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The Sugar Land Skeeters' inaugural season as an Astros affiliate came to an end on Sunday. See our 2021 wrap-up inside today's paper on Page 4. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
WEDNESDAY • OCTOBER 6, 2021
COVID cases decline in county after delta surge By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
After coronavirus cases in Fort Bend County reached a peak in September, hospitals across the region have seen fewer admittances in recent weeks, according to medical experts. Coronavirus patients comprised just 7.88 percent of total operational hospital beds in Fort Bend County as of Sunday, a decrease from 10.38 percent on Sept. 27, according to data from the SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council, or SETRAC, which tracks hospital statistics for the region. “We have passed our most recent peak and been declining all week,” said Esther Schinzler, spokesperson for Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital. “Four hundred twenty-four COVID patients system-wide today. It looks like all of our community hospitals are showing a similar trend.” Officials with Houston Methodist urged continued caution and vaccinations to stave off future waves. But officials with Fort Bend Health & Human Services did not respond to a request for comment about the decline in cases, or questions about what goes into ending a wave. Fort Bend County is not the only place to see a significant decline in hospital admissions since the surge in cases in September. Southern states such as Texas took the brunt of the summer surge of COVID-19 because of the delta variant of the virus, with hospital admissions going above 100,000 per week in early September, according to a Washington Post article. But those admissions are now on trick to decline below 100,000, according to the article. County health officials in August moved the community risk back up to red, for high community risk. The level warns unvaccinated residents to stay home and stay safe. More than 81,750 county residents have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with some 75,399 recoveries and 889 deaths, according to the county’s dashboard. More than 427,800 residents have been fully vaccinated, or some 73 percent of the population older than 12, according to the dashboard.
The Fort Bend Star Senior Expo for October 13, 2021 has been cancelled. The Expo has been rescheduled to October 2022. For more details call John Sazma at 281-690-4200 Or email
jsazma@fortbendstar.com
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 46 • No. 7
No arrests yet made in DA's massage parlor sting By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Last month, officials with the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office and several law enforcement agencies announced they’d joined together to target and take down illicit massage businesses in the county. As part of the operation,
investigators executed search warrants at 10 locations across five Fort Bend County cities, according to a DA’s office news release. But a follow-up open records request has shown that, thus far, the operation has yet to result in any arrests or charges. “There are currently no charges that came out of that particular operation,” Assistant District
Attorney Mark LaForge, the civil division chief, wrote in response to an open records request filed by the Fort Bend Star. “It is an ongoing process/investigation. Any eventual arrests would be public information and available on the district clerk’s website.” Wesley Wittig, spokesperson for the office, in the days after a press con-
ference celebrating the operation was reticent to release more information about it, or even release a
list of those arrested and what they’d been charged with, saying it was an ongoing investigation. “I know it’s vague, but is an ongoing investigation and our office cannot provide more details,” he said. “Typically, we hold a conference at the end of an operation, but this topic
SEE STING PAGE 11
Hidden history
Black Cowboy Museum founder Larry Callies stands in front of a display at the Rosenberg museum, which he created in 2017 to help bring attention to the contributions of Black cowboys in Fort Bend County. (Photo by Matt deGrood)
Rosenberg’s Black Cowboy Museum leading resurgence of untold stories The museum features Black cowboy articles and artifacts. (Photo by Matt deGrood)
By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
For as long as cattle ranching and cowboys have been around in Fort Bend County, Black residents have played a central role in that story. But for much of that time, even as Westerns filled cinemas and occupied children’s imaginations, the stories of the Black cowboys of Fort Bend County remained neglected. It’s that very ignorance of history that led Larry Callies, himself a long
time Black cowboy, to found the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg back in 2017 – to share the stories he’s known since his Uncle Willie first told them to him as a child, Callies said. “So much of that history was whitewashed,” Callies said. Some four years later, Callies’ passion project has taken off. Now, visitors come from as far away as Alaska and Can-
ada and even Africa and Europe to see Callies’ museum, and the longtime Fort Bend resident has also been subject to fawning profiles in such national publications at the New York Times and Garden and Gun. For all the national clout, however, Callies has accomplished most of it in a small space filled with historic artifacts from generations of Black cowboys inside of a strip center in Rosenberg. That might be about to
SEE HISTORY PAGE 11
Missouri City races, propositions highlight election period By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Two contested city elections and a series of bond propositions in Missouri City highlight what is otherwise a somewhat quiet November election in Fort Bend County. Incumbent Council-
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See a list of elections ...................
Page 9 man Jeffrey L. Boney is facing Everett Land for the District B spot in Missouri City while Reginald Pearson, Bruce
Zaborowski and Monica Riley are all running to fill Cheryl Sterling’s place in the District A seat. Three ballot propositions totaling $85 million will also appear for Missouri City voters in the November election. The ballot items, which came after months of consideration, will be the first for the city since 2014.
If all three items were approved, the average homeowner might see $121 per year more in taxes in Fort Bend County and $76 per year in Harris County, according to documents. The maximum interest and sinking tax rate the city would need to fund the projects is 17.57 cents per $100 of valuation, according to
the city. Proposition A would include $51.6 million for streets, bridges and sidewalk improvements, according to the city. Proposition B would include $11.2 million for public facilities and Proposition C would include $23 million for parks and recreation projects, according to the city.
JERRY FLOWERS
Real Estate Agent, MBA, CNE, ABE Army Veteran (RET) • 832-702-5241 Jerry@dreamhomesbyjerry.com
4500 Highway 6, Sugar Land, TX 77478