New Caney High School announces top 10 graduates

The June 7 graduation will be a dream come true for many New Caney High School seniors and their families.

While many will have a lot to celebrate, the high school’s 2009 top 10 graduates were announced during the honor graduation ceremony May 19.

“I have been in education for 22 years and this is my fifth year as the lead counselor at New Caney High School. I am always so proud of the top 10 students because this achievement does not come easy,” said Ann Kramer. “Students must take a very rigorous college preparatory course of study and go above and beyond in the basic requirements for graduation.”

New Caney High School’s top 10 graduates are Luis Rodriguez, valedictorian; Jonathan Curtis, salutatorian; Joshua Battley; Michael Prior; Eric Pashia; Salina Chen; Olivia Milkovic; Dallas Kallies; Jillian Boyd; and Patrick O’Hare.

“All of these students have very high goals for themselves and should be very successful members of society,” Kramer said. “I expect to hear great things in the future from all of them. This is a great reward for them and also for us as educators.”

With plans to either be a pediatrician or a cardiologist, Rodriguez plans to attend the University of Houston after high school and major in biochemical and biophysical sciences.

“I like math and science,” Rodriguez said. “That is why I want to go to medical school. I see myself starting my career as a physician in 10 years.”

The valedictorian was a member of the National Honor Society, Health Occupations Students of America and Science UIL.

As he prepares for his future, Rodriguez said that he wants to be a role model for his younger brother and sister.

Salutatorian Jonathan Curtis said he also plans to attend the University of Houston and study biomedical engineering.

“My plans are to go to medical school and pursue a career in orthopedics,” he said. “I want to be an orthopedic because I have had a lot of broken bones due to sports and it has always interested me.”

A member of the tennis team and NHS and working, Curtis said he enjoyed spending time with friends and growing relationships that will last a lifetime.

Battley, ranked third in his class, said in 10 years he has plans to complete his residency as a medical doctor.

“At New Caney, I enjoyed tennis and building rockets in physics,” Battley said.

The graduate plans to attend Texas A&M University and major in biomedical engineering. Upon graduation, his goal is to go to medical school and specialize in orthopedics.

Prior plans to attend Texas A&M University and earn a Bachelor of Science degree in physics.

“With my degree, I plan to participate in scientific research or teach calculus or physics,” Prior said.

When asked what he will miss about high school, he said he will miss all of his friends who “I don’t interact with outside of school because they are still my good friends. I will also miss my teachers because most of them were very good.”

After graduation, Pashia will attend a community college to finish his Associate of Arts.

“I then plan to transfer to pursue my career in music at Southwestern Assemblies of God University where I will major in piano/guitar,” Pashia said.

In 10 years, Pashia said he sees himself leading worship and continuing his career in music and singing with hopes of getting a record deal.

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Conroe Police Chief to Retire

Conroe Police Department Chief of Police, Charlie Ray, has announced his retirement effective May 31 2009.
Chief Ray has served in law enforcement for over 30 years in a variety of positions. Chief Ray worked with the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office prior to coming to work for the Conroe Police Department in 1988. Chief Ray has served as a lieutenant, deputy chief, and was promoted to the Chief's position in 2003.

Chief Ray's accomplishments include upgrading the Department's equipment, vehicles, and technology. During his tenure as Chief, the Department had a twenty-two percent increase in staffing, and implemented a peer-driven Discipline Review Board.

One of Chief Ray's primary goals when he accepted the position of Chief was to improve police/community relations. Chief Ray was instrumental in creating community liaisons with local civic and community leaders. In addition, he was involved in walks through the community and placing emphasis on the war on drugs.

Chief Ray stated, "I am proud of our City and Police Department. The City of Conroe has an excellent police department of which I have been fortunate to be Chief for the last six years."

Deputy Chief Philip Dupuis has been appointed as Interim Chief of Police effective June 1, 2009. The selection process for a new Chief of Police will be established by the City Administration.


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New Caney Fire Department hosts volunteer graduation

The New Caney Fire Department hosted the graduation ceremony of nine volunteer firefighters in the area. On the bottom row, from left, are Lonnie Cantwell and Randy Porter; top row, Lorren Goodrich, Steven Ray, Richard Mataska and James Parish. Not pictured are Bryan Wilson, James Witt and Jody Bell.

Besides four New Caney Fire Department volunteers – Lonnie Cantwell, Loren Goodrich, Bryan Wilson and Steven Ray – departments from surrounding areas were represented as well. Randy Porter and James Witt will work for Huffman’s fire department, Richard Mataska and James Parish for Bennett’s, and Jody Bell earned his certification to serve the Grangerland department.

“We always hope for a big graduating class to help keep our retention numbers up because these guys are volunteers and they may not want to stay with the department for a long time,” said Jeff Taylor, New Caney fire chief.

Men who donate their time and safety to protect their neighbors are always in demand. In the New Caney Fire Department, there are 35 paid employees and around 20 volunteers, Taylor said.

“Most of the gentlemen in this class have the desire to pursue a career in fire service, so they will go on and continue training while they are a volunteer firefighter,” Taylor explained.

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Judge: Mother must attend school with truant son.

NEW CANEY- A Porter mother, ordered by Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace James Metts on April 23 to attend school with her habitually truant son, made another appearance at a hearing last Thursday afternoon.

