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Last year, there were 748 crashes in Texas school zones, including one death and 14 serious injuries, the Texas Department of Transportation reported.
On Aug. 6, Montgomery ISD’s board of trustees completed the next step for a potential voter-approval tax rate election—that will be on ballots in November, if called—as the district faces a $4.3 million budget gap for fiscal year 2024-25.
A 50-year-old Magnolia woman accused of setting fire to her neighbors’ house and several vehicles apparently had no interaction with them before Tuesday morning, according to the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office.
After a 12-hour standoff with Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and the Crisis Negotiation Team, Christine Riley was arrested at the 26000 block of Rhode Island in Magnolia and charged with arson with intent to damage or destroy a habitation or place of worship — a first degree felony.
Around 5:30 a.m., Riley set fire to her neighbors’ home and several vehicles, forcing the family of four to flee their burning home through their back door, according to a release from the county fire marshal’s office.
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Riley then fled to her house and refused to leave after sheriff’s deputies and county fire marshal investigators tried to apprehend her, the release states.
Responding deputies suspected that Riley had access to a gun and was in the midst of a mental health crisis.
“(Riley) had not had any interaction with the neighbor,” said Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams. “The victims don’t know why she set the trucks on fire and set their house on fire. We’re still investigating to determine the motive.”
Riley is being held at the Montgomery County jail with a $50,000 bond. The county fire marshal’s office is continuing its investigation.
Earlier this year, a new sign for Sapphire Gas Solutions was placed on the six-story office building at FM 2854 and Interstate 45 in Conroe.
Most long-time Conroe residents know the building with reddish brown brick as the old Louisiana Pacific building or the old “LP” building.
Louisiana Pacific vacated the office building in March 2011, since then the tower and the one-story annex have been made up of smaller businesses.
Sapphire Gas Solutions started small at the property but now occupies half of the sixth floor and the entire fifth floor of the tower.
Here’s what to know about the company and its impact locally and across the country:
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Exit of Louisiana Pacific
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. or LP is an American building materials manufacturer. The company incorporated in January 1973 and is known for pioneering the production of the wood product oriented strand board.
For the company’s first 33 years, the headquarters was in Portland, Oregon with administrative offices in Hayden Lake, Idaho; Conroe; Charlotte, North Carolina; Montreal, Quebec; Schaumburg, Illinois and Troy, Michigan.
In 2004, the company moved its headquarters to Nashville and in March 2011 closed the Conroe LP office which had about 30 employees remaining. In addition to Sapphire Gas Solutions, a variety of smaller businesses, such as lawyers, CPA firms, insurance agents, financial advisors and marketing firms now occupy the tower and annex.
A familiar landmark
Sam Thigpen, the founder and CEO of Sapphire Gas Solutions, grew up in the Victoria area and often traveled past the LP building on I-45 while going to visit his family members in New Waverly and his grandparents in Huntsville.
“I remember seeing the LP sign on the side all those years ago,” he said.
Space in the tower now serves as the national headquarters for his business which serves as a natural gas virtual pipeline system that transports liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas or renewable natural gas across the country via trucks instead of through traditional underground pipelines.
What does Sapphire Gas do?
Thigpen was a part of a gas pipeline service company up to 2005 in the service side. There were two divisions, one was manufacturing and the other was service.
The company dissolved the service aspect of the business to focus on manufacturing. This left a golden opportunity for Thigpen to launch his own pipeline service company in 2005.
From 2005 to roughly 2012, his company did primarily pipeline service including installing remote communications systems to relay information from the field back to the pipeline company’s headquarters in addition to analyzing and measuring gas and instrumentation.
In 2011, his company had the opportunity to bid on the compressed natural gas station in Conroe.
“We take gas off the line, compress it and put it into their trash trucks and that’s what they use for fuel instead of diesel,” he said. There was a missing connection though.
There was the station and the trucks but there were delays in getting the gas to connect the two. Bridging that gap of offering a virtual natural gas pipeline is how they got into their operations today.
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A shift in natural gas business
He began to see there was a market for compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. In roughly 2013 or 2014, his company was delivering natural gas as a fuel instead of diesel to the oilfields.
“Then we got a call from the Port of Baton Rouge. They had a pipeline that was being shut down. They had this facility at the port where natural gas was needed. When they would offload barges, the vapors from the chemical had to be burned. They couldn’t be without natural gas because they had to use it to burn the vapors off,” he said.
It was a very quick turnaround for Thigpen’s group to get natural gas to the port within a few days.
“That was really the catalyst for what we do today,” he said. “We do that all over the country now.”
Company’s first shop was in Cut and Shoot
He said his first shop was built around 2008 in the Cut and Shoot area and his first few employees were from Conroe.
In 2014, he built a facility on the Hardy Toll Road but moved back to Montgomery County in 2018. Their business offices started in the one-story annex at 100 I-45.
The company began to occupy more and more space in the annex before moving into the tower where the company now occupies half of the sixth floor and all of the fifth floor.
There are 135 to 140 in the company total. Eighty percent of the staff work in Conroe with smaller administrative offices in locations such as Southern California, Phoenix and Tennessee.
His main goal for putting the sign on the building earlier this year was for greater visibility for the business. At times people were traveling to his headquarters and would end up at the adjacent central library.
