Best of Texas Blogs: Kingwood

Severe weather expected today in Houston area

2012-01-25T07:22:00.001-08:00

KRPC: You can see a wall of heavy rain," KPRC Local 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez. "From 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock is the time to watch for these dangerous storms."

"Do not take these warnings lightly. Typically, whenever we get these and see a pattern like we had this morning, we'll see a handful of tornadoes," Yanez said.

Gusty winds and scattered showers moved through the area at 2 a.m., knocking out power to 30,000 CenterPoint Energy customers. As of 6:30 a.m., approximately 18,000 people remained without electricity.

"Earlier this morning, we had wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph," Yanez said. "That's what knocked down some of those trees and power lines. We could still see some 60 mph straight-line winds, hail and lots of lightning."

A low-pressure system is responsible for strong storms in central and northern Texas, which are expected to drench the Houston area most of the day.

"There's a couple of lines that we're tracking. The strongest one will arrive in Houston around noon. It's a concern for this morning until early afternoon. The radar is picking up a lot of twisting winds," Yanez said. "It's going to be wet from 8 o'clock all the way through 2 o'clock. By 5 p.m., this storm system will be in our eastern counties."

Yanez said south of Interstate 10 is not expected to see the strongest storms.

"It's a lot more scattered and not as well put together," Yanez said.

Power outages caused problems for some southwest Houston businesses.

Whataburger on the Southwest Freeway near Weslayan had to turn away customers when employees could not prepare food for the morning rush.

"Their lights just came back on (at 6 a.m.), but they weren't ready to serve yet," customer Carol Bennett said.

Many Houstonians were worried about flooding after severe weather left its mark on Jan. 9.

Houston firefighters performed about 140 water rescues when people became stranded in high water.

Officials warned drivers to "turn around, not drown" if they approached rising water.

Flooding is the most common hazard in Houston and many times, individuals are not able to judge the depths of water along roadways and find themselves in perilous conditions.

Officials said 6 inches of water can cause tires to lose traction and begin to slide, and 12 inches of water can float many cars. Two feet of rushing water will carry off pickup trucks, SUVs and most other vehicles.

Water across a roadway may hide a missing segment of road or a missing bridge, officials said.

In flash floods, waters rise so rapidly they may be far deeper by the time you are halfway across, trapping you in your vehicle.

Be especially cautious at night, when it's even more difficult to gauge the amount of water in a roadway.

The safest option is to simply avoid driving over water and find an alternate, safer route, or wait until the danger has passed.

Identity thieves sentenced

2012-01-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

Two men who, along with other conspirators, used the personal information of dozens of victims to obtain fraudulent credit cards have been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson has announced.

United States District Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Richard Gaylon Conatser, 47, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Geoffrey Michael Wentzel, 34, of Kingwood, Texas, to 124 and 65 months without parole, respectively. Conatser and Wentzel both previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft along with Troy Jay Bird, 43, of Corpus Christi, who will be sentenced on Feb. 10, 2012.

Officers with the Houston Police Department (HPD) arrested Conatser and Wentzel at Wentzel’s home in Kingwood on Oct. 8, 2010. Officers had recognized Conatser from the surveillance video of a Best Buy, where items had been purchased using a credit card obtained in the name of a victim. At the home, police seized multiple laptop computers, flash drives, laminating machines, credit card magnet readers and other equipment used to make fraudulent forms of identification. Police also discovered the personal identification information of dozens of victims on the laptop computer and in credit applications from Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating, which were also seized during a search of Wentzel’s house. Wentzel is a former employee of Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating.

Conatser and Wentzel used the personal information and fraudulent forms of identification to open credit accounts in the names of at least 45 different individuals at more than a dozen different retail stores in the Houston and Dallas areas, including Kohls, Sears, Dillard’s, Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops. After being approved for credit in the victims’ names, Conatser, Bird and other conspirators purchased thousands of dollars of merchandise, often being captured on video surveillance in the process. In some cases, Conatser then sold the fraudulently-purchased items to Wentzel, who in turn sold the items within days using his eBay account.

Law enforcement agents connected Conatser and Wentzel to Bird, who was previously arrested on July 15, 2010, during a traffic stop in Coppell, Texas. Police in Coppell discovered several items related to identity theft in Bird’s vehicle and a hotel room where Bird and other conspirators were staying. Among the items discovered by police were fraudulent identifications and other person information belonging to victims whose information was later discovered at Wentzel’s home.
In addition to their sentences, the two men were ordered to serve supervised release terms of three years following their release from federal prison. They were also ordered to pay restitution to victims totaling $142,197.88. Conatser has been in custody since his arrest where he will remain pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future. Previously released on bond, Wentzel was allowed to continue on bond and voluntarily surrender.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Houston Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorney David Searle is prosecuting the case.

Houston skyscraper implosion ...

2012-01-09T06:42:00.001-08:00

by KHOU
KHOU
Posted on January 9, 2012 at 7:57 AM
Updated today at 8:14 AM

HOUSTON — A big boom could be heard on Sunday at the Texas Medical Center in Houston as demolition crews brought down a 20-story building that was once the home of KVUE's sister station, KHOU-TV.

Rare treat: Houstonians can watch as Space Station crosses Moon

2012-01-04T11:10:00.003-08:00

A slice of Houston will have a chance to view a rare treat this evening.

Not only will the International Space Station make an incredibly bright, six-minute track across the sky tonight, some observers will be able to see the orbital laboratory blink across the moon.

Beginning at 6:28 p.m. the station will rise above the northwest horizon in Houston, and disappear just above the southeast horizon some six minutes later. Skies are forecast to be partly cloudy.

Along this path, for some parts of Houston all the way to Galveston, the station’s track will bring it across the face of the moon.

The following map, made by Steve Clayworth of Observable Universe, shows the approximate area from which this will be visible.

Rare treat: Houstonians can watch as Space Station crosses Moon

2012-01-04T11:10:00.001-08:00

Teens arrested for BB vandalism

2011-12-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

khou.com
Posted on December 20, 2011 at 3:38 PM

KINGWOOD, Texas – Three Kingwood teens have been arrested for allegedly shooting BB guns at passing vehicles.

Houston police say at least four cars were shot at on Kingwood Drive this month. No one was hurt.

The suspects, two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old, are charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. Police say all three have confessed.
Their names are not being released because they’re juveniles.

Kingwood's "Mr. Love" - showered with love and respect after Facebook slur

2011-11-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

Originally posted: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 2:24 pm | Updated: 2:29 am, Thu Nov 24, 2011.
By JENNIFER SUMMER

It was a shock for Doug Love as he walked out of his front door and was greeted by more than 80 students clapping, cheering and singing.

The Kingwood High School students showed the substitute love and respect at his home Nov. 20 after a couple of students made rude remarks to him last week.

“I heard what the student told Mr. Love, that ‘you’re old and you’re going to die any day’ through Facebook. Since I am the student president with the school’s Just About Kids Foundation, I called the parent sponsor and she suggested we visit Mr. Love’s house to express our respect and thanks,” Kingwood High School student Jason Dayvault said.

The students organized the event within 20 hours by setting up a Facebook page for the event and sharing their disgust with the remarks that were made on their respective Facebook pages.
Affectionately called Mr. Love by students and faculty alike, the 87-year-old has served as a substitute teacher at the school since he first decided to give it a try after being laid off in the early 1980s.

He celebrated 23 years of substitute teaching in the Humble Independent School District December 2010 and is well known for his crazy hats and elaborate ties.

“I received a call from the parent sponsor to make sure I would be home Sunday evening to drop something off. My doorbell rang, they asked me to step outside and that is when I saw all of the students; I was blown away,” Love said.

More than 50 students carried flowers, balloons and signs thanking Love for all of his years serving as a substitute and even gifted him a frame signed by the students including a picture of him in one of his crazy hats.

The students also downloaded the Beatles song “All You Need is Love,” which they played and sang for him outside of his house.

“I had no clue the students would step up to do something like this. It goes to show you they were not going to ignore what happened and this is a marvelous group of students. They really took offense to the comments and wanted to take a stand,” Love said.

The students also gathered Nov. 21 at Kingwood High School to share their stories about Love with other students and community members who were not able to attend the Sunday night event.
Videos taken from Nov. 20 went viral and spread through Facebook as current and former students who had Love as a substitute shared their opinions over the situation and funny stories.

This is not the first time the students are showing love for the sub. A group of students created a Facebook fan page for Love which currently has 3,882 fans and several pictures students have snapped of him throughout the years.

In addition to his fan page, a student of his created a drawing of him for a contest and then presented a copy to him which now hangs in his television room at home.
“I love the students and the staff. I like to think that I have some affect on their lives and make a difference; that is one thing that keeps you going from year to year,” Love said.

Storm damage in Kingwood area

2011-11-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

HOUSTON (November 9, 2011)--Crews were working Wednesday to restore electricity to the Houston area after storms and a possible tornado that damaged some homes.

CenterPoint Energy reported nearly 1,300 customers without power Wednesday, a day after the bad weather.

The National Weather Service said trees were downed in Kingwood, where a preliminary report said a tornado was sighted early Tuesday afternoon.

Several homes suffered minor damage from down trees and winds.

Nobody was hurt.

Quake shakes South Texas ...

2011-10-20T11:09:00.001-07:00

Click to enlarge:

A shallow, moderate earthquake struck southern Texas (TX) on Thursday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It was the strongest earthquakes to hit the U.S. state in 45 years.

The 4.8 magnitude quake, upgraded from 4.6mb, occured at 07:25 AM local time (13:25 PM GMT) and was recorded at an extremely shallow depth of 3km (1.9 miles). It struck below Fashing, but was felt as far as Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Austin.

The epicentre of the quake was located 22 km (14 miles) NW (321°) from Pawnee, TX; 23 km (14 miles) SSW (213°) from Falls City, TX; 26 km (16 miles) WSW (249°) from Karnes City, TX; 60 km (37 miles) NW of Beeville, TX; 76 km (47 miles) SSE (154°) from San Antonio, TX; 92 km (57 miles) E of Pearsall, TX; 166 km (103 miles) SSW of AUSTIN, TX; and 463 km (288 miles) SSW (197°) from Dallas, TX.

The last time Texas experienced a tremor similar in intensity to Thursday’s quake was on July 20, 1966. The magnitude 4.8 earthquake was centred in the Panhandle, near Borger and Amarillo.

The most recent earthquake to strike the region hit on 25 April, 2010. The 4.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded 56 km west of Corpus Christi.

Traffic stop nets 37K in weed.

2011-10-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Conroe News: A traffic stop around 3 p.m. Tuesday yielded around $37,500 in pot hidden inside a car and the arrests of four men on North Loop 336 at Texas 75 East, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

Deputies Tom Thompson and Scott Martin, working for teh MCSO Special Investigations Unit on criminal interdiction, stopped a 2008 Mercury Milan registered in Missour for a traffic violation, an MCSO release states.

Thompson's K-9 partner, Bianca, alerted on the vehicle, indicating that it could contain illicit drugs. During a search of the car, Thompson and Martin found 34 bundles of marijuana weighing approximately 75 pounds.

"Some of it was concealed in the trunk and some in the passenger area of the driver's side," MCSO Inspector Ike Fluellen said. "It was a real thorough search by the deputies. None of it was in plain sight."

Fluellen didn't know the source of the marijuana.
At around $500 per pound wholesale, the value of the marijuana is about $37,500.
Deputies arrested Oscar Rene Salinas, 18, of Baytown, Texas, Juan Raul Soliz, 28, of Mission, Texas, Antwan Deshey McKnight, 37, of Decatur, Ill., and Breon Cortez Wilson, 31, of Peoria, Ill.

Each is being held on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and possession of marijuana greater than 50 pounds and less than 2,000 pounds, on bonds totaling $50,000 each.

Oak Ridge Boys performing in Kingwood October 9

2011-10-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

"Giddy Up A Oom Poppa Mow Mow" your way on over to the Kingwood, Texas Cracker Barrel front porch on Sunday, October 9 to see and hear the Oak Ridge Boys. From 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Richard Sterban, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Joe Bonsall will be performing songs from their latest CD, It's Only Natural, meeting n' greeting folks and signing autographs. The store is located at 24400 Eastex Freeway at U.S. Hwy. 59 and North Park.

It's Only Natural recently debuted exclusively at all Cracker Barrel Old Country Store(R) locations with fresh cuts of some of their biggest hits, including "Elvira." Newly inducted into the Grand Ole Opry(R), the Oak Ridge Boys began performing together in 1973. They became a top act in country music and then crossed over to pop with the monster hit "Elvira" in 1981. The song became their fourth No. 1 country hit, reached No. 5 on the pop charts, won the group a Grammy(R) award and went on to become one of only a handful of singles ever to go double platinum.

In honor of "Elvira's" thirtieth anniversary, the group rerecorded the song, along with #1 CMT video hit Louisiana Red Dirt Highway and former Top Ten Billboard hits "Lucky Moon," "No Matter How High," "Gonna Take a Lot of River," "Beyond Those Years" and "True Heart" on It's Only Natural. New songs on the CD are "What'cha Gonna Do," "Wish You Could Have Been There," "Before I Die," "The Shade" and "Sacrifice...for Me."

"We're delighted to have The Oak Ridge Boys celebrate their thirtieth anniversary rerecording of "Elvira" and help us celebrate Cracker Barrel's one-year anniversary in Kingwood," said Cracker Barrel Marketing Manager Julie Craig. "If you haven't seen and heard them in person, you are in for a real treat. They have a great time performing and everyone around them has a great time too."

Golf to help a toddler!

2011-09-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

Danielle Smith sat in a front-row pew at Crosby’s First Baptist Church, where she and her husband, Jack, bring the children to worship and where she volunteers. Her daughters played. Her toddler son lay in the loving arms of one of the Crosby couple’s friends, Tara Beasley.
Smith, a Kingwood native, ought to be the mother of four.

The mother of three talked about an eternal darkness that fell on a burst of tragically fleeting dawn, her first-born son, Jackson.
He appeared normal and healthy before sudden infant death syndrome struck, she said.

“He had some acid reflux,” Smith recalled. “I laid him down for his afternoon nap when he was 5 months and 7 days [old] on February 17th 2004. “I went to go get him. He was floppy. His face was blue. I sat him down and started to do CPR. We called 911. He threw up in my mouth. He had a heartbeat in the ambulance.

“I don’t know what I thought, but I didn’t think SIDS. He was old; I mean 5 months. He could roll over. He was talking. He was sitting up on his own … I think of a newborn passing away from SIDS or a very young baby that gets their face covered and can’t move their head.”
Jackson? How could that happen?

“He lay on his back,” Smith recalled. “He took a pacifier. He was born at 9 pounds 1 ounce. He just didn’t fit the criteria for SIDS at all.”

Imagine how the couple felt when their son, Christian, was found limp in his bed on April 19.
“He was fine the night before,” Smith said. “We went to a softball game. Tons of people saw him — totally normal Christian. He laid down for that night. I noticed that he hadn’t gotten up. That was weird because he was 7 months old at the time, and he usually got up. I had the monitor on. I was standing outside the door, and I couldn’t hear him.

“When I walked in, he was crying. He was crying so low that, even at the door, I couldn’t hear him. He was just laying there. He looked up at me. He couldn’t move anything … I picked him up, and he was just a rag doll, just completely slack. Just nothing. Floppy. Then we went to Texas Children’s Hospital. Tons of tests. They did a spinal tap. They did an MRI.”
Christian was paralyzed. The battle with the neurological disorder transverse myelitis ensued.
Spinal cord inflammation has attacked a substance known as myelin, which insulates Christian’s nerve cell fibers. The disease can be fatal.

As if the emotional trauma of perhaps losing a second child was not enough, Jack and Danielle’s first medical bill, which trailed a month of hospitalization, was $560,000. In the first three days, the family learned that Jack’s health insurance was completely drained. One therapeutic stretch of the treatment forced the family to choose for six months between a mortgage payment on their Crosby home or giving their son hope.

They obviously chose the latter, which left the Smiths trying to catch up missed house payments in order to emerge from foreclosure.

Texas Children’s Hospital officials directed the Smiths to a grant program, which would have covered some treatment costs through Oct. 31. But the family had learned about the program after paying out of pocket for most of Christian’s therapy.

Jack’s income exceeds the Medicaid threshold. Most of the other grants are targeted at low-income families, and the Smiths do not qualify.

Strapped, traumatized, fearful and prayerful, the Smiths have seen rays of hope for Christian as they raise also their two daughters, ages 5 and 10.

One light shines from the supportive congregation of Crosby’s First Baptist Church. The other radiates jointly from Legacy Photography by Tara and the Abiding Place Retreat, which has planned a benefit in which a reader of this article may become another source of hope by helping to raise at least, if not more than, an estimated $5,000 to cover the cost of Christian’s impending occupational and physical therapy, and related medical costs, during a crucial juncture.

Proceeds from the Christian’s Influence Alliance Benefit Golf Outing will go directly toward defraying the cost treatment, without even filtering through family coffers. The CIA golf event will be held Monday, Oct. 31, at Walden on Lake Houston Golf Club in Humble. Registration is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., and there will be a 9 a.m. shotgun start.

The donation is $100 per player and $400 per team. The entry cost covers four green fees, one redeemable at each of the following courses: Bear Creek, Longwood, Southwyck and Tour 18. Additionally, players will receive a member-for-a-day coupon for use at Walden.
The event will feature raffles, contests and a hole in one prize. A grab-and-go breakfast and a barbecue lunch will be provided to participants.

One may join those who have already signed up at Prayforchristiansmith.blogspot.com. An online Pay Pal account will allow one to make a donation. Donations also may be sent to Community Bank of Texas, Attention: Josh Seale / for Jack Smith, 6200 FM 2100, Crosby, Texas 77532. The Smiths request prayers as well.

Anyone who wants more information may contact Beasley, who operates Legacy Photography by Tara, at either 832-233-3222 or legacyphotographybytara@gmail.com.
“If it only pays for treatment, then it is well worth every moment of planning and executing and sponsors and volunteers and all of that because that is the goal,” Beasley said, adding that funds that exceed the therapy costs would become a credit for Christian’s additional treatment.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Tasty treats for a good cause:Senior living center hosts bake sale for children

2011-09-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

Despite memory-impairing conditions, people with Alzheimer’s disease still have much to offer society, including a delicious assortment of baked treats.
The Silverado Service Club at the Silverado Senior Living- Kingwood will join Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale to benefit under-privileged children across America.

Residents will create a rich menu of pies, cookies, breads and other baked goods to offer to friends, family and residents of Kingwood in exchange for a donation toward the cause. The event is open to the public and will be held on Alzheimer’s Action Day from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

September is World Alzheimer’s Month to raise awareness of the disease, work to find a cure, and also to acknowledge and assist those already affected.

“This event not only will benefit a great cause, it will provide mouth-watering testament that people with Alzheimer’s disease still have a lot to contribute to society,” explains Chris Holland, Administrator at Silverado-Kingwood.

Silverado Kingwood is located at 22955 Eastex Freeway, Kingwood, TX; 281-312-2526. Contact Anne Abraham or Dean Goldman at the above emails and phone, or Chris Holland at the community.
Silverado Senior Living offers assisted living care for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of memory impairment as well as home care, care management, and hospice care through its Silverado At Home and Silverado Hospice. Silverado is based in Irvine, Calif. and operates in 35 locations across California, Texas, Utah, Arizona and Illinois. Its website is www.Silveradosenior.com

Bastrop is burning ...

2011-09-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

BASTROP

- The most destructive wildfire on record in Texas showed no signs of slowing down Monday, destroying 25,000 acres in Bastrop County and 476 homes, more houses than any single wildfire before and more than all other fires this year combined, according to the Texas Forest Service.

With more than 60 new wildfires raging across the state, Gov. Rick Perry left the campaign trail Monday in South Carolina to address the public and organize requests for more federal aid.

Closer to Houston, a fire in Magnolia burned 20 homes and more than 1,600 acres, and was threatening subdivisions in Montgomery and Grimes counties late Monday. It had moved southwest into Waller County last Monday.

It was one of several fires to hit the area, straining state and local resources as officials focused on the most dangerous blazes. One firefighter was injured and one fire engine burned in blazes in the Magnolia area, said Lt. Dan Norris, spokesman for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities did not yet know how much of the most dangerous fire had been contained Monday, but planned to continue fighting it "as long as necessary," Norris said.

Strong winds and dry conditions fanned the flames and aided the blaze's rapid growth, forcing the evacuation of more than 150 homes. Montgomery County officials were encouraging evacuations from the intersection of FM 1774 and FM 1488, about 42 miles northwest of Houston, up to the Grimes County line, an official said.

Magnolia fire

The Magnolia fire, located off FM 1774 and FM 1488, jumped FM 1488 late Monday and forced further evacuations, although some families were being allowed back to their homes. The Magnolia Independent School District canceled classes today because of the fires. Evacuation shelters were being set up throughout the area, including at Magnolia High School.

Another fire in the area had burned 100 acres and was 80 percent contained, Norris said. It had destroyed one structure and caused no injuries after 50 homes were evacuated.

A fire covering about 100 acres was burning in Oak Ridge North late Monday.

A fire near Nacogdoches that started Sunday night raged to 300 acres Monday and forced 60 families to evacuate their homes, said Ralph Cullom, a spokesman for the Texas Forrest Service. That fires grew with strong gusts of winds and fed off of dry conditions on the ground.

