Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

The Tomball City Council took a large step towards bringing a major tourist entity to the city, when it voted to approve an agreement with the Houston Railroad Museum on it's relocation to Tomball.

"They are looking for a new home," said Tomball councilman Field Hudgens. "We have the space available and it makes sense for the two to merge together considering our history."

The Memorandum of Understanding is the first step in a process to bring the museum to Tomball. The agreement states that the museum would be located on the northeast side of the railroad tracks near the Tomball baseball fields.

Hudgens said the museum is a perfect fit for the city.

"It's a wonderful idea," he said. "It's a perfect match with Tomball's roots being set with the railroad."

The museum, which is run by the Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, has been closed for the entirety of 2012 while it searched for a new home. The museum's inventory includes several locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars and cabooses. There are also many railway artifacts.

The museum also provides educational tours and a scholarship to the National Park Service's Rail Camp in Scranton, Pa.

In other business the council approved a new sign ordinance which looks to eliminate the roadways of advertisements known as bandit signs, as well as regulate the size and scope of other signs within the city.

The next city council meeting will be Nov. 18.

Tomball Police arrested a man suspected of robbing the local Auto Zone, thanks to information provided by a Tomball jail inmate.

Police arrested Justin Ross Hightower, 30, of Tomball, Nov. 9, following a Nov. 8 robbery at Auto Zone, where a suspect displayed a handgun and ordered the cashier to give him money from the register.

"The cashier complied and the suspect took the money and fled the location," a Tomball press release stated. "Officers, investigators and criminalists arrived at the scene and began their investigation."

Police sources stated that they received a break in the case the next day. A patrol officer arrested a suspect that appeared to be coming down from a drug high. The suspect told investigators that they knew who robbed the Auto Zone and gave detectives Hightower's name.

Police arrested Hightower that evening and found evidence, including a pellet gun that was used in the robbery. Hightower is also a suspect in other robberies and break in's in both Harris and Montgomery counties.

Hightower was charged with aggravated robbery. His bond was set at $30,000.

Several business people in the community are once again banding together to put on the Families Feeding Families Thanksgiving event this year.

The event will be held at ChristBridge Fellowship Church, 29510 Tomball Pkwy., Nov. 21, from noon until 4 p.m.

"It's for anyone who is in the need for something," Vicki Clark of Community Bank of Texas said. "If you can't afford a Thanksgiving meal, if you are a veteran, police officer, firefighter or just lonely and need a hug. Anyone that needs fellowship can come."

She said that the group is excited and expects this year to be even bigger than the first event.

"We are looking to do this every year," she said. "We want this to grow into a huge event that we can help more and more people every year."

Clark said the event is for people in Cypress, Waller, Tomball and Magnolia areas.

"We want to eventually grow this to be as big for this area as the Houston event is for there," she said.

Legacy Beauty Academy will be there again this year to give free haircuts to those that attend. The Patch restaurant will cater the meal, while Panera Bread will donate all the rolls.

"The Patch is shutting down their restaurant for the day," Clark said. "This is their gift to the community."

Clark said they are looking to serve up to 1,000 people. Gift bags will be available for the first 250 people to attend.

There will also be kid's games provided by Salem Lutheran Church and a live DJ for entertainment. Homebound residents can also have their meals delivered to them by a volunteer.

For more information or to volunteer call Clark at 281-825-8331 or visit www.familiesfeedingfamilies.com.

A complete remodel and overhaul is now complete at the Tomball Premiere Cinemas venue in the Four Corners shopping center at SH 249 and FM 2920.

The remodel was part of a complete renovation of the entire shopping center.

“It was gutted all the way down to the studs,” said Joel Davis, Premiere’s Chief Operating Officer and a Tomball native. “The construction team came in and did a great job. We are happy to see the entire center has come back.”

“The whole shopping center is turned inside-out,” said Tomball General Manager Jennifer Mendoza. “It’s amazing and something we can all be really proud of.”

