The 01-17-24 Edition of The Fort Bend Star

2023

READERS’ CHOICE

The bittersweet sound of Sugar Land - Page 3

281.690.4200 WEDNESDAY • JANUARY 17, 2024

Fort Bend ISD board approves incoming superintendent Marc Smith's contract

By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

There was only one item of business at the January 8 meeting of the Fort Bend ISD board: approve the contract of incoming Superintendent Marc Smith. Even so, the meeting didn’t go without some of the drama that had preceded it during the previous month.

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Smith accused in lawsuit of serial misconduct, retaliation

By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

Several former employees - three women and one man - under Fort Bend Precinct 2 Constable Daryl Smith, Sr. accuse him in a lawsuit of creating a hostile work environment that included inappropriate contact and gender-based favoritism that put officers at risk. The lawsuit also alleges Fort Bend County officials did not protect the former employees when they complained about Smith’s conduct.

In an emailed response to the Fort Bend Star,

Smith, who is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, categorically denied the allegations and said they were politically motivated.

In the lawsuit, filed in November in a Fort Bend County district court, five former employees of the constable’s office, all certified peace officers, claim that after Smith was elected constable in 2018, he created an atmosphere in which he favored female employees who welcomed his advances, and retaliated against those who did not and complained about his conduct.

Fort Bend Precinct 2 Constable Daryl Smith, Sr. is accused in a lawsuit of creating a hostile work environment that included inappropriate contact and gender-based favoritism. Photo via Fort Bend County website

Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges, Smith promoted people who were unqualified to positions of responsibility over deputies that sometimes put them at risk.

“Overall, (Smith) discriminated against males by failing to promote them and giving them less desirable positions when compared to females,” the petition states.

According to one of the plaintiffs, former sergeant Caston DeBoise, Smith discriminated against male employees or female employees that he did not find attractive.

The lawsuit alleges that Smith promoted more

than one female employee, whom the lawsuit claims were known to be Smith’s “girlfriends,” both civilians and newly graduated peace officers, to positions of authority for which they were not qualified.

The women plaintiffs former sergeant Marquitta Hilliard, former lieutenant Kendria Newsome, and former assistant chief deputy Geneane Orndorff - accuse Smith of engaging in a pattern of unwanted sexual advances and sexual assaults.

SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 2

Interfaith families find Fort Bend community welcoming

Incoming Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Marc Smith addresses the district’s board after they approved his contract on Jan. 8. Courtesy Fort Bend ISD

Smith, tapped by the board on December 15 as the “lone finalist” to replace Dr. Christie Whitbeck, who departed earlier that week, previously served as the superintendent of Duncanville ISD in the Dallas area. He formerly served Fort Bend ISD as executive principal and assistant superintendent from 2007-2012.

Subsequently, he served as superintendent of Marshall ISD from 2012-2016 before being named superintendent at Duncanville in April 2016.

Smith’s base salary is $410,00, according to the contract. He will officially begin on January 22.

The January 8 meeting was held in a spacious community room at the Reese Career and Technical Center, rather than the more cramped boardroom at the Fort Bend ISD Administrative Building to allow for a larger audience and the public reception for Smith after the meeting ended.

But just as earlier meetings had been designed to be largely ceremonial, the tensions between some board members in the wake of Whitbeck’s sudden departure were evident.

Whitbeck, who began her tenure in 2021 during the height of the COVID pandemic and had only recently had her contract extended by the board, announced her resignation in early December.

But discussion in subsequent meetings and in public statements evidenced that Whitbeck had left after some board members pressured her to do so or be terminated.

The unusual situation drew extensive coverage in local media, and board members traded barbs both in media reports and on social media.

At the meeting at the Reese Center, the opening comments included those of Fort Bend Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy. McCoy, a former Fort Bend ISD employee, said that he taught student leaders how to comport themselves well and represent their student bodies.

SEE CONTRACT PAGE 2

Craig Goodman and Colleen Barry-Goodman and their sons, ages 6 and 11, are seen in this family photo taken last fall. Craig, who is Jewish, and Colleen, who is Catholic, have been married for 21 years. Contributed photo

By Dayna Worchel NEWS@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

Craig Goodman and Colleen Barry-Goodman’s two school-aged boys are as comfortable attending Sunday mass at St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugar Land as they are attending Friday services at Congregation Beth El, a Reform synagogue in Missouri City.

The Goodmans - Craig is Jewish, and Colleen is Catholic - are an interfaith family and have been married for 21 years.

The family takes part in the traditions and customs of both faiths, and says they are not treated any differently at their places of worship. Their boys are ages 6 and 11.

Jim and Deb Paras are another interfaith couple who have been married for 44 years, and are also members of Congregation Beth El. Jim is Christian, and says he is comfortable going to temple.

Deb is Jewish. They have a son and daughter who are now grown, and although

they were raised primarily in the Jewish faith, the family celebrated Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah and Passover, Deb said.

Interfaith couples and couples of differing races and ethnicities are becoming more common in Fort Bend County, which many experts say is the most ethnically diverse in the country. The numbers bear out this statistic. According to 2021 figures from the Data USA website, the county has a population which is 31.1 percent White, non-Hispanic; 20.7 percent Asian; 19.9 percent Black or African American, and 24.9 percent Hispanic.

