3rd ANNUAL
Easter Sunday, March 31st 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM
322 Brooks St. Sugar Land, TX Principal Office: Houston
Scan QR to Celebrate
Constellation Field
1 Stadium Dr. Sugar Land, TX
Tickets & Info: amarolawfirm.com/easter-egg-hunt
International Art and Kite Festival in Sugar Land - Page 3
Tickets required to enter the event and will not be available at the gate.
The Fort Bend Star
Periodicals Postage
(USPS 006549) is published weekly PAID on Wednesdays for $52 per year by Sugar Land, TX Texas Street Media PO Box 2369, Stafford TX 77497 Periodicals postage paid at Sugar Land, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Fort Bend Star, 2400 Central Pkwy Ste. I, Houston TX 77092-7712
Send your news release to editor@fortbendstar.com
WEDNESDAY • MARCH 27, 2024
Space Cowboys to host Las Vegas Aviators for Opening Day on April 2 Community Reports
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, open the 2024 season on the road on March 29 against the Round Rock Express. Opening Day at Constellation Field is on Tuesday, April 2 when the Space Cowboys take on the Las Vegas Aviators at 6:05 p.m. There will be 75 home games in the season. The team’s 2024 Sugar Land’s promotional schedule will include giveaways, including six bobbleheads, featuring a matching set of former Space Cowboys pitcher Hunter Brown (April 6) and Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (August 10) and a JP France Mustache bobblehead on April 19. New additions to the giveaway slate for 2024 include Eclipse Glasses (April 7), a Space Cowboys Crossbody Bag (May 12), Fishing Shirt (June 16) and Lotería Jersey (July 27) to name a few. The Space Cowboys will also be giving away a custom Tumbler (May 10) and Pickleball Paddle (August 9) and will celebrate Houston on July 13 with a 713 Jersey. Sugar Land’s promotional schedule includes an additional seven Astros-themed giveaways, the first of which is an Astros Orange Cowboy Hat (April 20), with the rest announced at a later date. The skies over Constellation Field will light up with 15 Texas-sized postgame fireworks shows with 13 Freddy’s Fireworks Fridays and a pair of non-Friday shows on Sunday, May 26 and Thursday, July 4. Sugar Land will also sport seven different custom on-field jerseys including ScoobyDoo (April 19), Military (May 26), Patriotic (July 4), Star Wars (June 30) and Marvel’s Defenders of the Diamond (September 1). The Space Cowboys will once again participate in MiLB’s ‘Copa de la Diversión,’ playing as the ‘Dulces de Sugar Land’ presented by H-E-B for seven nights throughout the season (April 21, May 23, June 28, July 27, August 23, September 13 and 14) and will auction off their game worn Dulces jerseys on September 14. Sugar Land’s home schedule features over 35 different theme days/ nights, ranging from Space Day (April 7) to 4H/FFA Night & Western Night (April 20) and Margaritaville Night (July 6). The promotional schedule
SEE COWBOYS PAGE 2
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 49 • No. 13 • $1.00
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Speakers demand removal of 'pornographic' books from Fort Bend ISD libraries Staff Reports A steady stream of speakers addressed the Fort Bend ISD board of trustees at its regular meeting Monday demanding that the district remove several books from district libraries that they said are pornographic in nature, reading excerpted long passages that contained explicit descriptions of sexual situations. Many of the speakers were from area churches who had been advised of the book excerpts through a social media campaign instigated in recent weeks
by Position 7 Trustee David Hamilton, who serves as the board secretary. All of the excerpts come from the website of BookLooks, a Florida-based group that provides capsule summaries of books as well as excerpts that it finds objectionable. While many of the speakers spoke in heated terms, the meeting, which included a significant contingent of Fort Bend ISD police officers, remained civil. The board members, who are prohibited by state law from addressing citizens during the public comments portion
of meetings, sat silently through out the session. It lasted more than an hour, although some speakers spoke on different topics. The first speaker, Pastor Carlos Jones of Missouri City-based Inspiration Church, began by asking supporters of removing the books in question to stand. More than two dozen people stood. Jones read from “All Boys Aren’t Blue,: a book by George M. Johnson, described on its publisher’s website a set of essays in
SEE REMOVAL PAGE 2
Pastor Carlos Jones of Missouri City-based Inspiration Church demands that the Fort Bend ISD district remove books he believes are inappropriate during Monday’s board meeting. Photo by Ken Fountain
Casias elected first Hispanic woman Fort Bend County Fair Association president Community Reports The Fort Bend County Fair Association recently named Alicia Casias at the fair’s President for 2024, making her the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the position and lead the organization. President is already making history. “It’s an honor to serve as President. I am proud to be part of an organization that strives to be inclusive but also recognizes the traditions that make our community a vibrant place to live, work, and play,” Casias said in a news release. “The Fort Bend County Fair is not just an entertainment venue; it is rich in history, home to generations of families’ involvement, and a champion of continued education,” she said. Since 2010, Casias has been serving the Fort Bend
County Fair through volunteering on committees such as the Sponsorship Committee and dedicating her time to being chairperson. “I began volunteering when I started managing a business office in Rosenberg. I needed to get involved in community events and network with other business professionals. This is when I was introduced to everything the Fair offers to the community and the youth in Fort Bend County,” said Casias, who has been a board member since 2014. Alicia said she is proud to be the first in her family to participate in the Fort Bend County Fair. As a B.F. Terry High School student, she participated by marching with the Ranger band in the iconic kick-off parade. Her involvement grew and inspired her entire family to get involved in the Fair activities.
Alicia Casias has been elected as President of the Fort Bend County Fair Association, making her the first Hispanic woman to hold the position. Courtesy Fort Bend County Fair Association
International Art and Kite Festival See Page 3 - for more photos from the festival
Willowridge senior surprised on campus with $100,000 scholarship By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A young girl tries mightily to get her kite aloft at the International Art and Kite Festival on Saturday. Photo by Ken Fountain
He was late for the presentation, but it wasn’t his fault. Pascal Gashe, 17, a senior at Fort Bend ISD’s Willowridge High School, wasn’t quite sure why he’d been told to report to the school’s College and Career Center last Wednesday afternoon. His parents just told him that he was supposed to be there. His father, Victor Gashe, told him that perhaps he would meet the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the West African nation from where he and his wife, Mariam, had emigrated to the United States 20 years ago. But Pascal wasn’t sure he believed that. When he entered the
somewhat cramped classroom in the main hall just off the school cafeteria, Pascal found that it was filled with many of his classmates along with a few teachers and administrators and some other people, including, strangely, a handful of news reporters. Two representatives of APQC, or American Productivity & Control Center, a member-based nonprofit organization that is involved in benchmarking best practices and improvement practices for other organizations, led off the presentation by asking the students, all high achievers from low-income families, a series of questions about where they hoped to go to college, and what some
SEE WILLOWRIDGE PAGE 2