The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 139, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 12, 1998 Page: 1 of 42
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.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Wanda Orton
Lee graduate looks
back on her mentors
Calendar 2-A
Classifieds 8-B
Jim Kyle 9-A
Obituaries 3A
Thr ^aptoton
Venus rising
U.S. hailsyoung
new tennis star
Opinion 4-A
Police Beat 3-A
Sports 1-B
Today in History.. 4-A
The Game
Sterling vs. Lee
gets a new lookun
WE0®® Wfeekend
A »»vvhvIIU
What’s Inside
Volume 76, No. 139
Telephone Number {281) 422-8302
Sunday, April 12,1998
Baytown, Texas 77520• $1.00 Per Copy
... will be filled when demand is
sufficient to require expansion of
Lawyers for the Houston law
firm Blackburn and Carter an-
nounced this week that they are
By BRIAN BROCK
The Baytown Sun
not responsible for determining
when an industrial expansion is
warranted, and thus cannot account
for the apparent violation of the “as
needed” clause of the permit.
. ^Bennett said that USX had not
violated its permit, and that the
corps had verified this by conduct-
ing an on on-site inspection.
When asked to clarify how the
“as needed" clause had not been vi-
olated, Bennett said, “We went out
to the site to see if the mitigation
been.”
He added that it was USX that
added the “as needed” clause in the
permit application, and as such was
not subject to corps verification.
Potts said the corps was notified
by USX that the 9.7 acres of wet-
land in question had been filled,
and, after looking into the matter,
the corps had “not found them in
violation of the permit.”
■ Monday. Rep. Lampson weighs in.
job to enforce these permits, and it
is an abdication of their legal re-
sponsibility not to do so.” / *
The permits in question were
granted to USX for the filling of
wetlands on property designated for
use by TSP for the construction of
the landfill.
In a letter to USX, the corps said
that on May 14, 1996, USX Corp,
filed documents with the corps
seeking permission to fill 9.7 acres
of isolated wetlands on the proper-
ty. f
On June 27, 1996, the corps
granted the permit, and the wet-
lands were filled by USX in June of
1997, immediately before the year-
long permit expired.
these wetlands, they will not have
been impacted and will continue to
function in their present manner...”
“It seems pretty clear that the work was done, and saw that it had
permit was violated,” Monk said.
But Col. Eric Potts, district engi-
neer for the Galveston District
Corps of Engineers says that en-
forcement of corps permits is not
his job.
“TNRCC is the responsible agent
for permitting the landfill,” Potts
said, “my jurisdiction is the jurisdic-
tional wetlands issue.”
Bruce Bennett, unit leader for the
questioned the filling of the wet- that, “The two wetlands located
tends, saying that two major viola- within the footprint of this project
preparing to file sponsibility to enforce their own tions of the filling permit have not
suit i
USX Corp, for
alleged viola-
tions of the fed-
eral Clean Wa-
ter Act.
The suit
comes at the re-
quest of In-
formed Citizens
United, a Beach
City citizens group fighting the
proposed TSP industrial landfill
slated to be built on USX land near
Beach City.
Attorney Jim Blackbum said that
under the Clean Water Act, citizens
may act in lieu of government
agencies charged with protecting
the nation’s water supply.
Beach City residents plan lawsuit
Loss of wetlands at landfill site at heart of suit
“We are doing this specifically ICU representative Joe Monk spite the provision in the permit
. because the US. (Army) Corps of
: Engineers has abdicated their re-
against permits,” said Blackbum, “it is their been addressed by the corps. s ~~
First, Monk said, the permit ap- the project into these areas. If the
plication submitted to the corps by project fails or does not expand into
USX stated that the site was to be
used for “industrial project devel-
opment” rather than for an industri-
al landfill.
Monk said that application would
have received a more thorough re-
view if the application would have
stated the actual development
planned for the property — the in-
dustrial landfill.
A second problem with the corps
permit, Monk said, was that it
specifically stated that the wetlands
were not to be filled unless industri-
al expansion demanded it.
In fact, the wetlands were entirely regulatory branch of the corps in
filled prior to June 27, 1997, de- Galveston, added that the corps is
Home
Improvement
Spring 1998
The Baytown Sun’s an-
nual guide to fixing up,
cleaning up and sprucing
up your home. SeePage
5-A.
•J
i
waits for voters to approve a bond sale,
the cost to finish the project will rise even
more.
He also says that the project has been
under budget throughout construction, but
a sharp rise in construction costs during
the last year has created the current deficit
situation.
Had the Houston area not experienced a
rapid rise in construction demand, he ex-
plained, the project would have been com-
tom of it barking.”
Lee plans to fight to see the funds
raised to finish the project and said, “If we
don’t pass the bond issue a lot of people
are going to be disappointed, the word of
the council is going to be broken, and I’m
not going to do that—we’re going to find
away.” ‘
community was supportive of the recre-
ation center, but less so of the golf course.
“The way the [recreation center] com-
mittee presented this, they tied the fitness
center and the golf course together,”
Luis Lopez
works on
the green
on Eagle
Pointe’s
Hole No.
7. The
crews at
the Mont
Belvieu
course are
trying to
get the fa-
cility ready
for a grand
•' - •' o LUI
openingin me
Septem-
ber.