Senior Pastor John Michael Strader of Horizon Baptist Church in Missouri City, who also serves as board chair for the Fort Bend Interfaith Community, said these numbers are reflected in his own church. In 2021, the church conducted a survey of people living within a 5-minute driving radius of the campus. Thirty percent were Black, 29 percent Cau-

Jim and Deb Paras have been married for 44 years. Jim, who is Christian, and Deb, who is Jewish, are members of Congregation Beth El in Missouri City. Screenshot from video interview

casian, 25 percent, Asian, and 20 percent Hispanic, according to Strader.

With numbers as varied as those, it makes sense that interfaith marriages would become more common.

“For sure, it’s more socially accepted. Some of the oldest millennials, who are in now in their 30’s and 40’s are now dating people outside of their faith,” Strader said. He added that there is less ostracism

now, because people are “becoming more individual in their faith and more diversified.”

SEE INTERFAITH PAGE 2

THE STAR

PAGE 2 • Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Fed economist: Higher-than-target inflation will remain until 2025

By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

While the U.S. and Texas economies are slowing to a more sustainable pace since the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation likely will not lesson to the Federal Reserve Bank’s goal of 2 percent until next year, an economist with the bank told a Fort Bend County audience last week.

Jesse Thompson, a senior business economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s Houston branch, spoke at the Ford Bend County Chamber of Commerce in Sugar Land on January 9.

Jesse Thompson, an economist with the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, discusses the economic outlook for Texas on Jan. 9.

“The energy industry outlook is, for a lack of a better word, boring,” Thompson said, discussing one of the primary linchpins of the Texas and the greater Houton area’s economies.

The U.S. economic is slowing, as is job growth, from the very fast they have seen since the economic shutdown that ensued from the pandemic, he said. The U.S. economy has added an average of 165,000 jobs for the past several months, Thompson said.

“We’re going to slow down to something a little bit above trend job growth,” or about 2 percent, Thompson said.

Wage growth has also been slowing down somewhat, but at about twice the Fed’s long-term inflation goal of 2 percent rate, he said.

“It’s an exceptionally tight job market. We’re back to the plain Jane job growth we had before the pandemic,” he said.

Jesse Thompson, an economist with the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, speaks at the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 9.

Population trends will play a big part in the job participation rate, Thompson added. “Can you have the kind of growth you need if the population isn’t growing?” he asked rhetorically.

While what is known as “core inflation” has slowed, but mean personal consumption inflation has not declined at the same pace.

“This is telling us that we’ve got some work to do, that inflation has not really cooled down yet,” Thompson said.

“We’re moving in the right direction, but there’s still got a way to go.”

In the Houston area, job growth in 2023 slowed a bit from the first half of the year to the second half, at about 2.7 percent. Most of that was concentrated in the oil and gas and construction sectors, Thompson said. while leisure and hospitality actually accelerated.

“One of the things that has been the hallmark of this pandemic recovery in Texas is that we build stuff.

It’s relatively easy to build things here,” he said.

Texas is adding housing supply faster than other parts of the nation, putting downward pressure on prices, Thompson said. However, high mortgage rates are keeping a lid on single-family home sales, he added. New homes are selling well, but existing home mortgages remain challenging, he said.

Likewise, rent growth in Houston and other Texas metropolitan areas is slowing

because the region is adding much more supply than other parts of the country. The reduction in rental rates will soon begin seen in lessening inflation, Thompson said.

Office vacancy rates in the Houston area remain high, more than any of the state’s other major metro areas because the region had overbuilt in the years leading up to the pandemic, he said.

Thompson said that 21 percent of the nation’s liquid natural gas production is exported, a number that is projected to double by 2028. This will keep the construction labor market very tight in the Gulf coast, where much of the nation’s petrochemical industry is located, he added.

Oil and gas sector job growth in the country plateaued in 2023, Thompson said, but remains much lower than during the height of the shale-oil boom of the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Global consumption of oil is expected to continue to grow in 2024, but in a balanced market that will mitigate against any major shifts in the oil price, barring any major geopolitical events or other sudden shocks to the system, he said.

The Fed is forecasting that inflation will remain above the target of 2 percent this year and will be “back to trend” in 2025, Thompson said. “The Fed is not going to declare victory until sometime in 2025,” he said.

Worship Directory FORT BEND COUNTY

METHODIST CHURCH

EPISCOPAL

CHRIST CHURCH SUGAR LAND • 281-980-6888

ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH • 281-499-9602

A United Methodist Community 3300 Austin Parkway • Sugar Land, TX 77479 Rev. Dr. Daniel Irving, Senior Pastor Sunday Schedule 9:30 am Blended Worship 9:30 am Sunday School for all ages 11:00 am Traditional & Contemporary Worship www.christchurchsl.org

605 Dulles Avenue, Stafford, TX 77477 SUNDAY: 10:30 am Worship Holy Eucharist www.allsaints-stafford.org

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH • 281-240-3195 502 Eldridge Rd. -Sugar Land, TX 77478 Reverend Dr. Fred Seay, Pastor Sunday Worship In Person 11:00 am / Nursery Available Worship Online on YouTube www.fpcsl.org

Introduce Your Congregation to the Community with a listing in our Worship Directory

Call Anqunette for more information

713.371.3740

See us online www.FortBendStar.com

INTERFAITH FROM PAGE 1

The Fort Bend Interfaith Community seeks “to build opportunities for meaningful relationships, rooted in trust, respect, and shared values, between members of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds”, according to the group’s Facebook page.

