PAGE 8 ■ THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014
THE SEALY NEWS
WWW.SEALYNEWS.COM
State approves funding for Wharton Regional Airport About $90,000 was approved by the Texas Transportation Commission at its May meeting for Wharton Regional Airport. The funds will be used for planned airport improvements, which includes: Engineering/ design for hangar improvements and a project consultant will be selected this summer. Project costs will be funded
through the city of Wharton and Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Aviation Facilities Grant Program, which preserves and improves the state’s general aviation system. This year, TxDOT expects to provide roughly $60 million in funding for planning, constructing and maintaining communi-
ty airports throughout the state Approximately 275 community airports in Texas are eligible for funding. Arrivals and departures from community airports account for more than three million flight hours per year and provide aircraft facilities for agricultural, medical, business and commuter use, according to TxDOT.
ARRESTS continued from Page 1 Jermal Godine, 20, was arrested in a home raid in Missouri City in relation to an aggravated assault of the Rush Truck Center. His alleged accomplice is still at large, according to Serrato on Monday. Also at the home, Moshae Pettiway, 21, and Charmin Godine, 40, were arrested for engaging in organized
crime. The robbery at the Truck Center resulted in the loss of cash and processed checks. Law enforcement suspects that Pettiway was the “go to lady” who took the checks and then forged new ones with the account and routing numbers from the stolen checks. They would amount to $8002,500, respectively.
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The largest one confiscated amounted to $108,000. Other members of the organization, like police suspect Charmin Godine, would take the checks to stores or banks and cash them. Jermal Godine is currently being held in the Austin County Jail. Charmin Godine and Pettiway are being charged in Fort Bend County. In the raid May 29, the first objective was to make entry on a residence of suspects, said Serrato. After safely accomplishing that mission with several other agencies, San Felipe PD went to a second place to serve felony aggravated robbery warrants. The second place was used as a hub for organized crime and was known to have high-powered weapons and other handguns. While attempting to position themselves to make entry, officer Portillo approached a rear building along the side that put him in a blind spot that prevented his view of a suspect coming toward him, said Serrato.
Thanks to officer Crum’s alertness, he was able to draw his weapon and subdue the suspect before he could surprise Portillo. Crum also provided cover to allow Serrato and Portillo to enter the building and detain another male hiding on a couch. Inventory of the building discovered a loaded A.R. Rifle and handgun as well as narcotics. Crum will be awarded a plaque for his work at the next Town of San Felipe meeting on Tuesday. After the robbery in San Felipe, Texas Department of Public Safety helped the police department's investigation. Other entities that helped in the investigation and raid were Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force, Houston Police Department, Secret Service, Harris County Police Department and Financial Crimes Division were on scene.
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Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) proposes to build a 291foot Self-Support Lattice Communications Tower. Anticipated lighting application is medium intensity dual red/white strobes. The Site location is 19098 Villanova Lane, New Ulm, Austin County, TX 78950 (29, 53, 14.84 N – 96, 24, 33.73 W). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Antenna Structure Registration (ASR, Form 854) filing number is A0904251. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS – Interested persons may review the application (www.fcc.gov/asr/applications) by entering the filing number. Environmental concerns may be raised by filing a Request for Environmental Review (www.fcc.gov/asr/environmentalrequest) and online filings are strongly encouraged. The mailing address to file a paper copy is: FCC Requests for Environmental Review, Attn: Ramon Williams, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554. HISTORIC PROPERTIES EFFECTS - Public comments regarding potential effects on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: 61144733 - HR, c/o EBI Consulting, 11445 East Via Linda, Suite 2 #472 Scottsdale, AZ 85259, hrobinson@ebiconsulting.com, or via phone at (225) 316-7900.
Celebrating a life well lived JOE SOUTHERN Faith, Family and Fun I remember the scene vividly. I must have been 4 or 5 years old and was talking with my mother in the backyard while she was hanging clothes on the line to dry. Mom had been telling me how Jesus was going to return someday and call all those who believe in him up to Heaven. Being the clever little fellow I was, I figured out that all I had to do was stay close to her and then I could grab her leg and I would be lifted up with her when the time came. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that,” she said. “You have to believe in Jesus for yourself. No one can do it for you.” That memory played over and over in my mind on the morning of May 27. I could see my mother, young and pretty with that reassuring smile on her face. Before my eyes, my mother lay in her hospital bed; disconnected from life support and gasping for the last few breaths her 74-year-old body would ever take. I gently stroked her leg. Dad held her hand. My brothers, sister-inlaw, daughter, niece and a pastor from her church prayed for her and encouraged her to move on and find peace in the arms of Jesus. With all of us gathered around, she drew her final breath and her heart made its final beats. The whole experience was surreal. Just 12 hours earlier, I got a call from my dad saying that my mother’s time was near. A short time later my brother called with flight information. A few hours after that, I was flying out of Houston for Denver. Mom had surgery three weeks earlier to remove scar tissue from a surgery that had nearly killed her 14 years ago. Her frail body was not strong enough to recover from the operation. Her lungs were too weak for her to come off the ventilator. Other complications arose. The last four days she had been mostly comatose under sedation as her body
slowly failed her. The morning I arrived, however, she was bright and alert. Though she couldn’t speak, her face lit up when she saw me enter her room. One at a time we all said our goodbyes to her. We thanked her. We loved her. We each let her go. When she was removed from the ventilator, her eyes wondered from person to person, her own way of saying goodbye. As she began to drift, her gaze turned upward to the back of the room. I looked but didn’t see anything. She saw something, and it brought her peace. You could see it in her face. There was peace and there was love and then she was gone. At her funeral, stories were shared of a selfless woman who gave everything she had to her family and her friends. Our home had been one of refuge for several in hard times. It was a place where there were no strangers. Mom was always looking out for everyone else, always placing her needs behind theirs. One thing that surprised me, but shouldn’t have, was the number of people who came out for the visitation and funeral. There were so many people from so many walks of her life. I made the comment that it was like Facebook, but real. Scores of people that I had only seen online or not at all for 14 years or more were suddenly surrounding us, laughing, crying and celebrating a life well lived. It was beautiful. Where I had expected pain, hurt and loss I instead found joy and peace. Sure, we grieve and miss her, but more than anything there was contentment that she left on her own terms, surrounded by her family and shrouded in love. I knew as I held her leg when she left to be with Jesus that this parting is temporary and someday we will share with her in paradise. God bless you Donna Jean Southern! May you rest in peace until we meet again.
