Lifestyle

www.iowacolonytx.gov/

Department Phone

Department of Community Development

281-369-2471

Community Development handles permitting, platting, inspections, and engineering.

Department of Finance

Department of Public Works

281-369-2471

281-369-2471

The Department of Public Works is responsible for keeping all city assets and facilities in a state of good repair. Public Works contains streets and sidewalks, parks, municipal buildings, and right-of-way maintainance.

Municipal Court

281-369-2471

Municipal Courts are the judicial branch of city government. In addition, the Municipal Court is part of the state judicial system. Municipal Courts hear Class C Misdemeanor criminal cases, including traffic violations, for which the maximum fine, upon conviction, does not exceed $500, and for which no jail sentence may be assessed. They also hear cases involving violation of city ordinances, which may have fines up to $2,000 for certain offenses.

Office of the City Manager

Office of the City Secretary

281-369-2471

346-395-4526

The City Secretary is the clerk of the City serving as a link between the citizens and the City organization. The City Secretary’s office is committed to providing excellent customer service to the public in a timely, professional and efficient manner.

Responsibilities: Provides all pertinent information for City Council meetings; Custodian of all official records of the City, including agendas, minutes, agreements, ordinances, resolutions and contracts; Maintains the City Seal and attests official documents; Oversees City elections; Provides the public with information in accordance with the Texas Public Information Act; Administers the oath of office to new City employees and officials; Publication of legal notices

Parks

Iowa Colony City Park • 4003 Meridiana Parkway (Next to Meridiana Elementary School) City Hall Park • 12003 Iowa Colony Blvd (Behind City Hall)

Police Department

Mosquito Spraying

281-369-3444

Requests for mosquito spraying can be made online with Brazoria County Mosquito Control.

CONTENTS

~ Cover Story ~

Page 5

Elementary student takes an innovative step and acquires a pen pal.

~ School District News ~

Page 6

Looking to better communicate with the students and parents, Alvin ISD updates their website and app.

~ Back To School Lunches ~

Page 9

Fun back-to-school lunches could help kids start the year off right.

~ Know Your City ~

Page 13 & 14

Meet Your Mayor, Council & Planning Commission meeting times and upcoming holiday events.

“Would you be my pen pal?”

A few months ago, a young man named Benjamin Odocha wrote a letter to AISD Superintendent Carol Nelson.

At the time, Benjamin was a fourth grade student at Bel Nafegar Sanchez Elementary. He decided to write the letter to Superintendent Nelson because he admired her work with all the schools and students.

His letter stated that “he knows how much she does for the district” and Benjamin expressed his desire to become her pen pal.

Touched by the young man’s gesture, Mrs. Nelson went above and beyond to make Benjamin feel extra special. She personally delivered a letter in response to his message. Benjamin was so excited!

Benjamin’s courage in reaching out and Superintendent Nelson’s effort of going the extra mile may well make for a lasting bond. It certainly brightened the lives of the two new pen pals.

Alvin ISD unveils new website / app www.alvinisd.net gets a new look

The home for all things Alvin ISD has an upgrade as the district launches a new website and app in order to better communicate with the community.

The district’s website has become outdated as technology and website viewing habits drastically changed in recent years. With a new clean, responsive design and an app that can push out notifications to those who have downloaded it, the district hopes parents, families, staff, students, and community members will be able to find the information they are looking for when they visit.

“The website features more graphics and a more modern design,” shared Renae Rives, Alvin ISD Executive Director of Communications. “The new site will really showcase students’ accomplishments in academics, the arts, sports, and much more.”

The Alvin ISD website, www.alvinisd.net, still contains the

same type of content, just laid out a little differently.

The mobile app is available for iPhone and Android devices with school information such as events, cafeteria menus, emergency notifications, and other pertinent information. The effort is in partnership with Apptegy, an education technology company based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“This new website and app makes it much easier for Alvin ISD to get timely information out to the public in ways that are convenient for them,” said Rives. “The ability to post once and have it appear in multiple places is a powerful way to get our messages out to social media and mobile devices.

We recognize this is where many people consume information today and we want to provide accurate information as quickly as possible.”

Visit the new website at www.alvinisd.net and download the Alvin ISD app in the app store.

John Mangum Local Agent

Pastor Bill Derixson

What point of reference do we have that God is good? The evil in the world and its suffering have caused many to wonder if God is good.

The future judgment of God’s adversaries brings into question the goodness of God. Yet, the unseen variable in these questions is the sinfulness of man.

