Local tennis legend Chuck Sanchelli honored: Page 11
Matt Chavez swings at a pitch in a game earlier this season. He had 12 hits in 26 at-bats last week for a .462 batting average, earning him Skeeter of the Week honors by the Fort Bend Star. See story on page 11. (Photo by Joe Southern)
WEDNESDAY • JULY 25, 2018
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 41 • No. 49
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Sugar Land presents proposed 2019 budget From staff reports FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
Sugar Land City Manager Allen Bogard and Director of Finance Jennifer Brown recently submitted a proposed $245 million budget for fiscal year 2019, which begins Oct. 1. The proposed budget, which reflects cautious optimism about the momentum being gained in the ongoing regional economic recovery, includes $218 million for operations and $27 million for capital projects – with no new programs or positions. The proposed budget is the result of months of preparation and financial policy discussions with the City Council and builds on resiliency initiatives started in the current year, such as: • a conservative approach to forecasting sales tax based on current year revenues; • implementing and maintaining belt-tightening cuts to recurring expenditures; and • ensuring that infrastructure rehabilitation is funded in the operating budget from more diverse and reliable revenue streams than previous funding from sales tax. “Our proposed budget is very conservative and possibly the most resilient we’ve ever filed. It includes investments in public safety training initiatives, drainage and infrastructure improvements to ensure our city remains safer than ever before, and technology enhancements to make our accountability initiatives more transparent,” said Bogard. “I’m incredibly proud of the flexibility of our departments and the adjustments made to maintain our financial strength and continue providing the high quality services that are important to our residents – even during challenging swings in the economy.” Bogard said Sugar Land continues to further assert itself as a premier regional entertainment, cultural and tourist destination – and an economic powerhouse within the Houston region. The city’s economic development efforts have benefitted residents through the growth in commercial property tax value – which makes up approximately 30 percent of the city’s tax base – and the generation of sales taxes, an
SEE BUDGET PAGE 14
By Joe Southern JSOUTHERN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Former slaves brought back into bondage through the state’s convict leasing program from 1878-1910 appear to be the people buried in the historic cemetery discovered earlier this year at the construction site of Fort Bend ISD’s James Reece Career and Technical Center. The revelation was made public July 16 when the school district held a media event at the site in the Telfair subdivision along with representatives of the Texas Historical Commission, Goshawk Environmental Consulting, Inc., and other organizations involved in exhuming and analyzing the 95 graves found at the site. “So far we have individuals ranging in age from 14 years of age to 50 to 70 years of age,” said Dr. Catrina BanksWhitley, research associate with the New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies and bio-archaeologist and lead anthropologist for the exhumations and analysis at the site. “They’re all male except for one individual of the ones we have analyzed and they’re ranging in height from 5-foot-2 to 6-foot-2 at this point in time.” As of July 16, a team of about 1012 archaeologists, led by Reign Clark, Cultural Resources Director with Goshawk Environmental Consulting, had exhumed 48 remains and analyzed 20 of them. “It looks like folks were exposed to extremely hard labor,” Clark said. “Some of the muscle attachments are just massive.” Banks-Whitley said she has studied the musculoskeletal stress markers of the adults and handful of children buried there. “That’s were we look at where the muscle attachments are on the bone and as you continue to do heavy labor over and over again it actually changes the way the attachments on that bone look and in some cases it will change the shape of the bone. And so we can see that the majority of the individuals were doing extremely
The brick structure on the right was likely built in the 1920s, not long after the cemetery of leased convict laborers was abandoned and forgotten. Archeologists work at exhuming graves at the site under a tent. (Photo by Joe Southern)
Sketches show the positions of two of the skeletons exhumed by archeologists at the cemetery site. (Submitted photo)
heavy labor for a very long time,” she said. In addition to one woman discovered so far, Banks-Whitley said the youngest, age 14, is also the tallest at 6-foot-2. “All the individuals that have been analyzed thus far have traits of African-American heritage,” Clark said.
He said the people buried at the site were very poor. “We’ve found almost no grave goods, they’re very Spartan burials – simple pine boxes, the use of square-cut nails,” he said. “You have a few glass fragments here and there sometimes, very few personal affects, simple bone buttons, brass trouser
buttons, square-cut nails and one ring so far.” Other artifacts, including chains, files, bricks, and more, dating to the same time period but not related to specific burials, were on display at the site. The experts said they will likely be cleaned and sent to a museum for display. According to the school district, each exhumation takes approximately 36 to 48 person hours per grave, followed by four to eight hours for cleaning and an additional 12 to 15 hours for analysis. At the pace they are going Clark anticipates it will take about 40 more days to complete the work and to prepare the remains for re-interment. It has not yet been decided where the remains will go, but it will not be back in the same location. Determining the history Clark said the historical record and the physical evidence all point to the shallow graves being those of leased convict laborers. “We believe the cemetery dates to
Beating the heat at Constellation Field
THERESA@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
They want to crack the code. So on a sweltering Saturday morning at Community Impact Church, education leaders met with
FBISD board pares down $1.7 billion bond plan By Theresa D. McClellan THERESA@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
ented people who want to help and we have not all united. That is why (the Rev.) David (Sincere) and I want to bridge the gap. Find out what do the families want and how can we bring the community
Hoping to make the 2018 bond-funded capital improvement proposal more palatable, the Fort Bend Independent School District will look at two three-year bonds for less money than the $1.7 billion bond they considered as late as last month. The FBISD Board of Trustees received the newest configuration Saturday night of the monies needed to fund the district’s capital improvement needs. Already hearing community rumbling over a bond topping $1 billion, district officials looked for ways to pare down the request. So now they are dividing it into two three-year packages of a $992 million bond proposal that likely will not include metal detectors as a money saver. They also are no longer locked into a six-year plan, which the board appreciated. Initially, the board was told it would have to pursue the six-year bond because state officials were considering making changes that would make it harder to approve a bond without 30 percent voter participation. But after talking with state officials, the administration said it is more financially prudent to take its chances with the state rather thank risk presenting a bond that might not pass. “We talked with our friends in Austin and if that legislation
SEE LITERACY PAGE 10
SEE FBISD PAGE 2
Children play around at the splash pad at Constellation Field during a recent Sugar Land Skeeters baseball game. High temperatures of late have lots of people seeking ways to cool off. For more ways to enjoy a visit to a Skeeters game, see the story on page 11. (Photo by Bill McCaughey)
Community discusses early literacy options for elementary students By Theresa D. McClellan
SEE CEMETERY PAGE 13
parents and community collaborators to figure out what needs to happen to improve the educational, social, and behavioral needs of underperforming elementary students in the Fort Bend Independent School District. One effort bringing excitement is the Early Literacy
Center, located in the Ridgemont Elementary Building, 5353 Ridge Creek Circle. The pilot program is open to Blue Ridge and Ridgegate elementary students and educators want interested parents to complete an application process by Aug. 10 while spaces are available.
Interested parents are a key component. “I’ve always worked in Title One Schools and I love these kids,” said Megan Boler, literacy interventionist at Blue Ridge Elementary School. “There are so many challenges on a daily basis and so many skilled and tal-