2013: THE YEAR THAT WAS

  

The year that was 2013 was a time for transformations, building, and sweeping changes in the schools, county and city government in Brenham and Washington County.

The year had an odd number, meaning new elected officials were sworn in while others were returned to office.  The 21st District Court got a new judge in Carson Campbell, who succeeded the retiring Terry Fleniken. There was also a new district attorney in Julie Renken who had defeated the incumbent Bill Parham in the Republican primary.  Washington County got its first new sheriff in 20 years when Otto Hanak succeeded J.W. Jankowski.

A major construction effort began for the Brenham school district as a new elementary school began going up at the site of the old Brenham Elementary School. The new Alton Elementary School should be ready for the school year beginning in August.  The same is true for the  renovated Brenham Middle School.  These projects were part of a $26 million bond issue Brenham school district voters approved in 2012. 

Brenham school district voters were quite vocal in the year 2013.  In May, they elected three new board members, by wide margins over the incumbents.  Retired principal Tommie Sullivan, one time teacher Natalie Lange and retiring math teacher Susan Jenkins all were elected in hopes of giving a bigger voice to the school district voters.  Jenkins ran on a platform that included keeping firearms off the campuses of the Brenham school district and a closer look at the controversial CSCOPE teaching program.   She said voters ‘screamed’ for change. 

That platform against arming school personnel was soon tested.  In the July school board meeting gun rights advocate John Deans proposed to the board that at least one armed professional should be placed on each of the campuses in order to keep a shooting from happening on one of the Brenham district campuses.

 

The board repeatedly discussed the issue until they finally rejected the idea during their November meeting.

The Washington County Commissioners and the Brenham City Council also spent much of the year on one issue: a comprehensive exchange of services instead of the long standing interlocal agreements.  County Judge John Brieden had proposed that the county take over total control of the emergency communications while the city would take over animal control, the animal shelter and the Nancy Carol Roberts Library.  This did not sit well with many on the Brenham City Council but after much negotiation, the City and Council concurred on the agreement in December.  Judge Brieden said it was a ‘celebration of good government.

There was an election in 2013.  After the 83rd session of the Texas Legislature, the state’s voters had nine proposed amendments for the state constitution to vote on.  One was for the expansion of water projects in the state but the biggest issue was the requirements for voting.  The November vote was the first time the new voter ID law was in effect.  Washington County voters mostly voted the way the rest of the state did.

There were the usual celebrations, Maifest, the 4TH of July at the Washington on the Brazos and the 145th Washington County Fair, but there was one celebration that we didn’t count on, a state championship football game.

Both the Aledo Bearcats and the Brenham Cubs began their season in the hot waning days of summer, the Labor Day weekend.  The Bearcats were suppose to make it to the state championship game, our Cubs were not.  Both the Bearcats and the Cubs ended their season on the first day of winter, four days before Christmas, with the Bearcats winning the state championship football game over our Cubs 38-10.  That was not the only loss, some did not get caught up in the community spirit, burglarized and vandalized many of the players cars.  Others kept the community spirit by raising money for repairs for the player’s loss.

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