In early 2021 it would take something extraordinary to kick COVID-19 off the front page.
By mid-February the coronavirus had supplied the constant background hum of anxiety for nearly a year. What was then the worst wave of cases and hospitalizations was just starting to ebb. Long lines formed at public drive-thru vaccine clinics. Some waited eagerly for their demographic to become eligible.
Vaccinated or not, some braved the icy weather on Valentine’s Day to go out to eat with loved ones.
And then the lights went out, with deadly consequences.
Some 40,000 homes in the county lost power that week in McLennan County alone, and about 4.5 million statewide. Many shivered in the dark for days on end as local weather stations logged a record consecutive 205 hours below freezing.
Here are some statistics that take full measure of the winter weather crisis that gripped the region.
For a week, it was the story that turned all other stories into footnotes, as COVID-19 had done in spring 2020.
The Texas freeze of 2021 was a generational disaster within a generational pandemic.
The Tribune-Herald staff concluded, narrowly, that history’s likely view of the continuing pandemic that took 457 more McLennan County lives in 2021 should place it higher on the year’s list of top stories than the week of frozen suffering.
Agree or disagree with our decision, both stories leave plenty of lessons to be learned.
1. The virus strikes back
A staffer prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic set up by Ascension Providence, Waco ISD and Midway ISD in February to vaccinate teachers age 65 or older. Vaccine eligibility expanded to all adults by about a month later.
The new year began amid one of the darkest hours of the pandemic, but with a hint of a dawn ahead.
Waco hospitals struggled through January with an average of 137 COVID-19 patients, while the county had an active case count exceeding 1,200. But by early February, more than 17,000 residents had received a first dose of the new vaccine and more than 4,000 had received their second. Most were frontline health workers or people 65 and older. But eligibility and supplies were expanded to all adults in late March, leading local public health experts to voice qualified hope that the county could reach immunization rates high enough to end the health care crisis, if not essentially banish the virus itself, by year’s end.
It did not work out that way. As vaccination rates climbed, case counts dwindled, from a high point of 1,489 active cases on Jan. 7 to fewer than 60 in mid-June. But by the end of June, interest in vaccinations had nearly petered out with less than 46% of the 12-and-older population vaccinated. Doctors voiced worry that people were becoming complacent just as a new, more transmissible variant, called delta, was on the loose.
Sure enough, a record wave of COVID-19 cases crashed ashore here in late summer. Waco Mayor Dillon Meek warned in late August of a “collapse” of the health care system if the virus continued to grow unchecked. By mid-September hospitals were burdened with more than 200 COVID-19 patients, about 80% of them unvaccinated.
At Connally Junior High School, teacher David McCormick died Aug. 24 of COVID-19, followed by teacher Natalia Chansler Aug. 28. Angela Thompson, an instructional aide at Connally Primary School, died in mid-September. In the month of September, 104 McLennan County residents died of the disease.
Waco Independent School District and La Vega ISD were among many Texas school districts caught up in a jurisdictional power struggle over masking. They began requiring masks after Labor Day, in defiance of an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott, leading Attorney General Ken Paxton to take them to court. In October, 414th State District Judge Vicki Menard put the case on hold pending the resolution of other similar lawsuits across the state.
In the meantime the wave of COVID-19 cases ebbed through the fall. Vaccinations, gradually expanded to everyone age 5 and older, gradually ticked up. About 52% of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated, leaving tens of thousands of residents without protection against an emerging wave fueled by the omicron variant.
As of Thursday, cases were spiking dramatically in the county and nationwide. The county had 1,804 active cases, compared to a high of 2,151 active cases during the delta wave.
2. Texas freezes over
Hazardous road conditions, seen here on Valley Mills Drive, quickly became minor concerns compared to widespread and prolonged power outages and strains on water systems during a record-breaking cold stretch in February.
After the freeze hobbled the Texas power grid in the early hours of Feb. 15, 2021, the story knocked the virus off the Tribune-Herald front page for several days.
Northerners might have initially mocked Texans for being unprepared for cold weather, but the severity of the situation gradually became clear. Some 4.5 million Texan households lost power, many for as long as four days in brutally cold weather. At least 210 freeze-related deaths were reported, and 14 million people were told to boil their water because of conditions related to the freeze and grid crisis, according to a November report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The strong arctic front that hit Texas that week quickly knocked generating units offline, most of which were unprepared for cold weather. Natural gas generation declined by half, partly because of direct effects of the weather, partly because of power outages at production facilities.
