Area students taking charge of future - Page 6
A recent visit to Jupiter Pizza and Waffles in Sugar Land was an out-of-this world experience for our taste buds. Read our review inside today on Page 7. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
WEDNESDAY • SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 5
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
New city manager alleges misuse of funds By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Odis Jones has wasted little time making an impact on Missouri City’s government. Two months after being selected as city manager in a contentious 4-3 vote by the Missouri City Council, Jones brought eyebrow-raising allegations to light during a special city council meeting Sept. 8. He told the council he had forwarded information
to Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton regarding the alleged misuse of city funds prior to his hiring as city manager. Jones said an initial internal control audit showed at least $20,000 from Missouri City’s public, educational and government (PEG) fund was instead used for hotels and flights. He did not indicate which city employee or employees had allegedly misused the money. “I wanted to make sure to
bring that to (city council’s) attention so that you were aware of that as I promised I would,” Jones said. According to federal law, an entity’s PEG fund is only allowed to be used for expenditures related to costs for production equipment or computer software for public access TV stations, such as the technology Missouri City uses to stream council meet-
SEE AUDIT PAGE 5
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Local Kroger workers push for hazard pay By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
When Joseph Garland heads to work each day at the Kroger in Sugar Land, he knows he is on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis. Last week, he was among the employees demanding they continue to be better compensated for the risks they’re taking to come to work. Dozens of Kroger employees and labor union representatives gathered outside two west Hous-
Carolina Burciaga, center, daughter of late Richmond firefighter Ray Burciaga, addresses attendees to a memorial service for her father Friday at Richmond Fire Station No. 1. The event coincided with a cycling tour stop by the Texas Brotherhood, which honors first responders who have died. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
First responders honor late Richmond firefighter By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The death of longtime firefighter Ray Burciaga, who succumbed to cancer at age 57 on Feb. 17, 2019, left a gaping hole in the hearts of many in the city of Richmond and the community of first responders in Fort Bend County and beyond. “He never met a stranger,” his wife, Judi Burciaga said. “He was that type of person.” The Texas Brotherhood
Ride, a group of about 30 first responders, arrived Friday morning by bicycle to the Richmond Fire Station No. 1. The visit was part of their 17-leg journey to honor those who have died in the line of duty to try to provide emotional support for those affected by the loss of one of their own. Tim Dunn, the president of the Texas Brotherhood Ride and a firefighter with the Houston Fire Department, said the group began in 2014, inspired by a group of cy-
cling first responders in Florida and South Carolina. Following their stop in Richmond – on the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. – the cyclists’ next destination was the Houston Space Center, and the 2020 tour is set to conclude in Seguin, a town in Central Texas. “It’s so far-reaching,” Dunn said. “A lot of these
SEE MEMORY PAGE 4
Boys choir still carrying tune during pandemic By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
SEE KROGER PAGE 4
Local Kroger employee Joseph Garland, right, holds a sign during a protest Thursday in Houston. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
Members of the Texas Brotherhood, a group of first responders from across the state, depart Friday from Richmond Fire Station No. 1 en route to Pearland. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
On a rainy September evening in Missouri City, masked boys steadily funnel into the First United Methodist Church. They are greeted with a temperature reading and sized for T-shirts before making their way into the rehearsal Bill Adams, left, directs the Fort Bend Boys Choir during a recent room. There, Bill Adams, the artis- rehearsal at a church in Missouri City. (Photo by Stefan Modrich) tic director and founder of the “We always have said that Fort Bend Boys Choir, goes to how to harmonize — he hopes to shape young boys into men music is the vehicle, the mediwork. “Mr. A,” as he is often called and “make a difference,” as um that we use to teach boys by his students, feels his role the choir’s shirts read, “one about life and community and about themselves,” Adams goes beyond teaching them boy at a time.”
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said. “So they learn a lot more than just the musical end of things.” The tour choir, a select group of top boys, has sung the national anthem at Houston Texans games and performed alongside the Houston Symphony. It has visited Canada and European cathedrals and was planning to make a trip to Mexico before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed those plans. In January, the choir sang six tracks for the recently-released video game “Wasteland 3” and performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in a Polish film called “The Hater” after the producers of
the movie discovered their recording of the track on Spotify and obtained permission to use it. The boys, who range between the ages of 8-12, have been eager to resume singing together after they were forced to stay apart for a few months. For some, the choir is far more than a mere extracurricular activity. After practicing on March 5, the choir suspended all its rehearsals until Aug. 24., the first time they met in person since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. “It’s pretty significant that
SEE CHOIR PAGE 5
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