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Brazoria County briefs for Sept. 28
Published September 28, 2005
AUSTIN
Inmates on way back to Brazoria County
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is arranging transportation to bring thousands of prisoners evacuated from area units ahead of Hurricane Rita back to Brazoria County, department spokesman Mike Viesca said.
TDCJ moved 3,802 inmates from the Scott Unit in Angleton, the Clemens Unit in Brazoria and the Terrell Unit near Rosharon to prisons in cities across East Texas, including Huntsville and Livingston, agency records show.
More than 5,200 prisoners were evacuated statewide.
“It will probably be toward the end of the week when we move everybody back,” Viesca said.
PORT ARTHUR
Residents suffer under slow arrival of aid
With promises of state and federal relief unanswered four days after Hurricane Rita, residents of this hard-hit Gulf Coast community blame bureaucracy as they cope without power, fuel, water or sewers.
Requests for paperwork greet pleas for state and federal relief, said John Owens, the city’s emergency management coordinator and deputy police chief. “How the hell can we get paperwork to you when we don’t have electricity?” he asked Tuesday.
Food, gas and generator donations from private industries, not the government, allowed the city to sustain itself, Owens said. Two tanks of diesel fuel and gas for emergency vehicles represent the only federal provisions, supplies that lasted six hours, he said.
“We have been living like cavemen, sleeping in cars, doing bodily functions outside,” he said. “And meanwhile we’re the victims, and we have families here.”
Mayor Oscar Ortiz, his home destroyed by fire after the hurricane, said “we’ve had 101 promises” for aid, “but it’s all bureaucracy.”
HOUSTON
Company, county work to restore water supply
Workers spent Tuesday restoring power knocked out by Hurricane Rita to 12 pumps that carry fresh water needed by 20 petrochemical plants and refiners to resume normal operations, Harris County officials said.
The pumps move 800 million gallons of fresh water daily from the Trinity River to the Lynchburg Reservoir for use by the chemical plants, refineries and others.
More than 600,000 people in parts of Houston, Pasadena, La Porte, Friendswood, League City, Webster, South Houston, Baytown, Deer Park and Nassau Bay are dependent on water from the reservoir. The water level has been dropping because the electricity has been out.
Officials said that without the electricity to the pumps and if the reservoir became depleted, people were facing a two week wait for power restoration and water.
DANBURY
Budget hearing, city council meeting set
Postponed by Hurricane Rita, a budget hearing and council meeting have been rescheduled for Thursday.
The city might not adopt its tax rate Thursday night. State law reads that entities that don’t adopt a rate by Friday are stuck with the effective tax rate, Brazoria County Tax Assessor-Collector Ro’Vin Garrett said.
City officials have said they plan to adopt the effective rate.
The hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 6102 5th St., followed by the council meeting at 7 p.m. A contractor dispute, water and sewer projects and amending the city’s windstorm insurance policy are among the items for discussion.
In executive session, council will also discuss the duties of Danbury Police Sgt. Yvonne Pate as well as the duties and dismissal of reserve police officers.
SWEENY
Approval of budget, tax rate expected
Because of Hurricane Rita, council members rescheduled a meeting to vote on the city’s 2005-06 budget and tax rate at 7 p.m. on Thursday at City Hall, 102 W. Ashley Wilson Road.
The city’s proposed $2.9 million budget calls for a tax rate of 75 cents per $100 of assessed property value, down two cents from last year, City Manager Tim Moss said.
The budget is balanced, but some city departments have scaled back their requests for equipment, including new vehicles, he said.
Also on the agenda is a discussion of the city’s contract with Texas-New Mexico Power Co.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Local artist receives awards at sculpting expo
Joyce Patterson, internationally recognized doll artist, recently attended the Doll and Teddy Bear Expo and Discover 2005 Show in Washington, D.C.
She was awarded the Jones Publishing Company’s Crystal Globe Award in the costuming category for her original 1920s-era cloth doll “Rosalind.” The doll also received a blue ribbon and Best of Class rosette.
Expo is the largest exclusive doll and teddy bear showcase in the country with nearly 250 artists and manufacturers from around the world. Expo consists of workshops, seminars and competition for doll and teddy bear makers.
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