"This drought we're having is just unprecedented," Cullom said.

No injuries have been reported in Bastrop, but two people were reported killed in a North Texas fire Monday. A woman and her 18-month-old child died when a fast-moving fire near Gladewater, east of Dallas, set their mobile home on fire and they were unable to escape.

The Bastrop County Complex Fire, pushed by strong winds and fed by plenty of dry grasses, shrubs and trees, steadily moved south Monday and expanded throughout the day. It jumped the Colorado River twice.

"We will be working days on end," said Mike Fisher, the Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator. "The fire is so dynamic we really have no idea where it is."

'Lives at stake'

Perry said the wildfire burning in the central part of the state is "as mean looking" as he's ever seen.

Driest year on record plagues Texas ...

2011-08-29T08:36:00.001-07:00

VOA: Weather forecasters and agriculture experts in the southwestern U.S. state of Texas say there is no relief in sight for what already is the worst drought year on record. The searing heat and dry conditions have caused devastating wildfires in the western part of the large state and led to crop losses, cattle deaths and water rationing in areas of east Texas that are normally wet at this time of year.

Driving through the countryside northwest of Houston, one sees dried up fields, dying trees and livestock ponds that are not much more than a puddles of fetid, algae-covered water. In some towns, farmers' markets have been cancelled because local growers have little to offer. Those with wells for irrigation are struggling with the high cost of fuel to run their pumps.

Debbie Cross, who operates a farmers' market near Cypress, Texas, says people are becoming discouraged by the lack of rain and the high temperatures, which are around 40 degrees most days.

“The drought is hurting everything. It is hurting all the crops, the cattle, the hay. There is no grass. The chickens are miserable. I mean everybody is just miserable. We need water,” Cross said.

Cross says local farmers are unable to supply much fruit and vegetables and that she is getting by with produce trucked in from other states where conditions are better.

“We are getting it from the local southern states and southwestern states are kicking in -- Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma. Everybody knows that the Texas market is a great consumer market, so they are helping out a lot here,” Cross said.
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One of the hardest hit agricultural sectors is livestock. Texas is the biggest cattle producer in the United States and ships beef to many foreign markets. Earlier this year, ranchers endured one of the worst winters on record, with several days of subzero temperatures in a region where freezes are rare. The drought has made it even harder, driving up the cost of hay and leaving some areas so dry that cattle have died of thirst in their pastures.

One rancher who has managed to get through this crisis with most of her stock in fairly good condition is Dorie Damuth, owner of the Flying D ranch near Magnolia, Texas.

Damuth raises prize-winning Texas Longhorns for breeding and she has managed to find hay and enough water to keep them alive. She says she has seen dry spells before, but nothing that compares to this year.

“The drought is something I, as a cattle woman, and all of my fellow cattlemen and cattlewomen have never experienced before. This is probably the 100-year drought, just like you can have a 100-year flood. It is very devastating for all of us ranchers who work so hard to provide beef for our country as well as for around the world,” Damuth said.

In a dried up lake on her property, there is a Longhorn skull sitting on top of cracked earth that is muddy and soft underneath.

“We have had lakes and stock ponds on the ranch that have dried up because of no rain, no rainfall. They will dry down to a little mucky place in the middle that is still wet and the cattle will sometimes go down and try to get water and they can't. And they step into that mucky mud and it is kind of like quicksand, and they can't get out.”

Lately, there have been beautiful fluffy clouds floating over the area. But ranch hand Chris Quinters is not encouraged by them.

“Those are some nice clouds, but it don't look like they are going to bring any rain,” Quinters said.

Kingwood hiker rescued in Aspen after breaking ankle.

2011-08-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

ASPEN — Aspen rescuers were summoned to the West Maroon Trail last Thursday afternoon to aid a Texas hiker who broke his ankle while crossing a stream.

William Sprague, 61, of Kingwood, Texas, was about two miles above Crater Lake, climbing an an embankment after crossing a stream when he fell backward and was injured. He was able to call to nearby hikers for assistance; one of them ran down the trail to Maroon Lake to inform a ranger of the incident, according to the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities were notified at about 2:20 p.m. Eighteen members of Mountain Rescue Aspen responded, reaching the hiker at about 5:30 p.m. He was carried down the trail on a litter, reaching the Maroon Lake parking lot at about 9:30 p.m. Sprague was taken by Aspen Ambulance to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was recuperating, the Sheriff's Office said.

Kingwood Bank calls it quits ...

2011-08-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

By ROBIN SIDEL WSJ

Main Street Bank lends most of its money to small businesses and is earning decent profits. But the Kingwood, Texas, bank is about to get out of the banking business.

In an extreme example of the frustration felt by many bankers as regulators toughen their oversight of the nation's financial institutions, Main Street's chairman, Thomas Depping, is expected to announce Wednesday that the 27-year-old bank will surrender its banking charter and sell its four branches to a nearby bank.

Mr. Depping plans to set up a new lender that will operate beyond the reach of banking regulators—and the deposit-insurance safety net. Backed by the private investment firm of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, the company won't be able to call itself a bank, but it will be able to do business the way Mr. Depping wants.

"The regulatory environment makes it very difficult to do what we do," says Mr. Depping, who last summer saw his bank hit with an enforcement order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A spokesman for the FDIC declined to comment on Main Street, a unit of closely held MS Financial Inc. Dan Frasier, director of corporate activities for the Texas Department of Banking, confirmed that Main Street is "working on the process of moving out of the state banking system," but declined to provide details.

Bankers have long complained about their overseers, but it is rare for a bank to basically close its doors aside from an acquisition or failure. Mr. Depping blames the move on a tightening regulatory noose.

Regulators came under fire in the financial crisis for lax oversight that allowed financial institutions to dole out too much credit to unworthy borrowers. Some bank executives now complain that federal and state agencies have swung to the other extreme, poring over minute details of virtually every loan, including those to small businesses.

"The No. 1 complaint that we hear from community bankers is that they feel that regulators have gone one step too far and are choking off lending," says Paul Merski, chief economist at the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group that represents small banks.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Kingwood resident wins "Set For Life" lotto game

2011-07-11T07:59:00.001-07:00

A ticket in the Texas Lottery's "Set for Life" scratch-off game is a big win for a customer at a Randalls store in Kingwood.

The Texas Lottery Commission announced Tuesday that Jay V. Knighton II, a lawyer for the Stone and Associates firm in The Woodlands, has claimed the winning ticket on behalf of a client, a Texas resident whose name the firm declined to release. The ticket came from the Randalls at 600 Kingwood Drive.

"We've very excited that one of our shoppers had a winning lotto ticket," says Dawn Proffitt, a Randalls spokesperson.

Proffitt says the store hasn't yet heard from the lucky customer.

The ticket has won that person $250,000 per year, with a total prize not to exceed $5 million.

Knighton could not be reached at his office Thursday, but he said in a Texas Lottery Commission press release that his client has been a long-time lottery player.

According to the Lottery Commission, the Kingwood Randalls store is eligible for a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the winning ticket.

Ewww! Kingwood woman finds blood on her fries.

2011-07-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Susan Mosher, of Kingwood, TX, was halfway through the BLT she'd ordered for dinner with her husband at a local Cracker Barrel when she noticed something red on her fries. It wasn't ketchup. She called the waitress over to complain. The waitress went into the kitchen to investigate. The waitress had bad news for Mosher: the red splotches were human blood.

Apparently, the chef in charge of preparing Mosher's meal had cut himself. Cracker Barrel procedure calls for cooks to remove themselves from the food prep area in the case of a cut. Maybe it was a busy night, maybe the chef hadn't noticed he'd cut himself until too late—but he did not follow procedure.

Mosher was understandably upset. She talked to the manager, who tried to reassure her and offered to comp the meal. This was not enough; Mosher and her husband left the restaurant in anger. They complained to Cracker Barrel corporate. Mosher explained that she is a 20-year cancer survivor, and is now worried that she could contract a blood-born illness. She asked Cracker Barrel to test the offending chef for communicable diseases, but company representatives told her they could not legally compel him to undergo such testing. They sent her two $50 gift cards to try and assuage her. This only added insult to injury.

Mosher has talked with a lawyer about potential future action.

Houston Area 4th of July Celebrations ...

2011-06-27T10:17:00.001-07:00

by Stacy Morrow / khou.com staff
khou.com

The Houston area is buzzing with activities for the celebration of our nation's independence. You can find events from fireworks displays to parades, in just about every city and community. Here's a list we've compiled of the things we have heard about so far. If you see we have missed anything, or if you want to add something, let us know in the comments below!

HOUSTON
Freedom Over Texas
Houston will set the stage for an extraordinary patriotic celebration at Mayor Annise Parker’s official Fourth of July event, Freedom Over Texas. The annual event is held at Eleanor Tinsley Park from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and culminates with a fireworks extravaganza set to a perfectly timed bed of patriot and current musical selections. Free with a can of food benefiting the Houston Food Bank or $8 per person (children under 2 free) Information from: http://www.freedomovertexas.org

ExxonMobil Star-Spangled Salute, Miller Outdoor Theatre
Enjoy an evening with Michael Krajewski and the Houston Symphony. Astronaut and vocalist Chris Hadfield will also sing Big Smoke, a song inspired by his first shuttle mission.

Make sure to stay until the end for the 1812 Overture—complete with booming cannons! This celebration concludes with a magnificent display of fireworks provided by the City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board. Hours: 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. at 6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030, Phone: 281-FREE-FUN or 281-373-3386 Information from: http://milleroutdoortheatre.com/events/133/

Bayou Bend Family Days Independence Day Celebration
Start your Fourth of July at Bayou Bend, where America's Colonial era is celebrated in patriotic style. Ring in the holiday with an extravaganza of Americana—performers, crafts, activities, refreshments, and more—and don't forget to sign the Texas-sized Declaration of Independence before you leave! With its unique blend of the arts and American history, Bayou Bend is the perfect place to spend Independence Day. From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. FREE! Information from:
http://www.mfah.org/visit/bayou-bend-family-days/

Kidpendence Celebration | Children's Museum of Houston
Friday, Jul 1 2011 6:00 AM to Monday, Jul 4 2011 10:00 PM CDT
We’re seeing stars and stripes at this special Independence Day celebration! Join us for a patriotic 21-soda geyser burst salute on the 4th of July and plenty of fun-filled activities that will cover you in red, white and blue! Claim Your Independence Discount: We know rising gas prices are making you see stars and stripes, so it is time to claim your independence from them! Receive up to $12 off/ 6 people on July 1 - 4. Special Activity - 21 - Soda Geyser Burst Salute: Celebrate America with a CMH tradition - 21 patriotic bursts of soda that will help you get excited for the rest of the day's activities. 1500 Binz, Houston TX 77004. Phone: (713) 522-1138 Informaton from: http://www.cmhouston.org/en/cev/2570

BELLAIRE
July 4th Parade and Festival
The parade begins at 9:30 am and the festival runs from 10 am to 1 pm. The parade route begins at the Bellaire Triangle and travels down Bellaire Blvd. and S. Rice Ave. A children's parade leads the big parade. Kids are encouraged to decorate trikes, bikes and wagons and meet by Community National Bank at Bellaire Blvd. & Fifth Street. No need to enter the children's parade ahead of time, just show up at 9 a.m. in the CNB parking lot. The festival begins in Bellaire Town Square immediately after the parade. Enjoy live entertainment, carnival games, food, a mini ferris wheel, petting zoo, moon jumps, dunk tank and much, much more! Admission into the festival is free, but games take tickets and the food is an additional cost. Join us for some home town fun! Information from: http://www.ci.bellaire.tx.us/index.aspx?nid=879.

CITY OF EL LAGO
July 4th Picnic
For this year’s July 4th Picnic, we are going to take it down home with a parade and then bar-b-que at the pool. Join us at 10:00 a.m. at McNair Park for the annual non-motorized parade around the park. Prizes will be awarded in the following three categories: Most Sparkling, Most Creative and Most Patriotic. After the parade, we will retire to the El Lago Swim and Racquet Club to visit with friends, listen to some music and enjoy a burger together. The City will provide the drinks, burger, bun and burger fixings; we are asking residents to bring a side dish and/or desert. You will also want to bring your lawn chair or blanket for relaxing around the pool and spray ground in the afternoon. Information from: http://www.ellago-tx.com/events.html#july4

CONROE
July 4th Walden and Bentwater Fireworks Show
Fireworks will be shot off at Dusk from the Marina near the Walden Yacht Club, 13101 Melville Dr, Montgomery. Parking at the Yacht club is reserved for dinner guests. There is limited parking on the streets. Suggested viewing is from the water. Information from: http://www.conroetoday.com/evps/evitem.cfm?evid=4548

FORT BEND
Freedom Rings Concert featuring the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra
Program includes Star Spangled Banner Finale with soloist, Armed Forces Salute, America the Beautiful – Dragon, God Bless the USA, Liberty Fanfare -Williams/Aguero, Joplin Rag, You're a Grand Old Flag, Variations on a Shaker Melody – Copland, Strike Up the Band, Sousa Marches, Gems of Stephen Foster and 1812 Overture. Event will be at the Stafford Centre from 7p.m. to 9 p.m. and a fireworks show will begin at 9 p.m. Location:10505 Cash Road, Stafford, TX 77477. Information from: http://www.fbso.org/
KATY
Annual Freedom Celebration at Katy Mills Mall
The 22nd Annual Katy Freedom Celebration fireworks display will be held at Katy Mills Mall on Monday, July 4. The fireworks are launched between the east side of the mall and Katy Fort Bend Road. The display begins at dark (approximately 9:00 p.m.) and can be viewed from several miles around the mall area. Information from: cityofkaty.com/katy-freedom-celebration-july-4/
KEMAH
Kemah’s Independence Day Parade
Kicking off the Independence Day Celebration activities is the Kemah 4th of July Parade, Monday, at 11:00 a.m. with the Children’s Parade starting at 10:30 a.m. The parade line up is behind the Kemah Visitor Center at 9:00 a.m. with the parade route travelling along the Kemah Lighthouse District. The theme for the patriotic parade this year is “The Spirit of Volunteerism.” The parade is open to all and easy to enter with no registration fee. Monday evening is the July 4th Kemah Boardwalk Fireworks, “Star Spangled Skies” extravaganza. From the Kemah Boardwalk and surrounding areas all will be able to see the fantastic light show over Galveston Bay. The annual fireworks display scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. For more information on these activities or lodging needs contact the Kemah Visitor Center at 281-334-3181. Information from: http://www.kemah.net/July_4_2011_Kemah_press_release.pdf

LEAGUE CITY
July 4th Citizen Appreciation Day
Mayor, City Council, Parks Board and staff will be serving free refreshments in appreciation of the citizens of the City of League City at League Park from 11:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. There will be live music and other entertainment. FREE. Information from: http://www.leaguecity.com/calendar.aspx?EID=1348

NASSAU BAY
July 4th Parade and Fireworks Show
Decorate your bikes, floats, baby strollers, cars, or just yourself! Various prizes will be awarded. Join your friends and neighbors for a fun-filled evening. Bring a picnic dinner and a blanket for the fireworks show. Parade begins at 6:30 p.m. from Gloria Dei and ends at Lake Park Nassau. Activities at the park including bounce houses, food vendors, face painting, and live music. Fireworks Display begins at 9 p.m. Information from: http://www.nassaubay.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=48

PASADENA
Pasadena's Annual 4th Fest Event will take place Monday, July 4th, 2011
from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center.
There will be a 20-minute long fireworks show, live music by “The Slags,” a car show, kidzone, USMC Toys for Tots BBQ Cook-off, games, prizes, vendors, water balloon war zone, sports and other entertainment. Information from: http://www.ci.pasadena.tx.us/default.aspx?name=prk.event-4thfest

PEARLAND
Celebration of Freedom
This year's program will begin with an explosion of patriotic excitement! A full-size carnival will be on site at noon on Monday. Stadium and Field seating will be available at no charge beginning at 6 PM on Monday. A VFW military salute will begin the evening's entertainment, followed by the National Anthem. The stadium will be filled with the tunes of Texas country recording artist, Hamilton Loomis. At sundown, enjoy a spectacular 20-minute fireworks display from your seat inside the stadium.. For more information, call 281-412-8900. Information from: http://www.pearlandparks.com/celebration_of_freedom.html
SUGAR LAND
Celebration of Freedom
The City of Sugar Land’s 26th annual Red White and Bluefest will set the skies ablaze over Oyster Creek Park. Celebrate America’s 235th birthday with family, friends and fellow residents while enjoying new main stage performances, delicious county fair-type goodies and numerous children’s activities. A free shuttle service will be provided from Mercer Stadium, 16403 Lexington Blvd., to Oyster Creek Park, 4033 State Highway 6 South, from 4:30-11 p.m. Information from: www.sugarlandtx.gov
THE WOODLANDS
South County Fourth of July Parade “Celebrating the American Dream”
On Sunday, July 3, stroll through Market Street - The Woodlands for its Fourth of July parade, “Celebrating the American Dream” starting at 9 a.m. The festivities continue later that evening when the Houston Symphony performs its Star Spangled Salute, a free concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion starting at 8 pm. Information from: http://www.4thofjuly.org/

Houston Symphony presents Star-Spangled Salute
The Pavilion dons red, white and blue July 3 for the return of the Star-Spangled Salute. This free Independence Eve spectacular features the Houston Symphony in a selection of patriotic favorites under the direction of Michael Krajewski. Don’t miss commemorating the birth of our nation by joining the Symphony in this grandiose celebration. It’s an evening of good, old-fashioned family fun complete with cannons blasting from the top of the hill during Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." Pre-concert activities begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Fidelity Investments Plaza.FREE event. Information from: http://www.woodlandscenter.org/tourarchive.html?n_id=346

Red, Hot & Blue Festival
The Woodlands will celebrate July 4 weekend with one of the largest firework displays in the greater Houston area, hot dog and watermelon eating contests, live entertainment, and more! Now in its 14th year, the annual Red, Hot & Blue Festival will be held Monday, July 4, 2011 from 6 - 10 pm at Town Green Park and Waterway Square, both located along The Woodlands Waterway. Admission to the event is free and tickets for food concessions and games may be purchased on-site. Information from: http://www.thewoodlandscvb.com/redhotblue/

Trio arrested after driving into Kingwood La Quinta

2011-06-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 4:05 PM

KINGWOOD, Texas – A trio of drug suspects was arrested Monday after crashing their pickup truck into a La Quinta in Kingwood.
It happened at the hotel in the 22700 block of U.S. 59

Montgomery County Precinct 4 deputy constables said they were conducting a narcotics investigation when the three suspects showed up at the hotel in a stolen pickup truck for a drug transaction.

Marked patrol units converged on them as they pulled up, and one of the suspects exited the truck.

But investigators said the driver of the truck, 30-year-old Randy Lee Wilkerson, decided not to go quietly.
They said Wilkerson turned into a parking space, accelerated rapidly and smashed the truck into the outside wall of the hotel. The truck hit the wall with such force that it cracked the interior wall of an occupied room.
Wilkerson’s door was stuck, so he hopped over his passenger, 25-year-old Jason Michael Beyer, and took off on foot.

Officers chased him for about five blocks before they caught up with him. After a brief struggle, investigators said they were able to arrest Wilkerson.
Beyer and the third suspect, Paula Jaunette Pifer, 36, did not resist arrest.
Deputy constables said they searched the pickup and found a bag of methamphetamine inside. Another baggie of meth was found on the sidewalk, just outside the passenger-side door.

Wilkerson is charged with manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, engaging in organized criminal activity, evading arrest with a vehicle, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

Pifer, who was out on bond for an unrelated charge when she was arrested Monday, and Beyer are both charged with manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and engaging in organized criminal activity.
No one inside the hotel was injured.

Alvin woman jumps on hood of beer thieves ...

2011-06-23T07:36:00.001-07:00

Alleged drunk off-duty cop draws ire!

2011-06-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- An off-duty Houston police officer is the subject of an internal investigation after a family claims he broke into their home while chasing down a teenager. The family says it happened Friday in a neighborhood in Kingwood.

Witnesses on Quiet Glade Court tell us they watched a barefoot off-duty officer chase a boy down the street. Now the teen's parents are demanding some answers, and action.

The glass on the front door is broken, and the people living here say you can still see an off-duty officer's trail of blood around their home.

"He put his face to the window and then he punched a hole in the window so he can see through it and then he just opened the door," said Matthew Pifer.

Pifer, 16, says it was last Friday when an off-duty Houston police officer who lives nearby chased him and his friend for allegedly no reason.

"He was intoxicated," said Pifer. "I smelled a ton of alcohol off of him. He was drunk."

The teen says that officer was barefoot and only wearing a bathing suit as the man barged through and broke his family's front door. Pifer says the officer assaulted him and threatened his sister until a neighbor stepped in to help.

"He was a bit out of control," recalled neighbor Beth Redmond. "He just kept saying that he was a police officer and he had the right."

Redmond says he asked the officer what triggered the chase as she bandaged his bleeding hand.

"He said he smelled cigarette smoke," she explained.

Pifer claims neither he nor his friends were smoking, just hanging out near a stop sign between his and the accused officer's home.

"He thought that we were going to, like, vandalism his house, but we weren't," Pifer insisted. "We were going to someone else's house and he thought we were going to his and he started chasing us."

