Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

The Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) has received a federal grant to purchase top of the line smoke detectors for area residents.

The department will receive more than $70,000 from the federal government to purchase the detectors, through a FEMA fire prevention safety grant. The grant, which is funded 75 percent by FEMA and 25 percent by the MVFD, means that the total amount will add up to more than $88,000.

"Since it is a share grant we have to kick in 25 percent, which will be a little less than $18,000," said MVFD assistant chief Rusty Griffith.

The grant will allow the department to purchase 2,000 units with 10-year lithium batteries, plus an additional 500 batteries.

According to Griffith, 20 percent of homes with smoke detectors have units that do not work, while four percent of homes do not have a smoke detector at all. He said the risk of a fire related death or injury greatly decreases in homes with working detectors.

"Our goal is to have at least one working unit in each home in the district," he said. "It greatly improves the chance of survival."

He said he hopes to have the process completed by the end of the year, so that by the beginning of 2013 they will be ready to hand out the units. Once MVFD receives the final go ahead from FEMA they will request bids to purchase the detectors. He estimated that within 12-18 months the department will have handed out the units and completed the program.

Griffith said the department was thrilled to receive the grant, because it is a competitive process.

"You don't always expect to get a competitive grant," he said.

The district, which covers 165 square miles and serves nearly 70,000 people, runs strictly off paid part-time staffing and volunteers. Last year they answered almost 4,000 calls. With a limited staff and budget constraints, fire prevention is key to the department.

"We will target areas where our fire deaths occur first," Griffith said, adding that the department will come and install the units for free.

To secure one of the free 10-year smoke detectors, Griffith said be on the lookout for an announcement on the departments web page at magnoliafire.org. For more information call 281-356-3288.

Tomball High School will hold its annual football Homecoming Parade Oct. 24, at 6:30 p.m. The parade will start at Tomball Intermediate School and proceed down Main Street to the Tomball Depot Plaza. Following the parade a pep rally will be held at the Depot. The homecoming Dukes and Duchesses and the Homecoming King will be announced. The Tomball Cougars play their homecoming contest Friday, Oct. 26 versus Ridge Point High School at 7 p.m. The queen will be announced at halftime.

After a 0-3 start in district play, the Waller Bulldogs headed into their contest against Bryan Rudder with a chip on their shoulder.

After a Rudder turnover to open the game, the Bulldogs quickly mounted a drive, topped off by quarterback Rhett Loewe's five-yard run for the score. Denny Garcia tacked on the extra point to go up 7-0.

After a Bulldog field goal on their next possession, Waller forced a three-and-out from the Ranger offense. The Bulldogs proceeded to march downfield, scoring on Colten Frisby's one-yard run to go up 17-0.

The defense held up and forced another punt by the Rangers. A booming punt took Race Mellman all the way back to his own 19-yard line as he caught the ball. After breaking a couple of tackles, a wall of blockers were set up for Mellman to get behind and he promptly raced down the sideline for an 81-yard return for a score.

A  Rudder score cut the lead to 23 -7, with just under two minutes to play in the half. The Bulldogs quickly answered the score with one of their own. Chris Wilkerson and Cole Geigley were opening up some nice running lanes while Colten Frisby ran for a 35-yard gain and Josh Cunningham powered his way for 26 more.  Loewe punched it in from there to cap the scoring for the first half with 28 seconds left and the score 30-7.

Rudder scored again with 1:03 left in the third quarter and Waller's Joeseth McDade scored twice in the fourth quarter, on runs of three and 17 yards respectively, to complete the scoring and a final score of 44-1, in favor of Waller.

The Waller Bulldogs hosted the Magnolia Bulldogs on Oct. 19, for Homecoming. Results were not available at press time.

Tomball             56
Spring Woods    0   
The Cougars rolled for their third straight win, blanking Spring Woods 56-0 Oct. 18.

Tomball running back Xavier Powell opened up the scoring with a 52-yard touchdown run and the Cougars never looked back. They raced to a 42-0 halftime lead before letting the backups play much of the second half.

Powell ended the night with 153 yards on just seven rushes and two scores.

Demetri Scott added 163 yards on the ground, while only running the ball three times. He also had two scores. Scott added 48 yards receiving and another touchdown to close out his dominant night.

The Cougars improved to 3-4 on the season and 3-1 in District 22-4A.

Tomball hosts Ft. Bend Ridge Point Oct. 26 in their homecoming contest.

Tomball Memorial   36
Spring Woods          33
The Tomball Memorial Wildcats grabbed their first varsity win in school history Oct. 12, defeating Spring Woods 36-33.

The Wildcats had a balanced offensive attack, with 253 yards rushing and 264 yards through the air. Running back Payton logan paced the rushing attack with two touchdown runs, while quarterback Jordan Peterson was 14-21 passing for 264 yards and two touchdown tosses.

The win gave Tomball Memorial its first win in history, improving to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in District 22-4A.

The Wildcats traveled to Ft. Bend Marshall Oct. 19. Results were not available at press time.

