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WEDNESDAY • MAY 10, 2023 JEANNE GREGORY REALTOR®, CRS, GRI, ABR
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 48 • No. 31 • $1.00
County denies claim in lawsuit over purported suicide By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Simon Atkinson
In its answers to a federal lawsuit alleging that the county medical examiner withheld making a ruling in an apparent suicide of a Sugar Land businessman for petty and bullying reasons, Fort Bend County said the widow of the deceased
man was uncooperative in the investigation and that the medical examiner and county officials are entitled to qualified immunity. In the complaint filed in December by New York-based attorney Ty Clevenger, Yvette Atkinson states that her husband, Simon J. Atkinson, died of a gunshot wound at their home on June 5,
2020. A forensic pathologist performed an autopsy within days and "found no evidence of foul play," the complaint states. Likewise, the Sugar Land Police Department investigated and "quickly concluded that Mr. Atkinson died of suicide," according to the complaint. SEE CLAIM PAGE 5
Plunging Ahead LOOK INSIDE
MAYORAL RUNOFF ELECTION
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Jim Studdard, 80, lunges for the ball while playing pickelball with Larry Quan, 72, at the Missouri City Recreation & Tennis Center Monday morning. The sport has quickly grown a following in Fort Bend County. (Photo by Ken Fountain)
Pickleball quickly gaining popularity in Fort Bend By Marianne Horton EDITOR@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
At a recent city council meeting, a group of Missouri City residents raised paddles at council members - pickleball paddles that is -as the rapid area growth of the sport was acknowledged. Since January, three indoor pickleball courts have
been added to the Missouri City Recreation and Tennis Center, 2701 Cypress Point Drive, where residents can register for matches, social events, lessons or even practice drills off of a ball machine. In March, Fort Bend County Fairground and Parks opened six outdoor courts at Jones Creek Ranch Park, 7714 FM 359, Richmond.
Additionally, construction began in April on six more lighted outdoor courts at Harlem Road Park, 701 Harlem Road. Those courts are expected to open in July. Both projects were part of a 2020 parks bond. First Colony resident Sharon Meyer, USA pickleball ambassador for Sugar Land, also has served in the expansion of the sport
as she prompted the City of Sugar Land to repaint tennis courts to accommodate pickleball at 321 7th Street, and had two more courts built through First Colony Community Services Association at 1314 Sheffield Drive, Missouri City. Meyer, 64, who picked up pickleball in 2018 after her son suggested she try the sport, said she now plays at
least once a day. "As we age, our social group often reduces," she said. "My husband and I can't say that. Our social circle is bigger than ever." At the Missouri City Recreation & Tennis Center on Monday, Theresa Sauls, 60, agreed while taking a break during a heated match with SEE PICKLEBALL PAGE 5
Missouri City police: man shot, dies after crashing truck into backyard By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Missouri City police say A man was shot inside his pickup truck while parked in the parking lot of Hunters Glen Elementary School and later crashed along Huntington Drive last Sunday night. (Photo from Facebook)
A man was shot inside his pickup truck while parked in the parking lot of Hunters Glen Elementary School and later crashed in the 600 block of Huntington Drive Sunday night, according to Missouri City police. In a press release, the department said at about 9:08 p.m., officers were dispatched to a report of a traffic accident. Whey they arrived, they found that a pickup truck had crashed trough a brike-
and-wood fence before coming to a stop in residential back yard. The officers found the male driver unresponsive and discovered that he had apparently been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene. During the ensuing investigation, police determined the man had been shot as he sat inside the truck across the street inside the parking lot of Hunters Glen Elementary School, 695 Independence Blvd. The investigation is continuing.