VOL 5 No. 17
Phone: 281-980-6745
www.fbindependent.com .fbindependent.com ww
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
Congratulations to the City of Sugar Land and Opening Day Partners on the completion of Constellation Field, home of Sugar Land Skeeters.
Sugar Land ready to turn over stadium keys to ODP, Skeeters Construction at Constellation Field is complete. Tomorrow is the opening day. Sugar Land is preparing to turn over the stadium keys to Opening Day Partners and the Sugar Land Skeeters. The $37 million minor league baseball stadium – completed on time and on budget – was funded with a portion of sales tax revenues that may only be used for economic development purposes. No general fund tax dollars will be spent on the stadium. The stadium has the potential of attracting more than 300,000 visitors per year. This will benefit hotels, restaurants and other retail establishments, keeping local entertainment expenditures (sales tax and Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues) within Sugar Land and Fort Bend County. A cost-benefit analysis performed by Conventions, Sports & Leisure International conservatively estimates the project
will generate annual economic activity of approximately $7.7 million or a net return of $169 million over 30 years on the City’s investment. “We are excited at the tremendous level of enthusiasm and interest that professional minor league baseball continues to receive in Sugar Land,” said Mayor James Thompson. “As I often say, a city's work is never finished. It must keep redefining itself. This is our time. “We've done something that will impact future generations and make Sugar Land an even better destination for fun and entertainment.” In 2010, Sugar Land City Council approved lease and development agreements with Opening Day Partners, LLC to bring professional minor league baseball to Sugar Land. ODP -- an experienced community-focused operator that emphasizes year-round community events and activities at
their stadiums -- will own and operate the Sugar Land Skeeters. The 25-year stadium lease with ODP includes the following terms: ●ODP will operate the stadium and offsite parking for all events. ●Permitted stadium uses will include baseball games, conventions, concerts, movies, meetings, festivals and fundraising galas. ●ODP will retain all revenues from stadium activities. ●The City will receive annual rent payments of $80,000 plus an additional participation rent. ●ODP will be responsible for stadium repairs and maintenance. Constellation Field is the result of a public-private partnership that was more than 10 years in the making. The initial vision for minor league baseball was developed by citizens serving on the City’s Visioning Task Force. The group
established a goal to enhance entertainment and familyoriented opportunities within Sugar Land. “This is definitely an historic time for our City,” said Thompson. “We’ve said repeatedly that the Sugar Land Skeeters will be a first-class operation. “When you consider the affordable ticket prices of minor league baseball, the quality product we have put on the field and the wholesome family atmosphere, it’s safe to say there’s no better deal in town.”
“Morality play” in local politics
fer the ignominy and swallow the insults to get the writer’s support or disassociate himself or herself from the publisher’s questionable comments? Should a Republican receive praise from this publisher, the individual’s Republican credentials could become suspect. Another notorious example from this publisher in the current election campaign is in the sheriff’s race. Deputy Chief Craig Brady who is seeking the Republican nomination for sheriff in Fort Bend county is perhaps one of the most abused “public figures.” Almost on a weekly basis, readers are reminded graphically that Brady got his sub-
ordinate pregnant, divorced his wife of over 30 years and married the lady he impregnated. The sequence of events presented by the publisher reads like an eye witness account of how Brady impregnated his “subordinate.” But, Brady says, he separated from his first wife in 1994 and subsequently dated his current wife, who was employed in the sheriff’s department. He did not divorce his first wife to marry the second one, he says. He married his current wife in 1996. Yes, if Brady’s action was illegal, he should have faced the consequences. One could see this as a morality issue, but divorce has been all around that few could condemn it in
today’s society. Could Brady be fired for the crime of impregnating his subordinate as Bev’s Burner suggests? Since when have proponents of free birth control pills and condoms, come to construe consensual sex as adultery or crime? If Brady divorcing his wife of 30 years disqualifies him to run for sheriff, what about the friends of the publisher in public life who have also divorced? More pertinently, one of Brady’s opponents in the race also divorced his first wife, who is said to have dated the spouse of his second wife.
CANDY LAND GALA Child Advocates of Fort Bend will be raffling off a beautiful gold heirloom bracelet valued at $7,350 at its Candy Land Gala. Only 100 raffle tickets will be sold. Take advantage of the one in 100 odds of winning by purchasing your ticket today. The Gala, which benefits Child Advocates of Fort Bend’s programs for children will take place May 5 at the Sugar Land Marriott Town Square. Raffle tickets are available online at http://www. cafb.org/Events/Gala-for-theChildren/Raffle/ until noon on May 1st or at the Gala on May 5. The winning ticket will be drawn at the Gala but you need not be present to win. For more information or to purchase
tickets, visit www.cafb.org or call 281-344-5108. Checking out some of the Gala goodies are (L to R): Board Member Jim Lockwood of Baker Hughes, Child Advocates of Fort Bend Executive Director Ruthanne Mefford, honorary chair Dee Koch, Marriott Catering Sales Manager Michelle Scrimger and the evening’s emcee Michele Fisher of The New 93Q.
