Inside: Bringing awareness to the fight against breast cancer • Page 1B ������������� ����� ������������ ����������������� ��������������� ������������ ������������ ������������
THE LEADER. Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston
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Saturday, October 11, 2014 • Vol. 60 • No. 49
A night out on the town
Possibilities with Pollock
ABOUT US 3500 East T.C. Jester Blvd Suite A (713) 686-8494 news@theleadernews.com www.theleadernews.com Facebook/THE LEADER.
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Photo by Christina Martinez Dr. Pollock, Principal of Garden Oaks Magnet shows recycled art that is displayed on campus.
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GO Magnet now all Magnet Montessori campus, curriculum
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I-10 ramp from 290 to open this weekend
Officials with the U.S. 290 widening project say construction crews will likely open a direct connector ramp between U.S. 290 and I-10. According to the project’s website, the eastbound lanes of U.S. 290 will be closed and the southbound lanes of Loop 610 will be be closed, starting at 9 p.m. Friday and could potentially continue into 5 a.m. Monday. The new ramp will allow better access for drivers moving on to I-10 and is intended to help ease traffic issues facing the congested interchange, which has been causing headaches for drivers across the region. For more information regarding road and lane closures, visit www.my290. com.
THE INDEX. Church
7A
Classifieds
7B
Coupons
5A
Food/Drink/Art Obituaries
3A 7A
Opinion
4A
Public Information Puzzles Sports
2A 4A 8A
By Christina Martinez christina@theleadernews.com
Residents enjoy night of family fun with neighbors, law enforcement By Christina Martinez & Jonathan Garris christina@theleadernews.com jgarris@theleadernews.com
Civic groups and communities across The Leader area helped celebrate 31 years of National Night Out on Tuesday with a wealth of family friendly activities aimed at promoting a variety of crime prevention programs. Similar annual celebrations were held across the country, with residents right here in the Northwest Houston area enjoying warm weather and plenty of community-building events. Shepherd Park Plaza, Oak Forest, Garden Oaks, Candlelight Estates and numerous other communities invited neighbors out for a chance to meet with law enforcement, elected officials and other local figures. The Near Northwest Management District held its annual celebration in the parking lot of the YES
Prep White Oak campus on West Tidwell. Children and parents had the opportunity to meet and greet with Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office deputies, Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies, the Houston Police Department, Lone Star College and other local representatives. Attendees also had the chance to win door prizes provided by sponsors like Target, including a TV, a tablet device and a Nintendo Wii game console. NNMD President Wayne Norden said he was excited to see a large crowd out and enjoying the festivities this year. “We’re thrilled about it,” Norden said. “When you look around, you see residents from apartment communities and other areas out with parents and children and everyone is interacting and having fun. That’s exactly what we want to see.” At residential gatherings
At the top, attendees enjoyed activities like a petting zoo at a National Night Out celebration hosted by the Near Northwest Mangement District (photo by Jonathan Garris). Above, Sgt. Tony Hernandez from Precint 1 arrests Evan Covington, 8, for having too much fun at his neighborhood gathering (photo by Christina Martinez).
children from the neighborhood could be seen playing, while their parents enjoyed conversation over food and drinks. Over on Thorton, Bob Warren and Michael Pate hosted family and friends of the area. Warren says this will be the fifth year for he and Pate to host the NNO party on the block. In Nov.
the two will have lived in the area for 14 years. Over on Covington Dr., the Adams family hosted this year’s gathering. A group of neighborhood boys played a game of football in the Adams’ front yard and a few laughs were had when Mrs. Adams was told to get out of the “end zone.”
Many schools in the area and across the nation are subject to budget cuts and minimal funding for fine arts and extra curricular activities. Garden Oaks Magnet, Montessori Magnet with Environmental Sciences knows first hand in juggling a balanced budget and still meeting daily creative needs for their students. Principal of Garden Oaks Magnet, Dr. Lindsey Pollock, says the school focuses on strategically incorporating cross connections into core subjects. “We’re looking to the performing arts as a way to express math and other concepts,” Pollock said. “Things like patterns, rhythms and things in music. We can maximize a child’s learning experience so that we are mindful that we are using taxpayer dollars wisely and still offering enriched opportunities to our kids.” This year will be the first year that Garden Oaks Magnet will be an all Montessori Magnet curriculum school. Pollock said when she arrived in 2008, the majority of classes were traditional with a few Montessori classrooms. The ratio was about 18 traditional to about 5 Montessori. The school later received a magnet school assistance program grant, which Pollock says was a tremendous gift for the school and community. With the campus now under Montessori curriculum, the school integrates the arts into daily studies. Pollock says the campus’ impact without funds for fine art programs isn’t as profound as it would be at other schools. “We do have the arts already as part of the daily curriculum, but certainly we use to have an art teacher on campus and we don’t anymore,” Pollock said. “We have more music now and less visual art. We have to make choices. We’ve never had a dance program here. Clearly in a perSee Magnet, P. 5A
Resident offers $10k reward for info on cat mutilations By Jonathan Garris jgarris@theleadernews.com Officials with the Houston Police Department say that of the 24 cat mutilations reported since 2008, they have been unable to determine whether other predators or humans killed the animals. Now, one resident is taking to social media for help in solving the mutilations. The Leader has written several articles in the past regarding reported mutilations in the Lazybrook area and other communities. “We’re currently waiting for the results from forensic examinations of a few recent cases to try to determine what killed these animals,” HPD representative John Cannon said. “We
don’t want to put out an alarm for our residents until we get testing done that tells us one way or the other.” Officers with the city’s animal cruelty unit have met with a number of groups and residents over the past few years regarding the reported deaths. Remains of the animals have been found on citizens property, however no known witnesses have come forward with information related to the deaths of the animals, Cannon said. “The most challenging thing for us has been trying to determine what happened when we don’t have anyone coming forward and saying they saw the animal being killed by another animal or an individual,” Cannon said. Now, a Northwest Houston resident is taking matters into their own hands,
through a posting on Craigslist and is offering a $10,000 cash reward for information relating to what some residents say is the continued mutilation of cats in the Timbergrove, Lazybrook and Heights neighborhoods. The reward and its background, first posted to Craigslist on Sept. 30, calls for “information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons” who murdered and mutilated the author’s cat during the early morning hours of Sept. 20 in the Timbergrover subdivision. “This appears to be the work of the so called ‘Heights Cat Killer’ who has been linked to 23 reported cat mutilations since October of 2008,” The post states. Two more mutilations were apparently reported in the days following
the original incident. The post is asking residents to provide specific details behind the mutilations and provide proof that the person killed their cat. “You give me the info, the guy gets arrested and goes to jail,” The post states. “You’re $10,000 richer. Someone knows who this psychopath is.” Residents like Jennifer Estopinal of the Heights have taken to social media to raise awareness about the killings and shares the same views as other residents regarding the deaths. “There are many more stories of other incidents but not enough info to document,” Estinopal stated in a post on the See Reward, P. 2A