Inside Today: Meet the Oak Forest woman spearheading the Junior League of Houston Page 2
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Saturday, February 17, 2024 • Vol. 69 • No.7
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INSIDE.
HISD OKs longer year, more NES campuses — minus Heights candidate By Charlotte Aguilar For The Leader Barely halfway through its first school year under state control, Houston ISD took two major steps last week to shape the 2024-25 year by approving a longer academic calendar and by adding 19 more schools to its rigid New Education System (NES) reform program — but Love ES in the Heights won’t be among them. Love had scored a “D” in the recently released and controversial HISD grading
Houston’s Gen Z changemaker: Youth pioneers path to better communities
system, making it one of 24 campuses eligible to join the second phase of NES. Two informational community meetings with HISD officials were held on campus to encourage the school’s participation, but pushback was immediately evident, and was quantified when the school conducted its own family survey in addition to one provided by the district. Parents and educators expressed concern under the NES model about the future of the school’s EnglishSpanish dual language program, in which students receive 50-50 instruc-
tion daily, removal of the school library and librarian, and potential changes to an innovative science lab and curriculum, among other worries. Love leaders did eventually receive a commitment from HISD that joining NES would be the principal’s decision, and Principal Sean Tellez followed stakeholders’ lead and said “no.” The district also committed that principals who rejected the invitation would not be removed from their jobs. File photo
See HISD P. 3
Love Elementary School Principal Sean Tellez
BACK IN THE SADDLE!
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Vigilante motive allegedly lies at the heart of Heights murder case By Stefanie Thomas editor@theleadernews.com
Breaking par and barriers: Grace Wilson’s swing into engineering
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Timbergrove Transformation: McNair Interests breaks ground on apartments
Page 4 Photo by Stefanie Thomas
Blue Line Bicycle Laboratory owners Dave (left) and Fred Zapalac are grateful for the return of a mid-1950s Columbia bicycle that had been missing for more than a year.
Heights bike shop reunited with missing vintage bicycle
Community spirit takes center stage at Heights Chamber Spring Fest
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Weekend at a glance: Thrills around town for Feb. 17 & 18
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Leash up for a tailwagging time at Houston Arboretum’s Pup Crawl & Pet Expo
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By Stefanie Thomas editor@theleadernews.com A vintage bicycle taken from Blue Line Bicycle Laboratory in the Heights more than a year ago has been returned to its rightful owner in a series of chance happenings. Fred Zapalac, co-owner of Blue Line Bicycle Laboratory at 1504 Yale St., said his brother Dave’s prized possession, a 1950s Columbia, held significant sentimental value for the shop owners. The bicycle’s monetary value is hard to estimate, he said, but he guessed the Columbia’s worth between $1,000 and $1,500. “We’ve had the bike for almost 20 years now,” Fred said. “It was really kind of a centerpiece in our original store on White Oak Drive. Everybody knew this bike. We’ve been meaning to mount it behind the front desk at our current location as well.” Before Fred and Dave Zapalac could do so, however, the bicycle went missing.
By Lisa Morales The Leader News Contributor
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Since 1982, Southeastern Guide Dogs (SEGD) has stood as a beacon of hope and companionship for those in need. This extraordinary organization provides service dogs to individuals with vision loss, veterans facing challenges, and military families coping with grief and stress, across the United States at absolutely no cost to the recipients. These remarkable dogs form unbreakable bonds with their guardians, bringing light,
Classifieds ���������������������������������7 Local Culture �����������������������������8
We empower people to thrive. S TE LL A R . BA N K NM L S # 4 5 1 3 1 2
See VIGILANTE P. 5
Submitted photo
James Montanez returned the missing Columbia bicycle to Blue Line Bicycle Laboratory in the Heights the day after he learned it had been missing.
“A guy came in and wanted to borrow a bike for a photo shoot with Jalen Green from the Houston Rockets,” Fred recalled. “We used to be known for beach cruisers but didn’t really have anything available at that
moment that would fit the bill. So David, from the goodness of his heart, got the Columbia from the back and let the photographer borrow it.”
Photo released by HPD
James Lewis Spencer III allegedly made it his mission to kill child sex offenders.
See BIKE P. 5
Southeastern Guide Dogs: Transforming lives of the blind and disabled
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Additional details have emerged in the murder case involving a 22-year-old suspect from Alvin. James Lewis Spencer III is accused in the shooting death of Heights resident Sean Connery Showers, 37, at 900 Northwood Street in the early morning hours of May 29, 2023. According to documents filed in the 179th District Court, Spencer told Houston police investigators that he decided to take the law into his own hands, making it his mission to “rob and harm” convicted child sex offenders because he believed “the police were not doing enough to keep pedophiles incarcerated” and they “would do bad things to little children and other people.” Spencer allegedly made similar statements to witnesses, saying that “if the cops were not going to do anything, maybe he should kill them himself.” Showers was a known sex offender who had been convicted of felony possession of child pornography involving the sexual exploitation of minors in 2009, following an investigation by the FBI Houston’s Cyber Squad Innocent Images Unit. According to the FBI, the images and videos on Showers’ computer depicted mostly prepubescent children ranging in age from toddlers to pre-teens, engaged in various sexual acts, sometimes with adults seen in the footage. Ten years after that conviction, Harris County court records show that, in 2019, Showers was convicted of failure to comply as a sex offender after he entered Bellaire High School during school hours without informing the school’s administrative office of his
freedom, and healing wherever they go. Mary Beth Driskell, whose husband delivered The Leader as a young boy and whose in-laws live in the Heights, became involved in the SEGD program when her daughter, Olivia, took on a puppy as part of her high school FFA Ag/Service project. The students in the program take on the role of a “puppy raiser,” making a substantial commitment to integrate the puppy into their daily routine in preparation for becoming a guide dog. The responsibilities of a puppy raiser include instructing the puppy in basic
Submitted photo
A Southeastern Guide Dogs dog in training learns how to become a valuable companion to a human in need.
commands, fostering obedience, and supervising potty-training routines. Additionally, the student introduces the puppy to various social settings resembling those encountered by visually impaired individuals in their daily lives, such as school outings, mall visits, busy streets, parks, and more. Driskell tells the Leader, “If you love puppies, have patience, and want to make a difference in someone’s life, then this journey is for you! We have heard so many stories of See GUIDE DOGS P. 5
Allegiance Bank and CommunityBank of Texas have come together as Stellar Bank. While our name has changed, our commitment to serving our customers and supporting our local communities will stay the same. We look forward to a bright future together.
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