I am concerned with the way one Missouri City candidate conducted his campaign.  He mislead the voters on a technicality. He stated that the Missouri City police and fire department are fully staffed.  They are.. technically with the budget that the mayor and council gives them. Worst case senerio… If it costs 60,000 to hire one officer, we budget 60,000 dollars and hire that officer, we are fully staffed.

Our police department is 30 officers short and some existing officers have resumes to other cities due to the pitiful raise they just got..This combined with poor working conditions of being housed in an old Food Lion store many officers are looking elsewhere.

The Incumbent who is now in a runoff in District A has chosen an overpriced golf course and tennis center over public safety.  We need a change and new blood in office combined with term limits is the only way to move forward.  Our police were crowded in the Food Lion in 1998 when they moved in and they now use closets  for offices.

Change is coming,,,I can feel the fresh wind blowing in Missouri City. We have to elect people who think of the whole city and not just one section.  We are a suburb of Houston and it isn’t going to be the golfers who will protect you if someone tries to break into your home.. We need to keep the officers that we have and get the Chief the 30 additional officers that he needs to keep  us safe.

Sincerely,
Don Bell

Recent events have driven gun control proposals throughout congress and the administration, largely based on emotional reactions. While I appreciate the sentiment behind these proposals, I do not believe they will achieve the desired results.

A large step in the right direction would be to enforce the gun laws currently on the books and to educate our general public about firearms through deliberate curriculum in secondary education.

Laser Shot is proud to support our Congressman, Pete Olson, and his defense of the second amendment. He has been an outstanding proponent of common-sense support to law-abiding gun owners. His legislative support is key to accounting for the viewpoints of millions of law-abiding American gun owners and sustaining our second amendment rights.

We need more conservatives like Congressman Olson protecting our constitutional rights.

Sincerely,
Jeff Ragland
Laser Shot, Inc.
Stafford

I seem to be somewhat confused when it comes to the running of Missouri City.  It seems that our officials are like Nero, they fiddle (or play golf) while the major parts of the city go to pot.

Prime example is our so called police station. It is really an old Food Lion store that acts like a police station.  The city doesn’t even own it.  Our police department is forced to use closets as offices, their property room is a joke.  Retention of good officers is always a problem with the station in this shape.

Why would a city ignore a station that was cramped in 1998 when they moved in and is much more cramped now, even though we are short about 30 officers.

I say ignored, because our officials chose a golf course over a new police facility. Where are our priorities?  Surely not the safety of the citizens and the retention of good trained officers.  Ask for a tour, ask where they have to go to qualify for weapons training.  You wouldn’t send your worse enemy to the range that our officers go to qualify to protect YOU.

Our police do a great job with what they are forced to work with. Just think how good they would be if they were given a facility that is actually a police station.

Missouri City needs a new facility NOW…not in four or five years, but NOW!

Respectfully,
Don  Bell

It looks like a staging area for construction project, but it’s an eye sore according to a Missouri City resident.  This collection of debris is next to tHe new parking area across from City Centre in Missouri City.

Do you know Missouri City has added 2 more trash dumps? Both are at City Center. The 1st is between the New City Center Club House and the Eldorado 18th green. For the last 3 months, the city has dumped all of the trash from the bridge project and expansion of the cart area to include broken concrete, pipes, fencing, several tons of earth, left over construction debris, tree shrubs, and even residential trash as a holding area until they decide what to do with it.

The 2nd city dump is across the street of the new parking area. All of the Cart Barn materials plus the trash from the city construction projects are strewn all over the lot. This is an embarrassment and disgrace to the residents who approved the $8 million project to improve the image of our community.

When asked several city officials about the disgusting situation, they shrugged their shoulders and said “not my responsibility.”

Well Bev, whose responsibility is it? Going into spring, the property looks like c–p. With all the resources the city has, surely they can complete the landscaping in front and the back of the Center and the parking lot.

My letter is from several frustrated residents who are concerned that the City is not being honest. We all know there were problems with Summit Construction, who are out of business. Fortunately, they were bonded but the project is nowhere near completion. They left the project in a mess.

Our concern is that, if no progress is made immediately, our residents will simply go elsewhere for golfing, luncheons, dinners, and banquets until the city cleans up this filthy mess.

I know you are controversial, but you always represent the people and report the facts.

So go there, take pictures, and see for yourself the mess the city has ignored.

We are concerned citizens protecting our tax dollar investment.

Thank you Bev

Letters to the editor in “Star’s” 02-20-13 letters to the editor express unqualified support for Sugar Land’s red light cameras.  They ignore the fact that overzealous law enforcement must not be allowed to go unchallenged.  Strict enforcement of the law should always be tempered by compassion, a willingness to consider extenuating circumstances and the American tradition of deeming all accused persons to be innocent until proven guilty.  These caveats are ignored by the advocates for this enforcement program.

The city provides no assistance to drivers in always making a 100% correct stop or go decision at the moment a traffic light changes from green to yellow.   The city was found using a short yellow for many months at the RLC enforced traffic light on westbound W Airport and Eldridge.  This error was corrected but the city refused to refund the fines paid on account of the short yellow.   The number of violations at this intersection decreased by 20% when the yellow time was increased by half a second.

