Thanks to the POC PTO for a great carnival on Saturday, Oct. 26. There were a great many entrants in the costume contest. The judges had a hard time choosing between the many unusual, pretty, and scary costumes. Contests winners are shown left to right: most original; scariest; prettiest (or most handsome). Thanks to Bill and Belinda Tigrett, Peggy Elliott and Debbie Busby for helping the Dolphin get the photographs.

Girls, 0 to 1 year:

Marianna Ragusin, Maya Calzada, Sabrina Cady

Boys, 0 to 1 year:

Dalton Sandy, Jameson Washburn, Carson Williams

Girls 2 to 3 yrs: Abygail Gonzales, Riley Pagel, Avery Gosnell

Boys, 2 to 3 years: Corbin Washburn, Christian Gutierrez, Marcos Blanco

Girls, PreK: Gracie O'Shields, Kyndra Carriles, Kyrah Stringo

Boys PreK: Landon Jones, Leland Carriles, Thomas Skalak III

Girls Kindergarten: Lauren Authement, Lyric Lopez, Sofia Vasquez

Tanner Pittman, Blake Bowman, Justin Gossett

Girls 1st Grade: McKenna Guevara, Jackie Gutierrez, Jenna Branch

Boys 1st Grade: Derek Tausch, Justice Epley, Christopher Richter

Girls 2nd Grade: Aislin Guzman, Kaylee Nevarez, Kaitlyn Lashley

Boys 2nd Grade: Adam Authement, Ayden Brown, Matthew Stapp

Girls 3rd Grade: Bella Nazay, Kalynn Haring, Stella Motl

Boys 3rd Grade: Chase Harding, none, Ashton Albrecht

Girls 4th Grade: Sarah, Luke & Kyle Doggett, Maddie Hawes, Madison Stringo

Boys 4th Grade: Harley Albrecht, Joey Helms, John Rosenboom

Girls 5th Grade: McKaelyn Carriles & Kaleigh Diaz, Faith Peeler, Ashley Balensiefen

Boys 5th Grade: Evan Clifton, Triston Krenek, Blake Walters

Girls 6th Grade: Carly Rosenboom, Elizabeth Carey, Riley Hughs

Boys 6th Grade: Samuel Thumann, Thomas Hawes, Gavin Guiterrez

Adults: Scott Wheat, Gavin Gosnell, Robbie Hawes

Judges: Calvin Ragusin, Marie Hawes, Shirely Gordon & Sally Ragusin

Photos by Bill Tigrett

Brooklyn Redmond was chosen as First Place Winner in the Poster Contest at Port O’Connor’s Night Out Against Crime on October 1st. Shown with Brooklyn are (l to r) Organizer Leon Brown; Calhoun County Assistant District Attorney, Shannon Salyer; local artist Ginnie Lichac; and Justice of the Peace Precinct, Precinct 5, Nancy Pomykal. Second Place honors in the Poster Contest went to Melony Romo and Third Place, Kayla Resendiz.

Despite our Port O’Connor community resembling a lake, the rains ended, and our first ever Night Out Against Crime became a huge success.

On behalf of the portoconnorwatch.com, I want to give a special thank you to Sheriff George Aleman and his Deputies, Commissioner Kenneth Finster and the Commissioners Court, EMS Director Henry Barber, Port O’Connor Volunteer Fire Department and Firefighters, Superintendent Billy Wiggins, Principal Tiffany O’Donnell, Teacher Renee Hawes, PTO President Amber Walters, the Ladies Club, Pat Ekstrom and The Dolphin Talk, Joyce Rhyne.

One sign of our success was good food, neighbors chatting with one another, kids smiling and having fun. This happened because of those volunteers who graciously gave their time to help make this event a success. Volunteers like Virgil and Ursula Price, Barbara and Jimmy Crouch, Kathryn Windham, Gerald and Ginnie Lichac, Kelly Gee, Carl Ray, Bill Tigrett, Donnie Klesel, Debbie Michalek, Scott and Kelly Wheat.

portoconnorwatch.com is dedicated to the safety and security of our community. We will strive to build a lasting community partnership, educate our neighbors, and give crime the going away party it deserves. The success of our night out against crime could not have happened without the donors who gave to participate with our community. Our donors were Rhonda Singleton, Walmart; Phil and Barbara Salemi, Ace Hardware; Blane Evans, Utited Rentals; Kelly Fox, H. Fox & Co. Inc.; John Hribek, Speedy Stop; Jeremy Dyes, POC Ice For You; Virgil and Ursula Price; Kathryn Windham; Gerald Lichac; Ray and Sherry Roberds.

It is wonderful to have community involvement and neighbors who keep a watchful eye to make sure our community is safe. Our message was loud and clear that neighbors and businesses belong to the community of Port O’Connor, not to those intent on committing crime.

Please go to our web site, portoconnorwatch.com, and become a member of a community program that is about neighbors looking out for neighbors.

