Officer Kelley McKethan of the Bryan Police Department visits about applications being accepted for the Junior Police Academy, a reminder of Sunday’s Fest For West in downtown Bryan, costs for violating the city’s municipal codes on grass & weeds and trash & debris in yards, and locations of additional traffic unit enforcement.
WTAW’s Bill Oliver visits with Kelley McKethan.
Brazos County judge Duane Peters tells Millican area residents that the process is going to start to designate county owned land as a landfill which is not going to be built. In February 2022, Peters told WTAW News that designating land as potential landfill space will protect all other county land from future landfills. Peters says the land near Millican is the best place for the designation because it was once used as a landfill. That location can now be considered since action was taken by state lawmakers to remove it from College Station’s ETJ, or extra territorial jurisdiction. Peters also said in his 2022 interview with WTAW News that the landfill designation does not prevent the land from being developed for another purpose. Click below to hear comments from Duane Peters in his February 2022 interview with WTAW News: News release from Brazos County: Brazos County is not building a landfill, nor does the county government want a landfill. Texas Health and Safety Code Sect. 364.012 dictates a county must designate land as potential landfill space in order to protect all other county land from potential future landfills. With no designated landfill space, any private company could buy up a large amount of land and begin the process of building a landfill and Brazos County would have no recourse to stop them. By having a designated plot of land as the only place a landfill could be built in Brazos County, the commissioners court would be able to intervene if a company wanted to bring in a landfill. The land in Millican under consideration for this designation was once used as a landfill. Any property damage that surrounding land might incur as a result of having land designated for landfill purposes has already occurred. That’s what makes this particular piece of land the best place for this designation. To reiterate, just because this land is designated as potential landfill space does not mean the county has any desire for a landfill. This action is strictly to protect the county from future landfill development.
A Bryan police arrest report recently released by the Brazos County district attorney’s office provides information about a stabbing involving domestic violence that took place the evening of Christmas Eve. The victim is the father of a pregnant woman who had been separated from the suspect. The victim said the suspect also punched and kicked him 50 to 60 times before getting away. Responding officers used tourniquets to stop the blood loss from a seven and a half inch slash to the victim’s left arm. 21 year old Nicholas Tena of Bryan was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Tena told officers according to the arrest report that he used his wife’s cell phone to draw the victim to the park. He also told officers that he threw away the knife and bloody clothes and deleted a cell phone video Tena recorded of the victim after the attack showing the victim’s injuries. That led to an additional charge of evidence tampering. Online records show Tena was released from jail Christmas Day after posting bonds totaling $38,000 dollars.
The Bryan ISD school board heard before Christmas break, the results of hiring a third party provider to provide special education services to 18 students in the seventh through 12th grades. Special education director Jennifer Warren used the word “phenomenal” to describe the first semester of what is called “therapeutic services”. Warren said one outcome was students catching up on completing class credit. She also brought up behavioral improvements. Compared with the fall of 2023, the number of disciplinary referrals dropped by 67 percent and he number of days students who were suspended fell by 44 percent. Warren says the $900,000 dollar cost was offset by $582,500 dollars by not filling special education vacant positions. Board president David Stasny brought up the responsibility public schools have to provide special education services, noting “we’re taking on all comers (all students) and they’re challenging kids sometimes. But we are trying to help every kid, we don’t pick and choose. So that’s something we can be very proud of.” Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the December 16, 2024 Bryan ISD school board meeting. Click below to hear comments from the December 16, 2024 Bryan ISD school board meeting:
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