The 07-05-23 Edition of the Fort Bend Star

Fort Bend ISD board adopts $952 million budget

Clements grad Wu reaches finals in Distinguished Young Women competition, earns scholarships

Staff Reports

Clements High School Class of 2023 graduate Nicole Wu earned $8,250 in scholarships when she placed among the top eight national finals participants in the Distinguished Young Women program in June. In addition to her national winnings, Wu received scholarships at the state and local competitions bringing her total to more than $10,000.

Wu earned the opportunity to compete against 49 other young women at the national finals after being named the 2023 Distinguished Young Woman of Texas in February and winning her area prior to that, according to a Fort

Bend ISD press release. National finals participants were evaluated in the

following areas: scholastics; interview; talent; fitness; and self-expression.

Wu received additional scholarship money as a recipient of the program’s “Distinguished Outreach Award.”

Participants in the DYM program are tasked with encouraging young people to “Be Your Best Self.”

As part of this initiative, Wu created a presentation for kindergarteners at her former elementary school, Colony Meadows, that was inspired by her love for growing, watering and maintaining beautiful flowers at a local park.

“Just as plants absorb nutrients and thrive during their early stages, young children absorb knowledge and begin to explore their own potential,” Wu said in the release. “This

was the foundational idea behind her theme ‘Growing into Your Best Self’.”

She designed hands-on presentations and activities around the five pillars of the “Be Your Best Self” campaign: Be Healthy, Be Ambitious, Be Studious, Be Involved, and Be Responsible.

Distinguished Young Women is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower young women to reach their full potential by providing scholarship opportunities for college as well as personal development to become confident leaders. Each participant takes part in life skills workshops that teach skills necessary for success in college and the workforce.

Missouri City program offers inclusion for people with autism, intellectual disabilities

Staff Reports

At its regular meeting on June 26, the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the district’s operating budget of $767 million for the 2023-24 school year, which includes a $500 step increase for teachers.

The district’s three budgets -general, debt service, and child nutrition- total $952 million.

The general operating budget maintains a 90-day fund balance reserve, which is required by board policy.

The board previously approved a resolution supporting the administration’s one-time retention and recruitment payments of $1,500 for teachers, $1,000 for non-teaching staff and $500 for part time employees. This means teachers will receive a total of $2,000 in the 2023-24 school year when the budget’s $500 step increase is factored in.

The supplemental retention payments will be included in existing staff’s September 15, 2023 paychecks. Newly hired staff will receive recruitment payments on November 30, 2023.

The budget could be amended if the Texas Legislature acts to increase public school funding during a special session. Gov. Greg Abbott has not yet called for one that focuses on education.

“We continue to reach out to our state lawmakers requesting support for public education,” Superintendent Dr. Christie Whitbeck said in a press release. “To date, no actions have been taken to increase the basic amount allocated per child, address inflation, new safety mandates, or pay increases for teachers and staff -despite an unprecedented $34 billion in surplus funds at the state level. We are watching carefully

SEE

By Dayna Worchel EDITOR@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

When Jerre Ferns speaks of what the special, adaptive recreational classes at Missouri City Parks and Recreation Department have meant to her and her young granddaughter CeCe, she gets a bit misty-eyed.

“I’m so grateful for this program. I’ve never seen one like it,” said Ferns, who asked that her granddaughter’s last name not be used, of the specialized programs for autistic and sensory sensitive people offered by Missouri City.

Ferns, who attends class with 12-year-old CeCe, has been bringing her granddaughter to the special sports camp and classes since 2021. CeCe, who is on the autism spectrum and non-verbal, also has an intellectual disability, Ferns said. The youngster, who loves music, especially enjoys the drum circle and rhythm class, where people with autism and other disabilities take turns singing and playing drums.

“With the skills she’s acquiring, it can help her move into Special Olympics soon because of the programs here,” Ferns said.

The adaptive program is the only one of its kind offered by a Parks and Recreation agency in the state of Texas. As a result of the program, the Missouri City Parks and Recreation Department has now achieved the Certified Autism Center (CAC) designation. The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES) awarded the city with the honor in June.

This recognition signifies the department’s commitment to building inclusive spaces and programs for autistic and sensory-sensitive individuals and their families, according to information received from the city. The team completed

autism-specific training and certification to better understand and welcome these community members, said Allison Vickery, a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Therapist with the Missouri

City Parks and Recreation Department.

