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Olson named board chair of Lone Star Flight Museum Staff Reports Former Fort Bend Countyarea U.S. congressman and former naval aviator Pete Olson has been named the board chair of the Lone Star Flight Museum, a museum featuring vintage aircraft based on Galveston Island.
Former Fort Bend-area congressman and former naval aviator Pete Olson has been named board chair of the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston. Courtesy U.S. Congress via Wikipedia
Olson was unanimously elected to the position by the board in December and officially assumed the role on January 1, according to a museum press release. Olson succeeds Scott Rozzell, who had served on the board for nine years and was instrumental with museum president and CEO and retired lieutenant general Doug Owens, in moving the museum to Galveston from Ellington Field in Houston in 2017 after the museum and many of its historic aircraft were damaged during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Olson served in Texas’s 22 Congressional District, which includes much of Fort Bend County, as a Republican from 2009 to 2021, when he retired, according to his Wikipedia profile. “I am so honored and extremely humbled to have been nominated by Scott and I’m grateful for the support of Doug and our entire board I grew up in Clear Lake Forest and graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1981,” Olso said in the release. “Watching and hearing military and NASA training flights flying overhead from Ellington were part of my daily life, it’s what inspired me to become a U.S. Navy pilot after finishing law school.” Olson graduated from Rice University with a degree in computer science in 1985 and the University of Texas law school in 1988. He then joined the U.S. Navy and earned his Naval Aviator wings in 1991, going on to fly the Lockheed P-3 Orion antisubmarine and surveillance aircraft in missions over the Persian Gulf and the Indian and Pacific oceans. He left the Navy in 1998 and joined the staff of former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, later serving U.S. Sen. John Cornyn before running for the 22nd Congressional District. Since leaving Congress, Olson has remained very active in Fort Bend County civic life, particularly with the Exchange Club of Sugar Land.
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Fort Bend candidates report campaign sign vandalism By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Just a week into the new year, which is also an election year, one of the all-too-frequent scourges of election seasons, vandalism of campaign signs, has emerged in Fort Bend County. Several candidates for local offices in the county have reported that some of their campaign signage in various locations. In Texas, primary elections will be held on March 5, or Super Tuesday. Taral Patel, one of four Democrats vying for the nomination in the race for Precinct 3 Fort Bend Commissioner, said in a press release that he has filed a police report with the Fort Bend Constable’s Office after “multiple campaign signs were violently targeted and slashed to shreds throughout Fort Bend County.”
Patel said his campaign is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the vandalism. According to a Monday press release from the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, several other candidates have reported similar vandalism incidents. including Manu Pooparayil, who is running Precinct 3 Constable; Pete Luna, who is running as a Democrat for Sheriff; and Sonny Colunga, also running as Democrat for Sheriff. In the press release, the prosecutor’s office said that those responsible for vandalizing or stealing political campaign signs could face criminal prosecution. These actions do not reflect the character of Fort Bend County,” District Attorney Brian Middleton said in the release. “Destruction of political campaign signs
Precinct 3 Constable candidate Manu Pooparayil posted this image of campaign signs that have been vandalized. Via Manu Pooparayil campaign Facebook page
is an unsophisticated attempt to affect an election and is not likely to affect the outcome at all. Want to do
something meaningful and brave? Vote.” Persons with information regarding these crimes
should contact the Fort Bend County Sheriff ’s Office or the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office.
Missouri City native Elllie Breax, Miss Texas, vies for Miss America crown
Ellie Breaux, Miss Texas, greets some of her hometown fans during a send-off celebration at the Missouri City Community Center last week. The Missouri City native is competing in this year’s Miss America competition. Photo by Ken Fountain
By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Missouri City’s own Ellie Breaux, Miss Texas, is in Orlando this week as she represents the Lone Star State in the 96th Miss America contest. Last week, before she and her family set out for the Sunshine State, her hometown gave her a send-off in style. Dozens of people filled the main hall of the Missouri City Community Center to see Breaux, 23, arrive and excitedly greet her in person. The 23-year-old, a student at the University of North
Texas, won the Miss Texas crown in July of last year. According to a profile on the UNT website, Breaux first became involved in beauty pageants while she was with the North Texas Dancers at that Dallasarea campus, winning the Miss Keller competition in 2020. She followed that by taking the tiltes of Miss Park Cities in 2021 and Miss Tarrant County in 2022. She competed in the Miss Texas three times before earning the title last year. The event began with an official proclamation from Fort Bend County,
read by Sheriff Ed Fagan. Margana Wood of the Miss Texas organization presented Breaux with a “Yellow Rose of Texas” certificate signed by Gov. Greg Abbot. Margana Wood of the Miss Texas organization presented her with a “Yellow Rose of Texas” certificate signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. “We will be with you 110 percent. You’re going to do what you do day to day. Just show them your heart,” said Wood. “In my heart, I know that you would be one heck of an incredible Miss
America, and I hope that they see what we see every day,” said Mark Mitchell, also of the Miss Texas organization. “We’ll be with you in Orlando and we’ll be ready to cheer you on.” The presentations were capped off by Missouri City Mayor Pro Tem and At-large Position 2 Council member Lynn Clouser, who presented an overjoyed Breaux with an official Key to the City. “I’m super grateful for all of the community,” Breaux told the audience. “I’m super-fortunate to serve this great state,” she said, noting that since win-
ning the Miss Texas title she had spent “countless hours” traveling the state making public appearances. Breaux, whose father and uncle are both Houston Police Department officers, has made a special cause of finding ways to bridge the gap between law enforcement personnel and members of the community, which she calls “Cops in the Community.” Flyers for a related program called “Patrol Stories” were available at the event.
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