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Teen accused of shooting student at Heights HS By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
A 17-year-old boy accused of shooting a Heights High School student in a campus parking lot last week also faces two aggravated robbery charges from March, when he is alleged to have fired gunshots at two other students and one of their step-fathers during a vehicular pursuit. Alex Owiesy was arrested May 13 and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a felony, along with misdemeanor unlawful carrying of a weapon after police allegedly found a gun
in his vehicle, according to Harris County court documents. Owiesy also has been charged with two counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, stemming from a March 7 incident near the Heights campus. Court records show he remained in jail as of Tuesday, with a total bond amount of $210,000 for the four charges. The male student who was shot May 12 was transported to Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital, according to court records, which show that a See Shooting P. 5A
Owiesy
Photo by Adam Zuvanich A Heights High School student was shot May 12 in the student parking lot. Houston ISD said five people are suspected to have been involved in the shooting, with 17-year-old Alex Owiesy having been arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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INSIDE. Photo by Adam Zuvanich The swimming pool at Booker T. Washington High School, constructed in 2020 at a price of more than $3 million, has been used only once and not at all this school year, according to principal Carlos Phillips.
Local schools in dispute over access to unused pool By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
Young man with a plan. Waltrip’s Yahir Olivares is headed to UT on a full scholarship.
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Bad bugs. Our local Garden Guru says leaf-footed bugs look like less harmful assassin bugs.
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Representatives of the Heights High School swimming team, which does not have an on-campus pool it can utilize, inquired before the school year about the possibility of holding practices and meets at nearby Booker T. Washington High School, which has a new natatorium but no swim team. The request was denied by the principal at the latter campus, who explained in an email obtained by The Leader that Washington wanted to focus on developing its own team and meeting the needs of its own students and community before opening the facility to others. More than nine months later, as the 2021-22 school year draws to a close, Washington’s multi-million-dollar pool has not been used by students from either Houston ISD campus – or anyone else. It was closed by the city in late September because the school missed its deadline for obtaining an annual operating permit, according to a spokesperson for the Houston Health Department, who said a related inspection was not completed until late April because of inaction by school officials. “No one’s using it. It’s literally sitting there,” said Jennifer Jordan, a volunteer assistant coach at Heights who also is a member of the swim team booster club. “It’s just a waste of taxpayer money.”
Photo by Adam Zuvanich The Houston Health Department’s “Pool Closed Until Further Notice” sign was on the door to the Booker T. Washington High School natatorium on Tuesday, even though it was permitted to be open on April 26, according to a spokesperson for the health department.
According to information on the HISD website and contractual documents obtained by The Leader through an open records request, practice pool facilities were built at Milby, Yates and Washington high schools with surplus See Pool P. 5A
Lifeguard shortage throws cold water on pools’ summer By Charlotte Aguilar caguilar@mcelvypartners.com
Restaurant recovery. Piper’s Burger will open soon, thanks to some good detective work.
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THE INDEX. Church........................................................... 4 Classifieds ................................................. 7 Coupons ...................................................... 7 Food/Drink ................................................ 9 Obituaries.................................................. 6 Opinion ........................................................ 3 Public Information............................. 2 Puzzles ......................................................... 3 Sports ............................................................ 6
This should be a hopeful time of year for Leroy Maura Jr., in charge of the City of Houston’s public swimming pools. The weather already screams summer, the Memorial Day weekend is looming, and for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic closed public swimming in 2020, all 37 of the city’s pools are green-lit to open on May 28. But Maura is counting lifeguards and agonizing over how many Houston pools might have to remain closed. Five of the cityoperated pools are in the
Greater Heights. “If we had to decide today, it wouldn’t be good,” he said Tuesday. So far, even after a vigorous media blitz that included a $300 bonus for staying on the job through the summer, only 43 potential lifeguards are being processed out of 187 needed, Maura said. That will make it a struggle to open even the 10 pools that the city was able to muster last summer with 50 lifeguards, Maura explained. Twenty-four of last year’s staff re-applied this year, but even after the recruitSee Lifeguard P. 5A
Photo by Adam Zuvanich The pool at Oak Forest Park has been closed for two summers — in 2020 because of a lockdown, in 2021 because of a lifeguard shortage. Lack of lifeguards could keep the gates locked again this year at all but 10 or so of the city’s 37 municipal pools, according to the Houston official in charge.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, for the runoff to settle undecided party nominations left over from the March 1 primary for some county, state and U.S. congressional races. Early voting was set to take place Monday through Friday of this week. Voters can view a sample ballot customized to their addresses at Harr i s Vo t e s . c o m . Anyone who cast a ballot in the primary will have to vote in that same political party for the runoff. Those voting Democrat will choose their nominees for lieutenant governor, Martinez Alexander attorney general, comptroller and commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, along with local judicial nominees, a potential seat on Harris County Commissioners Court and a newly Klussmann created congressional district. Diana Martinez Alexander and Duncan F. Klussmann are vying for the Democratic nomination in District 38, which will serve a geographic area that includes Memorial Park and locales immediately to the east and south. Wesley Hunt won the Republican nomination. Lesley Briones and Ben Chou are competing for the opportunity to face Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle in November. Cagle was unopposed in the Republican primary. The Republican ballot will determine attorney general and land office nominees and whether Alexandra del Moral Mealer or Vidal Martinez will face incumbent Lina Hidalgo for Harris County judge in November. Jack Morman and Jerry Mouton are competing in a runoff for the Republican nomination for Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner, with the winner to face incumbent Adrian Garcia. Johnny Teague and Tim Stroud are in a runoff for the right to face U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat who represents District 7, while U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of District 29 awaits the runoff winner between Republicans Robert Schafranek and Julio Garza. In Texas House District 147, which represents a portion of the Heights area along Interstate 10, Jolanda Jones and Danielle Keys Bess are squaring off for the Democratic nomination for Garnet Coleman’s former seat, which he reSee Runoff P. 4A
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