“But I know others will follow. We are starting to spread awareness,” she said.

The specialized training involved how to adapt activities,

such as a sports camp, which includes archery, soccer, bocce ball, and kayaking, Vickery said.

“We adapt the activity to the individual’s need. We meet her where she is. This may involve extra prompts,

using headphones, or giving special instructions before they participate. I figure out what would help them the most,” Vickery said.

If the person does archery and is of limited strength, there is equipment to attach to the bow to help them with that, she said.

In an adaptive pickleball class, one participant stood next to a staff member for help. It’s not always just physical equipment, said Vickery, who adds that the same applies for a kayaking class. The class participants will pair up with a staff member, who offers extra help and encouragement.

“We figure out what would best help them succeed,” she said.

The idea for the adaptive program came from Assistant City Manager Jason Mangum, who sent Vickery an email about a similar program in another state and asked her to check it out.

The special program has also found a champion in Lynn Clouser, Missouri City City Council Member At-Large Position 2. Her 18-year-old son is on the autism spectrum.

“As a parent of a child with autism, I look forward to shining the light on programs we have for our families,” she said.

Clouser hopes to work with the Parks and Recreation Department to offer more adaptive programs.

“I’m excited to open the door to our families in Missouri City. It’s a very diverse area. And families know that it’s a safe place to come where the staff has been trained,” she said.

That safety is a thought echoed by Ferns. “It’s a very comfortable place, and it feels safe,” she said of the Parks and Recreation Department classes for her granddaughter.

For more information, visit missouricitytx.gov/1050/ Adapted-Recreation.

Missouri City Parks and Recreation Specialist Allison Vickery, CTRS, works with CeCe in an adaptive archery class in 2021. Missouri City is the first municipality in Texas to offer the adaptive recreational programs and has been designated a Certified Autism Center by The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). Courtesy City of Missouri City

Clements High School Class of 2023 graduate Nicole Wu performs in the Distinguished Young Women program in June. Wu placed among the top eight national finals participants in the national competition. Courtesy Fort Bend ISD

Space Cowboys struggling with division-leading Dodgers

By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

As the Sugar Land Space Cowboys returned home to Constellation Field last week for a tussle with the division-leading Oklahoma City Dodgers last week, it was a tough homecoming as they tangled with the best that the PCL has to offer to open up the second half of the season.

Sugar Land managed to win the first game of the series, however the Space Cowboys would struggle for the rest of the week in losing the next four games. The Space Cowboys were slated to finish up their series with the Dodgers on Monday night before embarking on a road-trip to Round Rock Tuesday through Sunday before a four-day hiatus for the All Star Break. Sugar Land’s 1-4 mark to open the second half of the season has them tied for fourth place in the PCL’s East division after finishing in third place (3342) in the first half of the season.

It had been a tough series overall on all fronts entering Monday’s game, with Sugar Land having scored just 12 runs in five games while allowing 35 runs of their own to Oklahoma City, but there still remained some bright spots despite the struggles.

On the offensive side, infielder Shay Whitcomb continued his strong play by going 5 for 17 through the series’ first five games

and scoring three runs. Whitcomb currently sports a .304 batting average and .919 OPS since his promotion to Triple-A on June 6, leading all Space Cowboys regulars in both categories during that span. Pedro Leon was also in the midst of a solid series – going 4 for 15 with his team-leading 12th home run on the season through Monday night – as he continued a torrid stretch that has seen the Astros’ No. 6 overall prospect hit .312 with a 1.041 OPS and six home runs in 21 games since the beginning of June.

Meanwhile, former Astros top prospect Jon Singleton – re-signed to a minor league deal late last month – went 4 for 14 with a home run while reaching base six times in the series’ first five games.

And despite the rough overall lines, there were still a few standout pitching performances on the mound for Sugar Land last week. McGowin picked up his second victory of the season with four scoreless innings of relief in the Space Cowboys’ 4-3 win on June 28, striking out four batters against one walk and allowing just one hit. Blake Taylor hurled three shutout innings over two outings last week, while Jimmy Endersby struck out two batters in 2.2 scoreless innings and Enoli Paredes had four strikeouts in two innings of work.

