Leader1221a

Inside Today: Find out what the youngsters are asking of Santa • Page 1B Don’t Forget To Do Your Christmas Shopping at ��

10570 NW Frwy 713-680-2350

SPT neighbors won’t let lights dim

THE BRIEF. www.allenSOLDit.com

sponsored by

by Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com

��

832.419.9969

Some will seek RR peace and quiet in 2014

The 34th Street Quiet Zone issue has been well, quiet, since last summer, but neighborhood leaders are planning on moving it forward in 2014. “Trains are quite intrusive, and for many neighbors from Garden Oaks, to Oak Forest, to Independent Heights, a quiet zone would be a signiﬁcant improvement to the quality of life in this area,” said Mark Klein, president of Super Neighborhood 12 and the Garden Oaks Civic Club. A Quiet Zone modiﬁes railroad crossings so trains can pass through without sounding their horns. It puts the gates down before the train arrives and requires that federally approved devices and signage be installed at each crossing to keep motorists and pedestrians safe. Klein said 34th St. is next on the city’s list of quiet zones to complete, but there’s no money available for it at the time and there may not be until 2015. He said the possibility of a public-private partnership may be one way to accomplish it. Oak Forest resident Chris Lombardo plans to contact local businesses with hopes of gaining their support for the project.

Howard Johnson, center, is passing along his tips for Christmas decorations to grandsons Chase, left, and Caleb, right. (Photo by Betsy Denson)

For Shepherd Park Terrace resident Annette Wells, preparations for the Christmas holiday started before Halloween. First, her son Chris helped her get all of her holiday decorations from the storage facility she rents. Then, the work truly begins. “I do as much as I can in October without being intrusive,” she said. “It’s my favorite season of the year. I love it and I always have.” The pinnacle of her interior decorations is a Christmas village display of

Want to see more lights? Take a drive down Donovan Street this week. hundreds of houses which she has collected over the years from Old Town Spring and Edelweiss Collectibles. She

Medina’s Triumph Clifton student beats cancer, team pushes him across goal line by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com

Michael Medina beat a rare form of cancer, thanks to therapy and his teammates.

��

Oak Forest resident Michael Medina scored the biggest two-point conversion of the season in the Texas Football Association varsity Super Bowl. And the fans of Medina’s team – the North Houston Oilers – as well as the rival Northwest Tigers, all applauded loudly for this monumental play on Dec. 8 at Delmar-Tusa Stadium. But this wasn’t any ordinary twopoint conversion. Just three months earlier, Medina, the 12-year-old Clifton Middle School sixth grader, had been diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, a

highly malignant brain tumor. The tumor, which was the size of a plum, has been removed, and Medina’s cancer now is in remission. His mother, Mary, said if the tumor had been removed three months later, it would have been inoperable. Oilers head coach Steve Ayarzagoitia called Medina’s parents, Mary and Leroy, before the game and told them to bring Michael to the game in uniform and full pads, because he’d be part of the pre-game coin toss. He was part of the coin toss, but his parents didn’t ﬁnd out until the fourth quarter that Ayarzagoitia and

see Medina • Page 9A

��

What

Can YFindOUInside

TOO BUSY TO CLEAN YOUR HOUSE? Call Pam’s House Cleaning, 713-204-6298. A TRASH HAULER: 832-388-7084. Garage cleaning, house cleaning. Demo: sheds, small garages. Residential, small businesses. On time! Calvin Edwards. OAK FOREST: Master bedroom (300 sq. ft.) with half bath. Completely remodeled. Christian couple seeking mature female tenant with employment income. References required. Available Jan. 1. $475 + % of utilities/cable. 713-560-7470.

See More, Page 7B

THE INDEX.

Public Safety Hipstrict Topics Obituaries Coupons Puzzles Sports Classiﬁeds

2A 3A 4A 6A 5A 7A 5B 7B

also blankets the downstairs with various displays. “I go as far as [my husband] will let me.” Husband, Calvin, takes care of the outside and said that although it’s the time of year to celebrate the season, the decorating gets harder the older he gets. Gloria Dennis, the civic club president for Shepherd Park Terrace, which includes almost 400 homes, said that in the 1980s, the neighborhood would get buses coming through and that “you could hardly get in here.” Along with Shepherd Park Plaza and

see Lights • Page 9A

Passenger rail considered for Heights, OF by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com The Gulf Coast Rail District (GCRD) is having preliminary discussions about the implementation of passenger rail transportation in Greater Houston, which would include two potential lines in the Heights and Oak Forest neighborhoods. GCRD, which was created by the City of Houston, Harris County and Fort Bend County under the authority of the state’s transportation code, faces several obstacles. Because the The most obvious is freight line traffic funding for nine potential commuter rails that has increased, would connect to downofficials say the town Houston, including best option may be one along U.S. Hwy. 290 building new rail and another along Texas lines adjacent to Hwy. 249. the current ones. “There isn’t an agency in this region that has funding (for the project) right now,” Crocker said. One option that was considered in the past was using existing rail used by freight trains. But that’s become difficult due to the increase in freight traffic as a result of a strong energybased economy. A more viable option would be building adjacent to the current freight tracks, but that would involve cooperation with the railroad companies, which has been a challenge at times for GCRD. Finding Right of Ways (ROW) has been a challenge, too, but members of the GCRD’s Passenger Rail Committee discussed ways to collaborate with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), METRO and railroad companies to make passenger rail a reality. Public-private partnerships are also an option. GCRD executive director Maureen Crocker said the need for passenger rail is present, and will be amplified when Greater Houston’s population grows exponentially over the next 20-to-40 years.

see Rail • Page 9A

Heights storytellers ﬁnd creativity, companionship through craft by Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com There is no campﬁre, but the members of the Houston Storytellers Guild who trade tales once a month at their story swap maintain just as rapt an audience. Participants do not have to be professional storytellers – outgoing Guild President and U of H Professor of Communication Studies Hank Roubicek said that everyone has a good story, it’s just a matter of bringing it out.

“My grandmother Rose was the consummate storyteller,” he said. “She was a Holocaust survivor, and a person of great wit and wisdom. I, like all humans, have always told stories. But it was when I started keeping journals in 1987 I realized all of the episodes worth sharing. The Guild is a group of intelligent, fun, challenging people who believe that human expression isn’t just important, it’s everything.” On a recent November evening, U of H Downtown student Katie Galloway had Guild members

hooked with the story of why her House of Pies menu was a signiﬁcant item in her life. Adjunct U of H Professor Jay Stailey retold a Carl Sandburg story he presented recently at a story telling festival in Ireland. Jim Blake told a morality tale about a dung covered bird. The stories, just like the people involved in the organization, run the gamut. Blake, who suffered a stroke six years ago, was looking

see Stories • Page 9A

Guild member Tom Yeager tells his story for the group. (Photo by Betsy Denson)

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook