Port O’Connor was a joyous place this Christmas and New Years Day. Everyone enjoyed the Annual Service Club’s Christmas Luncheon with the most delicious food and desserts. The beautiful singing by the School children and the outstanding “Lighted Boat Parade”! The fantastic Christmas Program at the School, complete with the Manger Scene. The town was truly decorated for the Christmas Season. Many homes and businesses were elaborately decorated and all deserved to win praises. A record was set for the number of toys brought to Port O’Connor in the Annual “Toy Run”. Thanks to everyone who volunteered their service!

We now look to the new year 2014. We pray that God will Bless our health, our families, our schools and our Great Nation.

The Church Fellowship Committee is continuing their work on the upcoming Annual “Sweetheart Banquet”. This will be the 19th. year the Church will be sponsoring the Banquet and everyone is excited about the success of this year’s affair. We are seeking volunteers to help with the Banquet in decorations and food preparations. If you would like to volunteer, please give me a ring at 983-4866 and let me know. This year we will have a 10 ounce Charcoal Broiled Steak with all the trimmings and dessert for $8.00 each. Entertainment will be by “Danny Bourg and the Classics”, and I know everyone will enjoy his music.

We will have door prizes and the “Citizen Of The Year” Award, which is always a surprise. We will recognize those couples who have been married 50 years and longer and the couple married the least amount of time.

Tickets are available now for purchase and remember to get your tickets early as we can only accommodate 200 people. Invite your friends and visitors to this enjoyable evening in Port O’Connor.

See you in Church Sunday!

As most of us know the Dolphin is published on the third Friday of each month. Thankfully all months have one of those third Fridays. This year, that creates a befuddlement for me in writing about what is happening. The curious would ask why, those not so curious would wonder how many cards short of a deck is this writer.

The reason is simple. This year due to the way Fridays fall there are five Fridays between the January’s and February’s issue. January is the logical month to talk about New Year’s resolutions. By the time of the February issue Valentine’s Day will have passed.

It is like the old Roman date ides. Most of us know of this from Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” where the soothsayer told him to beware the ides of March. In the old Roman calendar ides was the middle of the month. The exact day depended on the month. The ides of March was when Julius was assassinated and that marked effectively the end of the republic and the start of the empire. It was one of histories unintended consequences.

Valentine’s Day falls on the middle Friday between issues. . So it is the ides of my dilemma. Both Resolutions and Valentines will be discussed.

As to resolutions is seems some 44% of the folks make them each year. I have found no statistic that mentions the percentages that are kept but the suspicion is that in many cases the consequences are unintendedly not kept. One of the most common is to lose weight or exercise more. Weight Watchers notwithstanding, those resolutions are not likely to be kept.

However, there are two types of resolution that appeal as probable. An author, Neil Gaiman, once wrote that he hoped his readers would try so many new activities and different efforts that they would make mistakes. Mistakes would indicate progress and improvement in all areas of your life. Now, that is a can do resolution, it seems to me that mistakes come naturally with new activities and efforts.

The other is to choose one word as your theme for the year and work it in all manner of actions the whole year. For one thing, it is easy to keep one word in mind and for another words, if really focused on, can have many subtle meanings and lead in many subtle directions. For instance how many different ways or situations do you think you could adapt to. For that matter, how many different ways could you adapt to a situation?

Well that leaves Valentine’s Day as a topic of discussion. We probably know that it is named after St. Valentine. But the ides of February were celebrated in some romantic or procreative way for years before there was a St. Valentine. Many of those Pagan rites were more Pagan than the card or candy that are traditional today. So, my suggestion is to stick with the card or candy. Just enjoy the romance of it.

In the British Museum of London is an old mariner’s chart drawn in 1525, which outlines the North American coastline and the surrounding waters. The cartographer, no doubt inspired by the folklore of the natives of that area, penned some rather ominous notations on yet unexplored areas of the map. “He wrote: ‘Here be giants,’ ‘Here be fiery scorpions,’ and ‘Here be dragons.’ Eventually, the map came into the possession of Sir John Franklin, a British explorer in the early 1800s. Scratching out the fearful inscriptions, he wrote these words across the map: ‘Here is God.’”