Spencer Arrighetti prepares to release a pitch for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys during a June 28 game against the Oklahoma City Dodgers. Arrighetti allowed three runs over five innings in the Sugar Land victory. Photo from Space Cowboys Twitter

User

Despite the lack of formal User Experience (UX) degree programs, and the general confusion and disagreement about what areas of study such a degree would require, UX careers are very hot with employers from many industries looking for employees with a strong background in UX research or UX design.

But you’d be forgiven if you thought UX simply referred to building a customer-friendly web storefront. The principles of UX are applicable to the user experience in a wide variety of disciplines, including technology, industrial design, architecture and the aerospace industry.

Elizabeth Rodwell, assistant professor of digital media and information and logistics technology in the Technology Division at the UH Cullen College of Engineering, defines UX for her students each semester.

“It’s a process of designing systems or products that are useful, easy to be used, and delightful to interact with,” Rodwell said in a story on the UH website.

UX is not new. Since the 1960s, NASA has been doing similar work and considering the human factor in any technology creation.

“Anything we interact with can have UX principles applied to it to make it better,” Rodwell said.

As a UX researcher, she is especially interested in the human problems behind technology, as well as the intersection between UX and artificial intelligence. She is the author of the forthcoming book,

lab, based at Sugar Land

for testing user experiences is a Tobii Pro Fusion eye tracker, a screen-based eye tracker that captures gaze data as the subject looks at a screen.

Recently, the UX Lab worked with professors from the UH Department of History and UH Libraries Digital Research Commons who were seeking to create better user experiences for their projects, including videos. The eye tracker revealed when people were engaged with the images they were seeing, and when their attention wandered.

“You can get rid of the things that people just aren’t focusing on, and highlight the things people are really interested in,” Rodwell said.

Test subjects may include Rodwell’s students, students’ family members, and other full-time professionals and educators, as well as people she meets at conferences.

“Everywhere I go, I have sign-up sheets,” Rodwell said.

“Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan,” which explores the interaction between artificial intelligence and interactive TV.

UX researchers typically have a background in social science. Rodwell, whose husband is a UX designer, came to UX as an anthropologist with training in field work and interviewing. UX researchers spend time observing people work and interact with whatever is around them, and

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often provide designers with information to help create user interfaces – from wireframes to high-fidelity prototypes. Still, UX research and design extends beyond the digital realm.

“I default to talking about apps and websites, just because those are the things most people are going to work with,” she said, adding she rarely works with apps and websites.

Rodwell directs the UH User Experience Lab, which

opened in 2021. It is open to students and faculty as well as local partnerships. Chevron and BP are two companies that have taken advantage of the lab’s technology. The UH User Exerience Lab is housed at the Sugar Land instructional Site.

“A lot of these wealthy Fortune 500 companies do not have UX labs. It’s not infrastructure that’s been deemed as necessary,” she said. “That makes the lab a hot commodity.”

A group of UH seniors are building a website to field the increasing number of inquiries from companies about the UX Lab.

The lab’s resources include a soundproofed control room with mixing console, which can operate pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) ceiling cameras and speakers in a separate observation room, six A/V screens, two computer monitors and a visualization wall with one flatscreen TV. One of the most useful tools in the lab

Companies reaching out to Rodwell’s students with internship and employment opportunities include Schlumberger Limited, Chevron, BP, Umbrage Studios, NASA and Axiom Space. In early 2023, Adobe and Chevron hosted the first Creative Jam the Sugar Land campus. Rodwell’s students competed to develop a UX prototype to help consumers with lower carbon goals using UX research and design methods. The students gained a better understanding of Adobe Creative Cloud and learned more about potential careers at Chevron. They also had a lot of fun.

“The UX community in Houston has been very supportive,” Rodwell said of the event.

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Elizabeth Rodwell, assistant professor of digital media and information and logistics technology in the Technology Division at the UH Cullen College of Engineering, heads the UH User Exerience Lab is housed at the Sugar Land instructional Site. Courtesy UH Sugar Land

Pop the Campaign

THE TV – “Ron DeSantis raised taxes in Florida for food, gas and almost everything else.” “While in Congress, Ron DeSantis voted to cut Social Security payments and Medicare coverage.” No doubt we will soon see: “Ron DeSantis wants to strangle kittens and clean out your refrigerator with the help of ISIS and the woke Democrats.”

In small print at the bottom of the TV screen we are told the ads are paid for by MAGA. So Donald Trump is already campaigning against his closest rival for the GOP presidential nomination. Stand by for counter ads from Ron DeSantis: “Do you want a convicted criminal in the Oval Office?” and: “Donald Trump – endorsed by Stormy Daniels.” Wait till Joe Biden gets started: “Donald Trump (or whoever the GOP nominates) is a pervert, card-carrying commie and likes to gesticulate in public.”