READ MORE HERE

Wild fires plaguing Texas

2011-06-20T07:52:00.001-07:00

Firefighters from Cut and Shoot, Caney Creek, Splendora, Montgomery County and Bear Creek fire departments were still at work by deadline Monday trying to put out a nearly 200-acre wildfire about 10 miles northwest of Cleveland.
No structures were harmed.
Four bulldozers, including one from the Texas Forest Service, worked to set up a fire perimeter to keep the fire contained.
Helicopters made 38 drops of water to squelch the flames. The cause was undetermined Monday night.

Texas Local Web Site Blooms into a Flower for the Community

2011-06-15T05:49:00.001-07:00

New exciting things are developing in the Summer of 2011 for ExploreHouston.com

Best Publications wants to welcome the public to this new web business directory and informational mecca for ExploreHouston.com that will continue to be filled with. . . Community Links and Events, Guide Pages for Restaurants, Weddings, Florist, Services, Auto Sales, Entertainment, Real Estate, Eye Care, Dental, Medical, Employment, Shopping! Read a variety of Articles | Forums Topics | Daily Deals | Coupons | Directory Hot Links | Interact Page to Join the Community Fun!

Register with ExploreHouston.com site so you can gain the benefits. User can post Social and Public Events.

Take the opportunity for High School and University Students to announce Sports and School Events, Professional Sports Links and Ticket Information | Post a photo or comment on other people’s Photos, Comment of Articles or Forum Topics | Post a Scan of your Child’s Artwork | Free Classified Postings & Add Your Own

The staff of ExploreHouston wants the community to benefit from the information we can share... as well as encourage you to participate. Send us a comment.

Post your event or Your Organization Benefit in ExploreHouston.com Event section. We want our information to accurate, so we depend on our community to help us stay in touch.

Are you a writer that wants to be published? Got an article? Send it in a word document to info@ExploreHouston.com

Engage! Enjoy! Grow with us!

~ ExploreHouston.com Staff

Kingwood family says cops broke into home ...

2011-06-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- An off-duty Houston police officer is the subject of an internal investigation after a family claims he broke into their home while chasing down a teenager. The family says it happened Friday in a neighborhood in Kingwood.

Witnesses on Quiet Glade Court tell us they watched that barefoot off-duty officer chase the boy down the street. Now the teen's parents are demanding some answers, and action.

The glass on the front door is broken, and the people living here say you can still see an off-duty officer's trail of blood around their home.

"He put his face to the window and then he punched a hole in the window so he can see through it and then he just opened the door," said Matthew Pifer.

Pifer, 16, says it was last Friday when an off-duty Houston police officer who lives nearby chased him and his friend for allegedly no reason.

"He was intoxicated," said Pifer. "I smelled a ton of alcohol off of him. He was drunk."

The teen says that officer was barefoot and only wearing a bathing suit as the man barged through and broke his family's front door. Pifer says the officer assaulted him and threatened his sister until a neighbor stepped in to help.

"He was a bit out of control," recalled neighbor Beth Redmond. "He just kept saying that he was a police officer and he had the right."

Redmond says he asked the officer what triggered the chase as she bandaged his bleeding hand.

"He said he smelled cigarette smoke," she explained.

Pifer claims neither he nor his friends were smoking, just hanging out near a stop sign between his and the accused officer's home.

"He thought that we were going to, like, vandalism his house, but we weren't," Pifer insisted. "We were going to someone else's house and he thought we were going to his and he started chasing us."

We've chosen not to identify the officer. But a spokesman from the Houston Police Department confirms internal affairs has launched an investigation.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Learning to live a struggle for Kingwood quad amputee

2011-05-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, Texas - Learning to live without limbs has been a struggle for Katy Hayes, but the 43-year-old mother has made it work.

Hayes is the Texas mother of three who had her arms and legs amputated at Parkland Hospital in February last year after developing a rare flesh-eating strep infection. She had just given birth for the third time.
The Hayes put great effort into being an ordinary family. They go camping, and Mrs. Hayes even sings backup for husband Al's band, Soulshine. But, for most things, she relies on her husband and her two older children.
It's been tough on 8-year-old Jake.

"This is not easy for me," Mrs. Hayes said through tears. "I said, 'You have to watch your sister for me,' and he says, 'Mom, I don't want to; I'm tired of watching her and I just want to do my own thing.' And I said, 'I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do. This is the way it is and you've just got to buck up and do what I need you to do because I can't do it.'"

"I tried to explain that this is really hard for me because I'm a hands-on mom and I can't be," she continued. "So, I need him to come around to that and own it, and this is really hard for him because he's a kid."
She's convinced, though, she could be doing much more.

Because her condition qualifies her for disability, she is not eligible for Medicaid, which would cover her huge medical bills and rehabilitation.
"The government disability assistance qualifies you to a financial level where you don't qualify for government assistance," Mr. Hayes said. "That's what doesn't make any sense to me."

"It's tragedy heaped on tragedy," he said.
The Hayes have actually been advised to divorce, then Mrs. Hayes could qualify for government insurance. Repulsed by the idea, Mrs. Hayes is rehabbing herself at home. She's also training, with daily workouts that include core crunches for something even bigger.

"These arms are really wonderful, but they're really limited," she said. "That's why we're reaching out to doctors to get arm transplants because if I could have a hand, "a hand." One hand would change my life. I could brush my hair, brush my own teeth."
"What better reason to give someone hands than to hold their baby?" her husband said. "What better reason?"

If she can't hold her baby Arielle, for now, Mrs. Hayes said she is happy sharing a few steps with her.

"She runs," she said with a laugh. "She's showing me up."
Mrs. Hayes said it's not the lack of legs and arms that's holding her back, but the system. But, like most moms, she's doing what she has to, marching ahead one baby step at a time.

Texan heads Bin Laden raiders

2011-05-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

The commander of the U.S. military unit responsible for killing elusive al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden — Vice Adm. William H. McRaven — is a San Antonio native and graduate of the University of Texas in Austin.

McRaven, 55, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1977, although a campus dean said a computer listing didn't indicate whether the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps member had an interest in the print side of news coverage, broadcast or public relations.
A fellow ROTC member recalled McRaven as eager for military service.

"He was extremely focused on preparing for special forces details," said Curtis Raetz, of McKinney, who majored in engineering at UT, served in the Marine Corps and now works in private business.
'He had drive.'

Raetz, who graduated a year before McRaven, said the ROTC program included required courses such as naval science.

James Gruetzner, who served in the same Navy ROTC batallion as McRaven, told Cox Newspapers, "He had drive. He went on extraordinarily long runs to stay in shape. He was very dedicated."
McRaven's Navy biography states he attended the Naval Postgraduate School and was its first graduate in Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict. In 1995, he wrote a book called Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare Theory and Practice.

McRaven became commander of the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command in 2008.
In that role, he reportedly led the planning and execution of bin Laden's death Sunday at the hand of Navy SEALs, an acronym that stands for Sea, Air and Land.

Kingwood man tells of World War II internment

2011-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- We've shown you the internment camps in Texas where Jhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifapanese, German and Italian Americans were imprisoned during World War II.

Now we have the story of a man who spent five years imprisoned in a camp in Crystal City, Texas, near the Mexico border. He's sharing his experience to make sure America never forgets what happened.

For many of the kids at Kingwood High School, what happened during World War II is the stuff of textbooks, not real life. Eighty-six-year-old Eberhard Fuhr aims to change that.

"At the age of 17, what most of you are right now, I was actually arrested and interned for five years of my life," Fuhr told students.

Arrested and imprisoned for being a German national, but Fuhr and his parents left Germany when he was just three years old and moved to Cincinnati.

"There was never any internee charged with doing anything wrong," Fuhr said.

The internment camp is in Crystal City, Texas, located just 35 miles from the Mexican border. It's where Fuhr and his family spent years during World War II.

Fuhr and his family were among thousands of German, Japanese and Italian Americans and nationals to be imprisoned here.

The camp closed in 1948.

Eyewitness News visited the remains of the camp earlier this year with William McWhorter of the Texas Historical Commission. He showed us what used to be the German elementary school during World War II. It's now a Crystal City ISD campus, and one of the buildings used during the camp years is still in use today.

Fuhr was just 17, a high school student, when he was interned and that's what drove his story home to the kids at Kingwood High School.

"For me to think that if I were to be sitting in history one day and just be called out of class and know that I would never see any of those people again, or if I did, it would be several years until that were to happen, that's a scary thought to me," Kingwood High School student Jason Dayvault said.

Fuhr's visit brought a dark chapter of American and Texas History alive for students. History teacher Gini Foreman spent four months arranging the visit.

"I think that today was so invaluable to give them an insight of what they've never experienced," Foreman said.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
It was a lesson plan that may have really resonated with these juniors.

"He's not just here to tell us like what happened in those internment camps but he's also here to help prevent what could possibly happen in the future," student Jacqueline Courchene said.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Limbless-coping with motherhood.

2011-04-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, KHOU Texas—A Kingwood mother who lost her limbs after giving birth has reached one of her goals.

Katy Hayes wanted to walk at the same time as her daughter. Now, they are taking baby steps together.

After giving birth to her third child in February of 2010, the 42-year-old mother’s body was invaded by a rare strep infection.
While she was in a coma, her husband Al had to make the incredibly difficult decision to amputate her limbs.

"It’s not an issue," said Al. "I don’t think that she holds it against me but it may be something that I still hold against myself."
Al promised to take care of Katy and has been there to catch her if she falls on her prosthetic legs.　

When KHOU 11 News visited the Hayes’ house last year, Katy said she wanted to walk by the time her daughter, Arielle, took her first steps.
"She’s already mastered it and moved on," said Katy. "She’s such a good baby."
Reaching one goal at a time is how Katy copes. She does have her moments, though.
"I have to surrender to the ‘I am alive’ and this is the new life I have," Katy said through tears. "Someday I’ll have legs with knees and toes that I can paint again because I miss that too."

The slow process is made easier by the fact that Arielle understands her mother needs special care.

"She had looked at me and noticed that I didn’t have hands and she stuck her hand in my fried okra and she started putting them in my mouth because she realized I couldn’t feed myself," Katy said.

Katy Hayes’ story is featured in the latest edition of People magazine. The article is called "A Life Worth Living."

If you would like to help the Hayes family with expenses or learn more about their fundraisers, visit katyhayesfund.com

4-year-old witnesses mom's shooting

2011-03-29T09:53:00.001-07:00

By Allison Triarsi/ KHOU 11 News
khou.com
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 7:05 AM
Updated today at 8:59 AM

HOUSTON—A 4-year-old was found wandering alone in a south Houston apartment complex Monday evening after witnessing a deadly shooting, according to Houston police.
It happened in the Belfort Pines apartments on Canyon at Shelby Circle.

Police said a female neighbor saw the young boy walking around the complex crying around 6:30 p.m. She knew where he lived and took him home to find the door ajar.
The neighbor looked inside the home and saw a man lying on the floor with what appeared to be an injury to the head.

She then entered the home to find the mother lying in the hallway. She was also wounded, but was still alive.

Police said the mother and her boyfriend were arguing over another man when the boyfriend pulled out a gun and shot the woman, then turned the gun on himself.
The boyfriend died at the scene.

READ MORE AT HOUSTON 11

"Poop" not funny to TxDot.

2011-03-14T15:30:00.001-07:00

by Tiffany Craig / 11 News
khou.com
Posted on March 14, 2011 at 4:54 PM

HOUSTON—A detour sign downtown has been getting a lot of attention over the past few days, but it’s sending the wrong message.

A prankster managed to hack into the electronic sign and change the message.
Britnie McFadden works in a building at Louisiana and Prairie.

"This morning when I came into work, I saw the LOL and smiley face and I thought it was hilarious," said McFadden. "I took a picture and posted it on Facebook."
The Monday morning message attracted plenty of attention, but it was the four-letter word a few days ago that really had people laughing out loud.

"Friday night it said ‘POOP,’" said Mustafa Guner. "I was coming back from a workout and I was shocked. Make a left turn if you need to poop!"
A similar prank happened in Austin two years ago. Somebody rigged a warning sign to say "Caution: Zombies Ahead," "Run for Cold Climates" and "The End is Near."
The sign is owned by a TxDOT contractor. They told us somebody broke into the guts of the trailer and hacked the system.

A man who goes by the name "John" believes it was all in good fun.
"You can’t get any better than that, you know what I mean," he said.
By Monday afternoon, the intended message was back, along with a new lock.
McFadden was a little upset to see the fun was over.

"I just think that somebody actually took the time to do it has given everybody a good laugh," said McFadden. "I mean, it’s all in good fun—not very legal -- but good fun nonetheless."

If caught, the hacker could be fined $500.
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NORAD exercise tomorrow over Houston

2011-03-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will conduct exercise flights tomorrow morning as they practice intercept and identification procedures. Exercise flights will take place over Southeastern Texas. Although they are scheduled for mid-morning, the exercise flights could be delayed due to weather concerns.

Those living southeast of Houston, specifically near Ellington Airport, may hear and/or see NORAD-controlled fighter jets in close proximity to a military or military contracted aircraft, which will be taking on the role of a Track of Interest (TOI).

In order to test responses, systems and equipment, NORAD continuously conducts exercises with a variety of scenarios, including airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responding to unknown aircraft. All NORAD exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled.

NORAD has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout Canada and the U.S. since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.

18 charged in rape of 11 year old girl.

2011-03-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

(CNN) -- Thirteen adults and five juveniles have been arrested as part of an investigation into the alleged rape of a Texas girl, police said.

Darrell Broussard, assistant police chief for the Cleveland, Texas, police department, said Monday that the investigation into the incident "is continuous," with more significant developments possible. Cleveland is about 50 miles northeast of Houston.

"There have been leads during our investigation that have alerted us to other possible persons of interest," Broussard told CNN. "The investigation is ongoing."
The 18 individuals charged thus far are between 14 and 27 years old, he said.

On Friday, the Cleveland police department announced that four students in the Cleveland independent school district had been arrested on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14.

They appeared Monday in a Liberty County court, in the town of Liberty, to face the charges.
Police noted that some but not all suspects are students at Cleveland High School, though all those named thus far are from the town.

Mike Little, the district attorney in Liberty County, said police would likely decide whether more people would be charged. He offered few other details, saying, "We are very careful about pretrial publicity."

The incident allegedly happened late last year in Cleveland. The case has sharply divided the community, according to CNN affiliate KHOU.

"It just seems like a dream," said Sherry Fletcher, whose 20-year-old son Devo Shaun Green is among those charged according to Cleveland police. "I just hope everything comes out well, because some of these kids are innocent."

Those adults arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony in Texas, could face 25 year to life in prison if convicted, according to the police department.

More arrests made in alleged gang rape of 11-year-old Cleveland girl

2011-02-23T15:34:00.001-08:00

More arrests made in alleged gang rape of 11-year-old Cleveland girl

Jamarcus Norris Napper (top left); Jared Glenn McPherson (top center); Kelvin Rashad King (top right); Marcus Anthony Porchia (bottom left); Xavier King (bottom center); Devo Shaun Green (bottom right)

by Alex Sanz / 11 News
khou.com
Posted on February 23, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Updated today at 5:04 PM

CLEVELAND, Texas – More arrests have been made in connection with the alleged gang rape of an 11-year-old Cleveland Middle School student, according to the Cleveland Police Department.
Six more suspects are in custody bringing the total number of arrests in the case to 11.

The suspects named Wednesday are: Jared Glenn McPherson, 18, of Cleveland; Kelvin Rashad King, 21, of Cleveland; Marcus Anthony Porchia, 26, of Cleveland; Devo Shaun Green, 20, of Cleveland; Xavier King, 17, of Cleveland, and Eric Bernard McGowan, 19 of Cleveland.

McGowan was in custody prior to the indictment in the Liberty County Jail for other non related charges. There have been 10 suspects arrested thus far in the investigation.

Cleveland Police have arrest warrants and are still searching two other suspects in the case, 22-year-old Carlos Bernard Ligons and 27-year-old Cedric De Ray Scott.

Only 11 News was in Cleveland on Wednesday when angry family members gathered outside the police department to complain about the arrests.

One woman, who said her nephew was among those arrested, said the community has been torn apart by the case.
"It's upsetting everybody," said the woman, who didn't want her name used. "It ain't nobody in this community not upset behind this. It's pitiful."
"They have no proof of anything," said another man who said his cousin was in custody.

Last week, the Cleveland Independent School District said the girl reported the alleged assaults to her principal’s office in early December.
Court records obtained by 11 News suggest other assaults took place between mid-September and December 1.
The girl told school officials she was raped by as many as 20 men in an abandoned mobile home in the 1700 block of Ross Street.

The men arrested earlier this month were identified as Jared Len Cruse, 18; Rayford Tyrone Ellis, Jr., 19; Timothy Daray Ellis, 19 and Isaiah Rashad Ross, 21.

All four are from Cleveland and live within a few blocks of the trailer, police said.

Cruse is a graduate of the Douglass Academy and his graduation photo is still posted on the Cleveland ISD website.

Cruse was also accused of a being a part of a home invasion where a Sheppard woman was shot in January.

Kingwood woman caught bringing grass into LA prison

2011-02-16T08:16:00.000-08:00

RICHWOOD, La. — Richwood police have arrested a Texas woman on charges of intent to bring contraband into Richwood Correctional Center.

The News-Star reports that 20-year-old Kyera Elizbeth Rowe, of Kingwood, Texas, was arrested Saturday after jail officials found a bag of suspected marijuana in her coat pocket. Officials said she was visiting an inmate at the correction center.
Rowe was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center and released on a $2,500 bond.

It was not immediately known whether Rowe has an attorney.

Breaking: Explosions rock Belvieu plant!

2011-02-08T11:59:00.001-08:00

Multiple explosions, fire at Mont Belvieu plant

Credit: AIR 11
A fire at Enterprise Products in Mont Belvieu was burning out of control more than an hour after witnesses heard multiple explosions.

by Michelle Homer / khou.com
khou.com
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Updated today at 1:39 PM

MONT BELVIEU, Texas – Several explosions at a Mont Belvieu plant were followed by flames that could be seen from miles around.
The explosions happened at Enterprise Products at 135 Sun Oil Road around 12:25 p.m.

Witnesses reported seeing workers fleeing from the Chambers County plant. Other workers were being told to stay inside.
The company hasn't released any details about injuries. An employee, who didn't want to be identified, said at least one contractor has not been accounted for.

The employee said the explosion happened in a subsection of the plant.
Chambers County officials say there's no known threat to the public at this time.

They have not called for evacuations.
State Highway 146 is closed near the plant.

The fire was still burning out of control nearly an hour after it began. The flames could be seen 25 miles away in Houston.

A Houston caller named Pat said she was talking by phone to a relative inside the plant when the first set of explosions happened. There were three more explosions while they were still on the phone. "Anywhere from eight to 11 explosions," according to Pat.

READ MORE AT KHOU

Controversy surrounds teen beating by Houston police

2011-02-05T18:57:00.001-08:00

(CNN) -- Houston's mayor and police department were on the defensive Friday, two days after graphic video came out showing several police repeatedly kicking and beating a 15-year-old burglary suspect as he lay on the ground.
An internal police investigation of the incident last March led to the firing of seven police officers, said spokesman John Cannon of the Houston police department.

Two successfully appealed and returned to their jobs, said Houston NAACP President D.Z. Cofield.

Five other officers were disciplined in other ways, Cannon said. And a Harris County grand jury indicted four of the officers this summer, based in part on the video.
Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos opposed the video becoming public and felt doing so might prejudice potential jurors and force the indicted officers' trials to be moved out of the county.

Quanell X, a local activist, got hold of the surveillance tape showing the scene outside a storage facility and gave it to the media.
He said he had every right to obtain the footage and make it public.

"I will show my people what they deserve to see, and let the public see what you don't want them to see," Quanell X said.
Mayor Annise Parker said the police leadership and city acted properly.

"I resent any implication that we were trying to hide the tape," she said.
After viewing the footage, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. fired the seven officers and a grand jury called for misdemeanor charges against four of them in June.

Lykos told reporters Thursday there was not sufficient evidence to pursue more serious charges, such as aggravated assault.
"Without revealing what was presented to the grand jury, in order to have aggravated assault you have to have serious bodily injury or impairment or use of a deadly weapon," she said. "None of that was apparent in this case."

The tape, first shown Wednesday on CNN affiliate WTRK, shows the 15-year-old boy -- being chased by police and falling to the ground after being upended by a moving police car. He then falls face first and places his hands on the ground.

A disciplinary letter from McClelland, dated June 23 and posted online less than two weeks later by CNN affiliate HTRK, says that the boy had his hands behind his head and neck area, in an obvious position of surrender.

Then, the letter adds and the tape shows, Officer Raad Hassan "then ran toward (the boy) and kicked him a total of 15 times," then later kicked him more times in the groin area even after he "was handcuffed and no longer a threat."

READ THE FULL STORY ON CNN

Bay City Substitute Teacher Arrested For Making Death Threats

2011-01-27T11:27:00.001-08:00

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on January 27, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Updated today at 11:23 AM

BAY CITY, Texas – A substitute teacher has been arrested and charged in connection with death threats made to students in Bay City ISD, the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Paul Nolen May, 41, was arrested on Wednesday.
He’s charged with 12 counts of making a terroristic threat – all of which are third-degree felonies.

