DON’T CHOP DOWN THE RODNEY CROWELL TREE! Two Chinaberry trees the country-music star planted with his mother by the front sidewalk of his childhood home at 10418 Norvic St. in Jacinto City never grew at all, but a third one Rodney Crowell named after himself did well. “It’s a Spanish-speaking fellow that lives there now,” Crowell tells the Chronicle‘s Andrew Dansby. “He had built a house where our house had fallen down. I got him out in the yard and tried to explain everything. I gave him a record of The Houston Kid. He looked at me like, ‘What do you want me to do with this?’ So we had a pointing conversation. I told him, ‘I planted that tree. Don’t chop it down!’ After a while he said, ‘Yes! Shade!’ I thought, OK, well the tree’s safe. A few years [later] I go back by, and it was cut down. I was livid. But the good news is the trunk is still there, and the trunk had started to sprout some little limbs. So maybe it’ll grow back in some way. These trees are tougher than we give them credit for. But I was mad; I was sure I’d gotten the point across.†[29-95]
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Jacinto City
DARKNESS DESCENDS OVER THE EAST FREEWAY Hey, who turned out all the street lights along I-10 between the East Loop and Uvalde? Copper thieves! “[Public Works spokesperson Alvin] Wright said a similar theft took place inside the loop, but this was the first time it had happened on such a large scale further east. In response, public works is considering replacing the copper wires with aluminum, and installing lock boxes to keep the copper conductors safe. Officials said they don’t know how long it will take to complete the repairs, which could eventually cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.” [KHOU.com]