Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

The Tomball City Council took steps to begin regulating donation canisters that are located within the city, while also hearing about a proposal for a new multi-family apartment building, during their regular meeting April 15.

The council unanimously passed an ordinance that will regulate donation boxes in Tomball.

"This will set the regulations for the type of containers that are allowable, who can operate them, where they can exist, a permitting process and then a process for violations," said Christal Kliewer Weber, Tomball Assistant City Manager.

The new ordinance will require that the containers must be operated on behalf of a non-profit organization, as well as be placed only in non-residential areas.

The new regulations also require that no more than two may be located on any lot and that they must be at least 300 feet away from any other container on any other lot.

They may not be larger than 96 cubic feet and must be neutral colored, while also maintained in good condition and emptied regularly.

The new law also requires operators of the donation boxes to get them permitted each year, at a fee of $25.

In other business, a joint workshop of the council and planning and zoning commission heard a proposal from Sean Rae, of Trammell Crow, about a planned multi-family apartment building on the northeast corner of SH 249 and Holderreith Road.

"A month or so ago we were approached by Trammell Crow Residential, wanting to talk about development of a multi-family complex here in Tomball," City Manager George Shackelford said. "We decided it would be best if they made a presentation before submitting a pro-posal."

Sean Rae, a development associate with the company, told the members about the proposal.

"This is not section eight or government subsidized housing," Rae said. "This is luxury, market rate housing."

The proposal laid out by Rae spells out a 376 unit complex on 19 acres. A formal proposal has yet to be submitted to the city.

A young man with connections to the area has been invited to the Cannes Film Festival in France, after making a powerful short movie about school shootings.

Chase Parker, an 18-year-old student at Sam Houston State has seen a lot of Hollywood in his young life. He was a child actor, a child of actors and the grandson of a star from Hollywood's golden era.

"Both of my parents were actors, my uncle is a writer and actor so I guess it runs in the family," he said.

His grandmother, Eleanor Parker, was an academy award nominated actress that appeared as the Baroness in The Sound of Music.

Chase himself appeared in the sitcom Sunset Beach as a child. When that show was cancelled, his parents made the decision to move to the Houston area, where his family settled in the Tomball, Magnolia and The Woodlands area.

"I think my parents made the right decision," he said. "I was able to have a regular childhood and get away from the fantasy land of Hollywood. I've learned a lot about Southern hospitality here."

He loved the area so much that he decided to attend Sam Houston State and enroll in their new film program. It was there that a professor approached Chase with the idea to make a film to submit to Cannes.

"One of my professors, Tom Garrett, said he thought I was an intelligent kid and that we had an opportunity to submit a film for this," Chase said. "I thought let's go for it."

Chase gathered a couple of writers, Alex Scott and Luke Armstrong and started a three month long process that would ultimately turn into Left Behind, a short 15 minute film that follows the thought process of a possible school shooter.

"I just sat down and thought about things that were heavy topics at the time," Chase said. "Our goal was to, not necessarily show sympathy to a school shooter, but just why someone would do it and what maybe caused them to."

They spent three months writing, holding production meetings, securing equipment, fundraising, shooting the film and editing. They submitted the film to Cannes and waited.

Then weeks later, Chase was asleep early one morning, when he was awakened by the ping of an incoming email on his phone.

"I was actually woken up by the sound of my iPhone, I checked the phone and it snapped me awake," he said. "I opened the email and immediately did a happy dance and started calling everyone involved."

Chase will travel to France next month to participate in the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner, where his film will be judged by the likes of Steven Spielberg.

"I think that is just an honor to have my film looked at by him," he said. "I'm very proud we got into the festival and the other opportunities it has provided."

Other opportunities like having his film specially premiered at the Silverado IMAX Theaters in Tomball earlier this week, or the opportunity to intern with a major film company in the near future. The premiere also featured a trailer for Chase's first full length film, which will be finished later this year.

"I'm a little bit overwhelmed, like I can't believe it really happened, but I'm glad it did," he said. "Hopefully I can keep doing this for as long as I want to."

