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Posts published in March 2019

Community leaders travel to D.C. to demand EPA action at Superfund Sites

March 14, 2019
JACKIE YOUNG

Leaders from communities met with EPA representatives on Tuesday, March 5th, at EPA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., to push for action at their Superfund sites.

“We need action in our communities where people are sick and dying because of exposures to chemicals in the environment,” was the resounding cry for help from community leaders.

Jackie Young, executive director of Texas Health and Environment Alliance, discussed the San Jacinto River Waste Pits and Jones Rd Superfund Sites with the agency. “I asked the agency to finalize the Community Involvement Plan for the Waste Pits and to create a Community Health and Safety Plan for the cleanup,” said Young.

The group met with Steven D. Cook, Deputy Assistance Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), Peter C. Wright, Assistant Administrator of OLEM, James E. Woolford with the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) and other EPA staff. The meeting was organized by the Center for Health, Environment & Justice as part of a commitment from EPA to meet quarterly with communities at risk from Superfund sites.

Relocation of families living among some of the most toxic chemicals was an overarching issue. How can communities trigger relocation as the policy is unclear? Leaders called for a committee or task force to find ways to clarify this section of the law.

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Citizen input at Barrett Station drainage meeting

March 14, 2019

Officials from the Harris County Flood Control District, and the Engineering Department, have been holding a series of meetings around the county to explain how the $2.5 billion bond issue, that was approved last year in 2018, will be used to alleviate flooding.

Last Tuesday, March 5 they met with residents of Barrett Station, at the Community Center, to show plans and hear ideas and comments from the public, according to HCFCD project manager Roger Duong.

HCFCD engineering director Marcus Stuckett explained that the Barrett Station area has two projects affecting the flow of storm water away from the district. Duong said that currently the drainage ditches are too flat, and the road and entire St. Charles neighborhood is too flat, and therefore water is not moving away in the ditches.

The proposed solution is to widen and deepen the existing ditches, moving the water from the east side of Barrett, to the west side, and eventually to the irrigation canal and the San Jacinto river.

The engineers said that this solution should lower the accumulated water by a few inches in a normal rainfall, and up to 3 inches or more in an intense storm.

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Education reform to add money to schools, lower property tax

March 7, 2019
Dan Huberty excitedly explaining legislation related to school finance reform in Austin.

AUSTIN: State Rep. Dan Huberty, R., District 127, formerly of District 128, has ridden shotgun on a $9 billion school finance reform bill that is to send more state money to public schools and lower school property tax rates, according to lawmakers.

“The Texas Plan,” or House Bill 3, has had Huberty hopping around explaining to Republicans and Democrats that a $9 billion increase in the base funding for each student and compressing school districts’ property tax rates by 4 cents statewide, among other policy items, is not only possible but necessary. Pre-K for full days for eligible students also benefits, and sending more money to school districts with higher concentrations of disadvantaged students. In his State of the State Address, Governor Abbott named three “emergency items”: they are teacher pay, school finance reform and property taxes reform.

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Cody Bill changed to “opt in,” likely to sail through House

March 7, 2019

CROSBY – House Bill 76 has been dubbed by Dan Huberty, “expected to be voted favorably out of the Education Committee this week.”

Once in the Senate, although backed by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, is another world of politics.

The Cody Stephens bill is now in a form that fits agencies like the U.I.L. and other organizations in that parents and first time athletes will receive a letter informing them that in addition to the doctor listening to the athletes’ heart with a stethoscope a modern E.K.G. machine evaluation can also be obtained for $15 or $20.

The compromise is that it offers parents and students to opt in for the E.K.G. from information provided to them.

Several groups have formed throughout the nation in favor of adding the new technology to read the multitude of problems that can be present in the heart even though the youngster shows no outward signs of having a heart problem.

These groups generally have had loss experiences like Scott Stephens of Crosby. Scott’s son Cody died on May 6, 2012, a few weeks from graduating from Crosby High School. He was excited to be headed to Tarleton State University on a football scholarship, and working to stay in good physical condition to be prepared for college football practices.

At 6’9″ and weighing 289 lbs, he seemed to be in perfect health, with no indication he had a fatal heart problem. On that Sunday afternoon, Cody kicked back in his dad’s recliner, said he was tired and dozed off for a nap. He never woke up but died in his sleep, from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. His family had never heard of SCA and had no idea that young, seemingly healthy children were at risk with relatively few or no warning signs. The Cody Stephens Go Big or Go Home Memorial Foundation was founded in memory of Cody. Before he died, Cody was talking to his father about his goals to play football in a big way in college and beyond. Cody told Scott, “Go big or go home, Dad.”