We have 17 months – 17 months! -- before the next elections on the Tuesday after the

in hopes that we can bring an amended budget to our Board of Trustees addressing these needs and additional salary increases.”

In addition to the general operating budget, the board also approved the budgets for the Debt Service and Child Nutrition funds.

The Debt Service amount for 2023-24 is $135 million to pay down the district’s debt.

The Child Nutrition budget is $50 million. There is no increase in the price of student meals in the 202324 school year.

LYNN ASHBY Columnist

first Monday in November of 2024. Are you ready for the mind-numbing onslaught?

But there is a sunny side to all of this and, as usual, I shall answer your usual question: “What’s in it for me?” First, we must remember that politics and campaigning have always been a part of our American culture. But campaigns, particularly presidential campaigns, have become longer, more expensive and more in our face.

James A. Garfield in 1880, Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and William McKinley in 1896 mostly sat on their front porch and reporters would come around now and then to ask questions. That’s my kind of presidential campaign.

Today we have chartered jets and buses, bands, huge rallies and, of course, countless

TV ads. What has changed?

“Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” it is said, and we are drowning in mother’s milk. Political spending in all the 2020 federal elections – for Congress and the presidency -- totaled $14.4 billion, more than double the cost of the record-breaking 2016 elections. Spending in the 2020 presidential race alone was $6.6 billion. In the congressional races, donors also generated record spending, capping off with the all-time most expensive Georgia Senate runoffs. Remember those blood baths in the Peach State where the outcome determined which party would control the Senate?

The pols know where to raise and spend their campaign funds. When it comes to raising money, Texas is every officeseeker’s ATM. We will see all the presidential candidates and even out-of-state congressional office-seekers coming here, hat (or outstretched palm) in hand looking for donations. “I hope I can count on your support.”

(Translation: “Gimme money.”)

But spending campaign funds?

That leaves out Texas. We are such a solid red state that there

is no point in either party bothering with us.

OK, where does all that money go? Mostly to TV ads. In the 2020 elections, total political advertising spending in all the races reached $8.5 billion across TV, radio and digital media. In the presidential race alone, more than $1 billion was spent on TV ads. But, again, the pols know where to dole out the cash: the battleground states. Almost $9 out of every $10 spent on TV ads in the presidential race were invested in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Arizona. Among the top recipients, Florida got $257.5 million and Pennsylvania received $195.7 million. And Texas? A lousy $7.3 million.

Now we make our move. Get into the campaign money biz. It’s easy and you can be a little bit, or very, loose with silly matters like keeping records of your donors, who gave you how much and what you did with the funds. Campaign laws are notoriously weak and rarely enforced. To get in on this billion-dollar cash cow, let’s start with Joe Biden. Put up “Biden in ‘24” signs

in your front yard and invite your neighbors over for a fund raiser. Offer some cheap wine and stale cheese, then make a brief speech about all the good things Joe has done in office. It might be a brief speech, but you’re preaching to the choir. Sell student loan forgiveness certificates. How about instant citizenship documents? I would hold the fund-raiser for Biden for my neighbors but I hate to drink alone.

Or you can work the other side and hold a “Trump in ’24, ‘28 and Forever!” rally, tickets at, say, $400 a head. Auction off Hunter Biden’s laptop. It’s not the real laptop, of course, but who will know? Or hold a sale of top secret documents you got from a bathroom at MarA-Lago. Set up a card table in your yard and start selling orange hair dye. If these getrich-quick schemes don’t work, open a campaign consulting firm for losers, specializing in overturning elections, dragging out court cases and sending Congress fake documents from “state electors” showing your candidate really won.

The problem with your efforts to sway voters is that

most Americans have already made up their minds. Every poll tells us that voters’ views about who they like for president are set in concrete. If you are a Biden backer, you are woke, young, eat kale and are a college grad. Also, you are not so much for Biden but you really hate Trump. As for the Trump backers, after all the scandals, lying, Capitol riots and outrageous efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, (“I just want to find 11,780 votes.”) and you still support Agent Orange, then no one is going to change your mind. When Trump said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, ok?” he was right on target, so to speak. But if everyone has already made up their minds who to vote for, why spend billions of dollars trying to influence their vote? That doesn’t matter, you just need to get your share. Buy a TV station in Florida. Don’t worry, if all else fails, Mexico will pay for it.