The organizations typically holds three main events in a year, Strader said.

There is a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service for youth; an event called Dinner and Dialogue, in which people of different religions are seated at small tables together to share a meal and a discussion about their different faiths; and a Thanksgiving service, often held at St. Laurence Catholic Church, in which everyone gets to do a reading, Strader said.

Both the Goodmans and the Paras’ say they have never encountered any negativity from their families or from their communities.

“My parents loved Jimmy,” Deb said referring to her husband. In fact, the couple, who met and married in California lived there for 10 years and their older child, their daughter, was born in California.

But Deb, originally from

LAWSUIT FROM PAGE 1

When the plaintiffs went to the Fort Bend County human resources department to complain about Smith’s conduct, the lawsuit alleges, Smith retaliated against them through a variety of means, ultimately resulting in their termination.

Fort Bend County failed to protect them from the retaliation, the lawsuit alleges.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs demand that county officials preserve all records and other evidence related to the allegations, as well as unspecified actual and punitive damages, front pay and attorney’s fees.

CONTRACT FROM PAGE 1

“Sadly, I’m troubled by what I have seen over the past few weeks,” McCoy said. “Things we would never condone from our student leaders we have seen validated in this room.”

McCoy told the board members that the decisions they make not only impact the students and employees in the district, but “the entire economy that we hold dear.”

He said that Whitbeck, whom he called a hard-working superintendent, was dismissed “with no true clarity, reason, or purpose.”

Addressing Smith directly, McCoy told him that he welcomed him back “to this incredible district that we love so much,” and said that he wished him the best.

“It’s not the job of the board to cater to you for your lack of due diligence,” Garcia told Malone. “I just want the public to know that there’s nothing nefarious going on.

There’s not backroom deals, there’s no hidden agendas.”

Malone said she had only received a copy of the con-

Houston, and Jim, from Bryan, decided to make the move back to Texas so their daughter could be closer to grandparents and other extended family. “It was just what I wanted for myself and my family,” she said.

The Goodmans say they have decided to raise their two boys in the Catholic faith, but they also attend the services at Congregation Beth El. “The boys think going to synagogue is the best treat ever,” Colleen said.

“Our older son has an ear for the prayers, even though he’s never taken the classes.

Everyone at the synagogue has been great,” she said.

Although they do celebrate traditional Christian holidays, the family has a chance to step into the synagogue space too, during the Jewish holidays, Craig said.

The couple say they read quite a bit with their sons and answer their many questions about both religions. “If they see a new face at the synagogue, they go up and introduce themselves. They see both as community. It compliments things. Beth El is warm and welcoming,” Colleen said.

The congregation at Beth El is between about 20 and 30 percent interfaith, Deb said.

“We aren’t a large synagogue,

but we have a big heart. We’re a welcoming and loving community,” she said.

Members of both faith houses are fully integrated into the Fort Bend County community in different ways, and there are often connections between them. Deb said she didn’t know how she would have gotten through the pandemic without her Beth El family.

“It’s really interesting to see how many connections there are, and the cross-pollination in the community,” Colleen said. She told the story of how the security guard at Beth El has a wife who plays the piano at Saint Laurence.

And The Fort Bend Interfaith Community has held a Thanksgiving meal at least three times at Saint Laurence.

“It’s been about communication,” Colleen said of her marriage to Craig.

“I go to synagogue with him sometimes,” Colleen said.

“We communicate if there’s something going on. There’s always an open invitation for us to go to the synagogue. Our boys see us communicating, and isn’t that what the world is about?”

In its answer to the original petition, filed last week, the county makes a general denial of all the allegations made against the county. It also makes several other specific defenses based on qualified immunity and other procedural matters.

Reached by phone, Fort Bend Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Cannata said it is the county’s policy not to comment on pending litigation.

In an emailed statement, Smith said, “I am here to tell you that the allegations made against me are unequivocally false are nothing more than a lastminute smear by other political candidates and their campaign staffers

who are attempting to boost their own notoriety or further their own unachieved political ambitions through these false allegations.”

Smith, who is running in for re-election in the March 5 Democratic primary, says that he was previously nobilled by a Fort Bend County grand jury on charges stemming from the alleged misconduct, and that investigations by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, the Fort Bend District Attorney’s Office, and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission all found that the allegations were untrue.

An initial court date in the case has not yet been set.

tract the previous Friday after requesting it and found many issues that she said were harmful to the district and taxpayers, including the total buyout for Whitbeck’s remaining contract and the buyout provisions for Smiths’ contract. Even so, she said, he looked forward to working with Smith.

