Fighting Hunger in the Classroom

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Fighting hunger is something that happens everywhere, including the Brazos Valley. For years the Brazos Valley Food Bank has partnered with local organizations to fight hunger and as the demand continues to grow the food bank is working harder then ever to fight hunger in the classroom.

It is a need that knows no age.

“It affects from the youngest to the oldest,” said Joe Contreras.

It is also something that goes far beyond the home, and often times trickling into countless classroom’s even right here in the Brazos Valley.

“Hunger doesn’t take a holiday, it doesn’t take a break,” said Theresa Mangapora.

At Crockett Elementary no child goes home hungry. This Bryan elementary school is just one of many who are combining forces with the Brazos Valley Food Bank.

“They enjoy the food, it’s healthy snacks for them,” says Crockett Elementary principal Judy Joiner.

Each week, the food bank makes a special delivery. That delivery means thirty students will have a backpack filled with healthy food to take home to their families.

Each week the food bank delivers 660 bags of food to more 21 schools in five counties.

They enjoy the food, it’s good healthy snacks for them and it’s things most of the time, prepare and take care of on their own and they don’t have to rely on somebody else, so it gives them the opportunity to be responsible for their own nutrition,” says Joiner.

It is a need that grows each year, but won’t be stopping the food bank from fighting hunger one backpack at a time.

You can help restock the food bank by participating in the 16th annual Food for Families Food Drive. It’s December 7th beginning at 5:30 AM. KBTX will be live from Bryan, Madisonville and Navasota all day long accepting your generous donations of non-perishable food. We’ll also take monetary donations. This is the largest fundraiser for the Brazos Valley Food Bank.

Grinch Thieves Steal Christmas Decorations from Bryan Yard

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Regardless of where you live, for many, Christmas is a much anticipated time of year.

“It’s a time to get together with family, a time to give praise and it’s much more about giving then it is about receiving,” explained Bryan resident John McGuire. “One of the reasons we put the lights out is so others can enjoy it too.”

It’s also a prime time for hungry thieves — John McGuire knows firsthand.

“After we finished counting we found that five of our Christmas decorations had been stolen sometime during the night,” McGuire added. “I was very surprised, so we called the police.”

Both he and his wife woke up Sunday morning to find missing Christmas decorations, including one sentimental Angel that has been with the family for more than 25 years.

“It did mean a lot, but the memories are still here so we will never lose those,” McGuire explained. “That Angel had been with us since our kids were small and our kids have grown—and we also had a teeter-totter with Santa on one end and a reindeer on the other, which was motorized and would go back and forth. That’s gone.”

Police say it is crime that happens every year. Officer Rhonda Seaton with the College Station Police Department say plywood cut-outs, inflatables, and lighted figures such as reindeer are a favorite among thieves during the holidays.

“It tends to happen in spurts,” said College Station Police Public Information Officer, Rhonda Seaton. “They’re not taking those decorations for monetary means; they just want to take them to be mean. What they want to do is snatch them, grab them and run; they don’t want any resistance.”

“Every one of these pieces were staked down and connected to an extension cord for electricity,” said McGuire. “They not only had to rip them up out of the ground with the stakes, but also had to disconnect them from the electricity.”

Depending on the value of the decorations stolen, if caught, the penalty could result in jail time.

“If they steal a $200 cut-out, that’s absolutely something they’ll go to jail for,” Seaton explained.”

In the meantime, McGuire says these signs are serving as a replacement but more importantly as a reminder in hopes other would-be thieves will be thinking twice.

“This kind of thing could happen to you, take precautions,” he said. “But were not going to stop and go hide. All you can do is try and be vigilant and try to be good neighbors and try to lessen the possibility of this happening.”

The College Station Police Department offers the following suggestions for citizens who place decorations outside:

For plywood cut-outs – Drive a 1/4″ – 1/2″ conduit pipe approximately one foot into the ground and then use conduit strap to fasten the conduit to the plywood. Use a permanent marker or engraving tool to write your 8 digit Texas Driver’s License number or place some other unique identifying mark on the back of the cut-out.

For Inflatables – If a loop or strap is provided, use a long tent stake (approximately one foot) to secure it. Write your 8 digit Texas Driver’s License number (or some other unique identifying mark) somewhere on the decoration.

