort Bend Toll Road, and east of the Oakwick Forest

Estates Residential Subdivision.

SITE LEGAL DESCRIPTION: The subject site can be described as being all of the

Fort Bend Town Center subdivision as recorded in Instrument No. 20080015

of the Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas; and all of the Fort Bend Town

Center Reserve “A” Replat as recorded in Instrument No. 20090064 of the

Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas; as well as Public Access and Utility

Easement No. 2 as recorded in Fort Bend County Clerk File No. 2007024530

of the Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas; and Public Access and Utility

Easement No. 3 as recorded in Fort Bend County Clerk File No. 2007024530 of

the Plat Records of Fort Bend County, Texas.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Additional information and a map of the

subject site are available for review at City Hall, Missouri City, Texas on

Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You may call 281-403-

8600 or email the Planning Department at [email protected]

for further information.

ORDINANCE NO. O-10-48

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS, AMENDING CHAP-

TER 78, SOLID WASTE, OF THE MISSOURI CITY CODE; AMENDING THE RULES

AND REGULATIONS RELATED TO THE UNLAWFUL DISPOSAL OF WASTE AND

AMENDING THE RULES AND REGULATIONS RELATED TO CITY RESIDENTIAL

SOLID WASTE SERVICE LEVELS; PROVIDING A PENALTY; PROVIDING FOR RE-

PEAL; AND PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY.

I, Patrice Fogarty, City Secretary of the City of Missouri City, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the caption of said Ordinance No. O-10-48 approved on the second and fi nal reading by the City Council at its regular meet-ing held on December 6, 2010, as the same appears in the records of my offi ce.

/s/ Patrice Fogarty, TRMCCity Secretary

CITY OF MISSOURI CITY

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

STREET IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

The City of Sugar Land seeks bids for furnishing all labor, material, and equipment, and performing all work required for the following project in the City:

CIP PROJECT NAME: City of Sugar Land Street

Improvement Projects

CIP PROJECT NUMBER: TR1002

LOCATION OF WORK: Intersection of Williams Trace

Boulevard and Lexington Boulevard,

Williams Trace and Englewood Place,

State Highway 99 and U.S. 59 U-Turn,

University Boulevard and U.S. 59

Southbound Frontage Road

Plans, specifi cations, and bidding documents may be obtained from Landtech

Consultants, 2525 North Loop West, Suite 300, Houston, Texas, 77008,

Telephone (713) 861-7068 with payment of $75.00.

Sealed bids shall be delivered to the City of Sugar Land City Secretary Offi ce,

2700 Town Center Boulevard North, Suite 122, Sugar Land, Texas, 77479, on or before 11:00 a.m., Thursday, December 30, 2010, at which time the bids will be publicly opened and read. Bids received after the opening date and time will not be considered.

A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting for all interested parties will be held 10:00

a.m., Thursday, December 16, 2010, Fire Administration Building, Room No.

250, 10405 Corporate Drive, Sugar Land, Texas, 77487.

The City Council will award the bid to the lowest responsible bidder that complies with all requirements of the Request for Bids. The City of Sugar Land will give notice of the contract award within sixty (60) calendar days after the bid opening date and time.

Glenda Gundermann, TRMC, CMC, AAECity Secretary

CONSTABLE SALE




in favor of the Plaintiff - WESTPARK

LAKES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION,

INC., Plaintiff , for the sum of $2,6O5.61

+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the

6TH day of DECEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011

at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests WILLIAM TIMOTHY PARKER

AND MELISSA ANN PARKER had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and



DESCRIPTION: LOT 16, IN BLOCK TWO (2),

OF WESTPARK LAKES, SECTION ONE (1)

A SUBDIVISION OF FORT BEND COUNTY,


THEREOF RECORDED AT SLIDE NO.858/A

AND 858/B IN THE MAP/PLAT RECORDS



Terms: Cash, Cashier’s Check or Money Order; Sale to held at or about 10 a.m. At the steps of the Fort Bend County courthouse.