The threats began on December 28 when the district received a hand-written, profanity-laced letter, purportedly from the parent of a student.

In the letter, the sender expressed anger over their child being disciplined at school. The letter detailed new "rules" for the school to follow regarding discipline and threatened to "kill a random student" if the demands were not met.
About a week later, a second threat was sent via text message.

The message, sent from an anonymous source and forwarded among Bay City ISD students, said this: "Hey! Forward this to everyone…1 rule broken, two girls dies at the jr. high and 2 from high school, dnt go! The school will be on lockdown."

It was not clear if May was suspected in both threats. Investigators declined to release any additional information Thursday.

May was being held in the Matagorda County Jail on bonds totaling $240,000.

Kingwood woman dies in blaze

2011-01-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Khou.com

HOUSTON – HFD investigators say a woman died in a fire that consumed a Kingwood home Tuesday morning.When firefighters arrived at the home, located at 713 W. St. Andrews, it was already engulfed in flames.

After the fire was put out, HFD said arson investigators found the remains of a 59-year-old woman in the debris.

Investigators believe the woman had recently moved into the home to take care of one of the residents, but the residents were both out of town when the fire started.
The victim’s name was not released.
HFD said the cause of the fire was still under investigation Wednesday.

Michael Jackson's Doctor Clueless

2011-01-05T08:11:00.001-08:00

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- The pretrial hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray continues Wednesday as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge decides whether there is "probable cause" to try him on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

The hearing, which began Tuesday, is expected to last two or three weeks, with 20 to 30 witnesses testifying.
On Tuesday, Jackson's former security chief testified that Murray seemed not to know how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he waited for paramedics to arrive at the singer's house.
Faheem Muhammed said he and and guard Alberto Alvarez saw Murray crouched next to Jackson's bed "in a panicked state asking, 'Does anyone know CPR?' "

"I looked at Alberto because we knew Dr. Murray was a heart surgeon, so we were shocked," Muhammed said.

Jackson's doctor heads to court Murray faces court hearing Events surrounding Jackson's death

When defense attorney Ed Chernoff asked if perhaps Murray was asking for help because he was tired, Muhammed said, "The way that he asked it is as if he didn't know CPR."

Jackson appeared to be dead at that time, with his "eyes open and his mouth open, just laying there," Muhammed said.

Prosecutor David Walgren earlier said that Murray used "ineffectual CPR with one hand while the patient was prone on a soft bed." Two hands with the patient prone on a hard surface is the proper method, he said.
Muhammed, the third witness on the opening day of the hearing, said he never saw

Murray performing CPR on Jackson before paramedics arrived and carried him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Jackson's mother, Katherine, sister La Toya and brothers Randy and Jackie sat in the second row of the courtroom during Tuesday's opening session.
Jackson's two oldest children, Prince and Paris, were at their father's bedroom door as the drama unfolded just after noon on June 25, 2009, Muhammed said.

"Paris was on the floor on her hands and knees and she was just crying," he said.
The children would learn two hours later that their father had died when Murray and Jackson manager Frank Dileo talked to them in a hospital room.
"Frank blurted out and said, 'Your daddy had a heart attack and died,' " Jackson personal assistant Michael Williams testified.

At the start of the hearing Tuesday, the prosecutor said that Murray waited at least 21 minutes after he found Jackson unresponsive before calling for an ambulance.

"By all accounts, Michael Jackson was dead in the bedroom at 100 North Carolwood prior to the paramedics' arrival," Walgren said.
The coroner concluded Jackson died from "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with "the contributory effects of the benzodiazepines," Walgren said.
Propofol is a powerful anesthetic used to "put people under for surgery," and the benzodiazepines were sedatives Murray later acknowledged giving Jackson in the morning before his death, he said.

"Michael Jackson was preparing for one of the most important tours of his life" in the months before his death, Walgren said.
Murray's defense team has hinted it would argue that Jackson was under pressure from the concert promoter, which led him to demand treatments to help him sleep.
Kenny Ortega, who was directing what would have been Jackson's comeback concerts, was the first of about 30 witnesses the prosecution is calling.
Ortega described Jackson as "involved, active, participating" at his last rehearsal, which ended 12 or 14 hours before his death.
"He was in a delightful mood, and we had an absolutely fantastic day," Ortega testified.

But Ortega described a different, "scary" Jackson at the Staples Center rehearsal on June 19, six nights before his death.
"I just felt that he appeared, you know, really lost," Ortega said. "It was scary. I didn't know what was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it."

READ THE FULL STORY AT CNN

Sick patient turned away by Kingwood doctor

2011-01-03T08:18:00.001-08:00

KINGWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- No six-year-old wants to be sick on Christmas, but when Carson Seiber tried to see a doctor in Kingwood, the doctors office said no.

The situation is very frustrating for U.S. Army Lt. Col. Patrick Seiber, who's a soldier currently serving in Afghanistan and can only do so much because of his location.

Six-year-old Carson is visiting his grandparents in Kingwood from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and he needed to see a doctor.
His dad is in the Army and the Army insurance company sent them to a Kingwood doctor -- who wouldn't let them in. So on Thursday morning, we heard about it from a frustrated father spending Christmas fighting in a war zone.

"I am very proud of my daddy," Carson said. "He fights for our freedom."
When Carson got to his grandparents in Kingwood a few days ago, he didn't feel well.
"He started running a fever and not feeling well on Saturday," said his mother, Heather Seiber.

So the Army's insurance company sent them to Pediatric Associates of Kingwood. But when Heather called first thing Monday, the doctors there said no, we don't see one-time patients, even though they knew the situation.
"I did politely tell them he was in Afghanistan," Heather Seiber said. "Because sometimes I feel people look at that and want to help this military family."
"To find out something like this happens, it's darn irritating. It takes me away from my focus, what I have to do, day in and day out, to keep us on the ball as far as on the frontline of the War on Terror," Lt. Col. Seiber said in a phone interview.

The doctors who wouldn't see Carson wouldn't talk to Eyewitness News either. A public relations spokesperson for the clinic's owner, Texas Children's Hospital, sent us conflicting statements trying to explain why the door was shut to a soldier's sick child.

Their first statement said they were at maximum capacity Monday. But when we pointed out no one ever said that to Heather, the story from Texas Children's changed, and all of a sudden they remembered they don't see patients on a one-time only basis.

Carson got in to see another doctor in Porter later that afternoon, and hopefully by Christmas he'll be all better. His mother realizes this isn't the biggest thing in the world, but also wonders why this doctor's office couldn't bend the rules for a son whose father is in Afghanistan for Christmas.
"He puts his life on the line and a doctor here can't help my son," Heather Seiber said.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T07:31:00.001-08:00

The old give way to the young. New thoughts sprout from fertile ground.

While the New Year beckons us with many promises, don't forget to give the old year its due.

Learn from past mistakes and carry the lessons of time with you.

This year resolve to laugh more, love more, forgive more, friend more and learn more.

May 2011 be your best year yet!

5 teens charged with car burglaries ...

2010-12-05T11:45:00.001-08:00

TEXAS CITY, Texas — Five teenagers have been charged with stealing property from about 10 vehicles early Saturday on 15th Avenue North.

Around 4:23 a.m. Saturday, officers responding to a burglary call saw a young man running to a house near the 1500 block of 15th Avenue North, according to a police report.

Officers checked all the cars parked near the street and found about 10 cars that had been burglarized.

All the cars had been left unlocked by their owners, police said.

Three young men were arrested after officers searched an apartment at Tradewinds Apartment Complex and recovered stolen property.

A fourth teenager arrived at the apartment riding a bicycle, which had been reported stolen, and was taken into custody, police said.

At 7 a.m., another officer responded to a call of an intoxicated man at Burger King on 2500 Palmer Highway.

The young man was charged in the car burglaries, police said.

All five are younger than 17 and have been taken to the Juvenile Justice Center. They are facing charges of organized criminal activity.
This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com’s partnership with the Galveston County Daily News.

What's that smell?

2010-11-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

TEXAS CITY, Texas — A smell similar to rotten eggs enveloped Texas City about 5 p.m. Monday afternoon after a leak from a subunit at BP’s Texas City refinery.

Workers were doing maintenance work on a sour water compressor on the refinery’s Power 2 unit when workers noticed a smell after a piece of equipment failed, company spokesman Michael Marr said. The odor, which forced some businesses on Palmer Highway about 13 blocks from the refinery to shutter their doors and close windows, lasted more than an hour.

The smell is believed to come from liquid in the subunit that contained hydrogen sulfide, which is a hazardous chemical that has a strong smell of rotten eggs, Texas City Homeland Security Director Bruce Clawson said. The Texas City Fire Department and BP industrial hygienists conducted ground-level air monitoring and did not find any readings of hazardous chemicals in the air, Clawson said.

Between one and two barrels of sour water — which is waste water that contains hydrocarbons and is pumped to an enclosed sewer system for disposal — spilled, causing the offensive odor, officials said.

There was not a shelter in place order for the city, but Clawson issued a phone and e-mail alert to residents notifying them of the situation.

There was a brief shelter in place order within the refinery for areas downwind of the leak, Marr said. BP set up an incident command center and the leak was contained at about 9 p.m.

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Empty Stocking Toy Drive kicks off

2010-11-16T09:12:00.001-08:00

Trilla Cook

– Bring toys by Dec. 11 to make this a “toy story” to remember –

The community-wide “Empty Stocking” toy drive benefiting Humble Area Assistance Ministries’ clients is off to a great start.

Once again, area businesses and residents are demonstrating their generosity through a willingness to volunteer and contribute, when it comes to making sure every child in the area has a toy this Christmas.

For the third year, Dr. Guy Sconzo of Humble ISD and Cynthia Calvert, owner of The Tribune Newspapers, are spearheading the effort to rally the community and local businesses to play a major role in making the program a success. “The Empty Stocking Toy Drive is a great way for the community to come together to help our local kids. HAAM’s clients are ‘our’ folks – more than 80 percent of HAAM clients have children in Humble ISD,” said Calvert.

“There are many fine organizations that help the needy at Christmas but HAAM takes the lion’s share of local need. They gather school supplies in the summer; they distribute food at Thanksgiving and Christmas; and every year they worry if there will be enough to go around. Every year, they are looking into the eyes of those who just want their kids to have a toy on Christmas morning. I hope everyone in the community sends even a bit of money to the Empty Stocking Toy Drive. On Christmas morning, you will enjoy your own family so much more, when you know that somewhere out there, a young child has joy that day,” she said.

Since most of the families in need are already in the social services network at HAAM, this is a most focused, effective and efficient way to get toys to kids.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Houston murders may be work of a serial killer

2010-11-01T12:09:00.001-07:00

by Michelle Homer / khou.com
khou.com
Posted on November 1, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Updated today at 1:42 PM

HOUSTON – Police are looking into a possible link between the strangulation murders of at least three women since June.
The most recent cases involved homeless women. The body of Carol Flood, 62, was found on Oct. 10 in a stairwell behind the old YMCA building. She was partially nude. On Sept. 30, Retia LaFaye Long, 52, was found dead behind the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart at 1700 San Jacinto.

Now police believe the same killer may have strangled Raquel Mundy last June 17, then dumped her body in a field in the 300 block of St. Charles.
Mundy, 24, was murdered after accepting a ride from a stranger when she was stranded downtown.

She had dropped her mom and two kids off at the Greyhound bus station downtown around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. She then discovered her car had been towed from a McDonald’s parking lot across the street.
Mundy tried to call friends and relatives, but couldn’t find anyone to give her a ride to the tow lot. Witnesses saw her get into a grey car with an unknown man, according to police.

Mundy later sent a text message to her mother saying she thought she was in danger and feared the man was going to hurt her.
Angela Collins was still on the bus to California with her two grandchildren when she got the disturbing message.

She tried frantically to reach Mundy. Collins then called several relatives and asked them to try to find Mundy.
By the time the bus arrived in California, there was still no sign of her daughter.
"Next call we got, they had found the body. It was my baby, Collins said as she choked back tears. "This man took away my baby."
An autopsy revealed Mundy had been strangled.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE AT KHOU

9-11 call - backfires because of open laptop.

2010-10-13T08:47:00.001-07:00

by Courtney Zubowski / 11 News
khou.com
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 11:37 PM
Updated today at 9:54 AM

HOUSTON -- A woman who called 911 to anonymously report a crime says she’s in fear for her life after the man she turned in called her just minutes after she placed the call.

According to the woman, who does not want to be identified, on Oct. 1, she was driving near Beltway 8 and Veterans Memorial Drive when she witnessed a man in the car next to her beating his passenger. She did not know either one of them.

“I saw him hitting her and he was taking his fist and he was just hitting her, aside her, just hitting her and I’m like this is crazy,” said the woman.

She placed the 911 call at 1:28 p.m. and thought that would be the end of her involvement, but 30 minutes later she learned it was just the beginning.

“About 1:54 p.m. my phone rang back and it was the suspect,” she said. “He was asking me ‘Who was this, who is this’ and I am like, ‘Who is this, you called my number,’ and then he hung up."

After that call came another, and this time it was a woman’s voice, she said.

“She called me just as he hung up and it was like, ‘Ma’am, are you the concerned lady that called about my welfare,’ and I am like,

‘Excuse me,’ and she said, ‘Well I’m OK,’ and I said, ‘Excuse me,’” said the woman.

She received another call the next morning from the Harris County Jail where the suspect was in custody. He was arrested for outstanding warrants, but never charged with assault.

“My phone rings again and it says, ‘You have a call from Harris County processing jail,’ and I immediately hung up,” she said.
“I will never, ever get involved with anything else again, not when it comes to me being fearful of the surroundings in my life.”

A spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office says as far as she knows, this is the first time something like this has happened in their department.

HCSO spokesperson Christina Garza said the suspect was put in the back of a Harris County patrol car while the deputy talked to the woman he was accused of hitting. It was then he was able to read the woman’s phone number off of a laptop computer the deputy had left open in the front seat.

“It’s a very unique situation,” Garza said. “It’s never happened and we certainly don’t want this to discourage her, or anybody, from reporting crime to authorities.”

Garza said it’s common practice to keep laptops closed, but it’s not policy. In some situations, deputies are forced to rush out of cars quickly.

”If anyone is to blame in this situation, it’s the suspect who violated such important information and took it upon himself to do this,” said Garza.

Garza said the department is sending out e-mails to all deputies to remind them to keep their laptops closed.

The suspect is not facing charges for memorizing the information, or calling the woman. Garza said there is no proof that he ever threatened the woman.

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The 911 caller disagrees.

“I was threatened,” she said. “I was threatened when he received my information. My information should have been protected. I was threatened at that point, so what point of threat do they not understand?

9-11 call - backfires because of open laptop.

2010-10-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

13 Houston schools receive powder letters

2010-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

by khou.com staff
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 8:09 PM

HOUSTON – At least 13 HISD schools received envelopes Friday containing a white powdery substance, according to an HISD spokesperson.
A Houston Fire Department Hazmat team was sent to each school to collect the envelopes.
Preliminary testing showed the substance appeared to be non-hazardous. The powder was tested for radiation, explosives and volatile chemicals. Further tests are being conducted.

The schools were Alcott Elementary, Almeda Elementary, Anderson Elementary, Ashford Elementary, Attucks Middle School, Barrick Elementary, Bastian Elementary, Black Middle School, Blackshear Elementary and Browning Elementary.
Fonville Middle School, Briar Meadow Elementary School and Bellaire High School were added to the list Friday evening.
HISD said its top priority is making sure all schools are safe before students return on Monday.

"All of our school administrators are going through their mail and are trying to identify any envelopes that may look suspicious," said HISD Police Chief Jimmie Dotson.
The typewritten envelopes were addressed to the schools, not individuals, and contained no notes. Each contained about a teaspoon of white powder.
The FBI, U.S. Postal Service, HPD and HFD are assisting HISD with the investigation.

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No waiting: Houston ship channel back in business

2010-10-07T07:35:00.001-07:00

UPDATE 1-Coast Guard says no wait to exit Houston Channel

HOUSTON Oct 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said no ships were waiting Thursday morning to leave the Houston Ship Channel, and 33 ships were lined up to enter the waterway to the busiest U.S petrochemical port after a three-day outage, which ended on Wednesday.

As many as 67 ships were waiting to enter or exit the waterway by the time early on Wednesday that workers had removed a leaning electrical highline tower that threatened to tumble into the waterway after being struck by a barge on Sunday morning.

Four Houston refineries were unable to receive crude oil by ship during the closure, but none said prodcution was cut during the wait that ended Wednesday when the first ships up the channel were crude tankers.

About 44 ships were waiting to enter the channel when it reopened on Wednesday morning and it might appear only 11 have moved up the channel, but the Coast Guard said several ships were added to the line waiting in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.

"It's a consant flow," said a Coast Guard spokesman.

There are about 12 ships more than on a average day waiting to move into the channel, the spokesman said. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by John Picinich)

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Drug deal goes bad - two shot - one dead.

2010-10-07T07:26:00.001-07:00

khou.com
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:26 AM
Updated today at 8:45 AM

HOUSTON—A 24-year-old man was killed and his brother injured after the two were shot in what appears to be a drug deal gone bad Wednesday evening, according to HPD Homicide detectives.
Police officers responded to a home on Winter Briar at Winter Seasons in southwest Houston for reports of a drive-by shooting.

They arrived around 9 p.m. to find two brothers had been shot. They said the actual shooting took place at another location about a half-mile away, but the brothers somehow made it back home.
Police believe the brothers drove their Cadillac a few blocks from their home to meet a group of men and purchase drugs. Some sort of altercation occurred and one of the men opened fire on the brothers.

"The exact circumstances are unclear as to what transpired a t the two locations, but we have one dead," said Sgt. Thomas Biggs, HPD Homicide Division. "We believe we have all of the players in custody.

The bullet traveled completely through one of the brothers. Police said he was shot in the chest or the back, but it is unclear which point is the entry and exit.
The other brother was shot in the foot. He was taken to Southwest Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was treated and released. He returned to the scene to talk to police.
Several suspects were taken in for questioning and police said they definitely know one of them is the shooter.

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Breaking: Houston Ship Channel Closed!

2010-10-04T12:15:00.001-07:00

HOUSTON, Texas

—A four-mile stretch of the Houston Ship Channel remained closed to marine traffic Monday after a barge slammed into a tower supporting a high-voltage electric transmission line, threatening to topple it into the channel.

Coast Guard officials said a towing vessel named Safety Quest was pushing three barges loaded with scrap metal about 6 a.m. Sunday when it smashed into a Baytown power line, which remained upright only with the support of one of the barges.
No injuries were reported, but the six-member boat crew moved to another vessel and to safety.
Officials said the section from Crystal Bay to the Blackwell Peninsula would remain closed until at least Tuesday night.

"The situation is a little bit unstable right now," said Capt. Marcus Woodring. "The lines are sagging and we cannot allow any vessels to pass underneath with the unstable situation and chance of those lines falling in the water."
Centerpoint Energy officials said the power had been shut off to the line because crews had previously been working on a nearby tower. They said no customers had lost electricity following the crash.
Eighteen inbound vessels attempted to get into the port early Tuesday afternoon, and many remained anchored off the coast of Galveston. Twelve outbound commercial ships were also stuck.
The 25-mile waterway is lined by the nation’s biggest complex of petrochemical plants. The Port of Houston ranks first in the nation in foreign waterborne tonnage and imports and second in U.S. export tonnage and total tonnage.

"Anytime you see something like this, you hate it, because it’s affecting people and how they make their money," said Richard Zeno, a tugboat captain who was not involved in the crash but watched the teetering tower as he was fishing with his family Sunday.

Coast Guard officials said the ship channel handles more than $320 million in cargo and crude daily, meaning the Port of Houston would lose about $1 billion if the waterway stayed closed until Tuesday night.

"Commerce, of course, is very, very important," said Chief Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant. "But we don’t want to put lives in jeopardy doing so."

"This is actually very difficult because the tower is actually sitting on the barge," Bryant said.
The Coast Guard said the boat’s owner is St. Louis-based AEP River Operations.

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Police seek graffiti vandals

2010-10-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- Houston police are investigating the appearance of swastika graffiti in one neighborhood. There have been three reports of it in the Kingwood area.

Residents driving by the entrance to Kingwood several days ago were met with a symbol of hate, and it's one that's been popping up around town, making some a bit uneasy.

On Tuesday night, Kingwood residents heading home were met with something more abrasive than the usual tree-lined landscape entrance. It was a black swastika that's several feet high and several feet wide spray-painted on the entrance to Kingwood.
"It's different. It's not something that's typical up here," HPD Officer William Lacy said.

Police are now investigating, and they say it's the third swastika that's emerged in the last three weeks. Another was on the side of a stop sign and one more was etched on the side of a concrete sidewalk.

And while the Kingwood gang tracker has documented white supremacist gang members in the area, police don't believe it's their work.

"In Arian brotherhood and Arian circles, they're not generally known for graffiti. They're known for crime," Lacy said.

Those who work and live nearby don't believe it's a message of hate either, but agree it's strikes a chord with many.

"It means some bad things for a lot of folks, and unfortunately, it probably opens up some old wounds," Kingwood business owner Sal Santa Maria said. "Maybe the kids have no idea how serious that is."