Position 3 trustee Rick Garcia countered that all of the board members had had the same opportunity to examine the contract. He said that Malone had refused to participate in the process.

When the vote to approve Smith’s contract came up, Position 6 trustee Kristin Davison Malone was the first to offer comments. Malone, who had been the only member to publicly speak out about Whitbeck’s departure but voted in December to name Smith the lone finalist for the role, said she could not vote to approve his congtract.

Position 1 trustee Angie Hanan said that she also had received the contract earlier than the date mentioned by Malone and had given feedback that was reflected in the final contract.

Position 4 trustee Shirley

Rose-Gilliam said that it was hard for her to speak about the previous events.

“It is time for us to move on. We have 80,000 students that we have to take care of,” she said. “We have to make sure that we now come and that we represent ourselves well. We have to make sure we are doing what is right for Fort Bend ISD and for our students and for our parents.

It’s time for us to get back to work. Thank you, Dr. Smith, and I look forward to moving forward.”

In the end, the board voted 5-1 to approve Smith’s contract, with Malone the lone dissenter.

In comments afterward, Smith thanked the board for their confidence and trust in him. “I am committed to maintain the high expectations and standards that I know you hold for me,” he said.

“It’s about students, and we are all here to make sure we do everything possible to provide the best, the highestquality education for the students in Fort Bend ISD. And I commit to you that every day that’s what you’re going to get from me,” he said.

Dayna Worchel is a freelance writer based in Sugar Land.

CHURCH OF CHRIST

STAFFORD CHURCH OF CHRIST • 281-499-2507

T H E M O N T H LY BUSINESS MAGAZINE

402 Stafford Run Rd. -Stafford, 77477 Stephen Higley, Preacher Sunday Bible Study 9:30 am Sunday Worship 10:30 am Wednesday 7:00 pm www.staffordcoc.com

Scripture of the week

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”

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Digital Version on Fortbendstar.com

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Wednesday, January 17, 2024 • PAGE 3

The Reid Feed: The bittersweet sound of Sugar Land JANET SUE

RYAN LEE

Art and Culture Columnists

By Ryan Lee Reid and Janet Sue Reid Many people are probably unaware that the Interstate 10 corridor between Texas and Louisiana is probably the most important area of musical development in all of the United States. The area has served as a crossroads for so many different ethnic groups, social forces, political forces, and economic forces that make it one of the most complex and diverse places in the country.

This tremendous amount of diversity created an astounding amount of thriving musical genres and subgenres including gospel, ragtime, jazz, conjunto, Tejano, Cajun, zydeco, polka, Country, Western swing, rock and roll, and a number of others that have mixed and mingled like no other place in the country. And even though the blues was born in the Mississippi Delta in the early nineteenth century, East Texas is considered the second most important geo-

graphical location for the development of the blues.

During the second half of the 19th century the blues traveled west due to the end of slavery after the Civil War in 1865. African Americans were now able to travel freely, even though they still faced poverty and discrimination. Many ended up traveling west to Louisiana and Texas where they set up sharecropper communities that gave birth to a staggering amount of early blues musicians who would have an immeasurable impact on the music and musicians of the 20th century.

When, In the 1890’s when crops were decimated by a pest called the boll weevil, many African-Americans emigrated from rural areas to large Texas cities like Dallas and Houston where the jobs were. Since the blues was an oral tradition and nothing was written down, it was in the Black neighborhoods that early blues musicians were able to find audiences and some national appeal. Early Texas blues man like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mance Lipscomb, Sam “Lightning” Hopkins, and Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter would make their living playing in brothels, whiskey joints, fairs, and dance halls all around these two great Texas cities. However, since it was easy for AfricanAmericans at this time to go

to prison for various “infractions”, many would also find themselves in jail for inordinate amounts of time.

In the case of Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, he would find himself incarcerated in Sugar Land’s only prison at the time, and one of Texas’s first penal institutions owned by the state, The Texas Imperial State Prison Farm also known as the Central State Prison Farm and the Central Unit, in 1921. If you are curious where this now-defunct prison existed, it is actually right next door to the Sugar Land Airport on U.S. Highway 90A, close to its intersection with Highway 6, and adjacent to the train tracks. Our neighborhood, New Territory, is directly across the street on the other side of U.S. Highway 90A. Lead Belly is by far the most well-known inmate to come through Sugar Land’s prison system. He has more than one hundred songs recorded for the Library of Congress and is considered one of the most important and influential blues musicians that has ever lived.

What sets him apart from some of his colleagues of this era is that he was more than just a blues musician, he was a songster. A songster is someone who plays and sings for many of the community’s events, and because of this must be comfortable play-

ing a wide range of musical genres. In fact many of his songs were re-recorded and made hits by other musicians like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Harry Belefonte, and Creedence Clearwater Revival to name just a few.

It’s in the Texas Imperial State Prison Farm in Sugar Land that Lead Belly learned many of his songs and was given the nickname Lead Belly. According to Ledbetter, “One day the Chaplain of the (Sugar Land) prison, the Reverend ‘Sin Killer’ Griffin, came to him. ‘He says to me, you’re a hard driving man.

