September 28 Section A

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Inside Today: A rundown of local real estate news • Page 1B

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MICHAEL SILVA

michael@michaelwilliam.com

713-725-8748 cell

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

10570 NW Frwy ❖ 713-680-2350

Saturday, September 28, 2019 • Vol. 64 • No. 39

Down the drains

ABOUT US 2020 North Loop West Suite 220 (713) 686-8494 news@theleadernews.com www.theleadernews.com Facebook/FromTheLeader

Contributed photo St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in the Heights caught fire last week. A cause of the fire was not immediately known.

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PROPERTIES

Photo by Adam Zuvanich Alice Bohlae owns the property at 921 Judiway St., which flooded last week for the first time since 2015. The property is in close proximity to a City of Houston stormwater drainage project, designed to mitigate flooding, that was completed in 2018.

Did drainage project help, hurt or have no impact?

By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com Your neighborhood living room in The Heights Serving coffee, tea, wine, beer, savories and sweets 7 am to 9 pm daily.

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INSIDE.

Tasty pastries. We review The Empanada Company.

Page 7A

Teaming up. A gelato shop and the Dash are helping Waltrip.

Page 3B

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

Alice Bohlae knew her property had flooded when she purchased it in 2011, and it flooded again four years later. Her Oak Grove home was spared during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, however, and she thought a nearby storm drainage project that was in the works at the time might have been a contributing factor.

Now, though, it doesn’t seem to have helped at all.

Less than a year after the City of Houston completed the first phase of the Garden Oaks and Shepherd Park Drainage and Paving project, a $23 million infrastructure update designed to improve drainage and mitigate structural flooding in the area, Bohlae’s property in the 900 block of Judiway Street flooded more severely than it ever had before. The front house where her 94-year-

old mother lives took on a few feet of water Sept.

19, when Tropical Storm Imelda dumped several inches of rain on Greater Houston in the span of a few hours.

“They put in giant (concrete culverts) down there, and I thought maybe that helped,” Bohlae said.

“Clearly I was incorrect.”

Imelda caused flooding all over Southeast Texas and in local neighborhoods Contributed photo such as Mangum Manor, Oak Forest and even the A dog named Caroline looks at flooding inside a home at 921 Heights, which has the Judiway St. on Sept. 19. highest elevation in Houston. The hardest-hit part of the area was immediately Rainfall in inches from 11:30 p.m. Sept. 18 through west of Alba Road on Ju- 11:30 p.m. Sept. 19, according to data compiled by the diway and Wakefield Drive Harris County Flood Warning System: – the southwestern edge of White Oak Bayou at Heights Boulevard: 5.32 the drainage project that Brickhouse Gully at Costa Rica Road: 6.72 was completed in DecemHarris County Flood Control District: 7.04 ber 2018.

White Oak Bayou at Tidwell Road: 7.08 Homes on Wakefield Houston TranStar: 7.16 that did not flood during White Oak Bayou at Ella Boulevard: 7.16 Harvey, the most signifi-

St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, a longtime staple of the Woodland Heights neighborhood, was significantly damaged by a fire on the afternoon of Sept.

20.

Shortly after 2 p.m., the Houston Fire Department said on Twitter that is was responding to a two-alarm fire at the historic church at 600 Pecore St. Photos posted by the department showed firefighters battling a blaze on the second story of the church building, and they remained at the scene a few hours later.

“Our community is devastated,” said Emily Guyre, executive director of the Houston Heights Association.

Guyre said she had been in contact with pastor Emily Chapman, who told her the fire had not resulted in any injuries. The cause of the fire was not immediately known as arson investigators were dispatched to the scene.

The church campus includes a preschool, which did not have classes on the day of the fire, and serves as a meeting place for area Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts troops. St. Mark’s also holds a popular pumpkin patch event every October and has a live nativity scene around Christmastime.

“They’re just so good to everybody,” Guyre said. “I just am so sad for them.”

Too much, too fast

White Oak Bayou at Pinemont Drive: 7.24 Little White Oak Bayou at Tidwell Road: 8.88

See Drain P. 8A

Community members Durham parents praise teachers for diligence offer helping hands

By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com

Photo by Houston Photography Oak Forest resident Ben Jackson performs “Magic, Music, & Mayhem” at Four Seasons Hotel Houston.

Oak Forest man makes career out of making magic

By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com

When Evan Camp came out of his Eureka Heights Brew Co. office a little after opening time at 3 p.m. last Friday on West 18th Street, the brewery’s event manager was surprised to see a full house.

When Camp asked what was going on, he got a ready answer.

They were all teachers.

That’s because a benevolent donor who wished to remain anonymous volunContributed photo teered to pick up the tab Flooding inside the office for every Houston ISD at Liberty Hoepfl Garage on employee to have two North Shepherd Drive. complimentary pints. The offer was valid all day last Friday, when HISD students and staff had off to recover from Tropical Storm Imelda.

“We didn’t expect it to be that big, but we were packed from the time we opened until the time we closed,” Camp said. “It was a massive success.”

The deluge delivered

by Tropical Storm Imelda caused problems all over the Houston area. Streets quickly flooded on the morning of Sept. 19, and so did vehicles, homes, businesses and schools.

But for Dashiel Schiffer, a first-grade student at Durham Elementary, all Photo from Twitter the rain was welcome. It left him with a light load of Students avoid water outside Durham Elementary. classroom assignments.

“He was excited that they didn’t have to do all the work that they were supposed to do,” said his mother, Jane Schiffer. “He said it was the best day ever.”

People all over the city, and even the country, might have gotten a much different impression of the way the day unfolded at Durham. The 50-year-old campus at 4803 Brinkman St. made national headlines after a video surfaced on social media showing students walking across a string of benches in what looked like a flooded hallway.

Magic, music and mayhem is happening Inside the Four Seasons Hotel Houston in downtown. It’s also the title of sleight of hand magician and Oak Forest resident Ben Jackson’s magic show.

Jackson calls it a sophisticated magic show catered towards adults with a cocktail in their hand. The luxurious setting and the cozy space the show is performed in, which only fits around 50 people, is intentional as to be able to give the show an intimate ambiance.

“Steve Cohen is kind of the progenitor in creating a luxury magic show in a destination hotel,” Jackson said. “He calls himself the millionaires magician

See Help P. 8A

See Durham P. 8A

See Magic P. 8A

By Zarah Parker zarah@theleadernews.com

CURRENT PROPERTY LISTINGS

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THE PUBLIC. The Leader • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • Page 2A

Popular area restaurants burglarized

By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com Slowpokes has been quick to establish itself as a popular coffee shop for residents of Garden Oaks and Oak Forest.

It also has been frequented by burglars.

Owner J.C. Rubiralta said Slowpokes, which also serves food and draft beer at 1203 W. 34th St. Suite D, was broken into at about 5 a.m. Sept.

19. He said it was the second break-in the store has endured within the last few weeks, the third in the last six months and the fifth burglary since Slowpokes opened in 2017.

“It’s super disheartening,” Rubiralta said. “We wish that the parking lot was better lit.

That would be great.”

According to the Facebook page for Les Ba’get, a popular Vietnamese restaurant down the street from Slowpokes at 1717 W. 34th St. #800, it also

had a break-in early Sept. 19.

Rubiralta said he had spoken with the Les Ba’get owner and exchanged surveillance videos, which led them to believe the same burglar hit both restaurants.

Les Ba’get did not immediately respond to a voicemail left Sept. 19. Another Facebook post by the restaurant said it closed at about 2 p.m. because of heavy rain and flooding in the area.

