Fort Bend Christian Academy's visual arts students' championship - Page 3
"Restaurant name serves up something tasty". See on Page 4.
WEDNESDAY • MAY 24, 2023 JEANNE GREGORY REALTOR®, CRS, GRI, ABR
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 48 • No. 33 • $1.00
County celebrating life, legacy of Deacon Jones By Landon Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Deacon Jones was one of the men who played an instrumental part in bringing baseball to Fort Bend County. And in light of his passing, many involved with the Sugar Land baseball franchise are remembering and honoring their longtime friend. Jones, who has served as a special assistant for the Sugar
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Deacon Jones
Land Space Cowboys – formerly the Skeeters – passed away on May 8 according to the organization. In the days and weeks since his passing, there has been an outpouring of remembrance by those whose crossed paths with Jones to honor and celebrate the life that he lived. “He will be sorely missed in this community,” Fort Bend County Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage said. “He was quite an
individual.” Jones appeared in 40 MLB games for the Chicago White Sox during the 1962-1963 and 1966 seasons, hitting .286 with a .797 OPS before retiring and becoming a roving hitting instructor according to the Space Cowboys. Jones would then serve as a hitting coach for the Houston Astros (1976-1982) and SEE LEGACY PAGE 5
A long goodbye
Memorial Day events to be held during extended weekend Staff Reports
Memor ial Day, the national holiday that honors U.S. ser v ice members who have died while in active ser v ice, w ill be obser ved on Monday, May 29. In For t Bend County, there w ill be two opportunities for the public to pay homage dur ing the extended Memor ial Day weekend.
The Fluor Corporation recently announced that it is moving its Houston operations from the circa-1984 building to the Energy Corridor in 2024. (Photo by Ken Fountain)
Fluor Corporation moving from Sugar Land after four decades By Ken Fountain
to the Energ y Cor r idor.
KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
W hile the Fluor corporation has not ow ned the moder nistic, 1980sera building for many years, the engineer ing design company's announcement that its approximately 1,600 employees w ill vacate 1 Fluor Daniel Dr ive by the second quar ter of 2024 br ings an end to the signif icant presence
A w ide expanse of Sugar Land w ill soon undergo signif icant change after the Flour Cor poration, whose name has graced a distinctive off ice building in the Lake Pointe area for decades, announced earlier this On Sunday, May 28, be- month that it is mov ing ginning at 7:30 p.m., the its Houston operations area Exchange Clubs of the Texas Louisiana Gulf Coast Distr ict w ill host "A Night to Remember" at Sugar Land Tow n Square. By Ken Fountain T he family-fr iendly event KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM w ill feature music from a Grammy Award-w inning duo, as well as the For t It's v ir tually a brand new day Bend Brass, dance per- for the City of Staf ford after the for mances, speeches depar ture last week of three from veterans. For more long-standing members of City infor mation, v isit sugar- Council. But who w ill lead the Council from the mayor's seat landtow nsquare.com. remains unresolved, pending a On Monday, May 29, r un-of f election. the city of Sugar Land w ill host its annual cer- Dur ing a specially called emony at Sugar Land meeting on May 16, Position Memor ial Park, 5300 Uni- 4 Council member and Mayor versity Blvd., beginning Pro Tem Don Jones, Position 2 at 10 a.m. Admission is Council member Wen Guer ra, free and open to the pub- and Position 6 Council member Ken Mathew - who all had lic. challenged incumbent Mayor Cecil Willis in the May 6 municipal election, were of f icially SEE MEMORIAL PAGE 2 bid adieu after mak ing par ting
the company has held in Sugar Land for four decades. In a May 1 press release, Granite Prop er ties announced that it had signed a 12-year lease w ith Fluor at the 13-stor y T hree Eldr ige building on Nor th Eldr idge Park way. Fluor w ill f ully occupy the 13-stor y, 308,186 square foot, Class A building.
Jenn ifer K im, v ice president a nd genera l ma nager of F luor’s Houston operat ions, told t he For t Bend Sta r t hat t he long- ex pected move br ings F luor, wh ich specia lizes in eng ineer ing of energ y-indust r y facilit ies, br ings t he compa ny 's operat ions closer to its customer base t hat is concent rated in t he Energ y Coor idor.
T he move w ill also br ing Fluor to a newer building (updated in 2020) that of fers many of the amenities that are attractive to the younger workers that large companies like Fluor are seek ing in a highly competitive labor market. A mong those amenities, according to the GranSEE SUGAR LAND PAGE 2
Stafford City Council begins new era, but mayoral seat still uncertain ser v ing the city in var ious capacities, he was look ing for ward to spending more time w ith his large extended family.
comments. Mathew and Willis w ill face each other in the r unof f election on June 6. With four active members v y ing for the mayoral seat, tensions on City Council had been r unning high for week s. But at the May 16 meeting, each of the depar ting members gave ver y conciliator y remark s after being presented by Willis w ith plaques honor ing their combined 43 years of public ser v ice. Guer ra and Jones seemed particularly relieved to have the sometimes ugly race behind them. Guer ra had or iginally planned to r un in the 2020 special election to replace the deceased Mayor Leonard Scarcella, who before his death
earlier that year had ser ved for f ive decades, mak ing him the longest-ser v ing mayor in the United States. But Guer ra opted to leave the race, clear ing the path for Willis that year. He said that after decades of
Jones, who has been a vocal cr itic of the city's long-standing f inancial policies which he says keep Staf ford from of fer ing a high level of ser v ices to its residents, had clashed most f iercely w ith Willis in recent week s, especially over his proposal to hold an orchestral concer t for the city's f irst of f icial Juneteenth festival this year. T hat plan was ultimately voted dow n by the Council, largely over budget concer ns, w ith the Council opting instead for a SEE NEW ERA PAGE 6
FREE PATRIOTIC CONCERT • SUNDAY NIGHT • HONORING OUR FALLEN HEROES May 28th at 7:30pm | Sugar Land Town Square | Bring the family!