Instead of guts, you got lead in your belly. That’s who you are, old Lead Belly!’” Most likely the Chaplain was probably referring to his vocal strength and his hardworking nature.

One of Lead Belly’s most popular and covered songs, “Midnight Special”, was created in the prison, literally right across the street from where we are currently writing this article. The title refers to the Southern Pacific train that would pass by the prison along U.S. Highway 90A, heading west around midnight every night. A biographer of Lead Belly stated that the song “became a cruel, tantalizing and regular reminder of life beyond the Sugar Land fences.”

In 1924, Texas Gov. Pat Neff visited the Sugar Land prison and heard Lead Belly

performing an original song pleading to the governor for a pardon. Neff liked the song so much that he pardoned Lead Belly, commuting almost twenty-three years of his prison sentence. John Lightfoot writes in “The Roots of Texas Music, “Indeed, Lead Belly did sing his way out of prison, Lightning Hopkins and Texas Alexander sang their way off East Texas road gangs.”

The prison which opened in 1909 closed down in August 2011, the first prison in Texas to close without being replaced. Most former prisoner plantation land today is the master- planned community of Telfair, and one of the former prison buildings has even been renovated as the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Sugar Land branch, located on University Boulevard.

As far as Lead Belly goes, he would continue playing and recording up until his death in 1949, never really making much money as a singer or songwriter.

It wouldn’t be until after his passing that his importance and inspiration on the next generation of musicians would be uncovered.

Finally in 1992 an issue of Newsweek gave Lead Belly the distinction of “America’s greatest folk singer”, and nowadays he consistently ranks among the top ten of most important Texas musi-

cians that have ever lived.

So next time you’re driving on US-90A and see a train go by, imagine Lead Belly sitting in his cell singing this bittersweet sound of Sugar Land “You can bet your bottom dollar that you’re Sugar Land bound. Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me.”

Watch Sugar Land’s Ryan Lee Reid perform Lead Belly’s “Midnight Special” at tinyurl.com/MidnightSpecial.

NOTE: Information in this article is derived from the following sources: “The Roots of Texas Music”, edited by Lawrence Clayton and Joe Specht (Chapter 1: The Roots Run Deep “An Overview of Texas Music History” by Gary Hartman; Chapter 4: “Early Texas Bluesmen” by John Lightfoot); “The Life and Legend of Lead Belly” by Charles K. Wolfe and Kip Lornell; Kip Lornell, liner notes, “The Titanic”; and the “Central State Prison Farm” article on Wikipedia.

Ryan Lee Reid, “The Piano Cowboy”, and Janet Sue Reid, “The Culinary Cowgirl”, are artists and creators. They transform space and time to move and heal people through art. They live in Sugar Land with their children. Find their full bios and contact them through ReidFeed.com.

The bittersweet sound of Sugar Land. The Texas Central Unit is depicted in this image from the 1930s, via the Texas Department of Criminal Justice archives. Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter is depicted in his heyday in this image from The Library of Congress Alan Lomax collection, via Wikipedia. Photo montage by Janet Sue Reid

FORTBENDSTAR.COM

THE STAR

PAGE 4 • Wednesday, January 17, 2024

See us online www.FortBendStar.com

Jane Goodall documentary George Memorial Library to to be screened on Jan. 22 host program on Freedman's Bureau on Jan. 20

Staff Reports The “Reel Talk” film series at Fort Bend County Libraries’ University Branch Library will feature a documentary about environmentalist Jane Goodall on Monday, January 22, from 6-8 p.m., in Meeting Room 1 of the library, 14010 University Blvd in Sugar Land on the UH Sugar Land campus.

In January, the film to be shown is “Jane Goodall: The Hope”, which chronicles the life and groundbreaking work of the renowned primatologist and environmental activist.

The film emphasizes Goodall’s message of hope and the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect the planet.

This National Geographic film is available in FBCL’s Access Video on Demand digital collection, and it is being shown publicly with permission from Infobase.

Children under the age of

Staff Reports

The documentary “Jane Goodall: The Hope” will be screened at the University Branch Library at UH Sugar Land on Jan. 22. Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim, via Wikipedia. Used by permission.

12 must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver to attend this screening.

The movie screening is free and open to the public. For more information, see the Fort

Bend County Libraries website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us), or call the University Branch Library (281-633-5100) or the library system’s Communications Office (281-633-4734).

Deadline for National Civics Bee extended to Jan. 22 Staff Reports The deadline for applying in the 2004 National Civics Bee, sponsored by the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, has been extended to January 22.

The event is an initiative aimed at encouraging more young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities and is open to all Fort Bend County middle school students from public, private, charter and home schools are invited to participate in the 2004 National Civics Bee, sponsored the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce.

“Organized in partnership with The Civic Trust of the

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the competition in Fort Bend County will inspire middle schoolers to become better informed about American democracy, to engage respectfully and constructively in the community, and to build greater trust in others and institutions,” the chamber said in a press release.

