Mary Ruth Patranella Honored by TAMUS Regents

A 25 year business in College Station is gone following a fire. College Station firefighters responded around 5:30 Monday morning (March 10) to Harvey Washbangers, a combination restaurant and laundromat off Texas between Harvey and Holleman. Captain Stuart Marrs says there were no casualties and investigators are looking for a cause. Marrs says the firefighters who arrived saw the roof had collapsed and the exterior walls had bowed out and collapsed. There was no fire damage to businesses next to Washbangers. Marrs says that is because there is a ten foot gap between the buildings and water was sprayed in the gap to keep heat from the fire away from the other building. Marrs says neighborhood residents may have noticed a drop in water pressure due to all the fire hydrants that were being used. Washbangers chef Michael Lair, whose father owns the business, said his phone has been blowing up from concerned customers. Lair says his primary concern is for the 35 employees who are out of work. He said “If there is anybody that is looking to hire people, I have great people.” Four hours after the firefighters arrived, Lair also said “this community is incredible” and “I know God’s in charge and He’s got a plan for this. I have no idea what it is but we’ll figure that out when we get there.” Click below to hear comments from Stuart Marrs and Michael Lair, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver. Listen to “Fire Destroys Harvey Washbangers restaurant and laundromat” on Spreaker.

Brazos County residents who have requested copies of 100,000 pages of records from the November 2024 election will not have to spend as much money to get that information. That’s because county commissioners agree to buy software to remove names of 92,000 voters. Commissioners were told the price for the public to get that information using the software will be around $40 dollars. If elections office workers had to manually remove the names, several citizens requesting that information were looking at a “very conservative” cost of $750 dollars. The commission’s general counsel, Bruce Erratt, says the removal of the names and other information is required by the attorney general’s and the secretary of state’s offices. Elections administrator Trudy Hancock said citizens requested cast vote records, or CVR’s, which reflect the selections a voter made on their ballot. The software purchase, costing $12,875 dollars, will allow the public to have access to CVR’s and ballots within 60 days. Click HERE to read and download the Brazos County document justifying the purchase of the software. Click HERE to read and download the document received by Brazos County from the company selling the software. Click HERE to read and download the amended contract for Brazos County to purchase the additional software. Click below to hear comments from the March 4, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting. Listen to “Brazos County commissioners buy software to remove information from 100,000 pages of records from the November 2024 election” on Spreaker.

A Bryan man is arrested for DWI ten days before he is scheduled for a hearing in Brazos County district court on three other DWI charges. The latest arrest of 23 year old Jorge Villegas Guillen followed Bryan police responding to a report of a man who was passed out inside his pickup that was in the parking lot of a convenience store. The BPD arrest report says Guillen denied he was driving. A witness said there was no one else in his vehicle and multiple people were trying to wake him up. Guillen, who was arrested after failing field sobriety tests, is out of jail after posting a $2,000 dollar bond. Online court records show Guillen is awaiting trials following DWI arrests in November 2023 and February and September of 2024. The 18 year old driver of a pickup that rear-ended a Texas A&M police (UPD) patrol vehicle is arrested for DWI with an open container and possessing two THC vape pens. The UPD arrest report says the collision at Wellborn and George Bush last Thursday night (March 6) involved a patrol vehicle that was stopped on another call. A passenger in the patrol vehicle that was struck, who was on a ride-along, was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. No other injuries were noted in the arrest report. The arresting officer wrote the driver admitted to drinking four or five beers and the officer observed the driver’s unsteady balance, slurred speech, and strong odor of alcohol coming from his person. The driver, Kolton Mickey of College Station, is out of jail after posting bonds totaling $10,000 dollars.