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Inside Today: Shepherd Forest club sweeps 34th clean • Page 9
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SATURDAY | April 20, 2013 | Vol. 59 | No. 25 | www.theleadernews.com | @heightsleader sponsored by
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We’re ready to make your mouth water again with The List – and this time, our major food group is all manners of Tex-Mex. We’ll be featuring the Leader areas’ most popular local eateries and their specialties, from breakfast tacos to tamales to fajitas. This time, you’ll get your chance to support your favorite Tex Mex joint by voting online at www.theleadernews. com. You can vote for five restaurants once each day, and the winner will be the recipient of free advertising in The Leader. Andale! Get voting now! And look for The List supplement in your April 27 edition – just in time for Cinco de Mayo.
see Robberies • Page 10
Bethelem St.
Watonga Parkway Park
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Vote for your Tex-Mex favorite
Recent Robbery Spree ste
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“Not feeling safe in the neighborhood and may be moving,” the email to The Leader read. It was from a resident of Chamboard Street whose “small trip” to a grocery store for shampoo, beer and tea with his girlfriend on a leisurely Friday See related night had turned their lives column on into chaos when a gunman police approached, pulled a pistol, aimed it three feet from the communication man’s face and ordered the PAGE 4 couple to the ground. “Those idiot hoods ultimately got a locked, erased iPhone and 10 bucks cash,” the victim explained. And the victims’ peace of mind, causing the man to miss work and consider seriously whether he and his girlfriend wanted to stay in the neighborhood.
Six robberies in 10 days have spun the quiet residential Oak Forest-area neighborhoods back into the grip of fear that set in during an eerily similar spree last fall, with a Houston police spokesman suggesting last week that residents stay inside after dark unless they had to leave their homes. Men wielding guns and demanding valuables have accosted seven Oak Forest-area residents and visitors in driveways and yards late at night in five of the incidents. No one has been hurt, although one shot was fired in an early robbery. One other incident, in which an 84-year-old woman was robbed at about 5:30 a.m. April 11 in the 4900 block of Oak Forest, showed marked differences. The woman was outside her daughter’s home in her vehicle when a young white man with dark hair leaned on top of her and stole her purse, leaving a “nasty” bruise on her cheek and lip, according to the daughter. The victim jabbed her assailant in the stomach with
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by Charlotte Aguilar charlotte@theleadernews.com
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Fear is Back: 10 days, 6 robberies 1700 Candlelight Lane
Glebe Rd.
THE BRIEF.
Candlelight Park
4900 Oak Forest
W. 43rd
1400 Curtin 2000 Hewitt Drive
2300 Chantilly Lane TC Jester Park
B-I-N-G-O
1400 Chamboard
Chantilly Lamonte
April 5: 2000 Hewitt April 5: 1700 Candlelight Lane April 9: 1400 Chamboard
April 9: 2300 Chantilly April 11: 4900 Oak Forest April 15: 1400 Curtin
Energy HS could open off Durham by Charlotte Aguilar charlotte@theleadernews.com
Celebrating 27 years in Oak Forest
FREE BURGER DRAWING Every Day in April
Come in for your chance to win
M-F 11am-9pm Sat 11am-5pm
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Over the past two to three years, bingo at the SPJST Lodge 88 has attracted an increasing number of young professionals.
What
Generations meet at SPJST in Heights Can U YO
Find Inside
by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com
PINEMONT PARK SUBDIVISION COMMUNITY GARAGE SALE: Across from Collier Library, 6200 Pinemont Dr. Multi-families. April 27, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Since the early 1950s, Clara Bruz has enjoyed playing Bingo at SPJST Lodge 88. “I’m really amazed it’s lasted this long,” said the 81-year-old Heights resident. “People who come here seem to have a terrific time.” On the other hand, there’s Michael Arnold, a Rice Military resident who works for Shell who was first introduced to SPJST during a company-organized intern event. He enjoyed it and kept coming. “It’s a change of pace from your usual stuff, which is barhopping,” Arnold said. For many years, SPJST, which is translated to the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas, hosted Thursday night Bingo games that attracted a total of 200 people, mostly Lodge members and senior citizens. But over the past two or three years, the Lodge has experienced a boom in interest, primarily from 20- and 30-something young professionals who are new to the Heights and surrounding areas. The capacity, according to SPJST Bingo Chairman JoAnn Buri, is 756, and it’s not uncommon for the hall, at 1435 Beall St., to fill up early and turn away would-be bingo players. “I like it for the lodge because it brings in money,” said Bruz, a 1948 Reagan High graduate. “With the crowd they have, you
MOVING IN/MOVING OUT? Call Frank to haul off trash/junk. 281-312-9795. HELP WANTED: • AP/AR clerk needed. • Econoline van mechanic needed. • Church bus driver needed.
More on Page 10
THE INDEX.
Public Safety Hipstrict Topics Obituaries Coupons Puzzles Sports Classifieds
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Magnets were back on the agenda for Houston ISD trustees at their monthly meeting last week after a two-year absence, with the school board approving two new magnet schools – including an energy school that could be located in the Heights – and giving initial approval to a new set of policies governing magnet programs. Board President Anna Eastman indicated that she would push for a community task force to have input on how the policies are carried out, if the guidelines are approved on the second reading at the board’s next meeting. “Presumably we’ve held this off because it will result in something functioning differently than it does right now,” Eastman said. “A lot of people want to see that happen, a lot of people are nervous about it, a lot of people have strong opinions, so I think it’s really important for the community to be represented in the conversations around what those changes look like.” The new policies establish criteria for evaluating the success of existing magnet programs and for creating new ones, as well as procedures for selecting students. After a long evaluation process by an outside consultant, a controversial report that recommended removing the magnet designation from about half of the programs, and a series of well attended and frequently combative town hall meetings two years ago, the issue faded. Only two speakers spoke – calmly – on the agenda item, and the limited discussion among trustees largely centered on transparency in the lotteries used by most
see Magnet • Page 10
SPJST member Carol Havemann, a third-grade teacher in Spring ISD, doubles as the SPJST bingo caller on Thursday nights. (Photos by Michael Sudhalter) can’t win very often.” Guests bring food and drinks to the bingo hall, and celebrate special events there, such as birthday parties. “I can’t think of a better place,” said David Wells, who was celebrating a birthday
with a group of friends on Thursday. James Graham, who lives in Midtown, said the “atmosphere” at the SPJST kept him and his friends coming back. “We like
see Bingo • Page 10
The old Holden Elementary School near Durham just south of the North Loop could become the location of a new HISD energy magnet high school. Most recently, the facility served as Central Region office for the district. (Photo by Charlotte Aguilar)