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Sugar Land council approves mosque expansion plan By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
After a unanimous vote last week, the Sugar Land City Council was expected on Tuesday (after the Fort Bend Star’s print deadline) to approve on second consideration a plan allowing a mosque to expand its current facility and make improvements to the property adjacent to the Barrington Place subdivision. The vote brings to a close a more-than-yearlong process after Mayor Joe Zimmerman and the council told mosque leaders, after the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission had approved the plan, to work harder to address concerns raised by some members of the surrounding community. At issue was a Conditional Use Permit for the Faison EMadinah Masjid on Alston Road, commonly referred to as the Alston Road Mosque, a converted two-story house on a property adjacent to the Alston Road Church of Christ and the Barrington Place neighborhood. Two other large Christian churches are in the immediate vicinity. City staff explained that the mosque is located on a property zoned for nonresidential neighborhood business. The Council passed an ordinance in 2016 requiring such businesses, including houses of worship, to apply for conditional use permits when building or improving upon their properties that are adjacent to residential areas. The Council is allowed to set certain conditions on these permits, staff explained. The property was annexed by Sugar Land in 1985 and purchased by the DawatE-Islami in 2014, the same year that it was converted into a mosque and Islamic seminary. Two small improvements which did not require a permit were done in 2018. But because the mosque wants to expand the structures to more than 25 percent of the entire property, a conditional use permit is required, staff explained. During the hearings before the Planning and Zoning Commission and Council in July 2023, several nearby residents raised concerns related to traffic, noise, drainage, and the height of a proposed minaret on the improved facility. Although the P&Z approved the mosque’s plan, with restrictions including an 8-foot-tall wooden fence and landscaping, the Council under Zimmerman’s lead the next month said that mosque leaders had not done enough to reach out to the surrounding community.
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 49 • No. 43 • $1.00
Judge denies writ seeking to quash George’s indictment By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A Fort Bend County on Monday denied a writ by County Judge KP George’s attorney seeking to quash his indictment misrepresentation of identity on procedural grounds, keeping alive prosecutors’ criminal case against the county’s top elected official. But Chad Dick, George’s attorney, told Judge Teana Watson that he would soon be submitting a second writ,
The Sugar Land City Council was expected this week to approve a permit for the expansion of the Faison E-Madinah Masjid on Alston Road, adjacent to the Barrington Place neighborhood. Photo by Ken Fountain
Fort Bend County Judge KP George, accompanied by his attorney Chad Dick and staffers, enters a Fort Bend courtroom before a hearing in his misdemeanor case. Photo by Ken Fountain
based on similar issues, following a re-indictment of George last week. No timeline was set for a new hearing. Watson made her ruling quickly after Dick and Assistant District Attorney Baldwin Chin spent about forty minutes making arguments. On September 26, a Fort Bend County grand jury handed down an indictment against George on a single count of misrepresentation of identity of a political
candidate, a Class A misdemeanor. The charge alleges that George knew that his former chief of staff, Taral Patel, was using fake social media accounts to post false, racist social media messages about George, who like Patel is Indian-American, during George’s 2022 reelection campaign. The indictment alleges that George may have directed Patel to add language
SEE GEORGE PAGE 2
Sugar Land Dia De Los Muertos Celebration S
ugar Land Heritage Foundation hosted the third annual Sugar Land Dia De Los Muertos Celebration at Sugar Land Town Square on Saturday. The holiday widely celebrated by people of Mexican heritage pays homage to people’s ancestors and loved ones The event featured traditional Latin cuisine, a street market, children’s activities and games, a historical display, a costume contest, performances by Mariachi bands, Aztec dancers, conjunto music, and more. See more photos on pages 6-7
Some of the wares of vendor Garcia’s Artesania Mexicanas on display at the event. Photos by Ken Fountain
Young dancers with Grupo Folklorico mi Barrio perform on the plaza of Sugar Land Town Square.
Members of Klein Collins High School Mariachi Tiger perform.
Patel indicted for misdemeanor harassment By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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On September 14, the same day that Taral Patel was appearing in court for the first time on four felony counts of online impersonation, a Fort Bend County grand jury handed down a fifth indictment for the Democratic candidate for Precinct 3 Commissioner, this time for misdemeanor harassment. On the same day, Patel was indicted on three new Class C misdemeanor counts of misappropriation of identity in which he is accused of using fake social media accounts to make
racist online comments about himself. In the brief, one-page indictment, Patel is accused of sending “repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, torment, embarrass, or offend A.D., namely be electronic mail.” The communications allegedly occurred between December 15, 2023 and April 1, 2024. No other identification of the purported victim or specifics about the nature of the alleged or harassment are listed in the document. A related summons requires Patel to appear in a Fort Bend
court on November 12. Patel was first indicted September 3 by a Fort Bend County grand jury on the eight total charges related to his race for the commissioner’s court seat. Last week’s court appearance at the Fort Bend Justice Center in Richmond was Patel’s since the first charges were filed against him in June. Although Patel has not made any official statements about the cases, his campaign has continued in the form of campaign signs and emails. Early voting in the November 5 election began on Monday and continues through Friday, November 1.
Taral Patel, center, the Democratic candidate for Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner, was indicted last week on a misdemeanor charge of online harassment. In this file photo, he is seen walking into a courtroom with his attorney for arraignment. Photo by Ken Fountain