“To the person that was craving our food this morning at 5 a.m., we open at 11 a.m.

Come back again and we’ll buy you a bowl of pho,” Les Ba’get said in its post about the burglary, which included photos of the suspect and a broken store window.

Rubiralta said Slowpokes had a shattered front door as a result of the burglary, although the opening had been covered with wood by the afternoon. The owner said noth-

Contributed photo This photo shows the person who burglarized Slowpokes on the morning of Sept. 19.

ing appeared to have been taken from the store, which after previous burglaries had stopped keeping a safe and cash in its register overnight.

Despite the latest break-in, and subsequent downpour throughout the Houston area, Rubiralta said Slowpokes had been “pretty busy all day with people just hanging out and showing their support.”

“We love this neighborhood and we have no intention of leaving,” he added.

Suspect wanted in shooting on Antoine From Staff Reports Police have charged a man in connection with a shooting last weekend at an area apartment complex that left a woman in critical condition.

Police say 30-year-old George Jonell Henderson is charged with assault of a family member and felony possession of a weapon in connection with the Sept. 21 shooting of 20-year-old Bre Unna Pa-

George Jonell Henderson

Pedestrian killed in area car crash From Staff Reports A pedestrian was killed in the area last weekend in a collision with a pickup truck.

The Houston Police Department said the victim, identified as 43-year-old Jason Warren by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, was transported to Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital and later Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to HPD, the driver of a blue Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck was traveling south near 5600 Antoine Dr. around midnight Sept. 21. Police say Warren stepped into the roadway from a poorly lit area of the median near the intersection of Antoine and West Tidwell Road, where he was struck by the truck.

HPD said no charges have been filed against the driver and an investigation is ongoing.

trice Ann Gamble.

The Houston Police Department said officers responded to 6407 Antoine Dr. shortly before 2 a.m. Sept. 21 to find Gamble shot and in critical condition at the Diamond Ridge Apartments near Greater Inwood.

Police say Gamble was transported to an area hospital in critical condition, but was expected to survive.

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The Leader • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • Page 3A

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THE TOPICS. The Leader • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • Page 4A

We won’t solve floods if we keep building

I

t’s time for the men and women leading Houston to stop talking about flooding. Yes, you read that right, and I’ll say it again. I’d be just fine if every person elected or appointed to steer the direction of this city never said another word about flooding.

Maybe we should stop talking about larger drain pipes, dredged bayous or common maintenance of the ditches lining our neighborhoods. Maybe we should hush the conversations about required retention ponds or gravel parking lots, especially if they aren’t helping the problem.

This sounds callous, especially to the people who are ripping sheetrock and tearing out floors as I sit in my office and write. But I’ve been there, too.

When Harvey dumped nearly four feet of water around my home and office, I split time between sweeping water away from my back door and standing over a Shop-vac to pump sewage out of my office. I almost lost my company from Harvey, because I couldn’t let the people who worked with me sit in an office that had mold around every corner, no flooring, and chemicals that would burn a hole in your skin.

When the Tax and Memorial Day storms gushed across the city, I did the same thing, emptying 16 gallons

Jonathan McElvy Publisher

of sewer water out of my office, one bucket at a time. By our estimation, my buddy Tom and I dumped more than 400 gallons of brown water in each of those storms, and nothing will ruin an appetite quite like that exercise.

Today, we’re back to the same conversation, because Erratic Imelda apparently showed no signs of sitting over Houston and pumping another foot of water on and around us. It certainly didn’t help that we had more than four inches fall in less than 45 minutes at one point, flooding homes that never flooded before – not even during Harvey.

Even still, I think the conversation on flooding needs to stop. If we brought the greatest minds from all across the world to Houston and asked them to find a solution to our new reality of rain, I’m not sure they

could find a solution. If you dump a foot of water on any city in a span of six hours – no matter if that city is St. Louis or St. Paul – there will be localized flooding, and there’s not a darn thing you can do about it.

No, I want to stop talking about flooding, because there is no solution for the amount of rain our city takes on during these once-historic events. Those fighting the climate battle are welcome to rage on, because purifying our air will at least make the rainfall cleaner.

Like most of you, I’ve thought about these rain events a hundred different ways. I’ve realized we don’t have enough channels to take all this water to the Gulf, and unless we want to dig a dozen more bayous, nothing will change the speed at which millions of gallons of water can pass through Houston.

But haven’t we all asked one similar question? Why do the results of these floods keep getting worse?

Why in the world was Imelda worse than Harvey for some of us? And I think I’ve found the answer – actually I’ve found two of them.

First, the people who measure rainfall say we took on more water from Imelda in a shorter amount of time than we received from Harvey, which goes back to my original point about these things. You get that much water, you get flooding,

no matter where you live.

Second, I started wondering about the $2.5 billion flood bond voters in Harris County approved last year, along with the matching $2.5 billion from the federal government. Has that money been put to use? Have things gotten better from our tax dollars?

And that’s when I realized it doesn’t matter. Talking about flooding the way we talk about it today is a worthless exercise. Talking about alleviating the impact of torrential rains over long periods of time will solve no problems when (not if) we get another slow-moving tropical storm.

Instead, consider some incredible statistics about the greater Houston metro area: In 1990, this eight-county area was home to 3.3 million people. Today, there are 6.99 million people in greater Houston. We have doubled our population in less than 30 years, doubling the cars on the road, doubling the parking spaces for cars, doubling the homes we need, doubling the offices where we work.

When you add that many people in that short of a time period, there will be fallout the greatest of city planners cannot predict.

But what I found next drove the point home further. Taking information from the Houston Chronicle’s

reporting, along with data from a group called MetroStudy, I learned that since January 2017 through July of this year (the latest numbers available), there has been $48.3 billion spent on residential and nonresidential construction.

Think about the enormity of that number. In three years, once we reach the end of 2019, more than $55 billion will have been spent on new construction in this city. Obviously, much of that construction has been on top of old construction, but we’re also laying new concrete on old farm land. Where there was once a house and septic tank, now there are 100 toilets, 200 sinks and 50 dishwasher lines.

Yet our conversation is about what we can do with the $2.5 billion flood bond we passed that will take a decade to implement? At the rates we’re going, there will be more than $180 billion of new construction in that decade, and we think spending 1 percent of that money will help?

We need to stop talking about flooding, because those ideas are mere patches on a dam ready to burst. But we all know Houston won’t stop growing, because there’s too much money floating around this city. It’s just that we may need to buy boats to pick it up.

Email jonathan@mcelvymedia.com

Rudundant, again

THE READER.

THE MEETING HALL – As usual, our chief enchilada and main man, Bottom Line, took the podium as quick as a wink.

“Welcome to another occasional meeting of Club Cliche, where every shopworn and overused expression, word or term is trotted out like birds of a feather. This is an especially important gathering of the rhetorically challenged because, once again, it is campaign time, and no one can make our teeth grit like fingernails on a blackboard than our politicians. But first, I see some old clichés here today, like You Go, Girl, Millennials and If It Walks Like a Duck.”

“You da man,” yelled You da Man. Bottom Line continued: “We have two new members, Trope and Existential. Used to death. Protocol is here.

You have changed from when no TV reporter could mention Ebola without adding the treatment involved – ta-da! – the Protocol. But now the NFL has hired you so that every player who gets a concussion has to go through the Protocol.

Speaking of changing, I see that Global Warming is now Climate Change, and Liberal is now Progressive. Incidentally, we keep hearing and reading about a Liberal Screed. A bird or a plane can’t fly with just a left wing. We’ve got to have a Right-Wing Screed, too. But it’s MIA.” “I’m right here,” Make America Great Again said.

