Caldwell Board Meeting Zoom-Bombed
Burleson County Tribune
The Caldwell City Council discussed taking action toward the completion of the city hall building at its July 21 meeting. The council spoke with Jerry Hill of Lufkin, the city’s project architect, about the lack of progress made with the building. Hill said the contracted company IKLO from Houston has had issues with coronavirus and they had to shut down for some time. He said the main issue for the setbacks is the lack of employees on the job site. Another issue they are dealing with is the state of how the site is being left. Councilwoman Nancy Stewart said she is concerned about the cleanliness and liability if someone were to get injured. Mayor McManus said a lot of the community is upset with how long the project is taking and that pressure is needed to complete the building.
During a Caldwell School Board meeting, a computer hacker Zoom-bombed the meeting displaying inappropriate material. Superintendent Andrew Peters and Caldwell ISD fell victim to “Zoom-bombing,” an unwanted, disruptive intrusion, generally by internet trolls and hackers, into a video conference call. As soon as the board was made aware of the Zoombombing, the board continued the meeting on a different Zoom channel.
Brenham Banner-Press
The Texas A&M Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) Washington County EMS water rescue squad saved three people from a sinking sailboat in Corpus Christi on July 25 as Hurricane Hanna made landfall. The Washington EMS squad rescued two people in their 80s and the 40-year-old boat owner from a sailboat as it was sinking in Marina Del Sol. Due to extreme conditions, the Coast Guard and the local fire department could not effectively launch their boats into the marina to rescue the three passengers. However, TX-TF1 has state equipment, boats and training to handle situations like this.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) is investigating two small businesses in Brenham and might shut them down. The shutdowns could come for any Texas business if they’re found to violate Gov. Greg Abbott’s June 26 executive order to close bars and limit restaurants to 50% capacity. TABC is investigating The Yard and Pioneer Smokehouse in Brenham, but haven’t taken any adverse actions against the businesses yet. The Yard owner Leland Hartstack said he closed July 28 after someone reported them to TABC. Hartstack said their problems stem from the paperwork they filed with the state to secure their original liq-uor license almost a year ago.
●New felony documents detailing the deadly head-on collision at Lake Somerville where four died Mother’s Day weekend reveal the surviving driver may have had an illegal blood alcohol concentration at the time of the wreck. Ignacio Reyes Aviles, 37 of Brenham, was taken into custody July 30 after he was indicted July 21 by a Washington County Grand Jury on four counts of murder and one count of injury to a child with a deadly weapon, a motor vehicle.
Hallettsville Tribune-Herald
The Lavaca Hospital District Board of Directors met in a special-called meeting on July 22 and voted to approve a property bid resolution for possibly selling a portion of property owned by the district. The resolution will authorize the district’s CEO Steve Brown and legal counsel, Kevin Reed, to prepare, advertise and solicit bids on the sale of approximately 5.647 acres located adjacent to Lavaca Medical Center. Two board restrictions are: The property shall be used for the sole purpose of a licensed assisted living facility and the owner, operator or lease shall offer no service that would be competitive with services offered at Lavaca Medical Center.
The Bastrop Advertiser
●A former Bastrop ISD high school teacher, Hailey Pardy was arrested on July 31 after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a student, according to court documents. Pardy, 25, was fired by Bastrop ISD on Nov. 1, 2019.