Photo by
John Rowland
$4.2 million for the construction of the
recreation center
Local citizens say the project they sup-
ported emphasized the recreation center,
not the golf course.
“It’s not the golf course I have an objec-
tion to, but it is the exclusion of every-
thing else,” said Mont Belvieu resident
Coon says that calling the golf course !
“upder budget” overlooks the money si- i
phoned off from both the city budget and .'
the recreation center budget to finish the j
golf course. ■ ■ ...
The city’s'December budget indicates i
that over $ 116,000 has already been spent
from the city’s general fund on the recre-
ation center and golf course.
“The recreation center committee that
put this all together did not do a good job
and foresee all of the costs,” said Boehme.
“They did not research and go about
tilings correctly and [initially] decided not
to hire a project manager.”
Boehme also objects to using general
funds for the project, especially the pay-
ment of the salary of now-necessary pro-
ject manager Donald Heinz from the gen- « ■
eral fund.
The city also paid $20,000 out of the
general fond to Houston estimators Knud -
son and Associates to do a cost analysis to
complete the project.
The cost projection submitted by Knud-
son and Associates allocates $250,000
from the general fund for future project
management.
Boehme, who said that he was undecid-
ed on whether to vote to spend the addi-
tional money, said that he felt like Mayor
Lee has been saddled with a poorly
planned project.
“Our former mayor, who began this
project, used to like to say, ‘the sky’s the
limit,”’ Boehme said, “but now the coun-
.... v .... ...... cil’s up a tree and the dogs are at the bot-
parking lots for either facility, tire bike and Lee says that though it looks like the
fitness trails, the recreatidn center itself or golf course was given priority, the truth is
the half-mile access road that will link the that the plans for both the golf course and
course and recreation center to Highway the recreation center were requested from
3180. contractors at tire same time, and the golf
The city’s December 1997 budget allo- ‘’course designer submitted plans quickly,
cated $481,187 for the entrance and inte- allowing golf course construction to pro-
rior roads, $431,648 for parking lots and ceed.
By BRIAN BROCK
The Baytown Sun
The City of Mont Belvieu’s plan to
build a golf course and recreation center
was an ambitious project — maybe too
ambitious.
The Eagle Pointe Recreation and Fit-
ness Center and Eagle Pointe Golf Club
project, which was to be paid for with a
$12.5 million bond sale, has run $2.5 mil-
lion overbudget, according to city offi-
cials. '
At 6 p.m. on Monday, the City Council
will hold a town meeting and — based on
the input of citizens — will choose to ei-
ther scale back the recreation center con-
siderably or issue another $3 million of
bonds to complete the project as planned.
“I’d rather take it to the voters but we
don’t have the time,” Mayor Bob Lee said.
“The City Council is going to have to take
it on themselves to do what their con-
stituents expect them to do.” — ------ ...... - .......
Lee said he fears that if the council the golf course is 70 percent finished and Boehme said, “If they .had donei. separate
should be open by Labor Day. bond sales, I don’t think the golf course
Mont Belvieu golf course slices into rough
City officials:
Bonds won’t
cover cost of
the rec center
pleted within the original budget.
Retiree Gordon Nichols, who works as
a volunteer inspector for the city and
spends much of his time overseeing the
construction of the golf course, said that
should be open by Labor Day. bond sales, I don’t think the golf course
“This course is not really like any other would have passed.”
Houston course because of the elevation Bids have not yet been accepted on the Angel Coon,
changes,” Nichols said, adding that the
course is championship quality.
Nichols and Lee are clearly excited
about the quality of the course as it nears
completion, but local residents are asking
why the recreation center has not even
been started..
Councilman Gary Boehme said the
Local man killed on way home from concert
McCartney
A Baytown bar owner was killed and
three others were injured early Thursday
morning after a Garth Brooks concert when
the car they were? in careened off Interstate
10 in Houston, hitting a light pole and then
flipping over several times, officials said.
Marion Dewayne McCartney, 32, died at
Ben Taub Hospital, where he was taken af-
ter the 12:05 a.m. Tliursday accident.
McCartney was the owner of the “One
More Dbg House” in Baytown.
. .The three other occupants of the car re-
mained hospitalized at Ben Taub on Friday,
one in critical condition and the two others
instable condition.
- Kristi Joe Lewis of Mont Belvieu was
listed in critical condition Friday and re-
mained in the hospital’s intensive care unit,
officials said.
Twila Jean Anderson, 22, and Brian
Shane Barnhill, 20, were both listed in sta-
ble condition and were being held in the
hospital’s emergency room under observa-
tion.
Houston police spokesman. John Cannon
said McCartney was driving the car, a 1995
Nissan Altima, when he tried to avoid hit-
ting another car and lost control. The car
flipped, ejecting’the driver and the two back-
seat passengers.Weather
Saturday: Sunny
with highs in the 80s.
' Sunday Mostly -
sunny with highs in
the 80s.
Art by Michael Eamst
News tip? Call (281) 422-8302
www.baytownsun.com
For home delivery, call (281) 422-8302
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 37 places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 139, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 12, 1998, newspaper, April 12, 1998; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1176481/m1/1/?q=Homecoming+queen+1966+North+Texas+State+University: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.