"I do believe it is just ignorant kids being stupid and not paying attention, not understanding the repercussions that they're causing," Kingwood Resident Dan Klaus said.
The one thing that does concern Kingwood residents is where the vandals are getting their ideas.

"Even if it is kids, unfortunately they're getting their ideas from adults because kids wouldn't necessarily know much about the symbol," Kingwood Resident Edda Harrision said.
Investigators have few leads, but want to mention that anyone caught doing graffiti can be arrested on site and slapped with a big fine.
(Copyright ©2010 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Kingwood Park coach reaches win milestone

2010-09-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-15T12:41:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-03T07:12:00.001-07:00

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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Hawaii beats Pearland for Little League World Series title shot.

2010-08-28T16:45:00.001-07:00

South Williamsport, PA (Sports Network) - Noah Shackles went 2-for-2 with a homer, two RBI and three runs scored to back Ezra Heleski's two-hitter, and the Waipahu, Hawaii little league team beat Pearland, Texas, 10-0, in the United States championship game of the Little League World Series.

In the international title game, Ryota Norimatsu tied the game with an RBI single in the sixth, and Ryo Motegi's run-scoring single in the seventh won it, leading Japan to a 3-2 victory over Chinese Taipei.

In addition to striking out six over five shutout innings, Heleski went 2- for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Kahoea Akau added three hits in the resounding win, helping Waipahu win its second U.S. title in three years. In 2008, this same Little League squad beat Matamoros, Mexico to win the championship.

Mason Van Noort had one of the two hits for Pearland, which came back against Georgia to reach this U.S. title game.

With two runners on and one out in the opening inning, Kaimana Bartolome opened the scoring with a two-run double. Shackles homered later in the inning to plate Bartolome for a 4-0 advantage.

Shackles scored in the third on a wild pitch, and Heleski's RBI single later in the same at-bat made it a 6-0 game. Akau's run-scoring double provided a seven-run cushion.

Three more runs from Hawaii ended the game in the fifth due to the 10-run rule. Shackles walked and scored on Cody Maltezo's triple, and Heleski followed with another RBI single. A wild pitch later scored Heleski to end the game.

Japan trailed, 2-1, heading to the bottom of the sixth, but Koutaro Kamikura singled to left to lead off the inning. Following a strikeout, Kamikura advanced to second on an error by the catcher before Norimatsu's hit tied the game.

Kamikura stayed on to pitch a scoreless seventh -- striking out two -- before Masaya Ishii singled with one down in the home half to start the winning rally. A wild pitch sent Ishii to second, and Motegi's two-out single to center won the game.

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Houston man charged in cold case murders.

2010-08-25T14:01:00.001-07:00

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on August 25, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Updated today at 10:54 AM
HOUSTON – A man long-suspected of killing a Houston woman and an infant in 1984 was finally arrested and charged this week.

Charles Leon Smith, 56, is charged with capital murder in the slayings of 23-year-old Pamela Clarence and 1-month-old Tashona Clarence.

Twenty-six years have passed since the young mother and her baby were killed in their home in the 4300 block of Rogers, but even after the case went cold, investigators never gave up.

The murders occurred on August 2, 1984. Police said Smith and Clarence were in a relationship at the time and had recently had a child together.
But that night, when Smith went to visit his girlfriend, investigators believe Pamela Clarence confronted Smith about another relationship.
Police said Clarence had discovered Smith had another girlfriend, who’d just given birth to Smith’s son.

When Clarence told Smith they should end their relationship, police believe he snapped.
Investigators said Smith strangled Pamela Clarence with an electrical cord and then smothered Tashona with a pillow.

The bodies were later found by concerned family members.
From the beginning of the investigation, police said they thought Clarence knew her killer, and they originally identified Smith as one of two suspects in the murders.
But investigators were unable to collect enough evidence to charge either suspect, and case went cold, lost among more than 700 other killings in Houston that year.

Then, when HPD cold case investigators reviewed the murders this year and again identified Smith as a suspect, things changed.
Police said Smith was taken into custody on August 23 and confessed to his role in the crimes.
He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning, and was behind held in the Harris County Jail without bond.

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Houston stripmall destroyed in blaze.

2010-08-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

by Lisa Chavarria / 11 News
khou.com
Posted on August 25, 2010 at 8:23 AM
Updated today at 9:21 AM

HOUSTON—A three-alarm fire swept through parts of a southwest Houston strip mall, destroying several businesses in its path early Wednesday.
Houston Fire Department officials said the fire began inside the M. Trading Wholesale Shop on Fondren at Harwin just before 5 a.m.

The business houses wholesale supplies sold to dollar stores. HFD said there may have been hair products or chemicals on the racks that helped fuel the flames.
Two more businesses next door to the wholesale shop, Jessie’s Nail Salon and Sloreria Lee’s flower shop, were also destroyed.

The owner of Star Korean Karaoke Bar said he was inside his business when a man riding a bicycle knocked on his door and alerted him to the fire. He was able to get out safely and call 911. His business was not damaged by the flames, but may have smoke damage.

One firefighter was injured battling the blaze. He was treated at the scene for a laceration on his hand.

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Area Teen Spends Summer Helping

2010-08-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

While most teenagers were spending their summer vacations sleeping in and hanging out with friends, a group of local area teenagers spent time helping others and learning how to put themselves in other people’s shoes. During their recent six-day mission trip, the kids undoubtedly left a lasting impression on the residents of Raymondville.

A small town of just over 9,000 residents, Raymondville lies about 20 miles north of Harlingen, one of the first of many small towns along the roads and highways leading to the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Like countless other small, Texas towns, Raymondville has been particularly hard hit by the recession and rising unemployment rates. With a median household income of just over $20,000 a year, many of the residents of Raymondville are hard-pressed to make ends meet, much less to afford the kinds of services the kids from First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood provided while they were there.

As part of their ongoing commitment to hosting and promoting charitable service through its mission program, First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood sponsored almost 100 teens and more than a dozen adult volunteers to visit the small town to help those most in need. Their trip turned out to be life changing for the kids who took part as well as the residents they helped.

Undaunted by hard work, the kids spent most of their time helping to repair six homes for deserving people who lack means to make the repairs on their own. The transformation to these homes, and the neighborhood, is nothing less than a miracle.

As Matt Davis, Director of Student Ministries for First Presbyterian of Kingwood explained, “After five days of intensive constructing, yard work, scrubbing, roofing, painting, and much, much more, the entire street had been transformed.”

The group treasured the experience that allowed them to get to know the people in the community. In response to her trip, Anne Vondrak, a sophomore at Kingwood High School told her congregation, “We got to know a lot of the people that owned those houses and the way they talked to us and the way their faces lit up when we came each day made me smile. I was just happy that we got to have an effect on them like that.”

But repairing the houses was not enough for this dedicated group of teens. After spending excruciating hours every day in the hot Texas sun, the kids not only hosted a daily Sports Camp for area children at various local parks, but also spent hours working with a local church group to a Vacation Bible School program for local children, helping others learn the value of charity and kindness.

In a society where it is becoming easier and easier to ignore the plights of others in favor of playing video games and text-messaging, these teens used a wonderful opportunity to help others while gaining an appreciation for the hardships many Americans are facing every day. Ultimately, the experience they gained on this unique trip will leave them with lessons that will last a lifetime.

Perhaps Jason Johnson, a junior at Kingwood High School, illustrated these lessons best when he told his congregation, “There’s no other experience like a Mission Trip--from the work sites, to the games, to the nights of worship and lessons, and even in the guys’ cabin. We went to Raymondville to make a difference; to serve with a higher purpose; to do as God commanded us to do; to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.”

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NW Houston toddler found in hot car dead

2010-08-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

by Courtney Zubowski / 11 News
Posted on August 19, 2010 at 7:32 PM
HOUSTON – A 2-year-old boy has died after being found locked in a hot car in northwest Houston, according to authorities.

The incident happened Thursday around 2:30 p.m. at 13813 Dentwood.
According to police, parents were arriving home from the grocery store when their 7-year-old child, who is autistic, began having seizures. While the parents went inside their home to tend to the 7-year-old, the 2-year-old boy was left locked inside the vehicle.

After going inside to help the 7-year-old , the parents realized their younger child was missing and eventually found him in the back seat of their SUV. Police said the boy was trapped inside the vehicle for about two hours.

One of the parents called 911 when they saw the toddler was not breathing. The boy was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators said the temperature inside the vehicle was 122 degrees when the toddler was found.
Neighbors of the victim’s family said it was an unfortunate incident that happened to good people.

"This is a good family, their children comes first with them," said Michael Carey. "I know for a fact that it was not intentional."

Investigators said the parents will probably not face charges, but the case will go to a grand jury.

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Houston Area Forecast: 100% Chance of Meteors

2010-08-12T07:01:00.001-07:00

After a week-ling lead-up, tonight, August 12/13, 2010, is finally the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Wit this event, meteor season 2010 will kick off in a big way.

Every August, Earth passes through the stretch of space junk shed by comet Swift-Tuttle, reaching the deepest concentration of debris tonight. According to some estimates, under ideal conditions (dark country skies), one can expect to see 60 meteors per hour. The reason the meteors are called Perseids is because the meteors seem to radiate from the constellation Perseus. The best time to view the shower is in the pre-dawn hours, with 3-5am being best.

Don't want to stay up that late? Don't worry, Perseus rises in the Northeast around midnight and will climb higher as the night progresses. However, unless one lives out in the country, the early post-midnight hours will probably involve Perseus being low in a light pollution dome. To improve odds of seeing meteors, travel out of light-polluted Cleveland and to the suburbs or, even better, the country if you can. In the suburbs, just going from the front to back yard can make a dramatic difference as this will eliminate glare from those pesky street/house lights to a large extent.

Two things can ruin the meteor shower: clouds and the Moon. The clouds? Well, that's a regional thing. Check your local Clear Sky Clock to see what the clouds have in store for your location tonight. For us Northeast Ohioans, tonight is looking good. As for the Moon, that's an Earth-wide issue. The good news is that, this year, the Moon is just a few days past new, which means that there will be no Moon up during the time of the meteor shower. There will be a slight lunar glow in the South (opposite Perseus), but this will disappear about midnight, which is about the time Perseus clears the Northeast horizon.

So how about viewing tips?

First, plan to stay out awhile, as it takes the human eye about 15 minutes to get optimal night vision capability. The bad news is that, even one bright flash of white light will wipe out night vision, requiring you to start the process all over again. Next, grab a lawn chair or, even better, a lounge-type chair. Trying to lean back with a straight-back lawn chair can be a pain in the neck, literally! Eyes ready for dark and with something to sit/lay on, settle in for a night of hopeful meteor watching (or at the very least, stargazing), just try not to fall asleep and don't forget the bug spray!

Besides meteors, tonight can be a great time for binocular viewing, owing to your use of a chair. Under suburban (maybe) or rural skies (definitely), a pair of medium power (10x50) binoculars can yield some stunning wide-angle sights. For someone truly dedicated, why not try and keep a tally of how many meteors you see for every complete hour? Really ambitious? Why not try photographing the meteors?

Whatever you plan to do tonight, good luck and clear skies!

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Test your hurricane IQ.

2010-08-02T07:44:00.001-07:00

By GREG AINSWORTH

This year's hurricane season in the waters adjacent to the Southeastern United States is drawing more attention than usual, thanks to the oil spill in the Gulf. The National Hurricane Center expects a busier than average year, so it's time to energize our hurricane IQ.
Whether you call them hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones, they are the scourge of tropical locales worldwide. Ocean water temperatures of at least 80 degrees seem to be one of the key ingredients in their formation. Think hot and muggy -- and lots of evaporation. If other conditions are favorable in the atmosphere, winds near the surface may begin to converge, and a low-pressure system may form.

In the Northern Hemisphere, those cyclonic winds spiral in a counter-clockwise direction. All of that water vapor in the atmosphere rises and condenses inside thunderstorm complexes, releasing a great amount of energy in the process. Bands of thunderstorms stretching from the system's outer margins to the center of circulation help feed the massive heat engine with warm, moisture-laden air.

As the system matures, the characteristic cloud-free and relatively calm eye may form at the center of circulation. But surrounding the eye is the eyewall, where the most intense convection and highest wind speeds occur.

Hurricanes pose a major threat to life and property because of their ability to wreak havoc in so many different ways. Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is wind damage -- not surprising since a storm isn't called a hurricane until it has sustained winds of at least 74 mph. In August 1969, Hurricane Camille made landfall along the Mississippi coast with sustained winds estimated at 200 mph.

An important, but often overlooked hurricane impact is the storm surge. This refers to the ocean water pushed onshore into low-lying areas by hurricane-force winds. Depending on the status of the local tides during landfall, storm surges of 15 to 20 feet are not out of the question. If you happen to live in a near-shore area at say, 10 feet above sea level, the surge can be bad news indeed. Hurricane Opal caused a 24-foot storm surge near Pensacola, Fla., in September 1995.

Even days after landfall, hurricanes, or their remnants, are still capable of producing tornadoes and flooding rains. After slamming into the coast of south Texas in September 1967, Hurricane Beulah spawned more than 100 tornadoes. Tropical Storm Claudette, whose winds didn't reach hurricane strength, nevertheless dropped 45 inches of rain on Alvin, Texas, in 1979.

For further information about these storms, check out the website for NOAA's National Hurricane Center.

Greg Ainsworth keeps an eye on local weather and climate issues. Contact him at ainsworth@theglobal.net.

Kingwood looses one of its's sons in Afghanistan

2010-07-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

Marine Sgt. Brandon C. Bury
Standing at about 6-foot-6 in size 16 shoes that had to be special-ordered — "a moose," his mother called him — Brandon Bury could have been intimidating. Relatives say he wasn't.
He had a larger-than-life personality but carried himself in a way that made clear he was a friend, said his brother Brian Bury.
"He was the biggest, kindest, sweetest man that you ever wanted to meet," said his mother, Terri Bury.

Marine Corps officials said the 26-year-old from Kingwood, Texas, died June 6 in a vehicle accident in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
He graduated in 2002 from Kingwood High School, where he was an athlete, and attended the University of Texas before joining the Marines in 2004. He was assigned to Camp Pendleton and served twice in Iraq.

While he was gone, he sent home videos of himself reading books for his sons, 3-year-old Cole and 1-year-old Cade. He also had a heart for children in Afghanistan and asked his mother to send colorful sunglasses and toys for them.
One of his former commanders, Maj. Luke McConnell, said Bury inspired him as a leader.
Other survivors include Bury's wife, Heather; father, J. Brian Bury; and another brother, Thomas Bury.

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Tar balls found on Texas beach

2010-07-06T06:37:00.001-07:00

(CNN) -- Texas authorities have traced a small number of tar balls found near Galveston to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Coast Guard and state officials said Monday.
The tar balls collected from beaches in Galveston County over the weekend could fit in a five-gallon bucket, but have been confirmed to have originated from the ruptured BP well off Louisiana, said Jim Suydan of the Texas General Land Office.

Galveston is about 400 miles west of the site of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, which began in late April with the sinking of the offshore drill rig Deepwater Horizon. Coast Guard Capt. Marcus Woodring said authorities weren't sure how the tar balls made it that far, but tests confirmed that at least the first batch collected Saturday came from the Deepwater Horizon spill off Louisiana, he said.
None were found Monday, and the area's beaches and waterways remained open.
"Until we see a greater sum of oil, I can be cautiously optimistic that maybe this is something that will pass," Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski told reporters.

Tar balls occasionally strike the Texas coast, in part because of seepage from undersea oil deposits or from sunken vessels, Woodring said. "Seventeen or 18" cases of tar balls unrelated to the

Deepwater Horizon disaster have been reported to Woodring's Houston-Galveston Coast Guard sector since the spill erupted in April he said.

And though the ones found Saturday and Sunday were confirmed to have come from the ruptured well off Louisiana, they were less weathered than officials would have expected -- leading the Coast

Guard to suspect the oil was either stuck to the side of a ship's hull or mixed in with ballast water from a passing vessel, he said.

Ships passing through the spill are are supposed to be decontaminated before they head into port, he said.

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Freedom Over Texas Fireworks Show!

2010-07-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Houston will set the stage for an extraordinary patriotic celebration at Mayor Annise Parker’s official Fourth of July event, Freedom Over Texas with Fireworks Presented by Shell. Texas singer-songwriter Pat Green will headline the annual event held from 4 to 10 p.m. on Sunday, July 4, with his performance culminating in the nation’s largest land-based fireworks show, presented by Shell Oil Company. Admission to the event is FREE with the donation of one canned item per person to the Houston Food Bank.

"As Americans, I believe it is our civic duty to celebrate the birth of our nation and reflect upon those brave men and women who have made great sacrifices for us to live in a free country," said Mayor Annise Parker. "I invite fellow Texans to join us in honoring our country, respecting the values of the founding fathers and instilling pride in our diverse community.”

Headlining the evening’s celebration on the Freedom Stage is Pat Green (with Cowboy Mouth and Little Big Town), an artist who has blazed his own trail and recorded a total of 10 studio albums. Fifteen of his singles have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, of which the highest-peaking is the #3 "Wave on Wave" from his gold-certified album. Green has toured with many popular country music artists including Keith Urban, Gretchen Wilson, Kenny Chesney, and many more. At this year’s event, Green will be presented by the Texas Music Charts with an award recognizing him as the “Most Played Texas Artist” of the last decade.

When the concert comes to a close at 9:30 p.m., eyes will turn skyward for an extraordinary fireworks spectacular perfectly set to a selection of America’s favorite tunes, from patriotic songs to rock ‘n’ roll hits to classic bestsellers. Shell Oil Company is the underwriter of the 2010 fireworks show for the fifth consecutive year, and with their contribution, the city’s official fireworks show will enliven Houston’s skyline. Producing the show will be world-renowned fireworks artists from Pyro Spectaculars North by Souza.

"For more than 80 years, Shell has been a strong supporter of the Houston community and our nation. As a country, we have much to celebrate, and we at Shell are thrilled to participate in the festivities this year,” said Ben Dillon, Vice President Corporate Affairs, Shell Oil Company.

In addition to this year’s entertainment headliner, the festival will also spotlight a top-notch selection of local and regional music. Throughout the day, four stages will keep toes tapping with music ranging from country western and rock 'n' roll to Latin, R&B, and oldies.

Booth exhibits and family friendly patriotic activities will encompass Buffalo Bayou and Eleanor Tinsley Park:

KBR Liberty Park

Encompassing more than three football fields in length, KBR Liberty Park will showcase military artifacts and vehicles including representation from all five military branches and more. The branches and the Houston Police Department will offer recruiting on site.
The U.S. Army will showcase an Apache Helicopter flight simulator and a 55-ton M-60 Battle Tank.
The Museum of Printing History and the Military Museum of Houston will exhibit historical items that have helped shape our nation’s history in this area.
Bud Light Zone

Cool off with a cold one at the Budweiser Beer Garden, and enjoy a prime view of the sixth annual Bud Light Texas Volleyball Championship Series Finals.
Make a rest stop at the Bud Light Build-A-Bar, which will offer a shaded sitting area equipped with plasma TV screens. Also, don’t miss a sneak peak of an event performer during their official Bud Light Sound Check.

Be sure to stop by the Budweiser Good Sport’s Booth and learn how you can save lives by being a designated driver.

Walmart All American Kids Zone

More than 30,000 square feet of free educational programming and entertainment await children.
Houston Public Library’s HPL Mobile Express computer lab, will teach child how to use a computer.
Houston Fire Department’s Smokehouse will teach kids the importance of fire safety.
Historical costumed characters will talk with children about the documents that defined our government.

Juno Baby will have sing-a-long activities for children and little aspiring stars are invited to perform in the Rising Stars Search contest for a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to San Francisco and be featured in the next Juno Baby production.
Free games, rides, face painting and interactive activities will be open to children of all ages.
Additional activities:

Gexa Energy will be giving US Flag hand fans to the first 30,000 people who enter the gates. Booths will be setup for families to take fun photos with Shrek The Musical characters, enter for a chance to win a trip for two to Hawaii or Cancun, and also for a chance to win a Home Theater System, which includes a Sony Bravia 40’ LCD TV.
Visit KBR’s five primary beneficiaries on site: Career and Recovery Resources, Goodwill Industries, Houston Community College, Soldier’s Angels and Wreaths Across America-Houston.
The 2010 Land Rover models will be on display including the all new 2010 Land Rover LR4 and award winning Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
Freedom Over Texas with Fireworks Presented by Shell will be simulcast on ABC-13/KTRK-TV from 7-10 p.m. on Sunday, July 4, and will be syndicated statewide from 8-10 p.m. In addition, KILT 100.3 FM will simulcast the music medley specially choreographed for the fireworks spectacular.

With the donation of one canned item per person to the Houston Food Bank, admission for the event is FREE. Without the donation, tickets will be $8 per person. Children two years and under will be admitted free. In keeping with last year’s theme, Freedom Over Texas with Fireworks Presented by Shell will expand its offering of recycling receptacles, encouraging all patrons to recycle.

