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Clements swimmers earn state medals – Page 7
WEDNESDAY • FEBRUARY 23, 2022
Patricia David for Judge, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 in Fort Bend
SMSD hires law firm to investigate finances By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Committed to ensuring resilience, fairness, & equity. Pol. Ad Paid For by Patricia David Campaign, FB JP3.
Issues persist with mail-in ballots for primaries By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Through the first few days of early voting for the March 1 primaries, issues surrounding mail-in ballots and new state election laws continued in Fort Bend County, according to a local election administrator. As of Feb. 8, more than 5,003 residents had applied for mail-in ballots, and the county had rejected 864 of them, said John Oldham, the county’s elections administrator. Of those 864 rejections, only 275 people had fixed the issue and successfully submitted a mail-in ballot, Oldham said. The numbers are a slight improvement since January, when the county rejected 21 percent of applicants, Oldham said. Through the first eight days in February, the county rejected about 13 percent. “Implementation of Senate Bill 1 has added costs and inconvenience to the ballot by mail process,” Oldham said. “Unfortunately, our software was not set up to report rejections, so we have to manually count.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law in September – a voting bill that includes many new provisions for voting, including a requirement that absentee voters submit the last four digits of their social security numbers or their Texas driver’s license or state-issued identification numbers on both their mail-in ballot applications and their mail-in ballots, according to a Texas Tribune article. If the numbers provided on either the application or the ballot do not match what is on a voter’s existing registration, then that ballot or application for a ballot must be rejected and corrected before the deadline in order to count. The new laws have drawn controversy since the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature approved Senate Bill 1. Proponents argue it will make voting safer, but voting rights advocates argue it’s an attempt to reduce turnout. Not all ballot rejections are because of new provisions in Senate Bill 1, Oldham said. Some were rejected because the voter didn’t select a party or didn’t sign the application, he said.
SEE BALLOTS PAGE 7
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 46 • No. 27
Stafford MSD’s board of trustees emerged from closed session last week and agreed to hire an outside law firm to investigate Superintendent Robert Bostic’s contract as well as a Level 3 grievance filed by the dis-
trict’s chief financial officer. None of the school district officials or board members contacted by the Star was willing to say anything about the move, including what the outside law firm is looking for or what the CFO’s complaint alleges.t Representatives for the school district did not respond to multiple requests
for comment about the investigation, or even to confirm who the current CFO for the district is, as of Monday afternoon. Calls, texts and emails to board members, including vice president Greg Holsapple and trustee Dawn Reichling, also went unreturned as of Monday afternoon. While those connected di-
ter, calls to members of the community were greeted with shock and surprise. Stafford MSD is the only public school district in Texas that operates under the jurisdiction of a city or county government. “I have concerns, but I rectly to the school district remained mum on the mat-
SEE SMSD PAGE 7
History preserved By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Attendees study the history of the Sugar Land 95 during last week's ceremony to unveil the public exhibit at Fort Bend ISD's James Reese Career and Technical Center, which is where the remains were originally found. (Contributed photo)
Fort Bend community celebrates new exhibit to Sugar Land 95 By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A veritable who’s who of Fort Bend County leadership and regional faces filled the room last week at the James Reese Career and Technical Center for the unveiling of Fort Bend ISD’s exhibit meant to honor the Sugar Land 95. A host of student singers and several speakers, including FBISD’s coordinator of community and civic engagement, helped usher in the new display by reminding
attendees about the effort it took. “The four-year anniversary of the discovery of the Sugar Land 95 is this Saturday,” said Chassidy Olainu-Alade, the district’s community and civic engagement coordinator. “In one sense, four years have gone by fast. But this is a long-awaited day, and many have joined us on this journey.” FBISD’s exhibit honoring the Sugar Land 95 is the result of more than a year of work that began after construction crews in February 2018 first uncovered the re-
See related column on .................. PAGE 3 mains of at least 95 people at the site of the James Reese Career and Technical Center. The district had obtained the land from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice years earlier. The 95 people were eventually laid to rest in November 2019, where their remains were first found, according to the district.
Experts say the people buried there were African American and part of the state’s convict leasing system. The 13th Amendment ended chattel slavery as it was known before the Civil War, but permitted it as punishment for a crime. Experts estimate more than 3,500 prisoners died between the beginning of the Texas convict leasing system in the 1860s and the end in 1912, according to a Prison Legal News article. The discovery was momentous, not just in Fort Bend County, but across
the nation because it’s the first confirmed prison cemetery for the convict leasing system, according to one researcher who spoke last week. “The only evidence of their lives were these unmarked graves,” she said. Bill Martin, an archaeologist with the Texas Historical Commission, attended last week’s event to announce that the site had been selected to receive a free historical marker informing
SEE SL 95 PAGE 7
Fans can place bid on Constellation Field seats By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The city of Sugar Land is accepting bids until Thursday on seats from Constellation Field, which is being renovated as part of the franchise’s rebranding. (Photo from Facebook)
With the Sugar Land Skeeters name now in the past, residents and fans have a limited time in which to bid for a piece of Sugar Land and Constellation Field history. For Sugar Land resident Leonard Chan, who plans to bid on several seats, it’s
a chance to forever have a keepsake of a place that represents who he is. He’s hoping to be able to purchase at least two seats for his backyard to join the piece of Astrodome turf that he already owns as historical keepsakes. “I have always considered Sugar Land my home, and been a baseball fan since Jeff Bagwell’s rookie season,” said Chan, whose
family initially moved to Sugar Land in 1988. “I am not some bandwagon Sugar Land fan – this is who I am.” Up until this Thursday at 2 p.m., the city of Sugar Land is auctioning off Constellation Field stadium seats as renovations begin on the field, which is being redone as the franchise
SEE SEATS PAGE 7
JERRY FLOWERS
Real Estate Agent, MBA, CNE, ABE Army Veteran (RET) • 832-702-5241 Jerry@dreamhomesbyjerry.com
4500 Highway 6, Sugar Land, TX 77478