As Tamina mourns deaths of 3 children, hope remains for added public services
TAMINA — Yellow tape still surrounds the blackened hulk of the house on Johnson Road, across the railroad tracks from the community center. A sign warns the curious to stay away from the site of an ongoing investigation.
At the edge of the property, red and blue pinwheels twirl in the breeze and a pot of orange impatiens sits on a ledge — splashes of color at a dark scene of tragedy.
A fire in the predawn hours of May 12 destroyed this home and took the lives of three siblings: Terrance “T.J.” Mitchell, 13; Kaila Mitchell, 6; and Kyle Mitchell, 5.
Their brother, 10-yearold Adrian Mitchell, and their mother, April Johnson Mitchell, are grieving. Their grandfather, Pastor Bobby Johnson, and his son Jarvis are recovering from burns sustained when they tried desperately to rescue the children.
In the days after the fire, longtime residents noted that the lack of fire hydrants in this historically black community just across Interstate 45 from The Woodlands forced firefighters to tap into a line about a mile away and truck water to the site. There’s no clear evidence that hydrants would have changed the outcome, but their absence is one symptom of the substandard public services that have prevailed in Tamina for decades, even as surrounding communities grew and flourished.
The 200 or so homes in Tamina use septic tanks, some of which are in poor condition. A nearby utility district sells water that’s stored in tanks in Tamina, then pumped through 4-inch lines to residences. The lines don’t supply enough pressure for fire hydrants, even if they existed.
Streets are narrow and
rutted. Drainage is poor. Houses are scattered amid huge tracts of vacant land.
The reasons for this state of affairs are complicated, and numerous efforts to find a mechanism to bring modern water and sewer service to Tamina have failed.
But the community’s leaders and supporters continue to seek a solution.
“Maybe this kind of terrible tragedy is what it takes,” said Nelda Luce Blair, an attorney in The Woodlands who has participated in efforts to improve conditions in Tamina.
Smoke alarms coming
Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Clark, whose precinct includes Tamina, agreed.
“I’ll be doing everything in my power to bring the parties together to make something happen,” Clark said.
A small but important step will be taken on the weekend of June 24 and 25, when the county fire marshal’s office and Needham Fire Rescue plan to distribute and install smoke detectors in the community’s roughly 200 homes.
Overcoming Tamina’s deeper problems, though, will require a combination of leadership, cooperation and commitment that has yet to be achieved.
County government lacks the authority or resources to install new water or sewer systems.
The special districts that typically provide these services in unincorporated areas didn’t exist when Tamina was settled by freed slaves in 1871, and the impoverished community doesn’t have the healthy tax base that would make it an attractive target for annexation.
In a recent column, I suggested that Tamina needed a champion, a bold leader with influence and a wide network of connections who could forge a partnership to reinvigorate the community. Blair, who knows Tamina well, is convinced this can still happen.
“There is no lack of desire, from the outside or the inside, to improve the lives of the people in Tamina,” said Blair. “There are many people who have tried to make it happen over the years. I’ve never seen it all come together; I’ve never seen the stars align.”
Signs of progress
She noted that resources such as federal grants are available, and at times arrangements to secure them have come close to fruition. Negotiations with neighboring cities and utility districts have made progress. But always, a last-minute snag seems to arise.
“The thing that’s going to make it happen,” Blair said, “is complete cooperation all around. Everybody’s got to be on the same page. Because all these folks are human, they’re not always on the same page.”
I spoke briefly by phone Thursday with Pastor Johnson, who was en route home from seeing a doctor. He said he was recovering from his injuries, but he wasn’t ready to talk about the events of that awful morning. “It’s still fresh,” he said. Tamina needs time to mourn the loss of three of its youngest. In the meantime, perhaps its supporters in government and business can consider how to get everyone, including the community’s leaders and neighbors, on the same page.