Thank you, South Belt, for 45 great years! 4455 yearsyears ofof ccoveringovering SSouthouth BBeltelt The Voice of Community-Minded People since 1976 Thursday, February 4, 2021 Email: [email protected] www.southbeltleader.com Vol. 46, No. 1 Heavy trash pickup set City residents south of Fuqua will have heavy trash pickup Thursday, Feb. 11 (second Thursday of Pasadena ISD planning new administration building the month). City residents north of Fuqua and west The Pasadena ISD School board of trustees Pasadena ISD offi cials said the construction facility. See related letter to the editor in the Jan. cision and the advantages of constructing a new of the Gulf Freeway will have heavy trash pickup Friday, Feb. 12 (second Friday of the month). Feb- recently approved funding for the design and de- would not require a new bond proposal and the 21 edition of the Leader. facility compared to making improvements to an ruary is for junk waste, but tree waste will also be velopment phase of the construction of a new ad- necessary funds have already been allocated from Pasadena ISD offi cials released an indepth existing one. (See Page 2, Case for a new admin- accepted. Due to a larger amount of debris being ministration building. within its coffers. The move, however, has not statement detailing the specifi c reasons for the de- istration building for Pasadena ISD.) discarded during the COVID-19 pandemic, pickups To be located on Mickey Gilley Boulevard near been without opposition. may be delayed. For information, visit www.hous Fairmont Parkway, the new $27 million facility Former Pasadena High School teacher and cur- tontx.gov/solidwaste or call 311. will replace the school district’s current headquar- rent Pasadena ISD board candidate Yen Rabe sug- Wall separating from flooring CrossRoads holds testing ters on Cherrybrook Lane. gests the funds could be better spent by making CrossRoads United Methodist Church, 10030 Board members said the measure was neces- improvements to the school district’s older cam- Scarsdale, will host a COVID-19 testing event Sat- sary because the existing administration building puses and just making improvements to the cur- urday, Feb. 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is free is aging and suffering from a number of infra- rent administration building. and available on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis. No structure problems, including electrical, plumbing Rabe has started a petition asking Pasadena insurance is necessary. All participants will need and roofi ng issues. ISD to rescind its decision to construct the new state-issued identifi cation. To register, visit tinyurl. com/htxtesting. For additional information, email ce [email protected] or call 281-484-2330. HPD checks area shooting of male PWL sets tax aid, blood drive Houston police are investigating the shooting The victim was transported to Memorial of a male that took place around 4:45 p.m. Mon- Parker Williams Library has received the fi rst Hermann Southeast Hospital in stable condi- round of tax packets for free tax help available day, Feb. 1, outside a convenience store at the tion. through AARP. During the pandemic, the system corner of Nyack and Algonquin near Scarsdale The suspect was described merely as a black will be adjusted. Those wanting help are asked to call Boulevard and the Gulf Freeway. male. the library at 832-927-7870 to be put on a list to re- According to police, the victim was walking Anyone with information on this case is urged ceive a packet that is needed prior to an appointment. out of the store when he was shot in the leg by to contact the HPD Major Assaults Division at Once receiving the packet, the tax fi ler will someone driving a late-model white or gray four- 713-308-8800 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at make an appointment with AARP. Appointments door vehicle. 713-222-TIPS (8477). will be every Monday and Friday until April 12. The library will host a blood drive Monday, Feb. 8, from 2 to 5 p.m. Appointments are preferred. Blood donations will take place in the mobile Do- Election filing ends Feb. 12 nor Coach. At its November meeting, the Pasadena ISD board of trustees approved the design and de- Friday, Feb. 12, will mark the last day for po- only incumbents who had fi led to maintain their velopment phase of a new administration building to be located on Mickey Gilley Boulevard COVID numbers continue tential candidates to fi le to run in the upcoming positions. Roberts told the Leader he will not near Fairmont Parkway. Pasadena ISD offi cials say the facility is necessary because the exist- As of Wednesday, Feb. 3, there were 101 con- May 1 