COVID-19 boosters offered at Memorial Hermann - Page 6
MTea & Coffee in Sugar Land recently proved its worth as a go-to spot for boba tea lovers in Fort Bend County. Read our review inside today on Page 10. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
WEDNESDAY • SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 Two Moms
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Accredo beginning expansion in Sugar Land By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A Sugar Land-based packaging company is planning a $9.5 million expansion to its campus that could generate 30 new jobs for Fort Bend County, according to documents submitted to the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Corporation. The Fort Bend County Commissioners Court in August unanimously approved an economic incentive agreement for the Reinvestment Zone No. 23 – a 17-acre tract of land in Sugar Land upon which sits the campus of Accredo Packaging – in which the area would qualify for a 35 percent tax abatement. The measure passed unanimously, with no conversation among commissioners. Officials with the company did not respond to a request for comment about the expansion as of Monday afternoon. But in documents submitted about the expansion, company officials detail that this is the fourth phase of expansion at the Sugar Land facility. As part of the expansion, crews will add 83,000 square feet of office and lobby and covered parking space, according to the documents. The total cost of the expansion will be about $9.5 million, it will add an additional 30 jobs to the company’s already existing 525 employees and should be complete by January 2022, according to the documents. A realty company, called API Realty LLC, will own the facility and lease it to Accredo Packaging, according to the documents. Accredo Packaging first opened its doors in 2009 in Sugar Land and manufactures and supplies sustainable packaging for various markets, according to the company’s website. The Sugar Land facility is 100 percent powered by wind energy and includes a solar panel array on the roof, according to the company.
Accredo Packaging has begun its Sugar Land expansion. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 46 • No. 3
Parish Plant faces uncertain future The W.A. Parish Generating Plant in southeastern Fort Bend County is facing a murky future according to an expert familiar with it. (Photo from NRG website)
By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The smoke stacks rising from the W.A. Parish Generating Plant are big enough that one can see them from as far away as Brazos Bend State Park – some 17 miles away. The coal and natural gas plant, which sits in the largely unpopulated southeastern part of Fort Bend County, might escape the notice of many.
But it also holds many firsts, both for good and ill – biggest power producer for the Houston region, but also its biggest polluter. Now, the facility, which was first constructed in 1974, also
faces an uncertain future, according to those experts who have studied it. “The plant’s days are numbered,” said Daniel Cohan, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, who has studied the plant for years. “It’s just not clear if that means one, 10 or 20 years left.” But even as studies such as
SEE PARISH PAGE 9
Ready to rally
Owners of Bayou Boys Po-Boys in Needville and law enforcement officials, shown here, have been among those residents helping round up supplies and items of need for those in Louisiana who have been displaced or severely put out by Hurricane Ida. (Photo from Facebook)
Fort Bend residents gather donations for Ida victims By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
As Louisianans braced for Hurricane Ida over the weekend and media reports spoke about preparations in New Orleans, Joel Barrios began to wonder about his hometown of Lafourche Parish. Barrios, the owner of Needville’s Bayou Boys Po-Boys, grew up in the parish where Ida first made landfall, and still has many family and friends living there, he said. The Fort Bend County resident in the days since the storm struck the Louisiana coast made plans to bring supplies back to
his loved ones, hoping to spread the word that communities beyond New Orleans needed help, too. “In Houston, all the news is about New Orleans,” he said. “You don’t hear about those low-lying areas. I want to make sure supplies are in the hands of those that need it most.” A growing number of Fort Bend County residents have been spurred – whether by memories of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 or a desire to serve or personal connections – to make the journey from the region to Louisiana, to help those most hurt by Ida’s wrath. William Ferguson, an at-large councilperson in
Ferguson
Sugar Land, for instance, has become a frequent visitor of storm cleanup sites in recent years, such as Lake Charles in 2020 after two storms damaged much of the city, he said.
It’s those with less money that end up in the worst situation after major storms, Ferguson said. Therefore, it’s incumbent on those with resources to go and help, he said. Ferguson now plans to lead several supply dropoffs to Houma, Louisiana, echoing somewhat Barrios’ plan and aiming to help a smaller community, Ferguson said. Not everyone can take time off work and drive to Louisiana, however. Organizations and residents across Fort Bend County have set up impromptu drop spots for people to bring donations for Louisiana, Barrios said. For instance, those inter-
ested in donating could take items to Barrios’ restaurant. Bayou Boys Po-Boys, 13335 State Highway 36, Needville, is open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. the other days. Officials in Houma, about 60 miles southwest or New Orleans, say about 200,000 residents in the nearby parishes must wait weeks before electricity is restored, according to an article in Houma Today. Much of the area was under a boil water notice, cellphone service was spotty and many buildings were
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Local fireman responded to NYC after 9/11 attacks By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The events of Sept. 11, 2001 still resonate in the minds of many in America, including in Fort Bend County, for myriad reasons. One local first responder in particular will always remember the terrorist attacks on the United States after being on the ground in New York in the aftermath of the collapse of the World Trade
Center 20 years ago. Cpt. Greg Hopper of the Sugar Land Fire Department was part of a select FEMA searchand-rescue team tasked with helping sift through the rubble after two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers and caused them to fall. “The search teams would look through the piles, and see if they found anything resembling a potential victim, parts of the airplanes, firefighter uniforms, etc.,” Hopper recalled. “Then they would stop and call us in, and
we would search those spaces and dig deeper and see if we could pull out whatever it was.” Hopper was part of a 62-member rescue and recovery squad from Texas that took the second six-day rotation in the aftermath of the attacks. The team was formed shortly after the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995 as a state asset through the TEEX program at Texas A&M University. Prior to its formation, the closest FEMA teams
to Oklahoma City were in Arizona, according to Hopper. So when his own fire chief presented the opportunity, Hopper jumped at the chance, and looks upon their efforts with pride. He said he was the only member from the Fort Bend area to be part of a team largely compromised of members of the Houston Fire Department. “It’s one of those things
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Hopper
JERRY FLOWERS
Real Estate Agent, MBA, CNE, ABE Army Veteran (RET) • 832-702-5241 Jerry@dreamhomesbyjerry.com
4500 Highway 6, Sugar Land, TX 77478