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Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston Saturday, June 3, 2023 • Vol. 68 • No. 22
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City holding gun buyback event June 10 By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
As part of what officials say is a continued effort to reduce gun violence in the city, the city of Houston is hosting a gun buyback event in collaboration with county officials and the Houston Police Department next weekend. On Monday, city officials along with Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney El-
Sylvester Turner
Rodney Ellis
lis – who serves part of the area including the Greater Heights – announced that the city and county will be hosting its third gun buyback event on Saturday, June 10 at NRG Stadium from 8 a.m.-noon. As part of the buyback, the city said gun owners can bring in their firearms that will be taken in anonymously and will be compensated accordingly with gift cards depending on
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INSIDE.
State’s best See which of our private school baseball and softball players earned All-State honors
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Helping out Ever needed to sell a house in probate? Local resident Jennifer Solak has some tips
Page 5 Contributed photo From left is Nell Baham Achievement Award winner Elle Sharp, Sinclair Elementary teacher Greg Railsback, and Nell Baham. Sharp recently won the annual award given to an outstanding fifth grader at the school each year.
Sinclair’s Sharp wins Nell Baham Award By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
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See Buyback P. 6
Area student charged with allegedly making terroristic threats By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
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Check it out Ardest Gallery has relocated from Magnolia to the Woodlands, and opens this weekend
the gun brought in. Nonfunctioning firearms will be worth $50, and the city will also be accepting shotguns/hunting rifles ($100), revolvers ($150, semi-automatic handguns ($150), and semi-automatic rifles ($200). “The gun buyback along with the use of shot spotter, doing more to reduce domestic violence and
For more than 20 years, retired educator Nell Baham has honored an exemplary fifth grader at Sinclair Elementary in the Heights each year for academic achievements and their service to Sinclair and its surrounding community. That tradition continued re-
cently, as outgoing fifth grader Elle Sharpe was announced as this year’s winner of the 2023 Nell Baham Achievement Award at the school’s recent Fifth Grade Awards Program. For more than two decades, the annual award has recognized a student - selected by fifth grade teachers - who exhibited good citizenship traits, excelled in academics and made worthy
A Heights High School student has been arrested and charged with making threatening posts on the school’s Instagram page earlier this month. Anthony Garcia, 18, has been charged with terroristic threat, according to Harris County court records. He was out of jail on a $20,000 bond as of Wednesday, according to court records. Court documents say the school’s principal told HISD police that there had been a threatening post made on the school’s Instagram page on May 17. Several parents and faculty then made the principal aware of another post, made in response to the original post, the next day on the school’s Instagram page, according to court documents. The second post allegedly included a photo of an assault rifle with the caption “Friday, Where?” and another photo of multiple loaded magazines, according to court documents. According to court documents, detectives researched the account and later linked it back to a phone number and IP address, and the number was then linked to a CashApp user alleged to be Garcia. The school later allegedly identified Garcia by his school records as a current student, according to court documents. However, court documents say Garcia has denied posting the photos through Instagram.
contributions to Sinclair and within the community. It was established in 1999 by then-PTA president Jill Hlavinka to honor Baham, a longtime educator who spent more than half of her 60-year education career teaching at Sinclair. After retiring from public education, Baham taught at the See Sharp P. 6
Local brass band to be part of global music celebration By Landan Kuhlmann
landan@theleadernews.com
Farewell Fat Cat has closed its Heights location, and more news is in this week’s Nibbles and Sips
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THE INDEX. Public.............................................................. 2 Sports............................................................. 4 Classifieds.................................................. 7 Local Culture............................8
Contributed photo Joel Livsey, pictured, and his Heights brass band will be part of the 2023 Make Music Day celebration.
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Joel Livsey is a relative newcomer to the Heights, having moved into the area just under a year ago. But armed with family roots in the neighborhood and a sense of how communitydriven the area is, he has wasted no time in trying to contribute to the fabric of the area. On June 21, Livsey and his quintet band called Houston Heights Brass will be hosting a free community concert at Marmion Park, 1800 Heights Blvd., as part
of Houston’s annual Make Music Day in collaboration with the Houston Heights Association. The event is one of a dozen registered events that will be happening around the city on June 21 as part of the larger national Make Music Day, and one of several in the local area. Celebrations will also happen at the Collier Regional Library (6200 Pinemont Dr.) as well as the Houston Farmers Market (2520 Airline Dr.), Guitar Center – Central Houston (195 Yale St.), Site Gallery (1502 Sawyer St.), and Sabine Street Studios
(1907 Sabine St.) among others. “There is a common anxiety in much of modern society that we have lost that ‘third place,’ the space that isn’t work and isn’t home, where people who share something in common can gather to relax and enjoy each other’s company,” Livsey said. “These spaces are a vital part of a cohesive community. We hope that this concert can provide such an opportunity for neighbors to come together.” See Livsey P. 6
Allegiance Bank and CommunityBank of Texas have come together as Stellar Bank. While our name has changed, our commitment to serving our customers and supporting our local communities will stay the same. We look forward to a bright future together.
2222 North Durham | 281.517.8760 Margaret Vandever, Bank Office President Cecilia Rodriguez, Office Manager