Marshall cementing status as 20-5A team to beat

By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

The Marshall Buffalos’ boys’ basketball team has gotten back to their winning ways in recent weeks, and continued to run roughshod over District 20-5A with two more commanding victories last week to cement their status as the team to beat.

Marshall defeated Lamar Consolidated 77-40 on Jan. 25 before taking down Foster 78-44 on Jan. 27 to move their winning streak to nine games. The Buffalos (26-3, 9-0) have now won 26 straight district contests dating back to the 2020-2021 campaign.

Jaland Lowe scored a game-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds and five steals in the win over Foster, while Eian Lowe had 11 points.

Chris Catchings paced the Buffalos with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Lowe added 21 points of his own.

Prior to losing to Marshall, Foster (11-14, 6-3) took down Willowridge 65-44 on Jan. 25 on the strength of 17 points from Jace Jones. Braden Smith had a game-high 12 points and five rebounds for the Falcons in the loss to Marshall.

Kempner kept its hold on the district’s final playoff spot by splitting two games last week, losing 52-48 to Randle on Jan. 24 before defeating Willowridge 54-52 on Jan. 27. Noel Ike paced the Cougars (16-12, 5-4) with 20 points against Willowridge, and Israel Akeye (12 points, 11 rebounds) was also strong.

In Class 6A action, the Hightower Hurricanes became the first team in District 20-6A to officially clinch a playoff spot, taking down George Ranch 57-44 on Jan. 28 to win their 12th straight contest and improve to 21-6 overall and 11-0 in district play.

Below the Hurricanes,

Travis, Bush, Clements, and Elkins continue to be in a dogfight for playoff positioning, with less than a full game separating the four teams.

Clements ran its winning streak to five games with wins over Travis (5444) on Jan. 25 and Ridge Point (51-40) on Jan. 28.

Divine Ugochukwu scored 18 points to go along with nine assists and six rebounds for Clements (15-7, 7-4) against Ridge Point, and Aziz Olajuwon had a game-high 17 points against Travis. Travis split a pair of games last week, losing to

Clements before bouncing back with a 75-59 win over Austin on Jan. 28. Nekabari Mii had a career-high 21 points to lead Travis (20-8, 8-4) against Austin, while Kameron Newsome had 15 point and Rayyan Isa added 12 of his own. Bush has won three straight following a pair of wins last week, eking out wins over George Ranch (46-43) on Jan. 25 and Elkins (57-56) on Jan. 28. Kai’ree Murray paced the Broncos (13-11, 8-4) with 17 points in the win over Elkins, while Ronyo Obou added 15 points and Harrison Oriakhi chipped in with 12 points.

Prior to the loss against Bush, Elkins defeated Ridge Point 65-48 on Jan. 25. Jae’Coby Osborne scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Knights (15-7, 7-5) in the victory over Ridge Point.

Girls

In District 20-6A, Ridge Point has surged into the district’s fourth and final playoff spot with a four-game winning streak including wins over Elkins (59-56) on Jan. 25 and Clements (65-33) on Jan. 28. Inonda Peterson had 18 points for the Lady Panthers (13-14, 9-5) in the win over Elkins, while Sydney Thomas scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Cecily Callegari scored 18 points in the loss to Ridge Point for Elkins (1812, 10-3), which bounced back with a 42-31 defeat of Bush on Jan. 28.

Austin maintained its current hold atop the 206A standings with a 46-23 win over Travis on Jan. 28.

Andrea Sturdivant had a solid all-around game for Austin (27-2, 12-1) with 13 points and five assists, also adding seven steals and six rebounds. Hightower kept pace with Austin with a pair of wins, beating Dulles 79-21 on Jan. 25 before toppling George Ranch 79-41 on Jan. 28. Five players scored in double figures for the Lady Hurricanes (27-3, 12-1) against George Ranch led by Madison

Bob’s 21 points, while Jaya Johnson had 15 points and Kailee Beaudion-Foliaki added 14 points of her own.

Crystal Schultz had 25 points to lead Bush in a 59-54 win over George Ranch on Jan. 25 prior to losing to Elkins.

In notable Class 5A action, the Willowridge Lady Eagles had their four-game winning streak snapped with a 47-42 loss to Foster on Jan. 25, but bounced back to beat Kempner 4742 on Jan. 27. Au’Rayona Seals had 15 points and six rebounds to lead the Lady Eagles (21-7, 8-3) against Kempner, while Madison Moten chipped in with 11 points.

BAPTIST CHURCH

HORIZON BAPTIST CHURCH • 281-403-4994

2223 FM1092 • Missouri City, TX 77459 John Strader , Senior Pastor Sunday Bible Study

Written by his wife, Alice Chappell Wells

I never expected to be writing this so soon. John Allen Wells, my beloved husband, died on Tuesday, January 24th, 2023 at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital from complications with sepsis. John was 75 years old and at the age of 19 married Alice Chappell Holmes who was born 3 days before him in the same hospital in Greenwood, Mississippi. We were married for 55 years before God called him home.