NOTICE OF LEVY




in favor of the Plaintiff -THE ESTATES

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiff , for the sum of $1,973.96 +++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 19TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests RUSSELL L. COSSEY AND

GLORIA J. COSSEY had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and



DESCRIPTION: LOT 36, IN BLOCK THREE

(3), OF HUNTERSPOINT POINT ESTATES,



THEREOF RECORDED AT VOLUME 32,

PAGE 23 IN THE MAP OR PLAT RECORDS






NOTICE OF LEVY




in favor of the Plaintiff -THE ESTATES


Plaintiff , for the sum of $1,971.16 +++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 19TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests NINA WHITE had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and



DESCRIPTION: LOT 75, IN BLOCK THREE

(3), OF HUNTERSPOINT POINT ESTATES,



THEREOF RECORDED AT VOLUME 32,

PAGE 23 IN THE MAP OR PLAT RECORDS





CONSTABLE SALE




in favor of the Plaintiff -THE WOODS


Plaintiff , for the sum of $1,793.97 +++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 6TH day of DECEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests KERVIN ELI had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and



DESCRIPTION: LOT 21, IN BLOCK TWO

(2), OF THE WOODS SUBDIVISION, A

SUBDIVISION OF FORT BEND COUNTY,


THEREOF RECORDED AT CLERK’S FILE NO.

1176060, SLIDE NO.692/B IN THE MAP OR

PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND COUNTY,

TEXAS.


Terms: Cash, Cashier’s Check or Money Order; Sale to held at or about 10 a.m. At the steps of the Fort Bend County courthouse.



NOTICE OF LEVY




in favor of the Plaintiff THE WOODS


Plaintiff , for the sum of $1,942.50 +++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 19TH day of NOVEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests JOSEPH A. JACKSON had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and



DESCRIPTION: LOT 19, IN BLOCK 2, OF

THE WOODS SUBDIVISION, SECTION 1,


TEXAS, ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR

PLAT THEREOF RECORDED AT CLERK’S

FILE NO. 2276060, SLIDE NO. 692B IN THE

MAP OR PLAT RECORDS OF FORT BEND

COUNTY, TEXAS.





NOTICE OF LEVYUnder and by virtue of a Writ of Execution and / or Order of Sale issued on the 22ND day of NOVEMBER 2010 by the 400TH DISTRICT COURT OF FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas in cause #08-DCV-167664 in favor of the Plaintiff FORT BEND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT & ET AL, Plaintiff , for the sum of $13,029.41+++costs as taxed on said Execution and / or Order of Sale and further the sum of executing the same. I have levied on the 6TH day of DECEMBER, 2010 and will off er for sale on the 4TH day of JANUARY 2011 at the County Courthouse steps of Fort Bend County, Texas in the city of Richmond, Texas between the hours of ten o’clock a.m. and four o’clock p.m., any and all rights, title, interests ROBIN JONES had of, in or to the following described Real property situated in Fort Bend County, Texas; viz.:Property is sold with all encumbrances and liens affi xed there to. All sales are fi nal.LEGAL DESCRIPTION: PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: TRACT 1: GEO: 6015340010430907/ CPC: R203786/ LOT FORTY-THREE (43) IN BLOCK ONE (1), OF REPLAT OF NEW TERRITORY, PARCEL SF-34, A SUBDIVISION IN FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN SLIDE NO. 1527/A& B OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS. (ACCOUNT NO.

6015340010430907/ 6015340010430)

ADJUDGED/ MARKET VALUE:

$214,150.00 TRACT 1



By BARBARA FULENWIDERLooks aren’t everything but

they sure help sell cars and the Buick Regal has them.

The Regal sedan’s modern, sleek exterior is a sweeping silhouette with the proportions of a coupe that make it appear to be in motion. Along with its good looks, General Motors engineers added a European inspired ride and handling. The results are a good looking sedan with a fi rm, European-tuned chassis that rivals some of the best import sport sedans in the segment.

New for 2011 is a driver-selectable interactive drive control system, available with 2.0- liter turbocharged engine, leather and heated front seats, XM Satellite Radio, USB port, MP3 auxiliary jack, Bluetooth for phone and OnStar.

The four-door Buick Re-gal CXL sedan is powered by a 2.4-liter dual overhead cam four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed automatic trans-mission.

The four makes 182 horse-power and 172 lb.-ft. torque and gets a highly respectable 19/30 miles to the gallon in city/highway driving.