Freedom Over Texas with Fireworks Presented by Shell sponsors include: Fireworks sponsor: Shell; Anchor Sponsors: Gexa Energy, Bud Light/Silver Eagle Distributors, KBR, Houston Area Land Rover Centres, and Walmart; Co-producers: City of Houston/Mayor’s Office of Special Events; Additional sponsors include Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown; Houston Chronicle; 100.3 KILT; HOT 95-7; Mix 96-5; SportsRadio 610 and Mega 101 FM; Texas Lottery; Juno Baby; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Texas Southern University and LifeGift. In-kind sponsors include Houston Dynamo, Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, Houston Aero and Metro. The event benefits Houston Central Improvement, Inc.

For more information, call 832.393.0868 or visit the Freedom Over Texas with Fireworks Presented by Shell Web site at www.freedomovertexas.org or www.houstonspecialevents.org.

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Kingwood Kayaker battles Alex

2010-06-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

GALVESTON, TX (KTRK) -- A pair of kayakers had a very rough ride overnight. They made it to Tiki Island after spending eight hours battling the waters stirred up by Hurricane Alex.

The effects of Hurricane Alex are being felt in Galveston, despite the fact the storm is so far to the south. The wind has been gusting in Galveston and the surf in the bay is very choppy.
Two kayakers, college students from A&M -- one from Kingwood and one from Tennessee -- were out fishing last night. They told their friends they would be back in a couple of hours. But their kayak flipped over in the wake of a larger boat.

The surf was kicked up due to Hurricane Alex hundreds of miles away. It kept the students from righting the kayak and they floated for hours along with their kayak down the Galveston Causeway until they were eventually able to swim to shore in Tiki Island.

They wondered the whole time if their friends realized that they were missing. And indeed, they had and notified authorities.

"The whole time we wondering where the Coast Guard was, wondering whether our friends were just on the couch playing video games or if they called," said stranded kayaker Jacob Davis. "I guess they called because everyone has been looking for us and just couldn't find us."

They walked to a gas station and called for help from there. They were checked out and are fine.

Authorities say it's not a day to be out at the beach or in the rough waters.

(Copyright ©2010 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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Recovery Effort in Gulf Expected to Continue Despite Storm

2010-06-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

By JOSEPH BERGER

A tropical storm moving across the western Gulf of Mexico that is likely to strengthen into a hurricane is not expected to seriously disrupt efforts to capture oil gushing from the stricken BP well, officials of the Coast Guard and BP said Monday.

Adm. Thad W. Allen, of the Coast Guard, who is commanding the federal response to the disaster, said at an afternoon press conference that high seas produced by Tropical Storm Alex should not force the evacuation of rigs and other equipment from the blowout site, which is 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Should an evacuation take place, he said, it could halt the work of collecting oil and drill relief wells for about 14 days.

“As it stands right now, absent the intervention of a hurricane, we’re still looking at mid-August," to have relief wells shut off the gusher entirely, Admiral Allen said.

However, BP officials said that what could be delayed, even by current wave heights, is an effort to prepare what is known as a “floating riser system” that will help raise the daily total of collected oil from, about 25,000 barrels to as much as 50,000 barrels. At a briefing Monday morning, Kent Wells, a senior vice president of BP who is overseeing BP’s efforts, said the storm is expected to follow a track that will take it well west of the blowout site, but it may produce waves of 10 to 12 feet, which Mr. Wells said was too high for the “very precise work” on the surface needed to prepare the floating riser system.

Mr. Wells said the containment cap and a second system that are collecting 25,000 barrels of oil a day would not need to be disconnected and the drilling of two relief wells should continue on schedule. The first relief well is supposed to pump in heavy mud and shut off the gusher sometime in August.

Tropical Storm Alex is on a course heading for northeastern Mexico and a stretch of Texas. Meteorologists at Accuweather.com said they are anticipating a landfall between Tampico, Mexico and Brownsville, Tex. Wednesday night or early Thursday.

Meanwhile Associated Press reported that BP had filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission that indicate the cost of capping and cleaning the spill have reached $2.65 billion. BP has lost more than $100 billion in market value since the drilling platform the company was operating blew up April 20. The costs include spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs, but not a $20 billion fund for damages the company created this month.

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Alex may effect Gulf oil production ..

2010-06-28T14:24:00.001-07:00

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Tropical Storm Alex, expected to become a hurricane Tuesday, seems to be headed on a path away from the bulk of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas production and refining infrastructure. But some production impact will be felt as one of the largest energy producers in the Gulf said Monday it was shutting down several platforms as a precaution.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) said it had pulled 700 workers from its Gulf operations, and some 835 workers remained offshore. The company is shutting in production from its Western and Central Gulf of Mexico assets to prepare for the potential full evacuation of personnel Tuesday. The company started pulling workers from the Gulf over the weekend. The company didn't specify how much production would be shut or how many platforms were being evacuated.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Alex was located about 85 miles west-northwest of Campeche, Mexico, in the western Gulf of Mexico, and was heading towards southern Texas and northern Mexico. Most U.S. offshore oil and gas platforms are located in the eastern part of the Gulf, far from Alex's forecast path.

Alex "is not likely to have a major impact on production or refining in the U.S.," Doug MacIntyre, senior analyst at the Energy Information Administration, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. "Alex's current path appears to avoid most of the oil and gas production platforms and any of the major refining centers."

Energy markets Monday seemed to take the storm in stride. Light, sweet crude for August delivery ended 61 cents lower at $78.25 a barrel a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Natural gas for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 2.96% lower at $4.717 million British thermal units.

Gulf producers Apache Corp. (APA), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) also said Monday they have started evacuating non-essential workers from the offshore facilities expected to be in the path of the storm but none have so far reported any impact to their production.

BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) said Monday it pulled non-essential personnel from three offshore facilities in the the Gulf, and that production was not affected. The company evacuated workers from Atlantis, Mad Dog and Holstein platforms.

Alex may delay BP PLC's plans to increase the amount of oil collected from a leaking well in the Gulf by a week, a company official said Monday.

While the storm's winds are expected to stay far to the west of the Deepwater Horizon spill, high seas are likely to become an issue this week, said Kent Wells, a senior vice president with BP, in a press briefing. Waves up to between 10 feet and 12 feet would prevent BP from hooking a third rig up to an underwater containment system, a process that needs three days of good weather, Wells said.

Two rigs, the Discoverer Enterprise and Q4000, are already collecting between 20,000 and 25,000 barrels of oil a day from the well, which has gushed ever since a rig working at the site caught fire and sank in April.

Chevron Corp. (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP) said that they have not evacuated workers, but that they are closely monitoring the forecast for Alex.

A hurricane watch was issued for parts of the south Texas Gulf coastline area and parts of northern Mexico, the National Hurricane Center reported Monday on its website.

The NHC, in its advisory, also said Alex likely will become a hurricane Tuesday and has increased in strength, now with winds of 60 miles per hour.

The watch area for the U.S. extends from south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas, with Mexico issuing a hurricane watch from the Rio Grande to La Cruz.

-By Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9207; isabel.ordonez@dowjones.com

(Brian Baskin and Angel Gonzalez contributed to this article

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Kingwood grad killed in Afghanistan convoy accident

2010-06-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

Update: The bodies of five American servicemen arrived at the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday, even as violence claimed the lives of more NATO forces in Afghanistan. An Air Force C-17 bearing the bodies of Army Lt. Michael E. McGahan of Orlando, Fla., Army Specialist Brendan P. Neenan of Enterprise, Ala., Marine Sgt. Brandon C. Bury of Kingwood, Texas, Marine Cpl. Donald M. Marler of St. Louis, Mo., and Marine Lance Cpl. Derek Hernandez of Edinburg, Texas, touched down at Dover around noon Tuesday.
• • •
A graduate of Kingwood High School was among three Marines who were killed Sunday while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Brandon Bury, 26, died during what Marine Corps officials said was a motor vehicle accident during convoy missions in the Helmand Province in southwest Afghanistan.

Also killed were Lance Cpl. Derek Hernandez, 20, of Edinburg, and Cpl. Donald Marler, 22, of St. Louis, Mo.
Bury's wife, Heather, and two small sons live in San Diego, Calif., where he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton..
Bury's relatives could not be reached for comment.
Bury was a seasoned combat veteran with two tours in Iraq already under his belt by the time he deployed to Afghanistan.

News about Bury's death quickly spread over social networking sites like Facebook. It was a bitter blow to other members of Kingwood High's Class of 2002.
“It's just heartbreaking. It wasn't easy news to take,” said fellow alum Adam Beier.
Joel Forey said he remembered wearing a Marine Corps T-shirt back in the sixth or seventh grade when Bury told him the shirt was “cool.”

“Even back in middle school, that was something he knew he wanted to do,” Forey said.
In his Myspace page, Bury had written that he missed the good times with his friends of Kingwood.
“One day I hope to move back there but don't tell my wife,” he joked.
Bury was literally the life of the party back in high school, Beier recalled.
“He was the guy who always had a smile on his face,” Beier said. “You always knew when he walked into the room.”

Forey, who serves in the Texas Air National Guard, is now training to control the Predator drone now being used in Afghanistan to support ground troops like Bury.
“It makes me want to hurry up and get out there and help,” Forey said.

Kingwood parents take action on recent spate of "runaways"

2010-06-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

KINGWOOD, Texas – The disappearances of seven teenage girls in less than two months have prompted a concerned parent to question the system that labels them "runaways."
Ira Kettles-Lemiska started a Facebook page to increase awareness about the girls, who all went missing near her Kingwood home.

Only one, Ali Lowitzer, has drawn much media attention. Lowitzer was last seen on April 26 getting off her school bus just feet from her home near Knotty Post Drive and Low Ridge Road in Spring.
Lowitzer, along with the other girls, have been labeled "runaways" by law enforcement officials, due to a lack of evidence of any foul play.

"The more involved I get, the more I’m hearing, ‘Oh no, they’re a teenager? Most likely, they’re a runaway.’ That’s just so not fair," said Kettles-Lemiska.

The Houston Police Department said it receives between 6,000 and 7,000 missing person reports a year. Most of them are runways.
HPD detectives said every call gets a missing person report opened, but to see if the teen is likely to be a runaway, they’ll check whether the teen took their cell phone or a change of clothes. Another question is whether that teen has a history of disappearance or criminal activity, and if he or she has used any social networking sites.

Law enforcement officials said having seven missing girls from the same area is not unusual. There are thousands of similar cases throughout the Houston area. The reality is, cases involving kidnapping or assault take priority and get more resources.

But that is small consolation to parents like Stacy Turner, whose 15-year-old daughter, Cynthia, disappeared from her grandmother’s northwest Houston home on April 12. She admits the teenager likely ran off, but that doesn’t make the ordeal any easier.

"Not knowing if she’s OK is the scariest part," she said. "They think that it was the child’s choice. But they’re just kids!"

Any parent who is worried about their missing child is urged to contact the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children.

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Texas Gulf Waits & Worries

2010-05-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

LAPORTE -- Richard Arnhart spends much of his days monitoring wind trajectories, scientific bulletins and TV newscasts.

Parts of an oily blob three times the size of Rhode Island -- and growing -- are believed by many experts to be lumbering closer to the Texas Gulf, and Arnhart is part of the first line of defense.
As a regional director for the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program in the Texas General Land Office, Arnhart is paid by the state to fight oil spills, and he's heavily involved in state and federal contingency planning for any possible impact on Texas from the massive oil spill lurking in the Gulf of Mexico.

Communities all along the Texas coast are making similar preparations as they join the rest of the world in tracking daily developments in one of the worst oil spill disasters in history.
No one knows for sure if remnants of the spill, which was about 160 miles east of the Lone Star State late last week, will reach Texas waters. The consensus seems to be that if there is an impact it will be in the form of tar balls or a frothy substance resembling chocolate mousse. Experts don't expect any residue to hit this far west for several weeks.

Beyond that, just what threat the spill poses for a region of the state whose economy and culture is tied to the gulf is difficult to gauge. Environmentalists warn of possibly irreversible damage to the state's fragile ecosystems and endangered wildlife. Others worry about potential losses to fishing and tourism, though local officials say they have yet to see any signs of an economic backlash.
"It's going to have an impact one way or another," said state Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, chairman of the state House Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness, which has scheduled a Monday hearing in McAllen to examine Texas preparations for the spill. "We swim in that ocean. We eat the food that comes out of that ocean. It's part of our [committee's] charge to be prepared for emergencies, and this is certainly an emergency that Texas should be prepared for."
'No news is good news'

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, whose office would be in charge of fighting residue from the spill and enforcing the cleanup, took steps late last week to calm fears about the oil slick.

"We're watching and waiting, but it's just not time to go to general quarters," said Patterson, who is scheduled to testify at Monday's hearing. "No news is good news."

Patterson sought to dispel TV reports that tar balls from the spill are already showing up on Texas beaches. Although tar balls occasionally wash ashore along the Texas Gulf, they may be decades old and could come from natural seepage or earlier spills, the land office said. An analysis on tar balls collected from Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island last week proved conclusively that the substance did not come from the oil slick in the gulf, said Cmdr. David Berliner of the Coast Guard.
Nevertheless, an out-of-control underwater gusher dumping more than thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf each day is impossible for Texans to ignore. Houston area residents watching TV last week, for example, might have seen ads aired by attorney Jim Adler offering his service to victims of the spill.

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Oil spill threatens already weakened wetlands

2010-05-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

by Brad Woodard / 11 News
khou.com

Crews depart with giant box to help Gulf oil leak
With millions of gallons of oil already in the gulf and massive underwater plumes that could poison and suffocate sea life across the food chain, experts say the damage from the spill could endure for a decade or more. For Galveston, however, the picture isn't quite as bleak.

"There may be some kind of effect coming this way, some little tarballs, but we'd be talking about almost three weeks into the future, which gives it more time to break up. More time to sink," said Peter Davis, chief of the Island's Beach Patrol.

If Davis doesn't seem overly concerned, it's because he's seen it all before.

"I've worked here for almost 30 years, and before that I was on the beach all the time," says Davis. "I remember in the 80s when there was less regulation; there was tar around a lot more."

Long before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, in fact, long before offshore drilling, tarballs were washing up on Texas beaches. The state estimates as much as a million barrels of crude oil leaked into the gulf through natural seepage in just the last year.

Although the coast is clear in Galveston, at least for the moment, some business owners along the seawall worry all the news surrounding the spill with scare off tourists.

"They don't know if there is oil or no oil," says Izzy Wolraich, the owner of four businesses on the Island. "And we know there's no oil.

There're afraid about poisoned fish and dirty water, but there's not a panic yet."

And that's what he fears the most.

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Kingwood Panthers Going For Gold!

2010-05-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

By Todd Hveem
Chronicle correspondent

The Kingwood Park Panthers will have several chances to bring home gold medals at the Class 4A state track meet on Friday at the University of Texas in Austin.

Shawn Barber might represent the Panthers’ best hopes of winning gold after capturing the Region III-4A pole vault title with a leap of 14 feet, 6 inches.

The Panthers finished fifth in the regional meet with 39 points.

The Lady Panthers, who finished second in the Region III-4A meet with 70 points, best hopes could come from Zahri Jackson in the 800 and 1,600 meters. Jackson won both events at regionals.

ABOUT THE MEET
Matchup: Class 4A state track meet

When: Friday

Where: University of Texas in Austin

At stake: Gold, silver and bronze medals

Kingwood Park boys to watch: Shawn Barber (14-6 in pole vault); Ian Ebow, Nick Rollo, Kolby Chandler and Brett Parker (3:15.33 in 4x400 relay).

Kingwood Park girls to watch: Zahri Jackson (5:09.85 in 1,600 meters and 2:15.29 in 800 meters); Grace Fletcher (11:14.19 in 3,200 meters); Jennifer Nwuli, Jackson, Nicole Aponte and Amadu Mariam (3:54.75 in 4x400 relay).

HIGHLIGHTS
Boys: The Panthers’ 4x400 relay team has a realistic shot to bring home a gold medal after running under 3:16 at regionals. Barber may have to go higher than 14-6 to get on the medal stand in the pole vault, but it all depends on the weather. A windy day could bring all eight competitors into play.

Girls: The Lady Panthers’ Jackson and Fletcher have played huge roles in Kingwood Park’s cross country success over the past two years and should do the same in track on Friday. Jackson is favored to score a rare double gold by winning the 800 meters and 1,600 meters in the same meet.

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Destination Round Rock for area baseball

2010-05-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

By SAM KHAN JR.
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

On the home side of Andy Wells Field in Kingwood, there's a small wooden sign that hangs with two words on it: Round Rock. They're short and simple but they speak volumes of the expectations.
“Every time you get a helmet or a bat, it's a constant reminder that that's why we're here,” Kingwood coach Kelly Mead said. “We're practicing for the ultimate goal. Every day you touch ‘Round Rock' but only if you can believe we can do it.”

Kingwood, the area's top-ranked Class 5A team, enters this postseason with the same goal that just about every other big school has — to get to Dell Diamond in Round Rock, home of the Class 5A and 4A state tournament.
While the Greater Houston area is virtually guaranteed at least one representative (from Region III-5A), the area is experiencing a brief drought in what has been over two decades of dominance in Texas Class 5A baseball. The last 5A champion from Greater Houston came in 2007, when Cy-Fair hoisted the state championship trophy.

The last time the area went three straight years without a champion in the University Interscholastic League's highest classification was 1972-1976 when Lubbock Monterey, Midland and Duncanville combined for five Class 4A titles in that span. The Houston area produced the next four 4A champs and since Class 5A baseball began in 1981, the area has produced 16 of the 29 state champions. From 1998-2007, the Houston area was home to eight of 10 champions in that span.
And while two or three years without a championship is nothing to get worked up about, there is a bit of local pride at stake coming into the postseason.
“We want to do it for us No. 1 and for Houston No. 2,” Mead said. “I feel that in the Houston area, the talent we breed is unbelievable. I believe it's the best in the state of Texas.”
Mead's no stranger to the state tournament. He was an assistant at Kingwood when the Mustangs earned state tournament berths in 2004 and 2005, which included a state championship in 2005.
In this year's playoff bracket, many of the Houston-area's usual suspects are lurking. In addition to Kingwood, Bellaire, Brazoswood, Memorial and Pearland are among the Region III-5A favorites and Klein, Cy-Fair, Cypress Falls, College Park, The Woodlands and Tomball are among the teams to watch in Region II-5A.

Seven of those teams have won a state championship since 1980. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll emerge from the pack - the last two Region III-5A champions have been teams that did not win their district - Bellaire in 2008 and Pearland in 2009.
“
The thing about the playoffs is that you just want to get in,” Bellaire coach Rocky Manuel said. “Nobody cares how you got in. Look at Butler in (NCAA) basketball. It's a giant tournament, the biggest tournament in the state of Texas and hopefully you win your round.”
Even if his team doesn't make it, Mead said he's hopeful that the 5A trophy returns to the area.
“When you have those Houston teams in there it makes you feel so much better,” he said. “When you go on a run and the team to that beats you wins it all, you know that you got beat by the best.”
sam.khan@chron.com

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Oil spill threatens Gulf Coast

2010-04-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- A huge oil spill oozing toward the Gulf Coast on Thursday threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, some in their prime breeding season, environmental organizations said.
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that the amount of oil spilling from an underwater well after an oil rig explosion last week has increased to as many as 5,000 barrels of oil a day, or 210,000 gallons, five times more than what was originally believed.

Although efforts to minimize the damage are under way and options under consideration include asking the U.S. military for assistance, wildlife conservation groups say the oil could pose a "growing environmental disaster."

"The terrible loss of 11 workers (unaccounted for after the rig explosion) may be just the beginning of this tragedy as the oil slick spreads toward sensitive coastal areas vital to birds and marine life and to all the communities that depend on them," said Melanie Driscoll, director of bird conservation for the Louisiana Coastal Initiative, in a statement.
Coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida could be at risk, the organization said.

"For birds, the timing could not be worse; they are breeding, nesting and especially vulnerable in many of the places where the oil could come ashore," she said. "The efforts to stop the oil before it reaches shore are heroic, but may not be enough. We have to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, including a true catastrophe for birds."

"The best case is, the wind shifts and the oil doesn't hit," said Tom MacKenzie of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "I'm not real confident about that. ... We're doing everything we can to prevent it, but it could be a bad one."

It's not just birds that could be affected, although they are usually the first to feel the effects, said Gregory Bossart, chief veterinary officer for the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. The birds are right at the surface, get covered in the oil and swallow it, causing liver and kidney problems.

"They need to be rescued and cleaned," he said.
But the coastline of Louisiana, with its barrier islands and estuaries, "is a very unique ecosystem. It's very complex," Bossart said.
Plankton found in the estuaries nourish organisms all the way up the food chain. Crabs, mussels, oysters and shrimp feed on the plankton, he said. Oil smothers the plankton, meaning they cannot eat.

Also, "the estuaries here are a nursery ground, literally a nursery ground, for the entire fish population in this area," Bossart said.

River otters in the region eat mussels and other animals. And "we know, in this area right now, that there are sperm whales. There are dolphins right in the oil slick," he said.
If an oil spill is small enough, animals can leave the area.
"Some of them can get away," Bossart said. "It's totally dependent on the size of the slick, and this is huge."

Exposure to the oil for a prolonged period of time can result in a toxic effect on the skin, and mammals can suffer lung damage or death after breathing it in, Bossart said.
"When the oil starts to settle, it'll smother the oyster beds. It'll kill the oysters," he said.

