VOL 8 No. 7
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
Sugar Land Police Department names Officer of the Year The Sugar Land Police Department recently named Sgt. Matt Levan as the 2014 Officer of the Year. The award recognizes a police officer who made an outstanding contribution to the department and the community. Levan was selected from a pool of nominations by police department employees. “Sgt. Levan is committed to making the department, City and the lives of countless children and their families better every day through his work,” said Lt. Wayne Coleman. Levan started his service with SLPD 19 years ago. His commitment to his job as a supervisor makes him an exceptional instructor, mentor and investigator. As a member of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes against Children Task Force, Levan was valuable in the apprehension of several child predators. He proactively investigated 30 cases of offenders sharing child pornography over the Internet in the Fort Bend Country area which led to 20 felony arrests. It is Levan’s personal mission to protect the children in the community. Levan conducts Internet
Levan safety classes to educate parents about online dangers such as cyber bullying. He coordinates the flag football team for the annual Fort Bend Holiday Bowl, a charity event benefiting the Fort Bend County Deputy Sheriff’s Association’s “Santa Behind the Badge” program, the Sugar Land Police Officers Association and Toys for Tots-Fort
Bend. Levan also helps organize softball teams and tournaments to create camaraderie among the City departments. He is the instructor for the criminal investigations class for the Citizen’s Police Academy, and he teaches an advanced child abuse investigation training course and a sexual assault and family violence investigation course. These courses are catered to law enforcement and non-law enforcement personnel like Child Protective Services and victims’ advocates. “Sergeant Levan is a prime example of the type of police officer all of us should strive to be,” said Lt. Todd Zettlemoyer.
Missouri City reviews Brazos River park plan By BARBARA FULENWIDER Missouri City City Council council members got their proposed Brazos River park plans laid out at a special Feb. 2 meeting and also the amount of work it will take to make it a reality. Larry Foos, the city’s former parks and recreation director, and Lloyd Lentz, a principal with LMA Design, made the presentation to council, which started with Foos saying the Brazos, Texas’ longest river, runs through the middle of Fort Bend County and is now protected by Fort Bend Green, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organiza-
tion. The recreation master plan for the Brazos was completed in May 2014 and was a regional effort. Foos noted that the effort may take years to develop since not all the water and water frontage are owned by government entities, so landowners will have to be brought into the picture too. He said some trails are already under development in Sugar Land. A survey of citizens was done to determine what they think are the most important actions to be taken. They said the first action should be clean-
ing up the river and its banks. The second action they want is protection of the ecology of the river, then improve land access (trails, ramps, public access) and last, increase parkland along the river. Those surveyed also said the facilities and services they most want in the Brazos corridor are trails that follow along the river. In descending order that wish was followed by canoe/kayak launches and takeout points, restrooms and trails that connect neighborhoods to the river. See BRAZOS, Page 3
Suzanna and Charlie Vogan can’t wait to attend The Exchange Club of Sugar Land’s 28th Annual Spaghetti Dinner on Friday, Feb. 20, 2015, 5-8 p.m. at Fluor Corporation Cafeteria. Photo by Larry Pullen. Children especially enjoy the Kid’s Area at The Exchange Club of Sugar Land’s Spaghetti Dinner which includes a cake walk, face painting, free games and prizes. Dinner tickets are $10 in advance ($15 at the door). Children 12 and under eat free! Over 2,000 people attend this fun-filled family event each year. A live and silent auction, spaghetti sauce cook-off and live entertainment add to the fun. This annual fundraiser provides over $100,000 to Child Advocates of Fort Bend, Fort Bend County Women’s Center, Texana Center for Autistic Children and many other local non-profits. Raffle tickets for a chance to win a $5000 Gallery Furniture gift certificate or a 7 day vacation at a RCI Resort including airfare can be purchased for $100 and include 2 spaghetti dinners. To purchase dinner and raffle tickets on line or to become a sponsor visit http:// www.ecsl.org/spaghetti-dinner.php.
Fort Bend County defers action on new family law court
By SESHADRI KUMAR Fort Bend County Commissioners Court last week pulled a resolution from the court’s agenda, since Commissioner Grady Prestage said he would not vote in favor of the resolution. The resolution requested the State Legislature create an additional District Court for Family Law matters. The Board of District Judges of Fort Bend County has found that the case load and public need necessitated that an additional Judicial District Court for Family Law matters be created for Fort Bend County. Judge Jim Shoemake, administrative judge, sent the resolution to commissioners court on behalf of the board of judges. Of the six district courts in Fort Bend County, two deal with family law cases. The board of judges prepared a chart comparing 10 most populous counties in Texas. The comparison is made to the case load of each county restricted to family law cases as compiled from the latest release from the office of Court Administration. A comparison is made of the population per court in Fort Bend to the various counties listed in the chart. The comparison chart shows, with the creation of an additional Family District Court, the population per court will still exceed that of all but three of the counties listed and that is not taking into account the population growth into 2020. Fort Bend County’s population in 2013 was 642,365. Active pending cases in family courts in 2013 were 5,499 and in 2014 the pending cases to-
talled 5,903. During the year 7,229 new cases were added and 6,706 cases were disposed. The cost of operation of the District Courts is primarily borne by Fort Bend ·County. The state provides the District Judge’s salary and benefits are supplemented by Fort Bend County. All other costs are incurred by the county. The annual budgeted amounts for the current Family District Courts are $649,707 and $577,151. Fort Bend County furnishes the courtroom and the expense of operation along with bailiffs. Fort Bend County is paying the Associated Judge’s salary and benefits, which includes insurance, and Fort Bend County incurs all other costs. The additional Family District Court will be a new cost to the County. Commissioner James Patterson, who seconded the motion made by Commissioner Andy Meyers, said he believed that there was a need for another court, but he felt that the Judiciary facility was not being used efficiently. The County Auditor and County Facilities Department have done a survey and found that the building is vacant for a large portion of time. County Judge Bob Hebert concurred with Patterson. Hebert said there were two surveys that were independently taken; one by the County Auditor and one by Facilities at his request. The finding of the survey was that the court rooms are used only 50 percent of the time or less. “This is an expensive square footage, and this is not for the Commissioners Court to deter-
mine how they should be used more efficiently,” Hebert said. The judges should come up with a resolution and have an obtainable goal of using the facility 75 percent of the time. Several counties have night court for convenience in certain matters, because some people have to work during the day. Hebert asked the judges to investigate what others are doing for night court. Hebert agreed that the county needs the new court and has every intention of voting for it, while pointing out that it is tremendously expensive to build and maintain courtroom space and any efficiency we can get is to the benefit of the taxpayer. Prestage commented that he was concerned about not being taken seriously regarding the public defender’s office. “We cannot get a public defender’s office unless a judge requests it,” Prestage said. Unless the judges gave some commitment on the issue, he would not support the resolution for the new court, Prestage said. Assistant County Attorney Michelle Rangel, pointed out that the comments should be kept either for or against the resolution of additional courts, which is the subject matter that was posted for the meeting. Judge Shoemake said that this is a Family Court and would not have a Public Defender’s office associated with it in any way. Hebert said he did not want to send the resolution with a split vote. He urged the judges to meet with Prestage and work out the issue. The item will be placed on the agenda in the future.