The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 212, Ed. 1 Monday, July 5, 1999 Page: 1 of 12
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Inside, 2-A IWhat’s Inside
Higher education
Baytown Exxon hosts
teacherworkshop
Bulletin Board..
.2-A
Opinion....
.... 4-A
Classifieds.......
Police Beat..
.....3-A
Comics........
..6-A
Sports.....
.....16
Obituaries.....
..66
Television ...
..,,.26
Buck Young
Baytown was Humble; j
Humble was Baytown
Tradition
Scenes from annual
July Fourth Ain run
Zht Partoton limn
Volume 77, No. 212
Telephone Number: 281- 422-8302
Monday, July 5,1999
V
Baytown, Texas 77520
50 cents per copy-
Tuiy 4ih in Baytown
Emilio wows
them as city
celebrates
223rd birthday
ByJIMWEBRE
The Baytown Sun
A breeze blew across Baytown’s Bicenten-
nial Park as the sun set and Emilio Navarro
prepared to take the stage.
\ An earlier absence from a reception in his
horror did nothing to dampen the occasion,
and by the time the tight-jeaned San Antonio
Tejano star walked up to the microphone, the
crowd seemed to have swelled in a matter of
15 minutes.
“I think this is great to be able to come out
here with all the family and hear him. It’s ro-
mantic,” said Patricia Amador, whose family
of nine stood nearby.
“I’m not worried. Everybody seems to be
having a good time and keeping the beer
down and out of sight,’’ said Baytown police
Sgt. David Alford.
Alcohol and bad behavior were left outside
as music, face painting and fireworks were the
order of the day for more than 2,000 people.
“That’s low,” said one crowd counter.
“Wait until Emilio shows up.”
From the start of the five-mile foot race
before the rooster crowed to the last colorful
rocket burst above the crowd at 10:30 p.m.,
July 3 was a day of delight. _
“Wheeee!” screamed Sylvia Garza of
Houston in a sound only little girls can make
as her cousin swung her around in a circle.
“Stop, stop, stop!!!” she said, followed by
“Do it again! Do it again!”
Eight ,Baytown police mounted patrol offi-
cers walked their animals gracefully around
the park perimeter, at times drawing groups
of children who wanted to see the “horsies”
more than their parents wanted to see Gary P.
Nunn or Emilio.
‘There are going to be a lot of people with
red arms and thighs,” said one member of
the emergency medical tent behind the stage
area.
“So far, there has only been one person
come in with a problem, and she had a prob-
lem with heat before she got here,” the medic
said,
All-in-all, there were no serious injuries or
heat-related illnesses. There was plenty of
water and sodas, fajitas and funnel cakes.
Photos by Jim Webre
The people turned out in
huge numbers at Baytown’s
Bicentennial Park all day
Saturday as Baytown cele-
brated the nation's 223rd
birthday with a full comple-
ment of activities including
a fun run, parade and mu-
sic performances headlined
by Tejano sensation Emilio
(pictured right). The day’s
activities ended with a
spectacular fireworks dis-
play supervised by the Bay-
town Fire and Rescue De-
partment. See related pho-
tos, Page 2-A.
The aroma of seared meat and sunscreen
permeated the scene.
While Emilio was escorted onto the stage
and off the stage by Baytown police and oth-
er security, Texas native Nunn, the author of
“London Homesick Blues,” walked from be-
hind the stage and shook hands and spoke
with fans along the security fence.
“It’s great to be here, thanks,” said Nunn
Earlier in the afternoon, the Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce hosted a reception
for the star of the show, Emilio, at The Va-
quero Saloon at South Main and Texas 146. ,
Members of the city council, local officials
and just plain folks responded to the invita-
tion to have barbecue brisket and all the trim-
mings, but as 3 p.m. turned into 4 p.m. and 4
pm. turned into 5 p.m, there was no Emilio.
Then, several members of Emilio’s en-
tourage showed up about the time Mayor
Pete Alfaro, Goose Creek CISD Superinten-
dent Dr. Jerry Roy, Hispanic Chamber presi-
dent-elect Cindy Gonzalez and their families
figured it was time to go.
“He could have at least come by,” said one
fen.
Yolanda Tristan brought posters of the
popular singer and handed them out. Several
people took pictures of themselves with the
poster.
“Come here! Take a picture of me and
Emilio!” said Victor Almendarez, holding up
the poster and placing it between him and his
wife.
YMCA Gator Bike Ride is ready to roll
By JEFF RIGGS
The Baytown Sun \
This year’s.YMCA Gator Bike Ride is
ready to roll, according to Terry Sherrill,
ride director.
The ride will be held Friday and Saturday,
and entry fees will help support Partners of
Youth Programs such as the youth sports,
childcare services, tutoring and camping
programs of the YMCA in Baytown.
This year will mark the 10th annual edi-
tion of the event in Baytown. It started as a
fund-raiser to benefit dyslexic students of
the Kent School in Baytown before the
school closed in 1994. Then, the YMCA
took over.
There will be no gators at the site, Sherrill
says. But it’s no accident that the event is
called the Gator Bike Ride.
“It was originally going to become a part
of the Gator Fest in Anahuac,” she says.
“Over the years, everyone knew it by the
gator name, and it just stuck.”
Several corporate neighbors have made
the ride possible. One, Bayer Corporation, is
donating 500 T-shirts for participants and
volunteers at a cost of about $2,500-
There are three basic programs for riders.
The 10-mile bike ride proceeds from the
Goose Creek Stream Park, 1300 W. Texas
Ave.
Bikers will proceed on the round trip east
on Texas Avenue, and pass such routes as
Market Street, Lee Drive to Robert E. Lee
High School to the city Civic center.
