Year in Review 2005

January
• Community members met to discuss groundwater contamination near the Eastex Freeway and Hartwick.
• Aldine ISD hosted a city-wide conference on student race relations.

February
• Alberto Gonzalez, an Aldine ISD alum, was confirmed as the first Hispanic U.S. Attorney General.
• Northline Mall announced plans to demolish the existing structure and replace it with an open air shopping center.
• Aldine FFA students earned $84,800 at the 46th annual project show.
• Houston ISD superintendent Abe Saavedra announced the district would seek outside help for Sam Houston, Kashmere, and Yates High Schools. Parents voice opposition.

March
• Aldine community groups petition to save METRO’s Route 54 bus line.
• Houston Texan and Aldine ISD alum Aaron Glenn donated $15,000 to the Aldine Scholarship Fund.
• Smiley High creates the first teen Community Emergency Response Team.
• Habitat for Humanity built is 500th house in Houston. The home was built in the Wood Glen subdivision where more than 200 Habitat houses have been built.

April
• Aldine ISD is named a Broad Prize finalist for the second consecutive year.
• The water line project for Inwood Place received an $80,000 boost with a grant from the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District.
• A Teague Middle School student brought a gun to school.

May
• Houston ISD decided to retain the principals at Sam Houston and Yates but replaced half the teachers.
• Aldine YOUTH opened the Youth School of Business and Renewed Blessings Resale shop on the center’s 15th anniversary.
• Houston ISD fired two former Bowie Elementary teachers because they helped students cheat on the 2004 TAKS test.

June
• METRO’s new Route 59 along Aldine Mail began service.
• North Forest ISD approved school consolidation and a new administration building. The distribt also swore in three new board members: Jarvis Jermaine Clark, Charles H. Taylor, and T. Marie McCall.
• Smiley High School biology teacher, Melvin Johnson, was indicted for possessing and receiving child pornography.
• Scenic Woods Library opened after being closed two and a half years for renovations.
• The owners of Chinese Wok on Aldine Mail Rt. were arrested for illegally smuggling immigrants from Mexico and making them work at the restaurant for slave wages.
• Two Aldine ISD trustees, Steve Mead and Art Murillo, were robbed at gun point in the district office’s parking lot following a meeting.

July
• Two Aldine High students admitted to torching the car of their chemistry teacher in exchange for passing grades.
• North Forest community gave support to the proposed Royal Oaks Terrace subdivision. The project calls for 64 homes to be built near Homestead and Tatenhaun.
• A sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a deputy constable when he was mistaken for the fleeing suspect.

August
• A tip from America’s Most Wanted helped police catch a suspect in the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old at the Fiesta on Airline.
• Developers met with community organizations to discuss the creation of Wayside Village, a proposed housing development to contain 1,600 new homes near East Little York.

September
• Area citizens stepped up to aid victims of hurricane Katrina.
• Local stores ran out of water, gas, and supplies as Houston braced for Hurricane Rita. Evacuees clogged I 45 and Highway 59 as they tried to leave town.
• Airline Improvement District tax approved by voters.

October
• Broad prize awards Aldine ISD $125,000 in scholarship monies.
• Aldine YOUTH receives new parking lot.
• Landvest announced plans to build 200 homes near Aldine Bender and Lee Road.
Emmett Hill resigns from Aldine school board due to health concerns.

November
• ACORN Housing announced plans to build 89 homes near Mesa and Tidwell.
• Seven of nine constitutional amendments passed, Adrian Garcia was reelected to District H.
• High Meadows Library reopened after being closed eight months for remodeling.
• The Texas Art Education Association named MacArthur art teacher, Michael Hall, best art teacher in the state.

December
• Jarvis Johnson was elected as council member for district B after a run off election against Felicia Galloway-Hall.
• North Forest ISD reinstated superintendent Dr. James Simpson after he was placed on temporary paid suspension in November.
• Aldine ISD’s board of trustees chose Dr. Alton Smith to replace Emmett Hill.
• MacArthur alum Phanta “Jack” Phoummarath died during a fraternity hazing at the University of Texas.