The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 200, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 13, 2000 Page: 1 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
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I
tT
WEATHER
Mostly sunny.
Highs in 90s.
Lows in lower 70s.
PAGE 2A
BUSINESS
On trial
Tobacco CEO says underage
smoking is a top concern
PAGE 3B
COMMUNITY
Almost complete
Construction projects in Dayton
to be finished soon
PAGE 6A
#&##>. IMP
®J)e partotam
^ SINCE 1922
SPORTS
Life after baseball
Former Rangers have
grad school in future
PAGE IB
TUESDAY
June 13, 2000
Volume 78 No. 200
Baytown, Texas
www.baytownsun.com
50 cents
Lee College awarded $1.8 million grant from science foundation
Photo by Alison Ashworth
Jackson Sasser, president of Lee Col-
lege, discusses the grant the college
has been awarded. He said the grant
is a “big, big move” for the college.
By ALUSON WOLLAM
Staff writer
BAYTOWN — Lee College re-
cently received a $1.8 million grant
from the National Science Founda-
tion that will be used to develop the
Lee College Center for Fieldbus and
Process Control Systems Mainte-
nance Education.
The grant will provide the college
$600,000 a year for three years, and
the college will receive at least $2.3
million in cost sharing, such as
money, equipment and personnel,
from area industries.
The college will receive the money
from the foundation in October.
The curriculum the college will
teach will focus on the interrelation
between technical programs of com-
puter maintenance and networking,
electrical instrumentation and process
technologies, programs that are af-
fected by rapid changes in industry
and technological breakthroughs.
It will include fieldbus technology,
which is a system of computers that
allows communications within
plants.
“We are incredibly flattered and
honored because this is a big, big
move for us, and a big statement of
support from a certified funding
agency,” said Jackson Sasser, presi-
dent of Lee College.
Sasser said the grant will allow!
the school to work with vendors
who haye the latest software and to
utilize the industrial pilot plant on
the campus to conduct practical or
applied research which will make
the students more prepared when
they leave Lee College.
“The ultimate goal is to provide
the best trained students for industry
and we will also do applied research
with industries, so it is a wonderful
grant to have firnded,” he said.
More than a year ago, college
representatives met with U.S. Reps.
Ken Bentsen and Nick Lampson to
outline the proposal that would cre-
ate partnering among the founda-
tion, Lee College and other col-
leges and industry to develop cur-
riculum concurrent with emerging
technologies.
Sasser said the faculty, staff, the
pilot plant on campus, the partner-
ship with Bayer and Exxon, and the
partnership with vendors were key
factors in getting the grant funded.
“You also can’t discount the repu-
tation of this college, and the NSF’s
level of scrutiny is equal to the stan-
dards we have here, so I think it’s a
great marriage,” he said.
See GRANT on Page 8A
Nuisance policy is
already working in
Chambers County
Well site near bay conies up diy
By ALLISON WOLLAM
'Staff writer
have
and we have -.
seen an
immediate
Jimmy Sylvia
county judge
ANAHUAC - Ever smce the,, -been working
Chambers County cdmniissTorteVs on this for
passed a nuisance abatement policy, about a year *
the phones at-the county courthouse ’
have been ringing off die hook.
Sidney Lewis, Environmental
protection department director, said um„vum,v
he needs extra help in his office to increase in reports since WC
help answer the phones. oassed it 55
“Since they passed the policy, we
get an average of 15-20 calls a day
with people reporting nuisances,” ______
he said.
County Judge Jimmy Sylvia said completely enclosed in a building
the new policy, which was passed that is not visible from a public
May 22, authorizes certain county street,
personnel in the environmental pro- • Maintaining premises in a man-
tection department to investigate ner that creates an unsanitary con-
complaints and, if a nuisance exists, dition likely to attract or harbor
to require the property owner to mosquitoes, rodents, vermin or dis-
clean up or remove the nuisance. ease-carrying pests.