After Cody died, his family took Cody’s motto and turned it into an effort to screen young hearts to prevent another family from experiencing the same tragedy.

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Crash injures 7, teen faces DUI charge

March 7, 2019
This Ford was driven by a man charged with “intoxication assault” related to a crash on US 90 on Friday at about 7:41 p.m., it had 4 passengers and a driver at the time of the accident.

CROSBY – A three-vehicle collision injuring eight, including two pregnant women, occurred Friday, March 1 at about 7:41 p.m. near the intersection of US 90 at Westgate.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office investigated the horrendous crash and Harris County ESD#5 (Crosby’s ambulance crews) were the primary rescuers with Crosby VFD.

Jordon Paris, 19. faces intoxication assault following a field sobriety test in an accident that Paris is said to have “failed to yield right of way at a designated stop.” His court date was set for Monday.

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Black Boxes, human remains, debris recovered from cargo jet crash site

March 7, 2019
Members of the recovery team load the second black box onto a boat for transport back to land, and then on a plane to Washington, D.C. for data recovery and analysis.

ANAHUAC – Search teams have found the missing “black boxes” from the wreckage of the Atlas Air 767-300 cargo jet that crashed into Trinity Bay last Saturday, February 23rd, on a flight from Miami to Houston. They have also recovered the remains of the three crewmen that were on the plane when it went down. The third body had proven hard to find, as well as the black boxes, due to the thick mud below the murky, opaque water. But hundreds of volunteers, some from the Texas Search and Rescue organization, methodically waded through the water feeling below, when they couldn’t see. Dive teams from Houston, Baytown, and the state DPS were assisting in the search, as well as other authorities such as the Chambers County’s sheriff and fire departments.

They announced last Sunday, March 3rd, that they had recovered the Flight Data Recorder. Earlier they had found the Cockpit Voice Recorder. They also said that they had found remains of the third victim from the plane, which had eluded the searchers for days after the first two bodies were discovered in the waters of Jack’s Pocket, a backwater of Trinity Bay near Anahuac. Aboard the plane had been the pilot and the copilot, Capt. Ricky Blakely and First Officer Conrad Aska, and another pilot Capt. Sean Archuleta who was riding back to his home in Houston. The plane was carrying cargo for both Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service, according to the airline. Most of the packages were strewn through the bay, as well as hundreds of small pieces of the Boeing 767 jumbo jet. Very few large pieces survived the crash.

A barge is loaded with small pieces of the airplane and cargo, to be transported back to a hangar at Chambers County Airport for inspection and analysis. Complete recovery is expected to take months.

The two black box recorders have been sent to the NTSB laboratories in Washington, D.C. for analysis. The cargo plane was on a flight from Miami to Houston. About 30 minutes from landing at Houston Intercontinental airport, air traffic controllers warned the pilot that he was headed toward bad weather. The pilot asked for permission to fly around the storm, to the west. After that transmission, no other voice was heard from the plane. Flying at about 12,000 feet, at 12:35 the plane disappeared from radar, without a distress signal or other communication. Witnesses said the plane nose-dived into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, in about 30 seconds.

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Charlotte’s Web: Someone’s Child

March 7, 2019

By Charlotte Jackson

There is much concern about the increasing number of homeless people who are in the North Channel Area. Almost daily there are posts from concerned community members that are upset over the number of people and the amount of items that are piled under the underpasses along Interstate 10 heading east as well as those under the intersections along the Sam Houston Parkway. There are countless individuals who you can find in the wooded area along the Beltway as well as around vacant buildings and quite often behind restaurants in the alleyways.

On social media, you see some people almost developing a vigilante attitude, calling for the underpasses to be washed daily with a high pressure water pump. These people talk about their property value decreasing and the amount of trash as well as human excrement increasing. Often these homeless individuals scare off potential customers as well as potential new residents to the community.

There are numerous community members who will hand cash to those who approach them while others will look into the distance. Sometimes there are Someone’s Child individuals or groups who prepare a small plastic bag with basic essentials such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, deodorant, shavers, shampoo and other hygiene items. Other groups will sometimes distribute blankets, towels and jackets to the homeless community.

No matter which side of the discussion that you find yourself, take a moment and remember that the people on the streets and in the woods are someone’s child. (more…)