The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 94, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 17, 1999 Page: 1 of 16
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News,2-A I What’s lnsid$
Rummage sale
Trinity Episcopal plans
[event for Saturday
Bulletin Board..
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Opinion......
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Classifieds.......
..56
Police Beat...
...2-A
Comics........
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Sports.......
.,. 1-B
Obituaries.....
. 6A
Television ....
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Jane Howard
The ‘bulk’of It all is
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Volume 77, No. 94
Telephone Number: 281-422-8302
Wednesday, February 17,1999 Baytown, Texas 77520
50 cents per copy
Sticker shock: Illegal ‘show rooms’ net citations
By M.A. BENGTSON
The Baytown Sun
Wal-Mart may be in the busi-
ness of selling auto accessories.
But, selling automobiles is a
little out of the company’s line of
work, according to local manag-
er, Randy Hicks.
Tuesday, at least 10 cars with
“For Sale” signs attached were
parked along the front of the
Wal-Mart parking lot facing
Garth Road.
All were plastered with day-
glow orange stickers advising
owners their vehicles are illegal-
ly parked on private property
and could be towed at the own-
er’s expense.
“It’s been bad for the last six
months,” Hicks said. “We have a
sign that says “No Parking” and
that they will be hauled away.”
However, that doesn’t seem to
stop the would-be used car deal-
ers.
“We put signs up and they take
them down,” Hicks adds. “We
try to contact them before we
have them towed. It’s against a
city ordinance
to park them
on private
property.”
Hicks indi-
cates he is
ready to move
to zero toler-
ance on the
matter and
Hicks wants 1° g>ve
owners a last
warning before the vehicles are
hauled away.
A call to the Baytown Police
Department confirms the city is
serious about shutting down the
used car business that has devel-
oped on Baytown parking lots.
“The chief just came in my of-
fice and said we had a com-
plaint from Wal-Mart about cars
for sale being parked on their
property,” says Capt. Richard
Reff of the Baytown Police De-
partment.
Reff said this is a violation of a
city ordinance that deals with ille-
gal parking of vehicles. .
“We will go out there and write
a citation of violation,” says Reff.
“Then, we will try to contact the
owner and tell them they have 24
hours to move them.”
Identifying the real owner can
be time consuming, according to
Reff.
Often, cars have been sold and
re-sold and titles have not been
transferred.
So, it is possible for the citation
to be written on a former owner,
not the person who actually
parked the vehicle illegally.
“We can’t tow them,” says
Reff. “The owner of the property
will have to do that.”
If the car’s owner has permis-
sion to park the vehicle from the
owner of the lot where it is
parked, it is not illegal.
Lot owners are, contacted to
verify whether or not permission
has been given before a citation
is written,- Reff adds.
According to Baytown Munic-
PhotobyMABengtson
Illegally parked cars with “For Sale’’ signs bear sticker citations as they line the front of the Wal-Mart park-
ing lot facing Garth Road.
ipal Court, the fine for illegal
parking is $1'20.
Add that to a towing fee of
about $70 to $75 and the cost of
illegal parking starts getting
pricey.
Hendrix
gets raise,
extension
of contract
By JEFF RIGGS
The Baytown Sun
The Crosby Independent School
District Board of Trustees voted 4-3
this week to extend the contract of
Superintendent Don Hendrix from its
by one year through the year 2003.
The board also voted unanimously
to raise Hendrix’s salary from
$84,600 to $90,000.
Also by unanimous vote, all prin-
cipals and directors of the school dis-
trict had their contracts extended.
Hendrix says he is pleased with the
board’s confidence in keeping him on
at least through the completion of
construction related to a bond issue
that was pass last October.
“I think it’s great,” he says.
Trustees also voted to post an order
of notice of trustee election of CISD.
Seats up for the election are those
currently held by at-large trustee
Richard Amador, and single-member
district trustees Earl Boykin and Lois
Shmidl.
Shmidl has said she will not seek
re-election.
Filing for the positions, which
opened Monday, ends March 17.
The election, will be held May 1.
Trustees also voted to approve Dal-
mac, Inc. as general contractor for
construction projects specified in the
bond election of Oct. 3.
“They have extensive experience
building schools,” Hendrix says.
He said construction projects in-
clude the new kindergarten, and ren-
ovation projects at Crosby High
School, Crosby Middle School and
Drew Intermediate School.
The board approved a payment of
$81,797.16 to Coboum Linseisen and
Ratcliff, Inc. architects for work done
on the new kindergarten campus.
One Step at a Time
Memory walk more
than stroll in the park
■ Pain is shared by many, Page 3-A;
Walk for those in need, Page 4-A.