“We have been working on this * Allowing weeds to grow on
for about a year, and we have seen' premises in a neighborhood if the
an immediate increase in reports weeds are located within 300 feet
since we passed it,” Sylvia said. of another residence or commercial
Lewis said the environmental establishment,
protection department is in the * Maintaining a building in a
process of identifying the nuisances manner that is structurally unsafe or
and sending out 30-day notices to constitutes a hazard to safety, health
residents that are not in compliance or public welfare because of inade-
with the policy. quate maintenance, unsanitary con-
He said most of the calls the de- ditions, dilapidation, disaster, dam-
partment receives a day are about a8e or abandonment or because it
high weeds and junk cars. contains a fire hazard.
“This will definitely make a dif- * Maintaining on abandoned and
ference because we are now given unoccupied property in a neighbor-
the power to have it cleaned up and bood a swinuning pool that is not
charge it back to the resident if they protected with a fence that is at
don?t handle (the problem) in the ^eas,t ^ feet btgb. uud has a latch that
time they are given,” Lewis said. can t be opened by a child or a cov-
in the policy, a nuisance is de- er over the entire swimming pool
fined as: that can’t be removed by a child.
• Keeping, storing or accumulat- • Maintaining a flea market in a
ing refuse on premises in a neigh- manner that constitutes a fire haz-
borhood unless the refuse is entirely aiz
contained in a closed receptacle. . rePort a nuisance, call the en-
• Keeping, storing or accumulat- 1 P™teCtion
ing rubbish, including newspapers, ° ^bers County at (409) 267-
abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, 7/ .... ...,, ,
stoves, furniture, tires and cans on ontact Allison Wollam by e-mail
premises in a neighborhood for 10
days or more, unless the rubbish is ar byph°ne at (281) 425-8020.
By MA. BENGTSON
Staff writer
BAYTOWN — The status of a
Sanchez Oil and Gas Co, gas
*- well being drilled on Lynchburg
Road adjacent to Burnet Bay is a
question mark. >
On Monday, the rig manager
savd ihe well had been plugged
and abandoned. ’
The director of District 3 of the
Railroad Commission in Hous-
ton, the agehey responsible for
regulating the oil and gas indus-
try, believes the well has been
abandoned, but only temporarily,
and may be reworked at a later
date. *
Calls to Sanchez Oil and Gas
Co. corporate headquarters in
Laredo to verify the well’s status
went unretumed Monday.
The Sanchez well is the first of
several proposed by the compa-
ny, which is asking approval of
permits to drill in Burnet, Crystal
and Scott bays, bays that to date'
remained free of drilling.
The proposal by Sanchez to
drill in the bays has drawn fire
not only from residents who live
along the shoreline, but from of-
ficials of the city of Baytown,
who fear drilling will expose the
bays and the Baytown Nature
Center to pollution. *
More than 20Q people ap-
peared recently at a Railroad
Commission hearing to protest
granting the permits.
• Word spread through the com-
munity on Sunday that the rig
was no longer standing as work-
ers for Grey Wolf Drilling Co.,
out of Eunice, La., began dis-
mantling the rig and moving it to
Sour Lake near Beaumont. “The
well is plugged and abandoned,”
said Richard Richard, rig manag-
er for Grey Wolf on Monday.
When asked if the well was a diy
hole, Richard indicated that was
his understanding. “We started
June 7 with cement plugs and
finished on June 8,” said
Richard of the process used to
shut a well down when there is
no production anticipated.
“Sanchez released the rig to us
Photo by MA Bertgtson
On Sunday, roughnecks for Grey Wolf Drilling Go. began dismantling a rig at the site of Burnet Bay No. 1, a wildcat
gas well being drilled by Sanchez Oil and Gas Co. on Lynchburg Road adjacent to Burnet Bay.
on June 10,” Richard said, thus
allowing Grey Wolf to move the
rig to a new job.