ODP Chairman Peter Kirk (left) and Sugar Land Mayor Jimmy Thompson inspect final stadium details as Sugar Land prepares to turn over the Stadium keys to the Sugar Land Skeeters and ODP.
10701 Corporate Drive, #282, Stafford, TX 77477 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, TX 77487 www.fbindependent.com 281-980-6745
Seshadri Kumar Publisher & Editor
Fort Bend Independent, (USPS 025-572) is published every Wednesday (for a subscription rate of $20 per year) by Fort Bend Independent, LLC., 10701 Corporate Dr., #282, Stafford, Texas 77477. Periodicals Postage Paid at Stafford, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Fort Bend Independent, P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, Tx 77487.
“If Bev’s Burner endorses any candidate then I will have to assume that the candidate is nothing more than a surrogate who shares the same ideology that is spewed towards those Bev’s Burner tries to destroy. For any candidate to allow such hatred to be published towards another competing candidate and to not stand up and say it should not be tolerated, will never get my vote,” writes David Goldberg of Sugar Land, in a letter to this newspaper. Bev’s Burner does not appear in this paper. It is the personal column of the publisher at another newspaper. Then, why did Goldberg write to this paper? He felt that the letter would not be published there. It is not ethical for one newspaper to publish a letter criticizing another newspaper, but Goldberg makes a case for a departure from normal practice. The publisher’s rant against Republicans in general, and conservatives in particular, is a staple item and is nauseatingly regular. Similarly, the diatribe against certain individuals is also well known to readers. Goldberg took exception to Bev’s Burner published on April 11, 2012. “Having been a journalist for 30+ years, it is disturbing to me that a newspaper under the guise of opinion is allowed to print such utter disregard for facts. But
Inside Track By Seshadri Kumar to no one’s surprise the publisher seemingly finds it her duty to tear down anyone who does not share her views and in most instances plays loose with her information. Since Bev’s Burner is agenda driven, she not only damages the reputation of good people, but in the process she tears at the very fabric of what makes this country great, civil discourse. “Somehow the Republican Party is all bad, Tea party members made a pack with the Devil, Tea Party members are a bunch of old people who have gotten theirs and evangelicals are a bunch of ugly old people who can’t get theirs. “Furthermore, the brunt of the criticism was directed towards the former Fort Bend County Republican (Chairman) Rick Miller and now candidate for State House District 26. Mr. Miller does not deserve the disrespect so gleefully printed by Bev’s Burner. As a former officer in the military, an upstanding church member and a forward thinking fiscally principled
conservative, he has always served with humility, integrity and honesty. Attributes which are totally foreign to Bev’s Burner personality. And that is my opinion!” (Bev’s Burner supports Jacquie Chaumette in this race.) Goldberg raises a valid point and there are plenty of examples where the publisher’s adversaries are trashed with impunity because politicians, as public figures, cannot win a defamation case against a journalist unless they show there was malice in the writing. In an earlier column, the publisher wrote: “And as a woman, I can hardly continue to belong to a party which wants to defund Planned Parenthood (even though State representative Dr. John Zerwas admitted to me that PP delivers health care for the best bang for the buck), force me to have unnecessary medical rape in the form of a vaginal sonogram (and this from a party that claims to believe that the less government the best–what hypocrites!), talk about making birth control illegal, talk about letting your employer ask you about your sex life, punish old people by doing away with Medicare as we know it, and punish the middle class by raising their taxes and lowering the rate of the rich.” If this newspaper endorses or supports a Republican, would that person silently suf-
Allergies bothering you? Call us for onsite allergy testing ! Serving the community ... all ages, newborn through geriatrics. Subodh K. Bhuchar, M.D Sugar Land Med Ped Clinic 3533 Town Center Blvd South # 100 Sugar Land, TX 77479
Family Practice and Pediatrics 281-491-2555 fax: 281-491-2554 www.sugarlandmedped.com
The City of Sugar Land will host an Open House on Saturday, May 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Constellation Field, One Stadium Drive – new home of the Sugar Land Skeeters’ professional minor league baseball team. The ‘House sWarming’ will feature an opportunity for fans to see the ballpark up close and learn more about it .
Does it really matter?