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WHAT: On Saturday, September 11, 2004, the Engineering, Science & Technology Council of Houston will be sponsoring a free seminar entitled "Flooding in the Houston Area: Past - Present - Future." Topics that will be covered include a historical look at flooding in our region, Harris County's new floodplain maps that are being developed by the Harris County Flood Control District and FEMA, floodplain administration regulations in the region as it applies to development, flood insurance, and the technical challenges involved in identifying and reducing flood risks. Representatives from the Harris County Flood Control District will participate in this event. WHEN: Saturday, September 11, 2004 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. WHERE: Cy-Fair College Building 5 College Center Auditorium 9191 Barker Cypress Road Cypress, Texas WHY: To increase awareness of what is being done to reduce flood damages in our region and educate the public on important topics such as flood risk. The seminar will also help to explain why everyone in our region should consider purchasing flood insurance.

If anyone should be fired, it's Ed Brandon. ------------ Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: THU 04/27/89 Section: A Page: 25 Edition: 2 STAR Brandon equates his coke addiction to `skid-row alcoholic' By DIANNA HUNT Staff Former television weatherman Ed Brandon said Wednesday a 10-year cocaine habit left him as addicted as a "skid-row alcoholic," but he denied the rumors of sexual improprieties that have circulated around him. Brandon, cheerful and upbeat in his first public interview since he abruptly resigned from KTRK -Channel 13 earlier this year, said he is taking it "one day at a time" in an effort to kick the habit. "I used drugs for 10 years," Brandon told the Chronicle. "I'm sure I started out as the typical person who was making a lot of money and was presented with this attractive way to escape life's problems. "I turned out to be one of those people who just should not have done it. I'm just as bad as the skid-row alcoholic when it comes to that." Houston police, meanwhile, said Wednesday their investigation into allegations against Brandon had ended without charges being filed against him. Sgt. J.C. Mosier said the decision not to file charges came after a months-long investigation by the department's vice division that included reviewing hours of videotapes, some of them homemade. "There's nothing in there that could be looked at as any criminal activity that we could prove," Mosier said. "They (vice officers) don't foresee any charges coming out of it." Brandon, 46, came under investigation last year after a man complained to Houston police that he had been sexually assaulted at Brandon's townhome in southwest Houston. The same complaint included allegations of child pornography. No charges were filed. Brandon denied the allegations but later agreed to settle out-of-court for $3 ,500 when the man threatened to file a lawsuit over the alleged assault, said Houston private investigator Clyde Wilson, who was hired by Brandon to handle the settlement. Brandon resigned his position at Channel 13 just a few days later. Brandon admitted later in a written statement that his drug dependency left him vulnerable to blackmail, and he elaborated Wednesday - two weeks after his release from a drug treatment program - on his ordeal. "I have feelings that I brought this on myself because of my drug usage, and I left myself open," he said. "On the one hand I'm very angry about it, but I know that it's the way I was leading my life. "I thought I could do drugs socially and I couldn't." Brandon said his years of drug abuse affected not only his lifestyle, but his health and career as well. "The drug use was causing problems in my life," he said. "I had extremely elevated blood pressure, and that's under control now. It turns out that I'm just normally prone to have hypertension, but I was exacerbating it with drugs." Brandon was admitted to a local psychiatric hospital and spent several months in a drug treatment program. At the time, he said, he was aware of the swirl of rumors that began to circulate throughout the city, but said the hospital environment insulated him from the full impact. "They're so bizarre, and they're not true," he said. "Just having my name brought up in connection with those things is just horrible." Brandon said his recovery was helped along, though, by the cards and letters he received from people who had watched him during his 17 years with Channel 13. "A lot of people were really concerned, and I'm very grateful for that," Brandon said. "It helped me a lot." The decision by Houston police not to file charges should also speed his recovery. "I'm very pleased that no charges will be filed," said private investigator Wilson. "We were confident that the man who had made the original allegations was a contemptible liar." His attorney, Marian Rosen, agreed. "We felt confident all along that there would not be any criminal charges filed. I think that what Ed wants to do at this point is go forward with his life, to put those problems behind him and get back to work at what he loves doing." Now, Brandon says, he is struggling to do just that - without thinking too much about the future. "The job situation is something that is definitely on my mind, and I don't have one right now," he said. "But at this point, I'm trying not to worry about anything. My main goal is to continue to get physically healthy. I feel absolutely fantastic right now, and I want to keep feeling that way. "I have a drug problem, I'm solving it, and I'm just feeling good. I'm taking things one day at a time." Brandon, whose real name is Winham Edward Branstetter, came to Houston in 1972 from Austin's KHFI-TV, where he had worked since 1969 as a weatherman and host of talk shows at 5 p.m. daily and on Friday nights. He was born in Texarkana and grew up in Austin. Brandon studied radio-TV at the University of Texas, and his first jobs were as a radio disc jockey on stations in Texarkana and Longview.

If he is gone, Don and 13 may not have had a say in the matter. Most of the traffic people on the air in Houston aren't directly employed by their stations. They are employees of Metro Networks, which can (and often does) move them around as they see fit.

I'm listening to BBC World Service, and they just announced that Delta is cutting up to 7,000 jobs. They're also dumping their Dallas hub. Ouch. I know cities often fight each other to get airline hubs, so will his hurt Dallas, or since American is in Fort Worth will it have no effect?