Ashby campaigns at ashby2@comcast.net

George Memorial Library to offer program of Americana music on July 8

Staff Reports

Live music by international entertainer Richie Kaye will be featured at Fort Bend County Libraries’ George Memorial Library on Saturday, July 8, from 10:30 to 11:30 am, in the Meeting Room of the library, 1001 Golfview in Richmond.

In his performance of “The Great American Music Over the Last 100 Years,” musical entertainer Richie Kaye will take listeners on a journey through the years with light-

hearted Americana music.

Patron will enjoy selections of upbeat American popular melodies, including show tunes, jazz, and songs about Texas and America. The selections will include ‘20s flapper music, ‘30s swing, ‘40s showtunes, ‘50s honky-tonk, ‘60s classic Nashville, ‘70s light rock, and contemporary songs, including Americana originals.

Richie Kaye is a solo acoustic guitar and voice performer who has appeared to audiences across

the United States and Asia over the past 30 years. He has worked on television, on the live stage, in theaters, museums, and clubs, and in the subway.

The event, made possible by the Friends of the George Memorial Library. is free and open to the public. For more information, see the Fort Bend County Libraries website (www.fortbend. lib.tx.us), or call George Memorial Library (281-3424455) or the library system’s Communications Office (281-633-4734).

International entertainer Rich Kaye will offer a program of Americana music at the George Memorial Library in Richmond on July 8. Courtesy Fort Bend County Libraries

JULY 7TH FRIDAY $25 6:30-9:30 PM @VFW ROSENBERG 1903 1ST ST. (HWY 36)

3RD ANNUAL FAMILY FRIENDLY COMMUNITY EVENT

CELEBRATING VETERANS, MILITARY, SURVIVING SPOUSES AND FAMILIES

CATERED DINNER, ENTERTAINMENT, DJ, BUCKET RAFFLE, DOOR PRIZES, SILENT AUCTION LAST 2 YEARS HAVE HAD 200+ ATTENDANCES

SPONSORSHIPS:

$250 - SPONSIR 10 VETERANS / MILITARY / SPOUSE TO ATTEND FREE

$500 - SPONSOR 20 VETERANS / MILITARY / SPOUSE TO ATTEND FREE

$250 - SPONSOR YOUR OWN TABLE OF 6

$500 - SPONSOR YOUR OWN TABLE OF 12

INDIVIDUAL TICKETS:

ADULT $25 - SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN $15

GOAL:

SPONSORS COVER ALL VETERANS/MILITARY/SURVIVING SPOUSES TO ATTEND EVENT AT NO COST PLUS COVER ROOM CLEANUP, FOOD, DECORATIONS, AWARDS, GIVEAWAYS, VFW COST DRINKS.

ALL NET PROCEEDS FROM SILENT AUCTION AND BUCKET RAFFLE WILL BE COLLECTED BY AND GO DIRECTLY TO VFW ROSENBERG

TO SPONSOR - CONTACT TOM KOPPA

281-652-6233

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Drymalla Construction Company, LLC (CM at Risk) is soliciting Qualifications/Proposals from Subcontractors/Suppliers for the Lamar Consolidated ISD Gene Tomas High School and Ella Banks Junior High - Bid Package #3. Project consists of a new High School and Junior High Facility. Refer to the Project Documents for a full description of scope. Qualifications/ Proposals are due at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at the offices of Drymalla Construction Company, LLC, 608 Harbert, Columbus, Texas 78934, via fax 979732-3663, or email to bid@drymalla.com. NO PHONE BIDS WILL BE ACCEPTED. For information on how to obtain copies of the Request for Qualifications/Proposal documents call 979-732-5731, or email Bobby Truchard at btruchard@drymalla.com. Documents are also available online at planroom.drymalla.com.

FORTBENDSTAR. COM

LEGAL NOTICE

Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a New Mixed Beverage Permit by Fulbrook Ale Works LLC dba Fulbrook Ale Works, to be located at 1125 Fm 359, Richmond, Fort Bend County, Texas. Officers of said are Owner – Jeffrey Hajovsky.

