TIME TO VOTE! See more than 100 pets vying for the 5 Leader Loveables • Page 1-3B
Ad # 37449
PREMIER PROPERTIES
Your Neighborhood Full Service Real Estate Office
713-686-5454 www.preproperties.com
SATURDAY | January 19, 2013 | Vol. 59 | No. 12 | www.theleadernews.com | @heightsleader
THE BRIEF. sponsored by
Please Stop by
���� ����������� ���������������
s ’ e n e l r a D
������������������
10570 NW Frwy • 713-680-2350
In the swim, in the neighborhood
The Greater Heights is set to get a new swim school and club, just in time for summer, The Leader has learned. Tiffany and Lothar Hofbauer will start construction in a few days on the Pengu Swim School at the corner of Golf and Wakefield in the Oak Forest area. Pengu is planned as an 8,000 square foot indoor aquatic facility with a play area in the back, suitable for birthday parties. The Hofbauers, who live in the Garden Oaks area, say they’re meeting a need they’ve experienced when they had to travel across town for swim lessons.
‘Quiet Zone’ at least 3 years away by Charlotte Aguilar charlotte@theleadernews.com
Editor’sTake
No one can do anything about the rumbling and shaking from trains that traverse our ordinarily peaceful neighborhoods day and night. They’re a critical part of Houston’s commerce. But there is a mechanism, seemingly simple, that should help silence those incessant horns – the ones engineers are required to sound as warnings at crossings – that frequently turn into long, jarring, disruptive blares. It’s called a “quiet zone,” where local residents and businesses can work with their leaders to apply to the federal government to create ways to make crossings safe without needing the horns as warning. The Leader has received questions about why there can’t be such a zone and what happened to
a lengthy campaign along 34th Street tracks to create an oasis free of warning blasts. We have a vested interested in silencing the horns, too. Our offices on East T.C. Jester are just yards from a railroad crossing, and our phone conversations and dealings in the office are frequently compromised by an engineer laying on the horn. But the news is not good. After a three-year campaign to create a 34th Street Corridor Quiet Zone, the city formally ruled against it last year. There were eight quiet zones funded in what a city official told The Leader will be the last round of funding for quiet
There was a threeyear campaign to create a 34th Street Corridor Quiet Zone that officially came to an end last year – without the city’s approval. The only option now is for citizens and businesses to let representatives kinow that they still want some quiet. (Photo by Jonathan McElvy)
see Quiet • Page 10A
NW Mall resilient through the storm
Capital ’trip
– Betsy Denson
THE EVENT. Ad # 37570 sponsored by
Cheddar Bacon Cheeseburger, Fries & Drink
only
7
$ 97
M-F 11am-9pm Sat 11am-5pm
3401 W. T.C. Jester 713-957-1100
WHAT: Oaks Dads Club Barbecue Cook Off featuring live entertainment, kids’ activities, vendors – and the main event – teams vying for best beans, brisket, chicken, chili, ribs and the enigmatic “chef’s choice” title. It’s all to raise money for the spring baseball/softball season. WHEN: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Jan. 25-26 WHERE: Oaks Dads Club, 3410 E. T.C. Jester HOW MUCH: Admission is $3 for adults, free for youngsters 15 and under. Plates are $8, including two meats and side dishes. LEARN MORE: www.odcsports.com EDITOR’S TAKE: That same competitive spirit displayed on the playing field carries over to the barbecue and makes this one of the area’s legendary grubfests.
THE INDEX.
Public Safety Hipstrict Topics Obituaries Coupons Puzzles Sports Classifieds
2A 3A 4A 7A 6A 5A 9B 6B
Jesus Leija, a senior member of the Waltrip Ram Band, practices with the rest of the band on Tuesday. It marked the final practice before the students head to Washington, D.C., to perform during the inauguration. (Photo by Jake Dukate)
Ram Band hits the right notes, headed to D.C. by Charlotte Aguilar charlotte@theleadernews.com The Waltrip Ram Band, ranked as the best 4A band in the region, can now add fundraising – and possibly playing for the president – to their list of accomplishments. Defying economic circumstances and a tight deadline, the band was able to meet Monday’s cutoff to make the trip by amassing nearly $150,000 in contributions and accepted a once-in-a-lifetime invitation to perform in Washington, D.C. for presidential inauguration activities. More than 150 band members, chaperones and security were set to leave the school in chartered motor coaches at 6 a.m. Thursday and to arrive Saturday. When members held a final fundraising concert less than a week before the deadline, the band was still about $40,000 shy of its $147,000 goal to transport, house and feed the entourage, but between concert donations and a last-minute publicity blitz – plus contributions from U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and her supporters – the musicians reached what had seemed like an impossible goal. Houston ISD is contributing $50,000 and the school has budgeted another $20,000. Since receiving the first invitation last fall,
by Ivee Sauls ivee@theleadernews.com The challenges facing the Northwest Mall might seem insurmountable to some, but not to Viki Guidry, who’s marking her 25th year as general manager and who faces good and bad times with equanimity. The 45-year-old mall is at the center of a perfect storm of prolonged construction along both the 290 and 610 freeways –that location once being its greatChamber will host est asset. And it’s its Crawfish Festival uncomfortably at NW Mall close to the glitzy shopping meccas • Page 10A of The Galleria, Uptown Park, Memorial City and City Centre and not far from upscale stores in Highland Village, Upper Kirby and River Oaks. Still, Northwest Mall endures. With 75 stores, the mall depends on the business of regulars, said Guidry. “We’ve got our faithful shoppers that come here and want to see the mall do well.” She said the regulars help by word of mouth to let others know the mall is still open. “We’re not under construction. We are not tearing down the mall,” she said. see Mall • Page 10A
Numerous people around the community helped the Waltrip High School Ram Band raise enough money to make their inaugural trip. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee put them over the top when she donated a check on Tuesday. (Photo by Jake Dukate) band members came up with $300 each for their contribution, and the group has been performing in full and in smaller ensembles at events and businesses throughout the community to help raise awareness and money. Back when the invitation first arrived,
only The Leader was publicizing the fundraising. But in recent days, captivated with the story of these inner city teens who come from a school where 80 percent of students are at or below poverty level, other news
see Band • Page 9A
Viki Guidry, who has been general manager at the Northwest Mall for 25 years, continues to believe in the loyal businesses at the mall, despite construction and nearby competitors. (Photo by Ivee Sauls)