New amenities in the theater include high-back rocking chairs, a new party room, 3D capability, two new lobbies and a state of the art concession area.

There is also a new auditorium, bringing the total number of screens available to seven.

The new theater has a 100 percent digital projector, which allows the theater more flexibility and better quality.

“It’s great technology,” Davis said. “It’s always in focus, can’t scratch it and it is never off frame.”

The technology allows for greater freedoms, especially during midnight movie premieres. If the theater sells out on a screen during a premeire, the movie can be loaded to another screen quickly, allowing another auditorium to be filled.

The theater, which was originally built in 1986, also has new food and beverage equipment, fresh-made cotton candy and a Dippin Dots ice cream cart. There are also several feet of self-service areas where guests can butter their own popcorn, among other things.

“People have driven here from miles away to get Dippin Dots already,” Mendoza said.

The theater is donating a portion of its grand opening proceeds to the Variety Children’s Charity of Texas, which helps special needs children throughout the state by providing funding for therapy, walkers, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs among other experiences.

“It’s a great place for people to take their family,” Davis said. “There’s nothing like a good movie and some popcorn.”

For more information visit www.pccmovies.com.

Questions about red light cameras are once again being raised, after the Tomball City Council recently voted to extend the program for five more years.

City Councilman Field Hudgens was the lone dissenting vote on the issue and said that he prefers the issue be brought to a vote of the citizens.

"I wasn't questioning the legality or constitutionality of the cameras," he said. I want to see the issue decided by the voters of the city."

Opponents of the cameras have often cited privacy concerns and the lack of a clear criminal process as reason to oppose the cameras, while supporters say the numbers prove that the cameras work and that making the punishment merely a civil issue is easier on violators.

"Coming from California where the camera system was entirely punitive, where violations went on your record and you had fines in upwards of $400, I believe the system works better the way it is designed in Texas," Tomball Police Chief Robert Hauck said.

Numbers have shown that since the cameras were turned on, the number of traffic accidents has decreased tremendously.

Before the cameras were installed there were 626 accidents in the city. By 2010 that number had dropped to 322 – a decrease of 49 percent.

"Although red light cameras have contributed to the decrease, they are not the sole factor," said Tomball Police Cpt. Rick Grassi. "There are other reason that we call the three e's of traffic safety – engineering, education and enforcement."

Hauck said the revenue generated from the cameras has allowed the department to enhance other aspect of traffic safety, including adding sidewalks to heavily traveled routes.

"This program and the revenue generated from it has allowed us to enhance our traffic safety enforcement, without providing criminal penalties to violators," he said. "Every ticket an officer writes for a red light violation goes on your record and can cost hundreds of dollars in fines."

Grassi and Hauck said that the cameras are just a tool in the broader spectrum of traffic safety and unlike other cities; Tomball has not tried to turn it into a major revenue generator.

"The City of Tomball has never lost focus on the primary purpose of cameras, which is public safety, not financial compensation," Grassi said.

"We have never come back and tried to make this system into a cash cow by adding more cameras, even though our contract with the vendor says that we can," Hauck said

Hauck also said the cameras are just a part of a broader effort of traffic safety enforcement within the city.

"Adding things like the flashing lights in school zones is something we would not have been able to do," he said.

Hudgens said that he doesn't deny the numbers that support the cameras; however, he believes that the citizens have not been heard.

"It is a volatile topic and it should go to the citizens for a vote," he said.

In order for a vote to happen, a citizen led petition drive must occur, or the city council must agree and vote to add the issue to the ballot.

After 70 years of marriage, neither Loyd nor Betty Hunter has lost the initial spark either had when first meeting each other decades ago.

Sitting in the hallway of Tomball Retirement Center holding hands, the two talked about their life together and how they ended up in south Texas.

"I was working in my sister's grocery store, a little country store in Van Buren, Ark.," Loyd said. "(Betty) came in and asked of we carried something or another and I told her we didn't. She told me 'aww, you wouldn't even know if you did'."