The route will cut through Roseland Park.
Other rides for the more hardy include the
30-mile and 62-mile rides.
Sherrill says response to the activity over
the years has been very good.
‘We had 126 in 1994, and last year we had
402,” she says. “We hope for 500 partici-
pants this year”
Registration fee is $25, and the first 400 to
,register are guaranteed a commemorative T-
News tip? Call 281-422-8302
www.baytownsun.com
Housing authority
emphasizes need
for inspections
ByJIMWEBRE
The Baytown Sun
Baytown Housing Authority is
placing renewed emphasis on in-
spections of privately-owned houses
and multi-family apartments rented
under the federal Section 8 rent sub-
sidy program.
With more than 600 such units in
Baytown, the job of inspecting for
such things as plumbing and natural
gas service connections, electrical
and building code compliance falls
on a single inspector.
Recent inspections have turned up
code deficiencies that are both the
responsibility of the landlords re-
ceiving guaranteed rent checks from
BHA and the tenants who live in
those residences. &
After a federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development
review last December, the housing
authority was cited as being too lax
in the enforcement of the require-
ments of the Section 8 contract with
the government, and as a result,
housing authorities across the nation
were encouraged to be more strin-
gent in their inspections and strident
in requiring landlords to maintain
the homes and apartments they rent
under the program, says Stephen
Jean, BHA executive director.
The Section 8 program has exist-
ed for about 20 years as a way to of-
fer low-income people a place to
live while ensuring landlords a rent
check that will never bounce.
“Before we were loOkirig at the
dwelling itself. Now we look at the
entire property,” says Jean. .
Tim Luckey is a rental property
owner receiving checks for four
dwellings in Baytown.
“It’s a mixed bag,” says Luckey.
“It’s good in the sense that it’s de-
pendable rent, but the downside is I
haven’t had the best of luck with
tenants.”
In one case, a woman living in
one of Luckey’s units, a garage
apartment, has kept what appears to
be old newspapers, dilapidated ap-
pliances and other items in an al-
most clapboard garage along with
belongings of another tenant on the
same lot.
While Luckey is being required to
repair screens and repair a stairway,
the tenant is being required to allow
an inspector inside the unit and to
clean up the debris the inspector
says is a fire hazard and a health
danger.
BHA pays out about $200,000 a
month in rents on Section 8 private
rental units.
Most Section 8 units, whether
multi-family or single-family, are in
areas of town eligible for Communi-
ty Development Block Grant
monies, which is to say neighbor-
hoods that are not affluent. Proper-
ties adjacent to the rented units may
themselves be code deficient, but
those occupied properties aren’t
subject to the enforcement of a fed-
eral agency.
The usual tenant-landlord rela-
tionship, when it comes to Section 8
rentals, involves a third party, the
housing authority, which is the
sponsor and manager for the HUD
program.
Jay Pittman is the Section 8 hous-
ing quality standards inspector for
the housing authority sihce January
“I remember when I went into my ■
first rental office to meet with the
manager. I reached out my hand to
shake his harid, but when I said who
1 was, he pulled his hand back and
sat down,” says Pittman.
“Some landlords don’t like to see
you because you make them fix things
wrong with the property” he says.
“I think HUD came in here last
December and helped us by empha-
sizing that we need to be a little
more strict when it comes to inspec-
tions,” Jean says.
Pitcock appointed as
acting health director
shirt. All participants must furnish their own
bike, and must wear their own approved
safety helmet.
At the finish line will be free pizza and
sandwiches for both volunteers and partici-
pants, furnished by local businesses.
Rest stops will also be posted along the
routes with various free sports drinks provid-
ed, according to Sherrill. Medical support
will be provided by San Jacinto Methodist
Hospital, and the Baytown Fire and Rescue
will open up a fire hydrant to cool bikers.
“It’s always hot,” says Sherrill. “But we all
have fim.”
Late registration will be Friday from 4-
7:15 p.m. and on Saturday from 6-7:15 a.m.
with the start of the race for both the 30- and
62-mile rides at 7:30 a.m.
Starting time for the 10-mile family ride
will be 8 am.
For more information, call the YMCA at
281-427-1797.
ByJIMWEBRE
The Baytown Sun
Jack Pitcock, Baytown’s emer-
gency medical service coordinator,
has been appointed acting health de-
partment director following the re-
tirement of Howard Brister from
that position.
Assistant Fire Chief Bernard
Olive has already been appointed
director of emergency preparedness,
one of the two positions Brister
filled.
Pitcock has worked for city of
Baytown since 1979 and was instru-
mental in setting up the EMS sys-
tem here in 1986.
As acting health director, Pitcock
will oversee health inspections,
mosquito control and other health
department operations until a per-
manent health director is appointed
within the next 60 days, Robert
Leiper, assistant city manager, said.
Pitcock has certifications as a
Texas Department of Health para-
medic, in the American Heart Asso-
ciation Advanced Cardiac Life Sup-
port, in Basic Trauma Life Support
and is an instructor-trainer for the
AHA emergency medical certifica-
tion program.
He is a member of the emergency
medical training advisory commit-
tees at San Jacinto College and Lee
College and is on the Southeast
Texas Trauma Advisory Committee.
“This is going to be very much a
challenge,” said Pitcock. "Basically,
I will continue the programs of the
health department as they are. EMS
has been my bread and butter for
the past 13 years.”
Pitcock will continue to work as
the EMS coordinator while adding
the duties of health director to his
schedule.
He will remain in the office of the
EMS coordinator for the interim.
Far home delivery, call 281-422-8302
\
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 212, Ed. 1 Monday, July 5, 1999, newspaper, July 5, 1999; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1020506/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.