The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 30, 2004 Page: 1 of 16
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Serving all of Baytown, Lynchburg, Highlands, McNair, Barrett Station, Crosby, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac and West Chambers County
UH
1
TI-IUKSDA
Back on track
Developer looking to buy old hospital
See FACILITY on Page 8A
See TRAIN on Page gA
Beach City has $1,500 budget-
Assisted-living
facility could
be on horizon
Tuesday. Council members dis-
covered the area’s lighting is cost-
buildings.
Beach City Mayor Guido
about $2,500 per month,
much more than most peo-
ple can afford, Eiland said.
; hous-
ing, will then turn it into a
facility that will provide
assisted living care and a
i;
J
By HEATHER L. NICHOLSON
The Baytown Sun
By HEATHER L NICHOLSON
The Baytown Sun
The fiscal year ends in June
2005.
It was also brought to council’s
z
By KRISTOPHER BANKS
The Baytown Sun
„ i.r<r ■
move surplus money from anoth-
er fund in the budget.
“We have enough to cover us
attention that the mayors and
council’s expense accounts also
were over budget. City officials
often use those funds to attend
seminars and workshops on city
management, some of which are
required by state law.
Council unanimously voted to
move $1,200 from the water
reservation fund in the city bud-
get to split evenly in the mayor’s
and Council’s funds.
Funding is needed for an
upcoming workshop requiring
two city officials to attend invest-
ment training. ,
The Houston North Shore railway was
1
gas lines, his crew was able
to start digging to repair the
problem at 4 a.m.
They finished around
noon on Wednesday, and
then flushed the line.
Pack said the line only
feeds Inverness Apartments I
and several homes north of
the apartments.
He said the cause of the
pipe burst was likely
“ "ground movement" and
was not unusual.
"We have water breaks
everyday," he said. "It’s fair-
ly typical."
“It's real nice to have the
water back," Turner said.
— Meredith Darnell
the first line to connect Houston to the rural
area of Goose Creek. Highlands, in particu-
lar, has special ties to the line because
Harry K. Johnson, a 20th century settler,
invested $2 million to build the tracks. The
interurban system ran from 1927 to 1948
when it was dismantled to make way for
fuel and diesel powered buses.
When the Highlands Chamber of
Commerce began to search this year for a
historical monument to place in their city, it
rounding area.
In an effort to preserve the past, a group
of historical enthusiasts salvaged the relic,
known as Car 524, and are attempting to
■ - ■
electric bill. ( '
In reviewing the city s budget tjon decided on yet.
Tuesdav. Council members dis- “What are we going to do, turn
out the light?”Councilwoman right now,” he said.
ing more than originally planned. Rita Standridge said. Persiani estimates approxi-
There are 10 light systems the mately $300 will have to be
ed for CenterPoint Energy until City of Beach City pays for, moved to cover the cost of the
June 2005. The lights have including a handful of streetlights city’s electricity.
already cost $760. averaging and security lights on city-owned
more than $100 per month.
“It s going to go over before the
$1,500 per month.
The hospital on Decker
opened in 1948. The surgical
facilities moved to the cur-
rent facility at Garth and
Baker roads in spring 1988,
but the hospital did not com-
plete the move until June
2003, said San Jacinto
spokeswoman M.A.
Bengtson. The Methodist
Hospital system still owns
the Decker building.
The cost of the project is
still one thing that must be
worked out, but Eiland said.
The complex totals about
300,000 square feet, includ-
ing the office buildings next
the"“ property? said” Bill t0 the hospital. The hospital
Eiland, executive director of likely will need renovation,
the authority. Wyebrook has Pei?aps maj°r renovation.,
until Feb. 1 to complete the
purchase.
HIGHLANDS — There it sat, in a
Channelview pasture, rusted, abandoned restore it. Deemed the Highlands Heritage
and abused. Museum and Preservation Project, the final
To most people, the last surviving electric product will be displayed in a downtown
interurban passenger car looked like anoth- Highlands park.
er forgotten hunk of junk surrounded by “The railway system was such a signifi-
overgrown weeds; But beneath the unsight- cant event coming through Highlands,” said
ly blue color and deterioration is a rich his- Jim Strouhal, a restoration volunteer. “It is
tory of commerce and development closely the reason Highlands is here today.”
intertwined with Baytown and the sur-
Ht.
i
|
r
i
f /
Baytown Sun photo/Heather L. Nicholson
ROY ELLIOTT, Jim Strouhal and Gary Wiggins of Highlands spear- the height of transportation from Houston to Goose Creek,
headed a project to restore the last surviving passenger car of the Coincidentally, the salvaged car is the exact one that made its daily
Houston North Shore interurban railway. The blue exterior and dete- route through Highlands until 1948. The chamber is selling charter
riorating woodwork is far from the car’s former glory, as it was once memberships for the preservation project.