Intellegens, Inc. provide managed IT services, including digital office, data center hosting, data disaster relief, cyber security, & VOIP services. It is seeking a Computer Systems Engineer to develop system engineering, system integration with respect to Unified Communications (UC) systems; collaborate with engineers & vendors to select appropriate design solutions or ensure the compatibility of UC servers with the other servers/systems; communicate with clients/end users to understand specific system requirements & coordinate with vendors to achieve those requirements; configuration of Servers including Voice Gateways, Border Controllers, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunks and SIP circuits.  Min. rqmt. is a U.S. Master of Science in Computer Engineering. Mail resume to Intellegens, Inc. at 9119 Highway 6, Suite 171, Missouri City, TX 77459. Ad paid for by Equal Opportunity Employer.

Date: 6/7/2023

Typed/printed name

LOOKING FOR LOCAL EVENTS?

this matter.

County District Court

Manning

appears

Tenant, Ashley McNeil will have their 10x10

contain multiple items including televisions, microwaves, swivel chairs, home décor, plastic bags, boxes, exercising equipment, and miscellaneous items.

Tenant, Henry King will have their 10x15 unit auctioned. The unit appears to contain multiple items including couches, bed frames, nightstand, chairs, tables, plastic containers, boxes, suitcases, and miscellaneous items.

THE PROPERTY IS BEING SOLD TO SATISFY A LANDLORD’S LIEN.

My Place Storage, Sugar Land is located at 15025 Voss Road, Sugar Land, TX 77498; we can be reached at (281) 207-6521

MY PLACE STORAGE

ALL AUCTIONS WILL BE LOCATED AT STORAGEAUCTIONS.COM

OUR LOCATION IS HOLDING A PUBLIC AUCTION ENDING ON OR AFTER JULY 24, 2023 at 11:00 am

This auction will be located at StorageAuctions.com.

Tenant, Juliana Spinello will have their 10x10 unit auctioned. Unit appears to contain multiple items including computer equipment, office desks, chairs, tables, décor, TV stands, plastic bags, plastic containers, clothing, toys, and miscellaneous items. The property is being sold to satisfy a landlord’s lien.

THE PROPERTY IS BEING SOLD TO SATISFY

My Place Storage, Sugar Land is located at 15025 Voss Road, Sugar Land, TX 77498; we can be reached at (281) 207-6521

ONGOING

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

In conjunction with the Literacy Council of Fort Bend Bend County, GPBC offers ESL classes on Tuesday nights 6-8:30 from August 22, 2023 through May 21, 2024. We are located at 12000 FM 1464 Richmond. Our students speak several languages and encompass many faiths. All are welcome. For more information call 281-277-2200 and ask for ESL information. You may also email ESL@grandparkway.org

FBJSL IS ACCEPTING CAF GRANT APPLICATIONS

We provide grants of up to $5,000.00 to charitable causes serving Fort Bend County with requests to fund a critical need, pilot a program, or expand a significant service to the community. If your agency or organization is interested in applying for a CAF grant, please visit the Request Support page of the FBJSL website (www.fbjsl. org/request-support). All applications should be submitted via e-mail to brccom@fbjsl.com

THE SANCTUARY FOSTER CARE SERVICES

We are a child placing agency that provides wrap around care support for foster children and foster families. We provide free therapy services, 24 hr. crisis intervention, respite/alternative care services and community-based support. For more info, www.sanctuaryfostercare.org

ALIEF AARP CHAPTER 3264

Meets the first Thursday of every month at 10:00 a.m. at Salvation Army Church, 7920 Cook Road, Houston, TX 77072. Educational Program/Entertainment at each meeting. Bus Trips every month. The next Bus Trip is on April 26, 2023, to Painted Churches. Seniors 50 and above invited. Call 281-785-7372 for more information.

FORT BEND COUNTY LIBRARIES’

ONLINE BOOK CLUB

Online meetings on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Free and open to the public. Registration is required; to register online www.fortbend.lib.tx.us, “Classes & Events,” select “Virtual Programs,” find the program on the date indicated. Participants may also register by calling George Memorial Library (281-342-4455).

SUGAR LAND ROTARY CLUB

Sugar Land Rotary Club, the nation’s oldest community service organization, wants you to be its guest at a meeting that could turn out to be the best fit for getting involved with a local, non-political, humanitarian service organization with a global presence to satisfy your passion. We’re on a quest for new members! Call or email Dean Clark, 469-850-2424, dean7351@gmail.com. We’re a friendly group that meets once a week for lunch.

