2023
READERS’ CHOICE
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Rosharonarea residents protest proposed concretecrushing plant By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Hundreds of people filled a large chapel space at the Resurrection City Life Center on Tuesday to speak out against a proposed concrete and rockcrushing facility off of FM 521 in the unincorporated community of Rosharon. The public meeting facilitated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was requested by Texas Sen. Borris Miles, and Texas Rep. Ron Reynolds. It was the first time members of the public had the opportunity to hear directly from representatives of the company hoping to build the facility and the TCEQ since an application for an air permit was first filed in October. Miles has stated that his Texas 13th district, based mostly in Houston with a population that is predominantly made up of minority and economically disadvantaged people, has the largest concentration of concrete batch plants in the state. Batch plants are used to make concrete that is then trucked to construction areas and have been associated with high levels of particulate matter and other emissions that have been shown to be harmful to communities. Although the representatives of the newly formed, Houston-based Julpit Inc. and the TCEQ went to great lengths that the proposed facility would be used to crush recycled concrete, not as a batch plant, and met the minimum federal and state standards to protect human health and the environment, most attendees weren’t assuaged. Many pointed out that a similar facility is located not very far away off of FM 521 in Arcola. Darlene Bray of the Austinbased Power Engineers, a consulting firm which helped draw up the permit application, said the facility if built would crush 200 tons of concrete per hour, up to 2,640 hours per year. “We just crush recycled concrete. We’re not making anything,” Bray said. She added that spay bars would be used to wet down the concrete to keep dust from being emitted and that a tree line
SEE PROTEST PAGE 2
With protestors holding signs behind her, Erica Johnson speaks against the approval of a permit for a concrete-crushing facility in the Rosharon area. Photo by Ken Fountain
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FBISD board approves contentious revisions to library book policy By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
After months of rancorous discussions, a split Fort Bend ISD board of trustees on Monday approved revisions to the district’s policy on removal of books from school libraries that put the ultimate decision-making authority in the hands of the district’s superintendent. The arguments over the policy began near the end of the 2023-2024 school year at the instigation of Position 7 trustee and board secretary David Hamilton, who led a social media campaign over books in district libraries that he and others said were pornographic in
nature. But after a couple of contentious meetings, Hamilton’s proposal to make changes to the policy were tabled until after the end of the school year and the election of of a new board. The biggest change to the policy from the previous one - which a previous board including Hamilton unanimously approved two years ago - is that it removes a permanent reconsideration committee made up of district staff from the process of evaluating challenges to books. In the revised policy approved Monday, the authority to make final determinations on individual books is left to Superintendent Marc Smith or a staff member
or group of staff members he designates. The vote came after at least 16 members of the public - including Fort Bend ISD teachers and librarians, parents, and former and current students - spoke against making changes to the policy and on behalf of school librarians. No members of the public in favor of the changes. Many of the speakers said the proposed changes were part of an ideologically and politically driven drive against books about people and ideas that the proponents of the policy proponents did not approve. “Reading has been the pivotal thing that changed my life,” said
The Fort Bend ISD board on Monday passed long-debated revisions to the district’s library book policy. File photo by Ken Fountain
Anna Lykoudis-Zafiris, a Fort Bend ISD parent and member of a newly formed advocacy group called Friends of Fort Bend ISD Libraries. “Reading took us on adventures that we could never afford to have and meet people we could
never afford to meet, even people who were in difficult circumstances, salacious circumstances with utter despair. But reading also showed us how to overcome,
SEE FBISD PAGE 2
MAKING HISTORY Groundbreaking held for African American Memorial
Officials turn the dirt during the formal groundbreaking of an African American Memorial at Bates Allen Park in Kendleton on Sunday. Photos by Ken Fountain
By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Under a blazing Texas sky, hundreds of people gathered at Bates Allen Park in Kendleton in southwest Fort Bend County on Sunday for the twice-delayed groundbreaking ceremony of Fort Bend County’s African American Memorial, which organizers hope will be one of the premier such locales in the nation. Despite the oppressive heat, it was a celebratory atmosphere at the park in Kendleton, one of the first cities in the United States founded by formerly enslaved people after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Folks gathered on chairs in front of a temporary state (some sat under a large tent behind them) to hear speeches from officials and rousing gospel music. Early in 2023, Fort Bend
Commissioners Court, acting on an initiative by Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy, approved $4 million towards construction of the memorial, which when completed will be perhaps the largest such memorial in the state to celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans, particularly in Fort Bend County and Kendleton. The expanded Bates M. Allen Park will encompass the Newman Chapel and Oak Hill cemeteries, long-important landmarks in Kendleton. After some delay because of the long line of cars trying to find parking at the event, the ceremony officially kicked off with a stirring rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” long regarded as the Black National Anthem, by a gospel choir led by V. Michael McKay.
SEE MEMORIAL PAGE 3
Fort Bend Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the African American Memorial in Kendleton.