Missouri City veterans memorial project building steam - Page 9
The United Way of Greater Houston recently began its Project Undercover drive for socks and underwear. Read the story inside today's edition on Page 2.
WEDNESDAY • JULY 10, 2019
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 43 • No. 47
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TCEQ to hold meeting on Big Creek water safety From Staff Reports
Sacred Leaf Zero owner Lussel Mata, right, helps former Houston Astros outfielder Kevin Bass select a product Monday afternoon. The Missouri City store, which opened last month, is among a growing number of CBD stores in Fort Bend County. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
CBD trend makes way to Fort Bend County By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
State and local officials are stepping in to ensure the safety of Big Creek, which has had elevated levels of fecal bacteria. Big Creek in Fort Bend County has been identified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) as failing to meet the state water quality standard for contact recreation, according to a news release from Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). Its primary challenge is elevated levels of fecal bacteria, which indicate conditions that may be harmful to human health, local economies and the environment. The TCEQ and H-GAC will hold a public meeting from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11, at the George Memorial Library at 1001 Golfview Dr. in Richmond to discuss water quality issues impacting the Big Creek watershed and provide an opportunity for local stakeholders to give feedback on potential paths forward.
For years, Lussel Mata couldn’t find any relief for chronic pain or anxiety. Then she discovered CBD – which stands for cannabidiol – and has not looked back. She said the substance has changed her life and she's using that experience to join a nationwide movement.
Mata is the co-owner of Sacred Leaf Zero in Missouri City, where the store opened just last month. The sale of CBD products is fast becoming a booming business in Fort Bend County and beyond, with the industry expected to be worth $646 million by 2022, according to the Hemp Business Journal. There are Sacred Leaf stores in Sugar Land and Missouri City, and shops such as Edgy Smoke and
Vape in Stafford and Sugar Land Smoke Shop and CBD, that sell or specialize in CBD products. “Even if you’re naturally healthy, you can still benefit from the supplement,” Mata said. “Anything that’s attacking your nervous system, the components have extraordinary benefits.” CBD comes from the hemp plant and is different than marijuana, which comes from the
same plant species. The national Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, otherwise known as the Farm Bill, legalized the regulated production of hemp and also stated the Food and Drug Administration will regulate CBD production. Then, in June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1325 into law, allowing farmers in Texas to grow hemp products with regulations. The law
says products containing CBD can be sold legally so long as they contain no more than 0.3 percent of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Early returns are positive for some in the area. Fort Bend County resident Amanda Lunsford said on Facebook that she initially began using CBD to treat her dog’s aggres-
SEE CBD, PAGE 8
County DA: New law handcuffs marijuana prosecution From Staff Reports
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed House Bill 1325 into law. It allows for the growth, sale and regulation of hemp products such as CBD – cannabidiol – as long as they contain less than 0.3 percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, which remains illegal in Texas. While more business-
es specializing in CBD products are popping up around Houston, Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton is concerned that more users of marijuana – which is different from CBD but comes from the same plant species – will be able to get away with it. “The passage of HB 1325 by the Texas Legislature significantly impacts the enforcement and prosecution of the state’s existing
Middleton criminal marijuana laws,” he said in a statement released last week.
Middleton said there isn’t a problem with Texas’ desire to legalize agricultural hemp production. He said the issue is that the law was enacted without infrastructure in place to regulate the legal production of hemp or the ability of the state’s own scientific labs to distinguish between what has an allowable amount of THC and what does not. “Unfortunately, the unintended consequence
of the law renders prosecution of marijuana offenses impossible until the infrastructure and scientific laboratories are capable of performing the analysis necessary to distinguish hemp from marijuana,” Middleton said. Middleton said his office has reached out to law enforcement partners
SEE LAW PAGE 2
Quail Valley resident earns induction to radio hall of fame By Donna Hill FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
John Mitton goes on the air in 1974 at KCAD-FM in Abilene. It was one of many stops for Mitton in a 35-year career that earned him an induction into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. (Submitted photo)
Little did John Mitton know that a stint as a golf caddy would pave the way to 35 years in radio and owning a one-of-a-kind advertising business in Sugar Land. Everything has come full circle for the Quail Valley resident. Mitton is a new inductee into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame (TRHOF), one of 20 broadcasters who will be inducted Nov. 2 at the Texas Museum of Broadcasting and Communications in Kilgore. Also voted into the TRHOF is Fort Bend County resident and Houston broadcast legend Scott Sparks for his on-air work at KRBE, KHPT and KGLK. The owner of Sugar Land-based Mitton Media,
Mitton said his first radio boss, George Stokes of Houston’s classical music station KRTS, told the then-caddy he’d hire him to work at his radio station because of three things. “He said, ‘I’ll hire you, because I know tour caddies pay attention to detail, they’re a people person and work great under pressure,’” Mitton said. “He was the best teacher ever, and KRTS is where I learned everything.” While Mitton is a radio warrior who isn’t surprised by much, he said the news he received last week about his induction took him by surprise. “I am honored and proud to be selected,” he said. “I am joining a wonderful group of broadcast professionals, many of whom are friends and former coworkers.”
Mitton Mitton started his nomadic radio career in 1973 - first as a student at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, then part-time as an announcer at Abilene’s contemporary Christian radio station, KCAD-FM. He then crossed over briefly to television, working in Corpus Christi as a director for “Action 10 News” at
KZTV television. When he arrived in Houston in 1987, he got his first taste of radio sales at classical music station KRTS-FM 92.1, convincing major clients like Fiesta grocery stores and Sound Warehouse to buy advertising on the 3,000-watt radio station. Then it was onto powerhouse KRBE-FM, where he worked with fellow inductee Sparks. As notoriously competitive as broadcasting is, Mitton needed to find a unique way to sell radio advertising. While working in sales at KRBE, he came up with the idea for “recruitment advertising,” creating radio commercials about job listings. “People use advertising
SEE FAME PAGE 10