ATTENTION
Inside Today: Large sales dips continue for local housing markets• Page 5
All Veterans - save money!!
Are you paying for the Medicare Part B premium? Keep your Medicare and VA benefits while getting back a portion of the Part B premium that is being deducted from your social security check.
FaFbuAlouLsL Flowers & Fashion
Call Jacqueline Briscoe a LOCAL licensed Medicare agent to see how many veterans are saving money!!
Jacqueline Briscoe Better Insurance Solutions
281-702-4200
Flower & Gift Shop
Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston
1 0 5 7 0 N W F rwy 7 1 3 -6 8 0 -2 3 5 0 darlenesdboutique.com
Saturday, October 22, 2022 • Vol. 67 • No. 41
ABOUT US 2020 North Loop West Suite 220 (713) 686-8494 news@theleadernews.com www.theleadernews.com Facebook/FromTheLeader
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ATTORNEY PHYLLIS A. OESER
Leader’s Choice Award Winner for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 For Professional Legal Services Wills, Probate Estate Planning & Real Estate
5005 W. 34th St, Ste 104A
713-692-0300
INSIDE.
Houston redistricting shifts area council districts By Matt deGrood news@theleadernews.com
Houston’s city council is moving forward with a plan for new council districts after several last-minute changes with a bearing on the local neighborhoods. The city council last week approved an ordinance signing off on new council districts that included keeping Fourth Ward and Freedmen’s Town in District C, while
shifting parts of Garden Oaks west of Shepherd Drive into District H. “The challenge with redistricting is that C is the largest district by population,” District C Councilperson Abbie Kamin said. “With the census undercount, the districts right next to us are those with the lowest population. So, District C is in a position where it had to shed some population.” Kamin in a conversation
with The Leader last week said she hated the idea of giving up any neighborhood in the district, but that the council was bound to conduct redistricting based upon state and federal laws. Houston’s city council conducts redistricting every 10 years, using data from the newest U.S. Census to apportion council districts based on the city’s Kamin
Cisneros
See Redistricting P. 7
November election ballot full of intriguing races By Matt deGrood editor@theleadernews.com
Early voting for the November election will begin on Monday, and the ballot for Leader area residents will feature a heavy dose of local and state races. While the biggest race overshadowing all the others might be the one featuring incumbent Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo facing off against political newcomer Alex Mealer, the ballot isn’t without several more local races. Here’s a complete look at all the races that will determine who represents the Greater Heights, Garden Oaks, and Oak Forest areas at the state, federal and county levels:
Taking notice The Booker T. Washington boys’ basketball team will play in a national tournament next month
Page 2
Federal
U.S. Rep. District 7 Johnny Teague, Republican Lizzie Fletcher, Democrat
Charged A woman has been arrested and charged in connection to a hit-and-run last month
Page 3
Photo from USA Pickleball Facebook Players go after the ball during a pickleball tournament. Memorial Park is set to host the first-ever professional pickleball tournament in Houston beginning Wednesday.
Memorial Park to host first professional pickleball tournament By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
Near and far This week’s Art Valet has the scoop on events all around the Houston region
Page 6
When Jeff Lawthorne picked up the sport of pickleball a little over a year ago, it was not necessarily a sport he thought he would become passionate about. Now, he is set to take part in a tournament that could very well serve as a springboard for the sport’s growing popularity in Houston and around the world. “It’s exciting to be a part of that wave in a new sport,” he said Tuesday. On Wednesday, Lawthorne was set to be one of nearly 700 players competing in the APP Sunmed Houston Open pickleball tournament that runs through Sunday at Memorial Park. It is the firstever professional pickleball tournament hosted in Houston, with hundreds of players from around the See Pickleball P. 4
U.S. Rep. District 18 Carmen Maria Montiel, Republican Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat Phil Kurtz, Libertarian Vince Duncan, Independent U.S. Rep. District 29 Robert Schafranek, Republican Sylvia Garcia, Democrat U.S. Rep. District 38 Wesley Hunt, Republican Duncan F. Klussmann, Democrat Joel DeJean, Independent State
Governor Greg Abbott, Republican Beto O’Rourke, Democrat Mark Tippetts, Libertarian Delilah Barrios, Green
Photo from USA Pickleball Facebook Nearly 700 players are set to compete at Memorial Park this week.
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Republican Mike Collier, Democrat See Election P. 7
Local neighborhoods preparing to celebrate Dia de los Muertos Now open Daddy’s Chicken Shack opened in the Heights last week, headlining this week’s Nibbles and Sips news.
Page 6
THE INDEX. Sports ............................................................ 2 Church........................................................... 7 Coupons ...................................................... 7 Classifieds ................................................. 8 Food/Drink ..............................6
By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
As the annual Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, nears, several local neighborhood groups and organizations are hosting celebrations to get into the spirit of the holiday and educate residents on the meaning and spirit of the celebration. The annual two-day holiday, typically celebrated on Nov. 1-2, involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members
who have died. The Montie Beach Civic Association will host its 15th annual Dia de los Muertos festival on Oct. 29 from noon- 8 p.m. at Montie Beach Park, 915 Northwood St. There will be music, dancing, and a community ofrenda. An ofrenda is an altar usually created by the family members of a person who has died and is intended to welcome the deceased to the altar setting. “Our main goal (when we started this celebration) was to bring to focus a vibrant
Latin American tradition that had been overlooked, or misunderstood as a ‘Spanish version of Halloween’,” the organization says on its website. “The focus of this festival has been and will be to provide residents within the Greater Heights a fun and educational Dia de los Muertos experience.” Casa Ramirez, which is credited with locally popularizing the traditional cultural celebration of departed ancestors through late See Dia de los Muertos P. 4
Photo by Charlotte Aguilar Danza Aztecataxcayalotl will lead a Dia de los Muertos procession down West 19th Street on Oct. 29.