“Normally I would tweet, but Fake News would make me look bad by reporting what I said, even if it was exactly what I said. I got that directly from Deep State.”

“But you are also receiving Push Back,” said Push Back.

MAGA laughed. “Only from the Drive-By Media.”

Our president tapped his gavel. “If we may get back to the matter at hand as quick as a New York minute, the campaigns’ political rhetoric is becoming unbearable and we’re more than a year away from the election. A little of Bernie’s speeches goes a long way. Beto’s profanity is becoming old and predictable.”

Worst Case Scenario was next. “How much longer must we hear Comprehensive Immigration Reform? What does that mean? It’s used by every candidate with no details.”

On the Wrong Side of History answered. “It means whatever you want it to mean.

Like Family Values. You get Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich with their nine wives and ex-wives, and you’ve got a big family to value.”

Metrics held up her hand.

“I’ve got a question. We keep hearing about Income Inequality. Talk about a cliché.

If the candidates mean Robin Hood, take from the rich and give to the middle class, then say so.”

Gravitas and his brother, Mojo, spoke next: “How about Talking Heads? That stale slate keeps saying the same

Dear Editor: Yes I love those Oak trees as well.

It’s unfortunate that some people are planting or allowing palm trees and golden rain trees instead the beautiful Oak trees that Houston is famous for.

Willem Kegge

Dear Editor: Thanks for this story!

I know it’s a subject no one likes to talk about but it is a subject that everyone should be able to talk about!

Most of us have had family or friends lost this way and it is just such a hard thing to cope with.

Jeanette

Harris County to start buyouts of flooded homes

Heights church catches fire

Lynn Ashby Columnist

thing over and over. Middle America and the Heartland.

Mom and Pop. From Wall Street to Main Street. They all mean the same place: Flyover Land. Can’t Talking Heads come up with something new?

Then there’s Margin of Error.

Does a surgeon or a bombardier have a one of those? And the constant use of Traction.

Every Dem candidate is seeking Traction. Give it a break.”

Suddenly a new face appeared at the door. “Hi, I’m Hurricane Dorian. Is this the Fatigue Forum, where every dreary item keeps coming at us day after day? Like the Clintons. They have been in our face for 30 years, and everyone is getting Clinton Fatigue. Although, to be fair, they have kept a lower profile lately.

Maybe their books didn’t sell too well.”

“No, this is Club Cliché, your first cousin,” said Adult Conversation and her twin, Adult in the Room, together.

“The Fatigue Forum is meeting just a hop, skip and a jump down the hallway. But we have a lot in common. For instance, Joe Biden’s gaffs. How long do we have to watch them?

So he’s a crazy old man. But time after time. It reminds me of Spiro Agnew’s observation: ‘If you’ve seen one city slum you’ve seen them all.’ I’ve seen them all.”

Hurricane Dorian replied: “I feel your pain. Do you know how many times I’ve heard about new plans for the Astrodome? Every now and then something happens that’s interesting, but it’s been years now, with plans to turn the Astrodome into a hotel, casino, indoor auto racing or just tear it down, but nothing has changed. And I am so fatigued hearing how Buffalo Bayou should be made into a San Antonio Riverwalk. Do these people know anything about water? Floods? A receptacle for Styrofoam cups?

That bullet train between Houston and Dallas? Lots of talk and they haven’t laid a foot. I suppose stories about my destructive brother, Hurricane Harvey, will be with us forever. Fine. But does anyone else get fatigued hearing about help-is-on-the-way? ‘Yes, the funds are coming as soon as Congress etc. etc.’ ‘FEMA has promised….’ ‘The House Subcommittee on Delay has voted’ and so on. Enough! Show me the money!”

“You are right as rain,” said Houston, We Have a Problem.

Dorian left the room and the meeting continued. Coachspeak took the microphone, as cool as the other side of the pillow. “I came to play, ya know, as I was telling the

awareness

Because you planted them: A daughter’s perspective on Houston’s trees

Pinstripes and the Halos, not to mention the pro hoops. I resent the rumor that coaches, players and TV sportscasters, ya know, rely on clichés.

I mean, SloJoHo is a great sprinter, and the Big Bopper can hit the horsehide over the Green Monster, ya know. The ‘Boys and the ‘Stros know that I’m cautiously optimistic.”

Move the Needle spoke up. “No one has mentioned the 400-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Trump! It’s Trump twenty-four seven, all Trump all the time, with lies, jokes, more TV rallies and more shouted Q and A above Marine One. Our whole society is becoming a cliché.”

“I think you’re in the wrong meeting,” advised Porch Pirate. “Try the Fatigue Forum.”

“Well, that wraps up this meeting,” said Bottom Line.

“Just remember, avoid clichés like the plague.”

Ashby is fatigued at ashby2@comcast.net

Dear Editor: Give me the rules regarding FEMA’s and Harris County Buyout Program, along White Oak Bayou between Breezeway and Woodland Oaks area?

Flippers-investors? What is going on?

Bill Knapek

Dear Editor: I just hope the sanctuary is okay. Such a beautiful sanctuary. I grew up in that church and it was my parents’ everything.

Beverly

Art Valet: Colorful Pakistani culture coming to Spring Street Studios

Dear Editor: What a fantastic article conveying how cool the Rung A Rung event will be! I can’t wait — so excited about the fashion show, regional dances and mouth watering Pakistani Foods and Chai! It’s going to be so fun!

AA Dear Editor: So proud to be a part of Indus Art Council. IAC is the best and committed to making this event a memorable one for all. Come join the fun!

Rubina Rashid

Family using silly socks to raise suicide

Dear Editor: Dave and I were married there on June 11, 1966.

That is devastating. I hope no one was hurt.

Ellen Taylor Jones

Good enough to be published?

As you might have noticed, one of our favorite parts of The Leader is when our readers send us notes. Whether you’re upset with something we wrote, or even when you like something that appeared on our pages, we like hearing from you.

Even better, the community likes hearing from each other. Sure, there’s Facebook and Twitter and all those billions of posts. There are only a few good enough to be bound in print. Be one of those people and send us something fun to publish.

Email to news@theleadernews.com

the leader Puzzlers.

Answers found in this week’s Classified section

SUDOKU

aCrOss 1. ‘ER’ actress Leslie 5. The Ibo tribe 10. Weapon 14. Olympian Jones 15. Moth genus 16. In addition 17. Neighborhood in Rio 18. Anoint 19. Insect repellent 20. Indigenous person 22. Tooth caregiver 23. Vacation here 24. Aware 27. 7th letter Greek alphabet 30. Actress Ling 31. Gandalf’s real name 32. Luxury car 35. Evildoer 37. Cricket term (abbr.)

