The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 94, No. 150, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 3, 2014 Page: 1 of 16
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281-428-8662
m SUNDAY, AUGUST 3,2014
Vol. 94, No. 150 ©2014. Since 1922 * ~~
I hK3aytown Sun
______ Covering East Harris County, Chambers / County and Southwest Liberty County www.baytownsun.com
Quick and quiet and gone’
BY MARK FLEMING
mark.fleming@baytownsun.com
With just three weeks before students
return to class in Goose Creek CISD
schools, at least one board member be-
lieves the only way forward for the dis-
trict is under a new superintendent.
Blackford said he believes some good
things have been accomplished in the
two years Dr. Salvador Cavazos has been
superintendent, but that a new leader is
needed. '
“In every single email, every phone
call, every single person that stops me at
Board member speaks out on Goose Creek’s way forward
Kroger, it’s the same complaint.
It’s the superintendent and his
management style and his apparent
inability have the kind of interper-
sonal skills to truly communicate
with his staff.” V ^
“I’ve not heard one single com-
plaint over any of the academic
processes we’ve put in place, over
any of the training that we’ve given
teachers - the principal academy, Kagan
[professional development] train-
ing, curriculum instruction - not
one. Not one single complaint to
do academically.”
Blackford said that admittedly
he was not in the room when any
of the alleged negative encounters
occurred between the superin-
BLACKFORD tendent and staff, “but when you
hear every person saying the same
thing, that’s cause for alarm. Now it’s
time to take action.”
“All ego aside, it comes down to one
question: does the superintendent have
the ability to effectively lead the district
in light of everything - in light of all the
complaints, in light of all the emails and
phone calls. Is it recoverable?”
“The answer is No,” Blackford said. “In
my opinion, no, it is not recoverable.”
SEE GCCISD • PAGE 7A
ansa
| U S. EPA SUPERFUND SITE
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SAN JACINTO RIVtR WASTE PITS
Harris County, TX
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TEXANS
together
, io i
I RIVER
COALITION
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Baytown Sun photo by Christopher James
Environmental activist Lois Gibbs joins Texans Together, The San Jacinto River Coalition, Houston Council member Jack Christie and Chief of the
Environmental Division at Harris County Attorney’s Office Rock Owens to demand full removal of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund Site.
Environmental activists seek complete
removal of San Jacinto River waste pits
At Lee College workshop, mayor
calls toxic removal a ‘no-brainer’
‘I’m here to support the struggle’
BY CHRISTOPHER JAMES
christopherjames@baytownsun.com
Environmental activist and
Nobel Prize nominee Lois Gibbs
joined Texans Together and the
San Jacinto River Coalition to
demand full removal of the San
Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund
Site on Friday.
Additional attendees includ-
ed Houston City Council mem-
ber Jack Christie and Chief of
the Environmental Division at
Harris County Attorney’s Office
Rock Owens.
Gibbs spoke about her expe-
rience with dioxin and her fight
35 years ago at Love Canal.
“I’m here to support the strug-
gle to do what is really quite
obvious. You have a superfund
site underwater, you don’t need
studies to determine that you
need to dig it up and take it out,”
Gibbs said. “The things that I’m
hearing being told to the resi-
dents who live in this area and
people concerned about these
pits are the same things they said
to us 35 years ago - things like
dioxin doesn’t move. Ladies and
SEE STRUGGLE • PAGE 7A
BY CHRISTOPHER JAMES
christopherjames@baytownsun.com
Environmental activist Lois
Gibbs and the Director of the
San Jacinto River Coalition Jac-
quelyn Young led a community
workshop calling for the remov-
al of toxic waste in the San Ja-
cinto River waste pits Saturday
at Lee College.
Baytown Mayor Stephen
DonCarlos introduced Gibbs as
well as gave his support for full
removal of the pits.
“We at the city are extremely
concerned about the presence
of this pit,” DonCarlos said. “I
personally believe that it is a
no-brainer that this site needs to
be completely remediated.”
Once Gibbs took the floor,
she applauded the mayor for his
support and told her story about
becoming an accidental envi-
ronmentalist.
In the spring of 1978, a
27-year-old Gibbs discovered
SEE WORKSHOP* PAGE 7A
BPD:
Killer
turns
self in
BY ELE8KA AUBESPIH
eleska.aubespln@baytownsun.com
Baytown Police said Walter
1 Pickering, 25, who is suspect-
ed of killing 32-year-old Glen
! Flowers, turned himself in to
j authorities Friday night.
He was arrested and booked
' into the city jail.
Flowers suffered one gun-
shot wound
and was pro-
n o u n c e d
dead when
Baytown
EMS arrived
at the Valero,
1601 N. Alex-__
ander Drive, PICKERING
at 12:12 a.m.
Friday.
Police initially believed
that the Baytown resident was
a bystander who was random-
ly shot during the incident.
Baytown police confirmed
that the two men knew each
other.
“The men were acquain-
tances,” said Baytown Police
Spokesman Lt. Eric Freed.
Several witnesses told po-
lice officers that a man shot
Flowers and immediately
drove off in a gray Chevy
pickup truck. Witnesses were
also able to give police the
license plate number of the
truck, which was registered
to Pickering.
“One witness memorized
his fleeing truck’s license
plate which is registered to
him and several witnesses
picked him out of a photo ar-
ray,” said Freed.
Detectives interviewed
several witnesses who said
Pickering and a Hispanic fe-
SEE KILLER* PAGE 7A
Chambers County Sheriff’s Office looking into missing funds
BY MARK FLEMING
mark.fleming@baytownsun.com
The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office
is investigating the alleged theft of several
thousand dollars from the county’s Envi-
ronmental Health and Permitting Depart-
ment.
“There is a criminal investigation going
on in regard to some missing ftmds,” Sher-
iff Brian Hawthorne said. “It was discov-
ered by the auditor’s office ... and there’s
been an investigation going on now for a
few weeks based on information that was
given to us from the auditor’s office.”
Hawthorne said, “There are multiple
possible suspects.” He said no individual
had yet been singled out. Several people
have been interviewed, Hawthorne said.
“Right now the Chambers County Sher-
iff’s Office is conducting the investiga-
tion,” he said. “The auditor’s office is be-
ing briefed regularly on it.”
Hawthorne said the investigation was
not yet to the point of being able to make
an arrest or take the matter to the grand
jury-
County Judge Jimmy Sylvia said he
was limited in what he could say about
the situation since it involved both a crim-
inal investigation and personnel matters,
but he confirmed that Sidney L. Lewis Jr.
was terminated Friday from his position
as director of the Environmental Health
and Permitting Department.
Sylvia said the termination did not in-
dicate that Lewis was involved with the
missing money. “The reasons he was ter-
minated [were] mismanagement of his
department and misuse of county equip-
ment,” Sylvia said.
While a new director for that depart-
ment is being sought, he said, Rex Tunze
is serving as interim director.
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Bloom, David. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 94, No. 150, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 3, 2014, newspaper, August 3, 2014; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1065672/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.