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Inside Today: Lutheran North football excited about future • Page 6B

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Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston Saturday, November 21, 2015 • Vol. 60 • No. 55

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HISD approves new attendence boundaries for area schools By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com

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The Houston Independent School District Board of Education voted Thursday, Nov. 12 to adjust neighborhood attendance boundaries at 10 elementary schools, including Highland Heights, Smith, Stevens, and Wainwright in The Leader area. According to HISD, the attendance boundary proposals were created in response to state law, which requires kindergarten through fourth grade classes to have no more than 22 students per classroom. Classes that exceed that number must request a state waiver. Last year, the district had to submit about 1,500 class-size waiver requests. This year, working under a directive from the state,

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administrators have succeeded in reducing that number by roughly 40 percent. Gloria Salazar, who has been the principal at Katherine Smith since 2001, said she is “delighted” that she will finally have a solution to the overcrowding at her school which she says has been an issue for the past three years. Now, some Smith students will be shifted to Stevens, Highland Heights and Wainwright. As for the temporary buildings that helped with the overflow at Smith? “They are taking those away,” said Salazar. Also happy about the new zoning is Candlelight Estates resident Jennie Sciba, who was zoned for Katherine Smith but is now zoned for Stevens. Her daughter is 2 years See Zoning P. 8A

Photo by Betsy Denson Katherine Smith Elementary is one of several area schools affected by the adjusted attendance boundaries.

Attempted burglary sheds light on safety during the holidays

Living the...

By Kim Hogstrom For The Leader Many in The Leader’s readership already know that crime spikes in our area as the holidays approach. One resident in the Heights area knows it all-too-well after a recent brush with a criminal in her own home. The woman wishes to remain anonymous for safety reasons, however, the slight, 5-foot-2-inch woman recently chased a roughly 6-foot-2-inch would-be burglar from her garage with a broom. “I opened the garage door one morning, and backed out to load some items in the car,” the woman says. “Then I went back to the house to lock the door. The garage was open all of 30 seconds when he went inside.” The young woman grabbed a broomstick hanging in the garage and “released a shower of F-bombs on him,” she said. “I demanded that he get out, and I chased him with the broom,” she said. “You use what you have on hand. I

Eating green & saving green Figuring out what’s in season and what isn’t can be tricky - especially for all of our readers looking to entertain plenty of guests for the upcoming holidays. Turn to our special section this week for info on what’s hot and what’s not for the holidays.

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Photo by Betsy Denson Angel Viator Smith said that a sense of community is important at GeekLife. Customers are welcome to play their games in the store.

New Heights shop celebrates all things gaming By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com

Rally for a name Older alumni of Reagan High School are gearing up for a major rally next month in support of maintaining the high school’s current name. Find out about the local organization’s rally and some of the revisions to HISD’s facility naming policy.

Like many great laid plans, Mangum Manor residents Angel Viator Smith and her husband launched the idea for GeekLife - their retail store and game space at 728 W 20th St - on a road trip. “We were listening to a podcast about a game place, and said to each other ‘we really could do that’,” said Smith. They brainstormed for a while and then started doing booths at area game and comic conventions. After five years, they were ready for a brick and mortar store, which they found at the end of September in the Heights behind GeekLife features a variety of Euro-style games as well as Star Hugs & Donuts. merchandise. Smith and her husband can’t wait for the “We have really good neighbors,” Smith said of Insomnia Wars movie. and Hugs & Donuts. They’ve given us a lot of insight into And not games like Monopoly or Battleship, but those the area.” Smith left her full-time job in accounting at Rice Universi- that are strategic and cooperative – sometimes referred to ty to focus on GeekLife. Her husband Koree helps out quite as German style or Euro-style games. As an example take one of their newest and most popua bit when he can and there are also two other employees. lar, Mysterium, in which one player is a ghost and the others “We want to focus on communal activity,” said Smith who said that while the retail store offers other merchandise like are mediums who must try to solve a murder. Another pecomic books which they will special order for customers, See Geek P. 3A the focus is on games.

The INDEX. Church

6A

Classifieds

4B

Coupons

5A

Food/Drink/Art Obituaries

1B 7A

Opinion

4A

Public Information Puzzles Sports

2A 4A 6B

Memorial Hermann Greater Heights will be celebrating its new name by giving back to local families with a Fall Family Fun Day this Saturday. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., families will be able to enjoy a variety of activities, food and refreshments at the hospital’s main campus, located at 1635 North Loop W. Families can take part in traditional tailgate games and giveaways, watch some college football on outdoor TVs and even visit with LifeFlight crew members. Free parking is available for the event and children can have fun in a pumpkin patch and hay maze, while parents can check out local art and enjoy great food from neighborhood restaurants and potentially take home a new pet from an adoption service. To register for the event, call 713222-CARE (2273).

Budget constraints may limit maintenance of Timbergrove Manor FEMA lots By Jonathan Garris jgarris@theleadernews.com

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Memorial Hermann Greater Heights to host fall festival

Timbergrove Manor residents were looking for assistance, and a few answers, with the area’s empty lots which were bought out by the Harris County Flood Control District and the Federal Emergency Management Agency over 10 years ago. With some lots becoming overgrown and lacking maintenance, last week’s civic club meeting was a chance to address the issue. HCFCD staff representatives Gary Bezemek and Erin Going gave a presentation not only outlining the scope of HCFCD’s responsibilities and the basis behind its flood plains maps but also spoke about the somewhat tricky situation behind the use of the empty FEMA lots along streets like Woodbrook Lane, Shelterwood Drive, Hurst Street and Queenswood Lane.

“We spend millions of dollars mowing and doing basic landscaping for our bayous and other properties. We don’t have the resources to come in and mow during the summer months every week or every other week.” HCFD Representative Gary Bezemek on the challenges of providing upkeep to empty lots. Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001 damaged a number of the residences in the neighborhood. As part of the Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Program headed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, homeowners were approached by the HCFCD and offered a buy out where purchased homes were destroyed and the lots remained empty. Currently, there are 18 total lots owned by the HCFCD in Timbergrove Manor, Going said, but some aren’t happy about the overgrowth along areas like Shelterwood Drive, where brush and other plants have

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grown out and over sidewalks. When one resident voiced their concern, Bezemek and Going explained that, while issues dealing with visibility or safety will be dealt with once assessed by property management, they are still limited by time and money. “Our buyout lots are mowed eight times a year,” Going said. “Depending on the amount of rain and weather forecasts, typically eight times a year is reasonable, but there have been times where we start early or do one extra month if we find the weather will produce a lot of grass growth.” Bezemek said three cycles of maintenance are completed on HCFD-owned properties throughout Harris County. “That’s strictly because of budgetary constraints,” Bezemek said. “We spend millions of dollars mowSee Lots P. 5A

Contemporary American Farmhouse


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