The Audubon Society, which is affiliated with the Louisiana Coastal Initiative, is recruiting volunteers in Florida and making its Center for Birds of Prey available for bird cleansing and rehabilitation. Elsewhere, Audubon said it was gearing up to mobilize volunteers and provide assistance as the oil reaches land.

The spill also threatens the Louisiana and Mississippi fishing industry, as crab, oysters and shrimp along the coast could be affected, along with numerous species of fish. Gulf shrimp are in their spawning season.

More than 400 species are threatened by the spill, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Thursday, citing the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
"When you stop and begin considering everything that this could impact, it really is stunning," Karen Foote, biologist administrator with the department, told the newspaper.

A handful of "Important Bird Areas" -- designated because of their value to bird species -- face immediate threat from the oil, the initiative said. They include the Chandeleur Islands and Gulf Islands National Seashore areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, along with the Active Delta area in Louisiana, which includes Delta Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area.

Several species of birds are cause for special concern, the Louisiana Coastal Initiative said. They include the brown pelican, the state bird of Louisiana, which nests on barrier islands and feeds near shore. The brown pelican's breeding season just began, according to the Initiative, and "many pairs are already incubating eggs."

The species was taken off the federal endangered species list last year, but "their relatively low reproductive rate means any disruption to their breeding cycle could have serious effects on the population."

More than 800 brown pelicans died when a smaller oil spill hit Louisiana's Breton Island National Wildlife Refuge a few years ago, MacKenzie said.

Species of beach-nesting terns and gulls, beach-nesting shorebirds, large wading birds, marsh birds and ocean-dwelling birds are also at risk, along with migratory shorebirds and songbirds, the Initiative said.

The migratory songbirds move across the Gulf during a two-week period from late April to early May, for instance.

"The journey across 500 miles of open water strains their endurance to its limits," the Initiative said. "They depend on clear skies and healthy habitats on both sides of the Gulf in order to survive the journey."

According to a 1998 study by Louisiana State University, more than 500 million birds fly over the Gulf and enter the United States along coastal areas in Louisiana and Texas each spring.
The barrier islands east of Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain have still not recovered from the blow dealt by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bossart said, and a spill such as this one could seriously threaten their recovery.

"I think at this point it would be wrong to say it's catastrophic, because it really hasn't hit any area except out in the Gulf proper," he said. But "it's certainly a very serious thing" that could pose a long-term environmental challenge.

Plans have been under way to protect wildlife since the spill was discovered, MacKenzie said. "We know what we're doing to try to protect those key assets. ... A lot of people are leaning forward in the foxhole to address this."

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Kingwood mother has all four limbs amputated after home birth

2010-04-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

by BRAD WOODARD / KHOU.com

KINGWOOD, TX-- At the Kingwood Country Club, they were courtside for Katy. A tennis fund raiser that served as testament to the kindness of strangers.

"I didn't know Katy," says event organizer Tanya Robinson, "but her story touched me and I had to do more."

What they did collectively, was raise $12,500 for Kingwood resident Katy Hayes, who recent wanted her third child to be born at home.

"She had a midwife, was very healthy through her entire pregnancy, working and exercising up until she had the baby," says Michelle Dykstra, a family friend.

Ten weeks ago, Katy gave birth to a new daughter, Arielle. Soon thereafter, friends say, she started feeling pain but delayed going to the emergency room for four days. In the end, all four of katy's limbs had to be amputated because of a Streptococcal A infection. She's currently fighting for her life in a special unit at a Dallas hospital.

There are simply no words to explain how unfortunate the situation is, but it begs the question: What are the risks versus the benefits when it comes to home births?
Michelle Moeller has been a certified nurse midwife since 1989.
"Infection in home birth is very, very rare," Moeller says. "People are more accustomed to the bacteria and germs in their own home, so they're less likely to get an infection."

"That's utterly nonsense," says Dr. Joseph Salinas, who heads the Women's Center at the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic.

"I'm opposed to home birth," says Dr. Salinas. "There's too many variables to risk the mother's and baby's life in home birth."

Two health care professionals. Two very different perspectives. And one family struggling to redefine itself.

Stacey's Dance Studio of Kingwood Wins National Titles

2010-04-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

Stacey's Dance Studio is once again home to national champions. The Kingwood Strutters competition team won several national titles at the 2010 American Dance/Drill Team Nationals on March 26-27 at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX.

For team competition, Stacey's Junior White 4-6 grade intermediate team won for its lyrical dance to "Proud to be an American" choreographed and directed by Tanya Thompson. First runner ups in the lyrical division were Stacey's Junior Purple team grades 4-6 and its Babe White team grades 1-3. The Junior Purple was the fifth place team overall for combined scores at Nationals which included another 1st runner up finish in the prop division.

In the solo division, two Stacey's dancers were crowned national champions. Camille Burton, a kindergartener at Shadow Forest Elementary School, won the Pre-K division. Clara Foster, a sixth grader at Kingwood Middle School, was the solo winner for grades 4-6 with teammate Sydney Ballou taking 1st runner up honors.

Ballou and Sydney Fletcher, both in sixth grade at Riverwood Middle School, were named the national champions in the duet division for grades 4-6. Two other duets from Stacey's placed in the top three at nationals. For grades 1-3, Kennedy Knight and Lauryn Santilena were 1st runners up and Colleen Canavan and Haven Vessels were 2nd runners up.

For small ensembles, two 4-6 grade ensembles tied for 2nd runner up. They were the trio of Lauren Chachere, Amy Felder and Jamie Hawkins, and the quartet of Haley Sauer, Teigan Ahrendt, Allyson Axum and Peyton Nichols.

In the officers' division, Stacey's senior officers grades 7-9 reign as national champs for their modern dance. Stacey's Babe officers were 1st runners up for their hip hop routine.

Stacey's Dance Studio will perform its award winning routines at the Let's Dance 2010 Spring Recital on May 7-8 at Kingwood High School gymnasium. For show times, visit: www.staceysdancestudio.com

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Harris County deputy fatally shoots Atascocita man, pit bull

2010-04-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

KHOU:

ATASCOCITA, Texas—A Harris County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed an armed suspect early Friday morning in Atascocita.
A Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Christina Garza said deputies responded to reports of an assault at Mulligan’s, a bar on FM 1960, shortly after midnight. The investigation took them to a home in the 3800 block of Beckett Ridge, just south of Will Clayton Parkway.
Garza said when one of the deputies, a 19-year veteran, knocked on the front door of the home, the homeowner came to the door armed with a rifle.

The deputy was able to get the suspect to put the rifle down, but the two men began to argue.
Garza said the deputy then reached for his Taser and fired it at the man, but it had no effect on him.
As the struggle continued, Garza said the suspect gained control of the Taser and tried to place it against the deputy’s shoulder. According to the sheriff’s office, that’s when the deputy stepped back and fired several shots from his service weapon in self-defense.

The suspect collapsed and died near the front doorway of the home.
Garza said the homeowner’s large pit bull, agitated by the confrontation, became aggressive, and the deputy was forced to shoot and kill the dog as well.
The deputy was not injured.

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Kingwood Area Republican Women honor Williams

2010-04-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Anne McIlhany

During the March monthly meeting for the Kingwood Area Republican Women, Texas state Sen. Tommy Williams was honored with an award for his service and commitment.
Williams thanked the club for the honor, and went on to discuss top issues facing the state for the 82nd legislative session.

One topic fresh on everyone’s minds was the recent passing of the healthcare bill. Williams discussed what this would mean for Texas.

“This will be 24.3 billion dollars that Texas will have to spend over this,” he said. “It will have a five billion dollar impact on the next session…the worst part of the bill is forcing the states to pay for their bad idea.”

Williams went on to praise Texas, calling the state a “shining example of how conservatism works.”

He pointed out how 3,500 people leave California every week, while 1,500 pour into Texas every week.

“We need to remind people why they are moving to Texas,” said Williams. “Not because of government services, it is because of opportunity.”

Williams went on to discuss the importance of working hard to get a Republican majority.

“I believe that most of America is right of center, I think there is a lot of buyer’s remorse,” he said. “And we need to welcome them back home to the Republican party; I’d like to say thank you and let’s get to work.”

Following William’s talk, KARW presented some of the candidates who will be in the runoff in the primary election on April 13, including Marc Brown and Danny Dexter, candidates for the 180th District Court; Rick Green, in the race for the Texas Supreme Court;Ed Hubbard, in the runoff for Harris County Republican chair; and Alice O’Neill and James Lombardino, in the runoff for the 308th District Court.

Finally, KARW gave Texas House District 127 candidates Susan Curling and Dan Huberty a few minutes to speak to the club about their positions.

Curling stressed that taxes were the primary issue she felt voters were concerned with; Huberty emphasized education.

The Kingwood Area Republican Women meet on the third Wednesday of every month. For more information, visit www.kingwoodarearepublicanwomen.org.

Photo: Alice Rekeweg of KARW presents Texas state Sen. Tommy Williams with a special award in recognition of his service. Photo by Anne McIlhany

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Hotel plans cause uproar in Friendswood

2010-04-05T06:44:00.001-07:00

by Hayley Kappes / The Daily News
Posted on April 5, 2010 at 8:19 AM
******
Galveston Daily News Web site
FRIENDSWOOD, Texas — A proposed Sleep Inn and Suites at the corner of FM 528 and San Joaquin Parkway has caused uproar from residents in nearby subdivisions since the project was announced last November.

The three-story, 60-room hotel will be located next to the Boca Raton subdivision.

A major concern for opponents is the hotel’s proximity to Windsong Intermediate School, which sits diagonally across FM 528.

"We’re not opposed to commercial development on that property, but a motel is the wrong use," Ed Dondzila, secretary of the Boca Raton subdivision homeowners association, said. "It doesn’t make sense. It’s eight miles from (Interstate) 45, and there’s no tourist attraction in Friendswood."

Dondzila and other residents in Boca Raton, San Joaquin, Keystone, Falcon Ridge and Sunmeadow developments oppose the hotel because they think it will decrease their property values and increase criminal activity.

City council members have not addressed residents’ concerns about the hotel, nor have they outlined any benefits a hotel would offer the city, Mark and Jackie Taylor, residents of Boca Raton subdivision, said.

Hotel property owner Ajay Jain told a Houston TV station he has not secured the loan to build the hotel and does not know if it will go through.

Friendswood’s current ordinances allow hotels and motels to be built on property zoned for community shopping centers.

Friendswood city council will consider today a change to the way community shopping properties are zoned, which will prevent hotels and motels from automatically qualifying for those properties. The ordinance change also will require a hotel developer to obtain a special use permit approved by the city council, which requires greater scrutiny, Mayor David Smith said.

The change to the city’s zoning laws will not affect the proposed Sleep Inn and Suites because it falls under the current ordinance.

The hotel is not a done deal, however. Jain has submitted site plans to the city, and the planning and zoning commission will review the plans April 15. He can obtain a building permit only after planning and zoning approves the plans.

Today’s city council meeting will have a first reading of the ordinance change, and the second reading will take place in two weeks when the council will vote on the matter, Smith said.

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Alligators in the sewers?

2010-04-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

As summer approaches, Texans head for the water. Many are unaware that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Association estimates there are as many as 1,000 alligators living in Lake Houston, the San Jacinto River and the waterways connected to them. Alligators can grow to be 12 to 14 feet long, and there have been several recent sightings.
"I walk my dog every Saturday and Sunday," said Bob Rehak, Kingwood Service Association Parks Committee. "I've photographed alligators at East End Park and I watch out for them. Recently, my dog and a couple others had just waded into the water when I spotted an alligator. Apparently we were too close to its nest. The alligator bellowed and hissed."

Rehak said the dogs were called out of the water as the alligator, some distance off, started toward them.

"There was another recent sighting. A Kingwood photographer, Mike Beswick, spotted five alligators at dawn near the boat launch at River Grove Park."

Rehak said Beswick told him he "saw these strange eyes gazing at him." Rehak said alligators are territorial and will approach a canoe or kayak. Beswick, according to Rehak, paddled about a quarter of a mile with the alligators trailing him, before they lost interest and swam away.

"Everyone needs to be aware they are in the area," said Rehak. "Alligators are able to hide in as little as 18 inches of water, and they are perfectly camouflaged. People swim in the lake, and since the alligators are rarely seen, many people don't believe they are there."

Rehak said that alligators are a part of the natural world and the parks' ecosystems. He said they feed on wild hogs, blue herons, fish, turtles and nutria, a semi-aquatic rat-like rodent that can weigh up to 20 pounds.

He said there is no record of anyone in Kingwood every being harmed by an alligator, but warns that people should not feed them, as this will encourage them to see people as an easy food source. Rehak said it is a Class C misdemeanor to feed them and that a person can be fined up to $500.

He said as long as their space is respected, alligators should not pose a problem. He added that the most troublesome times for them are at dawn and dusk, when they commonly feed, and in the fall, when their eggs hatch and their territorial instincts kick in. Most alligators nest in June and their eggs hatch from late August to early September.

"Unless you're faster than Olympic runner Carl Lewis, you can't out run an alligator," said Rehak. "If you see one, just back away and call Texas Parks and Wildlife at 281-842-8100 if one becomes a nuisance."

Those classified as a nuisance are those that have lost their natural fear of humans or are behaving aggressively.

He said the alligators seen in this area are the same variety one would see in the zoo. He said at one time they were a protected species, but are now culled during hunting season.

"It's against the law to hunt on KSA property. As long as a person stays on the trails, they are no threat," he said.

He said the animals have staged a remarkable comeback and are highly adaptable. He said they can be found in Anahuac, High Island and in rivers and bayous as far north as Dallas.

For information on how alligators are an important part of the local ecosystem, visit http://eastendpark.com/naturessigns/treescars.html.

Photo by Bob Rehak

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Bank Robber sought in Kingwood.

2010-03-10T14:47:00.001-08:00

The man in this image, taken from surveillance video, reportedly robbed the Smart Financial Credit Union in Kingwood

A man initially portrayed himself as a customer before pulling a pistol on a teller during a bank robbery in Kingwood, FBI officials said today.

The robber struck about 11:20 a.m. Tuesday at the Smart Financial Credit Union, 1120 Kingwood Drive, FBI officials said.

After first asking a teller about making a withdrawal from his account, the robber produced a silver revolver and demanded money, FBI officials said.

When the teller gave him an undisclosed amount of cash, the robber fled into a nearby residential neighborhood. There were no reported injuries, FBI officials said.

The robber is 30-35, about 6-feet, with a thin or medium build. He wore a black sweatshirt, blue jeans and a white cap during the holdup, FBI officials aid.

Crime Stoppers will offer up to $5,000 for information leading to his capture. Call 713-222-TIPS (8477).

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Warrant roundup begins ...

2010-03-05T07:14:00.001-08:00

Thayer Evans wrote:
If you have any tickets you haven't gotten around to paying, this is the week to take care of them.

League City, Friendswood, Houston and other cities around Clear Lake will join hundreds of jurisdictions participating in the Great Texas Warrant Roundup this weekend.

Starting Saturday, March 6, police will be visiting homes, schools and workplaces to arrest those with outstanding warrants from municipal courts.

Most of the offenses involve unpaid traffic or parking tickets but more serious violations are included, and no amnesty is being offered. Those with outstanding warrants can be arrested at any location.

Cities are mailing notices to the last known address of those with warrants.

League City Police Chief Mike Jez said those with warrants needs to resolve them before the roundup. His police department will have “quite a few” officers participating in it this year, he said.

“The message to folks right now is avoid getting arrested on your job site or an embarrassing moment,” Jez said. “Come take of things. It’ll save you time, money and embarrassment. It’s something that’s easily avoidable. Most of them are minor offense violations anyway.”

If you think there may be a warrant out on you, contact your local municipal court to find out how to post a bond.

Clear Lake's Houston residents can call 713-731-3950 or visit the city's Clear Lake police station at 2855 Bay Area Blvd. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Man Helps Shooting Victim Get Medical Attention

2010-03-02T07:25:00.001-08:00

HUMBLE, Texas - Investigators say a good samaritan picked up a woman who had been shot in northeast Harris County and drove her to a convenience store to get help.

Harris County Sheriff's deputies say the shooting took place at approximately 11:45 p.m. Sunday at The Park at Stone Creek apartments on Mesa Drive near Audubon Forest Drive.

The woman was apparently driving her car out of the complex when someone opened fire on her. She was shot at least twice and crashed her car at the main entrance of the complex.

The good samaritan found her at the entrance, put her in his car and drove her to a convenience store at the intersection of Beltway 8 at Old Humble Road to call 911.

The woman was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in serious but stable condition.

Investigators have not revealed if they were able to find any witnesses to the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Man throws puppies off of Port Arthur sea wall.

2010-02-23T07:58:00.001-08:00

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) - Three rescued puppies are recovering after being thrown over a seawall and on to some rocks in Port Arthur.

Firefighters rescued the crying pups and placed the creatures with animal control.

KFDM-TV reports the man who tossed the animals on Sunday was heard saying he was "turning them into soldiers." A bystander noticed the abandoned puppies and summoned help.

Pat Lavergne with Port Arthur Animal Control says the puppies, with health problems such as mange, were at the shelter Tuesday and available for adoption. She described them as a retriever mix.

The owner of the dogs, who was not immediately located, could face animal cruelty charges.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry Speaks at LSC-University Park Event - Kingwood

2010-02-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

The symposium was hosted by ProfilesHouston.com Magazine, along with the North Houston Association, the Houston North Economic Forum, and the Greater Tomball Area, Lake Houston Area, Houston Northwest and Houston Intercontinental chambers of commerce.

"Although Texas leads the nation in so many positive categories - from Fortune 500 companies to job creation - we owe it to our citizens to strive for more," Perry told the breakfast group. "We need to stay ahead of our country's tough economic situation by adhering to proven conservative fiscal disciplines.

"People still want a few basic things from their government, starting with freedom," he said. "They want to live their lives free of oppression to make a dollar and the ability to keep more of what they earn and have a safe place to live.

"Here in Texas, we believe that the government's job is to stick to the basics, sustain a competitive culture, and then get out of the way," Perry said.

Other speakers at the event, in addition to Gov. Perry, included: State Sen. Dan Patrick, District 7: State Rep. Patricia Harless, District 126; State Rep. Debbie Riddle, District 150; Jerry Eversole, Harris County Commissioner, Pct. 4; Craig Doyal, Montgomery County Commissioner, Pct. 2; and Dr. Richard Carpenter, LSCS chancellor .

Commissioner Eversole told the attendees that Harris County is in a financial stretch for the first time in 20 years. At the same time, Eversole was optimistic. "Things have bottomed out and should be moving upwards in 2010," he said.

Eversole praised college officials for the new facility at LSC-University Park and said it would "go down in history" as one of the most important things to happen to the northwest Harris County area.

Texas Sen. Patrick said that the entire nation would be looking at LSC-University Park. "This is a model for the United States, and definitely for Texas," Patrick said.

LSC-University Park opened in January with about 4,000 students, and in addition to two-year degrees, will offer four-year degrees later this year through a partnership with multiple four-year universities.

"I believe that within less than 10 years, there will be 16,000 to 20,000 students on this campus," Patrick said.

The symposium at LSC-University Park was held to analyze the greater north Houston area's economic issues and to allow the participants to create shared visions for the future, along with innovative strategies to accomplish the visions set.

SEE ORIGINAL POST AT KINGWOOD.COM

LA Times: Capybara puts Alvin on map

2010-02-10T08:33:00.001-08:00

LA TIMES:

It's one thing to get a goldfish because your daughter begs for one. It's quite another to end up with a 100-pound rodent who has more than 2,700 Twitter followers.

Caplin Rous is a capybara. Related to the guinea pig, the capybara is the largest species of rodent. Though they're native to South America, Caplin was born in Texas and lives in the town of Buda with Melanie Typaldos, who never expected this animal to take over her life quite the way he has.

Typaldos says it all started on a trip to Venezuela, when her daughter Coral got to hold a young capybara and "fell in love."

"After we got back, she pretty relentlessly pestered me about getting one for a pet," Typaldos says. "Since Coral lived in an apartment and was planning on spending a year in Asia, she couldn't have a pet capybara herself so, she felt, it was up to me to fulfill her capybara vision."

Even capybaras that are bred in captivity like Caplin are not domesticated animals, so early handling and contact is critical for them to be comfortable living with people. Typaldos got Caplin when he was only 11 days old, and took him to work every day for the first three months. Then, "someone complained there was a furry, pig-like animal in the building," and she took a month of vacation and stayed home with him.

Caplin Rous is now 2 1/2. The second part of his name, which Typaldos pronounces like "rose," stands for "Rodent of Unusual Size" (a reference to the movie "The Princess Bride"). He's also a rodent of unusual abilities. He can walk on a leash and even do some tricks, but Typaldos says it's important not to exaggerate any similarity to a dog doing tricks.

"Dogs have thousands of years of being trained to be subservient to people," she says. "A capybara will not do a trick just to make me happy. The quality of the trick is very dependent on the quality of the treat."

Most people who keep capybaras keep them as farm animals, like a sheep or goat, but Caplin basically lives indoors with Typaldos (he eliminates in a pan of water in her bathroom). Outdoor space is necessary as well for grazing and swimming in his pool; in the wild, capybaras are semi-aquatic, diving into rivers to escape predators. Somewhat ponderous on land, capybaras are surprisingly graceful in the water.

"On land he's not very active," she says. "When he's in the water he's like another animal. That's where he's really the happiest."