For lighted figures – (lighted reindeer) – Use a long tent stake (approximately one foot) to secure it. Again, for metal figures use an engraver to mark your property and for plastic figures use a permanent marker.

When securing your decorations please be careful of underground objects such as sprinkler systems, cable, and other hazards before driving conduit or stakes into the ground. In spite of these precautions you may still become a victim of theft; therefore, it is also a good idea to take a few pictures of your work. The pictures will help police prepare a better report as well as aiding in identifying your items should they be recovered later.

19-Year-Old Charged With Sexual Assault of 14-Year-Old

 

A night of underage drinking at Neil’s Hideaway in rural Millican leads to some serious consequences for one Navasota teen. A 19-year old has been arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child after he confesses to police he had sex with a 14-year-old; after speaking to a Bryan attorney—there are no shades of gray when it comes to the legal age of consent in the state of Texas.

It is a stigma that last’s a lifetime and has the potential for severe legal consequences.

“It’s a second degree felony which means the range of punishment is all the way up to 20 years in prison,” said Jay Granberry, a partner of Gray Granberry & Jones, Attorneys at Law in Bryan.

If convicted, it is something 19-year-old Jacob Andrew Bohannon, will have to live with after allegedly confessing to police he had sex with a 14-year-old. In May he was arrested on a $50,000 bond and charged with sexual assault of a child.

It is the event that took place right here after the two reportedly left Neil’s Hideaway where police say the two later confessed to a night of underage drinking. According to the police report, the 19-year-old says he asked the 14-year-old girl for sex a total of eight times before it actually happened in the backseat of his mother’s car. And after the sexual encounter, the girl’s father was contacted. Her father arrived at the Walmart parking lot in Navasota to find his daughter passed out in the back of the car.

Her father told deputies, quote: “She was laying on her stomach in the back of a mini-van type of vehicle, passed out and she didn’t have shoes on.”

Bryan Attorney Jay Granberry says the legal age for consent in Texas is 17. There is one exception however, “If it is consensual, the child is at least 14 and the actor is within 36 months, or three years, of the child within age,” explained Granberry.

When questioned whether or not he knew how old the victim was, Bohannon told police, “Almost 15.” If convicted, Bohannon will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life; which, as a sex offender, it will place him in the same category as many other men and women who have been incarcerated for molesting small children. It is a decision that lasted a few moments–but could stick with this teen forever.

The U.S. Department of Justice says there are 220 registered sex offenders in Brazos County.

Four Children Adopted During Brazos Valley Adoption Day

In honor of the 5th Annual Brazos Valley Adoption Day, four children legally joined their “forever family

There are more than 6,100 children waiting to be adopted in the state of Texas. While every child wants a permanent home with a loving parent, that wish may not come true for some of these children. In honor of Brazos Valley Adoption Day, Friday–that wish came true for four children.

Clutching on to a bright eyed vibrant little boy, College Station father Matthew Moak says he’s never letting go.

“It’s kind of destiny,” says Moak. “It’s like you see it and you know it’s meant to be.”

After a year in the making…it became reality as a Brazos County judge declared two-year-old Elijah a member of the Moak family.

“I think it’s a relief of knowing nothing is going to change,” explained adoptive mother Renee Moak. “He’s ours to raise as we please and to teach him all the things he needs to know. And he’s never leaving us.”

There is never a shortage of children needing adoptive families. According to Child Protective Services, in the state of Texas alone, there are 6,148 children in Texas Foster Care. This year, more than 4,600 children have been adopted from the Foster Care System.

While this may be their third addition, the Moak family says the family expansion isn’t over.

“I think we definitely plan on adopting more,” said Moak.

National Adoption Day takes place during November’s National Adoption Awareness Month, a period where people can inform others about these children who need a family.

Four children were adopted during Friday’s ceremony at the Brazos Administration building in Bryan.

Local Family Speechless After Roadside Memorial Removed

Roadside memorials are often used as both a tribute to someone who has been killed and a way family can grieve for their loved ones who have died on the road. In Brenham one family was rendered speechless when their memorial was taken down.

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Roadside memorials are often used as both a tribute to someone who has been killed and a way family can grieve for their loved ones who have died on the road. In Brenham one family was rendered speechless when their memorial was taken down.

