THE SPECTATOR – GREAT TWO WEEKS FOR BRENHAM

  

The past couple of weeks the people of Brenham and Washington County have gotten some welcome news.  Baylor Scott and White Medical Center announced that it was available to deliver babies again, and The City of Brenham announced an agreement with a developer to bring more retail and restaurants to the area.

On the hospital front, I was glad that Baylor Scott & White finally stepped up and found OBGYN doctors to cover the “on call” service for our local hospital.  They have also hired a headhunter who specializes in finding doctors for rural hospitals, and hope to add at least two OBGYN’s to their local staff.  That’s a huge win for the community and for our local Baylor Scott and White Board of Directors, who fought hard to keep this important service available at our Brenham hospital.  But there were also a lot of people behind the scenes letting the folks in College Station and Temple know that Brenham wasn’t happy about possibly losing our birthing center.  Now let’s hire those permanent doctors.  That’s what it’s going to take to increase the number births at our local hospital.

On the business front, congratulations to The City of Brenham on attracting some major retail and restaurants to our area.  While we don’t know yet exactly what stores and restaurants are coming along US 290 on the south side of town, the possibilities sound very promising.  Lots of people have been clamoring for this for decades, and it soon may be a reality.  And this development may just be the start…..

There was one bit of bad news for our community, although it wasn’t unexpected.  Brenham ISD announced that they had reached a temporary agreement to provide education for the residents of Bluebonnet Haven.  That’s the new youth treatment facility on Highway 36 South that has upset so many people.  Bluebonnet Haven will have a negative impact on our school district, but hopefully it will only be temporary.  Supposedly Trinity Charter School is planning to educate those residents once they get their charter back.  The way Bluebonnet Haven has been forced on this community, and the lack of public communication from both the owner and Trinity Charter School, has left a bad taste in most people’s mouths.  Here’s hoping the State will change the approval process for such facilities, and at least listen to the views of local citizens.

And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.