If God were to destroy all sinful men, He would destroy every man. The goodness of God is, in part, to strive with sinful individuals and attempt to redeem them. God is longsuffering with fallen man. It is not His will that any perish, but that all come to repentance and everlasting life through Him.

Yet sin grieves God, and for this reason, He has limited our days to 70 plus years. Still, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime, literally!

John 3:16 “For God so

God Is Good

loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, would not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The judgment of God is against sin and carries the penalty of everlasting destruction in hell fire. If we have committed any sin, we stand guilty before God and are in fearful expectation of His judgment. Since this truth condemns the whole of mankind, how would God be good if He doesn’t provide a way of pardon and reconciliation?

God’s mercy and justice meets together in the promise and fulfillment to send His only begotten Son.

In preparing a body for our Lord, God sent an atonement for man’s sins. Jesus would die once and for all in the place of every man, for the sins of the whole world.

Whoever will accept Jesus as their Lord would find Him as their Savior. He would in His death and resurrection, accomplish the demands of

the justice of God and at the same time, extend the mercy of God.

By putting our trust in Christ and making Him the Lord of our life, Christ would reign in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. We would be transformed by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.

What we could not accomplish in the weakness of our fallen nature, we can accomplish by becoming partakers of God’s divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world

through lust.

God is good in both questions posed in this article. He is demanding of righteousness and will punish iniquity, but for those who turn to Him, He has taken the punishment upon Himself.

God’s mercy rejoices over His judgment but know this, if you forsake the great salvation God offers at Christ’s expense, all that’s left is the fearful judgment of fire that will devour God’s adversaries.

PB & J Sandwich-kabobs

Ingredients

2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

1 cup seedless red or green grapes

1 small banana, sliced

4 wooden skewers (5 to 6 inches)

Ham & Cheese Pin Wheels

Ingredients

Meat: 10 - 12 slices deli ham,

1 small package

Produce: 4 Leaves lettuce

Directions

Cut sandwiches into 1-in. squares. Alternately thread grapes, sandwich squares and banana slices onto each skewer. Serve immediately.

Fun LUNCHES for

Bread & Baked Goods

2 Tortillas, large

Dairy: 8 slices Cheese

4 tbsp Cream cheese

Other: Optional

Ranch Dressing (seasoning mix)

Local college students recognized for accomplishments at various universities

Univerity of Texas at Tyler Spring 2023 Graduates

The following students graduated from University of Texas at Tyler in April.

Rosharon: Joseluis De La Garza, BS, Criminal Justice

Rosharon: Avery Farr, BBA, Marketing President’s Honor Roll

The following students were listed on the President’s Honor Roll in May.

Manvel: Mikayla Suarez, School of Nursing

Rosharon: Avery Farr, Soules College of Business

Midwestern State University Spring 2023

Midwestern State University recognized the following students.

President’s Honor Roll

Rosharon: Jocelyn Lewis, Undecided

Dean’s Honor Roll

Rosharon: Andrew Middleton, Marketing

Sam Houston State University Spring 2023 Graduates

The following area students received degrees in May.

Manvel: Paige McConnell, BS, Psychology; Nicolas Moeller, BFA, Musical Theatre.

Rosharon: Kameryn Alexander, BS, Communication Studies; Catelyn Huffman, BS in Nursing, Nursing; Lindsey Kinane, MA, English; Lamaiya McInnis, BS, Biomedical Sciences, Magna Cum Laude, Honors/Honors College; Kassidy Osburn, BS, Psychology, Magna Cum Laude; Koraima Padilla, BAAS, Applied ArtsScience; Kayla Richards, BBA, Marketing; Louryn Tilley, BA, History.

University of Northern Colorado Spring 2023 Graduates

The following students received degrees in June.

Manvel: Uryan Hudson, MBA, Business Administration.

Sam Houston State University Spring 2023

The following students were recognized at Sam Houston State University.

Dean’s List

Manvel: Grace Atchison, Kirolos Kossa, Jonathan Mokarzel, Hoang Nguyen, Cole Phillips, Tessa Schurtz, Kenneth Taylor, Brooklyn Yarborough

Rosharon: Emmanuel Adewolu, Alyssa Gutierrez, Catelyn Huffman, Devyn Mccree, Lamaiya McInnis, Kassidy Osburn, Ashley Preston, Zackery Schaffer

President’s List

Manvel: Grace Atchison, Hoang Nguyen, Kenneth Taylor, Brooklyn Yarborough

Rosharon: Lamaiya McInnis

Telling signs that three common insects may be infesting your beautiful lawn

Even the most well-maintained lawns can be vulnerable to insect infestation.