The Buick Regal rides on 18-inch wheels, which are also new standard equipment for 2011, seats four adults com-fortably and has 14.25 cubic feet of trunk space.

The Regal is the next chap-ter in Buick’s portfolio expan-sion which now includes a modern sport sedan. The new Regal takes on competitors such as the Acura TSX and Volvo S60.

For 2011, Regal is offered in premium CXL trim only, with additional trim levels to be of-fered in the 2012 model year. The well-equipped Regal CXL includes the following as stan-dard or available equipment:

Standard 2.4L direct inject-ed engine, available 2.0-liter turbocharged and direct in-jected engine rated at an es-timated 220 horsepower, six-speed automatic transmission with driver shifting control, six speed manual transmission available with turbocharged engine, MacPherson strut front suspension and four-link independent rear suspension,

four-wheel disc brakes with four-channel anti-lock braking system.

Also, brake assist and elec-tronic parking brake, stabil-ity control system and full-function traction control are standard, standard dual-stage frontal air bags, side-curtain air bags and pedal-release sys-tem; rear-seat thorax air bags available, available navigation system, harman kardon sound system, internal fl ash drive (1GB), hard drive with 10GB for music and USB port and 19-inch alloy wheels standard with interactive drive control.

The car’s spirit is conveyed in sleek, sculpted body-side de-tail and aggressive headlamps that further suggest motion.

At the rear, an abbreviated deck and tucked-in body panels are the hallmarks of a contem-porary sport sedan, with bold

taillamps and their intricate lighting elements reinforcing Regal’s attention to detail.

The sweeping design mo-tif carries over to the interior, where the side panels fl ow uninterrupted into the instru-ment panel. Features such as a thick-rimmed, leather-wrapped steering wheel and fi rm, highly bolstered and leather-covered seats also support the sport-oriented driving experience.

With all standard equipment the Buick Regal retails for $26,245. With optional equip-ment that included the comfort and convenience package and a power sunroof the total came to $28,090.

Buick engineers and design-ers have ditched the brand’s yesteryear look, put more fun into driving a Buick and made it a top value.

Buick was the biggest sales gainer from 2009 to 2010 and that says everything.

Buick went from having sold 72,389 vehicles in 2009 to selling almost twice that num-ber in 2010 -- 114,000 for a 57 percent increase.General Mo-tors in general is cranking.

The company’s Cadillac and GMC divisions came in second and fourth as biggest sales gainers this year. A total of 73,024 Cadillacs were sold in 2009 and 105,013 in 2010. GMC sold 176,423 vehicles in 2009 and 230,502 this year.


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COMMUNITY NEWS

FILM REVIEW: The Fighter

REPUTATION DOES MATTER

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THOMAS J. PARR, M.D.ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON

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Rocky Light! What do you mean Larry H.?

This fl ick had the makings for the classic “everyman makes good as a downtrodden prize fi ghter,” like Rocky Balboa, but this hero was more like Rocky Raccoon or maybe Bullwinkle. Ok,that’s a little harsh, but I was so disappointed in this show be-cause I had great expectations for Marky Mark Wahlberg as The Fighter.

The real Wahlberg has a lot in common with his character Irish Micky Ward:both born in Boston/Lowell Massachusetts, and a member of a very large-family with that strong Yankee accent and Irish loyalty. Micky (aka Mickey)had a crazy chain-smoking mother as business manager and a crack head older brother as a trainer as the three of them try to save Micky’s box-ing career in the 1990’s.

That brother (Dicky Eklund) was played by Christian Bale who reached the peak of his pitiful boxing career when he “knocked” down Sugar Ray Leonard long ago in a disputed fi ght. It was a running joke that Sugar Ray actually slipped rath-er than take a punch from Dicky. Dicky had the morals of a snake but Micky loved his older broth-er and continued to allow Dicky to serve as his trainer even when doing so was toxic to his love life and boxing career.

Director David O. Russell al-lowed both of his stars to lose focus. Bale’s portrayal of the loser older brother was over the top and a caricature of some misguided has-been fi ghter that was destined to screw up his life and everyone near and dear to him.

Occasionally, Bale’s perfor-mance was brilliant, but only for fl eeting moments before returning to a meaningless com-bination of buffoonery and dis-belief.