The Port O’Connor Cemetery Association Board is in the process of platting the Cemetery into uniform sections and wants everyone to have the opportunity to claim an area for future use if they wish. They have been unable to identify the owner of the monument pictured here and are asking for the public’s help in this matter. It is thought that this statue of the Virgin Mary and the scalloped concrete surrounding it is not a grave, but a marker set up for future use. It is located past the Cemetery entrance, just off Monroe Street and is in section “H”, which is marked by a paver at the far corner near the street. It has been designated as “H-6”. The nearest marked headstone is that of Elvira Ramos Ragusin.

If you have any information to help identify the family that has claimed this area, please contact Bob Allen at 550-7170, Marie Hawes at 920-2322, or any of the Cemetery Board members so the area can be properly designated on the plat.

Clint & Barnacle

Enjoying Island Weather And Getting Healthy

Greetings from the island everyone. Hope all of you are doing well, enjoying the weather and staying healthy.

I mention healthy because I recently realized that at one year past the half-century mark, I’m no longer a Spring chicken and need to be more cognizant about my weight and health. So my fat butt has decided to incorporate a lifestyle change to include eating healthier and walking, and I mean walking a lot. I’ve averaged 30 miles per week for the past six weeks. And what better place to walk than on a beautiful stretch of beach along the Gulf of Mexico. I walk at least three miles in the early morning and two more in the evening, and even one day became very energetic and walked 10 miles total. . that week I walked 44 miles.

It only took me two days to realize that beach footwear was not ideal to walk in, so I invested in a decent pair of Nike walking tennis shoes, and my feet and ankles were so much happier. A premium pair of SAS walking shoes are in my near future now.

I occasionally make a brief stop to pick up a nice seashell, lettered olives have been washing ashore lately, otherwise I maintain a brisk steady beach walk. I lost 20 lbs the first thirty days, and I feel so much better. I’ll stay in touch on the progression.

Well we had our first decent norther of the season a few weeks ago, and oh how it felt nice. The cool breeze coming through the windows at night made for wonderful sleeping, and the pleasant mornings with no humidity were great for sitting out on the front porch and having a hot cup of coffee.

I don’t hunt dove, but after the first few northers they begin flying across the island in bunches. My island buddy, Leo, gave me and Louisiana Joe a few dozen dove breasts last week, and after seasoning and wrapping them in bacon and putting them on the grill, goodness those things were delicious. Nothing better tasting than wild lean game, natures organic food.

October is a great month for catching redfish too. Weather permitting, the family is coming out this weekend, and I know that mom is gonna want to pull in a few spotted-tails to fry up. The flounder should be starting to move by then also, so we will do our best to stick a few of those.

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a great day.

Clint is making necklaces for Christmas gifts from lettered olive shells he finds during his walks on the beach. These shells are naturally shiny and glossy.

Halloween

I really love Halloween.

Maybe it’s because my birthday is on the 19th of October, so as a child it was always easy to spot when my birthday was coming up. It could be because in modern times, the holiday allowed you to dress up and take on a different persona than your own.

For one day, it is accepted for everyone to play pretend.

Of course, being a kid in a big city like Chicago means you most likely have some interesting and strange neighborhood legends to talk about, and I thought I’d share one of those with you as we draw nearer to the witching hour (insert evil laugh here).

First, a little background.

I grew up in a South Side Chicago neighborhood, one that was mostly all police and firemen, so it was at the time one of the safest neighborhoods in the city. It was near the Ford City Mall, which at one time was a military property. Less then a mile from the Mall is the Tootsie Roll Factory, which at one time was not only the largest manufacturing plant built in the world but was also where the tragic tale of the Tucker Car played out in the fifties.

The neighborhood was quiet and friendly, but not without it’s own little legends, passed from kid to kid in whispers and in playground conversations.

One such legend concerned a house right across from mine, which was said to be inhabited by a witch. Every Halloween the owner of the house would dress up like a witch and scare the daylights out of the younger neighborhood kids. She would grab a child from each group into her house with a maniacal laugh.

Every Halloween I would make it a rule to avoid this house, even though I had seen the owner of the house on many other occasions sans rotten green nose and broom stick.

You might be wondering how this lady got away with pulling small children into her house every year without any parents or adults saying anything. It goes to show you how much our society has changed in thirty odd years. But the fact is she did not really get away with it at all as one Halloween the legend grew in a thousand directions when the police showed up at her door.

The real story was that she had indeed pulled a slightly older child into her house and brandished a knife. Which turned out in fact to be a fake. But the kid went out screaming about a knife and the police were called and that was the last ‘year of the witch.’

For the neighborhood kids the tale was not so simple. You see, we were not told that official story until we were older but we all saw the patrol cars outside the house and we all were told to stay away from the property.

So of course the story became that the witch had thrown a child into the oven to be baked alive and was arrested and taken away. This version of events was helped along by the fact that the woman moved out of the house before Christmas, making the empty and dark house seem even more sinister in the mind of a child who’s age had not quite reached the double digit mark.

Dares were made and the crab apples as we called them that came from the tree that grew on the front lawn were said to bear poisonous or magic fruit. Which gained me a reputation as I thought they were delicious and best of all free, cursed or not.

But then that is the fun of Halloween.

Deep down we all love to be scared and we all have that inner voice born of ancient instinct that occasionally nags at us when we walk through our dark house in the middle of the night. It is the spirit of the Fall season, when old things break away and new things prepare for Spring to be awoken again.

And I love it.