Well-maintained laws are a byproduct of hard work. That hard work is a point of pride for homeowners who spend countless hours throughout spring, summer and fall tending to their lawns.

All that hard work can be compromised when uninvited guests, namely insects, show up in a lawn. Insect infestations can turn a normally pristine and lush green lawn into a brown and sickly eyesore.

Identifying which type of insect is damaging a lawn is the first step toward returning that lawn to its green glory. These are three common lawn insects and signs that they’re infesting a lawn.

Grubs like to feast on the roots of grass right be-

low the surface. Reports state that grub damage can appear from March to early May but also from mid-September to early November. The lawn and garden experts note that wilted grass blades are often the first indicator of a grub infestation, which is followed by patches of brown turf and eventually death.

Crows, skunks and moles eat grubs, so the sight of them in a lawn could indicate an infestation.

2. Chinch Bugs

The experts report that chinch bugs are not necessarily problematic when their populations are limited to around 10 to 15 bugs per square foot of lawn.

In such instances, chinch bug populations are generally controlled by ants and ladybugs. However, extreme heat and drought, problems that have plagued various regions in North America in recent years, reduce the populations of bugs that feed on chinch bugs, thus increasing the population of these unwanted guests that feed on grass.

Damage from chinch bugs is most visible between June and September. That damage begins with grass taking on a purple tinge before it turns yellow and then brown after wilting.

3. Cutworms

The lawn care experts note that cutworms are moth larvae that hide in the thatch layer of a lawn during the day before emerging at night to feed on grass blades.

Patches of brown grass between one and two inches in width is a sign of cutworm infestation. Homeowners who notice a growing number of birds pecking away in their lawns may have a cutworm infestation. These pests can be confirmed by peeling up a section of damaged grass and looking for cutworms, which are brown, gray or black and tend to be around two inches long.

The good news is that grub, chinch bug and cutworm populations can be controlled. Local turf specialists can recommend strategies to curtail such populations and help homeowners restore their lawns to full health.

1. Grubs

Shirley Prihoda

Best Parts Of Life

Introduction: My attempt in writing is to touch the heart and inspire the reader to look beyond the situations of life.

Additionally, because I am a “wanna be” chef, recipes are usually included with my articles.

Seasons are always changing in the cycle of life. Some welcomed, and others not so much.

Every now and then, we resist changes like the child who wants, “just one more drink of water.” This is their last stand before falling into gentle and quiet slumber. Sleep is an appointed time for their benefit, and ours.

We watch their resistance with wonder because we have reached the age of accountability.

We now know sleep is a precious thing, and one truly to be desired. We would like to convey the sage wisdom to enjoy it while they can. They aren’t buying it.

We know all too well the day is coming when a good night’s sleep will be number two on their list of things most desired.

Anyone who has reached our age will testify there is a list of priorities, and the first item involves 1000 sheet rolls of one-ply, two-ply, or quilted varieties that can be squeezed, providing Mr. Whipple isn’t around.

We have found this age also brings added benefits, like 20/20 vision. Unfortunately, it only works if you’re looking backwards. That’s why older people love to tell stories about their childhood.

Strangely our stories lack appeal to the younger generation. They roll their eyes at yet another story about how we washed dishes, milked cows, or cut wood for the fireplace. But to the senior person telling the story, these ordinary, repetitive things seem almost magical and worth repeating, over and over. This repeating part really gets on our kid’s last nerve, which is so puzzling to us.

This week, as I was getting the sheets out of the dryer, suddenly a long-ago memory of wash day popped into my head.

It was a magical intoxicating memory of a Monday washday. I was snuggling the sundried sheets close to my face and smelling their crisp cleanness.

I remembered the skill required to take the sheets off the clothesline.

First, with one hand the clothespins were removed and placed in the bag hung over the sagging clothesline while sliding it down the wire with the other hand. This may appear to be easy, but holding the sheets off the ground while doing it wasn’t.

Perfumers have tried to capture the sundried scent, but it’s just not the same. I feel certain, if we could get close enough to the sun to smell it, it would smell just like sundried sheets that have swayed back and forth in the breeze all day long.

My long-ago memory continued, and I was making the beds.

This was not as easy as today with fitted sheets. All the sheets were flat and required expertise to tuck the corners under the mattress to create a tight fit.

Next, you moved to the side of the bed and held the top sheet with both hands and flung it high into the air, and watched it descend ever so softly like a magic carpet.

Once the top sheet came to rest on the mattress, it was smoothed flat with your hands, and tucked neatly under the foot of the mattress. Moving on in the process, if you had two pillowcases that matched, we never did, now was the time to push the feather pillows inside and pick out any wayward feathers poking through.