The power shortages posed a grave threat to the statewide power grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and ERCOT officials later said they ordered outages because they were “seconds and minutes” away from catastrophic failure that could have taken months to repair.
That Monday, most McLennan County residents were iced in, and about a third were without power and trying to find answers to when it would be restored. Some bunded up and brought out propane heaters and firewood, while others sought a haven with friends, family, hotels or emergency shelters. One Hewitt man spent the night in his truck with his CPAP machine turned on as temperatures outside plummeted to minus-1, a local February record.
Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest employees were snowed in at work, and local businesses helped replenish dwindling food supplies. Grocery store shelves began to empty because trucks could not get in, and local food pantries closed. In Marlin, the water system broke down, leaving the mayor and police chief to drive around icy roads in Waco in search of bottled water to share with citizens.
By Feb. 18, Mayor Dillon Meek warned in a video that leaks, a power outage at a treatment plant and high water use were putting Waco’s water system under severe strain. The system pulled through without major outages or boil-water notices, but other cities were not so lucky.
Meanwhile, businesses and homes suffered flood damage from burst pipes. Sanderson Farms, the poultry processor, shut down for five days and had to euthanize 100,000 chicks.
COVID-19 returned to the top of the Tribune-Herald’s front page Feb. 21, but with a glimmer of possible good news. Public health officials said the weeklong involuntary lockdown would likely reduce the transmission of the virus. Indeed, COVID-19 case counts in McLennan County dropped during the freeze and for weeks thereafter.
3. Bears win NCAA championship
Baylor guard Davion Mitchell holds up the NCAA championship trophy after a parade in downtown Waco honoring the team after its return from Indianapolis.
As confetti rained down April 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Scott Drew and his Baylor basketball players tried to grasp the sheer magnitude of what they had just accomplished.
With their dominating 86-70 win over previously unbeaten Gonzaga, the men’s basketball team captured the program’s first national championship.
They became only the second NCAA Division I men’s basketball team from Texas to win the national title, coming 55 years after the 1966 Texas Western squad that was celebrated in the film “Glory Road.”
Drew took over a tragedy-ridden shell of a team in 2003 and brought the program all the way to college basketball’s throne room 18 years later.
And it was not easy navigating COVID-19 last season. The Bears were riding high with a 17-0 record when the pandemic shut down the team for three weeks in February.
Losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State ended their bid for an unbeaten season, but the Bears bounced back even stronger with six lopsided wins in the NCAA tournament to win the title.
4. Waco ISD approves $355 million bond issue
Waco High School will be rebuilt on the same campus in a $157 million project, the biggest piece of the $355 million bond package approved by voters Nov. 2
Waco ISD voters on Nov. 2 approved a $355 million bond issue, capping an eventful year that included being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the district’s mask mandate policy, and losing two longtime school board trustees to resignations in the middle of their terms.
Voters approved the bond package by a wide margin, 59% to 41%. But just 3,915 of the 51,590 eligible voters in the district, or 7.59%, took part in the election.
A vision for the new Waco High School as part of the 2021 bond program. // Source: O’Connell Robertson
The bond money will pay for the rebuilding of Waco High School, G.W. Carver Middle School, Tennyson Middle School and Kendrick Elementary School on their existing campuses, while South Waco Elementary School will be expanded. Indian Spring Middle School and Alta Vista Elementary will close.
The approval will mean a higher tax bill for Waco ISD property owners, adding 10 cents per $100 valuation to the district’s tax rate, which is now $1.245 per $100. That would translate to an extra $10.89 per month in taxes for the owner of a Waco ISD home valued at $130,561.
Passage of the bond means a possible February groundbreaking on a new Carver Middle School, which could be ready by fall 2023. The school is closed this school year because of a fire over the summer, and its student body has merged with that of Indian Spring Middle School.
High school construction is expected to start in late summer 2022 with the main building planned to be ready for students by fall 2024. Three more phases of construction would complete the high school complex by December 2025.
Waco Independent School District at-large Trustee Cary DuPuy announced his immediate resignation Nov. 19, making him the second trustee to step down from the board this year. Allen Sykes resigned July 23 after served more than 22 years on the Waco ISD board. In August, trustees picked Emily Iazzetti to fill Sykes’ District 5 seat until the May election.
5. Baylor, city partner on downtown arena
A rendering released earlier this month shows plans for Baylor University’s $185 million Foster Pavilion and plaza off University Parks Drive.
More than two years after announcing plans for a new basketball arena, Baylor University and city of Waco officials confirmed earlier this month the $185 million multi-purpose facility would be on the downtown side of Interstate 35 along the Brazos River, and serve as the centerpiece of a $700 million cluster of development.