MRAP continued from Page 1
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County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). Nationwide, agencies were told they would have to travel all the way to Sealy to get their vehicles – ACSO made the trip. Along with the vehicle, ACSO also received two complete spare sets of new tires. The engine, transmission and all drive systems are brand new and in warranty for two years by
Caterpillar. Also, a number of individuals presently working for BAE who live in Austin County have graciously made themselves available for maintenance assistance in the future. The main usage planned for this vehicle is: Rescue – high water, storms, debris. This vehicle can go where others cannot. And active shooter – SRT response.
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THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014 ■ PAGE 17
THE SEALY NEWS
Touching the past to share with the future JOE SOUTHERN Faith, Family and Fun What I held in my hand was just a sliver of a ceramic dish. If I had seen it in any other context than an archaeological dig I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. That it had just been excavated from the ground at San Felipe de la Austin State Historic Site, struck me with awe. I was most likely the first person in 178 years to touch it. I could only imagine that the previous person was its owner. I could picture a very distraught woman, her heart breaking as
her home and prized possessions went up in flames to keep them out of the hands of the Mexican army. I could hear the screams, sobs and cries of the colonists as they hastily packed what they could and destroyed the rest no matter how valuable or sentimental the items may have been. The dish could have been an heirloom or an item highly prized due to its scarcity on the frontier. It may have been a necessity that could not fit with the other important items the family escaped with. Whatever its story
was, it has been nothing but a piece of trash buried in the dirt for 178 years. Now it was an artifact that will someday be displayed in a museum for millions of people to gaze over without giving it another thought. I thought about it. It came to life. It spoke to me. It has a story to tell, even if nobody wants to listen. I’m just like any other museum visitor who hastily glances at collections of broken potsherds or rusty bits of metal in a glass case and is eager to move on to more exciting exhibits. But these bits are not
yet neatly displayed in a museum. They were freshly pulled from the earth that encrusted them during perhaps the most pivotal time in Texas history. These artifacts knew love and were cherished by someone long ago. Mostly they have known neglect and abandonment. Now a human held them again in awe and wonder. What was it like at the moment they were smashed and burned? Scorch marks remain on them, telling a story of sacrifice and survival. I want so much to know what these pieces of ceramic cannot say, The Sealy News/AMBER GONZALES
Light up Rotary The Sealy Rotary Club swore in its new officers last week, including new president Ruth Mercier, below. Also sworn in was Becky Funk and Joyce Chandler not pictured. At left, outgoing president Chris Coffman honors Renee Kofman, Paul Dronka and Evelyn Tyler for recruiting members to the club. Bottom Left, Chandler presents a check of $500 that the club will donate in Coffman's name to the Rotary's fight to end polio.
The Sealy News/JOE SOUTHERN
A piece of a ceramic dish is part of the remains found last week during an archaeological dig at San Felipe de Austin State Historical Site. The last time human hands touched the piece, it was being smashed by a colonist fleeing from the advancing Mexican army during the Runaway Scrape in 1836. but will slowly reveal. Because the pieces are so widely scattered, it is clear they were shattered and not hidden with the hopes of being recovered. It would have taken great pains to bring such beautifully decorated and fragile dishes to the Texas frontier in the 1830s. One would have to have been a person of significant means to possess them. That same person would have had to have great character and determination in order to crush them lest they fall into enemy hands. Perhaps my imagination was running wild with Indiana Jones or maybe I really was sharing a vision from someone long since gone from this world. Either way, it was the
first time I had felt such a connection with an object like that. I was visiting with archaeologist Gary E. McKee and helping him sift dirt for small objects like the one in my hand. The gleam in his eyes and the enthusiasm in his voice told me that no matter now many digs he has been on, the passion remains. And he could see the same look in my eyes and hear the same passion in my voice. We were connecting with the past. We were here and now and there and then all at once. The bug bit me. He knew it. I knew it. We touched the past and will share it with future generations. Few can cross time that way. I did and it has changed me forever.
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continued from Page 1 hearing of his win. The lifelong Sealy resident has been with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office for 19 years. Before that he served in the Austin County Sheriff’s Office for 12 years. The campaign experience has brought him closer to Sealy, as he began regularly attending city council meetings and getting to know the day-to-day issues of his new position. He says he’s not worried about
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Stop Diabetes Joining in the Walk to Stop Diabetes on Saturday morning at Jacqueline Cryan Memorial Park above are, from the left, Gary Sizemore, Rebecca Streckfuss and Samantha Streckfuss. About 30 walkers helped raise $2,094 for the American Diabetes Association. At right Michelle Aguaho, left, and Justin Leon take their laps around the lake to help combat diabetes.
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