Students may submit entries in the first-round civics essay competition through January 22. Students will be

asked to provide a 500-word essay Identifying a problem facing their community and provide ways in which a citizen might help solve the problem.

Winners of the first-round competition will receive cash prizes of $500, $250 and $125 and advance to the state finals. Finalists will be invited to Washington, DC to compete in the inaugural National Civics Bee national championship in Fall 2024.

Details on the live event will be released later.

Interested students can find detailed information about the essay topic, contest rules, and more at fortbendchamber.com/national-civics-bee.

Fort Bend County Libraries will present an Americanhistory presentation about the Freedman’s Bureau on Saturday, January 20, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, in Room 2A at George Memorial Library, 1001 Golfview in Richmond.

Nicholas Cox, Ph.D., chairman of the History Department at Houston Community College, will discuss the Freedman’s Bureau and the resources that were available through it for newly freed slaves after the American Civil War. Cox received his doctorate degree in U.S. History from the University of Houston.

In addition to his work at Houston Community College, he has taught at the Bronx Academy of Letters in New York City, the University of Houston, and UH-Victoria. He

is a member of the American Historical Association and the Texas History Association.

The program is free and open to the public. For more

information, see the Fort Bend County Libraries website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us) or call George Memorial Library (281-342-4455).

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Wednesday, January 17, 2024 • PAGE 5

EDITORIAL Taking dictation LYNN ASHBY Columnist

By Lynn Ashby ASHBY2@COMCAST.NET

T

HE TV – Donald Trump, referring to his interviewer, Sean Hannity: “He says, ‘You are not going to be a dictator, are you?’

I said, ‘No, no, no. Other than Day 1.’ We are closing the border and we are drilling, drilling, drilling. After that I am not a dictator, OK?” We’ve been warned, fair and square, that if Trump is re-elected, on his first day in the Oval Office he will be a dictator. I’d like to be a dictator, wouldn’t you?

Just think of the good deeds you could do by simply rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies.

One of my first acts would be to ban the title “hero” for everyone who wore a uniform, put out a fire or rescued a kitten from a storm drain. We have real heroes and its overuse just devalues the honor. Movie critics love to use the term “film noir.” The movie is either a film noir or it isn’t, or it is running in a theater that once showed a film noir.

Not many people know what it means. I had to look it up. Film noir is “a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace.” Who cares? There are nearly 9 million feral hogs in the U.S., 2.6 million of them are in Texas. I will order then out of the state, along with our legislators.

From now on, ink cartridges for PC printers will cost no more than the printers.

When I ask someone to solve my problem, don’t tell me, “No problem.”

As dictator, I hereby ban the most useless phrase in American politics and society: comprehensive immigration reform. No one can tell you exactly what that means or has a detailed solution to our southern

border debacle. The Biden administration vows, with a straight face, that there is no crisis. Memo to the Oval Office: The feds report more than 300,000 border encounters in December — a new record for a single month.

(Incidentally, what does “encounters” mean?) While I’m at it, I will prevent mayors from all those northern cities, receiving only a fraction of what Texas is hosting, from wailing about their newcomers. How you like them apples, Big Apple? One order more: Republicans will stop accusing President Joe Biden of wanting, “open borders.” Have you ever heard anyone actually advocating open borders? This would particularly upset immigration lawyers. Open borders means no business for them.

Last year, more than 3,000 Division I college football players entered the portal -- that is, they wanted to leave their team and go to another college and another team. This year the number is 2,000 so far and the floodgates have just opened.

Texas A&M has 25 potential transfers. The UT Longhorns have nine leaving so far. TJ McMahon is quarter-

back for the Rice Owls. Rice is his fourth school. (So far 137 quarterbacks from all levels of college football have indicated they will transfer.)

Even the best teams are losing players. Nine Alabama players entered the portal in the span of just 15 minutes. Then there is the transfer, sort of, to the NFL. Many players have left their college teams early to play pro. The combination of transfers and going pro has devastated teams.

Florida State, which many think should have been in the playoffs, was humiliated in the Orange Bowl by Georgia 63 to3. Why? Twenty-one Florida State players opted out. I order that the NCAA return to the former format: If you transfer you lose a year. This brings us to student loans. Pay them back.

Let’s talk gun control, which in Texas means holding it with both hands.

The weapon of choice for mass murderers is the AR15 which, like its military version, is designed to kill people quickly and in large numbers. The NRA says the weapon is used for hunting.

If you need a semiautomatic gun that can fire 30 rounds

to defend yourself against Bambi, I suggest you stick to pickleball. The AR-15 was used on May 24, 2022, in the Uvalde mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 students and two teachers. Gov. Greg Abbot said, “It could have been worse.” I will limit the AR-15 to the military and, at the same time, I will limit Gov. Abbott to cutting ribbons at the Sul Ross College for Rodeo Clowns and crowning Miss Road Kill. When it comes to Lite Guv Dan Patrick, I’ll order that bankrupt barkeep back to Baltimore where he can demagogue a whole new set of minions.