You can find them nestled along the highway; planted at the foot of intersections, or even hovering over the hills. And each one symbolizes a story about a person whose life was cut short by tragedy. But for Warren Diamond, it is a sobering reminder he’ll never get to see his brother again.

“He had the bike and it was a cheap transportation getting to and from work and that’s what he was doing, he was going to work when the guy hit him from the back,” said Warren Diamond.

Diamond says it took him about a month to construct a steel cross outfitted with momentos his brother loved, but last week, friends who were passing by the roadside memorial noticed something was wrong.

It has been nearly three months since Clifford Dean Diamond Sr. lost his life to an early morning motorcycle accident and when family members learned his roadside memorial was missing, they were devastated.

“It just surprised me,” Diamond lamented. “I didn’t know if someone had stolen it or what.”

The Texas Department of Transportation asked that the crossed be removed temporarily. According to Section 10 of TX Dot’s roadside regulations: TX DOT requires a written request from the victim’s family or written permission from the family to place Memorial markers on the side of the road; Memorial markers should be located in a way that does not distract motorists and the marker should be no more than 30 inches high and no wider than 18 inches.

“I thought we did our homework when we asked the State Trooper on scene. He told us he wasn’t aware of any rules or regulations,” said Diamond. “They say it has to be made out of wood. If we have to, that’s what well do, we’ll remake it or maybe I’ll look into putting it on private property.”

While the family continues to mourn and pray for solitude, Diamond says he’ll get back to what he started in the first place: constructing a cross that he and his family will remember forever.

Preparing for the Worst: Texas National Guard Trains for Nuclear Attacks in BCS

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Preparing for the worst. It is what these men and women are doing in a city that is mangled and torn to shreds. It’s called Disaster City and it’s one of the premier training facilities of its kind.

“I’ve never been to a training facility like this,” said Staff Sergeant Frank Holdiness.

Staff Sergeant Frank Holdiness is just one of more than 600 who are part of Joint Task Force 71–Thursday is a critical day. But first he must respond to a fictional scenario: A small single engine plane crashes into a stadium filled with thousands of people–spraying a hazardous chemical over the crowd. The building then collapses and people are trapped. How he responds is just one of the tests.

“There are lots of chemicals out there that people can’t smell or taste,” said Holdiness.

Sealed and suited up tight in the heat of the day to steer clear of nuclear or biological chemicals entering their bodies while simultaneously rescuing victims’ trapped and injured. With America as a prime target for terrorist attacks, the Texas National Guard is being more vigilant, proactive and prepared.”

“They’re all thinking about it, our military and civilian agencies, the “what if’s” they’re trying not to let their guard down,” said Adam Collett, Public Information Officer of Joint Task Force 71.

Holdiness and Collett are part of a homeland response force, known as HRF. Created by the Defense Department, HRF’s are a key capability in the National Guard.

They are the first on scene in major chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incidences across the country. Their most recent deployment was the industrial plant fire in Waxahachie, near Dallas. These response efforts should not only suppress fear and despair, but help to combat the grim results from war games targeting the U.S. In a real scenario, HRF’s are expected to arrive at the scene of a major attack or disaster within six to 12 hours–which is much quicker than the response from today’s premier disaster response units.

“The department of defense in 2010 charged the national guard bureau with the job of creating 10 task forces. Basically taking 10 existing National Guard Units and giving them equipment, training and create these teams that will be able to go out after an incident involving a variety of situations, but specializing in incidents that involve chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material,” explained Collett. “They are called out to augment the civilian led response to certain types of incidences.”

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to this, but we will utilize this and we’ll be prepared,” said Holdiness.

“These types of incidents have the capacity to impact our citizens here in Texas and even in the Brazos Valley. It’s incredibly important that the civilian agencies that lead this effort and our military units to train hard, practice throughout the year so that in the hopefully, unlikely event that an incident like this happens, we’re ready to go our there and help save lives and mitigate suffering after these kinds of incidences,” added Collett.

A lot of the skills we have here are perishable. Our ropes, our high rescue, breaching techniques, learning new equipment that comes out.

Each HRF is to contain nearly 570 soldiers and airmen, including more than 140 fulltime personnel.

Megan + John