By JEFF RIGGS
The Baytown Sun '
An 80-year-old blind Baytown woman who suffered a
broken hip in 1996, is not incapacitated. In fact, she will
soon walk a mile for charity, but not just for the exercise.
“It’s a challenge,” says Ethel McMahon, who lives in a ’
local nursing facility. “I think it’ll make me feel more in-
dependent.”
The walk, dubbed the Baytown Satellite Memory Walk
of the Alzheimer’s Association/Greater Houston Chapter,
will include teams and individuals who will make money
to combat Alzheimer’s and other illnesses associated with
dementia.
The event is
sponsored
by the Pilot
Club of
Baytown, and will take place from 8-10 a.m, March 13,
in Bayland Park.
McMahon’s granddaughter, Connie Lynn Lard, who
also lives in Baytown, says she and her mother formed
the Mark Russell McMahon Memory Walkers for the
event, in honor and remembrance of McMahon’s hus-
band who died from Alzheimer’s disease last October.
The 10 members of the team will be sponsored by South-
west Resource Credit Union.
Currently, Lard and her mother are “training,” by walk-
ing each day.
For Lard, 1996 was not her best year. SheTost her
mother, Betty Lou McMahon Barfield, who died of can-
cer just three months before her 61 st birthday. In May, her
grandmother fell and broke her hip.
In April, her grandfather was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease.
He died of the disease in a long-term residential care
«■ ; Photo by Jeff Riggs
Ethel McMahon, 80, who is blind, walks with her
granddaughter Connie to get in shape for a mile-
long walk she will ;make in the Baytown Satellite
Memory Walk of the. Alzheimer’s Association/Greater
Houston Chapter on March 13.
center in Ocfober 1998.
Lard, 38, was pregnant during her grandfather’s illness.
Finally, in April 1998, she gave birth to her second child.
“I took my children with me wherever I went, and that
was the case when! took care of my grandfather,” she
says.
& « /■ . . - , * , '•
Almendarez files for re-election
Baytown City Councilman Victor,
Almendarez has notified city offi-
cials he will run for re-election for
the District 1 council seat in the May
1 elections.
Almendarez characterizes himself
as “community-minded” and “con-
cerned” about the representation of
his district in the city.
“I’ve always been interested in the
direction the community is jjeaded
in,” Almendarez says. “I think we’re
headed in the right direction right
now.”
One issue of interest to Almen-
darez is the construction of the hotel
and convention center project at Bay-
land Park.
He wants to see ground broken on
the project soon. Almendarez says it
will bring more development and
jobs to the area arid will be beneficial
to the city as well.
Almendarez, 34, will be pursuing
his second term as a councilman..
The other council districts up for
election include, District 2 held by
Scott Sheley and District 3 held by
Manuel Escontrias. Escontrias has al-
ready filed for re-election.
Jones prepares
to make run at
constable’s post
By PAUL GANNON
The Baytown Sun
Harris County Precinct 3 deputy constable Captain
Ken Jones has announced his intention to run for the
Precinct 3 Constable post in March 2000 and is already
building a campaign war chest with a planned kickoff
fund-raising event set for next month.
Jones is looking to succeed James Douglas, the man
he has worked for the past 16 years. He says Douglas
will retire soon and is aware of his plans to run. Dou-
glas, however, says he has not made
any decision to retire.
“Everybody wants my job. It must
be a good one,” Douglas says,
“There’s nothing written in stone
that I’m going to retire.”
Jones, 51, says he has considered
running for the position for the past
six months and has plans to bring
some new programs to the precinct.
His biggest platform in the race will
be to better serve children and senior
citizens.
He says he will focus on educating children about the
dangers of drugs and gangs and protecting the elderly
from people who take advantage of them.
If elected he plans to step up the department’s pres-
ence in the community by moving deputies from the
highways into neighborhoods; bringing officers into
schools to work closer with administration, teachers and
youth; and forming bicycle-mounted police to patrol
neighborhoods. He even plans to bring in a drug-sniff-
ing dog for use in schools that normally have to pay for
the use of one. a
Jones would also like to be able to place computers in
each of the 70 patrol cars. This will allow officers to
check records from the car rather than radio informa-
tion in to the dispatch office. It will also allow officers
to read and write reports from the patrol car.
“The time we save is the time we will have a man in
the field’ working,” Jones says.
The computers would probably cost from $4,000 to
$5,000 each, he says.
In addition, Jones wants to see the department estab-
lish a chaplain corps available to the staff and commu-
nity who have been involved in traumatic situations.
“I really believe when you start a program, the depart-
ment needs to evoke the blessings of God to be success-
ful,” he says.
Jones
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 94, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 17, 1999, newspaper, February 17, 1999; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1020109/m1/1/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.