The process of making the beds Tuesday through Sunday was different.

Sheets were only washed on Monday. For those in-between days, the top sheet was removed, and used sort of like a rug beater on the bottom sheet. Then the top sheet was flung into the air again, smoothed and tucked.

The pièce de ré·sis·tance in the daily bed-making was covering the bed with the knobby chenille bedspread.

The beating of the bottom sheet was a needed function since bathing on the farm was also a once-a-week thing. That’s because bathing involved a #3 washtub filled bucket by bucket with well water.

Once filled, it required two people to carry it into the kitchen, where water was heated in tea kettles to warm it up a little. Then, every-

one waited outside the kitchen for their turn with the bar of lye soap, and the same tub of water.

As I returned to today and finished making my bed, I was longing for the smell of sundried sheets. Then, I realized one day I will look back on today and probably remember this day as a magical day.

Truly, today is my season and the best parts of life are all the little ones added up.

This soup is my kids, Shawn, and Mandy’s, favorite. When they need comforting, or the familiarity of memories, they always ask for it. I am certain it is a magical memory.

Cheese Soup

NOTES: Use Russet potatoes for this recipe. Pare and cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. I prefer the taste of Pet Evaporated milk, but you can use any brand. Do not drain the liquid from the cooked potatoes.

In a large soup pot combine:

1/2 Cup finely chopped Onions

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

Lightly sauté the onions until translucent.

Add:

6 Cups cubed Potatoes

1/2 Cup chopped Carrots

3 1/2 Cups water

3 Tbsp “Better than Bouillon” Chicken Base

Bring to a full boil, reduce heat to a medium boil and cook for 20 minutes.

Add:

1/3 Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

8 Ounces Velveeta cheese

1/2 Stick Butter

1 1/4 Cups Pet Evaporated Milk

Using a hand mixer or an immersion blender, (I love this new invention) blend until smooth.

NOTE: You may need to add a little regular milk if the consistency is too thick, or to reheat once refrigerated.

To Serve: Ladle into bowls and top with a little shredded cheese and crumbled bacon.

Know Your City

Meet Your Mayor Wil Kennedy

Wil was born to Ken and Barbara Kennedy and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He graduated from Moss Point High School with honors and attended Alcorn State University on an Academic Scholarship. After graduating from Alcorn, he started in public service at the State Attorney General’s office as an Investigator in the Consumer Protection Division.

He spent a Legislative session working at the State Capitol prior to joining Ainsworth-MacAllan and Associates (formerly Ainsworth-Meany) and joining their Texas operations handling Marketing and Field Services for School Districts across the State of Texas. He subsequently joined DeWitt-Lavaca Special Education Cooperative in Cuero, TX as School Health and Related Services Administrator and Network Manager.

While there, he earned his MBA from the University of Houston-Victoria. Soon after completing his MBA, he joined Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor in their Edgewater Beach office prior to working for the Southeast Louisiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

After brief stints in those arenas, he found his calling in the Offshore Drilling arena working for almost 2 decades starting as a utility hand and mustering out as a Drilling Superintendent. Currently, he works as a Consults on Medicare Benefits and Income Taxes.

Wil and his wife, Undrea, have twin sons: Willie and Amos and have been in Brazoria County since 2006 and in the Iowa Colony development of Meridiana since 2019.

Life Member: ASU Alumni Foundation

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

Ministry Leader and Member: Windsor Village Church Family

United Methodist Men Golden, UMC

Father’s Auxiliary Jack and Jill, Southbelt Houston Chapter

Roaches, Termites, Ants, Wasps, Bee’s, Silverfish, Rats, Mice, Bed Bugs, Fleas, Ticks, Birds, Squirrels & more.

“Protecting Your Home & Family Since 1959”

Know Your City

City Council Meetings

August 21, 2023 • 7:00 pm

September 18, 2023 • 7:00 pm

October 16, 2023 • 7:00 pm

Planning Commission Meetings

August 1, 2023 • 7:00 pm

September 5, 2023 • 7:00 pm

October 3, 2023 • 7:00 pm

Iowa Colony City Hall

12003 Iowa Colony Blvd

Iowa Colony, TX 77583

iowacolonytx.gov

Festival of Lights

It’s Never Too Early To Start Thinking About Christmas

December 2, 2023 • 6 to 8 p.m.

Festivities will be at the Iowa Colony City Hall and include tree lighting, hot cocoa, Santa, crafts, ‘The Grinch’ movie, tunnel of lights, face painting, 30,000 lbs of SNOW and musical performances by Jackie Doucet Caffey Choir.