FT. BEND ACCORDION CLUB

Meets on the 4th Sunday of every month from 2:pm4:pm at: CHRIST CHURCH SUGAR LAND (in the Chapel) 3300 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX 77479 FREE and Open to the Public! We welcome everybody! If you play accordion, beginners to professional and would like to play Call, Text or email: Vince Ramos Cell: 281-2047716 vincer.music@gmail.com

FORT BEND JUNIOR SERVICE LEAGUE RECRUITING NEW MEMBERS FOR 2022-2023 YEAR

To join, the membership application can be accessed at https://www.fbjsl.org/join/how-to-become-a-member/.

FBJSL will also be hosting multiple virtual and in-person recruitment events over the summer where potential new members can learn more about the League. Information regarding attending these events is available at www.fbjsl.org or on the FBJSL Facebook page at www. facebook.com/FortBendJuniorServiceLeague/.

LITERACY COUNCIL OF FORT BEND COUNTY

We enhance lives and strengthen communities by teaching adults to read. We need your help. Literacy Council is actively recruiting Volunteer Tutors to provide instruction for English as a Second Language (ESL) Levels 0-5, three hours a week. For more information, call 281240-8181 or visit our website www.ftbendliteracy.org

JAM WITH SAM

Join Sam Grice Tuesday evenings at 6:30 for a casual evening of music. We play a variety of music including bluegrass, country, gospel and some western. We request acoustic instruments only please. We welcome both participants and music lovers who enjoy listening to good live music. There’s no charge and we welcome beginners and gladly offer gentle assistance. We meet at First Presbyterian Church, 502 Eldridge Rd, Sugar Land. Please call Sam at 832-428-3165 for further information.

THURSDAY MORNING

BIBLE STUDY FOR MEN

Sugar Land First United Methodist Church, 431 Eldridge Road offers a Thursday Morning Bible Study For Men. This group is ongoing and uses a variety of studies throughout the year. The breakfast, coffee and donuts are free. Join us any time! Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 am in Wesley Hall. Call the church office at 281-491-6041 or Mike Schofield at 281-217-5799 for more information.

GIVE A GIFT OF HOPE

Give a Gift of Hope one-time or monthly. Your help provides access to therapies and services children with autism might otherwise go without. Please consider Hope For Three in your Estate, Planned, or Year-End Giving. Register now, or learn more about exciting events: www.hopeforthree.org/events

DVD-BASED ADULT SUNDAY

SCHOOL CLASS WITH NO HOMEWORK REQUIRED

Weekly class designed to help you understand and appreciate the Bible by giving you a better sense of the land and culture from which it sprang. The class meets at 9:30 am every Sunday at First Presbyterian of Sugar Land (502 Eldridge Rd.). For more information call 281240-3195

EXCHANGE

EXCHANGE, America’s Service Club, always welcomes guests and is in search of new members! Various Fort Bend clubs exist and can accommodate early morning (7 a.m.), noon and evening meeting time desires. For more info, contact Mike Reichek, Regional Vice President, 281-575-1145 or mike@reichekfinancial.com

Review: Harrison Ford, ‘Indiana Jones’ have fitting swan song in ‘Dial of Destiny’

By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

As I mentioned last week, I usually write in this space a review of a local restaurant or cultural event. Last week I wrote about a baseball game, not my normal past-time, national or not. This week, if you’ll allow me, I’m going to use my editor’s prerogative and write something with which I’m a bit more familiar - a movie review.

But not just any movie.

On Friday, Lucasfilm (now a division of the Walt Disney media empire) officially released Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the latest and reportedly final installment of the swashbuckling, globetrotting archeology professor’s adventures.

Indy and I go way back. As a gawky teenager, the collective science-fiction and adventure epics of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg played a foundational role in my adolescent imagination. When the two then-hotshot filmmakers combined forces and made Raiders of the Lost Ark, released while I was in high school, I was blown away.

Most people who may not be particular fans of the “Indiana Jones” franchise may think they’re just dumb action movies. Well, they kind of are, but they’re actually smart-dumb. Their silliness, derived from their origin as pastiches of 1940s serials, is part of the point. But to geeky fans like myself, Indy’s heroics are only one half of his appeal. The other half is that Doctor Jones, mind you, is an esteemed scholar who possesses extensive knowledge of ancient history and respect for other cultures, even if he sometimes has dubious ways of showing it.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released just after I graduated, and I saw it at the nearest multiplex to my suburban Houston home. I happened to see Indiana Jones and the Last

Crusade, the final installment in what seemed at the time to be a rough trilogy, in a small downtown theater in Freemantle, Australia, during the first of my own globetrotting adventures, a deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger. (I still own the authentic Australian cattleman’s hat I may or may not have bought in part because it bears a passing resemblance to Indy’s battered fedora.)