school board elections. seek re-election. ing building is aged, and making the needed improvements would not be cost effective. Above, fi rmed deaths among South Belt 77089 ZIP code All fi lings must be received by 5 p.m., not In the Position 2 race, Quijano is being chal- the wall is shown separating from the fl ooring at the existing administration building. residents due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reporting postmarked. lenged by Al Bledsoe; in the Position 3 con- of deaths related to COVID-19, however, may be de- Pasadena ISD, Clear Creek ISD and the San test, Sullivan is being challenged by Yen Huynh layed by local offi cials. Jacinto College District will all hold elections. Rabe; and both Salvador Serrano Jr. and Crystal Chronicle blasts Diaz over missing $60,000 Of the 4,444 confi rmed cases in 77089, 689 re- main active, while 3,710 have recovered from the vi- Four spots on the Pasadena ISD board are to Davila have fi led to run for the Position 4 seat. Former Harris County Precinct 2 Constable Diaz lost to challenger Jerry Garcia, following rus. To date, 45 from the ZIP code have died from the be decided, including the Position 1 seat, cur- Terms are four years. Chris Diaz is facing new allegations after a re- multiple reports of wrongdoing on the former disease, no increase from the previous week. rently held by Fred Roberts; the Position 2 seat, For additional information on the Pasade- cent investigative report published by the Hous- constable’s behalf, including accusations of him In 77075, 520 of the 3,304 confi rmed cases re- currently held by Mariselle Quijano; the Position na ISD election, visit www1.pasadenaisd.org/ ton Chronicle claimed the former offi cial has forcing Precinct 2 employees to donate time or main active, while 2,757 have recovered. A total of 3 seat, currently held by Nelda Sullivan; and the school_board/election_information/election_-_ more than $60,000 in campaign funds that are money to his re-election campaign. 27 from the ZIP code have died, no increase from Position 4 seat, currently held by Jack Bailey. may_1__2021. unaccounted for. The latest accusation comes on See next week’s Leader for additional infor- the previous week. Of the 3,445 confi rmed cases in At press time, Quijano and Sullivan were the Continued on Page 4 the heels of a hotly contested election, in which mation. 77034, 481 remain active, while 2,935 have recov- ered from the disease. To date, 29 residents from ZIP code 77034 have died from the disease, up one from the previous week. According to Harris County Pub- Leader begins year 46 as South Belt newspaper lic Health offi cials, the vast majority of the fatalities suffered from pre-existing health issues. James Bolen, Cheryl Bolen and Tori Mask The fi rst photo to ever run in the paper was of 12,500 printed. The newspaper is also now pub- Eagle grocery store (later Gerland’s and now The Countywide, there are 320,744 total confi rmed contributed to this story Chris Alan Robberts, the 1,000th baseball player lished online, with approximately 4,000 copies Gardens). cases. Of those, 270,204 have recovered from the This year marks the South Belt-Ellington to register that year. being downloaded each week. Within a year, the Leader had also outgrown disease, while 47,536 cases remain active. A total of Leader’s 45th anniversary. A companion piece on the front page said The Leader enterprise began with $500 in cap- that space and had to lease larger offi ce in the 2,986 deaths have been reported in Harris County. Begun in 1976 by housewives Marie Flick- registration closed with 1,005 total players, 105 ital and was operated out of Flickinger’s home. same center. In 1985, the business moved into its Statistics are updated daily and include num- bers from within both the Houston city limits and inger and Bobby Griffi n, the newspaper was of whom were girls who had registered to play Long before the advent of home computers, the own 8,200-square-foot building, located at Belt- throughout Harris County. originally called the South Belt Press. softball in the second year the sport was of- newspaper had to be completely typeset on hot way 8 and Beamer, where they remain to date. To view an interactive map, visit publichealth. Having known each other through their chil- fered. lead machines and pasted up by hand. Flickinger attributes much of the paper’s suc- harriscountytx.gov/Resources/2019-Novel-Corona- dren’s Little League teams, Flickinger and Grif- The fi rst paper was six pages in length and “I wanted to do everything – writing, sell- cess to the South Belt community itself. virus. fi n initially focused much of their efforts on cost $136 to print.