Best Insurance merges with GSM Insurors

My dad, Russell L. Burnett Sr., opened Best Insurance in 1979 in Freeport, Texas. We have served customers in Brazoria County since that time in a way that makes me proud. We have gotten to know our clients and have become friends with many of them. We have customers who have been with us since the beginning and others who have never had another insurance agent in their lifetime.

We don't sell policies with lower amounts of coverage at a discounted price to get the sale. We make sure our quotes are done with the customer in mind.

Over the years some the companies we use to write insurance have fallen by the wayside, while others have increased rates, while others are tried and true. For the most part it is tough to find a company who wants to write insurance on the Gulf Coast - the exposure to hurricanes scares them away.

We recently made a business decision to merge with a larger agency. That agency, GSM Insurors, has been a rock in the insurance industry for nearly 100 years. The merger will give us new and better companies to write insurance with, which in turn will allow us to offer our customers better prices and better coverage - most of the time. Below is a letter we sent to our clients:

Dear Best Insurance client,

As a valued customer and friend of Best Insurance Services, Inc., we want to let you know that we are merging with another fine Texas insurance agency - GSM Insurors. It is scheduled to take place officially on Nov. 1, 2014, and our combined agency will begin conducting business as GSM/Best Insurors.

What does this mean for you? Initially, nothing. Our office remains open and we will continue to serve you in the same manner you’ve grown accustomed to. As the process of our merger unfolds you will continue to work with the same people in our firm as in the past. All the contact information for us will remain the same except our e-mail addresses will change.

It is important to note that during this transition your current insurance will remain in force and changes will only be made at your direction. As the merger progresses you may find that your policy will renew with GSM Insurors or Glass, Sorenson & McDavid as your agent of record. This does not mean that Best Insurance Services, Inc. ceases to exist.

Russell Burnett Sr., founded Best Insurance Services, Inc., in 1979. Ownership of the agency still remains in the Burnett family. We decided to seek a merger with another insurance agency because we believe that a larger organization will allow us to provide a wider array of services and more depth for our customers. Established in 1923, GSM Insurors is a leading privately-held independent insurance firm with multiple offices in Texas.

If you have any questions about this exciting news and what it will mean for you, please contact us at any time.  We are grateful to you not only for giving us the opportunity to provide you with insurance services but for your loyalty and friendship, which have enriched our relationship. We are confident that our new affiliation will serve us all well.

Very Truly Yours,

Russell Burnett Sr.

Russell Burnett Jr.

GSM/Best Insurors

125 S. Parking Place

Lake Jackson, Texas 77566

 (979) 297-2655

Musings while looking out my office window wondering how tall the weeds will get before anyone associated with HEB will care…

I guess I didn’t pay much attention back in the mid-1990s when Lake Jackson was putting together the pedestrian and bicycle master plan. But it piqued my interest around 2002 when the estimated cost to construct a 10-foot wide sidewalk down Oyster Creek Drive went north of the $1 million mark.

A federal transportation grant was issued and Lake Jackson was to match a certain amount of money to have the project go through. Work was then completed and I barely gave it an afterthought unless a certain family member complained about how much the sidewalk cost. That is until last week when I grew tired of melting into my recliner each night after work for several hours until bedtime.

It was time to get up and walk. I lost weight a few years ago by eating less and walking through the neighborhood. This time I decided to try the big sidewalk on Oyster Creek Drive to garner some relief from the monotony of walking the same neighborhood trail I had before. Here are things I’ve noticed on the 3-mile round trip trail I trek (nearly) every night.

·       The sidewalk/trail is used. Yesterday morning as I drove to work I counted 17 walkers/joggers/bikers hitting the path to exercise either themselves or their animals or both. The trail is used at all times of day by people from all walks of life, including former two-time presidential candidate Ron Paul.

·       Lake Jackson has a good police presence from Buc-ees on Old Angleton Road all the way to Lake Jackson Intermediate School. My walk usually takes one hour and in that time I see two or three patrol cars driving and one sitting in the fire station parking lot picking out speeders.

·       More than a few people take great pride in their yards. Most front yards on Oyster Creek Drive and several backyards on the street are full of flowers, plants and well-manicured yards. Also, contrary to popular belief there are still some children who jump on trampolines and swim in pools outside their homes.

·       Citizens of Lake Jackson love pizza delivery. The most-often seen delivery drivers come from Domino’s and All Star Pizza.

·       People are still friendly. Most everyone waves or greets one another. I think there’s an exercise fraternity mentality to it, kinda like motorcycle riders acknowledging each other.

I hope to keep walking for exercise and eventually would like to see the other side of Oyster Creek Drive with a large two-lane sidewalk. And even though the path isn’t crowded on a daily basis, and it did cost a lot of money, I think it was money well spent.

-        Russell Burnett Jr. is a resident of Lake Jackson.

For the second time in two years the No Fear 15U boys’ basketball team ventured into Houston to play in one of the state’s most prestigious tournaments and came away with a championship. The squad finished the three-day Texas Classic of Pearland Tournament undefeated and downed Fort Bend Select 60-39 in the final Sunday. No Fear won the H-Town Classic in May 2013.

Brazosport High School’s Chris Rossow (17 ppg) and Angel Trevino (12 ppg) led the way in the scoring column, but according to coach Robert Griggs it was his two eighth-graders who stepped up their play and allowed the team to dominate, winning by an average margin of 17 points a game.