Loyd, a self-described Arkansas hillbilly, was soon shipped off to Battle Creek, Mich. by the army, in preparation for World War II, while his sweetheart moved to the Houston area with her family.

The two got married – "my marriage license cost me a whole $3, Loyd said – and Loyd prepared for service as a military police officer.

"My mother wrote to (President Franklin D.) Roosevelt to ask him if he would send me to where my twin brother was stationed and he did it," Loyd said.

Loyd was shipped off to Lincoln, Neb., where he and his brother were cooks for the Army Air Corps.

"We stayed there for the duration of the war," he said.

After the war, Loyd moved to the Houston area to be with his bride, where he became a builder.

"I had a model park out on the East Tex Freeway," he said.

The couple would go on to raise four boys and three girls and now have a slew of grandchildren.

As for their longevity, Loyd says it is simple.

"She tells me what to do," he said. "We have had little fusses along the way, but we've really gotten along real well."

Five years ago the pair moved into the Tomball Retirement Center, where their caregivers that they are obviously still deeply in love.

"They still cuddle and sleep in the same bed," said caretaker Mary Middlebrook.

Caretaker Londa Osborne-Butler said that Loyd and Betty are still sharp witted and a funny pair.

"I always tease them about me taking (Loyd) out on a date and she always says 'ok just take him'," she said.

The couple sits regularly on a hallway couch holding hands – they call it waiting on the bus – and talking to workers and residents alike.

"She's my other half," Loyd says with a big smile.

The Tomball City Council recently approved changes to city rules governing fences after some long discussion over two meetings.

The council had previously tabled the changes during the Dec. 17 meeting, after asking City Planner Rebecca Guerra to add additional requirements and standards to the already proposed changes.

"We came before you and you requested that the item be tabled and that staff reexamine items," Guerra told council.

The proposed changes include allowing for a maximum height of eight feet, except in front yards, where the maximum height would be six feet for lots five acres and larger and four feet for lots less than five acres.

Guerra also told council that city planning staffers were proposing that fences not be a danger to life or property. She said that was a minimum standard that would not require too many staff hours to enforce.

Councilman Preston Dodson felt that language was not strong enough.

"My problem is that there is no meaningful requirement that these fences be maintained," he said. "In my view, having a fence falling down or slats falling off – and we have places in Tomball right now – it detracts from the city. It detracts from the value of the property and the property adjacent to it."

Council decided to add language stating that a fence is to be maintained at all times and that it would be unlawful to allow a fence to lean or have missing, loose or broken slats or panels.

A large part of the discussion was about chain link fencing.

Staff initially proposed that chain link fences be prohibited; stating that they thought that was the direction council had led them. Councilman Derek Townsend said that he was misunderstood, however, and wanted a discussion about chain link fencing in front yards only.

Townsend had issues with the proposed changes affecting property owners pocketbooks, especially if their fencing was damaged by natural occurrences.
"I don't think it is government's job to make you spend money," he said.

Guerra said that replacing fencing with allowable materials would only be in the instance that 50 percent or more of the fence was damaged or destroyed.

"I have issues with that," Townsend said. "This fencing is extremely expensive and we have had a significant drought that caused a lot of trees to fall."

In the end council agreed to pass the ordinance, which will now allow for fencing up to the property line in front yards and will allow chain link fences in the back yard of a residence. The measure passed, with Townsend being the only no vote.

In other business the council gave final approval for the Tomball Economic Development Corporation to give more than $56,000 to One Moore Holdings Inc. to build a large dry cleaning and laundry facility in Tomball. The money is to be used for infrastructure costs.

The council also gave final approval to annexing the land that Baker Hughes will build a new training facility at on the corner of FM 2978 and FM 2920, while also approving zoning changes to allow for a training oil well on that site.

Council members once again chose the Tribune as the city's official newspaper for 2013.

The council also set the upcoming municipal election day as May 11 of this year, while also allowing the fire department to receive a new brush truck from the Texas A&M Forestry Service.