Metts previously told Margaret Campbell Butler that she must take her 15-year-old son to his New Caney ISD school and go to classes with him to make sure he stayed. Metts warned Butler that even if she was somehow unable to get her son to class, she had better show her commitment to her son’s education. Otherwise, he said, she would be in contempt of court and would go to jail.

After last month’s court order, Butler withdrew her son from NCISD and, at some point, enrolled him in an Aldine school. She appeared before Metts with documentation showing that while her son had not attended school faithfully as ordered, Butler followed the judge’s instructions, at least partially, and went to his new school alone.

Metts had Butler and her son approach the bench where he went over the paperwork as Butler began to cry and fidgeted, not knowing whether her efforts were adequate to satisfy the court order.

“I’m not going to put you in jail today, even though you didn’t do exactly what I told you,” Metts said. “I’m not mean spirited- I’m a fair person and I have a heart.”

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Election Results

As candidates for Splendora Independent School District board of trustees campaigned heavily through the community and election day May 8, the results are in with incumbent Mattie McKee securing her seat for another year and Rex Fry beating out incumbent David Duke.

As of 10:30 p.m. May 8th, 100 percent of the precincts reported with Fry overtaking Duke by 17 votes for a total of 340 with Duke having 323 of the votes.

“I just want to thank everyone who came out to vote and appreciate all of the support I have received. I am looking forward to working with the rest of the board members and district,” Fry said.

McKee faced opponents Kerry Baxley and Gina Baker but reclaimed her seat which she has held for over 20 years with 309 votes with Baker receiving 228 and Baxley receiving 132 of the votes.

“I am excited to serve the children of Splendora, God is good,” McKee said.

Out of 7,178 registered voters within the boundaries of Splendora ISD, 691 voters went to the polls to vote during this May 8th election.

For more election results, log on to http://www.co.montgomery.tx.us/election/results/CON050909.pdf.

Giving back to the community

By OBSERVER STAFF

Giving back to the community was not what they planned to do when they enrolled in Lone Star College-Kingwood’s project management class, but through a class project that’s just what they did.

Larry Hartley, professor for information and project management, said the class objective was to learn and apply current project management techniques and methodologies.

Students, divided into groups, are given the task of developing a project for an outside customer, preferably a nonprofit community group. They must research their client, develop a plan, make a proposal, come up with budgets and schedules, and then complete their project and give a presentation to the class and their customers.

Hartley said he was impressed by each team’s initiative, planning and work ethic.

“They all did a really good job.”

One team chose Volunteers for Animal Protection after hearing about the damage the agency received from Hurricane Ike. VAP’s mission is to rescue and find forever homes for abandoned, abused and neglected animals in Kingwood and its surrounding areas.

Team members Angel Medina, Jorge Cerda and Anastasia Bakhvalova helped to rebuild fences, clean up and spend time with the animals. In addition to their labors, they raised $150 to donate to the shelter. The team said it felt good to do something for someone else.

“This class was very goal-oriented,” Medina said. “It was a very useful class and we learned things to use in everyday life, as well as business.”

Hartley said he was particularly impressed by the team members who helped out the animal shelter.

“They contributed a lot of manual labor. The kids pitched in and cleaned up, built fences and brought in a lot of supplies for the pets.”

The next two teams both chose to help FamilyTime Crisis and Counseling Center. FamilyTime’s mission is to provide an outreach program and accessible services to families and individuals in crisis through counseling, crisis intervention, information and referral, and shelter.

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Two cases of swine flu suspected in Montgomery County

By OBSERVER STAFF
Updated: 05.01.09
UTMB Montgomery County Public Health Preparedness Division has received reports of two probable cases of H1N1 (swine flu) virus in Montgomery County.

The first case is a 2-year-old Woodlands resident who went to the doctor's office on Monday. The physician took completed a rapid flu test in the office and sent an additional sample to the Houston Health Department Laboratory for further investigation. Lab personnel classified the sample as non-subtypeable, which means the sample comes from a novel strain of flu virus.

The sample must be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation, but for now non-subtypeable cases are being treated as if they are H1N1.

The child's doctor chose to treat before receiving laboratory confirmation. The patient and family members were prescribed a 5-day course of antiviral medications. According to Emily Llinas, public health preparedness director at UTMB Montgomery County, both the child and family members are healthy.

“The physician made good decisions on Monday, and now, Friday, the whole family is doing great,” Llinas said.

Another 3-year-old Montgomery County resident also came down with flu-like symptoms while visiting the Dallas area. Health officials report that the child traveled to Dallas in mid-April and became sick 10 days after arriving there. The child was hospitalized briefly but has since been treated and released.

County officials stress that influenza response activities remain the same following the report of suspected cases.

“We have a plan, and we're sticking to that plan,” said Nicky Kelly, Montgomery County deputy emergency management coordinator.

Kelly said that emergency management is facilitating daily communication among public health, medical, and school representatives as well as with elected officials.

Public health officials stated that the announcement of probable cases in Montgomery County is an important but unsurprising development.

“We knew it was only a matter of time before we had suspected or confirmed cases in Montgomery County,” Llinas said. “Fortunately, the H1N1 virus is acting just like seasonal flu, and our county healthcare providers deal with it every year .”

Health officials urge county residents to continue taking precautions like washing their hands and staying home when they are sick.

Montgomery County residents can find information about the H1N1 virus by visiting the Centers for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov/swineflu, or by calling the Department of State Health Services H1N1 hotline at 888-777-5320.