John and Chappell shared a wonderful life together raising a loving daughter, Chappell Alan, named after their middle names. Chappell Alan Wells married Paul Douglas Block and together they gave John and Chappell three beautiful grandchildren: Jonathan Douglas Block, Morgan Chappell Block Bomer, and Anderson Paul Block. Jonathan and Anderson live in Sugar Land, Texas and so do Paul and Chappell Block. John and Chappell built their home in the same neighborhood and have lived there together for 30 years.

Morgan and her husband, Daniel Wright Bomer, live in San Diego, California. John’s mother, Gladys Irene Williamson Wells, passed away on May 2nd, 1971. John’s 3 brothers are no longer with us. Phillip Whitman Wells died on July 25th, 1989, Paul Alexander Wells III on March 4th, 1997 and Michael Oliver Wells in 2006.

John and Chappell graduated from Greenwood High School in May of 1965 and married in 1966. Shortly after becoming married, he joined the United States Army Reserve. He was honorably discharged, specialist Four, USAR on August 28th, 1972. John earned his M.S. in physics with a math minor in December 1973 from Mississippi

State University. He earned his B.S. in mathematics and chemistry with a minor in physics in August 1971 from Delta State University. While attending graduate school, he was awarded a teaching assistantship in the physics department. Because of his academic record, he was on the Dean’s List, The President’s List and was elected a Faculty Scholar. In the Spring of 1973, he was honored by being invited to present a paper at the meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences in Biloxi, the only undergraduate on the program. His research area was in microwave molecular spectroscopy.

John encouraged his family to attend Sunday school and church activities at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in Meyerland. John served on the Vestry, was a church usher, and very active in Sunday School.

His wife and daughter taught Sunday School for many years.

In 1974, upon graduation, he began working for Texaco, Inc. at the Bellaire Research Laboratory in Houston, Texas. He worked there from 1974-1979 in the area of enhanced oil recovery processes and was awarded two United States patents with which were assigned to Texaco, Inc. In 1976, he began working with Texaco’s Houston Division Log Analysis Section in Developing a computerized log analysis system, “TEXLAS.” This program was designed to perform shaley sand and carbonate analysis with the added feature of a color coded, interpreted, foot by foot print out. Contributed subroutines in the areas of permeability and porosity determinations and plot formatting.

He became the technical coordinator for the CO2 - Thermal Field Implementation Group, which included: describing the reservoir geology through Log interpretation and development of contours on structures, porosity, and sand thickness; and performing calculations to determine optimal pilot pattern parameters, such as pattern geometry, injection rate and quality, duration of pilot, and predictions of incremental recovery efficiency.

In 1979, he became employed by Intercomp Resource Development and Engineering, Inc. He was the manager of Reservoir Engineering.

In 1983, Intercomp merged with Scientific Software Corp. to form the Scientific Software-Intercomp (SSI). John was Manager of the Houston Reservoir Engineering Department of the Exploration and Production Consulting Services Division. After leaving Scientific Software-Intercomp (SSI), John worked independently for a while before joining Dowdle, Fairchild and Ancell. He later became a partner in

Fairchild and Wells, Inc.

In 2002, John formed Wells Chappell and Company, Inc., a successful petroleum engineering company in Sugar Land, Texas. Wells Chappell offers consulting services in problem solving and decision making in oil, gas, and field operations. He led the company with the help of his son-in-law, Paul Douglas Block, for 20 years and continued to enjoy his work up until his passing. John was very personable with all his clients. Sharing many current events in his family life and enjoying hearing about theirs. Some of John’s professional memberships include: the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME and the American Gas Association.

John was a member of two country clubs: BraeBurn Country Club, where he earned the 1994

Golf Runner-up Club Championship with a 77 and 86, and Sweetwater Country Club. John enjoyed every activity that his daughter, Chappell Alan, participated in and especially enjoyed teaching her how to water ski, snow ski, pitch a tent, etc. After Chappell Alan graduated from the University of Texas, Austin with her B.S. in nursing, John was incredibly proud of her accomplishment. But what he really got excited about is when we found out Paul Douglas Block, who also graduated from UT asked her to marry him. John said, “this is going to be good! A blessing!

I am going to have a son-in-law with sense and then grandchildren someday to enjoy all kinds of fun and to love.”

John certainly loved his grandchildren. He had child sized golf clubs in Jonathan’s hands when he was 9 months old. As Jonathan grew older, John took him to soccer, baseball, basketball, etc. practices and games - sometimes changing him into different uniforms 3 times in one day.

