Families need help getting loved ones home - Page 3
A recent visit to Cooking Girl in Sugar Land provided a spicy taste of China right here in Fort Bend County. Read our review inside today on Page 8. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
WEDNESDAY • DECEMBER 9, 2020
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 16
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Missouri City election proceeds amid litigation By Stefan Modrich
SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
As Missouri City residents prepare to make their voices heard at the Family Holiday Package polls in Saturday’s runoff Call for Details election for mayor and a 9920 Hwy 90A Suite #D-120 city council seat, the city Sugar Land, TX 77478 is still in a dispute with 832-532-7816 Fort Bend County over the handling of the election. filed Dalyn Hoegemeyer,City AAMS officials Hoegemeyer, AAMS Financial Dalyn Advisor a lawsuit against the Financial Advisor 4502 Riverstone Blvd. #904 county Dec. 2 regardMissouri City, TX. 77459
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4502 Riverstone Blvd. #904 Missouri City, TX. 77459 Bus. 281-494-3737
ing what the city alleged were “ongoing voting irregularities” and “disenfranchising citizens” in the county’s handling of the 2020 election cycle, most recently with the early voting period for the runoff election that ends Saturday. In response, the county extended its hours for the final few days of early voting, which started Nov. 30 and ended Tuesday. At issue, among other
Missouri City and Stafford runoff previews on Page 5 complaints by the city, was a discrepancy with Fort Bend County about the number of early voting locations for Missouri City’s Harris County residents. City officials said they were told its Harris County residents could utilize all three early vot-
SEE LITIGATION PAGE 6
Fort Bend County Elections Administrator John Oldham, right, speaks during an Oct. 23 news conference at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land . (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
Forever together
Bus. 281-494-3737 Fax 888-849-8932 dalyn.hoegemeyer@edwardjones.com Fax 888-849-8932 www.edwardjones.com dalyn.hoegemeyer@edwardjones.com www.edwardjones.com
Dalyn Hoegemeyer, AAMS Financial Advisor 4502 Riverstone Blvd. #904 Missouri City, TX. 77459 Bus. 281-494-3737 Fax 888-849-8932 dalyn.hoegemeyer@edwardjones.com www.edwardjones.com
Amazon picks county as site for upcoming warehouse By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Amazon’s expansion into Fort Bend County continues. The e-commerce giant announced in a news release Monday it plans to open its first fulfillment center in Missouri City. A spokesperson for the city said the facility will be located at 2303 Hurricane Lane, next to Hightower High School at the intersection of Highway 6 and the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road. The new fulfillment center is expected to begin operating in 2021. The company said the 1 million square foot facility will create more than 500 new full-time jobs. “We welcome Amazon to Missouri City and are excited that this piece of the city’s long-term economic development plan has come to fruition,” Odis Jones, Missouri City’s city manager, said in a news release. “Our teams have been working hand-in-hand the last few weeks to finalize the deal and we are looking forward to continuing our corporatecommunity partnership with this industry giant for years to come.” Amazon said in a news release its Missouri City associates will work to pick, pack and ship bulky or largersized customer items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment or rugs. “Missouri City and Amazon are alike when it comes to success, diversity, customer service and community. We are looking forward to this new business model, which focuses on customer service and expands the economy as this is another partnership that will build on our commercial tax base, helping to ease the property tax burden on residents,” Missouri City Mayor Yolanda Ford said in a news release. “Expanding the economic base is a citizen and City Council priority, and this new Amazon center helps to achieve that goal. It’s just another step in moving Missouri City’s economy forward into the future.”
SEE AMAZON PAGE 6
Travis quarterback Anthony Njoku throws a pass during the Tigers' practice Monday afternoon. The Tigers, who are playing Katy Tompkins in a Class 6A Division I bi-district game this Friday, have played this season in honor of late coach Derwyn Lauderdale, who was killed Oct. 10. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
Coach’s presence still felt by playoff-bound Tigers By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Though the Travis Tigers are used to the football postseason, they’ll play it this year with an added weight, carrying memories of a late coach in their heads and hearts. As has been the case for much of the season, the Tigers (4-4) will be down a coach in Derwyn Lauderdale – who was shot and killed in October – when they take the field Friday night against Katy Tompkins in a Class 6A Division I bi-district matchup. And though the tragedy was two months ago, head coach Trey Sissom said it remains fresh in the minds
Lauderdale
of many players and coaches. “There’s still those wounds and things that are Travis' Ryder Wall carries Derwyn Lauderdale's Southwest Baptist there. I don’t know for some University helmet onto the field before an Oct. 16 game against of us if we’ll ever complete- Heights, sporting a "DL" sticker on his helmet. (Photo from Twitter) ly get over it. I don’t think Sissom said the news Rosenberg – hit the team you ever get over someof Lauderdale’s Oct. 10 like a bombshell. It threw thing like this,” Sissom said. “You just learn to live with death – he was shot at a another wrench at a 2020 youth sports complex in season already impacted the pain.”
by the COVID-19 pandemic, and still follows the team around even as the school has produced a playoffbound team for the seventh straight season. “Every kid copes a little bit differently depending on what you’ve gone through,” Sissom said. “Some people have lost loved ones that are really close, and we had other kids who haven’t experienced anything like that. The biggest thing (this season) was just teaching the kids to cherish every moment – you never know what’s going to be laid out and nothing is guaranteed.” Different kind of adversity
SEE TRAVIS PAGE 6
Retired teachers support FBISD holiday food drive By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A group of retired teachers in Fort Bend County has found a variety of ways to give back to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fort Bend-Harris Retired Educators (FBHRE) is a local unit of the Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA), an organization of retired public-school employees. The group is composed
mostly of retirees from Fort Bend ISD and Stafford MSD. For the past seven years, FBHRE had joined with other organizations to support FBISD’s Shared Dreams Holiday Cheer Event, which has traditionally provided meals for students in need. In a year unlike any other, the group had to get creative and efficient with its efforts to feed those in need. Instead of scaling back, Kathaleen Eppler, a retired Sugar Land middle school teacher, said the
group raised the bar, increasing its goal to feed 75 area families. And FBHRE did so, receiving more than over 300 large cans of soup and 150 boxes of crackers in just four total hours, in two drive-up collection periods that took place in October and November. Eppler said a team of six or seven retired teachers helped with the influx of canned goods from more
SEE FBHRE PAGE 6
Volunteers with the Fort Bend-Harris Retired Educators, a branch of the Texas Retired Teachers Association, collect food during an Oct. 14 food drive. (Contributed photo)