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Family of shot man questions investigation By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The family of a man injured in an August shooting is questioning the city of Sugar Land’s handling of the investigation, arguing city police were unfairly biased because the shooter was a retired officer. Media representatives for the family of Ozzy Kazi, 29, held a news conference last week, calling for an independent investigation into the shooting. “To me, this is so insane,” said Wayne Dolcefino, a former journalist turned consultant hired by Kazi’s family. “Can you really tell me this was a complete and fair investigation?” The city and Kazi’s family dispute much that happened on Aug. 1, when Kazi was transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound after a confrontation with a neighbor. Officers that night responded to a report of a shooting in the 5700 block of Silas Creek Court and learned there’d been a dispute between two neighbors, according to Doug Adolph, spokesperson for the city. Investigators eventually determined Kazi had been ringing a doorbell across the street as one of his neighbors, a retired police officer, was sitting in a garage watching Kazi, Adolph said. The retired police officer then went inside his own home and retrieved a firearm, and Kazi was on his property when he went back outside, Adolph said. “The neighbor with the firearm asked him to leave the property, and Kazi refused,” Adolph said. The city alleges Kazi then entered the man’s garage, attacked the neighbor and tried to take his gun, before the retired officer shot Kazi in the stomach, Adolph said. Kazi’s family, meanwhile, allege that the retired officer came up to Kazi in the drive way and put the gun to his head, and Kazi only grabbed at it because he feared for his life, Dolcefino explained.
SEE INVESTIGATION PAGE 9
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 46 • No. 16
New Missouri City manager excited about city By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
When Charles “Tink” Jackson looked at the possibility of becoming Missouri City’s new city manager, all he could see was the city’s growth potential and a stable and cooperative city council willing to work together to make the city better, he said. And, after a monthslong search to fill the opening, the city council apparently
Jackson
saw much the same in the veteran city administrator. The city council last week unanimously approved hir-
ing Jackson as the city’s next administrative leader, bringing an end to a search that began shortly after then-city manager Odis Jones was fired in a 5-2 vote in April. “I believe this will be something that’s right for the city of Missouri City,” Mayor Robin Elackatt said in a news release from the city after the council’s decision. Jackson also said he was excited to get started, and planned to spend the first few weeks getting to know
staff. "I was humbled and honored to be selected a semifinalist, and even more honored to be a finalist," he said. "And I'm blessed to be the one picked." But even as members of the council and Jackson spoke positively about the move, and their hope for the city moving forward, the decision, and especially the process the council went through to reach that decision, weren’t met with unanimous acclaim.
“I don’t even know where this person is coming from,” said Noel Pinnock, a Missouri City resident. “A lot of that information was closelipped. And it’s not fair to residents to have a closelipped process for hiring someone who will have a direct impact on their quality of life, not just to residents but businesses as well.” The city manager spot in Missouri City in recent
SEE CITY PAGE 9
Hell-raising hogs
Wild animals causing havoc, property damage for Sugar Land residents By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Sugar Land resident James Uschkrat stands behind his home, surveying damage from feral hogs that have invaded the neighborhood in recent weeks. (Photo by Matt deGrood)
Pictured are feral hogs, similar to those that have moved into a Sugar Land neighborhood. (Photo courtesy of Texas Wildlife Service)
Most mornings, residents in Sugar Land’s Lakes of Austin Park awaken to obvious signs they’ve received unwanted overnight visitors. From torn-up lawns and gardens to packs of them found wandering down the streets, herds of feral hogs in recent years have made the quiet neighborhood, a little more than a mile away from H-E-B and other shopping, their home. And the results have been less than appreciated by the other residents living there. “Please allow me to add my voice to the chorus of complaints about the invasive hog attacks that are coming almost nightly now,” James Uschkrat, a resident, wrote in a letter to the homeowners association. “Large packs of 20-30 feral hogs are parading around our streets, prompting safety concerns for drivers and children, in addition to the massive landscaping damage. Having lived here for 33 years now, this is the worst I have seen this threat to our properties and personal safety.” Feral hogs moving into suburban neighborhoods like the Lakes of Austin Park has become an increasing problem across Texas in recent years, spurred by an exploding population of the animals and a lack of wild spaces for them to live, according to Michael Bodenchuk, director of Agrilife’s Texas Wildlife Services division and an expert in the population.
Between 2006 and 2010, the wild hog population in Texas doubled, and that led to more of them moving into green spaces closer to more populated neighborhoods, Bodenchuk said. “It’s gotten worse in the last decade, considerably,” he said. While the effects of the hogs’ presence in recent weeks have been exacerbated in Uschkrat’s neighborhood, animal experts at the city of Sugar Land have been battling the invasive species for years. “Here in Sugar Land, we do have a feral hog problem,” said Don Specks, animal services manager for the city. “It ebbs and flows depending on the season. But we are working within the confines of Sugar Land, and partnering with other entities to mitigate the problem.” As of about 2017, experts estimated there were about 6.9 million feral hogs living across the country, of which some 2.6 million were living in Texas, Specks said. The animals benefit from a lack of natural predators and the ability to reproduce quickly, he said. The hogs can have litters every four or five months, and reach sexual maturity in six months, he said. “What happens is they find an area where they feel safe, like near the Brazos River or behind parks and wooded areas and they’ll start looking for food,” Specks said. “They travel in sounders, and cause a great deal of damage.”
SEE HOGS PAGE 9
FBISD closing virtual schooling option at end of semester By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Fort Bend ISD will end its virtual schooling option at the end of the fall semester, arguing a majority of parents are ready for students to resume in-person classes. About 77 percent of the 750 students en-
rolled in the district’s virtual learning program responded to a recent survey that they were ready to send their students back to in-person classes, according to the district’s data. That, combined with a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases across the region, led to the district’s decision to
pull the virtual learning option starting next semester, district officials said. “In making the decision to close the VLP, district and VLP leadership reviewed the results of the survey and the current status of COVID active cases in Fort Bend ISD, which is less than 60 cases district-wide,”
said Sherry Williams, spokesperson for the district. The district’s decision comes just weeks after officials learned that enrollment was more than 2,000 students lower than projected, and it could mean they receive about $18 million less from the state because of that enrollment decline.
Williams
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