Baylor officials first proposed in May 2019 to build the Foster Pavilion a mile down the Brazos River, next to the Ferrell Center. But after discussions with city leaders late that year, plans started to shift. Between work by private developers, Baylor and improvements along the riverwalk the city plans to make, the area will see $700 million in redevelopment along the riverfront between I-35 and Franklin Avenue, including commercial, residential and hotel space, city officials said.
“I think this project represents a kind of meshing of both the Baylor campus and downtown,” Baylor Athletics Director Mack Rhoades said. “I think that’s really positive for both entities. We look at it as an extension and an expansion of our campus, and the vibrancy with downtown and everything that will be going on when this project is completed.”
Baylor officials said the costs of acquiring land and upgrading the venue to host concerts account for much of the increase in the project budget from its initial $105 million to $185 million. Through a series of agreements, the city is paying for most of that differential, and Baylor will provide funding for a new performing arts center near the arena and a science center in East Waco. The city will be able to book concerts or other events 90 days per year in the Foster Pavilion.
6. Sheryl Victorian named Waco police chief
Victorian
Sheryl Victorian was sworn in as the Waco Police Department’s 28th chief in March, the first woman and the first Black person to hold the position.
As Victorian introduced herself to her new city, she attended a girl’s eighth birthday party, a bittersweet confirmation that Victorian had dashed the child’s hopes of becoming the first woman to lead the department. The new chief assured her she would be welcome on the force when the time comes.
Under Victorian’s early leadership, the city has received a three-year U.S. Department of Justice grant splitting the cost of 12 new officers to help the department grow with the city and work with a revived Neighborhood Engagement Team. She has signed onto a pledge aiming to ensure that by 2030, at least 30% of new recruits are women. And in response to a mishandled case in May, she has adjusted policies for unattended death investigations.
When Victorian was sworn in, City Manager Bradley Ford said the search that led to Victorian’s hire was the “most significant and thorough process the city of Waco has ever undertaken to recruit a person in leadership.”
Waco Police Department’s new chief, Sheryl Victorian was officially welcomed to Waco by local and state officials and more than 100 Houston police officers, family and friends from home. Victorian will be the department’s 28th chief, the first Black police chief in Waco and the first woman to hold the position.
Amid nationwide unrest in response to police violence against people of color, including the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the city scrapped its initial search for a chief, which had started in February 2020 when former Chief Ryan Holt took a job as assistant city manager.
Community members with a newly elevated level of involvement in the second round of the search said Victorian stood out because of her education, capped by a doctorate in administration of justice from Texas Southern University, and her 28 years of experience in her hometown with the Houston Police Department, where she had risen to the rank of assistant chief.
7. SpaceX to expand local presence
The SpaceX test stand in McGregor may in the coming years hold rockets produced next door. Waco and McLennan County will chip in $6 million to back SpaceX’s plans for a $150 million rocket factory in McGregor, which CEO Elon Musk said will “focus on volume production of Raptor 2,” estimating it will churn out two to four rockets per day.
Eccentric billionaire Elon Musk enjoys good-natured tweeting for public consumption as much or more than the next person.
Fortunately for McGregor and all Central Texas, he was not pulling anyone’s leg on an early July weekend, when he announced via tweet he would place a rocket-building plant next to his rocket-testing plant in McGregor that rumbles and rattles windows all over Greater Waco.
Construction is underway on Musk’s $150 million investment, which he said would be key to his goal of eventually hauling people to Mars. SpaceX will increase local payroll by 400 upon the new plant’s completion. Nearly 580 work at the existing test site.
The Waco City Council and McLennan County Commissioners Court approved a $6 million allocation to SpaceX upon digesting details of this new rocket-making facility. Musk said it will “focus on volume production of Raptor 2,” estimating it will churn out two to four rockets per day.
Waco City Manager Bradley Ford said SpaceX’s twin presence makes McGregor home to “the most advanced rocket engine factory in the world.”
For good measure, SpaceX has agreed to act as a business partner and help write curriculum for a new science, technology, engineering and math center the city of Waco plans to put in the facility that now serves as Bledsoe-Miller Community Center. The community center is slated to be relocated.
8. Local vineyard owner arrested in Capitol riot
A screenshot of a video, included in a federal criminal complaint against Chris Grider, shows Grider (red hat, blue mask) pushing on the barricaded doors to the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol, according to the complaint. Moments later, a woman attempting to climb through a broken window in the doorway was shot and killed by police on the other side, according to the complaint.