38. Primal goddess of the Earth 39. More depressed 40. Cattle genus 41. Dish 42. Not west 43. Founder of Babism 44. Speak rapidly and foolishly 45. Fall back, spring forward 46. Where you sleep 47. Inform 48. Former CIA 49. Salts

52. Bleated 55. Never sleeps 56. Cavalry sword 60. Ceramic jar 61. Cyprinid fishes 63. Home to Cathedral of San Sabino 64. Edible Indian fruit 65. Lake in Botswana 66. University of Miami mascot 67. Perceives 68. Yellow-fever mosquitos 69. All humans have one

dOwn 1. Reveal secrets 2. Private school in New York 3. Pancake 4. Cichlid fish 5. Independent Voters Association 6. Nonviolent advocate 7. Suburb in Copenhagen 8. Heavy cotton garments 9. Self-addressed envelope 10. A way to make wet 11. Genus of trees 12. Millisecond 13. Kiss ballad

21. Unlock 23. ___ mot 25. ‘Joy Luck Club’ author Amy 26. Catch 27. __ and flowed 28. Monetary units 29. Scorched 32. Italian aviator 33. Things to eat 34. Waddles 36. A Queens ballplayer 37. It’s on your driver’s license 38. Talk 40. Witty conversation 41. Satisfies 43. Sound unit 44. Placental mammal 46. Offer 47. Flower cluster 49. Stamps 50. Palmlike plant 51. Developed poliomyelitis vaccine 52. Newhart, Marley, Dylan 53. Wings 54. Away from wind 57. Slugger Ruth 58. Musician Clapton 59. Gamble 61. Desoxyribonucleic acid 62. Female sibling

WORD SCRAMBLE

The Leader • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • Page 5A

THINGS TO DO. The Arts Houndmouth Saturday, Sept. 28 7 p.m.

The Heights Theater – 339 W. 19th St. Houndmouth is performing at The Heights Theater.

Kishi Bashi Sunday, Sept. 29 7 p.m.

The Heights Theater – 339 W. 19th St. Kishi Bashi is performing at The Heights Theater.

Tunes in the Tap Room Tuesday, Oct. 1 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Harold’s Restaurant & Tap Room – 350 W. 19th St. Enjoy live music in Harold’s Tap Room every Tuesday night.

Ruston Kelly Friday, Sept. 27 7 p.m.

White Oak Music Hall – 2915 N. Main St. Ruston Kelly is performing at White Oak Music Hall with Donovan Woods.

Giuda Friday, Sept. 27 8 p.m.

White Oak Music Hall – 2915 N. Main St. Giuda is performing at White Oak Music Hall with The Killer Hearts.

Jay Som Saturday, Sept. 28 8 p.m.

White Oak Music Hall – 2915 N. Main St. Jay Som is performing at White Oak Music Hall with Boy Scouts and Affectionately.

Orville Peck Monday, Sept. 30 7 p.m.

White Oak Music Hall – 2915 N. Main St. Orville Peck is performing at White Oak Music Hall with Boulevards.

Joy Hanna Thursday, Oct. 3 7:30 p.m.

White Oak Music Hall – 2915 N. Main St. Joy Hanna is performing at White Oak Music Hall.

The Markets

Cavatore – 2120 Ella Blvd.

There will be local growers, makers, designers, artisans and food producers.

Little White Oak Night Market Saturday, Sept. 28 4 – 8 p.m.

Sideout Volleybar – 2623 Keene St. The Little White Oak Night Market brings together local farmers, craft merchandisers, and artists.

The Farm Stand at Petrol Station Saturday, Sept. 28 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

948 Wakefield Dr. The Farm Stand at Petrol Station features goods from local vendors.

Heights Morning Market Sunday, Sept. 29 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

3106 White Oak Dr. Heights Morning Market gathers local talented artisans, farmers, and entrepreneurs to bring you closer to the goods you need. Stop by to shop and stay to brunch, drink mimosas, and listen to live music at Onion Creek.

The Pews Women’s Bible Study Group Monday, Sept. 30 5:30 p.m.

YMCA –1234 W. 34th St. The Women’s Bible Study meets every Monday at the Harriet and Joe Foster YMCA. The study is called The Faithful, which explores crucial moments in the lives of five Old Testament figures--Queen Esther, Gideon, Hosea, Malachi, and Nehemiah. Guests and new members are welcome to attend this non-denominational Bible study. Email scripturesharing@ earthlink.net for information.

Men’s Scripture Sharing Group Thursday, Oct. 3 7 a.m.

YMCA –1234 W. 34th St. The Men’s Scripture Sharing Group meets every Thursday at the Harriet and Joe Foster YMCA. There will be music, Bible study and fellowship.

Guests and new members are welcome to attend this non-denominational Bible study. Email scripturesharing@earthlink.net for information.

St. Rose of Lima Pumpkin Patch Friday, Oct. 4 5 p.m.

Eleanora’s Market Saturday, Sept. 28 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

St. Rose of Lima – 3600 Brinkman St. St. Rose of Lima Pumpkin Patch Opens Oct. 4. The Patch will be open Sundays from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. – 6p.m.

She is the cataloger for Houston Public Library’s Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research and the coordinator for Clayton’s involvement in the digitization project research.

Open Mic Night Tuesday, Oct. 1 9 p.m.

Heights Vinyl – 3301 Cline St. This is a free flowing, “tap in,� share the mic event where everyone is welcome.

Blessing of the Animals Saturday, Oct. 5 Noon – 2 p.m.

Bethel UCC – 13210 Land Rd. Bethel UCC Houston is hosting a blessing for the animals. All pets are welcomed on a leash.

If you can’t bring your pet, you can bring a photo of them.

Thursday Night Bingo Thursday, Oct. 3 5:15 p.m.

SPJST Lodge 88 - 1435 Beall St. Bingo at SPJST Lodge 88 is held every Thursday night.

Bingo pads are $10 each. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Bingo begins at 7:00 p.m.

Family Events Sunday, Oct. 6 10 a.m.

Grace Church Garden Oaks – 3754 N. Shepherd Dr. There will be a family event at Grace Church. After an illustrated sermon there will be a tailgate after party featuring a taco truck, free hot dogs and popcorn, a video game truck, inflatables, pony rides and more.

Wellness Workshop for Moms Sunday, Oct. 6 2 p.m.

Nia Moves Studio – 508 Pecor St. Join Nia Moves Studio for a free wellness workshop for new or pregnant moms. Hear a panel of experts sharing advice on pregnancy and post-natal health, touching on everything from vitamins, to pelvic floor strengthening to baby sleep tips and tricks. Free and open to all. Register here: https://www. eventbrite.com/e/mamas-letstalk-tickets-71611864013

New Pastor for Lazybrook Sunday, Oct. 6 10:45 a.m.

Lazybrook Baptist Church 1822 W. 18th St. Lazybrook Baptist Church welcomes Zachary Brackett as the new lead pastor. Your invited to join them for worship Sunday.

This will be the first Sunday with their new lead pastor.

Special Events

St. Matthew’s Fall Festival Saturday, Oct. 19 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

St. Matthews’s UMC – 4300 N. Shepherd Dr. St. Matthew’s is hosting a fall festival on Saturday, Oct. 19.

There will be a pumpkin patch, barbecue plates, face painting, and more.

Waltrip High School Class of 1979 Saturday, Oct. 5 7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

The Whitehall Hotel – 1700 Smith St. The Waltrip High School

on Sept. 20. Evelyn is survived by her brother Arthur Etzler and his wife Rosemary, her son Richard Ahlgrim and his wife Becky, her granddaughter Hilary Barton and her husband Phil, her greatgrandchildren Lucia and Paxton; her grandson Zachary Ahlgrim; her daughter Judy Ahlgrim, and her granddaughter Shelley Hicks.

Ruth M. Anderson, 93, born March 7, died on Sept. 20.

She is survived by her sister Martha Lamour Menn Lindemann and by her five children: Catherine Pett and husband Richard; June Gonzales and husband David;

Betty Jones and husband Steven; James “Jim� Anderson and wife Dawn; Helen Watson and husband Carl.

Randall Kim Bastian, 65, born Aug. 27, died on Sept. 15.

