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Master Gardeners offer free classes Community Reports Seventy people spent a recent Saturday morning learning about “Edible Garden Planning,” presented by Fort Bend County Master Gardeners. The free Grow Your Own class begins a new year of educational offerings by Master Gardeners, who also offer Landscape Success classes on different gardening topics. Master Gardeners Peggy d’Hemecourt and Dan Lawlor presented the January program and answered audience questions. d’Hemecourt, of Richmond, told the group at the Bud O’Shieles Community Center in Rosenberg that success depends upon having a plan, choosing a site, preparing the soil, planting at the optimal time of year and continuous care. “If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t be surprised when you get there,” she said, emphasizing the importance of planning. “Planning begins with the end in mind: what do you want to accomplish?” she said. Her list of possible goals included fresh fruit and vegetables for attendees’ families, engaging the entire family in an outdoor project and replacing lawns with productive garden space. Questions to be asked by the gardeners include who will do the work, what do you and your family like to eat and how do you plan to use what you grow. If a vegetable garden is the goal, the attendees learned that it needs a well-drained area, a nearby water supply, visibility from the home, a site away from trees, shrubs and buildings and 8-plus hours per day of direct sunlight. People who don’t have room for raised beds were asked to consider planting in containers. d’Hemecourt also discussed successful home fruit production and what requirements need to be met to accomplish that goal. “Begin with the end in mind!” she said. “Know before you grow.” Lawlor talked about the physical characteristics of soil, improving soil structure, soil water, plant nutrients and soil pH, fertilizers and soil testing. Examining soil volume, he said half is pore space and half soil solids. Components are air, water, minerals and organic material. “Soil is alive,” he said. In discussing soil texture, Lawlor said the average soil in the Richmond area was 40 percent to 50 percent clay, 15 percent silt and 35 percent sand. An ideal composition would be less than 20 percent clay, 15 percent silt and 65 percent sand. “Soil is produced when unweathered geologic material is acted upon over time by climate and biological activity,” he said. “Soil structure is almost always improved by adding organic matter.” Lawlor, of Sugar Land, said organic matter loosens soil, aggregates soil, is a nutrient source for plants, increases water holding and aeration, provides food for microbes,
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TCEQ remands permit for proposed Rosharon concrete-crushing plant By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality last week voted unanimously to grant a motion by Fort Bend County to deny a permit application for a proposed concrete and rock-crushing facility in Rosharon and remand the matter back to the agency’s executive director for further review. The vote by the three commissioners, all appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, was the latest salvo in a drama that began last year after Houston-based Julpit, Inc. applied for the permit to build the facility,
which would be located on a now vacant property near several neighborhoods. The permit application was the subject of an often-raucous public meeting last August. At that meeting, residents who live in close proximity to the proposed plant spoke in opposition to the plant for hours to TCEQ representatives and company officials, Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage told the company and TCEQ representatives that he would lead the county’s effort to have the permit denied. The Fort Bend Commissioners Court later voted unanimously to authorize County Attorney Bridget Smith-
Lawson to pursue legal avenues toward that end. At the TCEQ hearing in Austin on January 16 (which can be viewed on YouTube at youtube. com/@TCEQ/streams) led off the county’s arguments by saying the company’s permit application had several procedural errors, including ambiguity over the proposed facility’s compliance with distance requirements under state law. Furthermore, she said, health concerns related to such facilities warrant closer scrutiny by the TCEQ’s staff. Ernest Wotring, a Houston-based outside counsel for the county, laid out its arguments in more detail,
saying that the documentation in the permit application made it unclear which legal entity - Julpit, Inc. or Julpit, LLC - had actually applied for and been granted an air permit by the TCEQ’s executive director, Kelly Keel. Wotring also said that maps provided by the company were rudimentary and unclear about whether the working facilities of the proposed plant were outside of the required 440-foot distance from any homes, churches or schools. For these reasons, he argued, the appli-
SEE TCEQ PAGE 6
Fort Bend social club has fun while doing good
Pictured are the recipients of the 2024 Fort Bend Friends and Neighbors Foundation scholarships. L-R: Nancy Byrne, vice president for scholarships, Erika Castrejon, Varvara Martynova, Ethan McNew, Arleth Escobar, Cassandra Fuentes, Bryan Fuentes, Vivian Phung, Robert Bradby, Cole Young, Jana Yeager, Foundation President. Not pictured: Syed Hasan, Hiba Rizvi. Contributed photo
By Dana Worchel SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Brother and sister Cassandra and Bryan Fuentes, both graduates of Lamar CISD’s Foster High School, couldn’t have been happier and prouder last May. Each of them had won a $3,000 scholarship to attend an institution of higher learning within Fort Bend County, allowing them to pursue their educational dreams, leading to solid careers. The scholarships came about when the siblings applied with Fort Bend Friends and Neighbors, a social and philanthropic organization open to all
Fort Bend County women residents. “I want to teach math and science in second through fourth grade,” Cassandra said, adding she loved those two subjects. She saw a posting about the scholarship on a bulletin board outside of her school counselor’s office. “I knew that any help I could get would be beneficial, and I’m very grateful,” Cassandra said of the scholarship. Cassandra, now a senior at University of Houston Sugar Land, will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in Teaching and Learning. Bryan attends Texas State Technical College and is working on an asso-
ciate’s degree with plans to become a heavy engine diesel technician. He plans to graduate in December. “I really needed that extra help and it helped a lot,” he said of the scholarship. The application period for this year opened this month with a March 15 deadline. Students must apply online at www.fbfnfoundation. org. FBFN, which began awarding the scholarships in 2005, has since given away over $350,000 to deserving high school and college students. In 2012, the Fort Bend Friends and Neighbors Foundation was created as a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt
Texas organization and charitable arm of the FBFN social club, said Joyce Levine, president of the social club. The social club part of FBFN began in the late 1980s as a part of Welcome Wagon International, a company which welcomed newcomers into an area with baskets of gifts and coupons from local businesses and a little friendship. But the friendships grew, and Welcome Wagon rules stated newcomers had to leave membership after two years.
SEE FBFN PAGE 2
Suspect in mail facility killing to receive sanity evaluation By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A man accused of the shooting death of a coworker at a U.S. Post Office facility in Missouri City in December will be evaluated by a forensic psychologist to determine if he is mentally competent. At a hearing on Friday, 434th District Court Judge Christian Becerra granted a defense motion to use state funds to hire a psychologist by the defense attorney of Derrick Deon Lott, Jr., who was arrested December 9 after
the late-night fatal shooting of Kevin Hines at the mail processing center off of U.S. 90. Lott, 24, of Humble, has been held in the Fort Bend County Jail on a $2 million bond since shortly after his arrest. According to an addendum to a probable cause affidavit sworn to bye two Missouri City police detectives, Fort Bend County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik determined that Hines died of a single gunshot to the back of his head. Since the shooting, authorities have been largely silent about the investigation, includ-
ing any possible relationship between Lott and Hines. According to media reports, Hines was an out-of-state contractor who was assigned to the Missouri City facility. At Friday's hearing, Lott, wearing a green jail uniform, sat silently with other defendants except for brief exchanges with his retained attorney, Allie Booker. In an earlier hearing, Lott waived arraignment on the single count of murder, a firstdegree felony. Derrick Deon Lott, Jr., accused in the murder of a coworker at The next hearing in the case a Missouri City postal facility, awaits a hearing in court last is set for March 3. week. Photo by Ken Fountain