It’s time again for the annual Texas Renaissance Festival, a fall tradition for many local families and several that are not local as well.

Some Magnolia residents have enjoyed going to the festival for years. Mike Reynolds, Boy Scout leader for Troop 1488 in Magnolia, started coming when he was a teenager and now brings his own sons to the festival.

“This event is good family entertainment, so we like to make a day of it,” said Reynolds. “I like the theater acts and musical groups. I moved to Dallas for a few years and I really missed it.”

Many Magnolia citizens cringe during Renaissance Festival weekends in October and November, as they think about the roadways around town being clogged by visitors. But the RenFest does have a positive impact on the overall economy in Magnolia.

The festival has more than a million attendees annually, and quite a few are not from Texas, but come from far corners of the nation, such as Maine, Washington and Florida. They travel to the area and expand the economy by spending money on hotel rooms, gasoline and food.

Throughout the festival, local hotels and restaurants stay full. Many Renaissance Festival visitors and  employees remain in town for the duration of the festival.

Lia Vansadia, owner-manager of the Magnolia Inn and Suites, acknowledged she has guests from every state during the Renaissance Festival. 

”We are always sold out during the festival every year,” she said. “We started running a free shuttle for our guests to ride to and from the festival grounds last year. It was an instant hit. I had people calling about it months in advance.”

Terre Albert, General Manager of the Renaissance Festival, indicated that the festival employs more than 1,000 people for the run of the event, and the 395 vendors employ another several hundred to help sell their wares.

“Many local people use their earnings for Christmas money and we are happy to have them back year after year,” said Albert.  “The festival has been running for 37 years, and it gets bigger each year. Our campground alone has more than 5,000 people each weekend, and many of them stay from Thursday through Monday. All that time they are eating in restaurants and shopping in stores in Magnolia.”

The Renaissance Festival has its own theatrical company which employs local entertainers to portray the 15^th century villagers.

“Local high school or college students participate in our acting company, and this gives them a chance to gain professional experience and build their resumes,” said Albert. 

Magnolia has become the official sponsor city of the Renaissance Festival. Deborah Rose Miller, President of the Magnolia Community Foundation, spearheaded the partnership.  

“We help promote the festival, and in turn the festival helps us with donations to our non-profit groups and by cooperating with city fundraisers throughout the year,” said Miller.

She mentioned the festival donated $20,000 to Magnolia non-profits recently, during the “Stroll Through the Renaissance Festival” event in downtown Magnolia. Although the rain prevented large crowds, more than 1,000 people did attend and had a chance to experience 15^th-century foods and beverages and try to dunk their favorite local celebrity in the dunking booth sponsored by the Magnolia Rotary Club.

“The funds our nonprofits receive from the Renaissance Festival help to compensate them for the inconvenience of not being able to run an effective fundraiser during festival time. It ends up being a win-win situation,” explained Miller.

The Magnolia Community Foundation plans events throughout the year for the purpose of benefitting Magnolia non-profit  groups and providing entertainment to residents. This year, they had to put up with rain at every event.  

“We anticipate next year will be better. We will begin with a Mardi Gras Stroll in February,” said Miller.

The Renaissance Festival runs every Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to dark beginning October 4 and ending the Friday after Thanksgiving. It also hosts special school days so that students can learn more about 15^th century life. For more information go to http://texrenfest.com/.

UPDATE: Munoz-Verudes is now in custody, following his arrest last Saturday, according to detectives. He was due in court today.

ORIGINAL STORY: Tomball police are searching for a man they say lured a 17-year-old girl to his home with promises of a spiritual blessing and proceeded to rape her.

Mario Munoz-Verudes, 60, has been charged with sexual assault. Police say he claims to perform “black magic.” Police said that according to documents found in his home, the man is an illegal immigrant, according to a citation from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The victim told police that Munoz-Verudes is a family friend and a member of their church. On Sept. 23 the man told her that she “looked sick and needed a blessing.” He invited her to his home and she accepted.

When they arrived at the man’s home, he took her into the bedroom where there who two mattresses, and a cooking pot on the floor. Statements say that the man lit incense in the cooking pot, then attacked the teen.

The victim said that Munoz-Verudes then placed his hand over her mouth and pushed onto the mattresses. He then raped the victim, according to police.

Afterwards, the man told the girl to get dressed and leave, warning her that he would put a curse on her if she told anyone about the assault.

Police said the victim did not tell anyone of the rape for a few days, that is until he attempted to lure her younger sister to his home as well.

“The victim came forward to her family when he invited her younger sister to his house for a ‘blessing’ as well,” Tomball police Cpt. Rickey Doerre said. “He was at a family gathering and the victim knew exactly what would happen to her sister if she went to his house.”

Investigators then went to the man’s home and found the items she described in the bedroom.

The man remains at large. Police are asking that anyone with information on Munoz-Verudes whereabouts contact them at 281-351-5451. Police have forward the man’s information to INS and Border Patrol. He will have a $60,000 bond upon his arrest.