Kingwood Park coach reaches win milestone

White secures 200th victory as volleyball coach
By JASON MCDANIEL CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT

"It's still so hard to believe that I've been in that many game situations over the course of 10 years," White said. "It's kind of hard when you start putting the numbers down on paper, but time flies by fast and along the way I've worked with a lot of great coaches."
Some coaches will say milestones are just numbers that usually say more about longevity than anything else. But White admitted reaching 200 wins was special to her, and something worth celebrating.

"Ideally, we're out there because we love kids and we're good with teenagers, but still deep down we have a competitive nature, and winning is always a fun thing," White said. "That's what we strive for, to bring our teams to that point, or that level, and so I was excited about it."
After three years as an assistant coach, White got her start as a head coach at small TAPPS school East Texas Christian. She spent two season there and four at Huffman Hargrave before K-Park.
White's first win was against Evadale, another small TAPPS school north of Beaumont. East Texas went 30-3 that season and advanced to the TAPPS 1A state tournament.
"It got me hooked," White said.

On the same night White reached win No. 200, senior libero Nausheen Merchant surpassed 1,000 career digs, which White compared to a pitcher's 1,000th strikeout or a basketball player's 1,000th point.

"She's an extremely talented athlete and we knew she was going to get it," White said. "She came in as a freshman and played varsity when we opened the school, so we knew that she would get it and she did."
K-Park took a 26-2 overall record into the weekend, and sitting at 4-0 in district, White admitted she was starting to allow herself to think about winning the school's first district championship.

She also was well aware there's a long way to go. K-Park finishes out the first round of district this week before starting Round 2 on Oct. 5 at Willis.
"We still have to stay the course and be fiery and fired up, ready to win, and just go out and play our best," White said.
"If we focus more on playing consistently across the board, the winning part will definitely take care of itself."

Kings of region, sort of
The Kingwood boys and girls cross country teams swept the top varsity races at the Region III preview last week at Atascocita, where area teams got their first look at what it will take to get to Austin.

Only, the teams the Mustangs saw won't be at their regional meet.
Kingwood's harriers are in Region II for the next two seasons after the most recent UIL realignment, but they opted to race at the regional preview in Atascocita because it was much closer.
And either way, they're in good shape.

The Kingwood boys won the 5K gold varsity race with an average time of 16:29.20. They placed six harriers in the top 15, led by Justin Brinkley (fifth, 16:12), Travis Beck (seventh, 16:28) and Logan Terry (eighth, 16:30).

The Kingwood girls won the 3,200-meter gold varsity race in 12:13.60. They placed five runners in the top 15, led by Sandie Raines (fourth, 11:56), Catie Daigre (12:03) and Laura Craig (12:04).
Kingwood's depth also was on display. It won the boys and girls junior varsity divisions and placed third in the boys freshman race.
In the JV girls race, Claire Hodges, Sarah Bradley, Malia Sewrdloff and Delaney Gusdorff filled the top four spots, respectively. Sergio Rodriguez won the individual title in the boys JV race.


Best of rest
Kingwood Park was third in the boys 5K gold varsity race with an average time of 17:14.20. The only teams ahead of it were Kingwood and College Park, two Class 5A teams from Region II.
The Panthers placed three runners in the top 25. Kwame Jackson (16:32) was ninth, Michael Lindberg (16:57) was 16th and Juan Zambrano (17:03) was 24th.
Atascocita's boys and girls teams also fared well. The girls took sixth place in the 3,200 gold varsity race with a time of 13:44 and the boys took seventh in the 5K gold run with an average of 17:42.
Summer Creek's Jake Bootz won the boys 3,200-meter freshman division with an 11:10.

9

No - it wasn't aliens - or "chemtrails" or fighters on patrol on the anniversary of 9/11 - but rather a NASA high altitude research aircraft that caused the "mysterious" contrails over the Houston area Saturday.

Houston Airport Systems spokeswoman Marlene McClinton told Local 2 that NASA's WB-57 is a high-altitude aircraft, operating out of Ellington Field.
"It is taking air samples between 45,000 and 51,000 feet," said McClinton.

According to McClinton, it was a normal operation, but due to atmospheric conditions, the contrails were extremely visible.

Many callers said the plane looked like a big commercial passenger plane with the NASA oogo on it.
"It was just circling," said Cindy Hamilton who lives in Friendswood.
She saw the plane around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

"It would go north and just circle back to the south. I was just concerned because of what day it is. Seeing the plane brought back memories," Hamilton said.
Karon Wisdom saw the plane in Channelview circling for hours.

"Because its 9/11, everyone's keeping their eye on the sky," she said. "I thought either someone was watching out for us on the Gulf Coast, or something weird was happening."

NASA officials said the aircraft was testing out a new instrument and that "they have made several flights this week. It's unfortunate for the atmospheric conditions that made it very visible on 9/11."
Officials said it was nothing to be alarmed about.


