Lakeview Elementary School celebrates a century! See the story on page 2
How much longer will commuters be confined to cone zones on Interstate 69 and U.S. Highway 90A? See the story on page 3 to find out. (Photo by Joe Southern)
WEDNESDAY • MARCH 28, 2018
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 40 • No. 33
Students lead community in anti-gun rally Say they don’t feel safe in school anymore By Theresa D. McClellan FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
One by one the students approached the microphone in front of the Smart Financial Centre relaying their fears of being “the next one” to succumb to gun violence in the schools. Their emotions were high and their passion, palpable. As each one came forward sharing their frustrations and fears, hearing the audience cheers and seeing the nods of encouragement from the adults seated before them, they felt empowered. “Up until now, having our voice is one of the things we’ve been deprived of and we are the ones directly affected,” 18-year-old Yash Parmar said after the rally. Parmar is one of the teens
who helped organize Sugar Land’s non-partisan March for our Lives Rally Saturday afternoon. More than 500 students, families, clergy and teachers, many carrying signs, marched from Sugar Land’s Memorial Park, 15300 University Blvd., to a lawn area at the Smart Financial Centre to give speeches and encourage one another to pursue change. “Any issue that comes up, until now, we haven’t had a platform to say what we think and it makes me feel empowered. This was a national event and a few concerned parents started it and I came in and helped with getting speakers and approvals for posters in school,” said the Elkins High School teen. Parents from the Riverstone community in Sugar
Land, who call themselves “Riverstonians Together” also organized the rally. “I want the message to be that student safety and people, in general, be above guns. Guns are a right every U.S. citizen is entitled to, but we have to make sure safety is a number one priority,” Parmar said. “This is a step in the right direction,” Parmar said. “We want to keep the conversation going, keep the conversation alive.” Spurred by the national march on Washington, rallies were held across the nation following Florida’s Valentine’s Day massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and staff were murdered and 17 others injured by a student using an AR-15 style assault weapon.
Fort Bend ISD students hold up signs at an anti-gun rally Saturday in Sugar Land. They say they don’t feel safe in school after a recent shooting in Florida. (Photo by Theresa D. McClellan)
Since the Columbine High School murders in Colorado in 1999, where a dozen students were killed, schools and universities have been the scenes of mass shootings by gun-
men with assault-style rifles. After the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children between the ages of six and seven years old
were killed, national efforts to change gun laws were stymied by a powerful gun
SEE RALLY, PAGE 8
UH Sugar land breaks ground on $54 million technology building From staff reports FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
Local, state and federal officials gathered Friday afternoon at the University of Houston at Sugar Land for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new UH College of Technology building. The 100,000-square-foot building will house classrooms and state-of-the-art laboratory space, as well as areas to accommodate industry partnerships. “In building in Fort Bend County, the university is answering a call from students, employers and municipalities. The fastest growing large county in the country needs a Tier One university to provide a Tier One workforce,” said Jay Neal, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Operating Officer at UH Sugar Land. “Industry and students will benefit from the impact of this historic day.” The new $54 million, three-
Businessman Felix Sorkin, right, president of General Technologies, one of Stafford’s largest employer lays into developer Brian Murphy, left, who won’t build unless the city gives them $15 million and the zero tax break everyone gets. (Photo by Theresa D. McClellan)
TI redevelopment plan creates rift in Stafford By Theresa D. McClellan FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
Pictured from the left at the groundbreaking of the University of Houston at Sugar Land’s new UH College of Technology building are: Jay Neal, associate vice president UH Sugar Land; Tony Ambler, dean of the UH College of Technology; Paula Myrick Short, UH provost; Renu Khator, UH president; Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert; Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman; Fort Bend County Commissioner James Patterson; and Jeffrey Wiley, president and CEO of the Fort Bend Economic Development Council. (Photo by Joe Southern)
story facility, designed by Page Architects and being built by Tellepsen Industrial, will
open in fall 2019. Construction Management and Engineering Technology programs will
join other College of Technology programs already offered at UH Sugar Land.