James “Jim� Ausburn Culmer, 66, born Aug. 28, died

on Sept. 15. He is survived by his wife, Jackie Culmer; sister, Lucinda Akins; sister-in-law, Julia Law and husband Alec; and niece, Jessica Howard.

Mary Joe Dozier, 85, born July 3, died on Sept. 23 in Houston, Texas.

Dec. 29, died on Sept. 20.

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Don’t Forget to FINDING Say Thank You

TRUE JOY

By Pastor Will Cover

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By Pastor Will Cover 803 Curtin St. Houston, TX 77018 Arise Baptist Church 713-659-9697 • www.arisebaptistchurch.org

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Maudie Estelle Wooley Boehm was born January 3rd, 1919 in Houston, and passed away on September 23, 2019 at the age of 100 in Pearland, TX. In 1946, she married Harry Otto Boehm, the love of her life. She is preceded in death by her husband of 57 years. She is survived by her brother Claude Wooley, daughter Elizabeth Ann Boehm Christen and her husband Barry, her son Gary L. Boehm, two grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Graveside services will be held on Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 10:00 AM at Woodlawn Cemetery (1101 Antoine Dr., Houston, TX) under the direction of Integrity Funeral Care.

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Houston Genealogical Forum Meeting Saturday, Oct. 5 10 a.m. – Noon Bayland Community Center – 6400 Bissonnet Attend the HGF meeting on October 5 for Irene Walters’ presentation, “Mind the Dust: Brick Walls Coming Down�, and hear about ways to approach your brick walls that should make them develop cracks, holes and eventually tumble to dust. Irene began her genealogy research as a teenager and has taken her family lines back to France, Ireland, and Germany.

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THE OBITUARIES. Evelyn Annette Etzler Ahlgrim, 86, born Oct. 7, died

Class of 1979 40th Reunion is this October. Please make your check payable to Waltrip Class of 79 for $60 per person before September 15 is you plan to attend. Mail your check to: Lisa Trigg Mendel, PO Box 16611, Houston, TX 77222. If your name has changed since high school, please include your high school name with your payment.

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e are entering a time of holidays and celebrations for many people in our country. Thanksgiving is Each aand everythat daywe in each and every way we must holiday as Americans have enjoyed for generations. people are looking to time spent find our joyMany in the Lord.

Peopleforward fail, leaders fail, with family, time off from work, big feast,flood, watching friends fail, companies fail,a houses butfootball, Jesus catching the biggest sales of the years, and probably never fails. Finding your joy in the Lord is the many only others things during this Thanksgiving weekend. There will be way to find true joy. At the end of Nehemiah chapter some people who will struggle during the this time of holiday eight says in verse “And there very as theyitremember lovedseventeen, ones who they have lost,was or close great gladness.� people were glad because becauseofthey companions that areThe unable to be together the found their joylogistics. in the Lord to obeywill God’s schedule or the Eitherand way,began Thanksgiving be a time when people are either thinking happy sad Word.

There is great freedom when wethoughts live theorway thoughts something. we wereabout created to live. There is true joy in fulfilling When I waspurpose. a boy, I remember my mother saying, “Don’t forget our life’s to say thank you.� She was reminding me to be thankful to my The reason life is filled with so much pain and grandmother for the wonderful Thanksgiving meal, or to my suffering is sometimes to our badfriend choices family member that gave medue a special gift, own or to my who and sometimes due to the bad choices of others. invited me to their birthday party. Most people want toSome teach hard things can’t be blamed on any one person butagree are their children to be thankful.

I think most people would caused bythankful disease,isnatural disasters, that being important, it is alsoand trueother that itevents is not always to of be our thankful depending what wealways are goingbe through. outside control.

Lifeon will not good, The God Bible is says in Ephesians 5:20 “Giving thanks alwaysa for all but always good. When we try to blame good thingsfor unto God andthings the Father in the Lord Jesus God the bad in our lifename thatofisour completely Christ.� I would encourage you, no matter how you feel during backwards. Instead we must realize that everything this holiday season to remember that you can be thankful to good that weupdo from God. It is gift God. He gave Hishave only comes Son to die a cruel death onall theacross from Him. The bad things in life should cause us to so that anyone who trusts him can be forgiven of their sins and look to Himlife. and trust in Him hope and direction, have eternal Don’t forget to sayfor thank you!

If you like to discuss thisFind further or true havejoy questions, not towould run away from Him. your in the Pastor Will can you be reached at Arise Baptist at Lord!

He Cover will give strength.

If you areChurch looking 803 truth, Curtin St., or www.arisebaptistchurch.org, or 713-659-9697. for look to the God who created you, who sent

Jesus to die for you, and is preparing an eternal home in heaven for His children. You will only find true joy in the Lord!

Page 6A • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • The Leader

What is that slime in your pet’s bowl?

No. 1 health issue for our pets, and the biofilm in their water bowls can lead to the disease.

When biofilm is introduced into your pet’s system, it can cause urinary tract, bladder and ear infections, so it’s something to consider when thinking about the health and safety of your pets.

Dear Tabby, What is the slimy stuff that accumulates in my pet’s water bowl? Is it something I should be concerned about? And how often should I wash the water bowls?

Wondering about water slime in Woodland Heights

Experts recommend washing all pet bowls in hot, soapy water daily (the dishwasher can also sterilize the bowls) and even washing the pet bowls in a bathroom or utility room sink, to minimize the chance of cross-contamination of food-prep areas. The good news is that with proper

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The Leader • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • Page 7A

Art Valet: Need a Halloween costume? Try a quilt Mitch Cohen Art Columnist

The approach of Halloween is all around Houston as haunted house tours and popup costume stores have appeared along all our major freeways. The impending costume holiday triggers a different event in me, the upcoming International Quilt Festival.

Let me explain.

My mother and stepfather were sales reps for quilt fabric manufacturers for many years and recruited me to assist at the Quilt Market. The market is a weeklong trade show that is the largest of its kind in the country. If you own a quilt or fabric store, you have to be there. All I cared about was if it fell on my favorite holiday, Halloween. It always did.

As an artist, however, my mother new to keep me coming back (I was cheap labor), she had to show me the artistic side of this massive festival.

The quilts on display each year are nothing short of stunning.

The amount of time, skill and planning to create these works

of fiber art are jaw-dropping.

Trying to convey my amazement to friends fell not on deaf ears, but on preconceived patchwork quilted visions of grandma’s guest bedroom comforter. That is not the case, trust me.

Heights artist and quilter Kim Ritter recently contacted me about her quilt being selected as part of “Quilts: A World of Beauty.� “(It) is the annual judged show of works by members of the International Quilt Association (IQA),� Bob Ruggiero, vice president of Communications Quilts, Inc., said in an email. “We had over 600 entries this year, which were juried down to about 340.

They compete for a total of nearly $100,000 in cash, nonpurchase prizes, in 22 different categories.�

The awards will be given out at the Winners Circle Celebration, sort of like the “Oscars for Quilting� at a ceremony held Oct. 29. “Winners know they’ve won ‘something,’ but not what or what place,� Ruggiero said. “The top eight winners know they are in line for a major prize because IQA pays for them to fly in and for hotel accommodations.�

Ritter’s entry for the show is

From left, Ginny Eckley, Susan Ennis, Kim Ritter, Kay Hendricks and Janet Bodin, who will be featured in “Women of the West.�

Pictured is Intergalactic Quilt Festival, a quilt made by Heights artist Kim Ritter.

titled “Intergalactic Quilt Festival� and shows the quilt festival at the George R. Brown Convention Center with science fiction overtones. It features two of the IQA founders, Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes, soaring over the scene in flying saucers.