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Breaking: Fire destroys Houston complex

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on September 15, 2010 at 11:20 AM

HOUSTON—Eight units were completely destroyed and several families were displaced after a two-alarm fire damaged part of a southwest Houston apartment complex Wednesday morning.
Fire officials rushed to the burning apartments on Wilcrest at South Drive around 6:45 a.m.
HFD said they had a slight water pressure issue in the beginning, but managed to quickly get the fire under control. No firefighters were injured and all of the families got out safely.
One child standing outside was checked for smoke inhalation at the scene. He was determined to be OK.

Arson investigators do not know how the fire started at this time.


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Overnight wreck leaves Kingwood man dead

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on September 12, 2010 at 11:13 AM

KINGWOOD, Texas – An overnight car accident in Kingwood left one man dead Sunday morning.
The incident happened around 2:00 a.m. near the corner of Highway 59 and Kingwood.
According to police, a Toyota truck traveling at a high rate of speed slammed into the back of a pickup truck, causing the Toyota to flip on its roof.
Police said officers flipped the truck on its side and got the male driver out, but he died at the scene.
Authorities said a pregnant woman and child who were in the pickup truck were taken to the hospital to be checked for injuries.


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Woman who fired at robbers hailed as a hero

By T.J. Aulds
The Daily News
Published September 3, 2010
LA MARQUE — The woman who fended off a pair of robbers by opening fire on them in a Walmart parking lot Wednesday was hailed as a hero by many. As police search for the robbery suspects, the 56-year-old woman is “very shaken” and “obviously scared,” a La Marque police investigator said.

Police believe the La Marque robbery suspects are the same men who robbed a woman at gunpoint in Friendswood earlier in the day.

Friendswood police were working with Houston police to develop leads Thursday afternoon, and it appears the Galveston County robberies are related to three similar incidents that happened in Houston within the last week, Friendswood Police Chief Bob Wieners said.

Victim Fought Back

The La Marque shooting happened in the parking lot of Walmart, 6410 Interstate 45, at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

The woman had been shopping at Walmart and was getting back into her car when a man pushed a pistol to her stomach and took her purse. The Santa Fe-area resident, who has a concealed handgun license, reached into the center console of her car and pulled out a revolver, police said.

The armed robber backed away and jumped into a waiting SUV that sped off. La Marque police Detective Danielle Herman said the woman managed to fire five shots, hitting the SUV’s tailgate at least once.

At least one other person was in the SUV, but police did not have a description of the getaway driver, Herman said. The armed man was described as Hispanic, 25 to 35 years old, clean shaven with short, dark hair. He stood from 5-feet, 4-inches to 5-feet, 9-inches tall and had a stocky build, Herman said.

Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, the woman said she still was shaken by the episode and did not want to talk about the incident because she was busy canceling her credits cards and mobile phone, which were in the purse.

Escape Vehicle

The robbers’ escape vehicle was a newer-model, silver or gray Nissan Pathfinder, with Texas license plate NMG-714, Herman said. Police had several addresses for the vehicle’s owner, all in Southwest Houston.

State records show that license plate is registered to a Chevy Suburban and not a Nissan. Police also were checking to see whether the plates were from a different vehicle, Herman said.

La Marque police were scheduled to meet with Friendswood investigators Thursday afternoon to compare notes related to an armed robbery of a woman in an H-E-B parking lot that happened about an hour and a half before the La Marque robbery. The robber’s description was similar for both crimes, Herman and Wieners said.

The Houston Police Department is assisting in the investigation, Wieners said.

Hero Or Risk Taker?

Online and on talk radio, the woman in the La Marque robbery was being hailed as a hero.

One online comment at galvnews.com said: “Well, here’s a wake-up call for me and possibly some other women. I keep resisting carrying, but the way things are going I think I will be locked and cocked at all times. If enough women start taking these macho clowns down, maybe we can go back to some semblance of a peaceful life.”

Others were grateful the victims were not hurt but questioned the shooting.

Another comment on galvnews.com said: “Thank God the two women (in the La Marque and Friendswood robberies) are OK and no innocent bystanders were injured or killed by a stray bullet at the Walmart incident. I know, under the circumstance, her adrenaline must have taken over, but shooting at a moving vehicle in a parking lot seems a bit drastic.”

Handgun Training

Her action was not that drastic, considering the training concealed handgun license holders get, said Tom Estep, one of the first handgun license instructors certified by the state when the concealed handgun laws were approved in 1995.

Estep said handgun license classes review different scenarios, including those in which the gun owner might be in a public place like a parking lot, when firing a weapon.

“I make it clear to (students) that every round they shoot is their responsibility,” Estep said. “They are responsible for that bullet. (Instructors) want to caution them to be absolutely certain what’s beyond your target.”

Estep said the first rule is always personal safety.

“If there is even the slightest chance that someone will hurt me or someone else, then the shooting starts,” he said. “Still, I also tell people I am not going to shoot someone over a few bucks in my shirt pocket.

“You have to evaluate the situation you are in.”

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