Christopher Ray Grider, a co-owner of Kissing Tree Vineyards in Bruceville-Eddy, remains free on a personal recognizance bond after he was arrested and charged in an eight-count indictment relating to his participation in the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
Video cited in a federal affidavit shows Grider front and center at a doorway near the House Chamber where police were blocking a crowd’s access to lawmakers fleeing nearby.
The video shows Grider hand a helmet to another man, who used it to break a window in the doorway, according to the affidavit. A Capitol Police officer shot and killed Ashli Babbitt as Babbitt tried to climb through the broken window, the affidavit says. The officer later was cleared in the shooting.
WARNING: Some coarse language and violence can be seen in this video. // Central Texas businessman Chris Grider, who officials say tried to push and kick open the barricaded doors to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during a Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has been named in a three-count federal complaint.
The full video, which shows graphic images of a fatal shooting, can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfiS8MsfSF4
Grider surrendered to authorities Jan. 21 after a warrant was issued for his arrest. His attorneys have pushed back against the charges against him and argued videos cited by law enforcement show Grider did not kick the doorway, as alleged in charging documents.
As of early November, about 675 defendants had been arrested in the Capitol insurrection, including 210 charged with “assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees,” according to a DOJ press release. Grider is not among those 210, but one of the violations listed in his indictment is “act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.”
The other seven violations listed in his indictment are “destruction of government property,” “aiding and abetting,” “entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds,” “disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds,” “obstruction of an official proceeding,” “disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,” “impeding passage through the capitol grounds or buildings.”
As of the Nov. 9 DOJ update, more than 105 had pleaded guilty in their cases. Twenty-eight had been sentenced, including 11 sentenced to prison time.
9. Waco arts scene gets new home
Waco artist Kermit Oliver talks to visitors during an event in October introducing both an exhibit of his work and the Art Center of Waco’s new downtown building.
A longstanding dream to bring the Art Center of Waco back to downtown became reality in October when center leaders opened the doors to a $3.1 million facility at 701 S. Eighth St. with acclaimed Waco painter Kermit Oliver the subject of its debut exhibition.
The opening capped a four-year drive that started from necessity in 2017 when a dangerous structural problem in the center’s home at McLennan Community College closed it to the public and forced staff to interim offices.
The Art Center of Waco had occupied the former summer home of Waco lumber magnate William Cameron’s family since 1976, four years after it was founded. By the 1990s, some administrators and trustees felt a more central location would help the center’s visibility and public access, but plans to move did not progress.
Within six months of the building evacuation, a task force of center trustees led by Lisa Monroe and board President Jill Michaels found a one-story brick building that once housed a child care center. In April 2018, a public campaign to raise money for the building renovation began.
Construction began in earnest in early 2021 with Mazanec Construction working from a design created by Waco architectural firm RBDR with Grant Dudley.
In August, Art Center trustees hired Doug McDurham, director of a Baylor University nonprofit, as the center’s chief executive officer. Two months later the center, with galleries, a multi-purpose space, classrooms, outdoor patio area and gift shop, welcomed its first visitors.
“Kermit Oliver: New Narratives, New Beginnings,” a wide-ranging look at the work of the Waco painter, one of Texas’ leading artists, filled the new facility as its first exhibition, one that drew statewide attention.
10. Kim Mulkey takes job at LSU
Kim Mulkey calls in a play during her final season leading the Baylor women’s basketball program. She left for LSU.
After more than 20 years of championships, thrills, peaks, valleys and histrionics, Kim Mulkey left town rather quietly.
Mulkey, who guided the Baylor women’s basketball squad to more than 600 wins and three national championships between her arrival at the school in 2000 and the end of the 2020-21 season, took another job back in her home state of Louisiana on April 25.
Louisiana State University announced it had hired Mulkey on Twitter, and her admiring Baylor fans were left to wonder why.
For its part, Baylor released a statement on the fateful day.
“We are grateful for the more than two decades Kim Mulkey poured into building Baylor women’s basketball to one of the nation’s premier programs,” Baylor Athletics Director Mack Rhoades said in the statement. “Coach Mulkey’s sustained success is one of the most remarkable runs in college basketball history, and her accomplishments are worthy of the Naismith Hall of Fame induction she’ll experience later this year.”
Eventually, Mulkey gave thanks to Baylor fans in a Twitter message. She also addressed her time at Baylor in her LSU introductory press conference.
“I’ve been at Baylor 21 years of my life,” Mulkey said. “I built that program from the ground up. I should say we built that program from the ground up. Can you believe there’s only one institution I would have left for? And they made the commitment and I’m home.”
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