Stafford council debating Juneteenth celebration plans

By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

With Juneteenth just three months away, the City of Stafford's ambitious plans for a new event are proceeding, but not without some controversy.

At the March 15 City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Don Jones laid out the ideas thus far developed in a special ad hoc committee he initiated earlier this year to create a full-day festival marking the day in June 1865, after the end of the Civil War, when a U.S.

Army general announced in Galveston that all formerly enslaved people in Texas were free. The celebration known as Juneteenth was celebrated by Black Americans in Texas beyond for decades before being recognized as a federal holiday in 2020.

Jones, who along with fellow Council members Wen Guerra and Ken Mathew are challenging incumbent Mayor Cecil Willis in the May 6 municipal election, said the committee had had extensive discussions on

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