Lifestyle

   The 2nd annual Day of the Dead festival will go from noon-10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at LeTulle Park.
   Tickets are $5 per person and available at City Hall in the water department or at the Municipal Services Building.
   Also, tickets can be purchased at the gate and children 12 and under get in free.
   Parking is free and features a shuttle for ease of getting to the event.
   Attendees also are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating at the event.
   This year’s live entertainment includes mariachis, a DJ, headliner Selena Tribute Band featuring Karla Perez and opening act Electric Cowboys – also known as Grupo Vida.

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   City council members reviewed possible changes to parking spaces downtown and approved a new liaison agreement between the city and Bay City Community Development Corporation (BCCDC) for the Main Street Program as part of their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 22.
   “This is an informational discussion only,” said Interim City Manager Richard Morton.
   “I had this put on the agenda at councilman (Bill) Cornman’s request to see if we could improve parking for safety reasons.”
   Morton said that TxDOT “prefers parallel parking.” 
Downtown has a mix of parallel and angle parking.
   “And they’ve already approved the changes we would make, if we decided to go this route,” he added.
   Council members voiced their preferences for the change from angled to parallel parking on Avenue F/Texas 60 from Whataburger’s location southward until the corner of 5th Street and Avenue F.

   The old Bay City Intermediate School and property on 2417 16th St. will be put up for sale, the Bay City school board decided at its regular meeting Monday, Oct. 21.
   After consulting with the district’s attorney about the property on 16th Street/Carey Smith Boulevard in executive session, the board later voted in open meeting to put the long-vacant old school up for sale.
   Another matter in executive session – the two closed-door sessions took up 40 minutes in a meeting that last three and half hours – was discussing the district’s future withdrawal from the Matagorda County Education Services.
   The board discussed and voted in open session in September 2018 to withdraw from the MCES special education co-op, a move that prompted some teachers to walk out of the meeting.
   There was no discussion about MCES in open session Monday night.

   A 55-year-old Bay City man was arrested on 44 counts of child endangerment in connection with reports that he drove a Bay City ISD school bus recklessly while taking children home after school Sept.  24, BCISD police reports show.
   Following the Sept. 24 incident, the BCISD Transportation Department and BCISD Police Department investigated immediately and determined that the driver was not driving safely, ISD reports indicate.
   The driver was immediately put on administrative leave pending further investigation, and did not drive for BCISD after Sept. 24, ISD officials said.
   Those officials said that Allan Shows of Bay City, resigned from BCISD Sept. 25. 

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   Van Vleck ISD trustees heard bond construction updates and a public hearing on the Schools Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) report during their regular Monday meeting, Oct. 21.
   “The high school and junior high campus are at about 30 percent completion,” said Sofia Dusek, PBK architect project executive.
   “The outside masonry is almost complete while inside ductwork is still being installed.”
   Dusek said that the HVAC system piping installation was finished.
   Trustee Terry Evans voiced concerns about the Ag shop renovation schedule.
   “I know we were told it might be done at the end of October, but I’m curious as to how close we are to completing that,” Evans asked.
   “We should be finished in the first part of November,” answered Dusek.
   “From what I know, we’re waiting on the refrigeration panels in the processing room,” said VVISD Superintendent John O’Brien.

   First-term Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen on Tuesday announced he will not seek reelection to the lower chamber in 2020 — marking an end to the Angleton Republican’s months-long political fallout that has roiled the lower chamber he oversees.
   “After much prayer, consultation, and thoughtful consideration with my family, it is clear that I can no longer seek re-election as State Representative of District 25 and subsequently, as Speaker of the House,” Bonnen, who is from Angleton, said in a statement, which included a list of 43 House Republicans — a majority of the House GOP Caucus — that the speaker said “have made clear that it is in the best interest of both myself and the House to move on.”