2023
READERS’ CHOICE
“Echoes of the Cathedral” at Missouri City’s First United Methodist Church - Page 3
65 713.370.3600 $
WEDNESDAY • JUNE 5, 2024
Houston man charged in murder of man found in Richmond ditch Staff Reports A Houston man has been arrested and charged with the murder of a man whose body was found in a ditch in Richmond in April, according to a press release from the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force arrested Elton Jones Gainza, 36.
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 49 • No. 23 • $1.00
.00
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Fletcher presents $1 million check for Sugar Land training facility By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, joined by Sugar Land officials at a City Hall press conference, presented a ceremonial check for a cool $1 million in federal funding to help in the cost of the city’s first responder training facility, which serves police department and fire and emergency medical responders not only for the city but across Fort Bend County. Sugar Land residents approved the Sugar Land Public Safety Training
Facility in a 2019 bond referendum, with $1 million for total design and $9 million for construction. The completed facility will be located on city-owned property adjacent to the Sugar Land Regional Airport, also owned by the city. Fletcher, a Democrat whose Houston-based 7th Texas Congressional District was reconfigured following the 2020 Census, began serving parts of Fort Bend County and Sugar Land in early 2024. The new funding for the facility comes through the
congressional Community Project Funding program, which allows for individual members of Congress to seek specific funding for qualifying civic projects within their districts. Once known as “earmarking” the process fell out of favor and was discontinued for many years before being reinstated a couple of years ago. Such funding must be approved by both congressional chambers as part of appropriations legislation.
SEE FACILITY PAGE 2
U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston), center, speaks at a Sugar Land City Hall press conference about $1 million in federal funding for the Sugar Land Public Service Training Facility. Photo by Ken Fountain
Officials tout $68 million for regional flood mitigation projects
Elton Jones Gainza, 36, of Houston, has been charged in the murder of Yoandris Bistel Rodriguez, 28, also of Houston, whose body was found in a ditch in Richmond in April. Courtesy Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office
On April 26 at approximately 6:15 am, sheriff ’s deputies responded to the 25500 block of Fulshear Gaston Road regarding a deceased male found in the ditch. Upon arrival, deputies discovered the victim sustained gunshot injuries, resulting in his death. The victim was identified as Yoandris Bistel Rodriguez, 28, a resident of the Houston area. Investigators learned through their investigation Rodriguez had been stalked by a known person and was ultimately followed and shot on Fulshear Gaston Road by this subject. The peson was identified as Gainza. A murder arrest warrant for Gainza was obtained through the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office and with the assistance of the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force, Gainza was arrested. His bond has been set to $500,000. “This was such a senseless act that claimed the life of a member of our community,” Sheriff Eric Fagan said in the release. “Such violence shakes the very foundation of our sense of safety and unity.”
Contact our helpful sales team to see how Fort Bend Star can help your business
713-371-3600
Erosion along the Brazos River banks in Sugar Land’s Memorial Park is one of the areas that will be addressed by new regional mitigation funding from the Texas General Land Office. File photo by Ken Fountain
By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
With a Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office helicopter as their backdrop, a coterie of public officials gathered last week in a hangar at the Sugar Land Regional Airport to celebrate the awarding of more than $68 million for projects meant to mitigate and prevent erosion of the Brazos River in Fort Bend County. Earlier this year, the Texas General Land Office allocated $68,382,016 for three erosion repair projects in Fort Bend County and the city of Sugar Land. The funding is split among three entities - Fort Bend County, the city of Sugar Land, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), the federally sponsored “council of governments” which encompasses 13 counties of the greater Houston region.
Sugar Land received $4,063,600 for its Evacuation Route-US 59/IH 69 Bridge Riverbank Erosion Repair project to repair riverbank erosion addressing areas upstream and downstream to ensure bridges are adequately protected; and the Memorial Park Riverbank Erosion Repair project to stabilize the river bank in and around the park. Fort Bend County received $38,492,516 for its part of the joint projects with Sugar Land. H-GAC received $25,825,900 for the socalled Simonton Pinch Project, which will help present the coming together of an ox-bow in the city of Simonton which, if it were to close, would vastly increase the river’s momentum both up and down the river, creating even more dangerous conditions.
SEE FLOOD PAGE 2
Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Cunningham speaks at a press conference in a hangar of the Sugar Land Regional Airport. Joining her were (L-R) Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Fort Bend County Judge KP George, and Chuck Wemple, executive director of the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Photo by Ken Fountain