During my growing up years here in the Tomball area, I was privileged to be under many fine educators. I was always the class angel and all of my teachers had been told time and time again by my parents and all of our adult family friends how calm I was and how I never caused anybody any trouble. I was simply a sweet, little, timid boy who never caused trouble, never played practical jokes on anybody and never got into any trouble at all. (Precious Lord, I ask you to forgive me right now for lying……).
In time I will share many stories of happiness and sadness about my teachers, but for this article, I wish to relate a story about the oldest teacher I knew, Mr. Herbert Buescher. Now don't misunderstand me when I say he was the oldest teacher I knew. It's no disrespect to a fine man, it's simply fact! Mr. Buescher did turn one century old before he left this earth. Yes, that’s a one with two zeros behind it!
I have a memory of Mr. Buescher I will never forget and a respect for his stern, tender education he provided me. I really cannot remember a particular lesson in the classroom, but I do remember a lesson of life he taught me while on the playground at Tomball Lutheran School.
During the late fifties and early sixties we participated in a program called recess. I don't know if recess is still called recess today, or if it's some politically correct statement like "opportunity to participate in social activities" or "social skill development," but for us it was recess.
I was always a well behaved young man. I was always orderly and never disruptive in class. During recess I was always the quiet child sitting on the side of the playground under the shade tree, studying my English or math. (If you believe this please call me, I have a bridge in the desert for sale!)
One day during recess, teacher Buescher had gathered all of us little crumb crunchers around him, as he was attempting to put some order to the chaos of our softball game. He was standing in the middle of our group and I was holding the softball. For no reason whatsoever, I threw the ball straight into the air while standing in the middle of this crowd, not thinking of the fact what goes up, must come down! Well, it came down all right! It came down on the side of the head of teacher Buescher.
The ball grazed the side of his head and knocked his glasses lopsided. My initial reaction was to laugh at the humorous way teacher Buescher looked when his glasses were sitting on the end of his nose and crooked across his eyes, but my laughter immediately turned to one of those childhood fears of "Uh Oh, I messed up and I'm in big trouble!"
I froze in my spot expecting teacher Buescher to soon advance toward me and take me to the woodshed, but he didn't.
Teacher Buescher simply turned toward me with a long silent, stern stare. He pointed his index finger at me and, even though he was standing several feet away, I felt as if his finger was reaching into my very soul. The power of his stare and the strength of his pointed finger struck a fear in me only felt before when my dad would give me a spanking! I was cooked! I was a goner I thought!
Through the glasses on the end of his nose and the sternness in his voice, teacher Buescher had to speak only once.
He pointed and said, "Don't you ever do that to anyone again!"
The impact of his words brought embarrassment to my being. His voice and the correction in front of my many friends on the playground did more to grab my attention than any spanking could have ever accomplished. His words have been with me all my life. He didn't get mad, he didn't scream, he didn't lose his self control. He simply accomplished, with his words, a lesson learned and remembered for all my life and to this day I have never thrown another ball randomly into the air.


- Clifford

The Greater Magnolia Chamber of Commerce will host a public forum, to discuss the Lone Star College System (LSCS) bond election, at 7 p.m., Monday, April 29, at the West County Community Development Center, 31355 Friendship Dr. This forum is open to the public.

LSCS Vice Chancellor Ray Laughter and LSC-Tomball President Dr. Susan Karr will make a presentation followed by a Question & Answer session. Questions from the public will be accepted at the forum. LSCS has called for a $497.7 million bond referendum, which will help accommodate student enrollment that is projected to exceed 100,000 by 2018.

Last February members of the LSCS Board responded to a committee of citizen leaders by voting unanimously to put a bond referendum in front of area voters for approval. The citizens' committee, representing area businesses, education, government and civic sectors, recommended the college system build new learning facilities and infrastructure to accommodate the historical growth the system is experiencing.

The bond referendum that goes before voters on May 11 includes a Magnolia satellite campus.

For more information please call the Chamber at 281-356-1488 or email, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Six athletes from Magnolia High School recently signed national letters of intent to play college athletics. Pictured are (from left) Cole Williams, Stephen F. Austin State University baseball; Kyle Black, Panola Junior College baseball; Garrett Luna, Texas A&M University baseball; Allison Woods, University of Maryland at Eastern Shore volleyball; Tori Frederick, University of St. Thomas basketball and Chris Barnett, Midland University soccer.