On the federal level, more than 450 of the January 6 Capitol rioters have been sent to prison with 350 cases pending and more being hunted down. To coin a phrase, “Lock ‘em up.” I will decrease the national debt, which now stands at $34 trillion. That’s $101,230 per person or, if you are a taxpayer, it’s $264,090. The debt rose by $7.8 trillion on Trump’s watch. The record for the largest increase was set by President Barack Obama with more than $9.5 trillion. Obama’s figure is

larger than Trump’s partly because Obama served eight years, while Trump served four.

Where to save? We might start with the Defense Department’s budget which is currently $847 billion.

We spend more on our military than the next 10 nations combined -- nearly 40 percent of military expenditures by countries around the world. The problem with touching our defense budget is not the military but, as Ike warned, the militaryindustrial complex. Much of those billions go to U.S. companies who produce tanks, planes, ships, and they all have members of Congress. The Pentagon is not so much a military operation as a jobs program.

Maybe I’ll stay dictator for Day 2. That way I can deal with Ted Cruz, Ken Paxton and the overuse of elite and existential. As for Trump’s promise of “drilling, drilling, drilling,” field production of crude oil in the U.S. hit 13.3 million barrels per day in late December, the highest level ever recorded, Ashby dictates at ashby2@ comcast.net

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Stafford Municipal School District is seeking request for proposals from qualified agencies to provide Nurses for the District. Proposal responses are due on or before February 9th, 2024 by 2PM CST. Proposals can be found on the SMSD website at: https://www.staffordmsd.org/departments/ fiscal-responsibility Theresa Almendarez, Interim CFO Stafford MSD 1633 Staffordshire Road Stafford, TX 77477

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Deadline is noon every Friday. Limit entries to the “5 Ws” Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Email to awilliams@txstreetmedia.com

FOR NON-PROFIT EVENTS

ONGOING BOYS CAN SING WITH THE AWARD-WINNING AND EMMYNOMINATED FORT BEND BOYS CHOIR!

Do you know a boy who loves music and singing? If so, encourage him to audition for the Fort Bend Boys Choir of Texas! No previous singing experience is necessary and boys should be around eight years of age or older with an unchanged voice. Boys have a limited time to sing in the unchanged, treble voice so it is important to take advantage NOW! At this time, auditions are by special appointment at the First United Methodist Church Missouri City, 3900 Lexington Blvd., Missouri City, TX. Visit the Fort Bend Boys Choir’s Audition page at https://fbbctx.org/auditions/ or call (281) 240-3800 for more details. Make the holiday season brighter for you and the boys in your life … check out the award-winning and Emmy nominated Fort Bend Boys Choir today as they celebrate this season’s theme: Singing Boys are Nothing but Treble!

SAVE THE DATE JANUARY 27, 2024 FELICIA SMITH JIGSAW PUZZLE COMPETITION

Register now for the family fun Hope For Three Autism Advocates, Felicia Smith Jigsaw Puzzle Competition.

This exciting event is on January 27, 2024, at Fort Bend Christian Academy, North Campus Gymnasium, 1250 7th., Sugar Land 77478. Teams of four, young and seasoned, have two hours to complete a 250-500-1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Awards immediately follow, and bragging rights are guaranteed! Check-in is at 9 am, and the timed competition is from 10 am to noon. The event is one way the local nonprofit raises awareness and funds for families with autistic children and loved ones. Register your team ($160) now. To volunteer, serve as a sponsor, or for autism resources, visit www.hopeforthree.org

AMERICAN LEGION POST 942 311 Ulrich Street, Sugar Land meets the fourth Tuesday of each Month at 7:00 pm. All Veterans are welcome.

LOVING FRIENDS IS A GROUP OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO ARE WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS THAT MEET MONTHLY FOR LUNCH, FRIENDSHIP, AND SOCIALIZATION Lunches. are planned for the fourth Tuesday of the month at various local restaurants. Please contact Bobbie Tomlin at {281} 967-0718 For more information about us and to learn about this month’s planned lunch. We hope to meet you soon.

QUAIL VALLEY GARDEN CLUB The Quail Valley Garden Club is very busy, not only with meetings, but with some fun “stuff” for our members and the community. Please find our fall schedule of events that the QVGC will be involved with this fall leading up to the holidays.

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH In conjunction with the Literacy Council of Fort Bend Bend County, GPBC offers ESL classes on Tuesday nights 6-8:30 from August 22, 2023 through May 21, 2024. We are located at 12000 FM 1464 Richmond.

Our students speak several languages and encompass many faiths. All are welcome. For more information call 281-277-2200 and ask for ESL information. You may also email ESL@grandparkway.org

FBJSL IS ACCEPTING CAF GRANT APPLICATIONS

ALIEF AARP CHAPTER 3264 Meets the first Thursday of every month at 10:00 a.m. at Salvation Army Church, 7920 Cook Road, Houston, TX 77072. Educational Program/Entertainment at each meeting. Bus Trips every month. Seniors 50 and above invited. Call 281-785-7372 for more information.