Increasing yellow times by one second above the state required minimum is known to significantly reduce the number of violations but the city has refused to implement this measure.

Rolling stop violations on a right turn are only one tenth as likely to be the cause of an accident compared to straight through or left turn violations.  Many traffic engineers recognize that this full-stop requirement is too restrictive and could be safely modified.  My request to have the fine reduced for this violation has been denied.

This enforcement program assumes that the owner of the offending vehicle is guilty of the violation and must prove otherwise to avoid the fine.  This directly subverts our American tradition of justice.

The city refuses to temper its RLC enforcement program.  So, to safeguard our freedom we must oppose this abuse.

H.F. Van Der Gritten

I wanted to congratulate you on some excellent points made in your last Bev’s Burner article. It really was about time that someone took an objective look at what’s been happening over the past few years in Missouri City.

Your diagnosis of the city basically spending too much on QVGC,the tennis and clubhouse facility, and neglecting the public safety needs of the community was right on. Missouri City is basically a bedroom community with a fragile tax structure which is unable to support the continuing losses of two golf courses (El Dorado and La Quinta), and the negative cash flow from two large additional public facilities.

The obvious upshot of the city’s support of these facilities has been felt in their inadequate funding of law enforcement efforts and the lack of available funds for sidewalk and other infrastructure repair. I should say also that our police force is the best and has carried out their mission with great skill despite a lack of proper equipment, being underpaid, and understaffed.

I can only guess that the Mayor and some Council Members are wanting to build a legacy for City residents to remember them through. The only clear legacy I see is higher taxes for many years to come.

Howard Moline
Missouri City resident

I am writing to express my very strong disagreement with and disappointment with your recent very unfair and derogatory article regarding Missouri City and our very dedicated elected officials.  I believe your comments are very inaccurate.  This kind of smear attack serves no useful purpose and in fact is potentially damaging to the value of our homes.

I personally believe if it were not for the courage and efforts of Mayor Owen and the city council in leading the acquisition and resurrection of the Quail Golf Course, our wonderful community would have become a city eyesore and a ghost town!

I believe you are very wrong and off the mark in your criticism of the golf course acquisition and new facilities since it has already been demonstrated that the area home owner values have stabilized and are rising.

I am especially saddened that you would make this unwarranted and unnecessary attack since I remember you well as fellow proud Quail Valley Homeowner and neighbor.  I hope that before you write another article such as this you will consider the potential harm you may be causing your old friends and neighbors.

Thank you and know that you are in our thoughts and prayers as you struggle with your health issues.

Sincerely,
Carol Grates
Missouri City resident

Regarding the article on the “Star’s” front page 2/27:  Ms. Morales described Town Square as …”It is our heart and soul…” I’m a native Sugar Land resident.  I was born in the Eldridge Hospital, at Wood and Lakeview Streets, 61 years ago, grew up and still live in Sugar Land.

The City of Sugar Land has developed the city beautifully, but I remember (just to name a few) Western Auto, Sugar Land Drug Store, Sugar Land State Bank, Dairy Queen, Sugar Land Telephone Company and Palms Theatre.

My dad worked for the Imperial Sugar Company and my mother was a Sugar Land school teacher and librarian. I’m not stuck in the past, but I have so many good memories and the present Town Square will NEVER be the “heart and soul” of Sugar Land as far as I’m concerned.  It doesn’t have the “heart and soul” history.

Sincerely,
Karen Laird

Just wanted to thank the “Star” for all the great coverage you gave us for Fort Bend Cares Road Trip to the Orient fundraiser.
A special thanks to you for the great Star Spotter column in last week’s paper!

Laura Richard
Fort Bend Cares
Executive Director

Being a Missouri City resident who spends a significant amount of time driving in Sugar Land, I would hope that H. Van Der Grinten’s concern about red light cameras be focused on safe defensive driving habits rather than the purpose he perceives for those cameras existence. Frankly, I could care less why Sugar Land has chosen to install these cameras at designated intersections because I typically make every effort to obey the law.

Have I made a rolling turn on red or run a red light while driving. Yes I have and I have even received warnings or citations for those actions which I paid because I was guilty of the offense. But my intent is to drive safely in accordance with applicable traffic laws and red light cameras are not a deterrent to that intent.

Running a red light and rolling through a right turn on red are both illegal, whether a police officer, camera or private citizen witness such action or not. The purpose of a yellow light is to forewarn drivers of an impending red light and to stop unless conditions make that dangerous. Yellow lights are not intended to be lengthy enough to allow a driver to speed up to beat the red light.

I have yet to ever come across an intersection with insufficient time to either safely stop on the yellow signal or be able to traverse the intersection while still yellow for individuals driving the posted speed limit.

The roads would be far safer for every single driver on the road if people were more concerned with traffic laws and obeying such laws accordingly than what we have today which is a me first I can drive however I want mentality as long as I can beat the other vehicles to wherever I want to go.

Robert Proffitt
Missouri City Resident