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WEDNESDAY • JUNE 7, 2023 JEANNE GREGORY REALTOR®, CRS, GRI, ABR
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 48 • No. 34 • $1.00
Katy man arrested in April arson of Fort Bend County building By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Election Day in Stafford mayoral runoff is June 10 By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Election Day for the city of Stafford’s mayoral runoff will be Saturday, June 10. Polls will be open at Stafford City Hall, 2610 S Main St, . from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Incumbent Mayor Cecil Willis and former Position X Councilman Ken Mathews are vying for the post, after being the top two vote-getters in a four-person May 6 race that also included former Position 4 Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Don Jones and former Position 2 Councilman Wen Guerra.
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A 29-year-old Katy man who was on probation for a stalking conviction has been arrested and charged with arson in the April 4 fire at a Fort Bond County Community Supervision and Corrections Department satellite office in Richmond, county authorities announced in a press conference Wednesday. Andrew Huwar was arrested May 25 and is being held in the Fort Bend County Jail on a $250,000 bond. On the evening of April 4, the Community Volunteer Fire Department in Richmond was dispatched to a report of a possible structure fire at the Fort Bend County Road and Bridge Facility at 19310 Beechnut St., Fire Marshal Justin Jurkek
said. The building was a satellite office of the Fort Bond County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, which provides services to people on parole, probation or deferred adjudication. Fire investigators quickly determined that the fire was intentionally set. They eventually identified Huwar as the primary suspect. He was on probation for a stalking charge in 2020. In addition to his Fort Bend County cases, Huwar previously had been charged in Harris County for drug possession, driving while intoxicated, and firearms theft, according to Harris County court records. He had been living at a series of addresses in the Harris County portion of Katy.
At the press conference, Jurek would not discuss details of how the fire was set or a possible motive, saying they were part of the case that has yet to be presented to a grand jury. He said the estimated costs of the damage to the facility are approximately $300, although that could go higher. Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy, in whose precinct the building is located, said it would have to be demolished and that Commissioners Court would eventually have to identify funding for a replacement. People using the services at the Richmond building have since had to go to the department’s facility in Rosenberg, McCoy said. This is a case of thorough detective work and the arrest
occurred primarily because of the investigative skills the Fire Marshal developed in their agency,” District Attorney Brian Middleton said. “There are arsons they investigate in Fort Bend County that would go uninvestigated and unprosecuted in other counties. The fire investigators went beyond establishing the probable cause that supported the arrest warrant, conducting additional searches and interviews, that led to important evidence.” He thanked the U.S. Marshals, the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force, and the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance in making the arrest. He also particularly singled out arson investigators David Zietz, Brandon Venegas, Robert Koryciak, and Robert
Andrew Huwar, 29, has been charged with arson in the April 4 fire of a Richmond building used as a Fort Bend County community services satellite office. Courtesy Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office
Ruiz for their work in the investigation. Fort Bend County Judge KP George also praised the investigators and other law enforcement officials for their efforts. Adult arson is a seconddegree felony in Texas.
MOVING AHEAD
In the May 6 election, Willis, who took office after a special election following the June 2020 death of longtime mayor Leonard Scarcella, received 47.71 percent of the vote, while Mathew received 26.18 percent. Willis, a San Antonio native and retired president of the Quail Valley Homeowners Association, has lived in Stafford since 1973 and has served on the Council for 36 years. Willis has run a campaign largely based on his central theme of reserving Stafford’s policy of having no property taxes, which has been in place since the 1990s. Mathew, a native of India who came to the United A Metro bus prepares to leave the parking lot of the Kroger store at Highway 6 and the Fort Bend Tollway on Tuesday. The Metro board last month approved an agreement States to attend college in to build a new parking garage for patrons nearby. Photo by Ken Fountain Detroit, has lived in Stafford since 1982. A retired finanBy Ken Fountain property it owns very near Construction is expected to route to the medical center the people who currently use cial executive, has based KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM the Kroger parking lot at Fort begin in the first quarter of also picks up passengers at the service, such as Sugar his platform of keeping the Bend Town Center that it has 2025, with completion in 10- a dedicated Park & Ride lot Land residents, are not part no property taxes policy in on Fondren Road at the Fort of Metro’s service area. place while also also trying leased for years for a commuter 20 months. Bend Tollway. to expand the city’s retail Residents who commute to bus route that goes directly to sector in order to gain more the Texas Medical Center from the medical center. The propBoard member Diann LewMissouri City Mayor Robin sales taxes. Missouri City and surround- erty is the site of NewQuest’s ter, who made the motion to During the public comment Eckatt on Monday said that ing areas will soon have a new planned second phase of Fort approve the agreement, said portion of the May 25 meet- while the city has not been Learn more at staffordtx. option, a brand new parking Bend Town Center. the new garage will serve a ing, former Metro finance head directly involved in the agreegov. garage that the Metropolitan fast-growing area where many Arthur Smiley spoke remotely ment, it has been supportive Transit Authority plans to When completed, the garage residents work in the medical against the agreement, say- during the months of discuslease near the agency’s pres- will have 1,750 spaces. The cost center. New commercial and ing he had been fighting it sions. ent park-and-ride location at of construction is estimated to residential developments, in- for years while he was with Ecklatt said that with the the intersection of Highway be $40 million. Metro will pay cluding both single-family and the agency. 6 and the Fort Bend Tollway. NewQuest up front for the con- multi-family, are expected in expected growth in commuters Smiley said the parking to the medical center in the arstruction, and then lease both the area for many years to garage cost too much for the ea, the parking garage will be On May 25, the Metro the land at $325,000 annually come, Lewter said. board unanimously approved per year for 40 years (with rent expected ridership, especially a boon to residents and the city a 40-year agreement with increases every five years). Missouri City is the larg- since Fort Bend Transit (which when it becomes operational. NewQuest Properties to lease METRO also has three options est city in Fort Bend County is a separate entity from Metthe land and the garage that to extend the agreement for a served by Metro. Besides the ro) also provides direct service Video of the May 25 meeting NewQuest will build at the period of 15 years each. Kroger lot, the commuter to the medical center. Many of is available at ridemetro.org.