Ritter told me she uses a variety of unique approaches in creating her quilts. She starts with a sketch, then moves to markers, transfers her designs to her computer and mixes in photography for backgrounds before finally printing with archival ink onto fabric. Then the quilting begins.

Hendricks, paying homage to the pioneering women of the past.

Ritter joined quilters Eckley and Ennis along with doll maker Bodin for the westernthemed exhibit. Ritter even got her mother, Hendricks, involved. Hendricks has been making and collecting western beadwork for 40 years.

The “Women of the West� exhibit will be in Hall E at aisle P off of Main Street. Look for the red carpet. Ritter and Eckley will be giving exhibition talks and tours at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

More about this talented group can be found online

Ritter is also featured with friends in a special exhibit titled “Women of the West� sponsored by Quilter’s Rule.

The Homestead Act of 1862 gave women who were single, widowed or divorced the chance to own 160 acres of land in the Great Plains.

These pioneer women used their art, music, writings and sense of humor to create a new life. The American Indians were greatly impacted by westward expansion. The inclusion of beadwork in this exhibit acknowledges them.

This exhibit features works

by Ritter, Janet Bodin, Susan Ennis, Ginny Eckley and Kay

REVIEW:

The Empanada Company bakes up variety

By Zarah Parker

THE LEADER

Best Book Store

• New, Used and Collectibles • 713-869-6117 1820 W. 43rd St Houston TX, 77018 like us on Facebook

Outside Cavatore’s Italian Restaurant

2120 Ella Blvd.

EVERY SATURDAY Photo by Zarah Parker The Chicken Pastry empanada is a tasty lunchtime offering on The Empanada Company’s menu.

price.

The flaky breading of the chicken pastry came apart at first bite, and crumbs sprinkled down my face. The flakiness was a testament to its freshness. There’s about an inch of pastry before the chicken, which was shredded and seasoned with tomatoes. It had a spicy zing.

The warm chicken softened the breading in the middle, creating a nice contrast between the flaky barrier and center.

Shredded beef mixed in sauce filled the empanada.

The crust of the empanada was reminiscent of pie crust, with a softer middle. It wasn’t

as flavorful as the chicken, but the green sauce gave it the lift it needed. The fragrant salsa, which came in a little plastic cup, was mild even with the distinct taste of peppers.

While I was warned that some customers find the apple with caramel to be too sweet, I didn’t experience that at all.

Instead the apples mixed with a milky caramel only held a slight sweetness that went nicely within the empanada breading, which was covered in powdered sugar.

So while I initially was expecting something closely resembling apple pie, and maybe sweeter, I still enjoyed the caramel mixed in with the

FOOD BRIEFS:

JINYA Ramen opens Heights location

apples.

I’m looking forward to dropping by the shop earlier in the day to try its breakfast varieties, some of which include eggs.

Address: 2925 W. T.C. Jester Blvd.

Hours: 6 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–6 p.m.

Saturday Pricing: $1.89-$2.89 Kid-friendly: Yes Alcohol: No Healthy options: Vegetarian options Star of the show: Chicken pastry

Local business is our business.

339 W 19TH STREET HOUSTON, TX 77008

OCT 4 OCT 6 OCT 11 OCT 13

Photo from Facebook JINYA Ramen Bar has opened its doors at the Heights Waterworks development at 449 W. 19th St.

Along with retail stores, the juice bar has local delivery and shipping available.

Cane Rosso teams up with local breweries The chef at Cane Rosso, 1835 N. Shepherd Dr., is creating a four-course dinner with beer pairings from local breweries.

Each dinner will start out

with an appetizer, followed by a salad, then the main course of pasta and pizza, then dessert to top it off. Every course will be created specifically with a beer pairing.

Karbach Brewing Co. will be featured at the Oct. 8 dinner, and Eureka Heights Brew Co. will have beer featured Nov. 12. Tickets are $50, and can be found on Eventbrite.com.

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Cavatore’s

The Empanada Company

Send your story of interest news@theleadernews.com

More than a year ago, The Leader reported that JINYA Ramen Bar would open a location in the Heights Waterworks development.

Now JINYA has opened, making it the seventh Houston-area location for the franchise.

JINYA, 449 W. 19th St., is neighbors with Hopdoddy Burger Bar and Verdine.

The ramen bar offers 13 signature bowls, five of which feature broths that have simmered for 10 hours. The noodles are aged for three days, and the bowls are customizable with 20 different toppings.

Juice bar to open at Heights Mercantile Pressed Juicery, a California-based juice bar, has announced a Houston expansion.

According to its website, one Houston location will open at the Heights Mercantile development, 714 Yale St. Ste. 1Z, in early 2020.

Pressed Juicery offers a variety of cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices, plant-based, dairy-free soft serve ice cream and snacks like gummy bears and coconut balls.

THE BOOK SCENE

Your neighborhood Bookstore

zarah@theleadernews.com

Give me food that is enfolded in bread and chances are I’ll be happy. Even better if it’s homemade, baked and still warm.

This is exactly what The Empanada Company delivered.

The aroma of freshly baked bread filled the little shop off West T.C. Jester Boulevard, along with the savory smells of the meats stuffed inside select empanadas, which are stuffed pastries popular in Latin American and Filipino cultures.

Two cases full of empanadas rested on opposite sides of the counter. On the right the savory options were displayed, while the sweet options were on the left. Behind the counter I spotted the breakfast assortments.

Since it was closer to lunchtime when I stopped in, I grabbed chicken pastry and shredded beef empanadas with a side of green salsa. For something on the sweet side, and with advice from the cashier, I picked an apple with caramel empanada.

Most of the empanadas were medium to large in size with a price range of just over $1 to just below $3, making them a quick fix for a small

at https://womenofthewestgallery.com, including their scheduled times and locations.

Ritter can be found at her studio #306 on Second Saturdays at Silos at Sawyer Yards.

The International Quilt Festival takes place at the George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas, from Oct. 31-Nov. 3. Classes and events begin Oct. 28, and preview night is Oct. 30.

All details, including tickets and class enrollment,, can be found at www.quilts.com.

Cohen is an artist and founder of First Saturday Arts Market and the Market at Sawyer Yards.

Find him at ArtValet.com.

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Page 8A • Saturday, September 28, 2019 • The Leader

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stands on.

“I think magic with humble objects is great because it’s a die, it’s someone’s driver’s license, it’s playing cards or a Rubix Cube,” Jackson said, “They’re all relatable props, and really the star of the show is the audience. I think that’s the biggest point.

I’m just the facilitator of the fun, the audience comes out, and like I say at the end of the show, it’s the decisions they make and the thoughts they have that that make every show unique and exciting.”

Jackson considers himself a craftsman. The skill he’s acquired by practicing for hours over the years gives him the ability to go out before an audience and have them see magic.

“I think people appreciate skill and I try to showcase that in the show,” Jackson said.

The next set of scheduled shows can be found at BenJacksonMagic. com and are this weekend, Sept. 2729. Next month’s tickets are available as well for Oct. 11-13 and 18-10.

Enthusiast to master Jackson was about 8-years-old when the wonder of magic captured his heart.

He was in Kansas with family during the thanksgiving holiday when a family friend, who was a magic enthusiast, performed a card trick with successful execution.

“My mind was blow. I say sometimes that it took my brain of out my skull, put it in a blender, and hit

frappe. That’s how it felt, it was fantastic.,” Jackson said.