Cub Scouts and church activities were fun times. Morgan was in dance, girl scouts (brownies), and gymnastics, and John especially loved seeing Morgan doing so well in all her activities.

Helping his grandchildren with school science projects was one of his favorite things to do with them. When Anderson was born, John couldn’t believe he now had 3 grandchildren to take snow skiing and go on cruises, and more baseball games, soccer games, and now tennis matches. John encouraged his grandchildren to do well in school because he knows this would be an excellent foundation for the future. He was incredibly proud of Jonathan when he graduated from Texas Tech in Lubbock with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems in December 2017. Morgan, his only granddaughter, gave him great pleasure and pride seeing her achieve academic success at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas with a BA in Geosciences and English. He was thrilled when Morgan decided to continue her education by earning her Master’s degree in Climate Science and Policy from the renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. John loved having another grandchild to watch and help take on the world. John said, “Anderson is very smart and is going to do whatever it takes to reach his goals. After watching Jonathan and Morgan become successful in their fields of study, John said, “I’m not worried about Anderson, he will be happy and able to take on all his visions for the future.” After a year of attending the University of Houston, Anderson decided that he would attend Texas State Technical College to pursue his associate degree in electrical power and controls. His grandchildren made him so happy and proud to be their grandfather.

He loved every minute he spent with his family and he gave all of us many, many minutes - all his time in the world. His family meant everything to him and we all feel the same way about him. He was so thoughtful, kind, caring, and very smart in giving us advice. He was the head of our family. Gave the blessing and believed that Jesus Christ is our savior. Rest in Peace, John.

The funeral service and viewing for John Wells was held on Monday, January 30, 2023 at Leal Funeral Home in Houston, Texas. His burial and graveside service was held on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Notice is hereby given that the City of Stafford Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 at 6:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, Stafford City Hall, 2610 South Main, Stafford, Texas.

Notice is hereby given that the City Council of the City of Stafford, Texas will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 at 6:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, Stafford City Hall, 2610 South Main, Stafford, Texas.

Zoning Amendments Proposed

A proposal to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 102 of the Code of Ordinances, the same being the City’s Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, to grant a Specific Use Permit for the operation of a convenience store with fuel sales and an office warehouse facility, located at 12303 Murphy Rd.

All residents of the City of Stafford and other interested parties are invited to attend and will be given the opportunity to be heard.

Thomas Coon - City Planner be $60,000 more than what the city is paying for the first phase, he said.

Throughout the presenta - pired term of longtime Mayor Leonard Scarcella, who died in 2020, reiterated his previously stated vision to keep Stafford running as it has for decades, particularly concerning its budgeting and finances.

After emerging from the pandemic and dealing with supply chain issues, inflation, extreme weather events and what he called "an uncontrolled Southern traffic congestion and a perceived potential for higher crime rates.

Mark Toon, PUMA's executive director, spoke extensively on the firm's ideas for the redevelopment Toon said that The Canon, a co-working space

H tion, the board members lauded the safety and crime-prevention aspects of the program, with Guerra mentioning that he was particularly impressed with the rescue of the kidnapped girl and the arrest border," Willis said that the state of Stafford is on a much stronger footing than last year. Willis gave a detailed rundown of each of the city's departments and praised their leadership and the work of city staffers. He also laid out a series of goals for the city in the coming year, ranging from the celebration of its diversity to increasing the city's fund balance and continuing to promote the development and redevelopment the city's real and start-up incubator that would be the anchor tenant of the Imperial Char House, would attract young professionals who don't want to work in downtown Houston, much like central business districts across the country.

The biggest potential item on the capital plan is rebuilding Clements High School, whose foundation has become unstable, she said.

"A lot of these people that we've interviewed want to be in Sugar Land," Toon said. As those start-up businesses grow, they will

Deputy Superintendent Steven Bassett told the board that the administration is recommended $1 million in safety and security items, including electronic "smart tags" that students would wear that would allow district personnel and parents to of the suspect. However, Art Pertile, the city's retained attorney, continually cautioned the board members that they should steer clear of discussing that aspect of the cameras program Since estate. He also said that the city and the Fort Bend region must work together to offer more mass transit opportunities to the public. Willis was forceful in his support for the city's longstanding policy of having no property taxes but instead relying on sales taxes for most of its revenue. The lack of a property tax is instrumental in attracting both new residents and new businesses to Stafford, he said. Most importantly, Wil - hire new employees who want to live close to where they work, he said.

Lauren Fehr and Ruth Lohmer, both assistant directors of planning development services for the city, and Deon Rodriguez, deputy director for economic development, gave a detailed presentation on the proposed redevelopment for what is called the Imperial Historic District track where they are. Based on results from the survey, the district could ask voters to approve an additional one-cent or a half-cent increase on the current ad valorum tax rate of $1.13 per $100 in valuation.

The district has hired