Car 524, a Highlands train relic, to be restored
year is up,” Councilman Doug Persiani said the lack of electrici-
Walker said. “We should do ty funds in the budget is simply a
something about it now.” miscalculation of how much this
Discussions on how to com- year would cost. He said to fix
w* IkA&SSk
MB ■<
Beach City electric bill higher than expected pipe bursts on Pmett
Les Turner, a three-year
resident of Inverness
Apartments in Baytown,
was curious when he didn't
have water around 10 p.m.
Tuesday night.
Then, he went outside.
“(Water) was spilling
about 2 feet high in the
: street directly across from
the apartments,” he said.
“There was water up and
: down the street on Pruett,"
According to Fred,Pack,
' Baytown director of public
■ works, a 4-inch PVC line
; broke late Tuesday on
Pruett and after completing
checks for electrical and
BAYTOWN — The
empty hospital building that
sits on a hill on Decker
Drive might soon have new
life.
A Houston developer,
WyebrOok Capital, is under
contract with the Methodist
Hospital system to possibly
purchase the property. The
developer is working with
the Baytown Housing
Authority on creating an
assisted living facility.
A nonprofit corporation
owned by the Baytown
Housing Authority will own
ft ■
The cost is one of the
major aspects the authority
f The authority, a federally- must know before pursuing
funded organization that the building, said authority
provides low-income hous- board of directors chairman
:— ...in a— .— „ Wayne Hanson.
“We might be involved,
but we haven’t seen the eco-
full-scale nursing facility for nomics,” he said.
low to moderate-income Eiland stressed that the
people, Eiland said. plans are all very prelimi-
Such facilities usually cost nary, and he intends to go
“full speed beginning next
week.”
The facility might be
those who need care often divided, by floor, into full-
have to turn to their families scale nursing care, assisted
to pay for these services, he living for those who are
said. The new facility could
lower that cost to $ 1,200 to
BEACH CITY — There’s ......... ....... _ _____________________
nothing bright about Beach City s pensate increase were dis- the problem, council will vote to
■--------- ' ■■■■ cussed, but no permanent solu-
No vacancy: District 3 rep sworn in
See DISTRICT 3 on Page 5A
elected mayor.
Ward’s first meeting went smoother
than the process that selected her. It
was a special meeting with only 11
items on the agenda, as opposed to the
usually 20-30.
“It went very smooth,” she said after-
BAYTOWN — After 216 days, the
residents of Craigmont, Lakewood,
Wooster, Eastpoint and everyone else
north of Baker Road and west of Garth
Road have someone officially repre-
senting them in city government.
Retired school administrator Sheryl
Ward took the oath of office
Wednesday to become Council’s
District 3 representative, She was
By KRISTOPHER BANKS
The Baytown Sun
felt comfortable doing so.
All the votes Wednesday were unan-
imous. The only item that raised eye-
brows on the agenda was the first read-
ing of an annexation of 30 acres on
Garth Road for an apartment complex.
Councilman Ronnie Anderson said he
had heard individuals affiliated with
the school district opposed the annexa-
tion.
Ward said that had that item, which
More Council news/5A
appointed Dec. 9 to fill the vacancy
Calvin Mundinger left to become
mayor.
It ends the longest Council vacancy
in the city’s history and months of Ward. “j feJt prepared.”
political deadlock. In the nine times Ward said she read up on the issues
Council has appointed Council mem- before the meeting and was prepared to
bers, the next-longest vacancy was in vote. Although, other than voting, she
1978, when it took 17 days to appoint did not speak or ask questions during
Eileen Caffery after Allen Cannon was the meeting, she said she would have
Baytown Sun photo/Kristopher Banks
NEW COUNCILWOMAN Sheryl Ward
takes the oath.of office from City
Attorney IgnaciO Ramirez, not shown,
Wednesday.
r----
if
50 cents
December 30,2004
Telephone: 281-422-8302
www.baytownsun.com
Volume 34. No. 24
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 30, 2004, newspaper, December 30, 2004; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1184874/m1/1/?q=112+cavalry: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.