Being the clown of the fam-ily and pulling some hard time in the joint can be redeeming and even charming, but I didn’t care if Bale’s character lived or died and I sure didn’t want him involved in my movie.

What about Wahlberg? Completely the opposite of

Bale and I’m sure that was the intention of Director Russell. But Wahlberg was so understat-ed that he reminded me of his very small role in “Date Night” as Halbrooke Grant. Just anoth-er hunky guy that doesn’t have much to offer the world other than a good squeeze for his fa-vorite squeeze.

Any big winners? Well, there were some small

winners but I will limit the award to Amy Adams who played Micky’s love interest. Biggest loser is Scott Silver and the other fi ve credited writers. I wanted to pull for The Fighter and his struggle to make it to the title fi ght but ultimately I couldn’t have cared less if he won or lost.

But the choreography of the fi ghts was very well done; isn’t that interesting. This movie was decidedly mediocre. Rock ‘n Roll.Grade 79. Larry H. larryhmoviereviews.com

Elkins High School’s YIP (Youth in Philanthropy) members and sponsor, Jade Love, have won top honors in the Fort Bend County-wide Food Drive and Canned Food Sculpting Competi-tion, sponsored by H-E-B.

The contest, held at the Sugar Land Town Center, in-vited YIP students from area high schools to bring canned food items and create a me-dieval themed sculpture us-ing 200 cans of food items.

The Elkins team designed a sculpture of a knight holding a shield and sword on a horse. The team completed the sculp-ture in three hours and earned a $750 cash prize and other prizes valued at approximately $150.

Elkins YIP students Nata-lie Clingensmith and Corretta Dickens led their team in the competition. Other participat-ing members included: Raven

Alston, Akilah Breland, Laura Elias, Kyana Grice, Cydnee Hamilton, Audrey Hender-son, Dari Hester, Victor Ih-ezukuwu, Jeshwin James, Courtney Penry, Brandon Raziano, Urian Schimmey-er, Alexus Spragg, Shantel Streete, Jennifer Valdes, Leeza Wiley, and Dylan Zambrano.

Other participating FBISD schools included Austin, Bush, Clements, Hightower, and

Willowridge High Schools.All non-perishable food

items and proceeds from the competition will directly ben-efi t the following non-profi t organizations: the East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry, Katy Christian Ministries, the Mamie George Community Center, Rosenberg-Richmond Helping Hands, and the Sec-ond Mile Mission Center.

Elkins High School YIP students earn fi rst place in Canned Food Sculpting Competition

The FBISD Educational Technology Department wants to bring technology into the homes of students for several Fort Bend Schools through a project aptly named “Check It Out.”

This program, named by the Chief Information Offi cer, Robert Calvert, and funded through Title II Part D, allows students in seven FBISD cam-puses to check out a netbook laptop computer for home use.

The seven schools, Arm-strong Elementary, Blue Ridge Elementary, Hunters Glen El-ementary, Jones Elementary, McAuliffe Middle School, Missouri City Middle School, and Willowridge High School were chosen based on technol-ogy literacy assessment scores along with economic need.

Each school will receive twelve netbooks which will

be checked out through the library. Students will be able to take the netbook home overnight to complete assign-ments, work on technology lit-eracy skills or access provided tutorial content.

“This is a wonderful op-portunity for children who do not have access to a computer at home,” said Bob Arena, Principal at Jones Elementary School.

“The program will allow them to extend the technol-ogy and academic skills they learn in the classroom to their home and community. The Check It Out program will help open doors that have pre-viously been closed for some students.”

The laptops, which are able to be used on any wired or wireless network, are highly portable, and are equipped with a full suite of District

approved applications for stu-dent use, inclusive of fi ltered web browsing through Inter-net Explorer.

Although the netbooks will be managed by the Library Services Department on each participating campus, each school administration team has outlined building specifi c policies and procedures relat-ing to netbook checkout by students. Students will also have to have parents sign an additional Acceptable Use Policy prior to checkout.

Parents who want to know more information about this program should contact Ly-nette Meyer, Director of Edu-cational Technology or a par-ticipating school’s building administrator.

All media inquiries should be directed to FBISD Com-munity Relations at 281-634-1100 or [email protected].