After witnessing the trick, the family friend didn’t expose how it was done. It was that encounter with the wonder of it that pushed Jackson to learn how to do magic. Jackson said if the secret of the trick was revealed to him then, he probably would’ve never been spurred to continue down the path of magic.

“What was amazing to see also was that my parents were fooled,” Jackson said. “No one in the room had any idea how it was done.”

What fascinated Jackson the most about the card trick was that what seemed like a miracle was produced by such a simple prop.

For his 13th birthday his parents arranged for him to meet with the entertainment director for The Magic Island, a magic themed dinner theater that is no longer in business.

Jackson had to opportunity to show him some magic he’d been working on.

“He said, ‘uh, Ben that’s not any good.’ He was very frank and honest with me,” Jackson said.

The director then told Jackson that if he wanted to take magic seriously and master the craft that he should read Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic and The Royal Road to Card Magic.

“That was the first journey I had into really learning on my own,” Jackson said.

Throughout high school he continued to practice magic and right

Thorton

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and his show is called Chamber Music. People are dressed up very fancy like they’re going to the opera.”

As a magician that doesn’t take himself too seriously, even when doing some complicated magic, Jackson adds comedy to the sophisticated magic show. He also implements music into the mix by playing the piano.

“But I love the idea of giving magic this elevated look, a sophisticated look and artistic atmosphere,” Jackson said.

The 90-minute one-man Magic, Music, & Mayhem show was first created and performed at the boutique hotel La Colombe d’Or Hotel in Montrose. His wife, then girlfriend, also began working full-time for him.

Due to it undergoing major renovations, the show had to be moved to a new venue. For a short time, Jackson did the show at the Museum of Natural Science before finding its new home at the Four Seasons.

Magic shows that are more about the frills that have props like big boxes and smoke machines, Jackson said he doesn’t actually believe people like them.

“My dad has a saying, ‘When magic goes big, it goes bad,’ and I agree.”

Jackson said.

He also mentioned how people tell him that their favorite magic experience are always the close up kind.

And while Jackson’s show is considered more of a parlor show, they optimize the audience visibility by having an elevated platform Jackson

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Significant Structural Flooding

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possibility of heavy rain existed. Some parents also said HISD could have communicated better and more consistently across its campuses throughout the day, particularly as it pertained to protocols for having students bussed home or picked up from school.

Some also suggested that HISD should build more weather days into its schedule to allow for more flexibility when potentially dangerous storms are present.

“I think we as a city should know better by now,” said a Hogg Middle School parent. “Storms are unpredictable, so let’s err on the side of caution.”

HISD, which cancelled classes the day after the flood, said in a statement the night of Sept. 19 that the weather took an unforeseen turn and it “followed the emergency management officials’ advice to shelter-in-place and maintain normal dismissal times due to extreme conditions.”

Schiffer, although she did not fear for the safety of her two children who attend Durham, said the flooded walkways reinforced the fact the aging campus has “drainage issues” that need to be addressed. She said the walkways usually take on water during heavy rains.

Still, she credited the employees of the school for making the most of an unenviable situation and ensuring that all of Durham’s students were safe during the storm. Schiffer said the effort started with Flores, the new principal.

“She had a very good attitude. All the staff members were smiling and happy,” Schiffer said. “I think they felt like they had done a good job and performed well under the pressure.”

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Contributed photo Students work on an assignment in a classroom at Durham Elementary.

In all, 225 beers were paid for by the donor. Camp said that because educators from other school districts reached out, the brewery also ponied up for $2 off each beer for them, too.

“We were very happy to do that,” Camp said. “It was quite a nice feeling to have that sense of community for the day.”

The sense that Houstonians are all in it together was immediately apparent when the rain started pouring down the morning of Sept. 19. Garden Oaks resident Mike Gross helped rescue 94-year-old Frances Bohlae from a flooded home on Judiway Street, Eric Brown helped rescue a man trapped in a culvert along T.C. Jester Boulevard and a group of Mangum Manor residents spent the following morning picking up storm debris near Scarborough High School.

For Liberty Hoepfl Garage co-owner Kathryn van der Pol, who was stranded at Slowpokes on Alba Road at noon Sept. 19, the need to help was immediate – especially after she heard from friend Naro Mak at Hartz Krispy Chicken Buffet on Pinemont Drive that there was a 200-person catering order at the restaurant that was not going to be delivered.

“I called the shop and my husband said he would come get me in the bus,” van der Pol wrote in a letter to The Leader. “About 15 minutes later (it) arrived to the amazement of all the other customers.”

After an arduous journey to get to Hartz, the van der Pols delivered free meals to their employees and to others stranded on North Shepherd Drive at Wabash Feed & Garden, Frost Bank and the 911 Emergency Center.

Mak and Hartz employee Michael Deatherage also made their way through the water to the businesses in their area and delivered meals to those stranded in the surrounding parking lot.

“It was raining pretty hard,” Deatherage said. “(Recipients) were all just, ‘Thank you’ and ‘Have a blessed day.’”

The day was particularly

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Online commentators criticized Durham, its parents and Houston ISD – which kept its campuses open Sept. 19 – but parents such as Schiffer said the video was misleading and the reaction overblown. The students were in one of the school’s covered, outdoor walkways, where rain spilled over from the courtyard at the center of campus, and none of the Durham classrooms took on water.

“I think it was lot of people who didn’t understand our campus and didn’t understand what they were seeing,” said Durham parent Carrie Jaeger, a vice president of the school’s parent-teacher association (PTA).

Jaeger and Schiffer, the PTA president, both said they had not heard of any student illnesses or injuries as a result of them being on campus while the Houston area was inundated with rain.

They also praised first-year Durham principal Carrie Flores and the school’s teachers and staff members for helping to keep students calm and comfortable.

Schiffer said art teacher Stephanie Murillo was wading through water and holding students’ hands to help them cross the makeshift bridges, while kindergarten teacher Robin Landa made frequent posts on Livingtree, an online tool to communicate with parents, to show that students were safe and even enjoying themselves. Some watched movies in their classrooms.

Jaeger said her daughter described the day as a “great adventure,” with some teachers wheeling students to restrooms on flatbed dollies to keep them dry.

“We as parents just all day were so appreciative of what the teachers did,” Jaeger said. “I’m sure they were worried about their own home and own children and own families, but they were there for our kids.”

Jaeger and Schiffer said they did not fault HISD for deciding to keep schools open Sept. 19, because weather forecasts did not indicate so much rain was coming and most of the city was caught off guard. Parents willfully sent their children to school, they said, and many subsequently went to work.

But some parents of HISD students said the district – the largest in the state with more than 200,000 students – should have exercised more caution and called off classes because Imelda was hovering over Houston and the

years also could have exacerbated flooding, according to Super Neighborhood 12 president Mark Klein.

“Water that used to spread out and pond over lots with less impervious cover now speeds toward the streets,” Klein said. “Also, the debris clogging the intakes along Alba was severe, which had to stifle the flow of water into the storm drains. Everything from tons of pine needles, branches and even lumber from construction sites was impeding flow at the grates.”

Sean Bednarz, co-owner of the Great Heights brewery, is hesitant to point to one cause over another. He said a combination of factors likely contributed to the increased flooding on Wakefield.

Preventing similar events in the future could require a multi-faceted solution that’s implemented expeditiously, with Houston having endured multiple heavy rain events during the last few years.