The sign also solidifies that the company is planning its future in Conroe, he said. Recently the company was named one of Business Fortune’s 30 Best Companies for 2024. In 2021, Thigpen was named the EY Gulf South Entrepreneur of the Year.
Ties to IndyCar season
For the 2023 IndyCar season, the company partnered with a generator company based in California to offer an alternative compressed natural gas fuel to support power operations at IndyCar races with Steinbrenner Racing and Andretti Racing. They were a part of the Dallas race and several others around the country in 2023.
Thigpen wants to come back for the 2025 IndyCar season to supply fuel and sees compressed natural gas being an option for many larger events, such as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
According to an Aug. 6 presentation, most CISD students still achieved at or above peer districts’ levels in terms of approaching the grade level score or higher.
As Montgomery County continues to recover from Hurricane Beryl in July, nonprofits are assessing the number of residents assisted in the aftermath of the storm and preparing for the next disaster.
Beryl made landfall near Sargent, Texas on the morning of July 8 then continued across southeast Texas and Montgomery County. Tree damage and power outages were widespread in the county for days after the storm.
Here’s how several Montgomery County nonprofits served the area during and after the storm:
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Montgomery County Food Bank
According to information from the Montgomery County Food Bank, in the two weeks following Beryl the food bank served an additional 28,886 client contacts impacted by the storm through its network of more than 80 partner agencies and community partnerships. On average, the agency provides food assistance to approximately 22,500 client contacts per week.
The total number of client contacts served was 73,886 in the two weeks following the storm. For comparison, the food bank served around 80,000 client contacts per month in 2023.
The food bank’s efforts included hosting 13 emergency food and water distributions and supporting 30 additional distributions across the county.
In total, the group distributed 770,181 pounds of food and water. The food bank also distributed more than 100,000 bottles of water, and through its partnership with the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, provided an additional 150,000 bottles.
The group’s most urgent post-Beryl need is financial support as recovery efforts continue. Donations help the food bank acquire and distribute food and water. A list of most-needed food items donations can be found on an Amazon wish list for the food bank.
Visit the food bank’s website to find a food pantry or mobile distribution.
Interfaith of The Woodlands
Interfaith hosted a drive-thru food and water distribution for the community in the Interfaith parking lot in The Woodlands July 12. The nonprofit served 181 families and nearly 700 individuals.
A donation of water from Kroger served 190 homebound seniors. Interfaith continues to assess community need and focus on services on disaster assistance for families and seniors impacted. Residents affected can call 281-367-1230 for more information or to make an appointment for assistance.
The group’s greatest need is food donations and monetary contributions to buy food, water and provide shelter for displaced residents at nearby motels. Financial assistance will be used to provide rent, mortgage and utility assistance.
Non-perishable food items can be donated to the Interfaith Food Pantry at 4242 Interfaith Way in The Woodlands during regular business hours. Monetary donations can also be made online by visiting the Interfaith website.
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Salvation Army of Montgomery County
Preparations began for Beryl while new Salvation Army of Montgomery County commanding officers Lt. Cody Johns and Lt. Amanda Johns were still settling in. They came from the Irving, Texas Salvation Army unit and their first official day in Conroe was June 24.
Amanda Johns said their Center of Hope never lost power and they were able to continue and expand shelter operations there. They began to see an increase in people coming to the shelter Tuesday following the storm and experienced a 15-to-20 percent increase in occupancy. Mid-week they experienced a 30-percent increase until later in the week.
At the central Salvation Army warehouse in Houston, more than 97,000 meals were cooked. Cody Johns would drive to the Houston warehouse and pick up a large amount of meals and bring them back to distribute in Montgomery County.
They also worked closely with the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Red Cross to distribute meals locally.
For Montgomery County, they served 8,723 meals, 1,893 drinks, 433 snacks, 120 food boxes, 252 cases of water and offered emotional and spiritual support to 591 individuals.
To prepare for the next event they are seeking shelf-stable items like canned goods and canned meats. Donations may be dropped off at 304 Avenue E in Conroe. For more about the local group call 936-760-2440 or visit the Facebook page.
Community Assistance Center
Jennifer Huffine, president and CEO of Community Assistance Center, said in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, Community Assistance Center has been at the forefront of relief efforts, extending vital support to those affected in the community.
“So far, we have assisted 208 families, encompassing 612 individuals, by providing essential services to help them recover from the storm’s impact. This is an ongoing effort as we still have many neighbors who are continuing to seek assistance,” she said.
Support included the distribution of food, gas cards and gift cards to address the immediate needs of those who lost wages or essential household items like food and linens. They have also facilitated emergency shelter accommodations in local hotels and provided rental and utility assistance to help stabilize families as they try to recover.
The group’s back-to-school event in East County expanded to include a food distribution component where an additional 255 families were helped.
Those still recovering from Hurricane Beryl, and reside in Montgomery County, are encouraged to contact their appointment line at 936-539-9211, available from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays or by emailing info@cac-mctx.org with the subject line “Hurricane Beryl.”
This group also continues to seek food donations and monetary contributions to assist its efforts.
The business’s services include tailored facials based on clients’ skin care needs and desires.
The Joint Chiropractic officials said a new location is slated to open by Aug. 11, however the opening date is subject to change pending construction timelines and city approvals.
The city of Conroe is holding a concert at Heritage Place featuring the band The Spicolis, which will be performing ’80s music.