“Check It Out” program allows students to check out computers for home use

Pictured at Jones Elementary School are: (seated from left) Ore Ogunsanya and Destiny Tor-res; (second row) Derek Ledet, Gabrielle Broadnax, Nathaniel Juarez, Michael Delgado; and (back) Bob Arena, Principal at Jones Elementary School and Robert Calvert, FBISD Chief Information Offi cer.

Tina Joseph was honored on Dec. 8 by The Exchange Club of Sugar Land as Youth of the Month. Tina is a member of the National Honor Society, the English Honor Society, National Technical Society, Spanish Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and the South Asian Student Association. She has received awards from the National Forensic League and Academic Excellence. She is in the top 5% of her class and has been accepted at UH, HBU, and UT. She hopes to pursue a career in biomedi-cal science. Exchange Club of Sugar Land meets every Wednesday morning at 7 at the Sweetwater Country Club.— Photo by Ed Lee

Youth of the month

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Page 8 • INDEPENDENT • DECEMBER 15, 2010 Community news

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The American Red Cross Super Ball X scheduled for Saturday, January 22 at Safari Texas in Richmond, promises to be the biggest – and best – indoor tailgate party in town! Celebrating their tenth an-niversary, Super Ball X ben-efi ts the American Red Cross Southwestern Branch located in and serving Fort Bend County, and this year’s pro-ceeds will support program operations, service delivery to our community and general operating needs.

The event features a tail-gate-themed buffet full of football food favorites, a Half-Time Dance with music by The Spiffi ngton’s and a mid-way with games for guests to compete in. New to the mid-way this year are two games: Best Buy Raceway sponsored by Best Buy and Air Mail sponsored by Lifestyles at OakBend. Guests will have the opportunity to race in the Mario Race Car Wii game to win a Wii game system, along with trying their hand at land-ing airplane mail to win a year membership to Lifestyles at OakBend.

Long-time midway favor-ites are also back: two Bas-ketball Shoot-Outs, sponsored by DonDulin.com and the Ro-tary Club of Richmond, and the Football Toss sponsored by Stan and Edie Speer. Fi-nals will be held for the high scorers in each competition and winners of these events will receive basketball goals or a sporting goods gift cer-tifi cate.

The American Red Cross Super Ball X’s auctions are always a crowd-pleaser, and this year’s live auction fea-tures an exclusive item cour-tesy of Super Ball X’s Honor-ary Chairmen Ron and Juliana Ewer, owners of Legacy Ford. The Ewers have donated the use of a new car each month for an entire year to kick off the live auction. Other live auction items include a Botox

party, a San Marcos shopping trip, a golf package fi lled with foursomes at fabulous courses along with a custom-made putter and various sports and entertainment packages.

With over 100 lots, the si-lent auction has something for everyone to enjoy and return-ing to the silent auction this year is the High Rollers area sponsored by Brad and Cindy Reaves.

The Sky Box VIP area fea-tures items including a ladies night for two at the rodeo fea-turing spa services, food and beverages at the rodeo along with two tickets to the Sug-arland performance, a birth-day party for 16 at Iron Cross Gymnastics including t-shirts and a birthday cake and a night on the town featuring accommodations at the Sugar Land Marriott along with Im-perial Theatre tickets.

Leading the Super Ball

team to victory for this year are returning Head Coaches Cindy Reaves, May W. Tape, DDS and Carol Whileyman. “Our tenth anniversary event is shaping up to be our best ever,” said Sandra Startz, Managing Director Branch Operations for the American Red Cross.

“Because of the generous support of our committee members, sponsors and our community, we are looking forward to celebrating the American Red Cross Super Ball’s tenth anniversary with a fantastic evening of football fun!”

Sponsorships are currently available for the tenth anni-versary event, and they range from $1,000 to $10,000. Sponsorship opportunities in-clude tickets to the event, rec-ognition in the program and invitations, and on-site recog-nition at the event.

Heading up various com-mittees and serving as Coaches for the American Red Cross Super Ball X are: Dana Benoit, Mandi Bronsell, Mark Gobert, Lisa Gonzalez-Salceda, Katie Higgins, Janet Hilton, Kristie Jones, Cynthia Liska, Kayla Matthews, Kath-leen Mires, Katrina Nutt, Er-nest and Debra Sharp, Karen Slavinski, and Terri Stuart. Serving as Head Coach Elects are Eileen Akerson, Goldie Leinweber and Terri Stuart. The Head Coach Elects will be leading the team for Super Ball XI in 2012.

