Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

This is the last week to register for Youth Sports offered through the Magnolia Tomball Family YMCA. Spring Volleyball and Soccer. Practice begins the week of Jan. 28. To register, call 281-356-4077 or visit ymcahouston.org. 

Lauren Chesshir was named the 2013 Spelling Bee Champion at Salem Lutheran School. Chessir, a third grader spelled the word caricature to win the contest. Salem Lutheran School is a private school in Tomball, located next to Salem Lutheran Church. For more information, visit salemlutheran.com or call 281.351.8223.

The Tomball Memorial High School (TMHS), Northpointe Intermediate and Willow Wood Jr. High School bands will hold a fundraiser, Dinner With The Wildcats, Feb. 11, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the TMHS auditorium. There will be dinner and a live performance from all three bands. Tickets are $7.50 for adults and $4 for children in advance. For details visit www.tmhsband.com or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Willow Wood Junior High School seventh grade student Alexander Ho took the top spot in the Tomball ISD Spelling Bee. Northpointe Intermediate School fifth grade student Priya Malhotra took second place. After 51 rounds of spelling words, Ho won the bee by correctly spelling the word quinine. This was the second consecutive year that Ho and Malhotra competed in the TISD Spelling Bee. 

The deadline is fast approaching to sign up for the City of Tomball's annual 5K Bunny Run, which will be held April 13, starting at the historic Tomball Depot Center. There will also be a 1-mile family fun walk. To register or for more information visit www.tomballtx.gov or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Dear Editor:

I live in Magnolia (Decker Prairie area) but I do pay taxes to Tomball ISD and shop in Tomball. While it's encouraging to see revenue rising in Tomball and predicted budget surpluses, I feel it is entirely inappropriate to be spending $20,000 to send city "officials" on a junket to Germany at this time, while economic uncertainty hangs over the entire country as well as our local economies. The amount may be small potatoes as part of the overall budget, but the message it sends is much larger. Many of us had to forego vacations this summer as a result of belt tightening in our personal budgets. Shades of the federal GSA scandals we have all seen lately on a local scale.

Bill Forcht

Magnolia

Let me tell you a story. It began 33 years ago this month, when I moved to Houston.

I was hired as the sports director of channel 11 in Oct. 1979. One of my first assignments was a Friday night Tomball High School game. Back in 1979 it took a long time to get to Tomball from downtown. I had no idea where Tomball was and thought I'd never get there and back in time for the 10 p.m. sportscast. I thought I was in the middle of nowhere and would probably never go back again. Little did I know what God had planned for my life.

Fast forward to 1988. A little known radio station, AM 700, was going broke in Tomball. I put together some investors and we bought it. A few months later a guy named Rush called looking for a home to carry his show. Every other station in Houston had turned him down - he was too conservative for them, but not for me. The rest, as they say, is history as KSEV became a top Houston station riding the Rush wave.

Fast forward to 2005. I decided to run for the Texas Senate and Tomball was a key part of the district. I was blessed to win the election.

Fast forward to 2007. I was talking about Crisis Pregnancy Centers on the air one day and said I would give a $1000 to the first center to call in. It was the new Tomball Center. Before being told today, I didn't know at the time that it was their biggest donation for the center.

Fast forward to 2011. I passed the Sonogram bill into law.

Fast forward to today. The Tomball Crisis Pregnancy Center that has saved many lives since first opening, moved into their new home today. I was asked to attend the opening. Paula Whitaker, one of the founders, bought one of the original signed copies of the Sonogram bill at an auction. She donated it to place in the center.

The real heroes of the center are all of the volunteers and staff who work with women in crisis pregnancies, pray with them and counsel them, in hopes they will decide to choose life for their baby over abortion.

I spoke briefly today at the opening of the new center telling them of that journey to Tomball 33 years ago. I told them little did I know how important that town would be in my life.

I shared with them how God has a plan for all of us, a path for us, and a journey to take for His will to be done. I reminded them that often that road comes with hazards, slow downs, and wrong turns that we take along the way because we don't always pay attention to His map. But if we listen and follow him, he will lead us to where He wants us to be.

My 33 years in Houston has been a great blessing for Jan and me, and our family. But the road has not always been easy.

I was a top sportscaster in the city, but the new owners didn't like my style and I was gone. I didn't understand at the time. I opened several restaurants and went broke at 36. I didn't understand. That period of 1985-86 was stressful in many areas of my life, but we made it through.

After a lot of hard work and long hours we built a small radio station into a successful business. I wrote a best seller about the Bible, produced an award winning Christian film, and got elected to the Senate. All of that goes to the glory of God, not to me. He gets all the credit. My life became dedicated to His work. In fact the first legislative act I passed was putting In God We Trust in the Senate chamber for the first time in history. Notice a pattern here?

But today, as I once again returned to Tomball, now just 10 minutes from my house, I thought back to October of 1979 and that first trip. At the time I had no idea how important it would be in my family's life. I told the audience it took the Jews a long time to find Israel once freed from Egypt. Their road was not always easy. But once they obeyed and followed God they found their way to where He wanted them to go. That is a lesson for all of us as we travel our own journey in life.

I don't know where you are in your journey. Are you where He wants you to be, or are you lost somewhere on your road. Have you hit some pretty big bumps along the way; health issues, employment, marriage or family issues, or financial problems. If you are lost in your journey, or currently hitting some speed bumps that seem too big to navigate, do not be discouraged. God has a plan for all of us if we listen and obey. He will see to it you complete the journey He has planned for you.

Back in Oct. 1979 God knew that if I stayed on HIs path today would happen. It took me awhile to obey and live by His plan and not mine. But I finally figured it out and I'm thankful I did. There is a Tomball for all us if we just follow His map for our life.

Dear Editor,

It is with great sadness that I write this tribute to one of Tomball's sons, William Thomas (Bill) Webb. 

I first met Councilman Bill Webb in 2009, at a city council meeting. Without knowing the political climate in Tomball, I quickly understood that Bill was a no-nonsense conservative with a quick mind, a dry wit and a deep love for his birthplace, Tomball. It was  obvious that this deep love had transformed into a strong devotion to the many people who supported him in his quest to serve the citizens of his beloved Tomball as Mayor, Mayor Pro-tem and City Councilman. 

Over the next three years, I saw Bill work incessantly during two elections in the face of opposition and he never wavered in his goal to serve and he never accepted the inevitable political changes that Tomball was destined to make.

Bill Webb was one of a kind. May his conservative spirit live on.

Judith Wilson
Frisco

The Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce recently welcomed new member Mia Bella Vita with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Mia Bella Vita is a banquet and retreat venue located at 22404 Mueschke Rd. For information visit, miabellavita.com.

The Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce recently welcomed new member, The Heights of Tomball, a skilled nursing/long-term care, respite care and rehabilitation center, at 27840 Johnson Rd. . Pictured (from left) Scott Powers of Marketplace Chaplains USA, GTACC Member Dawn Stone, Touchstone Communities Executive Assistant Kathy Jones, Touchstone Vice President of Human Resources Rachel Aldaz, Touchstone Sr. Vice President of Small House & Development Britta Strickland, GTACC President Bruce Hillegeist, Touchstone Communities Sr. Vice President of Management Services Sandy Klein and Touchstone Communities CEO Stan Studer, Jr.