In our enlightened age, superstitious warnings of giants, scorpions, and dragons give us more cause to chuckle, than for alarm. However, fear of the unknown and uncharted future still fills many with a bit of trepidation and insecurity. Nevertheless, there is hope; for as Sir John Franklin surmised, whatever impending dangers of life, real or imagined,  the child of God may face, he can safely conclude, “Here is God.” Though sickness, or medical issues might await you this year, “Here is God.” Though financial setbacks perhaps loom before you this year, “Here is God.” Though separation and loneliness may assail you this year; even here, one may confidently affirm, “Here is God.”

The omnipresent God who loves you, has promised, “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5c). This loving heavenly Father encourages you to respond to every scary situation and crisis circumstance in the same way: “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). To put this another way, Corrie Ten Boom once said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

As we face a new year with our faith resting resolutely in our ever-present and faithful God, let us share the heart attitude of Frances R. Havergal, that great hymn writer of years past, who said the following:

Another year is dawning,
Dear Father let it be,
In working or in waiting,
Another year with thee.

Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness,
The glory of thy face.

Another year of leaning
Upon thy loving breast,
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service,
Of witness for thy love,
Another year of training
For holier work above.

Another year is dawning,
Dear Father, let it be,
On earth, or else in heaven,
Another year for thee.

Cole is a super cute 1 1/2 year old Chihuahua/terrier mix with a sweet personality. He loves being in laps and gets along great with dogs and people.

Celeste, just awakened from a cozy nap, is a golden tabby about 4 months old, super sweet and loving.

Come see Celeste, Cole, and all the other animals at the Port Lavaca Animal Shelter, 201 Stringham Drive (across from the rodeo arena), Monday through Saturday, 10 to 2, or call the Calhoun County Humane Society, 553-8916. You can also view her and other animals ready for adoption on line at www.calhouncountyhumanesociety.org

Thanks and we’ll be waiting for you!

Letter to the Editor:

Joyce Jordan and I, Co-Chairmen of the Christmas Luncheon Decorating Committee wish to thank all those wonderful members who stayed with us following the POC Service Club meeting, to remove the decorations from the trees and off the chandelier. There was mistletoe on the chandelier, but no one at the Luncheon spotted it! Watch out for next year!

And then we not only coerced our wonderful husbands to help us take down the greenery, ribbons, wreaths, lights and decorations on the exterior lights, but another gal came up early that morning. Thank you so very much, Peggy. That was a heavy job to remove all that greenery; and we also know what a back-breaking job that was. But to our infallible husbands who never fail to show up and help; thank you so much John & Henry. We couldn’t have done it without you. And our thanks and constant blessings to our President, Janet Johnson, who is always there to help us along.

However, somehow I became amiss between decorating, the luncheon, paper deadline and packing for our trip to New Orleans AND I FORGOT to publicly thank the Club members who came that Monday morning to decorate the trees. Although a somewhat small group, we all had fun listening to music as played by our own “DJ”; hanging all kinds of ornaments on the trees plus the stunning bows as made by several very talented members; and engaging in small talk while consuming some finger foods. Thanks to all you wonderfully talented women; your presence made those days so much better.

Sincerely,
Joyce Jordan & Sue Kubecka

Water and Waste:

The massive increase in water rates should be a hot topic in POC. There must have been some serious mismanagement in the MUD district to get to this point….It makes me mad because I have been TAXED with out representation because I don’t live there full time which means I pay property tax, mud tax and have no vote to change anything. Maybe the solution would be to form a group of residents in the same boat, raise a insane amount of money, and put it behind a political candidate that would not be afraid to make changes and reduce corruption. I feel sorry for the people who live in POC full time they pay the real price daily.

Thanks,
John Wetjen

The Dolphin welcomes letters from our readers on any subject that is of general interest to our audience. Letters should be 300 words or less (with exceptions at the Dolphin’s discretion). Letters reflect the opinion of the writer, and not that of Dolphin Talk staff, and we retain the right to determine suitability for publication. It is the policy of this newspaper to promote area interests: therefore, complaints against local businesses should be directed elsewhere. Letters must be signed and include day and evening phone numbers, which will not be published. Your name will be withheld upon request, but anonymous material will not be considered for publication.

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