Tickets to Super Ball X are $75 per person or $130 per couple and are available by contacting the American Red Cross Southwestern Branch at 281.342.9480.

For more information visit www.houstonredcross.org/super-ball.

American Red Cross Super Ball X prepares for 10th anniversary event featuring food, football and fun!

The American Red Cross Super Ball X midway includes the Best Buy Raceway where guests can compete to win a Wii game system. Pictured at Best Buy are Super Ball Head Coaches Carol Whileyman, Goldie Leinweber, May W. Tape, DDS and Cindy Reaves along with Best Buy’s LeHanh Tran, Giselle Eggenberger and Trisha Garcia. Super Ball X is scheduled for January 22nd at Safari Texas and tickets are available by calling 281-342-9480.

Sugar Land SWEET ADE-LINES, left, will be performing for the Holidays at the CASA Tour of Homes and again on Sunday Dec.19 at Sugar Land Town Square, from 3 to 4 p.m. Come join the music, along with Santa, for a joyful after-noon, barbershop style. For fun that lasts all year long the CRADLE OF TEXAS CHO-RUS invites women of any age who love to sing to come join us every Monday evening from 7-9 p.m. at Christ United Meth-odist Church, 3300 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land in room 201. For more information, call Charlene at 713-774-3975.

The Woman’s Club of Mis-souri City, at their Annual Holiday Luncheon, held at the Aura Restaurant in Missouri City fi lled Santa’s Sack with Toys for Tots, and presented them to Missouri City Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald. He was their special guest and key-note speaker.

In addressing the ladies of the club, Fitzgerald compli-mented them for their high level of community support, elaborating that this atypi-cal involvement county-wide contributed widely to the fact that crime was down.

The chief spotlighted Quail Valley’s strong crime watch program and spoke of the de-partment’s strong partnership with homeowners’ associa-tions (HOA) as being instru-mental in effectively target-ing, curtailing, and preventing criminal offenses.

Police offi cers attend Annu-al and sometimes regular HOA Meetings where valuable in-formation is exchanged.

Police personnel are also us-ing online software to predict crimes and identify patterns. When asked a question about witnessing squad cars running while unoccupied by an offi -cer, Fitzgerald explained that the new computer systems are very expensive and maintain-ing the proper temperature is vital to their sensitive nature. With a smile, he explained that offi cers are not trying to keep their cars cool for re-entry.

In answering questions re-garding MCPD’s success in maintaining a low crime rate, the Chief talked about vari-ous methods including those that can be reached through the City’s web site includ-ing a Crime Tip Form and the House Watch Program among others.

The Anti-Gang, “I choose to follow the rules” elemen-tary school program, teaches elementary school children to say no to violence and drugs. Alluding to the adage of it takes a village to raise a child,

the Chief reminded everyone that adults need to be mindful of presenting themselves as good role models, as well as keeping to the basics of crime prevention such as trimming hedges low, keeping garage doors shut, leaving a light on in houses when not home, and during the holiday season of keeping packages in vehicles

out of sight and temptation.Fitzgerald closed his re-

marks by relaying his appre-ciation for the high level of regard these ladies and the citi-zens of Missouri City, held for the department, saying it was an honor to work with caring citizens in their mutual goal of making a real difference.

—LISA GLENN

Jane Thompson, MCPD Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, Milly Smith and Virginia Hodges (Photo Credit: Mary Ammerman)

WCMC presents “Toys for Tots” to police chief

In January the Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land will celebrate Second Saturday with Motion Commotion. This day will feature the Museum’s popular outreach program, Science on Stage. Daniel Burch will be present to discuss HMNS’ new energy club. Children will have a pictorial scavenger hunt of the physical science exhibits in Discovery Works. This will help the children learn about different and unique kinds of energy. They will also make pin-wheels, paper rockets, wind boats and moonwinders, a popular toy in the 1800’s that is also called a button spinner. Story time will fea-ture books about energy. Free with Museum Admission.

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