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SUGAR LAND ROTARY CLUB Sugar Land Rotary Club, the nation’s oldest community service organization, wants you to be its guest at a meeting that could turn out to be the best fit for getting involved with a local, non-political, humanitarian service organization with a global presence to satisfy your passion. We’re on a quest for new members! Call or email Dean Clark, 469-850-2424, dean7351@gmail. com. We’re a friendly group that meets once a week for lunch.

FT. BEND ACCORDION CLUB Meets on the 4th Sunday of every month from 2:pm - 4:pm at: CHRIST CHURCH SUGAR LAND (in the Chapel) 3300 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX 77479 FREE and Open to the Public! We welcome everybody!

If you play accordion, beginners to professional and would like to play Call, Text or email: Vince Ramos Cell: 281-204-7716 vincer.music@gmail.com

FORT BEND JUNIOR SERVICE LEAGUE RECRUITING NEW MEMBERS FOR 2022-2023 YEAR To join, the membership application can be accessed at https://www.fbjsl.org/join/how-to-become-a-member/.

FBJSL will also be hosting multiple virtual and in-person recruitment events over the summer where potential new members can learn more about the League.

Information regarding attending these events is available at www.fbjsl.org or on the FBJSL Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FortBendJuniorServiceLeague/.

LITERACY COUNCIL OF FORT BEND COUNTY We enhance lives and strengthen communities by teaching adults to read. We need your help. Literacy Council is actively recruiting Volunteer Tutors to provide instruction for English as a Second Language (ESL) Levels 0-5, three hours a week. For more information, call 281-240-8181 or visit our website www.ftbendliteracy. org

JAM WITH SAM Join Sam Grice Tuesday evenings at 6:30 for a casual evening of music. We play a variety of music including bluegrass, country, gospel and some western. We request acoustic instruments only please. We welcome both participants and music lovers who enjoy listening to good live music. There’s no charge and we welcome beginners and gladly offer gentle assistance. We meet at First Presbyterian Church, 502 Eldridge Rd, Sugar Land. Please call Sam at 832-428-3165 for further information.

GIVE A GIFT OF HOPE Give a Gift of Hope one-time or monthly. Your help provides access to therapies and services children with autism might otherwise go without. Please consider Hope For Three in your Estate, Planned, or Year-End Giving.

Register now, or learn more about exciting events: www.hopeforthree.org/events

DVD-BASED ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS WITH NO HOMEWORK REQUIRED Weekly class designed to help you understand and appreciate the Bible by giving you a better sense of the land and culture from which it sprang. The class meets at 9:30 am every Sunday at First Presbyterian of Sugar Land (502 Eldridge Rd.). For more information call 281-240-3195

EXCHANGE

We provide grants of up to $5,000.00 to charitable causes serving Fort Bend County with requests to fund a critical need, pilot a program, or expand a significant service to the community. If your agency or organization is interested in applying for a CAF grant, please visit the Request Support page of the FBJSL website (www. fbjsl.org/request-support). All applications should be submitted via e-mail to brccom@fbjsl.com

EXCHANGE, America’s Service Club, always welcomes guests and is in search of new members! Various Fort Bend clubs exist and can accommodate early morning (7 a.m.), noon and evening meeting time desires.

For more info, contact Mike Reichek, Regional Vice President, 281-575-1145 or mike@reichekfinancial.com We would love to have you join us and see what we are all about!

THE SANCTUARY FOSTER CARE SERVICES

MISSOURI CITY AARP CHAPTER 3801

We are a child placing agency that provides wrap around care support for foster children and foster families. We provide free therapy services, 24 hr. crisis intervention, respite/alternative care services and community-based support. For more info, www.sanctuaryfostercare.org

Meets the second Monday of every month at 11:30 a.m., at 2701 Cypress Point Dr., Missouri City Rec Center.

Lunch, education, and entertainment. All seniors over 50 invited. For more information, call 713-859-5920 or 281-499-3345.

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THE STAR

PAGE 8 • Wednesday, January 17, 2024

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Harris appointed Missouri City police chief Staff Reports In a specially called meeting on January 8, the Missouri City City Council selected Brandon Harris aa the city’s permanent police chief. Harris, who has served in the department full-time for nearly three decades, had been acting as interim police chief since former chief Mike Berezin resigned in May 2023 after 34 years with the department.

According to his city profile page, Harris with the Missouri City Police Department

as a reserve police officer in 1995 before being hired as a full-time officer in June 1996.

Harris was first promoted to corporal in 1998, has been a supervisor in every division.

Harris has been a member of several specialized police units, including a Field Training Officer, an Advanced Accident Reconstructionist, and the Honor Guard Commander.

He graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and the Bill Blackwood Law Enforce-

ment Management Institute of Texas.

Harris is a member of several law enforcement organizations, including the FBI National Academy Associates, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Texas Police Chief ’s Association. He is also a member of the Fort Bend Independent School District’s Safety and Security committee.

Harris and his wife, Tracy, have been married for 32 years and have two adult sons.

Brandon Harris was named last week as the new police chief of Missouri City. He has served in the department full-time in 1996. Courtesy City of Missouri CityUsed by permission.

GOT NEWS? EMAIL YOUR NEWS OR PRESS RELEASE TO EDITOR @FORTBENDSTAR.COM

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