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MICHAEL

Inside Today: Which schools lead National Signing Day? • Page 4B

S I LV A

New & Beautiful

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713.725.8748

Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston

michaels@johndaugherty.com

10570 NW Frwy 713-680-2350

Saturday, February 17, 2018 • Vol. 63 • No. 5

About Us 3500 East T.C. Jester Blvd Suite A (713) 686-8494 news@theleadernews.com www.theleadernews.com Facebook/THE LEADER.

Facing shortage, local agencies look to bolster ranks By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com Law enforcement agencies nationwide are experiencing a dip in enrollment, leading to slower response times, backlogged lower-priority calls and additional adverse effects. And though the city of Houston pledged earlier this month to increase the hiring of officers for HPD over the next five years, Houston police could still be fighting this battle on the home front for years to come.

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Long-standing dilemma Houston has been dealing with the shortage nearly since the turn of the century, with the police department currently sporting about 1,500 fewer

officers than a generation ago according to a report from Fox News. “We have fewer police officers now than we did 20 years ago,” said Houston Police Officers Union President Joseph Gamaldi. In that same period, Houston’s population exploded, and the department now patrols 650

square miles within a city fixing to be the United States’ third largest within a decade. “We need to have a sustainable growth plan for the police department going forward to provide the necessary level of service for our community,” Gamaldi said. Meanwhile, Precinct 1 Constable Rosen went before a Houston court earlier this week to request 13 additional positions, so his own office can keep pace with the population boom. “There definitely is a shortage of manpower [in both HPD and Precinct 1],” he said. Rosen believes Precinct 1’s response times have not been significantly impacted despite a noted department shortage over the last few

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Impacts on service Gamaldi said HPD has seen their average response times rise by about a minute and a half for Code 1 calls, which are violent crimes in progress. “We used to be able to get there

See Shortage P. 10A

2018 Meet the candidates

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years – which he attributes to the neighborhood contracts, as well as employing backup officers in local neighborhoods. “When a neighborhood hires a patrol deputy, we must hire somebody, so there’s a direct correlation between a neighborhood wanting more law enforcement presence and us hiring people,” he said. But not all law enforcement has been as fortunate.

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Gunnell re-opens recruitment

Dive into NOLA inspired and Mardis Gras tastes in this week’s Food & Drink edition. Take a crack at crawfish, cocktails, King Cakes and more.

Join in the crawfish craze

For The Leader St. Pius X quarterback Grant Gunnell announced his de-commitment from Texas A&M late Tuesday night. Heading into his senior season, Gunnell is rated the No. 2 Pro-Style QB in the class of 2019. “After much consideration and discussion with my family, I feel that I may have committed to Texas A &M a little early,” read a statement posted to his Twitter account. “With the coaching transition, along with other factors, I feel it is in my best interest to re-open my recruitment. While Texas A&M is still very much in play, I feel this is the best decision to make at the moment. Thank you and God Bless.”

The INDEX. Church....................................................... 5A Classifieds.............................................. 7A Coupons. ................................................. 6A Food/Drink/Art................................... 9A Obituaries.............................................. 5A Opinion. ................................................... 3A Public Information......................... 2A Puzzles...................................................... 3A Sports. ....................................................... 4B

By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com For the uninitiated, crawfish season is upon us. If you need a quick tutorial on how to not embarrass yourself at a friend’s boil, let Billy Duplechin of The Boot on West 20th Street, give you some tips. “Grab the head of the crawfish firmly with one hand and grab the tail with the other hand. Push In/ Twist and pull the tail from the head. Suck the head for a little extra Cajun flavor (optional). Peel off the first two or three rings. Pinch the end of the tail and pull the meat from the shell. Dip the meat in your favorite sauce (optional). There are plenty of places you can practice this and everybody has a favorite. Mel’s Seafood Shack

(2521 N. Durham Dr.), The Barking Pig (2307 Ella Blvd.), The Boil House (606 E 11th St.), BB’s Café (2701 White Oak Dr.), LA Crawfish (6439 W 43rd St.), Krab Kingz (6600 Antoine Dr.) and T-Bones (1971 W T C Jester Blvd.) were mentioned as must stop spots by Leader readers. Wild Cajun Crawfish (6533 Wilcrest Dr.) and Crawfish & Noodles (11360 Bellaire Blvd #990) are two additional spots that got high marks even if they are a further drive. Readers said they get their own sacks for boiling from Mel’s, H-E-B, Kroger, Cajun Gourmet and The Boil House. Even the local breweries are getting in on the act. Karbach Brewing Co. will be doing boils every Thursday through Sunday from April 5 until Cinco de Mayo. Town in City Brewing Company is doing a one day only event on February 24. “Tony Fontenot is our sales guy who hails from Louisiana,” said owner Justin Engle. “He creates his own spice mix for crawfish boils. He does a bunch of crawfish boils for local bars during crawfish season. At our boil, we will have crawfish and shrimp by the See Crawfish P. 2B

Scarborough High School’s varsity men’s basketball team has plenty of cause for elation, as they are headed to the state playoffs next week – but there has also been a pressing issue at hand for them, and the local neighborhood responded to it in force last week. The Spartans are in need of replacement basketball shoes for the entire team -- as the current ones are almost falling apart -- but the school’s budget currently does not allow for such a purchase. So Head Coach Julius Jackson and his staff subsequently turned to the community, with a goal of $1,900 in donations to purchase new shoes for the team by the day of their first playoff game Feb. 19. A post in a local neighborhood group last weekend spawned initial support that has only grown, with members donating various amounts totaling just over $1,400 as of press time. Jackson said he and his staff have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support the Spartans received from the community “It means so much to us; and this is part of what we’re trying to do – bridge the relationships between the community and Scarborough since we sit directly in the center of the community,” Jackson said. “It means a lot, not just to me but the kids as well.” “This post is making my heart explode. Thank you all so much!” exclaimed Jessi Heiner, who was recently hired at the school. Support adds to special season Scarborough boasts six seniors who played their final true home game wearing the Spartan orange Feb. 10. Thus far, the Spartans sit at 13-10 overall

See Shoes P. 10A

Heights High School art students win big at rodeo By Zarah Parker zarah@theleadernews.com HISD took home most of the finalist awards for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo School Art Program for the first time in history, and one of our local schools dominated the awards. Heights High School students alone contributed half of the 22 finalist pieces. The School Art Program is an art competition between districts for elementary, middle school, and High School. Best in Show, two Gold Medals, and a Merit award are given to each grade division.

Before the art reaches the rodeo competition, the students first must compete in their own districts. This year, eight 800 pieces were submitted from HISD alone. From this, 25 are selected from high school, five from middle school and elementary. Out of the 25, 11 were chosen from Heights High School, with two other students becoming HISD finalists. From those 11, one earned the Merit award, while the other 10 became rodeo finalists. More so, the Heights students were all taught by the same teacher in the same class. Many students said it was Deisy Guevara, their IB (international baccalaureate) Vi-

sual Arts teacher, who taught them discipline in their craft, which gave them the confidence to enter the rodeo competition. “I’ve always been okay at art, but [Ms. Guevara] is the first art teacher that really showed me all the techniques I didn’t know about and how to really do art,” said Leonardo Garza, a junior finalist. Guevara, who majored in Fine Arts Painting at the University of Houston, began her career tutoring at Austin High School. She began teaching Spanish, then art, with all her classes being advanced. After a See Rodeo P. 4A

Photo by Zarah Parker Art Teacher, Deisy Guevara (left), with Merit award winner and finalists of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo School Art Program with their art pieces at Heights High School.

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