A Tomball man was recently sentenced to three years of probation, after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting device fraud in federal court.
Troy Alexander Tipton, 21, was charged, after federal prosecutors said he sold Spring cellular phone customer data and access information to another man. Tipton was an employee of Modern Wireless at the time. Tipton pleaded guilty to the charges last August.
Prosecutors said that Tipton sold data from at least 400 customer accounts to Vernon R. Parker of Houston, from April through October of 2011. Parker then directed Lakreshia Shana Smith, 28 and Frederick Sears, 38, both of Houston, to make claims for replacement or additional cell phones using the stolen accounts.
Sears and Smith were arrested after U.S. Secret Service agents followed them around the Houston area and observed them picking up packages containing the cell phones.
"The conspirators had placed phone and internet orders for either replacement phones, or additional phones to be charged to unknowing customers of Sprint," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson's office said in a statement. "The packages were mailed from Sprint locations outside of Texas to various hotels and apartments as directed by the conspirators. The total loss to Sprint is estimated at more than $136,000 attributable to the Parker organization."
Smith was given probation by Judge Lee Rosenthal, while Sears was ordered to serve 18 months in federal prison. Parker, the ring leader of the group, was sentenced to 51 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised parole.
Parker will remain in local custody until he is transferred to a federal prison in the near future.

The sounds and smells of goats, pigs, turkeys, cows and other farm animals will fill the air this weekend, as students from both Tomball high schools diligently prepare for the annual Tomball Future Farmers of America (FFA) project sale and show.
This year brings the 37th incarnation of the event, which allows FFA members to show and hopefully sell the animals they spent all year raising, feeding and caring for. The event will be held Jan. 25 and 26 at the Tomball ISD Project Center, at 30330 Quinn Rd.
"It gives kids the opportunity to become involved in FFA and teaches them a lot about responsibility and handling money," said Jimmy Vaculin, former Tomball FFA teacher and president of the Tomball High School FFA Booster Club.
Vaculin said the program also helps students build friendships and teaches them how to be a part of an organization.
'They develop camaraderie with one another," he said.
Tomball Memorial FFA Booster Club President Lesley Chronister agreed and said the students look forward all year to the show.
"It's a huge deal," she said. "The kids raise their animals all throughout the year with this show as the goal."
The show and its live auction provide funds for both schools FFA programs, as well as a majority of the funds for the Tomball FFA college scholarship program.
"The kids are able to get a lot of the money back they spent raising the animals and a lot of the funds go directly towards the scholarship fund for seniors," Chronister said.
Last year the show brought in more than $500,000 for the program and scholarship fund and the group hopes to do at least that this year.
Chronister's son Colby said that FFA has taught him lessons he will be able to carry throughout his life.
"I wanted to raise animals because I thought it would be fun, but doing this has taught me responsibility, how to care for an animal and motivated me to keep my grades up so I can show my animals," he said.
Colby Chronister said the show is not only hard work, but fun as well.
"It's fun meeting all the new people and the competition it brings, as well as seeing everyone else's projects." he said.
The show's schedule for Jan. 25 includes rabbits being shown at 11 a.m., followed by broilers at 1 p.m., with turkeys to follow, then market swine at 4 p.m. On Jan. 26 market lambs will be shown at 8 a.m. and market steers at 10:30 a.m. The Buyer's Barbecue will be open from 3:30-5 p.m., with the live auction to immediately follow.
For more information visit www.tomballffa.net.

Teaming up with Tomball's Kroger store and the Houston area "Souper Bowl of Caring" food drive, the January "2nd Saturday at the Depot" went with a football theme and "sacked" a variety of non-perishable food items for the Houston Food Bank. Pictured with the "2nd Saturday" donation are (from left) Tomball Kroger employees Robin Chan and Irene Avila, City of Tomball Community Event Coordinator Rosalie Dillon and Kroger Consumer Affairs Specialist Katie Nock. For information about festivals and events in Tomball, visit www.tomballtx.gov, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TomballTexanForFun.