I gave blood for the first time last year at a blood drive where I worked. I was surprised how quickly it was done. I've always been terrified of needles, but since I'm now in a leadership position it was wrong for me to ask the staff to do it without rolling up my own sleeve.

I like some of Wright's work, but most of it doesn't appeal to me. I know a lot of people think he's the greatest American architect, but I don't see it. I think he's just overrated. For those of you who like Wright, there is a nice selection of his works on our sister site.

How about ads for the Short Angry Lawyer?

A blood/platelet drive will be conducted at Reagan Lodge on September 11th at 8 AM to Noon. A unit from M.D. Anderson will provide the services with snacks included for donors. Please donate now for emergency requirements you or your loved ones may have. For more information telephone Reagan Lodge No. 1037 AF & AM at (713) 861-1037

NEW STUDY SHOWS MORE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS NEEDED TO RELIEVE GROWING TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN HOUSTON METRO today reported that public transportation cuts the time spent stuck in traffic by an estimated 21,607,000 hours per year in Houston. The news came in a new study released today by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) showing traffic congestion in Houston ranks among the worst in the nation. TTI

I liked the cows. I managed to find and photograph about 100 of them.

I'm staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel. Nice place. 27 bars and restaurants in the hotel. Enough to do in the hotel that you don't have to leave. And one of the best views of the city available.

I like the windows, but otherwise it hasn't made much of an impression on me.

I might like Jean DuBuffet more if he branched out a little more. I think I've come across three or four of his sculptures, and they're all the same. Monument au Fant

I believe they do. I think the feature is called "AOL Hometown" or something. If so, they probably have quick templates to make it easy for you to just upload your images and everything is taken care of for you. I'm sure they'd at least have tutorials.

It's not always that broad. There are 999 other people it rotates through, and sometimes shows nature scenes like waterfalls. It's not a building. More like a monolith with an integrated video system.

It's so good that you don't notice that it's good. I know that' strange, but when somethingn "just works" you shouldn't notice it. I sat up close for the first part of the performance, then when I'd gotten back from the men's room my patch of grass was taken, so I had to go to the back. In either location, there was no echo whatsoever. It all sounded perfectly the same, which was the goal of the designers. No echo. No diminution of sound quality. I think they got it right, at least with the sound system. I don't know how they're going to keep that grass green with all the tourists stomping across it. But I guess that's their problem, not mine.

The grass gently slopes downhill toward the stage. I know because I've been there for a concert already. If you look at the photo, you can't see the thousands of seats in rows around the stage because of the slope. The "Great Lawn" slopes just enough that you can see over the person in front of you. Unless that person is using a lawn chair instead of a blanket. It's the outdoor concert equivalent of a Ford Excursion.

The artist calls it "Cloud Gate" because 80% of the surface reflects the sky.

Actually, the entire park is 45 feet above a Metra (suburban commuter) rail yard. Walking into the park from the street, you don't notice it. The Pritzker Pavilion and the BP Pedestrian Bridge are by Gehry. Here are some informative links from our sister site Chicago Architecture Info: Millennium Park overview Cloud Gate (the bean) Millennium Monument Crown Fountain (the spitting fountain) BP Pedestrian Bridge

It's all very optomistic, but there's a big problem with natural gas -- it's hard to move around. There aren't enough pipelines and especially terminals to handle the gas demand now. Every time a new terminal is proposed, it gets shut down by one lobbying group or another. I suspect the domestic coal producers have a lot to do with it. They have some powerful friends (Senators Rockefeller and Byrd). I don't see that changing any time soon.

Earth, Fire, and Wind A Series of Three Civic Forums Sponsored by the Rice Design Alliance This season, RDA's civic forums will focus on the Houston region's self-assessment at the beginning of a new century. In June, Part 1, Earth, addressed the successes and challenges in shaping the face of our residential life through various neighborhood organizations and activists. The series will continue with the following discussions. Part 2: Fire Wednesday, September 22, 7 pm The second forum will focus on the current economic engines and their impact on the city form, such as the growth of the Texas Medical Center (e.g. biotechnology), the future of energy companies' investment in the city, the NASA/space campus, and transportation infrastructure. Panelists:

You don't need to have a web site to post your photos. You just need somewhere to store them online. Most ISPs give each customer a certain amount of web space they can use for their personal home pages. All you have to do is upload it to that space and then type the proper address into the URL dialogue that pops up when you click the IMG button. It's not as hard as it sounds. Which ISP are you using?

METRO SCHEDULES BUDGET HEARING METRO will conduct a public hearing on the agency

That notion is mostly stereotype and hyperbole. My wife and I used to drive around River Oaks once or twice a month just to admire the houses and dream of where we might live "someday." Christmas and Halloween were the best times because of the decorations. We drove around in my beat up Probe and never once were harrassed by the River Oak Patrol.

Bellaire Electronics Recycling Event Did you get a new computer for school and don't know what to do with the old one? Do you have an old TV that quit working? What do you do with your old electronic equipment? Here is an opportunity to recycle them. The Bellaire Recycling Committee will hold an electronic waste recycling event on September 11, 2004 from 9AM- 2PM at the Bellaire Department of Public Works, 4337 Edith. This is one block North of Beechnut just off Newcastle St. There will be a recycling fee of $5 that includes the recycling of one computer or TV and all your other electronics. There is an additional charge of $5 for each computer monitor (CRT) or TV that is 19" or smaller. Larger CRTs and TVs will have an additional $5 surcharge for each. Please use cash for the recycling fee no checks or credit cards.