There's no way of knowing how many private individuals own capybaras, but Justin Damesta, a breeder in Alvin, Texas, says that he sells five to 10 of them a year as pets.

Damesta recommends that a pet capybara be raised indoors for the first few months and then kept outdoors with sturdy fencing, a heated shelter and a pool. Potential buyers who contact him are usually fairly well informed, but, he says, "I have and will turn down people I don't consider qualified or capable."

Some other pet capybaras also can be followed on the Internet, such as Dobby in Seattle. But Typaldos is probably unique in the way she has made the capybara her mission: She spends a couple of hours a day updating Caplin's Internet presence on a blog and social networking sites.

When asked how much time it takes to care for a capybara, she says, "I spend all my time with him, but that's a matter of choice."

Caplin's Web activities are partly fun -- such as interactive games of "Rodent Jeopardy" -- with a serious educational purpose, too. "When I was thinking of getting him, there was nothing on the Web about getting a pet capybara," says Typaldos. "That was a large impetus for the blog. They're not the right pet for most people."

Typaldos has a background in biology, and also keeps horses and reptiles. Her property is big enough that Caplin can graze and swim, and she lives in a climate appropriate for a tropical animal.

On her blog, she's honest about the problems in caring for a capybara. When people ask her about getting one, she tells them first to read her whole blog, including the entries about when he has bitten her.

But Typaldos also sees Caplin as an ambassador of sorts.

"People don't like rodents," she says, but many rodents make good pets. Her kids had pet rats when they were young. "If someone says something bad about rats, on the blog or Facebook, he'll always step in and say something."

LINK TO ORIGINAL STORY WITH MORE PHOTOS

Author publishes first children’s book

2010-02-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

By Jim Higgins
Special to The Daily News
Published February 10, 2010

LEAGUE CITY — Hurricane Rita uprooted trees and lives in East Texas in 2005, but one young woman who evacuated from the storm put down new roots in League City and began writing new chapters of her life.

The path she followed and the career she chose would at first glance seem incongruous to everyone except Christina Smith, who is as comfortable around pumps and compressors as she is reading Dr. Seuss or reciting Leonard Cohen poems.

But it is writing children’s stories and poetry that Christina Smith enjoys the most after a day of studying pumps and compressors in College of the Mainland’s process technology associate degree program.

“My dad has an English degree and reads more than anyone I have ever known but decided to work in the plants back in Orange where I grew up,” the full-time COM students and single mother of a 2-year old, said.

“My dad and mom read to me as a child. My mom wrote poetry. I guess I got my love of words from them.”

Her love for her young daughter, Samantha, coupled with a love of words led her to pen her first children’s book last year, “Skeeter Sneeter Doodlebop.”

“I came up with the name Skeeter Sneeter Doodlebop one day just talking nonsense to Sam, my little girl, when she was barely born.

“I wrote the name down and just built the story around it. Amy, a friend and illustrator who lost everything in Hurricane Ike, went with her own imagination to draw the characters.

“They are very unique-looking characters, unlike any I have seen before.”

After several rejection letters from publishers, Skeeter was picked up by Nimblebooks and became the publisher’s first children’s book.

Smith said the book, which can be purchased online, is doing quite well for an unknown author.

“Children’s books are the best. They are the happiest books on earth. They are filled with imagination and hope and offer a peacefully simplistic outlook on life in comparison to other genres.”

She already is working on her second children’s book, “Skeeter Uses Manners.” It will be available this spring. A book of her poetry, Orange Smiles and Simple Truths also was published this year.

Smith also works 25 to 30 hours a week for a local diving company.

So how will this single mom with a toddler in tow and a passion to write balance all that plus shift work once she graduates in December 2010?

“My mom and sister moved up here to help me out when I had Sam. It is because of them that I can actually do homework or go to Phi Theta Kappa events. It works out great, and Sam never has to be anywhere but at home even if I have a night class. I honestly couldn’t do it without them.

“Lone Star Diving Inc. is my adopted family. They have helped me with everything from actually getting into school, truck repairs, feeding me and even helping me study for tests. I am blessed to be surrounded by people who care about me and my future.

“I know there will be times that are hard because of shift work, but I also know that it is the quality of time you spend with a child that outranks the quantity. I am doing this all for her and I know that one day she will understand. We are going to be just fine.”

Dr. Conrad Murray to surrender today.

2010-02-03T06:33:00.001-08:00

Dr. Conrad Murray is expected to surrender to authorities in Los Angeles this week on charges related to Michael Jackson's death, according to The Associated Press and CNN. Murray arrived in Los Angeles recently from Houston in anticipation of a decision from the district attorney's office, spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik told the AP..

"Dr. Murray is in Los Angeles for a dual purpose — on family business and to be available for law enforcement," Sevcik told the AP. "We're trying to be as cooperative as we can."

"Dr. Murray is more than ready to surrender and answer to any charges," Ed Chernoff, one of Murray's lawers, told CNN, adding that prosecutors have not announced any charges, and Murray has not been told how or where he should surrender.

No official comment has been made about when charges might, come; David Walgren, the deputy district attorney handling the case, declined to comment to the AP on Tuesday (February 2).

Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the AP that Murray is likely to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's June 25 death from an anesthetic overdose. Murray has denied criminal wrongdoing.

"We continue to maintain that Dr. Murray neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed Michael Jackson," Sevcik said.

Earlier this year, TMZ reported that the Los Angeles Police Department had completed its investigation into Jackson's death and was preparing to send the case to the DA's office within weeks.

Murray has told investigators that he administered the surgical anesthetic propofol, as well as other tranquilizers, to Jackson several times in the hours leading up to his death, and the coroner has ruled the singer died of lethal levels of the drug. Involuntary manslaughter charges would require prosecutors to show that Murray engaged in gross negligence in his actions but did not intend to cause harm or death to Jackson.

Cleanup under way in 462,000-gallon oil spill off Port Arthur

2010-01-25T06:08:00.001-08:00

CNN) -- Crews removed about 46,000 gallons of oil from waters near Port Arthur, Texas, on Sunday, roughly 10 percent of the oil spilled a day earlier when a tanker collided with two barges, a U.S. Coast Guard officer said.

An estimated 462,000 gallons of crude oil leaked from barrels aboard the tanker, forcing the closure of the port in southern Texas, Petty Officer Larry Chambers told CNN. The Sabine Neches Waterway near Port Arthur also was closed. It was unclear Sunday when the port, about 100 miles east of Houston, Texas, will reopen or when crews will finish the cleanup, he said.

"We certainly want it to be done as soon as possible, but with that said, safety is the main issue," Chambers said. "We're not going to open the port until it's determined that vessels can pass through cleanly, safely and not cause any further damage."

No injuries were reported when the Exxon Mobile-chartered tanker -- the 807-foot Eagle Otome -- collided Saturday with two barges being towed by a tug boat. The tanker was carrying about 570,000 gallons of crude oil to Exxon's Beaumont refinery when it crashed, Exxon Mobile spokesman Kevin Allexon told CNN. The cause of the crash was unknown, but is under investigation, he said.

"We are very concerned about how this could have happened," Allexon said. "We are very concerned about the impact to the environment, to the community. No one wants to see this happen."

The port is primarily for industrial use, but it is not far from wetlands. None of the nearby marshes or sensitive wildlife were adversely affected, Chambers said, but one heron was "oiled." The bird was alive and undergoing treatment, he said.

An evacuation order that was imposed in a 50-block area around the port after the collision was lifted. That area was evacuated Saturday out of caution, as the tanker was carrying a type of oil containing sulfide.

Fifteen skimming vessels sailed the area recovering the oil and workers dropped more than 45,000 feet of boom -- fencing-like material -- to keep the oil from spreading, Chambers said. More than 500 people were involved in containing and cleaning the spill, said Darrell Wilson, spokesman for Malaysia-based AET Tanker Holdings, the owner of the tanker.

The biggest oil spill in U.S. history occurred in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in the Gulf of Alaska, resulting in the spill of 11 million gallons of crude.

Community builds home for injured soldier

2010-01-19T06:21:00.000-08:00

Volunteers who are a part of the Homes For Our Troops build brigade raise a wall in the home being built for Anthony Thompson who was injured on his second tour of Iraq.

By JENNIFER SUMMER
Updated: 01.19.10
It took less than four days for volunteer and construction crews to put up the walls and seal the home in the Waters Edge subdivision for former Humble resident PO 2nd Class Anthony Thompson.

As a part of the Homes for Our Troops program, crews which included Kingwood resident John Lavezzari worked from Jan. 7 through Jan. 9 to assemble the home for the injured veteran.

Thompson was injured during his second deployment to Iraq in 2007 when a dump truck detonated improvised explosive devices at the post he was watching.

Due to the incident, he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury, a punctured right lung along with other scrapes and bruises. Thompson’s wife, Ivonne, was put in touch with Homes for Our Troops and was immediately approved for a home after she submitted the application.

Established in 2004, Homes for Our Troops is an organization that receives donated materials and labor to build homes for veterans who have severe multiple injuries.

“When I called the organization for an application, I was told that they heard of Anthony and were waiting for me to call,” Ivonne said in an interview with the Observer in August. “This program is so wonderful because it helps wounded veterans like Anthony get a home, which takes the burden off of the family.”

The Build Brigade descended upon the plot of land where the Thompsons’ new home was scheduled to be built and were hard at work to build the family’s dream home.

Lavezzari first become involved with Homes for Our Troops in 2006 when he responded to an advertisement and offered his services. The first home build he was assigned to was in the Canyon Lake area outside of San Antonio and he was asked to evaluate the site.

“Soon after I helped evaluate the site, I was offered the position as the director of the San Antonio Homes for Our Troops,” Lavezzari said. “When this job in Waters Edge came up, I was ecstatic because this is the community I live and work in. My son, Brian Lavezzari, and I jumped on the opportunity to help the Thompsons.”

Lavezzari’s son is now the overseer of the Homes for Our Troops in San Antonio.

The event started with a ceremony where almost 125 people from the community showed up in support along with the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group and officers from U.S. Customs who are now the Thompsons’ neighbors.

Ivonne was escorted to the special event by both groups to the ceremony after she flew in to the Humble area since Anthony currently resides in New Jersey.

The Build Brigade consisted of several community members including Doug Stanley and Rick Alspaugh, who donated paint among other things to the build as well as representatives from Pulte Homes and other sponsors.

“The home will be completely finish and available for the Thompsons to move into near the beginning of March,” Lavezzari said. “It truly is amazing to see the community step forward to help build this home and honor Anthony and his family; it is very motivational.”

Upon completion, there is a key ceremony where the home will be dedicated to the family.

For more information about Homes for Our Troops, log on to www.homesfortroops.com.

Longtime East Texas pastor dies

2010-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

By JIMMY ISAAC
Sunday, January 10, 2010

A HiWay 80 Rescue Mission former chaplain who was pastor of at least five East Texas Baptist churches has died.

The Rev. James Allen Kirkland died Tuesday at a hospice in Humble. He was 77.

During his 50 years in ministry, he was pastor at Greggton Missionary Baptist Church, Overton Missionary Baptist Church, White Oak Baptist Church, Parkway Missionary Baptist Church in Longview, Grapeland Missionary Baptist Church and Galena Park Missionary Baptist Church near Houston.

He also served as librarian at Texas Baptist Institute in Henderson for several years, and taught seminaries in Romania and Russia for a dozen years.

His daughter, Kelli Hines, said Kirkland spent three years at Greggton before working with Longview Missionary Baptist Church to establish a mission that became Parkway Missionary Baptist Church in 1977. He was pastor there for three years before beginning an 18-year stint as pastor in White Oak, she said.

Hines said it didn't matter what a person's circumstances were, but that if you were in need, her father would help. He was rescue mission chaplain for more than six years until 2007.

"He loved people because he loved God, and he knew that God had created each one of us for a special purpose here on this earth," Hines said. "His passion for people."

Kirkland is survived by his wife, Joanne Lewis Kirkland, who he met in a chemistry class at Kilgore College in 1951. He is also survived by their daughters and sons-in-law Jamie and Kurt Streck of Rockdale, Jena Crim of Austin, Ann and Kent Jerden of Humble, and Kelli and Todd Hines of Spring.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Kingwood Funeral Home in Kingwood. For information about the services, to leave a note for the family or to make a donation to charities (in lieu of flowers) visit http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/Kirkland

Harris County Residents Should Prepare for Freezing Temperatures - Kingwood

2010-01-05T07:07:00.001-08:00

By: Harris County Homeland Security & Emergency Management

The Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (OHSEM) reminds area residents to take precautions to protect life and property during the winter weather, including checking on elderly, taking care of pets and livestock, protecting plants and exposed plumbing.

Here are some tips for dealing with freezing temperatures (remember the four "P's"):

PROTECT PEOPLE
. Keep warm, stay inside if possible.
. If you need to go out, dress in layers and wear hats, gloves and an appropriate coat.
. Avoid overexertion, as cold weather puts added strain on your body.
. Observe heater safety:
o Never place a space heater on top of furniture or near water.
o Keep heat sources at least 3 feet away from furniture and drapes.
o Never leave children unattended near a space heater.

PROTECT PETS
. Bring pets inside, and move other animals or livestock to sheltered areas.
. Keep adequate food and water available.

PROTECT PIPES
. Disconnect outdoor hoses, drain and store in protected area.
. Wrap exposed faucets and pipes - including those outside the house or in unheated crawl spaces, attics, garages and other areas.

PROTECT PLANTS
. Bring potted plants inside or store in garage near interior wall to provide extra warmth and protection from wind.
. For cold-sensitive outdoor plants, put down extra mulch and consider covering with a cloth fabric of some kind to shield the plants from wind and frost.

Protect yourself from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning by installing a battery-operated CO detector and never using generators, grills, camp stoves, or similar devices indoors.

It is also recommended that you prepare your car for winter. Have your car serviced and add antifreeze as needed.

Lufkin hit by tornado.

2009-12-24T07:35:00.001-08:00

By Whitney Grunder -
LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - Severe storms ripped through parts of East Texas Wednesday evening. Some Lufkin neighborhoods sustained extensive damage from a possible tornado.

Among them is the Lufkin VFW, which is now gone. The damage comes right after 10,000 dollars worth of recent tile work. A check for the construction was written Wednesday, before the storm hit.

One resident living near Gipson Funeral Home on Chestnut Street even reported seeing caskets in his backyard.
Jakoia Grimes and her children were happy to have made it safely out of their Lufkin apartment, before their entire roof collapsed. "I looked up and I just saw the light from outside and I had my girls come and sit by the door, and within minutes the entire roof caved in," said Grimes, who is now staying with family members.

Jennifer Mays watched the tornado touch down right outside Stephens Court Apartments. She described it as "massive." She said, "I couldn't believe it was so powerful to the point that it just opened up my door."
Next door, owners sifted through what remained of their welding business, part of Lufkin for 25 years. Max's Welding Shop on Denman Avenue was completely destroyed.
Owners said they can't blame God for the severe weather, and that fortunately another shop behind the building stands untouched by the storm.

"I think we're going to be able to salvage some of our equipment. I think we're going to be alright," said co-owner Betty Purgahn.
Cheddars employees also witnessed a tornado touch down in the middle of the Olive Garden parking lot. "I heard a bunch of commotion and they were talking about the patio chairs were nearly about to hit some cars so we ran to try to help," said Cheddars employee Brad Barrow.

According to witnesses, other than damaging a few of the vehicles parked in the Olive Garden parking lot, the tornado did not affect any of the buildings. The Department of Public Safety reported that the tornado lifted back up, and did not cause any injuries.
Utility crews were also working to remedy power outages caused by toppled power poles. Thursday morning, thousands of residents were without power. An Oncor spokesperson said approximately 2,500 customers were without power in the Lufkin area.

So far no severe injuries have been reported.

Captured escapee says prison staff helped him

2009-12-09T06:44:00.001-08:00

by KHOU.com Staff

Posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:50 AM

CONROE, Texas—The escaped prisoner who was the focus of a week-long manhunt told a local activist that he had help from the inside. Convicted child rapist Arcade Comeaux said the weapon he used to hijack guards was in his cell for at least three weeks.

Questions still surround the prison system that allowed Comeaux to dupe authorities for years. The supposedly partially-paralyzed man managed to walk away from the guards and right into controversy.
Authorities are asking two questions; why didn’t prison officials realize Comeaux was faking his medical condition, and where did he get the gun?
Local activist Quanell X said Comeaux told him he had help from the inside.

“He named that guard and he also named someone who is involved in medical who had been giving him medical assistance,” Quanell X said.

But prison officials said Comeaux has not shared that information with investigators so there are no arrests at this time.
“This feels like the inmate is running the asylum,” said a former TDCJ staff member who remembers Comeaux clearly.
“He would sit in the food. Of course it would dry and start smelling. He refused to shower, refused to clean himself, basically saying ‘I’m immobile, I need someone to do this for me.’”

The former staff member said Comeaux orchestrated a deliberate campaign of extortion, despite medical reports that he was able to care for himself. He said Comeaux manipulated the system to get health assistance and better housing.
A grand jury on Thursday will hear the case against the convicted sex offender who was captured in northeast Houston Monday morning.
Comeaux is now facing aggravated kidnapping and felony escape charges. He was in custody in the Montgomery County Jail Tuesday, awaiting his hearing. Comeaux, who is currently serving three life sentences, was found when a salesman saw him trying to hitchhike in front of a business on East Little York.

The salesman called HPD, who came and took Comeaux into custody without incident.
Investigators said Comeaux escaped during transport from a prison unit in Huntsville to one in Beaumont.
As the prison van passed through Conroe, investigators said Comeaux pulled out a gun, held two transport guards hostage, handcuffed them in the back of the van, drove the van to Baytown, took the guards’ weapons, put on one of their uniforms and escaped.

Officials launched an extensive manhunt, but Comeaux managed to elude them for seven days before he was captured.
He had been confined to a wheelchair since 1997 when a stroke purportedly left him partially paralyzed, but when he was taken into custody, Comeaux was walking.

He has been in and out of the Texas prison system for 30 years.
Comeaux was first sent to prison in 1979 on three 10-year sentences for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child and burglary of a building—all out of Harris County. He was paroled four years later.

His parole was revoked and he returned to prison in 1984 to serve a 20-year sentence on a new charge of indecency with a child out of Harris County. He was paroled in 1991 but was in and out of prison for parole violations until 1996.
In June 1998, he was given a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault in Brazos County.
Comeaux was given two extra life sentences after he was convicted of stabbing his wife and another person in 1999. That attack occurred in the Jester III Unit in Fort Bend County when his wife came to visit him. The other person stabbed was a man who tried to stop the attack.

Still, those at the top want to correct the miscommunication between the workers inside prison walls.

“If you are in charge of a prison, and you see there is a disputes between medical’s and correction’s, come to us and ask for laws that would eliminate the controversy, ”said John Whitmire, chairman of the senate criminal justice committee. He is calling for a full investigation of prison and medical staff.

WATCH KHOU VIDEO REPORT HERE

News Alert: Comeaux now on most wanted list

2009-12-06T06:32:00.001-08:00

(CNN) -- A Texas inmate in a wheelchair, who escaped on foot from two armed guards as he was being transferred between prisons, is now on the U.S. Marshals' list of the 15 most-wanted fugitives.
Arcade Comeaux Jr., 49, "produced a weapon and fired upon two correctional officers, took them hostage and forced them to drive to Baytown, Texas," the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.
He then put the officers in the back of the van and took their weapons and one of their uniforms, the statement said.

Comeaux was serving three life sentences for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He escaped Monday during transport from Huntsville, Texas, to Stiles, Texas.
The 6-foot, 200-pound man was shackled and in a wheelchair, "which he had claimed was needed for mobility," Michelle Lyons, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, said in a statement.

About 45 minutes into the trip, as they were driving through Conroe, 40 minutes north of Houston, the prisoner pulled out a pistol and ordered the guards to drive south to Baytown, east of Houston.
He fired once, but hit no one during the escape about 9 a.m., officials said.
Law enforcement officers found the unharmed officers an hour later.

Comeaux was being transferred so he could be near John Sealy Hospital in Galveston for treatment of the supposed paralysis he had suffered during a reported stroke, officials said.

At least $16,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to Comeaux's rearrest and a task force of more than 100 investigators is searching for him, focusing on the Houston area, where he grew up and has family.
His escape has led the man who oversees Texas' criminal justice system to call for a shakeup of the prison system.
"I just think enough's enough," said Sen. John Whitmire, the Texas Democrat from Houston who is chairman of the state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee.

"We need a complete shakeup of the leadership of our prison system and/or an outside review by third parties," he told CNN by phone Wednesday. "We just can't have security breaches of this nature."
Whitmire said the guards had failed to pat down Comeaux while he was in his wheelchair and before they began the trip.
"Sure enough, he has a firearm," he said. "The question is, are there others (in the prison system)? I think you have to assume that there are until you find out differently."

So far this year, more than 900 cell phones have been confiscated from the 112 locations that house the state's 158,000 prisoners. "It's pretty rampant," he said.

"I want the director to come forward and tell us what it's going to take" to solve the problem, he said.
John Moriarty, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said such lapses are highly unusual in the state's penal system. "We have no open gun investigations other than this one," he said. "The last one was several years ago."
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Brad Livingston, who has been in the job since 2005, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.