Jones said construction of Phase 2 of the Garden Oaks and Shepherd Park project, which will install drainage under Chamboard, Golf, Brian Haven Drive, Park Plaza Drive and Thornton Road, is schedHelp, from P. 1A

case, I will be advocating with the department to see what solutions are available to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Some flood victims in the vicinity, along with two Shepherd Park Plaza residents who nearly flooded, said the amount of rainfall in a short period of time was the most significant contributor to unusually high water levels. Multiple residents and business owners also said that when the rain stopped, the water appeared to recede more quickly than during previous flooding events in the area, indicating the drainage project had a beneficial impact.

Bohlae, who has a storm drain near the front of her property, challenged that notion and said she didn’t notice any differences in how quickly the water receded. She also wondered whether the nearby drainage project had any impact to the positive or negative. She said she suspects an under-construction preschool next to her property, which has added dirt fill to increase its elevation, caused more water than usual to flow into her front yard.

Increased development in the neighborhood in recent

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ally large amount of rain in an especially short time – roughly 10 inches over the span of two days.

A spokesperson for Houston Public Works, which engineered the project, and Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Cohen, whose Houston City Council District C funded the capital improvement project, both said it’s too early to know for sure. There are two more phases to come, with additional storm drainage systems to be installed to the west and east. Public Works spokesperson Erin Jones said the three phases “will interconnect to reduce the risk of flooding for the entire area.”

Cohen said in an emailed statement that she was “deeply concerned” about reports of flooding in the 900 block of Wakefield. She also said it’s important for flooded homeowners and business owners to relay their experiences to the city so thorough information can be compiled and assessed.

“With that data we can then work with Public Works to see whether there is something wrong with the localized drainage system, or if this was simply a case of the storm being particularly heavy over that spot,” Cohen said. “In either

Ella Blvd

cant rain event in Houston’s history, took on water during Imelda. So did businesses such as Great Heights Brewing Company and upcoming coffee roaster Ship Channel Trading Co., which are on Wakefield between Alba and Golf Drive.

One of the flood victims said the recent drainage project seems to have caused storm water to collect near the intersection of Alba and Wakefield, a low point that had water rushing in from all directions on Sept. 19.

“We just became a retention pond,” said the Wakefield occupant, who asked to remain anonymous.

The new drainage system starts near the intersection of Brinkman Street and Janisch Road in Shepherd Park Plaza, turns west on Chamboard Lane and then continues south on Alba until just past Judiway, with drains and culverts also positioned on both sides of Alba and Brinkman.

Whether the project functioned properly during Imelda, or created more problems than it solved, is unclear. There could have been other culprits such as continued development in the area or an unusuDurham, from P. 1A

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Illustrates City of Houston’s Garden Oaks and Shepherd Park (Central) Drainage and Paving Project, completed in 2018.

Source: City of Houston.

W 34th St

uled to begin next summer. She said 60 percent of the funding is in place for Phase 3, which will add drainage underneath Sue Barnett Drive, Wakefield and West 43rd Street, and no construction date has been set.

As part of the $2.5 billion flood bond approved by Harris County voters in 2018, the Harris County Flood Control District has more than 40

storm repair projects slated for the area along White Oak Bayou. But none of those projects has reached the construction phase.

“It’s very disappointing, because I pay my (city) fee for drainage and I voted for the bonds,” Bohlae said. “I’ve done everything in my power, and nothing seems to be getting any better.”

Contributed photo A lemonade stand on behalf of MOVE Yoga raised more than $600.

stressful for HISD teachers, including those at Durham Elementary. Although all the school’s classrooms were not flooded, the exterior walkways of the campus took on water - so teachers did what teachers do. They got their feet wet so their students could stay dry.

In recognition of that fact, Durham’s parents did a Facebook fundraising campaign to replace the teacher’s ruined shoes. According to parent Laura Tracy, it raised more than $4,000 in four hours.

“We had parents, community members and teachers from other schools give,” Tracy said. “People were so supportive and thanked us for taking care of our teachers.”

Tracy said DSW gift cards will be distributed to teachers and the excess funds will be used to purchase Academy gift cards for students identified by the school who lost their only pair of school shoes during their walk home on the day it flooded.

Two business owners who continue to be held up by the community are MOVE Yoga’s Carissa Barcus and Mynette Murtagh Randall. Their studio, which recently opened on Judiway Street, took on more than six inches of water.

Randall said she was teaching a class when the rain started.

“Initially I was putting the blankets and bolsters to keep the water out,” Randall said.

That effort soon proved futile,

around the time he was 17, got his first gig doing magic in front of an audience. Essentially, he would perform card magic for people waiting for a table or people waiting for food at an Italian restaurant in Houston.

Before then he had never really had an outlet to perform.

“That was a place for me to get that ‘flight time’ as performers call it,” Jackson said. “You need the time in front of a crowd to be bad.”

The audience is what helps the magician know if a misdirection works, if a trick is taking too long and teaches the magician rejection.

He went on to college at Texas A&M University and majored in biomedical science with minors in chemistry and business.

“Which is the natural prerequisite for magic, obviously” Jackson said.

While Jackson continued doing magic throughout college and even started a magic club, it never crossed his mind to make it a career. Instead, he was undecided in which field of medicine he was going to pursue.

His plan after graduation was to take a pharmaceutical sales position, but the opportunity he thought he had, never came to fruition. Thus, leaving him jobless and not entirely sure what his next move was going to be.

His mother, who had always encouraged Jackson’s passion for magic, slipped him a flyer for an exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science called The Science of Wonder.

The exhibit consisted of things

and Randall and her four students were stranded until Jennifer Clements, who owns Montrose Yoga Coop, and husband Glenn came to rescue them in a high-water vehicle.

As MOVE Yoga did not have flood insurance, Barcus and Randall are responsible for the roughly $12,000 price tag. The unanticipated blessing is that their yoga family has stepped up to assist them.

Client Monica Danna-Garcia started an online fundraising campaign that had raised more than $8,000 as of Tuesday. MOVE Yoga is still having classes, hosted by their friends, including Brush & Bobby Salon, HTX FightCamp and Bike Barn. Regular clients can come as can anyone who wants to make a donation toward the studio’s repairs.

A lemonade stand organized and staffed by the studio’s clients, both young and old, raised $636.

One man paid $110 for two glasses of lemonade.

“Miss Mynette and Miss Carissa were just devastated so we wanted to help out obviously,” said Oak Forest Elementary student Findley Eaton. “Because that’s just what you do for friends and family.”

Randall said she’s been crying a lot, but now they are happy tears.

“It could have been worse and we’ve had so much help,” Randall said. “It has shown us so much about the community we are building here and it is a lesson in surrender.”

magicians used in the past. Jackson called it a magic garage sale. There were also magic classes and live demonstrations. Jackson was able to land a job as one of magicians doing live demonstrations.

From then the path of magic took Jackson to Las Vegas where he won 1st place at the World Magic Seminar’s International Close-up Magic Competition in 2010. Two years later he won 1st place at the United States National Close-up Magic Competition at the Golden Nugget Casino.

He was also on NBC’s Today Show as an invited guest of David Copperfield and a hand double for Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the movie Sin City.

“My job was to show (GordonLevitt) some basic card technique; how to hold the cards properly, how to look like a card hustler,” Jackson said, “For the scenes where he did more flourishy moves…I would wear a duplicate costume and lean my body as far out of the frame as I could and do the moves.”

Another project Jackson got to be part of was as a magician in disguise on Candid Camera.

“All the while, I make the majority of my living performing at corporate events and private parties,” Jackson said.

He mentioned that doing those events is what really makes being a magician a viable way of making a living. What serves as the best marketing showcase to land those private and corporate events is through the magic show.