“BJ Foster from Angleton and Hunter Quick from Lake Jackson elevated their game to another level,” Griggs said. “Both players are phenomenal on the defensive end, but they added another dimension offensively this weekend and we needed it. When those two guys are playing well on both ends and our shooters Ty Griggs and Trey Burnett are hitting we are nearly unstoppable.”

No Fear pulled out wins over teams from San Antonio, McAllen, Elgin, Houston and Fort Bend County. Teams from across Texas as well as Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas and Georgia participated. Going back at least 10 years, this tournament has seen the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, O.J. Mayo and T.J Ford while they were in high school.

In the first game of the tournament Rossow nailed three free throws with three seconds on the clock to force the game into overtime. From there Angleton’s Koy Richardson converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way to close out the game as No Fear won 67-63.

“I’m not backing down from my statement that Chris Rossow is one of the best point guards in the state for his age,” Griggs said. “Hunter, BJ and Angel all hold things down on the defensive end, then we bring in post Kevin Davis off the bench and things keep on clicking.”

No Fear will attempt to defend its title at the H-Town Classic May 16-18 in Humble.

Growth in Lake Jackson

The pervasive sentiment from city leaders in Brazoria County is that bigger is better. They are quoted in our daily newspaper as saying we should bring more people into our fair cities. We should build more buildings and subdivisions, create more infrastructure and compete with the big boys like Pearland.

I’m very happy with the way things are in Lake Jackson. I’m not really sure bigger is better, and I voiced that to a wise community leader in Angleton a few weeks ago. Her answer was simple: Growth is coming our way. It’s inevitable, so we have to get ready.

Of course, I know that. It’s been talked about for at least 10 years. So, kudos to our local leaders who understand the importance of having new roads to drive on and safe water to drink. Thanks for the forethought of improving the aesthetics of downtown Lake Jackson and Freeport to help spur business growth there. If change is coming lets be prepared.

We had a company representative from Rockport visit our office in downtown Lake Jackson last week. We ate lunch at Wayside Pub and he was very complimentary of the downtown district. So much so that he said there wasn’t anywhere in Rockport nearly as nice as the section of town we ate in. He was impressed and wished his city would revitalize itself like Lake Jackson is attempting to do.

But with the good, you get the bad. I oftentimes hear comments about needing another big chain restaurant in Southern Brazoria County or a mega-grocery store or a big box do-it-yourself store. But when was the last time you heard someone comment on getting good customer service from the do-it-yourself stores? How impressed are you after standing in line for an hour waiting to be seated at the franchised restaurant in Pearland? How bad did your day just become after it took 10-15 minutes to get from one end of Oyster Creek Drive to the other as you hit every single stoplight?

My recent thoughts have been centered on the new Dow office park. How in the world are thousands of those cars and trucks going to intermingle with the current traffic pattern in downtown Lake Jackson, especially when HEB builds its new grocery store less than a mile away? I see patrolmen in the road at Dixie Drive and Highway 332 trying to get traffic through those lights at different times of day and there’s just one Dow parking lot full of vehicles at that spot.

You never know, this time next year a new favorite restaurant might pop up or an entertainment spot for children and teens. Maybe sales will jump off the charts at my office. And maybe, hopefully, traffic in Southern Brazoria County won’t end up looking like it does in Pearland, League City or Sugar Land.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too, but I wish we could find a happy medium.

Russell Burnett is a resident of Lake Jackson and is against explosive growth. You can read his blog at www.russellburnett.blogspot.com

www.bestinsurancetx.com 

No Fear ain't scared

A local boy’s basketball 14U team finished a grueling three-day tournament in Houston this past weekend by going undefeated and bringing the championship trophy back to Brazoria County.

The Brazoria Ballers-No Fear team is made up of players in seventh, eighth and ninth-grade from Freeport, Lake Jackson and Angleton. They won the H-town Classic Platinum Division with wins over some of the top teams from across the state.

“This is one of the most prestigious basketball tournaments in the country, and it speaks volumes about our kids because a team from our area has never won this tournament,” said head coach Robert Griggs. “It’s a live event, which means college coaches flock to the gym to watch the older divisions. The platinum division is for the teams that went undefeated in pool play, so we played the cream of the crop to win the event.”

No Fear was led by Chris Rossow, a 5’7 point guard from Freeport as well as post players Hunter Quick (6’5 from Lake Jackson), Kevin Davis (6’1 from Angleton) and wing Angel Trevino (5’11 from Freeport). Rossow averaged 18.4 points per game to go with 3.6 assists, while both Davis (10.8 ppg., 7.4 reb.) and Quick (8.6 ppg., 7 reb.) dominated down low. Defensive stopper Trevino went for 14.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3 steals per contest.

“I think as a whole, we played well, but the point guard position with Rossow was unbelievable,” Griggs said. “I think he was one of the top three players in our age division. Davis and Quick teamed up to be a two-headed monster holding down the middle. Angel is an awesome ninth-grader who plays with us when the tournaments allow a grade exception, meaning you can play with one player who is a grade older.”

Other team members who contributed in the tournament include: Lake Jackson’s Cole Armstrong, Trey Burnett, Ty Griggs and Sa’vion Myles as well as Angleton’s BJ Foster. No Fear will play in a couple more tournaments in Houston before hitting the road for games in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

The No Fear program was started by Griggs in 2005 and its alumni from the area include DJ Griggs (Long Island University), Quandre Diggs (University of Texas), Shai Fields (Weber State) and Ed’Marques Batties (Middle Tennesse State).