I’m not sure how eagerly

I was awaiting this one. I hadn’t been an especially huge fan of the most recent outing, 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It had its good points (especially in how it dealt with the dual aging of both the character Indy and actor Harrison Ford) but the film overall felt bloated and its central premise lacking. Like many fans, I had an especially negative reaction to the character of “Mutt,” the 1950s juvenile delinquent son of Jones and original Raiders heroine Marion Ravenwood (Karen Armstrong).

When Dial of Destiny was announced, I was a bit trepidatious. But I was hoping for the best because Indy deserved a better swan song than Crystal Skull. I’m happy to report that it is just that.

Like the previous films, the movie, directed by franchise newcomer James Mangold, opens with a selfcontained adventure, this one set in the waning days of World War II. Jones, who is working with U.S. military intelligence, is on a secret mission behind enemy lines with British archeologist Basil Shaw, one of his many sidekicks, played by the great character actor Toby Jones. If the de-aging effects hadn’t worked to make Ford appear not much older than he did in Raiders, the whole sequence would have been a disaster. But remarkably, the effects do work, splendidly, and you find yourself believing you’re

actually seeing Ford as he appeared in his mid-40s.

The events of that World War II escapade have a direct bearing on the main plot to follow. We find our hero a retiring professor in New York on the day of a huge parade for the Apollo 11 astronauts as well as a protest against the war in Vietnam. He’s living in a run-down apartment for reasons we only learn later, and he’s more crotchety than ever. At one of his final lectures, his hitherto unseen goddaughter, Helena Shaw (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Basil’s daughter, shows up and tries to engage him in the search for the long-lost Antikythera, a mysterious mechanism supposedly invented by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, which had become her late father’s obsession.

I won’t get too much into the details of the plot. I myself worked hard to restrain from learning too much so as

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to not ruin any of the surprises (I’ve made that mistake before). But they involve Nazis, Indy’s most hated adversaries, CIA agents, underworld dealers of stolen antiquities, deep-sea divers, and eels. Yes, eels. The movie largely rests on the relationship between Indy and Helena, whom he’s not seen since she was a young girl. I hadn’t previously heard of Waller-Bridge but I’ve learned (via Wikipedia) that besides being gorgeous, she’s also a talented comedy writer and actor in British television. That background is especially helpful for the character of Helena, who’s utterly confident and quick with a sardonic quip, but like many of Indy’s compatriots may have conflicting motives. Ford and WallerBridge do achieve a great (non-romantic) chemistry, and Helena is the franchise’s best, toughest female lead character since Marion in the

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The final act of the film has a twist that did indeed surprise me, in a way that in the end didn’t seem forced at all. It’s best that you don’t know it going in, but if you go with it, it really works.

Dial of Destiny is by no means a perfect movie, not even a perfect “Indiana Jones” movie (for my money, Raiders remains the golden-idol standard, although many prefer Last Crusade.) Some of the action sequences, while very well-staged, go on a tad too long. But the script overall is solid, and the acting first-rate.

Speaking of Marion, Indy’s great love, Karen Armstrong does have a small but significant part in the film, as does John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, the Egyptian excavator and Indy sidekick, one of the franchise’s best-loved characters who is now an immigrant to the U.S. The script even deals with the unseen char-

acter of “Mutt” (real name Henry Walton Jones III) in a fashion that I found genuinely moving. But the whole thing rests on the aging but sturdy shoulders of Ford, in what is reportedly his favorite role. After all these decades, it might seem he would have little new to bring to the part. But, in fact, he invests more emotional depth to Indy here than I’ve yet seen. More than the stupendous action, more than the exotic locales, Ford’s last performance in the role he perfected make Dial of Destiny well worth making the trek.

Area theaters showing Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny include AMC First Colony, AMC Loews Fountains, Star Cinema Grill Missouri City and Cinemark Missouri City.

Fountain buckles his swash at KFountain@fortbendstar. com

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) wields his trusty bullwhip in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Courtesy Disney