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San Jacinto County News - Breakout

School bus safety should not be optional

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GregCapersSheriffThere a quite a few facts regarding school bus safety that need to be shared with government leaders at the county, state, and federal levels.

•Fact: Every day nearly half a million school buses take over 20 million children to school, school activities, and school sporting events.

•From 2011 to 2020 there were 218 school age children who died in school, transportation related crashes and 44 were occupants of school transportation vehicles according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

•School buses are the safest form of school transportation in the US. Deaths and injuries to children riding school buses could be reduced even more, however, if children were required to wear three-point seatbelts on school buses, as seatbelts further enhance protection already provided by compartmentalization.

•While laws across the nation require passengers in cars to buckle up, federal regulations only require seatbelts on small school buses under 10,000 pounds. Only 12 states have passed a variety of laws requiring school buses to be equipped with seatbelts.

•Nonprofit organizations, including the National Safety Council, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have for years encouraged the use of seatbelts on school buses.

•The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has “recommended” that all new school buses be required to be equipped with three-point lap and shoulder belt, collision, avoidance systems, and automatic emergency braking technologies.

•The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “recommends” the use of stop-arm cameras to reduce the illegal passing of school buses and increase stop arm compliance.

The Traffic Safety Committee of the National Sheriffs Association, on which have served for nearly a decade, has recommended the following position be adopted at the earliest possible time.

•That The National Sheriff’s Association call upon Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to adopt regulations, mandating collision avoidance system, and automatic emergency braking technologies to be standard equipment on all new school buses.

•The National Sheriff’s Association encourages school districts and bus operators to consider the safety potential for purchasing new school buses equipped with three-point seatbelts and stop-arm cameras, and/or retrofitting existing school buses wherever and wherever possible.

The National Sheriff’s Association and I will call upon Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to adopt regulations, mandating collision avoidance systems and automatic emergency braking technologies to be standard equipment on all new school buses in all 50 states, and to retrofit all existing school buses, whenever and wherever possible.

Texas law requires school districts to ensure that new school buses have three-point shoulder-to-seat seatbelts, subject to approval by local jurisdictions. Also, school districts and local governments are allowed to install school bus cameras to capture moving violations related to stopping for school buses.

Please feel free to reach out to the following US governmental agencies where you can voice your support in adopting regulations mandating three-point safety belts, collision avoidance systems, and automatic emergency braking technology to be standard equipment for the new school buses.

•National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (888-327-4236))

•National Safety Council (800-621-7615)

•National Transportation Safety Board (202-314-6000)

Another effective means of bringing about change at the federal level is to contact your elected senators and representatives. If you are unsure of who represents you at the federal level, use the following links to locate your representatives:

•The U.S. Senate: www.senate.gov

•The House of representatives: www.house.gov

When I mentioned previously that we all need to sound the alarm with our government leaders I do not mean just to make them aware of these facts, but demand that action be taken, culminating in laws being enacted nationwide to provide for the safety of our children.

Greg Capers is Sheriff of San Jacinto County.

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Council pays closer attention to rules

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coldspringcityBy Tony Farkas
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COLDSPRING — The Coldspring City Council will enhance efforts to ensure hotel-motel tax regulations are followed, and that food trucks abide by sanitation rules.

Mayor John Benestante said that according to state law, motel residents who indicated to the establishment they intend to be a long-term resident, regardless of time period, will sign a statement to the hotel to rent room as a residence, and are not subject to the tax.

However, he said that non-payment for the room will revoke the resident status. Benestante also said that bed and breakfast establishments also are required to pay the taxes.

So far, the taxes have been paid appropriately, and the council will continue to ensure hotel owners pay what is owed.

Benestante also said that he became aware that food trucks are heavily inspected and licensed by state but must remain mobile to qualify. Should a food truck become permanent, then the city will consider them a permanent restaurant and subject to the city’s grease disposal regulations.

In other business, the council:

•discussed finances at the wastewater plant, which for the first time broke even;

•discussed a derelict property at the corner of Highway 150 and Parker Street at which the resident was piling trash in rear of residence, and occasionally burning it causing a stench. The council will serve the property owners with a notice of violation;

•adopted a purchasing policy, which will help with federal grants to show it is in place; and

•discussed the negotiations with schools on purchasing a 10-acre plot.

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Point Blank to hold election

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Point Blank City LogoBy Tony Farkas
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POINT BLANK — After a 21-year hiatus, the city of Point Blank will hold an election for its council of aldermen.

The election will be held May 6.

Mayor Mark Wood said the last time an election was necessary was in 2002. Since then, the people filing for office have had no opposition.

Wood is running unopposed for mayor; Place 4 incumbent Mel Basham faces a challenge from Philip Kurkoski and James Woods; and Place 5 incumbent Mike Pagel faces Matt Smith.

Early voting begins April 24 and runs through May 2 at the Elections Administration Building at 51 E. Pine Ave. in Coldspring.

Wood also said that there needed to be some cleanup on the voter rolls, since he went through the city rolls, he found more people were registered to vote than there were people in the city.

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Coldspring FFA succeeds in competition

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Tripp Strickland, Colby Durdin, Wade Currie and Zachary Hamilton placed second at the District Forestry Contest on Wednesday in Chester. Courtesy photoTripp Strickland, Colby Durdin, Wade Currie and Zachary Hamilton placed second at the District Forestry Contest on Wednesday in Chester. Courtesy photo

Special to the News-Times

COLDSPRING — Coldspring FFA members came home with hardware following their success at recent CDE competitions.

The Livestock Judging Team placed third overall at Area, with Hayden Richards placing 10th High-Point Individual, Cinco Bailes placing 11th High-Point Individual, and Heaven Burleson placing 15th High-Point Individual.

They will be advancing to the State Livestock Judging Contest at Texas A&M on April 29.

The Forestry Team placed 10th overall at Area Contest and second at District Contest, with Tripp Strickland placing as second High-Point Individual. They will advance to the state contest on April 20 in Nacogdoches.

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City looks to next step in enforcement

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City Of ShepheardBy Tony Farkas
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SHEPHERD — Now that the city has created a police department, the Shepherd City Council next looked into creating a position for animal control.

City Secretary Debra Hagler said that at its April 10 meeting, the council discussed hiring a dog catcher for the large amount of stray animals in the area.

Hagler said that while there is a need, the council opted to do more research on things such as who does what, what budget needs to be set, and where to house the animals, so research will be done, and the matter will be discussed at the next budget meeting.

In other business, the council:

•denied a request from Gil Smith to have his property removed from the city limits. Hagler said the property was on the border, and while Smith did not use city services, the council felt he was getting indirect benefits such as law enforcement, fire protection, and park and library access;

•approved a $5,000 donation for the annual fireworks display; and

•approved variance for Carla Mendez to place a mobile home at 20 Richey Road.

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