VOL 8 No. 16
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
Stafford mayoral candidates chart different paths to progress
Book Character Parade First Place – Verity Vonberg as Madeline – Photos by Debi Beauregard. Hundreds of people came out to the Cinco Ranch Branch Library in Katy to enjoy the second annual Literary and Fine Arts Festival and Parade hosted by Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner, Andy Meyers on April 11. The festival included an essay and art competition for campuses within Precinct 3 from Katy ISD, Fort Bend ISD and Lamar CISD. The crowd also enjoyed music by Seven Lakes High School Quartet, The Chairman of the Board, and the Morton Ranch High School Show Choir, JaZZ’d! as well as a book character parade with some of the community’s youngest participants. The parade was led by high school drummers and drill team members from Cinco Ranch High School as they made their way through La Centerra at Cinco Ranch. Tiger Rock Martial Arts of Katy also wowed the audience with a demonstration by some of their young black belts. The library displayed nearly 450 entries and $6,000 in scholarships were awarded with $1,000 for each Best of Show winner. There were 3 categories for Art (Elementary, JH and HS) and 3 categories for essays (grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8).
By BARBARA FULENWIDER The two Stafford mayoral candidates, Mayor Leonard Scarcella and Councilman Robert Sorbet, explained their vision for the city at the April 16 candidate forum held in the Stafford Civic Center. The forum was telecast live by the Stafford Municipal Educational TV. Sorbet, who has been a councilman for seven years now, wants to fill the mayoral office, which has been Scarcella’s since 1969. Sorbet is running to make changes that he sees as necessary to ensure a good future for Stafford residents. Those changes include more economic development, long-range planning for various public facilities and infrastructure improvements. In his opening statement, Sorbet said his reason for running is to ”take Stafford to the next level.” Scarcella, a Stafford native, was elected to run the city when he was just a few years out of law school and the city was a farming community with a population of 2,900.
As long-time mayor, he has more notches for accomplishments in his belt than most other mayors can imagine. Scarcella said when he first became mayor Stafford had one policeman, a 40-cent per $100 valuation property tax and all of the town’s school children had to attend Fort Bend ISD or Houston ISD schools. “Under my leadership I abolished the property tax, established the police and fire departments, fought to make the Stafford Municipal School District a reality and developed the acclaimed Stafford Centre.” After the brief opening comments, Stewart Jacobson, from the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, introduced himself as the moderator/host and then the panelists: Michael Sudhalter, Editor of the “Fort Bend Star” newspaper; Jaye Ramsey Sutter, a political science professor at Houston Community College and the University of Houston, and Seshadri Kumar, editor of the “Fort Bend Independent” newspaper. Asked why Scarcella wanted another term and what he
wanted to accomplish Scarcella said: continue no property taxes and no general obligation debt, have a highly efficient city staff, provide outstanding services and attract more businesses that continue to bring in high paying jobs. “We need to address the island and TI (Texas Instruments) question and make sure we provide the children of Stafford with the best educational opportunities we can afford for them.” Sorbet was asked “why he thinks a change in leadership” is needed and he said he can take the city to the next level and will improve the quality of life for residents and workers. “There are still a lot of challenges. I think there’s so much more we can do that we’re not doing. It’s important to take it up a notch. Stafford is a great city and the mayor has done a lot of great things. With his background, he said, he can take the city to the next level. Sutter asked how the candidates improve safety, the infrastructure and quality of life. Sorbet said the city needs to build larger parks because resi-
dents want such and provide walking trails. “We can never take safety for granted. We now have a big deficit on pay for police officers. When we start them at $40,000 and other nearby towns are paying $50,000… A lot of things involve the quality of life and we need to work on all of them,” the councilman said. Scarcella said the quality of life is important. “Many citizens want to be assured of that and are comfortable with it.” They also want to be able to afford to live in the city and receive proper support from their government. “We provide that,” the mayor said. Asked what each candidate would do to put commuter rail on the front burner again, Scarcella, who serves on the Gulf Coast Rail District’s board of directors, said there are limitations with putting such down U.S. 90A. The southern bypass for such would cost between $1 and $2 billion and “until UPRR is willing to work with the people you are not going to have commuter rail on U.S. 90A.” See MAYOR, Page 3
