Simonton Texas

Result WILL Impact Most Property in the Simonton Area

Fort Bend County is poised to raise the “Base Flood Elevation” (BFE) for a significant portion of Fort Bend County.  Most property in the Simonton area will be effected by the change.  If your property is currently not in the flood plain, it may soon be.  The BFE is being raised two to three feet. 

The change will impact your future flood insurance rates, which are based on a property’s location within the flood plain.  The bottom line is: If you don’t currently have flood insurance, you’d better get it before the new maps are published.  Your rates will likely increase significantly if you don’t.

For more than two years, Fort Bend County has been wrestling with the issue of Base Flood Elevation.  This process has been focused on the communities immediately adjacent to the Brazos River.  The studies show that the current “Base Flood Elevation” is inadequite to describe the risk of flooding for Fort Bend County.  So, Fort Bend County, working with FEMA is planning to issue new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) at the new level.

The City of Simonton, in cooperation with the City of Weston Lakes, will hold a town-hall meeting Feburary 12, at 6:00 pm at the Simonton Community Church to present information regarding the change and how it may effect area residents.  The meeting, while not a time for protest, will allow residents to ask questions and find out more about the issue.

The meeting will feature input from Local, County and Federal officials including  the City Engineer, the County Drainage District, and the Regional Director of the FEMA National Flood Insurance program.

Area Residents are encouraged to attend and participate in this important meeting.

I’ll admit it, this article has less to do with news or opinion and more to do with one of my favorite songs when I was a kid.

I recently discovered that Dobie Gray claims Simonton as his birth place.  If you remember, in 1973, Dobie recorded one of the most memorable songs of the Seventies: “Drift Away”.  His career has spanned almost 5 decades since 1963 and he has written many top 40 hits featured in 22 albums.

I get daily news alerts for Simonton and one day recently, I got one with a news reference to Dobie Gray.  It mentioned Simonton was his home town.  Who’d of thought.  Someone famous could come from Simonton.  Well, the fact is that he’s not the only one (anyone heard of Tom DeLay?, yeah he lived in Valley Lodge many moons ago).  Anyway, Dobie claiming Simonton as his birthplace was a story that I personally found most interesting.

My curiosity was piqued and I started my google search.  I found enough history on Dobie Gray to keep me busy for a while. 

Here’s a snapshot of what I learned:

• Dobie was born into a sharecropping family.
• He was the son of  the grandson of a Baptist minister.
• It turns out that Dobie Gray has apparantly used several other stage names in his career: Leonard Ainsworth, Larry Curtis, and Larry Dennis.
• According to one website I found, it looks like Dobie Gray may have gone by two “real names”: Leonard Victor Ainsworth or Laurence Darrow Brown.  Go figure?

By the way, if anyone in town knows if he still has family in the area, I’d love to learn more about him.

Anyway, if you’re interested in learning more about your Simonton roots and one of it’s more noteable personalities, take a minute and learn about Simonton’s own Dobie Gray.  Why not buy one of his autographed photos available on his web site.  It’s a great way to remind yourself that Simonton is a great place to be from.

Learn more about Simonton’s own Dobie Gray

• From Dobie’s Promotional Website:  http://www.dobiegray.com/biography.html
• From Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/dobie-gray
• From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobie_Gray

The Houston Polo Club offers an 8 week instructional course in the sport of polo.  Individuals who have never played polo will learn everything necessary about the game, while enthusiasts of all levels can sharpen their skills.  The Houston Polo Club offers riding lessons for individuals who have never ridden.

 The instructional course includes:

• Proper horsemanship
• Game strategy
• Swinging instruction
• Practice in a hitting cage
• Classroom discussion
• Video viewing
  • Foot mallet experience

 The Houston Polo Club Polo School:

• Meets twice weekly 
• Course offered in Spring Season (April-June) and Fall Season (September-November) 
• Each class is two hours in length 
• Class is held rain or shine 

 Instruction is provided by: 

• Barlee Flanders – a player and instructor for the Houston Polo Club for over 20 years 
• Mark Prinsloo – a 3 goal professional player and an instructor with the club for 10 years 

 The Houston Polo Club provides: 

• Instructors 
• Horses 
• Tack 
• Mallets

 The student requirements are: 

• Minimum riding experience
• Helmet
• Boots

 For more information on the Polo School and riding contact Eliza Bishop at 713-688-7752 or HPC at 713-681-8571.  You can also visit our website at www.thehoustonpoloclub.com