Artist rendering of the new College of Technology building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land. (Submitted photo)
Depending on whom you ask, the proposed $500 million redevelopment of nearly 200 acres of land at the old Texas Instruments campus will be a boon or bust for the city. The Stafford Economic Development Corporation heard last week from the Street Level Investments developer Brian Murphy and company attorney Steve Robbins as well as Stafford City Attorney Art Pertile of Olson & Olson who explained that the development could grow the city’s coffers. The public will have three more opportunities to hear the proposals and give their input starting 7 p.m. April 3 at the joint SEDC and Stafford City Council meeting. A final vote will be held April 11. The 192 acres of property is bounded on the south by the Texas Instruments Ditch, on the west by Kirkwood Road and US Highway 59, on the north by West Airport Boulevard and on the east by FM
1092/Murphy Road. If approved, the property will become a regional attraction for Stafford with shops, a central park, restaurants, high-end apartments, food halls with artisan chefs and a hotel. About $500,000 of funds from the hotel tax will be used to generate tourism and attract monies to the city. In order to develop the area, Street Level wants $13 million in grants and rebates, in addition to the zero property tax incentive available to everyone. That would allow the developers to build the city’s infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer lines, and drainage. “This is a project about growing the city. Creating a public/private partnership to allow you to maximize the potential so you can grow the pot,” said attorney Steve Robbins. “Public-Private partnerships are important and that’s why.” Citing the success of Sugar Land development, Jeffrey Wiley, head of the Greater
SEE STAFFORD, PAGE 8
Richmond man needs life-saving intestinal transplant Family raising funds for medical care By Joe Southern JSOUTHERN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Drew Ogden uses the bathroom about 30 times a day and must eat about every two to three hours – day and night – just to survive. The 47-year-old Richmond man and father and step-father to five children is down to 105 pounds and has almost none of his intestines and colon left. They’ve been removed pieces at a time through multiple surgeries to save his life as he battles Crohn’s disease. In a couple weeks he will embark on a temporary move to Florida where he will await a life-saving intestinal transplant at Jackson Memorial Hospital – Miami Transplant Institute. Crohn’s is an incurable, chronic, inflammatory bowel disease that affects the
lining of the digestive tract. Ogden was diagnosed with it at age 14. It has limited his life for the past 32 years and at times almost taken it. “The last two years have been a very long challenge,” he said. By the end of 2017, Ogden had undergone 15 surgeries – seven of them in the last two years. “I went septic twice,” he said. Through those surgeries he has lost 14 feet of his bowels, including most of his colon (large intestine) and a large portion of his small intestine. He has been diagnosed with intestinal failure and is in a constant state of malnutrition and dehydration. Without most of his intestine, his body cannot absorb nutrients and food goes right through him, hence the need to continually eat and use the bathroom. To help him survive and to bolster his body for his journey to Florida, Ogden has
a port installed in his chest and liquid nutrition is pumped directly into his system. The total parenteral nutrition (TPN) therapy is only temporary, as long-term use causes the liver and circulatory systems to deteriorate and fail. “I have no energy. This allows me to maintain,” he said, holding up the portable TPN bag. Life hasn’t been easy for Ogden. He has two daughters from his previous marriage. Anna, his wife of four years, has two young sons from her previous marriage. Together, they have 3-year-old Caden. In addition to the pain and inconvenience related to Crohn’s, he has also battled kidney stones. He estimates he has passed about 400 so far. It crushes Ogden emotionally to not be the husband and father he wants to be. All three boys are under the age of nine and remember him being vibrant and playful. “They know things are going on,” he Drew and Anna Ogden embrace their youngest son Caden
SEE TRANSPLANT, PAGE 11
in their Richmond home recently. Drew needs a life-saving intestinal transplant and must go to Florida to get it. (Photo by Joe Southern)