Guy Grossman, director of the
Texas Railroad Commission’s
District 3, offered a possible sce-
nario for the well’s dismantling.
“A staff member took a call
last week from a Sanchez em-
ployee about temporary abandon-
ment of the well. This means you
put a dry hole tree or valve on
top,” Grossman said.
Attaching the valve makes it
easy to re-enter the well and con-
tinue working on it.
“This is a fairly common prac-
tice', moving a more expensive
rig'off and moving a less expen-
sive workover rig in,” Grossman
said. A workover rig is smaller
and is ordinarily used to re-open
well? that have been capped and
abandoned in the past. “What we
believe happened is they plugged
off a couple of zones (that had
been drilled into),” Grossman
said. “They don’t have to tell us
what their future intentions are.”
Permit regulations allow rework-
ing to take place under the same
lease if it begins within 60 days
of the time a well was plugged.
If the well is indeed a dry hole,
it would be the second unsuc-
cessful well drilled in the area in
the past 10 years, said Gene
Poirot, a former president of the
Lakewood Civic Association.
Residents of Lakewood, which
borders Burnet Bay, were among
the first to protest drilling in the
three pristine bays.
“San Jacinto Point, drilled
about 10 years ago, was also a
dry hole,” said Poirot. San Jacinto
Point is located in the Baytown
Nature Center where millions of
dollars have been spent to clean
up pollution and to restore wet-
lands.
Joseph Ironkwe, a petroleum
engineer with the Railroad Com-
mission did not speculate as to
the impact a possible dry hole at
See WELL on Page 7A
Goose Creek school trustees approve updated dress code
By ALLISON WOLLAM
Staff writer
BAYTOWN — The Goose Creek
board of trustees approved a district-
wide dress code Monday that was up-
dated for the first time in five years.
At the suggestion of administra-
tors, a district-wide committee
made up of administrators, teachers
and parents, reviewed not only the
current standards but also policies
from 16 other school districts.
The new dress code reflects up-
dating the current dress code, ad-
dressing Current styles and fads and
fine tuning the disciplinary options
«It (the dress code) should create an atmosphere of respect for
authority, safety and good personal hygiene and reflect a sense of
pride in self.”
Raymond Taylor
assistant principal
' Storing High School
for violations of the code, said Bar-
bara Sultis, executive director of
school administration for the dis-
trict.
Gary Guy, assistant principal at
Robert E. Lee High School, was on
the committee and he said the com-
mittee worked hard to make the
dress code more user-friendly for
parents, school staff and parents.
Raymond Taylor, assistant princi-
pal at Ross S. Sterling High School,
said the committee first came up
with a philosophy to reflect the high
standards of the community and ad-
hering to good taste. '
“It (the dress code) should create
an atmosphere of respect for author-
ity, safety and good personal hy-
giene and reflect a sense of pride in
self,” Taylor said.
In the new dress code, students
may not wear muscle shirts, tops
with less than a two-inch strap or
sleeveless shirts that are revealing.
Shirts also must not expose the
bare chest or the midriff.
No type of head covering, cap or
hat can be brought to school, with
the exception of approved school
uniforms.
“The old dress code specified that
no hats could be brought into the
building, but students would still
bring them in and wear them when
the teachers weren’t looking, so we
changed it to state that they couldn’t
bring them in the building,” said
Guy.
Guy said shorts and footwear
were hot topics the committee ad-
dressed.
The minimum length of shorts is
at the fingertips when arms are at
the side, and shorts must have a fin-
ished hem. If a student disregards
the dress code, the privilege of
wearing shorts could be revoked.
See DRESS CODE on Page 8A
INSIDE
Community____
.6A
Classifieds......
.4B
Comics ........
.7B
Opinion ........
,4A
Obituaries .....
.5A
Police Beat......
.6A
Sports..........
.IB
Television........
•8B
Business........
.3B
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 200, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 13, 2000, newspaper, June 13, 2000; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1019947/m1/1/?q=j+w+gardner: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.