Racing to conclusion: Intentional or accidental
By omitting the picture of a Fort Bend ISD candidate in a campaign article, an AfricanAmerican weekly magazine has landed the candidate in a wanton controversy. In the Feb. 25 issue of Houston Style Magazine, the magazine’s political contributor Burt Levine wrote an article about the candidacy of Stuart Jackson, a candidate for Position 6 trustee on the FBISD board. Levine was a campaign consultant for Jackson as well. The article carried a group picture of African-American children and not the candidate’s picture. More than six weeks after the publication, this writer received an email from Vanesia Johnson, NAACP Member, Missouri City and Vicinity. In the email on April 11, Johnson wrote: “Maybe I am just reading this article wrong but I get every impression that this White Fort Bend ISD candidate running for school board is representing himself as a “minority” and more particularly African American. Is this exploitation? Is this going to be tolerated? Elementary Essay K-2 Best of Show winner - Caroline Silva from “Please read this article and Katy ISD’s Kilpatrick Elementary with State Rep. Dr. John Zerlet me know your thoughts. was, Commissioner Andy Meyers and Pct. 3 Constable Rob Cook. I will be open minded to hear
BACKYARD TOUR. The 8th Annual Quail Valley Garden Club Backyard Tour, will be held Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Come and view five beautiful gardens of home owners who have mastered their gardening while working with different lot sizes, price ranges and maintenance requirements. Admission is $10 for all five gardens. Purchase tickets the day of the event at any of the five gardens on tour. Proceeds benefit beautification projects and scholarships. Follow Quail Valley street signs and you’ll receive a brochure guide. For more information, visit http://traction.typepad.com/qvtour/2015-gardens/
your perspective!” After reading the article, I wrote back to Johnson the following: “I do not find any claim in the article that Jackson is a “minority” candidate. “The only sentence that refers to minority is “This district is plurality African American and less than 19 percent white but the board does not reflect that. We need input in and from all areas.” “By reading the article I do not get the impression that a White candidate is representing himself to be a minority candidate. “The magazine did not publish his picture. So you should ask the magazine why it did not publish Jackson’s picture.” The next day, Johnson replied: “Thanks for your feedback! I contacted the writer. I am waiting for a response.” Jackson was caught off-guard by Johnson’s e-mail blast. Since he did not review the article before it was published and as he was not responsible for placing a misleading picture, he told Johnson, and the magazine that he did not seek to mislead anyone. Jackson let his consultant go for his questionable action. In the latest issue of Houston Style Magazine, the publisher printed the following clarification: Retraction: Stuart Jackson In the Feb. 25 issue of Houston Style Magazine, FBISD Position 6 candidate Stuart Jackson was featured. The author has consulted on Jackson’s campaign, but Jackson was not interviewed and was unaware of the article’s content until after its publication. Jackson felt the article was largely accurate but when put in context with the image the author selected, it implied he was African-American. He is not, and requested the magazine print an immediate clarification. Neither Jackson nor Levine intended to mislead voters. Houston Style Magazine
Opinion: Inside Track By Seshadri Kumar apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.” In my opinion, this whole episode is much ado about nothing and a deliberate race baiting. That the African-American magazine published the article without Jackson’s picture is a grave omission. Whether it is deliberate or unintentional is not known. The responsibility for omitting the picture squarely falls on the magazine and Jackson has been made a scapegoat
by Johnson. Jackson has in fact attended a few African-American neighborhood meetings and his campaign material shows him clearly as white. I wonder why Johnson waited six weeks to raise the issue. She jumped to the conclusion too quickly that a white man is masquerading as a black man to get the black votes. Also, what does it say about African American voters? Are they so ignorant that they cannot see a white from a black? Or does the NAACP want African Americans to vote only for African American candidates? There is already an African American candidate in the race, Addie Heyliger. Besides Jackson, incumbent Jenny Bailey, (Anglo), and J.J. Clemence (Chinese American) make it a very diverse race.
The skyline over Sugar Land at sunset on Sunday. — Photo by LARRY PULLEN